Tag: nico rosberg

Hamilton remains dominant in third practice session

Lewis Hamilton continued to stamp his authority over the rest of the Formula One grid, and most importantly his teammate in the third practice ahead of the US Grand Prix.

Hamilton’s time was a country mile of 0.844s quicker than Rosberg’s and he will enter qualifying this evening as the favourite to take pole position.

The Mercedes pair were once again in an entirely different league with William’ Felipe Massa another 1.107s behind in 3rd place. His teammate Valterri Bottas, finished just after him in fourth place.

Fernando Alonso completed a pretty untidy lap to go fifth fastest, over 1.6secs off the pace. He found himself with his Ferrari swinging into a wild slide while he was coming out of hte first corner which completely compromised his first sector.

His Ferrari swung into a wild slide coming out of the first corner, which cost him time through the rest of the opening sector, and saw him running off the track at the penultimate corner.

Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo was sixth fastest with his teammate Sebastian Vettel holding up the spot at the bottom of the timesheets. Vettel is expected to complete just one lap in qualifying as a complete change of his car’s power unit means he will be forced to start from the pit only a single in lap in qualifying for tomorrow’s race.

Adrian Sutil popped himself in to 8th place on the timesheet ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Jenson Button. Kevin Magnussen was just outside the top ten and it would seem McLaren is in for a tricky Halloween weekend.

The two Toro Rossos were both off pace and are facing penalties for engine changes, likely leaving them at the back of the grid.

Your full timesheet is below.

November 1, 2014
Hamilton pips Rosberg in 2nd US GP practice

Lewis Hamilton only just edged out Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg by 0.003s to take the top spot on the timesheet of the second practice session for this weekend’s United States Grand Prix.

Rosberg was ahead of Hamilton after the low-fuel runs on options but Hamilton responded on his second flying lap and posted a 1:39.085.

Hamilton’s session was ended 15 minutes before the end of practice session with the Mercedes mechanics hard at work on fixing a suspected hydraulic leak. Both of the Mercedes drivers were complaining early on about gearbox issues when they started their race simulations.

Fernando Alonso finished the session third fastest for Ferrari, a full second off Hamilton’s pace. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo recovered after missing most of FP1 to end the day in fourth place.

Felipe Massa was fifth fastest on the timesheets ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Daniil Kvyat.

Kevin Magnussen and Jenson Button both looked pretty strong on the prime tyres but were a good deal weaker on the options and finished the session in eighth and ninth place respectively.

Force India’s Nico Hülkenberg rounded out the top 10.

Your full time sheet is below. Please join us on Twitter @F1_Madness tomorrow for FP3 and qualifying for the US Grand Prix.

October 31, 2014
Hamilton Leads Mercedes 1-2 at First Free Practice in America

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton finished on top of the time sheets in the first practice session for the United States Grand Prix.

Hamilton finished on top with a time of 1:39.941. His team mate Nico Rosberg finished the session 0.292s slower than his team mate in P2 with a 1:40.233. McLaren’s Jenson Button was the little surprise of the session finishing in P3 with a 1:40.319, just 0.378s off Hamilton’s pace.

Daniil Kvyat in his Toro Rosso ended his session in P4 with a 1:40.887 while Kevin Magnussen in the other McLaren finished off the session in P5 with a 1:40.987.

The session was rather quiet with a few spins and some drivers getting caught out at turn 19 by running wide or getting too late on the brakes and locking up.

It was a rather anonymous session for Red Bull and Ferrari. Daniel Ricciardo had to cut his session short after the team found and issue with his engine. Sebastian Vettel had a fair amount of running out on track but struggled with the rear grip on his RB10. Vettel ended the session in P7 while Ricciardo could only manage P17 after 5 laps.

The two Ferrari drivers trailed new wings and evaluated new parts for the first part of the session. Fernando Alonso seemed to struggle with the rear of the car while Kimi Raikkonen just seemed out of sorts on track.

McLaren’s pace does look very promising for now. If they can keep up the pace we could be in for a very exciting qualifying session.

At the end of the session, a virtual safety car was trailed. Cars are given a delta time to stick to. This delta time has to be followed. At the end of the session/race two cars will be chosen at random and the data from their ECU’s analysed to determine if the driver did, in fact, adhere to the delta time.

October 31, 2014
Q & A with Nico Rosberg – he’s ready to attack!

Nico Rosberg spoke to the official Formula One website about the events of the Russian Grand Prix, his first corner mistake and how he is ready to attack and take the fight to the fight to teammate Lewis Hamilton as we head in to the United States Grand Prix weekend. Here’s how he plans to go about about cutting Hamilton’s 17-point advantage at the Circuit of the Americas.

Q: Nico, what plans do you have to turn things again in your favour? You are 17 points shy of Lewis Hamilton in the standings – that’s not any easy amount to claw back…
Nico Rosberg: Plans, what are plans? There are still 100 points to be taken – in that respect 17 points shy is not such a big drama. Anything is still possible – and my plan is to fully concentrate and ride full attack! In fact it’s a very simple plan – so no big strategy or psychological games.

Q: Are you searching for reasons why it has gone a bit rough for you lately?
Nico Rosberg: I am not really looking back. You cannot change the past, so I say ‘I am here and will attack!’ I am in fact looking forward to these last three races – and the paramount feeling is that I am enjoying the moment. You never can dream up how a fight for the title will develop so it is the moment that counts – and the situation that I am in.

Q: You say you’re not the kind of person to look back in regret – but isn’t there some kind of anger when you think of the Sochi race? That had you have braked one or two meters earlier at the first corner you could have passed Lewis (Hamilton) and potentially had a different result?
Nico Rosberg: Of course I was furious after the race – but then there have also been positive vibes because at some points in the race I wasn’t even sure to make it into the points at all. So coming in second was good damage limitation for future chances. So in the end any negative thoughts I can put aside very fast. I don’t let it get to me.

Q: You are one of the last leading figures of the 2010 Mercedes team. Would it be extra frustrating to see someone take the title who came in much later and who has not done all the groundwork like you?
Nico Rosberg: I am very optimistic so I am not plagued by such thoughts. And I really don’t see too much correlation between me being with the team since 2010 and our momentary title fight.

Q: Lewis is an emotional character whereas you come across much more cool and calculating.
Is this ‘coolness’ your advantage?
Nico Rosberg: I have no idea. And to be honest: I don’t want to philosophize about his strengths and weaknesses! We both have pros and cons.

Q: Is there that feeling that you are living the chance of your life and the fear that you might botch it?
Nico Rosberg: No, not at all. Because I know that Mercedes will be at the front in the next years. That is my belief so I do not see it as this one shot at the title. But of course I pressure myself a bit – of course – because I want to win – and the chance is there right now.

Q: At the beginning you were vehemently against the double points rule for the last race…
Nico Rosberg: Now I honestly do love the double points for the last race! (laughs) For the future I do believe that to skip that rule again would be better – but in the end I see the want to take the title fight to the wire for the fans. To keep the situation sizzling! Many other sports do have similar tools to keep the suspense on a high, so we will make our first experiences in Abu Dhabi. Let’s see how it goes this year and then discuss the future.

Q: On Saturday we very likely will not see Sebastian Vettel in qualifying as he has to start the race from the pit lane no matter what time he does in qualifying. He is the reigning champion and the fans have the right to also see him. What do you make out of that situation?
Nico Rosberg: It is a strange situation. It is a completely unexpected scenario for the regulations. There is no ruling for such a situation so I am sure that it will be addressed.

October 31, 2014
F1 2014: US GP Preview – Formula 1 Goes Country

Judging by the harmonious blend of NASCAR and beer the Americans have a pretty good idea on how to spend most of their weekends. More recently they struck on another golden combination by bringing the world’s premier racing serious to the lone star state of Texas.

Dubbed the Circuit of the Americas, or COTA, Formula 1’s return to the US was celebrated with a rowdy return in 2012. This circuit too was designed by Herman Tilke but unlike his other occasionally tedious attempts at modern circuit design COTA has been lauded by drivers and fans. “Hand on heart, this is probably the date on the calendar I look forward to the most,” says Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo. “The Circuit of The Americas, in my opinion, is the best of the new breed of circuits. The nature of the corners is interesting. It’s also a very busy track where you don’t get much respite. The first sector is very special and that first turn, blind up the big hill is like nothing else in Formula 1. It’s also a good example of the excitement a late apex can create: you can have a really good lunge there. They’ve done a very good job.”

A storm is brewing towards the back of the Formula 1 grid as two teams in particular are having a difficult time in coping with the new turbo-charged-money-pit-era of the sport. It has led to the announcement that neither Caterham nor the Marussia team will be taking part in Texas this weekend. The great hopes once held for Caterham now lay in shards as administrators Smith and Williamson, who now own the team, set out to look for a possible buyer. Its debut in 2010 and the following season for Caterham seemed to suggest a lot of potential. They were the team most likely to be snapping at the heels of the mid-field and possibly score a point or two, such was their progression. However, in the last two seasons the team seems to have hit a brick wall and was overtaken by main rivals Marussia. Caterham’s absence, with permission from Bernie Ecclestone, will also include the team missing the Brazilian GP. At Marussia financial woes have meant that team cannot run either.

This should make for an interesting qualifying session. Along with the four cars already missing from the line-up Red Bull has already announced that Sebastian Vettel will not take part in the qualifying session. Vettel has chosen not partake as he will incur a ten-place grid penalty for using a sixth power unit, one more than is allotted for a season.

Not that long ago the announcement that Formula 1 would transform to hybrid, turbo-charged cars for 2014 was met with serious speculation as to the cost involved. Several teams, some of the big-wigs too, had genuine fears about the financial implication of such an imposing transformation. With two teams not making the trip to Texas or Brazil; a few others like Lotus and Sauber are in quite a fight to keep their head above water; and with Vettel missing in action from quali you have to wonder if those who pushed for the comprehensive rule changes are still as boisterously confident as before.

Formula 1 is a sport of extremes and over on the other side of the grid Mercedes is making merry and raking in the prize money. The circuit in Austin, Texas isn’t as power-hungry as Russia’s Sochi track but this will do little to eat into the colossal competitive advantage that Mercedes wields.

America – the land of opportunity so goes the famous saying. With three consecutive victories Lewis Hamilton has been making the most of his and now sits seventeen points clear of teammate Nico Rosberg. What can Rosberg do to break the ominous momentum of his champion teammate, more importantly; does he have the mental fortitude to beat an extremely confident and ridiculously comfortable Lewis Hamilton on an equal playing-field? There isn’t a doubt that Rosberg is a quick driver with some savvy skills. As this championship draws to a climax he’ll need to call on all of it to prove that he has what it takes to be the 2014 world champion. How deep can Nico Rosberg truly dig?

October 29, 2014
Broadcast Times for the 2014 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix

It’s been a rather eventful three weeks in the lead up to Round 17 of the Formula 1 World Championship. We’ve seen two teams exit the sport with very little chance of either team returning. To add insult to injury there are threats that there are more teams that may fold and exit the sport. It has truly been a sad few weeks.

As sad as these past events are, the show must go on. The F1 circus returns to the Circuit of the Americas in Austin Texas for the United States Grand Prix. This is only the third time the track has hosted the US GP and every year it gets bigger and better.

With Mercedes winning the Constructors Championship at the Russian Grand Prix, and with Red Bull in a comfortable second, the battle between Williams and Ferrari for third is all to play for. There is just 28 points between the two teams and we can be certain that both teams will be pushing for strong points finishes in the final three races.

With the Constructors Championship decided. It just leaves the Drivers Championship. Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton took victory at the inaugural Russian Grand Prix and extended his championship lead by 17 points. There is still everything to play for between the two Mercedes drivers, although some believe that Hamilton does have the upper hand.

With the race in the central part of North America we can expect rather late times for this weekend. Below are the TV broadcast times for the 2014 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix(All times are GMT+2)

Free Practice 1: Friday 17:00

Free Practice 2: Friday 21:00

Free Practice 3: Saturday 17:00

Qualifying: Saturday 20:00

Race: Sunday 22:00

You can follow us on Twitter (@F1_Madness) for live commentary on all the sessions for the US GP.

October 29, 2014
Video: Mercedes F1 World Championship Celebrations

The Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One team have plenty to celebrate about, and they’ve sure been doing just that! Join Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, Niki Lauda, Toto Wolff, Paddy Lowe and the entire Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team as they celebrate their F1 World Championship win at their bases in Brackley and Brixworth!

October 20, 2014
F1 2014: Sochi Success For Hamilton

The most exciting thing about the first ever Russian Grand Prix was … nothing. If truth be told the only moment that induced any sort of eyebrow-raising was a 60 meter lock-up by Nico Rosberg as he tried to steal the lead of the race from Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton.

Other than Rosberg’s rather frantic attempt at getting ahead, the Sochi Autodrom turned out to be a bit of damp squib. The layout, once again designed by Hermann Tilke, provided a technical challenge to drivers when it came to stringing a perfect lap together but as far as the track surface is concerned it most definitely did not want to play ball with Formula 1. Pirelli had the difficult task of predicting what the track surface would offer up and based their decision on how other new tracks had performed. While keeping this in mind it is difficult to blame the Italian tyre manufacturer for bringing tyres to Russia which are almost literally bulletproof.

So indestructible were the Pirelli’s that Nico Rosberg, forced to pit on lap 1 with severely flat-spotted tyres, was able to run a 52 lap stint on one set of tyres. It wasn’t a gigantic risk nor was Rosberg, at any point, required to tip-toe around and nurse his tyres. No, he was able to push and for most of the stint set a pace comparable, and sometimes even quicker, than the race leader.

We commend thee Pirelli for producing the world’s first everlasting F1 tyre. But we implore you to chalk this up to a frightening one-off incident that should never again be repeated.

Saturday’s qualifying certainly provided more entertainment as Williams’ star Finn Valtteri Bottas nearly snatched pole position from Lewis Hamilton’s grasp. It wasn’t to be for the Williams driver but he put himself in the best position possible to fight for a podium finish.

The early part of the race and the Finn’s pace suggested that he could perhaps have a go at the leading Mercedes. But this too fizzled out towards the middle part of race as Hamilton started steadily building the gap to the Williams. Bottas eventually finished third and set the fastest lap of the race.

Jenson Button followed through on the pace McLaren had promised in the free practice sessions with a fine fourth place finish. It was a lonely drive for the Brit who ran as high as third during the opening stint of the race. The second McLaren of Kevin Magnussen recovering from a five place grid penalty induced by a gearbox change,

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso finished an uninspired sixth and remained as coy as ever as to his future in the sport. Many have already plopped the Spaniard into a McLaren seat for 2015 but Sky’s Ted Kravitz hinted, post-race, that the double champ could be off to Lotus.

Daniel Ricciardo did his level best to get past the Ferrari of Alonso but ultimately could do nothing about it and finished ahead of teammate Sebastian Vettel in seventh.

Kimi Raikkonen spent most of the 53 laps embroiled in scrap with the two Toro Rosso drivers but eventually got the better of them and finished a distant ninth. Sergio Perez nearly cut it too close on fuel consumption but held on to bring the Force India home in tenth.

Felipe Massa attempted an aggressive two-stop strategy but never quite recovered from a technical issue in qualifying; the Brazilian finished eleventh.Only Caterham’s Kamui Kobayashi and Marussia’s Max Chilton failed to see the chequered flag. As a sign of respect to Jules Bianchi the Marussia team chose to run only one car this weekend.

The Russian Grand Prix most probably didn’t even register a blip on the thrill meter. But it did give us another bit of insight into the title fight. Now that Mercedes has been crowned worthy Constructor’s champions it leaves a straight-up fight for the driver’s crown. Rosberg’s crack at snatching the lead was a tad anxious. Still the German has not beaten Hamilton on a level playing field. We’ve talked a lot about the psychological battle between these two. Is it now finally starting to tell on Nico Rosberg?

October 13, 2014
2014 Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix: Sunday Press Conference

Drivers:

1st Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

2nd Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)

3rd Valtteri Bottas (Williams)

PODIUM INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Alex Popov)

Q: What a wonderful race guys – thank you very much. I know Lewis you are a real fan of Russia, of Russian racing. Now you’ve won the first Russian Grand Prix in 100 years exactly. How do you feel?
Lewis Hamilton: So happy to be here. We’ve had an amazing week. The fans and really the organisers… Russia’s been so good to me and to the team. I’m so grateful for all the support and I’m really looking forward to coming here many, many more times. It’s not very far from where I live so I’m going to be hopping over for some holidays for sure.

Q: I know you’re impressed by the ski resorts here. Look, 17 points now, you have. Seventeen points in front of Nico. You think it’s enough or not?
LH: Obviously Nico did a great job to recover from his mistake earlier on today but the car was performing really well. We did a great job as a team. It’s history for us, so I feel very proud to be a part of it – me and Nico and all the team members. To get the first constructors’ championship for Mercedes Benz is amazing, so it’s a beautiful day.

Q: Nico, it was a really wonderful fight with Valtteri and you won it. Do you really think the tyres were gone or was it a bluff, like in poker?
Nico Rosberg: No, it was a great strategy from the team. The thing is that our car is unbelievable. It’s so good; everybody has done such a great job building this car. That’s why half of me of course is extremely disappointed that I messed up today but the other half, I’m really, really happy, because everybody in the team deserves it so much. For them the most important title of the year is the constructors’ championship, that’s why I can even smile a bit, because I’m happy for everybody to have achieved that.

Q: Ladies and gentlemen, 52 laps on the same set of tyres, what a great race. Valtteri, on the last lap of the race, you set the first ever Formula One fastest lap in a Russian Grand Prix. But you lost the fight with Nico, so are you happy or not?
Valtteri Bottas: Well, I need to be happy for us as a team. You know, what we have been doing since last year is amazing. Again on the podium, so a good amount of points. We were today ‘best of the rest’. Unfortunately, Mercedes is still quite a bit ahead but, you know, we did the best we could from where we started, so we need to be happy as a team.

Q: This man is still in the fight for third [in the drivers’ championship] with Daniel Ricciardo. But we are back for one quick question [with Lewis] because we all know the Russian story: the evening after the race, we must celebrate. And you have three weeks…
LH: Is there vodka?

Q: It’s OK for you?
LH: Yeah, I don’t mind. Thank you.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Lewis, congratulations, tremendous win there. We could see you were pushing very hard by the number of fastest laps you did – but you seemed to have virtually no problems. Any problems with fuel consumption? Any problems with tyres? Just one little lock-up we saw from you.
LH: Yeah, it was a good, good day and an amazing weekend. Firstly, I’m just so proud to have contributed to have worked with this great team, to get the first constructors’ championship for Mercedes-Benz. I could have only dreamed of that when I joined this team. So, a great day for that. Huge congratulations to all the guys that are here and back home in the UK and also in Germany. But yeah, today, once I was out in the lead I was really just having to control, just looking after the tyres, managing the fuel was quite straightforward. And then, towards the end of the race the car felt great so I could push or not push. I wasn’t really having to push much and even when I was having to pick up the pace a little bit when I eventually found Nico was behind, it was easy to match the times. And the car’s been amazing this weekend and I really, really enjoyed the track. I tell you, Russia’s been one of my favourite places so far this year, so it’s very cool to have won the first race here.

Q: Nico, a fantastic drive through the field really – but what happened on the first lap? We heard you say you had a vibration. Did that go with the change of tyres? Tell us about that because that really governed your whole race.
NR: Yeah, of course. It was just a mistake on my side, braked too late and that’s it. Very unnecessary because it was my corner and should have been in the lead after that. So, obviously very disappointed with that. After that my tyres were just square. They were vibrating so much I couldn’t see where I was going so I knew that I had to pit. For me, I thought that was it. I thought that was the end of the day – but then of course, partly happy to get back all the way to second, passing Valtteri along the way and then… yeah, it’s just thanks to my car. My car was just unbelievable today and that’s what allowed me to come back through the field. That’s the main thing really. In hindsight really, even if it was a bit…I could have pushed more during the race, y’know? But it’s always easy to know afterwards but even at the end my tyres were fine. So, yeah, that’s a pity but anyway, it’s difficult to know that during the race.

Q: Valtteri, at one point the pace seemed to be really close to Mercedes, perhaps closer than we’ve seen in any race so far this year.
VB: Yeah, the beginning seemed to be very good and I was not far off from Lewis and everything was going into the plan. The tyres were feeling good and suddenly the rear tyres started to go, started to lose pace and was struggling more and more and Lewis was getting far away. Then we stopped for the prime and it took just a really long time to get the prime tyre to work. It was just getting better towards the end. I did my best lap in the last lap of the race. It was really weird. And as it took so long to get the tyres to work, Nico got me in Turn 1. It was a bit of a surprise for me, didn’t expect him to come inside. Luckily I saw him in time so there was no contact. Yeah, as a team I think we again did a good job. We’ve come so much forward from last season so it’s again, really good to be on the podium.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Nico, when you tried to overtake Lewis at the first corner, you were on the inside line; is it because it’s not the racing line, is that line, let’s say, that you normally have to brake a little bit earlier to compensate?
NR: No, I don’t think so. It was definitely doable and I just messed up, very simple, no explanation. Just braked too late and too hard.

Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, last year you had your best result in Austin. Is it going to happen this year also?
VB: I really hope so. I got my first points in Formula One in Austin last year so it would be nice to have a good weekend there. I think the track should be OK for us so let’s aim for that.

Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Nico and Lewis: now that the constructors’ title has been won, will you change your way of racing together or will it be the same?
LH: Same.

NR: It’s the same, you know. Up until now, it’s always been we can fight and it continues to be like that. We can fight, it doesn’t change.

Q: (Haoran Zhou – F1 Express) Lewis, can you describe your experience on the podium and especially when you were handed the trophy? Be as specific as possible.
LH: Well, it was kind of normal really. Kind of surreal for the president to be presenting the award. That was a great experience. The crowd have been amazing this weekend. I don’t know, I just never… I didn’t know that Formula One was something that people followed here in Russia. I didn’t know that there was actually a real love for it. To see the people turn out in their thousands yesterday and the grandstands full and then again today… They’re really enthusiastic, it looks like they’re really excited that we’re here and on top of that they did an amazing job with the track, the layout, with the surface, with the actual event. You would have thought they’d had this event many many times. I take my hat off to them.

Q: (Leonid Khayremdinov – Red Star) Lewis, you had a wonderful season with this ninth victory and your lead is now 17 points, but I remember this in 2007 and you had the same 17 points behind Kimi Raikkonen. Are you not afraid of repeating the situation as in 2007?
LH: I remember 2007 very well. I wasn’t afraid then either but I guess I was perhaps less experienced so I’m a completely different man today so I’m looking forward to the races coming up.

October 12, 2014
2014 Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix: Saturday Press Conference

Drivers:

1st Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

2nd Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)

3rd Valtteri Bottas (Williams)

TV UNILATERAL

Q: Lewis, congratulations on a superb pole today. Tell us what you feel about pole position for this race, this first ever Russian Grand Prix and how important is it to be on pole around here?
Lewis Hamilton: I have no idea in that sense but of course pole is a great place to start. Firstly, an amazing job done by the team; constantly improving and moving forwards this year. Thanks to them we’re able to be on the front row quite often. It’s great to come here. It’s a beautiful place and the weather has been amazing and really enjoying driving this track. It wasn’t the easiest session. These guys were looking quite strong. Just hooking up a lap from some reason it wasn’t the same as practice. But I’m really grateful that I got the pole here for the first time. It’s going to be tough tomorrow. It’s a long way down to turn one, so we’ll find out how that works out.

Q: What is it about the circuit? A lot of drivers have called it ‘cool’.
LH: It is very cool. Yeah, definitely. The track surface is great, it’s very smooth but it has a lot of grip. The kerbs are just done really nicely and obviously the surroundings, you know when I landed here seeing the mountains – and also being around where they put the Olympics on, it’s quite an incredible place. And today we had a good turn-out as well for the first Saturday of the race here so I hope that tomorrow is even better and that we can put on a good show for them.

Q: Nico, second on the grid. This is an important race, isn’t it, to get some points?
Nico Rosberg: Every race is important at the moment. We have four to go. They are all just as important. Yeah, today Lewis was quicker – all weekend really. So I’ve been working hard to try to get close but didn’t manage to get closer than those two tenths now but that’s the way it is. I need to accept that. Also, I had the Williams or Valtteri coming up from behind, going quick, so I needed to keep and eye on that. But front row is OK definitely and from there everything is possible tomorrow. It’s going to be an interesting race. It’s very unique here because there is hardly any tyre degradation. The track is so smooth on the tyres or I don’t know what. It’s completely different to everything else we’ve seen this year and that makes it very unique. It’s been a big challenge set-up wise and everything to get to grips with the track this weekend. Yeah, I think it’s going to be a good race tomorrow.

Q: Valtteri, so, so close. I think the entire grandstand heaved with excitement when you went off, right at the end on that last corner. Nobody else has been off there either.
Valtteri Bottas: Yeah, well I didn’t know at that time that it was close to the pole. I only knew how it was compared to my best lap, which was the previous lap, which was not bad. I knew I had one more lap to go. Maybe, looking back I took maybe a bit too much out of the tyres in the beginning of the lap and the last sector became a bit more tricky. As I was gaining time compared to my best towards the end it became more difficult in the last few corners. I risked it a bit too much in the last two corners, went a little bit wide and when you go offline it’s really slippery like everyone saw and that was it.

Q: Are you very upset about it?
VB: Of course, yeah. It’s not nice to make a mistake. I think in the end today it maybe cost one place maximum. Anyway, I think the mistake was taking a bit too much out of the tyres in the beginning of the lap, that’s what made me struggle a bit more in the end of the lap. The lap before, I’m quite happy about that.

Q: Lewis, some of the corners around here seem to invite errors. What kind of race are we going to see tomorrow?
LH: I don’t necessarily think they invite errors. At the end of the day we’re pushing all the time so you’re going to see those mistakes or hiccups occur all the time but they’re generally easy to recover from. It’s a very fast, flowing or medium to high-speed, fast, flowing circuit. I really think that tomorrow is going to be a good race for people to watch. You’ve got the long straight that you can follow on, the DRS. It’s nice and wide so hopefully you should be able to follow quite nicely. It could be one of the better races we’ve had for a long time.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Lewis, an interesting message from your engineer saying he though the track was slowing and then you go and pop it on pole.
LH: Was I not on pole at that point?

You were, but you improved.
LH: Yeah, I improved, absolutely. He said that the track looked like it was getting slower. To be honest I couldn’t really hear the message that clear but I kind of worked out what he was saying. But I was up on the next lap. It wasn’t a perfect lap. I think there was more time in it. It’s a fine line obviously; we’re all pushing out there. As I said, it didn’t feel as good as the P3 session but hopefully tomorrow should be good.

Q: This morning we saw you had a rather strange incident. What happened there?
LH: I just basically made a mistake. I had the brake bias set the wrong way, forgot to reset it, had it too far rearwards and as soon as I touched the brakes I just locked the rears. Fortunately, I got away with it without damaging the car.

Q: And we mentioned a moment that it invite mistakes but we see a lot of people going off that corner, Turn 17. There are certain corners where people do go off – Turn Two, Turn Four as well. What is it about those corners?
LH: I would say probably the exit of Turn Four – when you’re going into it it’s very wide and all of a sudden it gets quite narrow on the exit, so it’s very misleading when you go into that corners. For 17, it’s very hard to find the braking point and know how much speed [you can carry through] – the car is at the end of the lap, the tyres are overheating, it’s hard to know how much speed you can take through there. Plus, if you’ve had a good lap, you don’t want to lose it, so it’s a real fine line at those two places.

Q: Nico, tomorrow, how important is DRS going to be?
NR: Hopefully very important! We’ll see. I think the start will be important of course, there’s a great opportunity there. Been having some very good starts lately, so quite confident for that. After that, race pace of course.

Q: What’s the most significant part around this circuit? What’s that long, long left-hander like?
NR: It’s very unique. So long, full lateral G, so it’s quite exciting in an F1 car for sure.

Q: Any other specific points on the circuit?
NR: It’s really a good track because it’s a big challenge to get it right. All those medium-speed corners, the way the asphalt is it doesn’t work the tyres very hard, it’s completely different scenario to everything else we’ve had this year. So we’ve had to adapt to this track and asphalt and the way the tyres are here. That made it a big engineering challenge this weekend. And also driving-wise it’s a difficult track.

Q: Thank you very much. Valtteri, can you take the fight to Mercedes tomorrow?
VB: I really hope so. It’s never easy. They are really quick and you never know how more pace they have than what they showed in the long runs on Friday. So we will see tomorrow. As team we made a really good job this weekend in getting the car set up for this unique track and unique surface of the tarmac. It’s feeling good and I think the car should be a bit better in the long runs than it was in the qualifying.

Q: It has been another good fight-back from Williams. We’ve seen it quite a few times, that Friday hasn’t been so good but you’ve come through on Saturday.
VB: On the Friday we’re always just focusing on our test programme, we’re not really looking in detail about the lap times. We’re doing our thing, doing it all weekend, to improve the car, make the most out of the tyres and the package we have and then, yeah, Saturday is the time when you show what you have. Sunday, in the end, is the day that matters but I’m feeling good for tomorrow.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, after getting so close to the pole, they say you are very critical on yourself. How critical are you today?
VB: Well, of course, very. I don’t know if it was possible to be on pole today, it looked like the Mercedes has been all weekend really quick in the last sector, so difficult to say how much we lost there. Maybe one position could have been better – but obviously when you haven’t done a perfect job, you are disappointed – but in the end the race is tomorrow and I’m starting on the clean side, second row, which is not bad at all. I’ll learn from this and we go forward.

Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Valtteri, after two sectors you were in the lead. Where in the third sector did you lose it. Only in the last corner or already before a little bit?
VB: Well, compared to my previous best lap, I started to lose already a little bit in the beginning of the third sector and, yeah, then I lost it completely in the last sector. But I mean the whole weekend and the whole qualifying, Mercedes was really quick in the last sector, so I think they are, in general, still quicker in the corners than us. So, I think anyway with a good lap it would have been difficult to be on pole. But for sure I lost the end of the lap and I think I was a bit more than two-tenths ahead of my best before going into the last two corners so yeah, it is what it is and we’ll see tomorrow.

Q: (Vladimir Rogovets – Sb Belarus) My question to Lewis. This weekend we have the first race, the Formula One in Sochi, and today you are in the pole position here. Is this, have you feelings of love for Russia?
LH: It equals my love for Russia. Really, growing up, I’ve said before in interviews, but growing up seeing footage of Russia in movies and in pictures. It was one of the countries that I’d never really been to. We travel all the time, always get to go and see new places but it was one that I hadn’t really seen. Just the four or five days we’ve been here, to see the beauty of this place is really pleasing. Moscow is a beautiful place, really enjoyed it there seeing these old, beautiful buildings and then landing here was like landing in a real nice holiday destination – with mountains that I hear in the winter you can ski on, which I had no idea you could ski over here. Yeah, so, hopefully this is the beginning of a real positive relationship Formula One has with Russia. And definitely now for me I know it’s only a couple of hours flight from where I live so I think I’ll be hoping over more often for some good weekends.

Q: (Autosport es Formula Magazin – Balazs Vajta) This is a question for Lewis. This track is also new and a couple of years ago we went to the first time to Valencia, which was also new and, even though the two tracks are not really similar, they do have some similarities. Everybody’s very enthusiastic about the race tomorrow, it will be exciting – my question is what makes you think the race will be exciting because Valencia used to be a kind of boring race usually. What makes you think different this time?
LH: I don’t know for sure but I personally wasn’t a big fan of the Valencia circuit. I liked the race track they have which is outside the city but the actually street one wasn’t very exciting. This one is definitely better for me. Whether or not we can follow – we were just discussing, who knows. They’re quite – they’re medium to fast kind of sweeping corners were you need maximum downforce, so tomorrow will be a true showing of whether or not you can follow. But you’ve got the long straights and, for example, Turn 10, you’re coming onto a corner which you should be able to follow through there for example, and then you have the DRS straight. Then you have a slower sector with the last sector which then goes onto the long pit straight, which again is very, very long, should enable people to be close and overtake. That’s why I think, when you were racing in Valencia it was very hard to follow and then when you did get to those long straights, or the couple of longer straights you had, you couldn’t get close enough. So fingers crossed.

Q: (La Gazzetta dello Sport – Andrea Cremonesi) A question for Lewis and Nico. Tomorrow Mercedes can win the World Constructors’ Championship. Does it change something in the process of the race or it doesn’t matter in your mind this target?
LH: For me it doesn’t change much in the race but it’s quite a historic moment, it will be a historic moment for us and for me to be a part of this team and sees its success and be a part of its success. And also, Mercedes-Benz, having never won a Constructors’ Championship, it’s going to be the first time so it’s going to be historic for the team, very special moment when we get there.

NR: Yes it is. It’s the big, one of the two big targets for the team since five years now. I’ve been there since day one and it’s very, very exciting to think that we’re so close to that now. That would be a really, really fantastic feat for us. I hope we manage to do it tomorrow and then maybe we’re able to celebrate it a little bit.

Q: (Haoran Zhou – F1 Express) Two questions, one to Nico, how are you finding the DRS zone on the pit straight because it’s a bit like in Shanghai, it’s in the middle of the straight and the case in Shanghai is that the DRS isn’t that powerful. How are you finding that in the simulation? And a question to Lewis is – or perhaps to both of you – you are in a chance to win for Mercedes again, one century later after the 1914 Grand Prix – it’s not Formula One but Benz also won that. Is that in your target to win a hat-trick for Benz anyway, tomorrow.
LH: Where was that race?

1914. There was two Russian Grands Prix, one in 1913, one in 1914, both won by Benz cars. Not Mercedes-Benz back then.
NR: That’s a nice statistic. Obviously it would be very special to do it 100 years after again. And it’s always great to hear these legendary stories of the Silver Arrows, y’know? And then with the DRS, it’s always calculated perfectly by the FIA to make sure that the overtaking is not too easy and not too difficult. They try to always get it right. So, I’m confident they’ve done a good job with it and they’ve got it exactly right.

LH: I already kind of said it but it’s special to – it shows to Russia that Mercedes is the best. So hopefully tomorrow we’ll stamp that onto the first grand prix here in Russia.

October 11, 2014