Tag: lewis hamilton

2017 Italian Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

DRIVERS

1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

2 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)

3 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

PODIUM INTERVIEWS

(Conducted by Martin Brundle and Jean Alesi)

Martin BRUNDLE: Lewis, you’re now leading the world championship again.

Lewis HAMILTON: You know what…. You know what…

MB: You might just have to punch through this [noise]

LH: Yeah, you know what, Iove it here in Italy and I love the passion of the fans, particularly the Ferrari fans, they’re fantastic. This energy is like nowhere else we ever really get to see, apart from maybe Silverstone, so I respect it, I appreciate it. But I’m happy. We did a great job. The team did an exceptional job this weekend and me and Valtteri – Valtteri also did a great job – I think we owe it all to them.

MB: I didn’t of too many problems, one lap you said you felt the power was going down a little bit, but you were coasting for much of it, saving the engine I guess.

LH: Yeah, firstly Mercedes power is definitely better than Ferrari power, so it worked well this weekend.

MB: Whoah, volcanic! You were up with Lance into the first corner and Esteban Ocon behind you. A little bit nervous of the new kids in town?

LH: The start was a little bit difficult for sure, because the grip was quite low, but it was a great day, a great result for us. We’ve got a lot of British supporters here as well, so I’m really grateful for that.

I’ll leave you with your friends and go and talk with Valtteri. Valtteri, a couple of great moves from you. You had to make up some ground early on.

Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, like with Lewis the start was tricky, but just needed to keep my head down, get the places step by step. The car was so strong today. Like I said on the team radio, it was amazing today how quick we were and it was pure joy to drive. The pace was good, I enjoyed it and a perfect result for us as a team.

MB: Any dramas at all?

VB: No drama.

MB: Very reminiscent of 2015 and 2016. Now, I’ll hand over to Jean to talk to Sebastian.

Jean ALESI: Sebastian, a few words in Italian for the Ferraristas.

Sebastian VETTEL: Allora, grazie a tutti. Tifosi, io sento di essere la megliore publico al mundo, davvero. Questa guerra é difficile – lo so que arriviamo, arriviamo! Forza Ferrari, grazie!

Sebastian it was quite difficult at the beginning to catch up straightaway, you had to make some overtaking. How it was at the beginning?

SV: It was entertaining. It was quite good fun. Obviously my start was not so good, I had a lot of wheelspin. It took a while before I could really trust the car and then I made some progress. We got some good overtaking there. Then we were a bit isolated. We didn’t have the pace of the leading two drivers today. Nevertheless, going round, seeing the people gives a lot of hop. Even if this race has been difficult I know that we have a very, very strong car and we will have a very, very strong end to the season, I’m sure of that.

MB: Congratulations Sebastian. Lewis, you beat Ferrari today by over half a minute. With Spa last weekend have we seen a key turning point in the season, and the championship?

LH: I think it’s all just to do with the team pulling together and trying to maximizing everything on the car and Valtteri and myself really trying to do the best job we can with the car. But today the car was fantastic and really a dream to drive. But a big thank you to all the fans who came out today, grazie a tutti, and I look forward to coming back next year.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Lewis, you’ve obviously taken the championship lead for the first time, one key talking point; the pace of the Mercedes compared with the Ferraris, on the supersofts particularly, I think you were 22 seconds ahead at the end of the first stint, another important talking point. And also interesting, this is the first time this season we have had a back-to-back race winner and I wondered about your thoughts on what that says about how open and competitive this championship is?

LH: Well, it’s obviously an incredibly exciting season and the last two races have been incredibly strong for us as a team. We’ve gone from strength from strength and really shown real strength and depth and I think it’s the way we have come together in this second half so far is exceptional. I’m not really sure why the pace of the Ferraris was not close as it usually is, particularly as it was in practice, but today the car felt fantastic, particularly in that first stint. I guess because we had a bit of breathing space behind us initially it was easier to extend the life of the tyre. I suppose if in the past we would have had a Ferrari behind we would have been pushed more to the limit. And Valtteri did a fantastic job just to get through and get a one-two here. I know it’s not easy for the Italian fans to accept but I think ultimately we did the better job this weekend, collectively, as a team. But it’s still close and there’s still a long, long way to go. We’re going to another track next that the Ferrari should be quite quick at, with the extra downforce they generally are able to add one, so the fight will continue. But it is amazing to come and have the back-to-back wins. It’s been a long, long time that Sebastian has been leading the championship, so with all the ups and down to now be just slightly ahead is a great feeling.

Valtteri, your ninth podium of 2017, you had two cars to pass in the opening stint and you did that in a straightforward way. But maybe you could talk about the margin with Ferrari and your thoughts on why this race evolved the way it did?

VB: Yeah, actually three cars to pass in the beginning. The start was quite poor for me, just a lot of wheelspin. One of the Ferraris got ahead and I had to get him first, which was normally going to be the difficult part and the most important part for us today. But also then pretty quickly got to P2, which was good, and the car was so well balanced today and so strong. For sure we were quick in a straight line, but this weekend also we were really quick in every corner of the track. I think we just found a different kind of stability this weekend that we haven’t found before. But this is a really unique track. We can’t rely on that ‘OK, now we are quickest’. That’s not the case. It’s going to be a completely different story in Singapore, next weekend. Yes, we were quickest here. We had a perfect result, Lewis won, so well done for that, me second is great for us, but now it’s whether we can learn from this weekend what we need to and be strong again in Singapore.

Sebastian you described it on the slow-down lap as a difficult day. I wonder if you could just drill down into that what aspects in particular were difficult for you and answer the question why you feel that the pace wasn’t closer, either on the supersoft or the soft?

SV: Well, to be honest, I’m still pretty overwhelmed from the lap back to the pits and the podium ceremony. I think it’s been amazing, the power of the people, to see so many fans for Ferrari is unbelievable. Yeah it was a difficult day, a difficult start. I didn’t straightaway feel the car; I couldn’t go with Kimi and Valtteri, so I had to wait to make progress. Then my race was fairly isolated. We tried to keep as close as possible but we simply didn’t have the pace. I’m sure there are plenty of reasons, but I don’t want to get too technical today. The last 20 laps I was struggling. I went off in Turn 1 and I think something broke in the car. The left-hand side of the steering was a bit down and I couldn’t trust the car, especially on braking and it’s a braking track. So the last laps I don’t think they showed the pace we could have gone. Overall you could say it was a bad day, but I know the team is on the right way and there is a lot of stuff that is going to improve. Overall, it has been amazing so far to see where we are but I know that we only get stronger, so I’m in a very, very positive mood, despite the number and all that. I am not worried about these… overall, it was a difficult weekend but I know that there is still a long way to go and we have got the people behind us so it is a great feeling.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Sebastian, how much of a role to you think it has played in your struggles that there was no dry P3 where you could have optimised the car setup after it was not really perfect on Friday. Is it a relief, in a way, that this is such a unique track and there will be no others like this until the end of the season?

SV: Well, Monza is specific. I’ve had races here… simply the fact how confident you feel in the car can make a big difference. I wouldn’t say I don’t trust my car or don’t trust our car but I think this weekend has been a bit up-and-down. Practice, for sure there were a couple of things on the list that we would like to try but didn’t get the chance but I’m sure that’s the same for everyone. I had a good feeling on Friday. The long run was a bit scrappy because of traffic but in terms of raw pace, the Mercedes looked very strong. They confirmed that. I think it got a bit closer with worn tyres towards the end, second stint, I think you cannot judge. We were running on our own, they were probably just cruising – because no pressure from behind. So you can’t read the whole race but overall you need to be fair and say that they did the better job and they deserved to win – no doubt about that – but I think considering the day yesterday and where we started from, I think it was the optimum result.

Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) Question for Lewis, Another Beast Mode performance, back to back wins, this moment you’ve been building up in the second half of the season, we’re now going to Singapore, it’s going to be more of a challenging race for you. Is this momentum now, and you going into Beast Mode like this, is that going to carry on for the next half of the season.

LH: That’s definitely the plan! Definitely the plan. Giving it absolutely everything we’ve got but, as I’ve said, Ferrari might be a little bit quicker, maybe, when we get to a couple of the tracks where it’s maximum downforce, where you can add a little bit more, I think there. They’ve generally been quite good, Hungary they were exceptionally quick on the qualifying laps so we might see that happen in the next races. I think nonetheless it’s going to continue to be really close between us all, but yeah, absolutely. Beast Mode all the way to the last chequered flag.

Q: (Nicolangelo Cioppi – La Voce degli Italiani del Canada e USA) For Lewis and Sebastian. How do you feel beating Michael Schumacher’s pole position yesterday, 68, now you have 69 pole position and how you feel to beat Ferrari in his house in Monza. Is different I think from any other race track. And for Sebastian. Is it possible to win again or the Mercedes is too strong for Ferrari – because it was 30s difference between first and third.

LH: As I was saying yesterday, it’s an unbelievable feeling. Having grown up playing computer games on the same day as the grand prix when Michael was racing and going through all the practice sessions on my computer while watching the grand prix and playing as Michael, and now I’m ahead in the qualifying standings, which feels crazy. I feel very grateful for all the great people that have helped me achieve that. To win here in Monza, it is such a historic grand prix. There are very, very few, if any like it. The track is so unique in its own way, in this beautiful park, beautiful part of the world and the fans… you could hear the roar. I would love to know how loud they are on the scale. The energy there is incredible. The passion that the Ferrari fans – or the Italian fans have around the world. When I go to LA, for example and go to an Italian restaurant and the fans are there for Ferrari. They’re all over the world and it’s great to see. There’s also some of those Ferrari fans that have, while maybe at heart perhaps are Ferrari fans, and being Italian, they’ve also spilled over to be Mercedes fans, which is much appreciated.

SV: Being technical you can say, I don’t know what it adds up, the gap, the amount of race laps. I think we probably lacked something like half a second per lap today but there’s not all the parts of the race you can judge. I’m not worried too much about the gap. As I said before, Monza is a specific place. If you have that extra bit and confidence then it makes a big difference. So, I’m not too stressed about that. We probably knew it would be a difficult race. Probably expected as well that we would be closer but all in all, it’s not nice to see them two winning but I think with the third position, at least we gave everything we had and that’s the most important. We gave everything for the people out there. The support has been amazing and, despite the numbers, the gap, you can name the negatives but I’m very, very positive right now, to be honest. I know that people are going into the office tomorrow more committed than before. The spirit is there, we just need to keep it up. It’s a journey, we see where it takes us. It’s been a long way that the team has come from three years ago but we are nowhere near satisfied despite maybe having had a good season so far, it’s not good enough. Ferrari needs to be at the front and Ferrari needs to be on top of everything. So that’s where we want to go. For sure, they are giving us a very, very hard time, especially at the moment, but we’ll see. It’s a long journey still and, as I said, I’m… yeah… still full of adrenaline from the podium, the atmosphere was amazing. You can ask whatever you want now, I don’t care! You will always get a positive answer.

Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, you are the fourth Finnish driver who finished second here. In any stage of the race did you have in your mind a feeling that you could be the first one to win here?

VB: Yeah, it is true no Finn has ever won in Monza. I think it’s just unlucky. Obviously running all the race second not so far from Lewis you never know what can happen, so obviously you never give up on the dream of a possible win during the race – but I wasn’t thinking about it too much, honestly. Just was focussed on executing our plan and being on it on every single corner. It was not the day for the Finns today but maybe next year, who knows?

Q: (Leigh O’Gorman – Walker Watson) For Sebastian. Considering your position in the championship at the moment, at the start of the race, are you more or less conscious about having to get through relatively inexperienced drivers like Esteban and Lance – or do you just take them as if they’re any other competitors?

SV: I guess more the second part of your question. I mean, I think you judge when you follow, both of them did a good job. We were faster, that’s clear and y’know, I knew that I had to get past quickly because with the DRS you can build a sort of a train and then it’s quite difficult to get past. Plus they were very quick down the straights, both of them, but… no, I think Lance knew we had stronger pace, so he was quite fair. Esteban tried to cover a bit more but I had a very good run out of the last corner so for me it was clear I would get past and I just had to choose left or right and I just wanted to make sure, so that’s why I dived down the inside. But, no, to be honest, there might be the odd one standing out but overall drivers in Formula One have had a long history of racing and they know what to do.

Q: (Zsolt Godina – F1Vilag.hu) Lewis, congratulations. The next race is in Singapore; do you have any worries that the problems you had in the past could come back this year?

LH: Currently that’s not my mind-state, no, and I will do all the due diligence it’s possible to make sure that we arrive there best prepared. We have no idea until we get there what the picture’s going to look like but I think we learned a lot from the past but on a hot track, Ferrari are often better in hot places. I think we’ll be able to give them a good race. I think the car is continuing to improve and as I said, our understanding of the car is beginning to… it’s constantly improving. Perhaps if we went back to Hungary for example, maybe we would be in a better position today with the knowledge of being there already. I go and approach it with a real positive mind-set that we are going to be fighting for a win but if that’s not the case when we get there we’ll just take it at face value and try to get damage limitation, I guess.

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Question for Lewis and one for Bottas. Bottas, do you think that now, with this second victory in a row for Hamilton, your chance has gone and you’re doing a job for him, you can do (indistinct) for the rest of the season? And for Lewis, how psychological was it… it’s important to come back leading the championship?

VB: Well, you know, it is up to me also really, if I perform well, if I manage to qualify well, have strong pace, for sure I can still fight for the wins, but if it is going to be the case that for some reason I’m missing pace, if Lewis is doing a better job, me running in P2, and clearly behind then it’s obviously better to help than try something silly. I’m always going to be a team player and it is up to the team to decide these kind of things, so we’ll see. We’ll go race by race and by every situation, but like I said it is also a lot up to me. I need to perform if I still want to fight for the title.

LH: Yeah, obviously I feel good, my mind feels exactly the same as it has the last two races and now coming here, I don’t feel like I’ve got one up today, just continue to solidify the preparations and the execution of the last two races. Of course that solidifies your confidence and in the car and in the direction you’re going but there’s still a long way to go and lots can happen still, so just try to remain in the same frame of mind as I have been.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Sebastian, do believe it can be hard for you to continue the fight in this final part of the championship because of the tracks: Sepang, Suzuka, Abu Dhabi, maybe Austin circuits that on paper look like they favour Mercedes?

SV: Well, I know how to read but I don’t really care what’s written on the paper. They’re all tracks that I like, to be honest, so I’m very much looking forward to them. I think we are here to race, so if it’s hard it’s good. Easy is boring. I think that’s what we all want and I’m definitely looking forward to it. At the moment you can say that Mercedes has an edge. Saturdays they’re very strong which obviously has its contribution to Sundays, it’s not a big secret but I think we are strong, we don’t need to hide and there’s plenty of positives. Things are coming, I’m sure they are developing their car. We are developing ours so I’m not so fussed about what they doing. I’m more focused on what’s going on inside us, inside Ferrari and it makes me quite positive, what’s coming, so we just need to see and then there’s always the extra element of racing that you can’t predict, that you can’t put down on paper and that’s usually the most exciting bit so I’m very much a fan of that and a fan of the moment and see what we can do.

Q: (Jussi Jäkälä – YLE) Valtteri, as this was your first visit on the Monza podium, could you describe it a bit? Did you feel more like a race driver or a rock star?

LH: There’s more than one Finn out there? There’s only Heikki here.

VB: Yeah, there’s one extra guy.

LH: Excellent. Welcome.

VB: So I’ve got two questions today. Two Finns, two questions.

SV: There will be nothing else in the papers tomorrow. Two questions, I mean…

VB: Yes, actually it’s my second time on the podium here. First time was in GP3 in 2011, it was a little bit different atmosphere. I have to say it is incredible, being so many people, obviously most of them shouting Sebastian’s name but I was still enjoying it.

SV: That’s because Valtteri is so difficult to say.

VB: That could be it! Thanks. Incredible, didn’t feel like a rock star, honestly, felt more like a race driver but I enjoyed it.

Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Lewis…

LH: Hey! What’s going on?

Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Do you feel you need more of these one-twos to beat Sebastian and win your campaign for the championship?

LH: More of these what? Ah, one-twos. Yeah, I think, definitely, having the one-two today has obviously helped bridge more of a gap and the more we can perform like this the more we can really concrete that Constructors’ title which the team are pushing… that’s the priority. Of course that helps bridge the gap between myself and Sebastian. He’s generally had a relatively comfortable lead most of the year, I think sometimes at 20-something points. I’d imagine that I’m.. what is it, three points ahead? I’d imagine that… I’ll take that and I’m happy with that. I guess the plan for the next races is to try and extend that. As Valtteri was saying, he’s done a fantastic job today and we’re going to continue to push together. Valtteri’s got the opportunity – if he does the job – to win more races as well this year so the battle is still strong between us all.

Q (Daria Panova – F1Only) First of all, I want to congratulate Sebastian for this fantastic podium in a special Grand Prix for Scuderia Ferrari. Question to you: in Spa, Mick Schumacher drove his father’s car, the Benetton. If you had a chance to drive an old Formula One Ferrari car, which car would it be and on which track?

SV: Funny you mentioned that because Ferrari has a programme where clients can run historic Formula One cars and if ever I get the opportunity, I will definitely pick 2004. I think that must have been a dream car to drive. Circuit? I would pick my favourite track, not that easy logistic-wise but Japan, Suzuka. I think the car had a lot of downforce, very light and extremely quick, so that would be a unique experience. Yeah, something that maybe one day, if I do well in the next couple of years, could be a nice thing to do.

Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Sebastian, do you think that the title could be won or lost with your teammate and Kimi not taking so many points from Lewis?

SV: No. I think, you look back, there’s always ways to look at points and stuff. I’m not so much interested. Above everything, you race for the team and then obviously you race for yourself, you try to do the best yourself and I think you saw the battle today. I don’t think he waved me past but I didn’t expect him to and it was tight. I was quick at that time and could make progress, so it was good to get past but he had a better start, he got past Valtteri so we’re both fighting for the best and the optimum result today. For sure the pace was a bit down so it’s always a bit more tricky but no, I mean, as I say, we’re both racing. If you are racing in the same car then naturally, in a way, you’re racing for the same bit of track. Look at those two, they were running very quickly and not a lot of gap between them. Also then, if you’re so close to each other it’s obviously crucial to be ahead in qualifying, opening laps, after that they will always be difficult. Rules are fairly clear that the teams have in terms of who gets priority and stuff like that so… Yeah, it’s the name of the game so I’m not… I think much more important than look at a championship with teammates, points, whatever is the chemistry inside the team and I think Kimi’s well known for the fact that he doesn’t talk so much. Inside the team he talks quite a lot and yeah, we get along well, his feedback is valuable and I think we get on with each other and there’s zero stress for the team which is a good thing.

September 3, 2017
2017 Italian Grand Prix: Post Qualifying Press Conference

DRIVERS

1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

2 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)

3 – Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing)

GRID INTERVIEWS

(Conducted by Davide Valsecchi)

Lewis your lap was wonderful, 1.1 seconds in front of this guy. You were amazing.

Lewis HAMILTON: Thank you man, grazie. I appreciate your excitement. I’m just as exvited.

We’ll give him the chance to take the helmet off, and in this time, wonderful, first row. I’m sorry for you, you will not start from the front row but your lap was amazing and your performance in Q3 was just a step over.

Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, it was a tricky qualifying, but I think also in the beginning of Q3 also sliding around a lot. But then I tried to cool down the tyres and in my final run everything worked pretty well, so happy with second.

Very well done. Ricciardo, tell me how was your lap. You were struggling on this circuit but today, from the outside, it was just amazing looking at you champions driving so well.

Daniel RICCIARDO: It was fun. Q1 and Q2 were quite terrible actually. I was struggling a lot and then Q3 we just seemed to get a bit better rhythm, the tyre had more grip. At the end we were pushing a lot but it was close. I’m glad we could do qualifying for all the fans. It was important we did this today.

Thank you so much, very well done. Lewis, just half an hour ago you were playing your Playstation and now you broke the record and made the history of this sport?

LH: Yeah, firstly, Italy I love you. I’m so happy to be here. Even though we’re in Ferrari’s homeland we have such great support here, even for Mercedes, so I really appreciate all the love. To do this here at such a historic circuit, such a beautiful country… I’m going to have some pasta tonight to celebrate.

Please, tell me about tomorrow, how will it be, the race? One of your contenders is not there with you and so tell me, front row, first corner, not easy to manage, so how will it be, your race tomorrow?

LH: Obviously it depends on the weather. I heard it’s going to be dry tomorrow, so hopefully it’s a normal Italian beautiful day. It’s going to be tough potentially with the temperatures. It’s great to see that Red Bull are up there, they obviously did a fantastic job. I have not seen the list of where everyone is, but honestly, I came across the line and I didn’t know if I had it, but it felt like a good lap. But, I can’t believe it – 69. I can’t believe it; I’m so grateful. God bless you guys.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Lewis Hamilton, record breaking 69^th Formula One pole position and less spoken about but also significant, all-time record polesitter here at the Italian Grand Prix? Congratulations Lewis, you punched the air as you crossed the line after a qualifying lap, so I guess it’s significant, it clearly means a lot to you for a lot of reasons. And I guess every record up to now is something where you have been chasing and from now on it’s up to the others to catch you.

LH: Yeah, it’s very hard to find the word to explain how I feel, I’m trying to figure it all out right this second. These guys definitely made me work for it today, which I’m grateful for. The weather has been incredibly tricky for us all. Yeah, I can’t believe that so much time has passed, so many great experiences, a lot of difficult times. But what a day. To come here in this beautiful country and with this usually English weather and to be massively challenged. It was very difficult to see out there; it was very difficult to see the lines and very easy to make mistakes, as always in the rain. The second to last lap was OK at the beginning and then I backed out of it, hoping I’d get one more lap and there’s a lot of pressure for that last lap. There could have been a red flag, a yellow flag or something like that, so a lot to risk, but I gave it everything. It probably won’t sink in for a long time. I’ve got to say a big thank you to my team for making it all possible, the guys back at the factory for continuing to support me and for Mercedes, we’ve got a lot of the sponsors here from Petronas and from Mercedes Benz, who have been sponsoring me for a long, long time and supporting me and being right behind. So I’m grateful for that. And to my family, hi! Thank you so much for all the support. I can’t believe it’s been 10 years but I’m really grateful for all the support. And also for the fans. I enjoyed chatting with them just before qualifying, or during the break, and I’m grateful to FOM for allowing us to do that because it’s usually not allowed. But yeah, an epic day and truly blessed.

Very well done. Max, great performance today, you had provisional pole right up until the last car crossed the line – Lewis. Your feelings on how you went today and where do you believe you’ll start the grand prix tomorrow and what do you think you can do from there?

MV: Yeah, I think start 15^th. That’s what they told me, we’ll see tomorrow. It was quite a good qualifying I think. Everything was working well. Just in Q3 I was maybe not as happy as I was in Q1 and Q2, just sliding around a bit more and just couldn’t get the grip, especially in the last sector. But my final lap was pretty OK and I head I was on pole and my engineer was telling me all the sector times and I said “stop, stop, just tell me what Lewis is doing” because he was the one to beat. He said “he’s going purple” and I was like, well, to be second here with the car, the whole package we have I think we did a very good job and it was nice again to drive in the wet.

Daniel, it was intermediates in Q1 and Q2 but the order really changed about in Q3 moving onto the wet tyres. Ferrari fell away at that point. Can you put into words for us what was different about Q3 from Q1 and Q2 and thoughts about your own performance?

DR: Yeah, Q1 and Q2 were nowhere. If you heard, I don’t know, but on my radio I wasn’t too impressed, just with the level of grip. We were struggling with everything and we were just slow. It just felt like the tyres were… as if we didn’t have blankets on them or something. So it was just cold and slippery. We got into Q3 so we weren’t nowhere, but for normally our competitiveness in the wet, certainly struggling and then Q3 we went out on the extremes and to be honest already on the out lap I had a lot more grip than I had in Q1 or in Q2. I think there’s something there, whether we learnt it, or we’ll have a look, but it was a different car in Q3 so… I think we topped it early on in that session, in Q3, and then obviously Max came through Lewis and we had a charge at the end. It was close – not Lewis’ lap at the end, I mean not Lewis’ lap at the end, but close with Max behind, and I think with Lance behind, all within a few tenths. It was alright in the end, good recovery, nice to be up here on a Saturday. We’ll obviously fall away back a bit tomorrow. I think 18^th is where I’ll start. If I didn’t put in a good Q3, I probably would start 19^th, so we’re good, we’re alright. Yeah, Q3 was a saviour!

Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) Lewis, many, many congratulations on a historic pole position. They say it’s not the destination it’s the journey: what has this journey been like as you continue to light the stat-book up with all the milestones that you have had this year.

LH: Well, firstly, I just actually wanted to recognise and acknowledge these two here who’ve done a fantastic job today which really shows their ability and while they perhaps don’t have the right package currently, hopefully in the future they do, because we need to see these guys up here with us more, battling. They should be in the fight with us. With Ferrari and Mercedes. So, fingers crossed. They’ve clearly shown today the capabilities.

I’ve read that some people say it’s not about the journey or where you begin, it’s about the finish. I tend to think it’s tends to be more important about the beginning and the middle and not necessarily where you’re going, so yeah, about the journey. I think there’s been so much learnt over these years. So much growing, as there will continue to be growing to do. Today was a real challenge with the break. You’re in the zone for a second and then you get out of the car, you have 15 minutes to chill, then you get ready, get in the car, then you have to get back out, it was a real challenge to try to continuously try to keep your mind, not drained of energy while being in the zone but trying to step out of it and step back into. After playing the Playstation I was kind of a bit nervous whether or not I still was in the zone! But I was grateful when I got back out. Racing in the rain is… being in the wet in these cars is as great as its been in the other cars that we’ve had – but it’s such a challenge and this is such an epic circuit because unlike the new circuits the grip is often off-line – which is a normal characteristic of an older circuit, and so you get to utilise that. So, going out, finding where the grip is, as opposed to a new surface – like the straight for example – which a lot of the new tracks have, makes it a lot more fun. So, I really, really enjoyed it.

Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Gentleman, at some phases it seemed quite difficult to choose which tyre to be on. Could you explain what was the difference in behaviour and were you satisfied with the Intermediate and the Wet tyre – and which parts of the track were particularly critical?

MV: I think the whole year already, the Inter, compared to the years before when I was driving, I think it’s really difficult. Really hard to switch on. Last year, for example, all the time when we went to an Inter, you felt quite comfortable. The tyre was working, it was quite a soft tyre. And now it just feels very hard. Locking a lot, so you just can’t create any temperature in the tyres because you’re sliding around everywhere and that’s why it was very tricky. It was actually, for my feeling, dry enough for an Intermediate but still the Wets were faster: they were a bit softer, creating a bit better temperature so you can attack the brakes better. That was very difficult in Q1. Then in Q2 at one point the Inters became a bit better because it was quite dry. Then in Q3 it started raining again quite a bit, so straight away we said, let’s go back to the extremes, and that was definitely the right choice.

And Lewis, which were the trickiest parts of the circuit, in these conditions today? And also, the pit straight was a bit dicey at the very beginning.

LH: Yeah, the pit straight was always, being that it’s a new surface, the water really stays on it. It doesn’t disappear. So, the first part, definitely, picking up the braking zone into Turn One. And then probably out of Turn Two, traction’s terrible there. And then you get to the mid-section which is fun and it’s not too bad. I would say Ascari was challenging, particularly the exit. Definitely… probably the most challenging part.

DR: It should have been Inters, I felt, with the level of water. I don’t know if it was Q1 or Q2 – it’s a long day – but the point where we went off extremes to Inters, I was sure the Inter would just be a lot more grip, but it just felt like it never really switched on. Just a very cold feeling and really low grip. I think the problem is then, because you can’t get into the tyre, because you’re sliding around and can’t really attack it, then it’s not really gaining temperature – so, unless it was drying a lot it was hard to get the Inter to work. At least that’s what we found today. It was a surprise, for sure, I thought the Inter would have been stronger in those conditions.

Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / Speed Sport) Daniel, when you took the TV camera into the Mercedes garage, did you spot anything interesting on the car?

DR: Yeah, a lot. I drew up a few things. There’s this gap that’s about 5.6mm below the rear end plate and that’s key. So I definitely saw a lot. These guys were busy playing Playstation, I think! I was just playing around, trying to entertain the fans. I know Lewis touched on it, but, yeah, it was very nice of them to stay out in the rain today and I’m glad that we got it done. At least the wait was worthwhile.

Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) To questions for Lewis. One, did you have the same feeling about the Intermediates as the two guys either side of you, and secondly, can you talk a little bit more about the balance between it being fun to drive in the wet and all the challenges that come from driving in the wet and how much fun is that car of yours in those conditions – and how much of the character of the car comes through still in the wet?

LH: The Inters, definitely it was a problem for everyone. I think we went out of them and… yeah… people are probably wondering what it means when you’re in the window and everything like that but it’s all about temperature, obviously and basically, when you’re below the temperature they’re just rock solid and so when you turn in they’re just sliding and they’re not working with the asphalt. Then, if you’re lucky, and it’s a little bit drier… we were basically just on the crossover and then a lot more rain came down, I think for Q3, so we really had to come in, it made no sense being out on that tyre. We just couldn’t go fast enough to generate enough heat and it because very, very tricky. Easy to spin off. And when you got back on the extremes, massive difference, a lot more grip, a lot more traction, tyres were working, clearing the water better. But, y’know, in Formual One you generally set the car up for the dry. Unless you know it’s a wet weekend where you can then focus on a softer set-up, here in the dry it’s more a stiffer setup you would go for – so when you get to the wet, you’re driving a stiff car and there’s not a lot of give, the flexibility in the car is very little. It definitely makes it a little trickier. But then it means it’s more like a… I don’t want to say a bull, because of these guys, but yeah, it’s a lot harder to tame it, because it’s so much more pitchy, and snappy, and then finding the groove, finding the dry patches, how quickly you get on power, it’s easy to go too deep into a corner and then you’ve got these long straights and you don’t get the exit onto those long straights. It was an amazing challenge and one that I love. And I know these guys enjoy it too.

Q: (Inaudible) Lewis, congratulations, could you please describe what it means to you to have a record that has been held Michael for a very very long time?

LH: I wish I was better with words, to be honest. I wish I had something really… something iconic to say but… I heard that it’s only switched hands a couple of times in the fifty years or whatever it is – sixty years or whatever. It’s just, again, a bit like at the last race, just growing up, watching this sport as we all have and witnessing greatness in other individuals such as Michael and just dreaming of one day doing what he’s doing or they’re doing and then actually to be there many years later. We are… and I am living proof that dreams are something that can come true so I think it’s really cool for young kids to be watching today because it’s probably hard to imagine it but I was once going there, in their position and dreaming of doing what I’m doing today which they perhaps are and very proud for what we, as a family, have achieved and it’s crazy. If I stopped now… but you know Vettel’s not far behind so I’ve got to keep going, I’ve got to keep extending it otherwise he might catch it and so I’ll stick around for a while and try to make life hell for him.

Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) Gents, were you surprised that nothing was done for about two hours to clear the standing water from the track?

LH: What could they have done?

Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) The blower didn’t go out until two hours…

LH: It was still raining so it wouldn’t have made any… by the time the blower would have gone a hundred meters the water would have been back where it was. Maybe we could have gone out and if all us cars were out there maybe we could have cleaned a bit of a line. But we saw Grosjean go off so it was tricky.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) To all of you: I don’t want to throw water on your enthusiasm for this wonderful qualifying by projecting the race tomorrow. Probably dry conditions; what do you project for the race, all of you, considering the unusual grid; Stroll second, Ocon third, Ferrari in the back, Kimi fifth, Sebastian sixth?

LH: I think it’s… well we will see. Hopefully it’s dry but obviously today would have cleaned the track so tomorrow is going to be green and obviously depending on the temperatures it’s going to make a difference but yeah, I’ve only just remembered so unfortunate for these guys because they did such a great job, it would have been awesome to have kept them there and had them more of a buffer to the guys behind but it’s great to see the youngsters… did you say Ocon and Stroll? Wow, that’s awesome. All these young kids coming through, keep me on my toes. I think it’s great because I know Ocon and Lance have also been driving so well this year and to come into a series when the cars have changed, a lot more physical than they had before, much more of a challenge, really thrown in at the deep end, they’ve done a great job, so to come to this awesome circuit and be where they are shows great promise for their futures.

MV: We’ll see tomorrow. No but it’s not a great starting position but I think in terms of pace we can definitely get into the points but it’s a bit of a shame for me that Williams and Force India, they start that far up so that’s why I think they will gain quite a bit of time on us in the first three laps but we will try our best and we’ll see where it ends up.

DR: Aaaah, probably challenge Lewis for the win!

Q: (Frank Woestenburg – De Telegraaf) Max, after the red flag it took quite a long time before the session was restarted. Do you think it took too long and that maybe… and do you think the people who make the decisions are maybe too conservative?

MV: To be honest, we did qualifying so I’m happy that we did it today instead of tomorrow, otherwise we wouldn’t be sitting here, I think.

Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) Just a general question to all three: of course it’s only hypothetical but in a similar situation in future, would it be practical to allow everybody to go to wet set-up for qualifying, even if we knew the race was dry, just to get it out there? Would it make any difference anyway and could you do it that quickly, could you convert the cars?

DR: I think it would take quite a long time. Yeah, I don’t know. It would help with grip, I don’t know how much it would help with aquaplaning and stuff. Yeah, for the amount of time and effort it would take it’s probably not worth the actual reward in my opinion.

LH: I think it would be kind of neat to be able to change the set-up, as long as you get… on Sunday, you can’t change the set-up for Sunday if it’s going to be dry for example but it would be kind of neat, it would put in a little bit more of spice in the dynamics. Adding downforce would have also helped today, switched on the intermediate, for example maybe.

Q: (Natalya Panteleeva – Automotorgr.ru) Daniel, you said that you have finished with your tradition with shoey…

MV: He has a lot of tradition. You don’t know Dan yet.

Q: (Natalya Panteleeva – Automotorgr.ru) … but when you become World Champion, will you carry on the tradition to have a drink from your shoe or will be invent something new?

LH: Like eat your socks!

DR: I don’t know. We’ll see. Hopefully I’m not old by then. If I am old by then, maybe I’ll also think drinking out of my shoe is disgusting.

LH: How old are you now?

DR: 28.

LH: I thought you were at least 35.

DR: I don’t know. To be honest, it’s a good question but I haven’t thought about anything like that. Even when I did the shoey I didn’t expect it to become a bit of a thing.

LH: You did.

DR: I didn’t really, it wasn’t… You’ve still yet to do one so… We’ll see, hopefully I’ll get to cross that bridge one day, one day soon and maybe, maybe. Thanks for having faith.

September 2, 2017
F1 2017: Italian Gp Free Practice 1 Report – Hamilton Leads

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton set the quickset time overall in the first free practice session ahead of the 2017 Italian grand prix.

Running for the ninety minute session got underway with cloudy conditions and the threat of rain lingering in the air. While some drops fell around the famous Monza circuit it wasn’t enough to cause any real delay or force drivers onto the Intermediate compound tyres.

Instead it was Hamilton’s 1:21:537 on the Supersoft compound tyre that was the quickest overall. Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes was roughly four and a half tenths adrift of his teammate in second. Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen completed the top four on Ferrari’s 70th anniversary but were more than a second adrift. Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen, both of whom will incur grid penalties for Sunday’s race, rounded out the top six.

While several drivers tested and searched the perfect braking spot into the first chicane no major incidents were noted during the first free practice session. Force India’s Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon, McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne, and Williams’ Felipe Massa rounded out the top ten.

INITIAL CLASSIFICATION (END OF FP1): A successful morning for @MercedesAMGF1 💪#ItalianGP 🇮🇹 #FP1 pic.twitter.com/y5PuFl0VlP

— Formula 1 (@F1) September 1, 2017

September 1, 2017
2017 Italian Grand Prix: Ferrari Set for Monza Fightback

The Formula One circus returns to the Temple of Speed – Monza for Round 13 of the Formula 1 World Championship.

The Italian Grand Prix also marks the end of the European season and the teams will embark on a series of fly-away races after Monza till the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

The circuit is one of the oldest tracks on the F1 calendar and has featured on the F1 roster almost every season. There have been a number of modifications made to the Monza circuit and Formula 1 cars have raced on all of them. The one in use for Formula 1 is the 9th variation of the circuit. The 5.793km long, 11 corner circuit with famous turns such as Curva Grande, Curva di Lesmo, Variente Ascari and Parabolica.

The engines have to work harder than any other track of the season.. Engines are at full throttle for 79% of the lap around Monza and it is the ultimate test for a manufacturer.. Top end speed and low drag are important with good traction out of the slow chicanes. A power deficit is easily exposed at teams with such a deficit make up for the lack in power by running extremely low-downforce setups.

Understeer is usually a problem around the lap with the very skinny wings the cars are set up with. The top speed last year was held by Lewis Hamilton. According to Mercedes’ data, he clocked a speed of 359.0km/h with the help of DRS and a tow down the pit straight. This years cars are wider and have more drag so we may not see blistering speeds. It is expected, however, that Variente Ascari (Turns 8, 9, and 10) will be taken at full throttle.

The championship battle is heating up and as we head off to the fly away races things will get intense. The gap between Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton has been yo-yo’ing throughout the season. After his victory in Spa last week, Hamilton has brought the gap down to 7 points. A victory in Italy could see Hamilton leading the championship for the first time this season.

Mercedes are expected to be dominant at Monza. The power of the Mercedes engine gives them the advantage they need over the rest of the field. Ferrari are expected to bring an updated power unit to Monza which should bring them closer to Mercedes. There is still no confirmation of such a move.

Further back in the field, Red Bull expect to take engine penalties for Max Verstappen after he retired from the Belgian Grand Prix with a dead cylinder no.4 in his Renault Power Unit. With the Renault engine down on power compared to Mercedes and Ferrari, Verststappen looks like he’s going to have a tough weekend.

The Force India team had their hands full with their drivers coming together out on track once again. Force India Team Principal, Vijay Mallya has made it clear that the team will enforce team orders. While no one likes to see team orders, their drivers were given enough opportunity to show each other some respect on track but this did not happen.

Pirelli have stuck with the same compounds they have brought to Monza last year. The red marked super soft, the yellow marked soft and the white marked medium tyre. The durability of the of 2017 compounds may mean that it will be a one stop race this year. There are many overtaking opportunities around Monza so if teams wish to mix up their strategies a bit they do have that option.

While Mercedes may have won in Spa it was not the commanding victory Mercedes have usually pulled out. The fact that Ferrari were able to keep up with the Silver Arrows during the race despite their engine power update was definitely an eye opener for Mercedes bosses. Their speed will definitely make them hard to beat come qualifying. But the points are awarded after the race.

August 31, 2017
F1 2017: Belgium Gp Review – Hamilton Wins Intense Battle

In terms of the spectacle of wheel-to-wheel racing the 2017 Belgian grand prix wasn’t the most electrifying race of the season.

However, what it may have lacked as far as a pure racing show it certainly made up with the intensity of the battle between the two championship protagonists Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton.

While Hamilton maintained track position throughout the race the Mercedes driver was never more than two seconds ahead of Ferrari’s Vettel. In his 200^th grand prix Hamilton managed to keep Vettel at bay but it was far from a stroll for Mercedes who admitted post-race that it they were pushing flat out from light out to chequered flag. Vettel’s inability to overtake Hamilton proved that track position remains all-important. It’s once again abundantly clear that despite the fact that the 2017 cars are far quicker and more visually exciting it hasn’t improved the ability to overtake.

A late safety car was deployed for debris on the track for an indefensible crash between Force India teammates Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon. The testy relationship between Force India’s drivers came to blows as Perez dangerously squeezed teammate Ocon into the old pitwall, making contact. The race stewards are likely to impose a hefty penalty for Perez’s inexcusably dangerous driving.

Despite Vettel getting to within half a tenth of taking the lead Hamilton maintained control. It wasn’t the case for his Merc teammate Valtteri Bottas who was swamped, on either side, into turn four by Daniel Ricciardo on the left and Kimi Raikkonen on the right. It left Ricciardo in third and Raikkonen, recovering from a ten second stop/go penalty for not slowing under yellow flags, in fourth and a well-spanked Bottas in fifth.

For Max Verstappen his woeful run in 2017 continued with yet another reliability issue. This time a cylinder failure in the engine put an end to his afternoon at his de facto home race. While Verstappen’s frustrations were amplified Nico Hulkenberg took sixth place for Renault ahead of Romain Grosjean in seventh, Massa in eighth, Ocon in ninth and Carlos Sainz in tenth for Toro Rosso.

Fully aware that radio communications are often broadcast to the world McLaren’s Fernando Alonso didn’t hold back his contempt during the race. His comments ranged from “embarrassing, really embarrassing” to “I really don’t care too much about the gaps. This is just a test” when told about the gap to other drivers in his vicinity. Later on he summarily told the team that he wanted no more radio communication.

While his frustration is certainly warranted it was perhaps not the classiest way to go about voicing it. There are more than 600 McLaren employees working flat-out to get these two cars onto the track in the best condition possible and it would likely have been terribly demoralizing for them to hear Alonso’s comments.

The simple truth is that there is no doubt whatsoever that Fernando Alonso is supremely talented and still well capable of winning world titles.

But ponder this: Ferrari could have easily re-signed him for 2018, but chose instead to stick with their current line-up. There is a reason for this and the temperament he displayed in Belgian Gp has everything to do with it.

Hamilton’s intensely fought win has seen him halve Vettel’s gap to seven points ahead of Ferrari’s home race this weekend at Monza.

All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport

August 28, 2017
Quick Thinking and Tactics Kept Hamilton Ahead at Spa

Lewis Hamilton took a commanding win at the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday beating Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel to the chequered flag. But it was not the easy victory Mercedes and Hamilton usually experience over a weekend. It took some clever tactical driving from Hamilton after the safety car restart to keep the charging Ferrari of Vettel behind.

The safety car was deployed after contact between the Force India pair of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon left debris on the track on the run to Eau Rouge. This was essentially a free pit stop which seen the leaders dive into the pits for fresh rubber. The two Mercedes drivers switched over to the soft tyres, while Ferrari switched to the ultra soft tyres – a set they had saved from qualifying.

It would be an eleven lap sprint race to the end with Hamilton expected to furiously defend against the charging Ferrari.

Hamilton got a good drive on the restart catching Vettel out, but the the grip from the ultra soft tyres enabled Vettel to get close to Hamilton at the exit of La Source. On the run to Eau Rouge Vettel was right on Hamilton’s rear wing, so close in fact, Vettel said that he was too close and he had to lift going up the hill to Raidillion. This slowed his momentum somewhat for a brief period but he got back on the power and was in Hamilton’s slip stream going down the Kemmel straight.

The power of the Mercedes engine was too much for the Ferrari. Vettel was 2-3km/h down on Hamilton when he was side-by-side with the Mercedes coming into Turn 5. Hamilton defended the inside line and shut the door or Vettel.

Over the course of the next few laps, Hamilton was able to open up the gap to Vettel where it remained constant over a second. Vettel got close a few times but was not close enough to effect a pass.

After the race Hamilton revealed that he lifted off the power just before Eau Rouge in order for Vettel to close up to him. This is what broke Vettel’s momentum somewhat and allowed Hamilton to stay ahead on the Kemmel straight.

“Obviously into Turn 1 I struggled with the front tyres – and he was too close on the exit of Turn 1 and he had to lift, which was actually great,” Hamilton told reporters.

“Going down the straight I let off the power a little as well, just to keep him right up my tail, because if he was further away he would have had the chance to gain momentum and then slipstream past.

“That’s what he really wanted and I didn’t give him that, so when we got to the top of the hill he was there and as soon as he pulled out he was facing the full force of the air just as I was and he had no hope – so I was really happy with that move!”

After the race in the cool down room Vettel exclaimed to Hamilton that he was too close into Eau Rouge to which Hamilton responded: “I lifted”

“My restart in the initial part was too good. I was too close, so yeah, for sure if I had to do it again maybe I would try something different but at the time I… we know that they have very good straight line speed in their quali mode and at the start of the race I obviously felt how strong they were up the hill on the start, so I did not want to be too far either,” Vettel said in the press conference after the race.

“Lewis also lifted a bit down to Eau Rouge, which I think he could afford because he knows he has a very good top end at the top of it.

Hamilton eventually took the chequered flag with Vettel 2.358s behind.

We don’t have long to wait, the Italian Grand Prix is back-to-back with Spa and it’s another track that will suit Mercedes.

Photo credit: Mercedes AMG Petronas Fromula One Team

August 28, 2017
2017 Belgian Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

DRIVERS

1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

2 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

3 – Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing)

PODIUM INTERVIEWS

(Conducted by Mark Webber)

Lewis, I’ve seen some top performances from you over the years mate, but the last 24 hours, with qualifying, equalling Michael’s 68^th record pole position and the execution of today’s grand prix was absolutely clinical. Run us through it.

Lewis HAMILTON: Thank you, man. I heard it’s your birthday, so happy birthday. I don’t know if the crowd can hear us, but the crowd has been amazing this weekend, so big thank you to everyone for all the support. It’s been a strong weekend for myself and the team. The team did an amazing job and I’m really grateful for all the hard work. The support has made all the difference, seeing all the British flags amongst the kind of Irish orange has been amazing. Sebastian put a great fight on, but this is what I said I was coming to do, so I did it.

Sebastian, it looked like a really, really…

Sebastian VETTEL: It’s Mark’s birthday today, so happy birthday!

Thank you very much. It’s not about me today, believe it or not, it’s about you guys. That looked like a tough fight. Obviously you two were really duking it out lap after lap after lap. Obviously maybe not the most spectacular race, wheel-to-wheel, but as a racer I could see what you two were laying down.

SV: Yeah, it was good fun. It was really intense, because as you said, every lap I was waiting for Lewis to make a mistake, and he didn’t. He was probably waiting for me to make a mistake; I didn’t. Re-start? Maybe that’s why maybe I’m not entirely happy. I was fearing that I’m not close enough but I was too close. So on top of the hill I had to go out and then it’s a drag race, I’m on the outside and nowhere really to go, but it was good fun. I think we had a very good pace. If you compare this track to Silverstone I think it was a lot better here, so yeah, we’ve done good steps forward and looking forward to next week obviously, our home race, so yeah, it’s been a good race overall.

Well done, big points, mate, big points. Danny Ric – well done!

Daniel RICCIARDO: G’day mate.

Well, the safety car came at a nice time. You were sitting in there and then there’s new fresh tyres ready to go and you made the most of it. A beautiful re-start at the top of the hill against Valtteri and then you got it home. You held Kimi off, which was sensational, so a huge result for the team though, right?

DR: Yeah, it was. You know, Max dropped out early. Firstly, thanks… I know it’s pretty much full of Dutchies here, so thanks for hanging around, appreciate it, we all do. Then Kimi had a penalty so we got into fourth. We had pretty good pace mid-race and then we got the safety car. I knew we’d been given a bit of an opportunity with that and it was good to capitalise on that with Valtteri on the re-start.

Lewis, you got the driver of the day, which we would expect, but yesterday we spoke to you quickly and you spoke about coming here in 1996 with your father, the first time you really saw Formula One at this level, so run us through your emotions this weekend, how much it means to you, your 200^th race, and those special memories coming here 21 years ago.

LH: Is it 21? Oh, jeez. Well, I like this Mexican wave everyone is doing. There are many kids here and probably adults that dream of doing what we’re doing here today and I came here in 1996 with my dad and it was our dream. We were nobodies and it was our dream to be here one day. Hopefully this just shows to those of you who are watching that dreams do come true and you just have to keep striving for excellence, believe in yourself and never give up.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Lewis, awful lot of pressure to soak up in the final part of the grand prix after being very much in control early on. Sebastian had a new set of ultrasofts for eventualities; you didn’t. You must have been pretty nervous in the build-up to that re-start. Tell us how you defended it, how you kept him at arm’s length and how you feel about coming through that?

LH: Well I felt it was a bit like NASCAR, where they keep pulling out the safety cars for no reason. The wing was cleared, after we’d slowed down they could have done a VSC but I guess they wanted to see a race, so that’s for sure the reason they did that, because there was hardly any debris, if at all, they cleaned it so well. Anyways, before that it was obviously close. The Ferrari has generally had the upper hand, particularly on race pace, throughout the weekend and very, very, very strong today and obviously I was towing him around everywhere so they were getting a good tow out of the straights. And on the re-start the safety car was driving so slow, it was I guess to let the other people catch up, but keeping tyre temperature, being that I was on the harder tyre, was very, very difficult. Yeah, it came to the re-start, Sebastian was obviously very, very close. The front tyres weren’t switched on initially and he got a good tow. I think he was little bit close down the run out of Turn 1, so I think he probably had to lift off or otherwise he would have come by potentially before Eau Rouge, which was a good thing for me because having to lift he loses a bit of performance. But he did a great race, he was very, very consistent throughout. It was fun to be racing against, firstly another team, and Sebastian really at his best and with the car at the best, being so close. We were just battling within half a tenth every single lap and that’s what racing is all about. As I said, I think they were able to keep up and follow quite closely for a long, long time, so I think ultimately they had the better pace today but fortunately I was able to do just enough to stay ahead.

Q: Sebastian, sport is all about taking chances when they pop up. Obviously you had a new set of ultrasofts, you saw Lewis going on to the softs, you must have thought ‘here we go, this is my chance’. Take us through that restart, it was very close, how did you come down the hill, how did you get through Eau Rouge? How do you feel also, just in general about being this close on a track which, after Silverstone, on paper should really have suited Mercedes far more than it suited you?

SV: That’s a lot of questions. Obviously, I knew that we had a tyre advantage with the ultrasoft versus the soft, for the first couple of laps in particular. The restarts. So you could also see, exiting Turn One, was all over Lewis. It was not that hard to follow so close and maybe that was the problem. My restart in the initial part was too good. I was too close, so yeah, for sure if I had to do it again maybe I would try something different but at the time I… we know that they have very good straight line speed in their quali mode and at the start of the race I obviously felt how strong they were up the hill on the start, so I did not want to be too far either. Finding that optimum is difficult. Lewis also lifted a bit down to Eau Rouge, which I think he could afford because he knows he has a very good top end at the top of it. But yeah, I think overall it was a very good race. It was good fun. Obviously not that exciting probably to watch because we were very close but nothing happened but good fun in the car because I was waiting for him to maybe have an error he was probably waiting for me to have an error or an off but it didn’t happen so the quality was very high I thought, and very consistent lap times despite the tyres, I think, dropping lap by lap. But yeah, never really had a chance. Maybe half a chance, quarter of a chance but yeah, I think the positive thing is that we had very good race pace. It was very difficult to follow in the middle sector but we stayed close and then we benefit in the first and last sector. Overall the car was very good. We didn’t change too much compared to Silverstone which shows, on the one hand that Silverstone was just a bad weekend but we improved also the car so… especially in race pace, very strong. I mean we were, on average, a second off, or nearly a second off in Silverstone, so it’s a big step. I’m very, very happy. I think we are on the right track and I don’t think we have a circuit we should fear, going from now.

Q: Speaking of chances Daniel. Any sniff of a chance you get, you take it and end-up on the podium. You did it again today, particularly with that wonderful pass at the restart. It looked a risky tyre selection going into the weekend but having that new set of ultras paid off. You must be really delighted with the way this weekend has gone for you.

DR: It certainly ended well. It’s always a funny one here. We come in not so optimistic and even qualifying… I think even the year I won I don’t think I qualified too well but we seem to find some extra pace on Sunday and we put ourselves in a position or we take advantage of something and capitalise, so yeah, I’m really happy, y’know? Another podium’s always good. The start, the first few laps with the ultrasoft actually, we were struggling quite a bit. We could see blistering and problems we always have at this circuit, with this nature of circuit, the high speed but struggling to really move or make much progress in the first stint. But then we put the supersoft on and we found a good rhythm. I think we were able to keep a similar lap-time to the leaders. Although they were on the soft, I felt, y’know, respectively we were finding a good rhythm and pace and then we got the Safety Car. For sure Lewis didn’t like it too much – and fair enough – but for me obviously it opened up an opportunity on the restart with Valtteri and capitalised on that. He was on the soft, I was on the ultra and I knew if we were going to have a podium, it was happening on the restart. Once his tyres got up to temperature it would have been hard to do something, so, yeah, pretty happy. Good momentum now for the second half of the season.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) Lewis, what a way to start the second half of the season off. Looks like you were in control there, you felt a little pressure from Seb, did you feel you had the whole race in control and, y’know, with this historical pole position that you did yesterday, does this set you up for momentum going into Monza on his home track for Ferrari?

LH: I think… obviously it’s an amazing feeling to come back into the season and start off on the right foot, being that the Ferraris obviously finished on the right foot going into the break but they’ve really put in a fantastic fight today. The speed and pace they had was very strong. There was not a point at which I would say that I could be comfortable. I think for both of us it was pushing every single lap, which is more like a sprint race, which was fun. That’s really how racing should be: no room for error; no room for any mistakes – because if I’d had the smallest mistake, he would have picked up on it. And there were clearly strengths and weaknesses from both sides: strengths on our car and strengths on their car. We were constantly exchanging times. But this is definitely a good start going into the next race. Clearly we have not a bad car on the straights. I think, again, I imagine it’s going to be very, very close in the next race. I would think more heavily towards places like Singapore, where it’s high downforce circuits, where I think Ferrari seemed to have really picked up some pace. Places obviously like the last race. Otherwise I’ve got a say a big thank you to my team. It’s been a long period of time with Mercedes-Benz, and obviously with this team as well, so I wouldn’t have been able to have won any of these grands prix without them, so very, very grateful for all the hard work that they put in, and yeah, it just feels… everyone worked so hard so then when you match them and put in the same effort together and achieve what you set out to achieve, it’s such a great feeling.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – globoesporte.com) Lewis, Friday you were very fast on the soft tyres and today, after the pitstop, it looks like you suffer a little. Sebastian was very close to you, could even use the DRS. And also, you had 14 laps to the end when you did the second pitstop and you used again the soft tyre, not the ultrasoft. Were you satisfied with the decision?

LH: It was a very, very late decision. It was made literally just before the last corner, so I wasn’t expecting it. I was expecting to collect the Safety Car – which is why I allowed Sebastian to get close, because I didn’t… it’s not like the VSC where you have to keep to the delta, there’s no point because I’d be catching the Safety Car. Obviously that didn’t work out that way and came into the pitlane with Sebastian right up my tail, so very, very fortunate the team did a great pitstop and able to get back out ahead. After that, yeah, the pace I think I was struggling because the tyre temperatures were so low. I just couldn’t keep… from the slow pace, the safety car was going extremely slow and I knew it would be… firstly he’s on the better tyre and yeah, knowing that I thought the start was going to be very difficult. And it clearly was. I got into Turn One struggling with the front end of the car. But fortunately got a relatively decent exit but I mean he was on the gas before I was. I could hear him. So he was in a much more comfortable position but fortunately, once he pulled out of my slipstream we were both going against the same wind and fortunately I think maybe we have a little bit less downforce and that worked in that scenario.

Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and Speedsport) Daniel, tell us more about that restart? You came out, there’s three cars abreast going up that hill and you come out in third place.

DR: Obviously I was focused on Valtteri but I was aware Kimi was… I was getting a good tow from Valtteri but we know the Ferrari has a bit more straightline speed than us so I was using Valtteri’s pace but also knew that Kimi was probably going to get a double tow. All I could do… I saw Valtteri cover the inside so I went to the outside but then I was thinking ‘I don’t know if he’s seen Kimi, maybe Kimi’s going to get to the inside’ so did Kimi go to the inside in the end? Yeah. I don’t know but all I could do was focus on Valtteri and to be honest, in the braking zone it was still blind. I knew I was maybe in front but you get to a point you can’t really see so I gave enough room in case he was still there, and you just kind of hold on and hope for no one to come in the side of you and then by the time you get to turning left for turn six I knew I had done it and I saw Kimi in the mirror. Yeah, I figured it probably felt nice on TV; it felt good. It puts me back up here so I’m happy.

Q: (Bas Holtkamp – Race Express) First of all, congrats for your third place on behalf of all the disappointed Dutchies. Max has had a lot of material problems this year, while you seem to have a lot of luck or are you just more gentle on your car? Is that maybe the reason why?

DR: Yeah, I certainly… I do a lot of things with my driving style which is very nice to the car. I actually talk to it a lot during the race. I massage it. I wouldn’t call it foreplay but it’s something like that and Max is young, he’s aggressive, he goes straight in! I know you’re shaking your head but I feel like you knew the answer would be something silly like that. In all seriousness, I don’t have an answer for it. I’ve honestly… I have asked before. I’ve even asked all the guys in the team, the mechanical and also from the power unit side and I’ve said is there something you see Max is doing which I should maybe avoid and they said no, there’s nothing he’s doing. He’s not over-revving it or anything silly. It’s unfortunate. I commented on the podium that… I think it was Austria as well he had a big big following there and all the fans still stayed, the whole weekend. Obviously they all want him to do well but I think they’re racing enthusiasts so really nice that they stay around for the rest of the race and support us all. Yeah, I know he gets bigger cheers from them but I still feel like they are a good crowd, there’s no aggression, it’s all love.

Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriera della Sera) Sebastian, you had a good chance with the start but what about the scenario with the safety car? Have you imagined what could have happened?

SV: Well, we had the safety car so no, I didn’t imagine much. I was following Lewis, I think we had more or less the same pace. Obviously it was difficult to follow super close and get in range and really try and create something so – I don’t know, the gap to the car behind with Valtteri was around five/six seconds, growing, especially at the end of the stints where I think Lewis and myself had better pace than the rest. I don’t know, it was fairly healthy, there were 14 laps to go, something like that, 15 laps to go so probably would have finished the race like that. It wouldn’t have made a difference, at least to us but for sure with the safety car then, yeah, I smelled a chance. Unfortunately it didn’t turn out to be a great chance and as I said, not entirely happy with the way I executed but that’s how it went. Nevertheless, as I said before… it’s normal, as I said before, as a racer you always look at what you could have done better but you also need to appreciate the fact that it was a very very good weekend for us, all the way. Both cars very quick, competitive and closer than I think one could expect before the race.

Q: (Mike Doodson – GP Plus) Lewis, there were moments during the race where you were clearly a bit nervous over the radio, things like the speed of the safety car and the other nervousness seemed to come from the fact that you had to go on the yellow tyre at the end. Was that because there was only a supply of yellow tyres? Do you know why you didn’t get the same ultrasofts that Seb was able to use?

LH: In Q2, Ferrari only ran once, we ran twice, so we used the spare ultrasoft whereas they saved it. I doubted if they were planning on doing a two stop as a two stop was slower but just by sheer luck there was a safety car which again, I commented, which I don’t think was necessary but anyways it worked out OK, so yes, we had to put on a fresh tyre. If we had put on a used ultrasoft we would probably have been in more trouble so I think it was the right decision at the end of the day, but potentially in the future, maybe we will take precautions to make sure we also have a new tyre available just in case. But otherwise… I think everyone was in the same boat with the safety car being slow but yeah, I guess for me, being on that harder tyre, it was already hard for Sebastian on the ultrasofts to keep temperature in the tyres but being on the harder tyre again, it makes it even harder. But anyways, it was what it was and I did the best I could with it and fortunately was able to defend, just about.

Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) Daniel, you always seem to be there man, right, when it’s right about time to get what you need to get done and take care of business. You describe your driving style; would you approach it like a fighter approaches way being patient, waiting for those openings?

DR: I always want to… when I was younger, a lot of the time I would leave a weekend, leave a race on a Sunday and have questions or doubts in mind head, like if tried that or I should have done this or… There wasn’t often enough where I felt like I was leaving everything on the table or taking advantage of a situation. I wanted to make a point, particularly when I got the opportunity with Red Bull Racing and coming into a top team, you know, I don’t want that feeling, I don’t want to fly home on a Sunday with the race replaying in my head and thinking ah, if only I tried this move and then the race would have been different. It’s something I felt I always had in me but in particular the last few years, I’ve been able to show it and get it out of myself. Yes, the simple term is leaving with no regrets and then just trying to capitalise on the moment and I think for that you need to be present in the moment. I enjoy… I love what I do. Fridays, practice. Yeah. Saturday qualifying, it’s pretty good, but Sunday is most certainly what I love and I think it’s easier to capitalise when you’re having a good time.

Photo credit: Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team

August 27, 2017
2017 Belgian Grand Prix: Post Qualifying Press Conference

DRIVERS

1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

2 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

3 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)

GRID INTERVIEWS

(Conducted by Will Buxton)

Q: Lewis, Ross Brawn just wants to have a couple of words with you to congratulate you on this achievement.

Ross BRAWN: I’m here to deliver a very special message from Corinna Schumacher and the Schumacher family, who want to congratulate you on equalling Michael’s record and as they said, Michael always said records are there to be beaten, so they want to send their very special thanks. Congratulations, Lewis, well done.

Q: So, Lewis, that was some lap. It was mighty. Tell all the fans, tell everyone at home, how good does it feel to hook one up like that around here?

Lewis HAMILTON: Well, first of all, I want to give a big shout out to all the fans here, they’re always amazing here every year we come here. There are a lot of Brits, a lot of people from the Netherlands, from all over, so thank you so much for coming out. I can’t believe it. First of all, a big thank you to my tea, Ross [Brawn] was a big part of me being here at this team, so the success we have had he is much a part of that as well. But the team have done an amazing job. Valtteri did a great job to be up here ahead of the Ferraris, an amazing feeling. This is one of my favourite circuits, so to come here and put a lap together like that, it’s a dream. I’ve got the best job in the world, so I’m just grateful to be here.

Q: And to equal Michael Schumacher’s record on the track where he made his debut, the track where he took his first grand prix victory is something special too.

LH: It is and to hear the message that Ross just gave, I just have to say a big thank you and pray for Michael and his family all the time. I’ve had the privilege of racing with him, from karting days in Kerpen to on the track and always admired him, and still do today, so I’m just honoured to be up there with him now in the poles, but he will still be one of the greatest of all time.

Q: Congratulations. Seb, that was some lap at the end to get on the front row, you needed that didn’t you?

Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, it was the right time. I had a very good feeling in Q1, the get go was really go but then I lost that feeling a little bit, I had a bit light front end, especially then through sector two with the medium-, high-speed corners. I was lacking a little bit of response. But the last lap the car was a little bit more alive, immediately I could feel it turning into Turn 1. And then I have to also admit that I was a bit lucky with Kimi, he had to abort his lap but he gave me a very, very nice tow, which I think made it a bit more comfortable with Valtteri. Obviously it’s very important. Good position today, great job from the team, very happy, so looking forward to the race.

Q: We know these guys are worries about your long-run pace. Are you confident in it?

SV: They should be! So far it has been looking pretty good, so I hope we can keep it up. The car, on one lap, I thought all weekend it was a bit trickier to get it together. Consecutive laps with high fuel I felt really good, so let’s see what we can do with the strategy tomorrow as well, but for sure Mercedes will be quick. But, we don’t have to hide. We are on the front row for a reason. We have the speed and we should have it in the race.

Q: Congratulations. Valtteri, are you annoyed that he just pipped you at the end there? As he said, he got a tow from Kimi coming up the back and without that it might have been an all-Mercedes front row.

Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, of course it would have been nice to be one-two tomorrow, but it’s not a bad starting place. I was aiming for pole today, but to be honest Lewis has been doing and absolutely perfect job all weekend and for some reason I’ve been struggling and I just haven’t been able to get close enough, so we’ll need to investigate why. That’s something we’ll need to understand but already my thoughts are for tomorrow.

Q: Everyone is focusing on those two guys for the title, bit you are in the hunt for the title as much as both of them. How much do you want the win tomorrow to prove to everybody, as much as to them, that you’re here, you’re fighting and it’s as much yours as it is theirs?

VB: Getting my first couple of wins this year you just want more, so of course that is going to be the mission for me tomorrow and main thing as a team is that we get a strong result. But I’ll do everything I can and I don’t mind if they are being looked at more than me, I’ll just keep doing my job and trying to get better and better.

Q: Can’t wait for tomorrow. Lewis, you’ve got the championship leader on the front row with you, you’ve got your team-mate inches behind you and he’s very much in the hunt for this title as well, really the second half of the season couldn’t be starting any better for Formula One could it?

LH: Well, we had a great holiday and we’ve come back feeling fresh and this is the perfect way to start the weekend. The second half is going to be tough for all of us, the team, the people back at the factory, but we’re geared up for the second half, so I hope that we can bring it.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Lewis, many congratulations, a day I’m sure you’ve been looking forward to for some time. The magic number – 68 – you’ve equalled the all-time record of Michael Schumacher. And what a place to do it – a track that is so synonymous with Schumacher, and with a record fastest ever lap of track. Your feelings?

LH: Yeah, it’s a special day, definitely. To be honest, I knew it was on the horizon and I knew at some stage I’d be getting that 68^th pole but I really hadn’t thought about it very much. I didn’t apply pressure, I was like “it could come soon, it could take a long time”, but now being there, it’s an unusual place to be. I remember coming here in 1996, my first grand prix, and watching Michael come by out of Turn 1 and the engine just shook my rib cage – it was incredible. And that was when my love for the sport took another step. And to think that God knows how long later I’m now equal to him on poles, it’s very surreal and very much a humbling experience, particularly knowing that Michael is such a legend. It’s an incredible feat that he achieved and I feel very proud to be up there with him.

Q: It’s a special day generally in numbers – 4.2 seconds faster this year’s pole compared to last years. The average generally this year has been around 2-2.5s, can you break it down for us why this weekend is so far much faster around this track with these cars?

LH: It’s a medium-high downforce circuit so it’s to do this engine being more powerful than it was last year, for all of us. We’ve got a lot more downforce, so the speed that we are going through the corners, it’s so much faster than it was last year. It’s a longer circuit, there’s more time at full throttle, so DRS counts for more than it perhaps has done at other places. A combination of those I would assume. Yeah, it feels amazing around this track. It always does, but to have a car as we have here and the set-up I was able to work with my engineers, to achieve the balance was great, and to really be able to lean on the car around this circuit, I’ve never had such a feeling. Pouhon, Turn 10, was nearly flat, which is insane, I’ve definitely never experienced that in my time whilst in Formula One. We’re just like Ricky Bobby – we want to go faster, and it is a great feeling when you do.

Q: Congratulations, very special day. Sebastian, it was important for Mercedes today that they get two cars on the front row and it was very important for you that they didn’t. It took you a while to get there, so under the circumstances would you class that a very special lap on your behalf?

SV: Not just on my behalf. I think I had a little bit of help from a friend. Kimi had to abort his lap and he was very generous in giving me a tow in the last sector and that got me about two tenths so that helped and it made it a bit more comfortable with Valtteri looking at the result. Q1 I was really happy, the car was amazing. Q2 the main job was to get through, and then Q3 first lap I was missing a little bit the feel for the front. The second run in Q3 was better in that regard. So I was very happy with the last lap and as I said obviously with a little bit of a help it was quite nice. It was then tricky getting into the last corner, because knowing that you arrive so much faster with the tow and braking is never easy, it’s easy to miss it for the last corner. But I managed to get it right and to get it across the line so that was useful. The pace has been good this weekend. I think less for one lap, more so for long runs, so let’s see what we can do tomorrow.

Q: Your long-run pace yesterday looked very promising compared to the Mercedes so does that give you some hope for tomorrow. There is a strange start to this race as well, because you don’t necessarily always want to be the first car down the straight in the opening stages as there is an opportunity for P2 to get ahead?

SV: Yeah that’s right. Well, we’ll see when we get to that. I think the start is still very important and you try to do your best there and try to take it from there. I think the long run pace looked good yesterday, also this morning. Obviously we didn’t do a lot of laps overall this weekend, it’s a long lap, so the amount of laps you get is not that much compared to other tracks. But, as I said, the car was really good, especially for the race, so now we hope to confirm that. Tomorrow will be a tough day though, I mean start, first laps, as you said big straights, tows and in general strategy around here so we will see what happens.

Q: Coming to you Valtteri, you had second place, again it took you a while to get to that point, and then obviously Sebastian took it away from you. He’s explained that the tow had a part to play in it – but did you feel you were on your A-game today?

VB: Yeah, first of all congrats to Lewis for the pole and for the 69^th [68^th] it’s a mega-achievement. I’ve only got two so some way to go. This whole weekend for some reason I’ve been not really close enough to be able to challenge for that pole. For sure Lewis has been really on it but I’m slightly confused why I’ve not been able to get quite close enough. Still need to find some answers for me. The balance of the car has been feeling really good. Been just really lacking overall grip and that way, losing a lot of time in the high-speed corners in Sector Two. So, yeah, was always going to be a bit tricky to challenge for the pole, unfortunately. Would have been nice to at least be second but Sebastian got ahead. But still, second row and I’m sure as a team we can do good tomorrow.

Q: As we were just saying, the Ferrari, the long run pace on the ultrasoft yesterday and again the long run pace this morning looked pretty handy, but what was striking about you guys is that your soft tyre pace is pretty strong. Presumably, strategy-wise, you’re counting on that tomorrow to get in front of Sebastian before the chequered flag.

VB: Yeah, it is going to be a long race and here we know always anything can happen and you never know with the weather as well. It’s going to be a day full of opportunities for me as well, starting third. Probably going to see different behaviour with the different cars, with the different tyre compounds. So, should be interesting.

Q: (Angelique Belokopytov – Autodigest) First of all, congratulations Lewis for this special day, special record too, so question to all three of you, could you please share with us a special memorable moment shared with Michael please?

SV: It’s not fair to pick one moment. I think the fact we’re both from the same country makes it easier to in a way get closer to him. I know him for a very, very long time, the age of six or seven I met him for the very first time, he was handing over the trophies to the kids at the go-kart track in Kerpen, his home track, not far away from here. Yeah, it was massive. We were more than a hundred kids and he took the time to shake all our hands, hand over the trophies, so as a child I think that was indescribable. Obviously he was my hero. I had his posters everywhere in my room and he was pretty much the only guy I followed when I was young. So, yeah, big inspiration and we then I think we had a lot of good moments, a lot of fun moments. As a child it’s different, you’re star-struck in a way. It’s my hero, what do I say? I don’t know. And then later on I got to know him and yeah, we really got a long. He’s a great guy, good fun and I think the admiration for his skills is the same as day one. We shared a lot of good moments at the Race of Champions together and even if you can argue about the format and so on, still you have to drive different cars, adapt and the way he drives a go-kart is… I don’t know… it’s just so different to everybody else I’ve ever seen. So, I don’t know how I look from the outside but I guess I don’t look that, so yeah, many moments. Sober and not sober. It’s hard to pick one.

Lewis?

LH: I think I already mentioned earlier on my find and probably favourite memory of seeing Michael come by but just like Sebastian, I grew up watching him and I would play him, I would always be… particularly when he was in a Ferrari, when I was racing in computer games I was Michael a lot, the majority of the time. Having the privilege, I raced with him in Kerpen many, many years ago and yeah, just trying to think of the best moment. I’ve always had good, fond memories of him. Another really good one was Abu Dhabi, just before he left. I plucked up the courage to go ask if he would swap helmets with me. He was welcoming and did, so yeah, that’s definitely one of the coolest things in my house.

Valtteri?

VB: I remember watching on TV all the battles he used to have in the 1990s with Häkkinen. That was really good to watch and remember how excited I was every Sunday morning. Sunday afternoon, waking up and knowing it’s going to be another proper battle on track. And I also remember, it’s not even so far ago, 2012, when I did Friday practice for Williams and, for the first time I was the same time on track with Michael. For me, that was quite special.

Q: (Mike Doodson – Honorary) Sebastian, you mentioned Kimi’s generous gesture to you. We didn’t see it on TV and I was wondering if it happened spontaneously or if you had to position yourself on the track or did that just happen by good chance?

SV: As far as I understand, he had a mistake on his last flying lap, his last attempt, so it wasn’t planned; he wanted obviously to finish that lap but when he, I guess when he did the mistake and just because of where we were positions, he obviously cruised back to the pits. I guess the team didn’t even tell him anything. I think he just saw a red car in the mirror and thought ‘I’ll hand him a tow,” which was quite nice. It was obviously quite useful for me – but it wasn’t planned. I saw some other teams playing around with tows previously in qualifying – but usually it’s one of those things you can’t really plan so we tend to stay away from it. To answer your question, I think it was very spontaneous.

Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) First off, congratulations Lewis. You went into Beast Mode in Q3, you talked about that moment with Michael. How does it feel that now, you creating this moment and building this legacy of yours, that you’re inspiring that next generation, who will sit here say the same thing, that they were inspired by what you did here today?

LH: Well, thank you. I think it’s a good question. I’ve not really sat and thought too much about it because obviously I’m here right now – but it is the case, y’know. Many, many years from now they’ll be some kid, some grown-up sitting here… maybe it’s not many, many years from now – Sebastian’s not far behind on the poles, could catch-up, but yeah, I think it’s amazing, it’s a real privilege for all of us to be up here, knowing that even currently that there are kids, even adults that are looking up to us for inspiration in their daily lives but also setting goals. For me, I always try to put out positive energy. I think success comes a lot with a real positive frame of mind. It’s very easy for all of us to be negative on occasions – but the most important thing is to wake-up in the morning and try to find that positive energy, wherever you get it from, and apply that to whatever it is that you’re trying to work or achieve. I think we’re all born as stars with the opportunity to do something special. It’s all about finding and using that positive energy.

Q: (Livio Orrichio – globoesporte.com) Lewis, in your last set of tyres, you didn’t get the best in the T1, the first part of the track, but you did a wonderful T2. Did you change the car in the final part of the qualifying, the Q3?

LH: You mean the last lap? No. Well, you can’t change the car, the only thing I could do is wing but that doesn’t affect the first sector. I was up as far as I’m aware. My dashboard, it said I was up 0.8 of a tenth, or something like that, nearly a tenth in sector one, so I’m not really sure what you’re relating to. Maybe it was down but my delta said it was up. But I didn’t change anything. I did pretty much the same sector – but the second sector particularly and a little bit in the last sector was really where I made the gains. That middle sector, Turn Ten, it’s nearly flat, as I mentioned. That was pretty awesome.

Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, how crucial is it tomorrow to beat at least one of these guys behind… I mean in front of you, for your championship hopes?

VB: Hopefully at least one behind, so I’m not last. Yeah, for sure we’re all fighting for the title. Obviously it is nine races to do so there are a massive amount of points still available. So this is only one race but every race counts. For sure try to gain any positions possible. For us as a team, we know that it is a strong circuit for us. So we really need to capitalise. We want, as a team, to be one-two. That’s going to be the mission.

Q: (Bas Holtkamp – Raceexpress.com) Question to Lewis. Now you’ve achieved this goal for the most pole positions ever – almost, you’ve equalled Michael – what is your next goal. Do you have a magic number in mind? Like, are you going for the 80 or 100 or whatever?

LH: No, I haven’t… I generally take my days one days at a time so I haven’t planned for anything further than for what I already have – but I plan on being here for some time so I will work towards whatever number it could possibly be. When I came across the line on that slow-down lap, it was a real moment to reflect on my team, who did such a great job, who have worked so hard through the year to enable me, to give me the car of my dreams. That’s the car that we all… that’s the car that us three up here have dreamed of racing. There’s so many people back at the factory, and people watching TV just don’t even have the even the faintest idea. There’s so much work that goes on back home, there’s so many people. Every day I go to the factory I find a new little workshop that’s underneath the stairs, and I’ve been walking past that for five years and didn’t even know it was there – and five people come out of that little space and they’d have been there for 20 years. So, yeah, I’ve been really fortunate to work with some really great people and I’m just really just a small link in the chain but I’m proud of my link in the chain and I plan to continue to propel this car and this team forward. I believe that we can get many more – so that’s the goal. Sky’s the limit really.

Q:(Flavio Vanetti – Corriera della Sera) Sebastian, we know that you signed a long term contract and I would like to know if in some way it’s the same trust that Michael had towards the team? And secondly, if you had any moment in which you had doubts about Ferrari and maybe you thought to quit the team?

SV: I don’t know what trust Michael had. I never actually spoke with him about that. Yeah, unfortunately, as you all know I didn’t have the opportunity. I think he would have been one of the first people to ask back in 2014 and probably have to consult also you know, now in terms of… I don’t know, through the course of this year for the future, whatever. I love this team, I love the people who are working for this brand. Obviously Lewis touched on the effort that is going into building a Formula One car. I think for most of the teams it’s probably the same but still I believe Ferrari has something unique, something that other teams don’t have. People talk about a legend, to me it appears that this legend is still alive because of the people who work for it, day in, day out. I’m sure you have been to Maranello, probably most of you haven’t but if you walk down the streets in Maranello, the presence of Ferrari is huge but if you see the people working at Ferrari and meet them, then it’s even bigger, what they carry inside them, the passion for the brand and that’s I think and I’m convinced, allowing every single one of them to go an extra step compared to other people, other teams. That’s my conviction and extremely grateful to be part of that family. In a way, it was a no-brainer to continue. We haven’t yet achieved what we what we wanted to achieve but things are looking pretty good and obviously we have a long road ahead of us.

Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) Lewis, if you take pole position at Monza, you’ll break Michael’s record. Would that be the ultimate tribute to him, the ultimate place to do it in front of all the Ferrari fans to pay tribute to his greatness?

LH: I’m not really sure whether that, how… my next step, how that applies to anyone else. If I dedicate it to him, yeah, could be the best tribute being that he had so much success at Ferrari and in Italy. Yeah, I’ve not really thought of it to be honest. Don’t have an answer for you there.

Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday, Motorsport Week.com) Sebastian, speculation before you signed was that you were going to possibly sign a one year deal with Ferrari. Now they’ve come out and announced that you’ve signed at least three years. Do you see yourself ending your career at Maranello?

SV: Well, I don’t know, since we learned last year that these things can happen fairly quickly and spontaneously you never know. But yeah, obviously now I don’t need to think and spend time about thinking about the future so that’s clear and then I think we cross that bridge when we get to it. It’s a long time, a lot of things can happen so we will see. Also then you can never say never. You retire and then, I don’t I know, might get bored, come back. We may see Nico back in a couple of years, who knows? Michael obviously decided to come back at some point because he loved racing but that’s all far far away so not really a topic.

Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) Sebastian, yesterday you said that there would be no news on your contract for two weeks. I just wanted to know what changed in 24 hours for you?

SV: Nothing personal, I don’t like the Sun. I saw a clip yesterday of a funny interview with Jurgen Klopp and he doesn’t like the Sun either so maybe I will jump on the bandwagon. Maybe I give you a last answer. Yeah, I didn’t think that it’s probably the right time so I didn’t rush or push but things were coming along together fairly quickly in the end and we decided to go for it and make the call. So yeah, I know it wasn’t the best in terms of one day and then the other but that’s how it was.

Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Perhaps you will like the BBC, Sebastian. Did you actually sign it this weekend? How did you decide to sign for three years? And did you have any talks with or thoughts about joining Mercedes?

SV: Well, I mean I have been around in the paddock for a while so I know people and it’s natural that you talk but it’s never been more than chatting, mostly about other stuff, to be honest but yeah, I’ve been talking for a while with Ferrari. As I said, my intention was to stay. We haven’t succeeded so the mission is still ongoing. I want to win in red. We talked about inspiration earlier about Michael, he was mostly dressed in red. He won most of his races in red and his championships. I don’t want to step in his footsteps. I think the whole generation of the Ferrari team today wants to leave their own footsteps but certainly there’s a huge inspiration so something for me is now the biggest challenge, the biggest dream that I have and what I want to achieve. I think, to answer your question at the beginning, since I like the BBC, is yes, I actually signed it this weekend.

Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS) Do you think tomorrow will be a Ferrari-Mercedes battle again or do you fear Red Bull might interfere?

LH: Yeah, he just said where are they? I don’t… where did they qualify?

SV: Five and six.

LH: I’ve not seen their pace, so as far as I’m aware they’ve been a bit down on power, they’ve tried different… lower and higher range of wings. I think they’ve been a little bit off the pace as far as I’m aware but you never know. Whatever conditions we’re faced with tomorrow, I think the pace of us at the moment, both Ferrari and Mercedes, is pretty strong so…

SV: Well, it wouldn’t be the first time that we see significant increase in race pace for Red Bull so obviously in qualifying, also round here, it might not be their strongest track but tomorrow, come race, lot of laps, looking after the tyres, I think they’ve proven in the past that they’re very strong so you should never under-estimate and forget about them.

Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) Valtteri, is it frustrating seeing everybody else signing new contracts?

VB: No. Good for them.

LH: Who’s everybody else, anyways? This one dude here.

Q: Kimi, Vandoorne.

LH: Not everyone else.

VB: No, I’m just really focusing on my own things. I know where we are with everything. I don’t need to worry if other people are doing contracts. I’m only interested in what I’m going to do and what the team is going to do and that’s what matters. Like I said, there’s no rush really because for this season I joined in January, so there’s still plenty of time.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) To both Mercedes drivers: no problems with tyre temperatures considering the ultrasoft tyres on the flying laps and also long runs, and Sebastian, Lauda said today that he stopped talking to you two months ago. What went wrong that the conversations didn’t go ahead?

LH: Can he answer first? I’m interested to hear his…

SV: Nothing. Nothing went wrong. I think I’m very happy. I think Niki is generally a happy guy so… nothing went wrong.

LH: For us, we didn’t have any problems with the tyres. I haven’t struggled with tyre temps so far this weekend and I think it wasn’t a problem throughout qualifying as well. It was very easy to get temperatures. The tyres have been giving quite a lot of grip. I think it feels like, particularly for qualifying, that the one step softer was a good direction but it will be interesting to see how it works out tomorrow.

VB: Yeah, definitely, I think right choices from Pirelli for this weekend, to go with the softest compounds. Even with the ultrasofts no big problems, little bit of overheating during the lap but it’s not massive, it’s pretty normal so it was good.

Photo by courtesy Pirelli

August 26, 2017
Hamilton Tops Rain Affected Free Practice 2 For Belgian GP

Lewis Hamilton topped the time sheets at the end of a shortened Free Practice 2 after rain affected the final 20 minutes of the session.

Hamilton set his time of 1:44.753 on the ultra soft tyres to go 0.262s faster than second fastest man, Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn cut the timing beam in 1:45.015 after Sebastian Vettel, who held the top spot for a short while, and Valtteri Bottas set their lap times.

Third fastest of the session was Bottas almost half a second off the pace with a session best time of 1:45.180. Max Verstappen kept Red Bull in the mix with a 4th fastest time ahead of Sebastian Vettel who was 5th fastest. Vettel ultimately didn’t have a good session saying that he was not entirely happy with his afternoon. His long run pace should give Mercedes something to think about.

Daniell Ricciardo was 6th fastest ahead of the Renault of Nico Hulkenberg. Both Renault’s were able to get into to the top 10 with Palmer in the other Renault ending the session 10th fastest behind Carlos Sainz in the Toro Rosso in 9th.

Felipe Massa had to sit out the session following his crash in Free Practice 1. Williams confirmed that the safety cell on his car was punctured and a new chassis would need to be fitted. This requires the car to be scruitineered again by the stewards before the car is able to turn a wheel on the track. It is expected that the car will be checked tomorrow morning ahead of Free Practice 3.

Drivers and teams took no chances as soon as the rain started falling and with 25 minutes still left in the session it was effectively over once the rain came down.

It does seem like this weekend will belong to Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes come qualifying. The new power upgrade to the Mercedes power unit looks like it’s already paying off, although we’ll only know the extent of the upgrade in Q3.

FP2 INITIAL CLASSIFICATION (90/90 MINS): A three-way battle at the weekend? #BelgianGP 🇧🇪 #F1 pic.twitter.com/aCBoNNTS8m

— Formula 1 (@F1) August 25, 2017

Photo credit: Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team

August 25, 2017
F1 2017: Belgian Gp First Practice Report – Raikkonen On Top

Kimi Raikkonen topped the first free practice session in his Ferrari ahead of Sunday’s Belgian grand prix.

Formula 1 resumed after a month long shut down with a 90 minute practice session around the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit. It was Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen who topped the session with a quickest lap time of 1:45:502 set on the Ultrasoft compound tyre. Meanwhile Hamilton was second quickest but set his fastest lap of the session on the yellow-walled soft tyre. Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen, and Daniel Ricciardo rounded out the top five.

The session was red-flagged early on when the Williams of Felipe Massa ended up in the barriers on the exit of Malmedy. So extensive was the damage to the Williams that the team are opting to change the chassis. Pascal Wehrlein in the Sauber had his own reliability issues which allowed him to complete only 13 laps in the session. Later Valtteri Bottas inflicted some damage on his Mercedes as he strangely drifted off the track and into the barrier.

Fernando Alonso’s session was underscored with an underperforming engine. The Honda engine in Alonso’s McLaren is a new spec, specifically version 3.6. Meanwhile, local driver Stoffel Vandoorne, who was tenth quickest in the session, will drop 35 places on Sunday’s starting grid due to power unit element changes.

Final Standings Free Practice One:

August 25, 2017