F1 Madness

Tag: max verstappen

  • 2019 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    2019 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    2 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)

    3 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

     

    TRACK INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by Paul Di Resta)

     

    Q: Lewis, I can see how much that one means to you. From a driving point of view that was exactly what you had to do to go out there and win it. You fought all the way the very end to get that one done. How do you feel?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Tired, which is how it should be, but I feel really grateful for the day and for the team for continuing to believe in me and continuing to push to the limits and to take a risk and a chance on me. We’ve been together for seven years and it never gets old, it always feels brand new. It feels like a new win for us. If it wasn’t for these boys here and all the guys back at the factory this wouldn’t be even possible and I’m just grateful to be a part of it. Yeah, for a race to be able to push like that, I’m telling you now it was on the limit all the way.

    Q: The gap was there to take that chance, to roll the dice and try something on strategy, but you had a bit of management in there with brakes, because you had nearly got Max before. Was it always going to be on edge to get that pass done?

    LH: Honestly, we’ve had brake problems all weekend, having like separation of the front temperatures and glazing, and I was a bit worried. We made some changes and it still didn’t make a difference and naturally we get into the race and we have this problem, so I was doing a lot of lift and coast and not even touching the brake for half the lap. Now of course in the big stops you had to lose it. I was just trying to save as much as I could for that time when I do get a chance. It was very, very difficult to get by, defence was great, they were quite quick on the straights. But honestly I didn’t know if I could catch that 19-second gap because there is a big… my tyres were going to drop off and all these different things are going through your mind, but like the team said, you just keep your head down, so I did and kept pushing and pushing and the gap closed and closed and closed. The laps were like qualifying laps every lap. So my hat off to the team and I think if Niki was here today he’d take his hat off.

    Q: I think everybody would. That’s seven wins in Hungary and a nice way to sign off for the summer break. Enjoy your rest. Max, I know you’re not going to be very happy with what happened but they had the chance to do what they did. You were not fortunately in that position (sic) but I guess you’ve got to be satisfied and Driver of the Day to say that.

    Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, we were just not fast enough. I tried everything I could on that hard tyre to stay alive but unfortunately it was just not enough. But still, second and fastest lap, I think a good weekend overall for us. Of course congrats to Lewis for the win. He was pushing me very hard, so I like that. Today we didn’t win but again, like I said, it was a good day, a good weekend for us.

    Q: What was missing today? That’s four very good races but the one we all thought you would get the job done, these guys came out very strong.

    MV: Just lacking a bit of grip I guess. We tried the one stop, of course they had the opportunity to do a two and today that worked out well.

    Q: Sebastian, right at the very end of the grand prix. I know these guys had a lonely race at the front but always satisfying to pass your team-mate, you did something different on strategy, and to sign off what is going to be a difficult break for you guys to bounce back?

    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, I mean obviously I was sitting in P4 and had nothing to lose so we stayed out very long in the first stint and then just hoped that the soft would last until the end, and it did. I think it was the fastest tyre at the end so we were able to close the gap. We had one opportunity, which I took, so happy to get some champagne now and to cool down. Yeah, we couldn’t go the pace with these two; that was quite clear the whole weekend, so lots of work ahead of us. I think it’s good now for everyone to get a break, the guys have been working very, very hard. We need maybe to charge our batteries and then the battle continues. There will be tracks that we will be better for us but still, overall we need to get stronger.

    Q: With Spa and Monza coming up after the summer break you guys have got to be favourites for that with your straight-line speed.

    SV: Yeah, I don’t know what other people will do in terms of updates on power unit and the engine side, so we’ll see. Obviously on paper they look better of for us. But yeah, still we know we have margin with the car. As you said it will be a busy break for us. I don’t think anyone’s mind can rest in the two weeks, so maybe we come up with some good ideas for the second half.

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

     

    Q: Max coming to you, great performance by you all weekend and so much rested on that strategic call. Were you tempted to pit as well?

    MV: It wouldn’t have made sense because I would have been behind then so then you know the race is lost anyway. So the only option was for me to continue and that’s what we did. Of course at one point I started to run out of tyres, I think trying to keep up with Lewis’ pace on those medium tyres, trying to keep it within a second was almost impossible. And of course you can see it coming, so for me it was not a big disappointment once he passed me, it was just a normal thing to happen. Anyway, we have to be realistic and he was just clearly faster today. Always I was struggling a little bit more for grip than him. He could keep the pressure on. Of course when you are in second you can gamble to do a two-stop. For me it was always about trying to cover him or stay ahead. With the two-stop, worst case scenario is you stay second and best case you overtake me and that’s what they did today. Yeah, then we pitted at the end as well. Of course happy to then do that fastest lap. It’s still one point and hopefully at the end of the year it will matter. Let’s see.

    Q: And when you were on the same tyres compound how much did you relish that battle with Lewis?

    MV: So, I think on the first tyre he never really had a shot. We were still competitive in the last sector and then when we got on the hard tyre… also with the traffic, because of that he had a few goes at me because I couldn’t do my normal lines in the last few corners and he caught up with that. And then with the defending, I tried to do it as good as I could. Luckily I could stay ahead and then he had to manage his brakes and engine a bit but you could see clearly once that was sorted he closed the gap again. If he had stayed on that one stop I think I could have kept him behind. But once he was on the medium you know it’s going to be really hard.

    Q: Sebastian, strategy played a significant part in your race as well. How tough was it to get the distance on that first set of medium tyres?

    SV: Very tough. I think they were in very poor condition at the end. I was happy we tried. Obviously we tried to hang in there. I think we stayed out another 10 or 15 laps after Charles pitted, just to try to do something different, maybe hope for a safety car, but to be honest by then obviously the top two were sort of gone anyways. It was really for the sake of trying something different, which looked very distant to ideal when we had the stop and I came out but then I just tried everything I had and got one chance in the end. In the end it’s not a big deal, third or fourth for the team, it’s still the same. The big picture for today is that we were not quick enough and not able to follow them right from two laps into the race.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

     

    Q: (Christian Menath – motorsport-magazin.com) Max, usually Red Bull is quite good on race pace and not so good on qualifying pace. Do you have an explanation why it was the other way round this weekend? Was it becauswe of the Friday, which was a little bit weird?

    MV: No, I think then you can see how much margin they have when they really need to push. I think Lewis today was on fire as well, but then you see, once he really has to go for it you can see that that car is still the dominant car, it’s as simple as that. Whereas in some races it’s not as necessary. Of course they had their issues in Austria with overheating so you can’t push. Of course in Hockenheim it was tricky conditions as well so you can’t really drive to the limit of the car. But here today I think he had to go for it flat out, because I was also pushing flat out and then you can see what they are capable of as a team.

    Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriera della Sera) Sebastian, given the hotter temperature did you expect from your car. Is it now a step back in the performances?

    SV: No, I think the temperatures were fine. It was quite warm, the track was near 50 degrees as well so I don’t think so. I think we saw our limits yesterday. We got a confirmation today, so I don’t think it’s a step back, we had some bits, it was a small step forward but what it shows is that it’s not enough. It’s important that the mood inside the team remains positive, which is the case. I think everybody knows what we are lacking. Obviously we are very competitive on the straights – yesterday 6 or 7kph faster at the end of the straight compared to Red Bull and also Mercedes – but obviously we are losing quite a lot in the corners. There were some tracks where efficiency is more important, this is a track where inefficiency pays off, so whatever you have in terms of downforce is positive. That’s where we are lacking performance and in the race I think it shows even more because you are sliding and then I think we are going through the tyres faster. So not to our advantage. We have seen that as well in recent weeks, so in a way not a surprise but as I said we need to keep our head down and do the work.

    Q: Thank you Sebastian. Lewis, thank you for joining us. Can you just give us your thoughts when you were 19 seconds behind with 20 laps to go?

    LH: Well, firstly, Max really drove a sensational race today, as he has done particularly the last few races. When I was behind him on the hard tyre it didn’t look like he had particularly good pace – maybe he was managing to get to the end – but I had a lot of grip and I was thinking ‘I can definitely make this tyre go to the end’, because the first one I got to go quite far. But the team said we were going to a two-stop and I was thinking ‘how is this going to work out, I’m going to come out quite far behind’. But you have to put complete faith in your team because they have different viewpoint to you, so we did the stop and I came out on the mediums and I thought ‘Jeez, I don’t know if these are going to go the distance at the speed I am going to have to go’. Also Max turned up the engine mode and they started doing mid-19s. I started thinking ‘I don’t know if I’m close this gap’. I think the trajectory, they said I was going to catch him with nine laps to go and then that changed super quickly and went to last lap. So after that I had to put all doubt and all question marks out of my mind and go for the best laps I could do every single lap and consistency and not drop any time whatsoever. I had one of the most consistent period of laps that I’d had. I don’t know if he had traffic or mistakes or whatever but the gap started to chop down quite quickly. I think with four or five laps to go I had him four seconds ahead and I could see him in my sights, so maybe he’s struggling with his tyres. So after that I was like ‘OK, we’ve got a serious race on here’. It felt like the steepest wall to climb when you come out that far behind but the team had relaxed faith that we would do it and I’m grateful for their hard work and the decision.

    Q: (Stuart Codling – F1 Racing) Question for Max. You said just now that we saw how much margin Mercedes have. That notwithstanding, you had a brilliant race today. How much confidence does that give you, that you can come back after the summer break and take the fight to Mercedes?

    MV: I think there are a few tracks coming up that are maybe not as ideal for us – but of course we know we have some updates coming soon to the car and the engine, so hopefully that will again bring us closer. We’ll find out then.

    Q: (Giles Richards – The Guardian) Congratulations Lewis, after what happened in Germany, does this feel like a redemptive special win for you and for Mercedes, to come back so strongly?

    LH: I generally don’t like to look at redemption, if that’s the right word. Naturally, you know I don’t really make a lot of mistakes and I think the last one was definitely a massive off-weekend for me, and so this weekend, these two weeks, the team have been really great and supportive and taking off the workload, allowing me to recover and really just giving me the best support group possible to take any extra pressure off. Coming to this weekend, I felt I was back on it. Qualifying didn’t go the way I’d planned and I’d hoped. Then today, once I got into second, I was like ‘OK, game on’. And I could keep up with Max, no problems. So I was like, ‘we’ve got an actual real race on here. How is it going to play out? I don’t know. We’re going to have to figure it out as we go along.’ And obviously we both know where we’re going to strategy-wise. Yeah. I truly believed I could get by him at some stage but we’re also fighting at different points in the Championship. I think if we were level on points today would have been an even more aggressive battle, I would say, in the wheel-to-wheels that we did have but obviously we didn’t need to take extra risks today. So, I think Max was really fair and great with where he positioned his car. I just always made sure I gave extra space, just in case. But, of course, going into the break, this is a great, great uplift for the team, particularly after a difficult weekend for us all in the last one. So all the guys back at the factory, a big, big thank you, and the guys here with the strategy. They’re very, very calm when they talk about the strategy like that today. “No, no, truly believed you could do it.” For sure they were nervous as hell that it wasn’t going to work. I think collectively we made it happen, so it’s good.

    Q: (Luke Smith – crash.net) Lewis, congratulations. We saw that battle you had with Max through the middle of the race. Could you talk us through that? How much do you enjoy these wheel-to-wheel fights with Max? And how nice is it that he’s stepped up and Red Bull have stepped up this year, so you’re fighting with him on a regular basis?

    LH: Yeah. It’s really fantastic to see Red Bull’s progress. Obviously we’re in a period of time, particularly this track has been a track that they’ve always been particularly fast in, in previous years and it’s really awesome for Honda as well, to see their progression. They’ve got a lot of power in that engine. So, don’t for one second think when get the…  I think we all get it… the timings where we all layout… the Red Bull were quicker than us on a single lap this weekend and we thought we were relatively level in the race but we were just able to keep up with them and match their times. I think it’s going to continue for the races to come. Even the faster circuits, the engine’s going to be great in Monza, so hopefully we’ll see this battle continue for the rest of the season. And, fingers crossed, Ferrari also will take a step back towards us at some point over the next races. But going into the break, this is awesome.

    Q: (Vladimir Rogovets – Sb Belarus) Thank you very much guys for a very good job, for very nice race. I am really happy to be here. My question to Max. How do you feel close with nine championship titles.

    MV: I don’t know what to say! I have none! I don’t know what to comment on this! I still have a few years, hopefully in F1, so hopefully one day I can add one. Yeah. That’s it, I think.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – F1.com) Max, at the beginning you were only two-tenths on average slower than Lewis. Then from lap 61, 62, 63 more than 2s. So the tyre disappeared completely? And Sebastian, in spite of what you said to us, that you didn’t expect much from the team here, before coming – did you expect more than sixty seconds the difference between you and the winner?

    MV: Yeah. I think it’s quite normal. Lewis was on a medium tyre, pushing flat out of course to catch up, and I was on a hard tyre trying to go flat out but trying to keep the gap but yeah, I was always trying to keep it within a second because then I knew, OK, we can get to the end but at one point the tyres were gone. I started losing one and a half second a lap and then at one point two seconds, and it was just sliding and you feel the rubber is gone, so there isn’t much you can do. It’s quite normal when you have to push that hard on the tyre quite late in the race, where you normally don’t want to push as hard on the tyre. So I guess it’s a normal progression of the tyre drop off.

    Sebastian?

    SV: I think some tracks you know maybe suit you, some maybe less. Despite that I think I was fairly open-minded and you know, you don’t want to accept that. So I tried everything to prove the opposite. But looking now, after yesterday, we simply didn’t have the pace of those two in particular. So there’s obviously work for us to be done. We have room to improve, in the corners is where we’re lacking. With that obviously comes the advantage on the straight, one goes with the other. But, for sure, if we could make a trade, then we would go for it. We’ve been adding small bits to the car this weekend. They were working but obviously not big enough to really get close on a track like this. There might be tracks coming up next, especially with Spa and Monza that might be better for us – but in the end our ambition is to really force things to happen, be in control of the race. Where we are now, we’re quite far away from that. So, yeah, I think the spirit is good though. The team is willing to give everything they have, continue to give everything they have. And that’s all we can do right now.

    Q: (Tom Jackson – City Press) Question for all three of you. The lack of meaningful running we saw on Friday afternoon went some way to us seeing the variation in strategy that we did today that allowed you to put on fresh tyres and go for the win and things like that. Would you, in the future, be happy to have less running earlier in the weekend, as drivers getting less track time, if it meant we got more unpredictability later on Sunday?

    LH: I never really thought of it. I mean, if it can help with racing, sure. I think this weekend, not many people… I don’t think the Red Bulls did a long run, we did a long run in P1. I think one of few that did. I don’t know how much difference that made. It’s just that we did have an understanding of how far we thought we could take the tyres but somehow the other teams are able to do something similar with their strategies. But yeah… do you think it would make a difference.

    SV: No, I actually like driving, so it would be quite bad to get rid of some. I don’t think it’s a lot of driving anyway. We do a lot of races but overall I don’t think we drive very much. So, it would be a pity, I think. If you want to address the racing then there’s other things to focus on other than adding or taking away a practice session.

    LH: It definitely does help when you go into a race and you don’t know how far the tyre’s going to go. That is quite… I think that is not a bad thing and I think that can add to the spectacle. If you put on a medium tyre or a hard tyre and don’t know how far it’s going to go, none of us do, it definitely makes it more questionable, the strategy. So, I understand what you’re saying but we’ve got more, bigger problems, fish to fry, the way the car’s designed and things like that for the future.

    Max, your thoughts.

    MV: I think anyway, this year already quite often you go into the race on a tyre you haven’t driven on in practice – because you only select one. I think it’s not bad. I like also sometimes the challenge of not knowing what’s happening. I mean, the problem is most of the time, you put that tyre on, if the balance is bad it’s hard to pass, for the guy behind. So it’s more about the following where we need to work on. If the guy behind is faster, he should be able to get by. So that’s all in relation to the tyres as well. Sometimes, of course, on purpose we don’t select the hardest compound more than once because that’s mandatory. Because you know if you stick it on, even without any knowledge, you can stay ahead and just get to the end.

    Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Lewis, lots will be made of the strategy decisions today and obviously while you say it was a great call but Max earlier said that you were on fire today so how highly do you rate your individual performance over those last 20 laps or so?

    LH: Well, it was definitely a really good day today. I think today was clearly… once we got up to second I knew that me and Max were going to have a good race. Did I know I was going to get by? Honestly I was able to keep up with him, I was able to hold on to him within the two second gap and I was just trying to see whether I could make my tyres go longer than him and just kind of really studying him, I guess, really from behind, seeing how that was going. And then he started to drop off a cliff a little bit at the end and it’s really all about trying to make sure you’re in the right place at the right time. It’s not easy to follow, two seconds behind and obviously I had the brake problem as well, so I had to change my driving style quite a bit to enable this brake to go down in temperature so it meant doing a lot less braking and I had much much shorter bursts of braking and then in a lot of other places, half the lap I wasn’t really touching the brakes. So it really changes the balance of the car as well. I’m really glad of how I was able to delegate and work through that and collectively with the team, they did a really exceptional job. It will be interesting when we go back and talk about the two stop because today, this morning, we talked about the strategy and they said two stop was not going to happen and even when we called to do a two stop, I was like Jeez, I don’t know how this is going to work. A gamble’s always a good thing, it felt like a big gamble for us but at the time I felt like I had the pace on Max, I think, as I said, because I don’t know if he was backing off, or he was just controlling the pace but I felt like OK, I’m going to have a few attempts at trying to pass him but at some stage the tyres are going to go off, so I don’t know how many attempts that will be. I really don’t know how long I made those mediums go but I think it was just a collectively… a really bold, risky strategy call and then just doing the job. At the end of the day, I had to do those laps to chew out the gap that he had on me so I think collectively, as a team, we did a really exceptional job.

    Q: (Péter Vámosi – Racing Line) Sebastian, you will become a father again, and with maximum respect to your personal life, can you tell us if you’re waiting (inaudible) girl and if a boy, will you be happy if he would chose your job as a racing car driver?

    SV: Well, I don’t like to talk about my private life so thank you, but I think we will leave it there.

    Q: (Dániel Májer – GP Hirek.hu) Now the summer break has started, the first part of the season is over so could you please rate your own performance from one to ten, one is the worst, ten is the best and explain briefly why you give yourself that mark?

    SV: Five, not happy with the first half. I think I struggled here and there to really get on top of the car. I think we’ve been trying a lot of things so fair enough. Obviously we wanted to squeeze out more so you’re always looking for more but I feel I can do a better job in the second half. And five is my number, so take five.

    LH: So that’s the first half of the season, yeah? I’d say like 8.9, 8.8.

    SV: Go ten, man. Go for it, who cares?

    LH: If it wasn’t for the last one, the last race, it would be a little bit higher. I think the good thing is always to score yourself a little bit lower so you’ve more to work on. For sure, it’s been the best start of the season that I think we’ve ever had as a team and I think it’s one of the best seasons that I’ve had personally to start off, but there are areas that we can continue to work on. That’s the great thing about this sport, you know, no matter how many years and days you race there are always areas you can improve on. So let’s see if we can try and up that into the nines or try to get to the tens in the second half of the season.

    MV: I don’t rate myself in numbers.

    SV: What do you do instead? Letters? Or…

    MV: No, I hate putting a number on it because it reminds me of school as well, which is not that long ago. I’m always quite critical and I think it always can be better. I’ll never be satisfied. I think it’s been very positive and I’ve had good results but there are always things to work on.

    SV: … a number man!

    MV: No I don’t.

    SV: We did it.

    MV: Yeah, I know but… I don’t know, I think it’s… First of all, I cannot rate myself like that.

    LH: Why not, you’ve done a good job man?

    MV: I know, but… I don’t know. I find it a bit weird to say an eight or…

    Q: Lewis, how would you rate Max if you gave him a number?

    LH: I don’t remember all the races that you’ve done other than the last three or four. You could say he’s in the high nines over the last few races but I can’t remember how it went before.

    MV: I’ve had a lot of fourths, P3 and then three times fourth. P5, P3… too many P3, P4.

    LH: It’s easier to rate yourself because you often remember how many mistakes you’ve made, when you’ve done good, when you’ve kind of been under par and he’ll know whether he’s been on par or below par. I think today he drove exceptionally as he has particularly in the past three or four races so if that continues he’s going to continue to operate in the high nines towards tens.

    MV: Nobody’s perfect. No, it’s never perfect…

    LH: It’s like an impossible number to get.

    MV: 9.9?

    LH: It’s a hard one to get to.

    Q: (Dániel Horváth – The Paddock Magazine) Lewis and Max, Fernando Alonso praised your performance on social media. It seems he enjoyed the battle as well. Would you like to see him back in Formula One and race against him again?

    LH: Well, firstly that’s really awesome that he’s supportive… I was just actually watching some of the restarts, the starts of previous years and watching him from his Renault days and I remember just before I even got to Formula One watching how amazing their starts were. I don’t know how old Fernando is now but he’s always going to be a great driver. If he can get a good seat, he’s always welcome here to battle with us. It doesn’t make a difference, really, necessarily for me. I’m here to fight whoever’s here.

    MV: Yeah, I think it was a bit of a shame that I never had an opportunity to fight against him in F1 so yeah…

    LH: Could be a good team-mate for you.

    MV: Fernando? Well, you have experience with it, I don’t know. Well…

    SV: He could be your father!

    MV: Yeah, it’s close! Yeah, I know. As a young father. How old is he? 36? 38! OK, well 17 is possible to be a father.

    SV: Talking with experience?

    MV: I don’t know. At least I don’t know.

    LH: How old are you now?

    MV: 21. Many years, plenty of years…

    LH: Jeez. I like being in this room because I’m not the oldest!

    MV: 34?

    LH: I’m 34, yeah, nearly 35.

    SV: I’ll tell you, the day we get beat by somebody who’s born in 2000 and upwards. We will know it’s time…

    MV: I’m not that young!

    Q: Sebastian, final thoughts on Fernando? Would you like to see him back?

    SV: I don’t mind. I don’t know why… I don’t think he never really liked me. I don’t think we really had a… I don’t mind him. I respect him for what he achieved and for what he can do on track. I don’t know. I guess he’s bored if he has time to write these things. So bring him back, I don’t mind.

    MV: Maybe as a social media manager. To me, he’s always been very nice and good. I like that he is also now looking into other opportunities for racing. He just loves racing and he wants to win, he wants to be competitive. It’s good to see.

    LH: The sport needs the best drivers in the best seats and there is still at least a seat available that’s good enough for winning and he’s good enough for winning so it wouldn’t be such a bad…

    MV: Maybe he could speak to Toto.

    LH: Valtteri’s great; Valtteri’s been winning. You’re the one with the extra seat, I would say.

    MV: I didn’t say that.

    SV: I’m not sure…

  • 2019 Formula 1 Hungarian GP: Saturday Press Conference

    2019 Formula 1 Hungarian GP: Saturday Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)

    2 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)

    3 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    TRACK INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by Paul Di Resta)

     

    Q: Question inaudible

    Max Verstappen: It’s incredible! This one was still missing. The car felt good all weekend and then of course you know it’s always going to be hard in qualifying but we managed to do it and of course a big thank you to the team. The car was flying out there in qualifying. It was incredible.

    Q: If you’d saw how nervous the garage was when you went out for that last run, but I guess when you hear on the radio that you’ve actually nailed that, it’s just growing isn’t it, the confidence with there, and tomorrow you’re in a great position with that.

    MV: Yeah, absolutely. Very happy about today. Still a race to do and that’s at the end of the day the most important, but for me today was an important one, a very nice one and also a great one for the team.

    Q: The Dutch travel in form and you can hear when you drew up… ? 

    MV: They’re loving it!

    Q: …You had the engine noise but you could hear them. You’ve lifted this place. Max, congratulations. Valtteri, you nearly got the job done. I guess after last weekend, Max pulling out a great lap, but you came close and you’re in a good position.

    Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, I’ve been kind of chasing a little bit this weekend after missing pretty much all practice one, only limited laps in practice two, and I only really started to get into the rhythm this morning. It was getting better and better in qualifying and I’m pretty pleased with the lap in the end. Very close with Max, they’ve been quick all weekend, but, you know, as always it’s tomorrow that counts.

    Q: Can you still win this race from the position you’re in?

    VB: Of course. We are here to fight for the win. There’s lots of support for that, so that’s going to make a difference.

    Q: All the best. Lewis, third position. I guess you would say it’s been a difficult day after your form in qualifying normally. But I guess Max pulling out a great lap, Valtteri there as well, are you happy with where you ended up?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Naturally we’re always targeting first. Max did a great job and so did Valtteri. It kind of got away from me a little bit once we got into qualifying but still we’re in a good position to fight for the win, so we’ll just be pushing hard tomorrow.

    Q: These guys are starting to ramp up the pressure now, Ferrari were very close as well, the Red Bull. Are you relishing this fight that they’re taking to you?

    LH: I’m always down for a fight so…

    Q: I guess you’ll have to pass some cars tomorrow to try and get this win?

    LH: Yeah, I think it’s obviously a long, long way down to Turn 1, so it will be interesting. It’s not the easiest place to overtake, but strategy will come into it tomorrow, so I hope we can give them a run for their money.

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

     

    Q: Max, what an exciting moment for you. You’ve had a few minutes now to digest it, how does it feel?

    MV: Yeah, it feels good. I think the whole weekend already the car was very competitive. Of course there’s always a bit of a question mark how it’s going to work out in qualifying when we know that they can turn up a bit more power. But we seemed to hang in there and the car actually got better and better throughout qualifying. I was very happy with it, very pleased. It was really enjoyable to drive. I didn’t really have any comments throughout qualifying, I just said ‘keep it going, keep the car going and give me new tyres’ and that’s exactly what we did. Of course to get your first pole is very nice but it’s of course what counts on Sundays always.

    Q: Well, you’ve been brilliant on Sundays, you’ve had seven wins. What’s the overriding emotion now that you’ve finally go this first pole?

    MV: People will stop asking me that question. Yeah, I guess so. For me it never really mattered. I knew it was a matter of time. You need a bit of luck sometimes as well. Of course, I made mistakes myself to miss a pole position shot. And today we got it, so very happy with that.

    Q: Many congratulations, well done. Valtteri, it’s been a difficult build up to qualifying for you, with very little running in practice yesterday. How was the car this afternoon?

    VB: Yeah, it’s been not the easiest of weekends so far. I missed the whole of practice one, I had no track time, and I obviously very limited running in practice two. So this morning it was really important in practice three to find the rhythm and it was really getting better and better. I was getting the confidence in the car. Luckily there were no big set-up issues and I could just fine-tune it for qualifying. And again in qualifying, just learning each lap more and more and it started to feel very nice in Q3. It’s a shame to miss the pole by such a small margin, always, but congrats to Max and to Red Bull, they’ve been strong all weekend. But on how the weekend started, in that sense, I’m quite happy with that, but obviously a lot happier sitting in the middle.

    Q: Thank you and well done. Lewis, you came into the qualifying session seeking your seventh pole position here in Hungary. You’re lining up third. Just talk us through it?

    LH: Firstly, congratulations to Max. It’s an amazing feeling to get your first pole position, so really happy for him. For me a difficult qualifying session. Practice was going quite well. We knew the Red Bulls were quick – they’re always quick here. I think when I got into qualifying the car wasn’t the same as it was in P3 and it just was a bit of a struggle from the beginning and it kind of just plateaued there. It didn’t really get any better. But nonetheless we’re still there in the fight and hopefully for the race we’ll have better race pace than I did in quali.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

     

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and Speedsport) Max, you have a powerful engine but I think at the start of the season the chassis wasn’t really optimum. How much has the chassis improved from Spain testing to here?

    MV: I never said it was only the chassis, I think it’s a bit of both where we were lacking in the beginning. We made good gains with the engine, but we’re not where we want to be and I think everybody knows that. But we are pushing hard and we are improving and we are getting close to Mercedes and Ferrari, especially Ferrari, they seem very quick on the straights. With the chassis I think since Austria where we introduced a few crucial updates I think the car has been a lot better. From there onwards we kept bringing new parts. Maybe not as major as that one but it always gave me more of a balanced feeling in the car. And that’s exactly what we were looking for in the car and I guess it shows today on a track where you need a lot of downforce that the car was working really well.

    Q: (Vladimir Rogovets – Sb Belarus) My question to Mr Hamilton. Lewis, seven years ago you were here the winner but 2012 we had six champions in the peloton and you were only a one-time champion. Today we have only three champions in the peloton and you are a five-time champion. Do you think tomorrow, will it be easier for you to win than seven years ago – or not?

    MV: I didn’t know we had a peloton…

    LH: Did I win 2012? I don’t really remember that far back. Competition-wise, I don’t think it makes any difference, I don’t think, between those years. We’ve got some fierce competition within the top three teams. Is it easier now to win than before? I wouldn’t say so. It’s different circumstances now, naturally, and with more experience hopefully you are slightly prepared that I was back in… I would hope I’m better prepared than I was in 2012 but you’re still fighting an uphill battle all the time. You’re always finding new circumstances each weekend. This weekend, it started out well and it’s not gone great today but that doesn’t mean tomorrow can’t go great.

    …but you have more experience?

    LH: So, hopefully we’ll see that play its role.

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Max, by getting the breakthrough pole position for yourself and Red Bull with Honda, what message do you think that sends? Obviously you’ve made it clear that qualifying is the area you think you need to improve. And to the two Mercedes drivers, obviously you won’t take your eye off the challenge from Ferrari but do you think that Max is now your nearest, most consistent challenger?

    MV: We know that, if you can start more upfront in the race, it all makes it a bit easier to control a race – but we kept working really hard to improve the engine, to get a bit more out of it in qualifying, and I think that showed again today – that we were able to push it a bit more but of course within the limits of not blowing up. We keep improving. There are positive things also coming in the upcoming races. Of course, very happy to get my first pole position but also with the team, how quickly we turn things around from the beginning of the year where we were clearly lacking and now we are definitely closing up. And this weekend we were there, so that was good.

    Mercedes drivers: Valtteri, how do you see the pecking order at the front now? Do you think Max is your closest rival?

    VB: Well obviously it always depends on the tracks and circumstances but if you look at the trend, let’s say from the last five races, I think Red Bull has been the one who has been improving the most, closing the gap and today qualifying on pole. So, for sure they are doing many things right, and that means we have to work harder as a team but, y’know, I’m sure Ferrari isn’t standing still either. It’s maybe a tricky track for them but we’re going to see a strong performance from them as well.

    Lewis, your thoughts.

    LH: Enough said.

    Max is the top scorer in the last four races

    MV: You need to be the top scorer over the whole season, that’s what counts.

    Q: (Péter Farkas – Autó-motor) Max, you have been quite close to pole on a couple of occasions recently but you had a problem with the throttle application – turbo-lag, I think – is that problem now solved. And do you agree with Lewis the Honda engine is now at least as powerful as the Mercedes one at certain places.

    MV: Yeah, no problems this weekend, so that was all very good. No, I think we are still a bit down, in qualifying especially, but we are definitely closing up.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, you have had only one victory from P2. How tricky a place is this to get the second one?

    VB: Well, for sure it’s going to be a good battle tomorrow. It’s never going to be easy, and that’s obviously the only target as a driver. And starting in the front row and it’s very much possible. If the performance is there from my side, we as a team, it’s possible. It really doesn’t matter where you start from, as we’ve seen in the past, anything can always happen. Good chance. Very upbeat for tomorrow.

    Q: (Luke Smith – crash.net) Max, throughout your career so far you’ve held the majority of records for being the youngest driver to hit certain achievements. This is one of the few things you’ve missed out on. Do you care much for those kind of accolades and records – or not really?

    MV: No. I don’t’ know, I can make it a long story but it’s not so. It’s nice but it doesn’t make me sleep better, or anything.

    LH: Who has the youngest pole?

    MV: I think it’s Seb.

    VB: Now you can’t sleep.

    MV: Yep, now I’ll have a bad sleep.

    Q: (Masahiro Owari – Formula Owari) Question to Max. You struggled with an issue at a couple of grand prix, Hockenheim and Silverstone, how was the issue in today’s qualifying?

    MV: Yeah, I just had the same question before. There was no problem this weekend.

    Q: (Peter Vamosi – Racing Line) Renault claims that the engine is now at 1000bhp. What about Honda and Mercedes engines in this case? And an engineer said it’s impossible right now in this state to break this, also for Ferrari.

    MV: Well, if they claim to have a thousand horsepower they have a really bad car! I think it’s better to do the talking on the track than in the media anyway.

    LH: I have no idea what brake horsepower we have so similar; it’s all very close.

    VB: Actually just yesterday I asked the team – because we had some engine issues, we had some talks about the engine and I asked how much horsepower we had in qualifying and the engineers said they don’t know, they don’t actually know, so no one knows.

    LH: That might be why you’re catching us up.

    Q: (Peter Windsor – Clarksport) Max, you used the phrase earlier on ‘we knew Mercedes were going to turn up the engines for qualifying.’ Just to be clear, are you now able to turn up the Honda engine for qualifying, because you implied that but not actually said that?

    MV: Yeah, we do but it just seems like it’s not as powerful as maybe… well, looking at Ferrari they really turn it up. We do turn it up but maybe not as aggressive.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – liviooricchioF1.com) Lewis and Valtteri, Mercedes presented almost a new version of the car at Hockenheim with great changes in the aero package and here the results were maybe not what the team expected. Is that because the teams needs to understand better the new spec of car or even the upgrade was not one the team was expecting?

    VB: Well, based on everything we saw with the new package and analysis after last weekend as well it’s working as it should, so it’s a reasonable step forward in terms of downforce and efficiency. I guess other teams are moving ahead as well, forward as well with the performance but for sure we kind of expected to have a bit of a step compared to others but I think they are improving as well. It’s still a development race for quite some while before things are done.

    LH: Still trying to understand it. I think there are bits of it that are better and bits of it that are the same. So as I said the other day, we’re just constantly trying to understand it and improve it and I don’t think it’s a negative at all. We definitely have moved forward but clearly the others continue to move forward at the same time, at a steeper pace, maybe.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS) Practice starts, did they go OK, did they give you confidence?

    MV: Yeah, they were all good.

    VB: I had a really good practice start.

    MV: Yeah? I had a wheelie off the line! I was wheelie-ing.

    VB: Yeah? Me too!

    MV: Up to second gear!

    Q: (Daniel Majer – GPHirek.hu) Lewis and Valtteri, track position on this track is very important so tomorrow if Max comes first from the start, he can have an easier task. Do you think it would be good to discuss with the team any kind of tactics to hunt him down and then play it between yourselves or do you prefer just to mind your own thing?

    LH: Where’s the other Red Bull? So we’re in a good position in terms of working as a team tomorrow. We’re in a fortunate position, potentially, if we can hold on to Max to be able to work together to pull him closer to us and give him a bit of a run for his money. It’s a little bit harder when you’re on your own at the front in the team, because you can come under attack from undercuts and all this sort of thing. We’ll see how that plays out but we’ve got a long run down to turn one so hopefully we will have a nice long battle down there and then after that it’s down to team tactics.

    VB: Yeah, for sure we always discuss it, especially if we’re kind of starting next to each other and like Lewis said, we have a good chance as a team because we have two cars very much at the front. Obviously we are both also racing for our own result but also working as a team will benefit both of us so it should be interesting tomorrow.

    Q: (Zsolt Godina – F1Vilag.hu) Lewis, can you please tell us how was your preparation for this race weekend after your problems in Hockenheim?

    LH: It was just sleep. I didn’t get any training done, just literally sleeping a lot all week. That’s all I can really say about it.

    Q: Are you healthy this weekend?

    LH: Yeah, I feel a lot better, a lot better. Sweating a lot still but much better.

    Q: (Viktor Bognar – Magyar Szo) Max, in the past couple of weeks you were quickest in the fast and very hot Red Bull Ring. You were quickest in the wet Hockenheim and now you’re quickest here in the cooler and slow Hungaroring. Can Red Bull and you be favourites in the next races or what makes you think you can’t be?

    MV: I don’t know. We’ve got Spa and Monza coming up. Monza is maybe not our best track. Spa I don’t know actually, but first we have the summer break as well so honestly I’m not thinking about that yet. I feel good. I think the last few races, even on tracks where I didn’t expect to be like really, really competitive we were still there so anything can happen, to be honest.

  • F1 2019: German Gp Review – Verstappen, King of the Ring

    F1 2019: German Gp Review – Verstappen, King of the Ring

    On its day there isn’t a sport that can match the drama, exhilaration, and rapture of Formula 1. And on a rainy day in Germany Formula 1 was most definitely delivered a race to remember.

    Saturday qualifying was as embarrassing a day as Ferrari has experienced in some time. Well set to claim at the very least one spot on the front row neither Vettel nor Leclerc made it to the final shootout as both cars suffered technical failures. It left Hamilton to pick up the pieces and secure pole position with Max Verstappen alongside on the front row.

    Though most of the weekend had seen the Hockenheimring drenched in sunshine race day was markedly different as the rain came down. It prompted a couple of formation laps behind the safety car but conditions were good enough for a standing start. It was Hamilton who led away cleanly from pole as bad start, similar to Austria, dropped Verstappen down the other. It allowed Valtteri Bottas into second while Kimi Raikkonen scythed his way into third.

    Charles Leclerc, starting tenth, made an impressive start to be running sixth within a few laps while Seb Vettel too charged his way through the back-markers to fourteenth. The first Safety Car was brought out by Sergio Perez’s crash, which triggered the first round of pitstops with driver’s swopping full wets for intermediate tyres. The race settled momentarily before the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) was deployed for Daniel Ricciardo’s Renault that expired in a plume of smoke.

    As conditions improved drivers dived back into the pitlane for dry tyres. With Hamilton and Bottas still running one-two Verstappen struggled to heat his medium tyres and spun in the stadium section but rejoined without any damage. Again, the VSC would be called on as this time Lando Norris retired from the race with a loss of power.

    2019 German GPThe most dramatic sequence of events was just about to unfold. Leclerc, now in contention for the podium and even the race win, ran wide at the penultimate corner and slammed his Ferrari into the barrier and out of the race which prompted the appearance of the Safety Car. No sooner had Leclerc stepped out of his cockpit when race leader Hamilton lost control of his car at the same corner. Though the Mercedes driver too hit the barrier he was able to rejoin with the need for a few front wing.

    He dove into the pitlane but in doing incurred a five second penalty for failing to enter the pitlane before the bollard that indicates the correct pit entry. It wasn’t the end of Hamilton’s misery though as his arrival in the pitbox caught his team unaware. The pitcrew rushed around for the correct tyres and a new nose but thanks to the Safety Car and reduced speed Hamilton emerged in fifth overall.

    As the race ‘settled’ Verstappen was comfortably in the lead with Nico Hulkenberg in second ahead of Bottas. No sooner had the whispers begun spreading that Hulkenberg could be on for his first ever podium than the German driver found himself in the same barrier as Hamilton and Leclerc moments later. Yet another Safety Car was called on as drivers were back in the pits to swop dry tyres for inters. However, Lance Stroll and Racing Point gambled on dry tyres which worked a treat as the Canadian driver found himself in the lead as the rest of the field to the pitlane. Verstappen regained the lead of the race shortly afterward with Stroll desperately holding on to second ahead of Kvyat, Bottas, and Carlos Sainz. As Kvyat took second place from Stroll a few laps later it was going from bad to worse for Hamilton who flat-spotted all four tyres in a high-speed 360 in Turn 1.

    Mercedes’s day was about to get even worse when Bottas, just like Hamilton, spun at Turn 1. Unfortunately for the Finn he didn’t get away with it and destroyed the front of the Merc prompting yet another Safety Car.

    As the race re-started it was Vettel’s turn to come alive. He produced several brilliant overtakes and was past Sainz, Stroll and Kvyat in quick succession. It was a brilliant drive for Vettel who started 20thand last on the grid, kept his composure amid the chaos, and finished a fabulous second.

    2019 German GPUp ahead and well clear of the pandemonium Verstappen led serenely and apart from the earlier spin had no other issues. Apart from Mexico 2018 nearly all of Verstappen’s other race wins have come in dramatic fashion and Germany 2019 was no different. The seventh victory of Verstappen’s career was likely his most mature and reveals a driver ready to be a championship contender.

    While Verstappen marched to his second win in the last three races his teammate Pierre Gasly had a miserable afternoon. There were some good moments for the Frenchman but they were clouded by several off-track excursions before a coming together with Toro Rosso’s Alex Albon which put him out of the race. You cant help but feel as Gasly brought his damaged car to a halt it likely also marks the end of stint as a Red Bull driver.

    As impressive as Verstappen was it is undoubtedly Daniil Kvyat who deserves driver of the day for a sensational third place finish. It has been a long road back from the doldrums for Kvyat who was first replaced at Red Bull by Verstappen and later sacked by Toro Rosso. It couldn’t have come at a better time for the Russian driver who may find himself back at Red Bull in quick time.

    Elsewhere, Stroll eventually finished fourth ahead of Sainz in sixth who survived his own spin in the penultimate corner. Alex Albon made it a double-points finish for Toro Rosso in sixth. While the Alfa Romeo’s of Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi finished seventh and eighth on the track the two cars were later given a 30 second penalties for a pre-race rule infringement of, effectively, driver coaching. Alfa have stated their intention to appeal the penalties.

    This promoted Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen to seventh and eighth while Hamilton too benefited by being elevated to ninth. It also means that Williams secured their first point of the season with the elevation of Robert Kubica to tenth.

    Although this German grand prix is likely the last for the foreseeable future it went out on a spectacularly high-note. There’s little time for F1 to catch its breath as the paddock head to the Hungaroring this weekend for the final race before the month-long summer break.

  • 2019 Formula 1 German Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    2019 Formula 1 German Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    DRIVERS
    1 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)
    2 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)
    3 – Daniil KVYAT (Toro Rosso)

    TRACK INTERVIEWS
    (Conducted by Martin Brundle) 

    Q: [Question inaudible]
    Max VERSTAPPEN: ….I had a little moment, but I made a nice 360, so that was nice. I enjoyed that. Of courser to come out on top here it was all about trying not to make too many mistakes. Yeah, really tricky conditions but amazing to win.

    Q: It’s a day for a wise head. You’re such a young man but you still you’re wise head on young shoulders. You really kept your head in the most treacherous conditions when others didn’t. 
    MV: Well you learn, isn’t it, over the years. Of course very happy with the whole performance today.

    Q: Congratulations. Sebastian, well done, you must be so pleased with that, 20th to second. 
    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, thank you. It was a long race, at some stages it felt like it was never-ending. But it was a lot of fun. It was very tough with the conditions. It was very tough to read what was the smartest move, but yeah, I’m just happy.

    Q: Did we hear that you had a little turbo problem early on? You seemed to be struggling for pace and then it really came good. 
    SV: It took a while. I don’t think there was a problem but in the beginning with the intermediates I really couldn’t get the hang of it. Eventually then I got going so it was good that the afternoon took so long. Obviously I stayed tidy for most of the race but yeah, it was a long one. I don’t know if I can recap the whole race now but congratulations to Max, I think he drove superbly, but for us it was just go and get the next car and the next car and the next car.

    Q: When did you first smell a podium? 
    SV: I think before the last safety car, when I realised that I was quite a bit quicker and happy to pass people, it was quite straightforward. I was a little bit faster and could time it right. I saw a lot of people being cautious into the first corner and that’s where I was really giving it everything and it worked to get really into DRS range and I had good moves down the back straight but I don’t know, this race was so long…

    Q: You need to watch your back. 
    SV: Yeah, exactly.

    Q: OK, thanks a lot, Sebastian. Daniil, well done, a podium. Not your first podium but a very enjoyable podium for you. 
    Daniil KVYAT: Yes, it is amazing to be back on the podium. Incredible for Toro Rosso after so many years to bring as podium to the team is amazing and the race was crazy. Finally I managed to put everything together to get this podium and I’m really happy.

    Q: Any big moments? Any scary things going on out there? 
    DK: It was a horror movie with a black comedy. At some point I thought the race was done for me, but then it came alive again, it was an incredible rollercoaster. A bit like my whole career!

    Q: And you’re expecting your first child soon as well.
    DK: Yeah, she was born last night…

    Q: Oh, fantastic, congratulations. 
    DK: Thank you very much.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Many congratulations Max, what a bonkers race. How does it feel? How does it compare to the other six wins? 
    MV: Are you going to keep asking me that question: ‘how does it feel compared to the other ones’? I don’t know. It’s always different. It’s always a different feeling, but this was really good, because it was very tricky out there. We had to stay very focused; we couldn’t afford too many mistakes. I mean now, after the race, I can say I did that 360 for the crowd, but at the time it was a bit tricky out there with the medium tyre, very low grip. I think the information between myself and the team was crucial today. I think we made the right calls and that gave us the victory also. Once I was ahead of the Mercedes cars you could really see the pace we had, because I was stuck in the dirty air in the4 first few laps behind Valtteri but once you are ahead you can basically save your tyres a bit more and everything was a bit more under control. But yeah, good victory.

    Q: Great victory. Congratulations. Sebastian, your 50th podium for Ferrari. It’s been a bit of an emotional weekend for you if you think what happened yesterday and you’ve charged through from the back today. Just describe how it feels? 
    SV: Well, obviously after the disappointing day yesterday, where everything was ready: the crowd was ready; I was ready, the team was ready. Obviously we didn’t have qualifying, so starting last today I was very excited about the race in these conditions. Anything can happen. Obviously the racer turned out a lot crazier than I thought beforehand but yeah I’m very happy obviously. I’m very happy for the team first of all. It’s a tough period for us. We are pushing very hard, we are doing mistakes, we are not where we want to be, but we need to keep believing in ourselves, in our abilities, our strengths, and I’m confident that our days will come. Obviously today very happy for myself, at my home race and it was great to see the crowd, especially at the end, every time I passed in the car they were really excited. I really did enjoy that. A crazy race, a lot of decisions to make, a lot of communications between the car and the pit wall, but I think we stayed calm and tried to do the best at the time. Most of the time we were right, sometimes we were wrong but we kept it clean and I think that was the key and in the end I really started to come alive in these mixed conditions on dry tyres, we were quite comfortable and able to make good progress, because I think two safety cars to the end I was still not even in the top 10 and I was thinking ‘what happened?’ But it was a day like that and a race like that, so I’m quite happy.

    Q: Well done. Dany, what a huge race for you. The birth of your daughter last night and what a way to celebrate that. At what point in the race did you realise the podium was on?
    DK: Yes, thank you. It was an incredible race for myself, a lot of things going on. I guess it was the same for everyone. The beginning of the race was so-so, I think, I was always around the top 10 and I thought some points were possible today. The first when I chose to go on slicks, it was the wrong moment. The second time I think it was the perfect moment and when I saw that others didn’t pit for slicks when I did i thought that’s our moment and I was right and I exited in P3. I had to overtook Stroll forP2 and then from there I just had to hope that quicker cars would take time to catch me at the end of the race. So yeah, I’m very happy with this podium. It’s fantastic also for the team – 11 years since the last podium, which Sebastian did in 2008. I think everyone is very happy today and we have to be happy. From my side of course I would dedicate this podium to my girlfriend Kelly and to my daughter.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Luke Smith – crash.net) Dany, your career’s been on a bit of a rollercoaster over the past couple of years. To now have this result and this breakthrough, how good does that feel over everything that’s happened the last couple of years, and repaying that faith Toro Rosso have shown in you. 
    DK: Yes, you’re right. It was an incredible few years in my life. A lot of realisations in my life because it was sometimes tough times and I thought maybe Formula 1 was over for me, and maybe I thought, especially podium, I would never ever have it again, but life just proves that if you work hard and never give up, things are possible. I think that’s exactly what happened today. Even the race was tough for everyone, I managed to keep it cool and just… all these three difficult years, just felt like they crashed from my shoulders finally. I lost these chains today. It was hard work to reach this moment and hopefully I can send the message out there that I’m ready now to fight for this kind of moment on a consistent basis – and there is no stronger message than a podium like this.

    Q: (Arjan Schouten – AD Sportswereld) Question for Max. Big drivers, big champs crashed today. Christian Horner just told Sky that under these chaotic, difficult circumstances, you always stand out, don’t lose your head. Can you explain why you are always so talented under these circumstances?
    MV: A lot of practice I think, from when I was young, in the wet. Working many hours together with my Dad who, I think, was also pretty decent in the wet. So he always gave me good tips. And not only driving in the wet. It’s also making decisions as well, while driving, and paying attention to what’s happening around you. And, of course, experience. In life, in Formula 1. I think if you do over 90 races, you have experienced a lot already and, based on that, of course, you can also make better decisions, I think.

    Q: (Christian Nimmervoll – motorsport-total.com) To all three guys. I guess this is a special result for each and every one of you – but it’s probably even more special for Dr Marko because, at some point in your careers, you went through his hands. Can you probably remember a couple of stories with him? Tell us what he meant for your careers and sort of give us some thoughts on that. 

    Sebastian, why don’t we start with you?
    SV: He’s calling on a regular basis. Not any more for me so regular. I don’t miss the early calls at 7am! “How are you?”

    MV: “I’m in the gym!”
    DK: “Running!”

    SV: It probably pops up on your phone as a pre-select message: ‘I’m in the gym’. No, I mean, obviously he has a great talent for spotting young drivers early on and certainly he’s very tough and very straightforward – but I think you can learn to cope with that. I’m very grateful for the support that I had throughout my career from his side. I think it’s the same for these two. Yeah. I have too many memories; too many stories. Some to share, some not to share, better not to share. He’s always been very funny and we still keep in contact and I appreciate him now as a friend very much.

    Max, Dr Marko?
    MV: Yeah, of course, we are dealing with Helmut every day still, so for me, of course he took the gamble of putting me in Toro Rosso when I was still very young. I’m still young  – but back then I was very young.

    SV: You’re not very young any more…
    MV: Getting old?
    SV: Older.
    MV: Older, yeah…
    DK: You look quite old…
    MV: Already? I should retire in five years than I think. I look older than you?
    DK: I don’t know.
    SV: I look older than you two.
    MV: It’s fine. OK, so back to this story. Helmut is a real racer and he has a good eye of what’s happening still, at his age. So, it is quite impressive still, to see that. But it’s also no nonsense. If you make a mistake, you make a mistake. If you do a good job, you do a good job. I think he prefers when  you come up to him and tell him honestly if you made a mistake, or like something went wrong, than make a whole story – because that’s what he doesn’t appreciate. Basically I grew up like that because my Dad was the same – or maybe even worse than that. So… yeah. It’s good to have people like that in the team, of course, and in charge as well. For me, he is still very important and yes, of course it’s great to have him around and experienced a lot of stories with him still – and hopefully many more to come.

    Dany?
    DK: Helmet yeah, so many rollercoasters he organised for me in my career! Maybe more than them. Yeah, a special person in my life, of course our lives now, I guess. And, well, thanks to him very big time we are who we are and the personal improvement, the professional improvement I made thanks to him is huge – and obviously I appreciate what he’s done for me. And I’m here thanks to him. Obviously stories, like Sebastian said, many to share/not to share. I think the most relevant today, it was raining I think once, again 7am, at a test and I was maybe three or four seconds off in my first wet test in Formula BMW at the time and he said: “So, you’re quite useless in the wet,” and just hung up on me.

    MV: You’re imitating him really well!
    DK: Lot of practice! Lot of hearing. So yeah, there was that – and many others. He is always tough on you but he’s always – most of the time – he’s right. And maybe at first it’s hard to take but then you analyse and you improve, simple as that. He always give you the opportunity if you deserve it and I’m very thankful for him.

    MV: You still picking up the phone at seven?
    DK: Yeah! I started to wake up at seven every day now, thanks to him.
    MV: I just turn my phone off, pick up after nine… better. Anyway now, you have to wake up at like… well, you wake up every three hours, go to bed, wake up…
    DK: Well, now that you’re doing so well, you can even sleep until mid-day.

    Q: (Joe van Burik – Racing News 365) Many congrats to all three, especially to Dany with being a father now. Question to Seb and Max though: you’ve shown today that Mercedes can be vulnerable, in their home race in fact. Do you think this has in any way blown open the championship fight again? 
    MV: I don’t know, they are so miles ahead in the championship.
    Q: You’re 62 points behind. 
    MV: Yeah, still quite a lot, isn’t it? It’s more than two victories, and they are still the dominant team, I think. Today was just very tricky out there and it’s easy to make a mistake, as you could see. Yeah, today was not their day. We managed to do a good job but we still have to work very hard to close that gap and actually really fight for the victory every single race so still a lot of work to do. But of course when you can, it’s good to score more points than them.
    SV: Not much to add. We still have a lot of races to go, a lot of things can happen but it’s not like we can expect them to score no points for the rest of the season so pretty much the opposite –  they will be up there. We need to make sure we improve and give them a much harder time and naturally if you put people under pressure then things start to move. So it’s up to both of us, I guess, or us as Ferrari and them as Red Bull.

    Q: (Daniele Sparisci – Corriera della Sera) Seb, do you consider this second place almost as a victory from what happened yesterday, from what happened today? You did a fantastic job, congratulations.
    SV: Well, I know that Max finished first so it’s not a victory but starting last, I think, with the race that we had, I think we can certainly be very happy recovering and I think it was a very tough race, easy to lose focus or momentum but we kept it throughout. I’m very happy, especially also racing here. I hope that we don’t lose this race. I think not only for me and Nico as German drivers, I think for the German crowd that we saw today and yesterday is very passionate, a lot of people turning up. It was sold out today despite the weather. I think we had a great race and it would be a shame to lose it. Obviously I’m not quite sure what’s in the future, whether there’s a chance to keep it but certainly when it comes to passion and effort that people put into this race it’s pretty high up, so I hope that it’s not… People make some decisions on common sense and not based on how much the wallet is opening. I think we have Grands Prix that we just mustn’t lose such as Monza, such as the race at Silverstone in the UK. I think Germany and Spain have a long history of racing so it would be a shame to lose those and instead go to a place where they pay millions for the race to turn up but nobody is sitting in the grandstand. For us it’s dull, as drivers so I think we rather enjoy here, close to the Netherlands with a lot of Dutch people coming…
    MV: It was a bit tricky today because it was orange against red, you know those colours don’t really match.
    SV: Well, they’re similar. I was taking the orange as well on my side.
    MV: When they were going up, right?
    SV: No, but I think it’s great to see. Obviously for the Germans and the Dutch in particular it will be difficult to go to… I don’t know… overseas. Anyway, to come back to your question, it’s certainly a tough time for us as Ferrari with days like yesterday because it shows that we have things that we need to sort out, we have things that we need to do better but I think in this period it’s very important that we keep the morale, we keep supporting the team. From the inside that is happening, from the outside I hope it’s happening as well. I know the tifosi are behind us but sometimes the headlines can shift in either way so it’s important that we keep the support because I think things are moving, we are pushing very very hard and when it comes to passion I think we put a lot of effort and a lot of hours in; the people are very determined. I’m as impatient as everyone else to get the results finally but it will take a little while. We know what we can improve and that’s where we are working on but in the meantime I hope that people are a bit patient and give us that freedom in that time. But yeah, so in that regard it feels like a small victory today.

    Q: (Lennart Bloemhof – Volksrand) It was pretty spectacular over there all day, where does this race rank in your top five of craziest races? 
    DK: I think it was clear enough how crazy it was. I think it was the first wet race in a while – and especially this year, so new tyres for everyone, no one knew how to use them very well at the beginning. The spray in the beginning was very high, then the track started drying, then it was on the borderline with slicks and it was very important not to make any mistakes. It was very easy to lock up the wheels under braking or just go a bit wide in some corners and I think today was just about avoiding those costly mistakes and making the right calls at the right time, so it was all about that but the race, I think, must have been quite spectacular to watch from outside. Lucky you.
    MV: Yeah, bit like Brazil 2016 was also quite crazy, all the time switching between extremes and intermediates. Of course we didn’t really get to try slicks, I think. Maybe some tried, I’m not sure but maybe not
    SV: Not in Brazil, no.
    MV: I don’t think so. So it’s maybe a little bit different to here but it’s definitely been one of the most challenging ones.
    SV: Well I’ve had a lot of races, also a lot of great crazy races but it was certainly among the craziest for a while. Max mentioned 2016 in Brazil. Always when the weather is really funny and you have all sorts of conditions it’s very challenging. Today we had between three and five stops for everyone or some even more. Obviously I had a crazy race in 2012 in Brazil as well, Korea 2010.
    MV: Malaysia in 2009?
    Q: Red flag after 36 laps wasn’t it? 
    SV: I had stopped a bit earlier than that, actually! I was out before, I spun out so it wasn’t that crazy. As I said, it’s mostly when the weather is up and down and you have to make those decisions. It’s very tough, you are on the fine edge but it’s also very exciting because you know you can make the difference very quickly. Sometimes you have laps and laps and laps and you’re fighting for half a second that you can make up and other times in these conditions you can gain or lose five seconds and five places.

    Q: (Christian Nimmervoll – Motorsport-total.com) Seb, a couple of drivers lost it in the stadium section today: Lewis, Nico, Charles as well. Does it make you feel any better one year after that the world kind of sees how quickly that can happen in conditions like this? 
    SV: Not really, no. I think that the answer is no. To protect them, I think they know what they’re doing and mistakes happen so I don’t think you should give them a hard time. It was very very tricky out there. I think we all had small mistakes here and there. Obviously some had a bit bigger ones in the wrong places but that’s part of racing so obviously nowadays a lot of people tend to judge everything very quickly but I think as much as they, I am not listening to all of those people. It happens in these conditions, it’s part of racing, as I said.

  • F1 2019: German Gp Preview: The Case of Seb Vettel

    F1 2019: German Gp Preview: The Case of Seb Vettel

    Sebastian Vettel is a four-time Formula 1 World Champion. In all the noise and criticism that has been flying around the German driver it seems necessary to state this otherwise obvious fact. It needs mentioning because many a pundit, and several so-called pundits, has begun to question his prowess as a racing driver. They aren’t wrong in their criticism of his mistakes but they are wrong in their doubt of his ability and commitment.

    On numerous, if not two thousand, occasions some have stirred speculation that he may walk away from the sport. He did seem fairly disillusioned with the whole shebang after what happened in Canada but has confirmed, directly, that he has no intention of hanging up his helmet. In fact, he is contracted with Ferrari until the end of 2020. But that’s not provocative enough so ‘they’ continue to speculate about it week in and week out.

    The other favourite one-liner is ‘Well, you don’t see Hamilton making these mistakes’. It is quite silly to compare Sebastian Vettel to Lewis Hamilton. If you were making a direct driver-to-driver comparison, then have it at it. But F1 is never only about the individual and through that lens their situations could not be more different. Hamilton shows up to a grand prix weekend fully convinced that he will walk onto the top stop of the podium come Sunday afternoon. Yes, there are dozens of factors that can conspire to prevent this scenario but with all being equal he likely stands a more than 90% chance of winning. He is also in the most clinically efficient teams on the grid. Mercedes operate at a level that demands victory and anything else in inconceivable and unacceptable. More importantly they know how to win and how to solve their issues, almost immediately, if they don’t. In reality, his life is an awful lot easier than Vettel’s right now.

    Austria 2017_Sebastian Vettel_Thursday Press Conference Part 1Now Ferrari. Let’s not kid ourselves the Ferrari of 2019, heck of the last decade and a half, is not the Ferrari of the Schumacher-era. It doesn’t operate as proficiently as it should. That is evident, for example, in the repeated failure of upgrades brought to the car and in the calamity of their decision-making. This pressure isn’t only resting on the shoulders of those in the factory or even just top management. It filters through the entire organization and directly into the cockpit of Sebastian Vettel. Because he is fully aware that he is in car that has a deficit to Mercedes he pushes hard, sometimes over the limit. While Hamilton pushes his car to the edge Vettel needs to push beyond that edge to get on par with Mercedes and then the mistakes happen. Does this mean he isn’t a good driver? That he should retire from the sport? The answer is a resounding no.

    It doesn’t get any easier for Vettel as he returns this weekend to the German grand prix at the Hockenheimring. It is here, in 2018, where he crashed out while leading and handed Hamilton a handy 25-points. It seems as good a place as any then to start turning around his fortunes.

    Long straits dominate the first sector of the Hockenheimring making sector 1 fairly power dominant. The first overtaking opportunities of the lap comes at the turn 4 hairpin before the track evolves in a series of medium to fast corners that will test the aero efficiency of the car. The second half of the circuit layout of the circuit doesn’t inherently favour the strengths of the Ferrari but they have an opportunity to pull something together in Germany. It wont be easy to stop the might of Mercedes or to contend with the canny Red Bulls but Ferrari and Vettel must begin to find their way out of the messy position they find themselves in.

  • F1 2019: British Gp Review – Brilliant from start to Finish

    F1 2019: British Gp Review – Brilliant from start to Finish

    By just six milliseconds Valtteri Bottas snatched pole position for the British grand prix from Lewis Hamilton. It was as important a pole position as Bottas had ever had – beat Lewis Hamilton at Silverstone and you sent a pretty emphatic message.

    And Bottas did everything right on Sunday too. He led cleanly off the start and held teammate Hamilton behind for the first laps of the race. And though Hamilton was able to take the lead of the race into Luffield corner Bottas hit back straight away to retake P1 into Copse corner. It remained fairly close between the two Mercedes and as they gradually pulled away from the rest of the field Bottas seemed to have it all under control.

    Though Ferrari and Red Bull were unable to match the Mercedes race pace a tasty battle that lasted for the majority of the race raged between the four drivers. First it was Leclerc against Verstappen and although it wasn’t for the lead of the race as in Austria it was every bit as exhilarating. Verstappen, somewhat quicker, tried everything to get past the Ferrari driver but just couldn’t pull it off on the track. The two pitted together and some brilliant work from the Red Bull crew had Verstappen emerge ahead of Leclerc. The joy would be short-lived though as Verstappen ran wide out of the pits and allowed the Ferrari back into third.

    Up front Bottas pitted from the lead while Hamilton stayed out. It proved a vital decision as Antonio Giovinazzi beached his Alfa Romeo in the gravel trap. It prompted the deployment of the safety car and handed Hamilton a free pitstop and the lead of the British grand prix. Sebastian Vettel too gained as result of the safety car and emerged in third place. Ferrari had, once again, called a baffling strategy for Leclerc that left the Monegasque driver in sixth overall after being brilliantly dispatched by Verstappen.

    2019 British GPVerstappen quickly eased past teammate Gasly and was soon on the gearbox of Vettel’s Ferrari. A brilliant overtake into Stowe saw Verstappen ahead of Vettel only for the Ferrari driver to midjudge his braking and slam into the back of the Red Bull. It sent both drivers into the gravel trap but able to rejoin the race. While Vettel limped back to the pits with a broken front-wing Verstappen, miraculously, raced on and eventually finished fifth.

    Vettel was, rightly, handed a ten second penalty for causing the collision. Though never intentional the incident was definitely questionable. For one, Ferrari will do well to admit that they are no longer the second quickest car on the grid, that’s Red Bull. Second, while Vettel may be one of the top drivers in F1 with four titles behind his name his driving, in totality, over the last season-and-a-half is rather alarming. The talent is undoubtedly there but Sebastian Vettel cuts a somewhat disillusioned figure at the moment.

    Ahead Bottas would likely feel hard done by the safety car but that’s part of motor racing. The Finn had to settle for second while Hamilton scored a record-breaking sixth British Gp win. Leclerc drove through the carnage of the Verstappen/Vettel crash to take a fourth consecutive podium finish. And in a very timely fashion Pierre Gasly secured his best finish of the season in fourth with Verstappen recovering to fifth.

    It was an overtaking extravaganza behind the top teams with Carlos Sainz and Daniel Ricciardo finishing less than a second apart in sixth and seventh. In eighth was Kimi Raikkonen ahead of Daniil Kvyat in ninth and Nico Hulkenberg in tenth.

    The British grand prix delivered a race brimful of entertainment which makes the news that it will be on the F1 calendar for at least five more years all the sweeter.

    All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport
  • F1 2019: Austrian Gp Review – Verstappen & Formula 1 Win

    F1 2019: Austrian Gp Review – Verstappen & Formula 1 Win

    What a difference seven days can make. From the doldrums of France Formula 1 was transformed, albeit for one race, into the sport that so many millions have come to adore. Drama, some controversy, and adrenaline-charged overtakes dominated all of the 71 laps of Austrian grand prix.

    Saturday qualifying was bittersweet for Ferrari as Charles Leclerc secured a dominant pole position. However, a mechanical issue stopped Seb Vettel from participating in the final session of qualifying and left him to start the race at the lower end of the top ten. Lewis Hamilton, second quickest in quali, was demoted to fourth for blocking Alfa Romeo driver Kimi Raikkonen in qualifying. This promoted Max Verstappen to the front of the grid and put him in the perfect position to, at least, secure a podium at Red Bull’s home race.

    For only the second time in his career Leclerc lined up in the pole position. And just as in Bahrain earlier this season he aced the start. It wasn’t the same for Verstappen whose anti-stall kicked in and dropped him to seventh place on Lap 1. Behind the race leader Valtteri Bottas took up second while McLaren’s ever-impressive Lando Norris briefly challenged Lewis Hamilton for third.

    Kimi Raikkonen too made a good start to run as high as fourth while Vettel rocketed off the line into sixth by the end of the first lap. Several fantastic fights dominated the opening stint of the race as Verstappen and Vettel fought their way through the field. It was far more serene at the front for Leclerc who’d built a healthy lead over the two Mercedes by Lap 20.

    2019 Austrian GPRecord-high temperatures in Europe severely limited Mercedes performance in Austria as they suffered with cooling issues nearly from the first lap of the race. Their need to lift and coast into the corners severely hampered their pace meant that neither Bottas nor Hamilton was ever in contention for the win.

    It was clear that the Ferrari thrived in the hotter condition but still errors abounded. As Vettel pulled into the pitlane for his first stop the Ferrari mechanics were late out of the garage and lost Vettel precious seconds over his nearest rivals. Ferrari later confirmed that a communication malfunction as the reason for the tardy stop. Meanwhile Hamilton was forced to take a new front-wing at his stop after damaging it on the exit kerb of Turn 9.

    As things settled after the round of pitstops the Red Bull of Verstappen came alive. Despite holding a clear power deficit to the Ferrari Verstappen scythed past Vettel’s Ferrari for third. A handful of laps later the Dutch driver saw of second placed Bottas and set off after race leader Leclerc. A five second gap was reduced to a few tenths of a second in just a handful of laps by Verstappen’s blistering pace.

    On Lap 68 Verstappen stole into the lead of the race but it was only momentarily as Leclerc fourth back and regained the lead. One lap later, and to the utter euphoria of the vast amount of Dutch fans, Verstappen moved to the inside of Turn 4, briefly touched wheels with Leclerc, and seized the lead of the race. This victory was sixth of Verstappen’s career and easily his most impressive to date. It was also Honda’s first win since returning to F1.

    2019 Austrian GPStewards subsequently investigated the move for the lead between Verstappen and Leclerc after the race. More than two hours later Stewards ruled that no further action would be taken and the result would stand. While there will be many who hold the argument that the move deserved a penalty, it simply didn’t. Considering it purely technically it was clear that Verstappen had the racing line, was alongside Leclerc turning into the apex and he did not open his steering to force the Ferrari off the track. From on-board footage it was evident that Leclerc had left the door open and lost the corner. For Formula 1 too it was the correct decision. Just as in Canada this move in Austria did not warrant a penalty. It was a spectacular drive by Verstappen and Ferrari and Leclerc ought to take it on the chin and try again in Silverstone.

    While Bottas brought his Mercedes home in third Vettel, after a late stop, recovered to fourth. Lewis Hamilton finished fifth and accepted that his car was limited by the conditions. It was another stellar day for Lando Norris in sixth with Pierre Gasly trundling home in seventh. If Pierre Gasly wasn’t under pressure to maintain his Red Bull before the start of this race then he certainly is after it. The French driver out-qualified by a McLaren, a Haas, and both Alfa Romeos and he didn’t fare any better in Sunday’s race. In fact, despite Verstappen dropping down the field on Lap 1 Gasly still found himself lapped by his teammate at the end of the race. The Austrian Gp is easily Gasly’s worst performance and it has undoubtedly edged him closer to being replaced. In fact, it is likely that the Red Bull management has given him until Hungarian grand prix, before the summer break, to drastically improve his or face the axe.

    spielbergsunday13-780782Carlos Sainz underlined McLaren’s clear progress by finishing in eighth despite starting at the back of the grid. Kimi Raikkonen was ninth for Alfa Romeo while his teammate Antonio Giovinazzi finished tenth and scored the first point of his F1 career.

    For nearly all of the Austrian Gp the eventual winner was a mystery. It was chock-full of overtaking and brilliant performance up and down the field. This may only be one race but this is what Formula 1 can and should be. Whether this will carry forward to the rest of the season is unknown but one thing is certain Max Verstappen delivered a stellar drive, the best of his career, and there is more where that came from.

  • 2019 Austrian Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    2019 Austrian Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    DRIVERS
    1 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)
     2 – Charles LECLERC (Ferrari)
    3 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)

    TRACK INTERVIEWS
    (Conducted by Martin Brundle) 

    Q: Max Verstappen, what an astonishing race you drove. We see two cars down there from the great Niki Lauda – a Ferrari and a McLaren. A worthy champion of course, three times, a legend in this country, who we recently lost. You and Charles did him proud during that grand prix, congratulations. 
    Max VERSTAPPEN: Thank you. Wow! After that start I thought the race was over. But we just kept pushing hard. Quite quickly I saw the pace was actually not too bad, but I had quite a bad flat spot on my first [set of] tyres. And then after the pit stop we were flying. You can see it now on the straight we had good pace as well so we could make the pass. Of course extremely happy for the whole team and also for Honda. We just started working together this year but to win here is incredible.

    Q: It got a little bit cosy, a little bit close during the overtake of Charles. It’s under investigations. I’m sure you’ve been told by the team. What’s your point of view on that? 
    MV: It’s hard racing. Otherwise we have to stay home.

    Q: So you’re really comfortable. Your elbows are out, you took the place and you were up the inside. 
    MV: Well, I mean, if those things aren’t allowed in racing, then what’s the point of being in Formula One.

    Q: Well, let’s just celebrate a magnificent drive, well done. Charles Leclerc I thought your first win was there; so did you I’m sure. Take us through it from your point of view. Perfect start, perfect race until the closing stages. 
    Charles LECLERC: Yeah, overall I thought the race was good. At the end I had a bit more degradation than I thought so Max came back. Then, on the incident, I’ll let the stewards decide. For me it was pretty clear in the car, I don’t know how it looked like from the outside. We’ll see what the decision is.

    Q: You don’t feel it was a fair pass? 
    CL: I don’t know. I was the outside, just like the lap before. Actually, the lap before was completely fine. He left a space for a car width on the exit of the corner but he didn’t on the other lap, so we touched and then obviously I didn’t have a chance to pass back. It’s a shame.

    Q: Incredible performance still, congratulations. Valtteri, a couple of 21-year-olds today putting on a stunning performance. You’re the top Mercedes man, was it a difficult race? 
    Valtteri BOTTAS: I think we made the most out of it. It was a bit more difficult than we expected, especially with the overheating of the engine, so couldn’t really race properly – had to manage all those temperatures. That’s why defending was difficult and also attacking. But, yeah, got some good points. It was one of those weekends, but it’s not bad.

    Q: Anything you could have done better? The start was reasonable, pace was reasonable but you couldn’t stay with those two.
    VB: On pure race pace I don’t think there was not much difference, but once we had to start to manage the temperatures we were dropping back, so…

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Well Max, many congratulations. A great race from you although you didn’t make it easy for yourself, dropping back to seventh at the start. First question: how does this win compare to the ones that came before?
    MV: It’s a bit different again. At the start I had anti-stall. So I guess we set the clutch a bit too aggressive. But yeah, from there onwards, I think my first stint was a little bit limited with the flat-spot I had after lap one – but still, we stayed out quite long and, once we came out again, we had great pace initially. I think we were looking after the tyres a bit, just settling in. Then, one-by-one we were overtaking the cars ahead. The car really came alive.

    Q: At what point of the race did you think the win was on?
    MV: Difficult to say. I think once I got past Valtteri, with the pace we had, I could definitely have a go at it. But you never know. I just kept pushing really hard – but we did it with a few laps to go so, of course, extremely happy but also to the team. I think all weekend we’ve been working really well and the upgrades we bought, they’ve worked really well, so a big thank you to Red Bull Racing themselves, all the boys there – but also to Honda because it’s not been easy for them in the past but today it’s been incredible, so I’m very happy for them.

    Q: Charles, the disappointment must still feel very fresh for you. Can you just give us your thoughts on the weekend as a whole and what positives you can take away from this Austrian Grand Prix.
    CL: Yeah, the weekend was positive. Quali was positive, the race though, I feel like we missed something. Quite  a lot of degradation again on the second set. So yeah, on that we need to work but overall a positive weekend.

    Q: And what about your performance of your car in race conditions versus qualifying. Were you expecting a little more from it?
    CL: Maybe a little bit. I think what we didn’t expect is Max going that long in the first stint, and then the second stint was harder because we pitted quite early onto the Hard compound.

    Q: Valtteri, you celebrate your 50th start for Mercedes with another podium. Great start from you. Did that lay the foundations of this third place?
    VB: Yeah, obviously the start was important because, I think, for us to attack any cars ahead was quite difficult today with the overheating issues we had, so had to do big amounts of lift and coast and couldn’t actually use any of the better engine modes in the race so everything was on safe mode, just by overheating. Felt like we couldn’t really race today, so it was nice to have a good track position in the beginning and actually, in the circumstances today, I’m happy that I managed to be on the podium and also get a few points against Lewis.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Max and Charles, obviously you went side-by-side with each other two laps in a row. Max can you just talk us through how the attack the second time was different, what you did differently? And Charles, do you think that when you did make the contact, you could have done anything yourself to avoid a collision? 
    MV: I think the second one I braked a bit deeper into the corner. We had a little contact of course, mid to exit of the corner but yeah, from my side I think it’s racing. We all know there is a crest in that corner as well. If you take the crest wrong – because we both went a bit straight on – at one point you run out of room but it’s hard racing, it’s better than just following each other and have a boring race, isn’t it?
    CL: Yeah, I did the same thing from the first to the second lap. The only thing that changed was on the second lap there was contact and then I had to go wide and I lost quite a bit of time there.

    Q: (Christian Menath – MotorsportMagazin.com) Charles, just following that, could you have done anything to avoid the contact, probably go a bit wider and then come onto the next straight a bit deeper or anything like that? 
    CL: As I said, I’ve done exactly the same thing from the first to second lap, so I did not expect  any contact on the second lap. Yeah, as Max said, I think he braked a little bit deeper. I don’t know if he lost it or not but then there was the contact. I felt I was quite strong in traction, from the first attempt I managed to have a better traction and I kept my position. On the second one I couldn’t do that because I was off track.

    Q: (Luis Vasconcelos – Formula Press) Valtteri, you mentioned the overheating issues but it was clear that the car was also being aerodynamically compromised to improve that situation. Was the team surprised that even with all those openings for cooling there were still overheating issues? 
    VB: The issues today were definitely bigger than we expected. We knew it was going to be difficult and we would have to do some lift and coast but we never expected we would have to do that big amount and also by not being able to use good engine modes it made quite a big difference. And on top of that there were the aero losses and we were fully open with everything, so quite big losses and aero-wise as well, but the bigger thing was the engine power and the lift and coast.

    Q: (Luke Smith – Crash.net) Max, congratulations on your win, how significant do you feel this is for the Red Bull Honda project going forward and I guess the validation of the faith that Red Bull have shown in the Honda project so far? 
    MV: Yeah, of course I think this is very important for us and also for the future, for Honda as well. I’m just very happy that it happened today and it just gives us a lot of confidence as well to the boys and maybe a few doubts are going away because of it so yeah, at the moment it’s an amazing feeling.

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Max, did you have the time to enjoy the ambiance of the orange army? Did you hear it during the race or at the end? 
    MV: I think I was a little bit too busy myself, driving, but I could see them going up, like cheering me on. I was watching a little bit, next to the track. You  can’t miss the orange but of course the in-lap, you see everybody going wild so yeah, I don’t know, it just gives me a lot of positive energy going into a Sunday like this, and of course after the start I was disappointed but we never gave up and of course then to come back like this is amazing.

    Q: (Peter Hlawiczka – F1News.cz) Valtteri, have you already seen the incident from Charles and Max? And what is your opinion, would you penalise it or was it just a racing incident? 
    VB: I have not seen anything of the race apart from my own race so I can’t say anything. I’ve seen nothing.

    Q: (Christian Nimmervoll – motorsport-total.com) Charles, do you feel like this one has been stolen from you? 
    CL: Umm, well I think overall Red Bull was very quick today, very good at keeping the tyres better than us. If I feel the overtake was done rightly? I don’t think the second one was but I believe that anyway the end would have probably been the same but it’s just not the way you overtake, I think.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Max, on lap number 55 we heard ‘I’m losing power, guys’ and suddenly you overtake Valtteri. What does it mean? 
    MV: Yeah, the radio is always a bit late, so it’s maybe one or two laps later, because I had one attempt running towards Valtteri and then suddenly I lost power so I had to do a few changes on the steering wheel and then I was fine again.

    Q: (Peter Vamosi – RacingLine.hu) Juan Pablo Montoya said yesterday that he wanted to be a race steward; are you happy with that? 
    MV: I think he was quite a hard racer himself so I would definitely support him being a steward. I think he would be my mate.
    CL: I think it’s always good to have ex-drivers as stewards, as mentioned during the press conference on Thursday. Yeah, I believe that they probably know how it feels to be in the car and what it’s like to push on the limit and when it’s wanted or not wanted so yes.
    VB: Yeah, I think it’s good to have drivers’ view. He was a good hard racer as well so…

    Q: (Arjan Shouten – AD Sportworld) Max, sixth win of your car; can you compare this one with the other five because it’s the first one with a new engine, the drama at the start. Does it feel any better? 
    MV: It’s always a different feeling, I think, especially coming back from P7 or whatever it was. Of course also the new partnership with Honda. At the moment I’m just really happy for them especially.

    Q: (Zsolt Godina – Favilag.hu) Charles, what are your expectations for the next races in terms of car performance and tyre performance after this weekend? 
    CL: I still expect Mercedes to be very very strong in the next few races. It seems that Red Bull also have a very good package, especially in the race, to keep the tyres and push on them, so yeah, we need to work. I still believe that we also did a step, especially in qualifying. I don’t think we are yet at the level of Mercedes but yeah, hopefully we are getting closer.

    Q: (Flavio Vanetti – La Corriera della Sera) Charles, looking back at the choice of the soft tyres to start, was it the right one in your opinion or not? 
    CL: I think it was because I knew that starting on medium wouldn’t have changed anything. We didn’t stop because my softs were dead but we stopped because Valtteri stopped and we had to protect (ourselves)  from him. So yeah, I would have stopped also on the medium I think, just to keep that track position.

    Q: (Luis Vasconcelos – Formula Press) Max and Charles, was turn three the only place where you thought you could attack Charles and Charles, was that the only place where you were concerned and keeping an eye on him? 
    MV: Depends how it ends up. If he closes the door fully into three then you try to get him out of three into four, that’s what I did with Seb, for example so it just depends how the car ahead of you is defending.
    CL: Yeah, and for me I think there are two places where you overtake on this track which is turn three and turn four or where you overtake mostly so I was aware that he was coming very very quickly so checking but these two places, I knew that if he had the opportunity or if he was getting closer, I believe that it was here that he would have tried.

    Q: (Jukic Velimir Veljko – Autofocus) Mr Charles, you have been known up to now as a gentle, nice, polite driver. After this overtaking would you adapt your style more Max’s way, more tough, more aggressive? 
    CL: Which overtake? I got overtaken but yeah, I’m always like this. I think outside the car I’m a bit of a different person than what I am in the car but yeah, that’s it.

  • 2019 Austrian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    2019 Austrian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    DRIVERS – Sergio PÉREZ (Racing Point), Charles LECLERC (Ferrari), Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing), Alexander ALBON (Toro Rosso), Kevin MAGNUSSEN (Haas)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Alex, if we could start with you. Let’s start by talking about the frustrations of entering a race weekend when you have an engine penalty. How does that affect your mindset?

    Alexander ALBON: Yeah, obviously it’s not the same as a normal weekend when you have to focus on long runs. I think it opens the margin, as a team we can focus a bit on the long-run pace, which maybe we struggled a bit in Paul Ricard with that. It’s not too bad, because it just means we can almost treat it like a test day, the first three free practice sessions and do stuff maybe we wouldn’t risk on another weekend. So yeah, it’s OK.

     

    Q: I guess you take heart from what happened in China, pit lane to the points?

    AA: Yeah, you could say that.

     

    Q: Now, Alex, we’re one third of the way through the season or just over. How do you reflect on the early races and the whirlwind existence that is being a Formula One driver?

    AA: Yeah, I think the beginning was quite a shock. I think it’s like everything: you start to get used to it. The circus seems a bit more normal the more you do it. By this point now you’re in the rhythm, it’s not so daunting all the press stuff. It’s OK.

     

    Q: What about the car? How long did it take you to get comfortable in the car?

    AA: Car-wise, relatively comfortable was straight away to be honest. These cars now they are so fine-tuned that you can get up to speed relatively quickly but then to find the extra bit does take a bit more time. But on top of that it’s more about how you speak with the team, how you extract performance with the engineers, that kind of thing. That takes a while, and that’s something that I’m always learning really – what does the car need to get an extra couple of tenths on qualifying.

     

    Q: And in terms of performance, what can you tell us about the development of the car?

    AA: Yeah, I think like everything we are always improving and then it’s a fight against the other teams. Obviously McLaren and Renault were very strong in Paul Ricard and we’re hoping to bounce back strong here at our home race weekend. Of course everyone is getting upgrades, so it feels like an upgrade chase at the moment. So we’ll see.

     

    Q: Sergio, in France you finished 12th for the third race in a row. You seem always on the edge of the points, just how frustrating is it getting?

    Sergio PÉREZ: Yeah, it’s obviously very frustrating when you are not scoring points. It’s what you come here for and going home with no points hurts a lot. I think we have been going through a very difficult couple of races, the last three especially. But especially in the midfield it’s so tight, so a little improvement will be a big jump. I know the season is very long and we are still there or thereabouts in the midfield, so I’m still confident that we can turn around the season.

     

    Q: Do you feel the team is paying the price for the uncertainty of last season?

    SP: In a way yes, because you know, these days every team is so strong in the midfield. There are not bad teams anymore or teams that are too far away. Everyone is really there. When you have such tight margins having an upgrade one or two races late hurts a lot. So, yeah, I think we are. But as I say, I’m still very hopeful that we can turn the season around.

     

    Q: And what’s this year’s Racing Point like to drive?

    SP: We’re struggling a bit to try to pick up the best bits we have at the moment with the package that we have. It can be quite inconsistent, the car, at time, but nothing unusual, just normal stuff.

     

    Q: Kevin, it’s your 50th race for Haas this weekend and probably hoping for a better one that in France last weekend, which was described by your boss Guenther Steiner as the worst in the team’s history in Formula One. Is that a description you would agree with?

    Kevin MAGNUSSEN: It was certainly very disappointing and I think it’s because we have had very high expectations for this year. I think all the way from winter testing the car felt so good and looked so competitive. And also, at quite a few races we’ve had a great car in qualifying and qualified easily best-of-the-rest but then we’ve struggled a lot in the race. So I think in terms of it being the worst race in the history of Haas F1, I don’t know. I think if you ask him now he may see it differently. I think we have had some tough races in Mexico. I remember Mexico is like a bad race for us historically and we’ve had some really rough races there – qualifying on the back row and finishing almost the same. I wouldn’t say it was the worst race but maybe in terms of feeling. It felt very bad, because two races ago we qualified sixth in Monaco and looked very good for a very strong best-of-the-rest position there and then suddenly you find yourself in a tough position – hard to get out of Q1 and struggling massively in the race as well. Yeah, I would say very disappointing and I can see where he is coming from.

     

    Q: What is the mood in the camp coming into this Austrian Grand Prix? Is there a sense of frustration building within the team, both among the engineers and the drivers?

    KM: There is a little bit of a sense of uncertainty, because we don’t know what to expect. We know we have got a good car aerodynamically and a car that can perform well sometimes but then we’ve found ourselves in situations where the car isn’t performing at all and we can’t really point at the problem. It’s very confusing. We all talk about tyres and stuff but it is a bit confusing as to why we are so strong sometimes and even on tracks that look the same as, you know say Barcelona, where we were strong, we struggle sometimes. It’s not like you can find a trend and zoom in on the problem. It’s a little bit confusing but we are working very hard to locate the problem and take a direction of where to look. It’s easy to say that the tyres aren’t working but there’s got to be more to it than just temperatures and stuff. There are a lot of things to look at on a Formula One car so it is a bit difficult at the moment but this track has been good to us in the past, so fingers crossed it’s the same this year.

     

    Q: What’s your gut feeling about this year, because you were fourth and fifth last year?

    KM: The gut feeling is good. It’s been strong for us in all years I think. Even when I wasn’t here they were strong so… I don’t know if it’s just a coincidence or if there’s something in the track that suits the way we design our car. It’s a bit difficult to say. But at least it’s exciting to come here knowing that we’ve had strong races here in the past.

     

    Q: Charles, do you expect to give Mercedes a harder time here than you did last weekend in Paul Ricard.

    Charles LECLERC: Oof, I think at the moment it’s quite difficult. They seem very, very quick. They were extremely quick in Paul Ricard, especially on race pace. I think we are focusing on ourselves, trying to do the best job possible but to be honest it’s quite difficult to be at their level.

     

    Q: How much of a boost was it for you to finish less than a second behind Valtteri Bottas last weekend?

    CL: I think he was struggling quite a bit on the second set of tyres with some blistering. We weren’t, I think we managed quite well our race. So it shows that still everything is possible but it’s just very difficult and if they don’t run into issues it is a struggle for us to challenge them. So we are just trying to do our best in our races every time. On my personal side it was good to have a good weekend after a few where I have been struggling a bit more. So yeah, it was nice but now I just need to keep working and keep doing that.

     

    Q: You said in France that you changed your approach to qualifying. Are you confident that whatever you changed will work here?

    CL: Oh yeah, I think it’s just a general approach. I don’t think it’s something that I only changed in Paul Ricard and I will probably change it for here. I’m pretty sure it’s positive, so hopefully I can show it here too.

     

    Q: And when you are at a track like this, which is the shortest of the year in terms of lap time. How does that change your approach? Does it put more pressure on you during qualifying because the grid is that much closer in terms of time?

    CL: I love it. It’s one of my favourite tracks actually. I really enjoy having the short track, it really reminds me of the karting days, but no it doesn’t put any more pressure for qualifying or less, I just enjoy racing here.

     

    Q: Max, you won this race last year, what chance a repeat in 2019?

    Max VERSTAPPEN: erm… not that much, I think. Yeah. It’s a bit difficult, I think. We need quite a bit of luck for that.

     

    Q: Just tell us a little bit about the performance of the car – because you’ve now had five fourth place finishes…

    MV: Great!

     

    …how frustrating is that for you?

    MV: I wouldn’t call it frustrating. It’s not that I’m miles off. I always have… I don’t know if it’s a Ferrari in front or a Mercedes but they’re not that far away. We just need to keep pushing hard to try to get more performance out of the car but also out of the engine at the moment. We are clearly lacking a bit of pace from both sides. But still, I always try to get the best out of it. And, of course, I’m not here to be fourth. I want to win races. It’s not nice to drive around at this fourth spot, always just missing out – but that’s how it is at the moment.

     

    Q: Does the RB15 have a particular weakness – or is it just not quick enough everywhere?

    MV: No, it’s not that it’s not quick enough everywhere. When you look to Paul Ricard, yeah, clearly lacking top speed – but also maybe two or three corners where, compared to Mercedes, we are lacking just cornering speed. If you compare to Ferrari, they are like a rocket on the straight but in the corners we are a bit more competitive. So, yeah, like I said, we just need to work on both sides to try to get back on to that podium.

     

    Q: And you’re expecting a large Dutch contingent in the grandstands this weekend?

    MV: yeah, there will be a lot of orange. Of course, it’s always great to see and it always brings a smile to my face while driving – so hopefully I can give them a good result on Sunday.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

     

    Q: (Jonathan McEvoy – Daily Mail) To all five drivers. Today the mayor of London said that he would like a race on London’s streets. How would you like a race on London streets – or would you rather stay at Silverstone if it was one or the other?

    KM: I think generally I’m a fan of street circuits, but y’know, I guess it depends on how it’s going to look. Street circuit, to me, sounds like a good idea.

     

    Better than Silverstone?

    KM: Silverstone’s pretty cool, so it would need to be very, very good.

     

    Alex?

    AA: I think I’d like to stay at Silverstone. I think it’s one of the best, if not the best track of the year. So, yeah, I’d like to stay there.

     

    Max?

    MV: Yeah. I mean Silverstone is a great track, so, if they want a street circuit it needs to be an extra grand prix then.

     

    Charles, your thoughts?

    CL: yeah, city tracks are my favourites but Silverstone is one of those tracks where it’s so enjoyable to drive in a Formula One car that I would not like to not see it on the calendar – so probably Silverstone.

     

    And Sergio?

    SP: Yeah, Silverstone is a fantastic venue – but at the same time, racing on the streets will be very nice, especially in London. It will have to be a very nice street circuit to put it in instead of Silverstone.

     

    Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriere Della Sera) Charles, I just read the quote of Nico Rosberg, he says that Ferrari has no chance at all to recover the gap, looking at the Championship. Is it the case with 13 races left – or not?

    CL: Well, we’ll believe it until the end, of course. We are all aware that the gap is quite big and it’s going to be very difficult to catch up – but we won’t give up until it’s mathematically impossible. So, we’ll give everything – but of course the gap is big.

     

    Q: (Julien Billiotte – AutoHebdo) Max, you say you’re not here to finish fourth – so how long before you run out of patience and start considering options outside of Red Bull? Basically, could you drive somewhere else as early as next year?

    MV: To be honest, I think it’s more important to see what the team also will bring in upcoming races. I’m not too worried about what’s going to happen next year or even beyond that. At the moment I just want to focus on this project because I think there is still a lot of potential and we are just getting started. But like I said, of course, I don’t want to keep driving until I’m 35 or 40, y’know? So we’ll see.

     

    Q: (Péter Vámosi – Racing Line) Question to all the drivers. There were now some decisions from FIA which were really controversial and some part of the drivers said it’s OK, some said not. How do you like the idea to have only ex-Formula One drivers as stewards – maybe even with always one ex-World Champion?

    SP: I think that would be great. We’ve been talking about it for many years, to have the same stewards, to have that consistency throughout the races – but it’s very hard. It’s been very difficult for the past years to make it happen. Hopefully in the near future it’s something that will be in the sport because it will make it just more consistent and not rely so much on the stewards’ decision.

     

    CL: Nothing to add.

     

    MV: For me, I think it’s not good to have the same stewards all the time – because it’s the same in football: if you have a referee who doesn’t like you, and you always have to play with that same referee, I don’t think it’s a lot of fun. I think it’s the same in Formula One: if you always have the same stewards, it’s not going to work out. I think the change of stewards is not too bad. But most of the time, it’s a problem of the rulebook, where you’re sitting at the stewards and they have a view of things but they can’t give a different penalty because it’s written in the rules that they have to give this certain penalty. Then by just adding old – not old – ex-Formula One drivers. I don’t think it’s going to change a lot because, at the end of the day, they have to give the same penalty.

     

    AA: Not really too much to say. Just, I think the experience of a racing driver always helps with regards to… they know when a driver is trying to do something or not, if it’s on purpose or not. And yeah, in general I think it would be a… maybe not all of them but I do think the experience does help for tricky calls when it’s always 50:50.

     

    KM: Nothing to add. I agree with Max. On everything.

     

    Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Max, after the last race Lewis Hamilton was quite critical of Formula One, saying the set-up was in a bit of a mess and called the last race ‘boring’. Leading the new school of drivers, how would you sum up the sport and what do you think needs to change?

    MV: I think… of course it’s great to set lap records and stuff – but maybe if we are only going one or two seconds slower but we can at least follow each other a bit closer, that would be great – but I think that’s also not just purely car related, because I think also the tyres, if you are really close to someone for two or three laps, they overheat too much and you start sliding too much. So most of the time you also just back out because anyway, you know that if you stay there, you have to pit earlier and stuff. So, then it compromises your whole race. So, it’s a combination of both the car where we need to find a different way of creating the downforce – but then running closer to each other. And then yeah, the tyres. I think we can do a better job on that. So, hopefully we can support Pirelli in that. And then, still the differences between the engines are still too big, so if you also close that up a little bit by making it not that complex. I mean, I understand we have to stay with hybrid engines but I think it can be done in a better way.

     

    Q: (Arjan Schouten – AD Sportwatch) After the not-so-spectacular race in France, Ross Brawn was very clear when he said he hoped for some input from the drivers. Max already gave some input, but what do you think of the idea to involve all drivers in this and what will would you guys suggest right away when there will be some sort of meeting?

    KM: I didn’t… I wasn’t listening. Sorry. (Question repeated) I think it’s good. We have opinions and obviously good experience also. I think we could contribute in a good way so I think that’s positive. And I think generally we want to.

    AA: Yeah, not too much to add to Kevin. I think we all sit in the same boat while we all want the racing to be more interesting so yeah…

    MV: In the GPDA now, where all the drivers are together anyway, we do talk about it already and I think it’s not necessary that all 20 drivers go in there, because at the end of the day, if we all share the same ideas, maybe we only need two or three to be there but yeah, like also Ross said with Lewis, of course, yeah, if he can represent all 20 drivers together maybe with two other drivers together then it’s a good thing because at the end of the day we are driving the cars, so we actually really feel what’s going on while racing. The engineers, of course, they design everything but they don’t get to feel what we feel while driving.

    CL: Yeah, exactly. As Max said, we are in the cars so I think we have a pretty strong opinion on what’s to do and I think we have a few points that we are all agreed on which will be heard and I think that’s the point of us being there and I think it’s a good thing.

    SP: Yeah, as Charles said, I think we have a couple of points in the GPDA that we all agree – all drivers – and I think we are the ones who can give the best feedback because we are the ones racing the cars. It would be good if at least a couple of those points – they are not many – but if they can listen to us a bit more that would be great, to make the sport better.

     

    Q: (Ian Parkes – New York Times) As was mentioned previously, Lewis was quite critical but he wasn’t the only one, there was quite a considerable amount of criticism that followed the French Grand Prix, given that it was effectively, for anybody watching, quite a boring race. It’s also been suggested that the sport now is somewhat in crisis given that  Mercedes, once again, are completely dominating, in particular this season especially with all their one-twos. As drivers, do you feel the sport’s in crisis? And I know, Max, you’ve kind of answered previously but what would be your answers and not just for 2021 but for anything early doors going forward?

    SP: I wouldn’t say the sport is in crisis but it’s certainly losing interest from a lot of people. You have some races that are incredibly boring at the front of field but when you look at the midfield, I mean when you look at the last race, what happened at the midfield until the last lap, they decided who won the battle, so I think that was incredible. I think the problem is more with the top teams, the difference that there is. I think the whole pack has to be a lot closer together, give equal opportunity to everyone and have more teams capable of winning. The way you do that is by making the rules a bit more complex and not so much gap between teams. That will be the best way to create interesting races.

    CL: Yeah, as I said, certainly the sport is probably is not in the best shape, there are a few things we can do to improve it quite significantly. As Checo said, already from having a closer field would help, cars that can follow closer to each other will help also for overtaking and these are done by a few things and these other points agreed inside the… FDA!? No?!

    MV: Ferrari driver academy?

    CL: … the GPDA and that’s exactly what we want to make here, to the guys at the top of Formula One.

    MV: I agree it’s not great but I think Formula One has always been like this because before this Red Bull was dominating the sport. Before that you had Ferrari dominating the sport. Before that, what was it? You got Williams, before that it was McLaren again. You always have those years of domination unfortunately. I don’t agree with it but it’s like it is, there’s always one team which gets the rules… understands the rules better than others and does a better job so it’s up to us, now, I guess, to find a way where not every team starts speaking for their own advantage, because at the end of the day, even with the new rules coming at the moment, everybody is just speaking for their own advantage. Maybe it’s just better to leave out all the teams from the discussions and just say these are the rules and you deal with it.

    AA: Very much what Checo said. I think the midfield has been quite good this year, it’s just the top six drivers are quite routine and there’s quite a lot of consistency with us all. If there was a bit more unpredictability with it, it would definitely make for a bit better racing.

    KM: Nothing to add.

     

    Q: (Adrian Rodriguez Huber – Agencia EFE) Checo, scoring points again, would that make you happy enough or can you look further ahead? Or do you just not know where you are standing at this point?

    SP: No, definitely scoring points this weekend would be a good step. We’re finding issues with the car every weekend so we are getting… I think in Paul Ricard we were closer to the points. I think without my penalty we should have just been getting into the points so we’re definitely making progress but I think that if we are able to score points this weekend it would put us back on track. We’ve got some bits coming for the coming races so it should be a good step forward.

     

    Q: (Erik van Haren – De Telegraaf) Max, I believe you’re not the only Verstappen who is racing here this weekend. What do you expect from your father? Do you think he’ll still be quick?

    MV: Well I don’t know if you can call it a race but it’s good to have fun, isn’t it?

    Q: Max, can you just tell us what your father, Jos, is driving?

    MV: He’s driving in… is it called the Legends’ parade? Yeah. So, many cars on track. They’ve hired my Dad to drive as well. He likes driving. Like I said, a bit of fun. Won’t hurt.

     

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Max, last weekend you obviously had the full experience of running Honda’s upgraded engine through qualifying and the race. Before the weekend, you and Honda had made it clear that it wouldn’t be a massive out-and-out performance step but where do you see your deficit to Ferrari and Mercedes at the moment? Is it more skewed to qualifying than the race and is it still that balance of car and engine that’s holding you back?

    MV: I think I explained that in the beginning of the press conference where I see I’m losing, compared to Mercedes and Ferrari. Probably somebody recorded it so you can look back at it.

     

    Q: (Maria Reyer – Motorsport-Total.com) Charles, you were talking about your qualifying performance and that you were working on Q3. Could you maybe elaborate a bit more on what you’re working on and do you feel more confident coming into this race weekend?

    CL: Yeah, overall on the approach for the set-up, to try and anticipate the track evolution. On some tracks it’s bigger than others and I think most of the times when the track evolution was quite big, I was not in the best place or not in the place I wanted to (be) for Q3. I felt quite good in Q1, Q2 was worse, Q3 was even worse so now I’ve just tried and analysed that, to understand what did I have to live with in Q1 to have the car I wanted in Q3 and it worked.

  • F1 2019: French Gp Review – Mercedes Dominate…Again

    F1 2019: French Gp Review – Mercedes Dominate…Again

    A cursory scroll through social media comments would easily lead you to the conclusion that the 2019 French grand prix is not one that will down in history as a great race. Heck, it’s likely to be remembered for the exact opposite.

    Unlike Canada’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, with several pitfalls mere centimeters away, the acres of run-off area at the Paul Ricard circuit doesn’t offer anywhere close to the same on-the-edge challenge. Here the vast asphalt run-offs do nothing more than take away the challenge of driving an F1 car.

    But sanitized racetracks are hardly F1’s biggest issue. The teams, Liberty Media, and the FIA are currently in discussion about regulations for 2021 and they would do well to use the French grand prix, and the fans’ response to it, as a case study for what needs to change in the sport.

    Before then there is still a season, or two, to run and the latest race in France was little more than a Sunday afternoon drive for Lewis Hamilton. The Mercedes driver led every one of the 53 laps and seemingly had more pace to unleash if he felt like it. As it were Valtteri Bottas could mount no serious challenge and Hamilton won the race by 18 seconds. A late race VSC and Bottas’ difficulty in getting his tyres switched on afterwards nearly gave Charles Leclerc a run at second but the Ferrari driver ultimately finished third. Max Verstappen maintained fourth in a rather lonely race as Sebastian Vettel recovered from seventh on the grid to finish fifth.

    Perez penalty

    While most of the drivers kept their noses clean into the first few corners after lights out Sergio Perez quick decision to take to the run-off area netted him a five-second penalty. The Racing Point driver followed the letter of the law by rejoining the track at the stipulated point. But his trip through the run-off gained him a position and therefore a lasting advantage warranting the penalty.

    lecatselletsunday45-797703Ricciardo penalties

    The only bit of excitement surrounded the fight for seventh between Lando Norris, Daniel Ricciardo, Kimi Raikkonen, and Nico Hulkenberg. Norris well in control of his seventh place was hit with hydraulic issues that meant not only an inability to use DRS but also the gradual loss of power steering. Nevertheless, the impressive rookie soldiered on until the very last lap when he fell victim to Ricciardo, Raikkonen, and Hulkenberg.

    Ricciardo’s move on Norris saw the McLaren driver forced off the track which he followed up with a pass, with all four wheels off the circuit, on Raikkonen moments later. The three drivers were summoned to the stewards after the race which resulted in Ricciardo receiving two five-second penalties. Unfortunately for the Aussie driver the rules are rather black and white and clearly state that a penalty must be awarded for, first, crowding another driver off the track, and second, for completing a pass with all four wheel off the track. The Renault driver dropped out of the points to 11th overall but wasn’t apologetic about providing “some entertainment” for the fans.

    Carlos Sainz finished a remarkable sixth in what has been McLaren’s best race to date in 2019. The rejig of the results, following Ricciardo’s penalties, means that Raikkonen finished an impressive seventh with Nico Hulkenberg in eighth for Renault. Despite his issues Norris was ninth ahead of Pierre Gasly in tenth.

    Pierre Gasly

    One of the things that are almost always a certainty is that when a driver gets to his home race he ups his game. But this wasn’t the case for Frenchman Pierre Gasly whose weekend was nothing short of embarrassing. While teammate Verstappen was solidly in fourth Gasly trundled around behind both McLarens, both Renaults and an Alfa Romeo.

    lecatselletsunday13-640986Riccardo’s penalties meant that Gasly was classified as tenth but in reality the Red Bull driver finished 11th on the track. As a Toro Rosso driver Gasly impressed Red Bull enough to earn the call-up to the big team but he has come nowhere near to proving that he deserves to be in the seat. While Verstappen has scored 100 points in 2019 Gasly’s tally is a mere 36.

    Christian Horner’s demeanour after the race was one of barely-concealed irritation at Gasly’s performance. History reminds that Red Bull, in the form of Horner and Dr. Helmut Marko, can be ruthless when it comes to driver demotions, just ask Dannil Kvyat. If Gasly continues in the same vein he may well be replaced, ironically, by Kvyat before the year is out.

    No such issues exist at Mercedes who roll on in 2019 with yet another victory. There are those who would point out that the Ferrari and Red Bull eras were as dominating as this era’s seemingly unconquerable Mercedes. But even the heyday of Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel doesn’t quite stack up to the utter command that Mercedes has over Formula 1.

    Lewis Hamilton’s latest win in France takes Mercedes’ tally to ten consecutive race win if you include the last two races of 2018. Of the 107 races, so far, in the Hybrid era Mercedes have won a staggering 80 of which 50 have been one-two victories. It is difficult to imagine that this number wont increase to 81 victories at this weekend’s Austrian Gp.