Tag: force india

F1 2016: Monaco GP Qualifying Report – Ricciardo Scores First Pole

Red Bull driver Daniel Riccardo has secured pole position for Sunday’s Monaco grand prix.

Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo has secured the first pole position of his Formula 1 career around the sunny streets of Monte Carlo. Nico Rosberg will line up alongside on the front row of the grid while Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton will start third.

Sebastian Vettel set the fourth fastest time ahead of Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg. Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen set the sixth quickest time but will drop down five position after replacing a gearbox. Carlos Sainz, Sergio Perez, Dannil Kyvat, and Fernando Alonso rounded out the top ten.

Two red-flags marred the first part of qualifying as first Felipe Nasr’s engine let go and later Max Verstappen put his Red Bull into the barriers.

Daniel Ricciardo is in prime position for Sunday’s 78 lap race as he will start on the more durable, red-walled supersoft tyre. Meanwhile his closest rivals will start on the purple-walled ultrasoft compound.

Qualifying Standings:

May 28, 2016
F1 2014: Spanish GP Review – To The Max!

It’s old and outdated but never has it been more true – to finish first, first you must finish.

The two front-row starting Mercedes’ of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg know this saying well but putting it into practice became entirely too difficult. The teammates dramatic collision in turn four put them both out of the race on lap one.

Rosberg snatched the lead from pole starting Hamilton but had started the race in the wrong engine mode. While he fiddled with his steering wheel Hamilton saw his opportunity to regain the lead of the race and attempted to pass the German going into turn four. Rosberg, down roughly 17kph in his setting, saw the move and moved over crowding Hamilton. The reigning champion took the grass, lost control of his car and slammed into Rosberg.

The incident was investigated after the race but no penalties were forthcoming.

From the camera shots you could say that Rosberg’s move was a tad over-aggressive. But because Hamilton only had his front-wing alongside the rear-wheel of Rosberg’s car the number 6 Merc was within his right to make the defensive move. But come what may this is one of those incidents that will divide opinion and having each driver’s fans blaming the other as the guilty party.

Although this incident was dramatic it blew the race wide open. Between Red Bull and Ferrari it delivered a Spanish Gp that will be remembered for decades. Daniel Ricciardo now led the way from newly promoted teammate Max Verstappen and the fast-starting Toro Rosso of Carlos Sainz.

The Ferrari’s of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen made relatively quick work of Sainz and were now turning a quicker pace that the two Red Bulls ahead. Ricciardo pitted first on lap 11, Verstappen and Raikkonen a lap later and Vettel on lap 15.

Though Ricciardo and Vettel still led on the road after the first round of pitstops they strangely opted for a three-stop strategy. The Red Bull and Ferrari stopped again on 28 and 29 respectively relegating Ricciardo and Vettel to third and fourth. After their third visit to the pitlane Vettel was able to jump Ricciardo’s Red Bull setting up a great duel between the two for the final step of the podium. The Aussie tried a couple of bold moves to snatch third from Vettel but his left-rear tyre gave up with one lap to go. Such was the frontrunners pace advantage that Ricciardo was able to pit and still finish fourth.

Up ahead Verstappen and Raikkonen successfully ran a two-stop strategy. By now Max Verstappen had already become the youngest driver to lead a race and was now facing severe pressure from Raikkonen for the win. For twenty laps Raikkonen hounded the back of the Red Bull, half a second away from victory. But the 18-year-old soaked up the pressure, never put a wheel wrong and delivered a superbly controlled drive.

Sebastian Vettel made it a double podium for Ferrari in third ahead of Ricciardo. Much further down the road Valtteri Bottas brought his Williams home in fifth ahead of am impressive performance from Carlos Sainz in sixth. Sergio Perez finished seventh in his Force India ahead of Felipe Massa’s Williams in eighth. Jenson Button scored two points for McLaren in ninth while teammate Fernando Alonso was forced into retirement. Dannil Kvyat scored the final point on offer in the Toro Rosso.

The 15^th of May 2016 could’ve been just another day that hosted just another Spanish grand prix. Instead it’s been etched into the history of Formula 1 to be forever remembered as the day that 18-year-old Max Verstappen came of age.

May 16, 2016
Force India 2016 Spanish Grand Prix Quotes

Force India scored six points in today’s Spanish Grand Prix with Sergio Perez racing to seventh place. Teammate Nico Hulkenberg was an early retirement following an oil leak and fire.

Sergio Perez

“It was a very good race and I think we managed to get the maximum result we could hope to achieve today. We were able to keep some very fast cars behind us and we capitalised on the accident on the first lap [between Hamilton and Rosberg] to bring home a good amount of points. I had to fend off Felipe [Massa] in the last three laps: I was on very old tyres and he was closing in on me, but I managed to defend my position. This was pretty much the only action I had all afternoon; the rest of my race was quite lonely, which helped me look after the tyres and allowed me to defend in the final few laps. We had a good strategy that helped us leapfrog the Haas and brought us this good result on a track that has never been our strongest.”

Nico Hulkenberg

“It’s frustrating not to finish another race. I saw some smoke coming from the back of my car and then it developed into a fire so I had to park quickly at the side of the track. It’s a shame because I missed the chance to fight for points and we also missed out on learning more about the car in race conditions. Sometimes in racing you have periods when things don’t go your way, but you have to keep the faith and believe that sooner or later your luck will change. There are also some positives to take away from this weekend because we’ve made progress with the car and I think the performance will continue to improve. So we will keep working hard and come back stronger at the next one.”

Robert Fernley – Deputy Team Principal

“It’s been quite an eventful weekend for us, so it’s fairly satisfying to be leaving Barcelona with six points in our pocket. We made a good step with the car, allowing Sergio to run solidly inside the top ten all afternoon. It’s a track with limited strategy options and few overtaking opportunities so it was quite a lonely and straightforward race for him. On the other side of the garage, Nico was out of luck with an oil leak causing a fire and forcing an early retirement. Thankfully Nico was able to park up and helped the marshals extinguish the fire. So it’s been another mixed weekend, but I think our improved performance bodes well for the remainder of the season. As we learn more about this car we have the potential to continue scoring good points at the upcoming races.”

-Sahara Force India Formula 1 Team

May 15, 2016
F1 2016: Spanish GP Preview – All eyes on Spain

Traditionally the first European race of the F1 season sees a raft of updates made to the cars. It’s no different in 2016 as teams look to take a crucial step forward at Spain’s Circuit de Catalunya.

Red Bull Racing dropped the bombshell a few days after the Russian grand prix that Dannil Kvyat and Max Verstappen would swop seats. Ostensibly, the move appears to have been made following Kvyat’s attempt at playing bumper cars with Sebastian Vettel in Russia but there’s a fair bit more at play than that.

For one, Russian driver Kvyat hasn’t been that impressive in the Red Bull alongside Daniel Ricciardo. Then, there’s that incident with the Ferrari in Russia. However, neither of these two things are enough to warrant a demotion to the junior team. Drivers go through indifferent patches and make mistakes but they aren’t dropped at the first sign of strife, usually. Romain Grosjean’s troublesome season at Lotus and Pastor Maldonado’s F1 career is testament to the fact that teams usually stick it out. But not in Kvyat’s case.

The incident in Russia is nothing more than an excuse to promote Verstappen from Toro Rosso into the senior team. While the teenaged Dutch driver may be singing Red Bull’s praises and swearing that he’s never looked elsewhere for a drive we know better. Despite being in only his second F1 season it’s obvious that Verstappen has enormous potential. This makes him a hot commodity for other teams and there’s no better way to keep him close than to move him to the senior team. Well played Red Bull.

What a difference twelve months can make. In 2015 Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg arrived at the Spanish grand prix under pressure to perform. This time around he arrives at the fifth round of the season with four race wins under the belt and a dominant lead over teammate Lewis Hamilton in the standings. Now the questions shifts from can Nico do it to can he keep doing it? The German is convinced that Hamilton will hit back soon and he’s likely right. However, it’s also a great mental space Rosberg to operate in – take it one race and one lap at a time and don’t take it for granted.

Besides a bit of brooding on the Russian Gp podium Hamilton has appeared decidedly chilled, even apathetic, to his dreadful run so far in 2016. But don’t be fooled by his supposedly indifferent approach. The reigning champ more than has the skill to hit back hard and just needs to find the sweet-spot for it to be unleashed.

From the Ferrari garage the hope is that the performance deficit in the last race was specific to the circuit. It could’ve been given that the Russian circuit is power dominant. But though they may be closer in Spain it will extremely tough to beat the Silver Arrows around Catalunya.

McLaren, already vastly improved in 2016, is planning to introduce a significant upgrade to their car this weekend. They hope that a new floor, wings, and various bits of other bodywork will be enough to propel them into the top ten in qualifying and a solid points score with both cars.

The Haas F1 Team will run the upgraded Ferrari engine, introduced in Russia, in Spain. The Renault team will run an updated version of their front and rear wings in the hopes of upping their game in a tight mid-field battle.

Seven drivers on the current grid have won the Spanish grand prix and thanks to its status as a test venue everyone knows their way around these parts. But as familiar as they are with the Circuit de Catalunya it doesn’t do anything to lessen the challenge.

May 11, 2016
F1 2016: Russian GP Review – Rosberg Wraps Up Win Number Four

If you were a neutral there wasn’t much to enthuse about in the Russian grand prix. But these days’ neutrals are few and far between. And even a true neutral would have to be impressed with the spellbinding way in which Nico Rosberg has won the Russian grand prix.

While Nico Rosberg led serenely away from pole position and Kimi Raikkonen snatched second from Valtteri Bottas the carnage behind started to unfold. Sebastian Vettel, recovering from a five-place grid penalty, was attempting to pass Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull for fifth when Daniil Kvyat rammed into the back of him. As if to compound matters Kvyat rammed into the back of Vettel a second time in turn three. The Ferrari speared off into a wall prompting a colourful tirade over the German’s radio.

Kvyat’s catastrophic exuberance resulted in damage for both Red Bulls and the Force India of Sergio Perez and prompted the deployment of the safety car. Through the shower of carbon fibre and expletives Lewis Hamilton emerged in fifth. The Brit was forced to start tenth after another power unit issue in Saturday qualifying.

At the restart Bottas was able to get the better of Raikkonen and snatched second as Hamilton made his way past the second Williams for fourth. He took advantage of Raikkonen’s poor exit off turn three and quickly made it third place on the track. Bottas held off Hamilton until the first round of stops but was unable to resist as Hamilton took second place with a move up the inside of turn two.

By now Rosberg, untroubled in the lead, had built a near fourteen-second gap. Once in clear air Hamilton reduced the gap to 7.5 seconds before being warned of a water pressure issue. In the end Rosberg’s domination ended in a fourth consecutive victory by 25 seconds over Hamilton. Roughly six seconds down the road Raikkonen completed the top three and rather sedately scored Ferrari’s 700^th podium.

Bottas finished a distant fourth ahead of Williams teammate Felipe Massa in sixth. Fernando Alonso scored his first points of the season with a fine sixth place ahead of Renault’s Kevin Magnussen in seventh. Romain Grosjean salvaged an eighth place finish for Haas ahead of Sergio Perez in ninth. Jenson Button made it a double points score for McLaren by taking the final point in tenth.

It’s difficult to say that the Russian grand prix revealed everyone’s true form. Yes, Mercedes are still clearly the leaders of the pack but in modern Formula 1 several factors conspire to control the pace of a driver. For Kimi Raikkonen it was the necessity to save fuel that stopped him from pushing the Ferrari to its full potential. For Hamilton yet another power unit issue halted his assault on victory. “There wasn’t a doubt in my mind” Hamilton responded when asked if he could’ve won the race.

As it were Hamilton, in the unfamiliar bridesmaid role, sulkily made his way through the podium ceremony without bothering to spray the champagne. While Hamilton’s mood was understandable given his issues so far in 2016 it was unbecoming of F1’s “best ambassador” as he has dubbed himself.

The 1^st of May commemorated the death of the great Ayrton Senna 22 years ago. A driver who when truly tested delivered the very best of himself and his abilities. A driver who typified what a champion ought to be.

The character of a true champion isn’t revealed as he basks in the glory of win after win. True champion character is revealed in how a driver responds in the difficult moments. For two years Nico Rosberg deferred to Hamilton but now he has responded with the sort of tenacity that, if maintained, could carry him all the way to championship glory.

(All images courtesy of Pirelli)

May 2, 2016
F1 2016: Russian GP Free Practice 1 Report – Rosberg On Top

Nico Rosberg set the fastest time for Mercedes in the first free practice session for the 2016 Russian grand prix.

All eyes focused on Red Bull Racing as it trialed the aeroscreen for the first time. The aeroscreen is Red Bull’s offering for head protection to be introduced in 2017. The aeroscreen was run for only one installation lap as team principal admitted that it has a “huge impact” on the car’s cooling.

The two Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton set the early pace in the session. With Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo and Williams’ Valtteri Bottas rounding out the top four early on. Williams teammate Felipe Massa was unable to set a time due to a gearbox issue. The Brazilian did make his way out for an install lap in the second half of the session. Mass eventually ended the session with the fifth quickest time.

Nico Rosberg set the quickest time overall, a 1:38:127 followed by teammate Lewis Hamilton on a 1:38:849. Both drivers used the red-walled supersoft tyre to set their fastest times.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel set the third quickest time, a 1:39:175 ahead of the sister Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen who set a 1:39:332. The Ferrari’s quickest times were set on the yellow-walled soft tyre.

Mexican driver Alfonso Celis took control of Nico Huldenberg’s Force India for the practice session. Elsewhere Sergey Sirotkin ran the first free practice session for Renault in place on Kevin Magnussen.

Final Standings for Free Practice 1:

April 29, 2016
F1 2016: Russian GP Preview – Russian Showdown

When you think of motorsport Russia isn’t the first place that comes to mind. In fact, it’s probably not even in your top five. However, this weekend the Formula 1 paddock puts Russia front and center as it heads to the Sochi Autodrom for the fourth round of the 2016 season.

The Sochi circuit hosted its first grand prix race in 2014 and is the first purpose-built Formula 1 site in Russia. The 5.8 kilometer track was built under the watchful eye of F1’s favoured designer Herman Tilke and has a capacity of 55 000. The most striking feature of the circuit is its integration to the Olympic Park that hosted the 2014 Winter Olympics.

The circuit, second in length only to Spa and Silverstone, requires compromise in terms of car setup. The start and end of the lap demands good traction and braking performance while the middle sector requires a more technical approach to master the flow of the corners.

“It’s a very modern track with a few corners that look quite similar by they are never as easy as they might look, because you have to try and driver the car in the limit each time you turn,” says Russian driver Daniil Kvyat.

In the two races it’s put on the Sochi Autodrom has shown little tyre wear. So little in fact that in 2014 Nico Rosberg was able to complete a stint of 52 laps on one set of tyres. But the introduction of a third compound choice in 2016 means that we’re unlikely to see a repeat of what happened here two years ago.

The Red Bull and Haas F1 Team have opted for an aggressive tyre strategy by selecting ten sets of supersofts, two sets of softs, and one set of the medium compound tyre. It’s an expected choice for these two teams who have been able to make the supersoft tyre last longer than their closest rivals. The Red Bull drivers, Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat, may not have a straight forward shot at the podium but will be ready to pounce should either of the Merc or Ferrari drivers have an issue during the Russian GP on Sunday.

There is a marked difference between Mercedes and Ferrari’s Russian GP tyre choices too. While all four drivers have only one set of mediums on the shelf Hamilton and Rosberg have opted for eight sets of supersofts, and four sets of the yellow-walled soft tyres. In contrast, Raikkonen and Vettel have chosen six sets each of the soft and supersoft compound.

The thinking behind Ferrari’s tyre choice could be to do one less stop than Mercedes in the race by running the more durable soft tyre for a longer stint. As the supersoft is generally the quicker tyre to run on much will depend on how big a time deficit there is between it and the more durable soft tyre.

The run down to the first corner is a long one, which dramatically tightens into turn one. Ferrari will be extra vigilant after Sebastian Vettel got into the side of Kimi Raikkonen in China. In every round so far Ferrari has faced some issues whether through their own making or uncontrollable reliability problems. If the Italian team is to mount a serious challenge for the top step of the Russian GP podium, which it seems likely they can, the first order of business will be to have a clean race.

The last time we visited Russia, Mercedes were on the brink on clinching a constructor’s title and Lewis Hamilton had been outperforming teammate Nico Rosberg by a considerable margin. In 2016, the story so far reads much differently. Now it’s up to Lewis Hamilton to show what being a three time world champion really means.

April 28, 2016
Hulkenberg Handed Three-Place Grid Penalty for Unsafe Release

Nico Hulkenberg will drop three-places down the grid ahead of Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix race following a wheel nut incident in Qualifying.

The Force India driver was on his out lap in final minutes of Q2 when his front left wheel nut came loose sending the trye careening towards the tyre walls.

The stewards ruled that his car “was released in an unsafe condition as the wheel and tyre fell off at turn 10” and imposed a three place grid penalty for the German. This means he will start in 13th. Hulkenberg’s grid drop means Felipe Massa, will now start 10th, Fernando Alonso 11th and his McLaren team mate Jenson Button 12th.

Photo Credit: Sahara Force India Formula One Team

April 16, 2016
Rosberg beats Ricciardo to Chinese GP pole, Hamilton last

Nico Rosberg resisted what seemed to be a mighty threat from Ferrari to claim the pole position in what turned out to be an action packed qualifying session ahead of the Chinese GP.

Kimi Raikkonen threatened to claim the pole with Rosberg trailing him after the initial Q3 runs but going too deep into the penultimate corner, and a perfect 1:35.402 lap from Rosberg handed the German the pole.

Team mate Lewis Hamilton, who already headed into qualifying with a five place grid drop for a gearbox change, will start from the back of the grid tomorrow.

Mercedes are still trying to fix the problem with Hamilton’s ERS but seem confident that they will be able to solve the problem in time for the race. Hamilton has won the last four Chinese grands prix – he’ll have to really earn his pounds tomorrow if he wants to make it five in a row.

Rosberg cruised his way through Q2 on Pirelli’s soft tyres, meaning that he will be starting the race on the soft compound rather than the super softs which are expected to only last only a few laps.

Ricciardo stormed through his final lap to start on the front row for Red Bull, finishing second – just over half a second down on Rosberg’s Chinese GP pole time.

Raikkonen managed to salvage third – the Finn very disappointed in his result after making the mistake into the penultimate corner.

After having his fans at the edges of their seats with the hopes that the Iceman would claim his first pole position since 2008, the disappointment was more than obvious.

Ferrari team mate Sebastian Vettel opted to go for only a single run in Q3 in a likely effort to save an extra set of tyres for the race but rand deep at the hairpin and finished only fourth.

Valtteri Bottas finished 5th for Williams with Daniil Kvyat, Sergio Perez and the Toro Rosso drivers behind him.

Nico Hulkenberg had made it through to the Top 10 Chinese GP pole shootout but could take no part in it after his front left tyre simply slipped off at a thankfully low speed during the final minutes of Q2 which brought out the second red flag of the session.

Interestingly there was no word of any investigation from the stewards into the incident.

Felipe Massa only just missed out on a slot in Q3 after being caught out by the red flag.

McLaren drivers Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button also felt they had a chance of getting through before the red flag came out, with Alonso repeating a good few ARGH’s over his team radio after being told he wouldn’t be able to have a go at it. Button, just as frustrated responded with a, “You’ve got to be kidding me!”

The McLaren Honda team looks to have made some good progress. Both drivers never got to show their true pace but they will however have a free choice of tyres for the race start tomorrow which could help them make out the deficit suffered today.

Romain Grosjean was 14th for the Haas F1 team with Felipe Nasr behind him.

Renault drivers Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer finished 17th and 19th with Esteban Gutierrez splitting the pair in 18th place. Rio Haryanto finished in 20th place.

Pascal Wehrlein took part in only five minutes of Q1 after he lost control on a bump along the main straight and brought out the first red flag of the session. The delay lasted for 20 minutes as marshalls spent time drying wet patches of water.

Many fans took to Twitter to voice their frustration that such action was being taken for what really amounted to puddles considering the fact that these – the best drivers in the world – do have wet and intermediate tyres available. Wehrlein was running on slicks at the time.

Will Lewis Hamilton be able to fight his way through the pack and pose any sort of a threat up front tomorrow? One thing is for sure – this is definitely going to hurt his title prospects. Rosberg has the Chinese GP pole in his pocket, but not the race victory just yet … Perhaps the Ferrari team could unsettle things at the top a little further with both Raikkonen and Vettel hungry for a win. And, with Daniel Ricciardo in the mix up front, we could just be in for a proper cracker of a race tomorrow. Join us for live commentary, banter and opinions on Twitter @F1_Madness before, throughout, and after the Chinese GP.

Photo Credits: Screengrabs as broadcast by FOM

April 16, 2016
F1 2016: Chinese GP Free Practice 2 Report – Raikkonen On Top

Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen topped the second free practice session for the Chinese grand prix.

The Finnish driver sets a quickest time of 1:36:896 on the red-walled supersoft tyre. Teammate Sebastian Vettel was one tenth adrift in second. Nico Rosberg was the first of the Mercedes in third, two and a half tenths off Raikkonen’s session topping time. Lewis Hamilton rounded out the top four in the sister Mercedes with a time of 1:37:329.

The second free practice session of a grand prix weekend is customarily reserved for longer stints and evaluation of the different tyre compounds for Sunday’s race. As the softest tyre available this weekend the supersoft compound showed signs of degradation after a three lap quali sim and roughly eight laps on high fuel. The indications were that both Ferrari and Red Bull suffered less degradation on the supersoft than Mercedes. In particular, Nico Rosberg experienced a loss of three seconds in laptime over his stint on the supersoft tyres.

However, Hamilton’s stint on the medium tyre, the hardest compound available this weekend, showed a consistent and fast pace. Comparatively, Vettel’s stint on the medium, earlier on in the session, was evenly matched to Hamilton’s.

Although Friday practice sessions are difficult to decipher the signs point to what could be a very competitive Chinese grand prix between Ferrari and Mercedes.

April 15, 2016