Tag: kimi raikkonen

F1 2019: Chinese Gp Quali Report – Bottas leads Merc One-Two

Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas has taken pole position for the 2019 Chinese grand prix.

By a mere 0.0023 Bottas bested teammate Lewis Hamilton and in the process ensure a front row lock out for Mercedes in Formula 1’s 1000th race event.

Sebastian Vettel put his Ferrari in third, some three tenths adrift, and ahead of teammate Charles Leclerc in fourth. Leclerc, who scored his first podium finish in Bahrain, was merely ten milliseconds off Vettel but still bemoaned the fact that he “messed up” his final run in Q3.

Elsewhere, neither Red Bull driver was able to improve on their first run in Q3 as both Verstappen and Gasly missed out on crossing the finish line in time. As it stands Verstappen will start fifth with teammate Gasly alongside in sixth. Daniel Ricciardo got the better of his Renault teammate Nico Hulkenberg and the pair will line up seventh and eighth for the Chinese grand prix.

Similar to Red Bull neither Haas too tripped over themselves and failed to make the finish in time to set a laptime. Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean will start the race in ninth and tenth respectively.

Daniil Kvyat in the Toro Rosso is the first driver, in eleventh, with free tyre choice. Kimi Raikkonen, who reported a loss of power on the straits, will start thirteenth in the Alfa Romeo. The Finn’s failure to advance to the top ten shootout breaks a run of 53 races in the top ten.

Alex Albon is likely to start the Chinese grand prix after a hefty crash in Free Practice Three saw the Toro Rosso driver unable to partake in the qualifying session.

April 13, 2019
2019 Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

PART ONE: DRIVERS – Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (Alfa Romeo), Alexander ALBON (Toro Rosso), Romain GROSJEAN (Haas), Sergio PÉREZ (Racing Point)

PRESS CONFERENCE

Gentlemen, I’d like to start with a moment of reflection, given that this is Formula 1’s 1000^th race. Growing up and watching the sport, what made you want to become a Formula 1 driver? Romain, if we could start with you, please?

Romain GROSJEAN: Good afternoon. I started watching with my dad, a long time ago. It was the time of the Ayrton Senna versus Alain Prost fights and that was pretty exciting to watch. My dad was always passionate about cars and one day he brought me to a race track – not a Formula 1 race – and I saw the cars going and I thought ‘you know what, that’s what I would like to do’. Then, eventually, I was lucky enough to go to the Monaco Grand Prix to watch the Thursday practice and I saw the car and heard the noise of the engine and it was just something very unique and special, a good memory of my life. I remember going to the toilet and DC was there and he said, ‘oh, you go first son’. He still called me son by then! And I said ‘no, no, you go’. Pretty amazing.

Q: Thank you. Sergio?

Sergio PÉREZ: Yeah, for me similar, a similar story. I remember the first race I watched with my dad was ’94 actually, when Aytron had his accident. That was the first race I ever saw. A shock moment, more for my dad than for me. At the time I didn’t understand well what was happening. Obviously from Mexico, Formula 1 is not very big so it always seemed too far, too difficult. It’s been a while since we had a driver, so the history back home wasn’t big. But as a family we always loved the sport and I always wanted to become a Formula 1 driver. At a very young I went to Europe to fight for it. I remember watching so many races, always waking up very early in the morning, because in Mexico the races are very early, six or seven o’clock in the morning. So always on a weekend, when you don’t want to wake up early, I had to, to watch Formula 1. I actually remember watching Kimi back then, at a very young age too.

Q: Thank you Sergio. Kimi?

Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: Yeah, I don’t know what year it was, but it was a long time ago, ‘80s, that’s for sure. I think the first memories were somewhere where Keke was racing when he blew up his tyre or something, maybe Adelaide or something, with the long straight, maybe the last races that he did. So anyhow, obviously I was cheering for the Finnish guys, but I didn’t think that I… maybe you dream when you’re a kid, but once you start doing go-karts and everything I didn’t really believe that it was going to happen, because obviously you need a certain amount of money to get from go-karts to racing. Maybe I believed a bit more when I got my managers helping and then actually got to race in Formula cars and then obviously it went very quickly. I guess it was a dream but not very realistic at that point, but it went fast once it started to go there.

Q: Thank you Kimi. And Alex?

Alexander ALBON: My hero was Michael Schumacher. That was the guy I always looked up to. I was Ferrari mad actually – even if I should say that or not, I don’t know. But I loved Schumacher. I think I was about six. I was a bit like Romain. I was at Silverstone and there was a competition. You had to fill out the top three drivers that you thought would win the race, or finish in that order, so I just put Michael, Rubens and Montoya. For some reason at that race that’s what happened. I think Barrichello was finishing last or something. So no one wrote what I wrote down. I think it was in hospitality at Ferrari. So I won the prize and got to meet Michael and got to meet Rubens. It stuck with me that. I was always a hardcore fan.

Q: Thanks to all four of you. Alex, if we could stay with you. Going well so far, you’ve outqualified your team-mate in Australia and Bahrain. Can you describe the learning curve you’ve been on so far in Formula 1?

AA: Yeah, it’s been steep. Getting in the car in Barcelona, getting up to speed. The speed bit… the cars are so refined now that you do feel quite comfortable with the cars straight away. It’s more the interaction with the team and kind of just extracting performance outside the car, which definitely is a lot about experience. So just being Dany, listening to him really, listening to his feedback, how he communicates with people, it really does help me. But yeah, it’s been going well. Simulator driving, that’s helped a lot as well. But it’s going well so far.

Q: And are you doing anything different with your helmet this weekend?

AA: Yeah, so I’ve got a Prince Bira tribute. I thought it would be cool to go back and bring out some of the Thai history in Formula 1. I have a couple of photos, I have his number, well, my number but in his style, because he had the blue and yellow racing scheme. So that’s about it.

Q: Thanks. Romain, you’re a man in need of some good fortune this weekend in China. Just how was last week’s test session in Bahrain? Did you understand why the car’s pace dropped off in the race?

RG: Well, it started with three wheels, which didn’t help, after the contact in the first corners. No, we had some good testing. It was a bit disrupted by the rain, which was a surprise to all us in Bahrain on Tuesday, but we did manage, on Wednesday afternoon, to get some good data and info, some interesting set-ups that we should have been running during the race. I think the car is fast and it’s good. You don’t qualify twice in the top 10 if you don’t have a fast car. I think we just missed something in Bahrain that we found at testing, which is good. I think what we need right now is a bit of luck on our side, and to make sure we go through the race with no incident or no issue and we should be able to have a good weekend.

Q: And anything different with your helmet?

RG: I’ve changed the design, using the F1 1000 logo – that looks really cool – just the full white helmet. Nothing really from the past of Formula 1 but I was not very… I used to throw all my equipment to the bins of the season, but luckily my wife pushed me to keep at least one thing from every year. I know I’ve got one overall per year, from all my racing career, from go-karts to 2019 season, and actually when I look at them now I think it’s pretty cool. I’ve got some helmets back home that mean more than others. My 100^th grand prix helmet and obviously being part of race 1000 in Formula 1 is going to be something big, so that helmet is going to go on the shelf and I really like the design that we have produced. It looks pretty classy and really cool to be driven in China.

Q: Sergio, it hasn’t been the easiest of starts for the team in 2019, though you did finish in the points last time out. Are there any underlying issues with the car and if there are, what are they?

SP: I think the upgrade that we brought to the start of the season, given that we didn’t have enough to test or to work on it, I think that put us on the back foot at the moment in the midfield group. We scored points in Melbourne and now in Bahrain. At the moment we are not fast enough, we are not where we want to be, but I think we have proven in the past that it’s a very long season. It doesn’t matter where you are now, it’s where you get to by Abu Dhabi. We are understanding our issues, we have a lot of work to do and I’m pretty sure we will meet all of our targets for this season.

Q: And your helmet design for this weekend?

SP: My helmet design didn’t change much. I just wanted to put the 1000 race logo on my helmet just to… it’s obviously very special as a driver to race here, at such a special venue for Formula 1, it’s a very special weekend also. I want, as Romain said, to remember this weekend in many years, to look at this helmet and remember that I was part of the 1000^th race in Formula 1.

Q: Kimi, great start to the season for you and Alfa Romeo, points in both of the opening two races. Can you tell us, what are the strengths of this year’s car and has the performance so far changed your goals for the season?

Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: No, it hasn’t. I didn’t really have any goals, so it’s pretty hard to change them. I can’t really talk about last year’s car. Obviously I did a test but it’s one track so from my side it’s hard to say what is better on this car than the one they had last year but for sure they did a good job over the winter from the car that I drove in Abu Dhabi in the tyre test to the one we have now. Obviously there’s a lot of things to improve still and it’s a never-ending story and an ongoing thing to try to make it better, holding more downforce and stuff like that – but yeah, I think in general it’s quite a good, solid package and we understand it pretty OK and they seem to have good guys on all areas to bring new stuff. It never comes fast enough but that’s a normal issue in any team you go to. Yeah, I think the basis there is to make it faster all the time, so keep it up and see what we’ve got when we get to the end of the year.

Q: Anything different on the helmet design to celebrate 1000 races?

KR: No. I wanted to have an open-face helmet but there were some regulation issues…!

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines / racefans.net) Checo, you say your helmet design hasn’t changed much but I’m hearing from an insider that your helmet has actually changed. Do you have a different brand for this race?

SP: Yeah, in that regard yes. I’ve moved to Bell. I’ve been in a long term partnership with Schuberth which I’m very thankful for, I think it’s a fantastic helmet. Now I had the opportunity to change and I think Bell is also a fantastic helmet. I’ve tried it, and it’s my first race with them now. I started my career in Formula One with them and now I’m going back to Bell.

Q: (Steven Wade – AP) Kimi, we see that this summer you’re going to break an F1 record for the most races contested, how do you stay motivated? You’ve had tremendous success already, how do you stay motivated and stay on top of your game?

KR: I don’t know really. I don’t have any special things that I try to motivate myself. It’s become more of a hobby for me lately than anything else and probably that’s why it’s more fun again, so, yeah, I always try to do the best that I can. Some days it goes a bit better than others – but that’s how it goes when you do a lot of racing. Some days it’s a bit more tricky than others. It’s never really been an issue. A lot of people think so but, y’know, everybody has the right to say what they think. I just try to do what I can and hopefully… when I feel myself that it’s not what I expect from myself then obviously I try to find a new hobby after that.

Q: (Michael Butterworth – Xinhua News Agency) To all four drivers, keen to know your thoughts on the Shanghai circuit and if there are any particular features or characteristics that make it especially challenging or unique?

AA: Well, it’s my first time here, so a little bit hard to say but just coming from watching videos and being on the simulator it just seems like there’s about a thousand lines you can do here. A lot of corners leading onto other corners so it seems like there’s a lot of different styles, pushing entries or pushing exits. So yeah, it seems to be a really technical track. So, it’s interesting for the drivers, that’s for sure.

KR: I think it’s a nice track. It’s been the same since I came here the first time but some good overtaking opportunities and quite good fun to drive.

SP: It’s quite a long circuit: long straights, very long corners, like Turn One which is quite hard when you first get here. First lap it’s always very hard to reach the apex because it’s so late in the corner that it kind of gets you. Also, the wind is very difficult here. So it’s quite a unique place, I’d say. Normally good racing and a nice feeling on one lap – it’s definitely a circuit I enjoy.

RG: It’s a good circuit. One of the challenges is to get here on time in the morning. Racing it quite fun, as Kimi said. Qualifying laps are always good and then in the race the challenge is to look after your tyres, especially the fronts with those long corners: Turn One, Turn Seven-Eight, 13. That can really make a huge difference if you’ve used your tyres too much or not. Then you can have some really good racing. It’s a pretty good place to come.

Q: (Stuart Codling – Autosport) Question for Alex. The 2021 technical regulations are currently taking shape and are under discussion. The desired outcomes are for a more level playing field, for there to be more overtaking opportunities. Do you think that reducing the amount of data capture would provide that – or would it actively be a problem for drivers, such as you, who are just coming into the sport? Would it be a disadvantage?

AA: To promote overtaking? I wouldn’t say reducing data would effect overtaking. On my side at least, data is just for getting lap-time, it wouldn’t be a tool to affect passes, no.

Would if make your job harder if there were no data?

AA: In general, yeah, I would say so. I think data now in Formula One is huge. Especially for me, it’s a fast-track to get getting up to speed and even just about getting performance. It’s definitely something I use a lot, I compare with Dany quite a lot. I think some drivers look at data more than others. I’m a driver that looks at data quite a lot. Just to get up to speed. I’m using it a lot right now. For passing or overtaking, no.

Q: (Velimir Jukic Avto-Focus) Question for Kimi. They say you are slower for each kid by about one second. How are you compensating for this now that you have two seconds slower conditions to drive?

KR: Maybe I somehow go faster at the same time to compensate it! I don’t think that kids make any difference. There are an awful lot of stories based on nothing in F1. I didn’t ever feel that there’s something happening on my driving when our family got bigger – but I don’t know. I guess it depends from people to people also. Sometimes it might have an effect but at least on our side, on my side, I don’t feel it. Obviously the life changes a lot outside of racing but yeah, pure driving they didn’t really effect on my side.

I might just through that to Checo and Romain…

SP: Similar to Kimi I think it doesn’t…. Formula One drivers are all normal, when we’re driving we don’t think we have family, we have kids, we just want to go as fast as we possibly can. I think outside of racing it changes, you sleep a lot less looking after your kids! All of a sudden a Formula One race weekend becomes a holiday, because you’re able to sleep longer, and so on – but it’s a lot of fun and it doesn’t really affect at all. If it takes one second it means in the past we were really quick! Because we have a couple of seconds in th pocket, it means a lot.

Romain, anything to add?

RG: No, no. I think what the boys said is the truth. It changes you as a man back home. It changes your whole life and perspective and probably helps you more than it slows you down. When you’ve had a tough weekend and you come back home, it doesn’t matter, they love you and you love them more than anything, so it puts things in perspective. But yeah, with three kids now, three seconds off the pace, my goodness… quite happy to be qualifying in the top ten!

Alex, any children we don’t know about?

AA: No!

Q: (Julien Billiotte – AutoHebdo) How do you think Formula One will look for race number 2000 in forty or fifty years’ time? Will car racing still exist and what kind of cars could we see on track? Or would you like to see on track?

RG: Actually I already answered that question. It’s a tough one. I’ve got no idea what the cars are going to be like in forty, fifty years. The only thing I would say is that I hope there is still going to be a driver driving the car because that’s where the emotion goes. If you hold a football game with just robots it’s not going to be much fun so I hope there are going to be drivers. Technology will be very different, I’m sure, but the sense of racing has been here since 1950, the first F1 race where the guys driving at their best, trying to overtake the guy in front of them and going as fast as they could with what they had and oversteer was oversteer back then and understeer is back today so I think the feeling was the same so I hope the guys would have as much fun as we do have today.

SP: Yeah, same. Technology these days is developing scarily so I really hope that in the future we still have the drivers and that they are able to have as much fun as we do or because I think things are going to change massively. I really hope that things change the same, at least. Obviously they were will be very different, I think, probably they might be electric in a couple of years – I hope in many more years. For the drivers, they will still be important. I don’t know if it was in the past but these days the driver is less important, the driver can make less of a difference and it’s now all related to the team so I think for the future and for the time that I’m here I can see a different Formula One where the driver can make the difference instead of the team.

KR: Yeah, it’s impossible to know what will happen. Probably there will be racing, some sort of racing, who knows what? It’s been 1000 races so I don’t think it’s going to disappear suddenly somehow but who knows? We’ll find out.

AA: Yeah, same as them. As long as we have a job or the future racing drivers have a job then I’m happy.

Q: (Zoran Zivkov – Top Speed Magazine) When you look at the past and history, if you’d had a time machine, in which period, in which era, would you like to come back?

AA: I haven’t really thought about that. I’d say old school, 1950s. I want to see how the sport was back then. I know it’s dangerous so maybe I will bring my HANS device with me and we will see but I think that kind of racing is cool and I’d like to try it out.

KR: I’ve gone back for the second one any more. I guess in the past, I would look at seventies, sixties, late sixties, seventies. For sure it would have been more fun, more relaxed, more pure racing but obviously much more dangerous but that’s normal at that time.

Q: We saw you with a James Hunt helmet a few years ago, didn’t we?

KR: Bit more than a few years but yeah.

SP: Yeah, I think that 1960s, 70s, those times were good fun. The driving looked very dangerous of course; for the driver, it depended on the risk you took that maybe made the difference. I think it’s something that all my career I have missed. Always the difference is made by the cars and not so much by the drivers. I think back then it was good fun. It looked really good. Also the atmosphere was really relaxed. I think these days Formula One is too posed. I wish it was a bit more relaxed and people enjoying themselves more.

RG: Yeah, not going that far (back). I’m really in love with ’93, ’94 and then 2005 and 2006. I wish that Kimi was back then: yeah, you were racing. I love the cars around that time and they looked amazing and there was a tyre war as well which was quite fun to watch from outside, I thought, and refuelling and the cars looked really really cool in mid-2000. I drove a 2007 car, it was quite good then.

Q: (Duan Yiyi – Titan Sports) Kimi, no matter which team you are in you always seem to be the fans’ favourite here in China, so from your perspective what characteristics do you have to attract so many fans in China?

KR: I have no idea. You should go and ask them. I think generally in Japan, China we Finnish people seem to have a lot of fans. It’s great, especially here. I cannot go anywhere but that’s a part of… the other side of the fans. I’ve always had a lot of fans here, since the first time we came here so I’m happy about it. I don’t know the reason. I guess you would probably get the answer if you go and ask some in front of our hotel, you can ask them there. Or at the airport.

Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines, RaceFans.net) You may have noticed that in Bahrain McLaren was sponsored by an e-cigarette brand, Vipe. Particularly the three fathers there, how do you feel about this? Do you feel it sets the right sort of example for your children?

RG: Oh dear. I’m going to dig my own oar. Right. I think you want to watch on Netflix, because they are our friends now, whatever content you can. I am the first one to tell my friends to stop smoking and I’ve actually achieved that a few times and I’m quite proud of that. I think e-cigarettes are maybe less bad. I think if they want to sponsor Formula One why not. I’ve been with Total for many many years which is an oil company in France or worldwide and we’ve actually done some amazing experiences together and you could say that oil is actually not good for the environment and so on but I think companies like Total are trying to do a lot for the environment and just producing oil. So I think, in the end, I don’t know much about e-cigarettes to be fair, but if it’s better for health reasons, if it’s less smelly as well… You know, we just came up the stairs and it smelled of cigarettes like hell. Same when you leave an airport. First thing you do when you go out of an airport, everyone is smoking his first cigarette and it stinks. If this year it can be better somehow then great. If it’s better then why not and if it helps our sport then great.

SP: Yeah, Romain did a good job with that one.

KR: No, I have no issue. I don’t see the connection that if my son sees advertising on any of the… doesn’t matter if it’s alcohol or cigarettes, something, I don’t believe that that affects his choices whatsoever. That’s my belief on that. Did it affect my choices when I have seen them in the past? Rules are rules, whether you can do it or not, that’s not my business but I have no worries.

RG: … point that Kimi’s bringing in, because we watched Formula One when there was a lot of cigarette advertising on the cars: Williams, Jordan, Ferrari, McLaren. I’ve never smoked all my life but I’ve been watching a lot of races so I don’t think there’s any connection there.

April 11, 2019
F1 2019: Chinese Gp Preview – 1000 and counting…

At the end of the 2019 season I will have, officially, covered twelve complete seasons of the Formula 1 world championship. While this is not trivial by any means consider that this weekend’s Chinese grand prix marks the 1000^thworld championship race.

Without fail there are two questions I am asked. Almost always the first question is who is the best driver of all time? While it gives rise to superb conversations and debates the question is impossible to answer. For one, it is impossible to compare different eras of the sport given how much it has changed. If you’d have told Jim Clark that one day Formula 1 would not only be the technical and engineering pinnacle of any motorized sport in the world but that it would also lead the way in terms of safety he probably would’ve scoffed at such impossibility. In this era death was expected and several of the sport’s most dazzling drivers, including Clark, died in the cockpit of a racing car.

In the 1950s Juan Manuel Fangio won five world titles with his tally of race wins reaching twenty-four. Imagine how staggered he would’ve been to know that someday a German driver named Michael Schumacher would not only win seven titles but also rack up a staggering ninety-one race wins. In 2000 a rookie named Jenson Button made his debut for Williams at an exceedingly young twenty-years-old. The mutters were that, at only 20, the young Brit couldn’t possibly be ready for F1. Imagine the outrageous thought then that less than two decades later Max Verstappen would make his F1 debut at a mere 17 years old.

In its 999 races Formula 1 has endured great tragedy, celebrated the greatest champions, and made inconceivable advancements. Fans have lived through and run the gamut of emotions from drama to extreme stress to anger to unbridled passion. And that just in the first two races of the 2019 season!

The second question that is consistently asked is why Formula 1? But here is the real question: How do you condense such passion, such unadulterated bliss and glorious emotion to just a few words? This is the deepest truth – It’s the greatest sport in the world and I am irrefutably richer for getting to live every magnificent moment of it. Here’s to 1000 more.

Amongst the celebrations and nostalgia there is a race to be had this weekend. As the third round of the season the Chinese grand prix was the last of Michael Schumacher’s career wins in 2006. On the calendar since 2004 the Shanghai International circuit has delivered a fair few crackers in its time. It could even be considered as the watershed moment for Mercedes when in 2012 Nico Rosberg scored the team’s first race victory since its return to the sport.

Last year a masterstroke on strategy from the Red Bull pitwall allowed Daniel Ricciardo the opportunity to pull off a remarkable string of overtakes that ultimately culminated in a thrilling and memorable victory for the Aussie. Twelve months later Ricciardo, now a Renault driver, arrives in China with a completely different mindset and slightly on the back-foot. The 7-time grand prix winner has admitted to still needing to understand the idiosyncrasies of the Renault before being able to unleash his considerable talent. Similarly, Pierre Gasly, teammate to Verstappen at Red Bull, has struggled in first two race weekends and will have to up his game before being catapulted out of the seat by the ruthless Dr. Marko.

Though it’s only two races into the 2019 season there are no such difficulties for Charles Leclerc who has settled in quickly at Ferrari. A devastating mechanical issue robbed him of victory in Bahrain but he is well served by accepting it as part of the sport.

The good news for Leclerc is that his Ferrari team is confident that the Bahrain-issue caused no lasting damage to the engine and he will be able to race it in China. What’s more, while he rightly receives plaudits for his performance his teammate, Seb Vettel, is once again putting out fires in the media who have begun to ask uncomfortable questions of the German following his spin in the last race.

Meanwhile, Mercedes will arrive in China with a quiet confidence. Leclerc may have outpaced them at the last race but they are beginning to understand the W10 more and more. Merc have also won four of the last five Chinese grand prix and it is generally a track where they excel. All that is missing then is Red Bull. While Honda is still not on par with Ferrari and Mercedes it has clearly made progress in 2019. It isn’t the only culprit either for Red Bull’s lack of pace in Bahrain. Instead teamboss Christian Horner has highlighted a need for improvement on the chassis and aero package.

The questions then for this weekend is if Charles Leclerc can once again outpace his four-time world champion teammate or whether Mercedes will have a pace advantage. The ever-tightening battle in the mid-field certainly won’t relent either and with Kimi Raikkonen confirming that following one another is now easier it sets up then for overtaking fest like no other.

April 10, 2019
F1 2019: Bahrain Gp Review – Ferrari Falter in the Desert

As Formula 1 celebrated its 999^thrace in Bahrain through all of it what has remained true is the undeniable fact that it is the most unpredictable sport in the world.

The 2019 Bahrain grand prix dished up a cracking race filled to the brim with drama, overtakes, and astonishing turnarounds. For the first time in his fledging F1 career Charles Leclerc lined up in pole position for the start of a grand prix. As the 99^thpole sitter in the history of F1 the Monegasque driver did everything right. He outpaced not only the Mercedes pair of Hamilton and Bottas but also showed his 4-time world champion teammate Vettel the way in qualifying. Still it was a big day for Ferrari. The front row lockout of the grid finally showed the pace that was indicated in pre-season testing but so conspicuously missing in Melbourne.

Leclerc didn’t make the best of start from pole and quickly fell behind Vettel and Bottas who had jumped his Merc teammate at the start. It was too long though before Leclerc fought his way back past Bottas and into second. Vettel seemed to clear off at the front but such was Leclerc’s pace that by lap 5 he’d let the team know that he was planning to go for the overtake. A lap later he drew alongside Vettel and a thrillingly inch perfect wheel-to-wheel battle ensued before Leclerc took the lead with a move around the outside of turn 4.

Leclerc opened a gap to Vettel relatively easily as the second Ferrari came under increasing pressure from Hamilton. While the first round of pitstops saw Hamilton ahead, thanks to the strategic undercut of pitting a lap earlier, the Merc driver began to struggle on the soft tyre. After the second round of stops the Ferrari and Merc were running in close proximity and ultimately the two went wheel-to-wheel in a breathtaking battle for position. Hamilton, with a slight pace advantage, got the job done around turn 4. It would end far worse for Vettel lost the rear of the Ferrari sending him into a spin. It was shades of 2018 all over again for the German driver who had flat-spotted his tyres so badly the vibrations caused the front-wing to detach itself.

For Leclerc it was easy-going in the lead of the race until lap 46 when he reported that there was something strange with the engine. The Ferrari pitwall confirmed that the MGU-H (Motor Generating Unit-Hybrid) had failed. It resulted in a loss of 160 horsepower and decimated any chance of converting pole position into his first race win. On lap 48 he was little more than a sitting duck as Hamilton overtook him for the lead. Credit to Hamilton who waved regretfully as he passed the young Ferrari driver. A handful of laps later he was passed by the second Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas and looked set to relinquish the final step on the podium to Max Verstappen with two laps to go. But almost unbelievably both Renault’s of Nico Hulkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo simultaneously retired within meters of each at turn 1 which prompted the appearance of the safety car.

As it were Lewis Hamilton scored the 74^thwin of his career ahead of teammate and championship leader Bottas. Some would term Hamilton’s win as lucky and they’d be right to a degree. Reliability has and always will be part of motorsport. But because Hamilton kept enough pressure on Vettel and ultimately overtook him for second on the track he placed himself in the right position to scoop up the win when Leclerc hit problems. That is simply the way the F1 story goes sometimes.

The late safety car meant that Leclerc maintained third place. There would be very few in the paddock or indeed in their living rooms around the world that wouldn’t have been gutted for the 21-year-old. For the entire weekend he’d done everything right only to find out was a cruel mistress Formula 1 can truly be. The good news is that Leclerc has enormous potential and a second chance to secure that first race win will come soon.

Max Verstappen ran a fairly anonymous race for Red Bull and finished fourth while Vettel recovered to fifth. Lando Norris underlined his talent with a fine sixth place finish in the McLaren while Kimi Raikkonen pulled the Alfa Romeo to a seventh place finish. Pierre Gasly recovered from a sub-par quali performance to finish eighth as Alexander Albon in the Toro Rosso and Sergio Perez in the Racing Point finished ninth and tenth respectively.

All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport

April 3, 2019
F1 2019: Australian GP Preview – Ready to go

It’s been an awfully long wait but the start of the 2019 season is here. Twenty-one races, several countries and continents and a excess of expectation await.

Everyone is clamouring to understand and predict the pecking order and while there is a rough idea of who sits where, at least at the top, Formula 1 has always been better when it’s been unpredictable. Still, the probability is that Ferrari are a smidge ahead of Mercedes on pace. But given the unique layout of Australia’s circuit this may not count for much.

The traditional season-opener around the semi-permanent Albert Park circuit is unlike any other on the calendar and thus makes it an outlier in terms of performance. The fiddly track is akin to a street circuit albeit with a bit more run off area should the odd mistake arise. The layout comprises a mixture of medium speed corners and places an emphasis on stability under the braking. It is highly possible for a car to go well around this circuit and not truly be one in the running come Abu Dhabi in December but there are still 25 points for the one who sees the chequered flag first which makes it as important as any of the races in the line-up.

New for 2019 are the aero regulations surrounding the front and rear wing area of the car as well as the simplification of the barge boards. In addition, three colours have replaced the rainbow selection of tyre compounds for this season. White, yellow, and red will make up the range of compounds with white being the hardest of the weekend, yellow the medium, and red the softest tyre available.

It’s a big year for the teammates. At Mercedes Valtteri Bottas has to impress Toto Wolff and co enough to keep Esteban Ocon out of his seat. Not in the Finn’s favour is the fact that in order to do so he has to beat, or at least match, his teammate and five-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. It’s a tall order for the Bottas but his task is crystal clear.

At Ferrari expectations are high for young Charles Leclerc too. All indications are that the Monegasque driver has all the speed he needs to well at the Italian team but it remains to be seen how he’ll handle the pressure of racing for the most famous mark in motorsport.

The rivalry between Max Verstappen and his new teammate Pierre Gasly hasn’t been given as much attention as the previous two but is no less intriguing. The French driver arrives from Toro Rosso where he easily had the beating of Brendon Hartley. It will be significantly more difficult to consistently out-perform someone like Verstappen.

All of this and the incredibly tight battle for mid-field supremacy hasn’t even made into the conversation yet. While Williams, now sans technical director Paddy Lowe, are unfortunately expected to prop up the rear of the grid the battle between the likes of Renault, Haas, and Alfa Romeo appears especially tight. The most important thing that needs to be known, for now, is that Formula 1 2019 is here.

March 13, 2019
F1 2019: Ferrari – Gamble or Guile?

Much has been written about Ferrari’s drafting youngster Charles Leclerc into one of the most coveted seats in Formula 1. While expectations are exceedingly high for the young Monegasque driver there are other quite significant changes that have been made at Ferrari for the 2019 season.

The sudden death of Sergio Marchionne was a big blow for Ferrari. As the architect and saviour of Ferrari Marchionne was a tremendously important figure for the company and the F1 team. It’s no surprise that, internally, his loss was felt in a big way. A new CEO was announced in the form of Louis Camilleri, the former boss of Phillip Morris International and Ferrari board member. He immediately walked back Marchionne’s threats of quitting F1 and vowed to work in favour of keeping the iconic team in the world’s premier racing series.

Camilleri also stated that there was no need for him to intervene or make any changes to the team given its positive performance. However, it wasn’t too long before he began to ring the changes. First, it was Charles Leclerc in for Kimi Raikkonen followed by an announcement that team principal Maurizio Arrivabene would be replaced by technical chief Mattia Binnoto. Rumours swirled throughout the season of unease between Arrivabene and Binnoto, which, at the time, were dismissed as untrue by Ferrari. However, the rumours sustained and grew to include several suspicions that the relationship between Sebastian Vettel and Arrivabene too wasn’t in a good way.

Binnoto’s new role as team principal will mean that the technical department must be restructured too. After all, Binnoto can hardly be expected to wear both caps of team principal and technical chief at the same time. As team principal of Ferrari he will be tasked with and face an inordinate amount of pressure. First, he’ll be responsible for heading a team with a brand-new driver in the line-up. If, according to many expectations, Leclerc pushes teammate Vettel, ala Hamilton and Alonso in 2007, all the way he’ll have quite a job on his hands to contain such a situation. There is no doubt that as Ferrari team principal he will face relentless and unforgiving pressure to guide the famed team to championship success which has eluded them for a decade.

It is curious however to know why Ferrari has chosen to restructure in this manner, as it isn’t a recipe followed by other front-running teams. At Mercedes it has been stability that has been one of its major strengths. As team manager Toto Wolff has James Allison, formerly of Ferrari, overseeing the technical side of the team while Christian Horner relies on Adrian Newey to keep his hand over the technical side of Red Bull. Even at Williams Claire Williams has Paddy Lowe at the helm of the technical department.

The restructuring at Ferrari signals intent from the Italian team. But equally it reveals that they are still playing catch up with the likes of Mercedes and are yet to hit on an efficient method of running a cohesive team that can execute at the highest level week in and week out. The expectation will be that this reorganizing, across several departments, is the catalyst for finally getting the team onto the front foot from day one.

January 28, 2019
[Review]: The Unknown Kimi Raikkonen

The K1 grandstand on the outside of turn 1 at Malaysia’s Sepang circuit roars to life with an all-mighty cheer. It means only one thing – Kimi Raikkonen has just driven past in his scarlet Ferrari. I know this because I am sat right in the heart of the K1 grandstand. Of all the moments that author Kari Hotakainen could have chosen to start his biography of Kimi Raikkonen it seems almost incredulous that he would choose the very race I attended in 2017.

If you follow F1 you’ll know of Finnish driver Kimi Raikkonen and his approach to the sport – no bullshit, just driving. Famously reserved with the press in the racing car however is where Raikkonen has always shone and comes alive. The biography details his childhood years as an up-and-coming racer and his subsequent years in the world’s premier racing series, Formula 1. However, this isn’t as much a book about Raikkonen’s Formula 1 career than it is focused on the person. Raikkonen’s comfort zone isn’t sharing any- and everything about himself. In fact, it’s exactly the opposite. And that makes this glimpse behind the curtain all the more intriguing.

If it wasn’t obvious from observing Raikkonen throughout his years in F1 in the book it’s evident that Kimi Raikkonen oozes authenticity. There’s nothing made up or manufactured about the man. Perhaps that is why he is so beloved the world over – his authenticity. What is more evident is that despite being a celebrated Formula 1 champion Raikkonen is a fairly average guy who doesn’t think himself a superstar unlike his legion of fans. Instead he is revealed as a deeply loyal friend and wholly committed family man. He also just happens to have an extraordinary talent of driving anything with wheels very quickly.

For the enigmatic Finn his family has always been the most important. “He was being offered $500,000 a year and $50,000 for every point earned. The man doing the signing came from a house with no inside lavatory. Soon there would be. He wanted to repay his mother and father, who had initiated this made it possible,” writes Hotakainen. The closeness of the Raikkonen family is unmistakable which makes the passing of his father, in late 2010, all the more poignant.

Hotakainen’s fly-on-the-wall style of writing translates well and injects the reader into the moments being described. It reveals the rocky road to F1 and several other fascinating stories. An example being that at the age of two Kimi’s parents had him medically tested, as he hadn’t yet uttered a single word. The results revealed a child of above average ability but without any real motivation for words.

Later on he describes a 21-year-old Raikkonen’s first day testing the C19 Sauber at Mugello in Italy. “The slight young man lowers himself into Sauber’s C19 car. He faces his first test lap in a real F1 car. The young man is scared – not of driving, but of failing,” Hotakainen reminisces. “He starts the car. A terrible, ear-splitting noise follows. The first straight isn’t important; anyone can drive on a straight with their foot down…The young man turns the wheel; his neck hurts, his hands tremble. Every instance of braking and every bend pummels his body”. It is said, and written in this book, that then team owner Peter Sauber was walking on air when he saw Raikkonen’s ability. Even Michael Schumacher wanted to know you the “young and fast” driver was. The over 250 pages is full of similar moments that together fill the picture of who Kimi Raikkonen truly is other than an F1 champion.

There will be those who would have wanted an even more in-depth portrait of Kimi Raikkonen. But there aren’t any bombshell stories or profound declarations and they aren’t missed. Instead it’s a book about a man’s life that happened to be an exceptionally fast racing driver. It is, like Kimi, an unpretentious, succinct, and deeply authentic portrait of a generous family man.

Get your copy from Raru

December 10, 2018
Season Wrap: The Year that was F1 2018

The 2018 Formula 1 season is in the history books and with a number of impressive and standout performances will be revered and talked about for some time to come.

Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton

Comparing different eras of the sport is usually discouraged but it is difficult to remember a more dominant team in the sport’s history than Mercedes Benz. Of the 100 grand prix in the turbo-hybrid era, which started in 2014, Merc have won a staggering 74 races. It is a nearly unbelievable statistic until you factor in the Mercedes F1 organisation. From the management structure to the drivers to the irrefutably flawless execution of all processes they leave no stone unturned and nothing to chance. They were pushed in the first half of 2018 and responded in emphatic fashion. Even with the aero changes for next season this team is going to be incredibly difficult to beat.

Of the 74 victories Lewis Hamilton has taken an astounding 51 and with that four world titles. Somehow, despite the car and team at his disposal, he seems able to continually improve from one season to the next and will undoubtedly by a contender in 2019. There will be those who point to his car as the reason for his success but they will do well to recognize that a racing car is only as good as its driver. If you’re still not convinced by this argument consider the fact that Valtteri Bottas, in the same car, finished fifth in the driver’s standings.

Ferrari, Sebastian Vettel

The 2018 season couldn’t have started much better for Ferrari. Evident from the first day of pre-season testing it was clear that Maranello had delivered a car that could fight for, and potentially, win the title. Sebastian Vettel hit the ground running too and for the better part of the first half of the season landed blow after blow on Mercedes and Hamilton. It was the Vettel of years gone by. The unyielding driver who racked up four titles in a row with Red Bull was seemingly on his way to a fifth crown.

But the cardinal rule of Formula 1 is its unpredictability. Before the summer break Ferrari’s chairman Sergio Marchionne passed away. The effect of this shouldn’t be underestimated. Marchionne almost single-handedly turned around Ferrari and that includes the F1 team. He arrived to a team in near ruin and not only righted the ship but made reignited the sense of pride and passion that seemed to be missing in previous years. He was a colossal presence and his sudden death left a gaping hole in the organization. Perhaps this increased the pressure on Sebastian Vettel; an expectation to win for Marchionne and the Ferrari name he nurtured.

Rookie of the year

Charles Leclerc – exceptionally impressive, especially the lap with dry tyres on a greasy track to get into Q3 at the Brazilian grand prix. A few chinks in the armour throughout the season such as silly mistakes and the odd crash. But the Monagasque can hardly be lambasted for them. After all, 2018 was his first year in the sport.

He has one of the biggest challenges next year as a Ferrari driver expected to immediately take the fight to teammate Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton and co. It’s clear to all that Leclerc has the speed to hack it in F1. But being a Ferrari driver is completely different challenge. Unrelenting pressure and expectation will be a new test for Leclerc whose performances as Sauber stood out because there was little anticipation that the car would be able to perform as it did in 2018. In 2019, the uncompromising, often brutal, Italian press and fans will exert a level of pressure Leclerc wouldn’t have experienced before.

On the face of it the 2018 Williams may have masked Sergey Sirotkin’s strong rookie season. But dig a little deeper and it will reveal that the Russian’s season has been quite impressive given the car at his disposal. With a quiet resolve Sirotkin worked away on the car. He kept his head down, remained calm, and continually improved his driving ability. He may have come into the sport with significant financial backing but he attracted those backers with his talent that is far different from buying your way into the sport with family money.

Race of the year

The Circuit of the Americas easily produced the best race of the year. Drama at the start, a plethora of overtaking ensured 56 lap of exhilaration. Most of all, the battle between Hamilton, Verstappen, and Raikkonen in the final laps of the race capped a race for which few would’ve been able to predict the victor. Ultimately, it was Kimi Raikkonen who took victory for the first time in 113 races. There were few, if any, in the paddock disappointed with seeing the Iceman on the top step of the podium in Texas.

The Chinese grand prix deserves a mention. The Red Bull team strategy was played to a tee but it was still up to Daniel Ricciardo to make it work on track. The Aussie’s sublime overtakes will stick in the memory for quite some time and so will the remarkable victory.

Driver performance of the year

While Mercedes and Hamilton are rightly team and driver of the year there were some individual performances by drivers this season that stand out. Not least of all was Ricciardo’s drive to a maiden victory on the streets of Monte Carlo. The Red Bull driver had dominated the entire weekend including a pole position on the Saturday. However, a mechanical issue nearly robbed Ricciardo of finally winning in Monaco. Somehow, and despite being as much as 25% down on power, Ricciardo was able to hold Vettel off take the famed chequered flag.

2019 brings it with a major change to aerodynamics and potentially a reset in the running order. It also brings with a number of questions. Can legendary teams like Williams and McLaren make their way up the grid? Will Mercedes’s domination continue? How will Leclerc fair as a Ferrari driver?

December 5, 2018
Abu Dhabi Gp Review – Hamilton Win Brings Down the Curtain

Despite the fact that the 2018 Formula 1 season consisted of 21 races it ran through the calendar rather quickly. As the season finale Abu Dhabi grand prix brought down the curtain on a season that will be remembered by many for a variety of reasons.

One of the biggest and most lasting memories of F1 2018 will be Lewis Hamilton. An unrelenting and near faultless charge has earned him a fifth drivers’ title which he easily capped with victory in Abu Dhabi. The victory marks the eleventh of the season for Hamilton who was never troubled on his way to the chequered flag.

The race got underway in dramatic fashion as a clash between Romain Grosjean and Nico Hulkenberg sent the latter into a barrel roll. Stewards rightly deemed it a racing incident as Hulkenberg was able to walk away from the spectacular crash without injury. The safety car was needed to clear up the debris by which time the fast starting Charles Leclerc had already dispatched Daniel Ricciardo to be running fifth.

Up ahead Lewis Hamilton’s easily gapped teammate Valtteri Bottas at the restart after the safety car period. The Ferrari’s of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen followed in third and fourth. Though he started sixth on the grid Max Verstappen dropped to tenth at the start of the race as his engine engaged a safety mode off the start line. At the restart of the race he found himself in close attendance with none other than Esteban Ocon and his Force India teammate Sergio Perez. He got past the Perez relatively easily but it would take slightly more to get eighth off Ocon. Nevertheless, from quite a long way back he dove for the inside line into the Turn 7 hairpin and with a bit of contact was past the Frenchman. There is no doubt that he would’ve had the Brazil incident well in his mind.

A lap later Kimi Raikkonen pulled off to the side of the start/finish straight as his Ferrari succumbed to an electrical failure. Despite attempting to restart the car there was nothing to be done as the Finn signed off his career at Ferrari with a DNF. Raikkonen’s stricken Ferrari did bring out the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) which allowed race leader Hamilton to score a relatively cheap pitstop.

While Hamilton pitted early Red Bull attempted the opposite strategy with Daniel Ricciardo by running the Australian driver much longer on his Ultrasoft tyres. Though he led the race for some time it was clear that Hamilton had the pace to negate any advantage Red Bull would get from running longer. Astonishingly and despite being in the desert the camera picked up spots of rain. The few drops though weren’t enough to affect the track surface and Ricciardo dived into the pits on lap 34. He emerged in fifth and seemed to set to make a go of getting on the podium in his final race for Red Bull.

Further ahead Vettel took advantage of Bottas’ mistake and snatched second place from the Finn. It wasn’t too long before another error allowed Verstappen onto his gearbox and eventually past him. Ricciardo too made short work of the doleful Bottas who eventually finished fifth. There is much for the Finn to contemplate over the winter as he now has the unenviable stat of being the first Mercedes driver since 2012 to not win at least one race in the season.

While there was little in the way of a close battle at the sharp-end of the race the midfield ensured for several dices with a three-way battle for position between Stoffel Vandoorne, Romain Grosjean and Sergio Perez providing the best entertainment.

It was as easy a Sunday drive as Hamilton has likely experienced in 2018 and it demonstrates a shift in his own mentality too. In previous years his motivation would take a determined dip after securing the title but it never materialized in 2018. It is a great testament to Hamilton and his ability that despite a near faultless season he still sees room for improvement.

While Hamilton upped his tally of wins to 73 Sebastian Vettel secured second with Verstappen in third for Red Bull. Daniel Ricciardo’s late charge fizzled before the chequered flag but in his 100^thrace for Red Bull still finished a solid fourth. While Bottas dejectedly trundled home in fifth Carlos Sainz was best of the rest in sixth. 2019 Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc was seventh ahead of Sergio Perez in eighth while Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen completed the top ten. Though Nico Hulkenberg was out on lap 1 he maintained his seventh position in the championship standings. Elsewhere, Kimi Raikkonen finished third in the driver’s standings despite not seeing the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi.

There should rightly be a few days of reflection about the 2018 Formula 1 season. After all, it provided extreme highs and created memories that will likely live on for quite some time. But Formula 1 is a sport that relentlessly focuses on the future and with 107 days to go to the Australian grand prix it cant come soon enough.

All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport

November 26, 2018
F1 2018: Abu Dhabi Quali Report – Hamilton Romps to Pole

Decked out in shiny new golden dome Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton romped to pole position for the final round of the 2018 F1 season in Abu Dhabi.

The five-time champion lapped the Yas Marina circuit is a staggeringly quick 1:34:794 while teammate Valtteri Bottas was second on the timing sheets. The one-two lock out secures a record-breaking fifth consecutive domination of the front row in Abu Dhabi.

Elsewhere, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was third quickest and will share the second row of the grid with departing teammate Kimi Raikkonen. Though Red Bull turned an impressive pace in free practice they weren’t able to replicate it in quali. In his final race for Red Bull Daniel Ricciardo is slated to start fifth with teammate Max Verstappen alongside in sixth.

Haas F1’s Romain Grosjean proved to be best-of-the-rest in seventh while Charles Leclerc, Esteban Ocon, and Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg complete the top ten. In what is he last quali session, at least for some time, Fernando Alonso could only qualify 15th in his McLaren. He does however ensure a season whitewash of 21-0 over teammate Stoffel Vandoorne in qualifying.

(1. Hamilton, 2. Bottas, 3. Vettel, 4. Raikkonen, 5. Ricciardo, 6. Verstappen, 7. Grosjean, 8. Leclerc, 9. Ocon, 10. Hulkenberg, 11. Sainz, 12. Ericsson, 13. Magnussen, 14. Perez, 15. Alonso, 16. Hartley, 17. Gasly, 18. Vandoorne, 19. Sirotkin, 20. Stroll)

November 24, 2018