F1 Madness

Tag: japanese gp

  • F1 2019: Japanese Gp – Bottas Dominates at Suzuka

    F1 2019: Japanese Gp – Bottas Dominates at Suzuka

    The 2019 Japanese grand prix weekend was one with a twist. Not least of all because qualifying was moved to Sunday morning in order to avoid the worst of Typhoon Hagibis.

    Given the layout of the Suzuka circuit it came as a bit of surprise when Ferrari locked out the front row of the grid with Seb Vettel and Charles Leclerc respectively. Mercedes shared the second row but with Bottas out-qualifying teammate Lewis Hamilton for the first time since the summer break. Amazingly, Max Verstappen and his Red Bull teammate Alex Albon set the exact same laptime in the final part of qualifying and shared the third row of the grid.

    For Ferrari it was a morning of celebration but they knew they had their work cut out to beat a Mercedes pair who had shown impressive pace in the Friday practice sessions. It all went terribly pear-shaped for the Scuderia as Vettel appeared to jump the start only to slam on the brakes and take off again a split second later. But the hesitation was enough to allow Bottas into the lead.

    Elsewhere, Leclerc was so focused on beating Vettel into turn 1 he seemingly forgot about the chasing pack. A collision between himself and Verstappen dropped him to the back of the field and later forced the Dutchman into retirement. Initially, the incident did not warrant further investigation according to the stewards. However, led by ‘Mr. Le Mans’ they later changed their minds and opted to investigate the incident after the race. Subsequently, Leclerc was given a five second penalty for causing a collision and another ten-second penalty for failing to heed the FIA’s directive to pit his damaged car.

    2019 Japanese GPIn the lead Valtteri Bottas increased the gap lap-by-lap until he built a more than seven second advantage over Vettel. Ferrari attempted to switch up the strategy by opting for soft tyres in the second stint of Vettel’s race but it was clear that the Ferrari just didn’t have the pace to live with Bottas. As it were Vettel just held off a late charge from Hamilton to finish second. Nevertheless, a first and third for Mercedes, with a bonus point to Hamilton for fastest lap, meant that they secured the constructor’s championship title for a staggering sixth consecutive time. The results in Japan means that Mercedes will also retain the driver’s title as only their two drivers remain in contention for the prize.

    Alex Albon delivered his best finish in fourth for Red Bull while the ever-impressive Carlos Sainz racked up another fifth place finish for McLaren. Daniel Ricciardo crossed the finish line in sixth while teammate Nico Hulkenberg was tenth. However, the result remains in question after Racing Point lodged a protest against the Renault team. Leclerc ended up seventh after the application of his penalties while Pierre Gasly finished eighth for Toro Rosso. Despite being punted into the barriers Sergio Perez was still classified in ninth thanks to a timing glitch, which saw the chequered flag deployed one lap early. The mid-field entertained all day with a plethora of overtaking.

    It’s been a long wait for Bottas whose last race win came on the streets of Azerbaijan in late April. This win, and especially his dominance over teammate Hamilton, will do his psyche the world of good. A 64-point gap is a monumental one to overhaul but if this Valtteri Bottas shows up at the last four race weekends it certainly isn’t impossible.

    All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport
  • 2019 Japanese Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    2019 Japanese Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)

    2 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

    3 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

     

    TRACK INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by Paul Di Resta)

     

    Q: Congratulations Valtteri. Qualifying P3 in Suzuka you don’t expect to lead into Turn 1 but Sebastian made a mistake, you pounced on it and you absolutely dominated that race in classic style. You must be delighted with that?

    Valtteri BOTTAS: I’m very happy. Obviously it was a pretty close qualifying and yeah starting third here is never, but there’s not point ever to give up on anything and I knew anything was possible today and opportunities were there today and the first one was at the start. I had a really nice start and obviously Sebastian had an issue, so managed to get in the lead and then the pace was super good. I could really control the race. I really enjoyed it and had fun, so yeah, very, very happy.

    Q: Were you a little bit worried when they pulled you into the pits and said you were on a two-stop strategy or was that always the plan? Or did you think you were going to have to overtake Lewis?

    VB: Yeah, we knew that one or two stops were both possible and that there was not a massive difference between the two of them. We knew if could be a scenario. That really went smooth. I could really control it when I could and push when I wanted. Nice.

    Q: And to top off the day, Mercedes just won their sixth Constructors’ title in a row. You must be delighted with that?

    VB: Yeah, really proud to be part of the team. A sixth title in a row is so impressive, so very proud of every single team member, here at the race team and also at the factory. Well done guys and girls.

    Q: Well done Valtteri. Enjoy the evening. Sebastian, congratulations, I know after qualifying you put it on pole position, but I have to talk about the start – what happened? You moved and had to stop. Was that a mistake on your behalf?

    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, I mean the lights were on a long time, but it was my mistake, so I lost the momentum them. So I ended up worse than just having a poor start, it was a really poor start. Then it was difficult because Mercedes was quite quick in the race, especially at the back of the stint, they had more pace than us. Yeah, Valtteri was flying, literally, at the end of the first stint. Obviously Lewis tried to do one stop and I guess it didn’t work and in the end I knew that he would come out behind and I just paced myself around all the bits in the track where I could and just tried to get good exits in the places where he could be a threat. So that worked but, yeah, it was obviously a tough afternoon to then maintain second.

    Q: Do you think if you hadn’t made that mistake at the start the win was possible?

    SV: I don’t know, because then they can obviously play a lot more the tactics, so obviously that way they had one car comfortably in the lead and Valtteri was out… we weren’t a threat to him. But yeah I think with the lack of pace today, probably second was probably the maximum, but surely I’m not happy with the very first start of the race but after that it was fine, but as I said we just lacked a little bit of pace. But overall it’s been a positive day, everything packed in one day and to get pole and second today is reasonable. It’s a bit of a shame. I don’t know what happened to Charles, otherwise we could have maybe had both cars to challenge them a bit more.

    Q: Lewis, I know everything you did today you never really got let loose, you were always kind of in the mix, but when you were free you had the pace and a challenge all the way to the end.

    Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah, well firstly it’s congratulations to the team, so well deserved. To win it six years in a row, the Constructors’ Championship, is the main point. I really just wanted to get the best points for my team today.

    Q: Looking ahead: now that it’s down to the Drivers’, do you suspect that you and Valtteri will be battling all the way a bit more freely now that the Constructors’ is over and over and done?

    LH: It makes no difference because we’ve been racing freely all year.

    Q: Yeah, but it will be a hard fight all the way to the end?

    LH: For sure.

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

     

    Q: Valtteri, great race by you today. Can we start by talking about the start? How good was it, almost as good as Austria 2017?

    VB: Not quite. I think nothing compares to that. Sebastian nearly had as good as that one I think. But I did have a very, very good start. But for sure it looks better if there are cars around that don’t have a good start and very much needed, because we knew we had a good race car here with a good pace but if you are behind other cars you can’t really use it that much. I was very happy to get to the lead and obviously it’s quite different being in the lead and being able to control and on this track [being] in the free air makes a difference so I really enjoyed it.

    Q: Once in the lead did you have any other concerns during the race?

    VB: Everything was going pretty smooth. Just the second stint was full of traffic, so I was overtaking backmarkers all the time, so I couldn’t really have good rhythm and very good pace in that stint.

    SV: You could have slowed down.

    VB: Yeah… I didn’t want to. Yeah, when Lewis didn’t stop for his second stop I was slightly concerned that maybe his tyres would last to the end and he could actually make it, because he had a decent gap to me. But obviously he was on the medium and I think that tyres would have struggled massively at the end. So, from my side, obviously a very good race and on top of that very, very happy for every single team member, getting the sixth Constructors’ title. Really well deserved. It’s not just the result today but all through the season so very, very proud.

    Q: Very well done. Sebastian can we start at the start? What happened from your point of view?

    SV: Well obviously I had a poor start so I lost quite a lot of momentum when the lights go off. A mistake on my side. I had it in my hands, literally, to perform a good start – normally starts are really strong – but obviously today we didn’t get it right. I don’t know what happened to Charles but we both missed out on the start maybe for different reasons. After that we knew it was going to be a difficult race. Overtaking isn’t straightforward here and obviously in terms of pace it was very difficult. We could see in the first stint that Valtteri was just quicker, especially towards the end, and then Lewis was catching. He was basically very close to me when we pitted, so I think overall we got the strategy right to stay ahead. I don’t know if… maybe they didn’t get it entirely right. But not the day we wanted if you start first and second. I don’t know where Charles finished. Sixth? Did he? So second and sixth.

    Q: Were you concerned about getting a penalty for the start?

    SV: I don’t know. Not really. Obviously I had a very poor start in general…

    [Valtteri and Lewis laughter]

    LH: You’re lying! Come on!

    SV: No I didn’t. If you jump the start then obviously you get caught, so I think it was just fine.

    Q: And Sebastian, we saw a thrilling battle between you and Lewis at the end of the race. How much did you enjoy that?

    SV: I was surprised when they pitted to be honest. I expected him to stay out and try the one stop. Once I knew that.. also before, Valtteri was so far away and we were not fast and it was not possible to catch him, so when he came out I was not rushing to open the gap, I was just trying to keep my tyres somehow fresh to make sure that if he arrives then everything is still in good shape and I have the chance to have good corner exits and play the advantage we have down the straights, which worked. It got a bit close once with traffic but other than that I think it was quite good. I was quite quite happy when I saw the chequered flag. I didn’t want to do another five laps like that. But I knew obviously in the places where you can’t pass I can take it easy to try to maintain the tyres a little bit.

    Q: Lewis, coming on to you, Sebastian was surprised that you came in for your second stop. How surprised were you to be called in?

    LH: I wasn’t surprised. The team put me on a two-stop, so I knew already when they put the medium on, that was going to be the case.

    Q: Do you think, as the race played out, you could have got to the end on that one-stop?

    LH: With better guidance I think I probably could have. They said, when they put the tyre on, that we are going a two stop because the degradation is high. So then, just the direction I was given in terms of having to try and close the gap to Seb. So every time I was having to close this gap, so used the tyres quite a lot. So, in how I was using them, there was no way I was going to make it to the end on that. If I had, from the beginning, said we’re just going to eke it out and just see if we could manage it, then I could have just driven differently and, potentially, held it to the end – but all in hindsight.

    Q: Lewis, you’ve been with the team for all six Constructors’ titles. How does this one rate against the others?

    LH: It definitely feels a little bit different. Obviously… I wouldn’t say as happy as previously because naturally we lost Niki this year and it doesn’t feel the same without him. So, naturally I’m very, very proud of the team. Very proud of everyone back at the factory, and I know Niki would be taking off his hat for today’s result. Yeah, I think we owe him a huge amount and this win is really for him. I think the whole team and the whole of Mercedes will probably dedicate this to Niki. I definitely do. Very, very proud to be a part of it, and a part of the journey – but it has been a difficult, a tough year for us, y’know? And every time I walk into the garage I see Niki’s headphones and his cap. I sat and I looked at it today before I got in the car. As I said, I know he’ll be proud, I know his family will be as well. The team should be proud too.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

     

    Q: (Luis Vasconcelos – Formula Press) Question for the Mercedes drivers. Valtteri, you asked your engineer if he was sure that Lewis was going to stop a second time. He told you yes, you kept to that pace – but then two laps later you had your best lap until that point, that coincided when Lewis came in. Were you starting to have doubts that he was coming in and you wanted to catch, just in case? And for Lewis, if the plan was to go to second stops, why do you think they kept you out for so long at the end of the first stint when you were two to three seconds slower than Valtteri and Sebastian?

    VB: Yes, for sure I was wanting to make sure what’s the race situation and what’s going to happen. At that point actually I had some margin to save the engine a little bit for the future races. So that’s why I was asking if I really needed to go full gas, or if there’s a bit of margin for safety. I think the timing for the good lap times, I was getting through some backmarkers then getting into the rhythm again, getting into good lap times. All my stints, they were not massively long so I could really push hard when I wanted. And like I said earlier, the car felt really good today, so I was very comfortable to push when needed.

    Lewis?

    LH: Was I surprised. No, that was the target, that was what we were supposed to be going for. The surprise is that, every time you come out, by going long you end up frikkin’ twice as far behind as you were before, which is twice as frustrating. Because I can’t see that, so I’m not aware of that, and I come out and a I realise that I’ve just lost another ten seconds and I’m like: ‘Why – you could have told me. If you’d said I was going to come out a further ten seconds behind – I was pretty much 22 seconds behind Valtteri – I would said no and would have come in earlier.” So, there’ll be some discussion I’m sure when we get back.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, you have many times said that this is your favourite circuit. Does it feel any different after finally winning here compared to those five before?

    VB: For sure. It keeps it my favourite circuit, for sure. It’s not been one of the strengths of mine – ever – this track, but even though it’s always been kind of the favourite that I’ve looked forward to the most in terms of the driving side. So, yeah, for sure now it makes it a more special track for me, and it’s one of the very iconic grands prix in the calendar to win, so very pleased to do that, for sure.

    Q: (Luke Smith – crash.net) Valtteri, Lewis. A sixth successive double set of titles – confirmed today, one of you two will win the Drivers’ Championship. Toto has spoken before about the pride of wearing the shirt, the staff and Mercedes, can you talk a little bit about how proud you are to be part of this record-breaking team, and what you’ve built here.

    VB: I think I said earlier, I’m very proud obviously. We’re making history and, it’s funny with anything you do, if you are getting success, and so on, sometimes it’s quite tricky to realise that success. Sometimes you have to step outside, a step or two to realise it really. I’m sure we will look back at this afterwards at some point, that wow, we made six and obviously hopefully more – but this moment, yeah, I hope we all can really appreciate it and take the time to enjoy it as well, even though we need to keep pushing. It just feels like life goes pretty quickly onwards and it’s very important to enjoy those moments and, at least personally for me, I’m really, really proud, really happy for every single team-member. I know the amount of work that has gone into achieving it. So very, very happy for everyone and I just hope everyone realises that and enjoys it because it’s well-deserved.

    LH: I think I kind of said stuff earlier on. I’ve been with the team for seven years. I’ve been with Mercedes since I was 13 so very proud to be racing the silver star and be part of this incredible journey that Mercedes is on. Joining them in 2013, with just the utter belief that we will do something special, it’s kind of crazy to see it coming to fruition, all the hard work. Naturally, when I met everyone in 2013, just seeing how dedicated they were there, and it still remains the same. Even though we have the success each year, they’re hungry, they’re driven, they’re excited that they have Valtteri and I in the car and they give absolutely everything. And I love that, and it really inspires me to go out there and drive the way that I do, the way that we do throughout the weekend.

    Q: (Jens Nagler – Bild) Two questions for Seb: how did you enjoy the battle against Lewis and secondly, if I’m correct, there’s not chance whatsoever now to clinch the title for you so is Mexico the first step of the next attempt?

    SV: Well, obviously not happy with the fact that we didn’t have the year that we were looking for but it’s not today that made the difference, not yesterday, not last week or… Obviously it’s been a long year and it’s still going so… I don’t think we’re lacking anything. I think we just need to work better. I think we are very committed, working very hard but it’s not yet on the level that can be achieved. Obviously Mercedes have shown that in the last years that you can do better and they’ve been able to maintain that. I think we are not in that position, but I’ve loved to be honest and I’m sure that we would be more enthusiastic by nature but that’s not the case so we need to work better. As I said, I think we don’t need to work harder but I think we need to work better. The first one: yeah, I enjoyed it but obviously I knew that I was a bit of a sitting duck because I was quite slow in the corners and very fast on the straights, so I just tried to play my advantage and that worked. I’m sure that Lewis didn’t enjoy that as much but in the end it was key to… or we tried as hard as we could to stay ahead despite being slower at the end so that’s good but overall we had a great chance today, starting first and second. Obviously after the first couple of meters that advantage was gone but after that we knew that it would be difficult from where we were to turn it around and we saw in the first stint that we just couldn’t go with them, especially at the end they were a lot stronger. So as I said, there’s still room for improvement. It doesn’t start in Mexico – next year;  next year starts next year so whatever we can learn this year, I think we’ve learned a lot about our car, the weaknesses, we’ve improved it but we’re still not there so… We’ve had a strong couple of races but overall I think we’re still a little bit behind.

    Q: Sebastian, you say you’ve learned a lot about yourselves; what have you learned about Mercedes this year?

    SV: It’s very difficult, obviously you can’t see what they are doing but I think from the outside they are very close to perfection every time they go out on track so very consistent, very little mistakes. That’s certainly also part of what makes them  so strong but yeah, if you clinch the Constructors title with four races to go there’s a lot of things you do better than all the others. If you go into detail then you can argue what their car is maybe doing better than ours but I don’t think that’s the point overall, it’s a team effort and as I said, I think we do have the ingredients, we do have the commitment, we do have the intelligence but we just need to do it better. It’s a lot of small things; it’s not one thing that we need to improve, it’s a lot of small things that we need to do better, every single one of us and that’s the only way that we can try and step up. Hopefully they get a bit bored, we will see what happens.

    Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Lewis, just throwing it forward, you can now obviously win the championship in Mexico so how important is it for you to get that over the line as soon as you can? And Valtteri does this result give you renewed hope that you might be able to do the unthinkable and beat Lewis to the title?

    LH: I think for me it’s never  been a case of always wanting to rush things. Valtteri’s driven well all year long, he’s done a great job today and he will most likely do a very very solid job these next races, so we still have a battle, the fight continues. I think Mexico is generally our worst race of the year because of the way our car is set up and it’s going to be a tough one for us. The last few have been pretty shocking, even though we’ve won the title there. I’m hoping for a better weekend but I think it’s going to be very hard to beat the Ferraris with those long straights. We have no hope of getting by on those straights, that’s for sure but even if you look at the others, the McLarens are picking up some serious speeds on the straights, so are the Red Bulls so I think it will be a tricky one. I don’t anticipate it will be Mexico. I think we will be battling for a good few races.

    VB: Yeah, I don’t really give up on anything as long as there’s a theoretical chance so there’s no point in that. Today was a good example on the track where it’s difficult to overtake. You start third, OK, two Ferraris ahead, it’s a difficult case to win but it’s possible. Yeah, everything’s possible although I’m realistic as well that I will need to be very lucky, that’s a fact, to win all the rest of the races but yeah, I don’t really think about that much at this point. It is my bad, mostly, that I’ve been behind this much in the points compared to Lewis, it’s my fault which I try to fix for the future but it is where we are now and just take it now race by race and see how it goes.

    Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) Lewis, are you kicking yourself now that you did make that stop or are you thinking maybe I could have got to the end of the race on those tyres? Question to the other two drivers: if you were in that same situation, you’re leading the race, you’ve got 22 laps to go, would you have risked it and stayed out? Final question: Sebastian, who’s going to win the title out of these two guys here?

    LH: Honestly, I’m thinking of what I’m going to eat tonight. I’m thinking about I can’t wait to get back to the UK to see my niece and nephew. What’s done is done. Naturally we’ll go and sit and talk to the engineers and strategists. I think today could have been done better. There’s multiple scenarios during the year when that’s been the case but nonetheless, Valtteri did the job. I’d have had to have driven differently in that second stint, stretch out as far as you can… naturally when I was in the lead I thought about staying out but by the time I’d already pushed so much to close the gap to Seb… we should have at least got a one-two today but I think the strategy wasn’t optimum for me. It was naturally optimum for Valtteri but yeah, there were a lot scenarios. Valtteri had a very good gap to the first stint. He didn’t have to stop early because he clearly had a good enough gap. They should have stopped me before Seb to undercut him but it’s always an afterthought. Often the first car gets priority which is always how we’ve always had it but we can do better as a team, to make sure we score more one-twos, so we’ll just work hard on that and there’s no love lost or anything like that. We’ll be pushing hard.

    VB: Yeah, obviously, I don’t know. I wasn’t in his car and I can’t know how the tyres were feeling and how much he was pushing before and so the only thing I know is that at this point for him probably the computer would have said no, it’s not possible with the numbers we had for the tyre life so that’s the only thing I know.

    SV: Yeah, I think Valtteri has said pretty much it. It depends a lot on how you feel with the tyres so I don’t know whether Lewis was talking with the team and asking to stay out or what were the options, but if you get the call out then you trust the team and you come in. And the second one is that Lewis will win it. Doesn’t matter which race. I don’t think it matters for him, does it? It wouldn’t matter to me.

    Q: (Luis Vasconcelos – Formula Press) Lewis, in the last few laps you had softer tyres than Sebastian, newer tyres than Sebastian, you had DRS but still you couldn’t make the move. How worrying is that, that this gap is too big in terms of straightline speed, for Mercedes to catch for next year?

    LH: We’ve got time for next year. I think it’s not been a great year for us in terms of the great issue, in terms of our engine development. I think it’s been a really hard time for the guys, they’ve been working as hard as ever but it’s just not been as successful in that department, as I say, plus it’s quite draggy but we’ve had great reliability and hopefully that remains the same and that’s still something to be really proud of of course. We have, obviously, still won the Constructors championship but we’ll push to try and maybe reduce the drag a little bit but also increasing power for next  so they’re fully onto it and I have all the confidence in the world that we’ll be able to make some sort of step into the next season. Of course I got in the tow of Seb, the tow with DRS and maximum power and everything… it’s incredible how quick they are. It makes it very very difficult, even if you’ve got the advantage of the tyre but I think it’s cool anyway, it provides interesting racing. I wish we could have had a closer race today but it’s a difficult track to do so.

  • 2019 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    2019 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Guenther STEINER (Haas), Mattia BINOTTO (Ferrari), Toyoharu TANABE (Honda), Cyril ABITEBOUL (Renault), Frédéric VASSEUR (Alfa Romeo)

    Q: Tomorrow’s programme has been called due to the typhoon. Can we get your thoughts on that decision and could you explains how it has affected your programme today. Perhaps we can start with Fred?

    Frédéric VASSEUR: I think that it’s safety first and probably it makes no sense to ask the spectators to come on track and then to be in a big mess. In terms of schedule and programme for the team. We already thought about this yesterday evening honestly. OK, it will change the programme but I think we can afford the weekend with two free practices. Perhaps it will be a good exercise for the future.

    Q: Thank you. Cyril?

    Cyril ABITEBOUL: Well, nothing really to add. It has happened before and it will happen in the future. There is enough time on Sunday to conduct both qualifying and the race. I think maybe it will give us an impression of Formula E, maybe a little bit, so not a bad thing. That’s for my neighbor on the left, and on the right.

    Q: Tanabe-san?

    Toyoharu TANABE: First, I’m sorry to the fans willing to be here Saturday, but in terms of our programme we will just prepare for the qualifying and the race this afternoon and then maybe analyse the data and then ready for the qualifying on Sunday and the race.

    Q: Mattia?

    Mattia BINOTTO: I would join certainly his comment, as first I think it’s a shame for the fans but it’s a fully respectable decision, safety is first. In terms of programmes, certainly it’s a lot more intense now. We are certainly skipping one session, which is FP3. Qualifying may be occurring on Sunday morning. But it means that today it will be a lot more intense. We’ve got, eventually, more tyres to be used – the ones from FP3. We need to set up the car for the Quali on Sunday morning. There’s just a session less. Things are more complicated but certainly a great challenge but I’m pretty sure it should be a good show and spectacle on Sunday.

    Q: Guenther?

    Guenther STEINER: Nothing to add from a sporting side. I think it was the right decision from the organisers, safety is first, and the rest is set.

    Q: Thank you gentlemen. Tanabe-san, if I could come back to you, please? It’s always special to race here at Suzuka and Honda has a good chance of getting a good result this weekend. How exciting is it to be in that situation?

    TT: Yes, it is a very special race. The Japanese Grand Prix is our home race, and then the Suzuka circuit is owned by Honda. All Japanese fans are willing it to have a good result from Honda-powered cars. On the other hand, it’s kind of pressure for us, but fans give us more power. In terms of the weekend preparation, the setting is the same as the other races. So, we just set up the PU accordingly and do our best.

    Q: Can we get a word too on the performance of Naoki Yamamoto this morning in the Toro Rosso. He was only one tenth slower than Dany Kvyat. How would you assess his performance today?

    TT: Considering it’s his first run on a grand prix weekend I think he did a good job. Comparing the lap time against Dany is a bit difficult because they are doing different strategy in the practice. But he did a decent job for the team to set up the car in the first session of the weekend and then his run today will definitely encourage Japanese young drivers. So, thank you Toro Rosso and Red Bull and it’s good for the Japanese fans as well.

    Q: Thank you. Fred, coming back to you: there are five races left this year, so when you look back at this season, has it been a success?

    FV: It was a really up and down season. We had the first four or five races where we scored a lot of points and then we had a bad momentum around Monaco and Barcelona and then we went back. The last four races were very difficult. It’s up and down. But let’s see in the last five if it’s up and hopefully the last five will be OK.

    Q: What can you do to level out the performances?

    FV: It’s small things and small details honestly. If you compare with Sochi that we were, with Antonio, we were P13 in Quali but we were two tenths off compared to P7 in Q2 and it’s very, very tight and for small details sometimes you can be completely out of the classification but we have to take care when you are doing the analysis. But it’s true also that we made too many mistakes over the last three or four weekends – teams, drivers, everyone in the same basket – but at the end of the day we have to wake up a little bit and to come back to the pace and top score points in the last four events.

    Q: And how has the experience of Kimi Räikkönen helped the team?

    FV: He’s staying calm. He’s not a big nervous. I think it’s good also for us to stay focused on the real issue and not to start to try to go in every single direction. We know what did wrong on the last two or three events and I hope that we will be able to correct it for Suzuka and the next ones, and that’s it.

    Q: Guenther, if we could come to you now please. In Russia, Kevin Magnussen scored his first points since the German Grand Prix. What aero was he running on his car that weekend and is that the direction going forward?

    Guenther STEINER: I don’t know what aero he was running because we are mixing it up a little bit. There is no definitive spec what we could call it. It’s a hybrid, we call it and, going forward, in the moment we are on a very similar spec like we had in Russia. Going forward, we test a few things and I cannot tell you what we do in the next race because we just try to get better and get a better understanding so we are not in this position next year. But, I mean, it seemed to be working a little bit better in Russia. So, let’s hope we can find a few more points on our way to the end of the season.

    Q: Knowing what you know now, what would you have done differently with the development of this year’s car?

    GS: A lot. It’s like… I don’t want to go into the specifics of technical stuff but we should have listened a little bit more to the drivers when they gave their opinion about what the car is doing and whatnot. And sometimes listen more to drivers than look at numbers. That’s what we have to learn out of this. And now I think we need to get what drivers say correlated with what the numbers say and get an understanding so we can move forward. As I said, we would have done a lot different from Barcelona onwards.

    Q: Cyril, tell us about the progress with your car, particularly this weekend, and what feedback you’ve had from your drivers about the new front wing?

    Cyril ABITEBOUL: It’s as always when you bring this type of parts, in particular with these current regulations, it’s a very sensitive part. I think everyone here would say the same thing. So, it always takes a little bit of time to understand properly, to measure, we’ve done a number of back-to-back tests. The guys are currently looking at the data at the factory – and also listening to drivers, Guenther, we are also doing that – and no, there is nothing really bad but I think there is more to come in pace and in balance in particular. But this is a very complex area of development of the car. It’s highly loaded so it creates some instability. It’s complex.

    Q: Can you tell us any more about what the drivers were saying about the car this morning?

    CA: I don’t want to go into specifics but I think the balance was not exactly where it was supposed to be, so we need to review that in particular, make sure that the data do back up what they were experiencing on track. And if that does, we’ll be making some set-up change in FP2 to see if we can indeed get it to work a bit better.

    Q: OK, and looking a bit further ahead, it looks like you won’t be supplying any customer teams in 2021. How will that impact on your power unit development?

    CA: In particular for next year there is no impact because the engine for next year is done, it’s on the dyno already, you know that it’s a long lead-time development, so nothing is going to impact what we are doing for 2020. It’s going to impact what we could be doing for 2021 on the basis that, when you have multiple customers, in particular the way that Renault is doing it, we always try to satisfy everyone to take on board all the comments in terms of installation, and so on and so forth, so that will be one less distraction. We will be able to focus on ourselves and just on ourselves. And that’s it. From an economic perspective, there is absolutely no impact and nothing in it, because we sell, more or less, at a cost. Due to the price cap limitation. So, frankly, it’s nothing, that it’s good news, because, you know, it’s always satisfying to see your product being used by multiple teams but in terms of what we need to achieve and deliver for Renault it has absolutely no impact.

    Q: Mattia, we understood from Charles yesterday that you spoke to both drivers in Maranello last week. How confident are you that another situation like the one we saw in Russia won’t arise again?

    Mattia BINOTTO: First, it’s not the first time we are speaking in Maranello. It’s true that I met both of them this week, they were in Maranello for some activities: simulator etc., I think we had positive, constructive, honest, fair, transparent discussions with both of them, individuals. I think what happened in Sochi, nothing really bad but certainly something that needs to be improved and addressed and I think it’s only an opportunity of lesson learned and trying to do better in the future. But how much I’m confident it will not happen, I’m not at all. I think these are both very good drivers. They are all going for a single objective which is winning themselves but I think what again is more important is that at least we between us we’ve got clarity and fairness and I think that’s key.

    Q: You say they’re both very competitive drivers. What have you learnt about Sebastian and Charles over the last two grand prix weekends?

    MB: I think that they are both performing very well and, as I’ve often said this season, it’s somehow a luxury for a team principal having this situation. I’m very pleased for the racing performance of Sebastian, as I am for the one of Charles since, let’s say, the start of the season and his progresses. What I’ve learned, that we’ve got a very competitive line-up. But I don’t think I learned it. It’s not a surprise, it’s something on which we’re simply happy.

    Q: And what about this weekend. How’s your car performing and what do you make of the pace of the Mercedes this morning in FP1?

    MB: It’s only FP1, very difficult normally to judge. We cannot neglect that we set the four poles in the last four grands prix but we’ve seen as well that our competitors have brought some upgrades here. The Red Bull and the Honda will be very competitive this weekend as well. The weekend will be shortened because of tomorrow. Sunday morning the conditions can be very difficult for everybody after, let me say, the bad weather of tomorrow. So, I think it will be a difficult and challenging weekend for everybody. More important that we are focused on ourselves. We’ve got some homework after FP1 certainly to do. A few balance issues to be addressed. Again, I think the benchmark are still the cars which are ahead in the Championship and we are still the challengers but I’m pretty sure we can be competitive and this is our objective.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

     

    Q: (Eric Bielderman – L’Equipe) To all managers: would you regard this afternoon’s FP2 as a potential qualification session due to the fact that Sunday morning, with the wind, it might not be possible… there is a slight chance it might not be possible to run the qualification process?

    GS: I wouldn’t say a qualification but I think a lot of us will try to put in a fast time to prevent…  if qualifying is cancelled on Sunday morning, they are discussing it now, we need to look at the weather. But for sure, we have got more tyres available as well because we are not running tomorrow so it’s a judgement for everybody to do, to see if they can do a good lap but I think it will be quite interesting as Mattia said before, this afternoon, with not having FP3, there will be a lot of running out there this afternoon so hopefully we have got an interesting programme going.

    MB: Not much more to add. I think the answer was completely clear. I don’t think the main objective of this afternoon will be to set the best lap time. The main activity, certainly, will be to address any set-up issues that we got in the morning, making sure that we are ready for Sunday because still, I think, the most likely will be to have qualifying on Sunday morning and then the race in the afternoon. But no doubt, if we can, we will try to do at least a good lap, just in case.

    TT: In terms of a PU settings point of view, we just set up our PU for the qualifying and the race this afternoon and we will see. I hope the typhoon goes very quick after landing on the Japan island.

    CA: Yeah, it’s going to be a bit of a balancing exercise because we still need to prepare the race and particularly, in our case, because of the development parts, we still need to understand (them) a bit better and look at that but in parallel, we will keep that in the back of our minds. As far as we are concerned, we have elected to stay with our Friday engine, which is down on power because it’s an engine which we were using initially at the start of the season, so it’s costing a little bit but on balance we still believe that Sunday will be decent enough so that qualifying can be run so we prefer to stay with that plan.

    FV: Not much to add that I think at the end it will be a mix between FP2 and FP3 and in case of non-quali on Sunday, I hope that we won’t take the race number for Antonio!

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action, Speedsport) Fred, when will the team decide who Kimi’s team-mate will be next year?

    FV: We will take the decision quite soon but honestly, if you have a look at the last event I think that Antonio is doing a very strong job, that he was matching Kimi in the last six or seven qualifyings in a row. He was in front in Sochi. OK, the first lap was not a good one for us but he’s doing the job and he’s improving step-by-step but this morning we had an issue on the car and he was not able to show the pace but he’s doing the job, he’s improving and I’m very confident with Antonio.

    Q: (Kate Walker – Financial Times) I have a two-part question for Mattia: first off, I was wondering if you could talk us through the progress on the 2021 rules from the perspective of Ferrari and secondly, what is your current position on the use of the veto?

    MB: 2021, there will be a meeting with the FIA and F1 next week on the 16th which I think will be very important because that’s the last one, altogether, before the end of the month when there will be a new vote. I think there are still a lot of open points and discussions are still ongoing so how will be the conclusion of all these discussions, it is very difficult to say at the moment. There are various interests between teams, between the teams and the F1 and the teams and the FIA. But certainly, as Ferrari, we are intending to play our role, we believe as Ferrari because of what Ferrari represents for F1, we’ve got a voice, an important voice in the discussions but no doubt that there’s still a lot of points to be addressed. In terms of the veto – you mentioned the veto – as I said I think last time in Sochi that will really be a shame. I don’t think that should be the case at all. I think we’ve got a good and open discussion with the stakeholders at the moment and I’m as well somehow hopeful that we can find the right compromise at the end.

    Q: (Julien Billiotte – AutoHebdo) Gunther, you’ve been summoned to the FIA stewards for what you said over the radio in Sochi. Are you surprised, are you upset, do you believe you have a strong defence case?

    GS: I don’t know what they’ve got to say. I’m going to see them in five minutes, I will be leaving here early actually, because the two dates clashed. I don’t know what they’re going to tell me. You read the same as I read so I don’t know any more information than that. I can tell you something a little bit later but I hope I don’t get a penalty for leaving the press conference early!

    Q: (Martin Moravec – dpa) Mattia, when you look at this intense rivalry between Sebastian and Charles, do you fear that at some point you could lose control of your drivers?

    MB: No, no I don’t think there is the risk of losing control because there is a difference between not managing drivers and at least having the intent to manage them. There is always a solution which is not manage them, maybe someone may do so, I think our intention is to try to manage the situation to the benefit of the team and secondly to the benefit, overall, as well, of the drivers. We may do a few things that can be addressed or improved and I think that is what we are building and trying to do for the future.

  • F1 2018: Japanes Gp Review – Hamilton Win Virtually Assures Title

    F1 2018: Japanes Gp Review – Hamilton Win Virtually Assures Title

    It’s not pretentious at all to declare that Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes are assured of being champions, again, in 2018. Victory in Japan makes it six wins in the last seven races for Hamilton and with a mammoth 63-point he is every bit the champion presumptive.

    A faultless weekend from Mercedes ensured a front-row lock out on Saturday while an unnerved Ferrari was left scrambling. On Saturday as the clouds rolled in Ferrari’s senseless decision-making reared its head again as both Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel were sent out onto a dry track with Intermediate tyres. Though there was enough team for both drivers to switch to dry tyres it left them with only one lap in the final part of qualifying. While Raikkonen secured fourth Vettel ran off track and was relegated to the fourth row of the grid.

    All wasn’t lost for the would-be championship contender as a good start to Sunday’s race saw him quickly into fourth. But while Hamilton and Bottas pulled away up front Vettel’s impatience got the better of him. Verstappen, who started third, was correctly given a five second time penalty for re-joining the circuit in an unsafe manner at the final chicane. The Red Bull driver had driven into the side of Raikkonen allowing Vettel to pass his teammate and settle on the Verstappen’s gearbox. Clearly faster it appeared to be a matter of time until the Ferrari would find its way past. But Vettel threw caution to the wind and attempted an overtake on Verstappen in Spoon corner. Not only didn’t he make the move stick but he also sent himself into a spin that left him plumb last. He eventually recovered to finish sixth.

    Australian GP Qualifying - Sebastian Vettel, FerrariThere is no denying that from an operational standpoint Ferrari has had some embarrassing blunders on strategy. But the mistakes in the races lay firmly at Vettel’s feet. The lock-up in Baku, the crash with Bottas in France, the bizarre crash while leading in Germany, the crash with Hamilton in Italy, the mistake on the Q3 lap in Japan, and finally the crash with Verstappen in the race.

    Together all of these moments have ensured that unless some truly miraculous happens in the last four races Sebastian Vettel will not be the 2018 champion.

    It’s clear too that Vettel, in 2018, is a far cry from the driver that won four consecutive titles between 2010 and 2013. The reason could very well be the cockpit he’s currently sitting in. The pressure of being a Ferrari driver and the constant demand and expectation to win in unlike any other and its evident that Vettel has cracked under that pressure.

    Meanwhile, it could hardly be any better if you’re Lewis Hamilton. Yes, Vettel and Ferrari’s mistakes have contributed to his enormous points lead but he’s still delivered. There’s a mental switch that happens with Hamilton in the second half of the season that means he raises his game to a level no one, with the exception of Nico Rosberg, has been able to match. Plainly put, Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes has wiped the floor with Vettel and Ferrari.

    jap1While Hamilton cruised to victory the ever-dutiful Valtteri Bottas followed him home in second while Max Verstappen snapped up the final step on the podium. The sister Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo, once again felled by mechanical issues in quali, recovered to an impressive fourth. Kimi Raikkonen was fifth for Ferrari while Vettel trundled home in sixth.

    Sergio Perez proved to be best-of-the-rest for Force India in seventh while Romain Grosjean, Esteban Ocon, and Carlos Sainz completed the top ten on a day where the mid-field battle proved the most scintillating part of the race. In fact, the battle behind Merc, Ferrari, and Red Bull is so close that only four points cover positions seven through eleven in the driver’s standings.

    Victory in Japan indicates that Lewis Hamilton’s fifth world championship crown is a mere formality. With a 63-point lead and four races remaining in 2018 it’s not if Hamilton will win the big prize but rather when.

    All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport 

  • 2018 Japanese GP: Post Race Press Conference

    2018 Japanese GP: Post Race Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    2 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)

    3 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)

     

    TRACK INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by David Coulthard)

     

    Q: Lewis, congratulations, another dominant display. You were enjoying that.

    Lewis HAMILTON: I loved it. I was actually very, very happy. I think the whole weekend’s been very strong from the team, it’s a great 1-2 from Mercedes, it a true showing of the great strength in depth we have as a team. This track is the best track in the world. I don’t know why they don’t make tracks like this anymore but every second of the run it was just great fun. I was able to look after my tyres the way I wanted and just managed the pace. It’s really weird – obviously I have been racing a long, long time, but the happiness I have inside is as high as always. It’s a great feeling.

     

    Q: Well just looking at your tyres, you don’t seem to be too bad on blistering, so you were just able to manage, but we did hear that you had some engine issues earlier in the grand prix, so it wasn’t all plain sailing?

    LH: Yeah, I asked the team but they said it was OK. But really, these guys here you see at the track, the guys back at the factory, these guys work so hard to create this… this beast, and I’m so proud and grateful to have the chance to do what I do with it. I’ve been racing a long, long time now but, as I said, it feels like one of the first.

     

    Q: If you win in America in two weeks’ time and Sebastian is not second, you will win your fifth world title.

    LH: Honestly, I’ll take it one step at a time. Each week you have a positive weekend and you go to another grand prix and you’re not sure how you’re going to fare and how you’re going to perform, because there are still gaps in between, but I think we have gone from strength to strength this year as a team, so I really hope that we can… Austin is usually a good track for us, so I can’t wait to unleash this beast there.

     

    Q: Congratulations, Lewis, great drive. Valtteri, you were absolutely setting the pace in Russia but it looked like you struggled a little bit more on this circuit and you had some real tyre management to do at the end against Max.

    Valtteri BOTTAS: Well, yeah. Initially during the race, everything felt good, I knew what I had to do and I was really just executing the plan. The pace felt good. But at the end of the second stint I had some blistering, which made it a bit more tricky, but anyway, for me the job was to get to the finish line in P2.

     

    Q: We heard from Lewis that he had some engine management issues early in the grand prix. Did you have anything like that or was it just the tyre blistering that was your main concern?

    VB: Not really, no. No issues. We managed to save the engine to save the engine a bit because the pace was so good. But no issues otherwise.

     

    Q: Max, you’re pretty consistent here in Japan: third straight podium. It was very close with Valtteri at the end, but you locked up into the hairpin on the last lap. So did the opportunity slip away?

    Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, we didn’t really have a chance, but in general I think to nurse the car home with the damage I had on the floor, we did a great job. The strategy initially was a bit tricky, with the supersoft tyres, but then once we got the soft tyres on it was actually working really well, and you could see that near the end we had the pace, even with the damage, so I’m happy about that.

     

    Q: You had two incidents with the Ferrari drivers. First of all with Kimi, and you got a five-second penalty for that, which we heard on the radio you weren’t happy about, and then a failed attempt from Sebastian to overtake you down into Spoon. Take us through those two?

    MV: Yes, I braked a little bit too late into the chicane, so I did everything I could to get back onto the track and I think I did it in a safe way, because I was not crazy-fast onto the track, but Kimi chose the wrong line in the chicane. He could have also just waited for me to come back on the track. We touched a little bit, but I think it’s really ridiculous those five seconds. But anyway, we managed to survive that and then even before the pit stop, the touch with Sebastian – in that corner you can’t overtake. I even gave him space, but he understeered into my car. It’s a shame, but still happy to be on the podium.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

     

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Lewis, you talked a bit about coming back stronger for the second half of the season and that you imagined having this run-in but you’ve been dominant, especially compared to Sebastian. You’ve not made mistakes, he’s been making mistakes. Are you surprised at how he’s faded from the title picture?

    LH: Well, what I meant is that you have to set your sights high and so naturally, as you come into the season, you set the goal high, set the target high. When we got to mid-season we got that win going into the break and then again, really pushing to make sure that we come back even stronger so again, set the bar high. That’s what we were hoping to achieve, it’s not always the case, it’s really not always the case that you achieve your target but I think we have through really great hard work from everyone. In terms of Sebastian’s performance… Of course, I didn’t expect… Up until the mid-part of the season they were very strong and then we obviously got to Monza and then after that they were still quite strong from Monza, Singapore and then at Singapore was when it really started to tail off. I definitely hadn’t anticipated that they would tail off as they have. Not only have they lost a lot of performance, lost performance… just performances have not been coming in the same as they had before, as strong as they were before. I don’t really have an answer for that and it’s not something I’m really focused on. I’m sure Sebastian could tell you why. We’ve just been focusing on trying to do the best job we can and maximise the potential of our own ability, that’s all we can do.

     

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, how much are you hoping that Lewis will win the championship already in Austin to get more normal circumstances for the last three races to challenge him?

    VB: You know of course I’m still able to challenge him. It just depends on the situation like the race in Russia so I’m still trying everything I can to keep upbeat for every race and trying to challenge. I felt yesterday in the qualifying it was really getting better and better for me and it was pretty close in the end between us. Today, after the start, I knew what was going to be the case. We had to bring one-two home and that was it. There are not that many races left and at some point I would guess he’s going to get the title hopefully and then we will see.

     

    Q: (Andre Venema – Formula 1 Magazine NL) Max, speaking of penalties, do you think Vettel deserved a penalty as well, for what he did to you?

    MV: Well, I’m not the one who makes the rules. I think otherwise a lot of penalties would have been avoided anyway in Formula One. I think it’s a similar scenario to what I had in China with him. Of course, we didn’t spin off the track but he drove into the side of my car. I think we could have been a bit more careful.

     

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) At the moment, we have a lot of situations where you’re having to either avoid or manage blistering. I just wondered… on that phenomenon, is that more of a problem this year? How bad is it and how much are you having to manage it over the course of this season?

    LH: Honestly, I think Pirelli have done a really good job this year. The cars are faster than ever before, we have more downforce than ever before so there’s more force going through the tyres. And so every time they improve the tyres, we improve the car and we pretty much have a similar issue of blistering, but they do have the lower gauged tyre which we used earlier in the year on which we didn’t see any blistering. I’m not really sure why they didn’t continue using that for the year but I’m sure that’s probably something they will engage in next year. We have definitely not been able to go flat out all the time and we are having to manage temperatures in order to make a one stop race work –  the loss in the pit lane is so big you want to always try and make sure you do a one stop. But I don’t particularly have a problem with it. I think it takes skill and management to keep the pace up and lose as little as possible whilst still keeping the tyre alive. Would we prefer to have no blistering? For sure, if we could keep pushing the whole way and not having rear overheating, that would definitely enable us to follow for longer and race for longer but that’s something that they are constantly trying to battle, I’m sure.

    VB: I think we had to do a lot of management at pretty much every race this season and especially at the last few there have been issues with the blistering. Once we are getting to a certain temperature, we know it’s going to happen at some point, so then we’re just not pushing to go over those temperatures and trying to manage. At some places, like today, when it’s hot, in this high energy track, laterally, it’s pretty difficult and it does feel at times that you are completely cruising round which is not ideal. You know there’s so much potential in these cars and my thinking is if everyone did one stop today, if you do one stop pushing flat out it would be more fun but that’s the issue for everyone now. The cars are quicker than ever. I was involved in some of the testing for next year’s tyres a couple of weeks ago and I’m sure they are pushing flat out and hopefully it’s going to be a bit better next year.

    MV: I think like Lewis said, it was well explained.

  • F1 2017: Japanese Gp Review – Hamilton Wins Big In Japan

    F1 2017: Japanese Gp Review – Hamilton Wins Big In Japan

    Since the month-long summer break Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes have touched little that hasn’t turned to gold. This momentum, which has an eerily familiar complexion to it, has garnered Hamilton victory in Japan and a nearly insurmountable in driver’s championship.

    After the events in Singapore and Malaysia Sebastian Vettel needed to win the Japanese grand prix in order to get his bid for the world title back on track. With a front row start alongside Hamilton it seemed it he would have the chance to do so. However, yet another reliability issue, this time a spark plug failure, brought the German’s race to an abrupt and painfully costly end. And while Vettel was left to console his engineers Hamilton, literally, drove home the advantage by extending his championship lead to 59 points with four races to go.

    While last week’s race winner Max Verstappen tried his utmost to challenge the Mercedes it was evident that the Red Bull was lacking the final bit of pace to make a genuine bid for the win. Nevertheless, Verstappen’s performance once again underlines the Dutchmen’s impressive flair and talent and should Renault be able to up the prowess of its power unit it clear to all that Verstappen is ready to fight not only for victories but also for the championship title.

    39As Verstappen’s number 33 Red Bull could only get within two seconds of Hamilton the other Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo, in third, was able to hold off Valtteri Bottas who recovered to fourth after incurring a gearbox penalty. Similarly, Kimi Raikkonen too had to overcome his own gearbox penalty to finish fifth. Force India took a big step towards securing the mid-field battle with a solid haul of points for Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez, in sixth and seventh respectively. Haas too would’ve been happy with their day’s work as Kevin Magnussen, in eight, and Romain Grosjean, in ninth delivered a double points finish for the American team. Despite struggling with tyre degradation Williams Felipe Massa snapped up the final point on offer in tenth.

    Neutral or not, most would lament Ferrari’s run of unreliability and the effect it’s had on the championship. The expectation was that the fight between Hamilton and Vettel would carry all the way through to the final round in Abu Dhabi and in so doing would provide the intense battle that spectators have been craving for some time. While the race for the title is by no means done and dusted it has become increasingly difficult for Vettel and Ferrari to get their hands on the coveted trophy.

    _R3I8542Nevertheless, many a world championship has been won and lost on reliability. Having a fast and competitive car has never, solely, been enough to take the big prize. Reliability is a blatant factor, which has always gone hand-in-hand with the sport.

    And while Ferrari are suffering a horrendous run of unreliability credit must be given to Mercedes. Their near flawless reliability is no fluke. Instead it’s a testament to how Mercedes is not only on top in terms of car performance and driver management but also all the factors and details that goes into successfully winning a world title. It’s a true art to maintain the level of attention to detail on quality control and ensuring that all procedures are perfected in a high pressure environment at Formula 1. For that alone, whether you’re a fan or not, Mercedes must be applauded.

    All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport

  • 35-Place Grid Penalty for Alonso

    35-Place Grid Penalty for Alonso

    Fernando Alonso was handed a 35-place grid penalty after Honda elected to change his entire power unit after engineers found a hydraulic leak.

    This effectively means that the Spaniard will start at the back of the grid alongside fellow countryman Carlos Sainz in the Toro Rosso who was handed a 20-place grid penalty.

    Alonso’s car was fitted with his 8th internal combustion engine, 8th MGU-K, 7th batter, 10th turbocharger, 10th MGU-H and 6th control electronics.

    Elsewhere on the grid, Renault elected to change a few components on Jolyon Palmer’s engine which drops him a total of 20-grid places.

    Palmer’s car was fitted with it’s 6th turbocharger and 5th internal combustion which makes it a total of 20-place grid drop.

  • Bottas Fastest in Final Free Practice Session at Japanese GP

    Bottas Fastest in Final Free Practice Session at Japanese GP

    Valtteri Bottas set the fastest time for the final free practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix but crashed out with just over half an out to go in the session.

    Bottas set a 1:29.055 on the super softs in the Mercedes, 0.014s faster than team mate Lewis Hamilton. On, what looked like his second go at a timed lap, the Finn ran wide at T14 (Spoon) and dipped a wheel on the wet astro turf. This dragged him further off the track and on to the grass on the run down to 130R. He then tagged the barrier with the rear right, which pivoted the car around which caused the front right to make contact with the barrier. He was able to make it back to the pits.

    The session was red flagged as the marshals cleaned the track and inspected the barriers.

    Just when the session restarted, Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen was the next one to experience the ruthlessness of the Suzuka circuit. Raikkonen, on a flying lap, carried too much speed into Degner 2, which swung the rear of the car around under braking. He managed to catch the slide but in doing so went across the gravel and clouted the barrier damaging the rear left wishbone. This brought out the second red flag of the session.

    There’s is no word on any gearbox change on Raikkonen’s car due to the contact with the barrier.

    Sebastian Vettel set a time late in the session to go P3. After another go at a fast lap Vettel improved to a 1:29.379 which is still 0.324s off the benchmark set by Bottas.

    The two Red Bull’s who were running different setups were 4th and 5th with Verstappen ahead of Ricciardo by 0.108s. According to Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner, the Red Bulls are the fastest cars through the corners but were losing about half a second of time down the straights.

    Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez made the top 10 for Force India with Ocon finishing 6th fastest and Perez 10th.

    Nico Hulkenberg got the Renault once again into the top 10 finishing 7th fastest ahead of an 8th placed Fernando Alonso in the McLaren.

    The red flags did break the momentum of the session somewhat. One feels that the times could have been faster this session.

    Mercedes look comfortable up front with their package and Hamilton looks set to take pole position with Sebastian Vettel joining him on the front row.

    The cloudy conditions are set to persist throughout the afternoon so we could see a dry qualifying session.

  • FIA post-qualifying press conference – Japanese Grand Prix

    FIA post-qualifying press conference – Japanese Grand Prix

    Drivers: 1 – Nico Rosberg (Mercedes), 2 – Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), 3 – Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari).

    TV UNILATERAL

    Q: Nico, the pressure was really on for that final run but you did it, pole by 13 thousandths of a second which I think your team calculates to be 82 centimetres around this Suzuka circuit.

    Nico Rosberg: Yeah, of course, happy with the result in the end. I was going well the whole weekend, I had a good balance in the car, feeling good, feeling comfortable so that’s what allows me then to put in a lap like that in the end. Yeah, pleased with that.

    Q: And Lewis, not the end of the world from your point of view because as we look back over the last couple of seasons you’ve won here from second place on the grid, so is that very much what’s on your mind as you sit here this afternoon?

    Lewis Hamilton: Well, I’m happy with qualifying. It’s been a weekend of a lot of work that’s gone on, getting the car set-up right and some big changes went into qualifying. Considering that, to be that close I was really happy with it. I got everything I could… I did as well as I could, I think. Naturally, if you have more laps, I guess you could always find more time but yeah, generally very happy with that and history has shown that you don’t have to be on pole to get the win. But Nico did a great job and has done all weekend.

    Q: Kimi, great lap for third place; for the fourth time this season you’ve qualified in this position. Do we infer from this that Ferrari has made a bit of a step compared to Red Bull in the last few races?

    Kimi Raikkonen: I don’t know. Honestly, it’s pretty much the same car that we raced a week ago. I don’t think many people have had a lot of difference but it’s very… positively surprised how well the car’s been behaving and how quick it’s been. Obviously it’s been a bit tricky to get the right balance but it’s been pretty good and so far so good but obviously third is not exactly what we’re looking for but I think we’re pretty close. It was not too bad.

    Q: Coming back to our pole-sitter, Nico Rosberg, you’ve been fastest in every single track session so far this weekend – obviously Lewis got the quicker first run in Q3 – but you’ve topped every single track session so far this weekend, but as Lewis was saying, the last two years he’s won the race from P2; how do you make it go your way tomorrow?

    NR: It’s just putting everything together, you know. For sure the start is going to be an important one, definitely tomorrow and we’ve seen this weekend that it’s not been too easy, because it’s downhill and the grip somehow has been a bit lower than usual so it’s going to be an interesting challenge. And from then on, then just need to get the tyre life to be able to do long enough stints and everything to get the strategy to work so it’s putting everything together.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Back to our pole-sitter, Nico Rosberg, third year in a row here in Suzuka, thirtieth of his Formula One career. Nico the last sector on that final run was what made the difference for you versus Lewis, I think it’s fair to say. Tell us about the pressure you were feeling after that first run in Q1 and what it was about that final sector that eventually nailed it for you?

    NR: It was just a good lap, just got it all done properly, that’s it. I knew I could do it, I knew I could do a good lap and just the first one in Q3 wasn’t perfect so I just had to get my head down and nail it.

    Q: Why was it not perfect?

    NR: I’m not really sure. I just felt a bit less grip somehow and it just didn’t come together so I don’t really have an explanation.

    Q: OK, moving to Lewis, Lewis bouncing back strongly from obviously the disappointment of last weekend, you were referring there in your first answer to the fact that you’ve been working very hard on the set-up of the car, particularly presumably with an eye on the race but you were in the groove as far as race pace is concerned?

    LH: Well, we just kind of veered off on a different tangent in terms of set-up this weekend and it wasn’t until qualifying that I veered back so some big changes. It’s not that easy to go straight into qualifying with a completely different car so that’s why I’m relatively happy with considering what I did. I think we’re in a good position for tomorrow.

    Q: Kimi, obviously balance is a big thing around here. You were complaining a few times on the radio of understeer throughout the last couple of days and again this afternoon. Tell us a little bit about that and also you did a soft tyre run in Q1 which Red Bull did not do, not a quick one. They only went on to it in Q2 and Q3. Do you think that helped you to find the balance that ultimately gave you this third place today?

    KR: Well, I think it doesn’t harm, that’s for sure. I mean it’s always more easy when you have more sets of the same compound so you can fine-tune a little bit but obviously in qualifying there’s not an awful lot that you can do that is correct or not. We been suffering a bit of understeer all weekend and even in qualifying just slowing us down a little bit in the first sector but it got a bit better in the end. Obviously it got faster then but it’s the very small details that have to come together and we managed to put all these together more or less and the car’s been behaving quite good. It’s shame that Seb has a penalty but we will try to do the same if not better tomorrow.

  • Japanese Grand Prix qualifying : Rosberg beats Hamilton to Suzuka pole

    Japanese Grand Prix qualifying : Rosberg beats Hamilton to Suzuka pole

    Formula One World Championship leader Nico Rosberg snuck in to steal the Japanese Grand Prix pole from Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton by just 0.013s. Rosberg claimed his third consecutive Suzuka pole position with a time of 1:30.647.

    Ferrari outperformed their Red Bull championship rivals to claim the third and fourth spots on the grid. Kimi Raikkonen finished ahead of team mate Sebastian Vettel. The German will start from P7 following the 3 place grid penalty he received for causing a collision with Rosberg at Turn 1 of the Malaysian Grand Prix.

    Verstappen finished fifth fastest for Red Bull but makes his way up to P4 with thanks to Vettel. Team mate and Malaysian Grand Prix winner Daniel Ricciardo will start the race behind him.

    Top 3 Japanese Grand Prix Suzuka QualifyingSergio Perez will start sixth for Force India with Romain Grosjean putting in his best qualifying performance of the season to start 8th. For the first time both Haas F1 cars made it through to the Top 10 with Esteban Gutierrez lining up 10th behind Nico Hulkenberg.

    The Williams F1 team sent both of their drivers out for just a single run in Q2 and saw neither Valtteri Bottas nor Felipe Massa make it through to Q3. They will start 11th and 12th respectively.

    Daniil Kvyat managed to take P13 ahead of his Toro Rosso team mate Carlos Sainz. Fernando Alonso will line up in 15th following a torrid qualifying session for the McLaren Honda team. Jenson Button could not even make it out of Q1.

    Jolyon Palmer pushed his Renault through to Q2 and will start from 16th on the grid. Kevin Magnussen, Marcos Ericsson, Felipe Nasr start ahead of Esteban Ocon and Pascal Wehrlein who will take up the back row of the grid for the Manor Racing team.

    Join us on Twitter @F1_Madness for live commentary and some chit chat throughout tomorrow’s Japanese Grand Prix. It’s a very close race between the Ferrari and Red Bull teams setting the scene for what should be a smashing race at Suzuka.

    Japanese Grand Prix qualifying classification

    Japanese Grand Prix qualifying classification Suzuka