F1 Madness

Tag: mark webber

  • Q&A with F1 technical genius Adrian Newey

    Q&A with F1 technical genius Adrian Newey

    Few people would argue with the statement that Adrian Newey is the greatest technical mind of the current Formula One generation. Newey’s CV is unparalleled and in this interview he turns his thoughts to the 2014 Formula One season discussing the impact of next season’s technical changes and challenges, his approach to design and his massively successful career.

    Q: You are the most successful Formula One designer of recent years. Lately cars have mainly been evolutions of the previous year’s design, but 2014 brings with it massive changes. How do you go about that? Do you really start with a clean sheet of paper as legend suggests?
    Adrian Newey:     The first thing that you do is to read the regulations – very, very carefully. You try to read what they actually say, rather than what they intend to say, as this is not always the same thing. After that I’m actually breaking it down into bite-size chunks. Then you try to understand from the regulations the aerodynamic and mechanical packaging that appears to be the best solutions for those different areas. You go away and research them and at some point try to bring it all back together again. For me that is the important bit: the end product should be a whole and not pieces thrown together into one cluster.

    Q: How many people are involved in this process?
    Adrian Newey:     We have over 100 engineers. In terms of the early key layout it is a smaller group. For the RB10 we started by dividing the task into the front and the back end (of the car) aerodynamically, and the middle in terms of packaging the engine and the cooling. Cooling will be a huge challenge next year.

    Q: Is the blank sheet of paper and a 7B pencil still reality?
    Adrian Newey:     To some extent it is still habit. I graduated in 1980 – obviously long before CAD systems – so I have always used a drawing board and never took the time to learn a CAD system. (laughs) For me what you’re used to is almost like a language – and you stick to the one that you know best. I love the drawing board because most of the work I do is of half scale, so I can have the complete car in front of me, whereas the CAD system limits you to the size of the screen. Having said that, for an organization like us it would be much too intense to have too many people like me working on a drawing board, because everything has to go on to the computer to go through CFD and later be manufactured.

    Q: Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said of you that you are completely crazy and absolutely fearless. Is that what it takes to design the most successful F1 cars of recent years – and to take on this 2014 challenge, where you can arguably only lose?
    Adrian Newey:     I am not sure. I guess it’s less about being crazy and more about having confidence that what you are doing is going into a good direction. Equally you have to be passionate about it and believe that what you’re doing is correct. You might call it the artistic side of it – but then you have to be able to stand back and try to be objective: is that a good direction, or isn’t it? If the answer is ‘no, it is not’ then you have to be prepared to say that the last hour, the last day, the last week is in the bin.

    Q: The design process at other teams is probably not that different to what you’ve just described, so what makes the difference? Do you have an inner voice that tells you the good from the bad?
    Adrian Newey:     No, no inner voice. I call it the 24-hour rule: does it still look a good idea after 24 hours? That decides whether it gets a tick or a cross. Actually, you develop a sensibility for that procedure. The brain is an amazing thing: you might be doing something completely different – maybe making a cup of tea – and suddenly you know right from wrong!

    Q: You have created so many successful cars that gave now legendary drivers the chance to win: drivers like Nigel Mansell, Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Mika Hakkinen and now Sebastian Vettel. Did you take their strengths and weaknesses into account?
    Adrian Newey:     When I was a young designer Robin Herd came up with a March that was designed around Ronnie Peterson’s reactions. I honestly cannot say that I have ever consciously done that: to design a car on the belief of a driver’s reactions.

    Q: So it was never a Mansell, Prost or now Vettel car, but rather a Newey car…
    Adrian Newey:     Well, what does happen is that when we have continuity in drivers like we’ve had for the last few years with Sebastian and Mark (Webber) then you listen to their feedback and the car evolves at least in parts as a result of their feedback. That does happen.

    Q: When you look back at all those names – Senna, Prost, Mansell etc – where would you rank Seb? What would be your personal ranking?
    Adrian Newey:     It would be unfair to go into rankings – to put one above the other – but what I would say is that Seb, without question, is one of the true greats. Of the great drivers I have been lucky enough to work with, what they all tended to have in common is intelligence. They all have the ability to drive the car and have the spare mental capacity to understand what they are doing when they drive the car, and to have great recall when they get out of the car – they can play back in their own minds what they’ve just experienced and combine that with a great work ethic in the evening in terms of talking to the engineers.

    Q: You have been in motorsport for 30 odd years. What have those years taught you?
    Adrian Newey:     Formula One is hard work! (laughs) I like to think that I haven’t changed too much in those years – that Formula One hasn’t changed my personality, if you like. When I look back to my university days, most of my fellow students wanted to design aircraft, whereas I always wanted to be a race car designer. They then subsequently worked on projects where you could see the results in 10 or 15 years’ time – where feedback on whether it was good, bad or indifferent was ‘light years’ away. That wasn’t for me. The exciting thing about Formula One is you get a high level of feedback. It’s painful when you’re going badly, but at least you know. And then there’s trying to stay on top of the changes. When I graduated I went straight to Fittipaldi – a small F1 team at that time – and I was hired as a junior aerodynamicist, which when I started turned out to be chief aerodynamicist, as I was the only one! Even when I moved to Leyton House, as a team we were a total of 55 people, with six engineers in total, with me doing the aerodynamics, designing the car and manufacturing it with this tiny little team. You cannot comprehend this nowadays. Now you have Red Bull Racing with 600 plus employees, with a hundred plus engineers – so things have gone up tenfold or more. So trying to stay on top of the technology changes and the managerial changes has been an exciting task. Coming back to what all these years have taught me: standing still is deadly.

    Q: Are you satisfied with yourself? Do you sit back in those rare quiet moments and think ‘not bad at all’?
    Adrian Newey:     No, I never sit back reflecting on such things. I am trying to play to my interests, yes, and hopefully my interests are also my strength. I try not to attend too many meetings. I try to spend at least 50 percent of my time behind the drawing board and the rest with my colleagues at the factory going over their findings. At the races, of course, I spend time with the drivers and that gives me the chance to be involved in many different things which I find very stimulating.

    Q: Does your job have an expiry date? Do you ever say to yourself ‘three more years and then I call it quits’ for example? Or contemplate telling Christian Horner or Helmut Marko one day, ‘Hi guys, I’m not coming into the office today – or ever again in fact…’?
    Adrian Newey:     That wouldn’t be my style. I have been involved with Red Bull Racing from the start, so I feel a great deal of loyalty to the staff. I would never stop without giving anybody a good period of notice. But the honest truth is that as long as I keep enjoying it, I will keep going. Probably the closest I came to stopping in Formula One was around 2002. There seemed to be so much politics – Ferrari and the FIA – that it was quite a difficult time.

    Q: Have you ever gone terribly wrong with a car? Something that you’ve regretted ever since…
    Adrian Newey:     Wrong yes, regret no. The cars that didn’t go nearly as well as I would have hoped: the 1989 Leyton House car, the successor of the 1988 car that changed the direction of Formula One a bit as well. We’d designed the car more or less purely on an aerodynamic base and then tried to package the mechanical parts. At that time – the turbo era – most people were doing it the other way round. They first designed a mechanical car and then looked at the aerodynamic side, so we were completely different in our ‘preferences’. But back to the story: coming out with a good 1988 car, we’d grown overambitious in 1989. The 1989 car was simply too complicated for the size of the team – and our experience. That was something to learn from. The other car – a similar situation – showed that I didn’t learn the lesson completely. It was the McLaren MP4-19A – the 2004 car. Ferrari was ‘cleaning up’ at that time and we felt that we needed to make a big step – or at least push to make a big step. And again, we made a mistake by pushing too hard. We were pushing so hard that we didn’t make our homework good enough.

    Q: Do you get offers from other teams – even though everybody knows that you are so close to Red Bull Racing?
    Adrian Newey:     Yes, I do. The usual stuff. If I didn’t, I would be worried! (laughs)

    Q: Coming on to 2014. Everybody says that from what they’ve seen so far, the 2014 cars look ugly…
    Adrian Newey:     Well, it’s the regulations that define the car. And, of course, ideally the car is fast and has a stylish design. But everybody in the paddock will give a fast car preference over an attractive car – that’s the way it is. Yes, for me it would be good if a bit more consideration was given to aesthetics in the drafting of the regulations. But fast is paramount over beauty.

    Q: Coming to the regulations, years ago they had the characteristics of Swiss cheese: many holes and much room for interpretation. How much interpretation is possible today?
    Adrian Newey:     It’s less and less. The F-duct was a very clever example of getting around regulations; the exhaust duct was a good way of getting around them; little bits and pieces where we’ve found small loopholes in the regulations. But it is increasingly getting smaller. To have been an engineer in the seventies – the early seventies – would have been fascinating for me. You had almost no regulations, but on the other hand you also had very little research capabilities. You came up with a car, ran it, and if you were lucky it was a good idea and it ran well. If not, then you ran the previous year’s car and hoped for next year.

    Q: Keyword 2014: Could it be that suddenly somebody is two seconds faster than the rest?
    Adrian Newey:     Let’s start with the regulations. You can divide them into two parts: the powertrain and the aerodynamic changes. The aerodynamic changes are big, but they are smaller than the changes we had in 2009. So yes, there is the chance that one team comes up with a car that is better than their rivals’, but on top of that you have the engine changes and what is absolutely unclear is whether one engine manufacturer will be able to come up with a significant advantage. But the car that will brush aside all others will be a car having the combination of good engine and good chassis – if one side is letting you down you will have a problem. But who will come up with the ideal combination? That’s the big guessing game for all of us and will add spice to the 2014 season.

    Q: Can Adrian Newey really switch off?
    Adrian Newey:     Believe it or not, I can. Then I go the Caribbean for a few days and make my mind stop racing. Yes, that I do. But Formula One is a very consuming taskmaster – and one of the tricks is to keep it in balance, as it would be very easy to end up doing nothing but work.

    Q: What would happen to the team should you decide that a few days off is not enough – that you need much more time to recharge the batteries?
    Adrian Newey:     They would carry on.

    Q: But how?
    Adrian Newey:     I am only one person – hopefully an important person – but things carry on, they always do. (laughs) But since I’ve been at Red Bull I’ve never tried it – only back in the times when I switched teams.

    Q: Finally, you are known as a design genius – and your track record confirms that – but how well suited are you to daily life? Can you cook for example?
    Adrian Newey:     I can do a Sunday roast and I can cook spaghetti, but that’s about as far as it goes. (laughs) I think I am a normal guy, although my family might completely disagree.

     

    Photo credit: Photo taken by Morio [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

     

  • Video: Mark Webber says Goodbye to his RB9

    Video: Mark Webber says Goodbye to his RB9

    Mark Webber saying good bye to his Red Bull RB9 car and bids a fond farewell to the V8 engine

  • 2013 Formula 1 Petrobras Brazilian Grand Prix Sunday Press Conference

    2013 Formula 1 Petrobras Brazilian Grand Prix Sunday Press Conference

    Podium and Press Conference transcripts for the 2013 Formula 1 Petrobras Brazilian Grand Prix

     

    Drivers:

    1 – Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing)

    2 – Mark Webber (Red Bull Racing)

    3 – Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by Glenda Kozlowski, TV Globo)

    Q: Sebastian Vettel, you just broke two records.,.
    Sebastian Vettel:     No, please start with him. Start with Mark.

    Q: OK! Mark Webber, that’s your last race in Formula One, today is a very emotional day for you. You have over 200 races in your career.
    Mark Webber:     Yeah, it was a very good finish to my career, a good fight with all the guys I’ve enjoyed fighting with for most of my career: Seb, Fernando, Lewis, Nico, all the guys who have been in the window for the last five or six years. I want to thank the team, I enjoyed the last few laps. It was a very nice way to finish. I want to thank everyone in Australia. I wouldn’t be here where I am without the support in the early days. It’s been a thoroughly enjoyable career. A great journey, one of which I’m proud of, and there’s been so many people who have played a special role in my career. They know who they all are – thank you very much if you are watching and…yeah… enjoy watching Formula One next year with these guys, but off to Porsche and looking forward to it.

    Q: Sebastian, so, you just made [equalled] two records, the most consecutive wins – nine – and the highest number of wins in a single season: 13. So, what do you feel?
    Sebastian Vettel:     Well, I’m actually quite sad that this season comes to an end. I think the last couple of races, really since the summer break, to win every race is unbelievable. The car has been phenomenal. Just kept getting better. I think today was a very interesting race. I had a poor start but then I was able to come back straight away in the first lap, build a gap which was nice to control then. But in the pitstop, obviously, I was waiting for my tyres again. I think it was a bit of a confusion going on because we had both cars coming in at the same time. Fortunately I got all the tyres in time ready to go. Mark was behind and then, yeah, the last laps, very difficult with the rain because you could see the fog is coming, [then] it’s leaving, so it was very difficult to judge but yeah, for sure, extremely proud. Big, big thank you to the team, big thanks to Renault. I think there’s a couple of guys that stand out. First of all Mark, obviously it’s his last race, we’ve been team-mates for a very, very long time. After all we didn’t have the best relationship but I think we always had tremendous respect for each other. And together I think we’ve been very, very successful for the team. And then there’s one other guy, he’s working on my car. His name is Tom Batch and unfortunately he’s leaving so farewell Tom, all the best for the future, and who knows, maybe we’ll meet each other again in the future.

    WebberAlono_BrazilPodium2013Q: Fernando, since Singapore this was your first podium. Now the season is over and today was a tough race because like he said, the rain came and gone, came and gone. A light rain all the time. So how was it there?
    Fernando Alonso:     Well it was a difficult race for everyone, unfortunately the rain didn’t come: I think we were more competitive in wet conditions but again, it seems as if it’s going to rain in any moment but it didn’t, so it was a shame for us but at least we’re in the podium, so ending the season on a high and hopefully for next year we start with a completely new direction and a positive trend. I’m looking forward.

    Q: I know you’re missing Felipe Massa. Today was his last race with Ferrari.
    FA:     It was a shame, sad that he had this drive-through because I think the podium was very close for Felipe today. When I saw him fourth I said this would be a very good celebration for him. Sad for this race but happy for the last four years: he has been an amazing team-mate – inside the circuit with very competitive skills and also like a person. We build a friendly relationship in the last four years, a lot of time together. We’ll see him in the paddock next year with different colours but always he will remain a very good man.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Sebastian, lots of things really to talk to you about but just tell us about the race – give us some idea. Bit of a Vettel_PressConferencevoyage into the unknown for all three of you in terms of tyres as well but also the start, the pitstop…
    SV:     Yeah, obviously we didn’t have any dry running, which was quite exciting when we started: bit of an adventure to find braking points, etcetera. Start was obviously quite bad for me. I had lots of wheel-slip and didn’t get the initial launch off the line as good as I was hoping for. Nico passed me straight away, Fernando was closing in. I was lucky that as soon as I got on the KERS I could recover a little bit and then it’s not a long way to Turn One – which helped today. So, lost the position, saved some KERS for the end of the lap. Was hoping to get him back up the hill which worked well, so I managed to get back in the lead straight away and was basically benefitting I think from Nico probably a little bit slower than the cars behind – Fernando and Mark – so I could open a gap and control that for more or less the rest of the race – until we came in for the second stop, which was a last minute call. I think we were afraid of a safety car at that stage. I came in, hoping everybody was ready. I think I had three wheels on the car but I was waiting for the front right. For some reason, last year and this year, it seemed to be the front right that… yeah, they let me wait for a little bit. I saw that obviously Mark was queuing behind me and I wanted to go and there was a bit of chaos in the pitlane but it was obviously fine to get the right tyres in the end, get out again and I still had a bit of a gap. We obviously lost to Fernando at that stage, both of us, but was still able to have a little bit of a gap and control that until the end which was very helpful to get through traffic and with the rain coming in and going – you could really see it from the car. The fog was coming and the rain clouds. You didn’t know how strong the rain was and, yeah, in the end it was fine all the time to stay on dries but a little harder rain and it could have been a different story so, yeah, lucky to get away with that.

    Webber_PressConferenceQ: Mark, a great end to your Formula One career. I hope you’re happy with it as well. How did it go?
    MW:     Yeah, I was happy with today. Tricky grand prix for all of us as you say, straight into dry conditions for a Sunday afternoon race. Maybe it’s what Bernie should do! He should just have Sunday afternoons mate, just turn up for Sundays and just race from there because it was a pretty good start to the grand prix, I think, all of us getting into the groove with no dry running: challenging for the teams and the drivers. So we all got there in the end. Both Seb and I had tough starts, I was happy to lose only to Lewis actually. I had a good little scrap in the first lap: Fernando and Lewis were having a good battle and then we settled into it. It looked like the Mercedes were struggling to hold the tempo of Fernando, myself and Seb, so we had to clear the Mercs as best we could. And then it was coming up to Fernando, so, managed to pass Fernando as well. There was some really nice moves and some good racing and I think for the team to get a one-two today with obviously not their cleanest day in the pitlane – which we can let them off every now and again, because they’ve had a superb season in the pitlane – so we gave the red guys a sniff but we managed to respond each time. Very proud to have raced with these guys at the end. I mean I raced pretty much all four or five of them at some stage in the race today – apart from Seb, obviously who was a little bit down the road – but the pace… it was a good battle for all of us. It’s been a real pleasure for me to finish today’s race like this. Yeah, and also to finish on the podium with arguable the two best guys of the generation we’re in at the moment. I hold them in very high esteem. I’m happy with the finish and I’m happy to go and do something different now. It was a special day for myself, all the people that helped me get here. Australia. And the team, of course, had a nice car to finish. Renault as well, a 1-2 for them, last time with the V8s. Lots of things which are special, so thank you very much.

    Q: Fernando, obviously a good result for you. As Glenda said on the podium, first time on the podium since the Singapore Grand Prix. Nice to go out with a podium?
    FA:     Yeah, definitely. I think to finish the season on a high is always better. We missed this podium finish from many races and today we had a chance. Obviously maybe with rain conditions, a wet race, maybe we had a little more performance than on the dry but at the end to finish behind the two Red Bulls today is the maximum we could achieve and I’m happy for that. The last race for Mark as you touched on now. We will miss him, that’s for sure. A great driver and a great person. Last race also for Felipe in Ferrari, which we wanted to help in whatever way to try to celebrate a podium finish with Felipe or something but he get a drive-through unfortunately. But, y’know, mixed emotions today but happy to finish 2013 which has been an amazing year in terms of fighting and the number of points we achieve, I think. We didn’t win the championship, which is the goal every year and for next year we reset again, start from zero and new motivations.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Mark, what will you miss most and what won’t you miss most?
    MW:     What will I miss most about Formula One? I think there are some special circuits which we race on: obviously Suzuka, Spa, Monte Carlo, Silverstone, even here to a degree. There are some really nice circuits which, when you have the car in the window, particularly in qualifying, there’s not much that can please a driver more than having the car on the edge and having yourself on the edge in the ultimate machine and that is something which I will miss. But you also have to respect that you want to make sure that you’re getting the best out of yourself in that scenario. If you think you’re a little bit off, then it’s not as rewarding as it once was. I will miss those scenarios. I will miss, I think, also the perfection that goes on in this game, especially with a team like Red Bull, the amount of work that goes in, the details. It’s quite inspiring to watch the relentless approach with the work, that’s something which I’ve learned a lot and I will take it to future challenges around the corner. What I won’t miss: looking to pull the travel back down a little bit, spending a bit more time with my people that helped me to get to where I am. I’m not young but I’m not old, I’m in the window, it’s a good time for me to get that balance, a little bit less intensity in the private life and also in the professional life. It doesn’t mean that I’m not going to be pushing hard with Porsche, obviously. I will be pushing very hard with those guys but in this game, you need to be on it all the time and I’m finding that more and more difficult. It’s a chance for me to finish strongly, which I’ve done. That’s some of the things I’ll miss. I think I answered that right.

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Mark, what is your schedule now, are you going to take some holiday, just like retire or are you working for Porsche as soon as possible?
    MW:     No, I’m going to have a few weeks out, for sure, doing nothing. I love putting the fire on at home, chopping some wood, putting the fire on and maybe a bit of red wine and chill out with some chocolate. Also my Tasmania Challenge is on which I can’t get to this year, it’s just too busy to get to my charity event, so I hope that goes well for everyone taking part. It starts on Wednesday but I just can’t get to Tasmania from here, it’s just been a relentless year and quite difficult so I’m looking forward to just having a bit of a break. For sure there is some Porsche stuff in the background. Obviously there is a chance I can do some stuff with them before the year is out, which Red Bull have been very good with and then it will be a steady loading into January as it will be for all of us.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action Australia and National Speedsport News) Mark, tell us about taking your helmet off on that last ever lap and savouring it? Your eyes seem to be tearing a bit; maybe that was just the wind in your eyes.
    MW:     Yeah, it was the wind, Dan, I was tearing at that time. Look, it’s not easy to get the HANS device system away from the helmet so I spent half a lap trying to get the left hand side off, so I finally got it there but the cars are bloody noisy with no helmet on, I know that much, so it was really noisy, all the vibrations and you can hear lots of things that you don’t want to be hearing with the helmet on, that’s for sure. It was good to get it off, obviously the marshals, the fans, to see… in this sport, it’s not always easy to show the person that’s behind the wheel. We can in lots of other sports but in Formula One we’ve always got the helmet on so it was nice to drive back with the helmet off. Only time you’re seen with the helmet off is on the podium if we have a good day which we did both, so nice to get it off. In the last sector, I got it a little bit jammed, so I think the marshals were a little bit worried that I couldn’t turn left but in the end, no it was fine, it was a nice moment to come back, a little bit of a different touch to bring the car back.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Sebastian first, when did you tell your team that you wanted to come in? Was it because of a potential safety car, and to Mark, do you think it would have been better for you if the team had left you out for one more lap and then go in, because you obviously had to wait for Seb?
    SV:     I didn’t decide to pit. Obviously with the weather it was critical, we were trying to go as long as possible because we didn’t know… when it starts to rain and you pit one lap before, you lose a lot of time because you have to come in again to fit inters (intermediate tyres). So basically, I was told, exit of turn 12, box if I can. I had enough time to get ready. Arguably the team was on the limit and obviously they were preparing a stop for both cars so they had to get both set of tyres out, mine and Mark’s, and I think it was just a little bit of a rush, because I think the team was afraid of a safety car. Obviously I didn’t know what was going on around the track; the team is obviously able to monitor much better… to see the whole track, whereas I’m very good at judging what’s going on where I am right now but not five, six corners down the road. I think that was the reason why I got called in but unfortunately it got a bit messy.

    MW: I got the pit call quite early in the lap, they were worried about a safety car as well. I think Maldonado had been off or something had happened. When I braked for the pit lane line, I looked on the big screen and I could see that Seb was in the box, saw on the TV that he was pitting and I thought ‘I hope it’s a replay’ but it wasn’t. When I got over the top, he was in the bloody box so I thought ‘shit, we’ve got a bit on here now’. In that case, mainly we were losing time, that’s the biggest thing but then just the rear jack guy remembering to get out of the way. Obviously I’m going to stop but I have to wait for him to move out of the way so I thought it was obviously a complete surprise, uncharacteristic of the team to do something quite tricky and risky, when there wasn’t a huge amount to risk but it turns out obviously that there was an issue at the start of Seb’s stop which snowballed into me and then we had the little Spanish lion on the back of me again, so it was a good recovery but the team… I’m sure they want to do that part again. In the end, we recovered well and cool heads…

    Q: (Cristobal Rosaleny – Car and Driver) Seb and Fernando, Mark is going to take off some weeks for relaxing but you have to race next year and Formula One is changing a lot next year. What are you going to do until Christmas?
    SV:     Nothing. Obviously there are some things you have to attend to in December which is also nice, but mostly try to relax. Obviously Mark is retiring from Formula One but he’s not retiring from racing so, as he said, he will obviously get ready, probably has a little bit less pressure because the season maybe starts in a different way but I think for us it’s the same thing as the previous years. Obviously a lot of changes for next year but in terms of rhythm it is probably largely the same. Potentially you start a week or two earlier in January, to prepare the tests a little bit more. Equally, you can’t prepare so much because you need to wait for the first day on track, to know and see where we are.

    FA: Obviously until Christmas time we are quite busy at Ferrari with some events with the sponsors and there are many activities in Maranello around Christmas time with the people working there at Ferrari, with their families etc and we will use those days while we are already in Italy to spend some time on the simulator and to do some work, looking at next year’s regulations. Christmas time will probably be the first time that we completely stop, so until the 21st of December, I think, we are on, still.

    Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriere della Sera) To Fernando and Sebastian: Seb, what do you feel having reached Alberto Ascari’s record with nine victories in a row, a driver who comes from the distant past of Formula One, and to Fernando, do you feel more optimistic for 2014 after this result?
    SV:     Well, I think it is very very difficult for me to realise probably now and in the next couple of weeks what we have achieved again, and in particular this year at the end of the season. I think in terms of a certain record with Alberto Ascari you can’t really compare it, it’s at a completely different time. If you consider the fact that in the fifties the races were much longer and there were a lot of things that were breaking down, much more than nowadays where it’s very professional, reliability is exceptionally good for everybody. I think his record still stands out a lot. So at the end of the day, as I see it now, it’s just a number but hopefully one day, when I’ve got less hair and chubby then it’s probably something nice to look back to.

    FA: Nothing changed, to be honest. I’m still optimistic for next year because I trust my team, I trust Ferrari preparation and philosophy for the 2014 car. We will be a contender, always, even this year when we haven’t been competitive and we only won two Grands Prix, we were off the podium for the last six or seven Grands Prix etc, we finished second in the World Championship, so with whatever the car that Ferrari do, normally, better or worse, you are a contender. That’s my optimistic point for next year, not because today we are on the podium or not on the podium.

  • F1 Brazilian GP Review: Brazil Brilliance for Red Bull

    F1 Brazilian GP Review: Brazil Brilliance for Red Bull

    The myth that the number thirteen has any negative connotation to it is of little consequence to Sebastian Vettel. A fourth world title and thirteen grand prix wins in 2013 has made sure of that.

    It is difficult to fathom the true impact and understanding of Red Bull Racing and Vettel’s domination this season. Therefore, statistics are the only possible way of putting this incredible run of results into some sort of perspective. Out of a possible maximum of 475 points Vettel scored 397, taken nine pole positions and equalled Michael Schumacher’s record of thirteen grand prix wins in a season. However, Vettel took this record a step further and became the only driver in the history of Formula 1 to win nine consecutive races in the same season.

    brazil-podiumTo get to his ninth victory in a row Vettel was given the merest of challenges at the start of the Brazilian GP as Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg charged into the lead of the race. However, within two laps Vettel dispatched of the Silver Arrow, retook the lead of the race and set off on building a gap. Behind the German the battle for the podium positions saw Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber duking it out. Webber was able to overtake first Hamilton then good friend Alonso to run second by lap 13.

    The race settled quite quickly as Rosberg faded with an oversteering Mercedes and Vettel merrily built his lead to more than ten seconds over teammate Webber.

    Felipe Massa, in his final race for Ferrari, was running in fourth position roughly six seconds off a podium position. However, as the Ferrari driver held off Lewis Hamilton he was given a drive-through penalty for cutting the pit-entry line. No driver was impeded nor put in danger by something that Massa did but the stewards took a hard line. On an emotional day such as this for the Brazilian the stewards could have issued a warning. Other hardliners may say that rules are rules but you can’t help feeling that it was rather heartless from the stewards to slap Massa with a penalty.

    brazil-bottas-hamiltonConfusion reigned on lap 47 as a collision between Hamilton and Williams’ Valterri Bottas had Red Bull unprepared for the arrival of Sebastian Vettel in the pitlane. Vettel lost nearly ten seconds in the box and Christian Horner admitted after the race that they feared a safety-car deployment for the Hamilton/Bottas incident. Despite the delay in the pits Vettel maintained the lead but Webber lost second place to Alonso.

    Lewis Hamilton was given a drive-through penalty for ‘causing a collision’ with Bottas. As Hamilton took up position for the corner he drifted slightly towards Bottas leaving the Finn with nowhere to go. Bottas was forced into retirement as Hamilton had to pit with a destroyed right-rear tyre. Gentle rain fell throughout the 71 laps of the race but it never reached the level needed to switch to the intermediate tyres.

    brazil-finaldriversphotoAs the top three in the form of Vettel, Webber and Alonso settled, it was Jenson Button who delivered one of his best drives of the season. A 14th place starting position would have done little to buoy the mood of McLaren after experiencing one of their most difficult seasons ever. Nevertheless, Button drove brilliantly to finish fourth, McLaren’s best position of the season. “For Checo, myself and the whole Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team, today was an incredible day. I’m pleased to have finished fourth: it’s almost the podium position that I came here aiming for. We really needed today’s result. The 2013 season hasn’t been an easy one – it’s been tough for all of us at the circuits, but it’s probably been even tougher for the guys back at the factory, working flat-out to make parts. They’re a really amazing bunch of totally passionate and utterly dedicated people, and they richly deserve the ‘lift’ that today’s result will have given them,” said Jenson Button.

    Sergio Perez finished sixth behind Nico Rosberg ensuring that McLaren become the only team in Formula 1 history to have both cars classified in every race this season. “As of today, McLaren became the first team in Formula One history to have both its cars classified in every Grand Prix during the season. And, also as of today, McLaren completed 99.17% of the season’s total possible race distance – 7139 miles [11,488km] out of a possible 7198 miles [11,584km] – which is not only better than every other team managed this season but is also a new world record, beating the previous record of 98.30% set by BMW-Sauber in 2008. Those two stats constitute compelling proof of the fact that our trackside mechanics and engineers possess the three D’s in impressive abundance: dedication, determination and discipline,” beamed McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh.

    brazil-felipe-massaFelipe Massa eventually finished eighth ahead of Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg while Lewis Hamilton recovered to ninth. Daniel Ricciardo finished in tenth place in his final race for the Toro Rosso team before heading to Red Bull for the 2014 season. The day didn’t have a fairytale ending many would’ve hoped it would have for Felipe Massa but the Brazilian was able to see the big picture after the race.  “I want to thank everyone who gave me this opportunity and maximum support all the time, including President Montezemolo, Stefano Domenicali and all the mechanics and engineers who work at the track and back home, as well as all the Ferrari fans who, over the years, have rejoiced with me and also suffered with me during the most difficult moments,” said Felipe Massa after the race.

    Second or even third place in the constructor’s title wasn’t intended for Lotus as Romain Grosjean was forced into retirement on the first lap with an engine oil leak and Heikki Kovalainen could only muster 14th place. Despite a difficult afternoon Mercedes pipped Ferrari to second in the constructor’s championship by six points.

    brazil-webber-thankyouThis race in Brazil will be remembered for some time to come. The farewell of the V8 engine, Felipe Massa’s last race as a Ferrari driver and the last time Mark Webber stood on a Formula 1 podium.

    The 2013 season has been one of a peerless German and his Austrian team’s absolute domination. Never before has this level of supremacy been seen in the sport. Although it may not have been everyone’s cup of tea as a sheer piece of inspired engineering the RB9 commands tremendous respect and appreciation.

    Take a bow Red Bull Racing.

  • F1 2013: Free Practice 3 Report – Brazilian GP

    F1 2013: Free Practice 3 Report – Brazilian GP

    Red Bull Racing’s Mark Webber topped the timing sheets at the end of the third free practice session ahead of the 2013 Brazilian grand prix.

    The rain soaked session took quite a while to spark into life and it was Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez that topped the timing sheets in the initial part of the third free practice session.

    Condition around Interlagos were incredibly tricky given the circuit’s poor drainage system which led to a big amount of standing water on the circuit. Nevertheless, few drivers ventured out in the wet condition for the sole reason of saving the green side-walled Intermediate tyres for the all important qualifying session.

    Eventually conditions improved enough for the intermediate tyres to be tried out and Mark Webber was the first of the drivers to do so. Webber seemed to get the best of condition and set the overall fastest time of the session. Sebastian Vettel ended in session in 17th place while Mercedes and Ferrari ended their program of running ten minutes before the chequered flag signalled the end of practice. Jenson Button did not set a representative time.

    Full times below.

     

  • Rosberg Top in Wet Second Practice in Brazil

    Rosberg Top in Wet Second Practice in Brazil

    Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg set the fastest time of the second practice session for the Brazilian Grand Prix

    With steady rain falling at the circuit, Rosberg managed to set the fastest time of the session just before the end with a time of 1:27.306. Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel set the second fastest time of the session with  1:27.531, 0.255s slower than Rosberg. Mark Webber in the second Red Bull finished the session in P3 just 0.061s slower than Vettel with a 1:28.129. Lotus substitute driver, Heikki Kovalainen did rather well to get his Lotus up into P4 with a 1:28.129. Lewis Hamilton finished the session in P5 with a 1: 28.147. He could have finished the session higher up, but he was held up a few times and there were plenty wheel-spin moments for him. “I’m struggling just to keep it on the track” he said after the session. All the drivers set their times on the intermediate tyres towards the end of the session.

    There were quite a few aquaplaning moments, and plenty of wheel spin out of the corners which made things very tough for all. Nico Hulkenberg, on the full wet tyres was trying quite hard to get up the time sheets. “We’ve just hit a wall in terms of performance, grip. There’s nothing more I can do” he said to his race engineer over the radio. He managed to set a time of 1:28.560 in P8.

    With tricky conditions and with limited wet weather tyres teams were very reluctant to do a lot of running. If the weather doesn’t improve there could be very little running in P3.

    Below is the full time sheet for Free Practice 2 for the 2013 Formula 1 Petrobras Brazilian Grand Prix

    Brazil2013_FP2

  • F1 2013: Brazilian GP – The End Of An Era

    F1 2013: Brazilian GP – The End Of An Era

    Transformation and evolution are as much a part of every Formula 1 season as the champagne flavoured victories and those breathtaking flashes of brilliance. The 2013 Brazilian grand prix will be more than a race, it will be the end of an era.

    The South American city of Sao Paulo has within its hills one of the most historic racing circuits in all of motorsport. Several world titles have been clinched on its hallowed ground including those of  Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and most recently Sebastian Vettel. The original circuit layout stretched to nearly eight kilometres with twenty-six turns with a lap record of 2:21.40 held by Jean-Pierre Jabouille. However, the circuit was streamlined in 1990 to the 4.3 km lap that is now familiar as the Interlagos circuit. Despite the shortened lap the anti-clockwise circuit is still a commanding venue with a distinctive challenge. The track is best known for its high speed sectors which are separated by twisty in-field section that requires good grip and stability from the car. The altitude of Interlagos additionally provides a unique challenge for the engines.

    “Sao Paulo is around 800m above sea level, which has a big impact on the power of the engine. As the altitude increases the air pressure drops and the air is thinner with a lower oxygen content,” said Renault Sport F1 head of track operations Remi Taffin. “For every 100m the engine loses around 1 percent of its potential power output, meaning the RS27 will produce around 8 percent less power than at a sea-level race such as Korea.”

    Autodromo-Jose-Carlos-Pace-Interlagos-Brazil-aerial-viewBut Brazil is more than just the Interlagos circuit. The country’s list of motorsport greats runs from Emerson Fittippaldi to three time champion Nelson Piquet to the transcendent Ayrton Senna. More recently Rubens Barrichello and Felipe Massa has enjoyed the fervent support of the Brazilian fans. “The passion of the Brazilian fans is amazing and it’s fantastic to see their support over the weekend,” said Lewis Hamilton.

    The weather around the Autodromo Carlos Pace has a tendency to dramatically veer to both ends of the extreme. Track temperatures of 63 degress Celcuis has been recorded here in the past and on the other end of the scale epic levels of rain is nothing spectators and drivers havent seen before. The forecast for this weekend is fickle at best with some rain predicted during the weekend. Given the dominance of Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull several drivers will be hoping for the unknown weather element to shake up the pack.  “The weather forecast for Interlagos looks interesting this weekend and if it does rain, that would be a good opportunity for us as our car is generally quick in the wet,” said Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg.Mark Webber

    When the chequered flag falls after 71 laps of Sunday’s Brazilian grand prix it will bring with the end of an era. Twelve years ago an Aussie named Mark Webber started his first Formula 1 career behind the wheel of a Minardi. He scored points on debut at his home race but this was only to be cusp of what would become a great Formula 1 career. Webber joined Jaguar for the 2003 and 2004 season and qualified a career best second at the 2004 Malaysian grand prix. In 2005 Webber joined the Williams team with whom he would record several points finishes. The Red Bull partnership would commence in 2007 and be highlighted by several sublime victories. Webber’s first race victory at the 2009 German GP saw the Aussie deliver one of the most memorable drives of his career.

    Webber has since won eight more races and through all of them he has been the straight-talking Aussie that many have to revere as one of the greatest racers Australia has produced. There aren’t many people who wouldn’t want to see Webber on the top step of the podium for the final time this weekend. Few people have raced and conducted themselves with more integrity than Mark Webber and whatever may happen AussieGrit and his tenacious character will be remembered in Formula 1 circles for some time to come.

    felipeFerrari bid farewell to Felipe Massa this weekend after eight seasons. Eleven race victories and an achingly close championship battle in 2008 tells the story of a glittering Ferrari career for Felipe Massa. At some points there were few drivers could match the Brazilian in terms of pace and he all but owned the Bahrain and Turkish grand prix circuits; winning at Istanbul three consecutive times. The memorable moments of Massa’s career with Ferrari have been etched into Formula 1 history not least of all being his emotional victory at the 2006 Brazilian GP. Massa became the first Brazilian driver since Ayrton Senna in 1993 to win at Interlagos. Felipe Massa repeated victory at his home race in 2008 as he came perilously close to becoming the Formula 1 world champion. But gracious in defeat to Lewis Hamilton Massa dedicated his victory to the fans. Massa starts the next chapter of his Formula 1 career as a Williams driver in 2014. He will unquestionably be a great asset to his new team.

    The 2013 Brazilian grand prix will mark the end of the V8 engine era after eight seasons in Formula 1. Fernando Alonso became the first ever V8 champion in 2006. French engine manufacturer Renault will end the V8 era as the most successful manufacturer with five constructor’s and five driver’s world championship titles. The Renault engine annihilated the competition with 59 wins, 65 pole positions and 55 fastest laps.

    The conclusion of the 2013 season brings with it the end of an era as we bid farewell to Mark Webber and the V8 engine. There is no more fitting place to do so than a magical racing circuit named Interlagos.

    Photo credits:

    lotusf1team.com

    Daily Mail

  • 2013 US Grand Prix: Post-race Press Conference

    2013 US Grand Prix: Post-race Press Conference

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS (Conducted by Mario Andretti)

    Q. Sebastian, I’m still out of breath. How in the world do you do it: eight straight, I mean you’re rewriting the record books. Tell us about it. Second last year, top podium step this year. Tell us.

    Sebastian VETTEL: I don’t know, honestly! It’s impossible to know what to say. First of all, I would like to say thanks to the crowd. It’s unbelievable. It’s only our second race here. Second race here and we’ve got more than 100,000 people coming on Sunday. I think this is one of the best races we have all season. The whole city is going crazy, so it’s phenomenal to race here in front of the crowd. The car was fantastic. It was a bit tight at the start; Romain had a good start initially, I didn’t know whether it would be enough. It’s tough judgement up the hill and then I just tried to focus on myself. We had incredible pace again in the car and could control the gaps. I don’t know, eight in a row is… you are a legend, you know….

    Q. Your first win on American soil. Your debut was on American soil as well?

    SV: Yes, 2007 in Indianapolis. To come back [to the US] last year and finish on the podium and today to win the race is incredible. I don’t know what to say.

    Fabulous, congratulations. I guess you’re going for nine next week?

    SV: We’ll try.

    Q. Romain, congratulations, your best effort of the season – sixth podium. You have represented Lotus in a very proud way. I guess number one in the team next year, right? Let’s make it official. So congratulations. Tell us about your race today?

    Romain GROSJEAN: Yeah, good race. Good start, I could pass Mark and almost got Sebastian. The car was working very well today. I’m very proud to represent Lotus and my guys that are working in Enstone. It’s a fantastic team. Being between those two cars is our best – everyone did a 100 per cent job. It means a lot to do a podium here in the United States. I like this country. It’s always good to come here, so glad, and looking forward to come back on that beautiful track and hopefully next year we’ll be one step ahead.

    Q. Mark, I guess this is going to be your last stop here in Formula One at the Circuit of the Americas, so not a bad effort today, third, a podium.

    Mark WEBBER: Yeah. Obviously pole position was very important yesterday, so I knew it was going to be important and that it would cost me a lot better result today. A little bit disappointed not to qualify better. We knew it was not going to be the easiest to get into turn one from there. We had a good launch, a good start, but then obviously we all wanted to be on the outside. I got a little bit boxed in and then I had to pass Lewis. Then it’s not easy to pass Romain. He drove very well. He was very clean on the exit of eight, nine. The DRS in the end was a little bit short on the ratios but in the end that’s how you get the ratios for the whole race. So, good job for the whole team and I’m happy to finish on the podium in front of the American fans for the last time, in Formula One anyway. I’ll see you next year with the Porsche.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q. Sebastian, your 12 win this season, seventh from pole, 38 th of your career but probably the most important number is that it’s the eighth in a row. Never been done before in Formula One. You got a bit fed up answering questions about it in anticipation but now that it’s actually happened and you’ve actually done it, how does it feel?

    SV: It’s incredible. I think it’s one of those things that you never expect to… one of those records that you never expect to be beaten so it’s very difficult to find the right words. I didn’t really answer the questions the last couple of days because at the end of the day what makes me jump into the car is not a certain number. But certainly today, when you realise that you’ve done it, it makes you very proud in that moment and, yeah, I think it’s very difficult for all of us to realise what it actually means. If you look back, and if you look those names who had similar records or outstanding performances in the past, I think it’s impossible to understand. People look back and they talk about that time and about certain drivers and one day people might look back and talk about our time and what we’ve done as a team. I said it on the team radio, the spirit is fantastic. Everybody’s just happy to turn up, give it everything he has and I think – if there is one – that’s the secret. Yes, we have a phenomenal car; yes, the car has been mostly very, very reliable but I think it’s the mindset we have going in, really trying to give it everything we have, not miss a single step… yeah… How to, after the race, not to turn around and think that there was a little bit left here, a little bit left there. Another very, very, very strong weekend. I think people tend to forget that every single weekend is a challenge on its own. It’s not eight weekends as a whole. It’s every single weekend. And to have such an incredible run, it’s very difficult to realise.

    Q. Romain, your sixth podium of the season. I think you just said in your own language that it’s one year ago that you became a father. It’s been an amazing turn around from last year to this year but obviously this was a race all about your start and particularly then about soaking up the pressure from Mark in the closing stages. Tell us about it.

    RG: Yes, exactly. We knew that the start would be crucial for us and then the race, if they were going ahead, they had too much speed for us, basically. They’re doing a fantastic job with a phenomenal car, as Seb says. But we can… he spoke about the spirit in his team and I think we have the same: every guy is happy to come in the morning and happy to work and check things. Y’know, drivers will always complain about this and this and this. They change it and it brings us to second at the end of the day. So, a very good start, a very good strategy, same as everyone else – I think I was just a little bit better on the option. I said in my own language that one year ago my wife sent me a picture of a pregnancy test saying that ‘well done Champion, you’re going to be a Dad!’ So America brings me a lot of bliss and pleasure and looking forward to come back here.

    Q. Mark from your point of view. Obviously starting second. The initial getaway looked fine but it then was going up the hill that you lost the initiative. I guess your race really was dictated by qualifying yesterday to a large extent but particularly by the getaway today.

    MW: Yeah, pole position yesterday was where the fight was. Going to be very difficult from there. I think we were… I was very happy with how I drove today. Got a very good start. You want to be on the outside for Turn One but Romain was already there. I think I made a very good start from the left hand side, which is not the easiest here, so we did what we could. Lewis also was on the outside for clean braking so I had to be a little bit careful with Seb on the inside. And then you’ve got to clear people and you know when you’ve got to clear people you use tyres, you use everything up. Romain drove a very good race, he was very strong in the last part of the first sector which you need to be to get out of there. It’s super- super difficult to stay close. I did what I could for most of the time but also the tyres are screaming at you for lap after lap and you have to drop back, give them a breather, go again. So, yeah, I did a pretty clean race. I think the performance and pace were very strong from my side but yesterday was when victory was made easier for Seb.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q. (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Romain, what was the strategy to resist to Mark, and Mark, what were the different things you tried with the KERS?

    RG: Well, I think the strategy was pretty clear. We were copying what Mark was doing. When he was pitting for hard tyres, we pitted for hard tyres, if he was pitting for prime or option. Then in the race I was just trying to make as much gap as I could before the DRS zone, so turns eight and nine are pretty hard to follow another car. I think we had a pretty good balance around there and then use all the power we could on the back straight, trying to avoid the DRS and then I know that by turns 17,18, 19 it was very difficult to follow me, so he was very close every time into turn one, but never had a go. I think the closest he was into turn 12 was probably ten meters. He pushed me wide once because I outbraked myself but as long as he didn’t seem to be too big in the mirror that was fine.

    MW: As usual, the Lotus is not too bad on the softer end of the range, if you like, with this tyre we qualified on. Had to do the race start, obviously I had to use the tyre to pass Lewis, so when it was time to build up towards the stop, to be patient, to go as long as possible but also knowing that Romain was covering us off, covering the move and waiting for us to pit because the Enstone guys are not rookies when it comes to strategy either. We knew we would look to have an attack on the prime but also, as you say, moving the KERS round a lot is part of my job, to try and create more pressure. The back straight was OK to use all of it, but the key areas are eight, nine and then the hairpin. It’s not the easiest track on which to follow people, I think we saw last year, obviously Seb was in traffic with Lewis, Lewis was very quick but following all the time and couldn’t pass. It’s a challenging venue still to pass because of turn eight and nine, I think, so in the end we did what we could do. There’s not many regrets as to what we could have done differently to get the job done on Romain after that.

    Q. (Luis Fernando Ramos – Racing magazine) Mark, we have a Brazilian Grand Prix in one week, so what’s your feeling as you go into your final F1 Grand Prix?

    MW: I’m looking forward to it, driving round in the middle of the race thinking ‘yes, I’m really looking forward to it because it’s time’, the enjoyment factor is there but it’s not like it was when I was at Jaguar or when I first started at Red Bull. That’s natural, that’s why the decision gets made obviously. The category has changed quite a bit in the last few years, I’ve done what I can, done my best but when you realise there comes a point where it’s not what it once was and that’s what happens to all sportsmen and women, there’s a point when it’s a little bit different. I’ve got one week to go, I will leave the paddock very satisfied. I’ve been dealt a very good hand, very proud of what I’ve achieved. I never thought I would do that when I left Queanbeyan in Australia, to have had the results I’ve had, to have worked with the amazing people I’ve worked with, to race against amazing drivers on the best tracks in the world. I’ve learned a huge amount about myself, about everything. One week to go and go from there. It’s the next chapter when I step out of the car for the last time I will be fine with it. Back to UK Sunday night, walk the dogs on Tuesday morning.

    Q. (Sarah Holt – CNN) Seb, not such a massive victory margin as we’ve seen in recent races but still, can you tell us what it’s been like to effectively race yourself in the last few races and what’s been going through your mind in the car?

    SV: It’s not as if I’ve been getting bored. Obviously I’ve quite a lot to do, looking at the gaps. First of all, I have to match their pace. Obviously when they do come closer it’s not the best feeling because you want the gap to increase always, but you don’t want the gap to become smaller. I think it was clear this weekend that again we had a very strong package. Friday already looked very good, especially on the long run pace. I think in terms of set-up we might have compromised the pace a little bit yesterday. Also it was very tricky with the windy conditions in qualifying for everyone to get everything right in just one lap. It was very easy to lose out a little bit here and there but today I was happier with the balance. Already on the laps to the grid I could feel the car was more similar to Friday so I was very happy once I was in the lead after turn one. Obviously I had to wait a little bit with the safety car before I could unleash the pace but certainly it’s a great feeling when you do pull away, and then it’s about pacing yourself, pacing yourself to get the range, to look after the tyres etc. Certainly there are a lot of things going on but also it’s a nice feeling to have a little bit of a gap because you can take it a little bit easier in some crucial places, to look after the tyres and benefit from that, especially later on in the stint. Overall, you do tend to have quite a bit of work in the car, it’s not necessarily… it is a Sunday afternoon drive but not in that regard.

    Q. (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) Just following on from Sarah’s question: Seb, a lot of great drivers say they’ve never actually driven the perfect lap, and I guess therefore the perfect race has never been driven. How was your race today, we didn’t see every corner of every lap. In your own standards, did you make any mistakes at all?

    SV: Well, it’s different these days. If I compare when I came into Formula One, it was more like sprint racing for twenty laps, get a new set of tyres, refuel and go out and do another sprint. Today, obviously, is different because you don’t refuel, the car is very heavy at the beginning and naturally, just because of the way that you have to look after tyres. Now we’ve seen in the past couple of years that these tyres do need some management as well, also in terms of driving style and looking after them and making sure you don’t go crazy too soon, because it might hurt you later on, so therefore, if you look at the perfect lap, you can’t repeat a 100 percent lap every time, because you need to look after the car and tyres. In the end, I think what you want to achieve is the fastest race to the finish line. I think we had a very very strong race today. The last couple of laps on the softs I was struggling because I running into traffic and the tyres were falling off so we were actually the first to come in this time, despite the big gap, but then the hards seem to last very very well in the end. We had very strong pace. I think I went a little bit wide once or twice into turn 12 under braking but other than that, I obviously tried as well to keep it on the line. It is a little bit easier if you have a ten second gap to the car behind to not necessarily use all the kerbs here and there, to manage the tyres a little bit better.

    Q. (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) The concentric doughnuts you did afterwards looked beautiful. Do you have any set-up that you put into the car before the race in terms of diff or brake balance, to make that happen?

    SV: No, no, definitely not. Obviously there’s a couple of tricks, we had some… we do have some show runs every year and this is usually when you get to practise your skills when it comes to doughnuts and burn-outs. It just seemed like a good spot. You know, you have to do it in a smooth way otherwise I get a big bollocking from my engineers for not looking after gearbox, engine and so on, so I try to be smooth but equally you want to create some smoke and just have fun. But not any maps, particular set-ups that go in the car just because of that.

    Q. (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Seb, what do you think that Michael will tell you about this broken record?

    SV: Well, in a way I think I have the same approach as him, as probably every sportsman. I don’t think we are jumping into the car to beat certain records. At his time, he was braking a lot of records and many of them will last forever, I think. To come even close and today to beat one of those is exceptional. I think, as a sportsman, you don’t jump into the car to break records and equally you don’t expect them to last forever. I spoke to him a couple of weeks ago and generally, I think he’s very happy with what he has achieved and seemed fairly relaxed. I think he’s riding a lot of horses lately so he’s quite happy to go karting with his kids and enjoying his life after Formula One. There’s a huge part of our lives if you consider that there’s a lot of years left once we retire. It’s good to enjoy those as well.

    Q. (John Sturbin – Ft. Worth Star-Telegram) Sebastian, on Friday, the technical directors were in here including Adrian Newey talking about next year’s changes and how that might upset the balance of power. Is that something you were maybe referring to in your post-race message, you were talking about ‘this is something we need to remember?’ Are you worried about next year and how it might upset everything?

    SV: No, to be honest… Yeah, I remember Adrian said the same thing. I think we have all been there. Yesterday evening I took a shower and I had some thoughts about the day, finishing on pole. It’s a little bit of a shame that obviously because of the run we’ve had lately, people take it as guaranteed that you deliver the result on a Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon because I think people tend to in a way respect the result and what it means, the effort behind it and I think it’s natural that as an athlete you have ups and downs. Right now, you could say that it’s rather more up and then down but you never know what’s going to happen, next year is an unknown. I’m sure we will push very very hard and

    I’m sure we will fight a lot to maintain our position but there’s no guarantee that next year will be like this year. With the new regulations coming in, I think nobody really knows where he will stand. You will have the big teams in front but the question is who and the question is also in terms of gaps. Yesterday was one tenth between Mark and myself which is very very small, it’s a small gap and certainly there’s a reason to believe that next year the gaps will be bigger and the season will be less consistent for everyone. It’s unknown at this stage but generally I think we need to remember and therefore enjoy the moment and the days we’re having

  • F1 2013: Austin GP – Vettel Lone Star in Texas

    F1 2013: Austin GP – Vettel Lone Star in Texas

    In sporting terms the Oxford dictionary defines the word domination as playing better than your opponent in a game. However, this definition is just a few understated words contained in a book. A tangible example is more comprehensible and Sebastian Vettel’s eight grand prix victories in a row is the very definition of domination.   

    Sebastian Vettel led away from his 44th career pole in Texas and remained untroubled for all 56 of the Austin grand prix race laps. A one stop tyre-strategy resulted in the German momentarily relinquishing the lead of the race to Lotus’ Romain Grosjean but it was apparent that the four time champ was well in control of proceedings.

    The sister Red Bull of Mark Webber lost two places off the grid to Grosjean and Lewis Hamilton but before he could attempt to regain his position a collision between Force India’s Adrian Sutil and Williams’ Pastor Maldonado deployed the safety car. The first lap crash pitched the Force India into the barrier on the back straight of the Circuit of the Americas and out of the race with severe suspension damage. Sutil later commented that Maldonado was “on a planet of his own.”  “I was staying straight with my steering wheel and to the left and right there was a lot of space. I don’t understand why someone then hits you. There’s like an emergency area around him, you have to give room for two cars, not just one,” said Sutil after the incident.

    Circuit of the AmericasThe race resumed with Vettel at the head of the back timing his re-start to a tee and leaving Grosjean in his wheeltracks. Mark Webber seized an opportunity to overtake Lewis Hamilton on lap thirteen and set off after second placed Grosjean. The Mercedes pitwall instructed Hamilton to look after his tyres and the Brit was into the pitlane on lap 25 ruling out a possible podium finish.

    Behind the front four Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso resurrected their battle for fifth. Several brilliant overtaking moves between the two added some spice to an otherwise lacklustre grand prix. Alonso seemed set to snatch fourth from Hamilton but the Mercedes driver was able to withstand the initial onslaught after which the Ferrari’s tyres lost its edge. Hulkenberg in turn had a go at passing Alonso but had to settle for a solid sixth place finish.

    Out of favour at McLaren Sergio Perez delivered a good enough drive for seventh place. However, the stand out driver of the weekend was Williams’ Valterri Bottas. The Finnheikki set an amazing pace throughout the weekend which saw his advance to the top ten shootout in Saturday’s qualifying. Bottas, confirmed to be driving for Williams in 2014, was rewarded with an eighth place finish and the first points of his Formula 1 career. Nico Rosberg never truly recovered from starting 12th on the grid and was only able to manage ninth on the day. The final points paying position went to Jenson Button who spent his afternoon embroiled in the mid-field. Despite the fact that the McLaren has been nowhere near the pace for the whole of the 2013 season Button admitted that, as a driver, he has to do some work as well. “It’s not just that [the car is uncompetitive],” he said. This weekend I just didn’t put it all together. I’ve got to sort myself out.”

    Romain Grosjean delivered a solid drive for Lotus in the absence of Kimi Raikkonen but only narrowly kept alive the Enstone based team’s quest for second in the constructor’s title. Heikki Kovalainen, parachuted into the other Lotus at the last-minute, was struck by an on and off kers issue as well as an unfortunate problem with his front-wing. “The team found out there was something wrong with the front wing and I was losing more and more downforce so we had to come in and change the nose.”There is nothing physically wrong with the nose, so they suspect there is some rubber or something stuck somewhere,” said Kovalainen. Up until his unscheduled pitstop the Finn was running comfortably in the points.

    BZT_wgOCMAArQV5Sebastian Vettel proved that Texas truly is the lone star State. From Belgium to Italy to Singapore, Korea, India, Japan, Abu Dhabi and Texas the German super-human now holds the record for the most consecutive wins in a season. However, it isn’t all elementary to Vettel. He declared himself speechless over the radio to his team and added “we have to remember these days. We can’t guarantee they will last for ever. Incredible team — I love you.” The rest of the field are certainly praying for this run to come to an end.

    Vettel attempted to put his record-breaking run into some perspective after the race. “People tend to forget how much work there is behind all these this and how special it is. I remembered back in 2008 how happy I just was to, once in my life, to be on pole. I think you should never lose the passion and the joy,” he added, “and always remember the days when you were just dreaming of these things to happen.”

    Photo credits:

    @redbullracing

    @Lotus_F1Team

  • F1 2013: Post-qualifying press conference – US GP

    F1 2013: Post-qualifying press conference – US GP

    UNILATERAL

    Q: Sebastian, you saved the best ’til last there. A satisfying pole I imagine here in America, in very difficult conditions it looked like today, and also on a special day for your team boss Christian Horner, his 40th birthday.

    Sebastian Vettel: Yeah, happy birthday to Christian. Obviously a good result to have both cars in the front row for tomorrow. It was a tricky session because the wind, I think, picked up quite a lot from this morning and… yeah, it does influence the behaviour of the cars so, not that easy, especially around the high-speed corners. I wasn’t that happy with my first run in Q3 but I think I had a solid run at the end which I think was enough to put the car on pole. I think it was very close with Mark, he seemed to get closer and closer the longer the weekend went on. Fortunately I could just manage to stay ahead. I think he might have had a mistake in his final shot but yeah, obviously very happy with pole position today. I really like this place, I like the circuit and looking forward to tomorrow. I think it’s important as well to start on the clean side, so we’ll see what we can do.

    Q: Mark, did you think you’d done enough after that first run? A tenth and a half over Sebastian in Q3, doesn’t happen all that often. Where did it go wrong in that final run?

    Mark Webber: No, I didn’t think I’d done enough, you need to improve. Obviously there are two shots, we both had two sets of options. The first part of the lap was very good, I was happy with that. Didn’t quite get 19 and 20 as I wanted. If I just repeated what I did initially in Q3 probably it was going to be enough but tried to squeeze a bit more out. It’s easy to unload the car a little bit in these conditions, so yeah, sometimes you’re happy that you’ve given your best and you’re on the front row but today one slipped through the fingers. But anyway we’re up there and well done to Seb, obviously. He put the three sectors together so… I put two-and-half together and just dropped it in the last sector, so, yeah, it’s not satisfying when you do that. It’s not your job to do that. Pushing the boundaries and overall, yeah, pretty happy to be there.

    Q: Romain, pretty consistent form from you, your third top-three qualifying in the last six grands prix, already five podiums in this season. Some good momentum behind you at the moment.

    Romain Grosjean: Yeah, I think we are doing a good job. It wasn’t an easy weekend for us. We struggled a little bit yesterday and this morning. I think conditions are not so easy starting early in the morning – and I don’t like to wake-up early as well so it doesn’t make it easy. And then I think quali went pretty good. We did manage to go through Q1 on prime. That wasn’t the plan but we were quick enough and then, quickest of the rest but it seems that those blue guys are very, very quick. We have to still try to catch them, the race is long and, y’know we will see what we can do with the strategy and everything but it’s good to be here and good to show that we are still in the front row.

    Q: Sebastian, looking towards tomorrow’s race. Are you someone who feels a sense of unfinished business, given what happened in the way you lost the race here last year? Is it important for you to tick this one off?

    SV: Ah, well, I think no regrets to last year. Obviously it was a tight battle with Lewis. I think in the end he was just a little bit quicker so we were having a hard time to stay ahead of him. Obviously the way he then passed was not the nicest way with traffic but, y’know, it’s a long time ago, so looking forward to tomorrow and, as I said, I like the circuit. Yeah, definitely, if you have the chance to win then you want to go for it. At the moment things are looking good. We did the job right today, focus on tomorrow but we go step-by-step. It’s a long race, tyres could be tricky. I think the strategy should be more or less clear but then again with these tyres you never know.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: So Sebastian, obviously you made it through Q1 only using the harder tyres, a tactic that all three of you adopted. I’m interested though in your final run in Q3. It’s not the first time that we’ve seen you do this where you perhaps hold back a fraction in the first sector in order to have more performance in the final sector which is where you seem to make the difference today. Is that a conscious tactic or just the way things worked out?

    SV: Well, I think first of all Mark is quick in the high-speed stuff, so I knew it will always be close. I think he was a little bit quicker in sector one. But you’re right, obviously, it’s a long lap. Especially the first run in Q3. I started to feel a little bit uncomfortable with the rears at the end of the second sector and then in the last sector, so… yeah, I think I got it a little bit better the last time around but also tried to… well, you can’t look after the tyres that much on one lap but just tried to keep it clean, get a clean lap. I knew I had more pace than the first run, so managed to do that and fortunately managed to get pole.

    Q: Mark, twice pole, once second in the last four races. A very competitive run of form at the very end of your Formula One career. Not having second thoughts about retiring, given how well you’re going?

    MW: No, that’s why it was so frustrating to not get pole today. Would have been good to get another one off Seb at the end with a few grey hairs – but didn’t happen, he did the lap. Anyway, I’m having no second thoughts. Good timing for me. Hand over to quicker guys.

    Q: You seem to be driving with a lot of confidence. Is it because you’re feeling very relaxed, heading for the exit door?

    MW: I don’t think so. I think the tyres, when they’re fresh-ish I can still turn not a bad lap. So, confident we can have a good race tomorrow. It’s a pretty nice circuit with some nice, fast sections at the start. All in all my form this year in terms of pace hasn’t been ridiculous. Obviously Seb’s been still pretty strong in quali overall but we know we’ve performed pretty strong in terms of pace in general. Obviously we’ve lost a huge amount of points for other reasons but want to finish the year strongly and hopefully we can do that again tomorrow.

    Q: Romain, you too got through Q1 using only the harder tyres. It’s not the first time that you’ve done that. It’s a fairly confident thing to do, given that the cut-off is quite marginal sometimes. It’s caught you out at other times. Can you talk a little about the confidence you’ve felt going into this session – and did you always feel throughout Q1 that you were going to get away with it again?

    RG: To be honest, it wasn’t the plan today. After India I think we had to take a little bit of caution, the team constructors’ is very important to us so it wasn’t the plan to go… we were prime and option but basically the car felt very good on prime, lap time was good enough and when I came back they told me “that may be good enough”, and then it was. So an easier time that what we knew previously.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, what does it mean for you, this pole position, after such a tough fight against Mark?

    SV: Well, I think both of us would like to have the upper hand. I think two weeks ago I felt like Mark probably feels now and I feel like he felt two weeks ago, so obviously very happy for myself. I had a good run in the end. I think it’s always tricky to go with the track on Saturday afternoon, as the track is changing, I think you are able to extract more and more from the tyres, given that you set up the car in the right way. It’s not that simple but I think it’s the same for all of us, so happy that we did the job today and as I touched on earlier, I think it’s important for the race, so now focusing on the start.

    Q: (Peter Hubbard – COTA PR) Mark, during qualifying and practice three there were several spins on turn 19; was it wet down there? What seemed to be the problem, several drivers went off at that point?

    MW:Turn 19 is quite blind, you can’t quite see the apex, you have to imagine that our eyes are very low in the cockpit so when you go there in a Formula One car it’s not easy to see the apex so you have a little bit of a leap of faith in terms of how accurate you can be in the first part. Sometimes you run out of road, sometimes you don’t. I was in that club in the last part of Q3. It’s easy to not get that right just because of the blind nature of the corner.

    Q: (Ian Parkes – Press Association) Seb, can you explain the shake ‘n’ bake reference that we heard over the radio messages at the end of qualifying between you and your engineer?

    SV: Well, he started it! Yeah, I think there was a movie a couple of years ago which was about racing and I think it was more a piss-take than an actual movie. It was a nice quote, I think it suits. Obviously we’re in America… especially my engineer has a lot of history here, knows a lot of people, he did a lot of racing (here) early in his career. You need to ask him whether it’s what he used to say when he secured pole position in the US.

    Q: (John Sturbin – Ft. Worth Star-Telegram) Sebastian, if you win tomorrow, will you continue the doughnut celebration thing, very American?

    SV: Well, to worry about that is a nice problem to have but first of all we have to focus on tomorrow’s race. I’m sure Mark will try everything to get past as well as the people behind – Romain and so on – so it will be a long race, there are a lot of things that can happen. I think we always push the car to the limit so you never know what might happen, therefore I don’t think it’s the highest priority to be honest to worry about that right now. I think it has to happen very spontaneously.

    Q: Because you are going for your eighth consecutive win tomorrow which would be a new record if you pull it off? Do the numbers matter to you at this point?

    SV: Well, I think maybe I’m not that clever so I’m not trying to think that much about these things. Lately I seem to have succeeded so I think it’s not the right mindset to go into the race thinking about a higher target than just the race. So I think we’ve done pretty well with that kind of approach so far, the last couple of years, so I don’t see a reason to change.