Tag: Lotus

Mercedes domination continues as Hamilton secures pole

After a three week break, Formula One is back with the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona. It was a sunny, hot day for the second dry dry qualifying session of the season, and the Mercedes drivers were set to battle it out between themselves for the pole position. Nico Rosberg took pole in the dry back in Bahrain but was not able to do the same today as team mate Lewis Hamilton put in a stonker of a qualifying lap to take the pole position ahead of the Spanish GP.

Daniel Ricciardo claimed third place behind the Mercedes pair but Red Bull’s challenge was stunted by more car problems for Sebastian Vettel who has had a torrid weekend all round. Ricciardo’s time in third was a full second off the pace of the Mercedes drivers as Hamilton and Rosberg continue to dominate the season.

Qualifying had hardly begun when Pastor Maldonado made his way into the wall on the inside of Turn 3, bringing out the red flags. “I lost the car,” was his message to his team after replays showed he lost the rear of the car into the turn and planted his car in the wall, destroying his front right suspension.

The session resumed with 13 minutes left on the clock and it was full steam ahead. Fernando Alonso bravely chose to not do a second run and his gamble paid off – he made it through to Q2 by just a few tenths but with an extra set of new mediums in the bag.

Adrian Sutil, Max Chilton, Jules Bianchi, Kamui Kobayashi, Marcus Ericsson and of course Pastor Maldonado were eliminated at the end of Q1.

Jean-Eric Vergne, who was handed a ten place grid penalty for a loose wheel during FP2, did not set a Q2 time and Kevin Magnussen also failed to set a time after McLaren found a problem with his car’s power unit.

Rosberg stayed ahead of Hamilton in Q2, the two of them separated by a tenth of a second.

Alonso was very nearly knocked out ending the session in tenth, less than a tenth of a second ahead of Nico Hulkenberg who was eliminated along with Sergio Perez, Daniil Kvyat, Esteban Gutierrez and of course Magnussen and Vergne.

The final qualifying session began much the same as the first, with a red flag early on. This time, caused by Sebastian Vettel who simply lost all drive. The Red Bull driver was unable to select second gear after leaving the pits and stopped at the next corner. A gearbox replacement could be on the cards which will cost him a further 5 places on the grid if that were to happen.

Once the session got underway again, Hamilton regained the edge over Rosberg and took the pole position and claimed the pole position over his team mate.

Valterri Bottas put in a brilliant effort to finish fourth and Romain Grosjean claimed an awesome fifth place for Lotus. Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button rounded out the Top 9 with Vettel left in 10th place.

We’re all set for what’s bound to be an exciting race tomorrow but unless the F1 gods themselves step in you can almost certainly put your money on either Lewis Hamilton or Nico Rosberg claiming the top step on the podium.

Below is the full time sheet for the qualifying session. Please join us for live chat and commentary during tomorrow’s race on Twitter @F1_Madness

May 10, 2014
Lewis Hamilton Heads Spanish FP 1

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time during free practice 1 for the 2014 Spanish grand prix.

The Formula 1 world championship return this weekend with the fifth round of the season at Spain Circuit de Catalunya. The weekend is an important one for those looking to close the gap to Mercedes and several teams are rolling out significant upgrades throughout the weekend.

Sebastian Vettel has been given a new chassis this weekend however a “complete electrical shutdown” curtailed his running in the first 1 and a half hour session. Giedo van der Garde, who stepped into the Sauber’s cockpit in place of Mexican Esteban Gutierrez, experienced a breathless moment as he suffered a partial front-brake failure into turn 1. Somehow the Dutch driver was able to avoid the barriers and bring the C33 safely back to the pit garage.

Lewis Hamilton set comparitively fewer laps than his competitors but was once again able to extract the quickest time from his car with relative ease. It wasn’t all smooth sailing for Mercedes as Nico Rosberg’s car was struck with a mite of unreliability. Suggestions were that the German driver’s car was being affected by a cooling issues however this was not confirmed.

McLaren’s Jenson Button ended the session as the second quickest driver with a time of 1:27:891 and a total of twenty-six laps on the board. The Brit has remained cautious about the team’s performance so far looking rather for an improvement this weekend than an overnight miracle.

Daniel Ricciardo ran a uninteruppted session which resulted in the third fastest time overall. Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen were fourth and sixth on the time sheets for Ferrari.

May 9, 2014
Spanish Grand Prix: Thursday Drivers Press Conference

DRIVERS:

Max CHILTON (Marussia)

Kevin MAGNUSSEN (McLaren)

Daniil KVYAT (Toro Rosso)

Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing)

Fernando ALONSO (Ferrari)

Pastor MALDONADO (Lotus)

PRESS CONFERENCE

Daniil, can I start with you? Three points finishes, one 11^th place, you must be quite pleased with the way things have started in the first four races?

Daniil KVYAT: Yeah, it’s going quite OK now. A bit of a shame not finishing in the points in Bahrain as well, but anyway you have to learn from something. So far we’ve been a bit on the limit of the points zone, but I hope that we can make some good steps and become even a bit more competitive, so we can take points a bit more easily. It would be a really good step but we are working hard together and soon it will be reachable.

So the story so far is that Jean-Eric Vergne your team-mate is three-one up on you in qualifying but you’re ahead of him in races. He’s had a few reliability issues in races but how do you see the balance between you, and your own progress?

DK: I’m not really looking too deeply into these scores and so on. We’ve been quite close. Don’t forget that Jean-Eric is a very fast driver and he’s in the peak of his shape probably now. Also very experienced. In the wet I have to admit he was very fast so far and in Bahrain it was a dry quali. Of course, he’s also been having a bit of issues. But in China it was a very good balance. I was quite happy in the race. I was quicker than him at that point but in the end we have to see in the future races.

Max, coming to you. The run continues: 23 consecutive finishes in your Formula One career, two 13^th places so far this season, are you proud of what’s been achieved so far?

Max CHILTON: Yeah, I am. Last year it wasn’t a perfect season but lots to take away from it. I remember someone asking me in me in Monza, I think, saying: ‘you’re 10 races in, that’s a good little record you’ve got going there’. And then I broke Tiago [Monteiro’s] record, which was 16 from a rookie start, and we though it would be nice to get to the end of the year, which we did. Credit to the team; that’s pretty good for a small team reliability-wise. And we’re four races in now and we’ve carried that on. It’s not our main goal, but where we are it’s absolutely crucial to finish the race as I’ve shown this year with the two 13ths. We did have good speed but we had to be there at the finish to make sure those results counted. So we will try to keep it going but our main focus is to try to get a bit more speed out of the car and myself.

Apart from Malaysia, in the races where you and Caterham have both finished Marussia has tended to be in front of them. Can you say a little bit about how you see that battle and also about how close you feel you are now to the teams in front of you?

MC: We’ve always had a good battle with Caterham. They kind of hold back sometimes, I think, in practice and qualifying and surprise us in the race. But I think this year, to me, our car is definitely better. We’re developing well. We’ve brought some good updates to here. I’m not sure if they have or not. It would be nice if we could push forward. Sauber hasn’t been too far ahead of us and we’ve been battling with them in at least the first few stints of the race and so… yeah, I guess you’ve got to focus on the cars in front, there’s no point in focusing on your mirrors, so we’ll try to improve our results this weekend.

Thanks for that. Coming to you Pastor. Obviously you’re a former winner here in Barcelona. Lotus in Q3 in qualifying in China, running in the top 10 obviously. How would you describe progress within the team?

Pastor MALDONADO: It’s clear that we have been progressing quite a lot in the last couple of races. Still maybe we were not at 100 per cent but we’ve been working really hard. Hopefully here with a bit more time, putting everything together we can be much more competitive and we can fight for good places. This is our main focus at the moment and I think we can. We have a good car, a good team. We have been not good enough with all the new engine system at the beginning but now it seems to be more clear in terms of technology, you know, controlling all the systems in the car and hopefully from this race to the end of the season it will be much better for us.

We’ve heard about a lot of new parts on the car this weekend and also power unit upgrades from Renault. What are you expecting and what are you expecting from yourself this weekend?

PM: I’m expecting to have no problems, a competitive car, and do my best. I the past I’ve been quite good here, so I think as soon as we manage to solve all the problems we will be back to fight for good places.

Sebastian, Red Bull have announced that you have a new chassis this weekend, so I wonder if you could share with us what’s in it, why do you need it? Obviously, we’ve heard you saying that you don’t feel that the car was talking to you; maybe you’d like to elaborate on that. So, what are you looking for from this car and how close do you think you’re getting to finding it?

Sebastian VETTEL: I think we concluded after China, where we were quite a little bit behind to change the chassis, so actually it’s not a new chassis, it’s an old one that we used in testing in the winter, and we have some experience with it. It’s more a sanity check rather than a real problem with the other chassis. So it’s just to try everything we can and basically reset and start again. Obviously there is still a lot of work ahead of us, as I mentioned after the first couple of races, maybe I’m not as happy as I want to be but it’s a long process, a lot of things have changed and I think we need to be patient.

Kevin, two-all versus Jenson, you personally have been three times in Q3, so Saturdays are going OK, but it’s been a rough couple of grands prix, the last two for you. Tell us about that?

Kevin MAGNUSSEN: Well, I think I’ve learned a lot. It’s been good in many ways as well. Obviously we’re not where we want to be and we need to keep working really hard to get there. But I think I have learned a lot and there have been many positive points to take away from the last two races. It’s no secret that we are not where we want to be; it’s not that we’re happy or that I’m happy. We just need to work hard, keep working hard. The team is doing a great job. They are staying positive, although they are not happy with the position. They are staying strong and keeping the fighting spirit up. So, yeah, I’m pretty happy with how things are going in terms of the progress we’re making.

It’s unusual for McLaren to have two races where you score no points with either car. How has the team reacted to that internally?

KM: Well, in Bahrain I think we would have scored points. China was not good for us. It was a bit of a shock how far off the pace we were but again I think we learned a lot. We know China is probably the worst circuit for us at the moment, but we’ll just see how it goes here.

Fernando, a two-time winner here, winner last year in a Ferrari. Tough start to the season clearly but third place last time out in China. How much encouragement has that given you and the team, and how big a step have you brought with you here this weekend in terms if updates?

Fernando ALONSO: The China result is a boost for all the team – extra motivation to keep working hard. As you said we are not in a position we are happy with. We start with some deficit to the top teams, especially Mercedes who won the first four races and is dominating now with good margins, so we try to decrease that gap and we try to get closer and closer. To do that we need to make bigger steps than what the other teams will do. For here, to be honest, we need to wait and see. I think the characteristics of the circuit will help us a little bit, with not too big straights – only one here on the finish line. About the new parts, we bring some new parts but nothing out of this world. I don’t think we will be different compared to any other top team in terms on what we bring here, or even less. We need to see. As I said, track characteristics are the biggest help we have here.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: (Mathias Brunner – Speedweek.com) Sebastian, not to use the same chassis again, how much of a ‘black cat’ decision was that?

SV: Not really. I think it’s not unusual to change chassis, generally. Obviously if you change, you change to a new one, but we decided, as I said before, to change back to an older chassis just to make sure nothing is wrong. Just to see, or basically change the things that you can, to have a reset and try again. We don’t think that there was anything wrong with the old chassis but nevertheless we decided to change, so if so we should get an answer this weekend.

Q: (Jackob Melgaaro – Metro express Denmark) For Kevin, how do compare the car after the break to the car you drove at the last grand prix and how do feel about this track in Barcelona?

KM: We don’t know how the car feels, we haven’t driven it yet since the last race, so we’ll have to wait and see. I don’t expect it to feel a lot different. We are bringing a few new parts but nothing that is going to change the world. This track is the first track on the calendar this year that I’ve been to before, so that’s nice. It’s nice to be in Europe again, so feeling a bit more at home. So I’m looking forward to it.

Q: (Manuel Franco Peral – Diario AS) Fernando, podium is a real goal for you here in Spain?

FA: No, I don’t think so. We cannot start the weekend thinking to be on the podium. Or thinking to win the race. That will be creating… y’know, false targets to everyone who will come here. We finished ninth and tenth in Bahrain, we did podium in China because we had some things putting together on that Sunday but it’s not that we are in a position now to say we will fight for the podium here. We will do our best but we know it is going to be a tough weekend and it’s not going to be easy. But, you never know, this is sport and anything can happen but today, sitting here, if I tell you that I will fight for the podium, probably I will lie to you and I don’t want to do so for all the people coming.

Q: (Renan Do Couto – Warm Up) Question for Fernando. Fernando, after four races this season Kimi has only 11 points. At the same point last season Felipe Massa had 30 points. Does it show that Ferrari need much more than a driver-change to get back on the title fight?

FA: I don’t know really. We are not in a position at the moment that we expect. We thought to be more competitive and we struggle, as everyone sees, at the start of the season. I think it is the same for all the teams that we are facing some problems, apart from Mercedes, they had an easy four races, four wins. But, you know, we will work hard. We will work hard to come back in a better position and the start of Felipe or the start of Kimi was not the best in terms of points but I think hopefully soon they will be close to the podium or to the victories and we, both Ferraris, can score many points for the team.

Q: (Ralf Bach – Sport-Bild) Question to Fernando. When I listen to your, let me say, remembrance from China, between the lines I could hear that maybe the driver was better than the car in this weekend – or on the Sunday?

FA: I think the car is always what it is. The car never changes. The driver, also, sometimes you have better luck, sometimes you have worse luck. In China, for example, I have a crash at the start and nothing happened to my car and I could finish the race. I think the Red Bulls, they were fighting a little bit, they lost a little bit of time and I could be there. My pitstops were very quick. In the first stop I overtook Sebastian in that lap, so there were many factors together that put us on the podium. But, y’know, we need to do very special weekends to be on the podium and China was one of those. Lucky. And some other factors. So arriving here, sitting on Thursday on the next press conference. To repeat that podium will be unbelievable. But it’s not, at the moment, our main target.

Q: (Vladimir Rogovets – Sb Belarus) My question is for Sebastian and Fernando. You are the champions. How long can you work without first place in the podium?

SV: Well, I think – and Fernando will probably say the same – we’re here to win. I’m not coming here to finish second or fifth – but you have to be realistic and the target is always to get the maximum out of yourself, out of the car, out of the package that you have. And you can get a lot of satisfaction if you achieve that. So, it means basically if a podium is in reach or P5 is the best you can do then you need to ensure to become fifth. If you then become seventh it is not satisfying. But surely, ultimately we are here to win. That’s the target but obviously you know much better what’s going on inside your team and how competitive you are. So yeah, there’s a lot of things that need to come together. Right now, obviously, we have Mercedes in a very, very strong position. Difficult to beat but never impossible.

FA: Unfortunately I have a lot more experience! So, yeah, there is nothing really you can do apart from try to do the best job you can and try to find different goals. Obviously we are here all to win. My last win was last year, here. So it’s one year without victories. I would like not to have that long period. On the other hand, we are 22 drivers on the grid and maybe 20 are in a worse position than me. So, I cannot also be… y’know, blaming my luck for that. I’m extremely lucky and a very privileged guy, so, you need to keep working and if your boss is happy with you, that’s something very important.

Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Sebastian, Christian said in Autosport today that you are extremely sensitive to rear stability on corner entry. But that was… last year you were using the rear instability to turn the car into the corners. Can you explain what it is about this year’s car that you don’t like and why you’ve not been able to adapt to it so far?

SV: Well, I think generally we all have our own style to how we like to drive the car, how to set up the car. I think in general I don’t mind when the rear’s moving so I don’t mind suffering or having oversteer in the car. But if it is too much obviously if it starts to bother you when the car slides too much, then you find yourself correcting more than actually being able to push or get the maximum out of the car. And, yeah, it slows you down. I think that has been part of the problem so far. There’s lots of reasons behind it so it would be nice to have just one problem and one fix for that but obviously it got a lot more complex this year. There’s a lot more factors than just the car setup. So yeah, we’re still learning a lot. We did already a lot of improvement but there’s still obviously a lot to do. But I think generally you never change your… the way you like to drive a car or your style I think doesn’t change.

Q: (Cristobal Rosaleny – Car and Driver) Question for Sebastian. You’re changing now chassis. You have spent four races with problems behind Daniel Ricciardo. Do you feel this time you have lost is a bad thing for you for your own progress during the season and could affect the rest of the season for you?

SV: Surely if I had won the first four races it would be better for my season that what I did! Yeah, it is what it is. There’s two ways. You can always look back and try to find something to complain about – or you can look forward. And I think in general we are trying to look forward to the next race. There’s a lot more races this year to come and for sure we didn’t score as many points as we hoped. But then again after winter testing I think we were in a very bad position. I think right from the first race it was probably better than what we initially expected. Lots of positives with Daniel’s podium in Australia – which obviously got taken away – but then the podium in Malaysia showed that we are on the right track but knew, just reading the feeling inside the car that it’s not yet where we want to be. And you also see that in the results. As I said, there is a lot of work but I think we are generally quite good in getting the maximum out of the car. At the moment there’s a couple of things that we need to get on top of and then it should be a different story.

Q: (Daniel Johnson – Daily Telegraph): Seb, looking forward it’s no secret that your car’s good in the corners but not so good at the straight bits in between. How much are you and the team – particularly considering it’s the start of the European season – relying on Renault to make a big step forward for you to mount some kind of a championship challenge?

SV: As you mentioned, it’s not a big secret. If you look at the sector times or comparisons that we have available, we currently lose out too much on the straights – but there’s always hope, obviously. Again, you have to look at it from the start. Where we started in winter testing was unfortunately way, way off compared to where we wanted to, in all means. Talking about the car, we set fire to the car nearly every run. Talking about the engine, obviously we were not on the same page that we expected to be, both in terms of reliability and performance. So, since that, I think we had a very, very strong comeback but obviously you miss that time of development. But I think there’s always hope. Just look at Ferrari, for example, the last race, the step that they did was mostly in straight line. I think they got a better fuel and picked up around 7kph on the straights. So… we know that our disadvantage is more than 7kph to the Mercedes which are currently the benchmark down the straights but things can change quickly. We need to make sure we push 100 per cent on the car and also on the engine side. In the end we are a team: Renault and Red Bull Racing, so both parties know that we need to push very hard to make sure that we beat these guys and also the currently strongest team with Mercedes.

Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday) Sebastian, you’re changing chassis at this race, why not a new chassis? And the second part: does the chassis have a name?

SV: Same as before. It’s not that much of a black cat, I hope.

Q: (Carlos Miguel – La Gaceta) Fernando, this morning Toto Wolff said that you are a real race monster. He said that Ferrari is the biggest enemy in the championship; what do you think of these words?

FA: About the monster, it depends how you take it. At least he’s a man. If it was a woman who said that I was a monster it would be even worse. We need to do it step by step. As I said, we need to be realistic with the position that we have. We will not give up, there’s a big gap and a big gap in points and in performance with Mercedes but there’s still a long way to go in the championship so we will try to do our best. As a team, and with the potential that Ferrari has, we must do anything we can to close that gap and to become competitive. That will not happen between one race to the next one, that will be a slow recovery and hopefully not too late when we become competitive in terms of points to fight for the championship but let’s do it race by race. China, as I said, was a combination of things and very good luck to get that podium. Here in Barcelona, it’s a good point to check how competitive we are, because it’s a circuit with different characteristics again and a circuit that will give us an answer in some of the parameters and some of the areas that we need to find some answers. Monaco is the next one, then Canada – again a completely different circuit so we are in a moment of the championship that will tell us many many things in terms of how competitive we can be and how much of a threat we can be for Mercedes. If they count on us for the championship fight, it’s good news because they respect us but we need to deliver if we want to really become a threat, so we are on that, that work.

Q: (Silvia Reneé Arias – Parabrisas) Fernando, I want to know if you find any change in the Ferrari team after Stefano Domenicali left?

FA: Not really. At the moment, everything is more or less the same. I have been in Maranello last week. Everything is calm and no big changes, nothing really that you’re going to spot that is different at the moment. As I said in China, Marco (Mattiaci) arrived – as we said – with little experience in motor racing, a lot of experience on the managerial side but he’s listening, he’s learning as quickly as he can in everything. I don’t think Marco wants to become an engineer because that’s not his priority at the moment but he will need some time to settle down and to make some changes, some decisions if he thinks they are needed. As I said, in the two or three weeks that he’s in the job, nothing has really changed at the moment. He needs more time.

Q: How much are you guiding him; how much are you contributing to that?

FA: We had some meetings, obviously, to try to help him in all the areas. He’s quite interested to listen to everyone. He called all the engineers and all the engine side, electronics, the drivers, we are going to his office and try to explain all our points of view and all our requirements. As I said, he’s taking note of everything and he will make the necessary changes, what he thinks is best for the team. Hopefully that’s a good thing for Ferrari to move forward and to improve some things, some historical mistakes that we’ve made in the past and we will see if this fresh approach… and not influence about any technical things because, as I said, he’s not an engineer. Hopefully that will help Ferrari.

Q: (Valenti Fradera – L’Esportiu) To all of you: the circuit Barcelona Catalunya used to be the venue of choice for pre-season testing but this year you haven’t run here yet. Will that change how you approach the weekend, and will we get to see more laps than usual tomorrow during free practice?

PM: Even without any tests, it will be same approach as the other tracks, for sure. I was quite interested to run before this season, because it’s a good track, a good combination of corners, good weather but it’s what we have so it will be the same.

MC: Yeah, it will be pretty similar. Obviously when we’ve come here in the past we’d pretty much know the ideal set-up for the circuit. Obviously the cars have changed drastically since last year so there will be a lot more to find out now we haven’t done any pre-season (testing) here. And we’ve now got the extra set(of tyres) in the first thirty minutes of free practice which we can use so there will definitely be more laps completed but if you compare it to China, for example, it won’t be any different.

Q: Kevin and Dan are obviously rookies (in F1) but you’ve got personal experience of this circuit, even if it’s not necessarily in Formula One.

KM: I don’t think it’s going to be a lot different – the approach to this weekend than the other weekends. Personally, I like this track, I think it’s a good track, the mix of corners. As I’ve said before, it’s a track that I’ve been to a lot of times, so it’s nice to feel at home here but other than that, it’s just a normal weekend.

DK: For me as a driver I don’t think it’s going to change a lot compared to other years we’ve been coming here. It’s my first time here in Formula One as well so let’s see how it will start going tomorrow.

SV: I don’t think it makes a difference. We didn’t run in Bahrain. I think that even if we had had the test here in the winter it would make a difference. But usually it’s quite cold in winter time, so when you come here in May it’s quite a big difference, so you need to use the time that you have available in free practice, but I don’t think we can run as much as we’d like to because we’ve all got the safety… the engines. We will see, but for sure the running tomorrow will be important.

FA: Nothing to add, really.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – Universo On Line) To all of you: when you have one driver from a team that has a car that is winning everything – like Mercedes – and your team needs to win three times in a row (to catch them up), how does it work for teammates? For example, the guy who is behind, does it stimulate him to try to win or does it work in the opposite direction?

FA: Yeah, I said waiting for Rosberg. I don’t know really. For this, when it happens, it was a question for Mark last year, when Sebastian won nine times. For Rosberg now. It’s not so difficult to know what you’re experiencing. Probably I will answer because I will have the experience, but now… of course, I think Rosberg would like to win, that’s for sure.

SV: I would hate Lewis now, if I was Nico.

PM: I would hate Lewis as well. It’s a difficult answer. For sure, you always want to beat your teammate, you always want to do your best and to be ahead of your most close contender. For sure, it’s not ideal to always be at the back but in my opinion, they are both competitive, sometimes one is quicker than the other and sometimes it’s vice versa. It’s a difficult answer because it depends about any driver.

MC: It would be nice to be in that position, obviously. It’s hard to beat someone who never gives up and Rosberg, I’m sure, will never give up. I’m sure he will get his fair share of wins back. Sometimes if you’re constantly winning you sometimes let things slip so if you just make sure you just keep giving 100 percent, he will definitely get other race wins.

KM: I don’t have anything to add.

DK: I don’t want to talk for others but if I have to talk for myself there’s never a huge friendship between teammates so I think you always want to be in front of everyone and there are some circumstances, sometimes if you’re teammate is in front of you, it means that there is something that you can maybe do better but once again, there are different circumstances.

May 9, 2014
F1 Paddock Ups Its Game For Spain

In some cases traditional can be interpreted as being out-dated or bland. But sometimes the tried and tested brings its own unique concoction of nostalgia and character to the table. The Formula 1 paddock returns to Europe for a dose of Spain’s historic Circuit de Catalunya and the fifth round of the season.

Despite the few opportunities for testing, all drivers know the 4.655 km layout like the back of their hands. The circuit is a highly challenging one which demands a good combination between power and aerodynamics – the perfect barometer for car performance.

The return to Europe will be the hot-bed for major upgrades up and down the paddock. Some teams have stated more measured aims than others but the common thread will be improvement.

Sauber

Since the start of the testing season in January the C33 Sauber had a significant weight disadvantage. The Swiss team has so far struggled to match the heights of their 2013 season and have spent the last three weeks on reducing the car’s weight.

The team, led by Monisha Kaltenborn, will also introduce a ‘major aerodynamic update.’ A modified front wing, new engine cover, and new sidepod fins and deflectors are believed to be among the parts being rolled out this weekend. In addition, Ferrari has provided a software update to its customer teams which will deliver improved performance from its power units.

Sauber’s aim of a solid points finish seems modest however the team have not registered on the points table in any of the four races so far.

McLaren

The team’s fortune’s seemed to have turned when Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen delivered a double podium finish in Australia. However, going pointless in both Bahrain and China has prodded a management re-shuffle. The restructure and the appointment of key new aero staff have resulted in the hiring of Tony Salter from Sauber and Guillaume Cattelani from Lotus.

Changes have also been made to the way the team operates as McLaren set out to “restore some leadership.” It’s clear that McLaren’s focus on running of the team tells that they believe the MP4-29 to be a good package. The only issue that exists, as McLaren’s re-shuffling suggest, is to find the most effective way of unlocking its potential and carrying it to the front of the grid.

Lotus

The Lotus F1 Team has suffered the biggest loss of form in comparison to 2013. By reaching their simple goal of seeing the chequered flag the team can now start to focus on improving the drivability of the car. “We’ve got a new cooling and bodywork package coming – quite a big upgrade – plus some updates to the rear wing and various other bodywork parts,” said technical director Nick Chester.

Lotus, who runs Renault power, also welcomed more horsepower from Renault Sport F1 in China and is hoping for further upgrades in Barcelona.

Mercedes

Toto Wolff has cautioned his Mercedes team by saying that staying ahead of their competitors will not be enough to ensure victory at the end of the season.

“Our aim must be to increase the advantage we enjoyed at the last race in China,” said Wolff. “We have seen already that our rivals are relentless in their efforts to close the gap.”

Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel has, unexpectedly, been in the shadow of teammate Daniel Ricciardo in nearly all of the first four races. Red Bull is not chalking up to one driver simply out-performing the other however. The team has been looking into whether an underlying fault with Vettel’s 2014 car has contributed to the reigning world champion’s struggles. If the team has found a fault with the four-time champion’s car they have not revealed it.

It has been confirmed that a new version (chassis) of the RB10 has been built in Milton-Keynes and will be ready for use by Vettel in Spain.

The Spanish circuit made its F1 debut in 1991 and has been the sight of several memorable victories. In 2014 Mercedes are the undoubted favourites. But the fascination of the weekend will centre on how close the opposition can get to unseating the high-flying Silver Arrows.

May 8, 2014
Hamilton claims masterful Chinese Grand Prix pole

Lewis Hamilton claimed his fourth pole position with a time of 1.53.860 ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix in a rather damp and drizzly qualifying session. In doing so, the Briton surpassed Jim Clark’s record for pole positions by a British driver.

Daniel Ricciardo will start second on the grid tomorrow after out-qualifying Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel by half a second. But Ricciardo’s Red Bull was a full 0.6 seconds off Hamilton who was fastest in all three qualifying sessions. The Mercedes driver’s 34th pole position moves him one clear of two-time world champion Jim Clark, and places him fourth in the all-time record list behind Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, and Vettel.

Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg had looked set to challenge Hamilton for pole position, but the German made two costly mistakes in the final session which resulted in him only qualifying in fourth place.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso set the fifth fastest time under the watchful eye of new team principal Marco Mattiacci. The Williams duo of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas brought their cars home in 6th and 7th places. Nico Hülkenberg was eighth, with Jean-Éric Vergne and Romain Grosjean rounding out the top 10 qualifiers.

Several of the top drivers did not make it through to Q3 including Kimi Raikkonen who came close to being eliminated in Q1 already but set the 11^th fastest time in the end. Fellow world champion, Jenson Button also failed to impress an only managed 12^th.

Pastor Maldonado will start from the back of the grid after power unit problems kept his Lotus E22 parked in his garage.

After plenty of wet running so far this weekend, we are not expecting rain for the race tomorrow. What we are expecting is more Mercedes dominance and if Lewis Hamilton has anything to say about – come rain or shine – he’ll be holding the trophy on the top step of the podium tomorrow.

Join us for what’s bound to be an action packed race tomorrow. We’ll be running live commentary on Twitter @F1_Madness with pre and post race news, analysis and quotes from the teams and drivers.

Full timesheet for the Chinese Grand Prix qualifying:

April 19, 2014
F1 2014: Chinese GP Preview – Mercedes battle resumes in China

The Shanghai International Circuit is properly modern Formula 1 track – A gigantic complex of grandstands, large run-off areas and an intricate track layout incorporating long straights, high-speed corners and several chances for overtaking.

The Shanghai International circuit and paddock is an engineering feat which speaks to the country’s determination to be a part of the world’s most prestigious racing series. Thirteen months is all that was needed to convert the swampland to an internationally recognised racing mecca.

Since making its debut in 2004 the Chinese grand prix has seen its own share of Formula 1 drama. In 2005 Renault clinched the constructor’s championship title as Fernando Alonso headed towards his first driver’s crown; four years later a young Sebastian Vettel won his first Formula 1 race for Red Bull; and the most dramatic of the lot was the retirement of Lewis Hamilton during the 2007 race which ultimately handed the initiative to Kimi Raikkonen, the eventual champion that season.

The track layout is typical Herman Tilke, F1’s preferred track designer. Long straights and medium to high-speed corners are abundant, as is the amount of run-off. Overtaking won’t a scarcity this weekend as the Shanghai circuit boasts the longest straight on the Formula 1 calendar. The tight hairpin at the end of the straight will be the prime overtaking zone on Sunday however Shanghai provides several further chances. The intricate complex of turn one/two is a key positioner for an overtaking manoeuvre into turn six. The only defence will be to have a car with good traction out of the slow speed corners.

The weather for the Chinese GP tends to be fairly cool with a track temperature ranging from the high teens to early twenties. The lower temperature is good news for those teams who have been struggling with overheating power units. The likelihood of rain at some point of the weekend is a possibility; and given the performance deficit to the Mercedes team some may even be do a few rain dances themselves.

Unless, there has been a dramatic reversal of form and pace over the last fourteen days the fight to be best of the rest is the most that Red Bull, Williams, McLaren and Ferrari can hope for. Kimi Raikkonen has said that his Ferrari team is “not stupid” and that he believes the team has the ability to turn around their deficit to the frontrunners. The fighting words from Raikkonen will be appreciated by those slogging it out in Maranello. However, with the 2014 season already into its fourth race the question is how fast Ferrari can affect a turnaround in their performance.

In China the Ferrari engine will most likely still be lacking power in comparison to the Mercedes power unit. Nevertheless, the F14T fared fairly well in the high-speed corners of Malaysia’s Sepang circuit which is a feature of this 5.541 km track. However, Ferrari’s biggest change in China will be the absence of the recently “resigned” Stefano Domenicalli. This significant shake-up in the team may have been building for quite some time but is a rather messy situation to deal with in the thick of the season. The question remains if Ferrari’s latest change will the ‘upgrade’ they desperately need or if it is a sign of a much more complicated problem.

The Mercedes’ team domination may lead some to suggest that it’s all a bit predictable. But what they may not be factoring into the equation is the exhilarating clash between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. Their breathless battle for victory in Bahrain ensured the highest viewership ratings since the 2012 finale and has been the talk of F1 pages throughout the globe. The prospect of these two re-igniting their spine-tingling duel for supremacy is enough to whet any fanatic’s appetite.

April 17, 2014
Q & A: Lotus’ Nick Chester says the E22 has “great potential”

Lotus’s Nick Chester talks about the E22’s potential, the upcoming Chinese Grand Prix, qualifying, and car development.

Q: Where does the E22 stand heading to China?
Nick Chester: The E22 has tremendous potential even if we are only gradually unlocking it. in the Bahrain grand Prix we  were closer to Mercedes, Williams and McLaren than we have been previously. Our race-pace gap to the Williams and McLaren is now half a second and it was over a second in Sepang, so we’ve made a decent incremental improvement. although we were still not quick enough in Bahrain, we actually don’t need to find much more performance before we can be regularly in the points, which when you consider where we started from, is encouraging. We are about level with Toro Rosso for pace at the moment. Were it not for the safety car incident in Bahrain, Pastor would have been fighting for our first point. That’s not where we want to be, but we’re on the edge of the points during what are still very early days for the E22.

Q: We seem to struggle in qualifying at present?
Nick Chester: Our qualifying pace hasn’t been on the same level to our race pace. We made quite a bit of progress during Bahrain, getting quicker during each session. in Q2 a further 1.2 seconds would have put us fourth, rather than 16th. We know we are still at a very early stage with the E22 – more so than our rivals – and there are clear areas where we know the performance can be extracted.

Q: Just how much more is there to come from the car?
Nick Chester: I think we’ve got a lot more to learn about the E22 than the other teams. We learn something every time the car takes to the track, with every lap. We’ve also got some aerodynamic developments that should be interesting to evaluate for China, when we are hoping for a bit more out of the power unit as well, both reliability and pace wise.

Q: Why was track time so limited at the Bahrain test?
Nick Chester: It was all power unit issues unfortunately. We’re working very closely with Renault Sport F1 to understand why we have faced so many challenges in this regard. Clearly we all want to put reliability concerns behind us so we can focus on performance and showing our true pace.

Q: How has the relative lack of track time affected the development programme?
Nick Chester: It means you have to prioritise what parts to evaluate, so we’ve had to adapt our programme for China because of this. We’re going to attempt to get as much as we can out of FP1 and FP2 in Shanghai to test new parts, but ultimately we’ve delayed the introduction of some key developments until Barcelona now.

Q: What areas are you focusing on with the new parts?
Nick Chester: We have a lot of aero parts we want to evaluate throughout the E22, including an evolution to our nose. Expect to see some bodywork upgrades in China and then a bigger upgrade in Barcelona.

Q: What is the outlook for China?
Nick Chester: It should be better than Bahrain. Bahrain was an obvious power circuit, as you could see from the way the cars lined up on the grid. China’s got a long back straight, however there are more slow and medium speed corners than Bahrain, so that gives us the chance to try and get closer to the front.

Q: Where will the biggest performance gains come from with the E22?
Nick Chester: There are quite a few areas. Partly because of how immature the car is we haven’t managed to evaluate all the performance capabilities we want to yet. The big areas i would say are braking, aero and the power unit.

Q: Pastor was attempting to try a different tyre strategy in Bahrain. Has the E22 inherited the gentle tyre-wear characteristics of its predecessors?
Nick Chester: It’s possibly a bit early in the season to say, but it did look like Pastor was going to be quite good on his tyres in Bahrain. The 2014 generation of Pirelli is certainly different from last year’s, but there are always strategy gains to be made from prolonging the tyre performance longer than our rivals.

Source: Lotus F1 Team

April 14, 2014
F1 2014: In Season Test,Bahrain – Rosberg Continues Mercedes Dominance

Mercedes driver Nico Roberg set the fastest time on the first day of testing in Bahrain.

In-season testing returned to Formula 1 in 2014 with two days of running at the Sakhir International Circuit. Six further days, or three additional tests, are scheduled throughout the rest of the season. All eleven teams were present during the first of day of testing which was headed by Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg.

The German driver completed a total 121 laps with a time of 1:35:697 nearly four tenths clear of Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg. Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso was third on the timing sheets but remained a second adrift of Rosberg’s Mercedes. However, the Spaniard believes that the Ferrari’s performance around the Bahrain track may be a once-off. “We are missing some of the characteristics that this track has so in China I expect [we will be] more competitive, Barcelona, Monaco, there are some circuits coming that we need to get some podiums at, hopefully,” said Alonso. “It’s not good. We would like to have extra speed and be able to battle with anyone but at the moment we miss on that aspect.”

McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen finished fourth at the end of day one with a time of 1:36:634 and was the only other driver to complete more than 100 laps. The difficult start to the season continued for the Lotus team as new signing Pastor Maldonado completed only sixteen laps.

Lewis Hamilton will take over testing for the Mercedes team on day two.

April 9, 2014
2014 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

DRIVERS:

Jules BIANCHI (Marussia)

Jean-Eric VERGNE (Toro Rosso)

Marcus ERICSSON (Caterham)

Nico HULKENBERG (Force India)

Jenson BUTTON (McLaren)

Romain GROSJEAN (Lotus)

PRESS CONFERENCE

Jenson, if we could start with you. Obviously you’ll reach 250 grand prix this weekend – congratulations on that. Later this year I guess you’ll become the third most experienced grand prix driver of all time. Maybe your thoughts on that what lessons you’ve learned along the way.

Jenson BUTTON: I’ve learned a lot along the way, as you can imagine, racing for 14 years in Formula One. The thing that surprises me is how quickly it goes by. Fifty races ago I was in Hungary, celebrating my 200^thgrand prix, which I won by the way! So, it’s amazing how time flies. You really do have to enjoy every moment of it as much as you can. For me, being 14 years in the sport, I still feel like I have more to learn. I’m definitely not the perfect driver yet, and I never will be, but there is always still more to learn. That’s something, for me, that’s exciting about the sport. New regulations obviously are changing the sport quite a lot, especially with these new regulations, and again, you always have more to learn. For me that’s what keeps the sport exciting and that’s what has kept me on my toes for the last 14 years and hopefully for many more.

Judging from the first two races and also from some of the messages from the team, it seems that McLaren is a bit better perhaps in the cooler conditions than it was in the heat of Malaysia. What are you expecting this weekend – we’re in a warm place but it’s a night race?

JB: Well, we have a good engine, which helps us here. There isn’t as much high speed as Malaysia and Malaysia was also hot. So hot and high-speed corners are tricky for us. It’s an area we know we’ve got to work on, high-speed downforce. So, here it should be quite a bit better. Fuel consumption is pretty tricky here though, I think for everyone, some more than others for some reason. There’s a lot of work needed before the race to get the right balance for a night race – our first night race here, which should be pretty interesting.

Coming to you Marcus. Obviously your first Formula One finish, in Malaysia – congratulations on 14^th place? Can you describe your feelings and the progress at Caterham?

Marcus ERICSSON: Yeah, it was a good feeling to finish my first F1 race. I think we have done good progress. It’s been a tough, a difficult year so far, with the problems we had in pre-season and then Australia was obviously a very difficult weekend for the whole team. But we’ve been working really hard and making progress all the time, which is the key for us. To have both cars finishing in Malaysia in our home race was a great effort from everyone. Hopefully now in Bahrain we can continue to work forward and first of all a trouble-free Friday, so we can start setting up the car and then see what we can get form the set-up.

I wonder if being a rookie in a year with such new and complex machinery proved harder or easier than you expected?

ME: It’s been quite hard because especially in pre-season there were quite a lot of issues. So it was difficult to get ready for it before you arrive in Australia, with very limited running. So I wouldn’t say it’s easier but it’s been alright.

Jules, coming to you, obviously a very frustrating first couple of grands prix for you in Australia and Malaysia, with very few race laps. But the car seems to have run OK the rest of the time. I wonder what your feelings are at this point?

Jules BIANCHI: Yeah, obviously the feeling is not the best. We are trying very hard to improve everything. For sure the car is running well at the moment. We had a small issue in Australia before the start but now it’s fine all that. Another issue on the first lap in Malaysia but actually we don’t have big problems on the car, so this is the positive thing and now we have to have everything going well for the next races.

As Jenson was saying it’s the first time we have a night race here in Bahrain. I wonder what your thoughts are on that and how it will add to the challenge of racing here?

JBi: Well, obviously the lights will be good, as it’s always good on night races in Formula One, so I don’t expect that to be a big challenger. But it will be good to have a night race in Bahrain. I think it will be a nice one for us.

Nico, obviously the last two grand prix, two fantastic battles with Fernando Alonso and Ferrari. Give us some insight into those two battles and what it’s been like from your cockpit.

Nico HULKENBERG: Well, I think Australia was not quite a battle. I was just driving in front of him and he overtook me by strategy. And in Malaysia there was not much I could offer in the end. I was struggling on my tyres; he was on a fresh set of softs. Still I was trying to make him work a little bit for the move. But it was always clear that he, coming two second a lap at me, that I don’t have to offer so much. But I think a really positive start to the season for us at Force India. Eighteen points for me already, which is good. I feel we have a good foundation but we need to keep pushing and I need to keep the momentum up because it’s a good opportunity to collect good points this early in the season.

This race last year was obviously one of the strongest for Force India last season. Is there much optimism within the team going into this weekend’s race?

NH: Absolutely. The whole team is very positive, everybody is working in the right direction. We had two strong races, we’re basically trying to keep the races and keep plugging away at good results. I think here this weekend here is a little trickier. In Malaysia, we had surprisingly good performance on Sunday maybe stronger than we expected. We were quite clear on McLaren and Williams, which was a little bit of a surprise, but I think here things might be a bit more tricky and a bit more tight.

Q: Jean-Eric, double points finish for Toro Rosso in Australia, Daniil Kvyat in the points in Malaysia; is it fair to say Toro Rosso has started this season on the front foot, feeling competitive?
Jean-Eric VERGNE: Yeah, I think Toro Rosso has done a massively good job during the winter and even before that, produced a good car and I believe there is still a lot more to come from this team. Many things have changed in a good way and you can definitely feel it inside the team and I’m really happy, they’ve showed some really good results. I think if I didn’t have a problem, I think we could have finished again in the points, a double points finish in Malaysia as well, and that’s what we’re going to try and do here in Bahrain. But overall, I think it’s a good start but the good thing is that I’m sure there is a lot more to come.

Q: Speaking of changes, can you talk a little about the changes that you’ve made, in that some of the people you’re working with, the way you’re going racing this year?

JEV: I’ve changed many things, I would say. I will not go into much detail but I needed to change my approach a little bit and I think the changes that I’ve made have been in the right direction. I feel better as a human being and as a racing driver as well, and enjoying more of what I do; I can see that already inside the team, outside the track and on the track. As for the team, I think I still have a lot more to give, so it’s all positive so far.

Q: Romain, obviously 11^th in Malaysia, close to the points but not quite there. It’s been a real up and down couple of Grands Prix for you. I wonder if you could describe your emotions and how they’ve evolved over the last couple of races.

Romain GROSJEAN: Yeah, I won’t say exactly everything I could say inside my helmet sometimes. I think it was good for all the guys that we could finish the Malaysian Grand Prix. Of course it was not the way you would like to see when you start a Grand Prix but at the moment that’s where we are plus we were not that far from the points. I think without a small issue at the end of the race, we could probably have got closer and maybe fight for points but it was good and as I said, the guys had three nights in Melbourne when they didn’t sleep, all that for not a big reward. And then we went to Malaysia and again, they worked very hard and we all know it’s humid and hot there so conditions were tough but we managed to get to the end of the race. I think we learned more about our car and we wish from now on that we get troublefree weekends as was the case on Saturday and Sunday and then from there we can learn, improve and get closer to where we would like to be.

Q: Do you feel that the team is on a path back to where it was; how long is it going to take?

RG: Yeah, I don’t know, to be honest. I know that we still have in our genes the winning spirit and we can still fight back. Of course, when you start the season with everything in the right direction it’s easier to move forward but at the moment we’ve had some issues, we’ve solved most of them, hopefully no more coming, then we can go from there. Of course, Renault is well aware that the power unit needs to improve a little bit compared to certain other manufacturers, but I think it’s going to be good and we can work on our car.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Vincent Marre – Sports Zeitung) Jenson, in all the seasons that you’ve been racing now, which car has been the most memorable for you? Not the year or the season but the specific car. There must be one.

JB: There have been quite a few, for different reasons. 2009 obviously was good, it was the year I won the World Championship so an enjoyable car to drive. I liked the big front tyres that we use to have as well. 2011 was good fun. It was quite difficult because we had the blown diffuser that everyone had but it was quite unusual to drive, but when you got used to it, there was so much downforce, it was pretty awesome. But then if you look back, 2004 was also a great year: V10 engines, 900 horsepower, revving to 20,000rpm. Obviously there was a tyre war then as well. Most of the lap times that were achieved then, the fastest laps, have not been beaten in ten years. That was a pretty special car to drive as well. All very different eras in the sport, if you like.. It’s great to have been around through the V10, V8 and now the V6 periods. I think it’s been some exciting times that I’ve had in my career.

Q: (Luis Fernando Ramos – Racing Magazine) To all drivers: in less than one month, motor sport will pay tribute to Ayrton Senna on the 20^th anniversary of his passing. I would like you to recall what impact that Sunday at Imola had on your lives and the ones who were too young to remember, maybe how Ayrton Senna relates to you as a driver?

NH: What that Sunday had, the impact of that Sunday? Not many memories, it was just my first contacts with motor racing and therefore I can’t really remember so much of it but obviously having heard a lot of stories and have seen a documentary, obviously he was a very passionate guy about the sport, about racing and was always pushing the limit very hard.

JB: Obviously I was four years old when this happened, so I don’t remember many things but let’s say I remember just the fact that all the people were loving him so this is what I remember the most.

JEV: Same as Jules. I was four years old so I have absolutely no memory of this but obviously it took me a few years to realise who he was and what he has done for the sport. I think everybody has a massive respect for this guy. Obviously I love all the sportsmen that changed the philosophy of world sport, like Michael Jordan in basketball; I believe he is part of the really big sportsmen of any kind of sport, Ayrton Senna, and I think that’s why everybody loved him.

ME: Yes, the same, I was four years old so I don’t remember anything but obviously he was a great driver and a great person from the look of it. When you watch the documentaries and stuff like that, you can see how great he was both on and off the track.

RG: Yeah, I think it was the first or second year that I was starting to watch Formula One and of course it was Prost and Senna when I started watching in ’94. I remembered that Sunday, I was watching the race with my Dad and I didn’t understand what exactly was going on and why the race was stopped and it was so long. And then, well, I found out a little bit later and of course, Ayrton has been part of the sport… Again, I started watching Formula One when he was fighting with Alain, I think it was a great era and they were fantastic drivers.

JB: I wasn’t four years old, I was fourteen years old, still very young obviously but I was racing in Italy that weekend, karting, I had just started racing there so it was a massive shock. Basically the kart meeting was over as soon as we heard the news from Imola. A horrific day for everyone but as the guys said, sometimes it takes something like that – a terrible tragedy – to really change the sport for the better and in terms of safety for us guys, it’s had a very big impact.

April 3, 2014
F1 2014: Malaysia GP Review – Mercedes Asserts Dominance

Not a lot of people were delighted when news broke towards the end of 2012 that Lewis Hamilton would become a Mercedes driver. The gutsy decision went a long way towards being justified as Hamilton dominated the 2014 Malaysian grand prix.

A single victory in Hungary was all Hamilton had to show for his first season with the Silver Arrows. He remained patient in the building of this new relationship and when the all silver Mercedes hit the track in Jerez on the first day of testing it was starting to pay off.

After retiring from the Australian grand prix two weeks ago Lewis Hamilton showed up in Malaysia with the single goal of scoring twenty-five points on Sunday. A second consecutive pole ensured the best possible starting position for Hamilton who shared the front-row of the grid with Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel. Nico Rosberg rounded out the top three with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso in fourth place on the grid.

Lewis Hamilton comfortably maintained the lead of the race over teammate Rosberg and ran untroubled for the rest of the afternoon. One of the few battles during the Malaysian GP transpired at the start of the race as Rosberg and the two Red Bulls jockeyed for position.

Sebastian Vettel finished in third place overall after getting within one second of Rosberg’s Mercedes. It has been a tremendous recovery for the Red Bull team who looked in dire straits two months ago. A podium finish proves that the RB10 is a fundamentally quick car and that should Renault get on top of their issues that Red Bull will be a serious factor in this championship battle.

Daniel Ricciardo was supposed to follow Vettel home in fourth place but a disastrous final pit stop totalled the Australian’s race. An improperly secured front-left tyre forced Ricciardo to stop in the pitlane before being pushed back to his pit box. Eventually released, he was given a ten second stop/go penalty for an unsafe release. As if to add insult to injury the Aussie was forced back into the pits with a damaged front-wing which appeared to have been caused by the front-jack during his stop.

Ricciardo failed to finish the race and was subsequently handed a ten-place grid penalty for this weekend’s Bahrain GP. It is rather extreme to double up on the punishment but the 2014 rule concerning unsafe releases is clear-cut in the application of two penalties. Clearly, Ricciardo has taken over Mark Webber’s rotten luck as well as his race seat at Red Bull.

Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso battled for fourth place on the road with the Ferrari driver winning the close contest. Hulkenberg underlined his class with a solid performance on a tricky two-stop strategy. The Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen showed a marked improvement throughout the practice sessions but an overzealous Kevin Magnussen left the Finn with a right-rear puncture at the start of lap two. After limping around the circuit Raikkonen made it to the pits but had lost seventy seconds to the frontrunners.

Jenson Button confirmed post-race that his McLaren struggled in the high-speed corners but still salvaged sixth place. A spicy fight for seventh between Felipe Massa and Valterri Bottas resulted in some inter-team controversy. In the closing stages of the race Massa was given the instruction to let his teammate past. However, amongst several messages to the Brazilian was “Felipe, Valtteri is faster than you.” This message was a near exact carbon-copy of the one given to Massa during the infamous 2010 German GP. For a split second the former Ferrari driver must have felt like he never left the Italian squad. Massa’s engineer will do well in the future to pick his words more carefully. Team boss Claire Williams diffused the situation by claiming that no team orders were imposed on either driver. Rookies Kevin Magnussen and Daniil Kvyat rounded out the top ten.

It’s bad enough not seeing the chequered flag at the end of the race but it’s exponentially worse when a driver does not even make it onto the starting grid. Force India’s Sergio Perez, struck with software issues, was such a driver. Lotus retired the car of Pastor Maldonado as the turbo was in the process of failing while Sauber suffered a double retirement. Seven cars in total failed to see the chequered flag.

In seven previous attempts Hamilton had never won the Malaysian GP but Sunday’s dominant display resulted in his first victory around the Sepang circuit. The absence of significant pressure from behind allowed Hamilton to set a modest pace. It is clear that underneath him he has a Mercedes that is the class of the field at the moment and, if needed, has quite a lot more speed to call on.

It isn’t a case of if but rather when Red Bull, Ferrari and perhaps McLaren will catch up. The gap will be closed. However, Mercedes is making some serious hay while the others are scrambling – and this is ominous. Trust that this team will be working as hard to maintain their pace advantage. And they’re already ahead there too. While others struggle with their power units Mercedes already has the strongest and most reliable engine. At this stage other teams are trying to solve problems and combat issues that Mercedes have long since overcome. The mindset of the Mercedes team isn’t how to fix problems it’s how to go even faster.

March 31, 2014