F1 Madness

Tag: force india

  • F12017: Malaysian Gp Preview – Must Win For Ferrari

    F12017: Malaysian Gp Preview – Must Win For Ferrari

    To finish first, first you must finish. These are likely the words that have been rolling around Sebastian Vettel’s mind following the start-line crash in Singapore, which now has him at a 28-point deficit to Lewis Hamilton.

    There’s little doubt that this weekend’s Malaysian grand prix is vital for Ferrari’s and Vettel’s championship aspirations. The Formula 1 paddock travels little more than 300 hundred kilometers to Sepang, just outside the city center of Kuala Lumpur, in Malaysia for this weekend’s 15th round of the 2017 season.

    The Malaysian circuit, famed for its hot and humid conditions, has been on the F1 calendar since 1999 and is making its final appearance in 2017. As, arguably, Herman Tilke’s most-liked circuit design the Sepang International circuit is one of the biggest technical challenges of the season. It’s combination of medium and high-speed corners and the ever-present long back- and start/finish straits means that somewhere drivers and teams will have to compromise on the car set-up.

    Some in the paddock will have you believe that the Mercedes will stroll to victory this weekend given that the Malaysian circuit suits the Silver Arrow to a tee. While the strengths of the Mercedes are likely to be highlighted by the more aero-dominant sector of the lap Ferrari are unlikely to simply be reduced to also-rans. Kimi Raikkonen believes that Ferrari can be in the mix for victory this weekend. “You [the media] assume that it’s difficult. We don’t,” said Raikkonen.

    “We go there [to Malaysia], it’s another race, another weekend, and we go there full of fight and we’ll do our best”. Team principal Maurizio Arrivabene echoed Raikkonen’s sentiments by saying that the battle is not over but has simply become more difficult.

    Sebastian Vettel - Italian Grand Prix qualifyingWhile the two main rivals in the 2017 championship dominate the headlines what then of Red Bull cheekily snatching the prize from both of them. The stats suggest that the Austrian team has indeed made significant progress since the start of the season. And while they’ll be snapping at the heels the top step of the podium, barring unreliability, crashes, or a sudden and opportune cloud-burst, Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen are unlikely to have the raw pace to match Merc and Ferrari.

    As if to add more intrigue to the mix Ferrari and Mercedes have chosen different tyre strategies for this weekend too. With the medium, soft, and supersoft compounds available Mercedes has chosen to focus more on the yellow-walled soft tyre. With five sets available to Hamilton Mercedes have looked especially strong on the soft tyre on several occasions this season. In contrast, Ferrari has chosen to focus on the supersoft compound by selecting nine sets each for Vettel and Raikkonen with Red Bull taking a similar approach to Ferrari. The weather forecast, never devoid of the threat of a thunderstorm, predicts scorching temperatures for the duration of the weekend, which could swing the advantage to Ferrari and the supersoft compound.

    There is no doubt whatsoever that Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel must win the Malaysian grand prix in order to keep their championship hopes alive. Ferrari has been adamant that they are, categorically, not out of the championship. It’s time now to underscore their bullish belief where it matters most – on track.

  • F12017: Singapore Gp Review – Ferrari Pain, Hamilton Gain

    F12017: Singapore Gp Review – Ferrari Pain, Hamilton Gain

    IN 2008 Singapore became part of Formula 1 as the first night race on the calendar. Fast forward a decade and delivered another first by becoming F1’s first ever night race in the rain.

    As uncertainty ran rampant the rain wasn’t enough to induce a safety-car start. Sebastian Vettel, after producing a scintillating lap on Saturday, lined up in pole position with Max Verstappen alongside. The Singapore grand prix should’ve been one where Ferrari could inflict serious damage, in terms of points, on Mercedes given that Hamilton and Bottas were fifth and sixth respectively. But yet again Formula 1 has proved itself to be the most unpredictable sport in the world.

    Both the front-row starters, Vettel and Verstappen, were solid if unspectacular off the start-line. In contrast, the fourth-place starting Raikkonen hooked up his start perfectly and rocketed to the front. However, Vettel, in trying to cover his position swept across the track to block Verstappen not realizing that Raikkonen was on the other side of the Dutchman. It resulted in an enormous crash which brought an end to all three’s prospects and collected Fernando Alonso for good measure.

    Singapore 2017_StartAfter the fact the crash was deemed a racing incident, and rightly so. While many would cast Vettel as the villain for cutting across the circuit this reasoning would be tenuous, at best. Firstly, Vettel wouldn’t have known that Raikkonen had made an amazing start and was on the other side of Verstappen. Some would argue too that Vettel shouldn’t have cut across the circuit in the manner that he did but consider the fact that any driver, in any conditions, in any race, would have done the same. In fact, cast your mind back two weeks to Hamilton cutting across the track in Italy, in exactly the same manner, to cover the Williams of Lance Stroll.

    Whatever your opinion on the incident the one thing everyone would agree on is that it was a disastrous day for Vettel and Ferrari. Where he was expected to take back the lead in the driver’s standings Vettel leaves Singapore significantly on the back foot. Because through all the chaos Lewis Hamilton emerged in P1 and was never troubled on his way to the chequered flag. The expectation that Daniel Ricciardo could take the fight to the Merc was nipped in bud early on as the Aussie had to manage an oil leak from as early as lap 15.

    Valtteri Bottas may have finished an uninspiring third but with it has ensured a more than one hundred point lead for Mercedes in the constructor’s standings.

    0069In fourth Carlos Sainz delivered the drive of the day while Sergio Perez in the Force India snapped up fifth place. In sixth, and scoring his first points of the season, was Renault’s Jolyon Palmer who is to be replaced by Sainz in 2018.

    Stoffel Vandoorne was able to translate his good form to a seventh place finish for McLaren while Lance Stroll, Romain Grosjean, and Esteban Ocon rounded out the top ten.

    As Ferrari rue what might have been Hamilton’s victory has gained him a twenty-eight point lead in the driver’s standings with six races remaining.

    On such things do world championships turn.

    All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport

  • Sergio Perez Extends Contract at Force India for 2018

    Sergio Perez Extends Contract at Force India for 2018

    Ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix race the Force India Formula One Team announced that they have extended Sergio Perez’s contract for 2018.

    Perez was tipped to leave Force India but after Ferrari announced that they will retain the services of Kimi Raikkonen it shifted the big moves in the paddock to 2018.

    “Staying with Sahara Force India was always my priority,” said Perez.

    “It’s a team that has allowed me to show my talents as a driver and I feel very happy here.

    “I’m proud of everything we have already achieved together and I think there is more to come.

    “The team has done an amazing job this year to develop the car and establish our position as the fourth best team in Formula One. In the end it was an easy decision to continue our journey together.”

    Perez’s deal is for one year which gives him the chance to make a switch to one of the rival teams on the grid.

     

    Photo credit: Sahara Force India Formula One Team 

  • F12017: Singapore Gp Preview – Advantage Ferrari?

    F12017: Singapore Gp Preview – Advantage Ferrari?

    The Formula 1 paddock heads east as it readies for the final stretch of the 2017 season.

    More specifically, Singapore’s Marina Bay Circuit will be the spectacular backdrop to the ever-intense battle for championship glory in 2017. As it stands Lewis Hamilton leads the driver’s standings by three points after winning back-to-back races in Belgium and Italy.

    However, while these past two races, and their low downforce configurations, were always slated to highlight and play to Mercedes’ strength the streets of Singapore hold a completely different connotation in prospect. At five kilometers with twenty-three relentless corners the Marina Bay Circuit is one of the most demanding layout of the season. Add to that the closeness of the barriers and the humidity and it becomes, arguably, the most physically demanding race on the calendar. “As a track, it’s really tough and physically demanding – arguably one of the hardest of the season. The lap is long with lots of corners and some tight and sharp bits. The high temperature and humidity, combined with the fact that it’s a street circuit, makes it quite hard,” says Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg.

    Singapore, on the calendar since 2008, has delivered some memorable races in its time. The inaugural race itself likely saw one of the shadiest incidents in the 21st century for Formula 1 and it had nothing to do with the fact that the grand prix is run at night. Instead controversy swept through the Renault team, as it was later revealed that Nelson Piquet JR. was ordered to deliberately crash to prompt a safety car and setup then teammate Fernando Alonso to win the race. It led to a lifetime ban for teamboss Flavio Briatore and Piquet JR. was never seen in F1 again. Contrastingly, it’s also delivered some superb races as in 2013 when Kimi Raikkonen, then a Lotus driver, stormed onto the podium despite starting thirteenth with severe back pain.

    singapore-vettelThe Marina Bay Circuit, as a high-downforce track, is expected to suit Ferrari in the way that Monaco and Hungary highlighted the strengths of the Scuderia. Pirelli have nominated the same range of compounds as in Monaco, which include the ulta- and supersoft tyre. While Mercedes have made some progress in getting their tyre temperatures perfectly balanced there’s no telling how much progress they’ve made and they’ll not like having these spread of compounds available this weekend. As it stands Niki Lauda believes that Mercedes have zero chance of seeing the top step of the podium in Singapore. What’s more is that Red Bull has made significant strides since the start of the season and could be factor for Mercedes and perhaps even for Ferrari.

    The fact that Marina Bay is a street circuit exponentially increases the likelihood of the safety-car making an appearance, which makes strategy that much harder to predict.

    Off the track it’s been announced that Carlos Sainz is joining Renault for 2018 with McLaren being expected to announce an engine supply deal with Renault in the coming days. It’s further expected that Honda will remain in F1 by partnering with the Toro Rosso team.

    As Hamilton holds a slender championship lead of three points over Vettel the expectation is, barring unreliability, that the German driver will soar into the lead of the 2017 standings on a circuit tailor-made for his Ferrari.

  • F1 2017: F1 eSports Challenge – Monza

    F1 2017: F1 eSports Challenge – Monza

    A first attempt at the F1 esport challenge!

    The aim is to get yourself, driving as Sergio Perez in the Force India, onto the podium at the Italian grand prix.

    Your ranking on the leaderboard will be affected by several factors including assists you run with, level of AI difficulty, and how quickly you can get the job done.

    Look out for our move on both Red Bull drivers, Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen, into turn one!

  • F1 2017: Italian Gp Review – Hamilton Dominates At Monza

    F1 2017: Italian Gp Review – Hamilton Dominates At Monza

    If you thought that you were somehow transported back to 2016, or even 2015, during this weekend’s Italian grand prix you’d have been forgiven. The level of domination that Mercedes and their drivers delivered to win the latest round of the 2017 season was simply staggering.

    By the end of 53 laps of the Italian grand prix there was half a minute, and a Bottas shaped Mercedes, between Lewis Hamilton and the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel. Not only that, but Hamilton’s dominant win also secured him the lead in the driver’s championship for the first time in 2017.

    As the rain played havoc with Saturday qualifying it was, again, Hamilton who delivered a spectacular lap for pole. With 69 to his name he now holds the record for the most pole position in the history of the sport. Such was the farcical penalty count at this weekend’s grand prix that despite qualifying in the top three both Red Bull drivers dropped effectively to the back of the grid. It promoted Williams’ Lance Stroll to the front row and into the history books as the youngest ever front row starter. Similarly, another up-and-comer in the form of Esteban Ocon lined up his Force India in third. Meanwhile, after a miserable session, the best Ferrari, Kimi Raikkonen, was fifth and teammate Vettel sixth.

    With the younger drivers right at the sharp end there was trepidation in air ahead of the start. However, they were very well behaved, if not a bit too cautious, and got through the start unscathed. It allowed Hamilton the perfect buffer to get away in the lead of the race from which he never looked back.

    While Bottas made relatively short work of Stroll and Ocon it was clear that he was maintaining position behind Hamilton who now appears to have the backing from Mercedes for the championship. While Vettel got into third relatively quickly there was nothing he could do about the pace of the Mercedes. On home turf Ferrari would’ve undoubtedly been disappointed with their performance but they wouldn’t have been overly surprised by it.

    M132570The low downforce configuration of Monza and the fact that 79% of the lap is spent at full throttle is Mercedes territory through-and-through. When they consider the weekend’s events Ferrari and Vettel will likely come to the conclusion that it could’ve been worse. Late in the race Daniel Ricciardo, on an alternate strategy, mounted a charge on third and fell only a few seconds short of snatching it from Vettel. Verstappen’s pace too suggested that he could’ve been a factor were it not for a puncture incurred in a first corner clash with the Williams of Felipe Massa. As it stands Hamilton takes a three-point lead to the Singapore grand prix where Ferrari is expected to lead the way.

    As Hamilton, Bottas, and Vettel completed the top three with a charging Ricciardo in fourth Kimi Raikkonen trundled home in fifth. In sixth was Esteban Ocon, followed closely by Stroll in seventh and Williams teammate Felipe Massa in eight. Sergio Perez was ninth in the other Force India while Max Verstappen recovered to tenth, albeit a lap down. The anguish continued for McLaren with a double retirement who are expected to announce a 2018 deal with Renault within the coming days which will likely be followed by a confirmation that Fernando Alonso will be remaining with the team.

    The Italian grand prix marks the final European race of the season. Formula 1 next heads East to Singapore’s Marina Bay Street circuit where Ferrari is expected to dominate.

  • 2017 Italian Grand Prix: Friday Press Conference – Part 2

    2017 Italian Grand Prix: Friday Press Conference – Part 2

    PART TWO: TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Robert FERNLEY (Force India), Claire WILLIAMS (Williams) Gene HAAS (Haas)

    Q: Bob, let’s start with you. We’ve seen the Pérez-Ocon situation escalating from a rivalry to something perhaps more damaging. Does the team feel that you’ve managed it well up to this point – and what can you really realistically do to impose instructions in future situations without favouritism?

    RF: I didn’t think I’d get that question! Our team manages things. The outside judges rather than the inside. From an internal point of view we’re working very closely with the drivers. We’re very blessed to have two very talented and equally very competitive drivers. They’re at different stages of their careers. You will expect, as is often the case in that sport, where you’ve got an elbows-out for a little while, that’s happened. I think it probably reached a crescendo in Spa. I think both of them realise they’ve probably not done themselves any good in terms of their reputation or their careers, and Vijay I’m sure has certainly made sure he tells them that form that point of view. What we need to do is to regroup, which we have done. They’ve been individually talked to. They’ve sat down together. I feel very strongly that they’re intelligent and very, very good team players. They’ve just lost their way a bit – and I don’t expect any problems going forwards.

    Q: Obviously there’s a great opportunity for you this weekend for some big points given that both Red Bulls are going to be starting from the back of the grid. You could be fifth and sixth on Sunday – so you have to execute. Right?

    RF: I think the lady next door to me is looking for that! Absolutely. We’ll both be fighting. It’s a Mercedes track. There’s no question it benefits our power unit and we are going to have to optimise that position and we don’t want anybody making in-roads on that fourth position. We want to consolidate it and that will require both our drivers to deliver.

    Q: Quick final question on this. It’s no secret that both of your drivers are on the wishlists of competitor teams for next season – in some cases the same competitor team. How determined are you to retain them both in 2018?

    RF: I think from our side we are fully committed to retaining them both and that will be our objective. There’s no question of that. But, y’know, driver markets are driver markets and it’s quite right and proper that their managers, and in particular Checo’s manager, is out looking at other programmes. He’s got to keep us on our toes. If he didn’t do that, he wouldn’t be doing his job, and we’ve got to make sure that we close that off and retain him for next year and keep the pairing. It’s a phenomenally exciting pairing. Might be difficult to control a little bit – but I’d like to have that problem.

    Q: Gene, already ahead on points compared to last season with eight races still to go so is it time already to take the next step and what kind of investment does that need to go up to that level?

    Gene HAAS: Well, I’m not comfortable with the points lead we have because I think in any given race we could drop back a position or two in the Constructors’ series because we’re all so close. If anything, I feel a little bit on needles because our biggest problem is execution, minimising mistakes, that seems to be our worst (indistinct) ourselves. We’ve had some component failures we’ve executed poorly and I think we’ve left 15 or more points on the table, even at this point. That’s really where we need to perform is just running a race team with less mistakes, more consistency and that’s what’s going to earn us our points. I think both of our drivers are very very capable racers. I think that they’re much much better racers than they are at practice and qualifying. I know Kevin has shown the ability to sometimes get two to three positions just at the start of the race so he’s an aggressive driver. I think Romain’s more reserved, he knows that you have to finish the race to get the points, so I think the combination of these two drivers bodes well for us in the race but we do need to finish the race.

    Q: Now the Ferrari chairman, Sergio Marchionne, said he would like a team to help develop Ferrari’s junior drivers like Giovanazzi and Leclerc. You seem to have gone the opposite way in driver choices for this year and next, as you’ve just highlighted. Do you rule out working with Ferrari on juniors in the future?

    GH: No, I don’t think we rule it out but from a business model it doesn’t really make a lot of sense. There’s no secret that it costs $60m to put a car on the track for the season and if someone gives you a driver and not just from Ferrari, from anybody, and they’re going to pay you five or six million dollars, there’s $55m deficit there somewhere, so it doesn’t really make sense to want to run let’s say a partner or a paid driver for compensation. I think our point of view has always been that we need to obtain points and that’s how we generate moving forward and making money, so that’s our business model. I think Ferrari respects that and based on that, if there’s some mutual agreement that we could come to we probably would be more open to that.

    Q: Claire, obviously this season’s not gone according to plan and the car just clearly isn’t fast enough is the core of it. The 2018 car will be the first obviously under Paddy Lowe’s technical stewardship, what’s he doing to step things up?

    Claire WILLIAMS: Yeah, as you would expect someone of Paddy’s calibre has a plan and ever since he joined us back in March this year he’s been undertaking a full analysis of the team back at the factory but also the race team operations on the ground trackside in order to understand where the weaknesses lie. We’ve gone through that as a board and now we’re looking at how we allocate resources moving forward into 2018 so that we can address those weaknesses. I think a lot of our weaknesses appeared at the midpoint in last year’s season and we can’t go into another season having the same issues that we’ve had so we have full trust in Paddy but also we’ve brought in a number of other senior personnel to work alongside, so Dirk de Beer heads our aerodynamic department now as well, comes from Ferrari this year to us, and some other senior engineers who are hopefully going to turn things around for us. But as I said, we can’t have another year like this.

    Q: You got a bonus year out of Felipe, is there another year in him or are you casting the net wider for a teammate for Lance Stroll for next year?

    CW: Yeah, Felipe has done a fantastic job like you say, it’s been a bonus year for us. He very kindly came back and he’s really delivered for us. Obviously the past couple of races have been tough for him with his medical issue but we’re through that now  and we’re looking forward to him delivering for the rest of the year and we really just have to wait and see. I think I’ve made it really clear that the team at the moment are focusing on the Constructors’ championship, we need to make sure that we consolidate our P5. I don’t think we’re going to close the gap to Bob, unfortunately, but there’s a lot of teams behind us that would love to overtake us and take that P5 and we can’t afford that, so for us the focus really has to be on track performance at the moment rather than diluting that effort with thoughts about driver line-up so there’s still eight races to go, there’s plenty of time to be thinking about next year.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Inaudible) Question to everybody: on Thursday, there was the launch of the new Formula Two car and it’s pretty similar to a Formula One car. On this occasion, Ross Brawn and Charlie Whiting were saying that the plan for the next years FIA and Formula One is to encourage Formula One teams to work closely with Formula Two teams. Do you think that makes sense from your point of view?

    BF: Well, I think historically we’ve tried to do that anyway. It’s not just a case of working closer with the teams. Usually you have some sort of driver link and that’s the bit that brings the two together so I don’t see any changes to that. Where you can, you support it but to have a direct link between the Formula One team and the Formula Two team is not easy. There are certain people who are doing it very well but all teams can’t embrace it because of the costs.

    CW: Yeah, I probably echo what Bob says really. Obviously we’re all looking at drivers in that championship and if there’s ways in which we can work with teams from that perspective then fine but I think from our perspective as a team at the moment we have our own issues that we need to be concentrating our full efforts on rather than diluting that down again with maybe other projects such as working with a Formula Two team.

    GH: We have an association with several F2 drivers and quite frankly it’s a learning experience but going forward, I think we could see ourselves working closely with the teams as development drivers. That would be a great way of bringing up talent which obviously we need. It would be a great way of maybe bringing up some teams, too.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and Speedsport) There’s been a lot of talk about what direction Formula One should take in the future. Auto manufacturers are interested in Formula E. Where, as representatives of independent teams, do you think F1 should go, bearing in mind road car relevance and also that it has to remain entertaining?

    GH: Well, certainly the battery revolution in cars is among us. I think we have to pay attention to these new drivetrain developments because it’s the future. I wouldn’t be surprised if we do see either more mainstream car companies get involved in this new sport of Formula E. How it relates to Formula One, what we can do, I think… we’re kind of the minnows here so we can’t really drive that technology but certainly today’s engine is somewhat of a hybrid technology, very very similar to the hybrid cars out there. There’s a lot of technology that goes into these cars so I think it’s an exciting new venture. Quite frankly, I don’t think I would mind being in it myself if I understood it better but we have our hands full of Formula One so I think it’s great.

    CW: I think from our perspective and as a business model, looking at it from that perspective I think there are some concerns we would have as an independent team, where Formula One could eventually be heading if we don’t take ownership of that direction now. Obviously we’ve got the manufacturers in our sport who are spending huge amounts of money and then independent teams in the middle that can’t ever dream of achieving that kind of expenditure in Formula One and that delta between our expenditure is creating the situations that we have at the moment in our business, certainly, where we are looking ahead at every year and really trying to make sure that we secure budgets in order just to be sustainable in this sport and that needs to change. There’s a huge amount of money that washes around Formula One and there should be enough for ten teams to be able to compete competitively amongst each other without being four seconds apart on the grid. So from my perspective, I’d really like to see Formula One move in a positive direction from a financial perspective, cost controls and budget caps, and I think that would bring about the entertainment that we need to see remain in Formula One but improving Formula One as well. I think we all want to see Formula One grow and I think the new owners have a handle on that. I think I’m personally really looking forward to seeing what they’re going to bring about from 2018 onwards. From that perspective I think they’ve done some great or brought about some great initiatives this year alone but I think there’s probably more to come and I think we need to grow the sport collaboratively as a whole with everybody’s best interests at heart rather than just a few.

    BF: Yeah, I completely agree with Claire. Force India in particular has been very vocal about the disparity between the top teams and the rest of the grid and you can’t have… we’re almost getting into a two tier championship at the moment where the top three teams are significantly far away from the fourth team and below. And to be able to say well we need to compete… the only way you can compete on that is adding 200m to your budget is quite ridiculous and we need to get that under control.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Taking what the three of you have just said variously in reply to a question, it appears as though Liberty are intent on introducing a budget cap of about $150m by the end of 2020. This will have certain exceptions like engines etc but is $150m or $200m all in; is it actually a realistic figure, can it be policed and what would it do for your individual prospects as race teams compared to the big three or four?

    GH: Well, that would actually be an increase for us so we would fall under that budget cap at the moment. I think the bigger problem though is the bigger teams… I was over at Ferrari yesterday and they have a huge R&D department as I’m sure Mercedes do too and the question is where do these teams go and what they do and that’s even more of a question because they’re the ones that really bring the DNA of Formula One to the track. Formula One is considered to be the ultimate sport and after being in it for a while, I find that’s the most fascinating aspect of it is this technology that they develop and the extent and passion with which a company like Ferrari puts into developing these things. Having a budget cap and suddenly saying that you’re going to have to shelve 500 people is going to be extremely difficult and that’s where the new owners are going to run into some big obstacles when they simply say ‘ah well, here’s your new marching rules.’ If it’s contrary to where a company’s put 50 years into that’s just not going to work so that’s the dilemma they have is, trying to radically change something that’s been around for so long and it’s so firmly put into concrete. You just can’t change it overnight and I’m glad that I don’t have to be part of that decision at the moment.

    CW: There are some points that Gene has made that I would share. I think that it would be very difficult – or will be very difficult – if a cost cap comes in to that degree, $150m for teams like Ferrari and Mercedes and Red Bull to bring down their operations but in the past we’ve operated on those kinds of budgets and I think to say that those teams are the teams that bring the DNA to this sport is just incorrect. I think that teams like Williams are the very fabric of this sport  that we operate in and teams like Williams and Force India, the independents that have been in this sport for 40 years and delivered a huge amount of technology that have had benefits to other industries as a result, need to be protected as well. So from my perspective of course we would be absolutely behind the cost cap whatever that may be but from my perspective equally, I would want to see it come in a lot sooner than that.

    BF: We would want it to come in as soon as possible. The 150m is above our budget but I’d much rather be able to say that Force India was capable of bridging the deficit of 30m than 200m which is where it is at the moment, and I think it’s very important, I think, for the sport to have five or six teams that are capable of achieving a podium on merit. At the moment, that’s not possible. Even the top fourth, fifth and sixth teams are only capable of getting it on opportunity at this point and we need to be able to change that round to make the sport the spectacle that it is and to give the competition there. Teams like Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull will always have the advantage in terms of the fact that drivers’ salaries will be out of that budget cap and they will have the money to spend on the better drivers, but it means that we’re going to be to be looking at talented drivers which means we’re bringing through drivers and drivers become one of the key elements then going forward which to me is very very important.

    Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) Gene, the work that your foundation has done, the Gene Haas Foundation which has provided scholarships for young people and their communities, I was curious to know, are you planning to expand or have plans to expand that scholarship programme into your team, to where those young people would be interested in aerospace or engineering or want to get a position in F1?

    GH: Well, the foundation primarily funds the projects in relationship to community projects of teaching young people about manufacturing with an emphasis on machining. Whether a person decides to build race cars or rocket ships or simply work on next generation cars is fully up to them and I try not to… I don’t spend any of our foundation money particularly on racing. We are working in collaboration with Dallara and Ferrari on trying to set up a school that teaches, like, say, five axis machining so that’s probably as close as we’ve got into that so it’s mainly there to teach young people about manufacturing in today’s world and I can look at the racing as being a subset of that but not a primary goal to teach kids about racing. That’s the way we’re running it and that’s probably the way it will continue.

    Q: (Peter Hartig – BMF1) This has nothing to do with economy: Gene, at the magazine, we noticed that you tried the F1 experience so I have two questions for you: how was it to sit to ride on the back of a V10, beautiful noisy V10? And by the way, how is the back of your neck?

    GH: You know, I’ll tell you what, it’s exactly what they say: it’s an F1 experience. I think pulling out of the garage and the acceleration, going through gears, it just throws you in the back and then you come into turn one and your whole body goes to the… you know, slams into the front of the car. I never experienced that and then it feels like you’re pulling 5G side load going through the turns and quite frankly, I started to feel a little queasy doing that. It’s a heck of an experience, I would highly recommend it if you’re a thrill seeker but being an F1 driver is not easy. I don’t think I would ever want to be able to do that because to do that for 50 laps, that must just take the life out of you. It’s exciting, it’s a real experience and they did a great job, from everything from bringing you into the experience with the suit, the helmet, bolting you into the car, it’s all very very nicely done. I say I was pretty much exhausted by the time I got out of the car. It didn’t bother my neck at all. It didn’t bother it at all.

  • 2017 Italian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference – Part 1

    2017 Italian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference – Part 1

    PART ONE: DRIVERS – Esteban OCON (Force India), Sergio PÉREZ (Force India), Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari).

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Sebastian, let’s start with you. There seems to have been a real bounce. If you can fight with Mercedes, especially at Spa, then you can fight them anywhere. Has the success of the updates you brought to Hungary and Spa given you clear belief as far as the Championship is concerned?

    Sebastian VETTEL: No. It wasn’t necessary. I think there was always belief. If you’re going to come into the race and you don’t have the feeling, or belief that you can achieve something for one race or many races in succession then there’s not much point. But, to really answer your question, I guess, the form we showed in Spa was real and the speed was there in particular in the race which weeks ago, on a similar type of track, maybe wasn’t the case. So that’s very positive. Obviously, we had a smoother weekend all around but still, I think we’ve made improvements on all fronts. So, I was very, very happy with the performance last week.

    Q: It’s been a while since a Ferrari driver came to Monza leading the Drivers’ World Championship. With the new commitment that you’ve just made to Ferrari for three more years, do you feel now the full force of tifosi support and is it worth a tenth or two, do you think?

    SV: Well it’s worth something! Obviously, we get out tomorrow and then we see for the first time how many people show up but I guess it ramps up also during the weekend. This morning was fairly quiet but considering –  I walked the track –  but considering it’s only Thursday there were still a lot of people with flags around the track – definitely more than in other places. So, yeah, difficult to quantify but I guess there’s something there. Obviously, it’s a grand prix that the whole team enjoys and it’s very special to be part of. So, need to make sure we enjoy it.

    Q: Sergio, coming to you, your battle with Esteban has been one of the stories, one of the talking points of the season. Things started to get a little tricky in Canada, then obviously in Baku there was a collision, a little bit of contact in Budapest and then obviously, we had Spa last weekend. Why have things escalated and what’s your side the story?

    Sergio PÉREZ: We’ve been racing very closely lately. As you say, we’ve had a couple of incidents in the last races. I think, I had a really good conversation with him, personally, between him and me, and I think it’s time to move forwards. Everyone had his opinion of what happened. The engineers have one opinion, the fans, us… have different opinions on what has been happening. The most important thing is that, from now, we move forwards. The main objective as a team is to finish fourth in the Constructors’ and we cannot afford to lose any more points. I think we’ve lost quite a lot of points in those races you’ve just mentioned, so we will move forwards and I’m very sure that these things will not happen again.

    Q: Esteban, what’s your side of the story. Why did things escalate, and escalate particularly during the race in Belgium?

    Esteban OCON: We’ve been racing really closely, as Sergio was saying, we’re always fighting for the last tenths in qualifying, or in the race so, for sure, it’s really close between us. But yeah, what has happened before has happened. Now we can’t change what happened before. We have to move forwards. As Sergio was saying, we had a talk this morning together, just us two. Yeah, it is time we forget all that, that we work hard for the team. It’s important – that’s what they deserve as well – that we behave as professionals and yeah, we want to keep challenging the others, keep pushing them and we have to keep that fourth place until the end.

    Q: So, you look forward. Sergio, the team has indicated they won’t let this happen again, that instructions will be given. As the more senior driver, how would you like that to be managed?

    SP: I think we are both mature enough. Esteban has been racing for a long time as well and I think we both know how to handle things. Yeah, although there will be some instructions coming out for us, I think we will put everything in place to make sure the interests of the team come first before us.

    Q: And Esteban, is it important for your development that you’ll be allowed to push to the maximum at every event – and how will team instructions affect that?

    EO: No, I mean, it doesn’t matter if I’m a rookie or if I have experience or not. At the end, what matters at the end is the result for us, the result for the team and yeah, if there is a team instruction, I will follow it. There is no other points.

    Q: Sebastian, quick one for you, at your previous team, you experienced a similarly tense battle with your team-mate. Does there come a point in a relationship where a line is crossed that you can’t go back from – and how do you avoid that?

    SV: No, I don’t think… I think you can always talk to each other. On track, let’s be fair, you have occasions where things may not turn out the way both want to. I don’t think any driver ever has really bad intentions over his team mate or any other guy but for sure the duel with your team-mate is a bit more intense. You’re driving the same car, you are therefore naturally fighting for the same position around the track. So, yeah, you want to stay ahead. I think inside the car you want to be the one that is in front. At the time maybe you don’t care much about what else is going on, as they both mentioned. Obviously, the team behind, they don’t really care which driver because they see their cars. It’s a tough line in terms of, y’know, you have to be, in a way, egoistic inside a car. Equally, you want to do the best for the team. But there’s never a line, I think, you cross you can never can come back from. They obviously took the opportunity to talk to each other and y’know, if I look now with Mark, obviously, I guess that’s the one you’re talking about, I have a very good relationship with him and we talked also about stuff that happened years ago with a lot of distance and y’know, now we can laugh about it. We both have our views, I think we both have different views, maybe now on some things that we had back but that’s normal as you go forwards. That’s why I think you can also cross a line again.

    Q: Quick question to all three of you: it is Ferrari’s 70th anniversary, as Sebastian’s hat tells us. A quick specific Ferrari memory, either from your childhood or your racing career, any special Ferrari Formula One memory.

    SP: I think the one that’s comes to my mind was the first test that I did for Ferrari when I was a member of the Ferrari academy. Was a very special day and that will stick with me forever. Ferrari is the team that we all admire, that we all want to do well as a Formula One fan. So that moment was very special.

    EO: Yeah, also, I tested for Ferrari back in 2014, at the end of the year. It was just magical. Testing in Fiorano on that beautiful track, driving a Ferrari, working with Italian engineers, Italian mechanics. I also speak Italian, I’ve lived in Italy, I’ve raced a lot in go-kart in Italy and you know what Ferrari is for motorsport. It’s something massive. I’m also a big fan of Michael and I was watching on TV when I was really young and I will also remember looking at the Ferrari ahead.

    And finally Sebastian, you’ve obviously got a pretty decent scrapbook of your own memories of Ferrari – any before that in particular?

    SV: Yeah, as another big admirer of Michael, most of my memories as a child of watching Formula One are linked to Michael and in that case linked to Ferrari. So, big admiration for him but for the car he was racing, for the team and obviously the dream came true when I was able to join the team – but yeah, lots of memories. Childhood, I remember I was always racing with toy cars and the red car always won. Don’t know why! It’s sort of what I was taught by the world around me, I guess, is that that car should be in the front, or has to be in front. Yeah, and obviously since then when I had the opportunity through Michael to be in the Ferrari garage for the time, I think Nürburgring 2003 for a short time. Just magical to see the guys moving around, everybody dressed in red. These kind of things really matter to you as a child and make a difference. Now, obviously, I’m there whenever I want to be, which is quite nice. So, lots of very, very special memories.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Question to both Force India drivers. Can we know when you talked to each other and what was the talking about. What have you said?

    SP: It was this morning and it was mainly… I went to Esteban’s room and I had a talk with him. We basically said like… I mean… the engineers have their view, it’s pointless going again through each of the incidents because everyone has their point to say, so let’s just move on together. Let’s forget the past and go forwards together. I believe that a new relationship can start from now on and I really hope that from now on we can be working as a team and we can put the interests of the team first, and we both came to that agreement and it was quite simple.

    Esteban?

    EO: He said everything.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) To both Force India drivers. Obviously given the fact you’re so closely matched in the same cars it’s inevitable you’re going to be together, whether it’s this year or next year. Is it not possibly time that one of you considered going elsewhere. You’re both in the frame for a Renault drive – who’s going to sign first?

    SP: I think that’s not the way I look at things. I want to do the best for the current team that I am with and I want to do the best results. I think we both know that we have done wrong in the past for this team so my main target, I’m not thinking to run away. I believe that working with Esteban is still possible. It can still be a successful partnership and I’m not thinking to move elsewhere.

    EO: I think I’m not thinking of that at the moment. There is a big challenge ahead. We have a car and a great team behind us, which we can score points at every race doing a great job, so at the moment I’m focussing to the drive with Force India and not to next year – but I fully trust my management side and I’m sure I will have an opportunity to drive F1 next year.

    Q: (David Croft – Sky Sports) Sorry guys, another question for Esteban and Sergio, who mentioned the points that Force India have lost this year. Esteban you say you need to behave as professionals. Do you both feel that you haven’t behaved as professionals on the track at times this year. Is that a fair comment to make?

    EO: I think we both crossed the line, that’s for sure. We touched so of course something was wrong in there. I’m not going to argue because it’s all behind now and we want to move forwards but for sure we crossed the line and we can’t do that in the future for the purpose of the team and even for us.

    SP: Same.

    Q: (Marco Privitera – LiveGP.it) A question for Seb. We have seen a big fight in Spa with Lewis in the final part of the race. If you would be here in Monza in the same situation, would you attack him in a stronger way in order to make a special gift to Ferrari’s tifosi, or would you rather think about your championship hopes?

    SV: I think you are racing to win the race. I think that has priority. Obviously you need to be aware of what you are doing but it wasn’t like I was saving myself. I tried everything I had at the time. I stick with him the whole race, so I was battling, I think the whole race with him. Maybe not wheel-to-wheel but it was really close and intense from a driving point of view. So I enjoyed that a lot but obviously he had the upper hand in the end. So there can be only one of the top step of the podium. I think there are some things that I learned from Spa, that we learned as a team but I learned as a driver. Things that I would do a bit different. But at the time it felt like the right thing to do, with hindsight it was a bit more clever. Here I think it’s a different track. Generally it’s possible to overtake. We’ll see where we are in the race. I think going into this weekend we need to be fair and say that the track layout suits Mercedes but the performance that we showed last week gives us hope. So, we tried to do the best. Obviously, yeah, there should be quite a good atmosphere and a lot of support so for sure we try to give all the love and passion that we’ve received so far this year, we try to also give something back from our side.

    Q: (Peter Hardy – BMF1) Sorry Sebastian, this is for the two guys. From a psychological point of view, how is it to be called into an interview like this where you know that you will be asked a lot of questions about the incidents that have happened?

    EO: It’s part of the job, you know. You know that when you are a Formula One driver that you will be facing a lot of media, it’s not only the driving side, it’s also looking at this that you have to handle yourself and face what the journalists are going to say. At the end, it’s, as I said, part of the job.

    Sergio?

    SP: Yeah, I think Esteban is doing well.

    Q: (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas) Seb, if you had the possibility to choose, what would be important to you: to win one championship with Ferrari or two with another team?

    SV: Well, I’m not with another team, so I think I prioritise to win here. Obviously I have been very, very fortunate in the past to have the success I have had. It’s like a drug, you want to do it again, you want to get that feeling again, you want to stand on top of the podium and yeah, I think if you manage to achieve your target at the end of the year – talking about the championship – then it makes it very, very special. It’s something that has been a while and I want to do it again. For sure, it always feels a bit different if you are with a different team. How it feels with Ferrari, I don’t know, that’s what I’m trying to find out.

    Q: (Ralf Bach – Sportbild) A question to Seb. Coming back to Spa, it was the first situation after Baku where you were behind him with the safety car. Do you think he learned from Baku and his behaviour was better? What do you think about what he did?

    SV: What, specifically? The re-start?

    Q: (Ralf Bach – Sportbild) Braking, not braking?

    SV: I don’t know how it felt… I was the first one following, I don’t know how it felt further down

    EO: Quite scary.

    SV: I tried to react. There have been a couple of re-starts, everybody has his style and you need to obviously try and do your best. I wasn’t thinking about Baku too much to be honest. I was thinking of trying… basically the same things as in Baku, trying to stay as close as possible and have a good re-start. I had a chance and I wanted to make sure I stay with him and use it. All went well, so nothing to think about, but I can understand if further back it was feeling a bit stop and go.

    Q: (Adrian Rodriguez Huber – Agencia EFE) A question for Checo. I want to know your memories about 2012. I don’t know if that was the greatest moment, or at least one of the greatest, for you in Formula One?

    SP: Yeah, it was a very special day that race, beating both Ferraris in Monza and making it to the podium; getting so close to the win actually. It was definitely one of my best races; had incredible pace. So yeah, definitely great memories of that day.

    Q: (Lennart Bloemhof – De Volksrant) A question for Sebastian. In Spa you said Ferrari has something that other teams don’t have. Can you tell me what that is and do you think F1 is more important for Ferrari or is it the other way round?

    SV: How can I describe? I guess, don’t get me wrong, maybe you have, but I guess you don’t have a Ferrari? No. Have you ever sat in a Ferrari? No. Then I strongly recommend that you do. Just to sit in a Ferrari… there are a lot of great sports cars around the planet, I don’t know all of them, at least that’s the way I feel and that for me is something unique and it’s similar and it probably describes or answers your questions, or tries to at least. It’s the feeling when you step into a Ferrari, when you sit in a Ferrari, I don’t know, you can step into another car but you don’t get the same feeling. When the engine then starts and you have the chance to drive yourself then I think everybody who likes cars and has a passion for racing falls in love with the cars straight away. Maybe you should ask whoever you are writing for to give you the opportunity to sign off a day in a Ferrari. That would be the best way to answer the question.

    Q: (Ibriam Ignacio Artimuno – Momento GP) A question for Sebastian. How does it feel to return to a circuit where you won for the first time?

    SV: Yeah, it’s a special place. It’s many years ago, a long time ago, but still a very strong emotion. There are people inside the team now that I have been working with back then. Obviously we had a Ferrari engine in the car with Toro Rosso in those days. The whole weekend was magical. Saturday to have the pole, and to win the race on Sunday the way we did. Pretty amazing memories and when I walked the track this morning there are some pictures coming back. In fact, I’m working with the same race engineer now as I did back then, with Ricardo. It’s a memory we shared together and yeah, it makes this place definitely one of the most special places for me.

    Q: (Alex Combralier – Nextgen-Auto) A question for Sebastian. At Mercedes we could see team orders between Hamilton and Bottas this week. Do you think that team orders are now necessary in your team and do you think that Räikkönen would agree with that?

    SV: No, and I think the second part of your questions is also no. I am a bit surprised by the way things are put. I think Kimi and myself, I can’t speak for other people, but Kimi and myself I think we have been racing each other all year. I read or I heard after the Hungarian Grand Prix that he was protecting me. I think if you speak to him he can make it pretty clear. He was, how can I say, I don’t think he was leaving anything behind. I think if he had the opportunity properly to pass me he would have tried and that’s fair enough. I think it would have been the same the other way round. I think we are racing for the team, we’re both trying to our best, if it happens that you race for the same spot then you might meet yourself on track, as these guys have proven. You’re both fighting for yourself but you’re also fighting for the team, so it’s something you need to keep in the back of your mind. I don’t know what other teams are doing, but for us, I think we both go flat out and see what happens. Normally you can always talk about a lot of things, scenarios and so on, but it always turns out to be a bit different from that.

    Q: (Benjamin Vinel – Motorsport.com) A question for Esteban and Sergio. Do you think with the standings currently, with Force India extremely likely to finish fourth, quite far away from Red Bull but quite far ahead of other teams, that the team could afford to let you race until the end of the year?

    SP: Well, what we cannot afford, us, is to lose more points. Things change really quickly in Formula One. We see other teams are closing up in terms of pace. We definitely need to score in strong races, such as Spa and Monza, they are probably the two strongest races for us, so we definitely have to make sure that we score as many points as we possibly can. That’s just for the good of the team you know. Everyone works so hard at the track, at the factory, we really need to take the maximum out of both cars every single weekend. It’s not only about finishing fourth; it’s about how we do it and that’s why we definitely have to make sure we do it properly.

    EO: Yeah, I agree with Sergio. We have to get the bosses’ trust back and maybe after some races they will let us race again.

    Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Sebastian, your car has been pretty reliable this year in general, apart from that hiccup in Hungary with the steering. Have the team discovered what the problem was, was it a mechanical problem, or just an impact? Did you have to take any countermeasures to make sure it doesn’t happen again? 

    SV: In Hungary? Yeah, we found the issue; it was an issue with the track rod. It was mechanical, we fixed it and it was fine ever after the race. Yeah, I think in terms of reliability, it’s true, things have been going really well. You’re trying to push the limits as hard as possible, but certainly we are not yet where we want to be. We can always improve. There is a lot of work and effort going on but certainly in Hungary it was a bit uncertain, also in the car, how the race would finish, if I would finish at all. I saved the car as much as I could, which turned out to be the right thing before it could have led to a DNF.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Sebastian, the way that Mercedes have played the oil burn regulation: do you believe they have stolen a march over Ferrari, that maybe Ferrari missed a trick after Spa?

    SV: No, not really. I don’t know whether that was always the plan for them, or whether they reacted to that and pulled it forward. I think for us we are pretty much on target. Obviously we know the change that is happening from here, on what is it? We don’t have a new engine for this weekend. I think it would be quite silly to miss for that, if that was your purposes, just for one week, so I think we are on plan, but as I said, I don’t know whether that was their sole intention or whether they had other issues.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS) A question for Sebastian: the new cars they will be quicker than last year and it is a power circuit but the difference will be in the corners I think. Can you give a description of what it will be like?

    SV: Well, here I guess it will be fairly small, the difference, because on paper it’s probably the track that suits the old cars best, meaning that with long straights and more drag this year and because of more downforce naturally the cars will be a bit slower down the straights. They will still be quick because the engines are a bit better and so on, but yeah, I don’t know, the lap time will I guess be similar. I don’t expect it to be faster, like we went in Spa, not by that amount. But I don’t know, generally it’s lower downforce here, so the car is very light, but there are some epic corners on this track – the two Lesmos, especially the first one, it’s one of my favourites, Ascari, Parabolica, so with more grip normally they feel nicer, so they should be quite enjoyable this year.

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Can you explain to us the difficulty of towing during qualifying and are you planning to use that on Saturday?

    SP: Yeah, it’s a great challenge to get it right. You have to kind of wait around five to six seconds, but it depends a lot what the car in front does. With Kimi, last time, I was close to him, it worked well but he aborted the lap in sector two so I got too close to him and then you lose a lot of downforce. If you can do it without it, it’s just better.

    SV: It’s always very difficult to time and you need to be lucky to get the most out of it. It’s one of those things…  you can’t plan what other people are doing. You can’t plan ahead and you can only look after yourself. For sure you can position yourself so that it should be helping you or not helping but whether it works out or not is very difficult to time, unless you do something that you agree on before with your teammate or others. Let’s put it this way: the likelihood of getting it wrong is far higher than getting it right.

    EO: Yeah, you always want a tow, basically, in a straight line but then the guy to move over before the corner so it’s pretty difficult to get. You are maybe lucky once in every three or four years to get that but as Seb just said, if you can get it without, it’s always the best solution.

  • Force India Drivers Take Their Battle to Social Media

    Force India Drivers Take Their Battle to Social Media

    The Force India drivers once again came to blows on track at the Belgian Grand Prix.

    The tension between the drivers has been bubbling under the surface since the Azerbaijan Grand Prix when Ocon squeezed Perez into the barrier.

    This time in at the Belgian Grand Prix, however, it was Perez that squeezed Ocon into twice into the barrier. The first incident happened at the start of the race. There was no damage to either car and Perez accepted responsibility for the incident. The second collision damaged Ocon’s front wing which resulted in a puncture on Perez’s rear right. Both drivers were able to make it back to the pits. Ocon eventually finished the race in 9th while Perez finished 17th. What was a good afternoon for the team with the prospect of a double points finish turned into disaster.

    The fallout from the collision between team mates spilled on to social media where Ocon posted a video claiming that Perez tried to kill him.

    “Tried to kill me” may be a touch dramatic.

    Perez replied with a video of his own but said nothing about the second incident.

    Quiero ofrecerle una disculpa a mi equipo por el primer incidente que tuvimos hoy. Seleccioné un mapa motor equivocado para el inicio de carrera y eso provocó que no tuviera la potencia suficiente en la recta. Prueba de ello es que mi luz roja trasera iba parpadeando. Iba muy concentrado en proteger la posición con Hulkenberg que no vi a Esteban y lo toqué. Totalmente mi culpa, ofrezco una disculpa por eso. En el segundo incidente creo que no había el espacio suficiente para que Esteban realizara el rebase ahí. Al ser yo el auto líder, la línea era mía. Él solo tenía su alerón, la línea me pertenecía. Estaba el muro y estaba mi auto, no había espacio para dos coches. Tenía toda la recta para pasarme, pero bueno… Lo que si me decepciona mucho son sus publicaciones en donde dice que traté de matarlo. Yo podría haber dicho muchas cosas en el pasado, pero no lo hice. Creo que somos profesionales, estamos en la máxima categoría de nuestro deporte y esos comentarios no me parecen apropiados. Lo bueno es que el próximo fin de semana volvemos a tener carrera. Voy a regresar más fuerte que nunca y voy a manejar mejor que nunca para mi equipo en las próximas 8 carreras. Gracias a todos por su apoyo! #nevergiveup #class👍👌

    A post shared by Checo Pérez (@schecoperez) on

    Speaking from the pit wall live after the incident, Chief Operating Officer of Force India Otmar Szafnauer said that they will now enforce team orders and they will not allow their drivers to race anymore.

    “In the future they’ll never have that opportunity [to race] again,” explained Force India COO Otmar Szafnauer. “We let them race up till now and if they can’t do that in a manner that is good for the team, then they won’t be racing anymore.

    “They shouldn’t be coming together. We’ve given them the latitude to race and I’ve always said that, but we told them if a Baku-type incident happens again we’ll be calling races from the pit wall in the future.

    “Once it gets to the point of safety margins and crashing into each other then we’ve got to take it into our hands.”

    Speaking after the race Ocon appreciated the risky move and understood why Pere made contact with him. “We are three wide [with Nico Hulkenberg], so I accept that, even if he squeezes me into the wall and that’s very dangerous and not professional,” he said.

    He did not take lightly to the second incident however. Saying that it was just too much. “The second one is just too much. You know, what’s the point in doing that? He just squeezed me into the wall at 300km/h, risking my life, risking his life for no reason and costing the team a lot of points. He’s supposed to be a professional driver and he didn’t show it today,” the young Frenchman added.

    Perez accepted the responsibility for the first incident at the start of the race but did not think that the second incident is his fault. He said Ocon was optimistic attempting a pass on the outside.

    “The second incident I think Esteban was really optimistic, because there was no room for two cars. He had the whole straight to do the manoeuvre. It was just too much on the limit. It’s a shame that we touched because it ruined our race,” said the Mexican.

    Team Orders

    Team Principal Vijay Mallya says he’s become more concerned about the incidents between the two drivers and has no choice to implement team order.

    “I have been very happy with our overall performance during the 2017 season with both drivers scoring points for the team and racing freely,” said Mallya.

    “However, as much as I support competitive racing, the repeated incidents between both our cars are now becoming very concerning.

    “Under these circumstances I have no choice but to implement a policy of team orders in the interest of safety and to protect the team’s position in the constructors’ championship.”

  • F1 2017: Belgium Gp Review – Hamilton Wins Intense Battle

    F1 2017: Belgium Gp Review – Hamilton Wins Intense Battle

    In terms of the spectacle of wheel-to-wheel racing the 2017 Belgian grand prix wasn’t the most electrifying race of the season.

    However, what it may have lacked as far as a pure racing show it certainly made up with the intensity of the battle between the two championship protagonists Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton.

    While Hamilton maintained track position throughout the race the Mercedes driver was never more than two seconds ahead of Ferrari’s Vettel. In his 200th grand prix Hamilton managed to keep Vettel at bay but it was far from a stroll for Mercedes who admitted post-race that it they were pushing flat out from light out to chequered flag. Vettel’s inability to overtake Hamilton proved that track position remains all-important. It’s once again abundantly clear that despite the fact that the 2017 cars are far quicker and more visually exciting it hasn’t improved the ability to overtake.

    A late safety car was deployed for debris on the track for an indefensible crash between Force India teammates Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon. The testy relationship between Force India’s drivers came to blows as Perez dangerously squeezed teammate Ocon into the old pitwall, making contact. The race stewards are likely to impose a hefty penalty for Perez’s inexcusably dangerous driving.

    0008Despite Vettel getting to within half a tenth of taking the lead Hamilton maintained control. It wasn’t the case for his Merc teammate Valtteri Bottas who was swamped, on either side, into turn four by Daniel Ricciardo on the left and Kimi Raikkonen on the right. It left Ricciardo in third and Raikkonen, recovering from a ten second stop/go penalty for not slowing under yellow flags, in fourth and a well-spanked Bottas in fifth.

    For Max Verstappen his woeful run in 2017 continued with yet another reliability issue. This time a cylinder failure in the engine put an end to his afternoon at his de facto home race. While Verstappen’s frustrations were amplified Nico Hulkenberg took sixth place for Renault ahead of Romain Grosjean in seventh, Massa in eighth, Ocon in ninth and Carlos Sainz in tenth for Toro Rosso.

    Fully aware that radio communications are often broadcast to the world McLaren’s Fernando Alonso didn’t hold back his contempt during the race. His comments ranged from “embarrassing, really embarrassing” to “I really don’t care too much about the gaps. This is just a test” when told about the gap to other drivers in his vicinity. Later on he summarily told the team that he wanted no more radio communication.

    While his frustration is certainly warranted it was perhaps not the classiest way to go about voicing it. There are more than 600 McLaren employees working flat-out to get these two cars onto the track in the best condition possible and it would likely have been terribly demoralizing for them to hear Alonso’s comments.

    Fernando Alonso_Canada 2015 ReactionThe simple truth is that there is no doubt whatsoever that Fernando Alonso is supremely talented and still well capable of winning world titles.

    But ponder this: Ferrari could have easily re-signed him for 2018, but chose instead to stick with their current line-up. There is a reason for this and the temperament he displayed in Belgian Gp has everything to do with it.

    Hamilton’s intensely fought win has seen him halve Vettel’s gap to seven points ahead of Ferrari’s home race this weekend at Monza.

    All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport