F1 Madness

Tag: mercedes

  • F1 2014: Bahrain Free Practice 1 Results – Hamilton On Top

    F1 2014: Bahrain Free Practice 1 Results – Hamilton On Top

    Lewis Hamilton led a Mercedes one-two at the first free practice session for the 2014 Bahrain grand prix.

    The Bahrain GP celebrates its tenth appearance on the Formula 1 calendar this weekend and will host its first ever night race. The first one and a half hour practice session remained fairly uneventful throughout. There was encouraging signs from the Lotus F1 Team who managed to rack up a substantial number of laps without any issues. However, it was the Mercedes team that once again dominated the timing sheets ahead of Sunday’s third round of the 2014 F1 season.  

    Fernando Alonso in the Ferrari held the fastest time for a short period of time before being pushed down to third overall. Several teams ended there practice sessions before the chequered flag came out. The suggestion was that the most valuable information would be gained in the second practice session; as the condition will be more akin to what qualifying and race conditions are likely to be.

    A peculiar lapse of concentration by the Ferrari team saw Fernando Alonso leave the pitlane with three medium and one soft compound tyre on his car. The Spaniard stopped his car in the pitlane and was wheeled back into the garage by his mechanics. Some familiar faces graced the paddock during FP1 from Jean Alesi to Rod Smedley who has joined the Williams team from Ferrari.

    Several reserve drivers also got some track time in Bahrain. Amongst them were Felipe Nasr for Williams, Robin Frijns for Caterham and Giedo van der Garde for Sauber.

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  • F1 2014: Malaysia GP Review – Mercedes Asserts Dominance

    F1 2014: Malaysia GP Review – Mercedes Asserts Dominance

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

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

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

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

    malaysian-gp-2014Sebastian Vettel finished in third place overall after getting within one second of Rosberg’s Mercedes. It has been a tremendous recovery for the Red Bull team who looked in dire straits two months ago. A podium finish proves that the RB10 is a fundamentally quick car and that should Renault get on top of their issues that Red Bull will be a serious factor in this championship battle.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • F1 2014: Malaysia – Free Practice 2 – Rosberg Tops The Times

    F1 2014: Malaysia – Free Practice 2 – Rosberg Tops The Times

    Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg topped the timing sheets for the second free practice session in Malaysia.

    As the Malaysian heat intensified Nico Rosberg set the fastest time on the white-walled medium compound tyres in the second free practice session for Sunday’s Malaysian grand prix.

    Track temperatures reached nearly 50 degrees Celsius during the ninety minute session which reveal a much closer pecking order. In particular, Red Bull’s Sebastain Vettel looked solid in both qualifying simulation and long run pace. Both Mercedes drivers were able to lap consistently on both compounds of tyre while Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen appeared far more comfortable with the F14T.

    Rosberg’s fastest time of 1:39:909 was a whisker faster than Raikkonen who set a 1:39:944. Likewise the top ten was separated roughly six tenths of a second. Granted the level of fuel being carried by the respective teams are unknown at this stage.

    The woes continued for Lotus as Pastor Maldonado failed to emerge from his garage for the entire session. Romain Grosjean managed fourteen laps before again pulling off the circuit. This time his issue was allegedly gearbox related.

    The level of tyre degradation on the medium compound tyres appeared quite high as expected on the abrasive surface of the Sepang circuit. Nevertheless, it appeared to last for about seven laps before dropping off. However, the track will continue to rubber in throughout the weekend, barring no rain, which will see the tyres life extended slightly. Pirelli have reported that the difference between the two compounds are around 1 to 1.2 seconds per lap.

    The laptimes on the board suggest that Mercedes are still favourites but the chasing pack, in the form of Ferrari and Red Bull, seem a lot closer than two weeks ago.

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  • F1 2014: Free Practice 1 – Hamilton Tops In Malaysia

    F1 2014: Free Practice 1 – Hamilton Tops In Malaysia

    The first free practice session for the Malaysian GP was headed by Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.

    Sweltering weather conditions greeted the Formula 1 paddock as the first practice session for round two of the 2014 season kicked off. Teams were allocated an extra set of tyres by Pirelli for the first thirty minutes of the session during which track temperatures neared 40 degrees Celsius.

    Fernando Alonso was the first driver to take to the track in his Ferrari for the all important installation lap. The 2014 cars are still very much a journey of discovery for the engineers, especially in the Malaysian heat. Australian GP race winner Nico Rosberg completed an installation and reported a “problem” with his car. However, the rest of the session seemed to run smoothly for the German with no sign of the aforementioned issues.

    The McLaren team has made a noteworthy change to the appearance of their car. A change in the design of the nose now has the MP4-29 looking more akin to the Toro Rosso. The team have said that they are hoping that this design will find them half a second worth of pace. McLaren also sported the ESSO logo on their sidepods; not a title sponsor but a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil. Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen completed the one and a half hour session 4th and 5th fastest.

     

    The tough times continued for Lotus as neither driver was able to set a time. Romain Grosjean first journey onto circuit ended abruptly as the E22 grinded to halt. Pastor Maldonado remained in the pitlane for the majority of the session and his appearance on track was also cut short as smoke billowed out of the back of his black and gold Lotus. Force India’s Sergio Perez also failed to set a flying lap; in fact, he didn’t manage to make it out of his garage at all.

    Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time in his Mercedes but less than two tenths off his pace was Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.

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  • 2014 Formula 1 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    2014 Formula 1 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    DRIVERS:

    Kamui KOBAYASHI (Caterham)

    Pastor MALDONADO (Lotus)

    Daniil KVYAT (Toro Rosso)

    Valtteri BOTTAS (Williams)

    Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (Ferrari)

    Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Valtteri, we’ll start with you. Quite a race in Australia, 15th to sixth, hit the wall, back down to 15th, back up to sixth again, very eventful. But what do you think was possible that day?

    Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, really eventful. If we look at it as a whole race we need to be happy. With the result we have more points, double the points than last year. So it’s a good beginning for us but it could have been better. We could have definitely, without my mistake, been fighting for the podium.

    Tell us a little bit about what these cars are like to drive. Obviously less rear end stability, more of a handful into and out of the corners. How are you finding it so far?

    VB: Yeah, the cars have quite a bit less downforce than last year so you’re sliding a bit more, with more engine power also it makes it a bit more tricky, but I like it. I really think the cars are good fun to drive. I hope it looked good from outside I think we made an exciting race with the new cars, new engines, so I think it’s good.

    Coming to you Daniil. Obviously the youngest ever points scorer with that result in Australia at the age of 19. How do you feel about that and the start you’ve made?

    Daniil KVYAT: It was a good race, also eventful for us. It was everything new for me, so obviously many things to learn during the qualifying, the race, so it was good. P10 is an OK result but we always want some more. In the end, we would always like to get some more points in the future and the more we get the better it is.

    I wonder if you could talk about the step up [to Formula One]. Prior to this the longest race you’ve ever done is 35 or 40 minutes, before you raced in Australia and then of course, the challenge of this weekend in particular so soon [into your F1 career]?

    DK: Yeah, you’re right, it was a very long race but I found a good rhythm and it wasn’t looking so long anymore. Here it’s going to be a bit different because it’s much, much warmer. Let’s see how this challenge will be done. It’s hard for me to say now but for the moment it’s looking pretty hot but it shouldn’t be a big problem in the end.

    Coming to Kamui. Welcome back to Formula One. How does it feel to be back?

    Kamui KOBAYASHI: Hi, first of all I think I have to say it’s great to be back in Formula One. I think after one break doing like GT… I think definitely I enjoyed GT but Formula One is one of the top categories and I also think I was missing the development and of course racing with the top drivers, which I think is one of the most exciting times, so I’m very happy to be back.

    Obviously, quite a tough opening weekend for you in Australia. What has the team learned, first of all about what happened at the start and also about the general problems you suffered at the weekend, and how much have you been able to put right?

    KK: Well, first of all, unfortunately I think that in 2014 the first crash is myself is not really good! But it’s not really fault, it’s coming from the system. I do anything without the rear brake and that was the first proper braking. I mean, at this point I felt straight away, I felt panic, I was a little bit crazy because my car doesn’t stop and I can’t avoid… I feel very sorry for Felipe, just… I don’t want to crash of course like that and I don’t want to end up like that. That’s what happened, a racing accident, so I think we have to find what is really the problem, but we have to find out that it never happens the next time. I think through the week, I’d say it was a very difficult week for us because we missed the complete Friday and we went to FP3. Unfortunately we had not much time to change any settings between practice and qualifying. So, I think we went to Q2, which is very happy but I think we have to look at more potential from what we have. Still we didn’t bring any potential from the car. S I’m quite excited, looking forwards to this weekend. This week is our home race, so it’s very important to having a great result and of course I think a lot of Malaysian fans are excited about Formula One, so hopefully we can achieve something.

    Q: Pastor, obviously, like Kamui, it was a tough weekend for you in Australia. Not too many laps on the board. How much has the team been able to do in the time since then?

    Pastor MALDONADO: The pre-season, it was quite tough for us. We’ve been working very hard and trying to push to solve all of the problems. These kind of problems, when you get at the bottom of the problem, you see that they are not huge problems: easy to fix but it took so much time from the test. In the first race again. So I think we miss free practice, even on Saturday, quali, so we’ve not been able to do proper long runs and to see our real potential of the car because of this kind of issues we’ve had. And now I hope to have a better weekend. We’ve been working hard again to try to improve. We improve quite a lot for the race. We had never been able to run for more than 10 laps together and during the race we did more than 30 laps with both cars – which is a step forward. Now we are fully focussed on finishing the race and I think if we finish the race we will be in a good position to fight for good places.

    Q: From the running that you have done, what’s the car telling you? What does it feel like? Are you optimistic about the potential of this car?

    PM: It is very difficult to say, just because everything is new for us. We will need some more time in the car, especially to explore the potential of the car. It’s very difficult to say. The feeling is not bad but against the other teams we need some more time in the track and try to do our best to catch them. I think it’s going to be a very tough beginning of the season but again things are changing quickly in Formula One. We’ve been working very hard, the team is quite good on reacting and hopefully this race will be much better for us.

    Q: Kimi, seventh in Australia and a bulletin from the Ferrari team since then with some quotes from you saying that one of the problems was the brake-by-wire system in particular. Would you give us a bit more detail on that?

    KimiRaikkonen_PressConferenceKimi RÄIKKÖNEN: ah, I don’t know where that came from. It’s not the issue. There is nothing wrong with the system. Somebody asked me after the race and I said ‘it’s not that’ – because they kind of said ‘is there some issue?’ It’s not true. But just mainly setup to get the car as I like it, as I wanted to have it and I’m sure once… we’re making some stuff for me, so hopefully once we get those it will get a bit more easy to get a bit more feeling in the front end. But it will take a little while. Obviously not the ideal start for the year, for the team, not what we obviously want to achieve. We want to do much better results but after all the difficulties over the weekend and how difficult it was, how many areas, just the small things. At least we got something out and it’s going to be a long year, so hopefully we can now build on it. We have plenty of good people and they’re working flat out as a group to improve things. So, we still have things to do but I’m sure we can keep progressing.

    Q: With the nature of this particular circuit, do you think that you and we will be able to see more of what this Ferrari car is capable of this weekend, perhaps than we did in Australia?

    KR: I don’t know. Every circuit is different. Obviously it is very hot, humid here, slightly different tyres here I think, so I have no idea. Even from the past years it was very difficult to say from race to race and especially with this new year with new rules. It will be hard but hopefully we get a bit better feeling and overall have a bit more experience and all the things run the weekend through a little bit more cleanly and hopefully get the better results.

    Q: Nico, obviously the winner in Australia, your fourth career win. What’s the reaction been like? What’s the feedback been like? How have you spent the last ten days or so? Has it been more special than the other wins?

    Nico ROSBERG: Well it’s been a fantastic start to the season, definitely, yes. I think the whole team has done a great job with these new regulations, with the car and engine and powertrain that they’ve built and yes, it’s been great to win the first race, for sure, fantastic. But now… went on holiday after that, so obviously the holiday was a little bit better, thanks to the win but now back to just fully focussed on getting the most out of this race.

    Q: Obviously it’s well-chronically that it was an eventful race for you here last year, particularly towards the end. Do you expect it to be another tight, close in-house battle this weekend?

    NR: That would be a great thing. The chances are… yes, that we will be right at the front because it seems that we have a bit of an advantage over the other people. Of course Melbourne is not a benchmark, as a race, so we need to be a bit cautious with that but I think we’re looking good, so for sure it will be possible to do a great result again here.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Kate Walker – crash.net) For all of you: we’ve heard quite a lot of negative headlines, negative news reports about the new formula. I’d like to get some positive feedback from you on what these new cars are like to drive and how much fun they are to race.

    DK: Well, it’s quite popular to criticise Formula One nowadays, I think, and there is always some new technology coming and it has happened for me to debut in a new Formula One, let’s say.  It’s quite interesting, I would say. The standard, with the new technology, has to change at some point and I think it’s quite interesting. It’s still fast, it’s going to be faster all the time and we will see at the end of the year how much better it is or not, so it’s early days.

    KK: I think I definitely enjoy driving them because of course it’s definitely not easy at the beginning but I remember there were quite similar headlines before, but after a few years or a few months everybody forgot, so I don’t think it’s a big problem. But for us we’re still enjoying driving. It’s more challenging to drive in dry races, so I’m pretty happy.

    NR: I think it’s been all good for F1. It’s changed around the pecking order which is definitely good for everybody because the same guy winning last year… we needed a bit of a change to that, so that’s been good. The cars are great to drive, that’s fine, so I think it’s all good.

    KR: I don’t think it’s awfully different as a driver, to compare last year’s cars to this year’s. Obviously there are some small detailed issues but it’s the bigger issues that make a difference for me, just to be in a different team. Every team feels a bit different, different cars. It doesn’t really change an awful lot as a driver.

    PM: To be honest, I don’t have much to say, because I’ve not spent a lot of time in the car at the moment. It’s quite early, but it doesn’t feel a lot different to what we had in the past. For sure, it’s a more complicated car, especially for the technicians, for the engineers in the paddock. For us, it’s a bit easier on the steering wheel. It’s a bit more complicated but it’s what we have at the moment. It’s the same for everyone.

    Q: (Elmar Dreher – DPA) Nico, with a win here, you can equalise the five wins by your father. What does that mean Rosberg_PressConferencefor you, and how confident are you to win here?

    NR: I understand that it’s interesting to make comparisons and that, and even I find it interesting. After Australia, I read that he also won the first time… at the first Australian GP, 29 years ago. It’s fun to read those things but I really don’t think about that. I don’t compare. I’m proud of what my father achieved but I’m just focused on my job and getting the most out of it and definitely, yes, I’m optimistic for the weekend and there is a possibility to win.

    Q: (Adrian Rodriguez Huber – Agencia EFE) Kimi, how has your relationship with Fernando Alonso developed  if it has, in any direction, since you guys have become teammates?

    KR: It’s good, it always been good. Now, obviously, it’s early days but there was a lot of talk in the media from you guys, different people saying different things, but it’s been good. But the team has been trying to improve things and get the team to where we want to be.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, did you have any temptation to go to drive the simulator to get better settings for you?

    KR: No.

    Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriere della Sera) Kimi, can we say that Ferrari will be more able to attack Mercedes and the other teams here?

    KR: Like I said before, we don’t know how it’s going to be here. I would say it’s a different circuit, it will be very hard for the cars, the heat. We have to wait and see how we can do. Obviously we learned quite a bit on things from the last race but then it’s the same for every team. Hopefully we can be a bit more happy and see where we end up.

    Q: (Abhishek Takle – Midday) To all of you: now that the first race is out of the way, do you have a fair idea of who stands where in the pecking order? Or given that Albert Park is a unique circuit, is it still very much a step into the unknown?

    VB: I think we have some kind of idea where every team is. Of course, like Nico said before, Melbourne is maybe not the best benchmark, a little bit different track than most of the others. We will see here, and of course, all the teams are going to improve so much race by race, especially when we get to Europe. Some kind of idea but it can change.

    Q: So where do you think you are? Second? Third fastest car?

    VB: Somewhere there, hopefully. It’s been a good start for us, hopefully we can maintain it because everyone is going to improve a lot, so I would definitely see no reason why we couldn’t find four top six positions.

    KR: I think we are more or less where we finished.

    NR: I think we look to be the quickest at the moment which is fantastic but we need to be careful with that and the opposition is not asleep, they’re pushing like crazy.

    Q: Daniil, Toro Rosso got two cars into the top ten in qualifying and the race in Australia which they didn’t do the whole of last year, so where does that put you in the pecking order at the moment?

    DK: Well, I hope in the points quite consistently. It would be good for us. If then we can use the conditions to our best, then hopefully we can go as high as possible, it’s always what we are fighting for and the higher the better.

    Q: Pastor, hard to say?

    PM: Yeah. No.

    KK: Same. Sorry.

  • F1 2014: Australia GP Review – Rosberg Romps To Melbourne Victory

    F1 2014: Australia GP Review – Rosberg Romps To Melbourne Victory

    It was at the completion of the 2013 Abu Dhabi grand prix when Sebastian Vettel, on his way to a nine race winning streak, reminded his team to savour their victorious memories. How spot-on he was.

    The free practice session made it quite clear that Mercedes’ favourites tag was no gaffe. For the 35th time Lewis Hamilton ensured that he would start in the best position possible on Sunday while Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo split the Silver Arrows for his first front row start.

    It was somewhat surprising that Hamilton didn’t appear more enthused by his pole position. Somewhere in the back of his mind the fear about reliability must still have been lingering.  It wasn’t unfounded as the 2008 champion was forced to retire on lap three after dropping a cylinder.

    It was apparent that Red Bull Racing had made tremendous strides in Australia as Daniel Ricciardo easily maintained second place throughout the race. However, disaster struck the Milton Keyes based team with the retirement of Sebastian Vettel. The four time champion struggled throughout the weekend with software issues which proved his ultimate demise in the race. After three laps the German reported a lack of power which spelled the end of his Australian Grand Prix.

    Daniel Ricciardo became the first Australian driver to occupy a step on the podium of an Australian GP. However his joy was short lived as the Red Bull team were called into the stewards’ office as celebrations were no doubt in full swing.  The outcome was exclusion from the final standings for Daniel Ricciardo as a result of the fuel flow rate on his car being too high during the race. The fuel flow rate for 2014 is set at 100 kgs per hour. What’s more, during the race, a technical representative from the FIA warned the team that the flow rate was too high. However, Red Bull elected not to change the flow rate. The team has stated their intention to appeal the disqualification. It seems unlikely that the decision will be overturned given that Red Bull chose to ignore the FIA’s helping hand during the race.

    Bad news for Red Bull meant an even better day at the office for McLaren.  Kevin Magnussen’s drive belied the fact that the Danish youngster was in his first grand prix. It serves as the perfect example of a 21st century rookie – light years removed from being thrown in the deep-end of a cutthroat motor racing series and having to fend for yourself. ‘Young drivers’ who form part of a team’s driving program are groomed to the hilt with exposure to the team long before they become, officially, a part of it. Just like Kevin Magnussen. But mixing it in the deep-end still requires great composure and skill both of which K-Mag seems to have in abundance.

    McLaren will leave Australian shores as the happiest team in the paddock. After suffering their worst season ever in 2013, the Woking based team has delivered immediate results. Not only does Magnussen become the first Dane on the podium but the ever-smooth Jenson Button’s third place secures McLaren the lead of the constructors’ championship after round one.

    A total of fourteen cars crossed the finish line in Australia implying that reliability didn’t appear to be as catastrophic as initially predicted. However, several teams will have been working quite hard to mask or manage a range of issues.

    Ferrari was such a team. It was a far from spectacular day at the office but both cars saw the chequered flag. It was confirmed that neither of the two Ferrari were able to run at ultimate power due to electrical problem believed to be related to the energy recovery system. Both drivers suffered with graining on their Pirelli tyres and spent most of the afternoon tucked up in traffic. A combination of these issues had a significant impact on their pace. Fernando Alonso finished in his qualifying position of fifth, which later became fourth, while Raikkonen finished seventh overall. However, both drivers appeared frustrated with their F14T Ferrari.  A short clip has been making the rounds online in which the usually unemotional Kimi Raikkonen can be heard informing his engineer to tell the team that “it doesn’t work, so ask them to change it.”

    Nico Rosberg wins the Australian Grand Prix for MercedesAs the red lights extinguished, Nico Rosberg grabbed the lead of the race and was never challenged on his way to victory. Rosberg cleared off from the head of pack at the blistering pace that Mercedes had promised throughout the winter testing season. Despite it only being the first round of the season Mercedes has proven to be the team to beat in terms of pace. Where reliability is concerned the Brackley based team are still facing the same questions as most other throughout the field.

    It was a memorable day for Russian rookie Daniil Kvyat too. Many doubted his readiness for Formula 1 and questioned whether he deserved a place in the sport. It wasn’t very long ago that the Russian driver obtained his superlicence either and with it he has already broken a record. By finishing ninth overall Kvyat becomes the youngest points scorer in Formula 1 history. He snatches the record from SebastianVettel by a mere 27 days.

    In reality, the first race of the 2014 season was far more intriguing than exciting. It is hardly surprising that neither Lotus made the end of the race nor that teams are still striving to understand exactly how their cars work. It will take some time to get on top of this new era of fully hybrid Formula 1. But already the status quo seems to have been thrown out the window.

  • Australian Grand Prix Post Race Press Conference

    Australian Grand Prix Post Race Press Conference

    Drivers:

    1 – Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)

    2 – Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull)

    3 – Kevin Magnussen (McLaren)

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS
    (Conducted by Alan Jones)

    Q: Well Nico, well done. I couldn’t think of a better start to the season. What a great start to the 2014 championship. A great start to the new era of Formula One.
    Nico Rosberg:     Yes, I mean, already it’s been an amazing time here in Melbourne. Thanks to all of you, you’ve made it all the more special, all your support has been fantastic this weekend. Even though Daniel got a little bit more support than us. Anyway that’s normal. It’s been an amazing day. I’m just over the moon really. It’s incredible, everybody has worked so hard over the winter and now to have such an amazing Silver Arrow to drive is just unreal. This thing was unbelievably quick today and the reliability was good also, so it was just the perfect start to the season. I’m really thankful to Mercedes, they have done an amazing job over the winter.

    Q: Well, all your hard work has paid off well and truly.
    NR:     Yeah, for now yes. Today, definitely.

    Q: Daniel, g’day. You were thinking you may not even finish, let alone be on the podium.
    Daniel Ricciardo:     Yeah. Two or three weeks ago I would have bet pretty everything I have that we would not be standing up here. Full credit to the team for an unbelievable turnaround. I don’t understand how they did it but they did, so thank you guys. And, of course, the Aussie fans. Wow, completely overwhelming. No words. I’m trippin’ balls right now.

    Q: There’s a bloke up in Noosa that’ll be very happy too.
    DR:     Yeah I thought I’d do a stack just to commemorate Mark as well. It’s an Aussie thing, but yeah, really pleased to be up here. First Aussie on the Aussie podium, so that’s really nice to have. Thanks everyone.

    Q: Well you’ve done us all proud. Good on you, mate. Kevin, well done. First Dane on a Formula One podium.
    Kevin Magnussen:     It’s hard to believe really. It just seems so unreal. What can I say. The car was so much better than it’s been at any point. We just keep improving the car. I had just exactly what I need the whole race. The preparation we’ve done this winter has been fantastic. I’ve never done a Formula One and testing is so limited, so big congratulations to the team for doing such a good job.

    Q: Well, your father is racing on the other side of the world this weekend as well, so he’s got something to live up to.
    KM:     I think they did the race already, so I’ll need to see how it went. I wish he could have been here. It’s a great day.

    Q: So you’re looking forward to the next one obviously?
    KM:     Yes I am – great things ahead.

    Q: Nico, what are you going to do now between here and the next one?
    NR:     We’ll definitely evaluate everything that we’ve learned now from this weekend because for sure there’s some way to go. We still can improve a lot. We must, because our competitors aren’t going to be asleep. Definitely they are going to try to catch up quickly, So just try to learn as much as we can, improve the car, go on holiday a little bit next week and then get ready for Malaysia.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Rosberg_PressConferenceQ: Nico, what a start, what a race, what a win.
    NR:     Yeah, the start was just… off like a bullet – or off like a Silver Arrow – thanks to Evan he did a great job on my start – my engineer who’s responsible for that. And then after that the car was just really, really quick today and the whole team did such a good job on it. Engine: really good engine, not much of a problem with fuel consumption, didn’t have to worry much about that, pretty much as usual. It just all worked perfectly. Reliability was great. So, fantastic. I’m just so happy for everybody. They work so damn hard, I don’t think people can really imagine how hard everybody works in my team and I’m sure in other teams too – so that’s just the best reward possible. To dominate in such a way the first week, the first race out.

    Q: Big winning margin, obviously a lot of pace in the car and there was a lot of radio communication about extending that middle stint – which you seemed to be able to do quite comfortably.
    NR:     Yeah, got into a bit of a strange situation in that middle stint because I got graining on the front and then somehow I was losing temperature and somehow it started to get really difficult out there. So, I thought I was going to have to come in soon and they just said try to stay out, try to stay out and I did and then the graining cleared on my tyre and I was off, I was able to go again. It was a bit of a strange period but then it was fine again after that.

    Q: Dan, as you said on the podium, what a turn around – does this exceed your wildest expectations of your first race with Red Bull?
    DR:     Definitely. If I look back at where we were three weeks ago – or however long ago it was, definitely. We’ve never done a race distance up until today, so we didn’t really have much confidence we’d see a chequered flag, let alone see it in a podium position. Obviously, as Nico said with his team, the same for ours. They really worked hard over the winter and really clawed back a massive margin. Obviously we still don’t have the pace of the Mercedes but it’s a result that we will definitely take today and we can make a lot of progress from here. So, pretty happy. It’s a bit overwhelming for now but an unbelievable day.

    Q: I think we could hear your smile over the team radio at the end there but talk about the support from this Australian crowd here today – and the whole weekend.
    DR:     Yeah, it’s been a lot. It’s been a crazy amount. The support for Formula One in general. They’ve been really behind this event and always when the drivers rock up at the circuit, everyone’s cheering for everyone and wanting autographs. Obviously there’s been a bit more for me, being the only Aussie on the grid this year and that’s just been more than I could have possibly expected. At times a bit embarrassing. Everyone knows who I am now – but it’s cool. Very positive.

    Q: Kevin, no podium for McLaren in 2013. You go on the podium in your first appearance in Formula One. You were pinching yourself in the press conference here on Thursday to be in the company of world champions and race winners and stars. You’re a star yourself today.
    KM:     Yeah. Nico was just saying, ‘Mate, you’re on third!’ I can’t believe it. It’s not a win but it definitely feels like a bit of a win because, as you said, the team is coming off a difficult season and they really wanted to come back and they’ve worked so hard over the winter. And working with a rookie as well who hasn’t got experience. It’s been tough for them, for sure – but they’ve done such a good job, made me feel really at home and made me feel comfortable with everything. Yeah. I couldn’t have asked for more.

    Q: Just talk us through the final stint because you started closing up quite a bit on Dan, then you started pulling back a bit, then it was a bit erratic.
    KM:     I think me and Dan had pretty similar pace but obviously you can do stuff with the engine to try and push for a few laps and then you have to back off because you have to harvest the energy again. And you’re fuel saving as well and then stop for a few laps and then you begin again and you have to do more and catch that up. I guess it makes it exciting from the outside because it creates opportunities for overtaking but it just wasn’t enough today. I didn’t have enough pace to get past Dan.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Nico, congratulations. How does it feel to lead the championship for the first time in your life, and actually be the first Rosberg in front since Keke in 1982?
    NR:     Mr Statistics! It feels… I don’t think about that. I’m really just in the moment. I have an unbelievably quick car or I had an unbelievably quick car today. That gives me a lot of… you know, it’s such a pleasure to drive. It’s such a great feeling and I really look forward to the next races so much now, having this.. it’s so fast, it’s great. Of course, it’s still going to be tough and reliability is not 100 percent sorted, there’s still lots of work we need to do and there’s a lot of work ahead of us but it’s a great start and I’m just excited about the result today and sharing it with the whole team. It’s just fantastic.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action) Daniel, naturally you’ve always believed you could do this, but now you’ve done it, DanielRicciardo_PressConferenceyou’ve got the podium, you’ve run at the front. Tell us how this gives you confidence and momentum going into the championship and running at the front for the rest of the year?
    DR:     Yeah. A lot, I guess. Yeah. It’s nice to be up here. Even yesterday during the post-qualifying press conference, that was already a nice little boost, to be up in that top three and now to be here. It’s strange, because I guess it’s expected to see Nico up here but to have Kevin as well, feels like we’re back in World Series by Renault or something. So it’s a bit surreal still, but I’m sure tomorrow it will all sink in. Yeah, a lot of confidence, I’m really happy with how the whole weekend has gone. Dry and wet conditions, showed a lot of confidence and some good pace. Obviously I’ve got to continue this now but the team has to be pleased with what they’re seeing at the moment.

    Q: (Ian Parkes – Press Association) Nico, you talked about the reliability of your car but obviously a different story for your teammate in what happened to him in first practice and also at the start of the race today. Does that bring any concerns for Mercedes, for yourself going forward as well, that the car isn’t as bullet-proof as we perhaps saw during testing?
    NR:     Yeah, I’m not sure what happened to the other car but for sure it’s a fact that we’re not 100 percent sorted yet. We know that and the team did a great job to get my car working so well in the race today but there’s still work to be done. We have two weeks now. We need to identify all the things that we can still do better because even leading up to this weekend, there were still a lot of changes on the car and you don’t really want to be doing that just going to the first race. And also in testing there were still a couple of problems at the end there, so great job, but still things to get sorted.

    Q: (Jacob Polychromis – F1Plus.com) Daniel, in a weekend where the AFL season started in Melbourne, you still managed to outshine it – perhaps our international guests don’t appreciate how huge that really is but we do. What does that mean to you to essentially become Australian sporting royalty?
    DR:     Obviously there’s been a lot of support for me this week but the support everyone has shown for Formula One, it’s made headlines every day in the papers, I think. As I said, the crowd was amazing, not only for me but for every other driver this week, they’ve showed incredible enthusiasm for the event and if there’s any doubts that the Oz Grand Prix won’t last, I think they definitely put a stamp on that this year and I’m sure it will keep kicking for a while now, so really pleased to be a part of that.

    Q: (Leonid Novozhilov – F1 Life) Kevin, can you say if you had any problems with your car today?
    KM:     If I had a problem? No, no issues with the car that we weren’t expecting. We didn’t really know what to expect but luckily we didn’t have anything really that came up that we couldn’t handle so again, big congratulations to the team and to Mercedes for providing such a reliable power unit. It’s quite impressive in the first year.

    Q: How about the fuel, was that ever a concern?
    KM:     No, I probably saved a bit too much in the beginning which turned out to be alright because then I could give Daniel a little bit of pressure at the end and I didn’t have to save fuel so much which was good. It’s something I will certainly learn more about and get into a rhythm with.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Nico and Daniel, that was the first start with a V6 turbo. Has it been any different to the starts you have been used to with the V8s?
    NR:     There are some small bits and pieces that are different, yeah, and then getting away, upshifting through the gears, getting that right, but in the end it’s not too far apart. I think my start was spectacular today, it felt great, felt like last year.

    Q: Dan, you hadn’t done too many practice starts before this weekend.
    DR:     No, not too many. Yeah, it wasn’t perfect but I think probably Nico was the only guy that had a good start from what I saw today and the rest were pretty average but definitely upshifting through the gears with the torque we have with the V6 turbos this year, it is a bit more difficult to manage the wheelspin but as we saw, I don’t think everyone really has it right yet. We managed to do a sufficient enough job today but there’s still a lot of progress to make with launches.

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Daniel and Nico, how difficult was it to manage the fuel during the race? Was it easy?
    NR:     Yeah, yeah, honestly our engine I think even there, they’ve just done a power unit not just engine, they’ve done a great job because it’s not much different than last year, a little bit more than last year but it’s really straightforward and quite easy and this being the most difficult track, it’s really impressive.
    DR: Yeah, I think at the start of the race it was a bit of guessing. Some laps I would try and push and not really conserve and then when I felt I had enough gap then I would start conserving. We were basically learning all the time today. First time that we’ve done a race distance so I think we’ll take a lot out of it but in the end I think the system we have to reach the fuel target is not bad, considering we haven’t done too much work on that yet. I think we survived quite well.

    Q: (Don Kennedy – Hawkes Bay Today) Nico, a certain Mr Ecclestone predicted that you would win this year’s championship. Do you think that favouritism is now justified by this result today?
    NR:     Of course I heard about that and I’m thankful for such a statement. It’s always a boost when it comes from Bernie but other than that, I don’t think about that too much at the moment. There’s a long way to go and it’s just been a great day today, great win, great start to the season and just leave it at that.

    Q: (Tony Schibeci – SEN Radio) Nico, Malaysia is normally the next week after Australia. This time it’s two weeks away. Is it an advantage for you to have that two weeks or is it a disadvantage because it allows everyone a bit of extra time to get their cars closer to where you’re at?
    NR:     I don’t know whether it’s an advantage or disadvantage but for sure we’re going to use that time well to further improve our car, make it quicker, more reliable, so it’s going to be a very useful gap now in between the two races.

    Q: (Sam McClure – Radio 3AW) Daniel, already today you have achieved what Mark Webber couldn’t, finish on the podium in his home Grand Prix. You’re going to be the new face of Australian motor sport in the papers today, in the news tonight. How does that make you feel?
    DR:     I don’t know. Obviously really nice but even when I flew into Melbourne this week, it was a bit embarrassing to see my face on a few billboards. I don’t know. It’s obviously nice, all the support is great but I don’t know. The fame is something which I guess maybe I will still have to get used to but it’s nice, really nice to give the fans what they wanted to see. I know they went crazy yesterday when we nearly got the pole and then to back it up with a podium today is great. I think half of Perth is here as well this weekend. I told all my family to stay away from the pits, didn’t need any extra distractions but I’m sure I will catch up with them tonight and enjoy a beer and relax a little bit before Malaysia.

    Q: (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas) Nico, today we saw you dancing a little bit to Get Lucky going to the drivers’ parade. It looks like you were really confident, in spite of having Lewis on pole position. I want to know if you’re going to dance a little bit more to get Get Lucky in every race?
    NR:     I was very optimistic for the race today because we just prepared really well for it and so I was confident that we could do well and so I looked forward to it and from the start it just all went fantastically.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kevin, McLaren is leading the Constructors championship, do you think you can hang on there with a rookie and a champion driver together?
    KM:     Yeah, who knows? We will certainly try our best. I know the team is massively motivated to stay on top and they are a team that should be at the top of Formula One. So, what can I say? I’ll do my best and they will do their best. Who knows?

    Q: (Chris Medland – crash.net) Daniel, how much of that gap to Nico do you think can be closed just from some consistent running that you’ve got now?
    DR:     I think it will definitely get smaller and hopefully not bigger over time. I think there’s still a lot to learn today and once it all settles down and I go through the meeting with the engineers tonight I will start to… Now I’m obviously on a high but then I’ll start to break it all down and become critical and places where we can improve. I’ll definitely try and help the guys out with that. Obviously I would like the gap closed. He was pretty far away in front today and obviously second is great but it would be nice to at least have seen him on the straight and not five corners ahead.

    Q: (Ralf Bach – R&B) Kevin, one question: I think Mercedes is a very good engine. Would you like to stay with it next year?
    NR:     Careful. He’s really dangerous so best to say no comment.
    KM: No comment.
    NR: When he asks a question, no comment.
    KM: I’m happy just to be with McLaren. I think what Mercedes and McLaren have done together is amazing and really looking forward to what’s coming ahead.

  • Rosberg leads FP3, Mercedes domination continues

    Rosberg leads FP3, Mercedes domination continues

    Mercedes sent another strong message to their rivals with Nico Rosberg the messenger during FP3 in Australia ahead of qualifying this morning. Rosberg finished the session a crazy 1.3 seconds ahead of 2nd placed Jenson Button, with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso finishing the session in 3rd place. Lewis Hamilton finished the session in fourth place but could very easily have made it a 1-2 for Ferrari, had he not run wide at Turn 9 on his second flying lap.

    The Mercedes W05 was clearly the fastest car out there on both tyre compounds with both Rosberg and Hamilton comfortably fastest in earlier FP3 running.

    Lotus’ woes seem far from over with Romain Grosjean complaining about his engine misfiring, and Pastor Maldonado stopping out on track less than a minute before the chequered flag came out on the session.

    Kimi Raikkonen also continued his struggle with his car’s balance, running off the track on more than one occasion and finishing the session in 7th, a full 1.7 seconds off the pace.

    Spots of rain threatened just before the green flag on the FP3 session, and a gusty wind made its presence known around the track. Heavy rain is heading for the track just ahead of qualifying which could really impact on how the session will play out.

    As always you can join us on Twitter (@F1_Madness) at 7:30am for qualifying build up as well as for live updates throughout the session. We’ll also be around for some post qualifying chat – so do join in!

    Here is the full timesheet for FP3:

    FP3 Timesheet Australia

    Photo credit: Mercedes

     

     

  • Australian Grand Prix: Team Principal Press Conference

    Australian Grand Prix: Team Principal Press Conference

    Team Representatives

    Toto Wolff (Mercedes)

    Eric Boullier (McLaren)

    Rob White (Renault Sport F1)

    Stefano Domenicali (Ferrari)

    Claire Williams (Williams)

    Christian Horner (Red Bull Racing)

     

    Q: A very interesting first day’s running. I’ll start with you Christian, as the defending world champion team. I guess given where you were two weeks ago in the winter testing, you must be fairly pleased with the way this first day of running has turned out. Tell us what has been going on behind the scenes in this intervening period?
    Christian Horner:     Well today has been a very string first day for us. It’s been our first proper test day of the season. We’ve had a very difficult pre-season with numerous issues, which have been pretty well documented prior to us arriving in Melbourne. It was refreshing for the drivers to get plenty of laps in and really get a first proper feel for the car. It’s been an encouraging start but we still have an awful lot of work to do we can still see that there is quite a gap to the Mercedes and to Ferrari but we’re starting to realise what that gap is and by the end of this weekend that should hopefully have a bit more clarity. But certainly behind the scenes there’s an enormous amount of effort of going on both back in the Red Bull factory back in Milton Keynes and of course in Viry-Chatillon with the Renault guys as well. With such a big regulation change and such is the complexity of what is nowadays referred to as the power unit rather than the engine it’s not unsurprising that there have been quite a lot of issues to deal with.

    Q: Tell us about managing the situation from your point of view. Does being a four-time world champion team recently – focusing on things like teamwork and morale – does it make it easier to rescue yourself from the kind of situation you were in because you’ve had some success or does it make it more difficult?
    CH:     Neither of those issues has been an issue. Morale is extremely high and we work very effectively as a team. It’s been a challenging winter to design, build and then obviously modify RB10, but the way the team has responded to the challenge has been fantastic. There is a real desire and inner strength within the team. We’ve achieved quite a bit over the past few years and that’s not by accident. As I’ve said there are always engineering solutions to engineering problems.

    Q: Thank you for that. Moving to you Stefano. Obviously Christian thinks you’re ahead of his team. Fernando was fastest this morning and third this afternoon. How do you assess the first day of term for Ferrari, and what was the difference in programme between Alonso and Raikkonen.
    Stefano Domenicali:     Today was an interesting day just to see if some of the issues we had during the Bahrain test were solved. We are still not on top of all the things we have to solve and this is something that shows, as Christian says, the complexity of this project. But you know, what we have to do is keep working on the things we know. We need to improve and that’s the way it is. For sure there were different things to test and to try between the drivers but that’s part of the normal programme we do. In my view today maybe you will see that some teams were a little bit hiding or having some issues for the day. Tomorrow the situation will be different again, we don’t know, we will see. If there will also be different weather conditions this will be another thing we never tested with this car so far, so the managing of the car in possibly wet conditions could be another exciting or challenging thing for all of us. But so far, it’s important that we were able to run with the programme we wanted even if we had some little issue to solve. But that’s part of the game, it’s just the first free practice of a long season.

    StefanoDomenicali_PressConferenceQ: And are you happy with the structure you’ve got in place now? I know there has been a lot work behind the scenes – technical facilities, changes in the management, new people coming in, appointments and what have you. Is this the team you want now?
    SD:     I think the basic for sure. We’ve done a great job in the last couple of years to restructure the team, restructure the facility, that was absolutely and imperative thing to do and I think that now we are in the way that we should be to do the best we can in these conditions. So, so far I’m pleased about it.

    Q: Talking about restructuring, Claire, we’ll come across to you. Obviously very much a new look Williams team in more ways than one. What steps that have gone on behind the scenes with your team are you most proud of at the moment?
    Claire Williams:     I think like you said we’ve had a lot of effort that’s gone on behind the scenes to make sure that we entered this season in a completely different place as to how we ended it last year. So I think a lot of work has gone one behind the scenes but I don’t think you can single out one of those efforts. Bringing in the Mercedes engine has had a huge influence on our position this year and our performance. Bringing in Pat Symonds and him heading up a whole new technical team as well has been significant and played its part as has obviously bringing in Felipe Massa to partner Valtteri this season. So there has been a lot of work and we’ve had a good winter but this is only the first race of the year and we haven’t qualified yet, so we’ll have to wait and see how we do tomorrow.

    Q: You had the fastest time in the Bahrain test, you did the second-highest kilometres in testing, where are you today? What has today’s running revealed to you?
    CW:     Today’s been positive. I think the engineers are all relatively happy with what they’ve managed to achieve. It’s been the usual programme of everything you’d expect us to be running on Friday practice. I think Felipe had a bit of an issue this morning which prevented him from going out – but that was to do with his radio software rather than an issue with the car. Valtteri seems comfortable with the car, little bit of understeer that we’ve got to correct overnight but both drivers are saying that they’re happy.

    Q: Eric, fifth and ninth this afternoon, plenty of laps on the board. Is it about what you expected from your first day of competitive running?
    Eric Boullier:     I don’t know if we had any expectations today, just obviously we had a lot of plans and a lot of tests to do, to go though. Obviously first to put again some laps and miles and setup for the drivers. I think we can be happy, we went through most of the plan today so I think the team did a good job.

    Q: You’ve been at McLaren a few weeks now. What changes do you want to make in the team and how much autonomy are you going to be given to do that by the management group?
    EB:     The first part of your question, it is still in my head, on my mind, my plan. But it doesn’t have to be public. This is obviously a great team, a lot of history, the best facilities, I think, in the paddock. And obviously a lot of great individuals eager to do well and go back where the team should be. So, that’s going to be… let’s say, most of the work is going to be to get everybody on track on this. For the second part of the question, it’s a team effort as always. The idea behind the split in the team principal role is something which we have… I actually had personal experience in Lotus. I think it’s good today when you have so much travel during the season and so many people to care about at the factory, it’s obvious that you need to focus or get some different roles split over the company. I think it worked well in the past and it should work well in McLaren.

    Q: Toto, you came here as favourites, certainly among a lot of pundits, fastest and second fastest on the soft tyre runs, long run looked to be a step ahead of the others. Did it turn out how you expected today?
    Toto Wolff:     Yes. If you look after Free Practice Two and analyse that, that was quite satisfying. As you said, on one lap the pace was good and the long run was good as well. But you can see how quickly it goes. In Free Practice One, Lewis went out and after half a lap the car stopped, so you need to be very careful. It’s just enough to have a little problem and the race or the qualifying could be finished.

    Q: Obviously you’ve got two top drivers and clearly a competitive package. Have you had conversations behind the scenes in terms of priority, team orders, obviously thinking about what happened last year?
    TW:     Yes, we had those conversations, and I think it’s important to have those conversations. Both of the drivers know each other for quite a long time, they have been team-mates before – back in karting – and we got caught out by surprise last year in Malaysia and we don’t want this to happen again. It’s just very good discussions we had. They’re not only very talented and fast but also very intelligent. They treat each other in a very fair way. We went through some of scenarios and I think we’re in a good place.

    Q: So it depends on circumstances as to what you decide?
    TW:     It depends on circumstances, yes.

    Q: Rob, two teams getting plenty of laps on the board today, two teams in a bit of difficulty. Obviously your problems going into this season have been well catalogued. How do you feel about what we’ve seen today?
    Rob White:     First race weekend is always a testing time and of course this year feeling particularly anxious because we’re not as well prepared as we would have liked to have been. So, one of the things that Christian rightly alluded to is the fact that in some ways some of the race weekend scenario still needed to be practiced for the first time in P1 and also P2. So, pleased to be able to run through a normal-looking race weekend programme. That’s the big achievement of today.

    Q: Obviously you hadn’t done too many practice starts coming into this Melbourne weekend. I noticed there were quite a few taking place with Renault-powered cars today. Are you happy where you are on practice starts?
    RW:     Yeah. There was nothing magical. They were kind of towards the end of the run plan for the testing and we didn’t quite get there in the pre-season testing in several cases. We haven’t got any particular concern about them. Of course we’re now into learning about the setup parameters in order to try to get some performance into the practice starts. It is a very important phase of the race. We’re very conscious and all of our teams are very conscious of that. So, once again, we’re behind where we would have liked to be and the task now is to try and gain ground.

    Q: A quick line from you on that Christian, are you comfortable on the starts.Christian-Horner
    CH:     It’s been the least of our problems. We haven’t been out on the track doing laps, let alone starts. We’re hoping to start the race on Sunday so we’ll need a start.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Mark Fogarty – The Age) Claire and gentlemen, the reaction to the sound of the engines has been underwhelming, to say the least. You people have heard these engines during testing, has it occurred to anyone that we’ve got a real problem on our hands, just how horrible they sound, and how the fans are going to react?
    CW:     Personally I like the sound of the engines, but then I love Formula One and I love watching cars go round a racetrack. I think people will pretty quickly get used to what Formula One engines sound like. We’ve had so many changes over so many decades of motor racing and you very quickly forget what a previous engine sounds like and I think people just want to see a good race on Sunday and I think that as long as we can deliver that then I think that any issues that perhaps… or contentious conversations around that may fade away.

    TW: Well, if you like sound of engines, let’s go back to V10 and V12, let’s not do any hybrid. This is modern technology, this is where road cars are going. Downsizing is the motto and I think we just need to accept that the formula has changed. These cars are going to go quicker than the old ones in a couple of races, we’re going to get used to the sounds and I promise next year you will not notice and you will not notice any difference any more.

    SD: I think that Claire and Toto summarised the situation very well.

    Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriere della Serra) Stefano, are you worried about the problems that Kimi seems to have had today or are you more satisfied by the performance of Fernando?
    SD:     I always have to see the negative side of the… or the empty side of the glass, so of course we need to make sure that all the things that are still not solved – not only on Kimi’s side – have to be solved or addressed very quickly because the competition is very strong and the time that we have available is not a lot. So I think that for me the most important thing is to address and to solve the issue very quickly and whatever it is, the driver is not really the problem because I’m sure that both drivers will be able to manage the situation in the best way that they can, but there is still a lot of work to do.

    Q: (Stuart Codling – F1 Racing) Eric, you’ve added a new sponsor to your rear wing without much in the way of fanfare. Could you explain the significance of that and maybe shed some light on your quest for a title sponsor. Are you closer to announcing something? I think Ron said the other week that it would be in the next few events. Are we closer to firming something up there?
    EB:     We lately signed a new sponsor which is good news and we are happy to welcome Asos which is an on-line fashion retailer. I think it’s in nine languages delivering to 234 countries – I know my figures. It’s obviously very exciting for us. It’s a huge company selling clothes and selling all stuff like fashion stuff.

    Regarding the other part of the question, we will soon announce… we will hope to sign soon a title partner. We are not in a rush to announce it until everything is closed and done but it’s going to be done in due time.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action) Stefano, three questions about your power plant: what are the specific issues that need to be fixed? Within the rules of homologation, what can you now do to develop the engine and the third question is how do you rate your engine compared to your rivals?
    SD:     First of all, we need to wait and see because points are the things that count so the first thing we need to do is to work on the reliability of it, because that is still not clear if it’s enough, it’s never enough compared to the others. In terms of analysis, I think we need to be careful because when you address only the issue on the engine, I think that’s wrong. We need to address if there is the need, of course, to address the things on the entire car, on the efficiency of the car in a global way, not only the engine, on the mechanical side there’s also the balancing of electrical power versus the engine power itself versus the efficiency of the car as the car itself. I think the right answer is that we need to work all around the car, full stop, and we will see where we’re going to be because I already see a lot of classifications done already but I think it is better for everyone not to anticipate too much. I know that words are easy to fly away but I think we need to be very cautious and careful. That’s why I keep this position. I think that we have a good base and we need to develop on that and see when it counts to bring home the points that are the things that are more important for this championship.

    Q: (Ted Kravitz – Sky Sports) Christian, your cars with Daniel did more than a race distance today and Sebastian almost did a race distance across the two sessions. Is that the first time you’ve done a whole race distance in a day’s running in the whole of pre-season testing and does that mean that you can do the whole of the race distance on Sunday with a vague confidence that the car will actually do all the laps, especially as we saw a heat bulge on Sebastian’s car in the lower left hand part of the side pod during FP1?
    CH:     Well, I think Sebastian today has covered a third of the mileage of his total winter and obviously Daniel has done pretty much a race distance today, so that’s extremely encouraging for our guys and the guys back in Paris at Renault. So hopefully it bodes well for the weekend because the most important thing is to see the chequered flag on Sunday and that in itself is an enormous challenge. We’ve learned some valuable lessons today, an awful lot of information to look at and to be honest with you, it’s the first real opportunity that the drivers have had to drive the car properly without it being interrupted at any different part of the lap or the circuit. Really, for both drivers it’s been their first chance to really start to explore the car and for the engineers to start to look at set-up and so in many respects, this is where we would ideally like to have been at the first test but that wasn’t the case. We’ve got some ground to make up.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) To all of you including Rob because it could affect your side of the championship, since we last met in Brazil, we’ve introduced double points at the last race which is arguably the least scintillating race of the season. Given that the structure, the entrants and drivers licence fees are basically a tax on performance, how do you feel about these double points races, possibly for the last three races? Now there’s talk about points for qualifying positions, what are your sentiments?
    RW:     I guess my opinion is more as a relatively independent observer and as a fan of the sport, I think that as long as the points structure is understood in advance, it’s an optimisation target like all of the rest and Formula One is a fantastic machine for getting the best out of a given set of constraints. I personally am not in favour of things that are hard to understand and therefore if it gets too complicated, I won’t like it.

    TW: Yuh. Is it good? I think when it was decided we didn’t put too much emphasis on it, we didn’t think it was a big drama. It’s clear that you have to support the commercial rights holder and if the TV audience is dropping, I think we have an obligation to listen. We got the reaction afterwards, it was not what we expected. You have to honour that. Nothing has changed since then, the last race remains double points and let’s see what we’re going to do next year.

    CW: Exactly the same as what Toto was saying.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Stefano, yesterday your president sent a letter to the fans; could you explain to us the meaning of the letter, particularly the part he wrote about the systems and all the problems that can be grey areas in the rules. Could you explain the spirit of the letter, please?
    SD:     I’m not the president, first of all. You know that very well. No, I think that our chairman wanted to send a letter to our supporters before the first weekend of another season, as he always does every year, and I think that he was highlighting the challenge that we have this year in terms of new regulations for us and it’s a challenge also for the federation to align with these regulations because also on their side, it’s a big task to make all the controls that are needed to make sure that everything is running properly, so I would say it’s just for him a way to stay close to our tifosi, to our supporters because you know how much he cares about Formula One and that’s the way you always are at the beginning of the season.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta -Turun Sanomat) Stefano, if it rains tomorrow, does it help your drivers to challenge the Mercedes boys for the top positions?
    SD:     Good question – the answer is I don’t know. We will see.

    Q: (Will Buxton – NBCSN) For everybody, there’s rumours doing the rounds that there’s a move on to try and get a test in Malaysia next week, before the race. Is that something… by the looks of things, it’s a surprise. I was wondering if that is something you had heard and if so it’s something you would be in favour of?
    CH:     Well, it’s certainly a surprise. It’s the first I’ve heard of it and if it is happening, we won’t be there. I think it’s fairly unlikely.

    EB: I’ve never heard of it too.

    Q: (Sylvia Arias – Parabrisas) Monsieur Boullier, I would like to know your opinion about Federico Gastaldi. As team principal, I saw you today saying to him ‘good luck’.
    EB:     Yes, I wished him good luck, obviously, but I have no opinion at all because it’s not my matter anymore.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) What sort of progress would all of you like to see made on the cost cap or budget caps or whatever?
    CH:     What was the question again? You wanted the cost cap or what progress? Forget the word cost cap for the moment. Let’s just focus on saving money. I think everybody around this group here wants to see all of the teams save money. The necessity to spend money in order to be competitive is what we want to reduce and I think however we achieve that as a group, it’s something we all want to see happen. How to make it happen is obviously something much more complex. Then there’s obviously discussions about caps and this and that. You’ve got to look at the root causes for why are costs the way they are and then in my opinion, address it that way.

    EB: I think Ron has maybe said he’s not favour of caps – again, it’s words. Definitely he’s obviously in favour of reducing costs. Obviously competition or trying to be competitive is obviously the nature of any sport, especially Formula One, so we just need to draw the line and make sure that technically we can’t spend too much to be competitive and try to have some targets which could be reasonable and suiting everybody.

    TW: Maybe Stefano wants to say something.

    SD: I think that Christian and Eric have summarised the situation very clearly, so nothing to add. We are always saying the same thing.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) But there’s no progress and that as the question: what progress would you like to see made?
    SD:     I think that progress is on the way because we are discussing what to do at the level of the strategy group. I’m sure that you’re aware of the work that is around that. I think that at this moment it’s better to stay quiet and tell you when the thing is done and say we are doing something without going into the details of it.

    Q: But it is the case that it’s got to be in place by 2015, isn’t it?
    SD:     Yeah.

    CH: We’ve done an incredible job of reducing the costs for this year with the introduction of a new power train that’s probably 25 percent more so we’re doing a great job so far!

    Q: (Chris Lines – AP) Rob, can you tell us a bit about the problems afflicting each of the teams; are they individual to the teams or is it a common problem and do you have a time line when you think this engine will be functioning at its principal level? Will it be KL, Bahrain, China, Europe?
    RW:     If we take a step back and look at the kind of troubles that have befallen us and our teams, then the first thing to say I think is that we’re behind where we should be in terms of time, in terms of our internal objectives, then independent of one’s level of competitiveness, then it’s completely unacceptable to be coming to a first race as relatively unprepared as we are and without having run through all of the scenarios that we needed to. In terms of where the trouble lies, then we remain confident that the building blocks that we’ve got in place are the right ones, that we know the level of thermal efficiency that we need for the turbocharged engine to be competitive in terms of power. We know that the regulatory constraints on the electrical machines from the battery and that mustn’t be exceeded but in order to be competitive, you’ve got to be able to be up with those limits and we are up with those limits and where it’s tough is delivering turbo to the backside of the drivers to the contact patch between the tyre and the tarmac, the sum of those parts and at the moment we’re not yet able to deliver that in a decent fashion. And this comes right back to the heart of these regulations. In order to get the performance out of the cars, the cars are going to be quicker than the old cars in a minute with substantially less fuel, there’s a lot more stuff and getting all that stuff to peacefully cohabit in the race car and to make it appear to the driver like it’s a different thing to the thing it is is where the troubles are. I guess that’s the stuff that is common to all users of our power unit and I don’t really have anything much to say about the specific differences between one car and another. We’re certainly working hand-in-hand with the teams that we work with in order to fix our problems and if we can participate in solving other ones then that’s good too.

    Q: (Will Buxton – NBCSN) FOTA, perhaps in the run-up to this season the perhaps inevitable dissolution of the Formula One Teams Association. How disappointed were those of you that were members of it with the dissolution of FOTA; those of you that weren’t, why didn’t it work for you? And as we move forwards with this sport and the usual talk of the need to reduce costs, how important is the unity of the teams in progressing this sport?
    CW:     Yes, obviously we were a member of FOTA and it was disappointing that it did dissolve but I think that from when it was originally established – it set out with a very clear mandate – and over the years that mandate has changed for a variety of reasons. I think the most important thing in this sport is that teams come together to work together to address the issues that we face and whatever those may be. We do need some form of structure around the teams so that we have a platform to have conversations so whether that’s FOTA or whether that’s something else, that’s something that Williams would be keen to be a part of in the future but obviously we, as a team, are now part of the F1 strategy group which obviously we’re pleased about.

    EB: Obviously as McLaren and ex-deputy chairman, we were quite involved in FOTA. I think it’s a bit disappointing to see FOTA disappearing but it was expected in the end. First FOTA was created in a different context with a lot of car manufacturers in the paddock and it has survived over the years. There were some defections and it just ended up where unfortunately it should have been. The most important thing is to keep some discussions and some firm places between the teams, as Claire said, to address our issues if we have to.

    TW: I think the mandate of FOTA was to represent all teams and that mandate got diluted over the years. Teams stepped back and at the end it was a bit of a struggle for FOTA to keep alive and I think we were either all in or no FOTA.

    SD: I think that clearly at the specific moment when FOTA was created it was really a situation that there was really the need to make sure that the teams were all together and if you recall, during that time, there were situations where the championship could have gone through a different part, we were very close to being in that situation but year by year the situation changed and therefore that was the reason why we quit FOTA two years ago, because we felt that that kind of situation was not really needed any more to be effective as an organisation. I think that for sure it is important for teams to agree and speak on a lot of subjects because we are all the actors in this show but we also need to recognise that there are different actors with different weights that also have be considered. All of us do care about this business, do care about this sport and I believe that this is fundament to also look ahead in the new way that we are organised, for example with the strategy group, to make sure that we take the right decisions for the future of Formula One.

    CH: I think that Stefano has summed it up perfectly. FOTA, when it was created, had some specific agendas. It was at a time of uncertainty over many issues regarding Formula One and then of course, the crisis came in 2008 and FOTA at that time achieved some good things in reducing costs and teams working harmoniously together within critical circumstances. Then the mandate as FOTA changed, and when it suddenly became involved in how you run your team and run your business and trying to police how a team is run, that’s not the role of the teams and you’re only ever going to end up in conflict when teams are trying to write regulations of how they should spend budgets etc etc. For that reason, we left at an identical time to Ferrari, because we just didn’t believe in the direction that FOTA was going. Then it was no surprise to see – ultimately – that it petered out over the last few years

  • F1 2014: Australia Free Practice 2: Merc Sets The Pace

    F1 2014: Australia Free Practice 2: Merc Sets The Pace

    The Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg topped the timing sheets for the second free practice session in Australia.

    A significant amount of laps were completed by most teams as they set out discovering and fine-tuning their race set-ups for Sunday. The early part of the session was dedicated to a few laps on the yellow side-walled softer tyres. Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time of the session on his soft tyre run, roughly one and a half tenths clear of his teammate Nico Rosberg.

    Red Bull enjoyed a much easier start to the session as the team was able to complete its programme without any issues. Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo set the fourth and sixth fastest times respectively. Fernando Alonso slotted into third place overall with a time half a second slower than Hamilton.

    The struggle continued for Lotus who was able to get only Romain Grosjean out of the garage. The Frenchman completed twelve laps before hitting the wall and breaking the left-rear suspension of his car towards the end of the session. However, on-board shots revealed that the Lotus was not running at full revs – surely a sign that the team is not yet comfortable in pushing its car. Pastor Maldonado did not make it onto circuit at all. Likewise, Caterham failed to get either car out on track.

    If it is to be taken at face value the long run pace painted quite an ominous picture. The Mercedes pairing were by far the quickest with Hamilton setting lap times in the mid 33 second range during his long run. Several other teams, including Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull were clocking times in the mid 34 second range. The two Ferrari drivers were reportedly on different programmes during the long run as Kimi Raikkonen lapped in the mid 36 range. Unfortunately, there is no way of telling the various fuel loads run by the teams during their long run stints. However, tyre degradation appeared to be less of a factor than it was in 2013. At least at this stage.

    Final Standings from Free Practice 2:

    fp2