Welcome to a lap in Malaysia with Sahara Force India Driver Nico Hülkenberg. It’s a demanding track as you have to find the fine balance between high speed on the straights and not losing too much speed in the corners. In addition it’s perhaps one of the hottest races in the season. So you better don’t forget to drink enough.
Tag: force india
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F1 2016: Singapore Gp Review – Nail-biting Victory For Rosberg
There are twenty-three corners crammed into the Marina Bay circuit and the Singapore grand prix delivered nearly as many talking points.
Nico Rosberg dominated Saturday qualifying while Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo beat an off-colour Lewis Hamilton to the front row of the grid. It was a weekend in which Hamilton never looked comfortable or close to matching the pace of his teammate. He had no reason for it either, choosing to say that it just didn’t come together at the important moments.
Haas F1’s Romain Grosjean never made it to the start of the race as he suffered a brake-by-wire failure and start-line incident ended Nico Hulkenberg’s race in a shower of carbon fibre before it even began. The Hulkenberg crash demanded a short safety-car period but because it was at the start of the race it had no impact on the race.
Nico Rosberg, who had a clean getaway from the line, re-started the race with Ricciardo, Hamilton and Raikkonen in close attendance. The Red Bull driver was able to keep the Mercedes of Rosberg honest with a gap of four seconds while Hamilton came under increasing pressure from Raikkonen in the Ferrari.
The dominance of Mercedes over the last while often disguises what finely tuned machines they are and just how much they flirt with the edge at most races. In Singapore both Rosberg and Hamilton were required to manage their brakes from early on. This and relenting pressure from Raikkonen forced Hamilton into a mistake that allowed the Finnish Ferrari driver to pull off a great overtake for third.By the second round of pitstops Rosberg still held an advantage over Ricciardo while Raikkonen was holding off Hamilton for third. However, Mercedes opted to switch Hamilton to Plan B, which meant an extra stop. Ferrari opted to cover Mercedes and Raikkonen dropped to fourth behind Hamilton. The mistake however wasn’t that Ferrari covered the Hamilton pitstop but the fact that they reacted too late. Had the pitted Raikkonen a lap earlier, or even on the same lap as Hamilton, he would’ve emerged in third place. But when a team is reacting rather than pre-empting you end up with a season, which, for Ferrari, has been littered with strategic errors.
While Rosberg stayed out Red Bull brought Ricciardo in for a fresh set of boots. The Aussie closed down a 26 second gap to the race leader but ultimately fell an agonizing 4 tenths of a second short. Behind Hamilton and Raikkonen Sebastian Vettel earned the driver-of-the-day tag by recovering from last to fifth overall. Max Verstappen finished sixth ahead of Fernando Alonso in seventh. Force India’s Sergio Perez finished eighth ahead of Daniil Kvyat in ninth and Renault’s Kevin Magnussen in tenth.
Since being demoted from the Red Bull team Kvyat has been missing in action and has often appeared demoralized after races. But the Singapore Gp felt like a turning point for him as he shone in a feisty battle with Verstappen, the man who took his place at Red Bull. F1 isn’t like other sports where you can glean information from an athlete’s body language or facial expression in the heat of battle. But as Kvyat fought tooth and nail against Verstappen, and kept him behind, the pride and passion were evident and very much welcome.In the last few weeks Nico Rosberg has accomplished something he’s never done before. He has taken first-time victories in Belgium, Italy, and Singapore. He heads the table by eight points with six race remaining. If he carries his methodical approach through the remainder of the season, and doesn’t slip against Hamilton, he could accomplish something else he’s never done before, the driver’s world title.
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Perez Handed 8-Place Grid Penalty
Force India’s Sergio Perez was handed a cumulative 8-place grid penalty for two incidents, both for ignoring yellow flags during Q2 for the Singapore Grand Prix at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.
The first incident was when Romain Grosjean crashed his Haas into Turn 9. Perez, who was on a flying lap, failed to slow down for the double waved yellow’s that were out in the section of the track. The stewards found that Perez had failed to slow down approaching Turns 9 and 10 and was in breach of Article 2.4.51. (b) of the FIA International Sporting Code.
“The driver of car 11 failed to reduce his speed significantly and be prepared to change direction or stop as required under Art 2.4.5.1(b) when double yellow flags were being waved at both Turns9 and 10,” said the stewards in a statement.
“The stewards took into consideration the fact that driver had two corners in which to slow down significantly and failed to do so and both of which were blind corners (including one where the accident had taken place and where the damaged car was still in the barriers) and where the driver would not have known if the track had a hazard wholly or partly blocking the track and/or marshals working on or beside the track”
The Mexican was handed a 5-place grid drop and three penalty points on his super license for the incident.
The second incident was when he passes Esteban Gutierrez under yellow flags after Jenson Button had stopped on track at the end of Q2 at Turn 16.
Perez was handed a further 3-place grid penalty.
After qualifying in 10th Perez will now start from 18th on the grid.
Photo credit: Sahara Force India Formula One Team
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2016 Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference
DRIVERS – Marcus ERICSSON (Sauber), Felipe NASR (Sauber), Jolyon PALMER (Renault), Sergio PEREZ (Force India), Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing), Valtteri BOTTAS (Williams)
PRESS CONFERENCE
Congratulations on your marriage last week. While your private life is settled, clearly you will be looking for a new partner in a professional sense next year, as a team-mate at Williams. What kind of driver would suit, a rookie or someone more experienced?
Valtteri BOTTAS: Thank you very much. The one thing is it is a fact that I’m going to have a new team-mate next year and it’s still not obviously confirmed if I will be with Williams or not, but yeah, new team-mate and I’ve always said and that’s how I feel, the quicker team-mate you have, it doesn’t matter who it is, as long as he’s quick it always boosts the performance of both drivers and helps the team, so that’s always good. And a team player would be nice, but obviously I have nothing to do with choosing the team-mate, it’s completely up to the team who I will be racing with so I hope everything’s OK.
The battle with Force India in the championship is very tight: they were ahead on points, you moved back ahead after Monza. Where do you think your relative strengths lie as teams?
VB: I think it’s going to be a great battle between us and Force India, we been have really close the last six races, really depending on the track; some tracks they have their strong points and some places us. So I think overall we are very, very equal in terms of how quick the cars are so it will be just depending race by race and trying to maximise everything, getting the strategy right every time and having a good qualifying, trying to be ahead of them. I’m looking forward to the end of the year and it’s going to be a good fight.
Marcus, coming to you: congratulations, 50th GP start this weekend, only 4th Swede to make that mark. Sauber is now hiring again, some solid signings the last few weeks, how is the team evolving??
Marcus ERICSSON: Thanks a lot. Yeah, 50 sounds like a lot of race, but it’s nice. With the team I think we are definitely moving in the right direction. Like you say, we got some new signings, new personnel in the team, and it’s good, with fresh ideas, it’s positive for everyone I think. Also on the car side we got some updates going in the last couple of races and it’s interesting, we’re trying them out, trying to optimise them, and coming here to Singapore will also be very interesting for us because it will be the first time we really run the full new package we have introduced after the summer break, so it will be a very interesting weekend for us to see how far it gets us really.
What weaknesses were you working on with that update package and what are you expecting this weekend from the sort of test that Singapore provides?
ME: I think for sure it’s just general downforce that we have been lacking and hopefully from the signs we have got so far is that we have gained quite a bit on that side. Like I said, it’s been both Monza and Spa, the last two races that we have had this package; it’s not been high downforce tracks. It’s a bit of an unknown, so hopefully here in Singapore it’s obviously a very high downforce track so we will see then how this update package is working.
Felipe, coming to you: In points here last year. It’s always a complex race strategy wise as Valtteri was alluding to earlier on, but with three different tyre options this season, how do you see the variables playing out, Saturday and Sunday?
Felipe NASR: Well, yes it is, it’s normally a very challenging track, very demanding for both the car and the drivers and I feel the tyres will play a big part on it this weekend, you know having such softer compounds. I will be curious to see how many stops will be going in the race and I think the key really is to understand the tyres, how much you can make them last, understand how the car is reacting on track, with the temperatures here being very high. So it’s always a challenging weekend and Singapore always brings some surprises in terms of the racing always being exciting. A lot of things can happen so hopefully we are in a position to take any profit.
The driver market is in gear now, you’ve been linked with a possible move to Williams, there may be openings at Renault, obviously Sauber has had investment. What’s your personal objective regarding next season??
FN: Well, it’s difficult to say. Right now I don’t have any news. Hopefully soon but right now I don’t have much to say realty. All I can say, at Sauber things are moving forward. I can see the team really stepping up a lot of new people coming in, so as I said, it’s still a very attractive place to be, but it’s still and unknown. Hopefully when I have some news I’ll bring it in.
OK, thank you very much for that. Sergio, 23-race finishing streak, scored points in all five of your appearances here in Singapore. What do you like about Singapore and do you see this as a weekend where you’ll get the edge back over Williams?
Sergio PEREZ: Yeah well, that’s the target coming here. We obviously want to close up the gap. We lost out in the battle last race. We knew they were going to he strong there, so hopefully here we can close up and hopefully beat them. Singapore is a great place, it’s a very unique race, starting from racing at night, the way you get your routine; it’s totally different to any other race, waking up so late, going to bed also. Yesterday I was running at the track at 1am in the morning. Things like that are just not common in any other race. Also, the track is a very big challenge – mentally, physically, it’s just very difficult to finish the race, not having a contact or a crash. So it’s always important to make it until the end of the race. So hopefully I can keep my good score in Singapore with the points on Sunday.
You seem to hold the key to the driver market at present. Force India say you are definitely with them next year, when will we know for sure your plans for 2017?
SP: Well, I tried. I was hoping to be able to be in a position to announce my plans for this weekend. Obviously we got some delays. But I really hope that bef0re the next race we can definitely announce where I’ll be racing.
Any little hints?
SP: Well, I always say I’ll be very happy if I can stay, if everything is fine for me to stay where I am.
Jolyon, you won GP2 feature race here in 2013 and you’ve outqualified your team-mate Magnussen in 3 of the last 4 races, do you feel it’s an important moment to show what you can do with an eye on securing a seat for next season?
Jolyon PALMER: I think so, yeah. Still obviously the seats are in doubt, or up for grabs, so every race from now on is a chance to show what I can do. It’s a track I really like here and I feel like I’m driving the best I’ve driven all season at the moment. The results haven’t really shown in the last couple of races but I feel good within myself. Yeah, it’s a track I really like, I’ve had some good success here before, so hopefully keep on the good form at the moment and I think this one will suit our car a little bit more as well. Hopefully we will be able to challenge a little bit higher and I can show what I can do a bit more.
That leads on to my next question: Renault have been rather erratic in qualifying, between row seven and row 11 of the grid depending on which race track, so is this more of a row seven weekend than a row 11 weekend?
JP: I think it’s more of a row seven. Row 11, Monza was pretty much everything that we don’t want from a track. It was high speeds; Renault has made good steps with the engine but we’re still behind Ferrari and Mercedes, and then slow-speed corners and kerb riding, so it was everything we don’t want. Here, the straight-line speed is not so much; the corners are more suited to us. Even though it’s a street circuit, it’s reasonably smooth, so I think this could be one of our best of the year.
Coming to you Daniel: twice on the podium here, front-row starter last year and Monaco pole sitter this year, that adds up to making you many people’s favourite for this weekend, Do you share that view?
Daniel RICCIARDO: I think I’ve got a pretty good chance of the top 10, absolutely. That’s about it.
Come on, you can do better than that!
DR: I hope so, but top 10 is pretty safe you’d think.
The narrative for this weekend seems to be a chance to put right what went wrong in Monaco, to take the win that was snatched from you in the Principality, do you have a sense of unfinished business and are you asking the team for perfect execution this weekend?
DR: It’s obviously the next closest track to Monaco, so sure we look at it as a good chance to try to get the victory I’ve been after this season. With the team, since Monaco, a lot of things have been working better, in terms of I think we’ve executed a lot more on a Sunday and I’ve left Sundays feeling a lot happier the last handful of races, so that’s been good on both sides. I feel I have executed as well good things on Sunday. Let’s see. I’m not going to put too much pressure on myself or them for this weekend but I think deep down we obviously want to win. I believe we are a group of winners, so if there is a bit of pressure on us to get it done then I think we will thrive off that. Let’s see what happens. I’m definitely prepared and excited. I don’t know what I’m paying for a top 10, but it’s safe money.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Luis Vasconcelos – Formula Press) Question for Valtteri, Monza was supposed to be a very good circuit for your car – and it was, you could compete with Red Bull. This, on the other hand, shouldn’t be as good, so what are the expectations for this weekend?
VB: Yeah, definitely. Monza was a lot better than what we’ve seen in the few races before that with high speed circuits really suiting our car. Definitely had Red Bull had a bit of an upper hand but definitely we could keep them behind for quite a long time. And yeah, this is a completely different circuit. You need so much more downforce from the car, you need good mechanical grip, you need good tyre life. Last year it wasn’t too bad for us actually, coming to the weekend slightly carefully but then ending up fifth in the race with reasonable pace all weekend. So I think there are still good opportunities here, even though it’s maybe in theory the best – but I always see every weekend as a new opportunity, especially here where with a good qualifying, and if we can get a perfect strategy, very strong points are still possible.
Q: (Wojciech Paprota – Swiatwyscigow.pl) Question to all of the drivers, a simple one. Do you think it’s the hardest race of the calendar?
ME: Definitely. I think it’s for sure the hardest race of the year. It’s probably similar heat and humidity to Malaysia but just the fact it’s a street circuit and not many places to rest makes it the hardest one. But I like it, it’s a good challenge and you need to be really on top of your fitness. For me it’s the toughest – but it’s also one of the most enjoyable.
Jolyon?
JP: I’ve never raced it in Formula One but in GP2 it was hard. It was the hardest of the year in that so I believe these guys – I’m sure they’re all going to say it’s the hardest.
Felipe?
FN: I agree. I think it’s an amazing event. Night race, very demanding as I said, for both car and driver. Really it’s an endless track, you’re just doing corner by corner and to get everything precisely correct, it’s a challenge. The race itself, normally it brings a lot of surprises here so I’m looking forward to the weekend, as I said, we’ve been fighting to get, to sneak into those points, so why not this weekend? Let’s try it again.
Valtteri, you find this the toughest?
VB: It is, at least physically at least it is the toughest. Mentally, I think it feels a bit like Monaco. It’s very intense and needs to be zero mistakes during the race.
Daniel, bit of tiredness, fatigue coming in, affecting concentration towards the end? Always a bit of an enemy there I guess?
DR: Yeah, when you’re a high performance athlete… it is, it’s the toughest, sure. I think they touched on it, it’s similar heat and humidity to Malaysia but you’re surrounded by just the city and a lot of concrete, so it’s the one race I feel where you open your visor to get some air and you’re not getting any reward for that. It’s just heat and stale air. In Malaysia there’s a bit of circulation: even though it’s hot you get a bit of a breeze but here, no. It’s a track that you can’t… if you come here unprepared, then you can’t luck into a good result. You’ve got to come ready to go.
Sergio?
SP: I don’t feel the heat at all! I think it’s just a normal race. No, just kidding. I think it’s a really hard race out there. The last ten laps, twenty laps, you’re really praying for a safety car because it’s just really hard to finish the race, physically. And mentally as well. Mentally it’s a very big challenge because every corner, most of the corners, if you do a mistake you just touch the wall and it’s a puncture or something like that. I would say for me it’s definitely the most demanding race of the year.
Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / Speed Sport) Daniel, the last couple of times on the podium you’ve poured the sparkling wine into your shoe and drank it. What’s the background for all that?
DR: I didn’t start it! Well, as far as I know I started it in Formula One but not worldwide. It was a few loose Aussies, from what I saw, the Mad Hueys, they’re surfies and fisherman and just loose guys, they travel the world fishing, surfing and whatever and they like to drink a bit of beer and whatnot, and that’s where the shoey began. On their travels they’d get people to do it as well and it’s just a bit of a laugh. I know Jack Miller knows a few of the guys from the Mad Hueys, so when he got his win in Assen, I suspected he was going to do it, and he did, so I thought I’d keep the Australian tradition going – and now Valentino’s got in on the mix, I saw he Instagrammed it yesterday and he said “everyone loves a shoey”, and “delicious”, and all that. A few words I used for it. I think it’s just a bit of fun now – everyone’s enjoying it.
VB: How does it taste?
DR: Honestly, if the sparkling wine is cold, then it tastes good. Normally it’s cold on the podium, if it’s warm then sure, you’d get the sweat and that through it – but the cold taste kills the bad stuff, so it’s delicious, as we said!
So we can expect a shoe on Sunday if you win?
DR: If I win, sure! If it’s just a second or third probably not now. For a victory, I’d expect to see a few people do it with me!
Q: (Chris Lines – AP) Question for Dan, bit different tyre strategy between Red Bull and Ferrari this weekend in terms of allocation of super soft and ultra soft. Do you think the tyre strategy will be the key factor here or will there be something else?
DR: I think it can maybe decide a few things, whether it’s on Sunday I’m not sure, obviously we’ve got freedom to use any of those tyres during practice. Maybe us or Ferrari for example, will change our practice runs now and use a different compound to try and have something similar for the race – but yeah, it can, here because it’s so hot, the tyres do normally get a hard time and it’s low speed corners, a lot of traction and the rears can get a hard time for sure so I think if you’ve got too many softer compounds, you might run into a bit of trouble in the race but we’ll see. It’s been quite exciting this year, being able to use three compounds over a weekend and having been forced to choose them months in advance. Sure, if we could have picked the tyres this week, we all probably would have done something different. It’s a bit more of a lottery, makes it exciting and makes our practice runs perhaps a little bit more calculated.
Q: (David Croft – Sky Sports F1) Obviously since Monza, gentlemen, some quite seismic news in Formula One, new commercial rights holders, new owners in Liberty Media. As drivers, you keep saying that you’d quite like to have more of an input in the sport so if the new owners came to you and said what would you like to see in the future, to maybe make the sport better, to put a bigger smile on your faces, what would your advice be to them?
SP: I think I would love to see Formula One a lot closer, the competition a lot closer, closer teams, giving the midfield teams the opportunity to be capable of winning a race, fighting for titles. I think that would be just something great for the fans to see one race Williams on top, another race another team, that would just be very good and for that you need to change the system, how you divide the money because there’s obviously a massive difference, so I think that would be a very good thing for the sport.
DR: Nothing springs to mind; obviously we always talk about bits and pieces but nothing, I guess, that anyone’s heard before. Saturday races, like a Saturday race as opposed to Sunday, just so we can plan a bigger night on Saturday. That would be good fun!
VB: Yeah, I think we need to see first of all how next year is going to be with all the changes already fixed for next year with the new cars, bigger tyres, more grip. I think we need to see how it goes then.
FN: I would say a bit of what they have already said I agree with but I think the most important thing is to see closer competition between the cars, I think that’s what I hear from people or from fans – they always like to see more fighting on track between car, between teams. I think the closing line is what were looking for but also next year we have a big change in terms of the cars being different. I think everything will be a bit more aggressive in terms of the racing itself so let’s wait and see how it goes and we’ll take it from there.
JP: Yeah, I would agree with these guys. I think the main thing is closer competition. At the moment, we turn up for a weekend and we pretty much know maybe it’s two, four, maximum six drivers can win the race but it would be nice to turn up here and think maybe, you know, Williams can win or maybe Force India or maybe someone can put in a big surprise. I think that’s the biggest thing which would change a lot of fan involvement and make it a lot more interesting to watch.
ME: Not much to add, I agree with these guys: closer competition throughout the grid and more teams getting involved in race wins and podiums. I think that will make a big difference for the attraction to fans. That would be the biggest thing for me.
Q: (Luis Vasconcelos – Formula Press) For the three drivers in the back row: not so long ago, you were fighting for championships and winning them and fighting for victories but you get to two thirds of this season and you have no points probably for the first time in your careers. Does that play a little bit on your mind when you go into a race weekend and how do you cope with it?
FN: Well, I guess I’m experienced at this. Last year I had plenty of opportunities to score points and it’s very rewarding when you can come into a weekend knowing that you have something to fight for. As I said, most of it is the reward you get back but coming to this year, you’re facing a lot more difficulties but on the other hand, you try to explore areas that you’re not really giving a hundred percent attention to so I think that as a driver I feel a lot more complete this year. Any opportunity counts so when it comes to a race weekend like this in Singapore, we know that there are a number of facts that happen in the race, you must be ready because they can come any time so let’s see. Three of us here, we don’t have a point so let’s see who gets it first, if we can…
JP: I’m not massively focused on it. Of course I want to score points but if we don’t have the car to score points then there’s nothing we can really do. I’m focused on my own job, basically doing the best job I can with the machinery I’ve got. The last two races have been quite difficult. Hungary was the better chance to score, I think this one will be a better chance to score but I think for me it’s all about improving as a driver, doing the best job I can with the machinery I’ve got and then I’m sure… I know in the future Renault will be fighting for points. If I can do a good job with what I’ve got at the moment, then the points will come further down the line.
ME: Yeah, of course it’s different to when we were in junior categories like I said, fighting for wins every weekend or at least aiming for them. Now it’s different. When you’re in a smaller team and you know you’re going into a weekend when even scoring points is a big challenge – it’s a different mindset but it’s something you have to accept and that’s how it is in Formula One. I think it’s always been like that as well, that different teams have different strengths so you need to accept that and try and maximise the car that you’ve got and that’s all you can do, focusing a lot on your own performance and maybe not look so much at the results because it’s more important to try and maximise what you’ve got. But of course, it’s a lot nicer if you can fight for points.
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, you have scored only 26 points from the last seven races since Canada; what number of points would have satisfied you from the last seven races?
VB: Yeah, it’s not quite as many as I was hoping for after being on the podium in Canada but it is what it is at the moment. I can’t say the exact number of points but the absolute maximum we can… I hope as a team we can leave every single race weekend at the end of the year feeling that we maximised the weekend, that we got everything out of it and the same for me personally. As a driver, that’s the main thing and hopefully that way we will be ahead of these guys (Force India).
Q: (S. Dipak Ragav – The Hindu) Sergio, for the last two years, Force India have had a slow start to the season. Do you think it’s a concern for you, going into the next year with the regulations? And the second part of my question is if Force India finishes fourth, do you think it has the ability, in terms of resources and infrastructure, to take the leap to beat the top three like Red Bull did in 2008, 2009?
SP: Yes, I think the team, especially this season, now that the rules are more consistent, I think we started with a competitive car. We just needed to figure out some set-up options on the car to improve the tyre degradation but the car straight away in qualifying was capable of achieving Q3s in the early part of the year so that makes a good difference. And when you look at the past, when we had the massive regulation change for 2014, on my third race I was on the podium for the team, so it shows that Force India is capable of adapting well to new regulations so I think we have the potential to do so. I believe that we are going to be in front of them (Williams) at the end of the year so I really hope that we move up and hopefully next year we can do another step forward which is going to be very tough. Now you’re fighting Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes, so it’s going to be very tough but I fully believe in the team and I think if we manage to finish fourth it will be a massive bonus for everyone in the team.
Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Jolyon, have you been given any indication by Renault when you’ll get a decision for next year?
JP: No, nothing yet, so yeah, nothing changes for me really: just keep doing the job, I’ll know when I know but yeah, if I just keep doing what I’m doing. I know I’m in the mix but we’ll just see how things pan out.
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F1 2016: Singapore Gp Preview – Spectacular Singapore
The Formula 1 paddock leaves Europe behind as it sets off the final push for the 2016 season. First on the flyaway schedule is the Marina Bay Circuit in Singapore.
As the first ever night race on the calendar the 2008 debut of the Singapore grand prix will forever be shrouded in controversy. It was during this grand prix that the infamous ‘crashgate’ scandal was born as Renault ordered then driver Nelson Piquet Jr. to deliberately crash in aid of teammate Fernando Alonso.
Luckily this incident didn’t mar the reputation of the Singapore Gp which has become a favourite on the calendar for drivers and fans. For fans the spectacular vista of Singapore presents a cosmopolitan destination while the novelty of a night race hasn’t yet worn off. The light skimming across the sculpted bodywork of a Formula 1 car continues to be one of the most visceral experiences of the year.
For the drivers, the Marina Bay Circuit is as a demanding a track as they are likely to face in the entire season. In layman’s terms this circuit would be described as busy. Throughout just five kilometers drivers are bombarded with 23 corners with barriers and walls lying in wait to punish the smallest of errors. The level of concentration required is second to none along with the added factor of weather conditions. Though are supremely fit athletes drivers easily point out that the level of concentration required and the dense humidity make Singapore the most physically demanding race of the year.
It’s not a dawdle for the cars either. The nature of this street circuit demands a high downforce setup and it’s tough on brakes too. Here horsepower isn’t as important as a good chassis, which will bring more teams into the mix for the ultimate prize on Sunday.Twelve months ago Mercedes arrived at the Singapore grand prix with the expectation of fighting it out for the front row and ultimately the win. This expectation was completely decimated as both Hamilton and Rosberg struggled through the weekend. While Hamilton eventually retired from the race Rosberg could only manage a distant fourth.
At the time several conspiracy theories swirled around Mercedes sudden loss of pace but in reality it was a change in tyre pressures that stumped Hamilton and Rosberg twelve months ago. While the team is likely to have solved this issue for 2016 victory this weekend isn’t a done deal.
The biggest challenge for the top step of the podium is sure to come from Red Bull. The Austrian team should excel this weekend given its aerodynamic prowess. Ferrari too will have an eye on a better performance, as it was Sebastian Vettel who won the 2015 Singapore Gp. However, despite the fact that Vettel is a bit of a Singapore specialist the 2016 Ferrari isn’t quite the car the team delivered last year.Mercedes has utterly dominated the 2016 season but despite this, and however preposterous it may appear, Red Bull will be the team to beat this weekend.
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F1 2016: Italian Gp Review – Rosberg Romps to Italian Win
When Lewis Hamilton secured pole position on Saturday by half a second over his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg looked a beaten man. But little did he know that he would be gifted the lead of the Italian grand prix mere seconds after the red lights went out.
A mistake from Hamilton on the starting grid dropped him down to sixth and presented Rosberg the perfect opportunity to make it two wins in two weeks. Hamilton’s trouble promoted the Ferrari’s of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen into second and third but the red cars weren’t a match for Rosberg’s Mercedes.
As Rosberg strolled to career victory number 21 Hamilton recovered to second overall. The two Ferraris ran a two-stop strategy, as opposed to Mercedes’ one-stop, and put on a descent show for the Tifosi. Though they were never in contention their third and fourth place finishes were not as far off Mercedes as many feared it would be. Both drivers reported that the engine upgrade introduced in Italy worked well.
Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo pulled off a stunning move into turn one on Williams’ Valtteri Bottas finish fifth. It was a weekend of damage limitation for Red Bull on a circuit where it always going to be difficult for the Renault engine to stand up to the Mercedes and Ferrari. Valtteri Bottas delivered solid points for Williams in sixth while the second Red Bull of Max Verstappen came home in seventh. Force India’s Sergio Perez had a quiet afternoon, which eventually netted him eighth place. Felipe Massa, who announced that he would be retiring at the end of the 2016 season, scored two points in ninth ahead of Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India in tenth.
Though it didn’t deliver a spectacular result the Italian Gp proved vital for Williams. The sixth and ninth place finishes by Bottas and Massa has allowed Williams to take back into fourth in the constructor’s standings from Force India. This battle is likely to endure for the remainder of the season and has serious financial rewards for whichever teams comes out on top. Jenson Button, who will be taking a sabbatical in 2017, finished twelfth while teammate Fernando Alonso was fourteenth.
Rosberg’s first Italian Gp win puts him only two points off the championship lead. Rosberg remarked in a post-race interview that the battle between himself and Hamilton will carry on for the rest of the season. Rosberg has done a perfect job since the summer break and, as it stands the battle has been as close as it’s ever been on points. But it’s on the track where we are still waiting to see that wheel-to-wheel battle between the two championship contenders.The 2016 Italian grand prix wasn’t the most exciting in recent memory. However, the scene from the podium, which stretches partly onto the start/finish straight, was something to behold. For as far as the eye could see were adoring racing fans waving their flags, cheering their favourites, and sharing their passion for this sport. That is why Monza can never be left off any F1 calendar.
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F1 2016: Belgium GP Review – Chaos and Calm of Spa
The 2016 Belgian grand prix may have had a familiar victor at the end of its 44 laps but little else was as predictable as Nico Rosberg on the top step of the podium.
The German Mercedes driver was in prime position after securing pole while teammate Lewis Hamilton was confined to the back of the grid after accruing several dozen penalties for a litany of power unit changes.
Rosberg made the most of his starting position to lead into turn one while chaos erupted behind him. The start was going well for Kimi Raikkonen who started third in the Ferrari enabling him to challenge front row starter Max Verstappen for his second place. But it transformed into a shower of carbon fibre moments later as Sebastian Vettel attempted to drive around the outside of both Verstappen and Raikkonen and made contact with his teammate. It was a daft move from the four-time champion, which utterly devastated Ferrari’s afternoon.
There is an argument that Verstappen was the culprit in this incident as he positioned his car inside of Raikkonen into turn one. But given Raikkonen’s vast experience as exceptional spatial awareness he would’ve recognized the Red Bull on his inside and opened his steering to avoid a coming together. But he was unable to do so with Vettel turning into him from the other side. While Ferrari has experienced several unfortunate and uncontrollable reliability incidents throughout the year their own hand has inexcusably exacerbated it.
The race had just begun to settle down as Renault’s Kevin Magnussen lost control at the top of Eau Rouge and slammed into the barrier with an enormous impact. The Danish driver exited the cockpit of his car only with a slight limp that was later confirmed as a cut to his ankle. The crash displaced the tyre-wall, which prompted race director Charlie Whiting to red flag the race in for repairs to take place.By this stage, and after the carnage of the first few laps, Hamilton had made his way through the field to fifth behind McLaren’s Fernando Alonso in fourth. The red flag meant that Raikkonen and Verstappen’s damaged cars could receive much needed attention in the pitlane and all drivers could made adjustments if so inclined. While Verstappen received a new front-wing Raikkonen’s engineers were frantically trying to fix the plank underneath his car by bonding it with duct tape.
The race resumed with Rosberg in the lead and Daniel Ricciardo in second. The Red Bull driver was able to keep the Merc honest for the majority of the race but eventually finished second, 14 seconds adrift. Miraculously, Hamilton had worked his way up to third by the time the flag dropped. While Rosberg may have taken the honours on Sunday Hamilton should be over the moon with his performance. Not only does he still hold a 9-point lead in the standings but the Brit now also has the advantage of three new engines for the remainder of the season.
Nico Hulkenberg completed an impressive day for Force India with fourth while Perez finished fifth ahead of a recovering Sebastian Vettel in sixth. Fernando Alonso ran an impressive race for McLaren to finish seventh ahead of Williams driver Valtteri Bottas in eighth. After being a lap down before the red flag Raikkonen was able to recover to ninth ahead of Felipe Massa in tenth.The Formula 1 paddock crosses the Belgian border to Northern Italy for one of the most passionate races on the calendar at Monza. Ferrari’s recent form doesn’t provide much hope for their ardent Tifosi but an engine upgrade for the most power-hungry circuit on the calendar could provide a boost.
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2016 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix: Friday Press Conference
EAM REPRESENTATIVES – Christian HORNER (Red Bull Racing), Claire WILLIAMS (Williams), Monisha KALTENBORN (Sauber), Eric BOULLIER (McLaren), Frédéric VASSEUR (Renault), Robert FERNLEY (Force India)
PRESS CONFERENCE
Eric, if we could start with you please. Let’s start by talking about the updated power unit you’re running in both cars this weekend. Where is it better than the old one and do you have any further reliability worries after what happened to Alonso this morning?
Eric BOULLIER: As whole it’s very easy to understand. The first is engine power from the ICE and obviously the power recovery you can get from the turbo and the MGU-H. So on that [Honda] did a brilliant job to improve both compounds, let’s say, on both systems. In terms of reliability, no, we don’t have any concerns. It was a small issue, which cost us a full power unit this morning and the session but you could see in practice two both cars ran faultlessly, so I think it’s far?
Can you put a number on the lap time gain you’ve found with this power unit?
EB: Yes I can, but I will not share it with you!
We’ve seen former motorsport director of Volkswagen Jost Capito with McLaren this weekend. When does he start with the team and can you explain to us where he’ll fit into the current management structure?
EB: Yeah, it’s very easy. He’s going to start very soon; it’s a question of days. He is here this weekend as an observer, that’s why he’s not wearing any team uniform. He’s going to be CEO of McLaren Racing, so chief executive officer.
Thank you, Eric. Claire if we could move onto you. I’d like to start by talking about drivers. Your technical boss Pat Symonds was quoted recently as saying that Williams is ready to sign a top driver. Now, one of the interpretations of that is that you don’t currently have a top driver, do you agree with him?
Claire WILLIAMS: I think actually Pat’s comments in that article that came out over shutdown were comments that were made in January, so it’s quite odd that they are now brought out. But Pat, when he was making those comments, was making a reference to one particular driver. It was not in reference to our current two. I think as we have said very clearly we are very happy with the job Felipe and Valtteri have done for us. I know everybody is waiting for our announcement now that lots of other teams have made theirs, but we are not ready to announce our line-up for ‘17 yet but we are working through all our options but I hope we will be able to make that announcement shortly.
When do you think we will get an announcement from you?
CW: By the end of the year.
OK. Moving on to Spa: this is a track where you have traditionally been very strong, although you seemed to have a few issues this afternoon, just 16th and 17th fastest. How confident are you of a good result this weekend?
CW: I think after our performance in the past few races where we expected the circuits to suit our car, it wasn’t the case for a number of reasons. We’ve obviously been working hard to try to analyse where we are going wrong and it is really frustrating fro the team and we do have a really tough battle with Force India at the moment – we don’t want them to take our fourth in the championship. It’s going to be another tough weekend, as much as this circuit does suit our care, but there are also elements of it that don’t. So I don’t know. After today’s performance, where we’re finishing 16th and 17th, we obviously had some issues, I’m not entirely sure where we are going to finish on Sunday but I certainly hope it’s in the points.
OK thank you Claire. Bob, Force India is another team that has a very good record here and things clearly going very well for you so far – third and fifth quickest this afternoon. You’re quick here today, do you have Williams in your sights, do you think you can beat them this weekend and what about the Constructors’ Championship?
Robert FERNLEY: Well, I think we’d like to beat them, but I think you have to look at it that probably Spa and Monza are going to be quite critical races, because as you rightly said earlier, they do tend to favour Williams. So, at the end of Monza we need to look at where the situation is and whether we’ve got ‘game on’ for a hard fight until the end of the season. I think these two races are quite critical because historically and on normal expectations you’d expect Williams to be stronger.
Let’s talk about drivers as well. Vijay Mallya said at the British Grand Prix that both Nico and Checo are under contract for 2017 but Checo has said that he’d make a decision after the summer break. Has he done that?
RF: Well first of all both Checo and Nico are both under contract and that’s the normal way you would work as obviously we need continuity in the drivers, we’d very much like to keep the two together, but with Checo come highly sophisticated and complex commercial negotiations and those obviously have got to play their part as well. But that can only come after we’ve secured the two drivers in the first place. That’s the process we’re under now and I would be very surprised if we’re not staying with the two drivers in 2017.
Fred, coming to you, your driver situation is equally fluid, so when do you expect to make a decision for next year?
Frédéric VASSEUR: Quite similar to Claire, before the end of the year. We are not under pressure to take a decision. We will take a decision in the next few weeks or months.
Are drivers for 2017 a priority for you or is it more important to get the technical structure of the team sorted?
FV: Drivers is the priority for everybody, you can’t race without being concerned by the drivers. [Remainder of answer inaudible]
What is the likelihood of Esteban Ocon coming back to you for next year as a race driver, because he’s done some FP1 sessions for you this year, he’s now gone to Manor. Is he a possible for next season for you?
FV: It is possible. Don’t worry we will take a decision soon.
Q: Monisha, like Renault, Sauber are rebuilding. Now that you’ve had new investment, what is the plan for the rebuilding? Is there a timeline?
Monisha KALTENBORN: Well, you want to do things as quickly as you can because we still have to achieve a few things this year and there are not than many races left. At the same time, we have such a big change coming up for next year where you also really don’t want to lose time, and get on straight away to that year. We are already in that process but now, with the new ownership we have, the trust we’ve been given, we are of course on a very different basis. Simultaneously and very quickly we have to look at the technical structures, people, drivers, the financial status. All of that has to be done actually in parallel, and is already happening.
Q: You said you still have things you want to achieve this year. Is one of those scoring points? You’re the only team on the grid that hasn’t done that this year, so we’ve got upgrades on the car this weekend, are we going to see more as you keep pushing to get that point?
MK: We’ll see a few bits and pieces still coming but nothing really extremely big because we are already on to the new car – but staying where we are is certainly no option. Now, we’ve had a season before where we didn’t score points. It had many reasons but it’s not enough to say that we’ll just manage it somehow again. We have to score at least a point, if not more and make sure that we’re getting back into the usual routine, the way we’re used to working.
Q: Christian, the team moved ahead of Ferrari at Hockenheim, last time out, on the evidence of today, you’ve stayed ahead. What are the prospects for the coming races. Do you see yourselves as staying ahead of Ferrari? Can you challenge Mercedes?
CH: They’re two very different things. One, staying ahead of Ferrari, obviously that’s our target and goal. I think the next two races represent our biggest challenges of the nine races remaining. Very power-dominated circuits, here at Spa and Monza in a week’s time. I think Mercedes, we know there’s a significant gap to. We’ve been closer at some races than others. Hopefully there will be opportunities in some of the race venues coming up – circuits spring to mind like Singapore – that we can give them a harder time. And, of course, they’ve got some issues to deal with this weekend with one of their cars. So that represents other opportunities.
Q: How important is second place in the Constructors’ Championship to you – or is it all about 2017. Is that the only thing that matters?
CH: It’s worth a few million pounds, obviously, like all these positions do, so it has a significant value to us. So there is a big push to carry the momentum that we’ve built over the last few races, right to the last race in Abu Dhabi. And then, of course, behind the scenes, as with all the teams, there’s a big development programme under way on the 2017 car with a big regulation change coming. So it’s a busy time, certainly in the factory at the moment.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Marc Surer – Sky Germany) A question for Fred Vasseur. Today, I think it was a premier that a car started on the track. Can you explain, first of all how it stopped and secondly how you got it restarted?
FV: During the session we had a sensor failure and we stopped the car, we decided to stop the car. Then we restarted the car with the MGU-K and the battery. It’s not the first time we did it. I think all the other teams did it in the past.
Q: (Oana Popoiou – F1 Zone) Question for Mr Fernley. Force India has a good chance this year to finish fourth. Is there a compromise to be made by focussing on the battle this year and developing the next year’s car?
RF: No. They’re two completely separate programmes. The battle obviously is for us to take to Williams. Williams are in the lead, they’re an extremely competitive and competent team and we’ve just got to battle hard to try to overtake them. As far as the ’17 car is concerned, that’s a factory issue and we’re flat-out in the factory, as I’m sure all the other teams are as well. So they’re two separate programmes entirely.
Q: (Thomas Lund Hansen – Morgenavissen Jyllands Posten) I have two questions for Mr Vasseur. You’ve said that Renault needs a leader. What characterises a leader and does Kevin Magnussen have these qualifications?
FV: We have to build up the project on a driver because I think it’s also a catalyst for the project, for the team. He needs to motivate the team. If you have a look at the success stories of the past, Sebastian with Red Bull or Michael Schumacher with Ferrari, all the good story and long success stories was built up also on the drivers. We have to do the same for the next six or seven years. Kevin is doing the job. I won’t come back on the fact that I have to take a decision on the drivers. I will do it quite soon, be sure, he is doing the job. We know that we have to improve too on the structure and it’s not a question just on the drivers be sure. I’m happy with my guys.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) The current engine regulations took over five years to agree and they currently have about four and a bit years left to run before they expire at the end of 2020. We have an interesting spread here in that we have four customer teams, an exclusive partner team and a manufacturer. When do you believe that we should start looking at the new regulations for 2021 onwards and also what would you like to see included and enshrined in those regulations?
CH: Well, it’s very simple really: cheap, loud, fast engines. I think what we have now… obviously to abandon that fully would be irresponsible, an awful lot of development and R&D has gone into these engines but I think cost is a significant element, particularly for the teams that are paying for the engines. I think that we’re addressing the chassis side of things already for next year, making the car more aggressive, faster and so on, I think one of the elements that is missing from Formula One at the moment is the sound and I think that’s a key aspect that needs to be addressed in engine regulations moving forward. But probably not moving too far away from the architecture that we currently have. I think to rip it up in its entirety this far into the game would probably be the wrong thing to do.
EB: I think that if you want to address the cost and obviously the convergence of performance we believe that the regulations should be extended after 2020 with the current ones. As Christian said, part of the show is maybe we miss better sound or better quality sound for the engines so that’s something that needs to be addressed technically but clearly if you have stability in the regulations and some longer term projects, obviously the convergence of performance will happen quicker and the cost will go down.
CW: I would echo what Christian and Eric have said. Obviously from an independent team’s perspective whereby we are a customer, having those regulations outlined beyond 2020 and stabilised inevitably will help us if we are to go out and look for our own engine partner past 2020 when our Mercedes relationship will come to an end will be really important. I obviously believe that the hybrid element of the current power unit is part of the architecture that we should maintain. I think it’s a very important message that Formula One can send out but yeah, I would echo everything that Christian and Eric have said.
FV: It’s quite similar to everybody else in that if you want to have more exciting racing then to close the gap between everybody, we need to get the convergence on the engine also and by the way, we would be able to reduce the cost for the future, but if you drastically change the regulations you will increase the costs because you will have to do research and development and at the other end you will increase the potential gap between everybody. But I think we have to stick to the current ones and for sure we have to adapt some points because it makes sense but not to change the regulations drastically.
MK: As an independent team that pays for its engines, for us of course the costs are extremely important and one thing is with stability to bring the cost down but equally important is the changes. Ancillary costs can get very high and this is something which independent teams equally suffer from because in addition to the costs with the engine itself brought in which were much higher than the previous engine, the costs you had around building that engine in the chassis side were extremely high for us so stability is very important. Of course as Christian said, you have to keep in mind that the show has to be a good one and we have seen this time a lot went wrong in introducing the engine. At the same time, you also have to make sure that the interests of the manufacturers are looke at because they have vital interests in introducing certain technologies. So I think looking at all these very different positions, it’s very important to start talks now, because we’ve seen in the past that engines were cancelled overnight, whilst different concepts were introduced, we really need a long time to be able to agree something sensible and not again be in a situation where in six months time you have to decide something.
BF: I think I would endorse what Christian said. We need to have something that’s very competitively priced, addresses the issues in terms of noise but I think we’re fooling ourselves if we think that as independent teams we have any say in these things. At the end of the day the manufacturers will decide what they’re going to do and we will be given a take-it or leave-it situation.
Q: (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas) For M. Bouillier, yesterday Fernando Alonso said he is not enjoying this Formula One. I would love to know what are your feelings about that, what it means to have a driver who is not enjoying driving?
EB: Well, I think we have been working on changing the regulations for next year and as McLaren was concerned we were pushing a little bit harder. It’s true that the regulations today… drivers enjoy qualifying today because we are now breaking records so I think it’s fast enough. Drivers enjoying driving a physical car to drive and clearly Fernando is one of the most experienced drivers on the grid so he remembers the cars in 2005 and 2006 where they were much more lateral Gs than cornering speed and this is what the drivers like. I think next year’s regulations will fix part of or most of the issues actually. They may have today by not enjoying the cars, the tyres get fatter, the cars… now you have to save fuel, save tyres to be competitive during the race and I think by changing the regulations they will enjoy it more. So we have discussed this matter many times, it’s understandable and I think F1 anyway should have this wow aspect. When a young driver comes in and realises that F1 is the pinnacle of motorsport and even including driving the car is the most difficult car to drive.
Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS.NL) Christian, it’s been a long time since Red Bull had a one-two in a race. Imagine there’s a possibility on Sunday in the closing stages, Ricciardo leading the race, Verstappen very quick, wants to win his home race. How do you prevent Mercedes-like problems in the closing stages?
CH: Well, we talk about these things beforehand, you discuss tactics, you try and come up with set rules in certain situations and then the race starts and everything gets forgotten. The guys are racers at the end of the day and if we were in a fortunate enough position to be racing for a victory and you’ve got a driver racing in front of – well, I think half of Holland is coming here this weekend by the looks of things – I can’t imagine that he wouldn’t go for it. I think it would be wrong for us to interfere with a race like that. All we ask of the drivers is give each other enough space to work with. If you’re going to race each other, race fairly and remember you’re carrying the aspirations of the 750-odd people that you represent when you’re driving those cars. It’s not just about the drivers.
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F1 2016: Belgium Gp Free Practice 2 Report – Verstappen Quickest
Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen set the quickest time in the second free practice session for the Belgian grand prix.
The second free practice session ran in pristine sunshine during which Dutch driver Verstappen set a quickest time of 1:48:085 ahead of his Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo. Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg set the third fastest time ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and the sister Force India of Sergio Perez.
Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton ended the session sixth and thirteenth quickest on the timing sheets. Neither Mercedes driver ran the quickest supersoft tyre. The number 7 Ferrari of Raikkonen was seventh quickest without a clear run on the red-walled supersoft tyre while Haas F1’s Romain Grosjean was eighth overall. McLaren’s Jenson Button and Esteban Gutierrez in the Haas rounded out the top ten. The Williams duo endured a tough session as Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa ended 16th and 17th overall.
The long runs revealed a comparable pace on the yellow-walled soft tyre between the two Red Bull teammates with Vettel a few tenths adrift in the Ferrari. Hamilton, who will start the race from the back of the grid due to penalties, ran a long stint on the medium compound tyres which consistently hovered in the mid 1:55 bracket.
Final Standings Free Practice 2:
Pos. Driver Team Best Time Gap Laps 1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:48.085 – 27 2 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:48.341 +0.256 27 3 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:48.657 +0.572 30 4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:49.023 +0.938 27 5 Sergio Perez Force India 1:49.100 +1.015 27 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:49.161 +1.076 33 7 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:49.244 +1.159 30 8 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:49.419 +1.334 20 9 Jenson Button McLaren 1:49.419 +1.334 23 10 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:49.648 +1.563 23 11 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:49.716 +1.631 31 12 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:49.772 +1.687 30 13 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:49.782 +1.697 33 14 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:49.916 +1.831 25 15 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:50.083 +1.998 27 16 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:50.151 +2.066 19 17 Felipe Massa Williams 1:50.157 +2.072 29 18 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:50.194 +2.109 25 19 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:50.375 +2.290 34 20 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:50.562 +2.477 32 21 Esteban Ocon Manor 1:50.659 +2.574 25 22 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:50.719 +2.634 24 -
F1 2016: Belgium Gp Free Practice 1 Report – Rosberg On Top
Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg topped the timing sheet at the end of the first free practice session for the 2016 Belgian grand prix.
The Formula 1 season resumed after its summer break with the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit bathed in glorious sunshine. Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg set the quickest time of the 90 minute session with a time of 1:48:348 ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton who set a time of 1:49:078. Both Mercedes drivers set their quickest time of the session on the red-walled supersoft tyre.
Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen set the third quickest time at a 1:49:147 but only ran the yellow-walled soft tyre. Sergio Perez was fourth for Force India as the second Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel rounded out the top five.
Several drivers including Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo ran the Halo head protection system in an installation lap as further development ahead of the introduction of the system. Pirelli further offered teams two prototype set of tyres to test in preparation for 2017. The test tyres were focused on the construction of the tyre as opposed to outright performance.
Renault’s Jolyon Palmer lost the last twenty minutes of the session with a technical issue. However, McLaren’s Fernando Alonso failed to set a lap time as his car suffered a water leak early in the session. It has been confirmed that Lewis Hamilton will incur a 15 place grid penalty after changing two elements his power unit.
Final Standings Free Practice 1:
Pos. Driver Team Best Time Gap Lap 1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:48.348s – 27 2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:49.078s 0.730 25 3 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:49.147s 0.799 24 4 Sergio Perez Force India 1:49.274s 0.926 23 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:49.768s 1.420 19 6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:49.782s 1.434 24 7 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:49.865s 1.517 24 8 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:50.088s 1.740 21 9 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:50.394s 2.046 31 10 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:50.583s 2.235 21 11 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:50.899s 2.551 18 12 Felipe Massa Williams 1:51.122s 2.774 28 13 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:51.125s 2.777 16 14 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:51.424s 3.076 17 15 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:51.768s 3.420 19 16 Esteban Ocon Manor 1:51.787s 3.439 26 17 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:52.308s 3.960 19 18 Jenson Button McLaren 1:52.407s 4.059 18 19 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:52.837s 4.489 23 20 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:53.053s 4.705 20 21 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:53.089s 4.741 20 – Fernando Alonso McLaren – – 3
