Tag: nico hulkenberg

Singapore GP Preview Quotes – Sauber F1 Team

Preview quotes from the Sauber F1 Team ahead of this weekend’s Singapore GP.

Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber
“The Singapore GP is one of the toughest races of the year, with the high temperatures, humidity and the race almost always reaching the two-hour mark. It’s a challenging circuit with a lot of corners. I particularly like sector one and the first bit of sector two. Because it’s a night race, we stay on European time for the whole weekend, so it’s important to get into the right rhythm with your sleep from the beginning. Being in the paddock when it’s dark is something quite special. It’s the only total night race on the calendar and racing in a mega city like Singapore is unique. It’s a huge hub in many respects, financially and also with the airport being such a vital link between Asia and the rest of the world. To have a track like that is pretty spectacular. A mega event this large needs a lot of logistics, effort from the organisers and everybody involved to make this happen.”

Esteban Gutierrez, Sauber
“The Singapore GP is a unique event. The atmosphere and excitement is special, because it’s a night race, it’s right in the middle of the city and the crowd is great. Singapore is a tough circuit in terms of how it affects the driver physically. The humidity is very high, so there is less oxygen in the air, and that’s challenging. However, I’m quite used to racing in hot conditions, especially at the beginning of my career competing in Mexico at 45 degrees, but the difference in Singapore is the humidity. It impacts on concentration, so that means preparation is very important. There is nothing that you can do or train specifically for that, but I tend to arrive early to get used to the conditions. I like the track, it has a lot of corners and it’s quite long, which makes it fun. My favourite part used to be the Singapore Sling, a left-right-left combination, but that has been changed to a long medium-speed corner for this year.”

Tom McCullough, Sauber head of track engineering
“The Singapore GP requires a totally different set-up philosophy compared to Monza. The circuit efficiency sees a return to our maximum downforce level similar to Monaco. The track is dominated by tight, low-speed corners and this is the area that the mechanical and aero set-up is optimised around. Like Monza, the track is pretty bumpy in some areas, so placing an importance on ride quality. The stop-start nature of the circuit gives the brakes a hard time as there are not many opportunities per lap for them to cool down. It is imperative to qualify strongly on Saturday evening, as overtaking on this track is difficult. The race tends to cross the two-hour mark and there is a high chance of a safety car at any time, which means this will keep the strategy engineers’ attention throughout the whole race. The ambient conditions make it tough for the drivers and crew throughout the weekend. As in previous years, Pirelli has selected the supersoft compound as the option tyre, but the prime will be the medium compound, unlike last year when it was the soft compound. We will bring a further update package to Singapore that should help us to continue fighting for championship points.”

September 19, 2013
Ferrari vs Lotus: Personnel Wars

Kimi Raikkonen is not the only thing Ferrari has poached from the Lotus F1 team. The Italian squad has announced two new members who are set to join from the Enstone based team.

Ferrari has bolstered its technical side of operations by signing Lotus’ head of aerodynamics Dirk de Beer. Earlier in the year Ferrari snapped up the highly sought-after former Lotus technical director James Allison. Allison’s Ferrari duties officially started at the beginning of September. Team principal Stefano Domenicalli has also revealed that Allison’s account of Raikkonen’s ability to deliver techincal input and feedback helped convince the team to lure the Finn back to the Ferrari stable.

Jarrod Murphy, head of computer aided design (CAD) in Enstone will also set off for Ferrari after 17 years of service. It is believed that Ferrari has made the signing of Murphy on the request of James Allison.

In turn, Lotus has signed up Ferrari’s chief aerodynamicist Nicolas Hennel. Hennel is expected to start work at Lotus next month and his focus will be required on the 2014 car from the get-go.

It is also believed that Felipe Massa is now in contention for a seat at Lotus for 2014. Nicolas Todt, Massa’s manager, and Lotus team principal Eric Boullier has revealed that the Brazilian in the running for what they term to be “the best seat” left on the grid. “What is certain is that other teams are interested in Felipe,” said Todt. “Felipe will never play second fiddle in a small team, so what we need to do is find him a car that allows him to play a leading role in Formula 1.”

Up until this point Nico Hulkenberg has been linked with replacing Raikkonen at Lotus. Hulkenberg was also in contention at Ferrari and is highly regarded by the top teams in the paddock.

September 14, 2013
Ferrari said no to Hulkenberg via sms

Nico Hulkenberg’s manager has revealed that Ferrari broke the bad news to the German driver via sms this week and has expressed his disappointment.

Hulkenberg was apparently being seriously considered by Ferrari as the replacement for Felipe Massa.

But when Ferrari signed Raikkonen, the Maranello based team let Hulkenberg know via an sms, according to the German driver’s manager, Werner Heinz.

Heinz told Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport, “After two months of negotiations, I expected at least a phone call.”

Heinz said that five lawyers worked for eight weeks on the Ferrari contract and ultimately, all that was still needed to finalise the deal, was Luca di Montezemolo’s signature.

“The contracts went back and forth and in the end only had to be signed,” he told the German newspaper Bild.

“Domenicali sent us a SMS at 22.50 on Tuesday,” he added.

September 12, 2013
F1 2013: Italian GP Post-Qualfying Report – Red Bull Romp To Front Row

Sebastian Vettel secured his thirtieth and Red Bull Racing’s fiftieth Formula 1 pole position in Saturday’s qualifying for the Italian GP.

Sebastian Vettel’s domination has been tempered by Lewis Hamilton in the last four races but the German maestro was not going to play second fiddle at the same historic venue as where he memorably won his first ever grand prix.

The pace of the Williams car wasn’t much to write home about but Pastor Maldonado still manged to drag his Renault powered car into the second part of qualifying. Teammate Valterri Bottas didn’t manage to emulate the Venezuelan as he joined Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez, Giedo van der Garde, Charles Pic, Jules Biachi and Max Chilton at the back-end of the grid.

Drama and a closely fought battle was predicted for the final pole position shoot-out but the second session of qualifying is where the real commotion materialized. Paul di Resta, in recovery mode after a practice crash, failed to advance to the top ten and was joined by teammate Adrian Sutil and Pastor Maldonado. The real kicker however was the failure of Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean to advance to the final session of qualifying.

Lewis Hamilton, notoriously hard on himself, was quoted as saying that he “drove like an idiot” in the second part of the qualifying session. Twelfth place is certainly not what the Brit expected but chin up LH there’s always tomorrow. Lotus’ Romain Grosjean bemoaned the fact that he was unable to heat up his medium compound tyres prior to his final effort and Kimi Raikkonen…said nothing. Nevertheless, it is rather peculiar that the Lotus team dedicated both free practice sessions on Friday to testing the long wheelbase car with Kimi Raikkonen and then electing to pursue it further this morning.

The final top ten shoot-out could not have worked out better for Red Bull if they had scripted it themselves. Untroubled be the rest of the pretenders Vettel and Webber locked out the front row of the grid for the 20th time.

Ferrari’s ‘towing’ system didn’t quite go to plan in the final minutes of the session much to the displeasure of Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard could be heard during the run telling his team that Felipe Massa was too far ahead of him to gain an advantage from the tow. Sky F1 later reported that the former world champion allegedly told his team: “You are stupid, you are all stupid, you wrecked my qualifying.” Felipe Massa out qualified his teammate.

The undoubted star of qualifying was Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg who miraculously qualified third on the grid for tomorrow’s race. Nico Rosberg, Daniel Ricciardo, Sergio Perez, Jenson Button and Jean-Eric Vergne rounded out the top ten.

September 7, 2013
Monza Preview Quotes: Sauber F1 Team

Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber

“Monza is a track with a lot of history and the only true high-speed circuit of the season. I still remember sealing my GP2 title there in 2009. After the race on Sunday morning I was the champion. Monza requires a low-downforce configuration, which can make the car quite tricky to drive when braking from 340 km/h down to speeds of about 60 km/h in the chicanes. It’s a very nice race with a good atmosphere in the Parco di Monza where a lot of passionate Italian fans cheer on the Scuderia Ferrari. I enjoy driving there, as it’s a simple layout but it’s not as easy as it looks. There are some technical bits and chicanes and you really have to master the kerbs.”

Esteban Gutierrez, Sauber

“Monza is a great track, and very different to Spa. It’s important to consider that. Coming from a track like Spa, we need to adapt to Monza in terms of driving style, strategy and set-up. It will be a crucial weekend, because stability in slow corners is important and, unfortunately, this is where we’ve been struggling. We have to focus on that and try to improve. My favourite part of the track is the Variante Ascari, a left-right-left combination. It’s very quick, you have to get the right line, react quickly to the kerbs and the bumps, and it’s fun. Our pace is good, but now we need to complement that with the right decisions. I have great memories of Monza, as I won the Formula BMW and GP3 titles there. I remember very well my pole position lap there in GP3, this point made the difference and I went on to win the championship, so it was very special.”

Tom McCullough, Sauber head of track engineering
“Monza is a unique challenge for the drivers and engineers as the circuit efficiency requires our lowest drag configuration of the season. The track is well known for its long straights. The majority of the grip-limited time comes from medium-speed cornering and two lower-speed chicanes. The track is pretty bumpy in some areas and you need to be able to use the kerbs, so the ride quality is also an important factor. The track tends to favour strategies with less stops because of the low fuel effect and the time you lose in the pit lane. We have some further developments to be tested. Again, Pirelli has selected the medium and hard tyre compounds. Coming from Spa we are confident we can fight for points in this final European race.”

Photo: Sauber F1 Team

September 3, 2013
F1 2013: Belgium GP Review – Vettel saunters to Spa Victory

The Belgium GP isn’t one to be associated with processional racing. However, when the leader of the race is the young, three time world champion – it doesn’t have much of say.

Lewis Hamilton snatched pole position on Saturday from the grasp of Sebastian Vettel but that was as close to beating the German as Hamilton was going to get this weekend. As the weather held firm over the Spa circuit, Vettel pounced on Hamilton immediately and took the lead of the race as the field headed into Les Combes at the top of the hill. Fernando Alonso upheld his illustrious reputation at the start of grand prix as he transformed ninth on the grid to fifth by the end of lap one.

The day was to belong to the championship leader and there was no looking back for the defending champion as he expertly controlled the race from the front. Driving within himself and nursing his first stint tyres Vettel opened a gap of seven seconds over Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton. Further down the field the Lotus pair of Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen had made little progress from their starting positions. Nevertheless, Raikkonen was able to overtake several drivers to get himself solidly into the point. However, smoking brakes on the starting grid was an indication that the Finn could run into trouble later in the race. Several radio messages later Raikkonen pulled the Lotus into the pits and retired from the Belgium GP bringing to an end a 28 race point scoring streak.

Despite being felled by the brake issue Raikkonen was having substantial difficulty in passing cars on the Radillon straight – even with DRS. It’s not a new problem for the Lotus team as they experienced the same issue in last year’s Belgium and Indian grand prix. It was during last year’s Spa race that Raikkonen was instructed to overtake then Mercedes driver Michael Schumacher to which the Iceman responded with one of his ever-popular monotone quips – ” then give me more power.” It seems top end speed is still haunting the Lotus team; and this ahead of the power hungry Monza.

There was very little excitement throughout the rest of race as Vettel seemingly cruised at the front. Fernando Alonso made short work of Hamilton and took over second place but that is where his progress would cease. Although the Ferrari team managed to put together a much better performance this weekend Alonso will still be asking for more from his Italian team. The Spaniard may have finished second in the race and taken over second place in the standings but in truth he was nowhere near to matching the Red Bull’s pace. The number one Red Bull was comfortably in the lead of the race but Vettel was nevertheless instructed to progressively open the gap to Alonso should there be a threat of rain. The rain never arrived by Vettel was able to extend his lead by a second per lap and never looked on the edge while doing so.

The race for the top three positions between Vettel, Alonso and Hamilton seemed settled but a handful of peculiar incidents caused several drivers to be slapped with penalties. Sergio Perez was the first driver to be hit with a drive-through penalty for ‘crowding’ Lotus’ Grosjean off the track at the entry to Les Combes. The Mexican driver was well past the Frenchman who appeared to outbrake himself and race off the circuit. Perez has been known for hot-headed moves in the past but this time the McLaren driver was in the clear.

An incident involving Pastor Maldonado, Adrian Sutil, Esteban Gutierrez and Paul di Resta saw the latter bunted out of the race. Force India’s Sutil cut short an attempted overtaking my Maldonado but would have dire consequences for his teammate. As Maldonado failed to check his mirrors he appeared to dive for the pits triggering contact with Gutierrez who in turn smashed the rear of di Resta’s car to pieces. Maldonado was given a ten second stop/go penalty.

On a quieter, somewhat anonymous note, Nico Rosberg brought his Mercedes home in fourth ahead of Mark Webber and Jenson Button. Felipe Massa, who has been given two races to save his Ferrari seat, finished seventh ahead of Grosjean, Sutil and Daniel Ricciardo. Toro Rosso’s Ricciardo was the biggest gainer of the day by going from nineteenth on the grid to finish tenth and score one championship point.

Straightforward victory in the Belgium GP is the 31st of Sebastian Vettel’s career. It is also enough to give the triple world champion his biggest margin, 46 points, at the top of the standings. Eight races remain and it is now evident that whoever wants to win this driver’s championship need to make a move – yesterday.

August 25, 2013
Spa-Francorchamps Preview Quotes – Sauber F1 Team

Preview Quotes from the Sauber F1 Team ahead of this weekend’s Belgiam Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.

Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber
“I am probably not the only driver to say Spa-Francorchamps is one of my favourite circuits. It’s a track with a lot of history. It’s an old school circuit with great corners like Eau Rouge and Pouhon. I have great memories from last year, it was my strongest career finish so far finishing fourth, which was really good. In terms of the car, it’s important to have a really efficient one. There are a lot of medium and high-speed corners, where you need the down force, especially in sector two. But you also need to lose the drag on the straight, because there are long straights, especially out of turn one through Eau Rouge, which is flat, and then again coming back to the start and finish line. There are a lot of straights, so top speed is also important. The Ardennes area of Belgium has a really nice atmosphere and I enjoy going to there.”

Esteban Gutierrez, Sauber
“Belgium will be an interesting race with everything we have done to the car during the past GPs. Obviously qualifying in Hungary was not good, because of the time we lost in FP3. But I think we can manage to get into the position we were expecting, which is around P10 in Spa-Francorchamps. It is one of the tracks that I enjoy driving the most, because it has a lot of quick corners and it just flows. You can feel the limits of the car at really high speeds. One lap is quite long and sometimes you even face varying weather conditions in different parts of the track – on one side it might be raining, while the other side might be dry. This makes it very challenging and interesting. In terms of the setup, we will have to be clever about which downforce levels we want to race, because you have very long straights, and at the same time you have high-speed corners, where you need the downforce. As a racing driver it is impossible not to enjoy the track, because it has fast corners, you are going uphill, downhill and I am really looking forward to it.”

Tom McCullough, Sauber head of track engineering
“After the August break the whole team feels refreshed and we are looking forward to the remaining nine races. Spa-Francorchamps is a favourite track for many engineers and drivers as the track requirements are different to the majority of the tracks we visit. The circuit efficiency penalises higher levels of drag so the rear wings will return to the medium levels of downforce. As always, we will have to keep an eye on the forecast as this often influences the race weekend in Spa-Francorchamps. The track is made up of primarily medium and high-speed corners with significant flat out sections. Pirelli has selected the medium and hard compounds for our return to Spa. We have improved the competitiveness of the C32 throughout the first half of the season and we aim to capitalise on that between now and the end of the year.”

Photo: Sauber F1 Team

August 22, 2013
F1 2013 Mid Season Review

Starting with a hazardous Australian Grand Prix with ever changing weather conditions to a controlled race in Hungary we’ve had everything from tyre explosions to loose wheels, pitlane accidents, cars on fire and controversy galore. The 2013 F1 season has been a thrilling, wild ride for teams, drivers and fans alike.

With ten races behind us, it’s time to look at the season so far and how things have been shaping up.

Here is our F1 2013 Mid Season Review ahead of what is set to be an tumultuous second half of the season.

Red Bull Racing – 277 points

Sebastian Vettel – 172 points, Mark Webber – 105 points

Red Bull is still the team to beat and are the only team to really maximise their results every race so far this season. Leading the championship with 60 points over Mercedes in second place, it’s bound to be business as usual for the team following the break. Sebastian Vettel is sitting pretty in the drivers’ championship too – 38 points ahead of his nearest rival, Kimi Raikkonen in second place.

Vettel has raced all out so far this season – even defying team orders to score an extra 6 points – and remains on track for his 4th world championship.

Red Bull have an incredibly quick car – perhaps the quickest on the grid – and have remained incredibly consistent but have suffered like the other teams with tyre degradation issues and saw Vettel retiring from the British Grand Prix with mechanical failures. Vettel however will be very hard to beat going forward and his rivals know it.

Mark Webber, who announced that he will be leaving F1 at the end of the season, has had a more inconsistent – and really unlucky – season. Webber has had no wins yet this season but you can be sure that he’ll be looking to add to his nine career wins before he bows out of F1. His frustration became very clear in Malaysia when Vettel defied team orders to pass Webber for what would have been his only win this season.

Mercedes – 208 points

Lewis Hamilton – 124 points, Nico Rosberg – 84 points

With Niki Lauda and Toto Wolff assuming high profile positions and Lewis Hamilton joining the Brackley based team, all eyes were on Mercedes even before the season got underway.

Nobody expected Hamilton to be challenging for race wins in his first season at Mercedes, but he was on the podium within two races and took his first race win at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Team mate Nico Rosberg has already recorded two race wins so far this season and continues to impress.

Mercedes has made quite a turn-around this season and their prospects are not looking bad at all. With a 69 point deficit to championship leaders Red Bull, it seems unlikely that they will challenge for the championship though.

Ferrari – 194 points

Fernando Alonso – 133 points, Felipe Massa – 61 points

A mid season review of the Ferrari team’s performance so far this year, seems all too familiar. Ferrari started off really well with both drivers having a really good start to their season.

Alonso banked a solid second place at the first race in Australia, and Massa also started off well – regularly out-qualifying his team mate and recording point finishes.

But things have been on a downward spiral after Alonso’s wins in Spain and China. In contrast to the 2012 season when Alonso had a 40 point lead at the summer break, the team has lost their second place in the championship and qualifying seems to be a big problem for the team. Massa was struck by a number of crashes and race retirements pushing him far behind his team mate as far the driver standings go.

They’ve just not kept up with the pace of development at Red Bull. Alonso has slipped back into third place in the championship – but it would be silly to discount the Spaniard just yet – his entire championship lead was wiped clean by Vettel in the second half of the 2012 season so that should be a clear indication of how quickly things can change.

Lotus – 183 points

Kimi Raikkonen – 134 points, Romain Grosjean – 49 points

The Lotus F1 Team started the 2013 season on a high, with a win for Kimi Raikkonen at the Australian Grand Prix. But that early strong form has not led to further victories for Raikkonen or the team, with the Finn collecting five second-place finishes and teammate Romain Grosjean – the former ‘first lap nutcase’ added two third-places to his name.

Lotus have been in the midst of the battle at every race. Their constant evolution and the way the tyres work for them has made this team a contender for the podium every race weekend. But their downfall is Saturday qualifying – the E21 has simply not had the outright pace in qualifying to make Sundays a little easier for the team.

Raikkonen has moved up to second place in the championship, one point ahead of Alonso, but if he hopes to catch Vettel they’re going to need to start winning races and with technical director James Allison leaving for Ferrari, it remains to be seen whether they’ll be able to keep up the development pace that will be required to catch the Red Bull.

Force India – 59 points

Paul di Resta – 36 points, Adrian Sutil – 23 points

For the purposes of a mid season review it can be said that Force India have had a pretty impressive season in general – especially in the earlier part of the calendar. Their car has far outshone the team’s resources and their drivers have both delivered on track, scoring points and making Force India’s mark as the strongest of the mid-field teams.

Adrian Sutil, who recently celebrated his 100th race, has driven really well especially in Monaco when he fearlessly overtook his rivals on the narrow street circuit. But unfortunately, like his team mate Paul Di Resta, the pace has just not lasted and they’ve both been rather lack-lustre of late. The final two races before the mid season break were their worst of the year so far and the tyre change in Budapest seemed to affect them particularly negatively.

Both drivers have worked really hard though and this has culminated in the team now ahead of McLaren in the Constructors’ championship. The Woking-based team is breathing down their necks though and they’ll have to pull up their socks in the remainder of the season if they hope to hold onto 5th place in the championship.

McLaren – 57 points

Jenson Button – 39 points, Sergio Perez – 18 points

The fact that McLaren is being discussed this far down in the mid season review should be a clear indication of the difficult, disappointing season the Woking-based team have had. McLaren are used to being in the heat of the battle for the championship but are currently on 6th in the standings, behind Force India. The dramatic slump in their form will certainly be a surprise to most.

Their drivers both try really hard – sometimes a little too hard as is often the case with Sergio Perez, but their car can’t keep up and they’re left fighting the mid-field.

Jenson Button’s strategy calls have been his only saving grace – in the last four races he was able to challenge for 5th and 6th places but this is obviously not where the team are used to being.

McLaren has said that they are no longer developing their 2013 car and are now working on their 2014 car instead, so don’t expect too much from them in the second half of the season. Jenson Button however has said he is very positive going into the Belgian Grand Prix and has predicted a podium at Spa. Let’s wait and see how that pans out.

Toro Rosso – 24 points

Daniel Ricciardo – 11 points, Jean-Eric Vergne – 13 points

Toro Rosso may not be fighting for titles and race wins but they have shown some significant progress during the season so far.

Daniel Ricciardo, who is still first in line for Mark Webber’s Red Bull seat, has put in some very strong qualifying performances.

Team mate Jean-Eric Vergne has brought home some very impressive race drives. With Vergne out of the running for the Red Bull seat, one can only hope that the Frenchman will still come out fighting for the rest of the season as the battle of the team mates has been the most interesting thing to watch within the Toro Rosso team.

It is unsure how long Toro Rosso will continue development on their current car, given the mammoth task of developing the much-changed 2014 cars that lies ahead.

Sauber – 7 points

Nico Hulkenberg – 7 points, Esteban Gutierrez – 0 points

Sauber has had a really challenging season so far and the mid season review of their performance leaves a disappointed taste in the mouth. Everyone had great hopes for Sauber – their car was the star of the 2013 car launches, but things have just not materialised for the team.

I guess a lot can be blamed on their budget and financial troubles but from the very beginning Sauber were on the back foot with a car that has struggled from the word go, and two brand new drivers in the team.

Nico Hulkenberg has done his best with the car he’s been given and has managed to secure 7 points for the team. His team mate Esteban Gutierrez has not done too badly for a rookie but has failed to bring home any points.

Sauber have closed a deal with Russian investors to help save the team, so let’s hope that pans out well for them or we may never see a C-33.

Williams – 1 point

Pastor Maldonado – 1 point, Valtteri Bottas – 0 points

At the back of the grid it’s been a very disappointing season for the Williams team. After winning a race last year in the FW34 we all expected much more from the FW35 but alas. They only scored their first point for the entire season at the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest.

The car lacks downforce and both Pastor Maldonado and team mate Valtteri Bottas have found the car difficult to drive, resulting in the team doing a mid season review of their own and overhauling their technical team. Most notably, technical director Mike Coughlan has left the team and been replaced by former Renault and Marussia man, Pat Symonds. He is bound to make a huge difference to the team but I’m afraid it’s a little too late to expect it to make a difference for the 2013 season though so let’s hope they’re already working on next year’s car.

Marussia – 0 points

Jules Bianchi – 0 points, Max Chilton – 0 points)

Marussia continues their battle for tenth place in the championship with the Caterham team. They started the season very impressively and after the Australian Grand Prix you would have been forgiven for thinking they may even be set to trouble the mid-field teams this season, but instead they’ve pretty much been racing the Caterham team all season.

They have gained a lot since last year though, especially in the form of rookie driver Jules Bianchi who has had some impressive performances.

His fellow rookie team mate Max Chilton has struggled a little to come to grips with driving an F1 car but the Marussia team have been impressed by his consistency and the feedback they get from him.

They’ve been dealt a pretty big blow with Pat Symonds leaving for Williams but for now, they still hold on to tenth place thanks to Bianchi’s 13th place finish in Malaysia.

We’re not expecting much in terms of development from the Marussia team for the rest of the season but for now, it seems they should be able to stay ahead of the green machines for the remainder of the season.

Caterham – 0 points

Charles Pic – 0 points, Giedo van der Garde – 0 points

Caterham’s season has been an uphill battle all the way. The team was targeting the mid-field but have just not managed to make any headway. It was only after Heikki Kovalainen was called in to advise the team that they started making some headway and finally in Bahrain – at the fourth race of the season – they managed to out qualify Marussia.

Slowly but surely their car has been improving and their upgrades have steadily resulted in progress. In Hungary they were able to easily out qualify both Marussia’s.

Both Giedo van der Garde and Charles Pic have put in solid performances, doing they best they can with what they have so they’ll be hoping that they can take back tenth from Marussia before the end of the season.

And that’s a wrap on our mid season review of the 2013 Formula 1 season. The first half of the season has been a thrilling one but has been dominated by tyres. With that behind us, and teams now on revised Pirelli rubber, the second half of the season should see some real battles taking shape. As we head to Spa for the Belgian Grand Prix you can bet that everyone will be bringing their A game.

What are you hoping for in the second half of the season? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Photo credits:

Photo of Bianchi’s car on fire – F1 Madness screen grab

Photo of Vettel gearbox failure – F1 Madness screen grab, Sky Sports HD

Lewis Hamilton after the Hungarian GP – Mercedes F1 Twitter Team

Massa and Alonso – Ferrari F1 Twitter team

Raikkonen – Lotus F1 Team

Adrian Sutil – Force India Twitter team

Jenson Button – Wikimedia Commons

Daniel Ricciardo – Red Bull Twitter Team

Sauber launch – Sauber F1 Team

Pastor Maldonado – Williams F1 Twitter Team

Max Chilton – Marussia F1 Twitter team

Giedo van der Garde – MyCaterham Twitter team

August 19, 2013
F1 2013 Hungarian GP – Qualifying Report

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton secured his thirtieth career pole position as he set the fastest time in qualifying for the Hungarian grand prix.

The biggest casualty of the first session of qualifying was Force India’s Paul di Resta. The Scot seemed struggled throughout the first part of qualifying and sounded perplexed on the radio to his team. Some suggest that the new kevlar belted tyre may not be as well suited to the characteristics of the Force India as was the old steel-belt construction. Di Resta will start in 18th position.

The second part of qualifying, always a bit more frantic, saw drivers leaving the pitlane on scrubbed sets of the softer tyres. Mark Webber’s pitwall informed the Australian that he had suffered a kers failure making the Red Bull driver’s afternoon all the more difficult. Nevertheless, Webber was able to advance to the final part of qualifying.

For the majority of the second part of qualifying Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg appeared to be on course for the top ten. However, the track evolution and several drivers opting for a new set of softs saw the Sauber driver relegated to 12th place. McLaren’s Jenson Button missed out on advancing but teammate Sergio Perez, recovering from a crash in the final practice session, managed to scrape through.

Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo delivered another impressive qualifying performance and will start from 8th on the grid.As Mark Webber departed the scene without taking to the track in the final session of qualifying it was teammate Vettel who carried Red Bull’s hopes. However, by 0.038s Lewis Hamilton snatched pole position from the German. Hamilton has won the Hungarian grand prix on three previous occasions and is the only driver in the last eight years to win the race from pole (2007, 2012).

Lotus’ Romain Grosjean underlined the pace shown in the morning practice session with a third place starting position for tomorrow’s race. Nico Rosberg will start fourth – some four tenths off teammate Hamilton.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso quietly qualified fifth ahead of Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen in sixth. Felipe Massa, Daniel Ricciardo, Sergio Perez* and Mark Webber** round out the top ten, respectively.

* Sergio Perez has opted for an alternate strategy by setting his fastest lap on the medium compound tyres.

** Mark Webber did not complete a lap in the final part of qualifying; this allows him his choice of tyre on which to start tomorrow’s race.

July 27, 2013
Hungaroring Preview Quotes – Sauber F1 Team

Preview quotes from Sauber ahead of the Hungarian GP this weekend at the Hungaroring.

Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber
“Budapest is a city with a great atmosphere and a lot of beautiful old buildings. The Danube runs right through the city and I like being there. The first time I went to the Hungaroring was in 2009. I won the GP2 race on the Saturday and I have always had good races there in the past. In 2010, during my first Formula One season, I had my best result up to then with sixth place just before the summer break. The circuit is technically challenging and leaves little room for mistakes. The second sector has several combinations that all flow on from each other. If you get off the racing line there, the whole sector is ruined. You have to be spot on. Overtaking is difficult too, even with the DRS. There is one straight, but it’s not that long, which is why qualifying is particularly important.”

Esteban Gutierrez, Sauber
“Moving forward from the Nurburgring, I think Hungary can be a good weekend. The Hungaroring is one of those unique circuits in terms of the track layout, and I have good memories of it. It was the first European track I ever drove on during a test in Formula BMW. The track has several medium speed corners and stability is particularly important there. It’s also very demanding on the tyres, especially in the long corners, and also because temperatures can be quite high, which you have to take into account, especially for the tyre management. The track is very technical and it will be difficult to overtake. My favourite parts are turns one to five, and especially turn four, a fast lefthander, which is blind when you turn into it, so taking the kerb there is very exciting.”

Tom McCullough, Sauber head of track engineering
“The Hungaroring is a real challenge for both drivers and engineers, as it is one of the most technical circuits on the calendar. The layout of the track results in a high percentage of time spent cornering. This means the required level of downforce is similar to Monaco. There are a lot of longer corners that all flow from each other, with most of them being low to medium speed. The qualifying position is particularly important, as overtaking is still difficult even with the use of KERS and DRS. After a productive Silverstone test evaluating our updated package and the latest specification tyres, we feel well prepared for this race. Our aim is to again qualify stronger and convert this into points scoring finishes.”

Photo: Sauber F1 Team

July 25, 2013