The Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One team have plenty to celebrate about, and they’ve sure been doing just that! Join Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, Niki Lauda, Toto Wolff, Paddy Lowe and the entire Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team as they celebrate their F1 World Championship win at their bases in Brackley and Brixworth!
Tag: lewis hamilton
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F1 2014: Sochi Success For Hamilton
The most exciting thing about the first ever Russian Grand Prix was … nothing. If truth be told the only moment that induced any sort of eyebrow-raising was a 60 meter lock-up by Nico Rosberg as he tried to steal the lead of the race from Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton.
Other than Rosberg’s rather frantic attempt at getting ahead, the Sochi Autodrom turned out to be a bit of damp squib. The layout, once again designed by Hermann Tilke, provided a technical challenge to drivers when it came to stringing a perfect lap together but as far as the track surface is concerned it most definitely did not want to play ball with Formula 1. Pirelli had the difficult task of predicting what the track surface would offer up and based their decision on how other new tracks had performed. While keeping this in mind it is difficult to blame the Italian tyre manufacturer for bringing tyres to Russia which are almost literally bulletproof.
So indestructible were the Pirelli’s that Nico Rosberg, forced to pit on lap 1 with severely flat-spotted tyres, was able to run a 52 lap stint on one set of tyres. It wasn’t a gigantic risk nor was Rosberg, at any point, required to tip-toe around and nurse his tyres. No, he was able to push and for most of the stint set a pace comparable, and sometimes even quicker, than the race leader.We commend thee Pirelli for producing the world’s first everlasting F1 tyre. But we implore you to chalk this up to a frightening one-off incident that should never again be repeated.
Saturday’s qualifying certainly provided more entertainment as Williams’ star Finn Valtteri Bottas nearly snatched pole position from Lewis Hamilton’s grasp. It wasn’t to be for the Williams driver but he put himself in the best position possible to fight for a podium finish.
The early part of the race and the Finn’s pace suggested that he could perhaps have a go at the leading Mercedes. But this too fizzled out towards the middle part of race as Hamilton started steadily building the gap to the Williams. Bottas eventually finished third and set the fastest lap of the race.
Jenson Button followed through on the pace McLaren had promised in the free practice sessions with a fine fourth place finish. It was a lonely drive for the Brit who ran as high as third during the opening stint of the race. The second McLaren of Kevin Magnussen recovering from a five place grid penalty induced by a gearbox change,
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso finished an uninspired sixth and remained as coy as ever as to his future in the sport. Many have already plopped the
Spaniard into a McLaren seat for 2015 but Sky’s Ted Kravitz hinted, post-race, that the double champ could be off to Lotus.Daniel Ricciardo did his level best to get past the Ferrari of Alonso but ultimately could do nothing about it and finished ahead of teammate Sebastian Vettel in seventh.
Kimi Raikkonen spent most of the 53 laps embroiled in scrap with the two Toro Rosso drivers but eventually got the better of them and finished a distant ninth. Sergio Perez nearly cut it too close on fuel consumption but held on to bring the Force India home in tenth.
Felipe Massa attempted an aggressive two-stop strategy but never quite recovered from a technical issue in qualifying; the Brazilian finished eleventh.Only Caterham’s Kamui Kobayashi and Marussia’s Max Chilton failed to see the chequered flag. As a sign of respect to Jules Bianchi the Marussia team chose to run only one car this weekend.
The Russian Grand Prix most probably didn’t even register a blip on the thrill meter. But it did give us another bit of insight into the title fight. Now that Mercedes has been crowned worthy Constructor’s champions it leaves a straight-up fight for the driver’s crown. Rosberg’s crack at snatching the lead was a tad anxious. Still the German has not beaten Hamilton on a level playing field. We’ve talked a lot about the psychological battle between these two. Is it now finally starting to tell on Nico Rosberg?
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2014 Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix: Sunday Press Conference
Drivers:
1st Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
2nd Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)
3rd Valtteri Bottas (Williams)
PODIUM INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Alex Popov)Q: What a wonderful race guys – thank you very much. I know Lewis you are a real fan of Russia, of Russian racing. Now you’ve won the first Russian Grand Prix in 100 years exactly. How do you feel?
Lewis Hamilton: So happy to be here. We’ve had an amazing week. The fans and really the organisers… Russia’s been so good to me and to the team. I’m so grateful for all the support and I’m really looking forward to coming here many, many more times. It’s not very far from where I live so I’m going to be hopping over for some holidays for sure.Q: I know you’re impressed by the ski resorts here. Look, 17 points now, you have. Seventeen points in front of Nico. You think it’s enough or not?
LH: Obviously Nico did a great job to recover from his mistake earlier on today but the car was performing really well. We did a great job as a team. It’s history for us, so I feel very proud to be a part of it – me and Nico and all the team members. To get the first constructors’ championship for Mercedes Benz is amazing, so it’s a beautiful day.Q: Nico, it was a really wonderful fight with Valtteri and you won it. Do you really think the tyres were gone or was it a bluff, like in poker?
Nico Rosberg: No, it was a great strategy from the team. The thing is that our car is unbelievable. It’s so good; everybody has done such a great job building this car. That’s why half of me of course is extremely disappointed that I messed up today but the other half, I’m really, really happy, because everybody in the team deserves it so much. For them the most important title of the year is the constructors’ championship, that’s why I can even smile a bit, because I’m happy for everybody to have achieved that.Q: Ladies and gentlemen, 52 laps on the same set of tyres, what a great race. Valtteri, on the last lap of the race, you set the first ever Formula One fastest lap in a Russian Grand Prix. But you lost the fight with Nico, so are you happy or not?
Valtteri Bottas: Well, I need to be happy for us as a team. You know, what we have been doing since last year is amazing. Again on the podium, so a good amount of points. We were today ‘best of the rest’. Unfortunately, Mercedes is still quite a bit ahead but, you know, we did the best we could from where we started, so we need to be happy as a team.Q: This man is still in the fight for third [in the drivers’ championship] with Daniel Ricciardo. But we are back for one quick question [with Lewis] because we all know the Russian story: the evening after the race, we must celebrate. And you have three weeks…
LH: Is there vodka?Q: It’s OK for you?
LH: Yeah, I don’t mind. Thank you.PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Lewis, congratulations, tremendous win there. We could see you were pushing very hard by the number of fastest laps you did – but you seemed to have virtually no problems. Any problems with fuel consumption? Any problems with tyres? Just one little lock-up we saw from you.
LH: Yeah, it was a good, good day and an amazing weekend. Firstly, I’m just so proud to have contributed to have worked with this great team, to get the first constructors’ championship for Mercedes-Benz. I could have only dreamed of that when I joined this team. So, a great day for that. Huge congratulations to all the guys that are here and back home in the UK and also in Germany. But yeah, today, once I was out in the lead I was really just having to control, just looking after the tyres, managing the fuel was quite straightforward. And then, towards the end of the race the car felt great so I could push or not push. I wasn’t really having to push much and even when I was having to pick up the pace a little bit when I eventually found Nico was behind, it was easy to match the times. And the car’s been amazing this weekend and I really, really enjoyed the track. I tell you, Russia’s been one of my favourite places so far this year, so it’s very cool to have won the first race here.
Q: Nico, a fantastic drive through the field really – but what happened on the first lap? We heard you say you had a vibration. Did that go with the change of tyres? Tell us about that because that really governed your whole race.
NR: Yeah, of course. It was just a mistake on my side, braked too late and that’s it. Very unnecessary because it was my corner and should have been in the lead after that. So, obviously very disappointed with that. After that my tyres were just square. They were vibrating so much I couldn’t see where I was going so I knew that I had to pit. For me, I thought that was it. I thought that was the end of the day – but then of course, partly happy to get back all the way to second, passing Valtteri along the way and then… yeah, it’s just thanks to my car. My car was just unbelievable today and that’s what allowed me to come back through the field. That’s the main thing really. In hindsight really, even if it was a bit…I could have pushed more during the race, y’know? But it’s always easy to know afterwards but even at the end my tyres were fine. So, yeah, that’s a pity but anyway, it’s difficult to know that during the race.Q: Valtteri, at one point the pace seemed to be really close to Mercedes, perhaps closer than we’ve seen in any race so far this year.
VB: Yeah, the beginning seemed to be very good and I was not far off from Lewis and everything was going into the plan. The tyres were feeling good and suddenly the rear tyres started to go, started to lose pace and was struggling more and more and Lewis was getting far away. Then we stopped for the prime and it took just a really long time to get the prime tyre to work. It was just getting better towards the end. I did my best lap in the last lap of the race. It was really weird. And as it took so long to get the tyres to work, Nico got me in Turn 1. It was a bit of a surprise for me, didn’t expect him to come inside. Luckily I saw him in time so there was no contact. Yeah, as a team I think we again did a good job. We’ve come so much forward from last season so it’s again, really good to be on the podium.QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Nico, when you tried to overtake Lewis at the first corner, you were on the inside line; is it because it’s not the racing line, is that line, let’s say, that you normally have to brake a little bit earlier to compensate?
NR: No, I don’t think so. It was definitely doable and I just messed up, very simple, no explanation. Just braked too late and too hard.Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, last year you had your best result in Austin. Is it going to happen this year also?
VB: I really hope so. I got my first points in Formula One in Austin last year so it would be nice to have a good weekend there. I think the track should be OK for us so let’s aim for that.Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Nico and Lewis: now that the constructors’ title has been won, will you change your way of racing together or will it be the same?
LH: Same.NR: It’s the same, you know. Up until now, it’s always been we can fight and it continues to be like that. We can fight, it doesn’t change.
Q: (Haoran Zhou – F1 Express) Lewis, can you describe your experience on the podium and especially when you were handed the trophy? Be as specific as possible.
LH: Well, it was kind of normal really. Kind of surreal for the president to be presenting the award. That was a great experience. The crowd have been amazing this weekend. I don’t know, I just never… I didn’t know that Formula One was something that people followed here in Russia. I didn’t know that there was actually a real love for it. To see the people turn out in their thousands yesterday and the grandstands full and then again today… They’re really enthusiastic, it looks like they’re really excited that we’re here and on top of that they did an amazing job with the track, the layout, with the surface, with the actual event. You would have thought they’d had this event many many times. I take my hat off to them.Q: (Leonid Khayremdinov – Red Star) Lewis, you had a wonderful season with this ninth victory and your lead is now 17 points, but I remember this in 2007 and you had the same 17 points behind Kimi Raikkonen. Are you not afraid of repeating the situation as in 2007?
LH: I remember 2007 very well. I wasn’t afraid then either but I guess I was perhaps less experienced so I’m a completely different man today so I’m looking forward to the races coming up. -
F1 2014: Qualifying Report – Mercedes Lead The Way In Russia
Lewis Hamilton has secured the first ever pole position for the Russian grand prix.
The Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg locked on the front row of the Sochi Autdrom but it wasn’t without pressure from behind. Williams driver Valterri Bottas nearly pulled a rabbit out of the proverbial hat but a slide into the final corner meant the Finn had to settle for third overall.
Jenson Button delivered on the form promised in practice to secure his best starting position of the season in fourth. Daniil Kvyat, undoubtedly the rookie of the year, secured a stunning fifth on the grid for the Toro Rosso team. Jean-Eric Vergne will start tenth in the sister Toro Rosso.
Daniel Ricciardo set the sixth fastest time in the final part of qualifying while teammate Sebastian Vettel failed to advance to the top ten shoot-out. Fernando Alonso was the best of the Ferrari drivers in seventh only half a tenth ahead of Kimi Raikkonen. Kevin Magnussen set the sixth fastest time in his McLaren but a gearbox change will drop him five places on the grid for Sunday’s race.
Felipe Massa ran into engine troubles in the first part of qualifying which meant the Brazilian failed to advance past 18th on the grid. A difficult day for Force India translated into 12th and 17th for Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg respectively.
Caterham’s Marcus Ericsson continued his good run of form by getting the better of the Marussia/Caterham battle towards the lower end of the field.
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Hamilton dominates in final Russian practice
Lewis Hamilton set a dominant pace during the final practice session at the Sochi Autodrom ahead of this weekend’s Russian Grand Prix.
Hamilton’s time of 1:38.726 was comfortably faster than the rest of the pack, despite a spin at the penultimate corner which saw him destroy his tyres and unable to complete his lap. At the time he had over a second advantage over his rivals and was on course to improve his own lap time.
Nico Rosberg and Valtteri Bottas did improve and Rosberg ended the session 0.29s down on his team mate’s time.
Daniel Ricciardo finished the session in fourth spot for Red Bull, followed by Felipe Massa and Daniil Kvyat.
Kimi Raikkonen finished the session ahead of his Ferrari team mate Fernando Alonso. The two were 7th and 8th respectively. Jean-Éric Vergne and Sebastian Vettel rounded out the top 10.
Jenson Button finished in 11th place, unable to match the awesome pace McLaren had showed during the Friday practice sessions. He repeatedly complained about balance saying that it was “just aweful”.
His McLaren team mate, Kevin Magnussen had himself a bit of trouble on track. His gear box failed and the Danish driver found himself doing some scary stunt driving to keep his car out of the wall. He managed to do that but the gearbox change will mean a 5 place grid penalty for him.
Pastor Maldonado did not set a time due to an ERS problem.
Top times for the session are below. Please join us on Twitter, @F1_Madness for live commentary and chat during this afternoon’s qualifying session.
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F1 2014: Friday Practice Round-up – Mercedes Lead The Way
Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton finished the first two practice session at Russia’s Sochi Autodrom on top of the timing sheets.
For the first time in its illustrious history Formula 1 commenced an official F1 race weekend in Russia. The circuit, 5.8 km in length and designed by Herman Tilke, was praised by several drivers. “It’s got a really nice flow to it, it’s not too bumpy, the corners are challenging – if you can get the lines just perfect you can put together really nice sectors,” said Lewis Hamilton.
The new track surface also delivered a substantial amount of grip considering that it has never before been used. Set in the undoubtedly inspiring setting of the Olympic Park is providing some challenge for the drivers. “It is more technical and difficult than it looked on paper,” said Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo. “It seemed quite hard to get the lap together and has quite a few off camber corners, which isn’t always fun for a driver, but it does make it challenging.”
Spain’s Robert Merhi ran in the first of today’s two free practice sessions for Caterham. Elsewhere, Russia’s Sergey Sirotkin made his debut for the Sauber team in place of Esteban Gutierrez. Sirotkin finished the session only four tenths off the sister car of Adrian Sutil.
According to Daniel Ricciardo the Red Bull team are bracing for a difficult weekend. The Australian’s car broke down during the closing stages of the second free practice session. The three-time grand prix winner described that the weekend would be an exercise in “damage limitation.”
Reports from the McLaren garage were decidedly more upbeat. A closer analysis of the long-run simulations in free practice two revealed that Jenson Button’s laptimes were comparable to that of the Mercedes drivers. JB was especially heartened by the pace he was able to deliver on Friday.
“We were very quick from the word go on the prime tyre. On the option tyre and with low fuel I didn’t really have the balance, so hopefully we can improve that tomorrow.,” said Button. “We are obviously behind the Mercedes, but we have a chance to fight everyone else this weekend.”
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F1 2014: Russian GP Preview – From Russia With Love
For as long as can be remembered Formula 1 Racing has always been the considered the pinnacle of motor racing. It seems apt then that F1, for the will run a race at a former Olympic site. After all in the world of sport there is no more prestigious achievement than being an Olympic Champion.
For the first time in its history Formula 1 heads to Russia to run on its 5.8 km long Sochi Autodrom. In a similar fashion to Canada’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve the Sochi International Circuit, designed by F1 architect Herman Tilke, will run around the Sochi Olympic Park which hosted the 2014 Winter Olympic Games.
Whether a rookie or a seasoned campaigner, for all driver’s a new circuit is a step into the unknown. Despite the technologically advanced simulators that teams sport these days it is still just that – an imitation. “What the simulator does is let you speed up this process and make initial decisions about car set-up and so on. What the simulator can’t do for a new circuit is give a precise idea of the grip levels you will find as it’s a surface we’ve never raced on before,” said Lotus’ Romain Grosjean.
The circuit’s layout, divvied up into 18 corners, is a mixture of medium speed corners with a couple of fast straights for good measure. “There are definitely similarities to other tracks, perhaps the best comparison is Singapore,” Sebastian Vettel summed up. “But unlike Singapore, the layout is more fluid, so it will be much faster. Some sectors remind me a bit of South Korea or Abu Dhabi.” As a result the circuit should dictate a relatively high downforce set-up.The tyres supplied by Pirelli in 2014 has, mostly, performed predictably but with a new track surface in Russia and a changeable weather forecast teams are in the unfamiliar position of having no forecast for tyre performance. “In terms of overall tyre energy demands, Russia is somewhere in the middle, and measurements also indicate low-abrasion asphalt,” Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery.
What then does all of this mean for racing? One thing a new venue for Formula 1 will do is even out the playing field between the two Mercedes drivers. Seeing as they’ve never set a wheel of this particular bit of asphalt neither Lewis Hamilton nor Nico Rosberg can claim a performance advantage.
On the forefront of many team’s mind this weekend will the possibility of incurring a grid penalty. As the season draws to its end a few teams and
drivers are running their allotment of power units on a wing and prayer. Not least of Sebastian Vettel could be the first of the front-runners to incur a 10 place grid penalty as the German is already on power unit number five for the season.Yet another miserable weekend, this time in Japan, will have rubbed salt in Ferrari’s wounds. A retirement for Fernando Alonso and a non-points scoring finish for Kimi Raikkonen has done little to aid the Italian team in their fight for third place in the Constructor’s championship. They will need a solid performance this weekend against rivals Williams who should be in better shape than a week ago.
For every year since 1950 a Formula 1 world champion has been crowned; and for almost all of these 64 years this majestic sports has continued to break new ground and make superhuman advances. In its 2014 incarnation the irresistible lure of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg and a championship of a knife edge still fuels an irrepressible passion that’s about to be unleashed in Russia.
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F1 2014: Hamilton Wins Overshadowed Japanese GP
Every now and then we lapse into an almost oblivious comfort zone where we’re inclined to almost forget that we’re witnessing some of the greatest motorsport talent in the world.
Treacherous conditions at the Japanese GP brought these driver’s tremendous talents into sharp focus this weekend. The grand prix had been under threat of a typhoon for several days but the worst of it was always predicted for Sunday. The calculations proved spot on as the heavens opened a few hours before the start of the race. Streams of water across the track surface and poor visibility demanded a start behind the safety car but it was soon evident that even this precaution would not be enough. The race was red-flagged after two laps behind the safety car.
Pole sitter Nico Rosberg was led into the pitlane for what would become a 25 minute delay. The safety car restart brought drama for Ferrari as Fernando Alonso was forced into retirement with an electronic problem. The resumption of racing brought with it the much anticipated battle between Rosberg and Hamilton. It was Hamilton, renowned for his wet weather skills, who piled on the pressure and eventually took the lead with a terrifyingly courageous move around the outside of turn one. If Rosberg was struggling with his tyres, or conditions or even car performance the fact remains that when it comes time to go wheel-to-wheel with Hamilton he has not yet stepped up. By being consigned to second place Rosberg finds himself ten points adrift of the championship leader.
Another master in wet conditions Jenson Button made an early call for intermediate tyres and was running as high as third. JB eventually fell prey to the much faster Red Bulls and brought the McLaren home in fifth. Although the 2009 champion is yet to nail down his seat for 2015 his display in this race underlined his class.The superstar that is Daniel Ricciardo once again lit up the race with several brilliant overtaking manoeuvres. The Aussie boldly overtook both Williams’ drivers in the Esses in indescribably difficult conditions. Of Williams there was regrettably not much to get excited about. Despite locking out the second row of the grid Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa were decidedly absent from proceedings. So much so, that you wouldn’t have been blamed for thinking that they had already closed up shop and headed off to Russia.
Sebastian Vettel, who announced that he will be leaving Red Bull at the end of the season, kept close quarters with his teammate but a late stop for fresh tyres dropped him to fourth. However, on count back, following the second and final red flag the future Ferrari driver was elevated to third.
Sadly, the Japanese GP was overshadowed by an accident for Marussia’s Jules Bianchi. The 25-year-old went off at Turn seven on lap 43 and crashed heavily into a recovery vehicle which was in the process of removing the Sauber of Adrian Sutil who had crashed a lap earlier. The accident resulted in the second red flag and prompted race control to call the race result. The Frenchman was taken to the circuit medical centre and soon afterward transported to a nearby hospital. The official news, confirmed by the FIA, is that Bianchi suffered a severe head injury which has required surgery.
The mood amongst Japanese GP podium finishers Hamilton, Rosberg and Vettel was decidedly sombre after having learnt of Bianchi’s crash as it was for all
motorsport fans. In a show of respect and great sportsmanship no champagne was sprayed on the podium.We get used to it when nothing happens and when something does happen we are surprised, understandably upset and looking to place blame where it seems to be most convenient. The truth is, and will remain, that hindsight is always 20/20. We want to blame the FIA for not starting the race earlier; we want to blame race control for not hanging out the red flag earlier or putting out a safety car, we’ll even speculate as to why Bianchi did not slow in the face of double waved yellow flags.
Ultimately, this is a reminder that regardless of how well organised or how many contingencies are put in place there will occasionally be a situation that exposes the danger of Formula 1. All our thoughts and prayers reside with Jules Bianchi. Forza Jules.
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2014 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix: Sunday Press Conference
Drivers:
1st Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
2nd Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)
3rd Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing)
PODIUM INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Nigel Mansell)Q: What a race we just had ladies and gentlemen, a very tough one at the office for these gentlemen. Brilliant drives everybody. Lewis, your 30th win, my goodness me, how did you enjoy that?
Lewis Hamilton: It was great. What a day it’s been. It’s been a very difficult weekend. Today, to be raining so much, it was very difficult, tricky conditions. We hope that Bianchi is OK. But we had a great crowd this weekend, as every year.Q: Tell us about those hot laps, 15 or 16 laps before the end there. You were putting in some hot laps, a second or second and a half quicker than anyone?
LH: Yeah, I really got into a groove. In terms of feeling it was very reminiscent of Silverstone 2008.Q: Tell the fans what you really thought when you went off at the first turn when you were really pushing hard early in the race?
LH: I was pushing to get by Nico and I had the DRS open and I forgot to turn it off. When I went into the corner the rear end stepped out. It was very, very close but I saved it.Q: Well, a brilliant win. Nico, you did everything perfect, great pole position yesterday and then great drive. You were doing all the hard work, acting as the brake, because being out front is difficult isn’t it?
Nico Rosberg: It’s been a good weekend for us as a team. Of course it’s great for us as a team to get a one-two. And you fans have been absolutely spectacular again this weekend, it’s very, very special to drive here and to really get an impression of the whole atmosphere here. Congrats to Lewis for winning today, of course with my thoughts at the moment with our colleagues Jules, because it seems quite serious, so I really wish him all the best.Q: As we all do. Unfortunately, we don’t have any news about that at the moment. But brilliant drive and congratulations Nico. Seb, unbelievable drive, you made things very exciting with the Williams drivers, getting on the inside and then the outside. How did you enjoy that today?
Sebastian Vettel: As they both touched on it was very, very tricky. Took a while to get the race started, waiting for the conditions but then I think it was very good fun. Concentration has to be very, very high when it’s wet; it’s so easy to do a mistake. In the end obviously we pitted, decided to go for fresh tyres, lost one position only. Obviously I got lucky to have the safety car coming before, so I’m quite lucky to be up here. Great race, we seemed to have great at some times as well. Overall, very happy and last but not least best to Jules Bianchi.PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Lewis, an excellent race, the right result for you in very difficult conditions.
LH: Yeah, absolutely. It’s been an interesting weekend. Obviously a great result for the team. I think we’re all very concerned about our colleague, Bianchi. Don’t really know what to say. But again, to have the result, this has been a great weekend with the car; qualifying obviously wasn’t perfect for me but generally the car was absolutely fantastic through the race and once I was passed Nico I was able to really manage the gap and enjoy the ride. Obviously didn’t finish the way we would have hoped but really, my prayers are with him (Bianchi) and his family.Q: A great overtaking manoeuvre round the outside of Nico going down into the first corner; tell us about that.
LH: Fairly straightforward, really. I had a lot more pace than Nico. This is not a very easy circuit to follow but fortunately I was able to get quite close and particularly in the last corner and I think perhaps he had a small oversteer moment out of the last corner and I didn’t. Obviously the DRS enabled me to get alongside. I was fairly confident with the balance of the car so I put it there and stuck it out. And after that it was really about trying to… you know, the whole approach changed after that because I was attacking, attacking and after that, I kind of took different lines and managed it differently. But it felt very reminiscent of a time years and years ago, of 2008, and it was a great feeling in that respect.Q: And you had a couple of excursions but they didn’t really seem to hurt you at all.
LH: Yeah, I only remember one of them but yeah, I went into turn one with the DRS open and there’s so much less downforce when that wing is open. You’ve got to remember to close it again and then I started to turn and brake and it was still open, so the back end stepped out. It was very, very close but yeah, kept hold of it, didn’t really lose too much time so fortunate.Q: Nico, we heard you talking about a lot of oversteer, is that what the problem was throughout the race?
NR: I was definitely not happy with my balance but I think we had pretty much the same set-up so Lewis must have had the same oversteer. I just wasn’t happy with that and tried to figure out a way to reduce that and found some improvements then with the pit stop, put down the front wing so that was a bit better but still not good so just need to look into that. But all in all, Lewis just did a better job today and deserves to win. OK, second place is damage limitation and taking everything into consideration, it was very, very difficult conditions out there on this track and everything so seven points lost to Lewis… you know, there’s worse than that.Q: Sebastian, a late stop and we weren’t awfully certain if we’d see you or Daniel in here; it was a bit worrying with that late stop.
SV: Yeah, obviously we didn’t know what happened. The safety car came out and I think we were aware that Adrian went off in turn seven and obviously it was difficult to see what happened after that. From a racing point of view, the safety car comes in and we saw that there was quite a good gap and so we decided to pit and lost only one position. Obviously, as it turned out with the red flag, we thought initially we were not on the podium, but as the rules are similar to… I think a little bit of confusion. Five years ago in Malaysia I think we had a similar scenario and we found ourselves back in third. Obviously it was great to be on the podium, this is my favourite track, it’s for sure very nice in those tricky conditions. In the end, I don’t think it really matters. I think the most important thing, as we’re all probably thinking, is that we hope the best for Jules, obviously currently not in the best shape but we hope that we get some very good news very soon.QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Question to all three of you: you were out in the last few laps on intermediates as well when the accidents happened. How slippery was it and was it already too wet for intermediates at that period of the race?
LH: For me personally it wasn’t. There was more and more rain coming and you could see the circuit… you started to see more reflections and so you could see that it was increasing – the amount of water that was on the track, but it wasn’t… I didn’t notice any difference so I was still able to maintain the same pace. I would imagine that we would probably have been able to finish on those tyres since there was only ten laps left. Yeah, but the tyres performed quite well today.
NR: Yeah, it was fine but the thing is that we have so much more downforce than some other people, so I can imagine that maybe for them… because it was starting to get a little bit more difficult for us and maybe for them, with so much less downforce, it was already on the limit of needing to go to full wets. That’s very possible and I myself was a little bit surprised to hear that other people were already going for full wets but I guess that must be the explanation.
SV: Yeah, it was borderline. At some stage, towards the end, just before the safety car, it started to rain a little bit less with a little bit less intensity. Also when the race was stopped it was just a drizzle and a couple of laps before it was getting quite bad, that’s why we decided to pit and we decided to go for intermediates again. I think the problem, in general, is that once there is a lot of water, visibility is very poor and once there’s too much water, the inter doesn’t work anymore and the extreme wet only has a very, very narrow window where it works because also, with a lot of water on the track, water drainage on the extreme tyres is not as good as it probably should be, so that’s why I think the window is narrow and that’s why other people probably decided to pit. For us, I think it was borderline but for sure, the better your car, the better – Nico explained it well – the better it is for you.Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Nico and Lewis, do you have any kind of explanation of the difference of balance and settings for the car and the difference during the race between the two of you?
NR: We had pretty much the same set-up, so I’m sure the balance was similar for Lewis and I just struggled more with it I suppose: a lot of oversteer and I don’t like that.
LH: Yeah, we had pretty much exactly the same set-up so as Nico said, maybe he took out some wing later on in the race. I didn’t really have any problems with the balance of the car. It was oversteery but it was manageable. -
F1 2014: Japanese GP – Rosberg Secures Pole
Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg secured pole position ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton ahead of Sunday’s Japanese grand prix.
There were few surprises in the first session of qualifying as both Caterhams, Marussia’s and Lotus’ were eliminated from Q1. The second part of qualifying saw Jean-Eric Vergne out-qualify his younger teammate Danil Kvyat who learnt this morning that he would be a Red Bull Racing driver in 2015.
The Russian will be replacing four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel who managed to secure ninth on the grid. Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, surrounded by rumours and media off the track, slotted into fifth on the grid. Teammate Raikkonen could only set a lap fast enough for tenth.
The Williams pairing of Valterri Bottas and Felipe Massa locked out the second row of the grid and appear to be Mercedes’ closest challengers. Lewis Hamilton, recovering for a crash in the third practice session, was two tenths of his teammates place.
The biggest talking point on the track remains the prospective weather conditions for Sunday’s Japanese Gp. As a typhoon makes it way ever closer to the Mie prefecture questions remain as to the conditions and if it will allow for a race to take place.
