Tag: pastor maldonado

F1 2014: US GP Review – Hammer-time In Texas

In general terms a conundrum is defined as a difficult and confusing problem. In Nico Rosberg terms the conundrum is Lewis Hamilton. The latest win in Texas gives Hamilton five consecutive race victories and leaves Rosberg without any answers.

As the weekend started to take shape it was Rosberg who stepped up to the qualifying plate. The German got the better of Hamilton by a hefty four tenths which Hamilton would later chalk up to “brake issues.” Nevertheless, at the first hurdle it was Nico Rosberg who pulled it off.

The first stint of the race too was all Rosberg as he controlled the initial laps. The sting was taken out of the start of the grand prix as a collision between Force India’s Sergio Perez and Sauber’s Adrian Sutil brought out the safety car on lap one. Both drivers’ race was ended by the coming together and Perez has been given a seven place grid penalty for the Brazilian GP.

The two Williams drivers, very much embroiled in a constructor’s fight with Ferrari, shadowed the Mercedes duo for the first stint of the race without ever being able to launch a serious threat on any of the first two positions. For the most part Felipe Massa looked set for the final step of the podium but Red Bull’s plucky Aussie once again lived up to his billing. Daniel Ricciardo snatched third from the Brazilian in yet another afternoon of mighty fine wheel-to-wheel racing.

By lap 24 Hamilton has eroded the two-and-a-half second gap that Rosberg had steadily built and flung his car down the inside of Turn 12 and into the lead of the race. It wasn’t a swashbuckling, throw caution to the wind kind of move either from Hamilton. It was calculated and infused with an ominous hunger. Five straight race wins sends quite an imposing message to the other side of the garage.

For once Valterri Bottas finished second to teammate Massa in a quiet fifth place. Fernando Alonso dragged a reluctant Ferrari up to sixth and managed to hold off a late charge from Sebastian Vettel. The Red Bull driver’s didn’t look sharp after a pitlane start but a late stop for fresh rubber breathed some life into his afternoon. Kevin Magnussen brought his McLaren home in eighth ahead of Lotus’ Pastor Maldonado. The Lotus turned out to be the surprise package of the weekend and ran competitively in the points for most of the afternoon.

Jean-Eric Vergne was stripped of ninth place after incurring a penalty for a collision with Romain Grosjean. The Frenchman ultimately finished tenth. The mid-field battle for points was responsible for some spicy wheel-to-wheel battles as several drivers duked it out. Both Jenson Button and Kimi Raikkonen finished outside the points and a lap down on the leaders.

Besides the mega quick Lewis Hamilton-shaped conundrum that Nico Rosberg has he faces an even bigger dilemma. Rosberg’s problem isn’t that he can’t win it; it’s that he doesn’t know how to win it. He hasn’t had to deal with an unrelenting teammate before certainly not while at the same time being the focus of so much attention. Hamilton’s move to take the lead of the race came from pretty far back and it was Rosberg’s caution that consigned him to second best. This isn’t a call to throw all rationality out of the window but through all of this sport’s history it has been courage that has made and defined its champions. As impressive and consistent as Rosberg has been this season he just doesn’t seem to have the uncontained hunger to win it.

It is far from over and Brazil’s legendary Autodromo Carlos Pace has always been the wildcard in the Formula 1 calendar. Here, the unpredictability seems to ratchet up a notch or two and it tends delivers some of the most astounding results. Rosberg faces a deficit of twenty-four points and call to unleash all he has on a near unbeatable teammate.

November 3, 2014
2014 Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

Drivers:

Marcus Ericsson (Caterham)

Pastor Maldonado (Lotus)

Sergio Perez (Force India)

Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)

Adrian Sutil (Sauber)

Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso)

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: First of all, a question to all of you about the ban on large amounts of radio traffic between the team and the driver. What’s your reaction to this? Sergio, perhaps you could start?
Sergio Perez: Hi everyone. I don’t think it’s ideal that they, suddenly from one race to another, they change it dramatically that you cannot get certain calls. But it doesn’t influence it much. I don’t see it as a big deal, it’s something that we as drivers need to get more used to. We will have, definitely, more information and we’re going to be a bit more busy throughout the race to basically try to keep everything under control – fuel loads and engine modes, all that kind of stuff. I don’t see a problem to get used to, it’s just a dramatic change from the last race to this one.

Q: Kimi, you famously told the team “leave me alone, I know what I’m doing.” Does that mean you welcome this change?
Kimi Raikkonen: Well, obviously we don’t speak a lot on the radio in my case usually, when there are no issues – but obviously it might get quite complicated if there are some problems with the car and you have to change certain things to try to finish the race. I don’t know how the rule goes at those times. Obviously it makes it more complicated for us but it’s part of the game so it’s OK.

Q: Pastor, your thoughts on it.
Pastor Maldonado: For sure it’s not a great thing, especially with all the complex systems we have at the moment – but it’s the same for everyone so it doesn’t matter.

Q: What about from a rookie perspective. Presumably there’s been quite a lot of coaching going on over the radio Marcus, so far this season. Are you going to miss it? Particularly on the approach to the start, getting everything prepared for a start, for example?
Marcus Ericsson: No, I think…I like the idea, to be honest. I think it’s good to get the drivers more in focus. I think it’s good. But for us as a small team I think it’s a bit trickier because our steering wheel, we don’t have a big display. A lot of the other teams, I think they have a big display, so they can show a lot of stuff on this, whereas we have a very small one. So it’ll be a bit more tricky – but yeah, like I said, I like the idea and I think it’s good to make us drivers a bit more in focus.

Q: Jean-Eric, are you supportive as well?
Jean-Eric Vergne: I don’t mind it. I think it will be more or less the same as before. I like to do things by my own and many times this year I changed the settings before my engineer told me, so yeah, I will be a bit more lonely on the radio – but it should be fine.

Q: Adrian?
Adrian Sutil: No problem really. I think all manageable. It’s a bit more work but we’ll handle it.

Q: Kimi, coming back to you, obviously this season hasn’t been quite what you expected it to be – but did you expect to have your problems sorted out by now? And what’s your focus for the remaining six races or so?
KR: Obviously to do as well as we can and have good results for the team and for myself. I expect it to be difficult. Probably the team didn’t expect to have such difficulties over all. We expected to be stronger overall. It’s part of the game and we have to try to sort things out. I think we have done pretty good improvements – compared to where we started – as a team and obviously then I’m getting more happy with things but obviously still not where we want to be in the end. Still a lot of work to do.

Q: Pastor, front row qualifier here two years ago with Williams, it’s always been a strong Lotus track – so is there some optimism there for a top ten result maybe this weekend?
PM: I hope. For sure, the qualifying pace is always a bit tricky for us but during the race, for any reason we are able to recover the pace and sometimes we are much more competitive. So hopefully here we can be a bit more competitive than Monza for sure but it’s difficult to say something before we get in the car.

Q: Sergio, you’ve scored points in all three of your appearances here at Singapore and you’ve come off the back of two strong results, so your thoughts on this race? And also how close you are to committing to Force India for another season?
SP: I think things are settling down and I think we should be very close to committing for next year with the team but you never know; I have experience from the past so you never know what’s going to happen. Yeah, we are really optimistic for this weekend. We have a good upgrade package and I believe we can be competitive and definitely our target is the McLarens which we are fighting with really closely and hopefully we can score more points than them this weekend with both cars and the upgrade package gives us some boost.

Q: Adrian, like Sergio you’ve scored points in your last three races here in Singapore but there’s no getting away from the fact that Sauber is yet to get into Q3 this season, so what’s the rescue package and what lies ahead for the rest of the season?
AS: We have a good package here, the last one, but it should give us a little bit more speed. We have to try it out on Friday. We’re not so far away – especially in qualifying – from the group in front and it’s just missing a little bit to the top ten normally but Monza was quite tricky, especially in the race. We were losing a bit too much time and our performance was a bit slower but this track is very special and very different so I hope it suits our car. There’s a lot of work, we need some points and this is the main target for the moment.

Q: Marcus, since the last round, obviously the team principal has moved on so can you tell us a bit about the structure now at the team and the plan for upgrades and so on?
ME: We’re still pushing hard like we’ve done the last couple of races and bringing some more updates for here, so not much has changed. Obviously Christijan left which is a shame, we got along very well, but still I think the team is pushing on quite a lot and it’s a positive atmosphere from everyone. We just have to wait and see this weekend, see how it suits our car but in general I have a good feeling. I had a really strong race last time out on a street track so I think hopefully we can try and repeat something similar to that.

Q: Jean-Eric, still six races to go but you’ve already scored points more times this year than you did last year so what’s the plan now for you for the rest of this season and what about next season? Have you made any progress yet with your plans for 2015?
J-EV: Yeah, talking about this weekend and the race and the season, I really want to end the season strongly. I think we should have had a lot more points with our team if we didn’t have so much bad luck but I think now that’s behind. I really want to make the best out of the last six races with Toro Rosso and then find a good option for next year.

QUESTION FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, it’s two hours in very humid conditions; Nico Rosberg said that the last laps are always very painful here because it’s physically so demanding. How painful are they for you?
KR: I don’t know. Everybody has their own feelings so I can’t know how they feel like but in the past it hasn’t been a problem. It doesn’t feel as hot or humid in the last years unless the course has slowed in the race, so I don’t see why it should suddenly be a problem.

September 18, 2014
F1 2014: Hungarian GP Preview – Tricky Hungarian Test Awaits

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

July 23, 2014
F1 2014: British GP – Hamilton Roars Back Into Contention

It is uncanny how even in the most dominant of seasons Formula 1 still manages to deliver one of the most thrilling races in years.

The 2014 Silverstone grand prix was chock-full of amazing drives and drama from the very first lap. The field had not completed one lap before Kimi Raikkonen crashed heavily into the barriers on the Wellington Straight, bringing out the red flag.

Raikkonen appeared to lose control as he tried to rejoin the circuit after running wide onto the tarmac run-off at Aintree. The Finn hit a bump in the grass which put him headfirst into the barriers. Despite an impact of 47 G the Ferrari driver escaped serious injury. It was only through Felipe Massa’s exceptionally quick reaction that the crash was not much worse. Massa, in his 200^th GP, pitched his car into a spin to avoid Raikkonen as he speared across the track. Unfortunately the Williams driver sustained terminal damage to his left-rear suspension. Raikkonen suffered a bruised leg and ankle which has put him in doubt for testing at Silverstone this week. It is often taken for granted just what special talents all of these driver’s posses and it was Felipe Massa’s actions which reminds us all of the unrivaled ability of these drivers.

The race resumed an hour later after marshals repaired the heavily damaged guard rail. Mercedes’ Niki Lauda lamented race direction for the red flag interruption and said that there was “zero possibility” of another driver crashing into the damaged guard rail. However unlikely a second accident in the same area would or would not be it is unconscionable to speculate where safety is concerned.

Nico Rosberg restarted in first position ahead of McLaren drivers Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen. Hamilton soon made his way through from fourth to run five seconds behind Rosberg.

An alternative strategy by Hamilton left him on the harder and slower compound tyres towards the closing stages of the race. Even though it was Rosberg who should have had the upper hand on the faster tyre he was no match for Hamilton’s doggedness. The Brit was rapidly closing the gap to his championship rival when Rosberg’s car suddenly slowed. As Hamilton swept into the lead of the race a gearbox issue brought an end Rosberg’s race.

An inspired Valterri Bottas scythed through the field from fourteenth and overtook the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso, both McLarens and the Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel. The Williams’ driver perfected a one-stop strategy and delivered a stunning drive to score back-to-back podiums with a career best second place.

Behind Bottas, Daniel Ricciardo, also on a one-stop strategy, successfully fought to hold onto third place. Allbeit on different strategies on the day the impressive Australian once again out-performed his four-time world champion teammate. Mid-way through the season Ricciardo has proven that he has successfully taken the step to the next echelon of grand prix drivers. He isn’t yet going to be mentioned in the same breath as the Alonsos and Hamiltons of the racing world but everything suggest that he is an incredibly talented driver.

Jenson Button drove superbly to finish the race a mere eight tenths off the final podium spot. Although narrowly missing out on the podium in what was surely an emotional weekend JB did his dad proud with a fighting fourth place. A tip of the hat to the British fans for showing their support for JB with scores of pink in the crowd.

Further down, Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel were involved in a classic duel for fifth. The two champions battled for several laps within inches of each other. Both drivers comically complained on the radio of the other exceeding track limits but ultimately the battle royal between the two was a breathtaking display of driving skill. In the end Vettel got the better of the Spaniard.

Kevin Magnussen improved McLaren’s day with seventh place ahead of Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg. The most impressive rookie of the year Daniil Kvyat led teammate Jean-Eric Vergne home in the final points paying positions. Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez has been given a three-place grid penalty for the next race after the Mexican clashed with Lotus’ Pastor Maldonado.

Lewis Hamilton roared back into contention for the driver’s title with a fine victory on home soil. Although it came at a cost to Rosberg Hamilton’s prodigious pace on the supposedly slower tyre was telling. Victory at Silverstone means a lot to Hamilton and is an even more significant boost to his title aspirations.

(Podium image by courtesy of Pirelli)

July 7, 2014
F1 2014: British GP Preview – 50 Years of Silverstone Splendour

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

July 3, 2014
Canadian GP Qualifying: Rosberg narrowly beats Hamilton to pole

Nico Rosberg secured pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix after putting in a rocket fast final lap in qualifying denying teammate Lewis Hamilton the pleasure of his fifth pole position.

Hamilton dominated the entire weekend in Montreal but a mistake heading into Turn 8 on his final lap meant the Briton had to settle for second place on the grid. Rosberg beat Hamilton to pole by less than a tenth of a second.

Qualifying got underway with only 21 cars after Esteban Gutierrez crashed in the final practice session today, forcing Sauber to change his chassis. Valtteri Bottas was first out on track and posted the initial benchmark at 1.18.270 but teammate Felipe Massa went half a second faster to occupy the top spot on the timesheets until Rosberg came around to put his Mercedes up in first place.

Pastor Maldonado dropped out of Q1 once again – for fifth out of six times this season. He pulled his stricken Lotus over into an escape road ending his session. Things just aren’t going right for Maldonado at all this season and his Venezuelen sponsorship is already rumoured to be at risk.

With 16 seconds left on the clock, Marcus Ericsson brought out the red flag on the session when he binned his Caterham at turn nine. The session did not restart and Maldonado, Chilton, Bianchi, Kobayashi and Ericsson were eliminated from the proceedings.

Q2 got underway with Adrian Sutil first out on track with the entire field heading out on the supersoft tyres. Felipe Massa was the early leader in the session ahead of his teammate, Valtteri Bottas, and former Ferrari teammate, Fernando Alonso. The two Mercedes drivers only headed out a little later in the session but neither could shift Massa off the top of board with their initial efforts. It became clear that the Mercedes duo were not as strong on the supersofts as the Williams drivers were.

Nico Hulkenberg, Kevin Magnussen, Sergio Perez, Romain Grosjean, Daniil Kvyat and Adrian Sutil were all eliminated at the end of Q2.

Q3 saw Bottas first out on track for a bit of clear air, setting the first benchmark at a 1.15.550. Rosberg was the first of the Mercedes to cross the line, going six-tenths quicker than Bottas. Hamilton also managed to go quicker than Bottas but fell just short of Rosberg’s time putting the German on provisional pole.

Both Rosberg and Hamilton made slight improvements on their final runs but Hamilton just couldn’t find the pace to match his teammate and a small error into Turn 8 likely cost him the pole position. Sebastian Vettel pulled a rabbit out of the bag and pushed out a flyer to qualify third ahead of the two Williams drivers, Bottas and Massa respectively.
Daniel Ricciardo qualified sixth ahead of Alonso and Vergne, with Jenson Button and Kimi Raikkonen rounding out the top ten.

Hamilton will no doubt be frustrated to not have been able to convert his dominant performance throughout the weekend into a pole position but the Briton seemed to take it in his stride today and seemed pleased to have another all-Mercedes front row. “Let’s go make history tomorrow,” Hamilton said at the post qualifying press conference.

History will indeed be made whatever happens tomorrow. We’re all set for a crack-a-lacking race and the stage is all set for a good battle upfront between Rosberg and Hamilton. The Williams drivers are looking exceptionally strong and they are definitely making a mark on the grid this weekend.

Please join us on Twitter for live chat and commentary as we watch it all pan out at 8pm GMT+2.

Full timesheets and your chance to win a VIP trip to the Belgian Grand Prix are below.

June 7, 2014
F1 2014: Free Practice 3 – Hamilton Leads the Way In Monaco

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

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

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

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

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

May 24, 2014
Venezuelen minister: Maldonado money is at risk

Unless Pastor Maldonado can prove that his driving ability and talent alone is worthy of a Formula One drive, the Venezuelan driver’s career may come to an abrupt end. This follows suggestions from Venezuela’s new sports minister Antonio Alvarez that Maldonado’s funding could be at risk.

Maldonado’s racing career has been funded for the most part by Venezuelan state-owned oil giants PDVSA, to the tune of around £25 million ($42m) a year, making him a very attractive prospect to any cash-strapped team.

Maldonado, who moved from to the Lotus Formula One team from Williams F1 at the start of the 2014 season, had a very good relationship with Former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez following the death of Chavez in 2013, it would seem Maldonado may be running out of friends in high places. Alvarez has suggested that Maldonado’s funding could soon come to an end.

There is little doubt that Maldonado’s on going mediocre performance, the fact that he has not yet claimed a single championship point, and his reputation as an unskilled driver who regularly crashes, will have contributed to the comments.

Alvarez however did not allude to any of this. “I know I’m going to make a lot of enemies,” he told the Venezuelan publication Ultimas Noticias. “But there will be not one more dollar for motor racing. Venezuelan sport has other priorities, and it would be unfair to use state resources for disciplines that are not in line with the development of the country.”

Due to Maldonado’s deal with PDVSA, the oil giant features very prominently on the Lotus E22 this season after the company reached a settlement deal with Williams which would allow Maldonado to not finish his contract with the team.
Lotus desperately needed the funds, but whether Maldonado can secure a seat on talent alone remains to be seen.

May 21, 2014
Mercedes domination continues as Hamilton secures pole

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

May 10, 2014
Spanish Grand Prix: Thursday Drivers Press Conference

DRIVERS:

Max CHILTON (Marussia)

Kevin MAGNUSSEN (McLaren)

Daniil KVYAT (Toro Rosso)

Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing)

Fernando ALONSO (Ferrari)

Pastor MALDONADO (Lotus)

PRESS CONFERENCE

Daniil, can I start with you? Three points finishes, one 11^th place, you must be quite pleased with the way things have started in the first four races?

Daniil KVYAT: Yeah, it’s going quite OK now. A bit of a shame not finishing in the points in Bahrain as well, but anyway you have to learn from something. So far we’ve been a bit on the limit of the points zone, but I hope that we can make some good steps and become even a bit more competitive, so we can take points a bit more easily. It would be a really good step but we are working hard together and soon it will be reachable.

So the story so far is that Jean-Eric Vergne your team-mate is three-one up on you in qualifying but you’re ahead of him in races. He’s had a few reliability issues in races but how do you see the balance between you, and your own progress?

DK: I’m not really looking too deeply into these scores and so on. We’ve been quite close. Don’t forget that Jean-Eric is a very fast driver and he’s in the peak of his shape probably now. Also very experienced. In the wet I have to admit he was very fast so far and in Bahrain it was a dry quali. Of course, he’s also been having a bit of issues. But in China it was a very good balance. I was quite happy in the race. I was quicker than him at that point but in the end we have to see in the future races.

Max, coming to you. The run continues: 23 consecutive finishes in your Formula One career, two 13^th places so far this season, are you proud of what’s been achieved so far?

Max CHILTON: Yeah, I am. Last year it wasn’t a perfect season but lots to take away from it. I remember someone asking me in me in Monza, I think, saying: ‘you’re 10 races in, that’s a good little record you’ve got going there’. And then I broke Tiago [Monteiro’s] record, which was 16 from a rookie start, and we though it would be nice to get to the end of the year, which we did. Credit to the team; that’s pretty good for a small team reliability-wise. And we’re four races in now and we’ve carried that on. It’s not our main goal, but where we are it’s absolutely crucial to finish the race as I’ve shown this year with the two 13ths. We did have good speed but we had to be there at the finish to make sure those results counted. So we will try to keep it going but our main focus is to try to get a bit more speed out of the car and myself.

Apart from Malaysia, in the races where you and Caterham have both finished Marussia has tended to be in front of them. Can you say a little bit about how you see that battle and also about how close you feel you are now to the teams in front of you?

MC: We’ve always had a good battle with Caterham. They kind of hold back sometimes, I think, in practice and qualifying and surprise us in the race. But I think this year, to me, our car is definitely better. We’re developing well. We’ve brought some good updates to here. I’m not sure if they have or not. It would be nice if we could push forward. Sauber hasn’t been too far ahead of us and we’ve been battling with them in at least the first few stints of the race and so… yeah, I guess you’ve got to focus on the cars in front, there’s no point in focusing on your mirrors, so we’ll try to improve our results this weekend.

Thanks for that. Coming to you Pastor. Obviously you’re a former winner here in Barcelona. Lotus in Q3 in qualifying in China, running in the top 10 obviously. How would you describe progress within the team?

Pastor MALDONADO: It’s clear that we have been progressing quite a lot in the last couple of races. Still maybe we were not at 100 per cent but we’ve been working really hard. Hopefully here with a bit more time, putting everything together we can be much more competitive and we can fight for good places. This is our main focus at the moment and I think we can. We have a good car, a good team. We have been not good enough with all the new engine system at the beginning but now it seems to be more clear in terms of technology, you know, controlling all the systems in the car and hopefully from this race to the end of the season it will be much better for us.

We’ve heard about a lot of new parts on the car this weekend and also power unit upgrades from Renault. What are you expecting and what are you expecting from yourself this weekend?

PM: I’m expecting to have no problems, a competitive car, and do my best. I the past I’ve been quite good here, so I think as soon as we manage to solve all the problems we will be back to fight for good places.

Sebastian, Red Bull have announced that you have a new chassis this weekend, so I wonder if you could share with us what’s in it, why do you need it? Obviously, we’ve heard you saying that you don’t feel that the car was talking to you; maybe you’d like to elaborate on that. So, what are you looking for from this car and how close do you think you’re getting to finding it?

Sebastian VETTEL: I think we concluded after China, where we were quite a little bit behind to change the chassis, so actually it’s not a new chassis, it’s an old one that we used in testing in the winter, and we have some experience with it. It’s more a sanity check rather than a real problem with the other chassis. So it’s just to try everything we can and basically reset and start again. Obviously there is still a lot of work ahead of us, as I mentioned after the first couple of races, maybe I’m not as happy as I want to be but it’s a long process, a lot of things have changed and I think we need to be patient.

Kevin, two-all versus Jenson, you personally have been three times in Q3, so Saturdays are going OK, but it’s been a rough couple of grands prix, the last two for you. Tell us about that?

Kevin MAGNUSSEN: Well, I think I’ve learned a lot. It’s been good in many ways as well. Obviously we’re not where we want to be and we need to keep working really hard to get there. But I think I have learned a lot and there have been many positive points to take away from the last two races. It’s no secret that we are not where we want to be; it’s not that we’re happy or that I’m happy. We just need to work hard, keep working hard. The team is doing a great job. They are staying positive, although they are not happy with the position. They are staying strong and keeping the fighting spirit up. So, yeah, I’m pretty happy with how things are going in terms of the progress we’re making.

It’s unusual for McLaren to have two races where you score no points with either car. How has the team reacted to that internally?

KM: Well, in Bahrain I think we would have scored points. China was not good for us. It was a bit of a shock how far off the pace we were but again I think we learned a lot. We know China is probably the worst circuit for us at the moment, but we’ll just see how it goes here.

Fernando, a two-time winner here, winner last year in a Ferrari. Tough start to the season clearly but third place last time out in China. How much encouragement has that given you and the team, and how big a step have you brought with you here this weekend in terms if updates?

Fernando ALONSO: The China result is a boost for all the team – extra motivation to keep working hard. As you said we are not in a position we are happy with. We start with some deficit to the top teams, especially Mercedes who won the first four races and is dominating now with good margins, so we try to decrease that gap and we try to get closer and closer. To do that we need to make bigger steps than what the other teams will do. For here, to be honest, we need to wait and see. I think the characteristics of the circuit will help us a little bit, with not too big straights – only one here on the finish line. About the new parts, we bring some new parts but nothing out of this world. I don’t think we will be different compared to any other top team in terms on what we bring here, or even less. We need to see. As I said, track characteristics are the biggest help we have here.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: (Mathias Brunner – Speedweek.com) Sebastian, not to use the same chassis again, how much of a ‘black cat’ decision was that?

SV: Not really. I think it’s not unusual to change chassis, generally. Obviously if you change, you change to a new one, but we decided, as I said before, to change back to an older chassis just to make sure nothing is wrong. Just to see, or basically change the things that you can, to have a reset and try again. We don’t think that there was anything wrong with the old chassis but nevertheless we decided to change, so if so we should get an answer this weekend.

Q: (Jackob Melgaaro – Metro express Denmark) For Kevin, how do compare the car after the break to the car you drove at the last grand prix and how do feel about this track in Barcelona?

KM: We don’t know how the car feels, we haven’t driven it yet since the last race, so we’ll have to wait and see. I don’t expect it to feel a lot different. We are bringing a few new parts but nothing that is going to change the world. This track is the first track on the calendar this year that I’ve been to before, so that’s nice. It’s nice to be in Europe again, so feeling a bit more at home. So I’m looking forward to it.

Q: (Manuel Franco Peral – Diario AS) Fernando, podium is a real goal for you here in Spain?

FA: No, I don’t think so. We cannot start the weekend thinking to be on the podium. Or thinking to win the race. That will be creating… y’know, false targets to everyone who will come here. We finished ninth and tenth in Bahrain, we did podium in China because we had some things putting together on that Sunday but it’s not that we are in a position now to say we will fight for the podium here. We will do our best but we know it is going to be a tough weekend and it’s not going to be easy. But, you never know, this is sport and anything can happen but today, sitting here, if I tell you that I will fight for the podium, probably I will lie to you and I don’t want to do so for all the people coming.

Q: (Renan Do Couto – Warm Up) Question for Fernando. Fernando, after four races this season Kimi has only 11 points. At the same point last season Felipe Massa had 30 points. Does it show that Ferrari need much more than a driver-change to get back on the title fight?

FA: I don’t know really. We are not in a position at the moment that we expect. We thought to be more competitive and we struggle, as everyone sees, at the start of the season. I think it is the same for all the teams that we are facing some problems, apart from Mercedes, they had an easy four races, four wins. But, you know, we will work hard. We will work hard to come back in a better position and the start of Felipe or the start of Kimi was not the best in terms of points but I think hopefully soon they will be close to the podium or to the victories and we, both Ferraris, can score many points for the team.

Q: (Ralf Bach – Sport-Bild) Question to Fernando. When I listen to your, let me say, remembrance from China, between the lines I could hear that maybe the driver was better than the car in this weekend – or on the Sunday?

FA: I think the car is always what it is. The car never changes. The driver, also, sometimes you have better luck, sometimes you have worse luck. In China, for example, I have a crash at the start and nothing happened to my car and I could finish the race. I think the Red Bulls, they were fighting a little bit, they lost a little bit of time and I could be there. My pitstops were very quick. In the first stop I overtook Sebastian in that lap, so there were many factors together that put us on the podium. But, y’know, we need to do very special weekends to be on the podium and China was one of those. Lucky. And some other factors. So arriving here, sitting on Thursday on the next press conference. To repeat that podium will be unbelievable. But it’s not, at the moment, our main target.

Q: (Vladimir Rogovets – Sb Belarus) My question is for Sebastian and Fernando. You are the champions. How long can you work without first place in the podium?

SV: Well, I think – and Fernando will probably say the same – we’re here to win. I’m not coming here to finish second or fifth – but you have to be realistic and the target is always to get the maximum out of yourself, out of the car, out of the package that you have. And you can get a lot of satisfaction if you achieve that. So, it means basically if a podium is in reach or P5 is the best you can do then you need to ensure to become fifth. If you then become seventh it is not satisfying. But surely, ultimately we are here to win. That’s the target but obviously you know much better what’s going on inside your team and how competitive you are. So yeah, there’s a lot of things that need to come together. Right now, obviously, we have Mercedes in a very, very strong position. Difficult to beat but never impossible.

FA: Unfortunately I have a lot more experience! So, yeah, there is nothing really you can do apart from try to do the best job you can and try to find different goals. Obviously we are here all to win. My last win was last year, here. So it’s one year without victories. I would like not to have that long period. On the other hand, we are 22 drivers on the grid and maybe 20 are in a worse position than me. So, I cannot also be… y’know, blaming my luck for that. I’m extremely lucky and a very privileged guy, so, you need to keep working and if your boss is happy with you, that’s something very important.

Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Sebastian, Christian said in Autosport today that you are extremely sensitive to rear stability on corner entry. But that was… last year you were using the rear instability to turn the car into the corners. Can you explain what it is about this year’s car that you don’t like and why you’ve not been able to adapt to it so far?

SV: Well, I think generally we all have our own style to how we like to drive the car, how to set up the car. I think in general I don’t mind when the rear’s moving so I don’t mind suffering or having oversteer in the car. But if it is too much obviously if it starts to bother you when the car slides too much, then you find yourself correcting more than actually being able to push or get the maximum out of the car. And, yeah, it slows you down. I think that has been part of the problem so far. There’s lots of reasons behind it so it would be nice to have just one problem and one fix for that but obviously it got a lot more complex this year. There’s a lot more factors than just the car setup. So yeah, we’re still learning a lot. We did already a lot of improvement but there’s still obviously a lot to do. But I think generally you never change your… the way you like to drive a car or your style I think doesn’t change.

Q: (Cristobal Rosaleny – Car and Driver) Question for Sebastian. You’re changing now chassis. You have spent four races with problems behind Daniel Ricciardo. Do you feel this time you have lost is a bad thing for you for your own progress during the season and could affect the rest of the season for you?

SV: Surely if I had won the first four races it would be better for my season that what I did! Yeah, it is what it is. There’s two ways. You can always look back and try to find something to complain about – or you can look forward. And I think in general we are trying to look forward to the next race. There’s a lot more races this year to come and for sure we didn’t score as many points as we hoped. But then again after winter testing I think we were in a very bad position. I think right from the first race it was probably better than what we initially expected. Lots of positives with Daniel’s podium in Australia – which obviously got taken away – but then the podium in Malaysia showed that we are on the right track but knew, just reading the feeling inside the car that it’s not yet where we want to be. And you also see that in the results. As I said, there is a lot of work but I think we are generally quite good in getting the maximum out of the car. At the moment there’s a couple of things that we need to get on top of and then it should be a different story.

Q: (Daniel Johnson – Daily Telegraph): Seb, looking forward it’s no secret that your car’s good in the corners but not so good at the straight bits in between. How much are you and the team – particularly considering it’s the start of the European season – relying on Renault to make a big step forward for you to mount some kind of a championship challenge?

SV: As you mentioned, it’s not a big secret. If you look at the sector times or comparisons that we have available, we currently lose out too much on the straights – but there’s always hope, obviously. Again, you have to look at it from the start. Where we started in winter testing was unfortunately way, way off compared to where we wanted to, in all means. Talking about the car, we set fire to the car nearly every run. Talking about the engine, obviously we were not on the same page that we expected to be, both in terms of reliability and performance. So, since that, I think we had a very, very strong comeback but obviously you miss that time of development. But I think there’s always hope. Just look at Ferrari, for example, the last race, the step that they did was mostly in straight line. I think they got a better fuel and picked up around 7kph on the straights. So… we know that our disadvantage is more than 7kph to the Mercedes which are currently the benchmark down the straights but things can change quickly. We need to make sure we push 100 per cent on the car and also on the engine side. In the end we are a team: Renault and Red Bull Racing, so both parties know that we need to push very hard to make sure that we beat these guys and also the currently strongest team with Mercedes.

Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday) Sebastian, you’re changing chassis at this race, why not a new chassis? And the second part: does the chassis have a name?

SV: Same as before. It’s not that much of a black cat, I hope.

Q: (Carlos Miguel – La Gaceta) Fernando, this morning Toto Wolff said that you are a real race monster. He said that Ferrari is the biggest enemy in the championship; what do you think of these words?

FA: About the monster, it depends how you take it. At least he’s a man. If it was a woman who said that I was a monster it would be even worse. We need to do it step by step. As I said, we need to be realistic with the position that we have. We will not give up, there’s a big gap and a big gap in points and in performance with Mercedes but there’s still a long way to go in the championship so we will try to do our best. As a team, and with the potential that Ferrari has, we must do anything we can to close that gap and to become competitive. That will not happen between one race to the next one, that will be a slow recovery and hopefully not too late when we become competitive in terms of points to fight for the championship but let’s do it race by race. China, as I said, was a combination of things and very good luck to get that podium. Here in Barcelona, it’s a good point to check how competitive we are, because it’s a circuit with different characteristics again and a circuit that will give us an answer in some of the parameters and some of the areas that we need to find some answers. Monaco is the next one, then Canada – again a completely different circuit so we are in a moment of the championship that will tell us many many things in terms of how competitive we can be and how much of a threat we can be for Mercedes. If they count on us for the championship fight, it’s good news because they respect us but we need to deliver if we want to really become a threat, so we are on that, that work.

Q: (Silvia Reneé Arias – Parabrisas) Fernando, I want to know if you find any change in the Ferrari team after Stefano Domenicali left?

FA: Not really. At the moment, everything is more or less the same. I have been in Maranello last week. Everything is calm and no big changes, nothing really that you’re going to spot that is different at the moment. As I said in China, Marco (Mattiaci) arrived – as we said – with little experience in motor racing, a lot of experience on the managerial side but he’s listening, he’s learning as quickly as he can in everything. I don’t think Marco wants to become an engineer because that’s not his priority at the moment but he will need some time to settle down and to make some changes, some decisions if he thinks they are needed. As I said, in the two or three weeks that he’s in the job, nothing has really changed at the moment. He needs more time.

Q: How much are you guiding him; how much are you contributing to that?

FA: We had some meetings, obviously, to try to help him in all the areas. He’s quite interested to listen to everyone. He called all the engineers and all the engine side, electronics, the drivers, we are going to his office and try to explain all our points of view and all our requirements. As I said, he’s taking note of everything and he will make the necessary changes, what he thinks is best for the team. Hopefully that’s a good thing for Ferrari to move forward and to improve some things, some historical mistakes that we’ve made in the past and we will see if this fresh approach… and not influence about any technical things because, as I said, he’s not an engineer. Hopefully that will help Ferrari.

Q: (Valenti Fradera – L’Esportiu) To all of you: the circuit Barcelona Catalunya used to be the venue of choice for pre-season testing but this year you haven’t run here yet. Will that change how you approach the weekend, and will we get to see more laps than usual tomorrow during free practice?

PM: Even without any tests, it will be same approach as the other tracks, for sure. I was quite interested to run before this season, because it’s a good track, a good combination of corners, good weather but it’s what we have so it will be the same.

MC: Yeah, it will be pretty similar. Obviously when we’ve come here in the past we’d pretty much know the ideal set-up for the circuit. Obviously the cars have changed drastically since last year so there will be a lot more to find out now we haven’t done any pre-season (testing) here. And we’ve now got the extra set(of tyres) in the first thirty minutes of free practice which we can use so there will definitely be more laps completed but if you compare it to China, for example, it won’t be any different.

Q: Kevin and Dan are obviously rookies (in F1) but you’ve got personal experience of this circuit, even if it’s not necessarily in Formula One.

KM: I don’t think it’s going to be a lot different – the approach to this weekend than the other weekends. Personally, I like this track, I think it’s a good track, the mix of corners. As I’ve said before, it’s a track that I’ve been to a lot of times, so it’s nice to feel at home here but other than that, it’s just a normal weekend.

DK: For me as a driver I don’t think it’s going to change a lot compared to other years we’ve been coming here. It’s my first time here in Formula One as well so let’s see how it will start going tomorrow.

SV: I don’t think it makes a difference. We didn’t run in Bahrain. I think that even if we had had the test here in the winter it would make a difference. But usually it’s quite cold in winter time, so when you come here in May it’s quite a big difference, so you need to use the time that you have available in free practice, but I don’t think we can run as much as we’d like to because we’ve all got the safety… the engines. We will see, but for sure the running tomorrow will be important.

FA: Nothing to add, really.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – Universo On Line) To all of you: when you have one driver from a team that has a car that is winning everything – like Mercedes – and your team needs to win three times in a row (to catch them up), how does it work for teammates? For example, the guy who is behind, does it stimulate him to try to win or does it work in the opposite direction?

FA: Yeah, I said waiting for Rosberg. I don’t know really. For this, when it happens, it was a question for Mark last year, when Sebastian won nine times. For Rosberg now. It’s not so difficult to know what you’re experiencing. Probably I will answer because I will have the experience, but now… of course, I think Rosberg would like to win, that’s for sure.

SV: I would hate Lewis now, if I was Nico.

PM: I would hate Lewis as well. It’s a difficult answer. For sure, you always want to beat your teammate, you always want to do your best and to be ahead of your most close contender. For sure, it’s not ideal to always be at the back but in my opinion, they are both competitive, sometimes one is quicker than the other and sometimes it’s vice versa. It’s a difficult answer because it depends about any driver.

MC: It would be nice to be in that position, obviously. It’s hard to beat someone who never gives up and Rosberg, I’m sure, will never give up. I’m sure he will get his fair share of wins back. Sometimes if you’re constantly winning you sometimes let things slip so if you just make sure you just keep giving 100 percent, he will definitely get other race wins.

KM: I don’t have anything to add.

DK: I don’t want to talk for others but if I have to talk for myself there’s never a huge friendship between teammates so I think you always want to be in front of everyone and there are some circumstances, sometimes if you’re teammate is in front of you, it means that there is something that you can maybe do better but once again, there are different circumstances.

May 9, 2014