Tag: mclaren

F1 2014: Hungarian GP Review – Real-deal Ricciardo Shines In Hungary

In spite of what the circumstances may be, how improbable it seems or how much the odds are stacked against you there is something to be said for never giving up. Daniel Ricciardo, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton’s performance in the Hungarian GP were phenomenal examples of such resolve.

Lewis Hamilton needed to dig deep as his miserable qualifying run continued. A suspected fuel leak brought a fiery end to his qualifying aspirations. A complete rebuild of the car relegated him to a pitlane start and a seemingly uphill battle.

In contrast, Nico Rosberg reeled off another dominant pole position but Red Bull’s long run pace suggested that Sunday’s race could be closer than Mercedes would be comfortable with. A short rain shower before the start of the race demanded a start of the intermediate tyre but it was still poleman Rosberg who dominated the early stages of the race.

The slippery conditions nearly caught Hamilton out as he survived a brush with the barrier after spinning off a turn 2. Up and down the pitlane the team strategists were made to work hard as questionable weather conditions and safety cars called for rapid decision making.

The first safety car was deployed to recover the wrecked Caterham of Marcus Ericsson.

However, it was too late for Rosberg, Bottas, Vettel and Alonso to dive into the pitlane for slick tyres. A lap later, Daniel Ricciardo emerged in the lead of the race.

Jenson Button, hoping for a timely rain shower, elected to remain on the intermediate tyres. However, as the track surface continued to dry so the chances of the McLaren driver dissipated.

A second stint was required behind the safety car when Force India’s Sergio Perez crashed heavily into the concrete barrier on the start/finish straight. Ricciardo and the two Williams drivers took to the pitlane.

The reshuffle left Fernando Alonso in the lead of the race on a two-stop strategy. It nearly resulted in a spectacular victory for the Spaniard. Alas, it was a task slightly too big for the Ferrari driver to accomplish.

Nevertheless, in what has been a trying year for the Scuderia Alonso’s relentless spirit earned him a stellar second place.

Lewis Hamilton put his misfortune aside to complete a sensational run from the pitlane to the final step of the podium. Third place is not what the Brit aims for but it is a result that will do the psychology of his title bid a world of good.

On a more contentious note Hamilton was asked by his team to let his three-stopping teammate through. For his part it didn’t seem like Hamilton was wholly against the instruction but informed the team that Rosberg would have to get closer if it was going to happen. It makes perfect sense that Hamilton should not lose time to the car ahead in order to let his teammate through.

Despite the differing strategies Hamilton was very much in the same race as his teammate and more importantly in an ever-tightening battle for the world championship.

“I was very, very shocked that the team would ask me to do that [move aside],” Hamilton said after the race. “I’m racing for myself. Not for anyone else.” It was a preposterous request by the Mercedes team that has no place in the sport and, with any luck, will never be uttered over a team radio again.

Nico Rosberg, home in fourth, was fairly unhappy about the incident after the race. The German has been performing at the highest level in 2014 but as the second half of the season approaches he will realize that it is going to require for him to dig deeper than he thought possible.

Felipe Massa brought his Williams home in fifth position ahead of Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari in sixth. The Finn staged an outstanding comeback after a strategy error left him 16^th on the grid.

Sebastian Vettel survived a spin on the main straight to finish seventh ahead of Valtteri Bottas in eighth.

Jean-Eric Vergne ran as high as second-place in the race but was relegated to ninth to lead home McLaren’s Jenson Button in tenth.

The utter determination of Alonso and Hamilton was a joy to behold but Daniel Ricciardo’s breathtaking race was every Formula 1 fan’s dream.

Late in the race the Red Bull driver pulled off two tremendous overtaking moves on Hamilton and Alonso on course to his second grand prix victory.

The ease and class with which Ricciardo has taken to racing amongst the very best in F1 is indicative of a driver with a serious amount of talent. It wouldn’t be accurate to say that the Aussie is a star of the future; because Daniel Ricciardo is, unquestionably, already a star.

August 3, 2014
F1 2014: Hungarian GP Preview – Tricky Hungarian Test Awaits

Less than seven days later the Formula 1 paddock descends on the city of Budapest for the Hungarian GP. Technical in nature the 4.381 km circuit will require high downforce, efficient cooling and most importantly a good qualifying performance.

The Hungaroring is often referred to as Monaco without the barriers because of its tricky layout which for the most part has only one racing line. Consequently, there won’t be much opportunity for overtaking nor will all mistakes go unpunished. The Hungaroring retains some of the old-school Formula 1 characteristics which means that gravel traps and barriers loom in close proximity. Contrastingly, there are several tarmac run-off areas which offer some reprieve for error-stricken drivers.

Given the lack of proper overtaking opportunities strategy will be particularly important. The extremely high track temperatures seen at Hockenheim has given the teams vital information as to how to Pirelli rubber will react when exposed to similar conditions in Hungary. The tyres we are bringing to Hungary are a step harder, to deal with the increased demands, so we would expect the usual two pit stops,” predicted Pirelli’s Paul Hembery.

The circuit’s layout is dominated by medium to high-speed corners with little time spent at full throttle. However, the average speed of the lap remains fairly high. “The Hungaroring is a great track,” says McLaren’s Jenson Button. “Everybody thinks of it as a slow circuit, but, out the back, it’s got some pretty decent corners – Turn Four requires some serious commitment, and it’s made harder because it has a blind apex. Equally, the sequence of S-bends that make up Turns Eight to 11 are really satisfying to drive.”

Lewis Hamilton has been dogged by issues in qualifying for the last several races as he trails fourteen points behind teammate and championship leader Nico Rosberg. However, Hamilton is prepared to come out fighting once more and resolutely said that enjoys having to fight for victories and the title.

The 2008 champion may have more to fight against this weekend than just his teammate. The Williams team has been on the cusp several times of mounting a serious battle for victory and if they can continue their stunning momentum Hungary may be their best chance yet.

Williams’ chance to win the Hungarian GP will come on Saturday. The Hungaroring, much like Monte Carlo, is notoriously difficult to overtake on. Despite the fact that race pace is always priority for Bottas, Massa and their engineers they may devote a bit more time and effort than usual to enhancing their one lap pace. But locking out the front row or securing pole position won’t be all that is required. The team will have to take an aggressive approach on strategy as they still lack on overall race pace when compared to the Silver Arrows.

By this stage of the season the duel between the Mercedes drivers is as intense as at any other point.

However, their attention may be required elsewhere this weekend. Can Williams steal the all mighty Mercedes’ thunder?

July 23, 2014
F1 2014: German GP – Relentless Rosberg Scores Home Victory

Life happens to be pretty good if you’re name is Nico Rosberg. Not only has he extended his Mercedes contract but he’s gotten married in-between races, secured a comfortable pole position on Saturday and wrapped up a dominant home grand prix victory to boot.

The battle for supremacy between the Mercedes teammates was dealt a severe blow as Hamilton was exiled to 20^th place on the grid following a brake disc failure in qualifying and a subsequent gearbox change.

Nico Rosberg was completely in control of the 67 lap German GP as he led fellow front-row starter, Valtteri Bottas, to the chequered flag for his first victory on home soil. The Finn delivered yet another stunning drive to hold off a recovering Lewis Hamilton for his third consecutive podium. Even though Williams’ biggest target is to finish ahead of Ferrari in the constructor’s championship their ability to keep one Mercedes at bay is, on merit, is a tremendous result.

McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen’s inexperience was telling as he collided with the Williams of Felipe Massa into turn one. Massa’s car was flipped onto its roll-bar before coming to rest on the tarmac run-off area of turn one. The Brazilian was uninjured but suffered his second retirement in three races.

In fairness, Magnussen should have yielded the corner to Massa as he was out of the Williams driver’s sight. The incident was mopped after a short safety car period and the race re-started with Rosberg in the lead.

Lewis Hamilton unleashed a determined drive from the back of the field but it wasn’t without a few risky moments. There was slight contact with Kimi Raikkonen at the hairpin as he passed both the Ferrari driver and Daniel Ricciardo. Later on a rather dicey attempt at overtaking Jenson Button into the same hairpin resulted in a damaged front-wing endplate. A three-stop strategy meant that Hamilton ran the last two stints of the race on the quicker supersoft tyre. However, despite his clear pace advantage he was unable to overtake Bottas for second place. Hamilton’s rather glum face after the race showed his disappointment with the third step of the podium. Some may take exception to Hamilton’s body language but it tells of a driver for whom winning is the only acceptable result.

A spin by Sauber’s Adrian Sutil on the main straight gave rise to a contentious moment in the race. The stricken Sauber was parked horizontally on the straight which would ordinarily prompt an appearance from the safety car. Surprisingly, the race director chose to forego the safety car and opted for marshals to recover the car under double-waved yellow flags. Any situation in which marshals are required to venture onto the circuit is a safety risk which makes this decision controversial.

Behind the podium finishers the rest of the field put on an exhilarating show of wheel-to-wheel racing at its finest. Sebastian Vettel got the better of Fernando Alonso in a fabulous fight for fourth before Daniel Ricciardo continued a thrilling battle with the Spaniard. Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg finished seventh ahead of McLaren’s Jenson Button. Kevin Magnussen recovered to ninth after his collision with Felipe Massa while Sergio Perez rounded out the top ten positions.

While all twenty-two Formula 1 drivers have by and large respected the rules and each other there have been too many instances in the past where the fear of a penalty curbed their eagerness to take the fight to each other. As a result the exhilarating fights throughout the field at Silverstone and in Germany are a direct result of the steward’s announcement that they would take a more lenient stance on dishing out penalties.

Daniil Kvyat’s race came to a fiery end as the rear-end of his Toro Rosso was engulfed by flames. Lotus Romain Grosjean’s difficult season continued as the Frenchman was forced into retirement with a suspected power unit issue.

If Lewis Hamilton was unsure about the prowess of his teammate before it is definitely not in doubt any longer. An unrelenting Nico Rosberg has extended his championship lead to fourteen points and what is particularly threatening is that he appears to have done it with disturbing ease.

July 22, 2014
Video: Felipe Massa rolls in scary Turn 1 crash at Hockenheim

Brazilian Formula One driver, Felipe Massa, crashed and rolled in spectacular fashion just seconds after the start of the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim on Sunday.

Massa’s German GP lasted only a matter of seconds after he was clipped and rolled by Kevin Magnussen at the first corner on the first lap of the race.

F1 Rookie Magnussen had taken the inside line into the corner in an attempt to pass Massa, only to find the Brazilian attempting to sweep through the corner ahead of him. This did not work out for either driver and ended with Massa’s Williams in the gravel and out of the race.

Thankfully, Massa walked away from the incident unharmed but another DNF to his name despite the much-improved performace of his Williams car, will not have him feeling anything but bitterly disaapointed. .

The stewards investigated the incident but ruled that it was a racing incident and no further action was taken against Massa or Magnussen.

July 21, 2014
F1 2014: German GP Qualifying – Rosberg Secures Home Pole

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg has secured pole position for the German GP.

The major talking point of the qualifying session was the crash of Lewis Hamilton during the first session of qualifying. A brake disc failure pitched the Brit’s Mercedes into the wall and out of qualifying. Hamilton appeared to be uninjured after the incident but was taken the medical centre for checks. Hamiton’s crash momentarily brought out the red flag as marshals tended to recovering the damaged Mercedes.

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen missed the cut in the second part of qualifying and will start the race in 12th position. Sergio Perez starred for the Force India team as he secured a spot in the top-ten shootout with seconds remaining on the clock. Jenson Button also failed to advance to the final part of the qualifying session.

Nico Rosberg appeared to be in firm control but still had to ward off the Williams of Valterri Bottas. The German was able to secure pole position with a relatively comfortable margin but not improve in his second run in Q3. The Finn will start tomorrow’s race on the front row of the grid after missing out on pole position by only two tenths of a second. Brazilian Felipe Massa will start 3rd and shares the second row with McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen.

July 19, 2014
Rosberg leads the pack in final practice

Nico Rosberg topped the time sheets during the final practice ahead of qualifying for the German Grand Prix with a time of 1:17.779.

Rosberg’s time is a surprising 0.601 clear of his Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton.

Despite a spin in at turn eight halfway through the session, Fernando Alonso recovered to set the third quickest time of the practice session, a mere 0.004 down on Hamilton.

The Williams duo of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas led much of the practice session on prime tyres, but ended up fourth and fifth respectively after the supersoft runs.

Kevin Magnussen finished sixth after setting the pace during the opening stages of final practice, with Daniel Ricciardo and Kimi Raikkonen behind him.

Raikkonen switched to options very early on, but was unable to continue in the final stages of practice due to a problem with his fuel pump. The Ferrari team are working ferverishly to change the fuel pump before qualifying gets underway.

Red Bull’s performance was either lacklustre, or one big sandbag as reigning world champ Sebastian Vettel parked his car in ninth place.

Nico Hulkenberg took the last spot in the top ten for Force India.

Jenson Button had much complaining about understeer and problems with his braking during practice, most likely a result of no longer having FRIC suspension. None of the teams will be running FRIC this weekend after it was deemed illegal by the FIA earlier this week.

Full timesheet for the session is below. Please join us on Twitter @F1_Madness for qualifying later this afternoon at 14h00 GMT +2.

Photo credit: Mercedes

July 19, 2014
F1 2014: German GP Free Practice 1 Report – Rosberg Tops

The first free practice session for the German grand prix got underway under glorious blue skies.

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg topped the timing sheets ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.

Williams development driver Susie Wolff completed her second outing for the British based team. However, the first lap out of the pits revealed an issue which required the Scottish driver to limp back to the pitlane in 1st gear. Thanfully, the engineers were able to sort out the issue and sent Wolff back out. Wolff completed a total of 22 laps and set a fastest time of 1:20:769, roughly two tenths slower than teammate Felipe Massa.

The session progressed without incident although Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen was forced back into the pitlane early on with a water pump problem. The Finn, fully recovered from his heavy Silverstone crash, clocked the 8th fastest time overall.

Albeit the early stages of the weekend, the Red Bull pairing of Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo were able to set a relatively similar long run pace to that of Mercedes. The second free practice session will reveal a clearer picture of the pecking order for Sunday’s German GP.

July 18, 2014
2014 Formula 1 Santander German Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

DRIVERS:

Nico HULKENBERG (Force India)

Kevin MAGNUSSEN (McLaren)

Adrian SUTIL (Sauber)

Kimi RAIKKONEN (Ferrari)

Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing)

Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

PRESS CONFERENCE

Nico Hulkenberg, if we could start with you. Points in every race so far this season, only you and [Fernando] Alonso have managed that so far and you’re seven to two against your team-mate in qualifying. How positive is that for you and how do you think that is perceived within the Formula One paddock?

Nico HULKENBERG: I think it’s very positive in general. I think it’s a very good achievement to have scored points in every race – probably Nico and Lewis would have been the same without the technical failures. I think it has been a very positive start to the season, first half, many, many points, much better than we expected going into the season and I think that is also the perception of the paddock. However, we’re only in the middle of the season and there’s still a long way to go before the end and our aim is to get the fourth position in the Constructors’ Championship. We have a big challenge on our hands there against Williams, McLaren and many others. I look forward to that.

You’ve largely been fighting for fifth and sixth places in races this season but just recently, the last couple of races, it was more like eight and ninth. What brought about that change and where do you think you’ll be fighting this weekend?

NH: I think Silverstone was overall a bit difficult for us. The track didn’t suit us so well, plus the conditions made it even more difficult. Therefore, it was still a very good achievement to get points on the board there. In Austria we were a bit compromised by a few issues, which we found out after the race, otherwise that could have been better. So hopefully here we’ll be back to bigger points but it’s difficult to know. Obviously it’s very hot this weekend, so it will be interesting to see how the tyres behave and who will manage it the best.

Kevin, coming to you, points in the last four grands prix for you, six points finishes in total this season with one podium but McLaren still seem to be quite up and down dependent on circuit, why is that?

Kevin MAGNUSSEN: It’s difficult… it’s a good question. It’s something we don’t really quite understand 100 per cent, but surely it has a lot to do with tyres, they behave quite differently race to race. I think we are improving, the car is improving, we’re putting downforce on the car at nearly every race so I think we’re moving in a positive direction.

We’re coming up to the summer break and there’s a lot of talk about the driver market – as there always is at this point. Where do you think you stand with regard to staying at McLaren next season.

KM: I can only do my best and hope that is good enough. Anyone at McLaren should feel that you have to deliver to your best to deserve to be there and that goes for me and Jenson as well.

Kimi, the first question has to be how are you feeling after your accident at Silverstone, any after-effects and what happened?

Kimi RAIKKONEN: Well, I crashed, I guess you saw it. No, I had some pain but it’s all fine.

Just in your leg?

KR: No actually it was in my ribs the most, that’s why I didn’t do the test, but it’s all gone away now.

You’re 100 per cent now?

KR: Yeah.

Many things have not gone the way you expected them to this season in your rejoining Ferrari, but can you tell us what has gone the way you’ve expected it and what positives you’ve drawn so far?

KR: We’ve been in every race at least. That’s what you expect at least. It’s been a difficult year, hopefully it will turn around at some point – it must, it cannot go much longer like this, it’s not fun. But this kind of thing has happened to me before and we always managed to turn it around, so I have a strong belief it will turn around. We have to just fix issues and get things as I want and I’m sure we can be back where we should be.

Nico, coming to you: a new contract extension with Mercedes, congratulations on that, you also got married since we last saw you, but you’ve never been on the podium in Germany, I see from your record, so I guess that’s this weekend’s first objective. You’re still on top of the championship, just four points clear, but your team-mate Lewis Hamilton said that this is a ‘reset moment’ in the title race and that he’s been on the back foot all season. How do you see it?

Nico ROSBERG: Yeah, it’s been a very exciting week for sure. We also became world champions, which was awesome. In terms of the championship, how do I see it? I just see it as the next race, which is Hockenheim. It’s our home race. I really look forward to driving here. I’m here to win, of course. I’m here to try to extend the championship leads. That’s where it ends for me. I’m really just looking at the moment, taking it race by race.

As you say it’s been a great week for Germany on the sporting front. As a keen follower and friend of the national team is there a way you can harness some of that positivity into your challenge this weekend?

NR: The effort of the team as a whole, how they all played together and everything was really great to see and that’s what won them the tournament I think, not any individual strength or anything. That’s what we’re trying to do as well, to really work well, everybody together, to really make the most of it. I think we’re also on the right track with that, in that respect, because to dominate the sport as we are doing at the moment, I think that indicates we work pretty well together as a team and of course there’s room for improvement but we’re going in the right direction.

Adrian, you qualified 13^th at the first race in Australia at the start of the year and 13^th at Silverstone. There seems to be some continuity there. If you look at the ultimate pace of all the cars, Sauber doesn’t seem to be progressing. Is that the way it’s seen internally and what’s the plan?

Adrian SUTIL: Yes, more or less a consistent season but also a few changes and progress of course. I think the car is a better car compared to the first races but you can’t really see it in results. Nevertheless Silverstone was a bit better. You could see already in the free practice the car was a bit more competitive and also I think in qualifying in the rain we were closer to the top 10, which was good. We are still struggling sometimes with the tyres, especially with the hard compound, in the race, which slowed us down a lot. I can’t really say more. Of course we want to try to improve the situation. It’s not where we want to be but everyone in the factory is trying the maximum to improve that. It’s not an easy situation but we’re going to get out of it pretty soon.

You’ve said several times that stability is the problem, that the car lacks stability. Can you elaborate on that and what plans are in place to fix that?

AS: Well, the window is very small where the car operates and also the window when you are close to the limit, whether it stays on the line or is completely off – it’s easy to make a mistake with this car. So you need to have a lot of confidence in the car, you need to drive and learn as much as possible about the car behaviour to feel well. It’s getting better very race. But yeah, it’s a little diva to control. It’s just a situation like that so we try to make it more easy to drive. The stability is sometimes there, [then] you have a bit too much understeer in the other areas, so you are shifting the problem from one end to the other but it’s very difficult to get rid of the problem completely so this is where we are struggling most at the moment.

Sebastian, obviously winner of the German Grand Prix last year, your first F1 win on home soil. Tell us about the feeling of racing here at home, especially with the country on such a sporting high at the moment?

Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, obviously last year was very special – I had been trying many times before, so it was definitely a good feeling to succeed. I think this year should be a very good weekend. Mostly good weather forecast and obviously the whole of Germany still has the German flags from the World Cup around, so it would be nice to see a lot of those on the track and get a little bit of that support as well here on the circuit.

Obviously the battle with Fernando Alonso in Silverstone was one of the highlights of this season so far. There were quite a lot of radio messages from the pair of you at the time but looking back and thinking about it now, how much did you enjoy it?

SV: Yeah, I probably enjoyed it more than I probably said after the race. I still think it took a little bit too long because obviously I lost quite a lot of time fighting him and couldn’t progress to probably finish higher up. But it was definitely very tight, it’s always very tight when you fight with Fernando, he’s very tough to overtake, he doesn’t give you a lot of room, but eventually I squeezed past, so for sure I was happy to finally overtake him on the track.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Ian Parkes – PA) Question to Nico. First of all, congratulations on becoming a married man. Secondly, you’ve obviously had to change your helmet design this week. You showed it off on Twitter with the World Cup on top of the helmet. I’ve spoken to FIFA and they’ve expressed their reason why you’re not allowed to have the World Cup: intellectual commercial property rights and all that. You’re obviously disappointed I guess, but can you understand their reasoning behind it?

NR: All the things you have to think about, it’s amazing that even a trophy has its trademark or whatever, just sticking it on a helmet you know. That was a surprise but of course I fully understand. It was a pity as it looked really cool, with the trophy on top. Anyways, replaced it now with a big star and no-one can take that away. The star is ours.

Q: (Graham Keilloh – F1Plus.com) A question for all the drivers. We all recall the incident at last year’s German Grand Prix with Mark Webber where a wheel fell off after a pit stop. In recent days there have been moves afoot for there to be a little bit of rowing back on the tough sanctions that were put in place following the Webber incident. I just want to know what each driver feels about more leniency for unsafe releases that may be coming in?

NH: To be honest I didn’t really understand the question. I’ll pass it on to Kevin.

KM: It’s good if us drivers don’t get points or penalties [that are] that harsh , as it’s not really our fault. Of course we are a team and we should be penalised somehow together but I think it’s good if it doesn’t just go to the drivers.

Adrian, anything to add?

AS: No.

Kimi?

KR: No.

Sebastian, do you have a view?

SV: I think it’s like going to prison for stealing a chocolate bar. I think it’s too harsh for the drivers, it’s more for the team. There’s not much you can do as a driver, but it is what it is.

Nico?

NR: Obviously it is one of the most dangerous situations for all of the people working in the pitlane you know. So definitely it should be harsh to try to avoid people doing that or things like that happening. We need to find the best way, what sort of penalties to do.

Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Kimi there has been a lot of criticism around you in the past few months. Do you feel that your position in Ferrari could be threatened next year or do you feel confident that you will sort your problems and that everything is going to be OK for the future?

KR: Like I said, I’m sure we can fix them. How fast? I hope quickly but it depends on many things. I have a contract so I’m not worried about that for the future.

Q: (Abhishek Takle – Midday) A question for Sebastian. Hockenheim obviously hold some special memories for you because this is where you watched your first Friday practice session. You won the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring. What would it mean for you to win here at Hockenheim, at some point in your career?

SV: Well, I hope I can turn things around and that we can have a good race on Sunday and a good weekend in general. But of course we are not the favourites going into the weekend but there’s always a chance of winning. For sure, this circuit is very special to me because my home town is only 30 minutes from here, it’s where I grew up. I also started go-karting not far from here, just around the corner, so a lot of memories. I know a lot of people that work here, so it always feels like a second home. In that regard it would be nice. So definitely a very special place for me, special memories. The first car race I did was here in 2003, so yeah, it’s definitely one of the tracks I want to win at.

Q: (Luis Fernando Ramos – Racing Magazine) A question for all drivers. Many teams will race without the FRIC system. Is there a feeling that this might change the gap between the teams significantly or not; that it will stay more or less the same, like it was before?

NR: Everybody has it to some extent. It’s impossible to predict. For sure it can have some influence but we just need to wait and see what happens.

Sebastian?

SV: Well I said it is one of the things that obviously got banned now. I hope it brings the field closer to Mercedes but it’s difficult to say. All of the teams have been playing with it to some extent. How much it has an impact? I think it has to be seen this weekend and also probably next week in Hungary. After those two races I think you can have another judgement.

Kimi, your thoughts on the FRIC suspension?

KR: Yeah, I mean it’s the rule and obviously that decides if we can use it or not. It’s not in our car, I don’t expect it’s going to be a completely different world but until we run it, the cars, and see what the other teams do, it’s hard to say. I guess we’ll know a bit more after this weekend.

Adrian?

AS: I think… we hope… it will be better for us, that we are closer – but very hard to say, for sure. Some, they rely more on it, some less. Let’s see. After the weekend we’ll be wiser.

Kevin, your thoughts.

KM: Not much to say really. We ‘ll try to get the best out of the car without it.

Nico?

NH: It’s pretty much how Nico said, it’s really hard to predict if and how much people will lose due to it. It’s just a case of wait and see how much it impacts on different cars.

Q: (Koen Verhelst – Media Group Limburg) A question for all the German drivers: where did you watch the World Cup soccer finals last Sunday and, in relation to that, how to you explain the success of Germany both in Formula One at the moment and football and perhaps also in the economy?

SV: I watched in on TV at home. I wasn’t there! Thank God they showed it. At home, with a couple of friends. I think the reason, it has been 24 years since we last won the World Cup. I hope that the next one doesn’t take 24 years again. I think we had a very strong team for the last World Cups as well and were very close to win. It’s good that we succeeded now. For the Formula One drivers, I don’t think there’s a particular reason. Obviously, for us, to some extent we’re the generation after Michael and Michael was a big inspiration, so for sure, when Michael made Formula One really a sport in Germany and made it big a lot of fathers with their sons went to the go-kart tracks and wanted to do like him. I think it’s chances, in the end, if you have a thousand kids trying rather than ten, the chances that one or two end up in Formula One are obviously a lot greater. The economy… I’m not a specialist – but I think we like to work.

Adrian?

AS: The same, I watched on TV at home. Very quiet. It was a great game, I think. Very exciting and both played very well. One minute the Germans were a bit better than the other ones and scored a goal. I think something to be very proud of. It’s great to see Germany being very happy about it. So many festivals and parties after it, so really, really good. Good mood in the air, so, great also for this weekend here, for the German Grand Prix. The drivers? I think it all started back in the 90s, probably. When Michael went into Formula One there was a big boom of racing in Germany – but also a lot of car manufacturers are based in Germany, it’s a very strong country for cars, for technology in general – and they’re supporting young drivers from the early ages, especially BMW was involved for many years with the Formula BMW. That’s where I started the racing, I think also Sebastian as well and Nico. Most of the drivers took the step and went into Formula 3. So there are clear categories where you can go. Still, I think it’s very hard to say it’s a really good support because it’s so expensive. When I see the number for young kids coming up into racing, in go-karts you have to spend so much money, not having a real… let’s say you can’t be sure that you’re going to make it. So, even there. Football has a better structure behind. We could still improve it but Germany, for sure, it one of the leading countries and that’s great. They’re pushing it really hard.

Nico Hülkenberg, anything to add.

NH: I also watched it at home with some friends. I think we won because we had the strongest team and a great team spirit, a very clever coach. I think I agree with what Sebastian says about the drivers and why we have it strong now and the economy, I think is just German mentality and appetite to be strong in the economy.

Nico Rosberg, your thoughts.

NR: I watched it at my parents place, as is tradition in our family because my Mum is the biggest soccer fanatic in our family, so I watched it there with friends and went absolutely crazy when they scored. It was a great time. I agree with the others on the other parts.

Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Nico, last week Lewis was putting in doubt your true nationality about being German, real German supporter – and your helmet problem proves the opposite. How big is this… the pressure that Lewis is putting on you? Are you feeling it? Is it also big the pressure to have a championship that is open now completely, and to race at home and try to win this race?

NR: On the media, I generally don’t read the media, so most of the time I don’t know what’s going on – but this I did know about it. I really don’t get into such things. Everybody’s free to have his opinions, and I was there anyway and it was more or less a joke discussion, so for me it’s not really relevant to discuss it in any way. Other than that, yeah, it’s a great battle between us. Every race it’s been us two fighting it out for the win. It’s fantastic – a tough battle also – but good. I’m sure it’s going to continue for a long time and it will be very close – and I look forward to the race here now in front of… it’s my second home race, I have Monaco and here. I’m very fortunate in that sense, I have two home races, and look forward to all the support and I really hope to do a fantastic job. It would be a great end to already the great times I’ve been having recently if I could win here at the German Grand Prix.

Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, do you remember having any heavier shunt than you had in Silverstone?

KR: Yeah, probably I have had. Hopefully not too many more but it’s just part of the thing. It hurt a little bit but quite often you can have a quite slow accident and get badly hurt, so it’s not about that really, it was just an unfortunate thing. Nothing serious happened. It’s part of the sport.

July 17, 2014
F1 2014: British GP Qualifying – Rosberg Takes Silverstone Pole

Nico Rosberg has secured pole position for the 2014 British grand prix.

A chaotic qualifying session in changeable weather conditions caught a fair few by surprise. From the top of the world just two weeks ago both Williams drivers, Felipe Massa and Valterri Bottas, found themselves eliminated in the first session of the one-hour qualifying session.

What’s more another strategic error cost both Ferrari driver’s a chance to get out of the first 18 minute session of qualifying. Fernando Alonso was quoted after the session that making the right decision in the thick of the action is not as easy or straightforward as hindsight may suggest.

In contrast, both the Marussia’s Max Chilton and Jules Bianchi advanced to Q2 as a result of perfectly timing their run on the slick Pirelli tyres.

The drama wasn’t over as the final part of qualifying delivered more unpredictable track conditions. Towards the conclusion of the session it seemed that Lewis Hamilton had done enough to secure a popular home pole position. However, with the chequered flag already out several drivers elected to complete their final laps despite losing masses of time in the first two sectors of the lap. Surprisingly, it was the final sector of the lap where drivers were able to gain a substantial amount of laptime.

Nico Rosberg ultimately set the quickest lap ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button. All the while Hamilton had aborted his lap believing that it was not possible to improve his previous best time. The mistake from Hamilton has left him down in sixth position.

(Nico Rosberg image via @MercedesAMGF1)

July 5, 2014
F1 2014: British GP Preview – 50 Years of Silverstone Splendour

Year upon year the world of Formula 1 undergoes changes. From rule changes to regulation shifts to not-so good looking cars. Yet, through all of its transformations and guises the lineage of Formula 1 has always been protected, honoured and celebrated.

Nestled in the English countryside of Northamptonshire Silverstone will celebrate its 50^th year of hosting the British grand prix. In recent history Lewis Hamilton’s stunning 2008 victory lingers one of the most memorable. The masterful drive in treacherously wet conditions remains one of Hamilton’s finest. After failing to score in the previous two rounds Hamilton’s natural talent shone in difficult conditions and earned him a first victory on home soil. It proved to be the turning-point in the 2008 season at the end of which he would be crowned world champion.

In 2014 the Silverstone circuit and its facilities look slightly different but remains a cherished challenge. After announcing a 17-year deal with Bernie Ecclestone Silverstone was unveiled in 2011 with a new pits and paddock complex in addition to an in-field sector after the Abbey chicane. Importantly, the glorious sections of Maggots, Becketts and Chapel and Copse corner have been preserved.

Silverstone is a circuit characterised by high speed corners and one which tests aerodynamic performance to the limit. This combination may bode well for Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo. The Red Bull RB10 is clearly not the fastest package on the grid however the Milton Keyes factory has produced a good chassis which only limitation is its power unit. The root of Red Bull’s issues in 2014 has been due to under par Renault ‘engine.’ The French manufacturer has continually tried to optimise performance but the reality is that the Renault power unit baseline is significantly lower than that of the Mercedes which makes catching up nearly impossible.

Were Red Bull equipped with a Mercedes power unit we may have seen a significantly closer fight for the title. But at least for now Christian Horner and Red Bull are sticking with Renault power which has led them to four consecutive world championships.

Nico Rosberg won for Mercedes at Silverstone last year in the midst of several Pirelli tyre failures. Lewis Hamilton was one who fell victim to the suspect rubber in 2013 and is a driver who needs to make in-roads on his championship-leading teammate. Hamilton, twenty-nine points adrift, needs to finish ahead of Rosberg this weekend if he is to keep the championship dream alive. Yet, Rosberg’s crafty, under-the-radar manner will aid him on a weekend where all the focus and pressure shifts to home-grown hero Lewis Hamilton.

On the back of a strong weekend in Austria the Williams team are worth keeping an eye on if only for the possibility of finishing best-of-the-rest. The Grove based team has finally unlocked some of the pace and potential it displayed in pre-season testing with a first-ever podium finish for Valtteri Bottas. Williams’ qualifying pace in Austria was owing to its ability to get the tyres up to temperature much quicker which will be handy in the cooler British conditions.

History will me made in the first free practice session for the British grand prix as Williams development driver Susie Wolff takes to the track. Wolff will become the first woman to take part in an official F1 session in 22 years. Go Susie!

Ferrari’s hit and miss season, with decidedly more miss, is set to continue as the team has ruled out the possibility of closing the gap to Mercedes. As a result of homologated engines and the team reaching the limit of improvements it can make on the power unit The Maranello team will turn its attention to the 2015 season.

Theoretically when it all shakes out towards the end of the season Lewis Hamilton should have enough in his armoury to beat Nico Rosberg. However, theories are just that – a combination of ideas based on speculation. What Hamilton needs is a dominant performance on the track starting at Silverstone.

July 3, 2014