Tag: jenson button

Alonso eyeing points in Monaco

Fernando Alonso is eyeing to score his first points for the season at this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix and is optimistic that McLaren can challenge for points.

McLaren has had a dismal start to their season and is yet to score a point since reuniting with Honda at the start of 2015. At the Spanish Grand Prix, Alonso progressed through to Q2 during qualifying but retired from the race when a visor tear-off strip caused a brake failure. His team mate Jenson Button also had a very difficult run, labeling the car as being “scary to drive” and finished in 16th position.

Alonso however is hopeful that McLaren-Honda can compete for a top 10 postition around the streets of Monte Carlo.

“Monaco is one of those circuits that’s in its own league,” Alonso said. “Although it’s almost impossible to overtake there, it still produces one of the most impressive and exciting shows on the Formula 1 calendar.

“As a circuit and as a place, it’s completely unique, and this is what makes it so special. There are three areas you have to focus on for this Grand Prix – qualifying, concentration, and strategy.

“Saturday is where you can increase your chances of getting a good result from the weekend, so this will be our first objective, and I’m hopeful we can continue to strengthen our qualifying performance and improve our starting position.

“On Sunday, the most important thing is concentration – the streets are so narrow and twisty that there is no margin for error – so if you can do this and also maximise your strategy, you have the best chance of moving up the order by the end of the race.

“My home race in Barcelona was obviously a frustrating weekend for the whole team; we were unlucky with how my race ended and we firmly believed we could’ve achieved a positive result there.

“Our fighting spirit is still strong though, and we’re determined to take that to Monaco and see how much progress we can make there. I’m hopeful our car will perform better there than in Spain, and we’ll be pushing again to get into the points.”

Fernando Alonso Photo Credit: McLaren F1

May 18, 2015
Honda finalising development plan: We need more horsepower

Honda plan to spend some of their nine allocated development tokens on boosting maximum horsepower by looking into different concepts around combustion in the next few months.

The engine manufacturer – who only supply McLaren – only entered the sport this season and therefore have less engine tokens compared to their rivals Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault. Planning how to spend these tokens will be key to improvement throughout the season but Honda motorsport boss Yasuhisa Arai believes they have established the key areas where there are weaknesses and tokens can be well spent on improving.

“We don’t have the complete plan yet as to how to use the tokens, which areas and when,” said Arai.

“We have already confirmed which areas are the most effective, and I know we are making a plan to apply race-by-race how many tokens we spend.

“One area where we are weak is horsepower – we need more horsepower.

“So one area to use the tokens is combustion, and the MGU-K and MGU-H because energy is a very important part.

“Combustion and energy recovery systems are very important.”

When asked what Honda needed to change to achieve their goal, Arai said: “Maybe we need to change the combustion concept, or the turbocharger, or the camshaft, those kind of parts.

“We should try to change the combustion concept because maybe the other power-unit suppliers are always thinking about better combustion characteristics.

“Every day, on the research and development side they are thinking about it, working on or testing a new combustion concept to get more horsepower to immediately apply that.

“Maybe that’s the area to use the tokens.”

The Barcelona in-season test following a very difficult Spanish Grand Prix was quite successful for McLaren and Honda. Jenson Button had described his car has being ‘scary to drive’ during the race but he managed to complete 100 laps without any problems during the test.

Arai also confirmed that Button and his team mate Fernando Alonso should find that they’ll experience “more controlled driveability” from the Honda engine for the upcoming races in Monaco and Canada.

May 18, 2015
F1 2015: Spanish GP Review – Rosberg Rises To The Occassion

It’s taken a bit of time but Nico Rosberg has struck back and with quite a dominant victory at that.

The circuit de Barcelona Catalunya has always been a good hunting ground for the German/Monegasque but given the way his 2015 season has been going the weekend wouldn’t have started with Rosberg as the favourite. In the Mercedes garage it’s been all Hamilton for the first four races and on the championship log too. But if there’s one thing in sport you can always count on its that there are always ups and downs.

From the Saturday qualifying session onwards Nico Rosberg was most definitely on the up.Perhaps it started even earlier than this as Hamilton appeared off-colour for most of the practice running. The reigning champion was never one hundred percent comfortable with the balance of his car and that was all Rosberg needed to pounce.

The under pressure German snapped up pole by a comfortable two-and-a-half tenths and never looked back. A clean launch off the line and good management skills was all Rosberg needed in Sunday’s 66 lap race. At no stage in the race was he ever under pressure and in fact as the chequered flag beckoned he was far enough ahead that he could ease off and coast to victory.

Lewis Hamilton had to work a bit harder for his eventual second place as he opted for a three-stop strategy. The early phase was highlighted by a fight with Sebastian Vettel during which he easily matched the pace of the Ferrari. However, Hamilton thanks to modern aero regs couldn’t get close enough to overtake on the circuit and opted for the pit-stop undercut which affected the position change.

Many would have been quite keen to see what the Ferrari upgrades would deliver in relation to Mercedes. The conclusion was far less spectacular than our lofty daydreams and the Spanish grand prix was a far from stellar weekend for Ferrari.

It could have gone worse for Vettel and Raikkonen; they could, for example, have been McLaren drivers. While Jenson Button was hauling his McHonda around in 18^th place and complaining about incessant understeer Fernando Alonso was forced into retirement with brake failure who, at the time, was running in 13^th place.

Let’s remind ourselves that this is the mighty McLaren. A team once reserved only for the greats such as John Surtees, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna. A team that has amassed 182 racewins now reduced to retirements and also-rans. In the innermost part of your racing heart you know that it’s just wrong and desperately sad. It’s difficult to quantify just how far McLaren are from their once inspiring prominence but Jenson Button and Fernando Alonsoaccount of the “scary to drive” car is illuminating and quite disturbing.

Sebastian Vettel secured his customary third place on the grid but over on the other side of the garage a bit of a freak accident meant Raikkonen’s tyres were overcooked and the Finn was forced to set his Q3 time on a used set which netted him seventh on the starting grid. Things didn’t go spectacularly better in the race either. Vettel had a bit of a fight for second with Hamilton but was ultimately relegated to third. Raikkonen too turned a decent pace with yet another impressive stint on the harder, and slower, compound tyre. Yet, Ferrari conceded the biggest victory margin to Mercedes of the season so far.

The first four races of the 2015 season haven’t painted a pretty picture for Nico Rosberg. He has been so comprehensively whipped by Lewis Hamilton that his psychological well-being came into question. A mini-meltdown after the Chinese grand prix and a lacklustre Bahrain grand prix rendered a rather gloomy outlook for the once championship contender.

And while we were rightly discouraged by Rosberg’s lack of grit deep-down we were hoping for resurgence from the number 6 Mercedes. Now, one race doth not make a consistent Hamilton-beater but it has to start somewhere and he is the most likely contender. Given that thenext round is the Monte Carlo grand prix with which Rosberg has quite the love affair this Spanish Gpwin could turn out to be an important turning point for Nico.

May 12, 2015
Button: “Car Is Scary to Drive”

While managing to finish the race in 16th after starting in 14th, McLaren’s Jenson Button said that it was very scary to drive his car.

“My car was pretty scary to drive today: as soon as I touched the throttle, the car just snapped away from me,” he remarked after the race.

The twitchy rear end on the McLaren made it almost impossible for him to get traction out of the corners.

” It was unpredictable: in low-speed corners, the car was just slow, because I got wheel spin immediately; in the high-speed stuff, it was just scary, because the rear end would snap away immediately under power.

“I was talking to my engineers for most of the race to try to find out what the root of the problem was, and we switched on quite a lot of handling balance changes to try to cure it. It got a little bit better towards the end of the afternoon, but it was a pretty tough afternoon.

“Now, we’ll thoroughly look at the data and see what the matter was – it’s something we’ve got to look into.”

After today’s performance, Button does not think that McLaren will score any points this season.

“After today I don’t think I expect points at all this year. Hopefully today was an off day, it didn’t feel right. The weekend has been reasonably good for us and I’ve been happy with the way the car has been. It was like flicking a switch in the race”

May 10, 2015
F1 2015: Spanish GP – Free Practice Round-Up

The Mercedes AMG Formula 1 team topped both of the first free practice sessions ahead of Sunday’s Spanish grand prix.

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg led the field in the two one-and-a-half hour practice sessions ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen. As the first European round of the season the Spanish grand prix sees the introduction of a raft ofupgrades up and down the pitlane.

Although Ferrari has not introduced an engine upgrade that have brought a plethora of aerodynamic upgrades to the circuit de Catalunya. Sebastian Vettel has marked the Spanish grand prix an important key to Ferrari’s title bid in 2015. Nico Rosberg was given a reprimand by stewards for cutting across the solid white line to the pitentry in FP1.

Williamsslotted reserve and test driver Susie Wolff into its car for the first session. The Scott completed a smooth session and ended her day’s running eight tenths of a second off the quickest time set by Felipe Massa.

The second free practice session is typically characterised by long runs as teams look to settle on a set-up for Sunday’s race. While Mercedes appear to have a solid advantage in one-lap pace both Ferrari’s turned a race pace well on par with that of the Silver Arrows. Jenson Button completed a positive afternoon for McLaren as the former champion set the seventh fastest time.

Red Bull Racing’s woes continued as Daniel Ricciardo managed a paltry four laps. The Australian has switched to his fourth Renault engine of the season and predicts that he will likely face an engine penalty at the next round in Monaco.

The track temperature reached 50 degrees Celcius in FP2 and are expected to get higher as the weekend progresses.

Free Practice Two Times

May 8, 2015
F1 2015: Spanish GP Preview – Formula 1 To Raise Its Game In Spain

The three week wait is over and the battle is ready to resume at this weekend’s Spanish GP. The question is which battle; will it be a battle between Mercedes teammates or will Ferrari ascend to true championship contenders?

The Spanish GP doesn’t necessarily have the definitive answer to these questions but it will be more than indicator for the rest of the season. The first European round of a Formula 1 season coincides with the first major upgrade package of the year. It’s the first point in the season where teams can potentially raise their game.

The Lotus F1 team is planning to up the ante by fitting a major upgrade package to its E23 while Ferrari team Principal Maurizio Arrivebene confirms that the Italian team will be arriving for the Spanish GP with its own bits and pieces. “I heard a lot of teams are coming with new things,” he said.”We are now preparing, as all the others are, some solutions for Barcelona. We are doing all of our development step-by-step but I think in Barcelona, we are going to finally take a good package.”

The three week gap will have helped French manufacturer Renault who has faced serious pressure to produce a better power unit. Since the Bahrain GP Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has made a stop at the Paris factory to urge Renault into speeding up their development plan. “For Barcelona we will be bringing a few bits and pieces, as will all the teams,” said Horner. “The significant thing for us is what specification of engine will we have in Barcelona, because it’s a bit earlier than Renault had in their plan for the next step.”

One of McLaren’s upgrades for the Spanish GP will include a new livery. Sadly, it’s rumoured to be rather dull shades of grey scheme, yes you read that correctly, as described by the team. The new livery is seen more as a move away from the Silver that characterised their latter partnership with Mercedes.

More significant is the team’s progress on track and Ron Dennis’, still steadfast, prediction that they will be winning races … soon. There is something however that has been troubling about the McLaren Honda partnership. The claims that 2015 is a “development year” are complete rubbish. There can be no such thing at the pinnacle of motorsport and it is embarrassing for a company of Honda’s pedigree to say so. What McLaren could have and should have done is hold off on bolting the Honda to the back of their car until 2016 while the Japanese company offered their “development” unit to a smaller team to iron out the kinks. It would have saved McLaren more than a few awkward teething problems.

McLaren has definitely made progress, taken huge steps even, since the opening round of the season. Where they were four seconds a lap off the ultimate pace in qualifying its Honda powered car is now less than two seconds off in quali trim. Here’s hoping that their upward trend continues in Barcelona.

Formula 1 has never been an easy sport topredict. It doesn’t solely depend on a driver’s form or ability but a piece of highly engineered, but fallible, machinery. Given this, Mercedes should, and does, start the weekend as favourites for the Spanish GP win. After all, they have the quickest car with the most in-form driver behind the wheel.

But with an aggressive strategy, a few new upgrades to play with, and higher temperatures Ferrari will be a good deal stronger than they have been at any point in the season. Given the volatility of the sport why not flirt with the forecast of a Ferrari victory?

The three week gap has made for a long wait but the first European round of the season at Spain’s circuit de Catalunya, and all it involves, automatically doubles the keenness to see Formula 1 back in action.

May 6, 2015
F1 2015: Bahrain Grand Prix – Hamilton Brilliant in Bahrain

It’s no secret that several past Bahrain Grand Prix had been a bore fest. However, since the introduction of a night race two years ago the desert circuit has come alive.

Lewis Hamilton’s dominant start to the 2015 season continued with yet another faultless victory at the Bahrain Grand Prix. Pole position by four tenths of a second over Sebastian Vettel was the precursor for an even more authoritative performance in Sunday’s race. Seemingly always in control, Hamilton’s latest victory is his third of the season.

Ferrari would have wished that the Bahrain Grand Prix was a few laps longer than the allotted 57. An alternative strategy had Kimi Raikkonen within three seconds of race leader Hamilton as the chequered flag beckoned. But the second step of the podium was the best result possible for a team who has once again underlined their staggering progress.

For most, the final stint of the on the softer option tyre would’ve been the headline grabber. After all, the Finn closed down a nineteen second gap and took second place from Nico Rosberg. But it was the middle stint of the Bahrain Grand Prix that defined Raikkonen’s race. While Hamilton, Rosberg and Vettel opted for the option tyre at the first stop, Raikkonen fitted the harder medium compound tyre. Logic dictates that top three should’ve been lapping at a quicker pace than Raikkonen given the off-set of tyre performance. Yet, Raikkonen delivered a stunning stint on par and occasionally quicker than those ahead of him.

Lewis Hamilton’s Bahrain Grand Prix drive was faultless and far superior to his teammate who is considered somewhat of a Bahrain-specialist whilst Kimi Raikkonen’s incredible pace on the softer tyre nearly netted him a victory.

It’s difficult to choose a driver of the day between the top two finishers but it bodes well for the rest of the season.

Sebastian Vettel endured an off-colour afternoon as several errors cost him a shot at the podium.

An off track excursion while trying to maintain his position ahead of Rosberg caused the German some front-wing damage and any chance at a podium finish.

A late-race fight with Williams’ Valtteri Bottas added some flavour to an otherwise disappointing race but the German was not able to take fourth place from the Finn.

Timing was everything as Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo crossed the line for sixth under an enormous plume of smoke as the Renault engine let go mere meters from the finish line.

The spectacular, and smoky, end of Ricciardo’s engine doesn’t bode well for the remainder of the season as the Aussie has now used his allotted four engine units.

Lotus Romain Grosjean put a fine drive for seventh ahead of Force India’s Sergio Perez in eighth.

Daniil Kvyat recovered from a difficult weekend to finish ninth while Felipe Massa’s race was compromised by a clash with none other than Pastor Maldonado. The Brazilian suffered floor damage which hampered the performance of his Williams and ultimately finished tenth.

Fernando Alonso dragged the McLaren-Honda into eleventh place but it was dreadful weekend for teammate Jenson Button who suffered issues throughout. The calamity came to a head as the 2009 champion was unable to start his 100^th race for McLaren with a suspected electronic issue.

Mercedes motorsport chief Toto Wolff confirmed after the race that Hamilton and Rosberg struggled with brake issues towards the closing stages. While Rosberg blamed the brake issue for losing second place Hamilton dismissed it as “not really a problem.” Rosberg did show some fight with the two Ferrari’s but didn’t threaten Hamilton at any stage of the weekend. The difference in mentality between Rosberg and Hamilton is noteworthy.

The Spanish Grand Prix around the circuit de Catalunya is three weeks away. It is at this the point of the season that the first big upgrade packages are introduced. It could be a significant moment in the 2015 season which turns the championship fight into more than just a Mercedes show.

Photo credits:

Lewis Hamilton, Bahrain Grand Prix first place trophy: Mercedes AMG F1

Kimi Raikkonen, Bahrain Grand Prix second place trophy: Scuderia Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton, Bahrain Grand Prix winner on the podium: Mercedes AMG F1

Sebastian Vettel off the Bahrain Grand Prix track: Screenshot from SkySports F1

Daniel Ricciardo crossing Bahrain Grand Prix finish line: Screenshot from SkySports F1

April 20, 2015
F1 2015: Bahrain GP Preview – Hamilton vs Rosberg In Bahrain

It was just about a month ago that the agonising wait for the start of the 2015 season was all but over as the Australian grand prix loomed large within touching distance of starved Formula 1 fans.

As the Bahrain grand prix approaches, a mere seven days after the third round in China, Lewis Hamilton is firmly in the lead of the driver’s championship and Mercedes still have the quickest car on the grid.

But there is much that is different about the 2015 season. The narrative has changed slightly and now includes Ferrari’s captivating turnaround. Even though the SF15-T isn’t on par with Silver Arrows it has given Mercedes something to ponder. Sebastian Vettel’s debut with the team he idolised as a youngster has gone better than he likely could have dreamed. Three podiums, including a stunning victory, have proven that 2015 may not be all about misters Hamilton and Rosberg.

It is going to take some time however for Ferrari to be genuine threat to Mercedes in all conditions, on all circuits. Kimi Raikkonen concedes that Bahrain will likely produce the same result as China but the Finn is sure that Ferrari will catch up to Mercedes. “I think we have good plans already since last year and made big gains and will make big gains during this year,” says Raikkonen. “Everybody improves and it depends what the rest are doing but we trust the way our team is working altogether and what we are doing.”(sic)

Notwithstanding the fact that Bahrain will host the first night race of the season temperatures are still expected to be appreciably higher than in China. Pirelli have brought the medium and soft compound tyre to this circuit at which the management of rear tyre degradation will be vital. The first sessions may not be indicative of true tyre performance at the circuit characteristics continue to change throughout the weekend. “A defining characteristic of Bahrain now is that tyre performance changes over the course of the weekend as we slowly edge towards afternoon sessions,” predicts Pirelli motorsport director, Paul Hembery.

Twelve months ago the Sakhir International circuit was the one and only site of a true wheel-to-wheel battle between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. It was the eventual champion, Hamilton, who got the better of his teammate in the spicy fight for supremacy in this race and the ensuing season.

It’s safe to assume that, before the season started, Rosberg would have predicted himself to be ahead of Hamilton or, at least, a very close second. On the face of it this battle appears much the same as in 2014. However, the tone of this inter-team battle is quite different and decidedly tilted to Hamilton’s advantage.

Not only has Rosberg not been able to match his reigning champion teammate he appears to have lost significant ground. It wasn’t long ago that Rosberg vowed to give Hamilton the fight of his life in 2015 but the German is yet to deliver on his boisterous declaration. Significantly, it also appears that Rosberg is losing the psychological battle and quite early on at that. The moaning about his teammate in Chinese Gp was not indicative of a driver with the mental toughness to beat his highly talented teammate.

Bahrain has been a good hunting ground for Nico Rosberg and if he is indeed serious about winning the world championship then he has to transform all of the talk into action.

April 15, 2015
F1 2015: Chinese GP – Hamilton Takes Control

Formula 1 is the biggest patience game you’re ever going to play. From Mercedes’ response, to Ferrari’s progress, to McLaren’s struggles, all of it requires buckets loads of determination and persistence.

Mercedes showed a bona fide champion’s mentality after being beaten at the Malaysian grand prix. As speculation about strategies, tyre performance and pace dominated the lead up to the Chinese grand prix the Mercedes F1 team always maintained a sense of calm. Yes, a possible re-think of strategy was considered but it was done in a calculated and controlled manner.

Lewis Hamilton firmly embodied these qualities as he dominated the entire race weekend. Every single session was headed by the double world champion and capped with a well measured Chinese GP victory. The race didn’t ever reach the dramatic levels of two weeks ago but Hamilton’s control of proceedings reaffirmed that Mercedes still holds a sizeable advantage over Ferrari.

The first stint of the race was a relatively close affair as the two Ferrari’s of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen were able to maintain the pace of Mercedes.

It soon became clear however that Hamilton was merely controlling his pace and seemed to have quite a bit in hand when he needed it. He emerged from the first round of pitstops with a comfortable six second gap to teammate Rosberg who had seemingly settled for second place.

Sebastian Vettel was able to apply some early pressure to Rosberg but was unable to level a real threat on second place.

Meanwhile, Kimi Raikkonen, who had made short work of both Williams drivers after qualifying sixth, exerted sustained pressure on Vettel for the final step of the podium. However, the retirement of Max Verstappen’s Toro Rosso on the main-straight dictated that the race, disappointingly, came to an end behind the safety-car.

The virtuous quality of patience was called for by Raikkonen as the Ferrari team continue to forge their way to the front of the grid. “We didn’t expect to be strong here [in China]. We’re going to get closer and we’re going to catch them at some point. We have to be patient,” said Raikkonen.

A serious amount of patience will be called for at McLaren Honda for 2015. Both Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso struggled through the weekend with balance issues, amongst others, and ultimately failed to advance beyond the first part of qualifying. It didn’t get much better in the race as both cars were lapped by Mercedes and Ferrari. The drivers are still optimistic about the long-off future of the car but you have to wonder for how much longer Button and Alonso will be happy to tow the company line of “making important progress” before they too get fed up. This certainly doesn’t mean that either driver will stop pushing but it’s the subtle difference in attitude that can have a telling effect on the entire operation. After all, just look what a change of attitude has made to the atmosphere at Ferrari.

Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa completed an anonymous run to the flag for Williams and finished a solid, but unspectacular, fifth and sixth respectively ahead of Lotus’ Romain Grosjean. Elsewhere, Max Verstappen again delivered a stonking drive through the field along with a few dicey, but scintillating overtakes. The Dutchman was on course for a fine eighth place finish until an engine failure brought an end to his race. Felipe Nasr, Daniel Ricciardo and Marcus Ericsson rounded on the top ten.

The often tense relationship between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg is not a new development given all that happened in the 2014 season. But there is a marked difference in the tension at the start of this season. For all three races Rosberg has been second-best to Hamilton and it’s starting to show in his demeanour. The German accused his teammate of deliberately driving at a slow pace so as to force him into the clutches of Vettel. He blamed Hamilton for compromising his race and aired his unhappiness at the “incident” in the post race press conference.

Whether it was deliberate ploy by Hamilton is inconsequential. He started the race with the goal of winning and achieved it. Anything that happened behind is of no significance to him.

Here’s a wild idea for next time – perhaps Rosberg could up his pace and pass the much-to-slow Hamilton. Whinging in a post-race press conference is so unbecoming.

Lewis Hamilton image credited to @MercedesAMGF1

April 12, 2015
F1 2015: FP3 Report – Hamilton Quickest In China

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg set the first and second fastest time for Mercedes in the final free practice session for the Chinese grand prix.

The Mercedes drivers were separated by roughly two tenths of a second while the Ferrari duo of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen were comfortably the second quickest pairing in the quali sim runs. Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat ended the session fifth and sixth quickest respectively.

McLaren’s difficult start to the season continued as Fernando Alonso grinded to a halt early on in the hour long session with a suspected engine problem. However, teammate Jenson Button seemed to fair quite a bit better and finished the session only three tenths off 1oth place. Team boss Paddy Lowe said that they are hoping to advance to the second part of qualifying using only the prime (medium) compound tyre.Valtteri Bottas was the quickest of the Williams drivers but was only 8th on the timing sheets; teammate Felipe Massa was 11th.

The uncommonly bright blue sky over the Shanghai International circuit has been one the biggest surprises of the weekend. This region, some forty minutes from downtown Shanghai, is usually bathed in overcast and cool conditions. However, temperatures are expected to rise into Sunday’s race and Pirelli predicts that it could mean that some teams will have to opt for a three-stop strategy.

April 11, 2015