F1 Madness

Tag: qualifying

  • 2017 Mexico Grand Prix: Post Qualifying Press Conference

    2017 Mexico Grand Prix: Post Qualifying Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

    2 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)

    3 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    TRACK INTERVIEWS
    (Conducted by Damon Hill)

    Sebastian, what a great lap, tell us all about it?

    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, it was quite a lap I have to say, I’m really, really happy. It’s very difficult here. It’s very slippery and difficult to get everything in one lap. I had a little bit in the first sector and I managed to get that right, so I had a good start. Then I had a bit of a moment in I think Turn 6. I nearly lost it there, I had to go down to first gear, but I didn’t lose any time and then I knew in the last sector if I just kept it clean across the line it should be enough and it was, so really, really happy.

    You’ve had to work really hard, I think Ferrari have really been working all weekend trying to get close. Is the car the racecar you want to have tomorrow?

    SV: Yeah, yesterday wasn’t that good for us in all honesty, but I think overnight we improved, we had a lot of things we worked on and changed and they all worked. So for now I’m really happy. For tomorrow, we’ll see what happens, but the race pace should be good.

    Max, what a tremendous effort. We really thought you had pole there. I expect you thought you had it too. Great performance, great qualifying, tell us about your laps?

    Max VERSTAPPEN: I’m super annoyed. I don’t know. Actually in Q3 it just got a bit more difficult, couldn’t really get the tyres to work. Of course, yeah, second is good, but not in the way I want.

    Well, I’m thinking you probably feel like you deserve a podium don’t you?

    MV: Well, deserve is a big word but I gave it my all today in qualifying but it was just not enough. I really wanted that pole position but at least we have a decent starting position.

    Well, we’ve seen what you can do today, what a terrific effort. Thank you very much for showing us what your talent is all about. Lewis, you tried everything today, but maybe the Mercedes is not the car for this track today. What’s going on there?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah, I mean those guys did a great job, they’re obviously very quick. I gave it everything I could, honestly I think the last lap could have been a couple of tenths quicker but still I wouldn’t have been able to match these guys.

    As far as the championship goes, you’re not concerned with where Ferrari is, where Seb is, they’ve done everything they need to do?

    LH: We’re still in the running for the win I think. We’ll see what happens with Max, but I’m hoping that I get to at least have a battle with one of them.

    Big day tomorrow, wishing you all the best for tomorrow. Seb, what needs to happen? You’ve got a slender chance left now for the world championship. You just have to go down that empty track and take the race for yourself do you?

    SV: I mean we have to maximise every session, whether it’s practice or qualifying. Obviously today is really important and tomorrow we see. You know yourself, it’s not as much in my control as I would like it to be, so it depends on what Lewis is doing, but for us we go all out. We attack and see what we can do. We deserve a good result, Ferrari deserves a good result so let’s see what we can do tomorrow.

     

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Well, Sebastian it looked like a great lap, but let’s start by talking about 50 pole positions. What does that number mean to you?

    SV: It sounds like a lot. I guess it is a lot. I don’t know really what to say. It’s a big number. I’m very, very happy with today. Before qualifying I didn’t look at it that way, so I was surprised myself to hear just now. I think every session you try to get the best. Quali has obviously been tough for us, and really rewarding when it worked, just like today. So really, really happy with the session that we had, with the lap I had at the end. So I think at the moment, right now, that probably means more than the raw number, but for sure overall it’s a great achievement.

    And how confident were you of getting pole position in Q3 given the pace of the man sitting on your right?

    SV: Yeah, he was very quick in Q2. I don’t know where he pulled that one from, so we had to stretch, I think, all of us. It’s very difficult around here because there is not much running I believe. The altitude has a different affect on the asphalt in terms of ageing, so it’s very slippery for all of us, very easy to do a mistake, very difficult to find that limit, to understand where exactly it is, where you can push, where you can’t, where you have to be careful. And then he foes four tenths quicker than everybody else, it’s a bit “how do I do that?” But I knew if I get the first sector together then I’ll have a better chance and yeah, it worked just in the end, so I was really happy with my first sector, so I was really happy with my first sector. And then I was able to build on that. Had a moment in six, where I nearly lost the car, but managed to go through without any time loss. From there I felt really comfortable and again able to push to the end. Obviously when I saw how much I was up crossing the line, I knew it would be close, but it should be enough. But I didn’t know what the others are doing; I guess the track improved a bit. When I heard it was enough, then, yeah, it’s like an explosion in the car. I had one yesterday with the extinguisher but today was a real one, so I’m really happy.

    Q: Coming to you Max, Sebastian has just been eulogising about your pace in Q2, so how frustrated are you that you’re not the man sitting in the middle this afternoon?

    MV: I mean you always try to go for pole position and Q2 was looking really good but somehow in Q3 I couldn’t switch the tyres on and, yeah, I couldn’t go faster, simple as that. On this track, it’s really slippery and for me the front tyres were not working, so just a bit of understeer and, on this track, you need to turn the car very quickly in the very low-speed corners and that was not happening in Q3, so I couldn’t improve. Yeah, of course, I mean second is still a good place but I think, yeah, especially after Q2 I was hoping for more.

    Q: Is there anything you might have done differently, with hindsight in Q3?

    MV: It’s difficult to say. Basically, we did exactly the same thing as in Q2 but both sets, they didn’t really switch on as well as I had in Q2. Somehow also the last sector was a bit more difficult. So yeah, really difficult to understand but sometimes you have that in qualifying, that you put a new set on and somehow it’s a bit more tricky.

    Q: Lewis, can you just talk us through that session from your point of view – because the gap between yourself and pole is unusually big.

    LH: Well, firstly, congratulations to Sebastian with the Number 50. I tried to deny him it but it wasn’t to be this weekend. Yeah, I think it was a difficult session in general. I think it’s been a difficult weekend, I would say, overall. As Max was saying, it’s very slippery here. I think some of the issues we have with the car are a little bit highlighted here. Perhaps not as big as places like Singapore but a little bit more here. I gave it everything I could. I think the gap really is a couple of tenths more. My last lap I was two-tenths up and I didn’t finish it, but still that’s a significant gap. I think they just did a great job. I think their car was working a little bit better this weekend, and yeah, we’re still there in the fight. I think our long run pace is definitely better than our qualifying pace.

    Q: I was going to say, you did a very long run in practice. How confident are you of your race pace?

    LH: As I said, the race pace is good, so not worried about that – but you can’t overtake here, you need a big delta to overtake, I think it’s over a second delta to the car in front, as far as I’m aware – 1.3s or something – so positioning is important but there’s a long way down to Turn One. So, we should have some fun tomorrow.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Rodrigo Amozurrutia de Anzorena – Récord) Sebastian, will it be special for you to win the race where maybe Lewis will get the World Championship.

    SV: Well, I don’t think we need to debate what’s the bigger cup. For us, it’s pretty straightforward. I don’t think it’s much point looking at what others are doing, what Lewis is doing. I think the position we are in, we need to try and maximise everything we can and then, depends on him. It’s pretty straightforward, I would say but for sure this is a very nice race, a very nice atmosphere and I think tomorrow there will be even more people than today and yeah, last year I think we were fighting for the podium and weren’t sure who was supposed to be there, so this year I hope that y’know.

    MV: I’m used to it, I’ve had practice…

    SV: … so when we get to the podium, we end up there and deserve it.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – Globoesporte.com) Max, what influence the new engine of Renault engine you use already in Austin, this qualifying? And Lewis, maybe you have some problem in the power unit. Are you worried concerning the race?

    MV: A tickle difference. But y’know, every step is positive so I think they can learn a lot for next year, which is positive already, in terms of reliability, so it’s always good to already have that right now.

    And Lewis, any engine dramas for you? We did hear you in practice on the radio.

    LH: It’s not something I’m thinking too much about but it has not been a clean weekend in terms of the power unit, so we’ll see what happens.

    Q: (Rik Spekenbrink – Ad Sportwereld) Question for Max. What do you make of the incident with Bottas?

    MV: Which incident? I was on the inside, he was just doing his line and he locked up, so there was no incident.

    We heard there was some investigation

    MV: That can be. But for me, there is no incident.

    Q: (Mariana Jiménez – Record) Lewis, you said the race pace is better for tomorrow than the qualifying but what could stop you from winning tomorrow and would you like to get your fourth title, even though you don’t win tomorrow?

    LH: Yeah, I mean that’s obviously the goal. Pole position was obviously the goal today but it just wasn’t meant to be. Honestly it was so close through practice and I think it’s the first time it’s been so close between five or six of us which is exciting and put us all under pressure but as I said, a lot of very good qualifying sessions I’ve had this year… it wasn’t at the top of those. But I think, as I said, overtaking here is very difficult but the start’s going to be fun. I’m hoping I’m able to move forwards there if possible and then after that it’s a one stop strategy here so it’s really how you look after your tyres’ degradation but there’s not really much degradation if any. I think in the race it’s going to be very very tough but I hope that I will remain at least close if I’m not where I want to be in turn one but yeah, winning here would be…. If you’ve seen the crowd today it’s such a spectacle from above. I saw the camera from the helicopter, it looks incredible. There’s a lot of energy in the crowd so to do it on Mexican soil would be pretty neat.

    Q: (Jim Vertuno – Associated Press) For all three of you: at one point in different points of the race last year you all had issues, adventures around that first turn. How do you think the kerbs and the changes there are going to affect how aggressive you can be off the start between the three of you?

    SV: Well, you don’t want to go there, simple as that. I know that last year we had a bit of discussion here and there but personally I don’t like… we might as well put a wall. I think for the guys it’s probably the same. We all try to get the corner, every time we go round. Obviously sometimes we don’t but it is what it is.

    MV: I do think this year it’s normally a little bit easier. We don’t arrive as fast and we have more downforce compared to last year so the locking is a little bit less of an issue but of course turn one, if you really want to go for it, you can always brake a bit too late but I think those kerbs really stop you from like braking ridiculously late, for sure.

    LH: I don’t really have much more to say, it’s the same.

    Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) Max, you’ve often shown that you’re a young man without fear, you don’t care if it’s a red car, silver car and you’ve often said that these guys have everything to lose and you don’t. Are you planning to take advantage of that tomorrow?

    MV: You’re always careful. I think everybody here in the paddock wants to win races so if you see that opportunity of course you go for it but I think you always respect your competitor.

    Q: (Frank – Woestenburg De Telegraaf) Max, you’ve been here a couple of days. The altitude, is that a factor for you?

    MV: Personally not, because it’s actually quite nice because you don’t sweat as much but of course for the car it’s a lot of downforce loss, I think it’s even less than Monza so yes, it’s a bit more tricky and then also with the track I think in general being a bit slippery, then with a lot of loss of downforce compared to normal tracks yeah, that’s a bit more difficult but personally or like physically it’s all good.

    Q: (Carlos Alberto Velázquez – Reforma News) Lewis, have you thought how you will celebrate tomorrow if you win your fourth championship here in Mexico?

    LH: I haven’t and I won’t think of it until I achieve it.

  • 2017 United States Grand Prix: Post Qualifying Press Conference

    2017 United States Grand Prix: Post Qualifying Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    2 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

    3 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)

     

    TRACK INTERVIEWS

    Cowboy Lewis, and you rode that car beautifully around there and you even left a couple of ‘11s’ on the lap coming down out of Turn 1. The first sector wasn’t perfect but the lap was good enough to beat everybody today?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah, the team have done a great job. The track was very difficult today, guys. With the wind picking up, you’ve got a headwind into Turn 1, a tailwind out of Turn1. Through the fast section, sector one, there’s tailwind and then you’ve got a headwind into Turn 9 and so it’s shifting the whole way through the lap, so you’re kind of gauging how hard you can push and how hard you have to let off. But that’s why I love this track, man. It’s such a fantastic circuit to drive, I love it, especially when you have a car you can really drive, it’s great.

     

    And the heat as well, on those open parts of the circuit, it is so intense.

    LH: I mean, it’s always hot in the car. I think it’s just the right temperature today. It’s not too hot, the sun’s out, we can at least enjoy it, I mean the guys out here are not getting a sun tan but still… It’s going to be a great race tomorrow, it’s going to be a tough one, because looking after the tyres in these conditions is still tough but I’m the best prepared I can be.

     

    Sebastian, you needed this front row, man, didn’t you, to take this championship fight, to keep the pressure on him, to keep the heat on him. How much did you have to draw out of yourself for that lap, because it was a brilliant lap?

    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, I was very happy in the end, but I was lacking a bit the rhythm, especially the transition of the first to second sector, it was quite tricky with the wind, so I struggled a bit there. But finally I got it right, in the last run, when it mattered. As you said, important obviously to get front row, because I believe our race pace is really good. I quali all year we’ve been just a little bit behind, so well done to Lewis, obviously, he did two great laps and yeah, looking forward to tomorrow now.

     

    All the talk this week has been about what Lewis needs to do to win the title this weekend. What you need to do is win this race, do you think you can?

    SV: Not just here, it would be good to win also the others. But we go day by day. We were lacking a bit of running yesterday. Today was a lot better. I was getting up to speed and it was there when it mattered, but the race is tomorrow. It’s a great track, a great place, a lot of people, so it should be a good day tomorrow.

     

    And a big run up to Turn 1 as well. Well done, many congratulations. Valtteri, not quite the front row today. I guess a little bit disappointed but the pace is there, the car looks great, how confident are you feeling for the race?

    Valtteri BOTTAS: Definitely disappointing, you know. It was looking good for us and quite close with Lewis as well at some points, so disappointing, but there is always tomorrow.

     

    Well done. Lewis, back to you. Nick is here this weekend, adoring fans in the grandstand, which is pretty much your second home here in the States. I know how much you love it, you wrapped up your third title here, is it going to be four tomorrow?

    LH: I think It’s highly unlikely that will be the case. Sebastian did a great job today to bring the Ferrari back up there. Ultimately all I can do is the best I can of my abilities and we have to work as hard as we can to get maximum points. Sebastian is right there, so unless he makes a silly mistake, which is unlikely, he’s a four-time world champion, then we’re going to be seeing it continue on to other races.

     

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Lewis, how good was that opening lap [of Q3], the one that followed and generally how are you feeling?

    LH: I feel fantastic. I feel very fresh and happy and naturally always wish that qualifying would go longer because it’s the most fun session of the weekend. In general, very happy with all of qualifying. The last was not spectacular but up until then generally very, very strong. The team have done an exceptional job all weekend in filtering all of the data that we’ve got to really put the car in the right place and enable me, again, have the opportunity to exploit that. This is such a fantastic circuit, because just the layout and the way the wind comes and intertwines with the corners, it really makes it challenging, you know, so when you are going through the ‘Esses’ it’s not all the same through them, then you come out and you’ve got a headwind and then a crosswind and then you’ve got a headwind and a tailwind. So you’re constantly dancing with the wind. That I do love. On the last lap, I got caught out by a bit of a gust but that’s how it goes but yeah really happy to be up here, especially in front of such a great crowd.

     

    And you had a low 1m33s on that first run, when you went out for that final run did you think that with a perfect lap it might be possible to get a high 1m32s or was that too much to hope for?

    LH: It never even crossed my mind! I don’t even know what time I did if I’m really honest! What was it?

     

    I think it was a 33.2 or something like that.

    LH: I think I was up on that last one. I think on a perfect lap I could get down into the 32s but it’s very hard out there in those conditions.

     

    Very well done, great job. Sebastian from your point of view it’s a story of recovery really. We saw your old chassis being wheeled out yesterday, a new chassis being built up overnight. Tell us about that process, how you got back into it, and how you feel to be able to split the Mercedes?

    SV: I think we are very happy with the result. It was obviously crucial to get that final run. Bit of a slow start. We had a couple of problems, I didn’t feel comfortable yesterday with the car, and we did hardly any laps. Obviously I lost the car very early in FP2, which didn’t help and I thought that there’s something not right. Obviously a big job overnight. The team was fantastic, the mechanics now had a couple of weekends in a row with a lot of work, with last-minute engine changes, now a chassis change overnight and they didn’t break the curfew. You know you’re allowed to use a certain time before everybody has to leave the garages and if you do that big job there is always a threat but I think they did another re3cord time to change. Obviously it’s not what we want, but obviously today was a lot better, I was much happier with the car. I’m glad it worked out. And not finding the rhythm straight away in quali, I struggled a bit in a couple of corners but I knew if I get them right I should be able to make a big step in the final run, so I was very happy. I think in the end we were closer than probably we even expected so for today, but for tomorrow I think if the car behaves like today it should be good.

     

    Valtteri, conditions this weekend for this session the hottest of the weekend so far, how did the car feel and what are you expecting from the race?

    VB: Well, as Lewis said it was quite a tricky session with the wind and every lap was always a little bit different. We have been making quite big set-up changes in the weekend and definitely made the car quicker but quite tricky car for me to drive at least. I just struggled really with the pace and the laps they felt good, I just couldn’t go quicker. Lewis did a good job again.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Lewis, you are the fastest guy all weekend. Do you think in race conditions you can keep also. In Malaysia you said you had doubts in the race, is it the same case here. And to Valtteri, you did an incredible first sector, in the strongest points of Lewis in this circuit, but then the lap was not so fast as the first part, why?

    LH: We know we’re often good through practice and qualifying but then the races are always a tricky one for us in terms of balance. We’re not terrible but you would think that we’re generally stronger in qualifying than we are in race, that’s been the case all year. But I think we’re good. I think I’ve got a good set of tyres, I think I’ve got a good balance for tomorrow. I’m looking forward to a good race with Sebastian and Valtteri. This is a track where you can follow a lot closer and even overtake as that race me and Sebastian had back in 2012 here, which was great, but I don’t plan on him getting that close but we shall see. But I think we will be OK tomorrow.

     

    VB: I didn’t understand the question.

     

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) I said you did a fantastic first part of the lap, you were the fastest guy at that moment, but then the rest of the lap was not so good.

    VB: In Q3. Yeah, I couldn’t improve in the second run. The first run felt OK, but Lewis managed to gain somehow more from Q2 to Q3 and I couldn’t really. I couldn’t find any track improvement. Like I said it was not easy sessions, every lap was a bit different but there were no big mistakes, just small things here and there as I feel for all the drivers but there was just this big gap.

    Q: (Christian Menath – Motorsport-Magazin.com) Question for Sebastian. Would you compare the situation you had today in Q3 in the last lap with the one you had in Japan where you saw the gap was quite to the front runners? Or was it completely the opposite – because you knew he had to be a bit more on the safe side to get these two corners right. And which two corners was it?

    SV: Well, I struggled a bit into Turn Eight, so Eight-Nine then it’s a succession up the hill. Obviously, the wind was quite tricky all day really. In the morning, I thought it was fine. In the afternoon, I just started on the wrong foot. It wasn’t really a question of stepping down, or calming down. It was more a question of getting it right. The shots that I had before, I obviously tried. Maybe I did take a little bit more risk but it never really worked – and then yeah, I knew what I had to get right, so I got it right. That was the most important but obviously in Japan I was fairly comfortable, let’s say, front row, no matter what Valtteri was going to do, so I decided to take a bit more risk but it was very different here, obviously. My lap was very poor in Q3 and I knew that I had to deliver otherwise I would have been, I don’t know, not even top six maybe. Therefor the timing was just right.

     

    Q: (Jeff Gluck – Jeffgluck.com) Lewis, how has your relationship with the American fans evolved over the years? It seems like you’ve soaked up the relationship with the American fans and the adoration that they have for you. How has that evolved for you over the years here?

    LH: Yeah, I think it’s been an interesting journey for me. I think it’s… my love of America started many, many years before I even came to the States, watching movies and seeing these great cities, like New York and all over. My Mum actually saved up to bring me to New York for my 17th birthday and we had an amazing few days. It kind of grew from then. And obviously coming here, racing here, my first… my second grand prix win but first race in the US was Indy and that was an amazing feeling. A great battle that I had with Fernando, and then obviously moving here. I don’t know why it’s always gone so well for me here but there definitely is a… I do feel a lot of positivity here. It is such a great country, it’s got so much to offer. Obviously, you’ve got great mountains, great countryside, great seaside, great food. There’s not really anything it doesn’t have. Plus you’ve got NASA here, which is pretty awesome. Rocket! I like that. So yeah, and I generally feel like, obviously… naturally I think people, Americans really do relate to… they’re crazy into their sports, they relate to winners, and obviously the fact I’ve had the success that I’ve had here I think comes hand-in-hand with that relationship but I really do appreciate the support that I have here and it does feel like a second home for me. It’s a place that I try to spend as much time as I can in my off-time ‘cos it’s where I’m generally happiest.

     

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) A question to Sebastian. You obviously didn’t do many laps yesterday. How much could you recover in P3, in terms of race preparation?

    SV: Not much. Obviously, we had a touch of a small long run, I think two timed laps, so we’re missing a bit. As the season progresses everybody gets better in terms of reading the sessions, understanding the tyres so I don’t think we’re in any weaker position. Would have been nice to do more laps but the little laps that I had this morning were fine. I think we know what we need to do. Now we see what the conditions are like. It’s supposed to be a bit cooler, we’ll see what the wind does. We have to react to those. That’s far more important that maybe what we’ve missed, because that has an impact on how your balance is in the first stint and then how you are able to feel the car push or not and then put pressure on whoever’s in front or disappear if you’re ahead, or whatever.

     

    Q: (Luis Vasconcelos – Formula Press) Questions to Valtteri and Sebastian. For Valtteri, three-quarters of the time you’re losing to Lewis is all in the last sector, he was three-tenths quicker than you. Is there something not to your liking in the car in that kind of corner. And for Sebastian, even though it’s not as bad as in the first two years, there’s still a difference in grip on the two sides of the grid. Does that worry you for the start tomorrow?

    VB: Yes, definitely the last sector in the qualifying I did struggle more. It felt more tricky for some reason than, for example, in some of the practice sessions. There’s been things I’ve been struggling with, with this car, with the brake modulation and front-locking and transferring the weight between the four wheels. It’s fine details but just struggled to get it together. Many times 13 and 15, lost a bit of time. Sometimes I got it right but still I couldn’t match Lewis in terms of cornering speeds, etcetera – but yeah, those are the longest corners, slow speed corners and normally the bigger differences are there.

     

    And Sebastian, the grip differential.

    SV: I don’t know. We see tomorrow. I saw Formula 4 race but they start on the other side, so the polesitter starts left. Anyway, the guy who started left turned in first into the first corner, so I don’t know. I don’t think there’s a big difference. We just need to make sure the cheerleaders tomorrow stay away from that side and they can get all excited on Lewis’ side.

     

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / Speed Sport) Lewis, you mentioned the rockets. F1 has a lot of high technology. A lot of it is kept hidden. What did you like about the high technology that you got to see at NASA?

    LH: Well, to be honest, a lot of the technology I saw quite pre-dated. The most impressive thing was the big rocket that was one of the first rockets to go up in the ‘70s, and the engine technology of the most power has not progressed since then, from what they told me. That was like the best they could do with it. I think the most impressive thing for it is that it had like 1.5million pounds of torque in those five engines, and the distance of the blast of the jet was like two or three hundred metres, which was awesome. I think it was just mind-blowing to see what they were able to do. How amazing the technology, and how great the scientists were back in the ‘60s, ‘70s when they were building those space rockets, and then obviously now they’re planning more missions to the Moon, and Mars, and the new space station, I guess they’re going to have to start designing and building the new space station sometime because the life of that thing’s about to run out. I think it was just great. There’s no other country that I’ve ever been… everyone around the world knows about the journey to space. You see the movies and it’s so fascinating, so to be there and actually speak to an astronaut who was the last one to go up to the space station and is going to be the one to pilot the next mission, I was like: “Can I join you? Or we can swap jobs, I don’t mind doing your job.” It’s just mind-blowing when you think of how many intelligent people there are there working. I think there’s something like 10,000 people working at NASA but I think there was a lot more in the earlier days and there are similarities to Formula One. Obviously on a much, much smaller scale but in terms of the science. Honestly, I’m a space geek. I was there and I was asking a million questions and I’d happily go and work at NASA if I had the brains to do so. I could definitely pilot one of those ships. No problem!

     

    Q: (Les Kaiser – Speed City) Lewis you half way joked when you responded “can I do with you?” How serious would you be if they approached you in another year or two to join them?

    LH: I would go immediately. I would go tomorrow. Generally, the trips are, like, two weeks, so I’d be back in time for the next trip. After the race, jump on the Shuttle, no problem. No, I really, really would love to go. I know someone that has gone up. It was quite expensive so I don’t know how that’s going to happen. If I win the lottery then definitely, I’m going to go.

     

    Q: (Peter Habicht – The Auto Channel) Question to each of the drivers: Formula One has often been described as a space race in motorsports in comparison to other forms of motorsport. Who or what about the hundreds of people that support your cars, your efforts, impresses you the most or strikes you the strongest?

    SV: Well, if you open the bonnet and you’re allowed to have a good look, which normally people unfortunately are not, they don’t get too close to the cars, then you’ll be impressed by how much stuff there is going on, especially with the new engines that we have, how complex they are. But still, we manage to get (them to be) more and more robust, run for longer with more power so obviously in the last couple of years that has been very crucial and there has been a big step in all areas on the power unit side. But I think really the most impressive bit is how everything comes together. You know you talk about the car in the end but it’s so much more. I know we’ve got the basic stuff: four tyres and yeah, for some people the cars look similar to how they looked ten, twenty, thirty years ago but how much has changed.  And seeing all that coming together, the planning of the project and how much work is going into the project and every year build a new car which is crazy but a completely new car. You try to improve, you try to come up with new ideas, solutions, better packaging, design, materials. You want to save weight. And then to see winter time, in that regard, is very very exciting to see it coming together and then firing up for the first time, driving out on the track for the first time. It’s really the work and brains of more than a thousand people. In the end, two drivers per team who have the chance to describe the feeling to drive the car so I think that’s really one of the most exciting bits. In my opinion, that also makes it a team sport because I can’t do it on my own, I’m not even close. You need every single one and you need to… I don’t know if you can compare it to an orchestra, you need to play in sync, perfect timing and then only then are you able to come up with a competitive package because the other teams that you’re up against are so good as well.

    VB: I have to say it’s how much every single person’s work actually makes a difference. Every single woman and man in a race team, whatever areas they work on, at the factory, in the race team, on the engine side, everyone’s work matters so much. All the credit goes to every single one in the team, there’s no one person who can make the big difference. It is, as a team, it’s really interesting to see, when a team works well, together, how big a difference you can make with the team spirit, and if everyone gives 100 percent instead of 99 percent and when there’s nearly a thousand people, it makes a massive difference and that’s nice to see.

    LH: I will try and keep it short but for me it’s the technology, it’s the design. I think the most impressive part is when you go back to the factory and you see what’s going on back then, a huge group of people with great creative minds coming together and really stretching the boundaries of the rules, legality-wise and advancing technology at a crazy rate. When you look at how they’re building these engines and the amount of test components you see they’ve failed and then they are able to dissect it and improve it for the next time, that for me is just mind-blowing when I go there, and I’ve been in the sport for a long time, obviously, but to see that every year, growing and improving and the process in which they do that, particularly quality control, has come so far forward which is probably why we are able to have the reliability, and that for me is the most mind-blowing thing.

     

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) To Sebastian and Lewis: at this race we can have the world title decided and we haven’t mentioned it in this press conference. Does it come to your mind at any moment? When will you take it into consideration?

    LH: Well, I mean it’s a bit like a game of chess. Obviously right now it’s check but there’s still a long long way to go. There’s still a hundred points available. Sebastian and his team are going to be working as hard as they can as are we. Who knows? It’s going to go to the wire I still think. In the next four races, I think they are going to give it a great shot and I’m going to do my utmost to try and defend and not only defend but really maximise and win these races. I want to win these races, that’s what I’m working towards and naturally, in winning races, points come and championships are won so that’s what I’m here to do.

    SV: Well, it’s pretty straightforward. I think we have to win and then we see what happens. Obviously we are not in the position that we would like to be but still we have a chance so we go for that and it’s pretty straightforward. We have the car, we had the car to win the last three races, didn’t happen, so I don’t see why the next four races we shouldn’t have the package to win so we start tomorrow.

     

    LH: Buddy, do you have a question for us? Do you have a question for us? You sure?

     

    Q: (“Buddy”) Are you excited to race in Austin?

    LH: Am I excited to race in Austin? Well I’m excited to meet you and yeah, I love racing this track, it’s so much fun, I think you’d love it. If I had a two-seater would like to go with me?

     

    Q: (Christian Menath – Motorsport Magazin.com) Question for all three of you: it was pretty hot today, how much did you have to look at tyre temperatures, especially with ultrasoft in the fast flowing sector one or is the straight afterwards long enough to cool it down? How much was tyre temperature a concern for one lap today?

    LH: I think tyres are definitely… I mean there are a lot of high speed corners here, what’s really unfortunate is that TV’s not really able to show you the forces that are going through not only our bodies but the tyres, the car, how it’s flexing through these corners. I think here more than many of the other circuits through that first section you really can see the car shifting and turning. I don’t think people realise how tight those corners are and how ridiculously fast we’re going through them but it’s fantastic. With these tyres, they’re kind of like living tissue, you know? The temperature’s moving all the time so how you manage them on the out lap, whether you get a small slide or a bit of wheelspin affects the next corner and the corner after that. It’s kind of difficult to explain but it is really important to make sure you manage them in the best way possible to get the optimum performance for a lap and there is a knack to it for sure which obviously we are able to do.

    VB: Nothing to add really. We could actually push relatively hard. Obviously we needed to take care on the out lap but like the first sector, we could really go for it and the long straights, they definitely make it easier to cool them down a bit but like Lewis said, you still need to not go crazy with them.

    SV: Well first of all I don’t like the imagination of living tissue; that just sounds a bit… Yeah, I think we would like to push more but you obviously have to look after the tyres and manage them which to some degree is fine because it’s part of our skill set but still I prefer to be able to push more.

  • 2017 Japanese GP: Post Qualifying Press Conference

    2017 Japanese GP: Post Qualifying Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    2 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)

    3 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

    TRACK INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by Jenson Button and David Coulthard)

    JB: Lewis this is your first time qualifying on pole in Suzuka. Absolutely immense, great job buddy, but it’s not just that, you have just shattered the qualifying lap record of Felipe Massa, set back in 2006 by 1.7 seconds. How does it feel?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Incredible. Firstly, look at this crowd – we have such a great crowd. It’s been a really good day and every lap was fantastic. You were rapid here, Nico was rapid here, I never really got a great balance in the past and I never did great in qualifying, so to finally get the balance behind me, with the great work of my engineers, and the great timing from all the mechanics, I finally got on track and did the time. And the car is crazy here, I wish you could feel it, man!

    JB: Yeah, watching you through the Esses, it looks unbelievable, the changes of direction. But from the word go in qualifying it was there.

    LH: Yeah, it’s my first time. I’m running out of opportunities to get this pole, so I was like “I’ve got to make sure I make it stick today”. Valtteri did a great job. Obviously he is going to have the penalty at the start but still he has a great opportunity in the race to get up there with us.

    JB: Let’s go and speak to Valtteri. Good job buddy. We had breakfast, sort of, together this morning and obviously it’s not been the easiest weekend for you, but pretty awesome to come away with P2.

    KR: Yeah, it’s been a really difficult weekend and obviously went off this morning. The guys did a great job getting the car back together. My driving was really getting better through the qualifying. I think there was still something to be found. But P1 and P2 at this point, but obviously with the gearbox penalty I’m starting seventh.

    JB: Yeah, it’s not easy as we know starting further back, but the car looks immense around here and you, as you said, have done a fantastic job today. But watching from the outside, watching the cars through here it’s the only time I really, really miss driving these beasts.

    VB: I tell you, you are missing a lot!

    JB: I know, good job buddy. Sebastian, how are you doing?

    Sebastian VETTEL: Fine.

    JB: These two were just unbelievably quick today, especially Lewis. He’s definitely sorted out his qualifying around Suzuka. P3 but obviously you’re starting the race from second. We all know that’s not a bad position to start here. How are you feeling, buddy?

    SV: Ah well, I mean qualifying has been quite good to be honest. I’m reasonably happy. I tried everything on the last run. I know I had to take a bit more risk, but it didn’t work, I ran out of track at the exit of the Esses. But I knew that if Valtteri got past, we would still be on the front row. I would have loved to have been a bit quicker, but quite amazing with the new cars around here. I love the track and it’s been a very special day. Thanks for the support, there are a lot of Ferrari fans, so arigato.

    JB: And as we know, Turn 1, you never know. Starting on the front row there is always the possibility of making it stick at Turn 1, so have a good one buddy, good job. Lewis, do you want to jump in here DC?

    DC: Lewis, that was spectacular to watch. Standing in the commentary box there were moments when I couldn’t believe how fast that car was going through the corners. Big congratulations, it sets you up perfectly for tomorrow, looking forward to the race?

    LH: Yeah, it’s going to be a different view here. I’ve never really had this view here, you know what it’s like. We’ve worked hard for the car to hopefully work well in the race. Those Esses really kill the tyres, so I’m hoping we’re in a good position for that. Naturally the Ferraris will be rapid, as they always are, but I plan to keep them behind.

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Well Lewis, you obliterated the lap record. Every lap you did during that session was faster than the one before. It looked very smooth from where we were sitting. Talk us through the session and how good was that last lap?

    LH: It definitely was a fantastic session. I don’t know if people watching realise, but how your team time everything in terms of what time you go out, positioning, the preparation with the mechanics – all that stuff has to work perfectly. The team were just so on form, as they always are, but that worked perfectly and enabled me to get out in the right time and in the right space and deliver the laps, so hugely grateful to everyone for all their hard work. And the laps: yeah, very much on it. Didn’t make one mistake each lap, just got better and better. It’s really about building a foundation, which you do in Q1, and then building upon it lap after lap and hopefully you don’t have any mistakes. It was just every single lap apart from the last lap, which was up, but I think it was Q3 run one, which was the lap. Just incredible to come here with this car. This track has always been one of the greatest, if not the greatest circuits, and with this car it’s just mind blowing. I wish you could feel what we feel. It’s always been one of the craziest rollercoaster rides but with the downforce we have now – I think it’s three seconds faster than we’ve been before – it’s insane the speeds, this car is throwing us around inside. But the way you are able to throw the car around is like the craziest rollercoaster ride, which I love. So I hope the cars continue to get better, as they have this year. It’s incredible for me…. Ten years or whatever it is, my first pole position here. So tenth time lucky, so I’m grateful for that.

    Well, it was a great qualifying performance. I think a lot of people will be wondering what’s the race pace going to be like, particularly after what happened in Malaysia last weekend. Are you confident you’ve got that as well?

    LH: Well, we got some running in P1 and P3. P1 felt better than P3. The car is a lot different this weekend and a lot more enjoyable to drive. Last weekend was a bit of a disaster but we still got pole, which was unusual. Generally, I believe, we take step a bit slower when we get to the races, whereas the Ferraris do the opposite. I think that’s really the philosophy of how our cars are designed, difference-wise. I think in the race we’re going to be OK. But for sure the Ferraris were very, very quick in the last race so it will be interesting to see the pace they have. Kimi did a decent run, as well as Sebastian, today. We’ll see. We’ve put ourselves in the best fighting position and obviously it’s me and Sebastian on the front row – I wouldn’t want it any other way.

    Q: Valtteri, coming to you, it’s been a topsy-turvy kind of day for you, that accident in final practice and then pulling it all together and getting that lap together at the end. Talk us through how difficult it was to claw it back from the low of final practice.

    VB: Well, first of all I want to say well done to Lewis again for the pole. And I really want to thank the team. Like Lewis said, they’ve done a great job through the qualifying. We’re always the right time on the track and in perfect gaps. Just everything went very smoothly so that allowed also me to just really focus on the driving itself. With the incident, I had in practice three, there was some extra work for the guys. They did really well to get the car together. It worked perfectly, so thanks for that. It’s been a tricky weekend, not quite so clean so far, and going slightly over a kerb in practice three can make a massive difference. Had to reset, go for it. I used the soft tyre in quali two, so that mixed my rhythm slightly, I think but could get some improvements step by step. The lap in the end, it was not perfect but not that far off.

    Q: Sebastian, talk us through your session. Third fastest. You’re going to be, as we’ve heard, on the front row of the grid tomorrow, due to that penalty for Valtteri but first of all, qualifying, how was it for you?

    SV: Pretty good, I’m pretty happy, to be honest, the car balance was getting better and better. Obviously, we were lacking a bit of performance but all in all I think it was a positive day. I think the car should be a bit better in the race. The last run in Q3, I tried a little bit more than there maybe was but I obviously knew the gap behind was quite big and Valtteri wasn’t really a threat because he gets the penalty tomorrow. So, took a bit more risk, didn’t work but still happy with third and then a front row for tomorrow. We’ll see. I think our starts lately have been quite good. We’ll see what we can do.

    Q: And are you confident you’ll have the legs of the Mercedes in race conditions?

    SV: I don’t know which sort of pace they will have. Obviously, you always know what you are doing but they have been a bit up and down: last week they weren’t very quick; this weekend they seem to be back to normal, so I think so far this year has been very close. I expect it to be very close tomorrow. For us, I think normally we are a bit stronger in the race compared to quali, so that’s where I guess we get together and see what we can do, at the start and then during the race.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Lewis, last week you struggled and nobody in the team really seemed to have an explanation for it. This weekend, only seven days later, you are flying. Do you know why?

    LH: I think we have an idea. I think there’s a lot of analysis that’s gone in to understanding it so I think we do understand, yes. It’s not something we can particularly rapidly change, but we’re in a cooler climate here, so that’s definitely one thing that adds to it.

    Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday) Question for Lewis. Your first pole at Suzuka, you’ve never really hooked it up here, you’ve had competitive cars in the past – what’s so different this year? You seem to be absolutely blinding through every corner.

    LH: It’s interesting because every single time I’ve struggled here. Struggled with finding the right balance, generally not always… often not starting on the right foot and then just struggling where to find the placement. Sometimes I’ve started on the right foot and led the car in completely the wrong direction. Yeah, so it’s always been up and down. This is the first time – and I would say definitely the first car that I’ve really felt that it’s been underneath me all weekend. Small tweaks here and there but in the right direction. So, I think fundamentally a better job done globally. Particularly with my engineers. My engineer understanding what I need from the car and vice versa: what I need from my engineers and the car. It’s worked out better this time. My knowledge of the car is better than it’s been before – which has enabled me then to go out and do the job, so I’m really… it’s really, really a confidence builder for us as a group, me and my engineers and mechanics. I don’t mind that it’s taken that long. I hope that I can capitalise on today’s great work.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, how important was it for you to beat Kimi as you seemed to be on the same tactic as him?

    VB: Yeah, of course it is good to start ahead. I think he also got on the softs in Q2 so we are mostly likely going to be on a similar strategy for the race, so I’ve definitely got the upper hand in the race in that way but we’ll need to see how their race pace is and again it’s going to be a long race but it’s just a real shame… it would have been better to start one and two as a team, that would have been nice but that is what it is.

    Q: (Mark Mann-Bryans – Press Association) Lewis, your car in the last few months has been labelled capricious, a diva – I believe you even said on Thursday it’s a bit stubborn. But is it days like today when she makes it up to you?

    LH: Definitely, definitely. It’s been a great car in qualifying this year particularly, and qualifying for me is probably the most enjoyable part of the weekend, so being able to put together laps like today is the one you wait for, all weekend: Q3, round one and two are really what motorsport is all about. It’s about ultimate performance from myself but also from the car. So it is definitely great when she comes together on days like this which is important. We were perhaps on the back foot here, perhaps won’t be as great a position to be in but let’s hope that she’s not stubborn tomorrow.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Sebastian, how important would it be for your championship campaign to have a normal qualifying for both of the Ferraris?

    SV: Well, I don’t know. Obviously there was a small issue this morning that lead into the problem with Kimi’s car, certainly not ideal but it is what it is. I think the car is quick so even if… I think last weekend showed that even if you – well, not necessarily qualify out of position – but if you start out of position then you can still get back. I’m sure that he can have a strong race from where he starts.

    Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday) To all three of you: with missing FP2 basically yesterday and this morning’s practice session having two reds, did this affect any of your programmes, leading up to qualifying and do you feel you have enough laps in and also the changing characteristics of the circuit? FP1 was essentially dry and the rest were wet or damp. How did this affect your qualifying going into qualifying?

    VB: Yeah, definitely you would always prefer to do more laps, there’s always more track time, possibilities to learn more and make the car better and fine-tune your driving, get the confidence, so definitely for me, missing practice two and then half of the practice three wasn’t ideal. Then you need to make the most out of the limited time you have and try and improve during the qualifying.

    LH: Fortunately, it didn’t get in the way of it really. I got a bit of a run in in P3 in the rain. If anything, that might have been a benefit to me , because if I’d had P2 in the dry maybe I wouldn’t be on pole, because we would push the car to make changes and whatever and wouldn’t have ended up where we were so pretty grateful for the rain that came. Often when you miss a session, it does definitely put you a little bit further down the ladder from where you potentially could be but I think I managed to still reach there so I do think it was potentially a benefit for me, missing P2.

    SV: Don’t think much impact. I think we got enough laps for performance runs. Obviously the long run preparation wasn’t as usual but by the end of the season you know the car, you know the tyres so it’s not a big deal. I think the biggest change for tomorrow will be the conditions. I think there should be sunshine which makes everything a bit hotter, so let’s see how that goes.

  • 2017 Malaysia Grand Prix: Post Qualifying Press Conference

    2017 Malaysia Grand Prix: Post Qualifying Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    2 – Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (Ferrari)

    3 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)

     

    TRACK INTERVIEWS (conducted by Johnny Herbert)

    Lewis, what a great result for you. You must be very happy. That looked like a pretty decent lap?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Firstly, look at this crowd. I know it’s our last grand prix here but this is the best crowd I’ve ever seen. Thank you so much for all the support. We had no idea how it was going to go today. I’m sorry for whatever happened to Sebastian, because obviously he was very, very quick through practice. But somehow we turned it round. The engineers did such a great job yesterday, the car felt great, for both Valtteri and I, and so it’s a real surprise to be up here with these guys, so I’m very, very grateful.

    Kimi come and join us. What a try that was! Happy with that? I’m sure you wanted just a little bit more. I would have thought you would have done one of the old karting moves – jumping up and down in the seat, leaning forward. Maybe you should do that next time. 

    Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: Yeah, it’s OK, but obviously when you get that close it’s disappointing. I made the most out of it. Yes, there are always places you can improve, but you are never going to get it 100% perfect anywhere. You always find some things you can improve, but I must say the car has been behaving nicely all weekend and it’s been a pleasure so far. We’ll try to get further than 100 metres tomorrow, and let’s see what we can do.

    Tomorrow is going to be important, obviously you have been on the front row before but this is going to be an interesting little drive towards Turn One. Are you ready for this? This crowd is looking forward to a big race tomorrow, yeah?

    KR: Yeah, obviously it’s a long way, so if you make a good start you will benefit quite a bit from it. It’s a pretty tight first two corners and a lot usually happens. We’ll try to make sure the first two corners go well and go from there. I think we’re going to have a very good race car, so let’s see.

    Well here’s a man we’re going to get on – the birthday boy, that you got on very closely with in the last race. Hopefully that’s not going to be the case. Max, happy with that result? You seemed to get the best from the car. 

    Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, I think it’s good for us in qualifying to be in this position. I mean it’s always good to drive on this track, especially in qualifying – Turns 5 and 6 are flat out, so it’s a lot of fun. And also the crowd – it’s amazing how passionate they are. So on my birthday to be third here is perfect.

    LH: I thought you were 19?

    MV: Twenty now.

    LH: Twenty now! Does he look much younger than me?

    I’m sorry to say, yes. Lewis, tomorrow, the race is going to be so important. We know what happened the last time out, but this is a long run up to Turn 1, but you must be looking forward to it, because this is the perfect situation for you.

    LH: It is. Obviously we are going to have a tough battle with these guys. Particularly the Red Bulls had really great long-run pace yesterday, and today I think. I’m hoping our car has moved in the right direction for the race run but we’ll see tomorrow. But there is a long, long run down to Turn 1, so lots can happen. But exciting to see all these guys coming out tomorrow and hopefully [it will be] the biggest crowd we’ve ever had.

    You’re going to be after the perfect start, Kimi, Max, tomorrow you’re going to want to get in front of this guy, who is the man who is going to do that.

    MV: I don’t want to be sandwiched – that’s the only thing.

    Kimi?

    KR: I don’t want to be hit.

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Lewis, fifth Malaysian pole position, four years in a row here, and becomes the first man in Formula One history to get into the 70s of pole positions. What a turnaround from yesterday, and even from this morning. Seven tenths of a second ahead of your team-mate suggest that was a moment of inspiration. Tell us about it.

    LH: We had such a difficult day yesterday; it was difficult to know where we stood. I didn’t sleep very well, just like all my engineers as well, because we didn’t know whether we would fix the issue or not. But today we arrived and the car was much better but still I think it looked like the Ferraris were a little bit ahead. We had some big calls to make going into qualifying and then those laps were, particularly the last one, the first Q3 lap, was very well put together, a very nice lap. I don’t really know where it came from, to be honest, so I’m a little bit surprised at myself. As I said, it’s a surprise to be up here. I’m very grateful. These guys have been driving exceptionally well all weekend. It’s always a special thing to be able to extract a little bit more out of the car than it’s particularly willing to go. That’s what I’ve always enjoyed, since my dad would say… my first go-kart was fifth-hand or something like that, and he’d say it was like a four-poster bed. Not that my car was a four-poster bed today but I was hoping I could extract a little bit more out of it.

    You acknowledged in Singapore that you had a slice of luck with what happened at the start, and a slice of luck with your main title rival Vettel starting from the back of the grid. You’ve got to capitalise on it, so will Valtteri have a part to play in it as Vettel comes through the field?

    LH: I haven’t really thought… I don’t know what happened to Sebastian. I mean, he would have been up there with us, he’d been driving well all weekend, very, very quick, between him and Kimi. Very unfortunate for him, but of course we just have to continue to focus on our job and try to maximise on every opportunity that we get collectively. Hopefully we are in a good position for tomorrow. Obviously we have put ourselves in the best position for tomorrow but we still have a tough race ahead of us, so we’ll just try and keep our heads down and hopefully those behind me and it will just unfold the way it unfolds.

    Q: Kimi, it equals your best qualifying performance here in Sepang: 0.045 of a second off pole position. A lot of weight on your shoulders obviously in qualifying from the Ferrari team with Vettel in trouble. You were on target, it seemed, until the final corner – tell us about it.

    KR: Well, I don’t know. Obviously, I only know how it was and I think overall, the whole weekend, it’s been pretty straightforward. The car’s been handling well. I think we were quite happy all day, also in qualifying but, y’know, you can always improve here and there. I don’t think you ever going to make an absolutely perfect lap and it’s a bit more painful when you get that close, for sure. There’s places that you improve a little bit and it’s just enough – but it wasn’t today. Obviously was a shame for the team, with Seb’s issue, whatever, not having him in the qualifying – but that’s how it goes sometimes. I think the car’s [inaudible] very well but to try to fix it and then obviously had some problem. It’s a shame for him. Sure he will be good tomorrow. I’m happy but I’d rather have qualified in first place but I think tomorrow is a long race, it’s going to be tough for tyres and I think we should have a very good car tomorrow. I have a good feeling about it.

    Q: Max, happy 20th birthday. Going well so far…

    MV: Thank you very much!

    …strong weekend thus far. I think it’s the 11th time now this season you’ve out-qualified Daniel, so once again very strong qualifying performance. Four-tenths off today in qualifying but do you feel with what you saw yesterday in the long runs, quite low degradation, the car looked quick, obviously, the faint possibility of rain as well, that there’s room for optimism in the race tomorrow.

    MV: Well, for sure, if it rains, then then I think we always have a good opportunity. I think in the dry today, I’m actually very happy that I’m here in third because this morning – afternoon, the last session – I was struggling a lot with the balance of the car. Actually, the whole weekend has been up and down in terms of happiness with the car but we managed to do a good qualifying again. Really happy with that, of course. The car, except maybe the final run in Q3, before that was really well balanced, so I can’t complain. I think we could have been a bit closer, definitely we couldn’t have beaten them today but for us, to be third here, on this track, is perfect. Also, in the long runs, it was all looking good. If it’s good enough, I don’t know. We’ll see tomorrow. From my side, I want to have a good Sunday finally. Because every time on Saturday it’s always going well, but on Sunday I haven’t scored a lot of points.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Lewis, in the long runs yesterday you didn’t show good performance and today you have very good performance in one lap. Do you have an indication with this new setup for the race?

    LH: Yeah, in the P3 we did a long-ish short run, only five laps. I think the car was in a much better position but I think we were something like four- or five-tenths off the other guys. So we shall see tomorrow whether that is still the case – but I think we made some changes going into qualifying that should suit the car better for tomorrow, so I’m hopefully that we will be there or thereabouts.

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) Question for Max, as you turn 20, you’re no longer a teen sensation so to speak. What is the highlights of your career. If you had to choose, for example, between Interlagos, coming through the rain and that victory on your debut, which would you choose?

    MV: It’s difficult. To be honest, I think my best memory is still from go-karting, when I won the World Championship, because you always dream of it, to achieve something like that, and especially… I worked really hard with my Dad, to achieve something like that, because he was my engine tuner, he was my mechanic. We have travelled the world together since I was four years old. I think I was 15 at the time. You win the World Championship in the highest category in go-karting. That was very emotional. Then the victory in Spain was also very emotional at the time – but I want to win a race on merit and not with luck. So that hasn’t happened yet, so I think still that victory in go-karting is more satisfying.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, in Monaco you won the pole with the same margin as you did lose it today. How big is the difference in your feeling compared to that Monaco?

    KR: It makes no difference to compare what happened in Monaco with here. I don’t really care what’s the time difference, or position today. It’s what happened. We came second, I’m pretty happy because things have been running pretty smoothly all weekend and I think we’re going to have a good car tomorrow, at least so far that’s how it’s been. You always look for more and for sure there’s always things to improve, to go a bit faster and that little bit would have been enough today.

    Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) Lewis, once again Beast-mode. You find a way to really turn it up when your back is against the wall like this, again we’re seeing this level that you can’t figure out where it’s coming from. What is it, the many fans out there that, the Union Jacks, all the Lewis Hamilton fans, team LH is out there, coming thousands of miles to watch you race at this last Malaysian Grand Prix?

    LH: Well one thing for sure, the support is… I mean, we’ve been coming here for ten years and it’s known not to have a very attendance here but the crowd already from Thursday was pretty awesome and today, every time you leave the garage, every time you come in, I can see all these flags opposite my garage. It’s the most… in all the ten years put together, today was more than all of those. Incredibly grateful for that. Of course, I get a lot of energy from that, and from special people I met, I met this young kid, Brandon, the other day who just was the highlight of the week, and then I guess always digging deep. I’m very, very grateful that the laps have come at the right time, throughout qualifying, because you know you approach it and you hope that you’re able to execute at the right time – but it’s not always… you’re never always on point but so far this weekend and particularly, obviously, just now, that lap, the one that really counts was the one I need and the one that I got. So it’s a combination of a lot of things, but my team worked so hard last night to really try to… I think they were here until 2am, trying to understand the car and make sure we made the right steps with real good analysis, so I’m grateful for all that hard work.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Lewis, you took the old aero package today, your teammate the new one, was it your decision, was it a joint decision and why did you take the decision to go back to the old one?

    LH: How do you know that? Hmm? Did Niki tell you that? We came with an upgrade that was supposed to be better but we were unsure yesterday because we were so far off. We went back to one car trying one, the other car trying the other. Before qualifying I was thinking of going back to the new package because Valtteri’s and my times were very similar and Valtteri seemed really happy with it and so I didn’t want to carry a penalty going into qualifying. You want every little millisecond you can get but there wasn’t really enough time so we ended up staying with it and also it was kind of a risk, changing the car again for qualifying and maybe getting something wrong and so we just… that was really why we ended up staying with it but fortunately I’d done P3 with it so I was quite comfortable with where I was and it provided a stepping stone in terms of making the set-up change. Ultimately it was down, it is down in performance but fortunately it didn’t make a difference.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Lewis, did that experience of having a home Finnish sauna help you to beat this other Finnish guy because you seem to be sweating less than him?

    LH: Did you say the home Finnish sauna? I haven’t been in it for a long time. I used the sauna here but it’s not as good as a Finnish sauna. I used the one in KL. Kimi, do you still use a sauna? You do? It doesn’t strike me as a usual Finnish guy, Kimi, but for me, coming from England, this is a sauna here. It’s bloody roasting.

    Q: (Lennart Bloemhof – De Volksrant) Max, touching upon the extension of contracts for China and Singapore and the possibility of new races being added in the near future, how do you feel about a calendar with 24 races? I believe Fernando Alonso isn’t a fan of expanding the calendar and Lewis isn’t that fond of it as well, I heard.

    MV: I think 21 is more than enough. I think it’s already quite a lot.

    LH: Shit. Is it really 24? They’re talking about 24?

    MV: Yeah. Yeah, I think it’s quite a lot. So I may…

    LH: He’s young, he’s got…

    MV: Several family and friends. Racing is one part but you also have your private life, away from racing, but you don’t really see them a lot, so I think if you’re going to do 24, 25, it’s not only for the drivers but also the mechanics. I think it’s better to get a divorce straight away.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS) Lewis, I guess we have got three top teams again after the start of the season where it was mainly Mercedes and Ferrari. Are you happy with more battles? Does it make it better?

    LH: Absolutely, absolutely. I think we need even more than that. Red Bull have really stepped it up, stepped up their game in the last… through the last race and coming here and it’s great to see them performing so well. We obviously want them to be even closer so it really mixes things up. I was hopeful they were going to be even quicker today but I don’t know what happened, whether they lost a little bit of pace or not. But yesterday they were looking fantastic but again, their long run pace in the race here is often very very good so without doubt tomorrow they will be on our tails, I would imagine. In the past they’ve always been great here and looking after their tyres and keeping the temperatures low. I think it’s great, I think it’s more exciting for the fans. Wouldn’t it be great if we had Williams back there and McLaren back there and then there would be a real race.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Kimi, your teammate is in the back, he’s fighting for the championship. You on the first row, do you think you can believe also the team can ask you to change the strategy in order to take maximum possible points from Lewis, keeping that in mind?

    KR: What do you  mean exactly, because as a team, we want to get maximum points out of any race with two cars and obviously for Seb we hope he’s going to make a good recovery but it’s not going to change my  race. We’re always going to try and make the fastest race and I don’t really know what else…

  • 2017 Singapore Grand Prix: Post Qualifying Press Conference

    2017 Singapore Grand Prix: Post Qualifying Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

    2 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)

    3 – Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing)

     

    TRACK INTERVIEWS
    (conducted by Will Buxton)

    Sebastian, the crowd went crazy, the noise was huge when you crossed the line, and deservedly so. That lap was absolutely massive. You struggled yesterday, where did you find that time?

    Sebastian VETTEL: Oh, I don’t know. I struggled also this morning, or this afternoon. I shouted probably as loud as them, it was unbelievable. I’m still full of adrenalin, so maybe whatever I say doesn’t make any sense but, yeah, I love this track. The car was tricky but it came alive and it was getting better and better and better as the night progressed, so really happy we got it done.

     

    And these guys have been so quick, and there is no margin for error around this circuit. To take those kind of risks, to push… there’s a little bit down there, that’s how close you pushed, all the way to the edge and a little bit over it as well. In terms of laps you have set for pole position where does this one sit, because I can see you are shaking a little bit? 

    SV: I don’t know, I think I need to calm down first. But for now, very, very happy. The car was amazing and it’s an amazing track if you feel that the car is coming alove and you can do what you want to. I knew we had it in us; it was a bit of a struggle to get there, but now I’m just happy.

     

    Huge. Many congratulations. Max, wow, it was going to take something special to beat you today and that was a special lap. But the pace you’ve shown all weekend, this has got to be promising for you?

    Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, it is. Just a shame we couldn’t put it on pole, I think the final lap was not great. But we were quite close and I’m pretty happy with that.

     

    We’ve seen how hard Sebastian has had to push this weekend to beat you guys this weekend. It’s not the first time he’s done it. Are you hoping for more of that from him tomorrow?

    MV: Hopefully for him, not. We’ll see. During the race it will be difficult to pass him so we will have to see in the first lap.

     

    Awesome. Daniel, are you asking the man how he got that lap out of the car?

    Daniel RICCIARDO: Yeah, I’m a little envious today. I will accept a little bit of defeat but I’m still confident we’ll get victory. I think we’ve got a good package. Seb turned it on in qualifying but I’m looking forward to tomorrow.

     

    So better race pace then them tomorrow?

    DR: Yes.

     

    Now Max… Daniel come down. Now last time you started alongside each other, back in Hungary, there was a little bit of a ding-dong between you on the first lap. There’s going to be none of that tomorrow. Christian isn’t going to be tapping his foot is he?

    DR: What happened?

     

    Is it all forgotten then?

    MV: I mean that race happened. Now we’ve got Singapore. We’ve got great starting positions, so we don’t think about that.

     

    Good stuff, thanks guys. Seb, have managed to calm the shakes down a little bit. Lewis is starting back on the third row of the grid tomorrow.  How much do you need this win in the championship fight?

    SV: I don’t know. I’m happy that we got the car where it deserved to be and we take it from there. Tomorrow is a long race; these guys are very, very quick. We had a difficult night yesterday, a better night today and I’m sure the car will be like today, tomorrow but I’m sure it will be a very close race.

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

     

    Well, many congratulations Sebastian, your fourth pole in Singapore – bit of a specialist around this place – and your 49th career pole, just one short of the magic 50. But a really open session, one of the most open sessions for a while. And one can just sense in the way you came over the radio at the end, not only a great effort but also a great emotion. Tell us the feeling?

    SV: Yeah, it’s a long lap. There are a lot of corner – a lot of things to get right, and equally a lot of things you can get wrong. No, I’m really happy. Obviously the weekend so far has been a bit up and down for us. Yesterday was difficult. This afternoon was difficult. Tonight the car really came alive and it was just getting better. These guys were extremely quick. Q1, I didn’t know how the hell I was going to find a second and a half. But then, by Q2, the car was like a switch, from off to on – much better. I knew that the track would ramp up but probably I didn’t expect it that much. But, yeah, at the end, Q3 I was very happy with both my laps. A bit lucky in my final lap, because I brushed the wall quite severely out of 19. It was not just a little brush; it was actually a hit. I thought, “OK, I have to keep going”. It was fine until I approached the last corner; I had huge vibration. Thankfully there was only one corner left but I really pushed as hard as I could. I knew in the final run that even if I had the upper hand going in, these guys… the track would come up, these guys would have something in their pocket, so I needed to get it absolutely right. I was very relieved when I crossed the line. I looked at the screens behind and I waited for the call. I knew that Daniel was behind me so… I was very, very happy obviously. I think right now I’m starting to cool off.

     

    While you’re doing that analytically, that’s the bit you can control. The bit you can’t control is where your championship rival is – Lewis Hamilton. He’s not only got these two cars between you and him, you’ve also got your team-mate as well. Just purely looking at the race, you must be pretty pleased about that?

    SV: Yeah, I mean, we have a long race and a lot of things can happen. Certainly grid position is king or crucial, but still it’s a long race. The fact that our car was good this evening I think is promising for tomorrow. Yesterday we had a scrappy car, I lost the car, I had damage, so the runs after that were compromised. But the feeling was there. I knew that the car has got it, we just needed to get it out and that’s what we did tonight. I’m confident for tomorrow. For the others? Max is next to me, so first of all I guess I’m racing him and then Daniel and so on and so forth, so not too bothered where other people are. I think there is a long race ahead and there are a lot of things we need to get right, so we should focus on ourselves.

    Q: Max, almost, almost that first pole, almost the first ever teenage Formula One polesitter. This place is all about ramping it up, as Sebastian’s just said, tell us why you couldn’t find that step in the final run in Q3.

    MV: I think I did – just not as much as Sebastian but all in all I think the weekend was a good progression, getting better and better. And qualifying also was constant improvement. Even though the whole weekend we’re a bit down on power. I don’t know why, we couldn’t really solve it. Lost a bit of top speed there. It’s not idea but at the end of the day, to be second here, on this track, I think is very promising. We are not too far off so I can be quite happy with this qualifying.

     

    Q: Daniel, we could tell by one of the radio messages partway through the quali, you couldn’t quite live with these two in the final part of qualifying. There’s clearly some disappointment there but you told us yesterday that you think you can win this race. You’re the man who takes his opportunities on a Sunday, do you still believe in it?

    DR: Yeah, I still believe so. Today I’ll accept a little bit of defeat but there’s still a lot to play for tomorrow. For sure I would love to be in Sebastian’s position today. I thought pole would be on but yeah, we couldn’t quite run with him in that last qualifying. It’s a long lap, you gain a bit, you lose a bit, you kind of say ‘I could have got more there’ but I think the gap was, in the end – three or four tenths – was quite significant. So yeah, look at what we can do tomorrow. I think it’s really on the cusp of one and two stops, so it’s going to make it exciting. You might have to carry us out of the cars tomorrow but I’m sure I’ll have a very strong race and get, yeah, get some big points.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

     

    Q: (Christian Menath – Motorsport-Magazin.com) Question for all three of you. How much would you say your car is developing during qualifying session – just in terms of power output. Do you have something for Q3 special in the engine or is there nothing coming once you’re in the qualifying.

    SV: Well I think it’s normal that you start off a bit more conservative and then ramp it up. If you look at the importance of the session Q1 is the least important – I mean it’s very important to get through but least important to set a really, really competitive lap time. Q2 you need to make it to the top ten, obviously I think the quick teams have the luxury that they have a very quick car and it’s not a big secret we run a bit more conservative in the beginning and then gradually progress so that by Q3 obviously yeah, we ask for maximum power.

     

    Is the same true for the Renault engine, Max?

    MV: Maybe not as much. A little bit. Fine tuning. We know that we have to still work hard to improve, so it’s still not, of course, where Ferrari or Mercedes is.

     

    And Daniel?

    DR: No further comments. I mean, once qualifying starts we pretty much put it all in, so yeah, no secrets for Q3.

     

    Q: (Jerome Bourret – L’Equipe) Question to all of you. This race is usually one of the most demanding of the year in terms of physical conditions. What do you expect for tomorrow with the new cars – will it be much more harder than last year and how did you prepare for that?

    DR: Eat lots of pizza, drink lots of alcohol. It’s really important to dehydrate yourself before you get here! No. These two… it’s funny, the irony is that we go from probably the least physical is Monza, all the long straights, and it’s normally a quick race in terms of time itself, so you go from the easiest race of the year to the two hardest with Singapore and Malaysia. So, all last week I was just home, training and trying to get acclimated to the hotter conditions. And yeah, how much you need to drink is something as well: so simple. Yesterday I felt like I had a bottle in my hand all day and I was still struggling to go to the toilet, you sweat it out so much, so yeah, you’ve just got to stay on top of it. End of tomorrow you’ll see it in our faces, and Malaysia as well.

     

    SV: Just to get that straight, you were struggling to get to the toilet because you were struggling to keep balance because you were drinking so much, or…?

     

    DR: ah…

     

    SV: Don’t worry, you’ll get it back.

     

    DR: So what do you do?

     

    SV: Basically I think you try to prepare the whole year as much as you can. This year’s cars are more physical, I think that’s more fun. This race has always been the biggest challenge in terms of what it demands from the driver. It’s a very long track, a lot of corners, it’s hot, humid, a night race, so no room for error. Yeah, all these things together, the race is very long, as Daniel touched on, in terms of preparation, not so much I get. There’s no big secrets ramping up to the Grand Prix, you just try to be recovered once you get here. I like the Finnish culture so I did a couple of sauna intervals. Maybe that’s something special just to get used to the hot weather.

     

    What about you Max, what did you do?

    MV: I think you always try to prepare as well as you can but it’s always going to be hard. If you train a lot – or not, when you come here you’re going to sweat a lot. It’s just very tough because there are not a lot of straights where you can just rest – because even the straights here you have to turn a lot and you’re always busy. Bumpy. Lot of concentration going on because there are so many corners here, so for sure it will be a tough race – but hopefully when I’m in the lead I can just, like, slow down a bit and we can cruise home. Right? Is that OK for you? No?

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, how do you change on the car between yesterday and this afternoon and tonight? How is the balance between your effort and the effort of the mechanics?

    SV: I think it’s been phenomenal, the amount of work. Obviously yesterday we were a little bit caught off guard. The car wasn’t behaving the way we wanted it to but it’s been pretty special, I think:  the amount of effort that has gone in overnight, the support from Maranello. Charles (Leclerc) has been in the simulator – usually it’s swapping between Antonio Giovinazzi  and Charles so that’s very very important for us. They answered a lot of questions that we couldn’t, simply because we didn’t have time enough and a lot of questions remaining. And then, as I said, a lot of support from the factory, the guys down here – I don’t know when they went to bed, probably around lunchtime. The car was a lot better today but as I said, obviously with the conditions, I think it was helping us as well. The car really came alive towards the evening or throughout the evening, which I think is mostly the track. We went out very early this afternoon and very early in qualifying as well so maybe not ideal but the car was better today than it was yesterday, for sure.

     

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, you are the winning-most driver here on this track; what is the secret to win so much on this track, which is…

    SV: I guess I was lucky I didn’t brush too many walls. Usually I got it done by latest Saturday, like today. It’s a long race, anything can happen. For sure it helps the further up you start but still it’s a long race. I don’t know if there are any secrets. It’s always a place that I enjoy and it’s the sort of race that you want to go to to test yourself as well, because it’s such a big challenge, but equally you don’t want it to start because you know it’s going to be so tough. For sure I will be ready and excited to start tomorrow to see what we can do. For sure we’re in a good positon so we have lots of reasons to look forward to.

    MV: Do you think you’ll have a good start?

    SV: Yeah.

    MV: I hope not.

    DR: Your starts haven’t been that good, have they?

    SV: Yeah, they have been. Monza, no, but the other ones have been.

     

    Q: (Christian Menath – Motorsport-Magazin.com) To all three of you: Seb, do you have a different risk assessment at the start in the first corner when you’re challenging against two guys who are not in the championship battle? And for Daniel and Max, the same question, just the other way around…

    MV: Am I not in? Am I not in the championship battle?

    Q: (Christian Menath – Motorsport-Magazin.com) Probably not, sorry.

    SV: I guess the answer to your question is no because I don’t think anybody on the grid has the intention to stop the race in the first corner. I think you’re focusing on the start and then you go from there. No, I guess is the answer to your question.

    Q: Max, nothing to lose? Go for it from the start?

    MV: Yeah, but controlled, right? I mean you always go for it if there is a gap and if it’s possible but if not you just settle down and you go into the race and like Sebastian said, it’s a very long race so a lot of things can happen.

    DR: For sure, you know my intention is always to try and go forward. I think here, a track where it’s hard to pass, obviously the start is a big opportunity so yeah, the intention is to go for it but see what happens. It always seems to tighten up at turn one but we’ll see, see how we go. I think mathematically I can still win the championship so I might just play it real conservative and settle for a top six or something!

     

    Q: (Jens Nagler – Bild) Sebastian, you had a close look at the Red Bulls after the session, what did you find out about the cars?

    DR: He misses us.

    SV: It’s probably the best chance to… well, it looks like ours, yeah. I actually asked them yesterday already if they do the parts in blue as well because…

    MV: Yeah, we can swap?

    SV: Probably it’s the best time to look at the cars. I mean, what do I understand, basically, but it’s interesting to have a look.

    MV: Emotional.

    SV: Yeah, close to tears.

     

     

    Photo Credit: Scuderia Ferrari Formula One

  • 2017 Italian Grand Prix: Post Qualifying Press Conference

    2017 Italian Grand Prix: Post Qualifying Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    2 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)

    3 – Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing)

    GRID INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by Davide Valsecchi)

    Lewis your lap was wonderful, 1.1 seconds in front of this guy. You were amazing.

    Lewis HAMILTON: Thank you man, grazie. I appreciate your excitement. I’m just as exvited.

    We’ll give him the chance to take the helmet off, and in this time, wonderful, first row. I’m sorry for you, you will not start from the front row but your lap was amazing and your performance in Q3 was just a step over.

    Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, it was a tricky qualifying, but I think also in the beginning of Q3 also sliding around a lot. But then I tried to cool down the tyres and in my final run everything worked pretty well, so happy with second.

     

    Very well done. Ricciardo, tell me how was your lap. You were struggling on this circuit but today, from the outside, it was just amazing looking at you champions driving so well.

    Daniel RICCIARDO: It was fun. Q1 and Q2 were quite terrible actually. I was struggling a lot and then Q3 we just seemed to get a bit better rhythm, the tyre had more grip. At the end we were pushing a lot but it was close. I’m glad we could do qualifying for all the fans. It was important we did this today.

     

    Thank you so much, very well done. Lewis, just half an hour ago you were playing your Playstation and now you broke the record and made the history of this sport?

    LH: Yeah, firstly, Italy I love you. I’m so happy to be here. Even though we’re in Ferrari’s homeland we have such great support here, even for Mercedes, so I really appreciate all the love. To do this here at such a historic circuit, such a beautiful country… I’m going to have some pasta tonight to celebrate.

     

    Please, tell me about tomorrow, how will it be, the race? One of your contenders is not there with you and so tell me, front row, first corner, not easy to manage, so how will it be, your race tomorrow?

    LH: Obviously it depends on the weather. I heard it’s going to be dry tomorrow, so hopefully it’s a normal Italian beautiful day. It’s going to be tough potentially with the temperatures. It’s great to see that Red Bull are up there, they obviously did a fantastic job. I have not seen the list of where everyone is, but honestly, I came across the line and I didn’t know if I had it, but it felt like a good lap. But, I can’t believe it – 69. I can’t believe it; I’m so grateful. God bless you guys.

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

     

    Lewis Hamilton, record breaking 69th Formula One pole position and less spoken about but also significant, all-time record polesitter here at the Italian Grand Prix? Congratulations Lewis, you punched the air as you crossed the line after a qualifying lap, so I guess it’s significant, it clearly means a lot to you for a lot of reasons. And I guess every record up to now is something where you have been chasing and from now on it’s up to the others to catch you.

    LH: Yeah, it’s very hard to find the word to explain how I feel, I’m trying to figure it all out right this second. These guys definitely made me work for it today, which I’m grateful for. The weather has been incredibly tricky for us all. Yeah, I can’t believe that so much time has passed, so many great experiences, a lot of difficult times. But what a day. To come here in this beautiful country and with this usually English weather and to be massively challenged. It was very difficult to see out there; it was very difficult to see the lines and very easy to make mistakes, as always in the rain. The second to last lap was OK at the beginning and then I backed out of it, hoping I’d get one more lap and there’s a lot of pressure for that last lap. There could have been a red flag, a yellow flag or something like that, so a lot to risk, but I gave it everything. It probably won’t sink in for a long time. I’ve got to say a big thank you to my team for making it all possible, the guys back at the factory for continuing to support me and for Mercedes, we’ve got a lot of the sponsors here from Petronas and from Mercedes Benz, who have been sponsoring me for a long, long time and supporting me and being right behind. So I’m grateful for that. And to my family, hi! Thank you so much for all the support. I can’t believe it’s been 10 years but I’m really grateful for all the support. And also for the fans. I enjoyed chatting with them just before qualifying, or during the break, and I’m grateful to FOM for allowing us to do that because it’s usually not allowed. But yeah, an epic day and truly blessed.

     

    Very well done. Max, great performance today, you had provisional pole right up until the last car crossed the line – Lewis. Your feelings on how you went today and where do you believe you’ll start the grand prix tomorrow and what do you think you can do from there?

    MV: Yeah, I think start 15th. That’s what they told me, we’ll see tomorrow. It was quite a good qualifying I think. Everything was working well. Just in Q3 I was maybe not as happy as I was in Q1 and Q2, just sliding around a bit more and just couldn’t get the grip, especially in the last sector. But my final lap was pretty OK and I head I was on pole and my engineer was telling me all the sector times and I said “stop, stop, just tell me what Lewis is doing” because he was the one to beat. He said “he’s going purple” and I was like, well, to be second here with the car, the whole package we have I think we did a very good job and it was nice again to drive in the wet.

     

    Daniel, it was intermediates in Q1 and Q2 but the order really changed about in Q3 moving onto the wet tyres. Ferrari fell away at that point. Can you put into words for us what was different about Q3 from Q1 and Q2 and thoughts about your own performance?

    DR: Yeah, Q1 and Q2 were nowhere. If you heard, I don’t know, but on my radio I wasn’t too impressed, just with the level of grip. We were struggling with everything and we were just slow. It just felt like the tyres were… as if we didn’t have blankets on them or something. So it was just cold and slippery. We got into Q3 so we weren’t nowhere, but for normally our competitiveness in the wet, certainly struggling and then Q3 we went out on the extremes and to be honest already on the out lap I had a lot more grip than I had in Q1 or in Q2. I think there’s something there, whether we learnt it, or we’ll have a look, but it was a different car in Q3 so… I think we topped it early on in that session, in Q3, and then obviously Max came through Lewis and we had a charge at the end. It was close – not Lewis’ lap at the end, I mean not Lewis’ lap at the end, but close with Max behind, and I think with Lance behind, all within a few tenths. It was alright in the end, good recovery, nice to be up here on a Saturday. We’ll obviously fall away back a bit tomorrow. I think 18th is where I’ll start. If I didn’t put in a good Q3, I probably would start 19th, so we’re good, we’re alright. Yeah, Q3 was a saviour!

     

    Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) Lewis, many, many congratulations on a historic pole position. They say it’s not the destination it’s the journey: what has this journey been like as you continue to light the stat-book up with all the milestones that you have had this year.

    LH: Well, firstly, I just actually wanted to recognise and acknowledge these two here who’ve done a fantastic job today which really shows their ability and while they perhaps don’t have the right package currently, hopefully in the future they do, because we need to see these guys up here with us more, battling. They should be in the fight with us. With Ferrari and Mercedes. So, fingers crossed. They’ve clearly shown today the capabilities.

    I’ve read that some people say it’s not about the journey or where you begin, it’s about the finish. I tend to think it’s tends to be more important about the beginning and the middle and not necessarily where you’re going, so yeah, about the journey. I think there’s been so much learnt over these years. So much growing, as there will continue to be growing to do. Today was a real challenge with the break. You’re in the zone for a second and then you get out of the car, you have 15 minutes to chill, then you get ready, get in the car, then you have to get back out, it was a real challenge to try to continuously try to keep your mind, not drained of energy while being in the zone but trying to step out of it and step back into. After playing the Playstation I was kind of a bit nervous whether or not I still was in the zone! But I was grateful when I got back out. Racing in the rain is… being in the wet in these cars is as great as its been in the other cars that we’ve had – but it’s such a challenge and this is such an epic circuit because unlike the new circuits the grip is often off-line – which is a normal characteristic of an older circuit, and so you get to utilise that. So, going out, finding where the grip is, as opposed to a new surface – like the straight for example – which a lot of the new tracks have, makes it a lot more fun. So, I really, really enjoyed it.

     

    Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Gentleman, at some phases it seemed quite difficult to choose which tyre to be on. Could you explain what was the difference in behaviour and were you satisfied with the Intermediate and the Wet tyre – and which parts of the track were particularly critical?

    MV: I think the whole year already, the Inter, compared to the years before when I was driving, I think it’s really difficult. Really hard to switch on. Last year, for example, all the time when we went to an Inter, you felt quite comfortable. The tyre was working, it was quite a soft tyre. And now it just feels very hard. Locking a lot, so you just can’t create any temperature in the tyres because you’re sliding around everywhere and that’s why it was very tricky. It was actually, for my feeling, dry enough for an Intermediate but still the Wets were faster: they were a bit softer, creating a bit better temperature so you can attack the brakes better. That was very difficult in Q1. Then in Q2 at one point the Inters became a bit better because it was quite dry. Then in Q3 it started raining again quite a bit, so straight away we said, let’s go back to the extremes, and that was definitely the right choice.

     

    And Lewis, which were the trickiest parts of the circuit, in these conditions today? And also, the pit straight was a bit dicey at the very beginning.

    LH: Yeah, the pit straight was always, being that it’s a new surface, the water really stays on it. It doesn’t disappear. So, the first part, definitely, picking up the braking zone into Turn One. And then probably out of Turn Two, traction’s terrible there. And then you get to the mid-section which is fun and it’s not too bad. I would say Ascari was challenging, particularly the exit. Definitely… probably the most challenging part.

     

    DR: It should have been Inters, I felt, with the level of water. I don’t know if it was Q1 or Q2 – it’s a long day – but the point where we went off extremes to Inters, I was sure the Inter would just be a lot more grip, but it just felt like it never really switched on. Just a very cold feeling and really low grip. I think the problem is then, because you can’t get into the tyre, because you’re sliding around and can’t really attack it, then it’s not really gaining temperature – so, unless it was drying a lot it was hard to get the Inter to work. At least that’s what we found today. It was a surprise, for sure, I thought the Inter would have been stronger in those conditions.

     

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / Speed Sport) Daniel, when you took the TV camera into the Mercedes garage, did you spot anything interesting on the car?

    DR: Yeah, a lot. I drew up a few things. There’s this gap that’s about 5.6mm below the rear end plate and that’s key. So I definitely saw a lot. These guys were busy playing Playstation, I think! I was just playing around, trying to entertain the fans. I know Lewis touched on it, but, yeah, it was very nice of them to stay out in the rain today and I’m glad that we got it done. At least the wait was worthwhile.

     

    Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) To questions for Lewis. One, did you have the same feeling about the Intermediates as the two guys either side of you, and secondly, can you talk a little bit more about the balance between it being fun to drive in the wet and all the challenges that come from driving in the wet and how much fun is that car of yours in those conditions – and how much of the character of the car comes through still in the wet?

    LH: The Inters, definitely it was a problem for everyone. I think we went out of them and… yeah… people are probably wondering what it means when you’re in the window and everything like that but it’s all about temperature, obviously and basically, when you’re below the temperature they’re just rock solid and so when you turn in they’re just sliding and they’re not working with the asphalt. Then, if you’re lucky, and it’s a little bit drier… we were basically just on the crossover and then a lot more rain came down, I think for Q3, so we really had to come in, it made no sense being out on that tyre. We just couldn’t go fast enough to generate enough heat and it because very, very tricky. Easy to spin off. And when you got back on the extremes, massive difference, a lot more grip, a lot more traction, tyres were working, clearing the water better. But, y’know, in Formual One you generally set the car up for the dry. Unless you know it’s a wet weekend where you can then focus on a softer set-up, here in the dry it’s more a stiffer setup you would go for – so when you get to the wet, you’re driving a stiff car and there’s not a lot of give, the flexibility in the car is very little. It definitely makes it a little trickier. But then it means it’s more like a… I don’t want to say a bull, because of these guys, but yeah, it’s a lot harder to tame it, because it’s so much more pitchy, and snappy, and then finding the groove, finding the dry patches, how quickly you get on power, it’s easy to go too deep into a corner and then you’ve got these long straights and you don’t get the exit onto those long straights. It was an amazing challenge and one that I love. And I know these guys enjoy it too.

     

    Q: (Inaudible) Lewis, congratulations, could you please describe what it means to you to have a record that has been held Michael for a very very long time?

    LH: I wish I was better with words, to be honest. I wish I had something really… something iconic to say but… I heard that it’s only switched hands a couple of times in the fifty years or whatever it is – sixty years or whatever. It’s just, again, a bit like at the last race, just growing up, watching this sport as we all have and witnessing greatness in other individuals such as Michael and just dreaming of one day doing what he’s doing or they’re doing and then actually to be there many years later. We are… and I am living proof that dreams are something that can come true so I think it’s really cool for young kids to be watching today because it’s probably hard to imagine it but I was once going there, in their position and dreaming of doing what I’m doing today which they perhaps are and very proud for what we, as a family, have achieved and it’s crazy. If I stopped now… but you know Vettel’s not far behind so I’ve got to keep going, I’ve got to keep extending it otherwise he might catch it and so I’ll stick around for a while and try to make life hell for him.

     

    Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) Gents, were you surprised that nothing was done for about two hours to clear the standing water from the track?

    LH: What could they have done?

     

    Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) The blower didn’t go out until two hours…

    LH: It was still raining so it wouldn’t have made any… by the time the blower would have gone a hundred meters the water would have been back where it was. Maybe we could have gone out and if all us cars were out there maybe we could have cleaned a bit of a line. But we saw Grosjean go off so it was tricky.

     

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) To all of you: I don’t want to throw water on your enthusiasm for this wonderful qualifying by projecting the race tomorrow. Probably dry conditions; what do you project for the race, all of you, considering the unusual grid; Stroll second, Ocon third, Ferrari in the back, Kimi fifth, Sebastian sixth?

    LH: I think it’s… well we will see. Hopefully it’s dry but obviously today would have cleaned the track so tomorrow is going to be green and obviously depending on the temperatures it’s going to make a difference but yeah, I’ve only just remembered so unfortunate for these guys because they did such a great job, it would have been awesome to have kept them there and had them more of a buffer to the guys behind but it’s great to see the youngsters… did you say Ocon and Stroll? Wow, that’s awesome. All these young kids coming through, keep me on my toes. I think it’s great because I know Ocon and Lance have also been driving so well this year and to come into a series when the cars have changed, a lot more physical than they had before, much more of a challenge, really thrown in at the deep end, they’ve done a great job, so to come to this awesome circuit and be where they are shows great promise for their futures.

    MV: We’ll see tomorrow. No but it’s not a great starting position but I think in terms of pace we can definitely get into the points but it’s a bit of a shame for me that Williams and Force India, they start that far up so that’s why I think they will gain quite a bit of time on us in the first three laps but we will try our best and we’ll see where it ends up.

    DR: Aaaah, probably challenge Lewis for the win!

     

    Q: (Frank Woestenburg – De Telegraaf) Max, after the red flag it took quite a long time before the session was restarted. Do you think it took too long and that maybe… and do you think the people who make the decisions are maybe too conservative?

    MV: To be honest, we did qualifying so I’m happy that we did it today instead of tomorrow, otherwise we wouldn’t be sitting here, I think.

     

    Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) Just a general question to all three: of course it’s only hypothetical but in a similar situation in future, would it be practical to allow everybody to go to wet set-up for qualifying, even if we knew the race was dry, just to get it out there? Would it make any difference anyway and could you do it that quickly, could you convert the cars?

    DR: I think it would take quite a long time. Yeah, I don’t know. It would help with grip, I don’t know how much it would help with aquaplaning and stuff. Yeah, for the amount of time and effort it would take it’s probably not worth the actual reward in my opinion.

    LH: I think it would be kind of neat to be able to change the set-up, as long as you get… on Sunday, you can’t change the set-up for Sunday if it’s going to be dry for example but it would be kind of neat, it would put in a little bit more of spice in the dynamics. Adding downforce would have also helped today, switched on the intermediate, for example maybe.

     

    Q: (Natalya Panteleeva – Automotorgr.ru) Daniel, you said that you have finished with your tradition with shoey…

    MV: He has a lot of tradition. You don’t know Dan yet.

     

    Q: (Natalya Panteleeva – Automotorgr.ru) … but when you become World Champion, will you carry on the tradition to have a drink from your shoe or will be invent something new?

    LH: Like eat your socks!

    DR: I don’t know. We’ll see. Hopefully I’m not old by then. If I am old by then, maybe I’ll also think drinking out of my shoe is disgusting.

    LH: How old are you now?

    DR: 28.

    LH: I thought you were at least 35.

    DR: I don’t know. To be honest, it’s a good question but I haven’t thought about anything like that. Even when I did the shoey I didn’t expect it to become a bit of a thing.

    LH: You did.

    DR: I didn’t really, it wasn’t… You’ve still yet to do one so… We’ll see, hopefully I’ll get to cross that bridge one day, one day soon and maybe, maybe. Thanks for having faith.

  • 2017 Belgian Grand Prix: Post Qualifying Press Conference

    2017 Belgian Grand Prix: Post Qualifying Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    2 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

    3 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)

     

    GRID INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by Will Buxton)

    Q: Lewis, Ross Brawn just wants to have a couple of words with you to congratulate you on this achievement.

    Ross BRAWN: I’m here to deliver a very special message from Corinna Schumacher and the Schumacher family, who want to congratulate you on equalling Michael’s record and as they said, Michael always said records are there to be beaten, so they want to send their very special thanks. Congratulations, Lewis, well done.

    Q: So, Lewis, that was some lap. It was mighty. Tell all the fans, tell everyone at home, how good does it feel to hook one up like that around here?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Well, first of all, I want to give a big shout out to all the fans here, they’re always amazing here every year we come here. There are a lot of Brits, a lot of people from the Netherlands, from all over, so thank you so much for coming out. I can’t believe it. First of all, a big thank you to my tea, Ross [Brawn] was a big part of me being here at this team, so the success we have had he is much a part of that as well. But the team have done an amazing job. Valtteri did a great job to be up here ahead of the Ferraris, an amazing feeling. This is one of my favourite circuits, so to come here and put a lap together like that, it’s a dream. I’ve got the best job in the world, so I’m just grateful to be here.

    Q: And to equal Michael Schumacher’s record on the track where he made his debut, the track where he took his first grand prix victory is something special too.

    LH: It is and to hear the message that Ross just gave, I just have to say a big thank you and pray for Michael and his family all the time. I’ve had the privilege of racing with him, from karting days in Kerpen to on the track and always admired him, and still do today, so I’m just honoured to be up there with him now in the poles, but he will still be one of the greatest of all time.

    Q: Congratulations. Seb, that was some lap at the end to get on the front row, you needed that didn’t you?

    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, it was the right time. I had a very good feeling in Q1, the get go was really go but then I lost that feeling a little bit, I had a bit light front end, especially then through sector two with the medium-, high-speed corners. I was lacking a little bit of response. But the last lap the car was a little bit more alive, immediately I could feel it turning into Turn 1. And then I have to also admit that I was a bit lucky with Kimi, he had to abort his lap but he gave me a very, very nice tow, which I think made it a bit more comfortable with Valtteri. Obviously it’s very important. Good position today, great job from the team, very happy, so looking forward to the race.

    Q: We know these guys are worries about your long-run pace. Are you confident in it?

    SV: They should be! So far it has been looking pretty good, so I hope we can keep it up. The car, on one lap, I thought all weekend it was a bit trickier to get it together. Consecutive laps with high fuel I felt really good, so let’s see what we can do with the strategy tomorrow as well, but for sure Mercedes will be quick. But, we don’t have to hide. We are on the front row for a reason. We have the speed and we should have it in the race.

    Q: Congratulations. Valtteri, are you annoyed that he just pipped you at the end there? As he said, he got a tow from Kimi coming up the back and without that it might have been an all-Mercedes front row.

    Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, of course it would have been nice to be one-two tomorrow, but it’s not a bad starting place. I was aiming for pole today, but to be honest Lewis has been doing and absolutely perfect job all weekend and for some reason I’ve been struggling and I just haven’t been able to get close enough, so we’ll need to investigate why. That’s something we’ll need to understand but already my thoughts are for tomorrow.

    Q: Everyone is focusing on those two guys for the title, bit you are in the hunt for the title as much as both of them. How much do you want the win tomorrow to prove to everybody, as much as to them, that you’re here, you’re fighting and it’s as much yours as it is theirs?

    VB: Getting my first couple of wins this year you just want more, so of course that is going to be the mission for me tomorrow and main thing as a team is that we get a strong result. But I’ll do everything I can and I don’t mind if they are being looked at more than me, I’ll just keep doing my job and trying to get better and better.

    Q: Can’t wait for tomorrow. Lewis, you’ve got the championship leader on the front row with you, you’ve got your team-mate inches behind you and he’s very much in the hunt for this title as well, really the second half of the season couldn’t be starting any better for Formula One could it?

    LH: Well, we had a great holiday and we’ve come back feeling fresh and this is the perfect way to start the weekend. The second half is going to be tough for all of us, the team, the people back at the factory, but we’re geared up for the second half, so I hope that we can bring it.

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Lewis, many congratulations, a day I’m sure you’ve been looking forward to for some time. The magic number – 68 – you’ve equalled the all-time record of Michael Schumacher. And what a place to do it – a track that is so synonymous with Schumacher, and with a record fastest ever lap of track. Your feelings?

    LH: Yeah, it’s a special day, definitely. To be honest, I knew it was on the horizon and I knew at some stage I’d be getting that 68th pole but I really hadn’t thought about it very much. I didn’t apply pressure, I was like “it could come soon, it could take a long time”, but now being there, it’s an unusual place to be. I remember coming here in 1996, my first grand prix, and watching Michael come by out of Turn 1 and the engine just shook my rib cage – it was incredible. And that was when my love for the sport took another step. And to think that God knows how long later I’m now equal to him on poles, it’s very surreal and very much a humbling experience, particularly knowing that Michael is such a legend. It’s an incredible feat that he achieved and I feel very proud to be up there with him.

    Q: It’s a special day generally in numbers – 4.2 seconds faster this year’s pole compared to last years. The average generally this year has been around 2-2.5s, can you break it down for us why this weekend is so far much faster around this track with these cars?

    LH: It’s a medium-high downforce circuit so it’s to do this engine being more powerful than it was last year, for all of us. We’ve got a lot more downforce, so the speed that we are going through the corners, it’s so much faster than it was last year. It’s a longer circuit, there’s more time at full throttle, so DRS counts for more than it perhaps has done at other places. A combination of those I would assume. Yeah, it feels amazing around this track. It always does, but to have a car as we have here and the set-up I was able to work with my engineers, to achieve the balance was great, and to really be able to lean on the car around this circuit, I’ve never had such a feeling. Pouhon, Turn 10, was nearly flat, which is insane, I’ve definitely never experienced that in my time whilst in Formula One. We’re just like Ricky Bobby – we want to go faster, and it is a great feeling when you do.

    Q: Congratulations, very special day. Sebastian, it was important for Mercedes today that they get two cars on the front row and it was very important for you that they didn’t. It took you a while to get there, so under the circumstances would you class that a very special lap on your behalf?

    SV: Not just on my behalf. I think I had a little bit of help from a friend. Kimi had to abort his lap and he was very generous in giving me a tow in the last sector and that got me about two tenths so that helped and it made it a bit more comfortable with Valtteri looking at the result. Q1 I was really happy, the car was amazing. Q2 the main job was to get through, and then Q3 first lap I was missing a little bit the feel for the front. The second run in Q3 was better in that regard. So I was very happy with the last lap and as I said obviously with a little bit of a help it was quite nice. It was then tricky getting into the last corner, because knowing that you arrive so much faster with the tow and braking is never easy, it’s easy to miss it for the last corner. But I managed to get it right and to get it across the line so that was useful. The pace has been good this weekend. I think less for one lap, more so for long runs, so let’s see what we can do tomorrow.

    Q: Your long-run pace yesterday looked very promising compared to the Mercedes so does that give you some hope for tomorrow. There is a strange start to this race as well, because you don’t necessarily always want to be the first car down the straight in the opening stages as there is an opportunity for P2 to get ahead?

    SV: Yeah that’s right. Well, we’ll see when we get to that. I think the start is still very important and you try to do your best there and try to take it from there. I think the long run pace looked good yesterday, also this morning. Obviously we didn’t do a lot of laps overall this weekend, it’s a long lap, so the amount of laps you get is not that much compared to other tracks. But, as I said, the car was really good, especially for the race, so now we hope to confirm that. Tomorrow will be a tough day though, I mean start, first laps, as you said big straights, tows and in general strategy around here so we will see what happens.

    Q: Coming to you Valtteri, you had second place, again it took you a while to get to that point, and then obviously Sebastian took it away from you. He’s explained that the tow had a part to play in it – but did you feel you were on your A-game today?

    VB: Yeah, first of all congrats to Lewis for the pole and for the 69th [68th] it’s a mega-achievement. I’ve only got two so some way to go. This whole weekend for some reason I’ve been not really close enough to be able to challenge for that pole. For sure Lewis has been really on it but I’m slightly confused why I’ve not been able to get quite close enough. Still need to find some answers for me. The balance of the car has been feeling really good. Been just really lacking overall grip and that way, losing a lot of time in the high-speed corners in Sector Two. So, yeah, was always going to be a bit tricky to challenge for the pole, unfortunately. Would have been nice to at least be second but Sebastian got ahead. But still, second row and I’m sure as a team we can do good tomorrow.

    Q: As we were just saying, the Ferrari, the long run pace on the ultrasoft yesterday and again the long run pace this morning looked pretty handy, but what was striking about you guys is that your soft tyre pace is pretty strong. Presumably, strategy-wise, you’re counting on that tomorrow to get in front of Sebastian before the chequered flag.

    VB: Yeah, it is going to be a long race and here we know always anything can happen and you never know with the weather as well. It’s going to be a day full of opportunities for me as well, starting third. Probably going to see different behaviour with the different cars, with the different tyre compounds. So, should be interesting.

    Q: (Angelique Belokopytov – Autodigest) First of all, congratulations Lewis for this special day, special record too, so question to all three of you, could you please share with us a special memorable moment shared with Michael please?

    SV: It’s not fair to pick one moment. I think the fact we’re both from the same country makes it easier to in a way get closer to him. I know him for a very, very long time, the age of six or seven I met him for the very first time, he was handing over the trophies to the kids at the go-kart track in Kerpen, his home track, not far away from here. Yeah, it was massive. We were more than a hundred kids and he took the time to shake all our hands, hand over the trophies, so as a child I think that was indescribable. Obviously he was my hero. I had his posters everywhere in my room and he was pretty much the only guy I followed when I was young. So, yeah, big inspiration and we then I think we had a lot of good moments, a lot of fun moments. As a child it’s different, you’re star-struck in a way. It’s my hero, what do I say? I don’t know. And then later on I got to know him and yeah, we really got a long. He’s a great guy, good fun and I think the admiration for his skills is the same as day one. We shared a lot of good moments at the Race of Champions together and even if you can argue about the format and so on, still you have to drive different cars, adapt and the way he drives a go-kart is… I don’t know… it’s just so different to everybody else I’ve ever seen. So, I don’t know how I look from the outside but I guess I don’t look that, so yeah, many moments. Sober and not sober. It’s hard to pick one.

    Lewis?

    LH: I think I already mentioned earlier on my find and probably favourite memory of seeing Michael come by but just like Sebastian, I grew up watching him and I would play him, I would always be… particularly when he was in a Ferrari, when I was racing in computer games I was Michael a lot, the majority of the time. Having the privilege, I raced with him in Kerpen many, many years ago and yeah, just trying to think of the best moment. I’ve always had good, fond memories of him. Another really good one was Abu Dhabi, just before he left. I plucked up the courage to go ask if he would swap helmets with me. He was welcoming and did, so yeah, that’s definitely one of the coolest things in my house.

    Valtteri?

    VB: I remember watching on TV all the battles he used to have in the 1990s with Häkkinen. That was really good to watch and remember how excited I was every Sunday morning. Sunday afternoon, waking up and knowing it’s going to be another proper battle on track. And I also remember, it’s not even so far ago, 2012, when I did Friday practice for Williams and, for the first time I was the same time on track with Michael. For me, that was quite special.

    Q: (Mike Doodson – Honorary) Sebastian, you mentioned Kimi’s generous gesture to you. We didn’t see it on TV and I was wondering if it happened spontaneously or if you had to position yourself on the track or did that just happen by good chance?

    SV: As far as I understand, he had a mistake on his last flying lap, his last attempt, so it wasn’t planned; he wanted obviously to finish that lap but when he, I guess when he did the mistake and just because of where we were positions, he obviously cruised back to the pits. I guess the team didn’t even tell him anything. I think he just saw a red car in the mirror and thought ‘I’ll hand him a tow,” which was quite nice. It was obviously quite useful for me – but it wasn’t planned. I saw some other teams playing around with tows previously in qualifying – but usually it’s one of those things you can’t really plan so we tend to stay away from it. To answer your question, I think it was very spontaneous.

    Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) First off, congratulations Lewis. You went into Beast Mode in Q3, you talked about that moment with Michael. How does it feel that now, you creating this moment and building this legacy of yours, that you’re inspiring that next generation, who will sit here say the same thing, that they were inspired by what you did here today?

    LH: Well, thank you. I think it’s a good question. I’ve not really sat and thought too much about it because obviously I’m here right now – but it is the case, y’know. Many, many years from now they’ll be some kid, some grown-up sitting here… maybe it’s not many, many years from now – Sebastian’s not far behind on the poles, could catch-up, but yeah, I think it’s amazing, it’s a real privilege for all of us to be up here, knowing that even currently that there are kids, even adults that are looking up to us for inspiration in their daily lives but also setting goals. For me, I always try to put out positive energy. I think success comes a lot with a real positive frame of mind. It’s very easy for all of us to be negative on occasions – but the most important thing is to wake-up in the morning and try to find that positive energy, wherever you get it from, and apply that to whatever it is that you’re trying to work or achieve. I think we’re all born as stars with the opportunity to do something special. It’s all about finding and using  that positive energy.

    Q: (Livio Orrichio – globoesporte.com) Lewis, in your last set of tyres, you didn’t get the best in the T1, the first part of the track, but you did a wonderful T2. Did you change the car in the final part of the qualifying, the Q3?

    LH: You mean the last lap? No. Well, you can’t change the car, the only thing I could do is wing but that doesn’t affect the first sector. I was up as far as I’m aware. My dashboard, it said I was up 0.8 of a tenth, or something like that, nearly a tenth in sector one, so I’m not really sure what you’re relating to. Maybe it was down but my delta said it was up. But I didn’t change anything. I did pretty much the same sector – but the second sector particularly and a little bit in the last sector was really where I made the gains. That middle sector, Turn Ten, it’s nearly flat, as I mentioned. That was pretty awesome.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, how crucial is it tomorrow to beat at least one of these guys behind… I mean in front of you, for your championship hopes?

    VB: Hopefully at least one behind, so I’m not last. Yeah, for sure we’re all fighting for the title. Obviously it is nine races to do so there are a massive amount of points still available. So this is only one race but every race counts. For sure try to gain any positions possible. For us as a team, we know that it is a strong circuit for us. So we really need to capitalise. We want, as a team, to be one-two. That’s going to be the mission.

    Q: (Bas Holtkamp – Raceexpress.com) Question to Lewis. Now you’ve achieved this goal for the most pole positions ever – almost, you’ve equalled Michael – what is your next goal. Do you have a magic number in mind? Like, are you going for the 80 or 100 or whatever?

    LH:  No, I haven’t… I generally take my days one days at a time so I haven’t planned for anything further than for what I already have – but I plan on being here for some time so I will work towards whatever number it could possibly be. When I came across the line on that slow-down lap, it was a real moment to reflect on my team, who did such a great job, who have worked so hard through the year to enable me, to give me the car of my dreams. That’s the car that we all… that’s the car that us three up here have dreamed of racing. There’s so many people back at the factory, and people watching TV just don’t even have the even the faintest idea. There’s so much work that goes on back home, there’s so many people. Every day I go to the factory I find a new little workshop that’s underneath the stairs, and I’ve been walking past that for five years and didn’t even know it was there – and five people come out of that little space and they’d have been there for 20 years. So, yeah, I’ve been really fortunate to work with some really great people and I’m just really just a small link in the chain but I’m proud of my link in the chain and I plan to continue to propel this car and this team forward. I believe that we can get many more – so that’s the goal. Sky’s the limit really.

    Q:(Flavio Vanetti – Corriera della Sera) Sebastian, we know that you signed a long term contract and I would like to know if in some way it’s the same trust that Michael had towards the team?  And secondly, if you had any moment in which you had doubts about Ferrari and maybe you thought to quit the team?

    SV: I don’t know what trust Michael had. I never actually spoke with him about that. Yeah, unfortunately, as you all know I didn’t have the opportunity. I think he would have been one of the first people to ask back in 2014 and probably have to consult also you know, now in terms of… I don’t know, through the course of this year for the future, whatever. I love this team, I love the people who are working for this brand. Obviously Lewis touched on the effort that is going into building a Formula One car. I think for most of the teams it’s probably the same but still I believe Ferrari has something unique, something that other teams don’t have. People talk about a legend, to me it appears that this legend is still alive because of the people who work for it, day in, day out. I’m sure you have been to Maranello, probably most of you haven’t but if you walk down the streets in Maranello, the presence of Ferrari is huge but if you see the people working at Ferrari and meet them, then it’s even bigger, what they carry inside them, the passion for the brand and that’s I think and I’m convinced, allowing every single one of them to go an extra step compared to other people, other teams. That’s my conviction and extremely grateful to be part of that family. In a way, it was a no-brainer to continue. We haven’t yet achieved what we what we wanted to achieve but things are looking pretty good and obviously we have a long road ahead of us.

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) Lewis, if you take pole position at Monza, you’ll break Michael’s record. Would that be the ultimate tribute to him, the ultimate place to do it in front of all the Ferrari fans to pay tribute to his greatness?

    LH: I’m not really sure whether that, how… my next step, how that applies to anyone else. If I dedicate it to him, yeah, could be the best tribute being that he had so much success at Ferrari and in Italy. Yeah, I’ve not really thought of it to be honest. Don’t have an answer for you there.

    Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday, Motorsport Week.com) Sebastian, speculation before you signed was that you were going to possibly sign a one year deal with Ferrari. Now they’ve come out and announced that you’ve signed at least three years. Do you see yourself ending your career at Maranello?

    SV: Well, I don’t know, since we learned last year that these things can happen fairly quickly and spontaneously you never know. But yeah, obviously now I don’t need to think and spend time about thinking about the future so that’s clear and then I think we cross that bridge when we get to it. It’s a long time, a lot of things can happen so we will see. Also then you can never say never. You retire and then, I don’t I know, might get bored, come back. We may see Nico back in a couple of years, who knows? Michael obviously decided to come back at some point because he loved racing but that’s all far far away so not really a topic.

    Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) Sebastian, yesterday you said that there would be no news on your contract for two weeks. I just wanted to know what changed in 24 hours for you?

    SV: Nothing personal, I don’t like the Sun. I saw a clip yesterday of a funny interview with Jurgen Klopp and he doesn’t like the Sun either so maybe I will jump on the bandwagon. Maybe I give you a last answer. Yeah, I didn’t think that it’s probably the right time so I didn’t rush or push but things were coming along together fairly quickly in the end and we decided to go for it and make the call. So yeah, I know it wasn’t the best in terms of one day and then the other but that’s how it was.

    Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Perhaps you will like the BBC, Sebastian. Did you actually sign it this weekend? How did you decide to sign for three years? And did you have any talks with or thoughts about joining Mercedes?

    SV: Well, I mean I have been around in the paddock for a while so I know people and it’s natural that you talk but it’s never been more than chatting, mostly about other stuff, to be honest but yeah, I’ve been talking for a while with Ferrari. As I said, my intention was to stay. We haven’t succeeded so the mission is still ongoing. I want to win in red. We talked about inspiration earlier about Michael, he was mostly dressed in red. He won most of his races in red and his championships. I don’t want to step in his footsteps. I think the whole generation of the Ferrari team today wants to leave their own footsteps but certainly there’s a huge inspiration so something for me is now the biggest challenge, the biggest dream that I have and what I want to achieve. I think, to answer your question at the beginning, since I like the BBC, is yes, I actually signed it this weekend.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS) Do you think tomorrow will be a Ferrari-Mercedes battle again or do you fear Red Bull might interfere?

    LH: Yeah, he just said where are they? I don’t… where did they qualify?

    SV: Five and six.

    LH: I’ve not seen their pace, so as far as I’m aware they’ve been a bit down on power, they’ve tried different… lower and higher range of wings. I think they’ve been a little bit off the pace as far as I’m aware but you never know. Whatever conditions we’re faced with tomorrow, I think the pace of us at the moment, both Ferrari and Mercedes, is pretty strong so…

    SV: Well, it wouldn’t be the first time that we see significant increase in race pace for Red Bull so obviously in qualifying, also round here, it might not be their strongest track but tomorrow, come race, lot of laps, looking after the tyres, I think they’ve proven in the past that they’re very strong so you should never under-estimate and forget about them.

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) Valtteri, is it frustrating seeing everybody else signing new contracts?

    VB: No. Good for them.

    LH: Who’s everybody else, anyways? This one dude here.

    Q: Kimi, Vandoorne.

    LH: Not everyone else.

    VB: No, I’m just really focusing on my own things. I know where we are with everything. I don’t need to worry if other people are doing contracts. I’m only interested in what I’m going to do and what the team is going to do and that’s what matters. Like I said, there’s no rush really because for this season I joined in January, so there’s still plenty of time.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) To both Mercedes drivers: no problems with tyre temperatures considering the ultrasoft tyres on the flying laps and also long runs, and Sebastian, Lauda said today that he stopped talking to you two months ago. What went wrong that the conversations didn’t go ahead?

    LH: Can he answer first? I’m interested to hear his…

    SV: Nothing. Nothing went wrong. I think I’m very happy. I think Niki is generally a happy guy so… nothing went wrong.

    LH: For us, we didn’t have any problems with the tyres. I haven’t struggled with tyre temps so far this weekend and I think it wasn’t a problem throughout qualifying as well. It was very easy to get temperatures. The tyres have been giving quite a lot of grip. I think it feels like, particularly for qualifying, that the one step softer was a good direction but it will be interesting to see how it works out tomorrow.

    VB: Yeah, definitely, I think right choices from Pirelli for this weekend, to go with the softest compounds. Even with the ultrasofts no big problems, little bit of overheating during the lap but it’s not massive, it’s pretty normal so it was good.

     

    Photo by courtesy Pirelli

  • 2017 Hungarian GP: Post Qualifying Press Conference

    2017 Hungarian GP: Post Qualifying Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

    2 – Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (Ferrari)

    3 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)

     

    GRID INTERVIEWS (Conducted by Will Buxton)

    First question inaudible.

    Sebastian VETTEL: … to have the car in the right window, to have the sun shining, to have people around, that’s what it is about, so it was really big fun. Obviously a front row for us, which is incredible and now we are looking forward to tomorrow.

    Q: Yeah, no, front row in front of all the Ferrari fans, the flags waving in the grandstands. What changed overnight, between yesterday and today?

    SV: Nothing. We are working hard. Obviously the last race wasn’t great for us, but it doesn’t matter now. We are here and try to do the best and that’s what matters. Really step by step and I am very happy with where we are as a team. Again, we need to remember where we were 12 months ago and where we are now. Also thanks to the support, people believing in us. It’s great to get the result also on Saturday, but as I said, the main task comes tomorrow so nothing won today but sure we are very happy and take it to move forward.

    Q: Kimi, that was a superb lap, absolutely sensational. Listen to all you fans, massive fan base in from Finland. How good did that lap feel? 

    Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: Actually not too good. The start was good and the end was not too bad but in the chicane I braked on the outside kerb and got loose and really threw it away there but you know, it was decent enough for second place but it is disappointing. I felt I had it quite comfortably but you know I couldn’t really finish.

    Q: Is it too easy to say that this is a track naturally should have suited Ferrari?

    KR: If you purely looked at lap times, yes, but then if you look from yesterday it wasn’t the easiest day and today we have definitely been pretty happy with things. I managed to improve my car for the qualifying and I must say we are happy with how they are handling now. So far, so good but tomorrow is going to be a long race and a hard battle, so we have to keep it going.

    Q: Valtteri, lots of Finnish flags. A great lap, phenomenal job. How hard has it been for you guys to take the fight to Ferrari today? 

    Valtteri BOTTAS: They’ve been quick all weekend and coming into qualifying we knew it should be close and they will be tough to beat and they really had the upper hand today. They had a quicker car, so they have clearly got everything right for this track and we still have work to do on circuits like this, but you know, let’s see tomorrow.

    Q: Are you guys on the back foot a little bit this weekend? 

    VB: This weekend, yes, clearly. We can see that we are not performing as we should, as we want, so that just highlights that we still have work to do with the car. But now we are focusing for the race tomorrow, because it’s going to a long one and still anything is possible.

    Q: Seb, you lead the championship by one point, summer break starts tomorrow. Is it going to be, well, 25 points tomorrow? How big is that gap going to be? 

    SV: Not by my count: summer break starts on Monday. Not even that, we have the test next week. Numbers… I was decent I would say in maths in school but yeah it’s way too early. We go racing; we go flat out. That’s what we have been doing for the first races and that’s what we keep doing. I think that’s the only way to succeed. Certainly we have a lot of boost from people here, at home and in Italy, you know, it can’t be better than that and the main thing is to enjoy.

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Sebastian, your 48th pole. It looked a pretty seamless session from where we were sitting, how was it for you? 

    SV: Seamless? Well, it was seamless in terms of we didn’t have any problems. I felt quite good straight away from Q1 onwards, we did the laps that we had to do and then come Q3 I was fairly confident… you always debate about small things you can do with the car. I was very happy with the first run. I knew there was still a little bit, so I went flat out on the second attempt and I was a little bit faster, it felt like I was faster, but then I arrived in the last sector and I think I asked a bit too much of the tyres beforehand and lost it, sort of, all in three corners and did the same time. So then I didn’t know. I looked up and I didn’t know who was coming behind me because there was a bit of time. I was very happy with the first lap. I think the second could have been a little bit better. The car was phenomenal. And then when I saw it was two red in the first two positions then obviously… the same time, simultaneously the radio opened and there was a big scream. So, really nice. Obviously it is only Saturday, so nothing to get from today other than the best position but we did that and it’s great I think, especially after… there’s always a lot of talk but the talk after the last race was a bit too much so it’s good to give the answer on the track. I’m just happy, as I said. I really like the track. The car was fantastic today and it was really a pleasure to just go round.

    Q: Kimi, it is a Ferrari front-row lock-out. You came on the radio at one point and said you were unhappy with your braking, so was there more to come from you? Had you been happier with the car?

    KR: No, in the end it was OK. Obviously when you lock the front, it’s not ideal but there is nothing wrong with anything, it’s just you try to always find a better way of driving and doing things, so it’s a very normal thing to discuss stuff like that. I was pretty happy with the last apart from going into the chicane, I dropped the wheels on the left kerb and got sideways. I lost an awful lot of lap time. I really felt I had a good chance to put it in first place but anyhow it was decent enough for second place, so obviously great for the team. But it is only Saturday. We have a long way to go tomorrow, both cars, and we try to keep the positions and see what happens.

    Q: Valtteri, Mercedes were seeking their third consecutive front row lock-out here in Hungary. It hasn’t happened. How surprised have you and the team been by the pace of the guys sat alongside you?

    VB: I definitely think today, all-day, Ferrari has been just too quick for us. We saw in the practice the times they were doing: after that we were expecting a tricky qualifying but I think, y’know, it felt like we got most out of it, more or less but just they were quicker today and yesterday it was looking a bit better for us, so, yeah, today was a little bit surprising but it just shows that we definitely have work to do. Tracks like that that requires the maximum downforce of the car, we seem to be struggling a bit more, for one reason or another. So, just need to keep working.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Sebastian, of course from here the aim must be victory – but you haven’t had a clean race since the Monaco Grand Prix. So which is more important: having victory tomorrow or having a clean race at last before the summer break?

    SV: Well, if you say the last clean race was Monaco, it ended in a victory so… I don’t know. Chances are good, we start at the front, they couldn’t be any better but tomorrow is a long day. It’s hot, it’s always hot here. It’s tough for tyres. We saved a set compared to the others. We’ll see. I think the race is long and a lot of things to look out for so… yeah. A clean race is a good race and then we’ll see which result we get.

    Q: (Péter Vámosi – Vas Népe) Question to all drivers. Since 2005 there is a tendency here, if you win the Hungarian Grand Prix, you will be not the champion at the end of the year. What do you think about this?

    SV: I don’t know what happened in 2004?

    Michael Schumacher won here…

    SV: 2003? I don’t know. Statistics! I think if you ask us, we all want to win tomorrow. That’s it.

    Kimi, Valtteri, anything to add?

    VB: No. Nothing to add, we all want to win tomorrow.

    KR: I’ll happily take it. See what happens.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / Speed Sport) Valtteri, the car was lacking a little bit here in the supersoft tyres but how was it on the soft tyres in the long runs?

    VB: I think long runs seemed OK but it seemed OK also for Ferrari and actually Red Bull, so at least what we could see from the practice long runs, all three teams were really consistent actually. So, yeah, that’s why today in Budapest is always important but yeah, I’m sure we can still fight for… trying to gain position, trying to win the race. That’s still the goal although it’s not going to be easy because it’s consistent pace between the teams.

    Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) This question’s for Valtteri and Kimi. Both of you have had some interesting interactions with some young fans. What does it feel like having that kind of support from the smallest of F1 fans?

    VB: yeah, so y’know, I saw the picture of this guy. I’ve never had that kind of fan: face painted, hair painted blue. Just wanted to cheer him up. The boy was in the wheelchair as well. The team managed to find his parents and that was really cool. I’ve never seen the reaction of a fan like that, so it made my day really, also meeting him.

    Kimi, you remember back to the Spanish Grand Prix?

    KR: Yeah, obviously it was a sad moment at first, so not very happy memories of the first part but then the second part cheered me up and cheered up the little guy and his family up a lot, so obviously it was great. Can’t expect to happen every time, just by luck it all went like that, I guess. It’s great if we can please somebody. Had quite a hard time with me going out so, yeah, it turned out to be OK and that’s the main thing.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte) Question to all drivers. The qualifying, we were in 56°C in the asphalt. It seems to be it will be a challenge to keep the tyres for tomorrow. Ferrari at the beginning of the season had an advantage on that. Comment of all drivers, Mercedes and Ferrari.

    SV: Yeah, I think your question is also a good summary. I have not that much to add. It’s been really close. Tomorrow will be largely unknown because we didn’t get much yesterday. We got a glimpse but there was a lot of red flags so nobody could really do what they wanted to do. So we’ll see. We’ll see how it works. Obviously first we focus on the start and then we see how the race goes – but really happy with the car today. The balance was better than yesterday. I don’t see why it should change for tomorrow. It was hotter today than yesterday and yeah, I think we were coping quite well with that. Should be OK – but yeah, for sure it will be the main challenge tomorrow to survive longer than the others in better shape.

    Kimi, anything to add about the balance of your car and the track temperature?

    KR: No, that’s perfect.

    OK, Valtteri, how about the Mercedes?

    VB: Well, can’t say it was absolutely perfect but for sure it’s going to be more tricky tomorrow than the long runs we did yesterday – but that’s going to be the same for everyone. I think us, as a team, we have improved since some of the struggles we’ve had in hotter temperatures, it’s gone in a bit better direction. Tomorrow will be a good test for that.

    Q: (Zsolt Godina – F1vilag) Kimi and Sebastian: F1 teams will have two days of testing at the Hungaroring next week. So how important will those days be for Ferrari in terms of upgrades and in terms of fighting with Mercedes during the second half or the season? 

    KR: Obviously it’s important. We don’t get an awful lot of track time so you can do simulations and stuff like that but when you get track time, it’s definitely the best option and obviously we have two days so we will see what we come up with and what we try and find out but it’s definitely helpful and we can obviously have a bit more freedom and time to try things and learn about certain things.

    Q: (Luis Vasconcelos – Formula Press) To all three: given how difficult it is to overtake here and recent history at starts, how much risks are you all prepared to take in the first few moments of the race? 

    VB: Yeah, it is one of the most difficult circuits to overtake, that’s for sure. So yeah, the start will be important. It’s quite a slow speed corner, turn one, high braking so normally you can see places being exchanged so for sure, trying to gain if there’s any possibility.

    KR: Obviously, if you could chose, you would take the left hand side but I don’t think it’s really going to destroy your day, it’s more about making a good start rather than which side you are and try to do that and see what happens in the first few corners.

    SV: Well, it’s not the first start for us. I think we’ve been there… I think we all focus on the start and then you have to react from there, it’s impossible to predict. I think we’ve had good starts, especially this weekend so let’s see tomorrow.

    Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) To all three of you: all of you have been doing spectacular lap times today, in fact Sebastian broke the lap record from 2004 by more than two seconds, so could you please describe how much more spectacular it feels from the car to drive on a twisty circuit like this so much quicker than before? And in which corners is the most spectacular compared to last year?

    SV: Well, it feels great, I think we always want to go faster so… we always want more so it’s good to know and to feel that the cars are fast, certainly faster than they’ve ever been so that’s great, also in terms of power, I think we’re getting there so it’s quite nice. Biggest differences I would say is that you tend to gain everywhere but braking, I think, is a big difference and then talking specifically about corners, obviously you’ve got the high speed (turns) four and eleven and I think also the fact that they resurfaced for last year helps, especially in turn five. Eight and nine are less bumpy so you can extract the grip a little bit more. Yeah, it’s always nice to go fast.

    Kimi, you were in Formula One back in those… the halcyon era of 2004; how does this compare?

    KR: Obviously very difficult to compare. I think the biggest improvement comes from resurfacing the circuit and it improved the grip like in Austria. It’s very smooth and a lot of grip. Obviously the cars are faster this year than last year but no way to compare. It feels very normal for us because we get used to it. Done it for a lot of races that are actually a lot faster circuits so it’s not suddenly like… even if the lap time is a lot faster, it doesn’t feel like… it just feels normal.

    VB: Yeah, definitely it is quick like all the circuits; all the corners this year are pretty much quicker so you always enjoy it more, especially turn four and eleven here is impressively quick and I like it.

  • F1 Hungarian GP qualifying: Ferrari locks out the front row

    F1 Hungarian GP qualifying: Ferrari locks out the front row

    The Scuderia Ferrari team stamped their authority all over today’s Hungarian grand prix qualifying session locking out the front row of the grid, leaving the Mercedes team on the second row.

    It was Sebastian Vettel who took the pole position for tomorrow’s race, with a record breaking time of 1:16.276. Team mate Kimi Raikkonen slotted in ever just under two-tenths behind him with a 1:16.244.

    Valtteri Bottas was the quicker of the two Mercedes drivers with a struggling Lewis Hamilton lining up in fourth place. Hamilton has been complaining all weekend about balance, vibrations, and difficulty handling the Mercedes. The W08 is most definitely not happy with the heat around the Hungaroring, especially so when Pirelli’s supersoft tyres are bolted onto the car. The Briton completed the qualifying session just over half a second off Vettel’s pace. And, with pole position being so crucial around the notoriously difficult-to-overtake Hungaroring, Hamilton will have his work cut out for him tomorrow if he intends taking back the championship lead from Vettel – even if there’s only one point currently separating the two world champs.

    The Red Bulls locked out the third row of the grid with Max Verstappen beating Daniel Ricciardo to the fifth spot. The Red Bulls have been looking strong all weekend but just couldn’t put it together to take up position in the second row. Nico Hulkenberg qualified seventh fastest but will take a five place penalty thanks to a gearbox change.

    Both McLaren drivers made it to Q3 and Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne will start from 8th and 9th on the grid respectively, with Carlos Sainz rounding out the top 10 in his Toro Rosso.

    Jolyon Palmer was knocked out in Q2 after setting a time 0.760s slower than his team mate. He beat Force India’s Esteban Ocon to the 11th spot on the grid by just 0.080s. Daniil Kvyat will line up from 13th place with Sergio Perez and Romain Grosjean behind him.

    Kevin Magnussen set an identical time to Perez but missed out on the Q2 spot because the Force India driver set his time first. Rookie Williams driver Lance Stroll was 17th fastest 0.007s off Magnussen and Perez, with Sauber’s Pascal Wehrlein’s lining up behind him in 18th.

    The star of the show must have been Paul Di Resta though. The Scot made his F1 comeback following Felipe Massa being pulled out of the race weekend. He’s been feeling ill and dizzy and the call was made during the final practice session to let Di Resta take the wheel.

    Despite finishing only 19th, Di Resta showed real progress throughout the qualifying session. His five flying lap times looked like this: 1m22.289s, 1m21.218s, 1m21.075s, 1m20.390s, 1m19.868s. That sort of progress can’t be attributed to anything other than proper skill real. He’ll be making his first race start since the 2013 Brazilian grand prix and Marcus Ericsson will line up behind him for tomorrow’s race.

  • 2017 British Grand Prix: Post Qualifying Press Conference

    2017 British Grand Prix: Post Qualifying Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    2 – Kimi RAIKKONEN (Ferrari)

    3 – Sebastian VETTEL(Ferrari)

     

    TRACKSIDE INTERVIEWS (Conducted by David Coulthard and Jenson Button)

    David COULTHARD: Lewis, we’re going to come straight to you. Fantastic qualifying, unbelievable. You must be feeling good about that?

    Lewis HAMILTON: I feel great about it, especially with a great crowd like this all the way round the track. Thank you guys so much for your support. I hope you liked the lap.

    Jenson BUTTON: It’s the first time I’ve watched qualifying live and just seeing the cars through Becketts, it just looked awesome. We all love Silverstone, for the circuit itself but these guys… when you crossed the finish line and put it P1, the cheer that went up was absolutely amazing.

    LH: I always try and save the last ‘til best – the best ‘til last. So how much support I’ve had this weekend; I needed to make sure I got that lap in. I didn’t do it the last race so really made sure I saved it this weekend. Thank you guys so much. I hope you’re happy with it.

    JB: Qualifying, around this track anyway, in those conditions, when it was wet at the start of qualifying, I know what it’s like, it’s so tough, when you’ve  got a good crowd, you just want it to be dry the whole way through so wet to start with must have been a bit tricky.

    LH: I mean, I mean, I generally like it to be dry but I quite like the conditions when they’re tricky. These are typical English conditions, this is where I grew up, this is what we grew up racing in, you know, so I felt very comfortable and the team did a fantastic job. And then when it dried up, that’s when you can… particularly when it’s just quite cool, the tyres were working perfectly and that high speed section, as you said, was incredible.

    JB: And Copse is flat?

    LH: Copse is not flat! You can do it flat but it’s actually slower because you’re exiting in eighth (gear) so it’s almost flat but what’s really interesting is turn 11, 12, 13 is flat.

    JB: So Maggotts and Becketts?

    LH: Yeah, you go in and the lefthander is flat which wasn’t before.

    JB: That looked awesome mate and tomorrow, exciting?

    LH: Yeah, well it’s definitely the best position to start from. The long runs were looking great so I need to make sure I do it for these guys.

    JB: Great job, Kimi, how did it feel out there?

    Kimi RAIKKONEN: Felt OK. I think in the morning it felt a little bit more tricky. Obviously conditions were not easy, changing a lot but I think the car behaved as good as it could, the best that it’s been this weekend but obviously still not fast enough for the first place.

    JB: But from my point of view it looks a lot closer to the Mercedes than a lot of us expected. Do you think in the race there’s a good chance that you can…

    KR: We try, we try, we try and see what happens. I obviously have nothing to lose so we try to make a good race for the team and catch up on the podium.

    JB: Good job, buddy. Sebastian! I was saying to Lewis, it was the first time I’ve ever watched qualifying live and to see the cars through Becketts is just awesome. Last year was good but this year to see the cars… with this much downforce, it must be awesome to drive.

    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, I don’t think we know yet how good it is. One day we will look back and say ‘yeah, it’s unbelievable.’ It’s basically flat until – what’s the last part? – Chapel. Yeah. It’s flat through turn 12, it’s eighth gear, it’s unbelievable. The car just sticks.

    JB: As I was saying to Kimi, you guys seem to be a lot closer than what I expected anyway, going into qualifying. Obviously now I know everything!

    SV: Thank you. It felt good this morning, to be fair. The car really came alive. I think yesterday we weren’t really happy but this morning was really good. Shame in the last run in Q3 I think there was a bit more but I think in the end we got the best that we could.

    JB: I know the fans here are loving that Lewis is on pole, it’s awesome for British motor sport but I must say that having you fighting with Lewis makes the championship. It really does and for me, it’s been awesome to watch you two fighting and that’s what Formula One is all about. So congratulations for that, buddy.

    SV: Thank you, thank you.

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Congratulations to Lewis, a fifth British Grand Prix pole position, four years in a row here, sixth of 2017 and, perhaps most important of all, one short of the all-time record. Clearly an inspired lap there, massive challenge with the conditions and pole by half a second. Quite a statement. A statement you obviously came here intending to make, and tomorrow you go for a record-equalling win.

    LH: Well, firstly I want to say a big thank you to all the fans that have come out.  Every year it’s amazing to see how many people are here from the Thursday onwards. I fly in so I get to see all of the campsites and everything and know that they’re there way before the majority of us and just every lap, every time I come through the corners I can see them on the left out of the corner of my eye, waving support. So it really means the world to me, and I can feel it, and that energy absolutely inspires me to get laps like that. It’s your home race. I love this track as well. The track just feels incredible. We worked very hard and the engineers did a fantastic job to get the setup where I needed it and, of course, a tricky qualifying as always with the overcast, and a bit of rain – but as I said on the grid, that’s the conditions I grew up in, so I felt very much at home. And then when it dried up I was really able to utilise the tyres. That final lap felt fantastic. Of course I wasn’t expecting to have a gap like that but the gap… that’s what is the target. It definitely felt great and very proud and, as I said, I’m thankful.

    Q: Kimi, coming to you, saved the best ‘til last clearly. You’ve always been very quick here but what’s it like driving around here with these 2017 cars? And also, given that there’s two of you here and Valtteri’s starting some way back, opportunity tomorrow for the two of you to try something on Lewis with strategy? Undercuts, overcuts, etcetera. What do you think?

    KR: Obviously, there is always opportunities. What we’re going to do, and whatever we do, is it going to work out? That’s a different story always. The car… obviously conditions were tricky, especially at the beginning. It was getting better and better and it was pretty OK in the end. The car felt OK. I don’t know exactly how far we were from first but I have a pretty good guess where we were giving away lap time. I think we have a good car, unfortunately not fast enough but for the race hopefully we can challenge them and give a good run, we’re two, both of us there so we try to make the best out of it.

    Q: Coming to you Sebastian, it sounded on the radio as you came back in to the pits as though you were unhappy with where you’d been put out onto the track. Was it for that final run that it hadn’t worked out for you? Maybe you could clarify that message – and also do you think you’ve got the race pace between you to have a go at Lewis tomorrow?

    SV: Obviously as Kimi said, there’s always opportunities, so we’ll see. Obviously, the target is to put him under pressure but, yeah, they’ve certainly been competitive all weekend. Nevertheless, I think it’s been a positive day for us. We improved the car. In quali the car was great. Last run, yeah, I was a bit compromised, the first sector especially, because the tyres were not where they should have been. Maybe I should have seen that better ont eh outlap but I was a bit in traffic and we were, I think, a bunch of three or four cars. Not ideal but anyways, I think it’s a decent result. As I said, the most important is that the car is good. We improved it for today and also tomorrow should be better.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) Congratulations Lewis, great lap. Valtteri ran the soft tyre in Q2. I wondered whether that was an option for you, whether the team wanted the split strategy, and indeed with being on the supersoft for Q2 and being able to do that time in Q3 and have the feel for the grip?

    LH: Well, Valtteri’s on a different strategy due to… he had a gearbox change I believe, so just gives him a bit of a more open strategy tomorrow, being that it sets him back. And this is  a track where I think you can potentially overtake so it was not a bad place to take it. It’s not the greatest when you are on a softer tyre and then you go… on the soft and then to the supersoft next. The balance generally is a little bit different – but nonetheless I’ve experienced that in the last race and this one obviously I was able to stay on plan, on a target without any issues, which is very much needed. The car just felt like it progressed really well. I think actually the rain was a blessing at the beginning because didn’t have to use the slick tyres at the beginning. Saved them to have two runs in Q2 and then two runs in Q3. So it was just a nice, steady build-up.

    Q: (Sara Palmer – BBC Northampton) How would you feel about Silverstone losing the British Grand Prix if they can’t reach a deal with Liberty Media?

    LH: Is that to me? Well, I’ve said it many times, I feel like this is the home of motorsport. The UK, we’ve obviously got lots of teams here. You see the crowd that we have every grand prix. There’s no reason to not have a grand prix. I could understand if there was no-one turning up and it was costing a lot – but the fans save up and spend so much money on these weekends. I think it would be a real shame to lose it. I don’t believe for a second that we will lose the British Grand Prix because the world would erupt, I think. The world of sport. I will do whatever I can to encourage them and make sure it does happen. We do have a lot of great circuits in the UK, be great to be able to utilise this one and another one. We used to have two grands prix in Spain, the second one wasn’t any good – the track – so it would be kinda cool to use another great one here, maybe. Potentially. Who knows?

    Q: (Ysef Harding – Xero Xone News) Lewis, you hooked it up out there today and you have a lot of milestones here, you tied Clark in poles today, you could tie him tomorrow in wins. You see the banners, you see the flags, you see your people out there rooting for you, you have a lot of love pushing you tomorrow. Tell us how that feels heading into tomorrow’s race?

    LH: It’s really hard to put into words because… of course I grew up watching TV, I remember seeing Nigel with the support and thinking, “wow, I wonder what that feels like?” I’m sure we’ve all done that. I wonder what it feels like having all that focus and attention and support pointing into one spot, into me. I’ve been really privileged over the past ten years to come here and receive that love. I feel like I’ve really grown with the fans over this time. It definitely helps when you have good results. The fans leave… regardless if we do win they still have a great weekend but of course it helps when you have a Brit win the grand prix and British flags at P1. It really is, it’s so energizing. I think Nigel mentioned years ago, I think he said it gives you a second, maybe it’s half a second. It definitely feels like it gives you something. You carry that energy. I think that applies to life in general. If you are feeling positive on a day, your day just generally goes a lot better, or if you are around positive people you generally have a better day. Every time I leave the garage, every time I come out of the pit lane, the crowd on the left, go through Brooklands and Turn 7, Priory I guess it is maybe… it’s not Priority is it?

    SV: Is it Woodcote?

    LH: Woodcote? I don’t know, but Turn 7, and you can see the crowd on the left it’s massively encouraging. This weekend I’ve got Billy [Monger] here, my brother’s here, and others, the Great Ormond Street kids are here, the Starlight children are here, so many inspiring kids as well, so there’s just a lot of positive energy, a lot of inspiration around.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Lewis, can you tell us how much different the section from Copse to Chapel is, in terms of gear, speeds. I heard you saying on the TV that Copse could be flat but it’s better not to, can you explain it?

    LH: Yeah, I mean the downforce is incredible. One of the reasons also why this track is so great is that we always generally have through that section a headwind. So it’s like being in a wind tunnel with just the optimum downforce package. Copse… obviously we were building up to it because it was a little bit damp at the beginning. You can take it flat in eighth but it’s not necessarily that quick, you scrub quite a lot of speed off and then the RPM potentially would drop a little bit too much, so I don’t personally do it flat and it didn’t seem to cost me any time. And then when you come through Maggots and Becketts, that section is just on fire, you just can’t imagine how incredible it is when you come through 10, 11… 10 is obviously always flat, 11 has been flat for years, 12, from 2007 to now, just bit by bit, you’re letting off later and later and now you’re kind of still on the gas through 12 or into 12 at least. And then 13 is a fantastic corner because it’s very bumpy through there. You’ve got maximum downforce, a lot of compression on the tyres and it’s all about the exit. And then obviously coming down to Stowe, which is again, the way the corner is it, you’re turning already as you start to brake and you’re trail-braking all the way in. You only dab the brake and you’re straight back on the gas. It’s unbelievable! There’s great G. I don’t know how much quicker we are through those corners but I’m assuming we’re 10k, 20k faster than previous years.

    Q: (Jens Nagler – Bild) A question for Sebastian. Without the problems you described do you think you would have had a shot at Lewis’ time in the end?

    SV: No.

    Q: (Jens Nagler – Bild) Was he some kind of unbeatable today?

    SV: Well, I think the time he put in especially in the end was very strong. I think the one he put in before we were able to beat but yeah, obviously the gap at the end was bigger, around half a second, a bit bigger, so I think he owned the pole position today.

    Q: (Ralf Bach – Autobild Motor Sport) A question for Lewis and both Ferrari drivers: the engine mapping you used in Q3, can you use it in the race as well or do you have to turn down?

    KR: We don’t have much to push in qualifying. At least from what we have seen in the past it’s a bit of a different story with them at least what we have seen in the past and I think probably [inaudible] I dunno if you can run the same settings in the race, so I have no idea.

    LH: I didn’t actually follow what you said there but for me, we are able to use it in the race but the engine has to last a long period of time, so it depends how you want to share it. But I think it’s the same among us all, I think we all have a max power setting and you have to divide the spend over those races, so…

    SV: I’m using the same engine as Kimi.

    Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Lewis, I don’t want to dampen your afternoon, but you are under investigation by the stewards for blocking Romain Grosjean during Q3. Do you know anything about the incident. Did you block him?

    LH: I need to watch the replay. I was coming round to start my lap, Valtteri was up ahead and I was, as we all do, trying to get the space. Behind me was one of the Force Indias who then came in, so there was no one behind me. Literally, as I was about to get on the gas I looked in the mirror and I saw there was a car coming so I went as quick as I could. I don’t know if I got in the way, and if I did I apologise. I obviously wasn’t… I had no indication from the team that there was anyone coming. I think I just got away without blocking him but, as I said, I need to look at the footage… I don’t think he was that close when I had pulled away but I will have a look.

    Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) Lewis, you were just describing that section with the head wind and the downforce effect. I think yesterday, with the crosswind, you had a bit of a moment going into Becketts and I wonder if you would just describe that characteristic of Silverstone as well: the effect of the crosswind? Because for us, even on motorways, when we feel the car move, it’s pretty scary, and I wonder what it’s like at that speed and how you can react to that?

    LH: Yeah, I think, at that point you’re completely sunken into the seat so you feel absolutely everything, more than ever. You’re just squashed into the car. Every moment, every bump you really do feel that. Yeah, every now and then you commit to 12, as you attack it, sometimes you have… whether it is a crosswind or just the back just gets loose, it’s actually  quite easy to correct it. It’s much harder in the rain, for example. I had another similar… I went in turn 9, Copse, big snap and that’s a lot harder to catch because it happens quicker. I think when you’re at the high speed, I don’t know, maybe just prepared, it’s easier because the grip comes back easier but yeah, the correction, I find doing the correction is not too bad. I might be good at rallying.

    Q: (Agris Lauzinieks – Kapitals) Lewis, do you miss competing against Nico this season or Sebastian is offering enough of a challenge? And why?

    LH: No, to your first question, and the second, I think Sebastian and Kimi are putting up a serious fight. Ferraris have been exceptional this year, they’ve not really made any mistakes. Consistency is really why they’re in the lead, they’ve got a great car and they’re performing on the top level. It’s great that we have this battle going between us all:  at some points to practise within a tenth, just the top three, which is great to see, I think, within Formula One. To see Red Bull picking up their pace as well but I really think you generally have the top top drivers in the bunch, really fighting it out at the front. Obviously there’s a couple of others that could be there if they had the car but it’s obviously not the case.

    Q: (Daniele Sparisci – Corriera della Sera) To the Ferrari drivers: do you expect tomorrow to be closer to Mercedes and do you (inaudible) as it already happens in the other races?

    SV: Yes. I think we’ve always been close on Sundays so I think sitting here, having expectations I think the answer is yes, but we will see tomorrow.

    KR: Nothing more to add.