F1 Madness

Tag: pierre gasly

  • F1 2019: British Gp Preview – Formula 1 at its British Best

    F1 2019: British Gp Preview – Formula 1 at its British Best

    The adage goes that you’re only as good as your last race. It will take some doing then for Formula 1 to top itself after the thrilling Austrian grand prix of two weeks ago. Nevertheless, the Silverstone circuit and British grand prix is as iconic as it comes in motorsport.

    Rookies

    Being a rookie in Formula 1 is almost always a baptism of fire. But as the F2 champion and runner-up in 2018 George Russell and Lando Norris have been enormously impressive in their respective debut seasons.

    Lando Norris was drafted into McLaren with the team still very much in the doldrums. However, 2019, and especially the last two races, has shown the progress that the Woking-based team has made. Progress means little however if the drivers in the cockpit are unable to capitalize and deliver the results. So far, Norris has produced nearly every time that he has been behind the wheel. With four races in the points he sits eighth in the world driver’s championship. Added to this is that he qualified a brilliant fifth in Austria, his noteworthy race-craft, and the fact that he hasn’t made any major mistakes. At only nineteen years old and with one of the best Instagram accounts in the paddock Norris has all he needs to a star of the future.

    George Russell’s superb and self-determined initiative to personally contact Williams and present himself as the best choice for a 2019 drive impressed Williams enough to agree and draft him into the team. Though he has been unable to trouble the point scoring positions in 2019 he has impressed not only in his demeanour but also in the complete demolition of teammate Robert Kubica both in qualifying and the races.

    Similarly, Russell had kept his nose clean and his car on the black stuff. Williams are expected to bring a major update to the German grand prix weekend and while it’s unlikely to propel them up the grid it may bring them closer to the field in terms of pace. If all goes to plan Russell seems the more likely of the two Williams drivers to extract performance from the car.

    Silverstone under threat

    As much as Silverstone forms part of the fabric of Formula 1 the threat that it could disappear from the calendar is ever present. Commercial rights owner Liberty Media has evidently renewed their interest in a London street race which suggest that it could take over Silverstone’s slot on the calendar.*

    One of the biggest problems for Silverstone and the BRDC (British Racing Drivers Club) is the hosting cost. The suggestion is though that the BRDC and Liberty Media understand the importance of a British grand prix on the F1 calendar. It is not impractical for Liberty Media to consider offering a discount on hosting costs to those venues such as Silverstone, Monza, Spa-Francorchamps, etc. that are historically significant to the sport and thereby ensure their presence on the calendar.

    2010 British Grand Prix StartAs a fan you get a little bit of everything at Silverstone. An incredible track layout highlighted by the incomparable Maggots-Becketts complex, Stowe, and Copse Corner combine for a supreme test of aerodynamic efficiency. It stands to reason then that Mercedes will be in the pound seats this weekend, no pun intended.

    The last few races hasn’t seen the best of Valtteri Bottas and while Lewis Hamilton is habitually exceptional at Silverstone it will be a good place for the Finn to re-state his designs on the world title. To beat Hamilton on home soil would go a long way, mentally, to begin chipping away at the reigning champion.

    But with all being equal it is difficult to bet against another British grand prix victory for Lewis Hamilton.

    *It has since been announced that Silverstone has struck a deal that will keep itself on the calendar for five more years.
  • F1 2019: Austrian Gp Review – Verstappen & Formula 1 Win

    F1 2019: Austrian Gp Review – Verstappen & Formula 1 Win

    What a difference seven days can make. From the doldrums of France Formula 1 was transformed, albeit for one race, into the sport that so many millions have come to adore. Drama, some controversy, and adrenaline-charged overtakes dominated all of the 71 laps of Austrian grand prix.

    Saturday qualifying was bittersweet for Ferrari as Charles Leclerc secured a dominant pole position. However, a mechanical issue stopped Seb Vettel from participating in the final session of qualifying and left him to start the race at the lower end of the top ten. Lewis Hamilton, second quickest in quali, was demoted to fourth for blocking Alfa Romeo driver Kimi Raikkonen in qualifying. This promoted Max Verstappen to the front of the grid and put him in the perfect position to, at least, secure a podium at Red Bull’s home race.

    For only the second time in his career Leclerc lined up in the pole position. And just as in Bahrain earlier this season he aced the start. It wasn’t the same for Verstappen whose anti-stall kicked in and dropped him to seventh place on Lap 1. Behind the race leader Valtteri Bottas took up second while McLaren’s ever-impressive Lando Norris briefly challenged Lewis Hamilton for third.

    Kimi Raikkonen too made a good start to run as high as fourth while Vettel rocketed off the line into sixth by the end of the first lap. Several fantastic fights dominated the opening stint of the race as Verstappen and Vettel fought their way through the field. It was far more serene at the front for Leclerc who’d built a healthy lead over the two Mercedes by Lap 20.

    2019 Austrian GPRecord-high temperatures in Europe severely limited Mercedes performance in Austria as they suffered with cooling issues nearly from the first lap of the race. Their need to lift and coast into the corners severely hampered their pace meant that neither Bottas nor Hamilton was ever in contention for the win.

    It was clear that the Ferrari thrived in the hotter condition but still errors abounded. As Vettel pulled into the pitlane for his first stop the Ferrari mechanics were late out of the garage and lost Vettel precious seconds over his nearest rivals. Ferrari later confirmed that a communication malfunction as the reason for the tardy stop. Meanwhile Hamilton was forced to take a new front-wing at his stop after damaging it on the exit kerb of Turn 9.

    As things settled after the round of pitstops the Red Bull of Verstappen came alive. Despite holding a clear power deficit to the Ferrari Verstappen scythed past Vettel’s Ferrari for third. A handful of laps later the Dutch driver saw of second placed Bottas and set off after race leader Leclerc. A five second gap was reduced to a few tenths of a second in just a handful of laps by Verstappen’s blistering pace.

    On Lap 68 Verstappen stole into the lead of the race but it was only momentarily as Leclerc fourth back and regained the lead. One lap later, and to the utter euphoria of the vast amount of Dutch fans, Verstappen moved to the inside of Turn 4, briefly touched wheels with Leclerc, and seized the lead of the race. This victory was sixth of Verstappen’s career and easily his most impressive to date. It was also Honda’s first win since returning to F1.

    2019 Austrian GPStewards subsequently investigated the move for the lead between Verstappen and Leclerc after the race. More than two hours later Stewards ruled that no further action would be taken and the result would stand. While there will be many who hold the argument that the move deserved a penalty, it simply didn’t. Considering it purely technically it was clear that Verstappen had the racing line, was alongside Leclerc turning into the apex and he did not open his steering to force the Ferrari off the track. From on-board footage it was evident that Leclerc had left the door open and lost the corner. For Formula 1 too it was the correct decision. Just as in Canada this move in Austria did not warrant a penalty. It was a spectacular drive by Verstappen and Ferrari and Leclerc ought to take it on the chin and try again in Silverstone.

    While Bottas brought his Mercedes home in third Vettel, after a late stop, recovered to fourth. Lewis Hamilton finished fifth and accepted that his car was limited by the conditions. It was another stellar day for Lando Norris in sixth with Pierre Gasly trundling home in seventh. If Pierre Gasly wasn’t under pressure to maintain his Red Bull before the start of this race then he certainly is after it. The French driver out-qualified by a McLaren, a Haas, and both Alfa Romeos and he didn’t fare any better in Sunday’s race. In fact, despite Verstappen dropping down the field on Lap 1 Gasly still found himself lapped by his teammate at the end of the race. The Austrian Gp is easily Gasly’s worst performance and it has undoubtedly edged him closer to being replaced. In fact, it is likely that the Red Bull management has given him until Hungarian grand prix, before the summer break, to drastically improve his or face the axe.

    spielbergsunday13-780782Carlos Sainz underlined McLaren’s clear progress by finishing in eighth despite starting at the back of the grid. Kimi Raikkonen was ninth for Alfa Romeo while his teammate Antonio Giovinazzi finished tenth and scored the first point of his F1 career.

    For nearly all of the Austrian Gp the eventual winner was a mystery. It was chock-full of overtaking and brilliant performance up and down the field. This may only be one race but this is what Formula 1 can and should be. Whether this will carry forward to the rest of the season is unknown but one thing is certain Max Verstappen delivered a stellar drive, the best of his career, and there is more where that came from.

  • F1 2019: French Gp Review – Mercedes Dominate…Again

    F1 2019: French Gp Review – Mercedes Dominate…Again

    A cursory scroll through social media comments would easily lead you to the conclusion that the 2019 French grand prix is not one that will down in history as a great race. Heck, it’s likely to be remembered for the exact opposite.

    Unlike Canada’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, with several pitfalls mere centimeters away, the acres of run-off area at the Paul Ricard circuit doesn’t offer anywhere close to the same on-the-edge challenge. Here the vast asphalt run-offs do nothing more than take away the challenge of driving an F1 car.

    But sanitized racetracks are hardly F1’s biggest issue. The teams, Liberty Media, and the FIA are currently in discussion about regulations for 2021 and they would do well to use the French grand prix, and the fans’ response to it, as a case study for what needs to change in the sport.

    Before then there is still a season, or two, to run and the latest race in France was little more than a Sunday afternoon drive for Lewis Hamilton. The Mercedes driver led every one of the 53 laps and seemingly had more pace to unleash if he felt like it. As it were Valtteri Bottas could mount no serious challenge and Hamilton won the race by 18 seconds. A late race VSC and Bottas’ difficulty in getting his tyres switched on afterwards nearly gave Charles Leclerc a run at second but the Ferrari driver ultimately finished third. Max Verstappen maintained fourth in a rather lonely race as Sebastian Vettel recovered from seventh on the grid to finish fifth.

    Perez penalty

    While most of the drivers kept their noses clean into the first few corners after lights out Sergio Perez quick decision to take to the run-off area netted him a five-second penalty. The Racing Point driver followed the letter of the law by rejoining the track at the stipulated point. But his trip through the run-off gained him a position and therefore a lasting advantage warranting the penalty.

    lecatselletsunday45-797703Ricciardo penalties

    The only bit of excitement surrounded the fight for seventh between Lando Norris, Daniel Ricciardo, Kimi Raikkonen, and Nico Hulkenberg. Norris well in control of his seventh place was hit with hydraulic issues that meant not only an inability to use DRS but also the gradual loss of power steering. Nevertheless, the impressive rookie soldiered on until the very last lap when he fell victim to Ricciardo, Raikkonen, and Hulkenberg.

    Ricciardo’s move on Norris saw the McLaren driver forced off the track which he followed up with a pass, with all four wheels off the circuit, on Raikkonen moments later. The three drivers were summoned to the stewards after the race which resulted in Ricciardo receiving two five-second penalties. Unfortunately for the Aussie driver the rules are rather black and white and clearly state that a penalty must be awarded for, first, crowding another driver off the track, and second, for completing a pass with all four wheel off the track. The Renault driver dropped out of the points to 11th overall but wasn’t apologetic about providing “some entertainment” for the fans.

    Carlos Sainz finished a remarkable sixth in what has been McLaren’s best race to date in 2019. The rejig of the results, following Ricciardo’s penalties, means that Raikkonen finished an impressive seventh with Nico Hulkenberg in eighth for Renault. Despite his issues Norris was ninth ahead of Pierre Gasly in tenth.

    Pierre Gasly

    One of the things that are almost always a certainty is that when a driver gets to his home race he ups his game. But this wasn’t the case for Frenchman Pierre Gasly whose weekend was nothing short of embarrassing. While teammate Verstappen was solidly in fourth Gasly trundled around behind both McLarens, both Renaults and an Alfa Romeo.

    lecatselletsunday13-640986Riccardo’s penalties meant that Gasly was classified as tenth but in reality the Red Bull driver finished 11th on the track. As a Toro Rosso driver Gasly impressed Red Bull enough to earn the call-up to the big team but he has come nowhere near to proving that he deserves to be in the seat. While Verstappen has scored 100 points in 2019 Gasly’s tally is a mere 36.

    Christian Horner’s demeanour after the race was one of barely-concealed irritation at Gasly’s performance. History reminds that Red Bull, in the form of Horner and Dr. Helmut Marko, can be ruthless when it comes to driver demotions, just ask Dannil Kvyat. If Gasly continues in the same vein he may well be replaced, ironically, by Kvyat before the year is out.

    No such issues exist at Mercedes who roll on in 2019 with yet another victory. There are those who would point out that the Ferrari and Red Bull eras were as dominating as this era’s seemingly unconquerable Mercedes. But even the heyday of Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel doesn’t quite stack up to the utter command that Mercedes has over Formula 1.

    Lewis Hamilton’s latest win in France takes Mercedes’ tally to ten consecutive race win if you include the last two races of 2018. Of the 107 races, so far, in the Hybrid era Mercedes have won a staggering 80 of which 50 have been one-two victories. It is difficult to imagine that this number wont increase to 81 victories at this weekend’s Austrian Gp.

  • 2019 French Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    2019 French Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    PART ONE: DRIVERS – Nico HULKENBERG (Renault), Carlos SAINZ (McLaren), Romain GROSJEAN (Haas), Pierre GASLY (Red Bull Racing), Antonio GIOVINAZZI (Alfa Romeo)

    Pierre and Romain, it is your home grand prix. Just describe your emotions coming into this weekend and how busy the build-up has been. Pierre, perhaps we can start with you?

    Pierre GASLY: Yeah, I think we are pretty lucky because we didn’t have the French Grand Prix for many years; it just came back on the calendar last year, as I started my first full season in F1. I feel pretty lucky to have this chance to have a home race, with the crowd. I think France has always been part of the sport and it’s great to have it back and yeah, I’m just really excited for the weekend.

     

    Q: How has the build-up been for you? I think you were playing football last night weren’t you?

    PG: Yeah, we played for Jules [Bianchi]. We played this soccer game for Jules’ association, with all the family, so it was just nice to get all together on the pitch and just to remember him. Then we had another activity with Sébastien Ogier, as a co-pilot, which was pretty intense. Not being at the wheel but like really impressive, so really enjoyable so far.

     

    Q: And Romain how has the build-up been for you?

    Romain GROSJEAN: So far it has been quiet and good. Media duty today is a bit more than normal. But nothing too crazy, son happy to be here enjoying the time, and the south of France weather, which has been good, so hopefully we can have a nice event this weekend.

     

    Q: Thank you. Pierre, if we can come back to you. Tell us about car performance, where Red Bull is at? I think you have a new power unit this weekend. What are your expectations coming into this French Grand Prix?

    PG: Yeah, we have a new spec, a third-spec Honda. The last we introduced was more on the reliability side, this one will be focused more on the performance, but we don’t expect a massive gain from it. I think the overall performance will be slightly increased, but it’s not like it’s going to change massively, or we’re going to catch the teams ahead of us massively. Let’s see what we can do during the weekend. It will give us a bit more in the race. It’s not going to be a massive difference in qualifying, but a bit more in the race.

     

    Q: And are you hopeful of being more competitive this weekend than you were two weeks ago in Canada?

    PG: Yeah, I think it’s a track that probably suits our package a bit more than Canada. You still have many long straights, which for sure are still a bit tricky for us, even though we are making progress. But I think we have new, little bits on the car coming and I think we should be more competitive than we were in Canada.

     

    Q: Thank you. Romain, coming back to you: we’re talking car performance, what can we expect for you and Haas this weekend?

    RG: We’ll see. It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster. Generally, I think there’s been really good performance but other place we’ve been struggling a little bit more. So I’m hoping that here we get a good package that’s works well, that we get the tyres to work correctly and if that’s the case it should be a track that works quite nicely for us, so I’m hoping we’re going to give the midfield a hard time and why not even Red Bull and see where we can end up on the weekend.

     

    Q: And do you expect the new asphalt here at Paul Ricard to help tyre performance on your car?

    RG: I do not know. I guess we’ll find out.

     

    Q: And Romain, a quick word about the track layout. Having been here now last year, how much better prepared do you feel coming into this weekend?

    RG: Another one I don’t know! I think last year we did some simulator work before coming here and it felt like the starting set-up we had on the car was a good package, so that’s good. Obviously we’ve got the data from last year, which always helps and we’re going to focus on fine-tuning and making sure we understand everything. I think the conditions this weekend are going to be quite hot, so we need to make sure that we get the best of everything in those conditions – tyres and cooling and all of that on the car – to not have a bad surprise on Sunday. So the baseline set-up I think is already pretty good and it’s now just fine-tuning all the bits and pieces on the car to get the best race performance.

     

    Q: Good luck this weekend. Antonio, we spoke to the other two about their preparations this weekend. I know you had an amazing weekend with the Trofeo Bandini in Brisighella last weekend. Perhaps you could tell us about it and what happened?

    Antonio GIOVINAZZI: Yeah, it was really nice and I’m really proud to receive this important trophy. It was really a good Saturday, a good day, a lot of Italian fans there. So just really proud and also the list of the drivers that won the trophy before is unbelievable, so I’m just really proud, but of course now I have a quite a lot of responsibility to be there. But in the end I think it was really nice to drive on the normal roads – I did 13km. So it was really nice and it was a really good day.

     

    Q: It’s your first time here in a Formula 1 car. What are you expecting from the track?

    AG: Yeah, I don’t have many miles here. I just did two days back in 2017 with an F2 car, so it’s quite new for me the track. It’s a little bit confusing to be honest, it is difficult. I did some work on the simulator and we’ll see tomorrow. The midfield will again be really tight, like every race, but we have a good package and we can be fast enough.

     

    Q: You say you have a good package but it was a difficult weekend for the team in Canada. How confident are you of making a step forward here?

    AG: Yeah, the last three races I would say we have been struggling a little bit more compared to the first part of the season, especially compared to the first part of the season. As I say, the midfield is really tight, so small details can make a difference so we are trying to find those details and with a small few tenths you can jump quite a lot of cars. So we are working really hard with the team; I believe in my team, like I think the team is believing in me, and we just need to work hard and find the last details for a good result.

     

    Q: Carlos, coming onto you, I’d like to take you back to Canada as well. That immense stint – 67 laps on one set of tyres – just how hard was that race for you and what lessons have been learnt by you and McLaren?

    Carlos SAINZ: Yes, it was hard because it was unexpected and when you got through unexpected circumstances, you definitely have to improvise at bit. We didn’t want to pit in lap three but unfortunately one of these tear-offs got stuck in my brake duct, which meant I had to pit, remove it and try to finish in the points on a 67-lap stint. It nearly worked: we were five seconds away, of race time, from making it. I still think if we had done a perfect job, we could have still have finished in the points, so the whole weekend was a bit messy since Saturday and we missed out on a good points opportunity. I think we’ve learned from it. We know what we need to do better for France and… yeah, hopefully we can improve it.

     

    Q: It’s an increasingly tight midfield battle. McLaren are now only two points ahead of Renault. How confident are you of taking the fight to Renault this weekend?

    CS: I’m confident we can take the fight. It’s going to be difficult because I still think teams like Renault and Haas, in qualifying they have a bit more compared to us, so it means that we need to do a better job on Sundays – but it’s good fun because it’s quite an intense battle, it’s super-close, qualifying is incredibly tight and tense in Q2 and Q3. You see drivers always finding the last limit, making small mistakes – and that will give you the opportunity. I’m enjoying it a lot. I think it’s a great battle and I still think we need to do a better job on Sundays because Saturdays are a bit more difficult for us.

     

    Q: Nico, thank you for waiting. Your thoughts on this midfield battle.

    Nico HÜLKENBERG: Yeah, there is one, I guess! It’s usually pretty tight and yeah, small margins can make a big difference so it’s important to get it together, like always. Feel good and strong. Obviously this weekend is important and a big one for us but I think the approach is like every other race. You keep calm and do what you have to do, go through the ranks on Friday and Saturday – but of course we want to have another strong finish here and team result like in Canada.

     

    Q: How much progress has Renault made with its car in the last few weeks?

    NH: It seems maybe that way if you look at the results prior to Canada and then Canada. I think it was more that the car has been a victim of circumstances. I think the race pace has always been pretty good but for various reasons often we were compromised on the starting position, coming from behind. It’s very difficult to drive through the midfield in the race when there is DRS trains, when cars are difficult to race. So, honestly I feel the car has always been pretty competitive but we just had a lot of issues and also human errors that happened in the first five-six weekends of the year. And we paid that price. For me, Montreal was one of the first weekends where we just stayed clear, made no mistakes and did a solid job and straight away, we got a good reward for it.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

     

    Q: (Laurie Vermeersch – F1Only.fr) For Nico Hülkenberg. With the update of the car, and the fact that you had a good result in Canada, Do you think you would be able to offer your first podium for Renault here in France, and the first podium for you too?

    NH: I would love to  but I think that is still quite some distance away. It is true we have some updates here. But I’m sure other teams are bringing new things as well. I’m curious obviously about how it helps our car. Hopefully we can take a step towards the top three teams and eventually, at some point this year, make their lives harder. Firstly, the main target of the season it to really become clearly fourth team and this upgrade is just part of the journey, part of the process of that year. But, of course, it’s an exciting weekend for us and we want to do France proud.

     

    Q: (Luke Smith – Crash.net) There’s been a lot of debate about the penalty given to Sebastian Vettel following his fight with Lewis Hamilton in Canada. I just wondered what your thoughts were on it and whether you feel there needs perhaps to be a revision of the rules at all? And does it stifle you from having more hard racing?

    NH: There was a penalty? I did not notice that in the press! Hmm. I think my opinion and view of that is just that it’s racing, it is tough to control a car on the grass and how you then make the entry to the race track because we are simply not in full control and we don’t have normal grip. So for me, yeah, it seemed like a racing incident. In terms of rules, I think there are different judgements every weekend, different stewards so I don’t necessarily fear a reason why we need to tweak the rules there now.

    RG: So the second part of the question… I think everything that we do on track has a line and a rule and then it’s very hard to deviate from those. I believe there are too many guidelines with penalties that are applied to that guideline and sometimes two penalties that can be very different… ah two incidents that can be very different but with the same penalty. I take an example like I crossed the pit exit line in Monaco with part of my wheel, got a five second penalty and one point on my licence and Verstappen got an unsafe release in the pit lane and had a touch with Bottas and it was a five second and one point penalty because that’s what is written. So I think sometimes it’s hard for the stewards just to decide where they want to go, because everything is written but you never know if you’re in that case or that case. Talking of Seb, I think he’s the only one to know if he could have controlled the car better and left more room on the right hand side. We do not know, we do not have access to his telemetry and I think only Seb knows if he actually saw Lewis, went on the throttle on the grass and made his way fully to drive out. I won’t discuss the penalty or not, I think it’s not my job but I can only say that Seb knows if he could have left more room or not.

    PG: I’m going to agree with what has been said but I think it’s really tough when you cross the line first on track and then after we tell you you’re second. I think it depends which perspective you look at it. I think if you look at Seb’s side for sure it’s really tough and really harsh penalty. If you look at Lewis, you say that maybe I could have won the race without this incident, but I think at the end of the day, when you race Formula One cars at that speed, pushing to the limit these things happen and it’s part of racing so it’s difficult to draw a line but I think for me it was quite harsh to lose a victory that way.

    CS: Yeah, I think like any other Formula One fan I was disappointed when I saw a penalty, first of all because as a driver I think I would have done exactly the same as Seb. I would just rejoin the track and try and keep first position independently of where the car is. Was it dangerous? Potentially, but what’s not dangerous in Formula One? There’s always a bit of danger, you’re always close to the walls and I think that at any point Lewis was on the real threat of having a huge accident so there was not… I think there was no reason to give a penalty but the rule is written and the stewards applied the rule. So I also don’t understand all this criticism that the stewards have received over the last few weeks because they are just trying to do their job and they have a rule, which they need to interpret and they need to apply and that’s what they did. So it’s not the fault of the stewards, it’s not the fault of Seb, I think, it’s not the fault of Lewis either, it’s just that there is a rule that I don’t think should be there, which is a bit too drastic and a bit too black and white and doesn’t interpret well the rules of racing, that is race hard and enjoy.

    AG: Yeah, I think in the end it’s not nice to lose a race like that but I think it’s the rules, like they say and in the end the important thing is the rules are consistent at every race and to every driver, so I think this is the main thing.

     

    Q: (Mickael Guilmeau – Franceracing.fr) For Nico and Carlos, are you worried that you’re probably losing the German and Spanish GPs respectively?

    NH: Carlos, can you start?

    CS: Yeah. Am I worried? The question is if I’m worried? Yes, I’m worried because I don’t like losing my home Grand Prix and I think it’s a big loss, not only for Spanish people but for Formula One. I think Barcelona has been part of the calendar for many years, it’s a great track, great venue and everyone enjoys being there. I consider now that it’s one of the classical tracks, like I consider Silverstone or Spa, so losing Barcelona is a big loss for Formula One, I think, and myself. Does it depend on me? Not really or not a lot, it’s a matter of politics and money which I’m not involved in, so we will see what happens.

    NH: Yeah, I like going to Hockenheim. I’ve raced cars many, many times there since I’m in a single seater so that goes back to 2004/5. It’s a cool place. I think last year was a huge success, I’ve never seen Hockenheim that busy and so vibrant. So it would be sad to see it go and lose that home Grand Prix but like Carlos said, at the end of the day it’s not down to us, it’s commercial aspects but of course I would prefer to keep it on the calendar.

     

    Q: (Laurie Vermeersch – F1Only.fr) Romain, could you please tell us a few words about your special edition (helmet) design for this Grand Prix de France?

    RG: Last year, obviously, I did blue, white, red which is a very nice one, but this year I wanted to do something a bit different so I contacted Richard Orlinski because I’m a big fan of his artwork and I met him here last year and I sent him a white piece of paper and I said can you produce a helmet(design) for me for the French Grand Prix? And he answered yes, I would love to and I was super excited about it and then I received the artwork and I think it does represent Richard very well in the way that the design is done. It’s very very different to anything I’ve been wearing up to date so I like it even more and I think it’s just great that it’s part of the whole show. Richard is doing the trophy for the podium, we can see the ‘Kong’ everywhere around the racetrack and I know there will be my helmet racing on track so it’s pretty cool.

  • F1 2019: Monaco Gp Review – Hamilton’s Fortitude Ensures Win

    F1 2019: Monaco Gp Review – Hamilton’s Fortitude Ensures Win

    In 1974 it was his performance at the Monaco grand prix that prompted Enzo Ferrari into signing up a Niki Lauda. Not only would he become a three-time world champion but also complete the greatest comeback in sporting history following a near-fatal crash in 1976 at the Nordschleife. As drivers, teams, and fans paid tribute to the great champion who passed away on May 20 one thing became crystal clear Niki Lauda is an unmistakable and an unequaled part of Formula 1 lore who will never be forgotten.

    On the face of it Lewis Hamilton’s pole-to-flag victory may seem like yet another Mercedes domination. But looking a bit closer reveals a far different story and a race performance that Hamilton will remember for some time to come. It started in Saturday qualifying where the Brit had to “dig far deeper than ever” to pip teammate Valtteri Bottas to the coveted pole position by a mere margin of 0.086.

    Hamilton led off the line easily enough as Max Verstappen nearly snatched second from Bottas. Nevertheless, Bottas 2.0 was never going to yield into turn one and held his position around the outside of Sainte Devote (Turn one). Behind the first three Sebastian Vettel made a clean start to maintain fourth on the road. Charles Leclerc, following a strategy blunder in qualifying by Ferrari, didn’t have the same luxury and was forced into taking major risks to advance through the field after starting fifteenth. He pulled off a move on Lando Norris for thirteenth before, on lap seven, sending his car up the inside of Rascasse and past the Haas of Romain Grosjean. It proved one lunge too many though for the Monegasque driver who tagged the wall while attempting to put the same move on Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg. While he did get going again a right-rear puncture caused his tyre to delaminate and destroy the floor of the car which eventually put him out of the race. As pieces of Leclerc’s floor littered the circuit it prompted the appearance of the Safety Car on lap eleven.

    The top four, Hamilton, Bottas, Verstappen, and Vettel, all took the pitlane for fresh tyres but it was Bottas who would pay the biggest price. The Finn was slow into the pitbox to allow service to Hamilton first, which allowed Verstappen to be released perilously close to the Mercedes. So close in fact that he nudged Bottas into the pitwall and caused a puncture. Verstappen netted second on the road but it was clearly an unsafe release for which the stewards awarded an especially light penalty of five seconds. It was especially lenient when considering that it not only compromised Bottas’ race but also caused a collision in the pitlane amongst a plethora of mechanics.

    With 67 more laps to go Verstappen, Vettel and Bottas had fitted the hard compound tyre with the clear intention of making it to the chequered flag without making further trips to the pitlane. Hamilton however was fitted with the medium compound tyre with the same intention of not pitting again. As the race continued Hamilton became more and more worried about the state of his tyres. At one point, on lap 50, he deemed them completely “dead” and said there was no way he could hold of Verstappen who was harassing the rear of the Mercedes.

    But true to Monaco track position is king and despite a late lunge up the inside of the Nouvelle chicane Verstappen was never able to overtake the race leader. Despite the near impossibility of overtaking in Monaco Hamilton’s drive shouldn’t be undervalued. The sheer amount of mental strength required for Hamilton to maintain his position despite driving on treacherously worn down tyres is off the charts. “That was probably the hardest race I’ve had, but nonetheless I really was fighting with the spirit of Niki.”Said Hamilton.

    monacosunday3-210734Verstappen finished second on the road but due to his five-second penalty was demoted to fourth on the timing sheets. Sebastian Vettel salvaged second in yet another difficult weekend for Ferrari while Valtteri Bottas took the final step on the podium.

    Pierre Gasly took fifth and the fastest lap in his Red Bull while Carlos Sainz scored a brilliant sixth place finish for McLaren. Toro Rosso teammates Dannil Kvyat and Alex Albon were seventh and eighth as Daniel Ricciardo was ninth after a penalty for crossing the pit-exit line dropped Romain Grosjean to tenth. It was forgettable day for Alfa Romeo Racing as Kimi Raikkonen finished a lowly 17thin his 300thgrand prix weekend. Though overtaking is at a premium here there appears to be some light at the end of the tunnel, no pun intended, for Williams as George Russell finished an encouraging fifteenth on merit.

    As it turns out Hamilton confirmed after the race that despite the multitude of radio messages pitting was never on the cards. I wasn’t going to come in – I was either going to crash or finish. Honestly, I was driving around on nothing.” Hamilton’s drive to win the Monaco grand prix was a master-class of precision and mental strength that must be rightfully lauded. And to boot he extend his championship to seventeen points over teammate Bottas heading to the Canadian grand prix in two weeks time.

    All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport
  • F1 2019: Monaco Gp Preview – Win or Bust for Ferrari

    F1 2019: Monaco Gp Preview – Win or Bust for Ferrari

    Formula 1 cars have raced through the sun-kissed streets of Monte Carlo every year since 1950. Decade after decade it the Monaco grand prix stood proud as the jewel in F1’s crown. All the legends have won here from Juan-Manuel Fangio to Sir Jackie Stewart to Ayrton Senna to the great Michael Schumacher. And it is unquestionably the grand prix victory that drivers want in their CV.

    More recently it hasn’t done must to endear itself to modern-day F1 fans. And it isn’t because these fans are a lot of whingers either. It isn’t even that in an over-saturated world that they are easily bored, as some would have you believe. Most, if not all, of these fans appreciate and laud the sport’s venerated history and speak in awe of decades gone by.

    The utter precision and bravery that it demands to fling these marvels of design and engineering through the barrier-lined streets is a feat so outrageous it shouldn’t be possible. But it is. And year after year Formula 1 shows up and proves it possible. As gloriously insane a spectacle as that is it simply isn’t conducive anymore to what modern F1 fans yearn for. There is a great hunger for wheel-to-wheel racing, for overtaking, for edge-of-the-seat racing that leaves you, simultaneously, stunned and exhilarated. And this is nothing something that the Monaco grand prix can deliver anymore.

    Monaco F1 Grand Prix - RaceSeveral decades ago the story was different but with modern F1 cars it just isn’t feasible. The width of the cars alone makes overtaking in Monaco, already at a premium, nearly impossible. This means that Saturday qualifying dictates Sunday’s race, barring unreliability. In the recent past, 2016 to be precise, leader Nico Rosberg drove deliberately slowly and still no one was able to overtake the then Mercedes driver. Off the track, for which the action starts on Thursday, it is the place to be seen. Here you can rub shoulders with the rich and famous provided you have the right invite or the ability to cough up an exorbitant amount of money to make it into the paddock or onto one of the luxury yachts.

    The reality is though that most F1 save for months, even years, to make it to a racetrack somewhere in the world and hardly entertain the thought of being able to attend a grand prix on the French Riviera. It seems nearly unthinkable to imagine an F1 calendar with the Monaco grand prix. But what it even more inconceivable is that those who tend to the sport do not take into account what the fans want and can afford.

    Monaco Grand Prix 2014 Safety CarFor the foreseeable future there is a Monaco grand prix and this weekend someone will again loft the famous first place trophy into the air as the winner. In recent years Mercedes have struggled with equal tyre warm-up across both axles of their car. However, recent form in Singapore, also a street-track, suggests that they have begun to get on top of the issue. Valtteri Bottas will be interesting to watch here, as Monaco has never been a strong circuit for the Finn. It’s a good place then to show that new-for-2019 Bottas is not only a force to be reckoned with but also a bonafide championship contender.

    Red Bull won here in 2018 with Daniel Ricciardo despite a loss of power. It could well be Max Verstappen’s chance to shine on the famous streets provided he can keep his Red Bull out of the barrier – a feat he didn’t accomplish in 2018.

    For Ferrari, as in Spain, it’s win or bust. Anything other than the top step of the podium will be devastating to their championship aspirations that are already hanging by a catastrophically thin thread.

  • F1 2019: Spanish Gp Review – Mercedes Untouchable

    F1 2019: Spanish Gp Review – Mercedes Untouchable

    To say the Spanish grand prix was a damp squib would be generous. The circuit de Catalunya produced a dreary affair that didn’t do much for the image of Formula 1.

    But first, the rightly deserved plaudits. Just ten weeks ago Mercedes left pre-season testing with the firm belief that they would have to work overtime to catch up to a seemingly imperious Ferrari. Far and wide the expectation were that this would be the year the Italian team hit the ground running. In fact, they were tipped to dominate, at least, the opening rounds of the 2019 season. How quickly reality has decimated those predictions.

    Up and down the paddock the teams arrived at the first European race of the season with various updates they’d hope would increase the pace of their car. Not least of all, Ferrari arrived with a raft of upgrades from rear-wing endplates to the front-wing, to a completely new internal combustion engine. But still it fell significantly short of Mercedes.

    Valtteri Bottas spectacularly scored a third consecutive pole position by trouncing his teammate Lewis Hamilton by six tenths of a second. It was a big statement by the Finn but it wouldn’t go unanswered for too long. Elsewhere, Seb Vettel managed third on the grid while another error in quali meant Charles Leclerc was fifth quickest behind Max Verstappen’s Red Bull.

    barcelonasunday13-815749Hamilton’s answer to Bottas came quickly as he scythed into the lead of the race as soon as the lights went out. Though Vettel had a decent getaway from the line he soon found himself on the outside of turn one with nowhere to go which allowed Verstappen into third. Bar a few moments in the race when Bottas closed the gap slightly there was little for Hamilton to be concerned about as he strolled to a third win in Spain.

    Verstappen who easily had the measure of Ferrari on the day joined the Mercedes teammates on the podium. For Ferrari it wasn’t only yet another day to forget in terms of their lack of pace but also for yet more dubious strategy calls. Early on in the race it was clear that Leclerc had pace in hand over Vettel who had flat-spotted his left-front tyre into turn one. With the top three disappearing up the road it seemed the obvious choice to release Leclerc. But the pitwall spent several laps apparently discussing the switch. Eventually, Vettel himself offered to let Leclerc by.

    By the first round of pitstops Hamilton emerged with a nearly ten second lead over Bottas while Verstappen effortlessly held onto third. Both Vettel and Leclerc suffered a rear-left issue in their respective stops. Although the delay in the pitbox didn’t necessarily affect either Ferrari driver’s ultimate position it is yet another sign of a team in trouble. At this stage Ferrari split the drivers’ strategy with Leclerc on the hard tyre and Vettel on the medium.

    However, for several laps Vettel, on the much quicker compound, was stuck behind Leclerc. Chaos reigned at Ferrari as neither side of the garage seemed to know that the other was on the opposite strategy. By the time Ferrari pitwall caught up, and Vettel was let by Leclerc, the slim chance at the final step on the podium was gone.

    The comedy of errors from Ferrari is yet again an indication of a team that it miles away from being able to challenge Mercedes much less beat them. Ferrari may yet win a few races in 2019 but from their display in Spain it seems highly unlikely that they will make a legitimate charge on either championship this season.

    2019 Spanish GPA late race Safety-car, deployed for a turn one clash between Lando Norris and Lance Stroll, threatened to inject some excitement into the otherwise monotonous race with a fifteen-lap sprint to the chequered flag but it never happened. It was a rather docile end to what is expected to be the last Spanish grand prix before Zandvoort takes over the mid-May slot in 2020.

    With Vettel and Leclerc in fourth and fifth Pierre Gasly was sixth for Red Bull. Kevin Magnussen was seventh for Haas ahead of home-favourite Carlos Sainz in eighth. After pulling of several impressive overtakes Daniil Kvyat was ninth for Toro Rosso as Romain Grosjean took the final point on offer in tenth.

    At least for now it appears that there is no end to Mercedes’ domination in sight. Even at the height of Ferrari’s dominance in the early 2000s and Red Bull’s stellar run in the mid 2010s they couldn’t deliver a staggering five consecutive one-two victories as Mercedes have done in 2019. Though there are several months and a lot of racing to go this season some would say that the writing is on the wall.

    All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport
  • 2019 Spanish Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    2019 Spanish Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    DRIVERS – Carlos SAINZ (McLaren), Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari), Pierre GASLY (Red Bull Racing), George RUSSELL (Williams), Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes) 

    Q: Carlos, welcome home. You’ve said that this is the most important race of the year, just tell us why that is and tell us what you’ve been up to in the build-up?
    Carlos SAINZ: Thank you and welcome to Spain, beinvenidos. Yeah, a special race for everyone I guess, but for me in particular because it’s my home race. I’m one of those lucky drivers on the grid to have a home race to enjoy with the fans and the Spanish people. It’s my fifth now and it’s incredible how time goes by so quickly. I remember my first time here in 2015 like it was yesterday. Yeah, looking forward to enjoying it, spending some extra time with the fans and the media of course and that’s it.

    Q: Have you had more attention now that you are the only Spanish driver on the grid?
    CS: Honestly I don’t feel it. I don’t feel like I get more or less attention. Probably this weekend I’ll be quite busy. But it’s not something that really affects me much or it’s not something I’m noticing in particular, but if it does happen I guess it’s not a bad thing.

    Q: You’ve finished in the points every time you’ve raced here in Barcelona. How confident are you of continuing that trend this weekend?
    CS: Well, I think one of the main reasons for that is that this track has always suited the car I’ve been racing with. I think I’ve struggled in the past with top speeds and long straights in the cars that I’ve been racing with and in Barcelona that deficit was always reduced. So it meant my cars that I was racing here were a bit better. But also I think I’ve always been comfortable in this track. I’ve had some success also in lower categories. I like the track, I like the challenge, I like racing with the fans behind me. I think after this week, what happened to Liverpool, you can also see that having a crowd behind you also helps and at least to me it always helps.

    Q: Good luck for this weekend, thank you for that. George, coming to you. It’s been a difficult start for you and the team this year. How important is this race in establishing a development path for the car? Are you aware of anything new?
    George RUSSELL: Well, there were a few things on the plan but unfortunately, after the incidents in Baku, they sort of shuffled things back a bit. But it’s normal that every race that we have some things to test. At the moment we’re probably slightly different to other teams because we’re trying to test to understand our limitations and to try to bring something greater a bit further down the line, because obviously we are quite far behind at the moment and we need to find a sizeable chunk.

    Q: What about from a driving point of view, how are you developing as a driver?
    GR: I think very well to be honest. I think it’s a great opportunity for me, being slightly under the radar, slightly less pressure off my shoulders. Really I’m only fighting with Robert let’s say. I’m not really interested in that. I want to be fighting with the guys further up the grid and I’m working really closely with the team and with Robert actually because, as I said, we’re not interested in fighting for 19th place.

    Q: You’re working closely with the team, but what about with Patrick Head? He’s back as a consultant with Williams. How have those discussions gone with him?
    GR: yeah, Patrick’s a great guy. He’s going to bring some motivation and some great spirit to the team, with obviously all of his knowledge. So much history with Williams as well, so I think it will be a positive step.

    Q: Thank you very much. Pierre, coming on to you. We’ve seen progress with you at every grand prix this year; you’ve been chipping away at it. I wonder if you could give us a little bit more detail on what have been the issues with the car, and is it now more to your liking? 
    Pierre GASLY: Yeah, quite a lot of things happened since the beginning of the season I think, overall. Things don’t really come our way so far, but we can see progress. I can feel I’m getting more comfortable inside the car and the direction we are taking is working and making me feel better. I think we saw some progress in Baku. We had penalties and unfortunately I had to retire in the race, but we are going in the right direction.

    Q: You say you had progress in Baku. A lot has been made of Ferrari’s power unit upgrade this weekend, but Honda brought an upgrade to Baku. What can you tell us about it?
    PG: As we said in Baku, I think it was mainly on the reliability side. So I think everything is going as expected on the PU side. I think Honda is pushing massively into bringing new upgrades this season as well. But I think we are really pleased with what they have achieved since the beginning of the season in terms of performance and reliability. Of course we always want more, and we know Ferrari and Mercedes are also pushing and are still a bit faster than we are. But I think with the development we will catch progressively.

    Q: Now, you’ve raced Max Verstappen for many years. How would you assess the job he’s doing this year? Has he surprised you?
    PG: I mean I’ve always known he’s one of the most talented guys, but yeah, I must say he is really good at extracting the maximum from the package at the moment. For me it’s really good to be next to him at the moment, use his experience with the team, with Red Bull Racing, with the car, to see a bit what he does to extract the maximum from the package that we have. He has been driving really well, really consistently, so it’s definitely a good benchmark to me.

    Q: Thank you Pierre, best of luck this weekend. Valtteri, coming to you: world championship leader, best ever start to a season, double the number of points as this time last year. People look for a reason why things happen. Do you have an explanation for why things are going better this year than last year?
    Valtteri BOTTAS: There are many things in this sport that can affect things for sure. Sometimes you’re more lucky for sure, sometime very much less so, but I honestly think why I’ve been able to improve year by year is work. Work with the team; work with my ability; focus on all the single details, and if you work hard it’s only a matter of time before things start to go right. Obviously I’m pleased with season, how it has been started compared to recent ones, that’s very positive. But also one of the things is as a team – the level we have been able to perform at in these first four races has been really impressive. It’s not only me, it’s the team, but it’s a good battle with Lewis at the moment.

    Q: You have a new race engineer this year. How has that shaken things up on your side of the garage? 
    VB: Yeah, I have a new engineering team completely, race and performance engineer, and whenever you have new people around it makes you think about some things differently. It can open up some new routes on the set-up and the direction. It has started really well. We have been learning a lot as an engineering team all the time and it’s getting better and better. So far, so good.

    Q: Now your boss Toto Wolff says Mercedes have been lucky at some races this season. Would you agree with that? 
    VB: Well, I think we have done a great job as a team and at the level we’ve been performing we deserve these results at the moment. Sometimes we might get lucky, like Bahrain, where obviously it was due to other teams failures that we got the one-two, but it meant that we were the most reliable car at that race. So it’s not about luck, I think it’s mostly how the team is performing.

    Q: Thank you. Sebastian, we’re heading into race five, what’s the mood in the Ferrari camp?
    Sebastian VETTEL: Good.

    Q: You’ve got a lot of upgrades coming this weekend. Do you need a faster car or a more driveable car? What are you hoping for from these upgrades? 
    SV: Well, we hope to improve the car obviously. We introduced some bits in Baku already last race and another set of new parts here. Obviously we want to make the car faster here and there. I think we were reasonably quick but not quick enough overall to put the cars on the front row at every event. We’re lacking a little bit, but I think overall the package is promising. We know that we have a strong car; we’ve struggle a bit to put it together, so to answer your question, probably a bit of both.

    Q: It’s clear that you have a big fight on your hands, particularly with Mercedes. How is the team reacting to that compared with previous seasons, from an internal perspective?
    SV: Well, every year is different. As I said, the spirit is good, the team is in good shape, so we’re looking forward to come here, we’re confident about the parts we’ve brought here, we are introducing a new engine as well, so we’ve got some stuff that wee think should help us to be stronger than the last races. And as I said, the spirit is good. Comparing to previous years, at this point last year we were in a better place, we had won some races and overall we’d been more competitive, but nevertheless I think the spirit is as good or better than last year.

    Q: Before I open this up to the floor, it’s the UN’s global road safety week, something that all of you guys contributed to earlier on in the year when you helped produce a video. I’ve got a question to each of you, which is: what can everyday road users learn from Formula One drivers. 

    SV: Obviously we try to go as fast as we can, which is not a good idea on the roads, so my initial response would be ‘not that much!’ But we are very professional, we try to obviously control every situation that we are in, and I think we are very lucky that we can push ourselves to the limit on the race track, so there’s no need to try to do something funny or odd outside the track. I think, as much as we respect ourselves on the track, you should respect other people that are participating and trying to get from one place to another. The road, or the track, you’re not on your own. That’s something that you hear many times from racing drivers at any time they raced in Formula One or other categories, that they respect the other people that raced with them. In the same way, you should respect other drivers that share the road with you.

    CS: Basically, what Seb has said. You must not behave like an idiot on the road on the road. Respect everyone – and wear your seatbelt. I think those two things are the most important.

    VB: We never have mobile phones in the cars – so that’s something everyone can learn not to use them.

    PG: Yeah, I agree with all the comments. I think most of us have been also involved in some loss from road car accidents. In my case, I have been, and I think safety is the most important thing. Respecting others, and yeah, just be responsible when you’re on the road. You’re not by yourself, you have other people around and yeah, I think it’s important to take care of the lives of other people around, and also of your own life. As Seb says, we don’t give a great example on track because hopefully we have the chance to drive really fast on track, but when we get to the road, we must be really responsible and be careful of others.

    GR: I think it’s important to respect the road. On a race track, you know what’s around the corner, whereas on the road, anything could be there: could be a small child crossing the road or whatever. You have to respect the road: it’s not a racetrack.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – Globoesporte.com) To Sebastian. You said in February your feeling about the new car was very good since the first moment. You got the fastest time after eight days here. What happened that you didn’t get in the races the same good performances – and do you believe you can repeat this weekend what you experienced here in February and March?
    SV: The honest answer is we don’t know entirely. Obviously the car was really good in testing. We arrived in Australia and we struggled a little bit to feel the same. I think the first four races for us have been a little bit up-and-down. There were stretches where the cars felt really good and other parts where the car hasn’t – but deep down we know that the car is strong. So, we are trying to put the bits together and trying to understand. We haven’t found the silver bullet – but in the last ten years I never found the silver bullet so I don’t think it exists. It’s really getting down to the detail, trying to understand more and more, trying to understand the conditions that we face, and trying to obviously improve and make sure it doesn’t happen again. Now, this weekend will be interesting for us because obviously we had such a good feeling and it’s not so long ago. I’m pretty sure I remember how the car felt and it will be interesting to see how it behaves the next couple of days. But I’m quite confident if we can get to that level then we should be very competitive. As I said, on top of that, we have some new stuff, so let’s see. I can’t give you an exact answer.

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Question to all five please. It seems very possible this could be the last time we have the Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona. It seems a race at Zandvoort, a Dutch Grand Prix, could replace it in the future. I’d just like to know what you think about the prospect of an F1 race at Zandvoort and what you would miss about this place?
    PG: I think it would be quite a shock to lose the Spanish Grand Prix because Barcelona is probably the track we have all driven on the most since Formula 4, Formula Renault, all the categories. So, hopefully an agreement can be found. I don’t mind having more races, I like races, I like racing and hopefully we can get the two in the calendar. And Zandvoort is pretty exciting if it happens. It’s a really narrow track. I’ve been there only once but it’s really challenging on the driving side. So, I think to put some F1 cars there will be pretty cool and exciting.

    VB: I’ve no information on the details and the politics of what’s going on, but obviously it would be a shame. It’s been in Formula One a long time, this track, and there’s so many fans in Spain and around Barcelona. It’s a nice grand prix for all the fans to come to, also from elsewhere. So, that would be a shame. On the other hand, I’ve raced with F3 in Zandvoort and it’s a pretty cool circuit. There’s a lot of of culture now, especially with Max  being in Formula One for a few years now, so for sure that will be a nice one – but the two combined would be obviously ideal for everyone.

    CS: Obviously for me it would be a big loss in the calendar – but as far as I know, negotiations are still on-going. I think that’s been confined. From me, wishing that all the institutions are going to do their job, they’re going to agree on something. I think it’s in the benefit of Barcelona, of Spain, of Formula One. I think a Spanish Grand Prix has a lot of history in Formula One; I think this track has a lot of history in Formula One, and it would be a shame to lose it. So, hopefully they can agree on something. Maybe not next year because it’s too late, or hopefully yes, just agree on something for the future.

    SV: It would be a shame for Carlos. For the rest of us, we’ve been here many times and I think we’d still do the testing but it’s a nice venue, it’s a nice time of year to come here, so it would be a shame. Maybe we could go somewhere else in Spain. Maybe they could build him a race track close to Madrid. Easy for you as well…

    CS: Maybe in the future I can build one myself!

    GR: I think it would be a shame to lose this circuit because it’s a great one – but on the other hand, Zandvoort is probably in my top five favourite circuits. I think it’s a really incredible circuit, it’s got so much character. Obviously safety is incredibly important these days in Formula One but I just truly hope we don’t get rid of the gravel runoffs in Zandvoort in the two high-speed corners because that’s what makes the circuit so daunting and so incredible to drive. Like I said, it would be a shame to lose Barcelona but equally I’d be very excited to race in Zandvoort.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, on Sunday it will be Mothers’ Day, at least in Finland. Would victory be a perfect present for your mother?
    VB: Of course it would! Traditionally this grand prix is the Mothers’ Day grand prix and normally my mum comes here. She’s coming this year as well, and that would be a nice gift for her. Also nice for me, to win another one.

    Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Sebastian, you’re already 35 points behind in the championship race. How imperative is it you win on Sunday. Question to Valtteri as well: do you think Lewis views you as a genuine rival for the championship?
    SV: Yeah, I wasn’t aware but I knew we were behind. At this point of the year, it doesn’t really matter by how much. I think it’s quite straightforward, we need to start scoring more points. The later we start doing that, the worse it looks. The sooner, the better. It’s pretty straightforward to be honest.

    VB: I think that’s something you’re better to ask Lewis – but I would guess so.

    Q: (Lorenzo de Linares Alvarez – momentogp.com) Carlos, as Sebastian said earlier and with the rumours of not having Barcelona next year, you won the Formula Renault at Jerez; would you like to race there in Formula One? 
    CS: What I would like the most is to have Barcelona. I think this city, this track, deserves to be in Formula One. If you could add Jerez, then even better because I (would) have two (Grands Prix in my country). And if you don’t get Barcelona, I wouldn’t mind having Jerez back. That’s pretty much my order of priorities if you ask me now. But this city and Spain, I think, deserves to be Barcelona in the F1 calendar.

    Q: (Ian Parkes – New York Times) Seb and Valtteri, after pre-season testing, as drivers, you guys generally say that you won’t know where you are as a driver, where the car is at, the team as a whole until after the first few Grands Prix of the season. We’ve had those first few Grands Prix now so could you kindly provide an assessment of where you feel you’re at at the moment on the back of those first few races, what you feel your chances are of winning the world title? 
    VB: Well, I think that obviously if you look at the results, it looks like we’ve been dominating as a team, four one-twos in a row but I think on the pure pace of the car, I think there’s not that much difference between us and Ferrari. It’s really been depending on the race weekend. For sure Melbourne we were stronger. I think on pure pace in Bahrain they were better and after that it’s been pretty close and all about fine details in qualifying and what’s been happening in the race. I would see us as not far from par with Ferrari and depending on tracks, it’s going to change and obviously this weekend with the upgrades – from my understanding, Ferrari is bringing a new power unit – see how that works and we have some new parts as well so see how those work. Can’t really count off Red Bull on this type of track and also Monaco in two weeks. It is early on in the season and as always with some regulation changes it’s going to be about the development, how much we can improve from Melbourne to Abu Dhabi.
    SV: I think that first when we were testing we were ahead. Second we were going testing I think we were a match. First race we were behind, second race slightly ahead, third, fourth race behind both in qualifying and race so at the moment we are slightly behind but we also know that it’s not a long way and then things could come our way so that’s why I said it before, the spirit is good, everybody is fired up and willing to fight and therefore I believe our chances also are as good as anybody else’s.

    Q: (Luis Vasconcelos – Formula Press) Traditionally this is not a Grand Prix where we see a lot of overtaking but this year DRS is a lot more powerful than before. Can we look forward to quite a bit of overtaking this year on Sunday? 
    GR: Yeah, probably obvious that we haven’t done much overtaking this year so I can’t really comment on that.
    SV: Yeah, I think we will see some. It depends on the race, obviously, but I think we should see some, we should definitely see more here than if we go to Zandvoort. It’s just true, no? It’s like Monaco isn’t it?
    CS: Overtaking? Yeah. Tiny bit easier this year with the DRS effect and maybe the cars being a tiny bit better to follow but overtaking in Barcelona is always difficult. You need a big tyre delta here to overtake. I think the races are one-stop and if everyone is on a one-stop unless there’s a big pace delta you are not able to overtake. If there is a race of two or three stops, one-stop, a mix, then you have a big tyre delta and that tyre delta helps you to overtake. It depends a bit on the strategy, on the tyres, but for sure the DRS is helping.
    VB: I think it’s going to be difficult still, on this type of track, but it is the nature of the track and that makes qualifying more valuable and like Carlos said, it’s a lot about strategy. If we see one stop, two stops then it could be more interesting but we’ll see.
    PG: Yeah, I agree. Barcelona is always difficult but from one year to another it can always be different so we will see this year but maybe with all the cars being slightly closer, slightly bigger, the DRS effect could make things a bit more exciting.

    Q: (Michael Doodson – Michael Doodson) Carlos, you’ve done your best to be optimistic about the future of Formula One in Spain but we’ve lost Fernando, we’re about to lose this place and worst of all, there seems to be no free-to-air television Formula One in Spain. I’ve lived here and I know how difficult it is to find it. Do you think that there’s anything that can be done, like for example you or your team bringing pressure on Liberty to make sure that Formula One gets a good deal and can be seen by ordinary Spanish people on free-to-air television? 
    CS: Well, you have me, which hopefully helps, to keep this thing going and keep the momentum that Fernando built with his success in Spain. Free-to-air television is none of my business, that’s purely Liberty and Formula One deals with the TVs which I have absolutely no access to, where I cannot put pressure. Spain normally hasn’t had a big culture for paying for watching sports like maybe now they have in the UK or in other countries but yeah, let’s see how that develops. And for the rest, yeah, just keep hoping, no? For myself, I’m going to try and do everything I can, maybe a podium this weekend  helps but I think it will not happen. I don’t know, I don’t know what I can do apart from just talking with the institutions and maybe ask and pray to keep this thing going.

    Q: (Lennart Wermke – Bild) Seb, Frankfurt’s playing in the Europe League semi-finals tonight. Will you watch the game and could it provide some extra motivation for you if Frankfurt makes it to the final? 
    SV: Yes, yes. Yeah, I will be watching, of course. Yeah. Obviously for Frankfurt it’s a huge achievement already to be in the semi-final. Anything can happen. Obviously it’s not easy but yeah, I’m rooting for them as many others will so…

    Q: (Roksana Cwik – SwiatWyscigow.pl) We had a question about Zandvoort and I would like to ask about Rio and if we lose Interlagos. What is your opinion about it? 

    (Q: It’s been reported in the media about the future of the Brazilian Grand Prix and it’s been speculated that maybe a move to Rio is on the cards).
    PG: Yeah, I saw some news about it but I don’t know exactly what’s going to happen. I love Brazil in general. Sao Paulo is a really cool track, quite challenging. I’ve been there only twice, drove twice there. I’ll be happy to continue to go there. I don’t know what’s the plan with Rio but I think I will need to wait a bit longer and see what’s going to happen.
    VB: I think the same thing. In Sao Paulo there is obviously a lot of history in Formula One, many great races have been done there. Many I remember seeing as a kid and so on but Rio would be nice. I have been there once and it’s a beautiful place. No idea for me either what’s happening behind the scenes but I’d be there for sure.
    CS: I like Sao Paulo, I like its track, this old school layout, the history it has from the nineties and also the famous title fight there in 2007. I think it brings great memories. I don’t know, I think it depends on the track they build in Rio. If they build a cool track with cool racing, I think the city’s great, from what I’ve heard. Just ask for a cool track with cool racing, good overtaking and a fun track for the drivers then I think we wouldn’t miss Sao Paulo as much as we will if it doesn’t go so well.
    SV: Yeah, I wasn’t aware that it’s going to happen. I heard some rumours but I think it’s a shock. I think Interlagos is a great place, a lot of history. I think the old track at Interlagos is even better than the current one but I couldn’t think of anything other than maybe the track being a little bit short that Interlagos is almost missing. Yeah, I’m really looking forward to the last race we have there. Who knows, in the future, if we go back? It’s a great place, so it’s a real shame. I’m sort of a fan of hanging on to old things. It would be nice to go back very soon. Maybe have two races in Brazil, since the crowd is usually quite amazing.
    GR: Sao Paulo was where I made my FP1 debut in 2017 so I have some fond memories there. I think it’s an amazing circuit but I think Rio’s a really cool place. It’s somewhere I’ve always wanted to go so if the rumours are true, I would be looking forward to it.

    Q: (Oliver Reuter – Express, Cologne) Seb, you compared your Ferrari with a Rubik Cube. Are you confident that the Ferrari guys are so clever that you can fit all the parts in the right direction? Did you try it yourself and are you confident that they can fix it this weekend? 
    SV: You mean the Rubik Cube or the car? The car I’ve tried, the Rubik Cube, yeah, I’ve tried as well. Easy, sub-two minutes. Yeah, I think we have a lot of clever people on board. As I’ve said before, I think this track will be interesting for us because the car was really working well pre-season so we will see how it works this weekend and how it feels in comparison but yeah, we’re working flat out, trying to make sure that we have the fastest car on the grid and we win all the races that are left.

  • F1 2019: Baku Gp Review – Bottas 2.0 Wins Again

    F1 2019: Baku Gp Review – Bottas 2.0 Wins Again

    Since joining the Mercedes team at the start of the 2017 season Valtteri Bottas has had impressive races. But there was recognition by all other drivers that if you show him a front wheel he’d, embarrassingly, give way. But the Valtteri Bottas that has been unleashed at the start of the 2019 season is far removed from the driver of the last two seasons.

    Finns are notoriously measured in how much they say and at the start of Sunday’s Baku grand prix Bottas let his peerless driving do all the talking. The manner in which he held his car inches from teammate Hamilton made it clear that he wasn’t going to budge nor was going to simply give up the lead of the race if he could help it. His statement was clear – you’re going to have to go through me. That tenacity kept him the lead of the race off the start line and he backed it up with a faultless drive to secure the fifth win of his F1 career.

    Mercedes, quite literally, could not have started the season in a more perfect manner than scoring a one-two victory in all four of the races so far in 2019. Operationally, there are no teams on the grid that can touch the might of Mercedes. They arrived on Friday genuinely unsure of their pace. It appeared that Ferrari easily had the measure of the circuit and a pace advantage that seemed insurmountable. But if nothing else Mercedes must be respected and lauded for the stunning work they do behind the scenes.

    2019 Azerbaijan GPIf it’s organizational brilliance at Mercedes then at Ferrari it is the calamitous opposite. The dubious decision to put both cars out on the medium compound tyre for the second session of qualifying was the beginning of Ferrari’s unraveling this weekend. Not only was the track temperature not conducive to the medium tyre but also strategically it made little sense for Sunday’s race, more on that later.

    It resulted in both drivers hitting the turn 8 wall with Leclerc coming off worst with a wrecked front suspension. Vettel was able to carry on but only managed third on the grid after failing to cash in on the slipstream benefit. Ferrari had gone from a near guaranteed front-row locked out to third and eighth on grid.

    But still they had a chance; At least until it came time to make their strategy call. Leclerc made decent headway on the more durable medium tyre in the opening stint of the race and looked set for good result, perhaps even a podium. But Ferrari has become rather infamous for mad strategic calls and it was no different in Baku. They left Leclerc out on track despite the fact that he was losing, often, more than a second per lap to the chasing pack of Bottas, Hamilton, Vettel, and Verstappen. Eventually Bottas and Hamilton made their pitstops, closed down Leclerc and passed him on track. Leclerc eventually finished fifth with a strategy only Ferrari would be able to explain. A late pitstop for fresh tyres earned the Ferrari driver the consolation of an extra point for fastest lap.

    2019 Azerbaijan GPAhead Bottas had the race firmly in control despite a late VSC (Virtual Safety Car) deployed for the stricken Red Bull of Pierre Gasly. Elsewhere the other biggest incident of the race was a misjudgment on the brakes from Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo who took out himself and Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat. To add to his blushes Ricciardo strangely reversed into side of Kvyat when trying to rejoin the track and has been given a three-place grid penalty for the next race in Spain.

    While Bottas and Hamilton secured yet another one-two victory for Mercedes Vettel trundled home third in the Ferrari. Though the German driver was only a handful of second adrift of the Silver Arrows it will be scant comfort on a weekend where Ferrari brought several updates to their car. Max Verstappen finished a solid fourth for Red Bull ahead of Leclerc in fifth.

    Twice a podium finisher in Baku Sergio Perez was sixth for Racing Point ahead of the McLaren duo of Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris. Lance Stroll made it a double-points finish for Racing Point in ninth ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in tenth who started the race from the pitlane in his Alfa Romeo.

    At the start of the season Valtteri Bottas noted that, during the off season, he’d spent a lot of time hiking in the Finnish woods and eating porridge. Whatever he discovered in those woods and whatever is in that porridge it has transformed Valtteri Bottas into an uncompromising and unapologetic racing machine. Long may it continue.

    All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport 
  • F1 2019: Chinese Gp Quali Report – Bottas leads Merc One-Two

    F1 2019: Chinese Gp Quali Report – Bottas leads Merc One-Two

    Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas has taken pole position for the 2019 Chinese grand prix.

    By a mere 0.0023 Bottas bested teammate Lewis Hamilton and in the process ensure a front row lock out for Mercedes in Formula 1’s 1000th race event.

    Sebastian Vettel put his Ferrari in third, some three tenths adrift, and ahead of teammate Charles Leclerc in fourth. Leclerc, who scored his first podium finish in Bahrain, was merely ten milliseconds off Vettel but still bemoaned the fact that he “messed up” his final run in Q3.

    Elsewhere, neither Red Bull driver was able to improve on their first run in Q3 as both Verstappen and Gasly missed out on crossing the finish line in time. As it stands Verstappen will start fifth with teammate Gasly alongside in sixth. Daniel Ricciardo got the better of his Renault teammate Nico Hulkenberg and the pair will line up seventh and eighth for the Chinese grand prix.

    Similar to Red Bull neither Haas too tripped over themselves and failed to make the finish in time to set a laptime. Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean will start the race in ninth and tenth respectively.

    Daniil Kvyat in the Toro Rosso is the first driver, in eleventh, with free tyre choice. Kimi Raikkonen, who reported a loss of power on the straits, will start thirteenth in the Alfa Romeo. The Finn’s failure to advance to the top ten shootout breaks a run of 53 races in the top ten.

    Alex Albon is likely to start the Chinese grand prix after a hefty crash in Free Practice Three saw the Toro Rosso driver unable to partake in the qualifying session.