Tag: lewis hamilton

Hamilton snatches top spot for FP2

Lewis Hamilton snatched the top practice spot back from Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg during FP2 ahead of this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix. His lap time of 1:09.542 was more than three tenths quicker than his German teammate’s best effort.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso again registered the third fastest time of the session, ever so slightly ahead of the Williams pair of Valterri Bottas and Felipe Massa, who continue to show promising form.

Sebastian Vettel finished sixth fastest for Red Bull Racing, with Jenson Button ending the session in seventh place.

Daniel Ricciardo had a nasty slide at the penultimate corner on his way to eighth place. Kevin Magnussen and Jean-Eric Vergne rounded out the top 10.

Your full timesheet for FP2 is below.

Join us on Twitter for live chat and commentary all race weekend!

June 20, 2014
Rosberg tops eventful FP1 at the Red Bull Ring

Nico Rosberg topped the timesheets after the first free practice session ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix this weekend.

Formula One returns to Austria for the first time in 11 years and looks to be bringing plenty of action to the Red Bull Ring outside the small village of Spielberg.

There should be very little surprise at the fact that Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton rung in a 1-2 for Mercedes, 0.14s off Rosberg’s time of 1:11.295 posted on prime tyres. Both Hamilton and Ferrari’s Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso came within four-tenths of a second of demoting Rosberg. This may look good for Ferrari but given their lack of performance after their deceitfully good display during practice in Canada, it’s still way too early to predict anything other than a dominant Mercedes team.

Felipe Massa was fourth quickest for the Williams team, while McLaren’s Jenson Button edged ahead of the Force India duo of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg.

Valtteri Bottas, Kevin Magnussen and Jean-Eric Vergne rounded out the top 10.

Conditions were cool and cloudy with a few drops of rain here and there throughout the session. This meant that quite a few drivers made trips off the track with many of them making their debut excursions on the Red Bull Ring. Massa, Alonso, Magnussen, Grosjean, Bianchi, Bottas, Rosberg, Hamilton, Maldonado and Kvyat all had off-excursions after either leaving their braking too late (mainly in Turn 1 and partly due to a 10 km/h tailwind) or getting sideways.

It was however Sebastian Vettel who had the biggest moment of the session after running wide at the final corner and bouncing across the grass before being pitched into a high speed spin very narrowly avoiding contact with the barrier.

Adrian Sutil’s session ended prematurely after his Sauber suffered from a broken hose and Marcus Ericsson also only completed a few laps in his Caterham CT05 before stopping at the pit lane exit with smoke coming from his car.

Your full timesheet for the second practice session is below.

We’ll be back for FP2 and please do join us on Twitter for live commentary and chat throughout the race weekend.

June 20, 2014
F1 2014: Austrian GP Preview – Formula 1 Re-opens Austrian Chapter

History is nothing new to Formula 1 and it re-opens one of its oldest chapters this weekend at the Austrian grand prix.
The Formula 1 world championship returns to Styria, at the foot of the Alps, for the first time in a decade. The Austrian grand prix has featured on the F1 calendar in several different forms; from the one-off airfield in Zeltweg in 1963 to the Österreichring throughout the 80s to its current guise of the A1-Ring in Spielberg.

The A1-Ring was purchased by Red Bull who agreed with Bernie Ecclestone to reinstate the circuit as part of the championship. The last meeting in 2003 was won by then Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher who was well on his way to title number six.

It was during the now infamous 2002 Austrian GP where the contentious issue of team-orders took centre stage. It was here that the Ferrari team instructed Rubens Barrichello to give way to teammate Michael Schumacher. The move was met with much negativity and the unprecedented jeering of Schumacher on the podium. Schumacher would lift off the throttle in the final few meters of the 2002 US grand prix handing victory to Barrichello.

The renamed Red Bull Ring’s layout remains unchanged and its 4.326km length is dominated by several straights. Therefore, it requires a medium downforce set-up with a particular emphasis on braking which translates to a high rate of fuel consumption. Similar to Bahrain’s Sakhir circuit the Red Bull Ring’s middle sector is dominate by medium speed corners. Pirelli’s analysis of the track has reveals a moderately abrasive surface suitable for the soft and supersoft compounds.

The circuit’s high altitude venue will place serious demand on the 2014 power units which will have to cope with a lap spent at full throttle for nearly 70%. The track only has nine corners but its character is derived from the significant undulation throughout lap and four opportunities for overtaking.

The Canadian grand prix demonstrated how quickly fortunes could change and proved that Mercedes are not bulletproof. A failure on both cars revealed their fallibility and gave Nico Rosberg a significant advantage in the driver’s championship. The hammer-blow in Monaco and a bit of luck in Canada has Rosberg on an ominous high. The German won’t have any difficulty with the Ring which suggests that Lewis Hamilton will need to be on top of his game to begin recouping his losses. “I caught up before and I can catch up again,” says Hamilton. “It’s going to take another four wins to make the difference so I’m going to do my best to get those results.”

Ferrari’s abundant struggles in 2014 would suggest that recovery is the main aim. However, the latest rhetoric from the team seems almost defiant. Only new team Principal Marco Mattiacci has pointed to an ineffective trend of development as the reason for the team remaining “behind the curve.”
Contrastingly, Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo went so far as to suggest that the Italian team could quit the sport altogether. Yet, something suggests that this lamenting of the new F1 rules would most likely not have seen the light of day if Ferrari were leading the 2014 field. It is rather silly of di Montezemolo to throw his toys of the cot because of his team’s woeful season. The fact remains that all teams are bound by the same set of rules and some simply did a better job of interpreting them than others.

It seems obvious that Red Bull will be in the spotlight this weekend. But how much of that spotlight will transfer to the track in the face of the mightily dominant Mercedes team remains to be seen.

June 18, 2014
F1 2014: Canadian GP Review – Ricciardo Wins Canadian Stunner

There is something about the combination of the circuit Gilles Villeneuve and Formula 1 that delivers the most astounding races.

It didn’t come as a surprise when Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton locked out the front row of the grid. Nor was it unexpected that the two fought a close battle for the lead of the race into turns one and two. It was expected when the pair of them comfortably pulled away from the rest of the field.

First, a crash between Max Chilton and his Marussia teammate Jules Bianchi brought out the safety-car. A significant amount of clean-up was required which had the safety-car out for seven laps. Yet, this would be the least dramatic ‘incident’ of the afternoon, by far.

As the race resumed it seemed like any other afternoon in the 2014 season for the Mercedes pairing of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. The two Silver Arrows ran within a few seconds of each other and pulled away comfortably from the rest of the field. However, Formula 1 never fails to dish up the most unexpected and the seemingly predictable was about to be obliterated.

Lewis Hamilton, known for his performances around the Canadian circuit, began to make serious charge for the lead of the race by closing the gap to Rosberg to a couple of tenths. As they battled wheel-to-wheel a sudden loss of power struck both at the exact same time. The high temperatures had caused both cars to suffer a devastating MGU-K failure. It meant that both Mercedes’ had lost all of its hybrid power.

The seemingly invincible pair were losing up to three seconds a lap. Too much astonishment Williams’ Felipe Massa emerged as the leader of the race after the first round of pitstops. A momentary recovery for Lewis Hamilton had the Brit in prime position to take over from Rosberg but he ran wide at the hairpin and lost the advantage gained in the pitstop phase. It went from bad to worse for Hamilton as he was forced into retirement with brake failure.

A trip into the pitlane for Massa gave the lead back to Rosberg but the Mercedes was significantly compromised. A throng of cars led by Force India’s Sergio Perez and including Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel quickly closed the gap on the Mercedes. Miraculously, Rosberg was able to hang onto the lead despite running with 160 less horsepower than his pursuers.

The train of cars was quickly joined by Felipe Massa who had armed himself with fresh rubber. It seemed as if Sergio Perez had worked a one-stop strategy to a tee. Perez, known for his ability to run long stints, managed to hold Ricciardo at bay but a daring move around the outside of turn 1 gave the Australian second place.

The Red Bull driver closed the gap to Rosberg and with the help of DRS down the back-straight snatched the lead of the race into the final corner. While Ricciardo crossed the line to start the final lap of the race the drama was far from over. A spot on the podium beckoned Felipe Massa but as the Brazilian lined up a pass on Perez into turn 1 he tagged the back of the Force India. The duo, barely avoiding Vettel’s Red Bull, crashed heavily into the barriers. Both drivers experienced an impact of 27G but were declared fit by medial personnel. After an investigation the stewards announced that Perez had been given a five-place grid penalty for the Austrian GP for “changing his line” into the corner.

As if the result was not astonishing enough Jenson Button brought the McLaren home in fourth place. The former champ started the final lap in eighth position but benefited as Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso tripped over each other.

Fernando Alonso counted himself as “lucky” to finish as high as sixth as the Ferrari continues to struggle for performance. Despite bringing several upgrades to the Canadian GP the F14T showed no improvement whatsoever. Kimi Raikkonen endured a similarly miserable race as early brake issues and traffic added to the gloom. A spin at the hairpin, attributed to a power delivery issue by the power unit, dropped the Finn out of the points. Raikkonen eventually finished tenth but the Maranello team has serious questions to answer after yet another failed attempt at development. The 2007 champion must hardly recognise Ferrari in its current depressing guise. It’s a far cry from the team with whom he won two constructors’ and one drivers’ title.

Daniel Ricciardo may have benefited from someone else’s misfortune but the courageous move around the outside of turn 1 on Perez and the never-say-die style of the Australian is what made him one of the most popular winners in the paddock.

Sometimes the nice guy does finish first.

Photo Credits:
Red Bull images via @redbullracing
Lewis Hamilton retiring via @LewisHamilton
Massa-Perez crash sequence via @WSFMR

June 9, 2014
Canadian GP Qualifying: Rosberg narrowly beats Hamilton to pole

Nico Rosberg secured pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix after putting in a rocket fast final lap in qualifying denying teammate Lewis Hamilton the pleasure of his fifth pole position.

Hamilton dominated the entire weekend in Montreal but a mistake heading into Turn 8 on his final lap meant the Briton had to settle for second place on the grid. Rosberg beat Hamilton to pole by less than a tenth of a second.

Qualifying got underway with only 21 cars after Esteban Gutierrez crashed in the final practice session today, forcing Sauber to change his chassis. Valtteri Bottas was first out on track and posted the initial benchmark at 1.18.270 but teammate Felipe Massa went half a second faster to occupy the top spot on the timesheets until Rosberg came around to put his Mercedes up in first place.

Pastor Maldonado dropped out of Q1 once again – for fifth out of six times this season. He pulled his stricken Lotus over into an escape road ending his session. Things just aren’t going right for Maldonado at all this season and his Venezuelen sponsorship is already rumoured to be at risk.

With 16 seconds left on the clock, Marcus Ericsson brought out the red flag on the session when he binned his Caterham at turn nine. The session did not restart and Maldonado, Chilton, Bianchi, Kobayashi and Ericsson were eliminated from the proceedings.

Q2 got underway with Adrian Sutil first out on track with the entire field heading out on the supersoft tyres. Felipe Massa was the early leader in the session ahead of his teammate, Valtteri Bottas, and former Ferrari teammate, Fernando Alonso. The two Mercedes drivers only headed out a little later in the session but neither could shift Massa off the top of board with their initial efforts. It became clear that the Mercedes duo were not as strong on the supersofts as the Williams drivers were.

Nico Hulkenberg, Kevin Magnussen, Sergio Perez, Romain Grosjean, Daniil Kvyat and Adrian Sutil were all eliminated at the end of Q2.

Q3 saw Bottas first out on track for a bit of clear air, setting the first benchmark at a 1.15.550. Rosberg was the first of the Mercedes to cross the line, going six-tenths quicker than Bottas. Hamilton also managed to go quicker than Bottas but fell just short of Rosberg’s time putting the German on provisional pole.

Both Rosberg and Hamilton made slight improvements on their final runs but Hamilton just couldn’t find the pace to match his teammate and a small error into Turn 8 likely cost him the pole position. Sebastian Vettel pulled a rabbit out of the bag and pushed out a flyer to qualify third ahead of the two Williams drivers, Bottas and Massa respectively.
Daniel Ricciardo qualified sixth ahead of Alonso and Vergne, with Jenson Button and Kimi Raikkonen rounding out the top ten.

Hamilton will no doubt be frustrated to not have been able to convert his dominant performance throughout the weekend into a pole position but the Briton seemed to take it in his stride today and seemed pleased to have another all-Mercedes front row. “Let’s go make history tomorrow,” Hamilton said at the post qualifying press conference.

History will indeed be made whatever happens tomorrow. We’re all set for a crack-a-lacking race and the stage is all set for a good battle upfront between Rosberg and Hamilton. The Williams drivers are looking exceptionally strong and they are definitely making a mark on the grid this weekend.

Please join us on Twitter for live chat and commentary as we watch it all pan out at 8pm GMT+2.

Full timesheets and your chance to win a VIP trip to the Belgian Grand Prix are below.

June 7, 2014
2014 Canadian Grand Prix: Hamilton Quickest in FP2

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton set the pace in the second practice session for the Canadian Grand Prix.

Hamilton set a time of 1:16.118 on the option tyre. His team mate Nico Rosberg ended the session in P2 with a time of 1:16.293, just 0.175s off the pace. Red Bulls Sebastian Vettel who was rather anonymous throughout the session finished the session in P3 with a time of 1:16.573.

The session was relatively straight forward with the odd driver locking up and running wide. There was a scary moment between Sauber’s Adrian Sutil, and McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen. Sutil, who was on a timed lap was coming up to the T13/T14 chicane. Magnussen looked like he was on a slow down lap, looked like he was about to go into the pits but then took the corner. This forced Sutil to jam on the brakes run wide, and take to the run-off area. The incident was investigated, but it was then decided that no action was to be taken by the stewards.

Ferrari do look like they’ve improved quite a bit with the new bits on their cars. While Sebastian Vettel is starting to look more comfortable in his car.

The long run pace of the Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari and Williams cars are very comparable and they were all lapping in the same region. It does have makings of a very interesting race where strategy could determine the ultimate winner.

Below is the complete timing sheet for the session

June 6, 2014
2014 Canadian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

DRIVERS:

Adrian SUTIL (Sauber)

Nico HULKENBERG (Force India)

Kamui KOBAYASHI (Caterham)

Felipe MASSA (Williams)

Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

Jenson BUTTON (McLaren)

PRESS CONFERENCE

Jenson, we’ll start with you if we may. A 2011 winner here, of course, memorably, and you’re currently eighth in the championship. This circuit has the famous wall of champions on the outside of the final corner. The back of the cars this year, of these designs, is quite light. I wonder if you could a little bit about how you read the challenge of driving these cars around this track this weekend.

Jenson BUTTON: OK. Good morning. Yeah, it’s going to be tricky here, It always is, especially with the cold circuit temperatures we’ll probably have on Friday. So yeah, the last corner will be tricky, but we’re sort of used to that I think. We’ve been driving these cars all year and if we can drive these cars around Monaco I think we’ll be alright around here. It should be an interesting circuit. It’s a circuit where you don’t really use downforce so much, it’s a lot more mechanical grip. There are long straights, so we can use the power of the engine – for us that’s great, with the Mercedes engine. And it’s about working with the tyres. I think it’s going to be tricky around here. It’s supposed to be hot on Sunday, so you’re going to have to really look after them. But we’re reasonably good at that.

Talking about McLaren’s situation: how do you compare this year to last year and the competitiveness and the problems that you have? Are they more fixable than last year’s problems?

JB: Yeah, I think from the outside it doesn’t look spectacular, our season this year, and you’d say it looks quite similar to last year but it’s very different. In terms of the feel of the car, it’s much better. In terms of the development of the car, it is working and we’re going in the right direction. Yeah, it’s tough. When you’ve been fighting for wins and the team is used to fighting for wins, it’s difficult when you find yourself in this situation. But also there are a lot of positives right now. With Ron back in charge, and Eric, I think they’re doing a great job of really moving the team on and changing certain things so that we will be fighting at the front again. But it just takes time. Things don’t change overnight, even though we’re pushing very hard.

OK, thank you. Coming to you now Lewis. You’re a three-time winner here, three times on pole here. What is it about you and this Montreal circuit and it’s walls around the outside? Is it the braking? Is about technique? What is it that somehow clicks with you here?

Lewis HAMILTON: I’m not sure. Good morning everyone. I guess there are certain tracks you like more than others and this is one of those circuits I particularly like. I really like coming out to Canada, I always have a great response from the fans here. It is one of the best grands prix of the year in terms of the turnout, the city, just in general the weekend, it’s a good fun weekend and I guess all of that packed into one makes it fun to drive.

You’ve said this week that you and your team-mate Nico Rosberg are friends again after Monaco. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?

LH: There’s not really much to say. I said it in my message. We spoke after the race and just like friends we have our ups and down, we’ve known each other a long, long time, so it’s done and dusted and we look forward to working together to try to help this team win the Constructors’ Championship.

OK, thank you for that. Coming on to Felipe. Three seventh-place finishes so far this season, your best result here in Montreal a fourth. Williams is tied with McLaren at the moment in the Constructors’ Championship with 52 points after six races. Is that in line with your expectations?

Felipe MASSA: No. Definitely I think I didn’t have great results until now. It should be much better than what I had until now. So I had not very great races, starting with the race, where I didn’t get to corner two and you know in Bahrain I was fighting for third, fourth the whole race and then I lost a lot of positions because of the safety car. So I think it was not very great results but I’m sure we can do much better and I hope this track can be also a bit better for our car compared to Monaco, compared to other tracks. So really looking forward that we can have a lot better results, starting here in Montreal, a lot better than seventh I hope.

I wonder if you could tell us what Rob Smedley has brought to the team, because you obviously have got a very long working relationship with him. He’s now in a senior role on the engineering side, can you tell a little bit about what he’s brought to the team?

FM: A lot of experience. A lot of good direction, different things in terms of how to work, you know, in many different areas. I think he’s a very intelligent engineer, has a lot of experience. For sure, things don’t change from one day to the other, so it takes a little bit of time but not just him, we have a lot of great engineers, a lot of good people and things are getting better all the time inside the team and I’m really looking forward that from now until the end of the of the championship things will get better and better all the time.

Nico, coming to you. Fifth in the Drivers’ Championship and points scored in every round so far but no podium personally yet. Given the confidence that Force India has in the package for this weekend in Montreal, is this you weekend do you think?

Nico HULKENBERG: I don’t know. Obviously I hope and like every weekend we’re going to try to make the most of our chances here. I think the track should be OK for us. Also, it’s one of my favourite grands prix, so I really look forward to this weekend – the track, the city, everything is pretty cool. So hopefully we can have a strong result again.

Q: Monaco showed that you can get results by doing a different strategy from the people around you. As a midfield team I wonder, is that something you feel you need to do to get the results or do you feel you can compete with front running teams on equal terms?

NH: Not really, and I think looking back in hindsight we made it a bit harder for ourselves, starting on the harder tyre – the other way around with how it turned out, Safety Car etcetera may have been easier – but I think it’s always different and you always have to look at each race and each case and decide then but, generally, we’re having a good package, we’re competitive and that puts us in a good position in general.

Q: Kamui, you’ve twice finished in the points here in Montreal but after Marussia’s result at the last round in Monaco I wonder what the reaction was in the Caterham team? Is it encouragement that it’s possible to score points or concern about the position it leaves you in?

Kamui KOBAYASHI:

For us the Monaco result for us was a bit of a pain but at least we know Marussia made a great step from their updates so I have to say, I think, we have to say it’s a well done job. I think for us for sure I think we need to work. I think what happened in Monaco was a little bit… strange but at least we check with the FIA and that’s through so we have nothing to say but at least we have some upgrades for that first point.

Q: So what is the way forward for the Caterham team this season?

KK: The thing about a Formula One team is we cannot change day-by-day. We progress. Of course, it’s not an easy life for us, it’s a difficult moment right now but for sure everybody is working really hard and we know, I think, that we will progress. We need a little bit of time and we are looking forward to more later on this season.

Q: Adrian, two points finishes also for you in your career here in Montreal – but still none this year for you with the Sauber team. Your thoughts on the start that the team has made and how the upgrades have worked out so far.

Adrian SUTIL: Well, a difficult start of course. I thought it would be a little bit more easy but that’s how it is. That’s how our situation is. We try, of course, to get out and improve the car, improve general performance – yeah, coming here we try it again. We had a tough weekend in Monaco but I think Monaco was a little bit more on the better side, the car was behaving a little bit better and so it’s not only bad everything. There are a few positive things – but it’s very complicated to make it altogether at the moment. To understand the car is quite difficult for us still, so we have to work on that and we need a bit more time and hopefully it really goes soon in the right direction. It’s quite hard to be in the back there always, lot of problems come together in racing at the back.

Q: And tell us from your perspective what you think it will be like to race these hybrid turbo cars around this circuit – the specific challenges of this circuit?

AS: Well I think here we’re going to have quite high top speeds, with the new engines and the low drag the cars have so we should really be quick on the straights, maybe also a quicker overall lap time than last year – maybe – so I don’t know. It should be a circuit that suits the car in general. All the Formula One cars, not only us. And, as everyone said, it’s quite an enjoyable track with a lot of possibilities to overtake. The race should be quite interesting as well. Lot of chicanes… yeah, good weekend and I look forward to it, hopefully with a quite good result in the end.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Ian Parkes – PA) Jenson, I don’t know if you read the team’s pre-race press release this week but there were some very complimentary words from Eric Boullier with regard to yourself, taking about your quality of input, your experience, your ambassadorial role. It all sounded very positive and almost as if they’re looking to next year, perhaps wanting to keep you. Any further progress on that? As I say, it was all very complimentary towards yourself.

JB: er…no. No more progress at all. But that’s just the way it is. We’re here, we’ve spent four good years together already. In our fifth year together. And we both want to work together in the future but it’s just not time yet. Not the right time. We have a lot of other issues to solve first before we start thinking about the future too much. We’re in a good place and y’know, I think my experience does help me a lot. I still feel very young at heart, fitter than ever and I have all that experience. I’m in a great position and I feel I’ve got a lot more to give in the future in Formula One. I definitely can’t see an end to my career. This is my life and where I want to be in the future.

Q: (Bill Beacon – La Presse Canadienne) Because this track is different to most with the braking and long straights and everything, do you think that that in any way will close the gap between Mercedes and the rest of the field?

LH: I’d be guessing but I don’t feel that will be the case. We’re particularly strong on the straights, Mercedes are but I don’t know, maybe we will be surprised this weekend but long straights do suit us very well. We have a very good power curve on our engine, Mercedes have done the best job with the engines. Renault and Ferrari would have to have done an exceptional job coming into this weekend, in terms of that area, to be able to keep up with us on the straights..

FM: Definitely it can be a good track for most of the cars that are using Mercedes (engines) so I think maybe we will see even maybe a big difference compared to Mercedes and the other teams, because as Lewis said, the engine is amazing, it’s been a very good job done by Mercedes and they have a good car under braking and everything, so for sure maybe we can see maybe even a big difference.

NH: I don’t think it will be very different to the other weeks before.

Q: (Chris Medland – crash.net) Lewis, you said that the air has been cleared between yourself and Nico between races. Did you feel the need to do the same with the team and was anything different with the way the team handled the two of you between Monaco and coming here now?

LH: There was no difference. Collectively with the team… me and Nico spoke and we individually spoke to the team and saw the team. Nothing’s really changed. We know the team has done a great job in terms of supporting us and the way it’s run with Paddy and Toto. Their support for the both of us has been great. We’re now full steam ahead. We had dinner with the team yesterday and things have never been better. We’re just going from strength to strength. People have ups and downs, as I said, so it’s no different to any other experience me and Nico have had in our whole – God knows how many years we’ve been racing together. We move on, we’re pushing forward. There’s a long long way to go in the season so we’re looking forward to that battle.

Q: (Gerhard Kuntschik – Salzburger Nachrichten) Jenson, as kind of the older statesman, you raced on the old A1 Ring; we’re coming up to Austria again, Red Bull Ring, in a fortnight; what are your memories of the Austrian Grand Prix?

JB: Lots of campsites and lots of very merry Austrians over the Grand Prix weekend. It’s one of those races that they really embrace the sort of party scene and the camping scene, which is really cool. It reminds me very much of Spa, British Grand Prix and those sort of races. It’s a true racing fan’s Grand Prix, I feel. The circuit itself… you look at it and you think ‘there’s like seven corners, it can’t be that fun to drive.’ But it is, it’s a really good circuit. I’ve enjoyed racing there in the past, I don’t know what it’s going to be like with these cars. I’ve always had fun racing there. I don’t know how much has changed, either. Turn one, we used to drive off through the gravel because that was the quickest way on the exit. I’m sure it’s not going to be the case any more. I think we’re in for a good Grand Prix.

Q: (Luis Fernando Ramos – Racing Magazine) To all drivers: the World Cup is coming and your countries are going to be there, playing, so on a personal note, how much are you interested in football? Are you going to follow all the matches or you don’t care much about what’s going on there? And a second brief question: who do you think is going to win the World Cup?

Q: Kamui, would you like to kick us off?

KK: Me? On soccer? I don’t really care so I don’t follow anything. All I know is that Japan is not really strong so I don’t…

NH: Well I hope that Gemany is going to be good but I’m not a football expert but I’m sure I’m going to be behind the TV following the World Cup.

AS: I’ll be watching, cheering for Uruguay and Germany, because I’m half Uruguayan.

FM: Yeah, I love football, I watch everything, so I will maybe be watching most of the games. I really hope that Brazil can be there in the final. To win the championship at home would be fantastic so I will be there watching and supporting Brazil.

LH: I don’t follow it as much (as I used to) but I will probably catch a few games and I want to try and see if we can go out to one of the games at least. The dream will be to go and watch Brazil and England play, that would be pretty awesome.

JB: Yes, I totally agree. I’m not a massive football fan, I don’t support a team but when it comes to nationalities, countries playing, obviously I will be supporting England and I’m really looking forward to it.

June 6, 2014
F1 2014: Canadian GP Preview – F1 Readies for Canada Clash

Formula 1 crosses the Atlantic to Montreal and the Grand Prix du Canada. The circuit Gilles Villeneuve lies in wait for the paddock and the seventh round of the 2014 season.
Sebastian Vettel swept the pole position and race victory at the 2013 Canadian grand prix. In 2014 Red Bull’s level of competitiveness has dwindled but the team from Milton Keyes are slowly recovering their campaign. However, with the dominant car of the season, Lewis Hamilton, a three time former winner in Canada, looks a shoe-in for victory.

As with most F1 drivers mistakes tend to happen as they test the limits of the car’s performance. A locked wheel, braking a meter too late or having the back-end step out is not uncommon. However, the most striking characteristic of the circuit Gilles Villeneuve is its concrete walls which lie just beyond the edge of the track. Concrete walls and barriers which hold significant consequences for getting it wrong. The two chicanes and the hairpin are areas where lap time can be won or lost but the final corner, outlined by the famous Wall of Champions, is where the biggest risk can yield the most reward. “Some guys will play it safe and sacrifice half a tenth to get through there cleanly; others will take a risk. The nearer you are, the faster you’ll go. Give the wall a kiss and you feel pretty good; kiss it too hard and that’s it!” shared Daniel Ricciardo.

The 4.361 km circuit includes two straights which lend a hand in the overtaking department. The favoured spots for overtaking will be into the turn 10 hairpin and a late move up the inside before the final chicane. Given that the circuit takes some time to rubber in, Pirelli will bring the Soft and Supersoft compound tyres to Canada. The choice of compounds also opens the door for a two or three stop strategy of which the latter can be used to undercut and gain time on a competitor with a fresher, and quicker, set of tyres.

The circuit ranks high on the list of the most power hungry on the calendar. It’s just in time as several teams are planning upgrades to their power units this weekend.

Ferrari’s PR machine has been spinning away as Technical Director James Allison has “vowed” that the team will take a good step forward in Canada – a mantra they have been repeating for years. The Italian team did show improved pace during the Monaco GP and Allison expects to see further improvement this weekend. Nevertheless, he tempered his optimism by saying that their rivals will be making gains of their own.

Ferrari has struggled to make significant improvements on the F14T since the start of the season. After a three-week break Ferrari showed no progress at the Spanish GP. Allison thinks engineers need to be given more creative freedom in their development plans.

“If you force them to operate with their backs against the wall, up against deadlines that are very, very tight, then there’s no time for them to think about how they might approach something differently,” “There is a wealth of talent at Ferrari – the experience and quality of the people on the technical side is the match of any team – it’s a matter of giving them the space and the encouragement to do unusual things.”

The rivalry between Hamilton and Rosberg will resume this weekend with the two having “cleared the air” after Monaco. As much as Rosberg’s affinity for beating Hamilton may have grown since the Monte Carlo weekend Hamilton has a special affinity for the Canadian GP. On paper this is a Hamilton track and the Brit should comfortably be the victor. However, Rosberg showed some steel and as the championship leader has the ball firmly in his court.

June 5, 2014
Broadcast Times for the Formula 1 Grand Prix du Canada 2014

Formula 1 is in Canada this weekend for round 6 of the Formula 1 world championship at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

With the Mercedes pair of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg settling their differences, you can be certain that both of the drivers will be going all out to one up each other this weekend. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve has always been a favorite of Hamilton’s and he will be looking to stamp his dominance over his team mate.

After a rather quiet drive at the Monaco Grand Prix, Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo will be hoping to split the Mercedes pair or even beat them. Ricciardo has had an amazing start to his career at Red Bull and has out-qualified his team mate Sebastian Vettel on a number of occasions. Vettel supporters will be hoping that the young German’s luck will change after suffering yet another mechanical problem at the Monaco Grand Prix which forced him to retire from the race.

The rest of the teams will be looking for an overall improvement for their cars with some teams delaying their major update packages to be released at the Canadian Grand Prix.

The track itself is fast with long straights and very tight chicanes. And lets not forget the famous wall of champions at the exit of the final corner. The stop-start nature of the track makes it rather heavy on fuel consumption. Pirelli have brought the soft and super soft compounds to the track. With the slow chicanes and exit speeds of some of the corners the cars will depend heavily on mechanical grip provided by the two compounds.

With the race in North America, we can expect things to happen in the late afternoons and in the evenings for the folks in Europe and Africa. Below is the full broadcast schedule for the Formula 1 Grand Prix du Canada 2014

Free Practice 1: Friday 16:00

Free Practice 2: Friday 20:00

Free Practice 3: Saturday 16:00

Qualifying: Saturday 19:00

Race: Sunday 20:00

All times are GMT+2

You can get all your free practice updates on our Twitter account @F1_Madness. We’ll bring you live updates for qualifying and the race.

June 5, 2014
Rosberg Rules Monaco Streets

From magical drives throughout the decades to duelling teammates in 2014, the streets of Monte Carlo have seen it all.

Since the Bahrain Grand Prix the duel between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg has been simmering just below the surface. In Monaco, a controversial moment in Saturday qualifying nearly detonated the tension between the two.

Lewis Hamilton v Nico Rosberg

As brilliantly as Lewis Hamilton has played the psychological game with his teammate, Rosberg has landed his own mental blows on the Brit this weekend. A controversial mistake in qualifying stopped Hamilton from potentially securing pole position. Most significantly, Hamilton seemed convinced that Rosberg’s trip down the escape road, which brought out yellow flags, was anything but accidental. The stewards found no fault with Rosberg’s actions and he kept his pole position.

Subsequent statements from Hamilton in the press suggested that the relationship between the two was icy at best. Nonplussed by Hamilton’s remarks or attitude, Rosberg maintained the lead off the line and managed the 78 lap race with a determined Hamilton breathing down his neck for the majority of the afternoon.

For all of Hamilton’s talk he delivered no challenge to Rosberg where it matters most – on the Monte Carlo streets. He got to within a couple of tenths of the car in front but did not feint a pass even once. In fact, Rosberg achieved much more than victory this weekend. He almost entirely erased Hamilton’s month-long mind games with the single lock of a wheel. Intentional or not, Rosberg got inside Hamilton’s head. It upset the 2008 champion to the point where he didn’t want to participate in the post-qualifying press conferences and suggested that he may take a page out of Senna’s book to deal with his teammate.

If Hamilton was upset with Saturday’s result, and the steward’s subsequent findings, he was entitled to his own opinion and feelings. However, his failure to accept defeat and blatant refusal to congratulate his teammate is disappointing. There are few who would disagree that Lewis Hamilton is a great driver but his sportsmanship could use some improvement.

Bad Luck Raikkonen

Kimi Raikkonen rocketed off the line and flew past teammate Fernando Alonso and Daniel Ricciardo. The Finn ran solidly in third nine seconds off the leading Mercedes duo but the second safety car would bring an end to any podium aspirations. As the lapped Marrussia of Max Chilton overtook he clipped the back wheel of the Ferrari causing a puncture. Raikkonen was forced back into the pitlane and out of contention. The former champ told Finnish TV after the race that his team had not informed him at what point lapped cars would be overtaking and that he felt that a third place finish was a serious possibility.

Raikkonen attempted a comeback into the points by passing several cars but ended up in the barriers of the Lowes hairpin with light damage. The Finn received a reprimand from the stewards for causing a collision with Kevin Magnussen.

Ricciardo Shines

Daniel Ricciardo continues to deliver for his new Red Bull team while teammate Sebastian Vettel once again suffers a reliability issue. An issue with the Renault Turbo unit cut Vettel’s 100th F1 race short. However, Ricciardo made the most of what he was dealt and once again delivered a solid drive for the final step of the podium.

Fernando Alonso finished a distant and anonymous fourth and Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg held on for fifth place. Jenson Button’s sixth place gave McLaren its first point finish in three races ahead of Felipe Massa, Romain Grosjean, Jules Bianchi and Kevin Magnussen.

Brilliant Bianchi

Jules Bianchi was the star driver of the day as the Frenchman secured the first ever points for the Marussia team. Despite a five second stop/go penalty Bianchi finished in ninth place. Through whatever means it came about credit is due to the Marussia F1 Team. So often the smaller teams in F1 are forgotten but they fight as hard as anyone for every square inch of tarmac and that hard work has finally paid off for the team from Banbury.

Lewis Hamilton was affected by a vision problem late in the race which caused him to lose sight of his teammate. It cleared up a few laps later and this time he was able to maintain his position. If he is to be the champion again it is important for Hamilton to rise above the psychology of the fight and keep his eye on the prize.

Photos by Courtesy Pirelli and Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1

May 26, 2014