Tag: lewis hamilton

2016 Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

DRIVERS

1 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

2 – Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing)

3 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

PODIUM INTERVIEWS

(Conducted by Martin Brundle)

Well done Nico, fantastic. Your 200^th grand prix, your third victory in four weeks, you now lead the championship again, but it wasn’t all plain sailing.

Nico ROSBERG: No, but it’s been an awesome weekend here in Singapore for me, already yesterday with the pole lap and then today, a great start, had a good car in the race. Of course Daniel tried to pull one up on me with the pit stop in the end there. We knew it was going to be tight at the end, but it worked out, so I’m really, really happy.

They were going to call you in to cover him off and then they made a late call, and it was the right call, but then you were under pressure all the way to the flag?

NR: Yeah, we couldn’t come in because I had traffic, so I was very slow on that lap and he would have beaten me. It was a cool ending.

We heard you were managing your brakes for more or less the whole race, tell us about that.

NR: Yeah, the whole car was on the edge, it always is in Singapore, so it’s all the more satisfying with a race like that.

Daniel Ricciardo, it’s your third consecutive time on this podium, but you needed just a few more centimetres for the top step.

Daniel RICCIARDO: Yeah, we’ve come very close this year on numerous occasions but you know, I’m not going to stand up here and be disappointed. I think we gave it a good shot. We tried something at the end with the strategy and we got within half a second. It was close but hey, we’re up here again; it feels great. There are a lot of Australian flags, every year I see more and more, so thank you very much.

You were on schedule to be on his gearbox with one or two laps to go and then he got a bit of traffic but it just fell away. One more lap and you would have been there.

DR: Yeah, it was close. As soon as we did the pit stop we thought Nico was going to come in, so I pushed really hard on those tyres and by the end they were a little bit dead, but at least we close and made it exciting.

The champagne pouring off you is boiling hot – a tough race.

DR: It’s a physical race, absolutely.

Lewis, it’s your 99^th podium but it’s not the sweetest one I suspect.

Lewis HAMILTON: No, definitely not, but first of all, big congratulations to Nico, he drove fantastically well all weekend and fully deserved the win. Very tough day today, as always it is here in Singapore. This weekend has just been a bot of a tricky one for me, but I’m still glad I could get back up on the podium and get some points for the team.

The first half of the race you were a bit frustrated with the tyres and your own pace and wondering what was going on and then suddenly you came alive.

LH: It was my brakes. I was struggling with my brakes, they were way overheating, so I just had to slow down, so I just had to watch the other guys pull away and I was just looking at different ways to try and get them back under control. Eventually once I did my second or third stop, all of a sudden my brakes were under control. But of course, towards the end I still got a bit of heat in them. I have a lot of support here this weekend and I just want to say a big thanks to everyone for coming out and we’ll keep pushing.

Eight points behind in the world championship now, is that a big concern for you?

LH: Well, it’s a lot different to when I was here last year, but in all in all, with everything that’s gone on this year, I’m still in the fight, there’s still a long way to go and I’m going to give it everything I’ve got.

Final word then Nico – six races to go in this championship, you are leading it yet again now, so you must be thinking ‘I can win this, I can take this’.

NR: No, I’m not focused on points. As I always say, I’m just happy with the win today. Thank you very much for coming today, you’ve been awesome this weekend, I hope you had fun and see you all again in Malaysia, soon.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Nico, many congratulations, you’ve won your 200^th Grand Prix, it’s your 22^nd Grand Prix victory and you’ve now got an eight-point lead in the World Championship. It was a brilliantly judged race – but were there a few nervous moments as the man on your right was closing in?

NR: Like with ten laps to go, or 15 laps to go, just after the pitstop, the team said he would be with me at the end of the race, which was the case, so for sure I had to be on it in that last stint and get everything right and nail all those laps. It really worked out, with the management, all the way to the end. The tyre lasted just right, so very, very happy, of course. By the time I started the last lap I knew it was going to be enough because Daniel also, his tyres weren’t as fresh any more, so by that time it was OK.

Q: Daniel, coming onto you. It was a brave roll of the dice at the end in terms of strategy. What are you feeling now? Just one more lap – or do you think you could have done anything differently?

DR: No, I don’t. I’m sitting here pretty happy because I felt I did all I could. The perfect race. If there was anything that could have been more perfect it was the start but Nico got off the line well. So, even with an amazing start we wouldn’t have got the jump. It looked like his was near-perfect. From that point we just tried to do what we could. Team put me on a three-stop at the end. It was fun. It was good to push the whole race and I knew I would get close to Nico at the end. So even if the track’s difficult to overtake, it was nice to be able to push to the last lap and know that I was at least putting some pressure on him and giving the crowd still a little bit of hope.

Q: Lewis, coming on to you. It was nip-and-tuck between you and Kimi throughout the race. How surprised were you that they called him in after you made your final stop?

LH: The team suggested they would do the same. To be honest we were both struggling with… we were both pushing quite hard in that stint and we both would have not made it to the end at the pace we were going, and so I kinda knew I was just pushing on my out-lap to see if I could undercut him, which fortunately we did.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Lennart Wermke – Bild) Nico, first of all congratulations, brilliant drive. There was a little incident with an over-ambitious marshal on the track at the very beginning of the race. I think you were driving towards him. Can you describe to us what happened and what did you see in this moment?

NR: Yeah, that was pretty hairy, for sure. I think just as we didn’t expect the restart, he didn’t either, I think, because the restart was somehow pretty abrupt. But he got out of the way just about in time so it was OK. Of course we all had to drive a bit carefully through there.

Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / Speed Sport) Nico, a couple of days ago you told us, 200^th race, not that big a deal. Is it now – or will it be one of your big deals?

NR: Yeah, winning the Singapore Grand Prix today is awesome. I’m really, really happy about that. The whole weekend went perfectly, so yes, today it’s a big deal. Tomorrow, not so much.

Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) To the Mercedes drivers, we heard over the radio your team was giving you warnings because of the brakes. Can you tell what happened and did these brake problems accompany you the whole race?

NR: Yes, the brakes were just on the limit. But we know that, it’s expected and it worked out fine. Yes, it’s right on the edge so it was not easy to manage throughout the whole race.

Lewis, do you have anything to add?

LH: Same as Nico. I guess the things that pops to mind is how much worse it’s going to be next year when we’ve got a heavier car. It’s a shame the cars are as heavy as they are because we can’t push, you can’t race very well when you’re behind people here – but that’s maybe just the circumstances of this race.

Daniel, can I follow up on that. Did you have any brake problems?

DR: Nothing in particularly. You do get… towards the end of the race you feel sometimes the pedal get a bit longer, so you know the brakes are wearing but we never got into a critical phase or I never really had to manage it. We came in expecting a few issues but it was actually pretty good.

Q: (Lim Say Heng – The New Paper) Nico, seven times in the last eight year the overall leader from after the Singapore race has gone on to win the drivers’ championship. How do you feel about that and how confident are you going into the last few races of the season.

NR: A statistic like that, it’s not something that I focus on, at all. It doesn’t have any importance to me. Today I’m just happy to win the race because that is what I came here to do. And now I’m going to celebrate after this. I can’t wait to get home. Next up is Malaysia, where I want to repeat that because feeling good at the moment. On a good roll so I’m going to try to win Malaysia next.

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Lewis, could you explain to us what happened when Kimi overtook you? Was it just a bumpy situation or were there no tyres left

LH: Yeah, it was just a mistake. Locked up on one of the bumps and ended up going almost straight on. Costly, but fortunately I was able to not lose anything after the next stint.

Q: (Ian De Cotta – The New Paper) Lewis, question as a follow-up of the statistic about the Singapore race, drivers going on to win the championship; how do you feel going forward to Malaysia? Do you think Mercedes could solve the problems that you had?

LH: We have a good car. We’ve got to have a good weekend. We’ve come from 43 points down so theoretically eight points isn’t anywhere near as steep as that but still, Nico’s been performing fantastically well. This weekend he’s done an amazing job. I expect him to continue like that so I’ve got make sure that I do the same..

Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Lewis, at the end of the race, you seemed quicker than at the beginning. Was it because you had fresh tyres or because you were allowed to push to maximum attack?

LH: It was partly because of the fresh tyres but mostly because the car was getting lighter, the brakes became a lot easier to control. Once my signal of brake overheating reduced, I was able to start to pick up the pace. I was still getting the warnings towards the end but like the last ten laps, I just kind of just let it continue flashing as a warning and hoped for the best. Fortunately the pace was better.

Q: (Berk Serioglu – Motorsport.com) Nico, it seems like you have changed your strategy in the race. Did it happen as the race went on or was it planned before the race?

NR: No, everything went according to plan, just it was they (Red Bull) who didn’t go to plan that caused a bit of a challenge at the end. But for us, everything was to plan.

Q: (Don Kennedy – Hawkes Bay Today) Nico, you’ve won Spa, Monza and now Singapore, races you hadn’t won before and you’ve taken the championship lead again. Surely that must excite you or do we start giving you the nickname Mr Cool?

NR: No, I’m just excited about winning the race today. I’m not excited about any of those other points. Sorry. Just awesome to win here in Singapore, first time out there. I don’t have the best of memories here, this track hasn’t treated me well here in the past so today is a good one.

Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Daniel, just before you pitted for the third time, you had reduced the gap to Nico to three seconds, I think. With hindsight, do you think you would have had a better chance even to beat Nico if you had stayed out?

DR: I don’t know. I felt pretty good on the soft tyre, so I think our pace was more or less there but to overtake around here and a Mercedes isn’t easy, so to do it on the same tyre, even if I was half a second quicker, maybe if I caught him, you still need a pretty big advantage to pull something off here unless a mistake is made by the guy in front. Yeah, I think we did the right thing in the end. Obviously it still didn’t give us victory but I think staying on the same tyre probably wouldn’t have given us any better chance.

Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action, Speedsport) Daniel, this was, as you said before, one of the best chances to win. Where will the next one come?

DR: With some rain, yeah. I think in dry circumstances this was our best shot. We got within half a second but after the race I said on the radio to the team that we will win this year. We’ll get a downpour somewhere and that’ll hopefully throw a few curved balls and we can middle it and get the victory we’re after.

Q: (Wojciech Paprota – Swiatwyscigow.pl) To Nico and Lewis, yesterday Toto said that it was one of the highlights of his life to see you being competitive during the Singapore Grand Prix after last year’s race. Do you also see this year’s result as a milestone?

NR: It really shows that not only do we have the best car but also we have the best, most competent group of engineers, to extract the potential from the best car, from every weekend, changing the car, adapting to the new circuits, to the different circuits and understanding, because last year we were absolutely nowhere here. We got destroyed by Red Bull and Ferrari and we understood what we did wrong and came back this year and beat them on their strongest track. That’s really awesome to see that.

LH: I think Nico just answered it perfectly well.

September 18, 2016
Rosberg takes Singapore GP pole ahead of Ricciardo

Nico Rosberg must be feeling a little boost on his bid for the F1 championship title after putting in a sensational lap to secure a crucial pole position for the Singapore GP this weekend.

Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton will not be feeling as boosted though. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo beat him to the second spot on the grid and will be starting from the front row alongside Rosberg. The Red Bulls have been looking very strong this weekend which could really see us set for a spectacular Singapore GP.

Rosberg pulled a stunning 1:42.584 out of the bag on his first Q3 run which saw him ultimately taking the pole position by over half a second ahead of Ricciardo.

Hamilton was simply not able to put together a good enough lap and finished seven tenths further back. He’s going to need a really good race start if he wants to snatch the win from his team mate. His race starts however have not been fantastic lately, so he’ll need to give it a proper go when the lights go out on Sunday.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen will start from 4th place and Kimi Raikkonen will start the race from 5th for Ferrari. His team mate, Sebastian Vettel will start from the back of the grid following some mechanical issues. His fight up the order will surely make for some awesome entertainment.

Toro Rosso had a very strong qualifying. Carlos Sainz will start from P6 and the disgruntled Danill Kvyat had his best qualifying since being demoted from Red Bull, finishing 7th fastest today.

The top 10 is rounded out by Nico Hulkenberg, Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez. Perez however will drop back 8 grid positions for yellow flag infringements.

Valterri Bottas so nearly made it through to the Q3 shootout but missed the mark the 0.003s. Williams team mate Felipe Massa finished just behind him.

McLaren’s Jenson Button had to settle for 13th place after he had to pull over into an escape road with a puncture in the final stages of Q2. Esteban Gutierrez will line up behind him in 14th place for the Haas F1 racing team.

Haas team mate Romain Grosjean ended the session in the barriers after spinning into T14 – his crash caused a ten minute delay on the start of Q3.

Marcus Ericsson got his Sauber through to Q2 but could only manage 16th place after his single run for the session. Kevin Magnussen will line up in 17th place behind him ahead of Felipe Nasr and Jolyon Palmer.

Pascal Wehrelin brought his Manor home 20th ahead of team mate Esteban Ocon.

Sebastian Vettel remains the biggest casualty of the Singapore GP qualifying, suffering a broken anti-roll bar which saw him unable to compete. He may have been sitting on pole in 2015, but this year, the Ferrari driver will start the Singapore GP from the final grid spot.

Join us for live commentary and a bit of F1 chit-chat on Twitter @F1_Madness.

September 17, 2016
2016 Singapore Grand Prix: Post Qualifying Press Conference

DRIVERS

1 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

2 – Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing)

3 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

TV UNILATERAL

Nico, congratulations, that was a stunning lap, half a second quicker than anyone else, tell us about it?

Nico ROSBERG: yeah, definitely happy with that one for my 200^th grand prix. For sure one of my top three laps ever, so happy with that. It really went well. At times it wasn’t clear in qualifying how we were going to stack up against Red Bull for example, because they were very quick on the supersoft in Q2 for example, so I knew I had to give it everything and really pull one out of the bag, which was cool. Great feeling.

Congratulations. Daniel, you left it late but you are on the front row. How pleased are you with that final effort in Q3?

Daniel Ricciardo: Pleased enough. The aim was to try to be on the front row. We knew it would be hard to try and get in front of the Mercedes, so it was nice to at least get one. We made improvements for qualifying through practice. We were still trying to find some stuff with the car and it finally came good in qualifying, got better, the rhythm for the session was good. We qualified on the supersoft for Q2, so we’ll start the race on that tyre. Obviously we feel it’s a good thing; let’s see if it makes a difference tomorrow, but the last lap in Q3 was clean. It probably wasn’t as good as Nico’s but it was clean and good enough for the front row.

Well done to you. Lewis, coming on to you, it was clearly a frustrating session for you, just talk us through it.

Lewis HAMILTON: It wasn’t really a frustrating session, it’s just not been my weekend so far. Just not really got many good laps out there and I’ve not been able to string them together, and that was the case today. Nico did a great job and showed the true potential of the car. Hopefully tomorrow, try and at least get one step up ahead to give that front row for the team.

Thank you. Coming back to you Nico, as you say, you’re starting your 200^th grand prix from pole position in what promises to be a long and dramatic race. Are you worried about the man next door to you on the front row starting on a different tyre?

NR: Worried no, but for sure I will be keeping an eye on him, because they were quick on race pace on Friday, I think probably more so than on the qualifying pace, so for sure he is going to be a threat especially with that supersoft tyre.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Nico, you said that lap in Q3 was in the top three of your career. I was going to say ‘tell us which one were better’, because that lap really did look particularly good.

NR: It’s difficult to say. There’s always a little fraction here or there that could be better, but it felt great all around. It was really cool.

Daniel, was it always the plan to go through from Q2 on the supersoft tyre? Were there any nerves that you wouldn’t make it without putting the ultrasoft on?

DR: No, it was always the plan, even before the weekend. We expected other teams to do it as well. I would say we are but surprised we are the only ones. Yeah it was always the plans. Obviously we have to pick the tyres a long way before the race. I don’t know if it was the case that Mercedes or Ferrari for example didn’t have enough supersofts to perhaps qualify on them…

NR: We had them.

DR: Oh, you had them? OK! So, yeah, let’s see tomorrow. It’s a bit like Monaco. We did that thinking it would be the right thing, then we didn’t get a chance to see it with the wet start. But tomorrow, I think it’s going to be dry here so we’ll get a chance to see if it works.

Lewis, it didn’t work out for you in qualifying, but how is the car performing on the longer runs. Do you have high hopes for tomorrow’s grand prix?

LH: I’ve not really looked at the long runs to be honest. Obviously I didn’t get to do long runs yesterday, so I’m not quite sure. I think Nico did some running; our cars are set up a little bit different. I don’t think we’re in a bad position but I’ll find out tomorrow for the first time.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Candra Kurnia – Jawa Post) For both of you, Nico and Daniel. Singapore GP has been won only by World Champions. Do you think new history will be written tomorrow?

NR: It may be time to change that then. I’ll give it everything tomorrow. But I was surprised to hear that, actually, that only three people have ever won the Singapore Grand Prix in all these years. But anyways, I’m feeling good for tomorrow and, of course, I have a good chance.

Daniel, more thoughts from you about tomorrow?

DR: Yeah, obviously would love to win it. I think we’ve created a good opportunity, starting on the front row. I think as Nico touched on, our race pace was pretty good yesterday. Here track position can dictate a lot and Safety Cars as well. We’re in a good position. Hopefully for our sake it’s a new winner. Obviously Seb had his problems today, so I think he was potentially a contender but I think he’s going to be out of the picture, so out of the front guys it’s probably Lewis that will be the closest World Champion to threaten. Otherwise we’ll hopefully try to get it done. Well not ‘we’. ‘I’. We can’t both win. Sorry.

Q: (Wojciech Paprota – Swiatwyscigow.pl) Lewis, I have a question for you. We saw you going wide in Turn Seven. What makes this corner a bit more difficult than the other ones?

LH: It’s not more difficult than any of the other corners on the track, honestly. It’s one of the two or three highest braking corners, it’s quite bumpy but that’s about it.

Q: (Ian De Cotta – The New Paper) You said that you want to get Monaco back in Singapore, do you think you can do that? And Lewis, you are a little bit on the back foot for tomorrow’s race in the World Championship, what are your thoughts on that.

DR: Sure, I would love to get a win this year, obviously we’ve come close but haven’t held the big trophy on Sunday. I’ve put myself in a good position. Obviously pole would have been ideal but second is the next best for today. You get a good start, if you get good track position then you can try to control the race as well as possible. There will be some curveballs I’m sure tomorrow with safety cars and whatnot but yeah, at least we’re at the pointy end. Hopefully stay out of trouble and then try and get that victory this year.

And Lewis?

LH: I’ve kind of been on the back foot all year long so there’s no real difference to me. I’ll do the best job I can from there and try and fight my way through. It’s a very hard track to overtake so, you’re usually stuck where you are but there’s lots of safety cars at this race so lots can happen during the race.

Q: (Don Kennedy – Hawkes Bay Today) Nico, since you came back from the summer break you seem to be on fire, not only in terms of your driving but mentally as well. Do you think you’ve now turned the corner psychologically in your battle with Lewis for the championship?

NR: I don’t think of it in that sense and I don’t think of trends or anything like that. I’m feeling good at the moment but I was feeling good before the summer break as well and just focusing on the weekend that I have at hand here in Singapore and my aim is to try and win this race and for now, of course, it’s looking like I have a very good chance for tomorrow and that’s it. I don’t think beyond that so no, sorry.

Q: (Wang Meng Meng – Straits Times) Nico, just now you said you were surprised to find that there were only three men who won the Singapore Grand Prix. Here’s another stat: six out of the eight men who were on pole won a Grand Prix here. What are your thoughts on this?

NR: I like that statistic!

Q: (Berk Serioglu – Motorsport.com) Lewis, as a driver, the strongest part of your driving style is the braking. This weekend we could see that you struggled too much with your braking. What’s the issue behind it?

LH: Well, in qualifying it wasn’t a problem. We had a problem in practice with something happening with the front suspension, it was not working properly and that was it. They fixed that and then it wasn’t a problem in qualifying.

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) I would like to ask you why you didn’t use the supersoft tyres in Q2 for example? It’s a question maybe also for Nico.

LH: I trust our strategist. He’s done a great job. I think we’re on the right strategy but of course they’ve done a good job. Time will tell, I guess, tomorrow. They’re on a harder tyre which should generally go longer but obviously Nico’s in the front so he will probably control the race from there and make it as hard as possible for Daniel to get or for us to get by. I think they’ve done the right job.

NR: Strategy is one of our strengths, one of our many strengths so I don’t have any concerns there but of course we need to work out the best plan for tomorrow but I think we’re looking good. The final thing is just to say that it shows the quality of our team at the moment that this being our most difficult track last year we really came away and learned what went wrong and really turned things round and now dominated this weekend up to now in qualifying. Of course there’s still the race but last year we were nowhere in qualifying so it really shows the quality of the team to understand something like that and turn it around in such a way.

September 17, 2016
F1 2016: Singapore Gp Free Practice 3 Report – Rosberg Leads

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg set the quickest time overall in the final free practice session for the Singapore grand prix.

The one hour session was momentarily red flagged early on as Pascal Wehrlein’s Manor made contact with the wall and left debris on the circuit.

As the session resumed several drivers took the the circuit to make the final preparation for the qualifying session and Sunday’s race. Nico Rosberg set a quickest time of 1:44:352, while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen completed the top three.

Lewis Hamilton ended the session with the eighth quickest time after flat-spotting his ultrasoft tyre on his qualifying simulation run.

Free Practice Three Standings

September 17, 2016
F1 2016: Singapore Gp Preview – Spectacular Singapore

The Formula 1 paddock leaves Europe behind as it sets off the final push for the 2016 season. First on the flyaway schedule is the Marina Bay Circuit in Singapore.

As the first ever night race on the calendar the 2008 debut of the Singapore grand prix will forever be shrouded in controversy. It was during this grand prix that the infamous ‘crashgate’ scandal was born as Renault ordered then driver Nelson Piquet Jr. to deliberately crash in aid of teammate Fernando Alonso.

Luckily this incident didn’t mar the reputation of the Singapore Gp which has become a favourite on the calendar for drivers and fans. For fans the spectacular vista of Singapore presents a cosmopolitan destination while the novelty of a night race hasn’t yet worn off. The light skimming across the sculpted bodywork of a Formula 1 car continues to be one of the most visceral experiences of the year.

For the drivers, the Marina Bay Circuit is as a demanding a track as they are likely to face in the entire season. In layman’s terms this circuit would be described as busy. Throughout just five kilometers drivers are bombarded with 23 corners with barriers and walls lying in wait to punish the smallest of errors. The level of concentration required is second to none along with the added factor of weather conditions. Though are supremely fit athletes drivers easily point out that the level of concentration required and the dense humidity make Singapore the most physically demanding race of the year.

It’s not a dawdle for the cars either. The nature of this street circuit demands a high downforce setup and it’s tough on brakes too. Here horsepower isn’t as important as a good chassis, which will bring more teams into the mix for the ultimate prize on Sunday.

Twelve months ago Mercedes arrived at the Singapore grand prix with the expectation of fighting it out for the front row and ultimately the win. This expectation was completely decimated as both Hamilton and Rosberg struggled through the weekend. While Hamilton eventually retired from the race Rosberg could only manage a distant fourth.

At the time several conspiracy theories swirled around Mercedes sudden loss of pace but in reality it was a change in tyre pressures that stumped Hamilton and Rosberg twelve months ago. While the team is likely to have solved this issue for 2016 victory this weekend isn’t a done deal.

The biggest challenge for the top step of the podium is sure to come from Red Bull. The Austrian team should excel this weekend given its aerodynamic prowess. Ferrari too will have an eye on a better performance, as it was Sebastian Vettel who won the 2015 Singapore Gp. However, despite the fact that Vettel is a bit of a Singapore specialist the 2016 Ferrari isn’t quite the car the team delivered last year.

Mercedes has utterly dominated the 2016 season but despite this, and however preposterous it may appear, Red Bull will be the team to beat this weekend.

September 14, 2016
F1 2016: Italian Gp Review – Rosberg Romps to Italian Win

When Lewis Hamilton secured pole position on Saturday by half a second over his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg looked a beaten man. But little did he know that he would be gifted the lead of the Italian grand prix mere seconds after the red lights went out.

A mistake from Hamilton on the starting grid dropped him down to sixth and presented Rosberg the perfect opportunity to make it two wins in two weeks. Hamilton’s trouble promoted the Ferrari’s of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen into second and third but the red cars weren’t a match for Rosberg’s Mercedes.

As Rosberg strolled to career victory number 21 Hamilton recovered to second overall. The two Ferraris ran a two-stop strategy, as opposed to Mercedes’ one-stop, and put on a descent show for the Tifosi. Though they were never in contention their third and fourth place finishes were not as far off Mercedes as many feared it would be. Both drivers reported that the engine upgrade introduced in Italy worked well.

Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo pulled off a stunning move into turn one on Williams’ Valtteri Bottas finish fifth. It was a weekend of damage limitation for Red Bull on a circuit where it always going to be difficult for the Renault engine to stand up to the Mercedes and Ferrari. Valtteri Bottas delivered solid points for Williams in sixth while the second Red Bull of Max Verstappen came home in seventh. Force India’s Sergio Perez had a quiet afternoon, which eventually netted him eighth place. Felipe Massa, who announced that he would be retiring at the end of the 2016 season, scored two points in ninth ahead of Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India in tenth.

Though it didn’t deliver a spectacular result the Italian Gp proved vital for Williams. The sixth and ninth place finishes by Bottas and Massa has allowed Williams to take back into fourth in the constructor’s standings from Force India. This battle is likely to endure for the remainder of the season and has serious financial rewards for whichever teams comes out on top. Jenson Button, who will be taking a sabbatical in 2017, finished twelfth while teammate Fernando Alonso was fourteenth.

Rosberg’s first Italian Gp win puts him only two points off the championship lead. Rosberg remarked in a post-race interview that the battle between himself and Hamilton will carry on for the rest of the season. Rosberg has done a perfect job since the summer break and, as it stands the battle has been as close as it’s ever been on points. But it’s on the track where we are still waiting to see that wheel-to-wheel battle between the two championship contenders.

The 2016 Italian grand prix wasn’t the most exciting in recent memory. However, the scene from the podium, which stretches partly onto the start/finish straight, was something to behold. For as far as the eye could see were adoring racing fans waving their flags, cheering their favourites, and sharing their passion for this sport. That is why Monza can never be left off any F1 calendar.

September 5, 2016
2016 Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

DRIVERS

1 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

2 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

3 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

PODIUM INTERVIEWS

(Conducted by Eddie Jordan)

Nico, I don’t need to tell you, your 50^th podium, your 21^st race win and more importantly, his first win in Monza!

Nico ROSBERG: Thank you very much everyone, it’s absolutely amazing. It’s a very special day for me. I’m very happy to finally win here in Italy. You guys are unbelievable and it just makes it phenomenal to be up here so thank you very, very much and I’m going to enjoy this day.

Come on, tell us a little bit about the race. It was pretty much trouble-free, could your sort of control it from the front all the time apart from the pit stop?

NR: It was all down to the start. I had an awesome start and that made the win, so it was all there.

We’ll be back to you in a second. Ladies and gentleman, we know this man. Come on, how good is it to be here in front of all your adoring fans. Lewis, was it all down to the start?

Lewis HAMILTON: Firstly, look at this crowd. A big thank you to everyone for coming out. This is the best crowd we get all year; this is incredible. Obviously the start, but it’s still a great day for Mercedes Benz and I’m proud to be a part of it.

I’ve got to say, 14 race gone, two points between you two guys, I mean it’s all to play for isn’t it? it’s fantastic for us, the fans.

LH: Yeah, it’s good for you guys. I don’t know it it’s fantastic for the fans in the sense that there should have been more of us racing, there should have been a bigger race between Ferrari and us this weekend but hopefully in the future there will be.

Lewis, fantastic, well done and well done yesterday, great qualifying. Sebastian, first of all… it’s hard to believe this, isn’t it? It’s unbelievable.

Sebastian VETTEL: Unbelievable. This is the best podium in the world. Noi, Ferrari abbiamo i migliori tifosi del mondo. Grazie a tutti, grazie per essere venuti, grazie!!

This is dreamtime but nevertheless I’ve got to ask you the question: when do you think, how soon can you take these boys from Mercedes on? How soon can you be on the top of the podium?

SV: Well, we’ll try. We’re working very hard. They are doing a very good job, so you have to say “well done” and show them the respect for what the achieved in the last couple of years, but we’re fighting. I’m sure Ferrari will come back. I can’t make any promises about when, but I know we will, so keep believing, keep it up, I know that we believe in it and I’m sure we will succeed.

Why don’t you just say a few words to them in their Italian tongues?

SV: Un’altra volta – grazie, grazie mille. Noi siamo Ferrari.

Nico, a wonderful day for you, can you describe it?

NR: Oh yeah, it’s unbelievable. This makes it unbelievable. A part of me is Italian in a way, because I have a lot of friends and grew up with the culture, so all the more special. Siete i migliori del mondo, veramente. Incredibile. Grazie mille. Troppo bello. Proviamolo!! (then he sings).

We knew you were a driver but we didn’t know you were a member of The White Stripes! Anyway, please tell us, you’ve come back from the summer break and you’ve won those two races, you’re like a new man aren’t you, what’s happened to you?

NR: I’m feeling great. The race is on with Lewis of course, it’s always going to be a great battle and I look forward to what’s to come.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Nico, congratulations, your first Monza victory, second win in a week. Obviously you won it at the start. We talked about the start as an opportunity here yesterday, so tell us about that? Two points in it now in the championship and it looks like you’ve got a future in singalong as well?

NR: As we discussed, the start was the big opportunity and that worked out fantastically. I got a great start, because of course we had the soft and Ferrari had the supersoft and that worked out great and that gave me the race win in the end, because from then on I was able to control the pace and we had good speed. The singalong was awesome. The Italian crowd is just the best in the world and it’s really good fun.

Is that become a new signature when you win now?

NR: It just works here with them.

OK. Lewis, conversely, you lost it at the start. I understand you told the team by radio that it was your mistake and you obviously did everything you did to recover but were the 10 laps behind the Williams of Bottas… did that leave you too much to do in the end?

LH: Well, obviously yeah it was lost at the start. To be honest, I knew my engineers would be worried and nervous of how the start went, so that’s why I tried to put their minds at ease. I don’t really know what happened at the start, though obviously I will try to understand it later. I did everything normal. But, yeah, it’s hard to overtake here. Live to fight another day and you know a great audience here, as every year just an incredible crowd. A lot of Ferrari fans but also a lot of British flags were here today so I appreciate them coming out.

Q: Sebastian, obviously a slightly different strategy, supersoft, supersoft, soft. Was there nothing more you could do to protect the track position that you got after Lewis’ poor start in the first stint, with the tyre choices you had. And what positives do you take from this weekend in general?

SV: Well, he did one stop less, so obviously it was clear after our second stop he would be ahead of us – and I think the problem was that he was too far ahead of us. Simple as that. I think we were slightly quicker, we were on a fresher set of tyres but not quick enough to really catch up. I think in the end the gap was still fairly big. Nevertheless I think it’s been a great day. We’ve had a really good start, got a bit stuck. Maybe I should have gone to the left, I wasn’t sure what Lewis was going to do. Then I decided to go in the middle of them and was side-by-side with Nico but he did a good job braking for Turn One. I was hoping that he’ll go on the brakes a bit sooner but he didn’t. And then I had another crack, another look into Turn Four but I wasn’t close enough to be honest. After that I think we had good pace but it was sort of expected that they are obviously a bit quicker than us, in race pace as well. And I think you could see at the end the result was fairly clear. Still, I think it’s been a mega day for Ferrari. To get so much support. I think it felt even more than last year, which is great and hopefully it all peaks next year. Still, I can’t complain: two podiums in Monza two times at the start with Ferrari. I think it’s a great achievement, really happy and proud of that. But for sure, you’re always aiming for the top step, also to give the maximum support back. It’s been incredible. Coming into the track, leaving the track, even leaving late at night, they’re just happy to wave, with all the Ferrari kit, with all the flags equipped, it’s great to see the passion in this country for Ferrari and to be part of that is great. Obviously our mission doesn’t stop here. It’s only the beginning. We want to win. That’s what we really want. That’s what the people deserve as well.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Nico, I would like to congratulate you to become the first ever Finnish national who has won a grand prix on Italian soil. Winning at Spa and then Monza first time, legendary places, how does that feel in your career.

NR: It feels great.

SV: Being a Finn, you should answer in Finnish…

NR: Just talking about today it’s special because I really feel close to the Italian culture in many ways. All my best friends are Italian, I speak Italian and have a lot of connections with Italy and a lot of support here also, so it’s amazing to see. On this historic track it’s been a special place to win.

I didn’t… Imola, Monza, no Finn has ever won? Wow. Cool.

Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / Speed Sport) Lewis, you said you don’t know exactly what happened in the car at the start but can you tell us what was going on in there and how you felt to see all those cars go screaming by.

LH: To be honest I don’t really remember. I do remember a bunch of cars coming by but, as I said, I did the sequence, everything exactly the same and yeah, I think I just got lots of wheelspin. A bit like Nico’s start perhaps in Hockenheim. Yeah.

Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Sebastian, yesterday in qualifying, bigger difference to Mercedes than last year, today in the race, maybe a smaller difference, you were even closing on the Mercedes with the soft tyres at the end. What was the reason for that? That you were so much quicker today. And how encouraging is it for the next two races especially?

SV: Well, we had a different strategy so obviously we had fresher tyres, different compound at the end, it was clear and expected that we were quicker and catching up – but probably not enough really to put them seriously under any pressure. I think we extracted our best race which obviously, y’know… it’s been a while since it’s been the case. It speaks for the team. I think we’ve done a very good job this weekend, everyone has been really focused and, y’know many times I hear that coming to Monza, yeah, it’s a sort of extra burden and pressure and all this. I think it’s much the opposite for everyone in the team. You come here, people are able on Thursday, Friday to bring some of their family to the track, Ferrari is very helpful and open to give the chance to some of the mechanics and engineers, a lot of their families come here to see them and support them. And equally we has so much support from all the fans around the track, so of course you want to do well, it’s family in the end. We have probably the largest family we bring to a race track in that regard but I think everyone knows when I’m saying you want to do well in front of your family. So, of course, there is a bit of tension but if anything I think it lifted us up this weekend. It was great to see also the majority of the board of Ferrari coming, turning up, our president, giving the support and it’s been exactly the opposite of what people thought – or wrote probably – about. Really no pressure. We knew it would be tough against Mercedes, it has been tough and we didn’t beat them. Nevertheless, I think we did a great job, we pulled out our best, we had a great race. We finished third and fourth is the optimum we could get. That’s a lot to be proud about. Obviously the fans deserve nothing else but the top step and hopefully we can give it to them the next couple of years.

Q: (Ralf Bach – AutoBild Motorsport) Two questions for Nico: firstly, are you the new Pirelli ambassador or why do you wear this cap here? And secondly, for what reasons didn’t you and Lewis use the supersoft tyres here

NR: I apologise for that mistake to Mercedes, sorry for that. I didn’t realise. I’m sure I’ll hear about that later on.

And what was the second part? Why didn’t we use them? Because the best race for us was soft-medium, that was the fastest way to get to the end of the race, as you could see. It was good speed.

Q: (Livio Orrichio – GloboEsporte.com) Lewis, curiosity, when you face a situation like today and you see your opponents overtaking you at the start, knowing that you have a very fast car, do you have time at that moment to think ‘oh my God, maybe I lost the race’ or do you only concentrate yourself to try to get some positions back?

LH: I think at that moment you only think about getting back to where you started. So I’d fallen back and my goal was to try and get back up to where I was. But of course, I could see Nico pulling away, and I know from my experience of being here in Formula One that whilst anything can happen, the chances of the win decrease lap by lap, second by second so of course I knew that at quite an early stage that winning the race was not going to be possible but I would try but I got up to second and that’s the best I could do with such a loss at the start.

Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) Sebastian, it was quite unusual to see you leaving the pit lane after your second stop with the DRS open on the run down to the first corner. I presume that’s because you were in the activation zone behind Kvyat coming into the pits. Can you talk about that? It’s quite interesting. And b) you had a big lock-up coming in and I wondered if that was due to the DRS being half-closed or not?

SV: No, I had lock-up because to be honest the mindset when you come in is that you don’t really care about those tyres any more and you just to try to hit the brakes as hard as you can and stop for the line, so I had a bit of a lock-up but at that point you’re not really bothered, you just stamp on the brakes so that’s what triggered it. And then on the way out, I did have the advantage of the DRS so even if it’s 0.0 or something, you still go for it.

Q: (Barna Zsoldos – Nemzeti Sport) To the Mercedes drivers; it was the seventh time this year that either of you lost the leading position, just after starting from pole. Usually you very quickly adapt to every technical rule change so can you explain why it’s so difficult to get it right with this simple clutch?

Q: I think he means single clutch.

NR: It’s the rule change, it makes it more challenging. Because now it’s down to the driver to do it. It’s more difficult.

LH: Don’t agree that it’s more down to the driver. I think the driver thing is the same as it was before, it’s just that we have a relatively inconsistent clutch and it’s hard to… In the past we were able to be told our clutch temperature and it was easier to hit our target as well but now it’s a lot less easy to know what your clutch is going to be delivering and what it’s not.

Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) Nico, just following up from what you were saying earlier about starting on the harder tyre than Ferrari, are you able to simulate that, practise that, given the allocation situation with tyres? Are you able to be that precise in practice starts?

NR: Well, that’s the thing. No, because we’re not even practising on the grid, we’re practising at the end of the pit lane which is a whole different world. Everybody’s practising, their rubber’s going down so it’s a little bit trying to make the best guess and that’s what makes it so variable

Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Sebastian, after Spa with Kimi, were you more cautious at the first corner than usual?

SV: Er, well, I was side-by-side with Nico so yeah, but as I said, they did a good job on the brakes and obviously I didn’t see the car behind. To be honest, at no point did Spa cross my mind. I think after plenty of starts, I think Monza at turn one, we all know it’s tight so I did what I felt was right and it seemed to be right. I think I left enough room for Nico, obviously I wasn’t really a challenge for him into turn one and for the cars behind, obviously I saw down to turn one that Nico and myself were putting up a shield and giving a lot of tow for the cars behind so it was natural that they closed up. Equally I think they behaved well, doing their job right under braking, not overshooting so it all seemed fine coming out of turn two at least.

Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Nico, it’s often said that it tends to go, for some reason, in waves, between Lewis and yourself. Both of you have waves when you are winning more races one after another and then it tends to change. So after now, winning two races in a row in one week, do you feel that the tide is in, it’s with you now?

NR: No, not at all. I don’t see waves, I just see it race by race and today I’m very very happy to have won here and next is Singapore and I will try to win there and that’s it.

September 4, 2016
Hamilton claims Italian GP pole by nearly half a second

Lewis Hamilton stamped his authority all over the Italian GP weekend by claiming the pole position by nearly half a second over his Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg.

Hamilton was fastest in Q1 and Q2 and fastest in both Q3 runs. Hamilton already had the edge over his team mate with the fastest first Q3 run but blasted his way to pole with a 1:21.135. This is Hamilton’s fifth Italian Grand Prix pole and with it, which equals the record held by Ayrton Senna and Juan Manuel Fangio.

A lock up in Q2 added a small flat spot on his race tyre but Lewis did not seem too concerned about it saying that he could hardly feel it and doubted that it would have much of an effect on his race tomorrow.

What did become very apparent was the absolute advantage that Mercedes has over its rivals this week. Sebastian Vettel finished three tenths down on Rosberg for Ferrari, with Kimi Raikkonen locking out the second row of the grid with his team mate.

Valterri Bottas staked his claim on an impressive fifth place for Williams – finished just 0.001s ahead of Daniel Ricciardo. Red Bull team mate Max Verstappen claimed the eighth grid spot ahead of the Force India duo of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg.

The Haas F1 team were very impressive and made their first appearance in Q3. Esteban Gutierrez took up the 10th place, 0.3s behind the Force Indias.

Felipe Massa who recently announced his retirement from Formula One failed to impress, failing to make it through to Q3. He had to settle for 11th place but gets a free choice of which tyres he’ll start on tomorrow.

Romain Grosjean qualified 12th but a five place grid penalty for a gearbox change after FP3 will push him back to 17th place on the Italian GP grid. Fernando Alonso complained of a loss of power on his final run and finished only 13th fastest. Pascal Wehrlein put in a good show to split the McLarens and Carlos Sainz rounded out the Q2 runners.

Daniil Kvyat was not able to make it through to Q2 and set off the bleeper with a string of expletives after his run, questioning his Toro Rosso team about what had gone wrong. Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson will take up the next two spots ahead of the Renaults who had a very tough qualifying session. Jolyon Palmer qualified 20th with Kevin Magnussen behind him after KMag had to run across the grass at the exit of Ascari on his final lap.

Esteban Ocon’s qualifying session was over before it even started really. He was forced to park his Force India at Turn 1 as he started his flying lap. He will need to ask the stewards for permission to race, since he has no qualifying time but his practices were within the 107% mark so there should be no reason not to allow him to race.

We’re not expecting much strategy-wise for tomorrow’s Italian GP. For most, it’ll be a quick, 1 stop race. It’ll all be about the start tomorrow and both Hamilton and Rosberg are likely to have their mirrors full of Red Ferrari off the the line. Hamilton has every chance of cruising to a victory if he makes a faultless start and given his current form, and the absolutely dominant performance of his Mercedes, it’s hard to think that he will not make it so.

Join us on Twitter @F1_Madness for live commentary and chat throughout the Italian GP.

Here is the final Italian GP Qualifying time sheet.

September 3, 2016
F1 2016: Italian Gp Free Practice 3 Report – Hamilton Dominates

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton dominated the field in the final free practice session ahead of the 2016 Italian grand prix.

The number 44 Mercedes set a quickest time of 1:22:008 while teammate Nico Rosberg’s 1:22:401 was some 0.393 adrift in second. The first of the Ferrari’s came in the form of Sebastian Vettel who set a quickest time of 1:22:946. Kimi Raikkonen, in the other Ferrari, set a 1:23:196.

The Williams pair of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa were fifth and sixth respectively. Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen were only quick enough for seventh and eighth while Force India’s Sergio Perez and Haas F1’s Esteban Gutierrez rounded out the top ten.

The session endured a brief interruption earlier when Romain Grosjean’s beached Haas brought out the virtual safety car.

Final Free Practice Three Standings

September 3, 2016
F1 2016: Italian GP Free Practice 2 Report – Merc Maintain Lead

The Mercedes driver pairing maintained their position on top of the timing sheets with Lewis Hamilton setting the quickest time ahead of Nico Rosberg in the second free practice session.

The normal format for the second one-and-a-half hour session on Friday’s include a qualifying simulation run as well as a focus on the long run pace of the respective drivers and teams. In both cases Mercedes showed a clear advantage as Hamilton set a quickest time of 1:22:801 on the red-walled supersoft tyre. Nico Rosberg followed some 0.193 tenths adrift with a 1:22:994.

The two Ferrari’s set the third and fourth quickest times followed by two Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo. Fernando Alonso set the seventh quickest time for McLaren but the Spaniard is unlikely to maintain this position throughout the weekend as McLaren tend to run a higher engine mode during the early stage of the weekend.

While Ferrari’s pace appear comfortably off that of the Mercedes drivers it should be noted that the Italian team ran a truncated programme in terms of mileage and are only expected to make the introduction of their upgraded power unit on Saturday.

Final Free Practice Two Standings

September 2, 2016