Tag: lewis hamilton

F1 Australian GP FP2: Hamilton fastest, Rosberg crashes

The Mercedes F1 team suffered pretty mixed fortunes in another practice session dominated by unpredictable wet weather conditions. Lewis Hamilton finished on top of the time sheets once again in FP2 ahead of the Australian Grand Prix, while his team mate Nico Rosberg suffered a crash into the barriers at turn 6 during a very wet session.

The wet weather put a real damper on FP2, with conditions only improving ever so marginally during the session. While we got to see some slick running during the first free practice session, drivers were not able to run on anything better than Pirelli’s intermediate rubber during FP2.

Most teams preferred a cautionary approach with seven drivers failing to set a time and three not venturing on to the track at all for any FP2 running. Nico Rosberg’s turn 7 crash early on in the session caused extensive damage to the front wing of his W07. Rosberg was forced to abandon his Mercedes track side for fear of causing further damage to the car. Team Principal Toto Wolff confirmed that Rosberg had been running one of the team’s new S-duct noses. Mercedes does have spares for later in the weekend but sent Hamilton out with an old spec wing so as not to risk losing another one.

With Rosberg forced out of FP2, team mate Hamilton was left to head up the field. He posted a time of 1:38.841. The time was nearly 10 seconds slower than his top time posted for FP1. It was good enough though to finish nearly half a second clear of Nico Hulkenberg in his Force India. Force India are looking impressive – Sergio Perez had set the fastest first and second sectors before losing the rear of his car in Turn 12. There was potential for him to better Hamilton’s time but as conditions worsened his chances of taking a time at the top were quickly snuffed.

Kimi Raikkonen was third quickest for Ferrari, followed by Daniel Ricciardo and Carlos Sainz. The McLaren duo of Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button followed in sixth and seventh places.

Sebastian Vettel – who had not completed a timed lap in FP1 despite being the first driver out on track – set the eight fastest time with Sergio Perez and Daniil Kvyat rounding out the top 10.

Esteban Gutierrez ended the FP2 session 11th in the Haas and Pascal Wherlein finished 12th fastest ahead of Romain Grosjean, Rio Haryanto and Rosberg. The remaining seven drivers chose not to set times and Marcus Ericsson, Felipe Nasr and Max Verstappen opted to remain in the dry comfort of their pit garages.

The weather for tomorrow is currently still rainy at times but more favourable than Friday conditions.

Photo Credits: FP2 Screenshots from Sky F1.

March 18, 2016
2016 Australian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

DRIVERS:

Rio HARYANTO (Manor)

Jolyon PALMER (Renault)

Esteban GUTIERREZ (Haas)

Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing)

Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes).
PRESS CONFERENCE
Daniel Ricciardo, let’s start with you. Here we are, 20 years on from the grand prix moving across from Adelaide to Melbourne, tell us about what a buzz it is for you to showcase your sport once a year here and what it means for the fans in Australia?
Daniel RICCIARDO: It’s exciting, definitely. It’s exciting to be racing again in general. But to come here… (coughs)… pardon me, it’s emotional, jeez! It’s cool, you know. Every year that I’ve been here now there’s still an awesome buzz. It’s something that will definitely never get old as long as we keep coming here, as long as I’m racing. So yeah, Melbourne is great, especially when the sun shines. Everyone is super enthusiastic by the race here and there are always cars on track – woken up this morning by the two-seater. They really fill up the schedule and the fans definitely get their money’s worth.

Your long run performance in particular looked strong during the tests in Barcelona. Do you feel you will be able to compete more perhaps in the race than in qualifying, certainly in the early part of the season at least?
DR: yeah, I think the long pace will be better for us. The short runs are going to be a little more… I think in qualifying we’re probably not going to be as strong but long runs we should be good. Let’s see what happens. I don’t know, time will tell. I’ve been answering these questions all week and you can’t really answer them at the end of the day. On Sunday everyone will see where the real pace is, including us.

OK. Let’s turn to Esteban – welcome back. Thirty-eight grands prix contested in your two previous seasons in Formula One. You were in the points for Sauber in 2013. How has your period as a Ferrari reserve driver made you a stronger competitor?
Esteban GUTIERREZ: Well, it was very interesting with this guy in front of me [Sebastian Vettel]. I think in general as an experience it helped a lot in my career being able to observe many things from a different perspective and obviously getting very hungry to get back racing and finally reaching this moment, starting what I love most, to be racing, to be in a race seat.

How has the build up to the first race gone for Haas? What are the biggest challenges for a star-up team in the sport?
EG: I think the biggest challenge is to really integrate ourselves as a team, because the flow of communication in general… everything is new, there are a lot procedures that need to be defined. I think Barcelona, as a test, was a great experience for the team, a lot of character building. We had some difficult moments, some other good ones and all in all it’s where we need to focus – to be efficient and very dynamic for the development of the following races.

Rio, coming to you, 23 years old, from Indonesia, one of three rookies in the field. First Formula One driver, more importantly, from Indonesia. Let’s start with that. What’s the response been like and how does it feel to be a pioneer?
Rio HARYANTO: Yeah, there’s been tremendous support back home. Obviously to be able to compete in Formula One is a great thing. I’m very proud and I’m sure the whole nation are proud too to have me in Formula One.

You won races in GP2 and GP3 during your apprenticeship for this opportunity. What are your expectations for this season with Manor?
RH: I’m new to Formula One so there are a lot of things to learn. My expectation is to try to learn as quick as possible and to try to build a good relationship with the team and we’ll see how it goes in the races?

Ok, coming to another rookie, Jolyon Palmer – welcome. Twenty-five years old, GP2 champion in 2014, you’ve also waited a few years for this opportunity. What’s the best thing about now becoming a Formula One driver?
Jolyon PALMER: Well, racing! It was a bit frustrating last year having a year on the sidelines after GP2, but I learned a lot and it makes it even sweeter to be here racing again. I was out here last year seeing what Melbourne’s all about, did the track walk, was ready to go, but of course as a reserve driver you rarely get the chance. So looking forward to getting behind the wheel for at least an FP2 and an FP3 as well this time.

Well, it was Lotus last season, the team has now become Renault, so what should we expect from you and this team this season?
JP: Well, it’s difficult to say at this moment. Taking over from Lotus there were a lot of difficulties over the winter, everything was a little bit late. The expectations are pretty low and this year is just about building a foundation. So I think we need to build a solid base and the team has a lot of potential to move forward in the next few years.

Let’s turn to the world champion – Lewis Hamilton, two-time Australian Grand Prix winner, four time polesitter here in Albert Park, Melbourne. Lewis, you said recently there’s still more to come from you this season. What are you looking for?
Lewis HAMILTON: I don’t remember saying that, but OK…
Let’s presume you did!
LH: Cool. That’s good. I hope there is! I don’t know, I think you are always searching for perfection, always learning, always growing, both inside and outside the sport. I’m just looking forward to that journey. I don’t know what’s to come. I don’t when I’m going to be growing or more, but I guess that’s the same for every single one of us, so that’s what I’m excited about.

When you say perfection, what do you mean exactly?
LH: You’re always looking for that perfect lap; you’re always looking for the perfect race, you’re always looking to raise the bar every time you go out, because it can always be raised.

There are quite a few more variables this year due to the regulation changes. Looking at the team radio restrictions in particular, do you think that’s something that could actually play to your strengths – given that you guys are all going to be much more on your own now? Is that something that could work for you?
LH: We’re all in the same boat. Some of us will handle it better than others. I don’t particularly see there being much of be a problem. But is it good? I don’t really know but we’ll manage it the best way we can.

OK. We’ve heard from the champion, let’s hear from one of his main challengers, Sebastian Vettel, 2011 Australian Grand Prix winner, three-time polesitter here. Sebastian, you know what it takes to win in Formula One, do you and Ferrari have enough to trouble Lewis and Mercedes this year?
Sebastian VETTEL: I think we have. Obviously, the question is whether we are ready in time, but we are on a good track, we are making progress, we did so last year, I think we did a step over the winter, but as I said, whether it’s big enough or not I think we need to wait for the first couple of races and see. But for sure our target is to turn things around, but going into this season I don’t think it’s a surprise when I say that Mercedes is still the favourite but, as I said, we try to become the favourites in the future.

It’s not hard to see where the problem has been, qualifying has been Ferrari’s weakness in recent times, when fighting you and Red Bull in those days and more recently Mercedes – only five poles in the last six seasons, seems astonishing really. So has the team put any particular focus on qualifying pace and unlocking that qualifying pace with this car to give you the tools you need to fight on Sunday?
SV: Well, usually qualifying pace is all about raw pace so I think by trying to make our package quicker, make our car quicker, our engine stronger, we enhance our chances also in qualifying to do well. I don’t think there is a big secrete behind it – usually in qualifying, as I said, it’s all about the raw performance of the car and we know that we are still a little bit behind. We have been last year and obviously we try to be a lot closer this year, how close, I don’t know, I don’t have an answer… yet. But we have a plan; we know what we want to do; we know where we want to go, so bit by bit I hope we improve and we’ll be in a better position very soon, with more pole positions under our belt.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Abhishek Takle – Mid-Day) Question to Lewis. Mercedes has ran a lot of miles in testing. From a drivers’ point of view would you have preferred to do some more performance running to feel the ultimate limit of the car?
LH: Definitely. Of course, the performance runs are always the most fun, the long runs are, kind of, long. And less exciting. But we did what we had to do and I guess we went into the testing with a goal of achieving 800km a day. We didn’t actually think we were going to do it so perhaps in hindsight we would have shifted our running. But at the end of the day it suited us perfectly.

Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriere della Sera) To Sebastian, could you describe what could be the point of strength of the new car in the season, and would it be a surprise if you are not as close as you expect to the Mercedes?
SV: Well, we’ve worked very hard. Obviously the project of this year’s car started very early so I think it is definitely a big improvement, big step forward overall. Obviously from the outside it’s easy to see the main differences but I think especially on the inside we’ve done a very, very nice job and it allows us to be, first of all, quicker from the start and also have more chance of improving throughout the year. So that’s good news. Whether it’s good news right from the start, I don’t know. As I said earlier, I don’t know yet. I hope so. We know that our challenge is very, very big, we know that Mercedes in the last two years have built a very, very strong and solid platform for the whole package. Not just the engine but also the car has been very, very strong, in particular last year, and I think it is quite difficult to start the next season with a worse car than you had before. So we know the bar is high, but we’re pushing, pushing very hard.

Q: (Jon McEvoy – Daily Mail) Lewis, I was wondering, after we saw the video of you riding a bike and filming as you were going along, whether you feel you have any responsibility to, as an example to others, not to do that? Or maybe not…
LH: Not particularly, no. I don’t really have much of an answer for you unfortunately.

I was just wondering if you think you… you’ve always said you were an example to young dudes. I was wondering if you thought in light of that, this is where you should show an example?
LH: Again, I don’t really have much of an answer for you, so…

Q: (Lennart Bernke – Bild) Seb, why and when did you decide to name your car after a pizza?
SV: It’s not named after a pizza. It’s a name, first of all. So, I think…
DR: What’s it called?
SV: Margherita.
DR: It’s a cocktail!
SV: I think if you look up, the first thing that comes it is that it’s a name, not a pizza.

Why Margherita then?
DR: Because it’s a pizza!
SV: No, because it’s a drink! No, various reasons. We like the name. Every year we give the car a name. Last year Eva, this year Margherita. We’re happy with that.

Q: (Daniel Johnson – Daily Telegraph) A question for Seb. A lot’s been made, and people are getting quite excited about the prospect of you versus Lewis for the title and having quite different styles and characters. Lewis, obviously, has his style and uses Snapchat and things like that. I was wondering if you could describe how your… what your style is and whether looking at any of that ever tempts you to get on Snapchat or Twitter or Instagram or any of that?
SV: Up to now I haven’t understood all of the modern technologies fully so I’m sure he can give me some classes but I’m not that interested. I think everyone picks his style, and the things they like. I think we’re all different. Some people like pizza plain – like Margherita – some people like a lot of stuff on top of it. I think that’s a good summary.

Q: (Alex Popov – NTV/Match TV) For Lewis – but a little bit more of a racing question: it’s about tyre allocation. Because you never used the supersoft of Barcelona, and most of Barcelona testing you and Nico was on medium and here, your personal allocation is just one set of medium and again it’s Pirelli who chose it for the race. Then for supersoft you never train, tomorrow it’s rain forecast so for the race it will be OK?
LH: I think it will be OK. You’re right, we didn’t use the supersoft and, once again, I think once we realised how much mileage we’d done, perhaps in hindsight we may have changed it, who knows? But we’ll face it as we always do. I don’t believe they’ve changed a huge amount with the tyre so I don’t think it’s going to be a big issue for us.

Q: (Jon McEvoy – Daily Mail) Lewis, are you using a Blackberry or an iPhone?
LH: Both

Q: (Shane McGuinness – Radio 3AW) Dan, Australian motor racing legend Alan Jones has come out and said that he’d like to see you at Ferrari next year, obviously out of contract this year. Does that become a distraction at all for you and how do you ensure that it doesn’t affect your driving, and bat away these questions during the season? And would you like to be teammates (with Sebastian) again?
DR: I don’t know if Seb wants that, to be honest, so we’ll see. I heard AJ say… or I heard some comments yesterday and got asked the question. Yeah, last year I was asked as well. I honestly can’t… I don’t have much more to say on that. It’s still very early in the season and to give you a boring but honest answer is that I’m just completely focused on this year now and with Red Bull. That’s where it stands. Not exactly out of contract either. Don’t get too excited.
I don’t know (if I’d like to be teammates with Sebastian again). Maybe if he joined social media…
SV: I will not dance with you in the pit lane so if you’re looking for that…
DR: I’m looking for something more from my teammate. We’ll think of something, eh?
SV: I can offer you marguerita. I don’t mind Danny, we’ve never had issues. Obviously the year we had together was very good for him, not so good for me. I think that’s one thing that happens on the track but outside the track, which I think is more important when you talk about your teammate, whether you get along or not, we never had – at least I don’t remember… It’s a bit weird when he gets changed but other than that…
DR: I walk around in my underwear a lot! Get comfortable with that. This question’s gone pear-shaped, hasn’t it? Next question.

Q: (Abhishek Tackle – Midday) To the front row: everyone says in testing, we’re just testing, we don’t know where we stand, we don’t know anything, but given the simulation and data analysis tools you have these days at your disposal, how good an idea do you have of where you stand relative to each other in the pecking order?
DR: I don’t know. You get an idea, you definitely get an idea. I guess I’ve driven a few years now in F1 and I know what a good car feels like so at least with us I know… at least from testing I can take out that our chassis is pretty good. What’s still an unknown is what Seb and Lewis are saying. Are they hopping out of their car saying this chassis is a lot better than last year’s as well? I still expect them to be the front runners, Ferrari and Mercedes, at the start of the season but me knowing what I know from previous years, yeah, I think we’ve started off with a good chassis and as we’ve done in the past, we can keep improving that. If we can improve that, along with the power unit this year, then by probably the second half of the year we should be able to maybe challenge them but again, it’s still really guesswork, it’s not like numbers, it’s not like they all add up to victory at the end of the day. It’s still a bit inconclusive until we get going, probably the first four or five races.
SV: The answer’s probably a bit more accurate than that. I think Mercedes are the favourites going in, they seem to be very reliable but also very quick in Barcelona. I think we are closer than last year, especially in the race. Then I think Toro Rosso has made a massive step. They had a very strong car last year but probably with the Ferrari engine this year they will be quite a bit stronger. Daniel touched on it himself and some of you touched on his long run pace, they looked very strong for the race. I think Esteban and Team Haas could surprise and the others are a bit unknown I would say.
LH: I agree with what they’ve said. I think this year that the whole pack looks like it’s a little bit closer but personally I think that they’ve got something up their sleeve this weekend. I think Ferrari are going to be a lot closer than they talk about, than just arriving on a low but going to deliver high.
Q: Do you welcome that?
LH: Absolutely.

Q: (Chris Lines – AP) Question for the back row: are points achievable for you this year and how soon do you think you might be in a position to challenge for points?
EG: Well, it’s very ambitious as a new team to arrive and set a target to score points but we will work very hard to achieve that. It’s definitely the way we want to go. I think initially it’s very important to keep our feet on the ground, make sure that we run smoothly during the weekend and if we accomplish that this weekend we can get out in a very happy mood. Obviously we have everything to gain so achieving points would be something extraordinary.
JP: I think for us it’s definitely a goal for us to be in the points at some point in the season. I think that if we can start off with a solid base this weekend then I think we’ve got good potential to improve over the course of the season and so definitely, we hope to be in the points.
Q: Rio, it looks like Manor have made quite a big step forward in performance from last year to this year. Is that giving the team confidence that they will be in the points regularly?
RH: Yeah, definitely. It’s a much better package that we have in comparison to last year and that’s the goal, to score points. We don’t know when but we’ll try our best every race as the races will be long and let’s see what we can do.

March 17, 2016
F1 2016: Australian GP Preview – F1 season of possibility

The question at the forefront of everything is can Ferrari take the fight to Mercedes. All indications are that the Italian team has made strides since last year and has closed the gap to Mercedes. All that remains to be seen is how close they can get.

As F1 2016 gets under way this season will be longest in the sport’s history with 21 races. Germany’s Hockenheim makes a return to the calendar and Azerbaijan hosts its first ever race on the Baku City streets. The confirmation of the US grand prix gives the teams an added bonus. The F1 sporting regulation state that one engine must be used for four race weekends. As the US Gp makes it 21 races the teams will be given a fifth engine thanks to the wording of the rule.

When the change to the qualifying format was announced it left many perplexed. The quali format hadn’t been a bad one so why fix something that isn’t broken? But, let’s give it chance and see how it pans out.

The one hour session will still consist of three parts. Q1 will be 16 minutes, after the first seven the slowest car is eliminated. Thereafter, the slowest car is eliminated every 90 seconds. Seven drivers will be eliminated while 15 advance to Q2.

Q2 will be a 15 minute session with the slowest driver eliminated after 6 minutes. Likewise, every 90 seconds will see the slowest car eliminated. Seven drivers will be eliminated in this session with eight advancing to Q3. The Q3 session will run for fourteen minutes with the slowest driver eliminated after five minutes. The slowest driver will continue to be eliminated every 90 seconds. Two drivers will remain in the final 90 seconds of the session to shoot it out for pole position.

An interesting aspect of this style of qualifying will be that the quickest cars will no longer be able to rely on getting through to the second part of qualifying on the harder of their tyre selection. It’s sure to throw the cat amongst the pigeons when there is rain about, and if it’s a lap longer than 1 minute 30 seconds. And let’s be honest anything that adds a bit of drama and intrigue is never a bad thing. What the new format has in its favour is that it takes the excitement from the final ten minutes of the session and spreads it throughout the entire hour.

The Albert Park circuit is a well known one. But there are many unknowns at the first race of the season. A new qualifying format, new tyre regulations, more driver freedom on strategy calls, to name a few. The clampdown on radio communication from the pitwall carries its own connotation, especially where the start of the race is concerned. Drivers are not allowed any feedback during the formation lap and are only being allowed to use one clutch at the start. This combined with Albert Park’s tight turn one could result in dramatic start to the grand prix. And all of this has the potential to combine into an explosive season-opening race.

Mercedes has chosen to play up Ferrari’s performance so far. Choosing to send both Nico Rosberg and Niki Lauda into the press with statements of Ferrari being a great threat. It could just be some clever psychological play by the champions. Or it could be real and we could in for a F1 season to be remembered. One way or the other the more than 100 day wait is finally over.

March 16, 2016

Rosberg On Top at Second Barcelona Test

Nico Rosberg stamped Mercedes’ authority on day one of the second test in Barcelona by going quickest on the day.

Rosberg’s fastest time of 1:23.022 just told half the story. Lewis Hamilton took over in the afternoon session and went on to complete a very impressive race simulation. Between the Mercedes drivers they managed to rack up 169 laps.

“It was a great afternoon of running with great mileage,” said Hamilton.

“We did a race simulation and after that I feel I’m ready for race one.

“The car is feeling great and was consistent all day.”

Valtteri Bottas ended his day second fastest with a time of 1:23.229 with 123 laps under his belt.

Finishing third fastest was McLaren’s Fernando Alonso with a time of 1:24.735 ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen in 4th with a best time of 1:24.836. Both Raikkonen and Alonso brought out the red flags today with Alonso stopping at the end of the pit lane at the end of the morning session and Raikkonen in the mid afternoon with a gearbox problem.

Daniil Kvyat in the Red Bull finished 5th fastest with Hamilton in the Mercedes 6ht.

In the new liveried Toro Rosso, Max Verstappen ened his day 7th fastest with the highest lap count of the day at 144. Another solid day of running for Nico Hulkenberg in the Force India seen him finish 8th fastest. Tom McCullough, Chief Race Engineer at Force India called it “another routine day.”

The Sauber C35 made its debut today at the hand of Felipe Nasr who completed 103 laps to place 9th fastest ahead of Kevin Magnussen in the Renault R.S.16 in 10th. Magnussen clocked up 119 laps until he came to a stop at Turn 3 just 10mins before the end of the day.

Haas F1 had one of their worst testing days so far with Esteban Gutierrez confined to the garage for most of the day after a problem with the fuel system.

It was not much different for Rio Haryanto in the Manor. The car suffered from an oil leak which kept in the pits for most of the morning session.

POS	Driver	Team/Car	Best lap	Gap	Laps
1	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid	1:23.022	–	82
2	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes FW38	1:23.229	+0.207	123
3	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Honda MP4-31	1:24.735	+1.713	93
4	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari SF16-H	1:24.836	+1.814	72
5	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer RB12	1:25.049	+2.027	69
6	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid	1:25.051	+2.029	90
7	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR11	1:25.176	+2.154	144
8	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes VJM09	1:25.336	+2.314	121
9	Felipe Nasr	Sauber-Ferrari C35	1:25.493	+2.471	103
10	Kevin Magnussen	Renault R.S.16	1:25.760	+2.738	119
11	Esteban Gutierrez	Haas-Ferrari VF-16	1:26.661	+3.639	23
12	Rio Haryanto	Manor Racing-Ferrari MRT05	1:27.625	+4.603	45

March 1, 2016

Raikkonen Closes off the First Test On Top

Kimi Raikkonen closed off the final day of the first pre-season test of 2016 on top of the time sheets in the Ferrari SF16-H

The Finn set his fastest time of 1:23.477 on the Ultra Soft compound tyres late in the morning. Second fastest to Raikkonen was Daniil Kvyat in the Red Bull who was almost a second slower with a 1:24.293.

Alfonso Celis had a good day out with some solid running for Force India which put him 3rd fastest setting his time on the super softs.

Renault had a very good day with 153 laps completed with Kevin Magnussen at the wheel of the R.S.16. This sort of reliability from Renault is encouraging for the manufacturer and although they’re still down on power the driveability seems to have improved.

Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen put in another solid day of running for the Faenza based team racking up 110 laps for the day and finishing 5th fastest for the day. Felipe Nasr in the 2015 Sauber C34 was 6th fastest with 121 laps to his name.

Both Mercedes drivers were at the wheel of the W07 today with Rosberg finishing 7th fastest and Hamilton 8th. They both completed 86 and 99 laps respectively which brings the grand total of 185 laps on the day for Mercedes. Such was the reliability of the Mercedes they had to get both their drivers to keep up.

Bewildering for the other F1 teams. The new Mercedes is so fast and reliable they have to throw both super fit wheel-smiths at it every day

— Martin Brundle (@MBrundleF1) February 25, 2016

Although conceding that they would’ve liked to have done more mileage, Esteban Gutierrez had a solid day for newcomers Haas F1 with 89 laps. He’s day was cut short after his car stopped on track an hour before the end of the session.

“We had a productive day. In the morning we had a small problem which we sorted pretty quickly due to the team working well together,” said Guther Steiner the Team Principal of Haas F1.

“In the afternoon after a long run we went into pit-stop practice. We had a problem with our ECU and we stopped testing for the day but it looks promising.

“In general the first test was a fantastic four days for us, we got a lot of running in which we didn’t expect because we are a new team, we are only four days old.”

Fernando Alonso did not set a time. He had completed three installation laps until he was confined to the garage after a coolant leak. The awkward position of the leak meant that it took longer for the team to fix the problem.

POS	Driver	Team/Car	Best lap	Gap	Laps
1	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari SF16-H	1:23.477	–	78
2	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer RB12	1:24.923	+0.816	94
3	Alfonso Celis	Force India-Mercedes VJM09	1:24.840	+1.363	75
4	Kevin Magnussen	Renault R.S.16	1:25.263	+1.786	153
5	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR11	1:25.393	+1.916	110
6	Felipe Nasr	Sauber-Ferrari C34	1:26.053	+2.576	121
7	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid	1:26.187	+2.71	86
8	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid	1:26.295	+2.818	99
9	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes FW38	1:26.483	+3.006	54
10	Esteban Gutierrez	Haas-Ferrari VF-16	1:27.802	+4.325	89
11	Rio Haryanto	Manor Racing-Mercedes MRT05	1:28.268	+4.789	51
12	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Honda MP4-31	No time	–	3

February 25, 2016

F1 2016: Pre-season Test 1 Day 3 – Hulkenberg On Top

The third day of testing at Spain’s circuit de Catalunya was headed by Force India driver Nico Hulkenberg.

The morning running was marked with the introduction to Formula 1 of Indonesia’s first ever grand prix driver Rio Haryanto. The rookie Manor driver seemed comfortable in the early running and put together a solid first few stints. A slight error later on in the morning saw the Manor end up in the gravel trap of turn 5 which prompted the second red flag of the morning.

The first red flag of the day was prompted by the Toro Rosso of Carlos Sainz as the Spaniard was forced to stop at the exit of the pitlane with a loose rear wheel. The morning was a complete write-off for Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen as the team struggled to get on top of a fuel pick-up issue. The Finnish driver was only able to complete three installation laps before lunch.

Meanwhile, Nico Rosberg continued with Mercedes’ run programme by putting together several race simulation runs in the morning. As lunch rolled around it was Nico Hulkenberg in the Force India heading the timing sheet with a 1:25.286. The German would later improve his time to a 1:23.110.

The session after lunch saw the two Mercedes drivers swop around with Lewis Hamilton taking over testing duties for the remainder of the day. Kimi Raikkonen was able to put Ferrari on the board after lunch and the Finn completed xx laps for the day. Felipe Massa was the first driver to reach 100 laps on day three of the first pre-season test in the Williams whilst Carlos Sainz also put more than 100 laps on the board in his Toro Rosso.

Late on in the day’s running Renault driver Kevin Magnussen brought out the red flag as his car stopped on the start/finish strait. It proved a minor blip on the radar as proceedings got underway within minutes. Haryanto was first out on track in the Manor Mercedes on the medium compound tyres. By this stage no driver had opted to strap on the ultrasoft compound.

McLaren called an end to their day’s running thirty minutes before the close of the session. Jenson Button’s car, which completed only 51 laps, suffered an hydraulic leak.Williams too brought an early end to proceedings after discovering an oil leak of Felipe Massa’s car.

Toro Rosso driver Carlos Sainz ended the day with 161 laps on the board while Hulkenberg in the Force India heads Romain Grosjean, in the Haas, at the top of the leaderboard.

POS	Driver	Team/Car	Best lap	Gap	Laps
1	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes VJM09	1:23.110	–	99
2	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari VF-16	1:25.874	+2.764	82
3	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari SF16-H	1:25.977	+2.867	78
4	Kevin Magnussen	Renault R.S.16	1:26.014	+2.904	111
5	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid	1:26.084	+2.974	74
6	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR11	1:26.239	+3.129	161
7	Felipe Nasr	Sauber-Ferrari C34	1:26.392	+3.282	115
8	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid	1:26.421	+3.311	88
9	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer RB12	1:26.497	+3.387	74
10	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes FW38	1:26.712	+3.602	109
11	Jenson Button	McLaren-Honda MP4-31	1:26.919	+3.809	51
12	Rio Haryanto	Manor Racing-Mercedes MRT05	1:28.249	+5.139	78

February 24, 2016

F1 2016 Pre-Season Test 1 Day 1: Vettel Tops the Timesheets

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel finished the first day of the first pre-season test of 2016 on top of the time sheets ahead of defending champion Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes W07 Hybrid.

The German set his best time of 1:24.939 on the medium compound tyres just before lunch to take the top spot for the day. For the rest of the day it was testing as usual for Ferrari which seen Vettel rack up 69 laps.

A few doors up the paddock, Lewis Hamilton racked up an astonishing 156 laps on the day. That’s 698km, which is just a little over two race lengths. “It’s good to be back. It really had felt like a while – but now it feels like home already,” said Hamilton. He finished second fastest on the day with a 1:25.409.

Daniel Ricciardo finished third fastest clocking up 87 laps on the day after a bit of a slow start. This, in contrast to the previous season’s testing, seems like a big improvement from the team. “First impressions are positive but it’s still too early to say much more. We had a good day and I’m ready for more,” said Ricciardo at the end of the day’s running.

Valtteri Bottas ended his day 4th fastest for Williams completing 80 laps. Bottas’ first impression of the car was that he feels many of the issues they’ve had last year have been fixed but he thinks its too early to say where they are in relation to the other teams.

“Valtteri has been complimentary about aspects of the FW38 which is good start,” said the Chief and Test Support Engineer Rob Nelson.

“We are just building up our run lengths and doing our due diligence on reliability, and as the test goes on we’ll feed in more and more performance items. Overall it is a reasonable start to pre-season testing for us.

Mexican Alfonso Celis was in the VJM09 for Force India. He finished 5th fastest with 58 laps to his name. Not far off his pace was Jenson Button in the McLaren MP4-31 finishing 6th fastest with 84 laps on the board. Button’s best time of 1:26.735 came courtesy of a late run on the soft compound tyres.

Carlos Sainz was out for Toro Rosso today. The team chose not to have a big reveal in the pits and instead just emerged from the pits when the green flag dropped for the start of the day. Sainz finished 7th fastest with 55 laps under his belt. His session was cut short when the team saw something strange in the gearbox oil system. The team decided to stop their session as a precaution.

Sauber, who ran an updated livery but a 2015 car, had Marcus Ericsson at the wheel of the C34. He placed 8th fastest on the day ahead of Manor driver Pascal Wehrlein. Wehrlein, on his first outing for the new look Manor team, clocked up 54 laps.

New comers Haas F1 had a good start to their debut test until a front wing failure brought out the red flags. The team say that they have a fix for the wing and will have a replacement by Tuesday. The wing failure put Grosjean out for most of the day. He did, however, emerge from the pits with an hour left in the session to complete a few laps.

Jolyon Palmer was 11th fastest for Renaul in the R.S.16. He had limited running owing to software issued on the car.

POS	Driver	Team/Car	Best lap	Gap	Laps
1	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari SF16-H	1:24.939	–	69
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid	1:25.409	+0.470	156
3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer RB12	1:26.044	+1.105	87
4	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes FW38	1:26.091	+1.152	80
5	Alfonso Celis	Force India-Mercedes VJM09	1:26.298	+1.359	58
6	Jenson Button	McLaren-Honda MP4-31	1:26.735	+1.796	84
7	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR11	1:27.180	+2.241	55
8	Marcus Ericcson	Sauber-Ferrari C34	1:27.555	+2.616	88
9	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor Racing-Ferrari MRT05	1:28.292	+3.353	54
10	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari VF-16	1:28.399	+3.460	31
11	Jolyon Palmer	Renault R.S.16	1:29.356	+4.417	37

Photo Credit: Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1, Scuderia Toro Rosso Formula 1

February 22, 2016

F1 2016: What to look out for in F1 2016

2016 is here and it brings with it the opportunity to create a dynamic, and with any luck, an unforgettable new chapter of Formula 1 racing. Already an array of topics from driver line-ups to power unit suppliers is demanding attention.

Ferrari expectations

The Italian marquee’s 2015 season while not earth shattering has created big expectations in Italy. The rest of the world, who’s perspective is a bit more realistic than that of the passion infused Tifosi, know that even matching the might of Mercedes is not a foregone conclusion. Since joining the team in 2013 Technical director James Alison is now firmly entrenched in Ferrari. The turnaround from a disastrous 2014 to a race-winning 2015 means serious pressure on Alison and his team to perform in 2016. It will be the responsibility of team Principal Maurizio Arrivabene to keep his team focused on its goals and to temper the expectations of the Ferrari board and its fans.

Mercedes quandary

It’s no question that where it concerns driver line-ups the spotlight will be squarely focused on the “relationship” between Mercedes drivers Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. Through their partnerships both have enjoyed spectacular and conversely poor moments and spent plenty of time sulking in respective corners. Up until now the team has been able to handle its drivers without too much issue. But the balancing act between placating both drivers and avoiding a full blown war between the two is a tenuous line.

If Mercedes finds itself as runaway leaders of the pack again team director Toto Wolff has said it may prompt them allow the drivers free reign when it comes to strategy, thereby “improving the show.” For the sake of the show let’s hope Mercedes has a real challenger.

Renault resurgence

The French manufacturer’s purchase of the Lotus F1 Team has been made official which will see the championship winning constructor return to the sport as a fully-fledged works team. 2016 is a big year in many ways for Renault of which priority number one will be to silence the boisterous criticism of its power unit.

Venezuelan driver Pastor Maldonado has been retained by Renault for 2016 and will be partnered by British rookie Jolyon Palmer. Together these two drivers will form one of the weakest driver line-ups of the season. While Palmer appears to be a solid driver any rookie is a leap into the unknown. Normally, a teammate with five years worth of experience would be useful for someone like Palmer. But when that teammate is Pastor Maldonado it’s a bit of a different story.

Many will attest to the fact that you could hardly meet a greater gentleman than Pastor Maldonado in the F1 paddock. He has shown glimpses of real potential throughout his F1 career including the stunning victory at the 2012 Spanish grand prix. But the Venezuelan has a big chink in his armour – his habitual tendency to crash frequently and expensively. For Renault the conservative objective is to finish solidly in the top ten and perhaps snatch a podium or two should the frontrunners fail to reach the chequered flag. Their drivers will have to step-up is this is to be achieved.

Haas’ sure-fire plan

Gene Haas is American racing royalty but he isn’t banking on his stateside fame and success to make it in Formula 1. The team has forged an alliance with Ferrari who will supply Haas with a power unit. In addition, Ferrari can also supply the American team with front and rear suspension and share in the R&D costs. While Ferrari supply the mechanical side of the Haas car Italian manufacturer Dallara has designed its chassis. This resourceful recipe should catapult this team firmly into the midfield.

The next step in preparation for the 2016 season is for the customary shakedown tests of the new cars to be completed before they’re unveiled to the world. Most teams have announced mid-February launches for the respective cars just ahead of the vital first test session of the season.

January 19, 2016
F1 2015: Year In Review

As the year draws to its conclusion it and the 2015 Formula 1 season will soon be consigned to the history books. As ever the season’s intriguing battles were never solely consigned to the race track.

The engine debate

Engines have been the subject of heated debate for the entire season. From the cost of manufacturing to performance levels to how it affects the sustainability of the sport; all of it has been questioned and picked apart throughout 2015.

After months of wrangling Renault and Red Bull have reached an agreement on power unit supply. The public quarrel between the two ended in what we thought was a messy divorce. However, when neither Ferrari nor Mercedes and not even Honda wanted to supply a potential rival the team had to slink back to Renault. After smoothing over some sizeable differences the Red Bull team will run the French engine but it will branded as TAG Heuer.

Red Bull won’t have Renault’s undivided attention though as the French manufacturer has purchased the Lotus F1 Team. It’s a saving grace for Lotus who has been in financial strife for a number of years. The most public example of this was the failure of the team to pay then driver Kimi Raikkonen’s salary. Venezuelan driver Pastor Maldonado will be partnered by English rookie Jolyon Palmer in 2016.

At McLaren the debacle that was Honda’s season will soon want to be forgotten. In the end Fernando Alonso used twelve engines in the back of his McLaren – that’s three times more than he was allotted. Issue of after issue dogged both drivers throughout the season as Honda, and McLaren fell miserably short of its expectations. The up-side is that 2016 can hardly be any worse than Honda’s first year back in the top echelon of racing.

Mighty Mercedes and a Ferrari revival

Early on in the season it was clear that Mercedes had maintained its pace advantage. For anyone it would be too difficult to consistently beat the mighty Silver Arrows. The highly billed duel between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton never reached the heights or intensity of 2014. This time around Hamilton summarily outperformed Rosberg to the point where when the German driver finally pitched up the championship was already won by his British teammate.

In Texas Lewis Hamilton was crowned a three time world champion and luck had very little to do with it. Three years ago he made a move to Mercedes that was met with a great deal of apprehension. From a team with championship pedigree in McLaren he went to Mercedes who were seemingly condemn to the mid-field. It didn’t suddenly turn around in 2014 either. Rather it was the culmination of years of work put in by those behind the scenes of this team. It is never about one year in isolation and so to winning world titles for any driver is a culmination of years of work and dedication.

A complete reshuffle of personnel at Ferrari resulted in a stunning turn-around for the Italian team. Three dazzling victories and slew of podiums resulted as they continue to push towards the front of the grid. The arrival of Sebastian Vettel and the relationship between himself and teammate Kimi Raikkonen brought a harmony to the team. In 2015 Ferrari admitted that this driver-pairing and their ability to work together has been a relief for the team; something that was sorely lacking in 2014.

Rookie sensation

Drivers that enter F1 for the first time hardly make as big a splash as Max Verstappen has. Not even Lewis Hamilton’s first year, back in 2007, was met with such unilateral hype. The teenaged Dutch driver, Verstappen, burst onto the scene with audacious overtaking manoeuvres and a clear-as-day hunger to go racing no matter what he has to driver. Even the staunchest of critics have to submit that Verstappen has huge potential. While one season does not make a driver it is indisputable that if Verstappen can keep it all together we are all in for a quite a ride.

There was much more than mentioned here which made up the 2015 season. And in less than 100 days it resumes with dynamism that no other sport in the world can match.

December 15, 2015
F1 2015: Season Finale Review – Abu Dhabi, that’s a wrap

As far as thrillers go the Abu Dhabi grand prix isn’t quite going to make the list of most memorable races. Though visually spectacular the Yas Marina circuit has brought the 2015 season to a close in fairly mundane manner but still provided several talking points.

In only the second time in its seven year history the Abu Dhabi grand prix was won from pole position. First place on the starting grid belonged to Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg which he easily translated into the race lead as the sun began to set over the Yas Marina circuit. On the track it didn’t turn out to be a wheel-to-wheel battle between Rosberg and teammate Hamilton but rather a tactical fight through pit stop strategy.

In the first round of pitstops Hamilton followed his race leading teammate into the pitlane only a lap later, effectively mirroring his strategy. However, with the constructor’s and driver’s title in the bag the Mercedes team allowed its drivers some leeway in strategy calls and racing up to the chequered flag. Lewis Hamilton took advantage of the rare freedom to extend his second stint on the yellow side-walled soft tyres. At one point Hamilton even considered running a one stop strategy and going to the end on his tyres. This strategy was quickly dismissed as impossible by his race engineer and Hamilton pitted to fit a set of the soft Pirelli tyres.

This strategy left Hamilton nearly twelve seconds behind race leader Rosberg. Although the three time champion was able to run with the fresher tyres in the closing stint of the race, he was only able to halve the pace to the leading car. The race concluded with Rosberg leading Hamilton home with a comfortable gap of just over eight seconds. This latest one-two finish Rosberg and Hamilton makes it the twelfth of the year for Mercedes.

Not too far behind the Mercedes pair Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen delivered a strong drive to finish third. The Finn turned a good pace but never enough to challenge for victory. While some will make a note that he finished the season in fourth place on the driver’s standings Raikkonen couldn’t care less of his ultimate position in the championship unless it’s position number one. Never one to sugar-coat reality Raikkonen, by his own admission, has labelled his season as distinctly “average.”

After a strategic error in qualifying Sebastian Vettel was forced to start in fifteenth. The German was able to recover to take fourth place for Ferrari. Sergio Perez, who started on the second row of the grid in fourth, brought his Force India home in fifth ahead of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo. Nico Hulkenberg was seventh in the other Force India while Felipe Massa struggled to an eighth place finish for the Williams team. In his final race with Lotus before heading off the American Haas team was Romain Grosjean who made the best of his supersoft tyres in the closing stages. Daniil Kvyat secured tenth and the final point on offer for the Red Bull Racing team.

It wasn’t a race blighted by too many incidents however Fernando Alonso incurred a drive-through penalty for hitting the Lotus of Pastor Maldonado into turn one as the race got underway. In the pitlane Valtteri Bottas clipped the back of Jenson Button’s McLaren after an unsafe release by the Williams pitcrew. It resulted in a damaged front-wing for Bottas and five second penalty. The Finn eventually finished a lap down in thirteenth.

Dutchman and rookie driver Max Verstappen showed up to the race as his ever-aggressive self and set about overtaking as many drivers as possible. However, his spirited overtaking proved a bit too much as race stewards penalised him with gaining an advantage after going off the circuit in a pass on Jenson Button. As the penalty was imposed after the race it dropped the teenage sensation to sixteenth place.

In Brazil Hamilton was the quicker of the two Mercedes in the race but couldn’t find a way to overtake Rosberg. But here in Abu Dhabi Hamilton has been shaded, in terms of pace, for the entire weekend. For Nico Rosberg the season couldn’t have ended any better. Six pole positions and a hat trick of victories is an incredible run of form. It begs the question as to where this prodigious form has been the entire season. Is it as a result of a release of pressure or has Rosberg at long last found something that Hamilton has no answer for?

(Images courtesy of Mercedes AMG F1 Team & Pirelli Motorsport).

November 30, 2015