F1 Madness

Tag: honda

  • McLaren Announce 3-Year Engine Partnership with Renault

    McLaren Announce 3-Year Engine Partnership with Renault

    The long awaited announcement that McLaren will divorce from it’s technical partnership with Honda and move to Renault has finally been confirmed.

    After months of rumor and speculation the deal was finally announced on Friday 15 September 2017 after the first free practice session for the Singapore Grand Prix.

    Years of unreliability, lack of performance and pressure from shareholders and sponsors have finally brought the deal to conclusion.

    The McLaren-Renault deal will last from 2018-2020 and it will be the first time in Formula One history that the two teams will work together in a technical partnership.

    “For McLaren Racing, the reason for the partnership is evident : Renault has demonstrated its ability to build championship-winning engines, for its own team as well as customer teams,” said Renault in a statement.

    Renault will now be supporting two top-tier teams, and itself as a works team.

    “This is a strategic decision for Renault Sport Racing,” said Jérôme Stoll, President of Renault Sport Racing.

    “It is the first time that Renault will work with McLaren and we are proud to have reached an agreement with an organisation that has such a rich Formula 1 history.

    “This alliance is not only technical and sporting, but also comes with marketing and communication benefits.

    “We know that McLaren will push us hard on track and this competition will be to the benefit of all.”

    Zak Brown, McLaren Technology Group Executive Director:

    “Today’s announcement gives us the stability we need to move ahead with our chassis and technical programme for 2018 without any further hesitation.

    “As an organisation, McLaren has always worked extremely hard to form lasting partnerships with its technical suppliers. We’re convinced that we can bring real value to Renault Sport Racing as we work alongside it to develop this current power unit into a regular race winner.”

    “There has never been any doubt over Honda’s commitment and energy to the mission of success in Formula 1,” continued Brown.

    “For a combination of reasons our partnership has not flourished as any of us would have wished. It is certainly not for the want of effort on the part of either Honda or McLaren, but the time has come to move ahead in different directions.

    “As fellow racers, we hope to see the great name of Honda get back to the top – our sport is better for their involvement. I know this view is shared by everyone in the sport.”

    Honda President & Representative Director, Takahiro Hachigo said that it was the best course of action for both Honda and McLaren.

    “It is unfortunate that we must part ways with McLaren before fulfilling our ambitions, however, we made the decision with a belief that this is the best course of action for each other’s future,” he said.

    “Honda will continue the fight together with McLaren all the way to the end of the 2017 season, and then continue its F1 racing activities in 2018 and beyond.”

  • 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.

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

    2017 Belgian Grand Prix: Friday Press Conference – Part 2

    PART TWO: TEAM PERSONNEL: Yusuke HASEGAWA (Honda), Franz TOST (Toro Rosso), Zak BROWN (McLaren)

    Q: Zak, let’s begin with you. Hungary, obviously a strong performance, the best performance of the season so far. How do you feel about the level of that performance that weekend and the steps on the journey back to competitiveness for your team?

    Zak BROWN: Hungary was definitely a step forward. Good to see both cars get home in the points. Sixth and tenth isn’t exactly what gets McLaren too excited but it was definitely forward progress.

    Q: Where are you now on the long-term plans in terms of power units. Obviously we’ve heard all these stories of various steps along the way from winter testing right through to the summer break. Has anything changed? What can you tell us?

    ZB: I think like all racing teams, we’re working on our 2018 drivers. We obviously announced Stoffel, which was never in doubt that he was going to continue with us, and we’re working on our second driver, some two-time World Champion, and making sure we have the most competitive race car for next year.

    Q: Hasegawa-san, coming to you, your side of that story. Obviously Hungary, a step forward, your updated engine here, and also where do you feel it’s going, the relationship with McLaren?

    Yusuke HASEGAWA: Of course, in Hungary we are very happy. Actually, we are very relieved we get the points. That is performance we are not satisfied with but it is a minimum level of performance we have to achieve, so we are relieved about that. So, still the matter, we need to update our engine performance definitely to convince McLaren as well and to satisfy us.

    Q: And the updated engine this weekend, what can you tell us about that? How much more performance is there in Stoffel’s car?

    YH: OK, it’s actually… we had planned to introduce a spec-4 engine here but we failed. Actually we didn’t match to the schedule. So that we have a halfway upgrade. We called it 3.5 and 3.6 but I think we can introduce some decent upgrade here but we don’t stop the improvement.

    Q: You have Franz next to you this afternoon. Is Toro Rosso still a possible contender for a second supply of engines in 2018? Are those talks still live?

    YH:  I don’t think so. We don’t have an official conversation about that. So although Mr Yamamoto visited Dr Marko, because we need to discuss about Super Formula, the Japanese formula series, and we have Pierre Gasly the Red Bull young driver, so that we have some communication with him – but other than that the Formula One engine supply, we didn’t have an actual conversation.

    Q: Franz, just picking up on that, as far as you’re concerned, that was never really something that was in the offing; you’re sticking with what you’ve got: Renault engines going forward.

    Franz TOST:  No, Hasegawa-san has just answered that there has never an official negotiation or talks between Honda and Toro Rosso.

    Q: We spoke to Christian in the first part of this press conference about your Red Bull Young Driver programme – obviously it’s been tremendously successful over the years but he was saying there’s no real hot prospects. You’ve got some young drivers in the pipeline but it’s just that sometimes there’s plenty of good drivers and sometimes there aren’t. I just wanted to know what your perspective was on what’s been achieved if you like and whether there’s still that same enthusiasm on the Red Bull side, when you consider that McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes have all got some very hot prospects on the threshold of Formula One now?

    FT: I think Red Bull is in a fantastic situation because there are four drivers who are able to win races which they’ve showed in the past: Daniel Ricciardo, Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz and Daniil Kvyat and there’s the reigning Formula Two champion, Pierre Gasly who is in the pipeline, who is also very successful in Japan. That means this infrastructure which Red Bull has built up is so successful and why should they change anything? You should also take into consideration that something can happen at Red Bull Racing – an accident and so on – and they can just take a driver from Toro Rosso and this is why Toro Rosso is educating drivers for Red Bull. Young drivers are coming but it takes another two or three years maybe until we can discuss to bring them into Formula One and I think that Red Bull is really in a fantastic position with the driver line-up.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

     

    Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday, Motorsport Week.com) Franz, Carlos Sainz is going to be spending his fourth year next year in Toro Rosso if we take Christian’s comments in Austria that they’ve activated his contract for next year. This will be the first time that a driver has actually spent a fourth season in the team. Who will be sitting next to him? Have you decided? Will it be Daniil next year as well or would you be evaluating that later in the season?

    FT: We will see. As I just mentioned before, Red Bull is in a fantastic situation. Why should they dismiss these highly skilled drivers? Red Bull has financed all the careers so far of Carlos Sainz and now he is ready to win races if he has a proper car so why give him to another team, to an opponent or whatever? And Daniil Kvyat was this year a little bit unlucky because many times we couldn’t provide him with a reliable and fast car and I’m convinced that once he gets this car that he will show his talent, because he did it already in the past. He won the GP3 championship before he came to us. He finished on the podium at Red Bull Racing in China and he can race and he has the ability to be successful and as I mentioned before, Pierre Gasly is in the pipelines, which means Red Bull is really in a very strong position and there’s no necessity to change something, but we will see. The driver line-up will be decided by Red Bull in the next months.

    Q: (Abhishek Takle – Midday) To Zak and Hasegawa-san: firstly, the upgrades that you introduced this weekend, have they delivered as promised, and secondly, it’s been reported that Honda has been working with Ilmor and has discovered some good gains on the power unit front. Hasegawa-san, firstly, can you confirm that you’re working with Ilmor and Zak, couldn’t Ilmor’s involvement convince McLaren to stick with Honda for the future?

    YH: First of all, about the performance upgrade, it is very difficult to compare the previous engine to this engine because this is a completely different circuit but from the data point of view, we see some good upgrade of the performance here.

    And regarding Ilmor consultancy, we do not disclose any partner of a consultancy or a supplier or any partnership. But we don’t deny about any kind of consultancy or partnership from outside. We have many partners in the development.

    ZB: A good question was what do we think about Ilmor. As Hasegawa-san said, it’s really up to Honda to discuss what their activities are. All I would say is that Ilmor as an organisation that has worked with McLaren in the past and is very successful and very good at what they do.

    I wouldn’t think we’ve been satisfied all year but I think Hasegawa-san’s not been satisfied with how things have gone so we have seen some improvements here at Spa, not to the level we’d hoped for but some improvement nonetheless.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Zak, bearing in mind what the other two gentlemen said about there being no official discussions between Honda and Toro Rosso although there were talks at high echelons, I believe that the McLaren/Honda  contract has got some form of veto or approval clause where you’ve got to approve somebody else which I believe you did with Sauber. Have you been asked to bless some form of Toro Rosso/Honda deal at all? Has that come up?

    ZB: We did bless the Sauber arrangement which we were official asked to do and in fact started to get to work on a gearbox. I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to disclose any conversations we’ve had. What I would say is we would be very supportive of Honda having a relationship with Toro Rosso and have been asked by Christian if we would be in a position to help with a gearbox if asked, so I think that’s about as far as I will go on sharing any conversations.

    YH: We didn’t ask to start a conversation with Toro Rosso to McLaren actually because we didn’t have any official conversation so that it is…

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Zak, it looks like Ferrari and Mercedes won’t supply the power units to McLaren, in the case that McLaren has decided not to continue working with Honda. And also, we believe, as Cyril said, that very possibly Renault won’t also supply, so it looks like you don’t have other options. Is that correct?

    ZB: No. We’re not going to give a running commentary on our power unit situation. I know it’s of keen interest to everyone but we’ll say something when we have something to say.

    Q: (Inaudible) Zak, do you feel within the team a difference for Stoffel now that his contract for ’18 has been announced and this weekend, racing at home, is there more pressure, is he different or is he relieved that he will continue for next year for you?

    ZB: Well, we always intended to put him in the car in ’18. Of course, any driver, when it becomes public at their home Grand Prix, I think that’s a nice feeling so Stoffel has been great all year for a rookie. He has been in a very difficult situation, we’ve not given him a faster, reliable race car which is that much more difficult when you don’t have the experience of someone like your teammate so he’s been a treat to work with and Hasegawa-san, I think you would agree, he’s been a real star this year.

    Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday, Motorsport Week.com) Zak, on the assumption – and it’s obviously an assumption – that you persuade Fernando to stay for next year, and he was wanting to do this, would we see another possible attempt at the Indy 500, given that this year he was very competitive and could have possibly won it on his first time out? Is that something you would perhaps dangle as a carrot to keep him there for next year?

    ZB: No. We would love to go back to Indianapolis, Fernando would love to go back to Indianapolis. He did an unbelievable job but it will conflict with Monaco again and we’re not going to be in the same situation that we were this year in Monaco, so unfortunately he can’t be in two places at once but we’d certainly love to do it with him again in the future.

    Q: (Abhishek Takle – Midday) A follow-up to what you said earlier, Zak, on not giving a running commentary on the power unit situation, how soon though do you need to have something to say? How soon do you need to be in a position to announce something because obviously whichever way you go will those influence your signing of Fernando for next year?

    ZB: Well, I think all racing teams right now – whether it’s McLaren or Toro Rosso or anyone else down the grid – we’re heading into 2018 so we need to be finalising all of our activities, whether that’s driver, car design so that will be soon.  As we all know, soon as the summer break is over it seems like it all starts to happen in Formula One so the timetable we’ve got to work to to get ready for next year.

    Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) This week, we talked about e-sports and how some e-sports events have been a platform for inspiring young drivers to have a way into motorsports. And now this week F1 has launched an e-sports championship. Do you feel these platforms are good for young people who are interested in motorsports and that could possibly find an inroad into motorsports through this?

    FT: I said already two years ago that you have to do something for e-sports because if you want to attract the young people, then e-sports is a very important game. What I said is that maybe ten or may nine o’ clock in the morning on Sunday there should be an e-game race here at the racetrack, just to attract the young people, to come to Formula One, to see Formula One and to involve them in this complete package. Therefore I’m really happy that Liberty media managed to come up with this game.

    YH: Sorry, actually I don’t have many opinions about the current operation or situation but I expect to make it a very attractive sport especially for the younger people.

    ZB: Yeah, I think e-sports is great. McLaren was the first team to announce our World’s Fastest Gamer and whoever ultimately wins that will be our simulator driver next year. I think it’s great what Liberty and Formula One have done and I think ultimately what you have with these sports is… Motor racing is a very expensive and difficult sport to get youngsters involved in, unlike football where you can go to school and you have a football and a pitch all ready to go so I think e-sports not only will generate a younger audience but it will also almost become the grass roots of motorsports and be able to expose a younger audience to what it’s like to drive a race car in a more inexpensive user-friendly way, so I think it’s great that we’re all embracing it.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Zak, I’m not asking for a running commentary but I would just like to address the issue of engine supply to the teams, the FIA regulation being that you can only supply three teams with an engine. Now at the end of the day, unless you can persuade somebody to take the Honda engine it looks like you’re going to have to approach somebody to supply a fourth engine supply. How do you stand with the FIA on this issue?

    ZB: We speak with the FIA on a regular basis on lots of topics, being that they’re the governing body of the sport so I’ll leave the conversations that we’ve had, power-unit related, to ourselves and see what transpires.

  • Sauber Calls off Honda Engine Deal for 2018

    Sauber Calls off Honda Engine Deal for 2018

    Sauber have confirmed that their 2018 technical partnership with Honda been cancelled.

    “It is very unfortunate that we have to discontinue the planned collaboration with Honda at this stage,” said Vasseur

    “However, this decision has been made for strategic reasons, and with the best intent or the future of the Sauber F1 Team in mind.

    “We would like to thank Honda for their collaboration and wish them all the best for their future in Formula 1.”

    It is unclear what Sauber’s future plans are. They could choose to carry on with their Ferrari engine deal. The other options open to the Hinwil based team are Mercedes and Renault. Both have ties to Sauber in one way or another. Mercedes through Pascal Wehrlein and Renault through former Renault team boss and now current team principal of Sauber, Frederic Vasseur.

    The Honda deal was put together by Sauber’s former team Principal Monisha Kaltenborn, but following her departure from the team ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix both parties decided to call of the deal.

    Sauber say that they will announce a new technical shortly.

  • F1 2017: British Gp Review – Hamilton Untroubled Amid Ferrari Drama

    F1 2017: British Gp Review – Hamilton Untroubled Amid Ferrari Drama

    The phenomenon of home ground advantage has nearly always been touted in the world of sport as a sort of mythical influence that makes the team or a person nearly unbeatable. This advantage was no more evident as Lewis Hamilton took a record-equaling fifth British grand prix win around the famed Silverstone circuit.

    While Hamilton blitzed the field in Saturday qualifying to the tune of half a second he, similarly, ran unflustered towards the checquered flag on Sunday. While the second-place starter Kimi Raikkonen, who shaded his teammate the entire weekend, briefly threatened in the Ferrari he could, ultimately, not get within striking distance of Hamilton.

    The remainder of the podium places seemed set too as Raikkonen ran comfortably in second ahead of Valtteri Bottas who was recovering from a ninth place starting position after a gearbox penalty. Nevertheless, two laps from the chequered flag the thread on Raikkonen’s left-front tyre appeared to come apart and forced him into the pitlane. The easy second place he’d been heading too suddenly transformed into fourth. But the drama was far from over as Sebastian Vettel, now running third, suffered a seemingly identical front-left failure on the final lap of the race. The German was able to limp back to the pits but the chance of salvaging a podium was long gone as he emerged in seventh place.

    012Pirelli has announced that the failures on Raikkonen and Vettel’s car were not caused by the same problem. In Raikkonen’s case Pirelli found that the thread had separated from the tyre, which makes it a manufacturing fault. However, in Vettel’s case the failure was put down to tyre age. But Vettel’s tyres were not being pushed beyond what Pirelli had said were possible. While Ferrari was the only team to pay a price in terms of points several teams revealed post-race that their own tyres were on the edge of suffering similar failures.

    The drama-filled ending to the British grand prix meant that Mercedes strolled to a one-two victory with Raikkonen in third. Max Verstappen provided some early race entertainment in a fight with Sebastian Vettel but ultimately ran a fairly anonymous race to finish fourth. Daniel Ricciardo, starting from the back of the grid due to reliability issues, delivered a storming drive through the field complete with several stunning overtakes to finish an impressive fifth. Renault’s day started poorly as Jolyon Palmer failed to take the start with mechanical issues but the ever-impressive Nico Hulkenberg’s sixth place finish saved the day. With Vettel in seventh the Force India pairing of Esteban Ocon, eighth, and Sergio Perez, ninth, continues to score important points over their rivals Williams who secured the final point in tenth with Felipe Massa.

    052Besides the formation lap retirement of Renault’s Jolyon Palmer there were only two further retirements. A clash between Toro Rosso teammates Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz saw the latter punted out of the race while Fernando Alonso suffered yet another engine failure despite Honda’s introduction of a so-called reliability upgrade.

    While Ferrari has not only fallen 55 points behind Mercedes in the Constructor’s standings Vettel’s late race troubles have all but eviscerated his championship lead over Hamilton from twenty to a single point.

    It is evident now that the early season pressure has transferred from Merc to Ferrari and the Italian team needs to pull something out of the bag for the Hungarian Gp in two weeks time.

    (All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport)

  • F1 2017: Austrian Gp Review: Bottas Holds Off Vettel

    F1 2017: Austrian Gp Review: Bottas Holds Off Vettel

    The Austrian grand prix was a weekend that should have suited the Mercedes W08 to a tee. It did, but in the shape of Valtteri Bottas it wasn’t quite the Mercedes driver that most would’ve expected to see on the top step of the podium.

    The Finnish driver delivered a dominant performance not only throughout the 71-lap race but also over the entire grand prix weekend. So perfect was his pull-away from pole that it was nearly considered inhuman and inspected by FIA stewards for a possible jump-start. As it turns out Bottas’ reaction time of 0.201 was nothing more than flawless precision.

    The Mercedes driver streaked ahead in the first few laps and built a comfortable lead in the first stint of the race. The Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel, starting second, didn’t look especially comfortable in the first stint of the race on the ultrasoft compound and he struggled to consistently match Bottas’ pace. It was only in the second stint of the race, with the supersoft tyre, that the Ferrari came alive and that Vettel was able to exert a significant amount of pressure on the race leader. However, Bottas was well in control and armed with the notoriously calm Finnish demeanour that allowed him to maintain his composure and the lead of the race.

    007While Max Verstappen suffered a fifth retirement in six races after being collected in a first corner incident Daniel Ricciardo shone for Red Bull on home turf with a hard-fought third place. The Aussie valiantly held off the quicker Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton in the closing stages of the race to score his fifth consecutive podium finish of 2017. For Hamilton, in fourth, the day was about damage limitation, as he started eighth after incurring a 5-place grid penalty for changing a gearbox.

    Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen ran fourth in the first stint of the race and dove into the pitlane on lap 42. His longer first stint meant he fell behind Hamilton and while he was consistently catching the Brit in the second half of the race the impetus seemed to evaporate from his charge. Romain Grosjean ran an anonymous but impressive race to sixth ahead of the two Force India’s of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon in seventh and eighth. Felipe Massa and Lance Stroll, in ninth and tenth, recovered a difficult qualifying for Williams to round out the top ten.

    M72982Bottas may only have won the Austrian grand prix by 0.658 of a second but he showed incredible composure in the closing stages and an impressive dominance in the first half of the race. At Williams Bottas’ potential was somewhat masked but what the team’s requirement of him was. Naturally, he had the freedom to drive as rapidly as he possibly could but it was always slightly tempered with the knowledge that he needed to bring the car home in a decent points paying position.

    At Mercedes Bottas has a bit more freedom in the fact that a decent haul of points is already assured, barring unreliability. This is what’s allowed him to stretch his legs and drive with a sort of freedom that has allowed him to finally begin to fulfill the potential he showed before entering Formula 1.

    2017 Formula 1 Drivers Championship

    Sebastian Vettel’s now 20-point lead in the driver’s standings is a handy one as the paddock heads to Silverstone for the British grand prix. Lewis Hamilton at his home race has always been something special and with Vettel pulling away slightly in the standings he needs to deliver in Silverstone.

     

  • F1 2017: Austrian Gp Free Practice 3 Report – Vettel Leads

    F1 2017: Austrian Gp Free Practice 3 Report – Vettel Leads

    Sebastian Vettel set the quickest time for Ferrari in the third free practice session ahead of the Austrian grand prix.

    The Saturday practice session commenced under overcast conditions but without any threat of rain. Carlos Sainz lost roughly half the session to an engine issue. However, the Toro Rosso was speedily recovered to the garage and the Spaniard was able to rejoin the session with about twenty-five minutes remaining.

    Lewis Hamilton didn’t look as comfortable around the Red Bull Ring but still set the second quickest time overall. Nevertheless, his session ended prematurely with a front-right brake failure. As if to compound matters Hamilton will drop five places from wherever he qualifies due to a gearbox change. Valtteri Bottas, Kimi Raikkonen, Max Verstappen, and Daniel Ricciardo completed the top six.

    While Williams struggled for pace with Lance Stroll and Felipe Massa in 18th and 19th respectively, Kevin Magnussen slotted his Haas F1 car into seventh ahead of teammate, Romain Grosjean, in eighth.

  • F1 2017: Austria Gp Preview – Advantage Mercedes

    F1 2017: Austria Gp Preview – Advantage Mercedes

    From the confines of Baku City Formula 1 returns to the sprawling vista of Austria for the ninth round of the 2017 championship.

    Situated in Spielberg the Red Bull Ring is a short circuit consisting of nine corners in total. These corners are linked with several long straits and though it may be a power-dominant circuit its layout allows more than a few good spots for overtaking. “At any kind of power circuit like Austria you want to be smooth and get good exits in order to give yourself the best chance on the long straights,” said Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo. “The compromise is always the aero package. In the middle to the end of the lap you want more downforce because the corners are quite fast but more downforce means you are slower on the straights, so the key is to find a good balance throughout the lap”.

    The Austrian circuit is of course owned by Red Bull which makes the weekend all the more important for the team. Ironically the layout of the Red Bull Ring and its demand on engine power has never been a Renault strong suit. Nevertheless, a minor upgrade, brought by Renault in Baku, has moved them slightly forward in terms of ultimate power output. What’s more, both Red Bulls ran relatively well in Baku, which is similarly in its demands on the power unit. It is perhaps unlikely that Ricciardo or Verstappen could, on pure pace, beat either Mercedes or Ferrari but likewise, they’ll likely not be challenged by either Williams or Force India who traditionally perform well at low drag circuits. Red Bull and their drivers are probably the most canny drivers on the grid and they will be close enough to snatch up any positions should something go awry.

    GP EUROPA F1/2016The Pirelli tyre compounds available this weekend, the ultra- and supersoft, would ordinarily play to the strength of the Ferrari. While they’ll still likely fair better on the ultrasoft compound the low level of degradation will limit any creativity on pit stop strategies. What’s more the ultrasoft tyre is effectively last year’s supersoft tyre and on a circuit where drivers made do with a one-stopper in 2016 it’s unlikely that any one team will carry a significant advantage.

    The FIA had announced that there would be no further punishment for Vettel behaviour in Baku during which he turned his Ferrari into the side of Hamilton’s Mercedes behind the safety car. While the outcome of the re-investigation has gone in Vettel’s favour it is an important weekend for the Ferrari driver regardless. As it stands Vettel remains in the lead of the championship but there’s no denying that Canada and Baku were messy races, which has somewhat, stalled Ferrari’s momentum. This will not be an easy weekend for Ferrari either. The circuit layout means that Mercedes start the weekend as clear favourites and you can bet that the media will still be posing questions about the Baku-incident. In fact, it wouldn’t come as a surprise if Ferrari institutes a media blackout on their drivers this weekend.

    Sebastian Vettel - Italian Grand Prix qualifyingWhatever your opinion of Vettel’s behaviour and what sort of punishment he does, or does not deserve, he must deliver this weekend. The best way to put the last race behind him and to control the story is by delivering on track. It wont be easy though. Hamilton and Mercedes not only start the weekend as clear favourites and without the incessant and uncomfortable attention of the media, but, vitally, with a sort of momentum that can quickly become ominous.

  • F1 2017: Azerbaijan Gp Review – Bedlam In Baku

    F1 2017: Azerbaijan Gp Review – Bedlam In Baku

    If you had been given absolute free reign to dream up the most dramatic script for a Formula 1 race the chances are you still wouldn’t have come up with what transpired in the 51 laps of the 2017 Baku grand prix.

    From the first corner on lap one to the crossing of the finish line there was action and drama and tension stamped on every lap of the race which featured three safety-car periods and red flag stoppage. While Hamilton led cleanly away pole his teammate Valterri Bottas and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen clashed into turn two. Raikkonen with significant damage the floor of his car somehow maintained a place in the top ten while Bottas’ puncture dropped him a lap down.

    Hamilton led Sebastian Vettel by roughly three seconds until lap 13 when the first safety car was deployed to recover the stricken Toro Rosso of Dannil Kvyat. Racing resumed on lap 16 but an overzealous Esteban Ocon attempt to overtake his Force India teammate Sergio Perez ended in a shower of carbon fiber and the deployment of a second safety-car period.

    008The Pirelli tyres, supersoft and soft, available for this weekend, proved a step too hard as nearly the entire field of drivers struggled with warming the tyres to their optimal working range. A tyre not within this critical working range produces little to no grip and leaves drivers vulnerable. It’s for this reason that Hamilton complained that the Safety car was not going fast enough. Nevertheless, Hamilton bunched up the field into turn 16 which must’ve caught Vettel by surprise as he hit the rear of the Mercedes. The Ferrari driver then pulled alongside Hamilton and turned his Ferrari into the side of the Mercedes. It was an outrageously disappointing, irresponsible and daft reaction from Vettel which earned him a ten second stop/go penalty. While some might like to think Vettel’s actions are defensible consider the fact that, post-race, he could not defend his actions.

    So much carbon fiber lay strewn across the racetrack that the race was red-flagged on lap 22 in order to clear it away. While Raikkonen had retired with additional rear-wing damage a lap earlier the Ferrari mechanics had somehow managed to change an entire floor and a rear-wing endplate to get Raikkonen back in the race. Similarly, Force India made running repairs to Perez’s car and he too was back in the race. Unfortunately, the pair would ultimately retire from the race.

    012The race resumed after a 23 minutes stoppage with Hamilton in the lead and Vettel behind. Through the chaos and carnage Williams’ Lance Stroll and Felipe Massa had emerged in third and fourth. Daniel Ricciardo, who had earlier been 17th in the Red Bull after an early stop, was not in fifth for long as he pulled off an exquisite move to pass both the Williams’ into turn one on the restart. Felipe Massa would soon after retire with a broken rear-damper.

    The drama was still far from over however as the headrest on Hamilton’s leading Mercedes had not been attached correctly. He tried in vain to push it back into place before the FIA directed the Mercedes team to stop and fit a new headrest. It dropped Hamilton to eighth and promoted Vettel into the lead of the race but the Ferrari driver still needed to serve the ten second stop/go penalty. He served the penalty on lap 33 and emerged in seventh ahead of Hamilton.

    Now it was Daniel Ricciardo in the lead with Lance Stroll in second and Haas F1’s Kevin Magnussen in third. Magnussen could mount much of a fight for the position though and was quickly shuffled back by Ocon before himself falling victim to a recovering Bottas. Vettel and Hamilton would also pass Ocon and Magnussen.

    026Bottas’ significantly superior pace to the Williams of Stroll proved just enough as he snatched second place, on the line, by one tenth of a second. As if to prove how crazy the Baku grand prix was Fernando Alonso was running in fifth at one stage and with a bit more grunt from the Honda could justifiably have won the race.

    As it were Ricciardo took his first win since Malaysia 2016 ahead of Bottas and Stroll who, at 18, has become the youngest rookie, to score a podium finish. Astoundingly, Vettel emerged in fourth and extended his championship lead to 14 points over Hamilton who eventually finished fifth. Esteban Ocon salvaged sixth ahead of Kevin Magnussen in seventh and Carlos Sainz in eighth. Fernando Alonso finally opened McLaren’s points account with ninth as Pascal Wehrlein in the Sauber finished tenth.

    The Baku grand prix was undoubtedly the race of the season so far as nearly the entire field ran into some sort of trouble. Roll on Austria.

    (All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport)

  • F1 2017: Azerbaijan Gp Preview – Merc And Ferrari Battle in Baku

    F1 2017: Azerbaijan Gp Preview – Merc And Ferrari Battle in Baku

    In 2016 Azerbaijan became the newest addition to the Formula 1 calendar as it hosted the country’s first ever street-race in the capital city of Baku. F1’s favourite designer Herman Tilke envisioned and delivered a circuit, which combined the city’s uniquely historical buildings with the modern, and technical world of Formula1.

    The Baku City track, the third longest of the season, is an exercise in extreme opposites. While the mid sector of exceedingly tight and twisting corners is more akin to Monaco it is in stark contrast to the enormously long straits that dominates the first and final sectors of the lap and are more reminiscent of Monza. The circuit is the first counterclockwise track on the calendar and provides one of the most picturesque backdrops seen all year.

    The last time Lewis Hamilton steered his Mercedes around a proper street circuit was the Monaco grand prix. To put it mildly, thing didn’t go well for the Brit on those streets. Though the Baku race is similarly contested on the streets of Azerbaijan it doesn’t have too many parallels.

    GP EUROPA F1/2016There are a few factors in Hamilton’s, and to a greater degree Mercedes, favour this weekend. The longest strait on the F1 calendar will allow Merc to focus on its best feature, the engine. Further the Pirelli compounds on offer this weekend in the soft and supersoft compounds, which Mercedes favour far more than the ultra- and supersoft combo.

    From last year’s tyre performance it doesn’t appear that degradation is a big factor in Baku, which saw driver able to run long stints and make fewer pitstops. As there are fewer opportunities for a creative pit strategy on Sunday it ultimately increases the importance of qualifying well on Saturday.

    Similarly, there are a few factors that Hamilton will have to overcome this weekend in order to claw back the lead of the driver’s championship. The most important of these are undoubtedly the two Ferrari’s of Vettel and Raikkonen. Be it because of damage or unreliability the Canadian grand prix was a messy one for Ferrari. It was the type of grand prix that will, undoubtedly, harden their resolve of securing a good haul of points this weekend. Given their relative performance on other street circuits so far this year form dictates that the prancing horse will be no slouch around here either.

    GP AUSTRALIA F1/2017In 2016 the Italian team delivered a solid race here last year despite not being near the performance level of Mercedes. In far less competitive car than they have in 2017 Sebastian Vettel finished second while Kimi Raikkonen ran third for the majority of the race. Since the Monaco grand prix the team has vehemently denied any team orders are at work between its two drivers. It will make for interesting viewing should the Scuderia be faced with a similar scenario, to Monaco, this weekend.

    Valtteri Bottas could yet prove to be a factor for Hamilton too. The Finn is currently thirty-six points adrift of his teammate and that with a retirement in Spain. His first race win, in Russia, came on a weekend when Hamilton was inexplicably off the pace and he delivered in Monaco too and he firmly believes that in a head-to-head battle he has the measure of his teammate. “I think we [Hamilton and I] are very close, I don’t see a difference,” he said. “I believe in myself. But he was shown up in Canada on a circuit where he is considered to be somewhat of a specialist. It’s as perfect a time as any to beat Hamilton in a direct fight.