Tag: jean-eric vergne

FIA release details of new Super Licence points system from 2016

Formula One governing body, the FIA, has released details of a new Super Licence points system that will make it more difficult for drivers to become eligible for F1 racing.

From 2016 onwards, drivers must have accumulated 40 points over a three-year period in order to be eligible to apply for a super licence to compete in Formula One. Points allocation will be based on which other motorsport series’ they have competed in and the results they achieved.

The changes follow much criticism of Toro Rosso’s new 17 year old recruit, Max Verstappen. In future, drivers will have to be at least 18 years old before being allowed to compete in F1 and will also need to spend at least two years in junior single-seater categories.

Furthermore, all drivers will be required to hola valid road driver’s licence and pass a test on the Formula One sporting regulations. The existing requirement of completing 300 kilometres in a recent F1 car will also remain.

The junior categories eligible for points, in order of weighting, are: a future FIA F2 championship (60 points for winner), GP2 (50), FIA F3 European championship (40), FIA WEC (LMP1 only) (40), IndyCar (40), GP3 (30), Formula Renault 3.5 (30), Japanese Super Formula (20), national FIA-certified F4 championships (10), national F3 championships (10) and Formula Renault (EuroCup, ALPS or NEC) (5).

These new super licence rules would have prevented ten current F1 drivers from making their grand prix debuts in the last five seasons. They include Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo who made his debut in 2011 and scored three race victories last year. Paul di Resta, Marcus Ericsson, Giedo van der Garde and Jean-Eric Vergne are also amongst those who would not have met the requirements to apply for a super licence.

The new super licence regulations also make it more difficult for drivers to make comebacks following a break from the sport. In order to automatically qualify for a superlicence drivers need to have started at least 5 F1 races in the previous year, or at least 15 in the previous 3 years. This means that Michael Schumacher, who returned to F1 after a four-year break, would not have automatically qualified for a new super licence.

January 6, 2015
Vergne Departs Toro Rosso

Jean-Eric Vergne announced this afternoon (26 November 2014), that he will not be driving for Toro Rosso in 2015.

The Frenchman made his announcement in a tweet this afternoon. “Despite a good season and 22 points, I’ll not drive any more for Toro Rosso in 2015,” read the tweet.

Although Toro Rosso have not finalised their driver line up for 2015, it is expected that Carlos Sainz Jr is tipped to be driving alongside 17 year-old Max Verstappen.

Vergne has not said anything about his future plans yet. As is stands, all the seats on the F1 grid are occupied. There has been ramblings about him joining Williams in a test driver capacity now that Felipe Nasr has a driver with Sauber. If nothing comes off for the Frenchman for 2015 in F1 he may have find something in another race series.

November 26, 2014
2014 Formula 1 Petrobras Brazilian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

DRIVERS:

Kevin MAGNUSSEN (McLaren)

Adrian SUTIL (Sauber)

Pastor MALDONADO (Lotus)

Jean-Eric VERGNE (Toro Rosso)

Felipe MASSA (Williams)

Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

PRESS CONFERENCE

Nico, if we could start with you? It’s the first time this year, in this championship, that the championship itself is out of your hands, in the sense that two wins, here and in Abu Dhabi, won’t be enough. Do you feel you need to rely on a little bit of luck then and this venue might provide it?

Nico ROSBERG: Yeah, it’s clear that I need to rely on something happening. Yeah, for sure there’s not enough for me to win, unfortunately, but that’s the way it is. Anyways, in sport so much can happen, so I’m still very optimistic.

You had a rich run of form from Monaco through to Hockenheim. How would characterise the period since then?

NR: A less rich run of form! What is it? Lewis has done a little bit of a better job since then. That’s it, pretty simple, but as I say, still two races.

OK, thank you. Felipe, coming to you: obviously, you’re a two-time winner of the Brazilian Grand Prix. Do you feel that with this car this year is your best shot of getting back on the podium, since that great win in ’08.

Felipe MASSA: Yeah, I think so. Anyway, I was on the podium in 2012. It’s a fantastic track for me. A track that I had great results. As you said, two victories, almost three I would say. Three pole positions. I always love this track. I won many races [here] even before Formula One. So I started my career here, on the other side of the wall, which is a go-kart track, at the top. I love this place. I love the energy that I feel here and I’m really looking forward to having a fantastic weekend. I hope our car can be as competitive as shown in the other tracks here as well. We’ll see how far we can be, or maybe even in the middle of these guys here on the left [Mercedes]. Trying to get all the opportunities to have a great race here.

You’ve obviously been a key part of Williams’ renaissance this year. With all the experience you have, tell us how you feel this team can become more competitive in 2015?

FM: Well, first of all you cannot forget how much we grow from the first race until now. I think maybe… I would say it was the team that grows more during the championship. It was a team that gets better, that improved the car in the top level, from the first race to the last race, looking at where we started and where we are now. So, I think definitely the team… when we started at the first test and where we are now, the team changed completely the organisation, the mentality. We are still changing, there are still some improvements we are working to be there before the first race of next year. But I really believe in this team. I think this team has everything to be even more competitive, it has everything to be fighting for victories and I really, really hope for championships as well.

Kevin, coming to you, obviously clear progress for McLaren on the car side in the last few grands prix, that’s clear to see. But the car still seem to have a narrow sweet spot in terms of getting the most out of it during a race weekend. What’s going on there?

Kevin MAGNUSSEN: A lot of it is down to the tyres, making the tyres work. It’s seems that sometimes we get it better than others. Sochi was an example of where we got the tyres working very well and I think Austin was an example of where we didn’t. It’s a little bit hard to understand but we’re trying out best.

Since the summer break you’ve had pretty strong form yourself personally, especially in qualifying. Do you think you’ve done enough to book your seat for 2015?

KM: I can only say I hope so. I think I’ve learned a lot. I’ve improved a lot in many areas and yeah, I’m sure I have a lot more potential even from where I am now. So, I hope so.

Thank you very much. Pastor, coming to you, first points in Austin, a very strong performance. Tell us about your and Lotus’ fight back?

Pastor MALDONADO: It was a very tough season, especially at the beginning, even not able to run the car as we wanted. It was not maybe the best way to start to work with a team. But we did a great job to try to put everything together, to get better and better and at some point we decided to be focused on next year’s car. But the team seems to be quite good, very competitive in terms of spirit. They are used to being in the front. They know how to do a good car, so let’s hope the best for next year.

How do you feel about opportunities for this weekend? This track is always very unpredictable and the weather forecast looks like it’s going to be pretty wet throughout the weekend. A lot of variables there. Opportunities?

PM: Yeah, the main objective is to maintain the performance we had last week in Austin, so we think, as a team, we can continue to fight for the points. That is the main focus at the moment.

Q: Adrian, coming to you, obviously Sauber have announced both their 2015 drivers, so in what direction does your future lie, do you feel?

Adrian SUTIL: I don’t know, so I will see what is possible, what I want and also… yeah, it’s quite a few things to think about and I can’t really say more at the moment.

Q: Are you optimistic that you’ll be in Formula One next year?

AS: At the moment, I don’t know. Maybe. F1 is unpredictable – but as I said, there are a few things to think about first and then the team has to comment the rest.

Q: Obviously great performance in qualifying in Austin, you must have been so disappointed the way that first lap turned out. Have you spoken to Sergio [Pérez] afterwards? Have you been back through it?

AS: No, we didn’t speak. He didn’t apologise, to be honest. But anyway, that’s how it is. Shame, it was for sure a good chance for points. It was a very nice qualifying, it was good to be in Q3 finally with this car. It has been quite a challenge this year, to be honest, so we didn’t expect it – but for some reason it got better and better through the qualifying session and especially on Saturday, the car was better than ever before, so, many things to analyse. We try it of course again here. I look forward to the race weekend. Big chances with weather looking very wet and I think everyone knows how the weather can turn out here in Brazil. We have seen many exciting races.

Q: Jean-Eric, coming to you, some encouraging noises that you may get a chance to retain your Toro Rosso seat for next year. Can you tell us about progress on that and progress on any other options you might have in Formula One?

Jean-Eric VERGNE: Well yeah, there were some good words from many people, especially from Franz [Tost]. Well, you know, it would be a good thing to stay with this team, I really believe in it and I think this year we did get a lot stronger and next year we’ll be again on this up-trend, so I believe we can be again in a better position next year so hopefully we can continue. But you never know. And I don’t know much more about the situation than this.

Q: It’s clear from watching you race in the last period of time, just more recently, that there’s a lot of passion in your driving. Is that coming from the adversity that you’ve been through, the setbacks, or is it anger? What’s driving it?

JEV: Definitely not anger. I believe that I’ve done many races in the past like this but unfortunately the beginning of the year I had a lot of DNF and obviously, when you don’t finish the race, people don’t remember what you’ve been up to in the race. That was a little bit of a shame. I haven’t changed anything. I drive with a lot of passion, I love racing, that’s what I do best and it doesn’t matter what I do next year, I continue, I don’t continue, I’ll always give my best to a hundred percent and try to have the most fun possible. This is when you perform well.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Elmar Dreher – German Press Agency) Adrian, I can imagine that you are very frustrated. Can you describe a little bit your feelings about this bad situation for you?

AS: Well, I’m not frustrated but that’s just how it is in F1 since many years. It’s a little bit a different business. That’s all I can say right now. I look forward to the race and that’s it.

Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriera della Sera) Nico, we know the championship will not finish here in Brazil. Is it an add-point from a psychological point of view that you can have a last chance in Abu Dhabi?

NR: It’s… for sure it’s great. Great news that for sure this year I have a chance to win the championship the way it is now. That’s a good thing. I’m also happy because it’s good for the fans that it’s going to be exciting until the very end. And, yeah, for sure it keeps me very, very optimistic.

Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Nico, Lewis said that what happened in Spa was kind of a war for him and since then he changes his attitude and everything. What has it changed for you since then and what do you think you have to do now to change the results of the last five races?

NR: Did he say we’re at war? I don’t think anything has changed. It was an intense battle before and it still is an intense battle now. So, I don’t know his exact opinion on things but for me nothing has changed since then.

Q: (Claudio Nogueira – O Gobo) Felipe, can you make an overall evaluation of your first season with the Williams team?

FM: Starting with the team, the team did a fantastic season, looking at how they were last year and looking at how they are now. I think the team did a fantastic season in terms of what I was saying before: improving the car and working in the good areas. We lost some opportunities, I lost many opportunities during the season, so many races that I couldn’t finish for different reasons. Some unlucky races as well, I would say. But I think now, I would say maybe from the middle of the season, things were a lot more consistent for myself, for the races, and I really believe that we can still do a great two races for the end of the championship. I’m really working and looking forward to having a very consistent and good season in 2015.

Q: (David Croft – Sky Sports F1) Kevin, two part question: first of all, I take it you still don’t know exactly what your future is for next year, and secondly, then, if you don’t know what your future is, do you feel a bit let down by the team, that in your rookie year, after you’ve done your best to try and perform on the track, you’ve got two races to go and they still haven’t told you whether you’ve got a drive next year or not?

KM: They’re not doing that to annoy me. They have a reason for it.

Q: (David Croft – Sky Sports F1) Do you feel let down?

KM: No, because I understand why I’ve not been told yet. Some things are still not sorted out from their side and if they could let me know, they would. Yeah, I can only just wait and see what happens. I’m not planning anything else, I’m not looking for anything else. I’m planning as if I’m here next year, so that’s what I’m working for and doing my best to get to.

Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Adrian, I understood you had a two year contract and it seems that it’s only one year. Is this something you have to talk to Sauber about resolving? You alluded to some issues to sort out still.

AS: Yes, there are certain things to talk about, definitely, yes. They’ve confirmed two drivers but that doesn’t mean the drivers can drive and it doesn’t mean that the team’s going to drive. So there’s no real change from last weekend to this weekend. It’s just an announcement and now, of course, my situation, I think I have to do some talking, to sort out the things.

Q: (Luiz Fernando Ramos – Racing Magazine) I don’t know which drivers have done a track walk or saw the new pit entry and pit exit but if somebody can comment on what they saw? Maybe Felipe?

FM: Yeah, I saw it. The pit exit is more or less similar, a little bit more inside and I would say corner two is more safe, because the wall is a bit further away, so we won’t see some crashes which we saw many times. I think that corner will be a lot safer now. And the pit entry, I would say, was a good job. You still have the wall there, in a similar place – this is the only thing that we need to be careful of, but the pit entrance is better so I would say it’s more safe, it’s better and I really hope we will see no accidents or less accidents than we saw in the past there. Anyway, we need to drive to see exactly but it looks OK by looking but we just need to drive to be sure about it.

Q: (Andy Benson – BBC) At the beginning of the year, Nico, you were quite outspoken against double points, you didn’t like it.

NR: I do now! It’s really a fantastic idea.

Q: (Andy Benson – BBC) I’m coming to that, yeah, and last weekend you were also saying you didn’t like it but you could see the positives. If you end up winning the championship because of double points now, the way the season’s gone, some people will say that it was a hollow victory or it shouldn’t have happened or whatever. How would you respond to that?

NR: I wouldn’t respond. Everybody can have their opinion and in sport it’s the points that count in the end and of course, then you can debate who deserved it more or less. That’s always going to be the case.

Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Felipe, we heard that Felipe Nasr is going to race for Sauber next year. You know him pretty well, he’s been the third driver for your team. What do you think he can bring to Sauber and what do you say about him as a driver?

FM: Well, I’m happy for him. I think for Brazil it’s great to have another Brazilian driver racing. I’m quite close to him, we’ve worked together the whole season inside the team. He’s in GP2, maybe his third season in GP2 so it’s his time, his opportunity to go to Formula One, otherwise it starts to be a little bit more difficult after that so I’m happy that he had his opportunity, his chance and I hope the best for him. I hope the best for him and I hope that we can bring our Brazilian flag on the top now with two drivers, not just one, and I hope the best for him. Definitely, it’s not a great moment for Sauber. I don’t know exactly how it’s going to be next year, his team, I don’t know which car and how competitive they can be, seeing that they are suffering a little bit of crisis and crisis is not good for everything you’re doing but anyway, I hope the best for him and I hope he can have a good start and a good experience and being in Formula One for a long time, not just for a few years.

November 6, 2014
Vergne Slapped With 5-Second Penalty

Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne was slapped with a 5-second penalty after the United States Grand Prix for his collision with Lotus’ Romain Grosjean in the closing stages of the race.

Vergne finished the race in P9, but after being handed a 5-second penalty, he was classified as P10.

Vergne crashed into Grosjean towards the end of the race with somewhat of a late dive down the inside into T1. Both did, in fact, make the corner, but Verge carried more speed and ran wide which resulted him in colliding with Grosjean’s Lotus. Grosjean was pushed wide and conceded another place to his team mate, who moves up to P9 after Vergne’s penalty.

“Jean-Eric came into Turn 1 and bumped into me, broke my front wing and my floor and I couldn’t really recover,” said Grosjean

“I was on the radio saying ‘guys, that’s not fair, he [should] get something’, because I could have got P8.

“I may not get my points and position but it’s good that Pastor scored and we were finally able to fight with Ferrari and Toro Rosso.”

Vergne who is fighting for a 2015 seat at Toro Rosso felt that he needed to do something and he could not just wait behind his fellow countryman.

“I had to do something, I was not going to stay sitting behind waiting,” Vergne explained.

“I saw the opportunity and I went for it. He closed the door but it was too late.”

Photo credit: Scuderia Toro Rosso F1

November 3, 2014
Hamilton Ahead in Practice 2 at Suzuka

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton finished fastest in the second free practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix.

Hamilton finished the session with a 1:35.078 ahead of his team mate Nico Rosberg in P2 with a 1:35.318, 0.240s slower. Valtteri Bottas in the Williams finished the session P3 with a 1:36.279, 1.201s slower than Hamilton. McLaren’s Jenson Button finished the session in P4 with the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel rounding off the top 5.

The session got off to a rather interesting start with Kobayashi crashing into the barriers at the exit of T3. Replays showed that he lost the rear of the car on the entry to T3 which sent him into a spin and into the barrier backwards destroying his rear left suspension.

Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne had apparent electronics issues twice in the session. The first time was at the beginning of the session, the second time with just 2mins before the end of the session at the exit of Spoon.

Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo crashed out 20 mins into the session. He was about to start a timed lap and got on the throttle a bit early at the final corner. The rear of the car swung around, he corrected but unfortunately he ran out of track which meant he was on the gravel and into the barrier taking off his front left suspension in the process.

With just under an hour left in the session, Sauber’s Estaban Gutierrez had a bit of and off at Spoon Corner. replays show that he went straight on into Spoon. It looked as though he carried too much speed into the corner.

With 20mins left in the session there were some spots of rain around the circuit. The drivers were well into their long runs at this point but it did prove quite tricky for some. Most of the drivers were being caught out by the damp conditions as some were locking up and running wide while others were too early on the throttle out of the slow corners.

The session ended prematurely as Jean-Eric Vergne stopped on track again. This time at the exit of Spoon. The replays showed that as he made a tweak on the steering his car cut out and the screen on the steering went blank.

Mercedes were once ahead on the long run pace. Red Bull, Ferrari, Williams and McLaren were all very close together. McLaren, however, are looking more comfortable around Suzuka despite Jenson Button saying that Suzuka wont suit the car.

It’s going to be an interesting qualifying session. With the rain forecast it will mix things up and make things very interesting.

Below is the timing sheet for the FP2 session for the Japanese Grand Prix

October 3, 2014
F1 2014: Singapore Lights Up Championship Fight

If there are only a handful of things that can be counted on as a certainty in Formula 1 one of them will be the erratic fickleness of it all. Singapore played the joker that may just have turned the 2014 F1 season on its head.

The unfortunate victim of the ever dependable randomness of F1 was Nico Rosberg. A healthy, even comfortable, 22 point lead was completely blown away as unreliability struck the German before the start of the Singapore GP. An apparent steering wheel problem relegated Rosberg to a pitlane start which only delayed the inevitable. With already having to stage a comeback from the back of the field Rosberg was lapping five second off the pace and eventually had to retire with an unresponsive car. Toto Wolff confirmed that the entire system had broken down due to the failure of a “lume within the steering column.”

It left Lewis Hamilton with the delectable opportunity of regaining the championship lead. However, the characteristics of the Marina Bay circuit and a safety-car period allowed both Red Bulls and Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari to within striking distance of the Silver Arrow, or so they thought. It was to be nothing more than a far-fetched pipedream for those behind Hamilton as he easily dismissed their feeble attempts at beating him.

If Formula 1 is our religion then we need to bow down the designers of the W05 Mercedes. In the last decade we’ve seen the Red Bull domination net itself four world championship titles but it certainly did not boast a lap time advantage as great as three seconds.

Never let it be known that Hamilton isn’t a man who doesn’t rise to the occasion. The safety-car appearance meant the Brit would have to pit and re-take the lead in order to win the race. First he would have to build a gap to second place and within several laps Hamilton’s staggering pace had ensured that he would emerge in the thick of the Red Bull fight. His superior speed, and fresh rubber, easily saw him past Sebastian Vettel and just to rub a bit of salt in the wounds he again extended the gap to fourteen seconds by the chequered flag.

Ferrari showed improved pace on the Singapore streets and with added benefit of the supremely gifted Fernando Alonso the Scuderia’s weekend wasn’t too shabby at all. The never-say-die Spaniard once again unleashed a masterful driving performance. The double world champ got to within touching distance of the podium, even second place, but was stranded behind the two Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo in fourth.

What is it about this Fernando Alonso that makes him the wonder that he is? To consistently out-perform what he is given and make a car do things no one dares think is possible. He’s preference for over-steery cars makes the current Ferrari a bit easier to drive but beyond this there is very little of the F 14T that is good. Surely then it can only come down to him, it does. His relentlessness seemingly knows no bounds and there is very much a feeling of a single-minded stubbornness when Alonso is in the cockpit. The sort of tenacious belief that he will get a lap time out of that car come hell or high water. Even if he isn’t your Formula 1 be-all-and-end-all he is still to be admired and commended.

Felipe Massa defied belief, and all statistical predictions, as he completed a mammoth 35 lap stint on the soft compound tyres to finish fifth. Teammate Valtteri Bottas nearly pulled off the same feat but lost several positions on the final lap as his tyres finally gave up the ghost. Jean-Eric Vergne overcame two five-second penalties to finish a brilliant sixth.

There was a bit of argy-bargy and some lost carbon fibre in the mid-field between Sauber’s Adrian Sutil and Force India’s Sergio Perez. Perez suffered significant front-wing damage as he was squeezed up against the barriers by Sutil and the shards of carbon fibre strewn across the track were the catalyst for the safety-car deployment. It was a bit surprising that the Stewards didn’t penalise Sutil whose actions did appear a bit dicey. Nevertheless, Checo did stage a fine recovery to finish seventh.

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen never recovered from a software glitch in qualifying and finished eighth ahead Nico Hulkenberg in the Force India. McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen wrapped up the final point of the day but teammate Jenson Button lost sixth position after being forced into retirement with a suspected electronic issue.

A slender, but perhaps decisive, three points is Lewis Hamilton’s world championship lead over teammate Nico Rosberg. With five races remaining, and double points on offer in Abu Dhabi, this exceptional battle is, thankfully, far from over.

September 22, 2014
2014 Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

Drivers:

Marcus Ericsson (Caterham)

Pastor Maldonado (Lotus)

Sergio Perez (Force India)

Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)

Adrian Sutil (Sauber)

Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso)

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: First of all, a question to all of you about the ban on large amounts of radio traffic between the team and the driver. What’s your reaction to this? Sergio, perhaps you could start?
Sergio Perez: Hi everyone. I don’t think it’s ideal that they, suddenly from one race to another, they change it dramatically that you cannot get certain calls. But it doesn’t influence it much. I don’t see it as a big deal, it’s something that we as drivers need to get more used to. We will have, definitely, more information and we’re going to be a bit more busy throughout the race to basically try to keep everything under control – fuel loads and engine modes, all that kind of stuff. I don’t see a problem to get used to, it’s just a dramatic change from the last race to this one.

Q: Kimi, you famously told the team “leave me alone, I know what I’m doing.” Does that mean you welcome this change?
Kimi Raikkonen: Well, obviously we don’t speak a lot on the radio in my case usually, when there are no issues – but obviously it might get quite complicated if there are some problems with the car and you have to change certain things to try to finish the race. I don’t know how the rule goes at those times. Obviously it makes it more complicated for us but it’s part of the game so it’s OK.

Q: Pastor, your thoughts on it.
Pastor Maldonado: For sure it’s not a great thing, especially with all the complex systems we have at the moment – but it’s the same for everyone so it doesn’t matter.

Q: What about from a rookie perspective. Presumably there’s been quite a lot of coaching going on over the radio Marcus, so far this season. Are you going to miss it? Particularly on the approach to the start, getting everything prepared for a start, for example?
Marcus Ericsson: No, I think…I like the idea, to be honest. I think it’s good to get the drivers more in focus. I think it’s good. But for us as a small team I think it’s a bit trickier because our steering wheel, we don’t have a big display. A lot of the other teams, I think they have a big display, so they can show a lot of stuff on this, whereas we have a very small one. So it’ll be a bit more tricky – but yeah, like I said, I like the idea and I think it’s good to make us drivers a bit more in focus.

Q: Jean-Eric, are you supportive as well?
Jean-Eric Vergne: I don’t mind it. I think it will be more or less the same as before. I like to do things by my own and many times this year I changed the settings before my engineer told me, so yeah, I will be a bit more lonely on the radio – but it should be fine.

Q: Adrian?
Adrian Sutil: No problem really. I think all manageable. It’s a bit more work but we’ll handle it.

Q: Kimi, coming back to you, obviously this season hasn’t been quite what you expected it to be – but did you expect to have your problems sorted out by now? And what’s your focus for the remaining six races or so?
KR: Obviously to do as well as we can and have good results for the team and for myself. I expect it to be difficult. Probably the team didn’t expect to have such difficulties over all. We expected to be stronger overall. It’s part of the game and we have to try to sort things out. I think we have done pretty good improvements – compared to where we started – as a team and obviously then I’m getting more happy with things but obviously still not where we want to be in the end. Still a lot of work to do.

Q: Pastor, front row qualifier here two years ago with Williams, it’s always been a strong Lotus track – so is there some optimism there for a top ten result maybe this weekend?
PM: I hope. For sure, the qualifying pace is always a bit tricky for us but during the race, for any reason we are able to recover the pace and sometimes we are much more competitive. So hopefully here we can be a bit more competitive than Monza for sure but it’s difficult to say something before we get in the car.

Q: Sergio, you’ve scored points in all three of your appearances here at Singapore and you’ve come off the back of two strong results, so your thoughts on this race? And also how close you are to committing to Force India for another season?
SP: I think things are settling down and I think we should be very close to committing for next year with the team but you never know; I have experience from the past so you never know what’s going to happen. Yeah, we are really optimistic for this weekend. We have a good upgrade package and I believe we can be competitive and definitely our target is the McLarens which we are fighting with really closely and hopefully we can score more points than them this weekend with both cars and the upgrade package gives us some boost.

Q: Adrian, like Sergio you’ve scored points in your last three races here in Singapore but there’s no getting away from the fact that Sauber is yet to get into Q3 this season, so what’s the rescue package and what lies ahead for the rest of the season?
AS: We have a good package here, the last one, but it should give us a little bit more speed. We have to try it out on Friday. We’re not so far away – especially in qualifying – from the group in front and it’s just missing a little bit to the top ten normally but Monza was quite tricky, especially in the race. We were losing a bit too much time and our performance was a bit slower but this track is very special and very different so I hope it suits our car. There’s a lot of work, we need some points and this is the main target for the moment.

Q: Marcus, since the last round, obviously the team principal has moved on so can you tell us a bit about the structure now at the team and the plan for upgrades and so on?
ME: We’re still pushing hard like we’ve done the last couple of races and bringing some more updates for here, so not much has changed. Obviously Christijan left which is a shame, we got along very well, but still I think the team is pushing on quite a lot and it’s a positive atmosphere from everyone. We just have to wait and see this weekend, see how it suits our car but in general I have a good feeling. I had a really strong race last time out on a street track so I think hopefully we can try and repeat something similar to that.

Q: Jean-Eric, still six races to go but you’ve already scored points more times this year than you did last year so what’s the plan now for you for the rest of this season and what about next season? Have you made any progress yet with your plans for 2015?
J-EV: Yeah, talking about this weekend and the race and the season, I really want to end the season strongly. I think we should have had a lot more points with our team if we didn’t have so much bad luck but I think now that’s behind. I really want to make the best out of the last six races with Toro Rosso and then find a good option for next year.

QUESTION FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, it’s two hours in very humid conditions; Nico Rosberg said that the last laps are always very painful here because it’s physically so demanding. How painful are they for you?
KR: I don’t know. Everybody has their own feelings so I can’t know how they feel like but in the past it hasn’t been a problem. It doesn’t feel as hot or humid in the last years unless the course has slowed in the race, so I don’t see why it should suddenly be a problem.

September 18, 2014
Max Verstappen to Drive for Toro Rosso in 2015

Scuderia Toro Rosso announced on 18 August 2014 that young rookie Max Verstappen will drive for the team in 2015.

Verstappen (16), will drive alongside fellow rookie Daniil Kvyat. Which means long standing Toro Rosso driver Jean-Eric Vergne will be without a racing seat in 2015.

The young dutchman is currently competing in the Formula 3 European Championship where he has won 8 out of the 27 races to date, which has also put him in contention for the F3 title. Verstappen will become the youngest F1 driver on the grid next year at the Australian Grand Prix at 17 years of age. The previous record holder was Jaime Alguersuari who made his debut for Toro Rosso as well at 19 years of age.

“First of all, I would like to thank Dr. Helmut Marko and Red Bull for all their trust and giving me the chance to make my Formula debut in 2015 with Scuderia Toro Rosso. Ever since I was seven years old, Formula 1 has been my career goal, so this opportunity is truly a dream come true,” said Verstappen

“We are happy to welcome Max into the Toro Rosso family,” said Team Principal Franz Tost.

“It’s great to see how the Red Bull Junior Programme continues to find talented young drivers and gives them the opportunity to come into Formula 1. We consider Max to be as one of the most skilled young drivers of the new generation and we believe he has the necessary maturity and mental strength to take on this challenge successfully,” he added.

“I would also like to thank Jean-Eric Vergne for all his hard work. He has produced strong performances, but unfortunately he was also hindered by some reliability problems.”

“We hope that we have resolved these problems and that he will be able to end the second half of this season on a high note and thereby show that he still deserves another opportunity in Formula 1.”

August 19, 2014
F1 2014: Hungarian GP Preview – Tricky Hungarian Test Awaits

Less than seven days later the Formula 1 paddock descends on the city of Budapest for the Hungarian GP. Technical in nature the 4.381 km circuit will require high downforce, efficient cooling and most importantly a good qualifying performance.

The Hungaroring is often referred to as Monaco without the barriers because of its tricky layout which for the most part has only one racing line. Consequently, there won’t be much opportunity for overtaking nor will all mistakes go unpunished. The Hungaroring retains some of the old-school Formula 1 characteristics which means that gravel traps and barriers loom in close proximity. Contrastingly, there are several tarmac run-off areas which offer some reprieve for error-stricken drivers.

Given the lack of proper overtaking opportunities strategy will be particularly important. The extremely high track temperatures seen at Hockenheim has given the teams vital information as to how to Pirelli rubber will react when exposed to similar conditions in Hungary. The tyres we are bringing to Hungary are a step harder, to deal with the increased demands, so we would expect the usual two pit stops,” predicted Pirelli’s Paul Hembery.

The circuit’s layout is dominated by medium to high-speed corners with little time spent at full throttle. However, the average speed of the lap remains fairly high. “The Hungaroring is a great track,” says McLaren’s Jenson Button. “Everybody thinks of it as a slow circuit, but, out the back, it’s got some pretty decent corners – Turn Four requires some serious commitment, and it’s made harder because it has a blind apex. Equally, the sequence of S-bends that make up Turns Eight to 11 are really satisfying to drive.”

Lewis Hamilton has been dogged by issues in qualifying for the last several races as he trails fourteen points behind teammate and championship leader Nico Rosberg. However, Hamilton is prepared to come out fighting once more and resolutely said that enjoys having to fight for victories and the title.

The 2008 champion may have more to fight against this weekend than just his teammate. The Williams team has been on the cusp several times of mounting a serious battle for victory and if they can continue their stunning momentum Hungary may be their best chance yet.

Williams’ chance to win the Hungarian GP will come on Saturday. The Hungaroring, much like Monte Carlo, is notoriously difficult to overtake on. Despite the fact that race pace is always priority for Bottas, Massa and their engineers they may devote a bit more time and effort than usual to enhancing their one lap pace. But locking out the front row or securing pole position won’t be all that is required. The team will have to take an aggressive approach on strategy as they still lack on overall race pace when compared to the Silver Arrows.

By this stage of the season the duel between the Mercedes drivers is as intense as at any other point.

However, their attention may be required elsewhere this weekend. Can Williams steal the all mighty Mercedes’ thunder?

July 23, 2014
F1 2014: Hamilton Fastest in Free Practice 2 at Silverstone

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton finished the second practice session of the British Grand Prix on top of the time sheets.

Hamilton set a time of 1:34.508 to go fastest for the session with his team mate Nico Rosberg finishing the session in P2 with a time of 1:34.736, 0.228s slower than Hamilton. It wasn’t all good news for Hamilton though, with 30 minutes left in the session he emerged from the pits and immediately pulled off the track with his Mercedes suffering from a sudden loss of power.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso finished the session in P3 with a 1:35.244, 0.736s slower than Hamilton in P1. The Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo finished the session in P4 and P5 respectively.

There were a few weird moments in the session with Williams’ Valtteri Bottas loosing a few bits off his engine cover. There was also another incident with Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne where his front left wheel came loose without any warning.

The Mercedes of Nico Rosberg showed rather dominant long run pace with Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull right on his heels. Ferrari are a close third with regards to long run pace.

The full timing sheet is included below

July 4, 2014