Tag: mercedes

F1 2014: Free Practice 3 – Hamilton Leads the Way In Monaco

The Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton ended the third and final practice for the Monaco grand prix fastest.

Teams are drivers were left with a lot of work to do on Saturday morning as they played catch-up after Thursday’s washed out second free practice session. The Mercedes pairing of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg traded fastest times throughout the session.

However, it was Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo who sprung the biggest surprise. The Australian set a laptime of 1:16.808 on his SuperSoft tyre run to split the two Silver Arrrows. Most signficantly, Ricciardo set his fastest time amidst a relatively long run. Teammate Sebastian Vettel, caught up in traffic during his attempt on the SuperSoft rubber, was fourth fastest.

Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen ended the hour long session in fifth and sixth respectively. The Ferrari however does not look like matching the pace of the front-running teams around the streets of Monte Carlo. BBC commentator and three-time Le Mans winner Alan McNish reckons that the Ferrari looks more like a “bucking bronco than a prancing horse.”

While SuperSoft tyre was the obvious choice for the qualifying simulation runs; it was significant to note that the Pirelli tyres took up to three laps to come into their own and deliver a lap time. This will be an especially significant issue during qualifying as drivers and teams will have to guard against getting caught in traffic.

May 24, 2014
2014 Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

DRIVERS:

Jules BIANCHI (Marussia)

Jean-Eric VERGNE (Toro Rosso)

Valtteri BOTTAS (Williams)

Romain GROSJEAN (Lotus)

Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

Kimi RAIKKONEN (Ferrari)

PRESS CONFERENCE

Jules, can I start with you? Obviously it’s been quite a tough start to the season for you. What do you put that down to? Is it adapting to the car, is it bad luck or a combination of those things?

Jules BIANCHI: Yeah, obviously it’s been a very difficult start. The first few races have been pretty tough for me and the team but actually the last one especially was pretty good for me, so I am happy with that. So I will think about this only now and be focused for the next races coming now.

Tell us about your experience and thoughts about this unique race track here in Monaco. You had a good result here back in Renault 3.5 a few years ago, does that junior experience help in the first few years in Formula One?

JB: Yeah it helps a lot for sure to race in Monaco before your first year in Formula One. Last year has been really difficult for me. I had some issues in qualifying, I had engine failure and then in the race again some issue with the engine to start with and a brake failure to finish with, so it was not the best race I could have but I’m pretty confident now that I can do a good race this year.

Coming to you Valtteri, you’re seventh now in the Drivers’ Championship and well ahead of your team-mate. You had another good result in Spain. Do you feel that you and the team have moved up a gear now?

Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, since the start of the season everything’s been positive if we compare it to the year before. All the time during this year we’ve been able to make progress, we’ve been bringing some updates, which always gave us a little bit. That’s what we aim for, for that to continue for the whole season. We are definitely keeping up at least with the development. We just need to keep pushing really, because everyone is going to improve so much.

You said in the build-up to this race that you feel confident this year at Monaco. I wonder how much of a handicap it was last year for you that you’d never driven anything around this circuit? Can you tell us a bit what it’s like to drive this place with absolutely zero database when you’re driving a Formula One car.

VB: Yeah, definitely it was really tough last year, first time, immediately with a Formula One car but, you know, you just need to adapt to it, you need to build the speed up step-by-step in the practice and definitely going for the race this season I know the track now well, so it’s much easier to approach the weekend and build from practice one onwards. I definitely feel very confident for this weekend and I really think we can fight as a team for some really good points.

Nico, winner from pole here last year. Can you tell us what a win around this race track means to a Formula One drive, what it did for you personally and for your confidence?

Nico ROSBERG: For me personally it was a very, very special experience, because it’s my home, it’s where I’ve grown up. My whole life has been centred around Monaco. So to win here, yeah it was great. And not only that but also it’s the race to win. It’s the most challenging race to win and the most prestigious race to win, so really that was awesome.

With what happened in Spain, losing the initiative in the championship to your team-mate, how are you feeling at this point, going into this race? Do you feel the strain or do you feel an impatience to get that lead back again?

NR: I’m not too focused on that. Of course I would prefer to be ahead than behind but it’s very, very close and there still a long way to go. So I’m just focused on this weekend here, looking forward to it, because I know that I have a fantastic car at the moment and I expect the car to be very, very quick also here in Monaco. The gap – they might be a lot closer to us this weekend and we need to wait and see if we are the fastest and the chances are we will be, so I look forward it and hope to have a fantastic weekend again.

Jean-Eric, like Jules you’ve had a difficult start to the season. You got four points in the opening round but since then you’ve been in a position to score more points but then you’ve had non-finishes. What’s been going on?

Jean-Eric VERGNE: Yeah I think I’ve been pretty unlucky since the beginning of the season, started well in Melbourne and then always in a position to score some good points. But that’s how it is; it’s part of the sport. I’ll just keep on smiling and hopefully the bad luck will go away and get tired of me. I’m just hoping to finish the race and have a good car and that’s all I’m hoping for. So it will come.

You won here in your junior career I believe and last year this race was the start of a real turnaround in your season. What are your thoughts on the venue, your prospects for the weekend, and also I noted that you said that a driver must arrive in a humble state of mind at the beginning of a weekend in Monaco. What do you mean by that and what happens from there?

J-EV: Well, I think this track is really difficult for sure. You want to stay far away from the walls and at the beginning the walls always look really close, a lot close than in the end of the weekend. This is a particular track where even the first session, the first P1, is really important for the confidence over the whole weekend, so you really have to build up your weekend in a good way.

Q: Romain, coming to you, first points of the season obviously in Spain and also fifth on the grid, followed up by what looked like a very encouraging test for Maldonado and Pic in Barcelona. Can you sum up where Lotus are now and what level of optimism there is for this next phase of the Championship?

Romain GROSJEAN: Well, if you look at the trend from Melbourne, we’ve been improving every time, going to Q3 for the first time in China, going to Q3 and being fifth on the grid in Barcelona. I think we were looking good in the race to keep the Ferrari behind but I had a small problem. It’s good that all the work has been done, and the fact we understand more and more our car, it’s going in the right direction and, of course, if you are fifth on the grid in Monaco, the race is even kind of easier to defend your position. You never know what you are going to get when you come to Monaco. It’s such a specific track. But I do hope we get the same kind of car we had in Barcelona. Then we can be well placed in Q3 and score some more points.

Q: Looking at your record here over the years, Monaco has not been a very happy hunting ground for you, has it? In Formula One or the junior categories. Why is that, do you think?

RG: I think that’s not fair to say. I’ve been on pole position here in GP2, won the race in GP2 – but on the other side if you have a look at crashes, I have a good record and few corners I know too well. To be fair, last year I completely missed my weekend and wherever I would have been, it would have been the same story. So, just try to not do that again. You have to respect the track. Every mistake is more obvious than everywhere else – but I’ve always been quick so I’ll try to keep that in my pocket but stay away from the rails.

Q: Kimi, another Monaco winner, do you consider a win here to be more important than other races? What did you feel when you ticked that Monaco win off your bucket list?

Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: Obviously it’s been pretty OK many times for me the race but then it’s not always from your side that the things go wrong here. There’s so many things that can affect your result in the end. Previous years haven’t been the most best again but hopefully this year can be a bit better and hopefully we get some good points but obviously it’s too early to say how the car will be. Everything is different from last year so we have to just go open-minded and try to do the best that we can.

Q: Was Spain something of a turning point for you in terms of being able to extract closer to the maximum potential from the Ferrari? What made the difference there for you? And also, can you say anything about your analysis of the strategy in that race afterwards?

KR: We’ve been pretty good in other races also but obviously had some problems in the race or in practice and always messed up the complete big picture a bit. But obviously it was a bit better last time around. To be honest, if we finished where we finished, I think sixth and seventh, it’s not at all where we want to be as a team, so we still have an awful lot of work to do. We improve things little-by-little but the other teams are also going forward so it’s not a simple thing to fix and be in front suddenly. We know how it works and we know how much things have to improve but we keep working hard and for sure one day we will get there.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Aron Day – FormulaSpy.com) Kimi, you’ve driven the V10s, the V8s around Monaco. Do you think the new cars will be more difficult to drive?

KR: It’s difficult to say before we drive. I think if your car is normally good, it doesn’t really matter where you go. You know how it behaves and it will be OK. Obviously a bit less grip this year and maybe some cars are a bit more hard to handle but we have to see how it goes on the first practice and see what it is. But I think we’ve improved a lot since the winter and it should be OK.

Q: (Paolo Ianieri – Gazzetta dello Sport) Nico, Lewis says he should be dominating you more. Does it mean the time of smiles is getting over slowly? Are we going to see a harder battle between you and him?

NR: I don’t know what he said so I’m not going to… I didn’t hear it myself so I’m not going to comment on such things. But, in general, it’s been a tough battle up until now and I expect it to continue like that. Of course now he’s had the result rhythm in a couple of races but it’s been very close. I just need a tiny bit to turn it around. I’ll start with trying to do that here in Monaco.

Q: (Vladamir Rogovets – SB Belarus Segodnya) To all of you: what is your favourite braking zone in Monaco?

JB: Well, I think after the tunnel, that’s good, I like that.

J-EV: Last corner, there is nearly no braking. I don’t know.

VB: Yeah, I think the tunnel as well, because that’s one of the places it could be possible to overtake, so let’s say that. Yeah.

RG: Casino. It goes quickly up hill and when you get to the top you just have to brake. It’s quite a nice feeling.

NR: Same, up the hill, it’s very very difficult because it’s a very very fast corner and you’re trying to carry the speed in and if you get it wrong and you’re going too fast, it’s very easy to lose the line.

KR: No, I don’t really have one favourite one. Any of them. You can chose

Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, are you going to carry on with the James Hunt-style design of your helmet here?

KR: No.

Q: (Vincent Marre – Sports Zeitung) To all six of you: if there is one day race that we have now in this calendar that you would like to change into a night race, assuming there is no technical issue, which one would it be? There must be one.

VB: This one would be cool, I think. It would look nice.

J-EV: Yeah, I think this one as well under lights.

JB: Same, same thing. It would be really nice to race in Monaco at night.

RG: I don’t know; why not Melbourne?

NR: Japan, so there’s no jetlag.

KR: I cannot hear the question. I understood by their answers but I’m happy how they are, we can always dream about things but we don’t make the rules, so there’s no point.

Q: (Haoran Zhou – Formula One Express) Nico, last year you controlled the race all the way until the last few laps because of the fear of tyre degradation. This year’s tyres have more endurance, and also your car is quite good on tyre management. Are you going to be able to push more in the race, according to your simulation?

NR: Well, last year, before Monaco, it was really really bad, our car with the tyres so in Monaco it was all about just trying to make the tyres last for the race but this year the tyres are more durable and also we have a better control on tyres, as a team, so it should be a faster race if I’m at the front.

Q: (Pierre van Vliet – F1i.com) Nico, four pole positions for Lewis so far; do you plan to change your approach to qualifying? Here, you know that you dominated him last year; what do you plan to maybe change something in qualifying?

NR: No. Of course three of those qualifyings were in the wet; in the dry it’s 1-1 and it’s supposed to be dry on Saturday so I’m confident I can make it happen so I’m not changing my approach or anything.

Q: (Ben Edwards – BBC) Nico and Kimi; we lost a legend of Formula One, Sir Jack Brabham, this last week. Obviously his exploits were before you guys were born but can I just ask if you had any contact with Sir Jack Brabham, if you have any thoughts about his career and also if you’d been born in a different era, would you have ever considered going down that kind of route that he did, of building his own car? Kimi, you’ve set up teams; Nico you have an interest in engineering. If you’d been born in that era, could you have seen yourselves go down that route?

KR: Obviously I read and I was so sad to hear that he had passed away. Obviously these days are different than the days that they used to race and they could do different categories, different races. It would be very nice if they would be able to do different things at the same time and different races and try different things more. But the problem is everything gets so much more expensive these days and obviously people are more scared that you get hurt that they try to limit everything that you do. It’s a shame because I think it would be more fun for everybody and all sports would also benefit from it, and F1. It would be nice to do stuff like they did.

NR: It’s an amazing achievement that he did at the time, to win in another team but also in his own team, in his own car that he built. It’s extremely unlikely to ever happen again but you never know, but it’s a record that is definitely going to last a long time.

May 22, 2014
F1 2014: Spanish GP – Hamilton Takes Four In A Row

Never before in the 21^st century has Formula 1 known the level of dominance being imposed by the Mercedes team. Lewis Hamilton once again obliterated the field with a preposterously dominant victory in the Spanish GP.

The Spanish GP followed the 2014 script to a tee complete with a fiery inter-team battle between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. Straight away the Mercedes pair opened a substantial lead over the rest of the field and set about duking it out for victory between the pair of them.

A split strategy gave Rosberg the advantage in the closing laps of the race but Hamilton determinedly held off his faster teammate for his fourth consecutive victory. In spite of the Silver Arrow’s dominance Sebastian Vettel delivered the drive of the day with a charge from fifteenth on the grid. The four-time champion put together several bold overtaking moves and a three-stop strategy to finish fourth on the day.

The German’s weekend had been a struggle throughout as he missed out on Friday’s running and suffered a gearbox failure in qualifying. Nevertheless, this recovery drive and the ability to fight amongst some of the frontrunners will provide much confidence to the recovering Red Bull team. “I think this weekend from the team point of view was good with third and fourth, but at the next race we’ll attack again,” said Vettel.

The sister Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo finished as best of the rest in third place affording the Australian his first official podium in Formula 1. Despite easily securing the third step of the podium Ricciardo and Red Bull should be far from pleased with its performance. The number 3 car ended seeing the chequered flag more than half a minute later than race-winner Hamilton.

Not Ferrari, not Brawn, not even Red Bull ever possessed an advantage as devastating as that of Mercedes. A performance gap of nearly two seconds a lap in race trim is surely as demoralising as it can get for the rest of the field. Not only did Hamilton and Rosberg finish 49 seconds clear of 3^rd-place Ricciardo but came within a handful of seconds of lapping Fernando Alonso in sixth.

One of the only teams who showed a definite improvement was Lotus. In the hands of Romain Grosjean the E22 qualified an impressive fifth fastest. The French driver continued to impress in the upgraded Lotus as he held off both Ferrari drivers during the opening stint of the race. However, a sensor calibration issue, which caused a loss of power, hampered his performance. Grosjean eventually finished eighth overall.

The much needed improvement for Ferrari was nowhere to be found as both drivers finished nearly a lap down on Mercedes. Beaten by both Red Bulls and the Williams of Valtteri Bottas in Spain the Ferrari F14T was nothing more than a miserable pile of carbon fibre not worth the red paint it’s covered with. Seventh and eighth means there are few positives to take from Spain and at this stage the Maranello team don’t need a clean slate, they need a brand-new drawing board. The good news is that it can hardly get any worse for the scarlet Ferraris and that the only way for them to go is up, slowly, but surely.

With the exception of retirement in the first race of the season Lewis Hamilton has been scarily close to perfection in 2014. He has rekindled his near unbeatable qualifying pace and is driving with the resolve and passion of a Formula 1 champion.

It’s said that the first person a driver has to beat is his teammate. Lewis Hamilton’s four race wins on the trot have been the most significant victories against Rosberg but Hamilton has also been waging a full-on mental war outside the car. There is little chance that Lewis Hamilton thinks himself slower than anyone around any track. However, in Spain, he was determined to emphasise his teammate’s superior speed around Catalunya. He then took pole position and won the race, shrewdly inferring that he’d beaten his ‘faster’ teammate and winning the psychological battle in the process. Over to you Nico.

All images of Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg & Mercedes F1 car via @MercedesAMGF1

May 15, 2014
F1 2014: Spanish Grand Prix: Sunday Press Conference

DRIVERS

1st Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

2nd Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

3rd Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing)

PODIUM INTERVIEWS

(Conducted by Eddie Jordan)

What a great race, what a great finish – Lewis Hamilton, ladies and gentlemen, four race wins in a row; let’s hear it from him.

Lewis HAMILTON: A big thank you to my team, they’ve just done an incredible job this year. I’m really happy with the support I’ve had here in Spain, it’s the best I’ve ever had, so thank you to everyone in the grandstands, it means the world to me. My first win here in Spain, it means everything to me.

We heard you grumbling, or not quite happy with your team about the graining and also about the time loss in the pits. Tell me, were you upset?

LH: No, not for the pits. I wasn’t fast enough really today; Nico was quicker. I struggled a lot with the balance and really had to rely on my engineers a lot more to give me the gaps and to try to find where I could find time. And also with all my settings, I was moving them up and down, up and down really trying to find extra time. But Nico was just generally quicker this weekend but fortunately I was able to keep him behind.

Well, I needn’t tell everybody out there but you’ve now taken over the lead in the championship. Nico, what a fantastic fight, just like Bahrain, right up there at the end. How many more laps do you think you needed to pass him?

Nico ROSBERG: I think one more to be honest, one more I could have given it a good go. I wasn’t close enough to give it a go there but next lap I would have. But unfortunately that was it. So, a bit gutted but still, second place, still close to the championship and many more races to go anyway.

I needn’t remind you or anybody else, but you’ve been on this podium every race of this season so far. Going now to your home race, Monaco, where you won last year, surely you can make a massive effort for there?

Nico ROSBERG: Definitely. I’ll be going there to do it one better and try to come first there and repeat the win from last year. That’s the aim and we’ll see if it works out. And for those of you who don’t know Eddie is my number one favourite neighbor in Monaco.

I don’t they needed to know that! They want to know all about you. Ladies and gentlemen we’ll leave my neighbourly friend here and move to young Australian superstar, the man who has lit up the season so far from a rookie point of view, Daniel Ricciardo. I don’t want to be doom and gloom here, but you were 50 seconds behind, what are you going to do to catch these guys up?

Daniel RICCIARDO: Thanks

I just thought I’d bring you back down to reality a bit.

DR: No, you’re right. They were a long way ahead. I think coming into the race today we knew a boring race would be a pretty good one for us. We knew we didn’t really have the paced for Mercedes. We looked like a third-place car and in the end that’s what it was, we had a pretty comfortable third- place and we just had to focus on getting the tyres to last two stops ands that was it. Really nice to be on the podium and I’m sure I’ll be able to keep it this time.

Lewis, are you surprised with the dominance, because a lot of people called into question your idea of coming to Mercedes maybe 18 months ago. Had you got this in the back of your mind that this was all the potential that was being told to you?

LH: Yeah, sitting down with Ross at my mum’s house at the kitchen table, yeah this is the idea that I was given. I really, truly believed it was going to happen, but I could never have imagined us to have a 50-second gap to Red Bull in a race. So it’s just an exceptional job from the team and I feel truly blessed to firstly be a part of this team, to be contributing, getting the results. This is our fourth 1-2 together, it’s just unreal.

PRESS CONFERENCE

So, Lewis, where do we start? Four wins in a row, fourth Mercedes 1-2 in a row, which is fairly hard to achieve. First win for you in Spain and you’re leading the Driver’s World Championship for the first time since, I think, 2012. Which of those things means the most to you?

LH: Of course getting my first grand prix win here after trying for eight years. It’s very difficult to really put into words the feeling when you come to a race and have a result like this. Never have I had a car like this and obviously we’ve never had a gap like this to anyone before. Nico did a fantastic job today, it was a struggle to keep him behind, but I’m grateful that I was able to. I just feel that it is such a huge blessing, for not only me but for all the guys in the team, because of all the hard work they’ve done for many years now, but finally they are starting to see the fruits of their labour. So, for me, yeah, just enjoying every moment, every step of the way. And it’s really great today we have our board members, our bosses from Mercedes, so it was really good to… every time Dr Zetsche came last year, we generally had a bad race, so it was really important to get a good result for him to get rid of that negative bug, or bad luck that I guess he thought he was bringing, so I’m really grateful for the team being able to do that today.

Q: Nico, the start didn’t give you the platform or opportunity that maybe you’d hoped for. From there, like Bahrain, you tried something different on the strategy. Like Bahrain, Lewis said you were quicker today – but unlike Bahrain you didn’t really have a chance to attack, particularly at the end. Why was that? Why did it work out the way it did?

NR: The start unfortunately was poor. It’s a bit of a weakness that we have at the moment, just inconsistent and now I’ve had a couple of bad starts in a row – actually three bad starts in the races. And that’s costly, you know? Because, always losing out at the start, that’s not good, need to work on that. Other than that, the race, yeah, I felt comfortable, race pace was good. Best thing to do was to switch strategies. That was planned before the race. Worked out well, worked out perfectly – but this is a really, really difficult track to get close to the guy in front. I still got close, y’know Turn 10, the last lap. Could have got gone for a kamikaze move but it wouldn’t have worked. Lewis did a great job the whole weekend and just that little bit ahead. But there’s a lot of positives for me to take out of it. I’m fully motivated to just try to get that little bit extra and to edge him out next time – and it’s doable.

Q: Daniel, hopefully the first trophy you’ll be able to keep. Obviously the story of your race, a difficult start, losing the ground to Bottas but then getting him with the undercut first round of stops, then you were Billy-No-Mates, on your own driving around on your own – tell us how it worked out for you.

DR: Yeah. Not exactly the start I wanted. I think initially the launch felt OK but we lost a bit of traction after that. Bottas got past me. The first stint I tried to hang in there, had, let’s say, a pseudo-attempt into Turn One. I got underneath him but it wasn’t deep enough to pull the move off and then, yeah, it was just about doing an undercut and just trying to still make a two-stop work. So from then on a pretty lonely race. Unfortunately we’re not going to catch Mercedes. At least this weekend we weren’t going to, so a lonely third was not a bad result in the end.

Q: Final question to both Lewis and Nico, just looking ahead to the next couple of races that are coming up, Monaco is a track that’s been strong in the past for both of you and strong in the past for Mercedes, and then we go on to Montreal which has always been one of Lewis’s favourites. How do you go there, Nico? And your thoughts, both of you, on those two upcoming races.

NR: Monaco: fantastic. It’s my favourite race of the year. Great memories there from last year. Looking forward to it, with the car that we have also this year, it’s going to be great. For sure the opposition is going to be closer. Especially I expect Red Bull to be a lot closer, so it’s going to be tougher for us but still, we have a strong package, engine and car. So, should go fine around Monaco and going to try and make the most of it, repeat the win from last year.

Your thoughts Lewis…

LH: I think I have a bit of work to do in the next couple of weeks but of course I love those two races. Struggled last year in Monaco and struggled with this race, so need to figure out where I’m losing the time and apply it to the next race.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Question for Nico and Lewis. What was the main difficulty during the race: managing the hard tyre or doing quick laps at the end to fight to get Lewis with the medium?

NR: No, the big challenge was tyre degradation. Very, very big tyre degradation. That was really difficult to manage that. But I found my way and was quite comfortable with it, and then graining on the hard tyre which is the opposite of what we expected. We expected to have graining on the soft tyre. So it was very strange. Graining on the hard tyre and no graining on the soft tyre, it was really weird and unexpected.

Q: (Adrian Rodriguez – Agencia EFE) Question for Lewis, congratulations for your first win here in Spain. Makes it 26, one more than Jim Clark and one more than Niki Lauda, one of the big guys on your team – are you planning any jokes on him tonight and how many victories can you make it this year?

LH: At the rate the team’s going, we’re looking strong for at least a few more races. It’s by no means easy for me because I’ve still got a massive challenge with Nico. But, I mean, I could never had imagined winning these four races but it’s still so close, long, long way to go and, just as I was saying earlier, I’ve got a bit more time to find in this car, so going to work on it.

Q: Michael Schmidt (Auto Motor und Sport) Lewis, in the race, did you experience similar problems to those you had yesterday and how did you try to dial them out? There was a lot of conversation between you and the engineers.

LH: I did have the same problems as I had yesterday, yes. It was very strange because Friday P2 was excellent. The car was really good, degradation… I mean I was very very fast and I stopped my run with 18 laps or something like that, but if I just brought my pace down a little bit I probably could have eked it out even longer. Those changes just transformed the car and today, just not able to attack the corners due to snap oversteer, and that’s generally where Nico was catching me, through those entries of corners.

Q: (Leonid Novozhilov – F1 Life) To the Mercedes drivers: you have won every race this year. What secret did you find and where?

LH: I haven’t found any secrets but I think Mercedes – there is no secret really, it’s just been hard work and really constructive work. Often when you’re working towards something, sometimes you stumble and fall and then you have to build it again and the team has just been building and building, building and not really having many times when they’re falling. It’s quite remarkable, the actual car itself, the downforce is very good, I’m sure very very close with the Red Bulls and then with the engine, it’s the best engine Mercedes have made.

NR: It’s been five years, it’s been since 2010 this process started and so much has changed, it’s been such a long long way, the personnel restructuring, everything. Big big changes and now we’ve come to a point where, thanks to all the work from the past, we’re really just able… we’re becoming the best team in F1. That’s the way it is. I would still say Red Bull is the benchmark at the moment but we’re definitely shaking their chair at the moment and I think there’s the possibility that soon we will be the absolute best team, in terms of team organisation, capabilities, we’re getting there and hopefully it will be a long domination.

Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and National Speedsport News) Daniel, Sebastian Vettel went from 15^th to fourth, is that encouraging that the car – while not as good as a Mercedes – can slice through the opposition, or a bit worrying because it looks like he might be back up to speed and coming to challenge you?

DR: Obviously it’s the first thing you said. Yeah, really good. I just sort of heard on the radio that he was making progress through the field and when he was in fourth – I think he made a move in the last few laps so really good. I definitely see it as a positive for the team, third and fourth, particularly after his starting position. Obviously Mercedes are the top dogs at the moment but we seem to be settling ourselves nicely in that next spot and I think we’ve just got to now try and somehow creep our way closer. All the talk about Seb, I’m sure that was going to pass very soon and he’ll get to his World Champion form.

Q: (Tony Dodgins – Motorsport News) Nico, just before the first stops, on the radio we heard the team say ‘primes planned for the next stint’ and you said ‘the options are fine.’ Did that mean you wanted another set of options for the second stint or were you happy with the way it went?

NR: There was a misunderstanding from my side because we were going to go prime second stint – there were two variables. There was one where we go prime second stint if we have graining in the first stint or I go prime second stint to try and beat Lewis, if I feel that pace-wise I can be quicker and have a shot at it. I thought they were going prime because they thought I had graining but I didn’t have graining so that’s why I was confused but then I understood: it was to offset my strategy so that I would have a chance to fight Lewis at the end so it was fine – and just what I wanted.

Q: (Barna Zsoldos – Nemzeti Sport) Lewis, at the end of the 2012 season when you announced that you would switch to Mercedes, there were some really harsh criticisms against you, stating that you are destroying your career without the guidance of your Dad. Now that you’re winning and leading the championship and have the very best car of the whole pack, is it important for you that you could really prove that you can make good decisions on your own?

LH: Yeah, for sure, it was obviously a great call and there was never a moment that I ever doubted it but of course never could have imagined that we would be having this kind of success. I’m not one to rub it in people’s faces. I knew that I was in a good place, I knew that I was making the right decision for me and now it should be becoming more evident to people… I’m sure the people that wrote those things had an opinion at the beginning and I’m sure it’s changed now.

Q: (Adrian Rodriguez – Agencia EFE) To Nico and Lewis: you guys seem to get along pretty well right now but the problem is that just one of you can win if it keeps going this way. Do you guys believe that your relationship is going to be the same by the end of the year?

LH: We’ve been racing together for a long time so I don’t see why not.

Q: Does that help, Nico, that you’ve been racing together for a long time?

NR: Definitely yes, because we’ve been through this before. It’s not a first time and even back then we had discussions, debate but always… life goes on, discuss it and life goes on so that helps, yeah.

Q: (Anthony Rowlinson – F1 Racing) Lewis, you’ve said quite a few times this year about how perfect this car is, how well suited it feels. Could you explain just a little bit about how you’ve guided the development of it so that it suits your style?

LH: It’s a lengthy process. Obviously last year… when you request something to be changed, it takes some time because obviously you don’t want to take away their focus from the most important things which is getting downforce. I think it’s just taken some time. I think Michael required a little bit of a… he had a different driving style to me. He required different things, different seating position, different set-up and as I’ve come along, I’ve really tried to… and I guess Nico probably and Michael both kind of gelled and went in one direction with the balance and then as I’ve come along, mine is slightly different and I guess we’ve then created a hybrid: Nico’s come halfway, I’ve come halfway so we now require the same things from the car, but last year it was maybe a little bit different and so over the time just really, for the engineers to get to know what I require from a car and I think really working on being comfortable with the engineers as well, new engineers, it takes a while to build those relationships and that’s probably been a key strength to this year.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – Universo On Line) Nico, you are second in the championship now. Will you change your approach for the weekend, make strategies with more risks; even during the race, do you think you will change what you have been doing until now?

NR: There’s not much to change. The race was really lost in qualifying and at the start. Those were the two opportunities I had. Qualifying was very very close, I even had a bit of a problem which we found in hindsight, where I was a little bit down on power on the straight, but the difference was not enough to get pole, but still it was actually even closer than it looked. And then just had a poor start, so those were the two shots that I had at it and it didn’t work out. And then in the race, I nearly got another opportunity at the very end but again, just not enough. One more lap and I could have given it a go, I think, but I would have done everything the same again at the start of the weekend. Of course, I also missed FP1 which doesn’t help either. Many small thing which add up and there are only very small gaps so next time.

May 12, 2014
Mercedes domination continues as Hamilton secures pole

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

May 10, 2014
Lewis Hamilton Heads Spanish FP 1

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

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

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

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

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

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

May 9, 2014
F1 Paddock Ups Its Game For Spain

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

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

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

Sauber

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

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

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

McLaren

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

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

Lotus

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

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

Mercedes

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

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

Red Bull

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

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

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

May 8, 2014
Weather Report for the 2014 Formula 1 Pirelli Spanish Grand Prix

Catalunya, Spain plays host to the fifth round of the Formula 1 World Championship and the Spanish Grand Prix. It also marks the start of the European Formula 1 season.

It looks as though we are going to have a dry Spanish Grand Prix this weekend. Temperatures are expected to stay in the low to mid twenties with lots of sun expected on Friday and Saturday. For Friday’s practice sessions and Saturday’s practice and qualifying it will be warm with a few clouds overhead. The weather for the race on Sunday is expected to be overcast with a very low chance for rain.

With low ambient temperatures and very high tyre degradation expected because of some of the wide radius corners we can expect to see lots of graining and plenty of tyre marbles that will be left off the racing line.

It does seem that Mercedes have the upper hand for this grand prix. It will be very interesting to see if they’ve extended their advantage over the three week break or have other teams caught up to them

May 7, 2014
F1 2014: Chinese GP- Hat-trick Man Hamilton Wins In China

For the first time in his seven year career Lewis Hamilton has scored a hat-trick of victories. A complete domination of the 2014 Chinese grand prix was the latest in a list of victories to be added to the Brit’s resume.

Seemingly nothing can stand in the way of Mercedes’ all-dominant string of results. Not even rain during Saturday’s qualifying session could put a dampener on Hamilton run as he secured pole position ahead of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo.

Lewis Hamilton led from start to finish as Mercedes once again overshadowed the competition. Teammate Nico Rosberg got off to a slow start and fell all the way to seventh before recovering to second. Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa banging wheels meant Sebastian Vettel could snatch second place at this stage.

Despite running second in the race the Red Bull couldn’t match the pace of Mercedes nor Alonso’s Ferrari. Sebastian Vettel also finds himself in territory he doesn’t recognize – being outpaced by a teammate. Daniel Ricciardo has hit the ground running as a Red Bull driver and continues to go from strength to strength in an impressively calm manner. It didn’t sit too well with Vettel that he had been asked to let his faster teammate through in both of the last two races.

The team was quick to insist that Vettel was not creating any tension within in the team by initially refusing to heed the team order. Vettel, informed that Ricciardo had fresher tyres, responded with “tough luck” before eventually letting his Australian teammate through. Team boss Christian Horner saw nothing wrong with Vettel’s response and put it down to the champion being “a race driver.” It is evident from Vettel’s reaction that being out-performed by Ricciardo is starting to affect him. Vettel eventually finished fifth roughly twenty seconds behind Ricciardo.

The Ferrari team showed a marked improvement, at least in the hands of Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard blitzed the opening lap of the race, as he so often does, and was able to maintain and beat the pace of both Red Bull drivers. Alonso secured the first podium for Ferrari in which has otherwise been an off-colour start to the season. The third place finish comes at a significant time for the team as new team Principal Marco Mattiacci looks to find his feet.

Teammate Kimi Raikkonen didn’t enjoy the same turn of speed as he struggled to an eighth place finish behind Nico Hulkenberg and Valterri Bottas respectively. The Finn endured a difficult weekend compounded by a variety of issues which severely restricted the amount of running throughout the practice sessions. However, Raikkonen pointed out his driving style as the main contributing factor for his lack of pace. The former champion’s famously smooth style prevents him from getting enough heat into the Pirelli tyres which in turn affects grip levels. Typically, this would be seen as an asset as it could extend the life of the tyre however coupled with the low temperatures in China it resulted in an overall lack of pace.

Sergio Perez and Daniil Kvyat rounded out the top ten while Felipe Massa’s afternoon was completely destroyed by a pit-stop mistake. The team mixed up right and left-rear tyres costing the Brazilian a chance of a points-paying position. Oddly, the chequered flag was shown a lap early on lap 55 which, according to regulations, meant that Chinese GP was declared to have finished on lap 54. None of the points-paying-positions were affected.

The tension between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg is almost palpable. No congratulatory handshake was forthcoming, not even for the camera and no pleasantries exchanged before or during the podium ceremony. They aren’t expected to be overly excited about the other’s result but the lack of interaction between them is telling.

The tension between the two stems from the wheel-to-wheel battle in Bahrain which Rosberg felt was “too close” for comfort. But there is little doubt that if the German had been the one on attack and the first to see the chequered flag that it would’ve been acceptable.

The reality is that Hamilton struck a significant psychological blow by taking victory in a race that Rosberg seemingly had won. He followed it up with another damaging mental blow in China by completely dominating the weekend.

In three weeks time the first race of the ‘European season’ will take place at Spain’s Catalunya circuit. Most teams are expected to roll out several big upgrades with the hope of seeing significant progress.

Mercedes-Benz images courtesy of @MercedesAMGF1

April 21, 2014
Hamilton claims masterful Chinese Grand Prix pole

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Full timesheet for the Chinese Grand Prix qualifying:

April 19, 2014