Tag: lewis hamilton

F1 2017: Spanish Gp Free Practice 2 Report – Mercedes In Front

Lewis Hamilton topped the second free practice session ahead of the Spanish grand prix.

The Mercedes driver quickest time of 1:20:802 was 90 thousands of a second quicker than his teammate Valtteri Bottas in seconds. The two Ferrari’s of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel were third and fourth quickest with Raikkonen three tenths off the quickest time. The Red Bull’s of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen rounded out the top five.

Conditions around the circuit de Catalunya seemed tricky as intermittent gusts of wind upset the cars in several corners. In addition, the compounds nominated by Pirelli, medium and soft, seemed difficult to keep within the optimal operating temperature.

A brief red flag period was experienced as debris from Carlos Sainz’s Toro Rosso was collected in turn 10. Nevertheless, when running got underway it was Mercedes who appeared to have the upper hand in long run simulations. At Ferrari it was Raikkonen who appeared to have a few tenths in hand over teammate Sebastian Vettel. While Friday’s long run simulations appear deceptive it does appear as if Mercedes are ahead by a few tenths of a second.

Final Free Practice 2 Standings:

May 12, 2017
F1 2017: Spanish Gp Free Practice 1 Report – Mercedes Lead The Way

Lewis Hamilton led the way from his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas in the first free practice session of the Spanish grand prix.

The ninety-minute session was topped by Hamilton’s 1:21:521 which was 29 thousands quicker than Bottas’ P2 time. The two Ferrari’s followed in third and fourth with Raikkonen setting a 1:22:456 ahead of Vettel, on a 1:22:600.

Early in the session Fernando Alonso’s McLaren spectacularly expired after only a half a lap out of the pitlane. The team reported a rather obvious engine failure while Alonso left the circuit for a round of tennis. The Renault of Sergey Sirotkin suffered a water leak which limited his running in the session to only ten laps.

While several teams utilized the session to evaluate new upgrades and updates to their cars it remains to be seen what sort of impact these new updates will have on the pecking order.

Final Free Practice 1 Standings:

May 12, 2017
F1 2017: Spanish Gp Preview – Back To Europe

There isn’t too much about Spain’s circuit de Catalunya that isn’t already known. As the fifth round of the 2017 season this staple of the Formula 1 calendar has, over the years, become the definitive barometer of car performance.

The 4.6-kilometer layout of the Spanish circuit comprises the perfect mixtures to test car balance and aerodynamic efficiency while the start/finish strait provides a modest test of power output. The high and medium speed turns, which litter the first sector, test stability and grip while the lower speed third sector is the perfect test of low speed mechanical grip. A quick car through the twisty bits of Catalunya’s final sector invariably translates into a good at street circuits such as Monaco and Singapore.

From this, it would suggest that Ferrari would be favourite and they are. The stellar aerodynamic package that they have produced in 2017 will be the Italian team’s biggest weapon. In Bahrain the Ferrari excelled in the high to medium speed first sector and in Russia both the Ferrari’s performance in the final, twisty, sector dwarfed what Mercedes was able to produce. Combine these two sectors and you have a layout similar to the circuit de Catalunya.

What may be Ferrari’s Achilles heel are the compounds which tyre supplier Pirelli has nominated for the weekend. While the track surface in Spain tends to be more abrasive in order to get the soft, medium, and hard compounds to its optimal working range will require a substantial track temperature. “I’m not sure if it’ll help us or not but I just don’t think it’s going to be good for anyone,” said Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo. “Hopefully for Barcelona’s sake it’s hot and therefore these harder tyres work, but if it’s cold then it’s going to be a struggle for everyone.”

The Spanish grand prix weekend, while important for every team and driver on the grid, is vital to the rest of Red Bull’s 2017 campaign. In 2016 the Milton Keyes based team left the Spanish circuit with Max Verstappen as a first-time grand prix winner and with great expectations. The overhaul in regulations held the expectation that Red Bull would be a championship contender in 2017. Nevertheless, the season has started with the team significantly off the pace but they hope that their plan to rectify this begins to fall in place this weekend.

The hope is that the introduction of a B-spec car and a “revamped” chassis will allow the team to make a significant step forward. “I hope we can be a bit closer to the top teams or that we can at least follow them,” said 2016 Spanish Gp winner Max Verstappen. “That would already be a good step forward.” Ironically, even without a chassis upgrade the characteristics of the Spanish circuit traditionally plays well to the strengths of the Red Bull.

In Russia, for reasons unknown, Lewis Hamilton was considerably off the pace. And while both Ferraris and his teammate beat him up it gave Valtteri Bottas a crucial boost of confidence that could be telling. As for Ferrari, their biggest asset is the belief that they have more than a good chance of being at the sharp-end. And if the temperatures soar it’ll likely take more than a good performance to topple them this weekend.

May 11, 2017
F1 2017: Russian Gp Review – Victory For Valtteri

On paper the Sochi Autodrom in Russia is a track that was supposed to play to the strengths of the Mercedes given its power dominated layout. But predictions and form ‘on paper’ are often fickle. Despite this Ferrari stunned the F1 paddock on Saturday to lock out the front row of the grid for the first time since the 2008 French grand prix.

The catch though was the kilometer long run to the first braking point of the lap. It was here that Valtteri Bottas, starting third, made his move. It was fairly easy to conclude that a big part of the Russian grand prix story would come at the start. This is precisely where Bottas made it happen by acing his pull away.

As the Finn led Vettel, Raikkonen, and teammate Lewis Hamilton through the first lap the safety car was deployed for a clash between Renault’s Jolyon Palmer and Haas F1’s Romain Grosjean. While the safety car did neutralize the race for a handful of laps it had no real effect on the race. At the resumption of the race Bottas pulled away from Vettel and steadily built a gap of roughly four seconds. It was evident that at least Bottas’ Merc was running well on the Ultra-soft compound tyre.

In contrast, Lewis Hamilton was never able to trouble third place man Kimi Raikkonen. Though he did briefly struggle with an overheating car the truth is that Hamilton was off the pace throughout the entire weekend. He did, after all, qualify half a second off Vettel’s pole winning lap. But this is something we’ve seen from Hamilton before Baku in 2016 comes to mind.

While Vettel could do nothing about Bottas’ pace in the first stint it was the second half of the race where the Ferrari’s finally came alive. Their superior pace on the Super-soft tyre resulted in an easy third place for Raikkonen and a nail-bitingly close fight for the win for Vettel. While Vettel managed to get within six tenths of Bottas he wasn’t able to attempt a pass.

In the famously unflappable style that has come to exemplify most Finnish racing drivers Bottas held his nerve to take his first grand prix victory. It’s taken 81 starts for Bottas to win his first race but there will hardly be a more popular winner in the paddock.

As Bottas, Vettel, and Raikkonen scored the top three positions it was Hamilton who finished in lonely fourth. While Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo retired with rear-brake failure his teammate Max Verstappen trundled home in an anonymous fifth place a minute adrift. Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon scored important points for Force India in sixth and seventh ahead of Nico Hulkenberg’s Renault in eight. A late-race slow puncture forced Felipe Massa into the pits, which dropped the Williams driver down to ninth ahead of Carlos Sainz’s Toro Rosso in tenth.

It was yet another forgettable day for McLaren as Fernando Alonso failed to start the race with a suspected battery issue. Elsewhere Williams’ rookie driver Lance Stroll finished his first grand prix of the season in eleventh.

There will be some that will say that the Russian grand prix was a bit of a bore fest, and that there wasn’t a whole lot of overtaking. But what was there in abundance was the sort of tension, at the head of affairs, which hasn’t been seen in quite some time. And the good news is that it involves two teams that are very evenly matched. Two teams that will undoubtedly continue to trade blows right down to the wire.

May 1, 2017
F1 2017: Russian Gp Free Practice Three Report – Ferrari Maintain Top Billing

Sebastian Vettel set the quickest time in the final free practice session ahead of the Russian grand prix.

Ferrari driver Vettel set a fastest time of 1:34:001 ahead of teammate Kimi Raikkonen in second. Valtteri Bottas slotted in third ahead of his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton.

Meanwhile Jolyon Palmer didn’t get out of the garage as his Renault required an engine change in addition to the safety cell that had been replaced last night. For Red Bull the best position went to Max Verstappen in fifth with Daniel Ricciardo setting the eighth quickest time in the one-hour session.

Expectations are for a close battle for the front row of the grid in the qualifying session for the Russian grand prix.

Final Free Practice Three Standings:

PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION (END OF FP3): Game on… #RussianGP 🇷🇺 #F1 pic.twitter.com/9vAitUThZv

— Formula 1 (@F1) April 29, 2017

April 29, 2017
F1 2017: Russian Gp Free Practice 1 Report – Raikkonen On Top

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen has topped the first free practice session at the Sochi Autodrom ahead of the Russian grand prix.

The first free practice session got underway in stunning clear conditions with a track temperatures hovering in the mid-thirties for the duration of the session. Local driver took over the Renault seat from Nico Hulkneberg but didn’t last too long at his home event. The Renault ground to halt shortly after exiting the pitlane thus ending Sirotkin’s run. While the car was returned to the pitlane the team were unable to get the Russian driver back out on track.

A brief red flag, caused by the engine cover flying off Esteban Ocon’s Force India, in the second half of the start/finish strait. It was a short stoppage however as the session got back underway in little more than two minutes. Later on a loss of power brought Stoffel Vandoorne’s session to a premature end.

But for lurid spin from Sebastian Vettel in the Ferrari there were no other noteworthy incidents in the session. Teams opted to run the soft tyre for the first part of the session before switching to the supersoft compound for the last 50 minutes of free practice. Pirelli have nominated the ultra-soft, super-soft, and soft compound tyres for the weekend.

Traditionally the Sochi Autordom shows little degradation on the tyres may be a straight forward one-stopper on Sunday. This was further evidenced by Bottas late session run on the soft tyres in which he consistently set lap times in the 1:40 range before dropping his times to high 1:39s.

Standings after Free Practice One:

April 28, 2017
F1 2017: Russian Gp Preview – Game On In Sochi

From the middle of the Bahrain desert the Formula 1 paddock travels to coast of Russia for the fourth round of the 2017 season.

The Sochi Autodrom made its debut on the F1 calendar in 2014 and received a fairly lukewarm reception from fans. For one thing the circuit lacks any sort of elevation change, which normally accounts for a trickier cambers and braking zones. The layout of the track, at 5.8 kilometers, is characterized by long straits and ninety-degree corners, which will test a car’s efficiently in traction and how well it rotates on its axis. “It’s always challenging to come from high speed into a low-speed corner and achieve the best out of braking,” says Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

In the three races at the Sochi Autodrom the amount of tyre degradation experienced has been negligible. Memorably, in 2014, after flat-spotting his tyres into turn one, Nico Rosberg pitted on the first lap of the race and completed 52 laps on one set of tyres. But it might be a bit different in 2017 for a variety of reasons. Firstly, the paddock arrives in Russia slightly later in the year than normal and, temperature-wise, it should be hotter. Secondly, this will be the third race weekend on the track surface, which will have ‘settled’ in a bit more and therefore should produce more grip. The 2017 cars will also corner a lot faster than in previous years which will place significantly more stress on the tyres which should effect tyre-life. Pirelli have nominated the soft, super-soft, and ultra-soft compounds for this weekend’s race.

Who will it suit? With all things being equal Mercedes has proven that on Saturday’s, in qualifying, they are still king. But even so Sunday is where the points are awarded and this is where Ferrari is likely to come into its own. Traditionally, Ferrari has performed better on the super-soft tyre than Mercedes and this, along with their inherent pace, will likely by their trump card. Nevertheless, it will still require a perfect all-round performance from the team, including the pitwall’s calls on strategy.

On paper it shouldn’t be a circuit where Red Bull does well but they have in the past. It’s unlikely that they’ll be going for the win or even the podium. Nevertheless, where there is a Max there almost always seems to be a way. There is something special in the make-up and performance from the young Dutchman that demands attention and which makes it impossible for him to be ruled out of the equation. It’s always an exciting prospect to imagine what he might pull out of his bag of tricks come race day.

In the mid-field Williams should do well given the Mercedes power unit bolted to the back of their car. Though through no fault of his own Lance Stroll is yet to finish a race in 2017. It will be a tall order but it needs to be the Canadian driver who shines for the British team this weekend.

Who would’ve thought at the height of Mercedes domination last year that in 2017, on the cusp of the fourth round of the season, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel would be leading the driver’s championship by seven points. And in truth, any one of four drivers has a legitimate chance of winning the Russian grand prix this weekend.

April 26, 2017
F1 2017: Bahrain Gp Review – Ferrari Win Again

In pre-season testing all indications were that Ferrari had turned a significant corner. All indications were that Mercedes would finally, after three years of dominance, have a challenge on their hands. Despite this many couldn’t believe their eyes and were sure that Mercedes were sandbagging. But three races into the 2017 season have proven that pre-season testing was no fluke and that Ferrari are more than capable of challenging for the titles.

Under the floodlights of the Sakhir International circuit Sebastian Vettel scored Ferrari’s second win in three races while Lewis Hamilton and polesitter Valtteri Bottas completed the top three. Bottas led cleanly off the line as Vettel got the jump on Hamilton and proceeded to stalk the back of the leading Mercedes for the duration of his first stint. The Ferrari’s ability to stick as close as it does to the car in front is a significant revelation of the strength of its aerodynamic package. Contrastingly, several others drivers including Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton have deemed it impossible to follow closely in their cars.

While Vettel was able to stick close it was clear that he lacked the ultimate edge to overtake Bottas. It is at this point that Ferrari called Mercedes’ bluff by diving into the pitlane first. Here, unlike in China, Vettel was able to make the undercut work and with fresh tyres set a handful of laptimes appreciably quicker than both Mercs and took over the lead of the race. Mercedes had been caught out by Ferrari’s aggressive strategy and seemed flustered by it.

It wasn’t long after the first round of pitstops that Max Verstappen suffered a brake failure, which ended his race. Soon after a coming together of Williams’ Lance Stroll and Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz brought out the safety car for only the third time in the history of the Bahrain grand prix. Merc were genuinely rattled too. As they attempted to service both Bottas and Hamilton on the same lap the latter was given a five second penalty for driving unnecessarily slowly at the entrance to the pitlane. Ultimately, Hamilton finished roughly seven seconds off Vettel with Bottas trailing home in a disconsolate third after being instructed to give way to his teammate twice. In fairness, Hamilton was closing on Bottas at a rate of two seconds per lap and the pass would’ve been inevitable.

Meanwhile, despite an expected brake-by-wire issue Kimi Raikkonen showed a better turn of pace in the second half of the race and finished fourth. Perplexingly, the Ferrari pitwall again botched the Finn’s strategy by leaving him out for too long. Nevertheless, it is quickly becoming clear that unless Raikkonen wants to be considered the second driver within the team it’s about time that he start unlocking the promise of his Ferrari.

In fifth Daniel Ricciardo had a fairly anonymous race as he trailed home nearly forty seconds adrift. Felipe Massa finished a solid sixth for Williams ahead of Force India’s Sergio Perez, in seventh, and Haas’ Romain Grosjean in eighth. In the Renault Nico Hulkenberg scored two points for ninth while Esteban Ocon finished tenth for a third consecutive time in the Force India.

It was nearly impossible to imagine that McLaren’s situation could get any worse, but it has. Not only did Stoffel Vandoorne not make the start of the race but also Fernando Alonso retired on the final lap with an “engine problem”. The announcement that Alonso will skip the Monaco Gp in favour of the Indy 500 seems the only bit of good news for the embattled team at the moment.

As Seb Vettel now leads the driver championship by seven points its clear that the 2017 season is primed for a battle royale between the prancing horses and the silver arrows which takes up again in Russia in two weeks time.

April 17, 2017
2017 Bahrain GP: Post Race Press Conferece

DRIVERS

1 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

2 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

3 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)

PODIUM INTERVIEWS

(Conducted by David Coulthard)

Sebastian, your 44^th victory. Normally 44 is a lucky number for Lewis but you’ve just added another win, your third time here in Bahrain, but most importantly the second of the season out of three races, great day.

Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, really a great day. I don’t know what to day. The last half of the in-lap when all the fireworks were there and track was lit up, it was. I just love what I do. I didn’t find any words. It was a really great team effort today. Right after the start I could feel that ‘yeah, we’re quick, we can have a word’. So really tried to put Valtteri under pressure. He didn’t do any mistakes. It was difficult down the straights to get near him. But then we obviously went for the undercut, early pit stop, worked fantastic, very good job. But when the safety came initially I thought ‘not again!’

Yeah but this time it worked for you…

SV: I’m not sure.

You pitted and then when you cleared another lap we had the safety car.

SV: I think I was lucky because the others were just close to the pit lane so they couldn’t really benefit let’s say. I don’t know. I was a bit surprised when I came out ahead of all of them because I thought with the safety car we might have lost the advantage. After that it was good. The car was really amazing to drive. I had a good feeling yesterday, so for many laps it really worked well. It was just a pleasure. I could control the pace in the end. Lewis was obviously a bit of a threat again towards the end, with the traffic you never know. But a very controlled race, the car, as I said, was a dream today. Happy Easter and thank you very much.

Q: Lewis, pit lane, what do you think of that? Those five seconds were pretty costly today?

Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah definitely, but firstly a big congratulations to Sebastian, he did a fantastic job today, and also a big thank you to Valtteri for being a gentleman out there. Obviously a very difficult race, it didn’t start out the best, but the pit lane was my fault, so apologies to the team for losing the time there. I tried my hardest to catch up but it was a long old way to go, it was 19 seconds. But I gave it everything I could but Ferrari did a great job today. So we’re going to push hard together, re-gather as a team and come back fighting.

Q: You know, I’m noticing this year that even when you’re getting the wins, you’re very composed; you’re not too disappointed. What is this then? Do you really feel that this is going to be a long-game championship?

LH: Of course the disappointment is there. Losing points for a team, particularly when you could have won the race is definitely painful, but it is what it is and all I can say is I gave it everything I could. Yeah, I mean, I’m getting old I’m catching you up.

Q: You’ll never catch me up! Lewis congratulations. Valtteri, after the high of yesterday, a disappointing day. We heard you on the radio talking about struggling to keep the rears alive. What happened with the race balance? Talk us through that.

Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, it was really a tricky race for me; struggling with the pace all through the race. I think in the first stint we found a bit of an issue with the tyre pressures and that explained the rear end struggle. But ever since that I was just rear limited and I was out of the tools on the steering wheel, so it was just oversteering all through the race, which is why the pace was slow, which is a real shame because for sure the target for today was a lot, lot higher.

Q: It’s difficult to win in Formula One. You had a lot of support after that pole yesterday, especially within the team, so you’re feeling well settled in Mercedes?

VB: Well, for sure I think this was overall the best weekend yet with the team, but there is much more to come.

Well, we wish you luck with that journey. Back to Sebastian. You seem a little bit surprised by the ultimate qualifying. After qualifying the pace to Mercedes was a little bit down but you’re right in this championship, you’re leaving this grand prix leading the world championship.

SV: Yeah, it’s a long year; I’m not really looking at that. As I said, I’m really enjoying, the car has been a pleasure. It was very good yesterday and I was a bit down because the gap was so big. I think we could have been a bit closer. But something inside me told me we have a good car and we can do well. Right from the first lap I felt the car was there and yeah, I think the Easter hunt was on. They were hiding some eggs but it looks like we found them today. No, really, really happy. Big thank you to the team, they have been working incredibly hard. The guy that has been up here, Matteo, works day and night at the track, in the factory. So really a lot of commitment from every single one and it’s great to see everything coming together.

Q: Well, we can hear the marshals who have been supporting the grand prix celebrating by revving a motorbike here. You’ve got to say we have a tremendous welcome here in Bahrain, so it’s one your better grands prix?

SV: Well, I guess. I’ve been reasonably successful the last couple of years. I love the trophy, I think it’s one of the most beautiful trophies we have, so when I crossed the line I was really happy because I knew we were going to get it, so I think we can leave here very happy. Not yet, because we’ve got the test next week, but yeah for now we just enjoy.

Q: Are you doing the test?

SV: Yes.

You’re relentless aren’t you?

SV: Well, I thought halfway through the race that I’m really looking forward already next time to jump in the car, which is in two days, so I’m looking forward to it.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Congratulations Sebastian, obviously you got ahead of Lewis at the start. Tell us a bit about that and also the final stint, just judging the pace as he was coming through like a rocket, having come into the pits after you, how you measured that pace and measured your gap to him?

SV: The start, obviously it was crucial for us to get between, to not allow them to get in their rhythm, pull away, do their thing. So, upset them a bit. I think we all had more or less the same start. Mine initially was maybe a tiny bit better than Lewis, which put me just about side-by-side – but their car is really long so it’s a long way to get side-by-side – but then I think I benefitted from the act I had a clear track ahead, Lewis was a bit stuck with Valtteri and it’s a bit of a tricky one to judge, so I could just take lots of risk under braking and get the move done. Then, the final stint, obviously we had quite a decent gap plus the safety margin of Lewis’ penalty – which I wasn’t sure why but it didn’t matter at that point – and I just tried to control the gap to Valtteri, maybe pulling away a little bit and at that point just controlling the gap. He was very fast when he came out. I was expecting him to be quick on a new set of supersoft tyres but probably not that quick and he was closing in. When I faced the traffic I lost a lot of time but then obviously he had to face traffic as well. In the end it was safe enough. At the beginning of the stint I really didn’t push at all, just took it easy and responded to what those two guys were doing, which obviously helped me at the end because I had a lot of tyres left.

Lewis, coming to you, as Sebastian said, you had a tremendous amount of pace today but perhaps there were one or two too many setbacks to give you the chance to win: the start, obviously the penalty as well and the tyre choice for the final stint which you questioned on the radio. Maybe you could just drill down into those three for us.

LH: Yeah, a challenging weekend. The start was OK but Sebastian was in my blind spot so I didn’t know whereabouts he was. I didn’t know where anyone was behind me. Valtteri got a good start and it was really just about covering him. I obviously lost position to Sebastian there. It was really hard to follow but we’re generally all similar kind of pace, and then yeah, completely my fault with the Safety Car. Supposed to have a five-second gap and I think I had a four-second gap. Just a misjudgement from myself. Valtteri was great to… obviously I had very good pace, particularly the second and last stint and I honestly believed I would be able to catch Sebastian up but obviously with a five-second penalty that made it twice as hard as it was already going to be. As I said, apologies to the team but I tried the best I could to recover it and we still got good points for the team today with a second and third but we still have this great fight and Sebastian did a great job and he had fantastic pace.

And just on the tyre choice. You have a four-lap fresher only set of softs compared to Sebastian rather than a new set of supersofts. The team’s saying it was based on, presumably, Valtteri’s middle stint.

LH: The tyre felt great so I believe it was the right choice. The team have generally been making really great choices this year. I thought it was going to be a supersoft but honestly I think the tyre was the best one, particularly for 16 laps pushing at the pace I was going was a long way to go. I don’t know if the supersoft would have lasted that long.

Part of what informed that decision was, I guess, your supersoft stint Valtteri. Not the easiest but before that, Toto Wolff has said you had a problem with the generator on the grid that meant your tyres were over-inflated or had too high tyre pressure in the opening stint. Tell us about that.

VB: Yeah, so I don’t know the exact issue but I was just told there was a problem with the tyre pressures, which I could really feel in the first stint since lap two. I was just sliding around with the rear end, struggling to get on power out of the corners, so the pace wasn’t good and Sebastian was really putting pressure and they could undercut us as well and trying to extend the first stint, I just couldn’t keep up with the pace. The tyres were just dropping. Then on the second stint it was a bit better initially. I think the second stint was not that far off. Still struggling with oversteer but much less than in the first one, and then the last stint, again, used the tools I had to adjust the car balance but still couldn’t get the rear end to work. Really strange race for me and the pace was disappointingly poor for me. Yeah, not a good day for me.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Question to Lewis and Valtteri. If you compare this race with Melbourne, is the softest compound a weakness for Mercedes? You seemed to have the same problem like in Melbourne that the rear tyres were going away.

LH: I don’t really remember what the issue was in Melbourne. I think it was more front tyres – but I’m sure it was the rears as well. Here was maybe more rears, I would say – but yeah, I would say it’s similar.

VB: At least for me personally yes. The softer compound has been more of a struggle with the tyres and also the hotter it is, more of a struggle. So something definitely for us to understand.

Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Valtteri and Sebastian, can you tell us how difficult was the battle between the two of you?

SV: For about the first stint. I passed you in the pit stop, didn’t I?

VB: No, we were side-by-side at some point.

SV: Ah, the safety car, after the safety car. Yeah, that was hairy. I thought I did reasonably well on the restart. It was a bit tricky because we only got the message very late: ‘the safety car’s coming in’ and then, you can’t just be stupid and break the field down, do a stop-and-go but I tried to use a little bit of momentum. I thought I had a decent gap leaving the last corner and then… I don’t know, it felt like I had more headwind than in the whole race on that particular lap. I was fairly confident halfway down the straight, just looked in the mirror to check and he was coming. I saw sparks behind me everywhere and then I obviously had to defend. Yeah, then I wasn’t quite sure where he was under braking but I guess we were side-by-side so it was a lot closer than I expected, leaving the last corner. But fortunately, I stayed ahead.

VB: Yeah, obviously it was getting close and I tried to make a move into turn four.

SV: I was just thinking, then there was another one, exactly, because I had a bad exit and it was quite close tight. I think you locked a little bit and then I locked a little bit into turn four.

VB: I was obviously outside so then it’s always tricky. There was some good racing but that was a short moment unfortunately.

SV: I forgot about that…

Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) To Bottas and Lewis: when the safety car came in, Sebastian had stopped on lap ten and the safety car came out on lap 13 and you entered the pits on the 13^th lap, with the safety car. It looked like it would help a lot but for some reason it didn’t, maybe the opposite. Without the safety car, maybe Bottas could get out from the pits in front of Vettel. Do you have the same feeling? Did you have a slow stop?

VB: Yes. Under safety car on the first stop, there was a problem with the pit stop. We lost a lot of time and maybe it would have been very very close. Maybe I would have been just in front but the team is still investigating what was the issue there. I think there was also some traffic as well because the stop was slow. One of the Red Bulls came into the pit lane and we couldn’t exit immediately so double the time.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Without the safety car?

VB: I don’t know, to be honest.

Q: And Lewis, I think you had… one of the front tyres was a bit slow coming off or going back on again or slight delay?

LH: I couldn’t tell what the issue was but there was a bit of a delay. There was a domino effect, you know. If I had had a five second gap Valtteri would have pulled in, the Red Bull would have pulled in. I would have pulled in before the Red Bull, I would have got out before the Red Bull. It cascaded for me in the domino too early.

Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Sebastian, Kimi last year was many times in front of you. What have you done that nowadays he’s always behind you?

SV: Well, I guess for a start, compared to last year, I’ve started the race. That helped. I had my – so far the only – and I hope it stays that way – DNS last year here so not even starting was quite a disappointment. And then, I don’t now, he was behind the Red Bull in the opening of the lap and so obviously we’ve seen that it’s quite tricky to pass. I was a bit faster in the opening stint than Valtteri but I couldn’t really get close enough and I guess he probably lost a bit of time and then I just saw the final result. I don’t know what happened to his race but I think he came back to fourth, not finishing too far behind Valtteri so I think for both of us the car probably worked really well today and yeah, I think it depends on… from my own experience, how the opening lap goes and so on, but this has usually been a very very good hunting ground for Kimi, so maybe the time loss on Friday for him with the issue he had in the car didn’t help but yeah, you do your own race and then I’m sure we will talk about it afterwards.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Sebastian, in the race simulation on Friday you didn’t look like you had a very good performance from the car and also qualifying seemed to confirm it. We had this impression, looking at the long runs. And suddenly, in the race, the performance was there. Did you change the car dramatically or did the conditions on the day change and help you?

SV: No, from yesterday to today, you can’t change anything. Friday to Saturday we did a bit but yeah, it’s not that sudden. If we could go faster in qualifying we would because qualifying higher up is always advantageous. But yeah, I had a good feeling yesterday so I was a bit surprised by how big the gap was because the car felt really good and for today, I had a good feeling because Friday was a bit mixed, I wasn’t so happy with the car. We improved it for Saturday and I thought OK, if it stays like that then today can be a good race and after a couple of laps I felt everything was making sense and yeah, obviously I was in Valtteri’s gearbox for all of the first stint and not falling back too much so that was obviously good for us, a good start with the opening lap, getting between them and then yeah, the pace was certainly key today to win.

Q: (Sef Harding – Xero Xone News) For Sebastian, it looks like the Prancing Horse has really come alive and it looks like you’re going to have a hero’s welcome back in Maranello. What has this done for the team and the morale of the team heading into Sochi?

SV: Yeah, I think at this stage Sochi is quite far away so I’m not willing and I don’t think the team is really looking to Sochi right now. I think we enjoy the moment. Yeah, obviously we did a massive stint over the winter. I think last year was a very good year for us. It wasn’t good in terms of results, don’t get me wrong, but I think for the team, getting together, a lot of things that had changed now seem to start clicking. Obviously it helps when straight from the box, in testing, we had a good feeling. We looked reasonably competitive. Australia obviously was a massive boost for all the team and yeah, you can see when they are singing down there, and the whole factory has really come alive so that’s great and we need to just make sure we keep it going and yeah, keep enjoying that way, but for now, I think the team has obviously done a really really great job, a lot of hard work, commitment and as I said, things start to click and hopefully that sort of success now in the first couple of races helps us to build up some sort of momentum that maybe these guys had in the past and the last couple of years, so they will be the ones to beat. It’s a long season, but for now, as I said, looking forward to tonight.

Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, Sochi has suited you very well so far. Do you expect to have your best weekend because of that?

VB: Well, for sure that’s the goal. I still haven’t definitely got… there’s no race results as I’ve been hoping for so it’s always the next one. Anyway, it would be the target to have a strong weekend but Sochi has normally been pretty good for me. I really like the track layout and I have always been comfortable there so we will see. It’s a completely different type of track again, completely different kind of temperatures, different asphalt so many different things. We’ll see.

Q: (Ralph Woodall – L’Equipe) Valtteri, how did you feel when you were ordered by the team to let Lewis pass you?

VB: Well, I think honestly as a racing driver it’s maybe the worst thing you want to hear. That’s how it is. For sure I did it because there was potential. Lewis could challenge Sebastian. In the end it didn’t happen but the team tried which I completely understand but personally it is tough but that’s life. I didn’t have enough pace today and we need to find the reasons why that was.

April 16, 2017
F1 2017: Bahrain Gp – Bottas Snatches First Ever Pole

Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas secured the first pole position of his career ahead of the 2017 Bahrain grand prix.

The Finnish driver snatched pole from teammate Lewis Hamilton by a scant 23 thousands of a second while Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel trailed four tenths behind in third. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo delivered a brilliant lap quick enough for fourth while Kimi Raikkonen and Max Verstappen rounded out the top six.

Renault driver Nico Hulkenberg delivered a stunning lap for Renault and will start the race in seventh overall. Meanwhile, Felipe Massa will start eighth ahead of Romain Grosjean’s Haas in ninth. The second Renault of Jolyon Palmer completed a great quali session of Renault with the tenth quickest time.

Fernando Alonso and his McLaren have been consigned to the back of the grid after the Spaniard suffered a MGU-H failure. As a result of this failure the ICE (Internal combustion engine) also necessitates a change, hence the drop to the back of the field. Carlos Sainz, on course to make it into the third part of qualifying, suffered an as yet unknown failure on his Toro Rosso and will start from sixteenth place.

April 16, 2017