Tag: ferrari

2017 Tyre Testing Schedule Announced By Pirelli

With new regulations coming into effect from the 2017 F1 season, Pirelli have announced the testing schedule for the new 2017 tyres.

Ferrari will kick off the first test with a modified version of the SF15-T at their Fiorano test track from 1-2 August. The test will be a wet weather tyre test. Ferrari will test the slick tyres in Barcelona between 6-7 September and again at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi from 14-16 November.

Red Bull will test at Mugello and Abu Dhabi in August and October, and November respectively. Mercedes will have its turn at Paul Ricard during September and once more in October.

The final test in Abu Dhabi on 29 November will be a validation test will all the teams taking place.

The entire testing program will take place over 10 sessions for a total of 24 days. Each team will have a total of 7 days of running and will be obliged to share the tyre data gathered during the tests with the other teams in the interest of sporting equity.

Wider Tyres

The 2017 Formula 1 season will see wider tyres both at the front and the rear of the cars. The rear tyre width increases by 80mm, going from 325mm to 405mm and the front tyre width increases by 60mm from 245mm to 305mm.

Tyre diameters have also increased to 675mm for the wet weather tyres and 680 mm for the slick tyres. The wheel rim stays unchanged at 13 inches.

Session	Date	Test Days	Circuit	Car (s)	Tyres
1	1-2 August 2016	2	Fiorano	Ferrari	Wets
2	3-4 August 2016	2	Mugello	Red Bull Racing	Slicks
3	6-7 September 2016	2	Barcelona	Ferrari	Slicks
4	6-8 September 2016	3	Paul Ricard	Mercedes	Slicks
5	21-22 September 2016	2	Paul Ricard	Mercedes	Wets
6	12-13 October 2016	2	Barcelona	Mercedes	Slicks
7	14-16 October 2016	3	Abu Dhabi	Red Bull Racing	Slicks
8	2-3 November 2016	2	Abu Dhabi	Red Bull Racing	Wets
9	14-16 November 2016	3	Abu Dhabi	Ferrari	Slicks
10	29 November 2016	3	Abu Dhabi	All	Final validation

All photos by courtesy Pirelli

July 6, 2016

Pirelli Reveals Results of Vettel’s Tyre Blow Out Investigation

Formula One Tyre supplier Pirelli has revealed that a piece of debris was the cause for Vettel’s spectacular tyre blow out at the Austrian Grand Prix.

A few minutes after the incident, Pirelli tweeted that the tyre failure was caused by debris on the track.The tweet was deleted a few minutes later and it was then announced that an investigation in to the failure would take place.

Pirelli, together with Ferrari, concluded their investigation into the tyre failure and determined that a piece of debris was the cause of the tyre failure.

“Analysis of the tyre issue that affected Sebastian Vettel at the recent Austrian Grand Prix has been concluded and the results shared with Ferrari,” said Pirelli in a statement.

“The few remaining parts of the tyre in question, together with an in-depth comparison to other tyres used in the race, reveal no signs of fatigue or structural failure in the right-rear tyre itself.

“Consequently, the issue appears to be caused by an item of debris, which led to the breakage of the tyre”

July 6, 2016
F1 2016: Austria Gp Review – Hamilton, Lord Of The Ring

Over the course of a grand prix weekend a driver normally runs close to two hundred laps. It’s uncanny then that everything can be made or undone by one lap.

In Saturday qualifying, a wet and dry session, Lewis Hamilton steered his Mercedes to pole position in dominant fashion. While teammate Nico Rosberg qualified second on the road he moved down the grid due to a gearbox penalty. It promoted Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg to the second front-row starting position of his career. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, also hit with a gearbox penalty, fell down the starting grid, which promoted McLaren’s Jenson Button to third place.

As Hamilton led cleanly from pole position it didn’t take too long for Hulkenberg and Button to fall by the wayside. Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen, now into second, kept Hamilton relatively honest with a gap of 3.5 to 4 seconds in the first stint. A recovering Sebastian Vettel was soon running third behind teammate Raikkonen.

Ferrari’s advantage rested on the fact that, as Hamilton’s closest rival, Raikkonen started the race on the supersoft tyre, which, theoretically, should last longer than Hamilton’s ultrasoft tyres. However, for a reason unbeknownst to most Ferrari called Raikkonen in only one lap after Hamilton’s own visit to the pitlane. It dropped the Finn to sixth behind both Red Bull drivers. Ferrari’s strategists, not for the first time this season, had made the wrong call.

As Hamilton and Raikkonen dived intot he pitlane it left Vettel in the lead of the race. However, as the German driver started lap 27 he suffered a violent delamination to the right-rear supersoft tyre. It speared the Ferrari into the pitwall and out of the race. Ferrari do not believe that they pushed the tyres beyond their limits and Vettel’s laptimes before the incident would suggest that the set of tyres were well within working range.

After a short safety-car stint to clear up Vettel’s tyre debris Rosberg resumed the lead of the race on lap 32 with Hamilton in second. After both Merc driver made their second stops Nico Rosberg was delivering a drive at the Austrian grand prix worth remembering. He fought he way through to the lead of the race with consistent speed and superior strategy.

But Hamilton wasn’t giving up and closed the gap to four tenths of a second on lap 67. Rosberg seemed unflustered right until the final lap of the race. The German driver made a mistake into Turn 1 handing Hamilton the advantage. Hamilton had a run on the lead into Turn 2 as Rosberg let his car run wide and made contact with Hamilton. Rosberg got off worse in the exchange as he limped home in fourth with a damaged car. The stewards imposed a 10-second penalty on Rosberg for causing a collision but he remained fourth overall. As it were Rosberg’s brake-by-wire system went into passive mode on the pit-strait. However, it’s clear from on-board footage that he was trying to run Hamilton wide.

Behind race-leader Hamilton Red Bull’s Max Verstappen narrowly held onto second after running a 56-lap stint on the soft tyre. Kimi Raikkonen recovered Ferrari’s dubious strategy call to finish third as Rosberg limped home in fourth. Daniel Ricciardo finished fifth ahead of one of the stars of the race Jenson Button. The Brit out-performed his McLaren to finish in sixth ahead of Romain Grosjean (7th), Carlos Sainz (8th), and Valtteri Bottas (9th). The other star of the afternoon was Manor F1’s Pascal Wehrlein who scored his first career point in tenth.

There is no rest of the sport that never sleeps as the F1 paddock heads straight to legendary Silverstone circuit for this weekend’s British grand prix.

(All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport)

July 4, 2016
2016 Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

DRIVERS
1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
2 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)
3 – Kimi RAIKKONEN (Ferrari)

PODIUM INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Noemi de Miguel)

Congratulations Lewis, how do you feel just now?
Lewis HAMILTON: What an incredible race that was. It was incredibly tough. This track is amazing. Big thank you to all the fans for coming out, because honestly I love it here in Austria. Every time I come we have like the best hotel, the food is great and apart from this generally I really love it here. We have Toto Wolff and Niki who are also from here.

We have some noise around right now. Do you know why it is?
LH: I don’t know, but that’s not my problem, it’s theirs.

OK, Max, Lewis says he likes a lot Austria, but it’s your team house. Congratulations, what value is this second place to you? Amazing.
Max VERSTAPPEN: It’s an amazing day you know. To finish second with a Red Bull car at the Red Bull Ring is incredible. I enjoyed it a lot. It was an exciting race and yeah, thank you to the guys, they gave me a great car to finish second.

And after the Spanish Grand Prix, again in a podium?
MV: Yeah, exactly. I hope it keeps going like that.

Congratulations as well, Kimi. How do you feel now? Do you consider it a surprise here for Ferrari?
Kimi RAIKKONEN: I mean, not an easy day for us. I felt we didn’t really got what we could have. But I did the best I could. We had a good speed in the end and maybe a chance to overtake Max but then there was a yellow flag and then, fair enough, he finished in front of me and that’s how it goes sometimes. I don’t know. The car’s been feeling good all weekend and we started the race well and then suddenly I found myself in sixth position, so we tried to come back and the speed was fine and obviously for the team with Seb, he had some issue, not an easy weekend but with the speed that we had I feel that we didn’t really get what we deserved but that’s racing. We go again next weekend and we try to do better.

Let’s meet Lewis and ask about what happened with Nico?
LH: He made a mistake into Turn One and so I had an opportunity to go down the outside into Turn Two. I left a lot of room on the inside and I guess he locked up and crashed into me. I think he had a problem with his brakes potentially.

Did you consider who was…
LH: I am here to win. I am here to win. That’s all.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Lewis, a controversial end to the race. Tell us about the incident between you and Nico?
LH: I don’t feel any particular way about it. I don’t feel it was controversial really. Nico made a mistake into Turn One. You know, we were racing right until the last lap. He made a mistake, clipped the inside kerb and went wide and I got a good run on him up to Turn Two. He blocked the inside, so the only place I could go was down the outside. So I was on the racing line. He was in my blind spot, so I assumed he was still there, so I went very wide, left him plenty of room and as I started to turn – I was at the edge of the track – he collided with me. My guys said that he had something up with the brakes, maybe. So I’m not quite sure exactly what happened. Then I came back onto the track as quick as I could. It was very close between us there. If he did have a brake problem it would be the reason he lifted off really early down the next straight, which we were racing on. But for me it was exciting because… I mean I don’t understand exactly how I ended up being second. I was in the lead and then I guess the safety car kind of brought it into that position. But I never gave up. I pushed all the way. I knew I needed those points. I knew that I have some incredible fans here supporting. Some of them have come a long way. So I did everything I could to not give up and to push all the way.

Lewis, your third win of the season, the 46th of your career, first as we said here in Austria. An enthralling grand prix really, a hug on the podium for the chief strategist at Mercedes, James Fowles, who essentially set up quite an interesting showdown at the end there. Gave you the undercut chance, put you on the soft tyre. Nico reacted, put on the supersoft. Your out lap was a little slower than his but it ended up with a very exciting finale. I just wonder from your point of view, from the cockpit… you’ve spoken about the incident, but tell us about the race itself and that whole strategy call.
LH: Well, first off and most importantly, I just want to say a big thank you to the team who continue to push hard and continue to develop. You know we’re trying to stay ahead of these guys who are also [improving in] leaps and bounds and getting faster and faster, so I think it’s exceptional what the team have done to give us the performance we had today. So yeah, I got a fairly decent start and I was in the lead and I felt that I was doing what I needed to do but then I guess with the safety car I was a bit unfortunate with that and lucky for Nico. Behind in second and obviously I did the stop but with the soft tyre in these cooler conditions it was not so easy to start them up, so I obviously came out second behind Nico once he did his stop. After that it was just all guns blazing, just as hard as I could. I needed those points. I can’t afford to lose any points. Luckily I was as close as I could be on the lap. Nico made a mistake and I tried to capitalise on that. I don’t know if it was a mistake he made in Turn Two, it may have been his brake issue, but we collided and obviously I was able to still continue to go. But I’m just really grateful. I didn’t give up. I kept pushing. I thoroughly enjoyed the race, you know. This is what racing is about. It’s about close battles, difficult times and challenges ahead but the most important thing is to keep going and keep your head up every time you stumble.

OK thank you. Moving to you Max, many congratulations, the start was crucial, you got ahead of your team-mate there and then as in Spain another very long second stint – 56 laps on a set of soft tyres setting you up for this wonderful result.
MV: Yeah, it was a great start and also a good first lap and straight away I could feel the pace was there in the car. So I just moved up to the front and once I cleared some guys I just started to go into my own rhythm. The Mercedes cars at the moment are still a bit too quick, but yeah, I think everything was going quite well. I did a long stint on the soft tyre and especially the last 10 laps, including with some traffic made it very hard. I could see Kimi behind me, he was catching up a lot. At the end to come home in second after what happened on the last lap is of course a bonus. Also, to finish here second, as a Red Bull driver at the Red Bull Ring, is a great feeling.

Q: : Coming to you Kimi, a great start, you were third on the opening lap – but a longer first stint on the supersoft tyre and you ended up losing track position to Max. As in Spain, chased him down in the end but couldn’t get through. A frustrating afternoon for you or are you reasonably satisfied to be on the podium?
KR: Not really. I mean yes it’s OK to be on the podium, it’s better than fourth place, obviously that was a big gift for us but we take, no complaints. We had pretty good speed in the beginning. I was saving tyres a bit and pushing and, y’know was bit catching, bit losing time to Mercedes and going like that. We were pretty close. Then, once we made a pitstop suddenly found myself in sixth position. I think was, y’know, was a bit hard after that. There were safety cars and stuff but the biggest issue was probably with the first Red Bull. Tried to get past him, we had good speed but it as so difficult to get close enough and he always, always when I close I could not find the traction to challenge him and then luckily on one lap I managed to suddenly get a jump on him. Then the speed was good and I kind of run out of the laps. Without yellow flags we could probably have had a very good go with Max – but that’s how it goes. He got second, I got third. Disappointed but it’s better than nothing and we got three points back on Rosberg so it all helps.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Kimi, you have very strong pace today but you have changed tyres about six or seven laps after the Red Bulls. Was it already the plan then to go for only one stop or was it down to the Safety Car that you could do that?
KR: Obviously I think the plan yesterday or this morning wasn’t one stop. The first plan, but then the plans change because you never know how the conditions are and obviously conditions from yesterday or Friday has changed a lot so you have to change it. You have many different plans and whatever suits the best you will choose it. It was quite easy, my tyres were in good shape still and I was fast but unfortunately ran out of the laps and, like I said, the yellow flag didn’t help in the end – but that’s part of racing. I’m disappointed where we end up with a good first part of the race and then where we came out after that – but, y’know, like I said, could have been an awful lot worse. Unfortunately for our second car for Sebastian he had some issues, I don’t know what it was, obviously I saw him at the end of the main straight but it’s been many weekends for us that we can get one good result and the other one not finishing so obviously we want to get as a team strong results. We have some things to work on and next race we push again.

Q: (Lennart Bloemhof – de Volkskrant) First podium for Red Bull on the Red Bull Ring and in lederhosen as well. How is this going to be celebrated with the team tonight because it should be amazing?
MV: Well the celebrations will be in the plane I guess because I’m going back to England. Busy schedules for next week but yes, of course, great achievement. I think the car was great all weekend. We need to keep working, that’s for sure but definitely we have some happy faces in the plane.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Lewis, we could hear on the radio why Nico has supersoft and you have soft tyres. My question is: isn’t it also responsibility of the drivers to take the decision what tyre they can use? Once we have less than 20 laps to the end and the supersoft would be the most reasonable choice?
LH: This is the case where you have to rely on your engineers because they have better understanding. They would have seen all the other drivers run on the supersoft from the beginning and they would have seen the drivers run on the soft. I had no facts to quantify a judgement. I was not in a position to make a judgement there. When I came in I’m hoping the team will give me the best tyre. I’m expecting them to give me the best tyre. So, I had the soft, Nico didn’t have a soft, so I don’t believe he had a soft left, as far as I’m aware. So that would be why. That was the only choice he had. My tyre goes longer. But the performance was still good, it was just the warm-up was the issue. I guess they were concerned that the ultrasoft doesn’t last that long. We didn’t do a long run on the supersoft either so we didn’t know if that would go far. So, no, your answer, it is not the case.

Did you have supersofts?
LH: I had supersofts, yeah.

Q: (Peter Vamosi – Vas Nepe) Question to Lewis. Where was bigger and better the rivalry? In 2007 with Fernando or this year? And what do you think, could Ron Dennis handle this problem now with your team-mate better?
LH: It’s different. When I was racing with Fernando we both had pretty much the same opportunity in the sense that our cars were both reliable, we had no problems so we were battling more so on the track. This is just as intense but it’s a little bit different. Nico today racing hard but we’re in different… the picture’s a lot different. He’s in the lead with four engines and I’m fighting for the lead with one engine. So we’re in different positions in that respect. So I would say it’s a little more intense from my side as every point counts more than ever.

Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Max…
MV: Really?
…Really to you. When Kimi was chasing you, did that bring any memories to you from Spain.
MV: Definitely. As soon as I saw him in the mirrors I was thinking about Barcelona. Only the problem was he was catching quite a lot now compared to Barcelona. He was there all the time and catching up a lot. I just tried to make no mistakes and at the end we kept him behind which of course is what we wanted. It was great for myself to be on the limit all the time until the end of the race.

Q: (Zsolt Godina – Fan media Ltd) Max, you started the season with Toro Rosso but it seems that it was very easy to adapt to the Red Bull car. What do you think you can get as the maximum out of this car, is there more potential?
MV: I think there is always more potential. You can always improve and you can always do better but like I said from the first race in Barcelona until now, I’m still learning. The general pace is there, it’s just in qualifying, how to get the last bits, 100 percent but definitely race by race it’s getting better and better.

Q: (Don Kennedy – Hawke’s Bay Today) Lewis, how disappointing is it to hear so many of the crowd booing when you’ve just had your first win in Austria?
LH: Of course it’s not great and especially with how much I love it here. It’s one of the most beautiful countries I’ve been to. Every time I come here, the scenery… I have a motorbike here this weekend and I’ve been driving through the valley and just seeing how beautiful and natural it is here. And so to have that kind of feeling for a country and then have that response when you have a win, for sure it’s not the greatest but I forgive them. Sometimes that’s just the way it is and I don’t judge them for that. They have the right to have an opinion. Not quite sure why they have done it but it doesn’t really make any difference to me. I won the race, I think fair and square.
MV: You have to be careful that you don’t get knocked off your bike when you drive home.

Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Lewis, you stayed out much longer than Nico in the first stint, presumably to do a one-stop race. Have you been surprised to be pulled in for a second stop and what do you think about it, seeing Ferrari and Red Bull obviously being able to do a one-stop race?
LH: Yeah, for me the plan to be on a one-stop and I hit my one-stop target and then I was on that second tyre and when I was asked to pit it felt fine. I knew Nico was on – I think – eleven or twelve lap older tyres than me so they said that he would have to stop again but I didn’t think I would have to and I was very… I had a split decision as well as to whether I was going to come in or not. They asked me to come in and I followed their direction but obviously they showed that the tyre could have gone the distance. I don’t know whether – at the pace that we were going – that they would have lasted as long as their’s – who knows – but in hindsight I would have probably tried to stay out but if I had stayed out maybe Nico would have stayed out so it would have been a similar situation.

Q: (Barna Zsoldis – Nemzeti Sport) Max, back to the similarities with Barcelona, did it cross your mind that with another Mercedes crash you could win this one as well?
MV: Yeah, of course then the chance is bigger. Today one crashed, of course we take the opportunity but, well, normally it’s not like that.

Q: (Dan Knutson – Speedsport Magazine) Kimi, you said the car was fast at times today. Looking ahead to next weekend, how will it go at Silverstone?
KR: We’ll see next weekend, obviously. I start guessing something… I think, like I said, the car felt pretty good in the race but it was hard to get past people. Once we got close it was pretty difficult to get past them, more than I expected, which is not ideal but once we were on our own, after passing Ricciardo, the speed was very good but obviously I ran out of laps. Silverstone is a lot different as a circuit. Conditions might be similar to today but who knows. The car was pretty good everywhere, we will see. A lot of work goes on through the weekend to make the car good and make the set-up right so let’s see how we do that.

Q: (Sandor Meszarnos – Autosport Formula) Lewis, I think many of us want to be a fly on the wall at the Mercedes post-race briefing. Can you please tell us what kind of conversation you expect with Nico, with team managers?
LH: It’s going to be pretty straightforward. We just do our de-brief. I don’t think anything will really be said. I honestly don’t have a great picture of what went on. I knew where I was on the track. I can’t make a comment or a judgement until I’ve seen the replay. If it was a mistake of his or it was an issue, who knows? We’ll find out but there is no problem, we were racing hard and sometimes these things happen.

Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, in Baku you were fourth and very disappointed. Now you are third and seem to be disappointed. Is there any difference in your satisfaction after the race?
KR: No, I mean I’m not here to try to finish third or fourth or second. We are here, as Ferrari, to try to win and obviously it doesn’t give you a lot when you’re third or second. But that’s how life is. We keep trying and keep pushing forward, then improving things and I’m sure we can get where we want to be. It will take some time and some hard work but that’s the idea why we are here. Like I said, I’m sure me plus a lot of our fans plus the team would be much happier if we could be a few places higher. But that’s how it ended up today.

Q: (Jens Nagler – Bild Zeitung) Lewis, do you expect the rivalry between you and Nico to become even more intense, the closer the racing between the two of you becomes and the closer you get to the end of the season?
LH: I could anticipate it will stay the same as it is now. We are battling. Today obviously was slightly unfortunate with the safety car otherwise I would have been in the lead and I think I had more pace today, so it would have been easier. But well absolutely, we’re racing to win and we’re fighting for the championship and we will see. I’m not the furthest away now, so at least I’m within a good distance from him points-wise. I don’t know how many points I am behind, so that’s definitely better than what I came with and I’ll take that.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Max, when you did your pit stop on lap 15, did you plan to go until the end of the race on that set of tyres or did the safety car afterwards help you to understand that it could be possible, because Sebastian, on lap 26, with supersofts, had a tyre blow-out?
MV: Of course the safety car helped but I was just going on to see how the tyre lasted. I was telling the team it’s all fine, it’s all fine, just keep going. If I felt it was not going on any more, for sure I would have pitted but it was all going fine. The cars in front of me were pulling away, they were just quicker, but I was pulling away from the cars behind, so there was no reason to stop.

July 3, 2016
Hamilton claims dramatic Austrian GP pole

Lewis Hamilton claimed the pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix during a dramatic Q3 qualifying session at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.

Rain arrived towards the end of Q2 to wet the circuit and leave drivers starting the Q3 session on intermediate tyres before the track dried really quickly enouch for slicks to be viable.

Nico Hulkenberg was the first driver to switch to ultra-softs and set a sequence of fastest laps before Hamilton bettered his time with a 1:07.922. Rosberg finished second, half a second behind Hamilton but is set to drop to start from seventh thanks to his gearbox penalty.

Hulkenberg will therefore move to second with McLaren’s Jenson Button starting from third – pending an investigation by the stewards for Hulkenberg not slowing down on the yellow flags for an incident for Carlos Sainz Jr.

Kimi Raikkonen will start from fourth tomorrow, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, Valterri Bottas, Rosberg, and Max Verstappen. Felipe Massa completes the Top 10 behind the demoted Vettel who qualified fourth but will start 9th after his gearbox penalty.

Esteban Gutierrez only just missed out on Q3. He’ll start the Austrian GP from 11th place.

Pascal Wehrlein scored a career best for himself and the Manor F1 team qualifying in 12th place. Romain Grosjean and Fernando Alonso will start from 13th and 14th place.

Carlos Sainz Jr and Sergio Perez follow – Perez suffered a rear suspension failure.

The guys over at Renault didn’t make it through to Q2 with Kevin Magnussen and Jolyen Palmer finishing 17th & 18th ahead of Manor’s Rio Haryanto and Daniil Kvyat.

Kvyat suffered a right-rear suspension failure in a a pretty hectic crash, spinning out, clipping the wall at Turn 8 and ending up in the gravel at the final corner. Drivers are raising concerns about the kerbs causing the multiple suspension failures over the weekend so far. Hamilton expressed concerns in the press conference as did Kvyat and a few other drivers. Lewis went as far as calling the kerbs dangerous

Kvyat was not able to continue after his car was pretty much written off leaving the Toro Rosso team with a big task to complete to prepare for tomorrow’s race.

Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr did look capable of competing for Q2 but will start from the back row of the grid.

Join us for live chat and commentary for tomorrow’s Austrian GP on Twitter @F1Madness.

July 2, 2016

Ferrari 1-2 in 3rd Free Practice for Austrian Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel put Ferrari at the top of the time sheets at the end of the 3rd Free Practice session for the Austrian Grand Prix.

In a session where teams were still finding the limits of their cars, Vettel put his SF16-H at the top of the time sheets early on in the session. He kept improving his time throughout. On his second stint on the ultra soft tyres he set a time of 1:07.098. His team mate Kimi Raikkonen set a 1:07.234, 0.136s off Vettel’s time.

Lewis Hamilton locked up 3rd fastest with a 1:07.308. Mercedes seemed to have been struggling with the high track temps. Their initial running saw heavy graining and blistering on their tyres. Nico Rosberg crashed out of the session after a rear suspension wishbone failure at the exit of Turn 2. This sent the German nose first into the barrier which spun him around where the rear of his car made contact with the barrier as well. Rosberg was up on Vettel’s time through the first sector.

After the session Mercedes confirmed that Rosberg would have to incur a 5-place grid drop for a new gearbox.

The Red Bull pair of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen finished 4th and 5th fastest respectively. The Williams pair finished 6th and 7th with Valtteri Bottas finishing ahead of Felipe Massa.

Nico Hulkenberg finished 8th fastest for Force India showing strong pace for the Silverstone based team.

McLaren, who chose not to run their radical new rear wing, finished 9th and 10th with Jenson Button finishing just ahead of Fernando Alonso.

We’re building up to a very close qualifying with Ferrari stepping up their game with their token engine upgrade and with Mercedes slightly off the pace. Although Rosberg was very quick through the first sector before the crash it’s tough to predict what his final lap time would be. Mercedes have a tough task of repairing Rosberg’s car before qualifying. It is expected that they will have it repaired before qualifying but it will be touch and go.

Both Vettel and Rosberg will drop 5-places down the grid after qualifying which should play into the hands of Hamilton, Raikkonen and the two Red Bulls.

Pos	Driver	Car	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:07.098s	–	20
2	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:07.234s	0.136s	26
3	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:07.308s	0.210s	20
4	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	1:07.639s	0.541s	22
5	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1:07.761s	0.663s	22
6	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	1:07.814s	0.716s	23
7	Felipe Massa	Williams	1:07.831s	0.733s	27
8	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	1:08.285s	1.187s	23
9	Jenson Button	McLaren	1:08.304s	1.206s	19
10	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	1:08.327s	1.229s	17
11	Sergio Perez	Force India	1:08.442s	1.344s	26
12	Esteban Gutierrez	Haas	1:08.475s	1.377s	22
13	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor	1:08.534s	1.436s	29
14	Romain Grosjean	Haas	1:08.550s	1.452s	21
15	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	1:08.569s	1.471s	31
16	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	1:08.786s	1.688s	32
17	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	1:08.939s	1.841s	27
18	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso	1:09.008s	1.910s	11
19	Rio Haryanto	Manor	1:09.116s	2.018s	28
20	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1:09.137s	2.039s	25
21	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	1:09.557s	2.459s	20
22	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:10.959s	3.861s	16

July 2, 2016

F1 2016: Austrian Gp Free Practice 1 Report – Rosberg Runs Quickest

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg set the quickest time in the first free practice session ahead of the Austrian grand prix.

The first free practice session for the 2016 Austrian grand prix got underway in sunny conditions at the Red Bull Ring. The drivers quickly hit their stride with some blistering lap times early on in the session with Nico Rosberg’s 1:08:166 having been a record breaking lap.

The German driver would improve to a 1:07:373 by the end of the session to record the quickest lap ever around the current configuration of the Red Bull Ring. Teammate Lewis Hamilton set the second quickest time with a 1:07:730. The two Ferrari’s of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen were third and fourth with Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo rounding out the top five.

Dutch driver Max Verstappen exited the session early after clouting a kerb which broke a steering arm and left his Red Bull beached in a gravel trap. No other major incidents were recorded but for a few spins from several drivers.

Ferrari were expected to test the Halo 2 head protection system but chose not to do so. The McLaren team ran several updates including a new rear wing and conducted a back to back test on a new floor.

Free Practice One Standings:

July 1, 2016
F1 2016: Austrian Gp Preview – Quali The Key In Austria

From the medieval city streets of Baku the Formula 1 paddock travels to the crisp countryside of Austria for the eighth round of the 2016 championship.

A case could never be made that Formula 1 lacks diversity. It swops the mostly tight confines of the Baku City circuit for the mountains and fresh air of Austria’s Red Bull Ring in Spielberg. Located in the picturesque Styrian Mountains the 4.3 kilometer circuit is dotted with only nine turns. The average speed of a lap around the Ring is estimated at 224 kph while 70 percent of the lap is spent at full throttle.

There are only seven braking zones around a lap but they are big stops from high speeds, which classifies the brake wear rate as high. This no longer appears to be an issue for Mercedes in 2016 but should they not be running in clear air it could rear its head.

As the shortest lap on the calendar at less than 70 seconds the grid is expected to be tighter, which makes qualifying vital. In 2015 the top three positions in qualifying were covered by four tenths of a second. The circuit’s four long straights mean that there is opportunity for overtaking but getting past a car with a good straight-line speed will be difficult.

For this year’s grand prix teams and drivers have selected the yellow-walled soft, red-walled supersoft, and purple-walled ultrasoft tyres. Both Ferrari drivers have selected nine sets of the ultrasoft tyres while Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg have each opted for eight sets of the purple-walled tyres. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen have chosen seven sets of the softest compound. Tyre wear last year was minimal as Daniel Ricciardo was able to run a fifty lap stint on the soft tyre before needing to pit.

Ferrari’s tyre choice could be put down to fact that this track surface is a relatively smooth one with normally cool conditions. This combination often presents some struggle in getting tyres to the optimum temperature. As they’ve continually struggled to get the tyres to their optimal working range Ferrari should find it easier to do with the ultrasoft tyre. This will be a crucial element of Ferrari’s progress and position this weekend.

There is no doubt that Nico Rosberg is sitting pretty. He starts the weekend with a 24 point lead over Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton in the race for the driver’s title. The fickleness of Formula 1 demands that even a gap of 24 points must not be taken for granted. It’s this approach that has been Rosberg’s secret in 2016; to take every race on its individual merit. But the two Merc drivers might have to focus on more than just each other, especially in Saturday qualifying.

Williams are notoriously good performers at the Austrian grand prix thanks to the Mercedes power unit and Red Bull are no slouches thanks to the stop up they’ve made with the upgraded power unit. But while they are looking at each other all of them are aware of what Mercedes can deliver. On several occasions in 2016 its been shown that the Silver Arrow is not as potent when it runs in dirty air and under pressure. The qualifying session on Saturday will be the critical point for any driver or team to stop a complete Merc domination.

June 29, 2016
F1 2016: European GP Review – Rosberg Rules In Baku

If you’d asked most people to point out Azerbaijan on a map they would probably struggle. If you then told them that its capital city Baku is going to host its first F1 race in 2016 it would possibly have been met with reluctant enthusiasm.

Nevertheless, on the edge of the Caspian Sea the Azeri organisers plotted a street circuit unlike any other. The combination of the stunningly high-speed section and incredibly tight section around the city’s beautiful medieval architecture merged perfectly to highlight the strengths of Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes. The German driver cleaned house in Baku by taking pole position, fastest lap and the race win in dominant fashion.

Rosberg led cleanly off the line and was never challenged as he completed the 51-lap race on a one-stop strategy. It yielded his fifth win of the season and a sizeable increase in his lead atop the driver’s table. As faultless as Rosberg’s weekend preceded so the opposite was true for teammate Lewis Hamilton. Seemingly out of sorts, Hamilton stuck his Merc in the wall on Saturday and confined himself to a tenth place starting position. An ERS (energy recovery system) issue disrupted his charge through the field. Thanks to the FIA regulation, which bans certain radio communications, Hamilton was left to figure out the setting himself. The Brit was able to eventually resolve the issue and set two blisteringly quick laptimes before cooking his tyres.

Behind race leader Rosberg Sebastian Vettel overtook Daniel Ricciardo for second. To cover the Red Bull stop Ferrari called Vettel into the pits. However, the driver overruled the pitwall and stayed out. It paid off ultimately as Vettel finished second without any realistic shot at victory.

Force India’s Sergio Perez secured third to score his second podium in three races. Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen ran third for nearly the entire race. The Finn stopped early on lap 8 and ran a 43-lap stint on the soft tyre. But a five-second penalty for crossing the pit-entry line and a late ERS issue meant he was unable to keep Perez at bay. Eventually Raikkonen, suffering with a bout of food poisoning, finished fourth. Lewis Hamilton finished a lonely and disappointed fifth ahead of Williams’ Valtteri Bottas in sixth.

Both Red Bull drivers were forced onto two-stop strategies with overheating rear tyres and faded badly throughout the race. Daniel Ricciardo finished seventh ahead of teammate Max Verstappen in eighth. Nico Hulkenberg brought his Force India home in ninth while Williams’ Felipe Massa scored the final point in tenth.

All expectations were that the safety car would appear several times throughout the race given the tight confines and close proximity of the walls. But all twenty-two drivers were exceptionally well behaved and there were no major incidents. In fact, only four drivers did not make it to the chequered flag. Toro Rosso has some investigating to do as both their drivers, Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz, were forced to retire with suspension issues. Manor Racing’s Pascal Wehrlein retired with brake failure as Fernando Alonso’s McLaren was pulled into the garage with a gearbox failure.

Remarkably Rosberg had the same ERS issue as Hamilton but was able to rectify it by changing the right settings. This resounding victory increases Rosberg’s championship lead to 24 points over Hamilton. But given that thirteen races remain on the calendar the race for the 2016 driver’s crown is just warming up.

(All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport)

June 20, 2016
2016 Formula 1 European Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

DRIVERS
1 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)
2 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)
3 – Sergio PEREZ (Force India)

PODIUM INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Eddie Jordan)

Azerbaijan, Baku: what an amazing city and what an amazing race and we have your winners here today. Nico, tell us, you needed this today didn’t you, your fifth win of the season? Tell us about it.
Nico ROSBERG: Yeah, Eddie, it’s been an amazing day really, an amazing weekend. Thank you all here in Baku for welcoming us in this way. It’s been spectacular, great track you’ve made, really exciting racing. Of course, for me the weekend went perfectly: qualifying, race, everything to plan, so it was really awesome.

When we saw you at the beginning of the week, you had some concerns about how you would approach this particular weekend. That’s all forgotten about I expect?
NR: No concerns; flat out.

Brilliant result for your today, we’ll come straight back to you. Second place, ladies and gentlemen, please, Sebastian Vettel. Come on Seb, tell us, second place in Canada, second place here, is this a complete Ferrari revival or are you going to have a word with Sergio, your boss and your President at Ferrari. Are you going to look for more horsepower?
Sebastian VETTEL: Well, first of all, thank you very much. It’s the first time we are here in Azerbaijan. I didn’t really know what to expect, but it’s been a great track, a great pleasure, a great welcome for all of us. I think the circuit is incredible. You need to be ‘well-equipped’, let’s put it this way, around here, so some proper high-speed corners and very, very close. Today has obviously been a great job for us. Already by the end of yesterday the car was coming alive. We were struggling a bit on Friday, but to see where we are now I think is a great recovery. Second place in a row, two times on the podium now in a row after Canada, which is great, scoring some good points – even though this weekend was a bit different to last week. But still I think the pace is there, the car is good, we are coming along, so all in all a great day and thanks to the team.

The two different make-ups of the circuit – the slow speed and then the high-speed – did you enjoy that difference between the two?
SV: Yeah, definitely, especially because in the low speed you have to tackle quite a lot of kerb and be very, very aggressive. Very easy to get caught out. I think a lot of people lost a lot of money because they were betting on a safety car and we didn’t have one! I think it also speaks for the quality of the drivers. So it was a clean race. I expected a couple of safety cars, but it didn’t come out. But it’s a great circuit, a great challenge and with the high-speed sections where it’s really narrow it’s a lot of fun.

Well, it’s delightful to see you on the podium; we all love it. Ladies and gentlemen, the pride of Mexico! You’ve got a lot fans here.
Sergio PEREZ: Many Mexicans I hope.

We thought you’d blown it yesterday: you ran into the wall with a lap to go in the qualifying [sic] and to have to need a new gearbox, I said “well, he’s just cost the team a podium”. You’ve proved me wrong!
SP: Me either. I knew yesterday when I put the car in the wall in P3 that this was a big chance for us to score a massive result [potentially lost]. I was so frustrated with myself. Then going into qualifying, my boys did an amazing job to fix the car, to put everything together. And then I had to do the job, you know. I had to get on with the job. We had a great qualifying but still we were starting P7 today and we had to make our way through. Very good start, very good first lap. Very nice overtaking in Turn Two for Massa and Kvyat and then fighting with Kimi all the way to the end. I knew that he had a five-second penalty, but it was still nice to get him on the last lap.

Exactly – how sweet was it just to pip him on the last lap?
SP: Very nice. Although I knew that the podium was secure but when I saw the opportunity, that it was safe enough to do it and no risk at all, I went for it, because it obviously feel a lot nicer to finish the race P3.

Well, we’re very pleased, amazing drive from seventh to third. We come back to the winner – Nico! Nico we have to talk about the championship. You won the first four races, everyone thought it was in the bag and then you had a couple of little hiccups, so to speak. Are you back with a vengeance?
NR: To be honest, today I’m just enjoying this win, because that’s what I came here for. I wanted to win Baku and it worked out, so ecstatic, can’t wait to go down and see everybody….

You could answer my question!
NR: I’m not answering the question; I’m avoiding it! I’m going to go down and see everybody and big celebrations.

Q: Nico, great victory for you this afternoon: Pole, win, fastest lap, led every lap. Would you say that’s the most dominant of your five victories in 2016?
NR: It’s been a great and awesome weekend, really, yeah. Everything went cleanly, y’know, from the beginning to the end. And even in the race, it was a special feeling out there in the car because it felt like I could do whatever I wanted the thing would just stick to the line, stick to the ground, there was no risk of making mistakes or anything. It felt really, really special and I’m very, very happy. It’s been an awesome result, first time here, y’know, I think it’s been a big success. The track is exciting, definitely, and a lot of overtaking also today I hear – I think, I’m not sure but I think so – so all in all good.

Q: Your team-mate Lewis Hamilton had a few technical dramas it would seem along the way. Anything going wrong with your car or was it perfect all the way through?
NR: I think I had the same but I’m not sure. It was just a matter of getting out of ti with the right combination of switches.

Q: Sebastian, great recovery by you and Ferrari this afternoon – but are you a little bit unnerved by the pace of the man on your left [Rosberg]?
SV: Surely it’s not great news but all weekend they’ve been very, very quick. First session, after four laps they were putting lap times in that took us the probably the whole day to copy – so yeah, I think we didn’t have a good day on Friday, we were lacking pace. The car didn’t feel bad but it was just not quick enough. Then we changed quite a lot for Saturday, changed again quite a lot going into quali, so we did what we could here, reacting to it and came back and in the end finishing second… of course we benefitted a little bit from the problem that Lewis, or the mistake that Lewis did yesterday because both Mercedes were very, very quick throughout the weekend – but that’s how it’s done. So I’m very happy and very proud. We kept our head in and, as a team, worked well. Shame that Kimi couldn’t quite keep the third place but, for sure, he made it very nice for me to secure the second. Obviously at that point with a lot of laps to go we didn’t know how quick Lewis will be and how much him and Checo would be able to catch up so it has priority to make sure that we ran away. Surprised there was no Safety Car but, all-in-all, it’s been a great track and a great weekend.

Q: Checo, you’ve made it hard for yourself this weekend. How much satisfaction do you get from this third place?
SP: A lot. I knew that the podium was possible today but it was very hard, very hard work to get it. We really did an incredible first lap to get around the Williams and the Toro Rosso. I think that was one of the keys. The first laps were really difficult with the graining. Just basically not panicking. The easiest thing would have been to stop when the graining occurred, especially when Kimi and some people behind stopped and we decided to stay longer. It cleaned up. That was one of the keys of my race. Obviously pitting early to go onto the one stop and as soon as I left the pits I was under pressure from Lewis. So I couldn’t introduce nicely my tyres. I had to push straight away. The warm-up with the soft for me was a bit difficult. Those first laps were really tricky to keep Lewis behind. Then I managed to open a gap and then I was attacking Kimi but at the same time looking after the tyres, thinking that there’s going to be a Safety Car at some point. Unbelievable it didn’t happen. I was just looking after my tyres to make sure I made it to the end. I think Kimi was very strong with his pace given the lap-age that he had. I knew that he had a penalty, so I get pretty close to him, and at the end I saw the opportunity that it was safe enough to do it and it was good to take it and finish in P3. It is well-deserved for the team because they have done an amazing job. All my boys to fix the car from yesterday, so very pleased. It’s only the eighth race and we’ve done two podiums already. It’s been an incredible year so far.

Let’s open this up to the floor…

Q: (Sebastian Vettel – Scuderia Ferrari) Question to anyone. Who won the Le Mans…?
Porsche
SV: How did Toyota manage to lose?
Last lap
SV: Retired? Nooooooo…!

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriere della Sera) Sebastian, going to the very first part of the race, can you confirm that you were asked to come into the pits but you preferred to stay out?
SV: Yeah, yeah, basically I was called in. We wanted to react to Daniel who pitted. He was struggling a lot with his tyres; obviously we passed him and then he went into the box. But I had a decent feeling, the pace was quite OK, I thought, and then we decided to stay out so I was asking the team to stay out, the tyres felt OK and I wanted to keep going. I was maybe at that point, seeing that Daniel was struggling and feeling that the tyres were not feeling so comfortable in the first, six, ten laps, a bit worried that the second stint would be very very long. In the end I don’t think there was much in it. Obviously we lost position to Kimi who undercut us but obviously we played well as a team together to make sure that when I came out behind him with the fresher tyres to use the pace and secure second place.

Q: (Oana Popoiou – F1 Zone) Sergio, do you think you had the pace to fight for a victory today if it wasn’t for the grid penalty?
SG: No, I don’t think so. I don’t think we could have fought Nico. He was very strong, in another league, but certainly I would have had a really good fight with Sebastian for P2.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – Globo Esporte.com) Sebastian and Sergio, we saw in Monaco and Canada some teams more close to Mercedes and here Mercedes was one second faster per lap. How do analyse that please?
SV: Well, I think they had a very strong package here. I think, as I explained, Friday was a bad day for us and we managed to recover, get away from here with a second place. I think it’s the optimum so we can be happy with that but surely not happy with the gap. Why they are quicker? I think looking at the comparison yesterday they were gaining quite a lot down the straights. I think maybe we carried a little bit too much wing. The other bit, we were losing quite a bit in low speed corners. Arguably they are doing something clever to pick up some pace there in low speed, the way they treat the tyres but if there’s something clever to be done, we need to be as clever as them and not be lacking that.
SP: Yeah, for us I think relatively on this track we certainly got a little bit closer to Mercedes but not a lot. I think everyone else dropped behind and they lost some performance so for us, I think the track suited our car well. Obviously a good power unit and I think good balance around the track. People were probably struggling more than we did but I think that was the main reason why we managed to be so much further up.

Q: (Jerome Bourret – L’Equipe) For all of you, after we have seen yesterday in qualifying and during the GP2 races, we were all expecting a crazy race. It hasn’t been the case; do you have any explanation for that? Have you been more cautious or was the track less tricky than yesterday?
NR: I think for sure a little bit the experience helps in that case. We’re all much more experienced and we’re able to avoid the incidents better and we also learned a lot from what was going on in the GP2 for sure, because we were watching and that was mayhem so I think we picked up a few things there as well and that’s it, but very surprising anyways.
SV: Well, surprised, yes, but then again I think it speaks for the quality. I think we’ve talked a lot about this track being high risk, dangerous. It reminds me. A couple of months ago I had a very nice lunch with Sir Stirling Moss. Obviously in ‘their’ time, you can argue it was very dangerous everywhere they went and he said it was a big deal of the reason why he jumped in the car, because it was dangerous.. Otherwise anybody could do it, so the thrill of it was exactly that challenge. I think we had some corners here where you don’t want to think about what’s happening if you get it wrong, very little room for mistakes and error but then it definitely makes you more alert, you’re awake and obviously you try to go as hard as you can and push but I don’t think we were taking it easy, any one of us, but equally, obviously, you don’t take any stupid approaches to risk because it could end quite badly.
Q: Checo, how do you describe the lack of safety car?
SP: To be honest, I’m very surprised, given how difficult this track is but it also speaks for the quality of the drivers that we have in Formula One. It’s not that we were taking it easy out there, I think we were all pushing and every braking point you really feel it can go wrong at any point. There is no room for mistakes in any place. The very least that can happy to you if you make a mistake is you lose a couple of seconds but I’m really surprised and I think well done to everyone because nobody made a mistake. Very surprised for that.

June 19, 2016