Tag: ferrari

2015 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix: Sunday Press Conference

DRIVERS

1st Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

2nd Kimi RAIKKONEN (Ferrari)

3rd Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

PODIUM INTERVIEWS

(Conducted by Sir Jackie Stewart)

First of all, congratulations to Bahrain for a fantastic grand prix, the 11^th grand prix here in this region. What a crowd we’ve had here, what a wonderful race you’ve had, and the winner is Lewis Hamilton.

Lewis HAMILTON: How you doing man?

Terrific.

LH: How you guys doing? What a great crowd we have tonight.

Fantastic, and what a great race. Three victories this year. There’s something called three world championships, potentially, at the end of this season…

LH: Yeah, I’m gunning for it. Firstly, a big thank you to my team, they did an amazing job this weekend. The Ferraris gave us a real good run for our money and out there it was really difficult to look after the tyres in these conditions, behind backmarkers and all sorts, but fortunately I was able to keep the car together, keep the tyres as healthy as possible and pull it through. But we need to keep pushing as a team, we’ll of course do [that]. Just a massive thanks to everyone and all the people who came out to support me this weekend, I really appreciate it.

What about the brake issue coming into the end there? There was something on the radio suggesting that you had to back off a little bit on the braking.

LH: Yeah, I think my brakes just got a little bit warm when I was behind a few backmarkers. When you get behind them there’s just no cool air coming in the brakes, so they got a bit warm, but it wasn’t really a problem.

Well, congratulations on a fantastic race, you must be very happy and it’s a hell of a season you’re having. Well done. Kimi – terrific. Happy?

Kimi RAIKKONEN: Obviously you’re never happy when you finish second but I think after a difficult start to the year I’m a bit pleased to get some result – a bit better result. Obviously we came through in the end very quickly but we run out of the laps but I think we have to be happy after where we qualified, after we finished, but obviously we’re looking for a bit better results still.

Well, it’s a terrific success for Ferrari to come back as strongly as this. You must be pleased about that?

KR: Yeah, I’m very happy how the team is working and obviously after last year where we are now is a big step and everyone is working very well together. The atmosphere is good now and we have a good direction to keep pushing. It seems to be working well and things are improving, so I’m sure as a team we’ll get there and to be able to be all the time fighting for wins, but it will take a little more time.

Many congratulations. Here’s a man who’s been on the podium an awful lot these days, but today a tough race?

Nico ROSBERG: Yeah, I mean it was OK. The overtaking was enjoyable, to overtake the red cars, I like that a lot. In the end I tried to catch Lewis, but we’re pretty similar so I couldn’t catch him and he even pulled away at the end a little bit, and then I lost my brakes unfortunately, two laps from the end. I just went straight on and that cost me the position to Kimi, which is very disappointing.

Well, it’s been a consistent season for Mercedes-Benz. You must be happy that you’ve got that kind of engineering?

NR: I’m happy about our car, yeah. The team has done a great job again and I’m very thankful for that and I really look forward to all the races that are still to come.

Q: Many congratulations Lewis, your 36^th career victory, two years in a row here in Bahrain and ninth win in the last 11 grands prix. Obviously all weekend a sustained, competitive challenge from Ferrari. Does it mean more to beat Ferrari in a close fight than it does to win an in-house, inter-team battle within Mercedes?

LH: I think winning is winning so it doesn’t particularly matter who it’s against. You’re trying to beat everyone out there. Naturally it’s great to be having a fight with the Ferraris. I think for us as a team, and I think still today that Mercedes are still the best and we are working as hard as we can to keep up with this momentum that we have – but they are pushing very hard to close up. A huge thank-you to all the guys back at the factory and also the guys that are here because the car was really nice to drive this weekend. In the race I was really able to manage it and… yeah… really, really happy, really proud of everyone for all the hard work they put in.

Q: Kimi, fourth on the grid, second at the finish, first podium since Korea 2013. Alternative strategy for you. Obviously the middle stint was the key to your grand prix. Tell us about that and the pace that you were able to maintain against everybody else on the softer tyre. But also, you questioned at the end the decision to go onto the soft tyre – how did that work out, was it the right thing to do in the end?

KR: I think we had a few different plans. How to run the race and obviously this one was one of them. It all really depended where we are after a few laps. But I think we did a very good job out of it and the medium tyres worked very well for me in the second stint and I could pretty much… quite easily keep up with them, even catch them. They were working fine so obviously I was wondering if it’s the right choice to go on the soft at the end – but obviously it was the correct choice, they were much faster still. So, I was able to catch Nico and got past him. We did more or less the maximum that we could do today and obviously if you think that we were ahead of Nico earlier, he got past me on lap two or three or something, so we lost some time but I think we had a pretty good race and hopefully we can have many more.

Q: Nico, you finished where you started but obviously the story is not quite as simple as that. Obviously you were on the attack today, particularly the overtakes with Sebastian. Maybe you could tell us a bit about that and how much you enjoyed those, and also could you just drill down a bit more into the problem with the brakes at the end.

NR: So, started off on a disappointing note for me after the start with losing the position to Kimi. I just did the wrong… well, got caught out. But then immediately I felt that the car was awesome, so went full on the attack straight away and was happy to get by Kimi and Sebastian. Great fight with those, that was very exciting at that point in time. Then always dropped back again behind Sebastian after a pitstop so had to get him over and over again. After that, yeah, trying to catch Lewis but that wasn’t possible. Unfortunately struggling with brakes a little bit throughout the whole race and just lost them. Two laps from the end I lost the brakes, so went straight on and had to carry the car home for the last two laps.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Kate Walker – motorsport.com) I’ve got a question for both Lewis and Nico. One of the more visually dramatic moments in the race was when you were leaving the pits, Lewis, and coming up behind we had Nico and Sebastian fighting. I wanted to know: could you see that in your mirrors? Was it something you were aware of. And Nico, did you have any seat of your pants moments, wondering how close it was all going to get.

LH: I definitely saw it because I wasn’t expecting… I went in the pits quite far… I think I had a decent gap and then all of a sudden I was coming out of the pits and they were right there. So I think I had a fairly slow pitstop and naturally that’s really why, I guess, the gap closed up. I came out of the pits, braking into Turn One and I saw them in my left mirror and I’m like : “Oh my God, this is close!” But it was so much fun. Really good fun.

Nico – you saw an opportunity there clearly because Sebastian was looking at Lewis coming out of the pits I guess?

NR: Yeah. I just went for the aggressive inside because he didn’t close up the door. He left a bit of a gap and a bit of a possibility and I was hoping Lewis was far enough ahead. It wasn’t obvious but I was hoping he would be out of the way by the time we got to Turn One and it worked out – but for sure it was quite hairy, especially looking from outside I suppose. Inside it was OK.

Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, after being fourth in Malaysia and China and being out of top three for 18 months, how much do you appreciate this comeback to the podium?

KR: Obviously it’s much nicer than being out of it but, you know, you come second and obviously we got quite close to the Mercedes today but it’s a bit disappointing after that always – but I’d rather take this one than something else. You cannot feel happy. We are happy to be second but it’s still disappointing. It’s not what we want to do. Big thanks to the team. I had a pretty hard time last year. This year in the beginning, just some bad luck in the races but, you know, the team has done a great job over the winter and everybody is pushing together, in the same direction and I’m sure we are only going to get stronger and better as a team and improve the car. So, it’s a great place to be.

Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / Speedsport magazines) Lewis, was there ever a time you were concerned the Ferraris could actually challenge you for the win? During the race?

LH: Well, I was only ever… I could only really see Nico most of the time. Obviously at the beginning of the race it wasn’t that easy to drop any of the guys behind – but then it got a bit better towards the end of the stint. And then later on obviously Nico was the one behind. And then I was made aware that Kimi was going long so he was going to be very quick in the last stint – but I think I had it pretty much under control. But I had a very similar situation to Nico, obviously it didn’t cost me anywhere near as much, but brakes were getting quite warm, particularly in traffic. So, the last few laps I had to slow down a little bit – otherwise I don’t think we would have had a problem.

Q: (Khodr Rawi – F1Zone.net) Kimi, do you think the only possibility to beat Mercedes is by trying a different strategy, trying to undercut them because beating them on track seems a bit difficult now?

KR: Well, I don’t think it’s the only way. Obviously on some circuits we can get closer, some not, but I think obviously the first step is to improve our package, that will happen in the future and hopefully get closer. One step is to qualify more higher up, make better starts and go from there. I think we had a pretty decent speed today but obviously if you’re behind any cars and you lose any seconds, you will pay a price for it in the end. I think we just have to keep working and improving the whole package and how we do things. I’m sure we will get there and we can fight for wins every weekend after that.

Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Kimi, you were flying in the second and third stints on both type of tyre but you struggled in the first stint. Have you any idea why?

KR: I wasn’t struggling really. I didn’t feel that it was much problem. I got passed by Nico, I passed him at the start and I got passed by him and obviously you lose quite a bit of time and then he passed Seb and we were pretty close to each other. I felt I was faster but obviously it’s pretty hard to pass. I think that we did the maximum, more or less. Yesterday we lost a place to Nico, but after that, once we got the mediums and the new set of softs at the end, the car was very good, so I could keep up good speed and everything was running smoothly, but already at that point we were a bit too far off first place.

Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Lewis, are you happy that Kimi took some points away from Nico?

LH: Are you feeling OK today? Normally… Kimi’s right here, you know that, right? Normally you always ask… I wasn’t expecting that question. I don’t know. I think ultimately we’re trying to win both championships so I guess the team won’t be 100 percent happy and we’re not 100 percent happy because we want to finish one-two. And so Kimi’s taken some points away from us as a team which ultimately isn’t the best but then on the positive side, of course, I got good points today, so we’ll take it but we’ll work as hard as we can to kind of rectify that and try and see if we can get some more one-twos moving forwards.

Q: (Matt Youson – Racetech) Kimi, can you tell us how this year’s car is an improvement on last season’s. Everybody talks about the power unit but is it just that or is there a lot more?

KR: Obviously a big chunk of it is the engine itself. It’s a big improvement on horsepower plus reliability but you cannot just give all the credit to them. The car has improved a lot: much more downforce, the car is handling much better because of that, and obviously how the whole package has been done and put together. I think the big key is that all areas have improved quite a bit plus the people have been working more closely, as one team putting it together more nicely, so obviously the end result is what we have now and then as I said earlier, I’m very happy how things are going, very happy with the team and I think not many people expected after last year that we can be in this kind of position this early and now we are going in the right direction, so I’m sure we will get there but we want to start winning races more often and we just have to have some patience and do the work that we’ve done so far and we will get there.

Q: (Khodr Rawi – F1Zone.net) To all three of you: is the challenge of the championship against the rival teams more difficult than against your teammate, because you don’t know what others have or what others are planning in terms of strategy and that sort of thing?

LH: It’s all hard. It’s difficult to say which one is harder. When you’re fighting the guy in your team with the same car you’ve got the data. Sure it’s more on the limit when you’re fighting another team. There’s pros and cons, there are advantages and disadvantages on each side. You just try to do your best job, that’s what motor racing is all about, to be fighting other teams, that’s what we’re here to do.

NR: It’s both different but both tough. It’s difficult to go into the details but it’s tough to battle Lewis last year and this year and it’s tough now to battle the Ferraris now that they’re in the mix.

KR: I think it doesn’t make a lot of difference. Obviously with your teammate you more or less know what he’s doing and in the race when he’s going to stop but you have to beat all of them so it’s really the same end result.

April 19, 2015
F1 2015: Bahrain Qualifying Report – Hamilton Takes First Bahrain Pole

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton has secured his first pole position around the Sakhir International circuit ahead of Sunday’s Bahrain grand prix.

The double world champion will share the front row of the grid with Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel while teammate Nico Rosberg could only manage the third fastest time. Kimi Raikkonen, in the sister Ferrari, will start alongside Rosberg in fourth. Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa will line up fifth and sixth respectively for Williams.

The earlier sessions of qualifying had its own drama’s as Jenson Button and McLaren’s miserable weekend continued with yet another stoppage. Nevertheless, teammate Fernando Alonso gave the team some reprieve as he advanced beyond the first part of qualifying. Similarly, Daniil Kvyat was unable to advance to Q2 after having suffered a difficult start to his weekend. Carlos Sainz Jr got the better of Toro Rosso teammate Max Verstappen while Lotus’ Pastor Maldonado fell at the first hurdle after suffering an engine related issue.

Photo credit Mercedes Benz AMG Petronas F1

April 18, 2015
Hamilton only just edges out Sebastian Vettel in Bahrain GP third practice

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton posted the fast time for the third and final practice session ahead of this weekend’s Bahrain GP. Hamilton’s time of 1:34.599 was only just 0.069s faster than Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel.

The day time session though, will not be entirely indicative of what will happen during qualifying and the Bahrain GP race – both of which will take place under the floodlights of the Sakhir International Circuit.

Nico Rosberg finished third fastest and Kimi Raikkonen posted the fourth best time to see Mercedes and Ferrari heading up the top of the timesheets.

The Williams drivers, who were struggling with the tailwinds on the circuit during the session, finished fifth and sixth fastest with Valterri Bottas edging out his team mate Felipe Massa.

Almost a second back, Pastor Maldonado finished in seventh place for his Lotus team with Daniel Ricciardo the only Red Bull driver in the top 10 after his team mate, Daniil Kvyat spun out at Turn 4 and beached his Red Bull in the gravel trap bringing out a brief Red Flag period. The Red Bull mechanics got him back out with 5 minutes of the session remaining and he recovered to finish in 12th place.

Nico Hulkenberg placed his Force India in ninth position and Sauber rookie Felipe Nasr continued to impress, rounding out the Top 10.

Jenson Button somehow managed to post the 11th fastest time for McLaren despite complaining throughout the session about a lack of grip and traction around the circuit.

Marcus Ericsson finished ahead of Max Verstappen who posted the 14th fastest time ahead of Sergio Perez. Alonso managed to bring his McLaren home with the 16th fastest time – beating only Sainz Jr, Romain Grosjean and the two Manor F1 drivers, Will Stevens and Roberto Mehri.

With the Ferrari drivers clearly playing amongst the Mercedes crowd and the gap between Hamilton and Vettel so super close, the scene is set for a very interesting qualifying session under the floodlights. Mercedes still seem to be on top of things, but Ferrari are breathing fire down their necks!

Join us for live chat and commentary on Twitter @F1_Madness throughout the race weekend.

Lewis Hamilton Bahrain GP FP3 Photo Credit: Mercedes AMG F1

Your full timesheet is below:

April 18, 2015
Sebastian Vettel, Sergio Perez cleared after FP2 collision

The FIA F1 Bahrain Grand Prix stewards have decided to take no further action against either Sebastian Vettel or Sergio Perez after the two drivers colllided during the second practice session ahead of this weekend’s race at the Sakhir International Circuit.

With just over ten minutes remaining in the practice session, Vettel clipped the rear tyre of Perez’s Force India while braking into Turn 1. Vettel suffered damage to his front wing and brought out a brief Red Flag. Sergio Perez had been fighting with Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson for track position.

Vettel came over the teamradio saying, “I had a failure. I had a braking failure and f**king Perez took my wing off. Unbelievable!”

After investigating both drivers for the incident the Bahrain FIA race stewards said in a statement that “No further action is warranted. As no driver was determined to be wholly or predominantly to blame, the stewards decide that no further action should be taken.”

“I came out of the garage and had a problem,” Vettel said. “I hit the brakes but suddenly there was a blow and I couldn’t brake properly. Therefore I hit Sergio Perez in the corner. Of course I’m sorry, but I couldn’t do anything else in that moment. I was looking for Sergio to say sorry, but he was still sitting in the car.”

Vettel had been seen to immediately head for the Force India garage to apologise to Perez following the incident.

April 17, 2015
Raikkonen Reprimanded for Pit Lane Incident; Hamilton off the Hook

Kimi Raikkonen has been reprimanded by the Formula One race stewards for driving in a “potentially dangerous manner” in the pit lane during the second practice session ahead of this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix.

Both Raikkonen and Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton crossed the white line indicating two lanes in the pits, and cut behind a Sauber leaving the garage. This was after a brief red flag period during the practice session.

The FIA Stewards, including Mika Salo, decided that Raikkonen had driven in an unsafe manner stating that, “The driver of car 7 drove in a potentially dangerous manner when leaving the pitlane”.

The action was found to be in contravention of Article 30.13 of the sporting regulations. The rule states that “at no time may a car be driven unnecessarily slowly, erratically or in a manner which could be deemed potentially dangerous to other drivers or any other person.”

This is Raikkonen’s first reprimand of the 2015 F1 season. Drivers who receive three reprimands will be handed a five place grid penalty.

Interestingly, there has been no word yet on any action against Lewis Hamilton. He was announced as being investigated alongside Raikkonen for the incident,

Following the session, Lewis spoke to reporters saying, “I don’t really know too much about it. The rule is that you do your starts on the left and allow people to pass on the right. I saw Kimi was kind of blocked because there was a car coming out of the garage so Kimi went around him and I followed. I just went to the right. As far as I am aware, it was legal.”

April 17, 2015
F1 2015: Bahrain GP Preview – Hamilton vs Rosberg In Bahrain

It was just about a month ago that the agonising wait for the start of the 2015 season was all but over as the Australian grand prix loomed large within touching distance of starved Formula 1 fans.

As the Bahrain grand prix approaches, a mere seven days after the third round in China, Lewis Hamilton is firmly in the lead of the driver’s championship and Mercedes still have the quickest car on the grid.

But there is much that is different about the 2015 season. The narrative has changed slightly and now includes Ferrari’s captivating turnaround. Even though the SF15-T isn’t on par with Silver Arrows it has given Mercedes something to ponder. Sebastian Vettel’s debut with the team he idolised as a youngster has gone better than he likely could have dreamed. Three podiums, including a stunning victory, have proven that 2015 may not be all about misters Hamilton and Rosberg.

It is going to take some time however for Ferrari to be genuine threat to Mercedes in all conditions, on all circuits. Kimi Raikkonen concedes that Bahrain will likely produce the same result as China but the Finn is sure that Ferrari will catch up to Mercedes. “I think we have good plans already since last year and made big gains and will make big gains during this year,” says Raikkonen. “Everybody improves and it depends what the rest are doing but we trust the way our team is working altogether and what we are doing.”(sic)

Notwithstanding the fact that Bahrain will host the first night race of the season temperatures are still expected to be appreciably higher than in China. Pirelli have brought the medium and soft compound tyre to this circuit at which the management of rear tyre degradation will be vital. The first sessions may not be indicative of true tyre performance at the circuit characteristics continue to change throughout the weekend. “A defining characteristic of Bahrain now is that tyre performance changes over the course of the weekend as we slowly edge towards afternoon sessions,” predicts Pirelli motorsport director, Paul Hembery.

Twelve months ago the Sakhir International circuit was the one and only site of a true wheel-to-wheel battle between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. It was the eventual champion, Hamilton, who got the better of his teammate in the spicy fight for supremacy in this race and the ensuing season.

It’s safe to assume that, before the season started, Rosberg would have predicted himself to be ahead of Hamilton or, at least, a very close second. On the face of it this battle appears much the same as in 2014. However, the tone of this inter-team battle is quite different and decidedly tilted to Hamilton’s advantage.

Not only has Rosberg not been able to match his reigning champion teammate he appears to have lost significant ground. It wasn’t long ago that Rosberg vowed to give Hamilton the fight of his life in 2015 but the German is yet to deliver on his boisterous declaration. Significantly, it also appears that Rosberg is losing the psychological battle and quite early on at that. The moaning about his teammate in Chinese Gp was not indicative of a driver with the mental toughness to beat his highly talented teammate.

Bahrain has been a good hunting ground for Nico Rosberg and if he is indeed serious about winning the world championship then he has to transform all of the talk into action.

April 15, 2015
Broadcast Times for the 2015 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix

The Bahrain Grand Prix is back-to-back with the Chinese Grand Prix. We here at Madness HQ really enjoy these back-to-back races. It keeps us busy and eases with withdrawal. Round 04 of the Formula 1 World Championship takes us to the Bahrain International Circuit where for the second time it will play host to the seasons first day-into-night race.

The circuit is well known to the teams, the year round warm temperatures made it a favorite test venue for the teams. The track has 15 corners in total with 2 DRS zones.

Mercedes have once again stamped their authority on the season after a completely dominant weekend by Lewis Hamilton. He took P1 in all three practice sessions, pole position in qualifying, fastest lap and race win in the race. A royal flush so to speak.

Ferrari have now cemented their place as best of the rest with Sebastian Vettel finishing P3, behind the Mercedes pair. Ferrari tried their best to manage expectations for the Chinese Grand Prix after their win in Malaysia, but the fans were hungry for the victory. It became very clear during the race on Sunday that Mercedes were just too quick for the Maranello team. Nevertheless, they are continuing with developing the car and are getting closer to Mercedes. They have not ruled out a few more wins this season.

Further down the field it looks as Renault have made an improvement with their power units which brings Red Bull back up the order. This is some good news but the team face the inevitable penalty of a power unit change as they have already used 6 of their 8 allocated power units for the season and we are just 4 races in.

Sauber are quietly going about their business and are getting good points. They are currently 4th in the Constructors Championship ahead of Red Bull and Toro Rosso.

Although they say they are making progress, McLaren are lagging at the bottom of the constructors table with no points to their name. Both McLaren drivers are towing the line and are hiding their frustrations very well at the moment. The team is making improvements throughout every race weekend. Things should get better for them once the European leg of the season begins.

Below are the television broadcast times for this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix. All times are GMT+2

Free Practice 1: Friday 13:00

Free Practice 2: Friday 17:00

Free Practice 3: Saturday 14:00

Qualifying: Saturday 17:00

Race: Sunday 17:00

April 14, 2015
2015 Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix: Sunday Press Conference

DRIVERS

1st Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

2nd Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

3rd Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

PODIUM INTERVIEWS

(Conducted by Edwin Moses)

Lewis, the gap was relatively small in the first part of the race. What happened in the second part of the race?

Lewis HAMILTON: First of all, a fantastic job by the team. It was great to have a smooth weekend, getting the sessions and really dialling in the car and today was kind of that effect of really putting the car in the place I wanted it and it was really just controlling the gap between myself and Nico and saving the tyres for when I needed to use them. I had lots left in my tyres at the end there [and] I was looking forward to eking out a gap but the safety car came out. But we’ve had such great fans here this weekend, thank you so much for the support everyone with all the big banners.

Second question would be: when the safety car came out was the comforting to you, because I know you had a significant gap at the end of the race, which was comforting?

LH: The safety car at the end wasn’t helpful, I guess for anyone, because it’s kind of an anti-climax when you have a good race like that. But naturally, as long as no-one was injured and all the cars got back safely that’s what matters.

Alright Nico, another one-two for Mercedes-Benz. As a competitor I know it’s tough being a member of a team and an individual as well. How was your race today?

Nico ROSBERG: Well, you wouldn’t know how it feels to finish second; you never did, did you! Well, that’s the way it is. I gave it everything in the end on the prime tyre to try to close the gap to Lewis and just took some risks. But it didn’t pay off because my tyres just died off in the end, so there we go, I wouldn’t have managed to get any closer.

But your tyres were good enough to keep the gap between you and Vettel that’s for sure?

NR: Yeah, definitely. We’re happy with the gap to Ferrari, having beaten them here after they beat us in Malaysia. It was very important for us as a team, a good, important comeback, so more of that for sure.

Sebastian congratulations, good to see you again. It was a tough day for you. The prediction was that Ferrari’s tyres would be perhaps superior and close in on the gap after the second pit stop?

Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah. First of all, a huge honour to have you up here. I feel a bit small. OK, I mean racing drivers are small. I think it was a good race all in all. I think we were a bit closer probably on the softer compound of tyres and we were able to put some pressure on them. We tried to put more pressure by stopping fairly early for the last set of tyres, but I think on the harder tyres they were just that bit too quick, so they were able to pull away. From there onwards we tried to control the race and bring the podium back home, which is a great success for us, very happy. Thanks to the team. Thanks back to the factory, to Maranello, and obviously to all the support here from the fans.

At the beginning of the season people were questioning whether Ferrari was going to get back on the podium. How do you feel today?

SV: Yeah, good. It’s been three out of three so far, so it feels pretty good. Obviously a big change over winter. A lot of things have changed. It’s nice. I feel really happy in the team. The guys are great, so I’m really enjoying the work and hopefully we can get a little bit closer to challenge these guys.

Thank you. One more question for you Lewis. Off to Bahrain next week. We wish we could see you at the Laureus World Sports awards, as well as Nico and of course Sebastian, as you all have been there. It started off good this year. I know you’ll be hoping that you remain… it’s better to be good then lucky! But you need luck in this event.

LH: No, of course, but as I said the team have been doing a fantastic job. We did a great job to come back from the last race where we kind of struggled a little bit. And to come here and kind of up our pace and improve, it’s all down to the guys that are here building my car and the guys back at the factory, so massively proud and happy that we could get the job done today.

Q: Lewis, many congratulations. Was the race as expected in terms of the challenge from Ferrari and, also, can you talk us through that radio message you got from the team about speeding up? Were you aware that Nico was getting so backed-up towards Sebastian Vettel?

LH: I wasn’t controlling his race, I was controlling my own race but, great race, I’m really happy. Definitely going into the race we thought it would be a lot closer and we knew the Ferraris were very, very good with their long run pace and also looking after their tyres. So, today the real goal was to manage the tyres. And, as I said, my goal was to look after my car. I had no real threat from Nico through the whole race. So, I just managed it and got to really enjoy it, to be honest. A few of the real good fun laps were the laps before the pitstop, which I really enjoyed. Ultimately it was a much smoother weekend than we had in the last race where we got the whole, full practice sessions, on my side of the garage at least. And it made a real big difference to the balance of the car for the race. So really happy, and yeah, kinda excited.

Q: Nico, can you talk us through your view of the race today. Started second, finished second but you sounded at times as though you felt at timed under a little bit of unnecessary pressure maybe?

NR: No. It’s just now interesting to hear from you, Lewis, that you were just thinking about yourself with the pace in front, and necessarily that was compromising my race. Driving slower than was maybe necessary at the beginning of stints meant that Sebastian was very close to me and that opened up the opportunity for Sebastian to try that early pitstop to try and jump me. And then I had to cover him. So, first of all it was unnecessarily close with Sebastian as a result, and also it cost me a lot of race time as a result because I had to cover him and then my tyres died at the end of the race because my stint was just so much longer. So I’m unhappy about that, of course, today. Other than that, not much to say.

Q: Lewis, would you like to respond?

LH: Not really! My job is not to… it’s not my job to look after Nico’s race. My job’s to manage the car and bring the car home as healthy and as fast as possible – and that’s what I did. I didn’t do anything intentionally to slow any of the cars up. I just was focussing on myself. If Nico wanted to get by he could have tried but he didn’t.

Q: Sebastian. You tried everything today. The undercut, everything really strategy-wise that you could. Mercedes just had a little bit too much for you today but also at the end there, Kimi was catching you. Were you worried about him catching up to you towards the end of the race as well?

SV: Not really. I think I was in control. Obviously would have liked to have kept on racing, would have been close but in the end I still had a decent gap, obviously. I guess it’s a bit similar with Kimi and myself and Nico and Lewis. Obviously I try to be very aggressive. I think it was lap 29. That meant 27 laps on the Prime and I wasn’t sure if we really should try it – but then, I guess, we wanted to put pressure on Nico, which obviously makes the last stint very long, so at the end naturally you struggle with the tyres. I think Kimi was able to stay out a bit longer and therefore was a bit quicker at the end of the stint. But we tried everything we could today. I think it was very close, especially the first pitstop. I didn’t expect it to maybe be that close, so maybe I should have pushed a bit harder on the out-lap. Obviously it’s tricky here because you always try to look after the tyres but all-in-all I think it was a very good race for us. We were really able to put again some pressure on them, especially in the beginning of the race. Towards the end I think they were just too quick. They were pulling away. Nico had a sequence of really, really quick lap times – so we couldn’t do that – but all-in-all, as I said, closer here, which is great for us, and in front of the other teams. If we keep doing that, and keep getting closer, obviously there’s a point where we are some real challenge for these guys, which I’m looking forward to.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Niu Hong Lin – China Radio International) To both Lewis and Sebastian, question about the Laureus award. Since Sebastian has won the prize last year and you’ve been nominated this year and there are a lot of histories from 2004 and 2010, so do you think all those nominations, all these years, do you think there’s a special bond between this kind of award and F1?

SV: Well, I think it doesn’t matter which sport you do, the special thing about the Laureus award is that you get judged by professionals, by sportsmen, by athletes, male and female. It’s a very unique award and it has been an incredible honour to be nominated. Obviously last year I didn’t really deserve the nomination or anything, so Lewis deserves to be nominated this year but to win the prize last year was fantastic and really something that stays with you for good, I guess. Also to have Mr Moses on the podium today – he’s really one of the top athletes in the world, ever, that the sport has seen so it was great to see him. It’s a great event, it means a lot, just the nomination already and obviously to win it, I don’t really need to comment. I guess Lewis is in that seat this year so I’m sure he’s very excited.

LH: Not really, unfortunately I’m not too excited because I know that I haven’t won it. I think it’s a great award and very very prestigious and I’m proud to just be amongst the people that have been… the great athletes that have been nominated. I’ll keep pushing so that at some stage I do get it.

Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriere della Sera) Sebastian, did you expect more performance with the new soft compound in the stint or was it the maximum you could achieve?

SV: You mean with the new tyre? Well, I think Nico was on new softs as well. I’m not sure about Lewis but I guess as well so yeah. We tried to save a set yesterday but unfortunately they did as well so I think it helped but we did all we could. Obviously it’s incredibly difficult. The closer you get, I was all the time something like 1.5s and then just before the pit stop, falling away a bit, around 1.8s-2.0s. To really get close, I tried desperately to get into the DRS (zone) but I couldn’t. Obviously it gets more and more difficult, especially with the type of corner you get here, opening onto the long straight, makes it quite tricky.

Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Lewis, did you think that this weekend you could be beaten fair and square by Ferrari or did they need something to happen to Mercedes to be beaten? And Sebastian, did you have to try something different to beat them?

LH: Well, evidently, I guess I probably did.

SV: If we could have beaten them, I wouldn’t be sitting to the left of Lewis, he would sit to the left of me so the answer is probably no and the answer to could we have done something different, I think we tried all we could. I don’t think it was in range to do a one stop or a three stop. I think both were slower. So the two stop was fairly straightforward for everyone and I think we tried to be as aggressive as we could be. Yeah, so the answer is still no, unfortunately, but as I said, very happy that we were significantly closer than four weeks ago.

Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and Speed Sport magazines) Lewis, we only hear some of the radio transmissions on the TV. We heard the team asking you to speed up a bit and nothing more. Were there further discussions and did you speed up a bit?

LH: Well, there wasn’t really a time when I wasn’t… I mean I’m out there driving as hard as I can but within the constraints of the tyres. They kept coming on the radio and asking me to pick up the pace and I’m kind of ‘well, I’m trying to manage these tyres, I’ve basically got…’It’s like you have £100 and you have to spend it wisely over your stint and I was trying to make my stint go as long as possible and whilst keeping…

SV: … how many pounds you had left at the end?

LH: I was hopefully still wealthy at the end of it.

Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Why is this circuit particularly difficult to follow another car? Why are the tyres, here, in the wake of another car, more destroyed than on other circuits?

SV: Naturally, I think always with quick corners we struggle to stay close. The corners we have leading onto the straight, the most obviously straight, the long back straight, is initially quite slow but then it gets quicker and quicker, so that makes it quite tricky to really stay close and in general, the thing is if you try to overtake someone who is just as quick as you, maybe slightly quicker or a little bit less quick, you don’t really have that much of an advantage to really stay close. You lose downforce, the tyres start to slide, which means that they start to overheat and you struggle more and more, the closer you get. That’s what makes it tricky. There’s really no difference here to other circuits, I guess.

April 12, 2015
F1 2015: Chinese GP – Hamilton Takes Control

Formula 1 is the biggest patience game you’re ever going to play. From Mercedes’ response, to Ferrari’s progress, to McLaren’s struggles, all of it requires buckets loads of determination and persistence.

Mercedes showed a bona fide champion’s mentality after being beaten at the Malaysian grand prix. As speculation about strategies, tyre performance and pace dominated the lead up to the Chinese grand prix the Mercedes F1 team always maintained a sense of calm. Yes, a possible re-think of strategy was considered but it was done in a calculated and controlled manner.

Lewis Hamilton firmly embodied these qualities as he dominated the entire race weekend. Every single session was headed by the double world champion and capped with a well measured Chinese GP victory. The race didn’t ever reach the dramatic levels of two weeks ago but Hamilton’s control of proceedings reaffirmed that Mercedes still holds a sizeable advantage over Ferrari.

The first stint of the race was a relatively close affair as the two Ferrari’s of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen were able to maintain the pace of Mercedes.

It soon became clear however that Hamilton was merely controlling his pace and seemed to have quite a bit in hand when he needed it. He emerged from the first round of pitstops with a comfortable six second gap to teammate Rosberg who had seemingly settled for second place.

Sebastian Vettel was able to apply some early pressure to Rosberg but was unable to level a real threat on second place.

Meanwhile, Kimi Raikkonen, who had made short work of both Williams drivers after qualifying sixth, exerted sustained pressure on Vettel for the final step of the podium. However, the retirement of Max Verstappen’s Toro Rosso on the main-straight dictated that the race, disappointingly, came to an end behind the safety-car.

The virtuous quality of patience was called for by Raikkonen as the Ferrari team continue to forge their way to the front of the grid. “We didn’t expect to be strong here [in China]. We’re going to get closer and we’re going to catch them at some point. We have to be patient,” said Raikkonen.

A serious amount of patience will be called for at McLaren Honda for 2015. Both Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso struggled through the weekend with balance issues, amongst others, and ultimately failed to advance beyond the first part of qualifying. It didn’t get much better in the race as both cars were lapped by Mercedes and Ferrari. The drivers are still optimistic about the long-off future of the car but you have to wonder for how much longer Button and Alonso will be happy to tow the company line of “making important progress” before they too get fed up. This certainly doesn’t mean that either driver will stop pushing but it’s the subtle difference in attitude that can have a telling effect on the entire operation. After all, just look what a change of attitude has made to the atmosphere at Ferrari.

Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa completed an anonymous run to the flag for Williams and finished a solid, but unspectacular, fifth and sixth respectively ahead of Lotus’ Romain Grosjean. Elsewhere, Max Verstappen again delivered a stonking drive through the field along with a few dicey, but scintillating overtakes. The Dutchman was on course for a fine eighth place finish until an engine failure brought an end to his race. Felipe Nasr, Daniel Ricciardo and Marcus Ericsson rounded on the top ten.

The often tense relationship between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg is not a new development given all that happened in the 2014 season. But there is a marked difference in the tension at the start of this season. For all three races Rosberg has been second-best to Hamilton and it’s starting to show in his demeanour. The German accused his teammate of deliberately driving at a slow pace so as to force him into the clutches of Vettel. He blamed Hamilton for compromising his race and aired his unhappiness at the “incident” in the post race press conference.

Whether it was deliberate ploy by Hamilton is inconsequential. He started the race with the goal of winning and achieved it. Anything that happened behind is of no significance to him.

Here’s a wild idea for next time – perhaps Rosberg could up his pace and pass the much-to-slow Hamilton. Whinging in a post-race press conference is so unbecoming.

Lewis Hamilton image credited to @MercedesAMGF1

April 12, 2015
2015 Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix: Saturday Press Conference

DRIVERS

1st Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

2nd Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

3rd Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

TV UNILATERAL

Lewis, quickest in both sessions yesterday, quickest again today in all sessions, it’s looking pretty good for you this weekend?

Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah, I think China’s continuing to be generally a good circuit for me, and a very, very positive vibe here. The car’s handling fantastically well this weekend, a lot better, in terms of the whole weekend, compared to how it was in Malaysia. At the end of the day this team continues to do an amazing job. The guys back at the factory did a great job to kind of regroup after the last race and bring some improvements for this weekend and I feel very grateful for that.

Nico, we heard you on the radio at the end there sounding frustrated. Did you think pole was there for you today?

Nico ROSBERG: Definitely, yeah. When it’s four hundredths, it’s nothing, you know. So I was frustrated, I am frustrated, yeah, because it’s so close and of course I would have wanted to have pole today.

Thank you. Sebastian, what are your hopes for taking Mercedes in the race, after what you did in Malaysia, what are your hopes for taking them in the race again tomorrow?

Sebastian VETTEL: Well, first of all, happy with today I guess. I thin it was a, yeah, different strategy we had in Q3, going only once, on a new set. Obviously these guys were a bit quicker than we expected to be honest, but yeah I think P3 was our maximum today. For tomorrow I think we should be a bit closer. How close we will find out. Definitely looking forward to going racing, and hopefully go race them tomorrow. It’s not very far to turn one, so I guess that’s fairly straightforward, but it’s a long race and tyres are very important here. Obviously we try to do well and get a lot of points.

Just back to you Lewis, what lessons were learned from Malaysia that the team has brought into this weekend?

LH: I think there are too many to mention but obviously it wasn’t the tidiest weekend for us. But more so, for me and my guys on our side of the garage, we just tried to get our full programme and fortunately we didn’t have any problems so far this weekend and that’s a big step for us. But obviously we’ve got a tough race ahead of us tomorrow. Nico’s very quick and also the Ferrari’s are very good still, with their long-run pace, so it’s not over by all means.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Lewis, this has always been a great track for you, you’ve got a good record around here – what is it about this track, do you think, that suits you so well.

LH: People keep asking me that. I don’t really know. Have you seen the banners that I have here? The support I have here’s pretty unreal. Otherwise… I don’t know. I just like the track. I guess it just naturally suits – a little bit – my driving style as opposed to other circuits for me. And one that I generally just really enjoy driving. It’s a tough circuit, it’s got a great combination of corners and the race is a good challenge.

Q: Nico, four one-hundredths of a second the difference today. You’ve had success around here as well. Where did it get away from you today, do you think?

NR: There’s not one specific place. It’s just four hundredths and that makes it even more annoying because it’s just very, very close. A lap is never 100 per cent perfect and four hundredths is really the blink of an eye nearly y’know? That makes it even more disappointing.

Q: Sebastian. Mercedes have saved a set of tyres for the race tomorrow, obviously their concern after what happened in Malaysia. How do you win this race tomorrow?

SV: I think so have we. We’ll see. I think we knew that it will be tough today in qualifying to be really, really close. I think Q1 but then especially Q2 looked quite promising. In Q3 I think it was a bit what we saw in practice, so quite a large gap. For us we’re fairly happy to make sure we are right behind them. Obviously we want to close the gap. Maybe tomorrow we are a bit closer, but for now I think we can be reasonably happy. Bit of a shame not to get both cars in the second row. As I was told, Kimi was a bit unlucky on the warm-up lap. Yeah, tomorrow’s race though, we should have good pace, so we’ll see what we can do.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Niu Hong Lin – China Radio International) Lewis, you’ve been nominated by the Laureus award and the ceremony would be on Wednesday so we do not really expect you to show up as you have a race soon after. So do you have anything to say about that, and maybe especially to Chinese fans?

LH: Definitely. I feel very proud and kind of honoured to be one of the nominees. That’s very cool. I don’t think I’ve been nominated many times if any. I think perhaps maybe one year, many many years ago, so… It’s a very prestigious event and I’ve got to witness many other great athletes win it, so I’m just grateful to be in amongst a great group and regardless of if I do or don’t win.

To the fans, they’ve been amazing. Every single year I come here… I couldn’t imagine it growing but there’s more and more people I get to see and the flags, the support is just… it’s almost like it’s my home Grand Prix, so I really do appreciate it.

Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Seb, did you chose this tyre strategy because it looked like you could have gone through on a hard set of tyres through Q1?

SV: I disagree. I think it was probably possible but very very close. If you don’t make it, you start the race tomorrow from P16 or P17, so I think that’s why we decided to do that and if I’m right, I think everybody put on the options in the first part of qualifying. I’m not sure about those two. They didn’t? Then they were just quick. Obviously we tried to save a set for tomorrow and hopefully we can be a bit closer in the race.

April 11, 2015