F1 Madness

Tag: lewis hamilton

  • F12017: Mexican Gp Review – Verstappen Dominates Tense Mexican Gp

    F12017: Mexican Gp Review – Verstappen Dominates Tense Mexican Gp

    Formula 1 is a sport where just about everything is engineered and managed to the most minute of details. However, despite the near obsessive level of attention to detail the volatility of the human factor often still has the biggest impact.

    In Mexico Max Verstappen made his presence felt as he barged his way into the lead of the race from his front row starting position. Though Verstappen, pole sitter Vettel, and Hamilton were three abreast into the first turn it was the Dutchman that barged his way into the lead of the race and not only left Vettel and Hamilton battered and bruised but also at the back of the field. Hamilton was left limping back to the pits with a right-rear puncture while Vettel too was forced into the pitlane for a new front-wing. It certainly wasn’t the afternoon Mercedes or Hamilton had envisioned but as Vettel wasn’t running first or second he was still on course to take the title.

    The radio chatter between Hamilton and the Mercedes pitwall clearly revealed that there were more than a few anxious moments in the cockpit of the number 44 Mercedes. As it where, despite several thrilling overtakes Vettel could ultimately only recover to fourth. It meant that Hamilton’s own ninth place finish was enough to crown him the 2017 driver’s champion in what was one of the most intense championship deciders in quite some time.

    08For Max Verstappen, well ahead in P1, it was a far less stressful afternoon. In fact, such was his pace that the 20-year-old had to be told several times to slow down. Even so, no one had an answer for his pace around the Mexican circuit, which rewarded the aerodynamic efficiency of the Red Bull to a tee. Verstappen’s sterling drive left him nearly twenty seconds clear of the second placed Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen completing the top three. With such a spectacular win, the third of his short career, it’s clear that the future of Formula 1 is good and very quick hands.

    Behind Vettel Esteban Ocon was fifth for Force India with Williams’ rookie Lance Stroll delivering another impressive drive to finish sixth. Local hero Sergio Perez was seventh while Kevin Magnussen, Lewis Hamilton, and Fernando Alonso completed the top ten. It was difficult day for Renault as both Sainz and Hulkenberg were forced into retirement alongside Ericsson, Hartley, and Daniel Ricciardo who suffered a MGU-H failure on the Red Bull.

    44There will be some who say that Hamilton’s 2017 victory in the driver’s championship eventuated only because of Ferrari’s unreliability but it simply isn’t the whole story. While a driver can only be as good as his car the Mercedes hasn’t been the quickest car this year on several occasions. But still Hamilton’s relentless ability to churn out performances, especially in qualifying, is admirable and what has won him another world title.

    Expectedly, questions of whether he can or should be considered one of the greatest drivers of all time will abound. But it’s a difficult question to answer given how the sport and its drivers have transformed in its six decades of existence. There likely isn’t a definitive answer to this question, which will probably always boil down to personal opinion. But what is indisputable is the fact that Lewis Hamilton is easily one of the best drivers of his generation. Hamilton’s championship triumph also means that he stands alone as the only British driver with four titles. Take a bow Lewis Hamilton.

    All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport

  • 2017 Mexico Grand Prix: Post Qualifying Press Conference

    2017 Mexico Grand Prix: Post Qualifying Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

    2 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)

    3 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    TRACK INTERVIEWS
    (Conducted by Damon Hill)

    Sebastian, what a great lap, tell us all about it?

    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, it was quite a lap I have to say, I’m really, really happy. It’s very difficult here. It’s very slippery and difficult to get everything in one lap. I had a little bit in the first sector and I managed to get that right, so I had a good start. Then I had a bit of a moment in I think Turn 6. I nearly lost it there, I had to go down to first gear, but I didn’t lose any time and then I knew in the last sector if I just kept it clean across the line it should be enough and it was, so really, really happy.

    You’ve had to work really hard, I think Ferrari have really been working all weekend trying to get close. Is the car the racecar you want to have tomorrow?

    SV: Yeah, yesterday wasn’t that good for us in all honesty, but I think overnight we improved, we had a lot of things we worked on and changed and they all worked. So for now I’m really happy. For tomorrow, we’ll see what happens, but the race pace should be good.

    Max, what a tremendous effort. We really thought you had pole there. I expect you thought you had it too. Great performance, great qualifying, tell us about your laps?

    Max VERSTAPPEN: I’m super annoyed. I don’t know. Actually in Q3 it just got a bit more difficult, couldn’t really get the tyres to work. Of course, yeah, second is good, but not in the way I want.

    Well, I’m thinking you probably feel like you deserve a podium don’t you?

    MV: Well, deserve is a big word but I gave it my all today in qualifying but it was just not enough. I really wanted that pole position but at least we have a decent starting position.

    Well, we’ve seen what you can do today, what a terrific effort. Thank you very much for showing us what your talent is all about. Lewis, you tried everything today, but maybe the Mercedes is not the car for this track today. What’s going on there?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah, I mean those guys did a great job, they’re obviously very quick. I gave it everything I could, honestly I think the last lap could have been a couple of tenths quicker but still I wouldn’t have been able to match these guys.

    As far as the championship goes, you’re not concerned with where Ferrari is, where Seb is, they’ve done everything they need to do?

    LH: We’re still in the running for the win I think. We’ll see what happens with Max, but I’m hoping that I get to at least have a battle with one of them.

    Big day tomorrow, wishing you all the best for tomorrow. Seb, what needs to happen? You’ve got a slender chance left now for the world championship. You just have to go down that empty track and take the race for yourself do you?

    SV: I mean we have to maximise every session, whether it’s practice or qualifying. Obviously today is really important and tomorrow we see. You know yourself, it’s not as much in my control as I would like it to be, so it depends on what Lewis is doing, but for us we go all out. We attack and see what we can do. We deserve a good result, Ferrari deserves a good result so let’s see what we can do tomorrow.

     

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Well, Sebastian it looked like a great lap, but let’s start by talking about 50 pole positions. What does that number mean to you?

    SV: It sounds like a lot. I guess it is a lot. I don’t know really what to say. It’s a big number. I’m very, very happy with today. Before qualifying I didn’t look at it that way, so I was surprised myself to hear just now. I think every session you try to get the best. Quali has obviously been tough for us, and really rewarding when it worked, just like today. So really, really happy with the session that we had, with the lap I had at the end. So I think at the moment, right now, that probably means more than the raw number, but for sure overall it’s a great achievement.

    And how confident were you of getting pole position in Q3 given the pace of the man sitting on your right?

    SV: Yeah, he was very quick in Q2. I don’t know where he pulled that one from, so we had to stretch, I think, all of us. It’s very difficult around here because there is not much running I believe. The altitude has a different affect on the asphalt in terms of ageing, so it’s very slippery for all of us, very easy to do a mistake, very difficult to find that limit, to understand where exactly it is, where you can push, where you can’t, where you have to be careful. And then he foes four tenths quicker than everybody else, it’s a bit “how do I do that?” But I knew if I get the first sector together then I’ll have a better chance and yeah, it worked just in the end, so I was really happy with my first sector, so I was really happy with my first sector. And then I was able to build on that. Had a moment in six, where I nearly lost the car, but managed to go through without any time loss. From there I felt really comfortable and again able to push to the end. Obviously when I saw how much I was up crossing the line, I knew it would be close, but it should be enough. But I didn’t know what the others are doing; I guess the track improved a bit. When I heard it was enough, then, yeah, it’s like an explosion in the car. I had one yesterday with the extinguisher but today was a real one, so I’m really happy.

    Q: Coming to you Max, Sebastian has just been eulogising about your pace in Q2, so how frustrated are you that you’re not the man sitting in the middle this afternoon?

    MV: I mean you always try to go for pole position and Q2 was looking really good but somehow in Q3 I couldn’t switch the tyres on and, yeah, I couldn’t go faster, simple as that. On this track, it’s really slippery and for me the front tyres were not working, so just a bit of understeer and, on this track, you need to turn the car very quickly in the very low-speed corners and that was not happening in Q3, so I couldn’t improve. Yeah, of course, I mean second is still a good place but I think, yeah, especially after Q2 I was hoping for more.

    Q: Is there anything you might have done differently, with hindsight in Q3?

    MV: It’s difficult to say. Basically, we did exactly the same thing as in Q2 but both sets, they didn’t really switch on as well as I had in Q2. Somehow also the last sector was a bit more difficult. So yeah, really difficult to understand but sometimes you have that in qualifying, that you put a new set on and somehow it’s a bit more tricky.

    Q: Lewis, can you just talk us through that session from your point of view – because the gap between yourself and pole is unusually big.

    LH: Well, firstly, congratulations to Sebastian with the Number 50. I tried to deny him it but it wasn’t to be this weekend. Yeah, I think it was a difficult session in general. I think it’s been a difficult weekend, I would say, overall. As Max was saying, it’s very slippery here. I think some of the issues we have with the car are a little bit highlighted here. Perhaps not as big as places like Singapore but a little bit more here. I gave it everything I could. I think the gap really is a couple of tenths more. My last lap I was two-tenths up and I didn’t finish it, but still that’s a significant gap. I think they just did a great job. I think their car was working a little bit better this weekend, and yeah, we’re still there in the fight. I think our long run pace is definitely better than our qualifying pace.

    Q: I was going to say, you did a very long run in practice. How confident are you of your race pace?

    LH: As I said, the race pace is good, so not worried about that – but you can’t overtake here, you need a big delta to overtake, I think it’s over a second delta to the car in front, as far as I’m aware – 1.3s or something – so positioning is important but there’s a long way down to Turn One. So, we should have some fun tomorrow.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Rodrigo Amozurrutia de Anzorena – Récord) Sebastian, will it be special for you to win the race where maybe Lewis will get the World Championship.

    SV: Well, I don’t think we need to debate what’s the bigger cup. For us, it’s pretty straightforward. I don’t think it’s much point looking at what others are doing, what Lewis is doing. I think the position we are in, we need to try and maximise everything we can and then, depends on him. It’s pretty straightforward, I would say but for sure this is a very nice race, a very nice atmosphere and I think tomorrow there will be even more people than today and yeah, last year I think we were fighting for the podium and weren’t sure who was supposed to be there, so this year I hope that y’know.

    MV: I’m used to it, I’ve had practice…

    SV: … so when we get to the podium, we end up there and deserve it.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – Globoesporte.com) Max, what influence the new engine of Renault engine you use already in Austin, this qualifying? And Lewis, maybe you have some problem in the power unit. Are you worried concerning the race?

    MV: A tickle difference. But y’know, every step is positive so I think they can learn a lot for next year, which is positive already, in terms of reliability, so it’s always good to already have that right now.

    And Lewis, any engine dramas for you? We did hear you in practice on the radio.

    LH: It’s not something I’m thinking too much about but it has not been a clean weekend in terms of the power unit, so we’ll see what happens.

    Q: (Rik Spekenbrink – Ad Sportwereld) Question for Max. What do you make of the incident with Bottas?

    MV: Which incident? I was on the inside, he was just doing his line and he locked up, so there was no incident.

    We heard there was some investigation

    MV: That can be. But for me, there is no incident.

    Q: (Mariana Jiménez – Record) Lewis, you said the race pace is better for tomorrow than the qualifying but what could stop you from winning tomorrow and would you like to get your fourth title, even though you don’t win tomorrow?

    LH: Yeah, I mean that’s obviously the goal. Pole position was obviously the goal today but it just wasn’t meant to be. Honestly it was so close through practice and I think it’s the first time it’s been so close between five or six of us which is exciting and put us all under pressure but as I said, a lot of very good qualifying sessions I’ve had this year… it wasn’t at the top of those. But I think, as I said, overtaking here is very difficult but the start’s going to be fun. I’m hoping I’m able to move forwards there if possible and then after that it’s a one stop strategy here so it’s really how you look after your tyres’ degradation but there’s not really much degradation if any. I think in the race it’s going to be very very tough but I hope that I will remain at least close if I’m not where I want to be in turn one but yeah, winning here would be…. If you’ve seen the crowd today it’s such a spectacle from above. I saw the camera from the helicopter, it looks incredible. There’s a lot of energy in the crowd so to do it on Mexican soil would be pretty neat.

    Q: (Jim Vertuno – Associated Press) For all three of you: at one point in different points of the race last year you all had issues, adventures around that first turn. How do you think the kerbs and the changes there are going to affect how aggressive you can be off the start between the three of you?

    SV: Well, you don’t want to go there, simple as that. I know that last year we had a bit of discussion here and there but personally I don’t like… we might as well put a wall. I think for the guys it’s probably the same. We all try to get the corner, every time we go round. Obviously sometimes we don’t but it is what it is.

    MV: I do think this year it’s normally a little bit easier. We don’t arrive as fast and we have more downforce compared to last year so the locking is a little bit less of an issue but of course turn one, if you really want to go for it, you can always brake a bit too late but I think those kerbs really stop you from like braking ridiculously late, for sure.

    LH: I don’t really have much more to say, it’s the same.

    Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) Max, you’ve often shown that you’re a young man without fear, you don’t care if it’s a red car, silver car and you’ve often said that these guys have everything to lose and you don’t. Are you planning to take advantage of that tomorrow?

    MV: You’re always careful. I think everybody here in the paddock wants to win races so if you see that opportunity of course you go for it but I think you always respect your competitor.

    Q: (Frank – Woestenburg De Telegraaf) Max, you’ve been here a couple of days. The altitude, is that a factor for you?

    MV: Personally not, because it’s actually quite nice because you don’t sweat as much but of course for the car it’s a lot of downforce loss, I think it’s even less than Monza so yes, it’s a bit more tricky and then also with the track I think in general being a bit slippery, then with a lot of loss of downforce compared to normal tracks yeah, that’s a bit more difficult but personally or like physically it’s all good.

    Q: (Carlos Alberto Velázquez – Reforma News) Lewis, have you thought how you will celebrate tomorrow if you win your fourth championship here in Mexico?

    LH: I haven’t and I won’t think of it until I achieve it.

  • F1 2017: Mexican Gp Quali Report – Vettel Delivers

    F1 2017: Mexican Gp Quali Report – Vettel Delivers

    Sebastian Vettel has delivered a stunning lap to secure pole position for the 2017 Mexican grand prix.

    The Ferrari driver had it all to do in qualifying and he delivered with a quite stunning lap to take pole position for the Mexican grand prix. Alongside on the front row, and less than a tenth adrift, is Max Verstappen who looked in fine form throughout the quali session.

    Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas will share the second row in third and fourth with a 5th place or better all that Hamilton needs to secure his fourth driver’s championship title. Kimi Raikkonen and Esteban Ocon will share the third row in fifth and sixth respectively.

    The second Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo was mysteriously off the pace and will start Sunday’s race in seventh overall. Meanwhile, Nico Hulkenberg, Carlos Sainz, and local hero Sergio Perez will round out the top ten.

    While Brendon Hartley set the 13th quickest time overall he was a no-show in Q2 as yet another unreliability issue put an end to Toro Rosso’s participation. This comes after teammate Pierre Gasly did not even start quali due to a engine change stemming from a failure in free practice three.

    With tyre degradation likely to reduce the Mexican grand prix to a one-stopper it will all hang on the run to turn one for Mercedes as both Ferrari and Red Bull have shown a better long run pace than the Silver Arrows.

  • 2017 Mexico Grand Prix: Hamilton on the Threshold of Greatness

    2017 Mexico Grand Prix: Hamilton on the Threshold of Greatness

    There are some out there that feel that Lewis Hamilton’s world titles at Mercedes came because he had the best car under him and some would give more credit to the cars that Mercedes have built than to the driver. Truth of the matter is that to win one world title is hard enough. Just look at how much it took out of Nico Rosberg. To win three takes astounding dedication and drive, not only from the driver but from everyone in the team. Hamilton, on the threshold of becoming World Champion for the 4th time, should be admired and respected and if he does clinch the title this weekend, he’ll become the most successful British driver in Formula One history.

    Hamilton heads into the Mexico Grand Prix weekend a massive 66 points ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel in the drivers’ championship and only needs to finish 5th or higher to become world champion. It won’t matter if Vettel wins, unless Hamilton is lower than 5th. A scenario that is quite unlikely given the bulletproof reliability of the Mercedes power unit this season.

    After the United States Grand Prix Vettel looked resigned to the fact that he had lost the world title. It was a race that he needed to win but the pace of Hamilton in the Mercedes was too much for Ferrari. Ferrari will not give up and neither will Vettel as long as there is a chance. Hamilton, of course, is never going to take it easy. He’s a sportsman and he will do everything he can to win the race.

    Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez

    This is the 3rd installment of the Mexico Grand Prix in modern F1. The circuit is 4.304km long with 17 corners. A mix of high-speed sweeps and slow technical sections brings some balance to the circuit. The long straight preceded by the long right-handed Turn 17 sees cars reaching speeds upwards of 360km/h with a tow and DRS before Turn 1. The cars this year, with the increased downforce, are not expected to reach those speeds.

    Teams tend to run full downforce setups around the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez despite the high-speed nature of the circuit due to the high elevation of the circuit. The highest point of the circuit is at Turn 6 with an elevation of 2 229m above sea level. Higher elevation means the thinner air than at sea level, the thinner the air, the harder the wings and diffusers need to work.

    Pirelli goes a step softer

    Pirelli has brought the yellow marked soft, the red marked super soft, and the purple marked ultra soft tyres to the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. It’s the first time the ultra soft will meet the tarmac in Mexico since the first race in 2015. We should see some lap records being broken this weekend.

    The asphalt around the circuit is relatively new and quite smooth which puts degradation in the lower end of the scale. The twisty middle sector and slow final sector should put the ultra soft to the test.

    Weather this weekend is expected to be mild so thermal degradation should be low as well.

    Teams will have to get to grips with the ultra soft since it will be used for the first time. Although it will be used as a qualifying tyre, the long run pace and degradation will be important as it is expected to be a one stop race.

    Mid-Field Battle for Supremacy

    The top four positions in the Constructors’ Championship are all but confirmed with Mercedes already winning the Constructors’ Championship at the US Grand Prix.

    The battle for 5th between Williams (68 points), Toro Rosso (53 points), Renault (48 points) and Haas (43 points) is reaching the business end in these final few races and you can expect some hard racing between them.

    The circuit characteristics of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez should favour the Williams setup, but Renault with Carlos Sainz and Nico Hulkenberg are not far from closing the gap to the Grove-based outfit and Toro Rosso.

    Toro Rosso who have Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley in the cars for what looks like the remaining races of the season will find it hard to hold off Renault in these final few and if Haas can get their balance issues sorted out, could potentially overhaul Toro Rosso who are just 10 points behind the Faenza based team.

    As much fun as it was watching the title challenge unfold, it’s worth keeping an eye on the battle in the mid-field. We can expect some great racing and epic battles between the teams and drivers.

  • F1 2017: US Gp Review – Unstoppable Hamilton Supreme in Texas

    F1 2017: US Gp Review – Unstoppable Hamilton Supreme in Texas

    If Sebastian Vettel’s chance of winning the 2017 driver’s title were slim going into the United States grand prix they’ve now all but evaporated. Lewis Hamilton delivered a controlled drive to not only win in Texas but also ensure Mercedes as the 2017 constructor’s champions.

    Despite Hamilton’s 72nd pole position Sebastian Vettel tried his damnedest to reduce the points gap. While the Ferrari driver had good pace it wasn’t enough to keep Hamilton at bay who retook the lead and built a solid gap of around four seconds before the first round of stops.

    It was Ferrari and Vettel who opted into the pitlane first in the hopes that a few laps on fresh tyres could see the jump Hamilton and it nearly worked too. Hamilton and Vettel went wheel-to-wheel as he exited the pitlane with Mercedes holding onto the lead by his fingernails.

    Bottas, Ricciardo, and Raikkonen had been keeping a watching brief behind the championship protagonists while involved in their own exhilarating scrap for the final podium position. Unfortunately, Ricciardo’s challenge was felled by an engine problem that ultimately forced his retirement from the race.

    50His Red Bull teammate however was scything the field at an impressive rate. Verstappen, who’d started sixteenth due to power unit penalties, had taken as others dived into the pitlane. By the time he completed his own stop for new tyres he emerged fifth overall. Stuck a bit in no man’s land Red Bull opted for another stop and with thirteen laps to go fitted a fresh set of supersoft tyres. Vettel, with not much to lose, opted for the same strategy in the hopes of pulling off a spectacular comeback.

    This promoted Bottas to second with Raikkonen on his gearbox. The Ferrari driver snatched second with an impressive move on the back strait and promptly moved over for a flying Vettel on fresh rubber within the next few laps.

    Similiarly, Verstappen new tyres was allowing him to lap more than a second faster than Bottas and Raikkonen. He took fourth around the outside of Bottas with five laps to go and proceeded to stalk the back of Raikkonen’s Ferrari who was now on 38-lap old soft tyres. Verstappen’s eventual dive down the inside of Raikkonen in the final sequence of corners got him third across the line but he’d done so illegally. From replays it was evident that Verstappen had all four wheels beyond the track limit while overtaking Raikkonen. Race stewards deemed that he gained an advantage by cutting the track and awarded him a five second penalty that re-installed Raikkonen to third.

    22553383_218269682045207_4543058910359125085_o-768x432There likely isn’t a Verstappen fan on the planet that wouldn’t bemoan the penalty. However, while his driver was enormously impressive and exciting the penalty was rather cut and dried. Elsewhere Valtteri Bottas finished a distant fifth after a late race pitstop nearly a minute ahead of Force India’s Esteban Ocon in sixth. Carlos Sainz impressed with a tremendous seventh place in his first race for Renault while Sergio Perez, Felipe Massa and the returning Daniil Kvyat rounded out the top ten.

    The happiest of the lot was undoubtedly Lewis Hamilton who not only took career win number 62 but also a definitive step towards a fourth world title. As F1 heads across the border to Mexico this weekend Hamilton needs only to finish fifth or higher to become the 2017 drivers champion.

  • 2017 United States Grand Prix: Post Qualifying Press Conference

    2017 United States Grand Prix: Post Qualifying Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    2 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

    3 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)

     

    TRACK INTERVIEWS

    Cowboy Lewis, and you rode that car beautifully around there and you even left a couple of ‘11s’ on the lap coming down out of Turn 1. The first sector wasn’t perfect but the lap was good enough to beat everybody today?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah, the team have done a great job. The track was very difficult today, guys. With the wind picking up, you’ve got a headwind into Turn 1, a tailwind out of Turn1. Through the fast section, sector one, there’s tailwind and then you’ve got a headwind into Turn 9 and so it’s shifting the whole way through the lap, so you’re kind of gauging how hard you can push and how hard you have to let off. But that’s why I love this track, man. It’s such a fantastic circuit to drive, I love it, especially when you have a car you can really drive, it’s great.

     

    And the heat as well, on those open parts of the circuit, it is so intense.

    LH: I mean, it’s always hot in the car. I think it’s just the right temperature today. It’s not too hot, the sun’s out, we can at least enjoy it, I mean the guys out here are not getting a sun tan but still… It’s going to be a great race tomorrow, it’s going to be a tough one, because looking after the tyres in these conditions is still tough but I’m the best prepared I can be.

     

    Sebastian, you needed this front row, man, didn’t you, to take this championship fight, to keep the pressure on him, to keep the heat on him. How much did you have to draw out of yourself for that lap, because it was a brilliant lap?

    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, I was very happy in the end, but I was lacking a bit the rhythm, especially the transition of the first to second sector, it was quite tricky with the wind, so I struggled a bit there. But finally I got it right, in the last run, when it mattered. As you said, important obviously to get front row, because I believe our race pace is really good. I quali all year we’ve been just a little bit behind, so well done to Lewis, obviously, he did two great laps and yeah, looking forward to tomorrow now.

     

    All the talk this week has been about what Lewis needs to do to win the title this weekend. What you need to do is win this race, do you think you can?

    SV: Not just here, it would be good to win also the others. But we go day by day. We were lacking a bit of running yesterday. Today was a lot better. I was getting up to speed and it was there when it mattered, but the race is tomorrow. It’s a great track, a great place, a lot of people, so it should be a good day tomorrow.

     

    And a big run up to Turn 1 as well. Well done, many congratulations. Valtteri, not quite the front row today. I guess a little bit disappointed but the pace is there, the car looks great, how confident are you feeling for the race?

    Valtteri BOTTAS: Definitely disappointing, you know. It was looking good for us and quite close with Lewis as well at some points, so disappointing, but there is always tomorrow.

     

    Well done. Lewis, back to you. Nick is here this weekend, adoring fans in the grandstand, which is pretty much your second home here in the States. I know how much you love it, you wrapped up your third title here, is it going to be four tomorrow?

    LH: I think It’s highly unlikely that will be the case. Sebastian did a great job today to bring the Ferrari back up there. Ultimately all I can do is the best I can of my abilities and we have to work as hard as we can to get maximum points. Sebastian is right there, so unless he makes a silly mistake, which is unlikely, he’s a four-time world champion, then we’re going to be seeing it continue on to other races.

     

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Lewis, how good was that opening lap [of Q3], the one that followed and generally how are you feeling?

    LH: I feel fantastic. I feel very fresh and happy and naturally always wish that qualifying would go longer because it’s the most fun session of the weekend. In general, very happy with all of qualifying. The last was not spectacular but up until then generally very, very strong. The team have done an exceptional job all weekend in filtering all of the data that we’ve got to really put the car in the right place and enable me, again, have the opportunity to exploit that. This is such a fantastic circuit, because just the layout and the way the wind comes and intertwines with the corners, it really makes it challenging, you know, so when you are going through the ‘Esses’ it’s not all the same through them, then you come out and you’ve got a headwind and then a crosswind and then you’ve got a headwind and a tailwind. So you’re constantly dancing with the wind. That I do love. On the last lap, I got caught out by a bit of a gust but that’s how it goes but yeah really happy to be up here, especially in front of such a great crowd.

     

    And you had a low 1m33s on that first run, when you went out for that final run did you think that with a perfect lap it might be possible to get a high 1m32s or was that too much to hope for?

    LH: It never even crossed my mind! I don’t even know what time I did if I’m really honest! What was it?

     

    I think it was a 33.2 or something like that.

    LH: I think I was up on that last one. I think on a perfect lap I could get down into the 32s but it’s very hard out there in those conditions.

     

    Very well done, great job. Sebastian from your point of view it’s a story of recovery really. We saw your old chassis being wheeled out yesterday, a new chassis being built up overnight. Tell us about that process, how you got back into it, and how you feel to be able to split the Mercedes?

    SV: I think we are very happy with the result. It was obviously crucial to get that final run. Bit of a slow start. We had a couple of problems, I didn’t feel comfortable yesterday with the car, and we did hardly any laps. Obviously I lost the car very early in FP2, which didn’t help and I thought that there’s something not right. Obviously a big job overnight. The team was fantastic, the mechanics now had a couple of weekends in a row with a lot of work, with last-minute engine changes, now a chassis change overnight and they didn’t break the curfew. You know you’re allowed to use a certain time before everybody has to leave the garages and if you do that big job there is always a threat but I think they did another re3cord time to change. Obviously it’s not what we want, but obviously today was a lot better, I was much happier with the car. I’m glad it worked out. And not finding the rhythm straight away in quali, I struggled a bit in a couple of corners but I knew if I get them right I should be able to make a big step in the final run, so I was very happy. I think in the end we were closer than probably we even expected so for today, but for tomorrow I think if the car behaves like today it should be good.

     

    Valtteri, conditions this weekend for this session the hottest of the weekend so far, how did the car feel and what are you expecting from the race?

    VB: Well, as Lewis said it was quite a tricky session with the wind and every lap was always a little bit different. We have been making quite big set-up changes in the weekend and definitely made the car quicker but quite tricky car for me to drive at least. I just struggled really with the pace and the laps they felt good, I just couldn’t go quicker. Lewis did a good job again.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Lewis, you are the fastest guy all weekend. Do you think in race conditions you can keep also. In Malaysia you said you had doubts in the race, is it the same case here. And to Valtteri, you did an incredible first sector, in the strongest points of Lewis in this circuit, but then the lap was not so fast as the first part, why?

    LH: We know we’re often good through practice and qualifying but then the races are always a tricky one for us in terms of balance. We’re not terrible but you would think that we’re generally stronger in qualifying than we are in race, that’s been the case all year. But I think we’re good. I think I’ve got a good set of tyres, I think I’ve got a good balance for tomorrow. I’m looking forward to a good race with Sebastian and Valtteri. This is a track where you can follow a lot closer and even overtake as that race me and Sebastian had back in 2012 here, which was great, but I don’t plan on him getting that close but we shall see. But I think we will be OK tomorrow.

     

    VB: I didn’t understand the question.

     

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) I said you did a fantastic first part of the lap, you were the fastest guy at that moment, but then the rest of the lap was not so good.

    VB: In Q3. Yeah, I couldn’t improve in the second run. The first run felt OK, but Lewis managed to gain somehow more from Q2 to Q3 and I couldn’t really. I couldn’t find any track improvement. Like I said it was not easy sessions, every lap was a bit different but there were no big mistakes, just small things here and there as I feel for all the drivers but there was just this big gap.

    Q: (Christian Menath – Motorsport-Magazin.com) Question for Sebastian. Would you compare the situation you had today in Q3 in the last lap with the one you had in Japan where you saw the gap was quite to the front runners? Or was it completely the opposite – because you knew he had to be a bit more on the safe side to get these two corners right. And which two corners was it?

    SV: Well, I struggled a bit into Turn Eight, so Eight-Nine then it’s a succession up the hill. Obviously, the wind was quite tricky all day really. In the morning, I thought it was fine. In the afternoon, I just started on the wrong foot. It wasn’t really a question of stepping down, or calming down. It was more a question of getting it right. The shots that I had before, I obviously tried. Maybe I did take a little bit more risk but it never really worked – and then yeah, I knew what I had to get right, so I got it right. That was the most important but obviously in Japan I was fairly comfortable, let’s say, front row, no matter what Valtteri was going to do, so I decided to take a bit more risk but it was very different here, obviously. My lap was very poor in Q3 and I knew that I had to deliver otherwise I would have been, I don’t know, not even top six maybe. Therefor the timing was just right.

     

    Q: (Jeff Gluck – Jeffgluck.com) Lewis, how has your relationship with the American fans evolved over the years? It seems like you’ve soaked up the relationship with the American fans and the adoration that they have for you. How has that evolved for you over the years here?

    LH: Yeah, I think it’s been an interesting journey for me. I think it’s… my love of America started many, many years before I even came to the States, watching movies and seeing these great cities, like New York and all over. My Mum actually saved up to bring me to New York for my 17th birthday and we had an amazing few days. It kind of grew from then. And obviously coming here, racing here, my first… my second grand prix win but first race in the US was Indy and that was an amazing feeling. A great battle that I had with Fernando, and then obviously moving here. I don’t know why it’s always gone so well for me here but there definitely is a… I do feel a lot of positivity here. It is such a great country, it’s got so much to offer. Obviously, you’ve got great mountains, great countryside, great seaside, great food. There’s not really anything it doesn’t have. Plus you’ve got NASA here, which is pretty awesome. Rocket! I like that. So yeah, and I generally feel like, obviously… naturally I think people, Americans really do relate to… they’re crazy into their sports, they relate to winners, and obviously the fact I’ve had the success that I’ve had here I think comes hand-in-hand with that relationship but I really do appreciate the support that I have here and it does feel like a second home for me. It’s a place that I try to spend as much time as I can in my off-time ‘cos it’s where I’m generally happiest.

     

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) A question to Sebastian. You obviously didn’t do many laps yesterday. How much could you recover in P3, in terms of race preparation?

    SV: Not much. Obviously, we had a touch of a small long run, I think two timed laps, so we’re missing a bit. As the season progresses everybody gets better in terms of reading the sessions, understanding the tyres so I don’t think we’re in any weaker position. Would have been nice to do more laps but the little laps that I had this morning were fine. I think we know what we need to do. Now we see what the conditions are like. It’s supposed to be a bit cooler, we’ll see what the wind does. We have to react to those. That’s far more important that maybe what we’ve missed, because that has an impact on how your balance is in the first stint and then how you are able to feel the car push or not and then put pressure on whoever’s in front or disappear if you’re ahead, or whatever.

     

    Q: (Luis Vasconcelos – Formula Press) Questions to Valtteri and Sebastian. For Valtteri, three-quarters of the time you’re losing to Lewis is all in the last sector, he was three-tenths quicker than you. Is there something not to your liking in the car in that kind of corner. And for Sebastian, even though it’s not as bad as in the first two years, there’s still a difference in grip on the two sides of the grid. Does that worry you for the start tomorrow?

    VB: Yes, definitely the last sector in the qualifying I did struggle more. It felt more tricky for some reason than, for example, in some of the practice sessions. There’s been things I’ve been struggling with, with this car, with the brake modulation and front-locking and transferring the weight between the four wheels. It’s fine details but just struggled to get it together. Many times 13 and 15, lost a bit of time. Sometimes I got it right but still I couldn’t match Lewis in terms of cornering speeds, etcetera – but yeah, those are the longest corners, slow speed corners and normally the bigger differences are there.

     

    And Sebastian, the grip differential.

    SV: I don’t know. We see tomorrow. I saw Formula 4 race but they start on the other side, so the polesitter starts left. Anyway, the guy who started left turned in first into the first corner, so I don’t know. I don’t think there’s a big difference. We just need to make sure the cheerleaders tomorrow stay away from that side and they can get all excited on Lewis’ side.

     

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / Speed Sport) Lewis, you mentioned the rockets. F1 has a lot of high technology. A lot of it is kept hidden. What did you like about the high technology that you got to see at NASA?

    LH: Well, to be honest, a lot of the technology I saw quite pre-dated. The most impressive thing was the big rocket that was one of the first rockets to go up in the ‘70s, and the engine technology of the most power has not progressed since then, from what they told me. That was like the best they could do with it. I think the most impressive thing for it is that it had like 1.5million pounds of torque in those five engines, and the distance of the blast of the jet was like two or three hundred metres, which was awesome. I think it was just mind-blowing to see what they were able to do. How amazing the technology, and how great the scientists were back in the ‘60s, ‘70s when they were building those space rockets, and then obviously now they’re planning more missions to the Moon, and Mars, and the new space station, I guess they’re going to have to start designing and building the new space station sometime because the life of that thing’s about to run out. I think it was just great. There’s no other country that I’ve ever been… everyone around the world knows about the journey to space. You see the movies and it’s so fascinating, so to be there and actually speak to an astronaut who was the last one to go up to the space station and is going to be the one to pilot the next mission, I was like: “Can I join you? Or we can swap jobs, I don’t mind doing your job.” It’s just mind-blowing when you think of how many intelligent people there are there working. I think there’s something like 10,000 people working at NASA but I think there was a lot more in the earlier days and there are similarities to Formula One. Obviously on a much, much smaller scale but in terms of the science. Honestly, I’m a space geek. I was there and I was asking a million questions and I’d happily go and work at NASA if I had the brains to do so. I could definitely pilot one of those ships. No problem!

     

    Q: (Les Kaiser – Speed City) Lewis you half way joked when you responded “can I do with you?” How serious would you be if they approached you in another year or two to join them?

    LH: I would go immediately. I would go tomorrow. Generally, the trips are, like, two weeks, so I’d be back in time for the next trip. After the race, jump on the Shuttle, no problem. No, I really, really would love to go. I know someone that has gone up. It was quite expensive so I don’t know how that’s going to happen. If I win the lottery then definitely, I’m going to go.

     

    Q: (Peter Habicht – The Auto Channel) Question to each of the drivers: Formula One has often been described as a space race in motorsports in comparison to other forms of motorsport. Who or what about the hundreds of people that support your cars, your efforts, impresses you the most or strikes you the strongest?

    SV: Well, if you open the bonnet and you’re allowed to have a good look, which normally people unfortunately are not, they don’t get too close to the cars, then you’ll be impressed by how much stuff there is going on, especially with the new engines that we have, how complex they are. But still, we manage to get (them to be) more and more robust, run for longer with more power so obviously in the last couple of years that has been very crucial and there has been a big step in all areas on the power unit side. But I think really the most impressive bit is how everything comes together. You know you talk about the car in the end but it’s so much more. I know we’ve got the basic stuff: four tyres and yeah, for some people the cars look similar to how they looked ten, twenty, thirty years ago but how much has changed.  And seeing all that coming together, the planning of the project and how much work is going into the project and every year build a new car which is crazy but a completely new car. You try to improve, you try to come up with new ideas, solutions, better packaging, design, materials. You want to save weight. And then to see winter time, in that regard, is very very exciting to see it coming together and then firing up for the first time, driving out on the track for the first time. It’s really the work and brains of more than a thousand people. In the end, two drivers per team who have the chance to describe the feeling to drive the car so I think that’s really one of the most exciting bits. In my opinion, that also makes it a team sport because I can’t do it on my own, I’m not even close. You need every single one and you need to… I don’t know if you can compare it to an orchestra, you need to play in sync, perfect timing and then only then are you able to come up with a competitive package because the other teams that you’re up against are so good as well.

    VB: I have to say it’s how much every single person’s work actually makes a difference. Every single woman and man in a race team, whatever areas they work on, at the factory, in the race team, on the engine side, everyone’s work matters so much. All the credit goes to every single one in the team, there’s no one person who can make the big difference. It is, as a team, it’s really interesting to see, when a team works well, together, how big a difference you can make with the team spirit, and if everyone gives 100 percent instead of 99 percent and when there’s nearly a thousand people, it makes a massive difference and that’s nice to see.

    LH: I will try and keep it short but for me it’s the technology, it’s the design. I think the most impressive part is when you go back to the factory and you see what’s going on back then, a huge group of people with great creative minds coming together and really stretching the boundaries of the rules, legality-wise and advancing technology at a crazy rate. When you look at how they’re building these engines and the amount of test components you see they’ve failed and then they are able to dissect it and improve it for the next time, that for me is just mind-blowing when I go there, and I’ve been in the sport for a long time, obviously, but to see that every year, growing and improving and the process in which they do that, particularly quality control, has come so far forward which is probably why we are able to have the reliability, and that for me is the most mind-blowing thing.

     

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) To Sebastian and Lewis: at this race we can have the world title decided and we haven’t mentioned it in this press conference. Does it come to your mind at any moment? When will you take it into consideration?

    LH: Well, I mean it’s a bit like a game of chess. Obviously right now it’s check but there’s still a long long way to go. There’s still a hundred points available. Sebastian and his team are going to be working as hard as they can as are we. Who knows? It’s going to go to the wire I still think. In the next four races, I think they are going to give it a great shot and I’m going to do my utmost to try and defend and not only defend but really maximise and win these races. I want to win these races, that’s what I’m working towards and naturally, in winning races, points come and championships are won so that’s what I’m here to do.

    SV: Well, it’s pretty straightforward. I think we have to win and then we see what happens. Obviously we are not in the position that we would like to be but still we have a chance so we go for that and it’s pretty straightforward. We have the car, we had the car to win the last three races, didn’t happen, so I don’t see why the next four races we shouldn’t have the package to win so we start tomorrow.

     

    LH: Buddy, do you have a question for us? Do you have a question for us? You sure?

     

    Q: (“Buddy”) Are you excited to race in Austin?

    LH: Am I excited to race in Austin? Well I’m excited to meet you and yeah, I love racing this track, it’s so much fun, I think you’d love it. If I had a two-seater would like to go with me?

     

    Q: (Christian Menath – Motorsport Magazin.com) Question for all three of you: it was pretty hot today, how much did you have to look at tyre temperatures, especially with ultrasoft in the fast flowing sector one or is the straight afterwards long enough to cool it down? How much was tyre temperature a concern for one lap today?

    LH: I think tyres are definitely… I mean there are a lot of high speed corners here, what’s really unfortunate is that TV’s not really able to show you the forces that are going through not only our bodies but the tyres, the car, how it’s flexing through these corners. I think here more than many of the other circuits through that first section you really can see the car shifting and turning. I don’t think people realise how tight those corners are and how ridiculously fast we’re going through them but it’s fantastic. With these tyres, they’re kind of like living tissue, you know? The temperature’s moving all the time so how you manage them on the out lap, whether you get a small slide or a bit of wheelspin affects the next corner and the corner after that. It’s kind of difficult to explain but it is really important to make sure you manage them in the best way possible to get the optimum performance for a lap and there is a knack to it for sure which obviously we are able to do.

    VB: Nothing to add really. We could actually push relatively hard. Obviously we needed to take care on the out lap but like the first sector, we could really go for it and the long straights, they definitely make it easier to cool them down a bit but like Lewis said, you still need to not go crazy with them.

    SV: Well first of all I don’t like the imagination of living tissue; that just sounds a bit… Yeah, I think we would like to push more but you obviously have to look after the tyres and manage them which to some degree is fine because it’s part of our skill set but still I prefer to be able to push more.

  • F1 2017: United States GP – Friday Practice Round-up

    F1 2017: United States GP – Friday Practice Round-up

    Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton topped both of Friday’s free practice sessions ahead of the United States grand prix.

    The first session proved a rather difficult one to read as most of the running was done on the intermediate tyre. While conditions remained slippery, and tricky, several cars spun out but, thankfully, didn’t incur any damage.

    Brendon Hartley made his debut for the Toro Rosso team alongside Sean Geleal in the morning session while Daniel Kvyat returned to the fold for the afternoon session and the remainder of the weekend. Carlos Sainz impressed in his first outing as a Renault driver by immediately out-pacing his new teammate Nico Hulkenberg.

    While championship leader Hamilton topped both 90 minute sessions the Ferrari’s of Vettel and Raikkonen and Red Bull’s of Verstappen and Ricciardo were ever present. With regard to long run pace there appeared to be little to choose between the top three teams. However, Vettel and Ferrari endured some suspension issues late on the afternoon session which were seemingly sorted.

    With a raft of penalties to be served on Sunday’s grid the verdict is still out on whether Verstappen will incur his own penalty for a new Internal combustion engine. As it stands Red Bull have not yet revealed whether this will be the case.

    The organizers of the Texas Gp along with the FIA and F1 teams have all done their bit to highlight Breast Cancer Awareness month with everything from racing gloves to shoes to the ultra soft tyre being accented in pink for the weekend. In conjunction with the Susan G. Komen foundation F1 is hoping to shine a light on finding a cure for and spreading awareness of breast cancer.

    The weekend is  an ultra important one for Vettel and Ferrari who must win in Texas to keep the championship fight going. In contrast, Hamilton, sure to be the more relaxed of the two championship contenders, is sitting pretty with a 59 point lead.

  • Hamilton Dominates Friday Practice for 2017 US Grand Prix

    Hamilton Dominates Friday Practice for 2017 US Grand Prix

    Lewis Hamilton had a rather dominant Friday during both free practice sessions for the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

    Hamilton, who has one hand on the drivers championship trophy coming into this weekend, looked comfortable in his car as soon as he took to the track comfortably setting the fastest times for both sessions.

    Free Practice 1

    The session got off to a damp and overcast start after drizzle before the start of the session meant that the session started with drivers heading out on the intermediate tyres.

    Hamilton set the pace early on in the session on the intermediate tyres but was then beaten by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. As the track dried out, it was Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel who ventured out on the super soft tyre and immediately set the fastest lap at the time. Few runs later and Hamilton was once again the fastest of the session with a best time of 1:36.335.

    Vettel finished 2nd fastest more that half a second off the pace with a best time of 1:36.928. Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes finished 3rd fastest with a best time of 1:36.979.

    Max Verstappen finished 4th for Red Bull while team-mate Daniel Ricciardo could only manage 16th after the team decided to make a lengthy setup change to his car which meant he had to sit out quite a bit of the session.

    Stoffel Vandoorne finished 5th for McLaren with Felipe Massa for Williams in 6th. Kimi Raikkonen was 7th ahead of the Force India pair of Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez in 8th and 9th respectively.

    On his first outing with Renault, Carlos Sainz finished an impressive 10th.

    Although returning to F1 after a short break, Daniil Kvyat had to wait just a bit longer to get back in the car as Sean Geleal was given a FP1 outing. Sticking with Toro Rosso, Brandon Hartley, in his F1 debut finished his first session in 14th with a best time of 1:39.267


    Free Practice 2

    Free Practice 2 got underway with improved track conditions where once again, Lewis Hamilton set the pace on his ultra soft run with a 1:34.668.

    While Hamilton enjoyed the comfort of being the fastest is was a different story at Ferrari. While Kimi Raikkonen was able to enjoy some constant running, Sebastian Vettel ran into some trouble on his car and spent most of his time in the garage. Vettel was delayed in getting going in the session after Ferrari mechanics were working on his car. He emerged from the pits and got going. After a spin at Turn 19, he was back in the pits for a lengthy period.

    After emerging from the pits, he was back in his garage a lap later after reporting something wrong with his front axle. Vettel was able to get some running and put in a 3rd fastest lap of the session but it was still considerably off Hamilton’s time.

    Red Bull showed some good pace with Max Verstappen who finished the session 2nd fastest some 0.397s off Hamilton’s benchmark. Bottas was 4th fastest ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in 5th and fellow countryman Kimi Raikkonen in the second Ferrari in 6th.

    Fernando Alonso had a quiet but productive session and was rewarded with the 7th fastest time ahead of the Williams of Felipe Massa in 8th and the two Force India’s in 9th and 10th. Sergio Perez finishing ahead of his team mate this time.

    The tail wind at T19 which caught Vettel out caught out a few other drivers as well.

    Notable performances from Carlos Sainz in the Renault finishing ahead of team mate Hulkenberg while Daniil Kvyat finished 13th, laying down the challenge for Hartley who ended his session 17th fastest.

    Although just managing to complete 11 laps, Vettel seemed rather relaxed after the session. The long run pace of the Ferrari should be encouraging for him as it looks that Ferrari has the better race pace over Mercedes and Red Bull.

    It looks like it may be another smooth weekend for Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton while Vettel and Ferrari will have an uphill battle from here.

  • 2017 United States Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference – Part 1

    2017 United States Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference – Part 1

    PART ONE: DRIVERS – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes), Brendon HARTLEY (Toro Rosso), Carlos SAINZ (Renault), Marcus ERICSSON (Sauber)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Lewis, five-time US Grand Prix winner, three-time F1 world champion, US Grand Prix always a big one for your, personally and for the team, no doubt many commitments in the run-up to the event, but I just wondered how much you enjoyed your hours spent at NASA yesterday?

    Lewis HAMILTON : Good morning everyone, super happy to be here of course and had an incredible day yesterday, having a bit of a comedown today. I was just buzzed all day yesterday because it’s always been something I’ve wanted to do. It’s always something I’ve been fascinated about, space and space travel particularly. So to actually go there… and I had a million questions. I’m sure the guy got fed up with me. I asked a lot of questions and I got to see a lot of great things, some of the new technology they are working on and yeah, I want to go back.

     

    You stand on the threshold of your fourth Driver’s world championship this weekend, but does a part of you regret that the fight has sort of gone out of it now with all the misfortunes that Vettel and Ferrari suffered on the Asian leg in Singapore, Malaysia and Japan?

    LH: No I don’t feel any type of way about it.

     

    But obviously you’ve got such a massive margin now. There was such a tension throughout the season up to September but there’s much less tension now from your point of view, approaching the races?

    LH: Nothing has changed for me, man. Everything is exactly the same as it was going into the last race, going into the second half of the season; it’s exactly the same mentally for me. Maybe it’s changed from your perspective, but for me it hasn’t.

     

    Fair enough. Thanks for that. Marcus, the seats are filling up now for 2018. Are you comfortable with the position you are in and do you have any guarantees about next season?

    Marcus ERICSSON: I think in Formula One when you don’t have a contract signed you can never be comfortable, so it’s important for me to push hard now in the last few races to show that I should be on the grid for next year.

     

    You’ve never been outqualified I believe by a team-mate here at Austin, what do you like particularly about this track?

    ME: I didn’t know that but that’s good. I enjoy this track. I think it’s the best one of the new tracks on the calendar. It has a good mix of very fast corners. The first sector is really good fun to drive and really challenging and I look forward to driving it with these new cars as well. I think it’s going to be quite impressive. It’s a good mix of corners on this track and it’s enjoyable to driver.

     

    Turning to Brendon Hartley, 2017 Le Mans 24 Hours winner, welcome to your grand prix debut. Tell us, who called who, what part did Porsche play in it all and where is it all leading?

    Brendon HARTLEY: Good questions. Actually, when it was announced that Porsche would stop endurance racing in LMP1 for next year, I called Helmut Marko and I said: ‘Look, I’m a different driver than I was 10 years ago, I’ve learned a lot, and if there is ever and opportunity I am ready.” He didn’t say much, he just said he got the message, and three months later he made the call. This happened very quickly. I didn’t know about it much sooner than the press did. It’s been quite a whirlwind of a couple of weeks to arrive here. Yeah, I’m pretty relaxed at the moment, all things considered. Really looking forward to getting out on track. Obviously I’ve had quite a bit of time to chat to the engineers, to go through some data, a little bit of time on the sim. But I’m looking forward to free practice one and see how comfortable I feel and working towards the race start on Sunday, which is a big moment for me, so yeah, really excited.

     

    When you say you are a different driver from 10 years ago, what was wrong with you as a driver 10 years ago that made it go wrong with Helmut and how have you changed?

    BH: I guess I wasn’t ready. I had some success in the early days, I won the Formula Renault championship, I became the reserve driver, had my first F1 test at 18 years old and I guess I just didn’t deal with the pressure. I stopped enjoying it, I wasn’t happy; I was pretty young and away from home. When the Formula One dream, so to speak, stopped in 2010, I picked myself up, I found endurance racing and yeah, I have learned a lot from that experience. Being in the LMP1 programme, a high-profile category, where there is a lot of pressure, probably not that dissimilar to Formula One in some ways, in that respect, in development of the race car, and working with team-mates has been great. I’m a lot stronger than I was back then, basically. I wasn’t ready at 18 years old. I like to think I’m ready now. I’m not very prepared for this weekend, I haven’t the car, I haven’t driven a single-seater since 2012, but I like to think that Porsche LMP1 has hopefully prepared me well.

     

    Excellent. Thank you very much for that. Carlos, splendid in yellow. You’ve made your move to Renault this weekend. Why? Why is it important to do four races at the end of this season, to get your head around the new team ahead of next year? In what ways will you benefit from this?

    Carlos SAINZ: First of all, I think that 2018 cars will be an evolution of this year’s cars. So every input I can have regarding this year’s car, every feeling I can get from every single area of the car, I’m sure it will help me for next year. On top of that, it’s always better to meet engineers, PR people, team bosses… start working along together with all of them four races earlier that gives us a bit of an advantage for 2018 rather than going straight into winter testing in 2018.

     

    So I think the thing we all want to know is how close can you expect to be to Hulkenberg’s pace in qualifying, your new team-mate this weekend, given the amount of time you will have with an unfamiliar car on Friday and Saturday in practice? What’s your goal?

    CS: Let’s wait and see, no? I think my main target has to be to go session by session. I’m the first one who wants to be on the pace straight away, but I cannot get too excited about that. I need to cover all the procedures, all the steps that I want to take, little by little, to get to know the car. I need to adapt myself to the car and I need to adapt the car to myself at the same time. That takes a bit of time and I’m going to go step by step and hopefully get there as soon as possible.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

     

    Q: (Frédéric Ferret – L’Équipe) Lewis, do you have any explanation of your strengths in qualifying, even when your car is not as good as you would like?

    LH: I think it’s just about know the car and knowing where you can push at those areas. Of course there are weaknesses but still you can find a way to exploit those weaknesses and just about get by. It’s been a fun car to drive because it’s not been perfect. So it’s then relied on a lot of your ability to balance it in uncomfortable scenarios or situations, which is something that I’ve always loved doing. It’s how I started in life, with not such a great go-kart when I was young, so that’s about it really.

     

    Q: (Joey Barnes – Motorsports Tribune) Lewis, the fun exchange with Takuma Sato on the podium got a lot of buzz here in the States. Talk about your interest, potentially, in the Indy 500 after getting a chance to have that exchange with him?

    LH: Honestly, it hasn’t inspired me to do the Indy 500. I’ve always respected it and appreciated it and I got to watch part of it when Fernando did it, which was super exciting. I love the idea of drivers being able to do more than one series. Just the other day I happened to get to drive a Formula One car on an oval, which was interesting. I have a huge amount of respect for those drivers; it’s quite scary when you approach those banks at the speed that they do. But I personally don’t have any particular desire to… maybe one day I’ll day I’ll have some fun and go out. Obviously I get lots of opportunities to do those things but I have no plans to go there and do anything serious.

     

    Q: (Chris Medland – Racer) Brendon, what have the team have said to you about their expectations for this weekend and longer term what may come after this weekend?

    BH: Actually, there have been no expectations set. To be honest, some of the team members I’m just meeting for the first time today, and yesterday during the seat fit. I made the seat yesterday. Nothing has really been said yet. Obviously I want to do the best that I can. I’m trying not to put to many expectations on it. In some ways I’m underprepared but obviously I want to do the best job I can. Nothing has been said by the team, and also, going forward nothing has been said yet.

     

    Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Lewis, you’ve talked about being on another level since the summer break. I was just wondering, what’s changed for you within the team, and maybe for you personally, over that break and into these races that’s allowed you to operate on that higher level of consistency?

    LH: I think it’s really just been that confidence of understanding the car a lot better this year, particularly in the second half of the season; knowing it’s strengths and weaknesses. Then, I would say that we are constantly evolving the process in which we work together, myself and my engineers. So we’d often hit the ground running with a balance I’m more comfortable with, which then naturally helps you easily step forward throughout the weekend in the right direction. And otherwise, just on my driving side, I don’t know, I think there are a lot of positive things happening in my life. There are a lot of interesting things forecast over these next 18 months, so I guess that’s an exciting and uplifting thing. So I’m arriving at these races, generally, with an abundance of positivity; it helps keeps your mind in the right place. Obviously, Toto and the team, Mercedes, have been incredibly supportive of all the different things that I’m into and the things I do and the way I move, which enable me to be in that position, and which are much appreciated.

     

    Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Lewis, there are reports in some of the media that you might be considering taking a knee on Sunday during the US anthem. Can you clarify that? What is your position?

    LH: I don’t really have a position and I don’t have any plans.

     

    Q: (Joey Barnes – Motorsports Tribune) Brendon, looking at this track, in 2013, I go back to your event in the Grand Am endurance race. How fitting is it to have this F1 start here and how critical is it to come here to a place where you have all this track time?

    BH: Yeah, it’s definitely nice coming to my Formula One debut at a track I know very well. Like you say, it dates back to 2013 and I think I’ve driven here almost every year since. Actually, as a racing driver, learning a track, when you have enough experience, it can happen quite quickly. I think learning the car will be the bigger challenge. The big tyres, the big downforce that these Formula One cars have at the moment, obviously they are setting lap records at every track they go to. Yeah, I’m going to have a bit on my hands tomorrow and the track is only a small part of it. But yeah, looking forward to it.

     

    Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Brendon, what have the team told you about the chances of you continuing for the rest of the season?

    BH: Not much, actually, so I’m trying to just focus on the weekend and see how that goes and see what comes from it.

     

    Q: (Frédéric Ferret – L’Équipe) Brendon, have you asked Sébastien Buemi or Mark Webber for some advice on how to drive a Formula One?

    BH: Yeah, I’ve obviously… all the friends I have in the sport I’ve been asking for a bit of advice. I saw Mark this morning for breakfast. I saw Daniel, who is one of my best buddies as well, Daniel Ricciardo, I saw him two nights ago, I asked him for all the advice I could manage to get out of him regarding tyres. Yeah, some of it is going to come down to, like I say, driving free practice one, seeing how I go and then asking some of those questions. A lot of them aren’t really relevant until I’ve actually experience the car.

     

    Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Lewis, just following on from the question about the protest take the knee, I’m just wondering if anything had changed, you’d spoken to anyone, or anyone had spoken to you about not doing it, because you said you have no plans to do it on Sunday?

    LH: Of course there has been a lot of mention of it – not of the kneeling, but just of the whole situation here in America, so I get to speak to a lot of… I know black and white people that live here in America, so I get quite a view of what’s happening here in the States and opinions from Americans here about the movement, which I think is pretty huge, and which you’ve seen that I’ve posted about it, because I respect it highly, and I found that the movement that [Colin] Kaepernick started is awesome and I’m very much in support of it. But I’m here to win and that’s the top of my priorities at the moment and I’m not really focused on anything else at the moment.

     

    Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Question for Lewis, Ferrari seems to have fallen into a technical crisis in the last few races. Do you expect them to react here? Sebastian could be a strong fighter at the end of the season as well?

    LH: I think he’s been a strong fighter all year and just because he’s obviously had a few issues technically, but I think still the car is as good as it’s always been. For sure they’ll have some sort of upgrade coming into this weekend. They’ve definitely had a couple of hiccups but I anticipate they’ll be very strong this weekend and for the last four races – so that’s why nothing changes for me. I’ve still got to continue to keep the pressure on and there’s no reason to back out, just got to keep pushing forwards.

     

    Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) Lewis, you’ve been a sheriff here the last four years. How would it feel to take this win, this Championship, a fourth World Championship here in the United States again, for the second time, in front of many children who look up to you or are inspired by you, by your story and would love to see you win here?

    LH: Honestly I think the talk of the Champion win this weekend I think is silly really. I mean, Sebastian is going to be… you can’t expect them to have a difficult weekend again. They’re going to be quick, they have an opportunity to win. The Championship, as long as it’s done in the next four races, that’s my focus. I honestly couldn’t care less if it’s here on the last race, as long as it’s done. I think winning here is the most important thing for me, particularly in the midst of all that’s going on in the country. I think that is a priority for me. You know what I’m talking about.

     

    Q: (Oliver Brown – The Daily Telegraph) Lewis, you spoke quite tantalisingly just then about exciting things happening in your life over these 18 months. I just wondered if you could flesh that out at all, whether there was anything in particularly helping to lift your spirits for race weekends at the moment?

    LH: I can’t tell you what it is, all top secret stuff but just positive things. When you’re a racing driver often you’re put in a box and there’s talk of you not doing much but being a racing driver and there’s a lot more to me than being a racing driver and I have a lot of great things that are happening. So, it’s just, after a lot of work, a lot of trial and error, a lot of pushback over the years, to see positive things starting to happen, things starting to move in the direction I was hoping it would eventually move – which you’ll see come to fruition in the next 12 to 18 months. That’s allowing me to take the pressure off and enjoy what I’m doing here, more than ever before.

     

    Q: (Kevin Lyttle – Austin American Statesman) Carlos, I wanted to ask you, your thoughts on COTA as a race track, and also on Austin as a Formula One city.

    CS: I’m actually particularly excited to make the debut with the Renault car in a circuit like Austin because you have every single kind of corner that you enjoy in Formula One in this kind of track. You have a long straight and then a big braking zone, you have a lot of long high-speed corners, high-speed changes of direction, medium-speed, high-speed. Because of that, I think it’s a great circuit for me to get to know the car in all these areas. Apart from that it’s one of my favourite grands prix of the season in the end. You know you have great vibes surrounding the whole grand prix, with the concert, with the fans here are particularly special and I’m going to enjoy the weekend because of that.

     

    Q: (Rebecca Clancy – The Times) To Lewis, two things to clarify. There was a bit of a smile then, you said winning is the most important thing and you know what I mean. I’m not entirely sure I understood the end of your answer to that question. If you could just explain what you mean. And, forgive me if I’m reading too much into this but you said winning is the most important thing, and when we spoke in Malaysia you said about taking a knee, it wasn’t your anthem, there was plenty to consider. So would you therefore consider maybe staging a protest during your own anthem if you do win?

    LH: Like I said, I wasn’t even looking far away into it. I’ve not given it that much thought. And when I said ‘you know what I mean’, it wasn’t to everyone, it was to the gentleman at the front here. Yeah. As I said, I’m here to win. That’s my focus. I don’t really plan on allowing all the BS that’s surrounding the topic pull me down in my strive to winning this world title. I’ve worked hard to be where I am today and whilst I do have opinions and feelings towards the whole situation, as I’ve said, at the moment, no plans on doing anything.

     

    Q: (Mariana Jiménez – Récord) Lewis, you’ve said that you don’t have the title in your head right now but wouldn’t it be nice to wait until Mexico and get your first title there in front of the crowd?

    LH: I’m looking forward to going to Mexico, as I always do every year, I have a lot of support out there, I have a lot of love for Mexicans and… yeah… it’s just an awesome event to anyway, so to go there again, particularly after the last couple of years. I think every year it seems to grow in its attendance. I guess the organisers learn so much about how the event goes and improve it for the following year. Winning the World Championship is obviously the goal and of course I think about it every day. I think my drive naturally is to winning that World Championship so every bit of my energy goes towards that mission. Honestly, wherever it happens, I don’t mind if it happens in Mexico, I don’t mind if it happens here, I don’t mind if it happens in Abu Dhabi, as long as it happens. But definitely Mexicans know how to celebrate so, if it does happen there, hopefully I’ll get one of the sombreros and be in a party.

     

    Q: (Simon Lazenby – Sky Sports) Lewis, if you’re to win this championship, would you say Ferrari have blown it. They’ve handed it to you on a plate.

    LH: If I was to win this Championship I think I would say that I’ve earned it.

     

    Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Another question for Lewis. You’re going to be the only British driver on the grid this weekend, which is the first time in your career. I was just wondering what you thought about that, the state of play in motor racing in Britain and whether you’re quite surprised you’re the only guy racing from Britain this weekend?

    LH: I don’t know how it is for the other drivers here but when you arrive you don’t think I’m here surrounded by members of… from where I’m from. So it makes no difference to me. I still work to raise the flag, and you do it as an individual, not as a team with other racing drivers, so yeah, that’s how it is.

     

    Q: (Jim Vertuno – AP) Brendon, there’s been a lot of expectation, speculation, that you were heading to Indy Car next year. Does this weekend change your plans there? What’s your future look like.

    BH: Nothing’s been confirmed for me for next year, so yeah, like I said before, I haven’t asked too many questions and have just been focussed on trying to do the best I can this weekend because I’ve got a fair amount on my plate to figure out and do a good job. So, I’m trying not to think further forward. But yeah, I was looking at Indy Car and I still am. Nothing confirmed for next season yet.

  • F1 2017: United States Gp Preview – Can Ferrari Bounce Back In Texas?

    F1 2017: United States Gp Preview – Can Ferrari Bounce Back In Texas?

    Most people would hold the opinion that the fight for the 2017 world championship is all but over. And you’d be hard pressed to make a legitimate argument against this opinion given that Hamilton holds a mammoth 59 point lead going into the United States grand prix.

    It’s as good a time as any then at this weekend’s US grand prix for Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari to start cutting Hamilton’s lead. BU they need to understand and overcome their reliability woes to do that. The galling thing for Ferrari over the last few races would have been that they had the pace to win, with the possible exception of Japan, but failed to even reach the chequered flag. Some suggestions are that quality control at the Maranello factory hasn’t been up to scratch and its been painfully illustrated on track. What it is though is further evidence of how much Ferrari have flirted with the edge in the design of their 2017 car and their bid to win the title. Its evident that they’ve pushed the margins too far and have, arguably, lost the likely chance of being champions in 2017.

    The question is really if Ferrari can recover. Instead, it is can they recover in time? It would be tough to find much support for the idea that Ferrari and Vettel could still walk away with the title. Still, however unlikely it seems it is never impossible especially in a sport as unpredictable as Formula 1. The silver lining in Vettel’s woes, however small it might be, is that he’ll have fresher power unit components in the bank than Hamilton which could allow him to push harder on Sunday afternoons, granted he gets the opportunity to do so.

    Lewis Hamilton - Italian Grand Prix pole positionFor Hamilton the equation is a simple one. Keep racking up the points with race finished, which will invariably not be outside the top three and it’ll be enough to make him a four time champ perhaps even before the end of the season. If Hamilton were to win around the Circuit of the Americas this weekend and Vettel finishes fifth or lower he would be champion.

    What are Hamilton’s chances of taking victory in Texas this weekend? Barring any sort of unreliability for anyone, it should be a good fight between Merc and Ferrari with the latter probably holding an edge on Sunday. The first important factor is that the ultra- and supersoft combination of tyre compounds are in offing this weekend. Traditionally, Ferrari has been the stronger on this combination. What’s more, it’s also expected to be slightly warmer in Texas than in Japan, which plays to Ferrari’s strength as Merc’s problem of maintaining the correct core tyre temperature, continues to be an issue for them.

    The layout too of the Herman Tilke designed track is more suitable to Ferrari and their aerodynamic proficiency. The first sector is dominated by a fast and flowing Esses section which has characteristics of both Silverstone’s iconic Maggots-Becketts complex and the first sector of Japan’s Suzuka circuit. In general, the five and a half kilometer circuit is dominated by medium to high-speed corners thatreward a good aero package. Added to this are a few hairpins, which will encourage and provide overtaking opportunities.

    Vettel - Final Practice, Chinese GPWhile most of the attention is focused at the front of the grid there are a few changes in the offing further down. Carlos Sainz bid farewell to the Toro Rosso team in Japan and will this weekend race as a fully-fledged Renault works driver. It means that Daniil Kvyat returns to the Toro Rosso fold. However, he will not be alongside Pierre Gasly who will instead be looking to win the Super Formula title this weekend. In his place will be 27 year old Kiwi and WEC superstar Brendon Hartley.

    Given their horrendous run in the last three rounds there is little expectation of Ferrari. However, the pressure on the team to deliver is enormous and could prove the catalyst for Vettel to simply throw caution to wind in Texas.