Nico Rosberg gives his view on the booing of the fans and his take on the 2nd lap incident between himself and team mate Lewis Hamilton
Tag: lewis hamilton
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Hamilton: “Rosberg Did It To Prove A Point”
Lewis Hamilton unleashed a storm on Sunday afternoon after the Belgian Grand Prix and claimed that Nico Rosberg ran into him on purpose on the second lap of the race to “prove a point”.
Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff was left fuming after the race and when asked by Sky F1’s Ted Kravitz what he though about Rosberg’s driving he only had two words to say: “Unacceptable race”.
“This is an absolutely unacceptable race for us. It lead to two of our drivers crashing into each other… Unbelievable!” he added.
Hamilton was interviewed after his team debrief and he revealed that Rosberg ran into him to prove a point.
“We just had a meeting about it and he basically said he did it on purpose,” said Hamilton. He said he could have avoided it. He said ‘I did it to prove a point’. He basically said I did it to prove a point.”
“And you don’t have to just rely on me. Go and ask Toto [Wolff] and Paddy [Lowe] who are not happy with him as well.”
Hamilton felt that he was the innocent in the matter as he felt he left enough room for Rosberg and used Sebastian Vettel’s attempted pass on Rosberg at the start of the race as an example. “Look at Sebastian [Vettel]. He was actually further up [in a lap one move] and he knew he wasn’t going to go out the other side. He was sensible about it,” said Hamilton.
Mercedes Executive Director, Toto Wolff, clarified the matter later in the evening. Wolff said that Rosberg suggested he has not backed down from the move, rather than admitting to deliberately hitting his team mate.
Talking to AutoSport, Wolff had this to say: “Nico felt he needed to hold his line. He needed to make a point, and for Lewis, it was clearly not him who needed to be aware of Nico. [Rosberg] didn’t give in. He thought it was for Lewis to leave him space, and that Lewis didn’t leave him space.”
Both drivers agreed to disagree in the debrief. Wolff also added that Nico’s anger towards Hamilton had not subsided.
This does not mean that the situation between the two has been diffused. There will be some serious discussions between the drivers and the team management. We could see Mercedes implement team orders after this incident. But to what extent these team orders will be implemented is the question.
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Hamilton’s Qualifying Exit at Hockenheim Explained by Brembo and Mercedes
Brembo and Mercedes Benz AMG Petronas F1 Team have released a statement detailing Lewis Hamilton’s brake failure issue in qualifying for the German Grand Prix. Brembo have revealed that it was the interaction between the brake material and mounting that caused the front right brake failure of Hamilton’s W05
Included below is the Mercedes and Bremo statement in full:
‘Following extensive joint analysis of the previously unseen failure mode experienced by Lewis Hamilton during Q1 at the German Grand Prix, Brembo and MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS have reached definitive conclusions concerning the cause of the failure.
‘First of all, both parties can now confirm that the quality of the disc material was not a contributory factor.
‘Instead, extensive analysis and experimentation has demonstrated that the specific interaction between the structure of the brake material in question and the brake mounting on the F1 W05 Hybrid was at the root of the failure.
‘Countermeasures have already been applied to both the disc geometry and the mounting to ensure there can be no repeat of the failure.
‘These developments allow the team to once again run Brembo brake disc material, should it choose to do so, in race conditions.
Thanks to the close technical relationship between Brembo and MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS, we have been able to collaborate to objectively analyse, diagnose and resolve the failure, and we remain committed to a close working relationship in the future.’
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2014 Formula 1 Shell Belgian Grand Prix: Qualifying Press Conference
DRIVERS
1st Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)
2nd Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
3rd Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing)
TV UNILATERAL
Nico, many congratulations, your first Spa pole. Typical Spa conditions of course today, tell us how special the feeling is right now?
Nico ROSBERG: Yeah, it’s awesome definitely at this track. It’s one of the most special tracks of the year, so to be in front here is great. Not quite as difficult out there as on some other occasions as the conditions were pretty much always intermediates, just varying slightly, so that made it a bit easier today. But still, it’s always difficult on this track in the wet, so I’m really, really happy. The car was handling well and together with my engineers we fine-tuned it perfectly now in qualifying and really got there in the end. So, in the end I was really feeling comfortable and able to push, so fantastic. But it’s only qualifying, so still a long race tomorrow but of course, very happy.
In terms of the detail, the first sector was always particularly strong for you throughout this qualifying session, why is that?
NR: I’m not sure, it’s Eau Rouge mainly the first sector you know. I was feeling good through there, really going for it and maybe that’s where the time was done. I haven’t looked.
Very well done. Coming to you Lewis, you were right in the hunt all the way through qualifying but it seemed, if anything, Q3 wasn’t quite as comfortable for you from the outset as the previous sessions had been, why was that?
Lewis HAMILTON: I had a glazed front-right or front-left brake, so the car was pulling to the left or to the right and there was nothing I could do on the out laps to try to get rid of that, so I was struggling under the braking. I had to bring the braking point a little bit further back and I was losing massive amounts out of particularly turn one.
Before that it looked like you were enjoying yourself out there, though. How much can you enjoy driving in conditions like these?
LH: It’s more fun in the dry but it’s still a huge challenge and as Nico said the conditions were quite good so…
Coming to you Sebastian, you were a winner here last year for Red Bull Racing. Your feelings on this result and what you can do from here tomorrow?
Sebastian VETTEL: Well, I think it would be nice to be a bit further up but obviously the gap is quite big. I think it was the best we could do for today. I think it was a tricky qualifying, especially Q2 looked very tight for us. I tried to stay out on the same set of tyres. It started to rain heavier, so I was quite confident that the track won’t get quicker and I wanted to save that extra set for Q3. It was quite tight. I got the lap in in the end because the circuit did pick up and in Q3 I was able to use both sets of tyres. It was obviously very tight behind the Mercedes. It was tricky out there, especially on low downforce, especially through Eau Rouge, so I had a couple of moments. But it was a good challenge and for sure happy with third.
Coming back to you Nico. You’ve never been on the podium before in Spa either. Clearly a big fight in prospect tomorrow in what promises to be, at the moment anyway, a dry race with Lewis and Sebastian. Your thoughts on tomorrow’s grand prix?
NR: Again, we have a great car here. We’re leading the way and that’s so cool to see that, definitely, that the team is doing such a great job. Just keeping it going all the time, staying ahead and keeping that gap. That’s nice to see. So yeah, definitely a really good chance tomorrow. I need to get a good start and from there I’m looking forward to it.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Nico, one of the things that was noticeable from the outset of this session – obviously it was very wet, had been very wet before the start of the session – was the performance difference between the Mercedes and the rest, right from the outset of Q1. You’ve been quick obviously all season but was this about downforce? Was there any specific reason in your mind why you had such a big advantage all the way through?
NR: I have really no idea. It was amazing to see that, how quick our car is. That was really great. Obviously then it was just Lewis I had to focus on, and that makes it a bit easier too –when there’s not a whole bunch, just one guy. Yeah, but really impressive car.
Q: Lewis, you’ve got to go back to Canada in June for the last time you were this far up the grid. It’s been a difficult period of time for you on Saturday afternoons. So, although I’m sure you’re disappointed today, nevertheless this gives you the kind of platform you’ve been looking for on Sunday to challenge, right?
LH: I’m not disappointed today actually. If you look at the previous years, P2 is the best place to start here so I feel quite blessed that this is the case. I started on pole here last year and Sebastian flew past me down the top straight, so I think it gives you the most opportunity here at the start. And I’m just happy to be up here. I was nervous going into qualifying, not knowing if the car was going to make it through it, and grateful for all the hard work the team put in to make sure we have no problems. It’s a great feeling to be back up here.
Q: Sebastian, you mentioned driving this circuit, in these conditions, with low downforce and it did seem that Red Bull had decided to run quite low levels of downforce, obviously thinking ahead to tomorrow’s grand prix. Is that the case?
SV: Yep!
Q: And how did that feel? A gamble clearly…
SV: It was very tricky in the wet. We knew it would be even trickier obviously when qualifying is wet, qualifying was wet so we can
confirm it was trickier – but the reason behind it is fairly simple: we know that we are down on power, obviously Mercedes can run a lot more wing level and they have a very strong car this year, you have to admit, so they have a lot of downforce but they can still take that wing onto the straights. If we do that I think we are similar in the corners but quite a long way off on the straights and therefore vulnerable in the race. So, I think that’s the reasoning behind it, and in the wet probably it hurt us a bit more, but hopefully tomorrow we’ll be closer in terms of race pace and closer to them than in the last couple of races.QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Angelique Belokopytov – AutoDigest) Sebastian, you are a four time champion and this year you’ve never won a pole so how long can you, a champion, live with that?
SV: As long as I have to, I guess. I’m trying very hard so it’s not like I’m deciding consciously not to qualify on pole. Obviously these guys are doing a very good job from the drivers’ point of view, their team is very strong so that is what makes them very difficult to beat. Obviously we’ve been on the other side for quite a while but that’s the name of the game. Obviously my season wasn’t the way I was hoping for but there are still some races to come. I think we did the maximum today so I’m hoping for a strong result tomorrow.
Q: (Vladimir Rogovets – Sb Belarus) Nico, to your left is one champion, to your right is a second champion but today you have pole position. How do you feel here between two champions?
NR: I feel very good but not because it’s Lewis and Sebastian. To me they’re competitors like all the others: great drivers. I’m just happy to be first; first is the best position for tomorrow’s race.
Q: (Paulo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Nico, this morning the Williams were pretty fast and many people were expecting them to be a challenge in the dry. Do you think that having a wet qualifying helped you a little bit to keep them away or you just were hiding a little bit this morning?NR: I think even in the wet we would have been strong. Maybe the others would have been a little bit closer. It’s very difficult to say who exactly, I’m not too sure about that but for sure it helped us that it was wet because in the wet, clearly the gap was a lot bigger and our car was really dominant.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – Universo OnLine) Lewis, you had a problem with your brakes today. In German qualifying you also had the same; you had a problem with the engine in other races; a lot of problems. How can you understand it, so many difficulties that you’ve had?
LH: I don’t really know. Today, this is a circuit where – as on all circuits – you need to have confidence in the brakes. You saw a couple of times in Q3 when I was just going straight on everywhere because the left brake wasn’t working and then for some reason – I don’t really know why – it went into glazing but yeah, I’ve had some good experiences and bad experiences but it’s OK. Who knows, it might be a blessing in disguise.
Q: (Sven Heidinger – Sport Woche) Lewis, do you fear that the issue with the brakes will appear again tomorrow or was it a one-off? What do you think?
LH: Well, when it glazes, it’s sometimes very hard to recover, especially in the wet. You have to put the brake balance forwards but whilst you’re trying to clear that, you’re also overheating the rears so it’s really not that easy to always clear but in the evening they’re able to scrub it and get rid of the glazing. I think it goes shiny and then you lose that bite so hopefully over the evening we will lose that and in the dry tomorrow it shouldn’t be a problem.
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F1 2014: Belgium GP Qualifying- Rosberg Rules Wet Spa
The Mercedes team dominated the field in a wet qualifying session ahead of the 2014 Belgium GP.
Nico Rosberg mastered slippery conditions to out-qualify teammate Lewis Hamilton by two tenths of a second. Sebastian Vettel secured third position for Red Bull Racing but his fastest time was some two seconds slower than the high flying Mercedes pair. Fernando Alonso and Daniel Ricciardo rounded out the top five grid positions.
The star of the first part of qualifying was Marussia’s Jules Bianchi as the young Frenchman brilliantly advanced to the second session of the one hour session. Andre Lotterer, who has taken over from Kamui Kobayashi, impressed in the Caterham by out-qualifying teammate Marcus Ericcson by a full second. Nico Hulkenberg in the Force India was the surprise casualty in the first session of qualifying. The German complained about losing brake temperature throughout the session.
Neither Toro Rosso driver was able to advance beyond the second session of qualifying. Lotus’ Romain Grosjean out-qualified his teammate, Pastor Maldonado, but failed to make any further impression and will start tomorrow’s grand prix in 15th position.
Despite a brief appearance by the sun in the final part of qualifying all drivers remained on the intermediate tyres for the fastest runs of the session. Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa were relegated to sixth and ninth respectively in the tricky condition. However, tomorrow’s potential forecast of fair weather is likely to reinstate the Martini sponsored team’s hopes.
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Bottas fastest in damp final practice
Williams driver, Valterri Bottas, topped the timesheets after the third and final practice session at Spa Francorchamps, ahead of qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix. Bottas set a time of 1:49.465 to finish the session 0.268s clear of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo.
Drivers were greeted by damp conditions today with overnight rain, and rain expected for qualifying later this afternoon. Most drivers used intermediate tyres for their installation laps with some opting for full wets.
Andre Lotterer was the first driver to set a time before sliding wide at La Source. Jules Bianchi soon beat his time and remained fastest for the first half of the session as most drivers chose to stay in their garages.
The track dried considerably halfway through and the track was once again abuzz with action. Esteban Gutierrez broke the silence and ventured out Primes, lowering Bianchi’s benchmark by a second.Inevtiably, the Mercedes drivers made their way to the top of the timesheets with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg switching at the top for a short while. At one stage, Hamilton snatched the fastest time off his team mate by a crazy one thousandth of a second! It is times like these that really make Formula One.
After switching to soft tyres for qualifying simulations, the Mercedes drivers found themselves getting knocked off the top spots.
It was Bottas who finished in front, with Ricciardo second and Nico Rosberg third, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton, who set identical lap times during a frantic end to the session.
Alonso finished in sixth, with Daniil Kvyat, Jenson Button, Felipe Massa and Jean-Eric Vergne rounding out the top 10. Full timesheet for the session below.
We’ll be back for qualifying shortly! Please join us on Twitter @F1_Madness for live tweets and chat throughout. Rain is expected so we’re expecting a cracker of a session.
Photo Credits: Williams and Mclaren F1 teams
FP3 Timesheet
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Broadcast Times for the 2014 Formula 1 Shell Belgian Grand Prix
Formula 1 is back after a 4 week long summer break and there is no better track to get us going for the second half of the Formula 1 World Championship than the legendary Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.
Teams and drivers will be well rested and ready to go all out till the end of the season. No doubt that the Mercedes pair of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg will be itching to get back in their cars. Rosberg goes into the Belgian Grand Prix 11 points ahead of team mate and rival Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton on the other hand is hoping that his reliability problems are behind him in order for him to concentrate on winning the title.
The dark horse, Daniel Ricciardo, will be waiting in the wings and will keep a close eye on the Mercedes pair to pounce on any opportunity he is given. With the double points rule at the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi, Ricciardo may have a slight chance of taking the championship.
Williams are hoping to carry on with their good form they’ve shown before the summer break. With the long straights and very fast nature of the Spa circuit, the FW36 will be a worthy opponent for the very quick Mercedes.
Ferrari and McLaren will hope for some improvement to the season after a rather lack lustre first half of the season.
Here are your broadcast times for the 2014 Formula 1 Shell Belgian Grand Prix
Free Practice 1: Friday 10:00
Free Practice 2: Friday 14:00
Free Practice 3: Saturday 11:00
Qualifying: Saturday 14:00
Race: Sunday 14:00
All times are GMT+2. As always we’ll have updates for you during FP1 and FP2 with live updates on our Twitter account (@F1_Madness) throughout FP3, Qualifying and the Race.
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F1 driver salaries revealed
Curious to know whose earning what up and down the 2014 Formula One grid? Well wonder know more the 2014 F1 driver salaries have been revealed and it turns out that the Ferrari duo and Sebastian Vettel are the highest payest drivers this season.
The three top F1 drivers are taking home an astonishing $29.4million each in salary payments. Four time world champ, Sebastian Vettel, got a nice $8million boost thanks to a new deal with Red Bull and Kimi Raikkonen also got a nice increase when he moved from Lotus to Ferrari.
According to Business Book GP2014, who recently published the F1 driver salaries, Lewis Hamilton has dropped to fourth place following his move to Mercedes and is now earning a $26.7million annual retainer.
F1’s new up and coming hero Daniel Ricciardo is earning a whole lot less than his team mate on the F1 driver salaries list, with an annual income of $1million, despite having dominated the world champ so far this season.
Below is the full list of F1 driver salaries which makes for some very interesting reading.
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F1 Video: Lewis Hamilton vs. Ken Block, Formula One vs. Rallycross!
Earlier this year, Lewis Hamilton visited the Top Gear Festival in Barbados. Watch this awesome video as he goes head-to-head with Ken Block! Formula One vs. Rallycross!
DC Shoes co-founder, Ken Block, is a professional rally driver who is well known for his amazing rally driving skills which he has used to create the incredible viral YouTube video series known as Gymkhana.
Ken Block essentially helped put rallycross racing on the map in America by competing in events at the X Games (his current X Games medal count is two silver and three bronze), as well as putting together highly successful campaigns in the Rally America Championship.
In this video, Ken Block and Lewis Hamilton go head to head – awesome to see!
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F1 2014: Hungarian GP Review – Real-deal Ricciardo Shines In Hungary
In spite of what the circumstances may be, how improbable it seems or how much the odds are stacked against you there is something to be said for never giving up. Daniel Ricciardo, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton’s performance in the Hungarian GP were phenomenal examples of such resolve.
Lewis Hamilton needed to dig deep as his miserable qualifying run continued. A suspected fuel leak brought a fiery end to his qualifying aspirations. A complete rebuild of the car relegated him to a pitlane start and a seemingly uphill battle.
In contrast, Nico Rosberg reeled off another dominant pole position but Red Bull’s long run pace suggested that Sunday’s race could be closer than Mercedes would be comfortable with. A short rain shower before the start of the race demanded a start of the intermediate tyre but it was still poleman Rosberg who dominated the early stages of the race.
The slippery conditions nearly caught Hamilton out as he survived a brush with the barrier after spinning off a turn 2. Up and down the pitlane the team strategists were made to work hard as questionable weather conditions and safety cars called for rapid decision making.
The first safety car was deployed to recover the wrecked Caterham of Marcus Ericsson.However, it was too late for Rosberg, Bottas, Vettel and Alonso to dive into the pitlane for slick tyres. A lap later, Daniel Ricciardo emerged in the lead of the race.
Jenson Button, hoping for a timely rain shower, elected to remain on the intermediate tyres. However, as the track surface continued to dry so the chances of the McLaren driver dissipated.
A second stint was required behind the safety car when Force India’s Sergio Perez crashed heavily into the concrete barrier on the start/finish straight. Ricciardo and the two Williams drivers took to the pitlane.
The reshuffle left Fernando Alonso in the lead of the race on a two-stop strategy. It nearly resulted in a spectacular victory for the Spaniard. Alas, it was a task slightly too big for the Ferrari driver to accomplish.Nevertheless, in what has been a trying year for the Scuderia Alonso’s relentless spirit earned him a stellar second place.
Lewis Hamilton put his misfortune aside to complete a sensational run from the pitlane to the final step of the podium. Third place is not what the Brit aims for but it is a result that will do the psychology of his title bid a world of good.
On a more contentious note Hamilton was asked by his team to let his three-stopping teammate through. For his part it didn’t seem like Hamilton was wholly against the instruction but informed the team that Rosberg would have to get closer if it was going to happen. It makes perfect sense that Hamilton should not lose time to the car ahead in order to let his teammate through.Despite the differing strategies Hamilton was very much in the same race as his teammate and more importantly in an ever-tightening battle for the world championship.
“I was very, very shocked that the team would ask me to do that [move aside],” Hamilton said after the race. “I’m racing for myself. Not for anyone else.” It was a preposterous request by the Mercedes team that has no place in the sport and, with any luck, will never be uttered over a team radio again.
Nico Rosberg, home in fourth, was fairly unhappy about the incident after the race. The German has been performing at the highest level in 2014 but as the second half of the season approaches he will realize that it is going to require for him to dig deeper than he thought possible.Felipe Massa brought his Williams home in fifth position ahead of Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari in sixth. The Finn staged an outstanding comeback after a strategy error left him 16th on the grid.
Sebastian Vettel survived a spin on the main straight to finish seventh ahead of Valtteri Bottas in eighth.Jean-Eric Vergne ran as high as second-place in the race but was relegated to ninth to lead home McLaren’s Jenson Button in tenth.
The utter determination of Alonso and Hamilton was a joy to behold but Daniel Ricciardo’s breathtaking race was every Formula 1 fan’s dream.
Late in the race the Red Bull driver pulled off two tremendous overtaking moves on Hamilton and Alonso on course to his second grand prix victory.The ease and class with which Ricciardo has taken to racing amongst the very best in F1 is indicative of a driver with a serious amount of talent. It wouldn’t be accurate to say that the Aussie is a star of the future; because Daniel Ricciardo is, unquestionably, already a star.
