Tag: red bull

F1 2016: Free Practice 1 Report – Hamilton Sets The Pace

Mercedes driver and local hero Lewis Hamilton has set the quickest time in the first free practice session for Sunday’s British grand prix.

The session started under overcast skies but remained dry for the entire one and a half hour session. Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton led the timing sheets by 0.033 ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg while Force India’s Nico Huldenberg, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, and Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo completed the top five.

There were no major incidents in the session but for the noteworthy running of the Halo 2 head protection system by Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel. Elsewhere, Esteban Ocon and Charles Leclerc subbed in for Kevin Magnussen and Esteban Gutierrez respectively.

Final Free Practice 1 Standings:

July 8, 2016

2017 Tyre Testing Schedule Announced By Pirelli

With new regulations coming into effect from the 2017 F1 season, Pirelli have announced the testing schedule for the new 2017 tyres.

Ferrari will kick off the first test with a modified version of the SF15-T at their Fiorano test track from 1-2 August. The test will be a wet weather tyre test. Ferrari will test the slick tyres in Barcelona between 6-7 September and again at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi from 14-16 November.

Red Bull will test at Mugello and Abu Dhabi in August and October, and November respectively. Mercedes will have its turn at Paul Ricard during September and once more in October.

The final test in Abu Dhabi on 29 November will be a validation test will all the teams taking place.

The entire testing program will take place over 10 sessions for a total of 24 days. Each team will have a total of 7 days of running and will be obliged to share the tyre data gathered during the tests with the other teams in the interest of sporting equity.

Wider Tyres

The 2017 Formula 1 season will see wider tyres both at the front and the rear of the cars. The rear tyre width increases by 80mm, going from 325mm to 405mm and the front tyre width increases by 60mm from 245mm to 305mm.

Tyre diameters have also increased to 675mm for the wet weather tyres and 680 mm for the slick tyres. The wheel rim stays unchanged at 13 inches.

Session	Date	Test Days	Circuit	Car (s)	Tyres
1	1-2 August 2016	2	Fiorano	Ferrari	Wets
2	3-4 August 2016	2	Mugello	Red Bull Racing	Slicks
3	6-7 September 2016	2	Barcelona	Ferrari	Slicks
4	6-8 September 2016	3	Paul Ricard	Mercedes	Slicks
5	21-22 September 2016	2	Paul Ricard	Mercedes	Wets
6	12-13 October 2016	2	Barcelona	Mercedes	Slicks
7	14-16 October 2016	3	Abu Dhabi	Red Bull Racing	Slicks
8	2-3 November 2016	2	Abu Dhabi	Red Bull Racing	Wets
9	14-16 November 2016	3	Abu Dhabi	Ferrari	Slicks
10	29 November 2016	3	Abu Dhabi	All	Final validation

All photos by courtesy Pirelli

July 6, 2016

F1 2016: Austria Gp Review – Hamilton, Lord Of The Ring

Over the course of a grand prix weekend a driver normally runs close to two hundred laps. It’s uncanny then that everything can be made or undone by one lap.

In Saturday qualifying, a wet and dry session, Lewis Hamilton steered his Mercedes to pole position in dominant fashion. While teammate Nico Rosberg qualified second on the road he moved down the grid due to a gearbox penalty. It promoted Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg to the second front-row starting position of his career. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, also hit with a gearbox penalty, fell down the starting grid, which promoted McLaren’s Jenson Button to third place.

As Hamilton led cleanly from pole position it didn’t take too long for Hulkenberg and Button to fall by the wayside. Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen, now into second, kept Hamilton relatively honest with a gap of 3.5 to 4 seconds in the first stint. A recovering Sebastian Vettel was soon running third behind teammate Raikkonen.

Ferrari’s advantage rested on the fact that, as Hamilton’s closest rival, Raikkonen started the race on the supersoft tyre, which, theoretically, should last longer than Hamilton’s ultrasoft tyres. However, for a reason unbeknownst to most Ferrari called Raikkonen in only one lap after Hamilton’s own visit to the pitlane. It dropped the Finn to sixth behind both Red Bull drivers. Ferrari’s strategists, not for the first time this season, had made the wrong call.

As Hamilton and Raikkonen dived intot he pitlane it left Vettel in the lead of the race. However, as the German driver started lap 27 he suffered a violent delamination to the right-rear supersoft tyre. It speared the Ferrari into the pitwall and out of the race. Ferrari do not believe that they pushed the tyres beyond their limits and Vettel’s laptimes before the incident would suggest that the set of tyres were well within working range.

After a short safety-car stint to clear up Vettel’s tyre debris Rosberg resumed the lead of the race on lap 32 with Hamilton in second. After both Merc driver made their second stops Nico Rosberg was delivering a drive at the Austrian grand prix worth remembering. He fought he way through to the lead of the race with consistent speed and superior strategy.

But Hamilton wasn’t giving up and closed the gap to four tenths of a second on lap 67. Rosberg seemed unflustered right until the final lap of the race. The German driver made a mistake into Turn 1 handing Hamilton the advantage. Hamilton had a run on the lead into Turn 2 as Rosberg let his car run wide and made contact with Hamilton. Rosberg got off worse in the exchange as he limped home in fourth with a damaged car. The stewards imposed a 10-second penalty on Rosberg for causing a collision but he remained fourth overall. As it were Rosberg’s brake-by-wire system went into passive mode on the pit-strait. However, it’s clear from on-board footage that he was trying to run Hamilton wide.

Behind race-leader Hamilton Red Bull’s Max Verstappen narrowly held onto second after running a 56-lap stint on the soft tyre. Kimi Raikkonen recovered Ferrari’s dubious strategy call to finish third as Rosberg limped home in fourth. Daniel Ricciardo finished fifth ahead of one of the stars of the race Jenson Button. The Brit out-performed his McLaren to finish in sixth ahead of Romain Grosjean (7th), Carlos Sainz (8th), and Valtteri Bottas (9th). The other star of the afternoon was Manor F1’s Pascal Wehrlein who scored his first career point in tenth.

There is no rest of the sport that never sleeps as the F1 paddock heads straight to legendary Silverstone circuit for this weekend’s British grand prix.

(All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport)

July 4, 2016
2016 Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

DRIVERS
1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
2 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)
3 – Kimi RAIKKONEN (Ferrari)

PODIUM INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Noemi de Miguel)

Congratulations Lewis, how do you feel just now?
Lewis HAMILTON: What an incredible race that was. It was incredibly tough. This track is amazing. Big thank you to all the fans for coming out, because honestly I love it here in Austria. Every time I come we have like the best hotel, the food is great and apart from this generally I really love it here. We have Toto Wolff and Niki who are also from here.

We have some noise around right now. Do you know why it is?
LH: I don’t know, but that’s not my problem, it’s theirs.

OK, Max, Lewis says he likes a lot Austria, but it’s your team house. Congratulations, what value is this second place to you? Amazing.
Max VERSTAPPEN: It’s an amazing day you know. To finish second with a Red Bull car at the Red Bull Ring is incredible. I enjoyed it a lot. It was an exciting race and yeah, thank you to the guys, they gave me a great car to finish second.

And after the Spanish Grand Prix, again in a podium?
MV: Yeah, exactly. I hope it keeps going like that.

Congratulations as well, Kimi. How do you feel now? Do you consider it a surprise here for Ferrari?
Kimi RAIKKONEN: I mean, not an easy day for us. I felt we didn’t really got what we could have. But I did the best I could. We had a good speed in the end and maybe a chance to overtake Max but then there was a yellow flag and then, fair enough, he finished in front of me and that’s how it goes sometimes. I don’t know. The car’s been feeling good all weekend and we started the race well and then suddenly I found myself in sixth position, so we tried to come back and the speed was fine and obviously for the team with Seb, he had some issue, not an easy weekend but with the speed that we had I feel that we didn’t really get what we deserved but that’s racing. We go again next weekend and we try to do better.

Let’s meet Lewis and ask about what happened with Nico?
LH: He made a mistake into Turn One and so I had an opportunity to go down the outside into Turn Two. I left a lot of room on the inside and I guess he locked up and crashed into me. I think he had a problem with his brakes potentially.

Did you consider who was…
LH: I am here to win. I am here to win. That’s all.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Lewis, a controversial end to the race. Tell us about the incident between you and Nico?
LH: I don’t feel any particular way about it. I don’t feel it was controversial really. Nico made a mistake into Turn One. You know, we were racing right until the last lap. He made a mistake, clipped the inside kerb and went wide and I got a good run on him up to Turn Two. He blocked the inside, so the only place I could go was down the outside. So I was on the racing line. He was in my blind spot, so I assumed he was still there, so I went very wide, left him plenty of room and as I started to turn – I was at the edge of the track – he collided with me. My guys said that he had something up with the brakes, maybe. So I’m not quite sure exactly what happened. Then I came back onto the track as quick as I could. It was very close between us there. If he did have a brake problem it would be the reason he lifted off really early down the next straight, which we were racing on. But for me it was exciting because… I mean I don’t understand exactly how I ended up being second. I was in the lead and then I guess the safety car kind of brought it into that position. But I never gave up. I pushed all the way. I knew I needed those points. I knew that I have some incredible fans here supporting. Some of them have come a long way. So I did everything I could to not give up and to push all the way.

Lewis, your third win of the season, the 46th of your career, first as we said here in Austria. An enthralling grand prix really, a hug on the podium for the chief strategist at Mercedes, James Fowles, who essentially set up quite an interesting showdown at the end there. Gave you the undercut chance, put you on the soft tyre. Nico reacted, put on the supersoft. Your out lap was a little slower than his but it ended up with a very exciting finale. I just wonder from your point of view, from the cockpit… you’ve spoken about the incident, but tell us about the race itself and that whole strategy call.
LH: Well, first off and most importantly, I just want to say a big thank you to the team who continue to push hard and continue to develop. You know we’re trying to stay ahead of these guys who are also [improving in] leaps and bounds and getting faster and faster, so I think it’s exceptional what the team have done to give us the performance we had today. So yeah, I got a fairly decent start and I was in the lead and I felt that I was doing what I needed to do but then I guess with the safety car I was a bit unfortunate with that and lucky for Nico. Behind in second and obviously I did the stop but with the soft tyre in these cooler conditions it was not so easy to start them up, so I obviously came out second behind Nico once he did his stop. After that it was just all guns blazing, just as hard as I could. I needed those points. I can’t afford to lose any points. Luckily I was as close as I could be on the lap. Nico made a mistake and I tried to capitalise on that. I don’t know if it was a mistake he made in Turn Two, it may have been his brake issue, but we collided and obviously I was able to still continue to go. But I’m just really grateful. I didn’t give up. I kept pushing. I thoroughly enjoyed the race, you know. This is what racing is about. It’s about close battles, difficult times and challenges ahead but the most important thing is to keep going and keep your head up every time you stumble.

OK thank you. Moving to you Max, many congratulations, the start was crucial, you got ahead of your team-mate there and then as in Spain another very long second stint – 56 laps on a set of soft tyres setting you up for this wonderful result.
MV: Yeah, it was a great start and also a good first lap and straight away I could feel the pace was there in the car. So I just moved up to the front and once I cleared some guys I just started to go into my own rhythm. The Mercedes cars at the moment are still a bit too quick, but yeah, I think everything was going quite well. I did a long stint on the soft tyre and especially the last 10 laps, including with some traffic made it very hard. I could see Kimi behind me, he was catching up a lot. At the end to come home in second after what happened on the last lap is of course a bonus. Also, to finish here second, as a Red Bull driver at the Red Bull Ring, is a great feeling.

Q: : Coming to you Kimi, a great start, you were third on the opening lap – but a longer first stint on the supersoft tyre and you ended up losing track position to Max. As in Spain, chased him down in the end but couldn’t get through. A frustrating afternoon for you or are you reasonably satisfied to be on the podium?
KR: Not really. I mean yes it’s OK to be on the podium, it’s better than fourth place, obviously that was a big gift for us but we take, no complaints. We had pretty good speed in the beginning. I was saving tyres a bit and pushing and, y’know was bit catching, bit losing time to Mercedes and going like that. We were pretty close. Then, once we made a pitstop suddenly found myself in sixth position. I think was, y’know, was a bit hard after that. There were safety cars and stuff but the biggest issue was probably with the first Red Bull. Tried to get past him, we had good speed but it as so difficult to get close enough and he always, always when I close I could not find the traction to challenge him and then luckily on one lap I managed to suddenly get a jump on him. Then the speed was good and I kind of run out of the laps. Without yellow flags we could probably have had a very good go with Max – but that’s how it goes. He got second, I got third. Disappointed but it’s better than nothing and we got three points back on Rosberg so it all helps.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Kimi, you have very strong pace today but you have changed tyres about six or seven laps after the Red Bulls. Was it already the plan then to go for only one stop or was it down to the Safety Car that you could do that?
KR: Obviously I think the plan yesterday or this morning wasn’t one stop. The first plan, but then the plans change because you never know how the conditions are and obviously conditions from yesterday or Friday has changed a lot so you have to change it. You have many different plans and whatever suits the best you will choose it. It was quite easy, my tyres were in good shape still and I was fast but unfortunately ran out of the laps and, like I said, the yellow flag didn’t help in the end – but that’s part of racing. I’m disappointed where we end up with a good first part of the race and then where we came out after that – but, y’know, like I said, could have been an awful lot worse. Unfortunately for our second car for Sebastian he had some issues, I don’t know what it was, obviously I saw him at the end of the main straight but it’s been many weekends for us that we can get one good result and the other one not finishing so obviously we want to get as a team strong results. We have some things to work on and next race we push again.

Q: (Lennart Bloemhof – de Volkskrant) First podium for Red Bull on the Red Bull Ring and in lederhosen as well. How is this going to be celebrated with the team tonight because it should be amazing?
MV: Well the celebrations will be in the plane I guess because I’m going back to England. Busy schedules for next week but yes, of course, great achievement. I think the car was great all weekend. We need to keep working, that’s for sure but definitely we have some happy faces in the plane.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Lewis, we could hear on the radio why Nico has supersoft and you have soft tyres. My question is: isn’t it also responsibility of the drivers to take the decision what tyre they can use? Once we have less than 20 laps to the end and the supersoft would be the most reasonable choice?
LH: This is the case where you have to rely on your engineers because they have better understanding. They would have seen all the other drivers run on the supersoft from the beginning and they would have seen the drivers run on the soft. I had no facts to quantify a judgement. I was not in a position to make a judgement there. When I came in I’m hoping the team will give me the best tyre. I’m expecting them to give me the best tyre. So, I had the soft, Nico didn’t have a soft, so I don’t believe he had a soft left, as far as I’m aware. So that would be why. That was the only choice he had. My tyre goes longer. But the performance was still good, it was just the warm-up was the issue. I guess they were concerned that the ultrasoft doesn’t last that long. We didn’t do a long run on the supersoft either so we didn’t know if that would go far. So, no, your answer, it is not the case.

Did you have supersofts?
LH: I had supersofts, yeah.

Q: (Peter Vamosi – Vas Nepe) Question to Lewis. Where was bigger and better the rivalry? In 2007 with Fernando or this year? And what do you think, could Ron Dennis handle this problem now with your team-mate better?
LH: It’s different. When I was racing with Fernando we both had pretty much the same opportunity in the sense that our cars were both reliable, we had no problems so we were battling more so on the track. This is just as intense but it’s a little bit different. Nico today racing hard but we’re in different… the picture’s a lot different. He’s in the lead with four engines and I’m fighting for the lead with one engine. So we’re in different positions in that respect. So I would say it’s a little more intense from my side as every point counts more than ever.

Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Max…
MV: Really?
…Really to you. When Kimi was chasing you, did that bring any memories to you from Spain.
MV: Definitely. As soon as I saw him in the mirrors I was thinking about Barcelona. Only the problem was he was catching quite a lot now compared to Barcelona. He was there all the time and catching up a lot. I just tried to make no mistakes and at the end we kept him behind which of course is what we wanted. It was great for myself to be on the limit all the time until the end of the race.

Q: (Zsolt Godina – Fan media Ltd) Max, you started the season with Toro Rosso but it seems that it was very easy to adapt to the Red Bull car. What do you think you can get as the maximum out of this car, is there more potential?
MV: I think there is always more potential. You can always improve and you can always do better but like I said from the first race in Barcelona until now, I’m still learning. The general pace is there, it’s just in qualifying, how to get the last bits, 100 percent but definitely race by race it’s getting better and better.

Q: (Don Kennedy – Hawke’s Bay Today) Lewis, how disappointing is it to hear so many of the crowd booing when you’ve just had your first win in Austria?
LH: Of course it’s not great and especially with how much I love it here. It’s one of the most beautiful countries I’ve been to. Every time I come here, the scenery… I have a motorbike here this weekend and I’ve been driving through the valley and just seeing how beautiful and natural it is here. And so to have that kind of feeling for a country and then have that response when you have a win, for sure it’s not the greatest but I forgive them. Sometimes that’s just the way it is and I don’t judge them for that. They have the right to have an opinion. Not quite sure why they have done it but it doesn’t really make any difference to me. I won the race, I think fair and square.
MV: You have to be careful that you don’t get knocked off your bike when you drive home.

Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Lewis, you stayed out much longer than Nico in the first stint, presumably to do a one-stop race. Have you been surprised to be pulled in for a second stop and what do you think about it, seeing Ferrari and Red Bull obviously being able to do a one-stop race?
LH: Yeah, for me the plan to be on a one-stop and I hit my one-stop target and then I was on that second tyre and when I was asked to pit it felt fine. I knew Nico was on – I think – eleven or twelve lap older tyres than me so they said that he would have to stop again but I didn’t think I would have to and I was very… I had a split decision as well as to whether I was going to come in or not. They asked me to come in and I followed their direction but obviously they showed that the tyre could have gone the distance. I don’t know whether – at the pace that we were going – that they would have lasted as long as their’s – who knows – but in hindsight I would have probably tried to stay out but if I had stayed out maybe Nico would have stayed out so it would have been a similar situation.

Q: (Barna Zsoldis – Nemzeti Sport) Max, back to the similarities with Barcelona, did it cross your mind that with another Mercedes crash you could win this one as well?
MV: Yeah, of course then the chance is bigger. Today one crashed, of course we take the opportunity but, well, normally it’s not like that.

Q: (Dan Knutson – Speedsport Magazine) Kimi, you said the car was fast at times today. Looking ahead to next weekend, how will it go at Silverstone?
KR: We’ll see next weekend, obviously. I start guessing something… I think, like I said, the car felt pretty good in the race but it was hard to get past people. Once we got close it was pretty difficult to get past them, more than I expected, which is not ideal but once we were on our own, after passing Ricciardo, the speed was very good but obviously I ran out of laps. Silverstone is a lot different as a circuit. Conditions might be similar to today but who knows. The car was pretty good everywhere, we will see. A lot of work goes on through the weekend to make the car good and make the set-up right so let’s see how we do that.

Q: (Sandor Meszarnos – Autosport Formula) Lewis, I think many of us want to be a fly on the wall at the Mercedes post-race briefing. Can you please tell us what kind of conversation you expect with Nico, with team managers?
LH: It’s going to be pretty straightforward. We just do our de-brief. I don’t think anything will really be said. I honestly don’t have a great picture of what went on. I knew where I was on the track. I can’t make a comment or a judgement until I’ve seen the replay. If it was a mistake of his or it was an issue, who knows? We’ll find out but there is no problem, we were racing hard and sometimes these things happen.

Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, in Baku you were fourth and very disappointed. Now you are third and seem to be disappointed. Is there any difference in your satisfaction after the race?
KR: No, I mean I’m not here to try to finish third or fourth or second. We are here, as Ferrari, to try to win and obviously it doesn’t give you a lot when you’re third or second. But that’s how life is. We keep trying and keep pushing forward, then improving things and I’m sure we can get where we want to be. It will take some time and some hard work but that’s the idea why we are here. Like I said, I’m sure me plus a lot of our fans plus the team would be much happier if we could be a few places higher. But that’s how it ended up today.

Q: (Jens Nagler – Bild Zeitung) Lewis, do you expect the rivalry between you and Nico to become even more intense, the closer the racing between the two of you becomes and the closer you get to the end of the season?
LH: I could anticipate it will stay the same as it is now. We are battling. Today obviously was slightly unfortunate with the safety car otherwise I would have been in the lead and I think I had more pace today, so it would have been easier. But well absolutely, we’re racing to win and we’re fighting for the championship and we will see. I’m not the furthest away now, so at least I’m within a good distance from him points-wise. I don’t know how many points I am behind, so that’s definitely better than what I came with and I’ll take that.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Max, when you did your pit stop on lap 15, did you plan to go until the end of the race on that set of tyres or did the safety car afterwards help you to understand that it could be possible, because Sebastian, on lap 26, with supersofts, had a tyre blow-out?
MV: Of course the safety car helped but I was just going on to see how the tyre lasted. I was telling the team it’s all fine, it’s all fine, just keep going. If I felt it was not going on any more, for sure I would have pitted but it was all going fine. The cars in front of me were pulling away, they were just quicker, but I was pulling away from the cars behind, so there was no reason to stop.

July 3, 2016
F1 2016: Austrian Gp Free Practice 1 Report – Rosberg Runs Quickest

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg set the quickest time in the first free practice session ahead of the Austrian grand prix.

The first free practice session for the 2016 Austrian grand prix got underway in sunny conditions at the Red Bull Ring. The drivers quickly hit their stride with some blistering lap times early on in the session with Nico Rosberg’s 1:08:166 having been a record breaking lap.

The German driver would improve to a 1:07:373 by the end of the session to record the quickest lap ever around the current configuration of the Red Bull Ring. Teammate Lewis Hamilton set the second quickest time with a 1:07:730. The two Ferrari’s of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen were third and fourth with Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo rounding out the top five.

Dutch driver Max Verstappen exited the session early after clouting a kerb which broke a steering arm and left his Red Bull beached in a gravel trap. No other major incidents were recorded but for a few spins from several drivers.

Ferrari were expected to test the Halo 2 head protection system but chose not to do so. The McLaren team ran several updates including a new rear wing and conducted a back to back test on a new floor.

Free Practice One Standings:

July 1, 2016
F1 2016: Austrian Gp Preview – Quali The Key In Austria

From the medieval city streets of Baku the Formula 1 paddock travels to the crisp countryside of Austria for the eighth round of the 2016 championship.

A case could never be made that Formula 1 lacks diversity. It swops the mostly tight confines of the Baku City circuit for the mountains and fresh air of Austria’s Red Bull Ring in Spielberg. Located in the picturesque Styrian Mountains the 4.3 kilometer circuit is dotted with only nine turns. The average speed of a lap around the Ring is estimated at 224 kph while 70 percent of the lap is spent at full throttle.

There are only seven braking zones around a lap but they are big stops from high speeds, which classifies the brake wear rate as high. This no longer appears to be an issue for Mercedes in 2016 but should they not be running in clear air it could rear its head.

As the shortest lap on the calendar at less than 70 seconds the grid is expected to be tighter, which makes qualifying vital. In 2015 the top three positions in qualifying were covered by four tenths of a second. The circuit’s four long straights mean that there is opportunity for overtaking but getting past a car with a good straight-line speed will be difficult.

For this year’s grand prix teams and drivers have selected the yellow-walled soft, red-walled supersoft, and purple-walled ultrasoft tyres. Both Ferrari drivers have selected nine sets of the ultrasoft tyres while Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg have each opted for eight sets of the purple-walled tyres. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen have chosen seven sets of the softest compound. Tyre wear last year was minimal as Daniel Ricciardo was able to run a fifty lap stint on the soft tyre before needing to pit.

Ferrari’s tyre choice could be put down to fact that this track surface is a relatively smooth one with normally cool conditions. This combination often presents some struggle in getting tyres to the optimum temperature. As they’ve continually struggled to get the tyres to their optimal working range Ferrari should find it easier to do with the ultrasoft tyre. This will be a crucial element of Ferrari’s progress and position this weekend.

There is no doubt that Nico Rosberg is sitting pretty. He starts the weekend with a 24 point lead over Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton in the race for the driver’s title. The fickleness of Formula 1 demands that even a gap of 24 points must not be taken for granted. It’s this approach that has been Rosberg’s secret in 2016; to take every race on its individual merit. But the two Merc drivers might have to focus on more than just each other, especially in Saturday qualifying.

Williams are notoriously good performers at the Austrian grand prix thanks to the Mercedes power unit and Red Bull are no slouches thanks to the stop up they’ve made with the upgraded power unit. But while they are looking at each other all of them are aware of what Mercedes can deliver. On several occasions in 2016 its been shown that the Silver Arrow is not as potent when it runs in dirty air and under pressure. The qualifying session on Saturday will be the critical point for any driver or team to stop a complete Merc domination.

June 29, 2016
F1 2016: European GP Review – Rosberg Rules In Baku

If you’d asked most people to point out Azerbaijan on a map they would probably struggle. If you then told them that its capital city Baku is going to host its first F1 race in 2016 it would possibly have been met with reluctant enthusiasm.

Nevertheless, on the edge of the Caspian Sea the Azeri organisers plotted a street circuit unlike any other. The combination of the stunningly high-speed section and incredibly tight section around the city’s beautiful medieval architecture merged perfectly to highlight the strengths of Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes. The German driver cleaned house in Baku by taking pole position, fastest lap and the race win in dominant fashion.

Rosberg led cleanly off the line and was never challenged as he completed the 51-lap race on a one-stop strategy. It yielded his fifth win of the season and a sizeable increase in his lead atop the driver’s table. As faultless as Rosberg’s weekend preceded so the opposite was true for teammate Lewis Hamilton. Seemingly out of sorts, Hamilton stuck his Merc in the wall on Saturday and confined himself to a tenth place starting position. An ERS (energy recovery system) issue disrupted his charge through the field. Thanks to the FIA regulation, which bans certain radio communications, Hamilton was left to figure out the setting himself. The Brit was able to eventually resolve the issue and set two blisteringly quick laptimes before cooking his tyres.

Behind race leader Rosberg Sebastian Vettel overtook Daniel Ricciardo for second. To cover the Red Bull stop Ferrari called Vettel into the pits. However, the driver overruled the pitwall and stayed out. It paid off ultimately as Vettel finished second without any realistic shot at victory.

Force India’s Sergio Perez secured third to score his second podium in three races. Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen ran third for nearly the entire race. The Finn stopped early on lap 8 and ran a 43-lap stint on the soft tyre. But a five-second penalty for crossing the pit-entry line and a late ERS issue meant he was unable to keep Perez at bay. Eventually Raikkonen, suffering with a bout of food poisoning, finished fourth. Lewis Hamilton finished a lonely and disappointed fifth ahead of Williams’ Valtteri Bottas in sixth.

Both Red Bull drivers were forced onto two-stop strategies with overheating rear tyres and faded badly throughout the race. Daniel Ricciardo finished seventh ahead of teammate Max Verstappen in eighth. Nico Hulkenberg brought his Force India home in ninth while Williams’ Felipe Massa scored the final point in tenth.

All expectations were that the safety car would appear several times throughout the race given the tight confines and close proximity of the walls. But all twenty-two drivers were exceptionally well behaved and there were no major incidents. In fact, only four drivers did not make it to the chequered flag. Toro Rosso has some investigating to do as both their drivers, Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz, were forced to retire with suspension issues. Manor Racing’s Pascal Wehrlein retired with brake failure as Fernando Alonso’s McLaren was pulled into the garage with a gearbox failure.

Remarkably Rosberg had the same ERS issue as Hamilton but was able to rectify it by changing the right settings. This resounding victory increases Rosberg’s championship lead to 24 points over Hamilton. But given that thirteen races remain on the calendar the race for the 2016 driver’s crown is just warming up.

(All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport)

June 20, 2016
2016 Formula 1 European Grand Prix: Post Qualifying Press Conference

DRIVERS
1 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)
2 – Sergio PÉREZ (Force India)
3 – Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull)

TV UNILATERAL

Nico, that was an emphatic performance by you and Mercedes, just how good was qualifying for you?
Nico ROSBERG: Yeah, it was great. It was one of the more challenging sessions out there, but everything worked out well. There was a bit of reorganizing because for example in Quali 3 Lewis had an off in front of me, so I had to abort that lap and then I just had one more attempt at the end, but that worked out fine. No, I’m very, very happy. It was great.

How was the car technically for you, because we saw Hamilton obviously have a few problems in that session?
NR: Yeah, I’m really pleased with that, because all weekend we’ve been building towards it and in qualifying it was really optimum, so it felt good.

Congratulations to you. Sergio, if I can come to you: second on the grid, but does that feel like pole position for you?
Sergio PÉREZ: Yeah, it does. To be honest it does. The effort the whole team has done… especially all my boys today to put my car together, first of all to make the qualifying. Obviously I’m a still a bit angry, no, from the mistake of this morning. But very happy, I think it’s a mix of feelings today. I think the lap that we put together in Q3 was very, very strong. It was a very difficult session for me, because obviously there is not a lot of time. After a crash you obviously lose some confidence. To get it back, to get in the rhythm again was great. Very pleased with that and hopefully tomorrow we can do a lot of progress and aim for a very strong position. I think definitely the team deserved. Obviously, with the penalty I’m starting seventh. I think the team deserves more than and hopefully tomorrow we can put together a strong race.

Has the pace of the car surpassed your expectations?
SP: Yes, definitely. I think we were expecting ourselves to be strong around here but not that good. To come away with P2 in this track… it’s so easy to mistake, so easy to clip the wall and just damage your car. Unfortunately it happened to me in the worst possible time in P3 and yeah, so I think we have to look forward to tomorrow and do a strong race.

Well done. Daniel, if I could come on to you. You set exactly the same time as Sebastian Vettel at the end of Q3 there. Just give us a word on what it was like to get the job done when there was only two minutes of the session remaining?
Daniel RICCIARDO: It was hectic; it was intense. Yeah, thanks to the guys, the team, for getting me out at the front and giving me that clear track to obviously make sure that I got a lap in. My first run in Q3 was pretty average to say the least. I made a few mistakes. Then obviously I thought I had one more chance but then the red flag came out. I thought that was looking like that was it. They got me out in front and then I put in the lap, so it was good. I knew not everyone would get a lap, so I was just trying to thing “do a good enough lap to at least jump up from seventh”, but in the end it was third. I think Seb… I maybe gave Seb a little bit of a tow, I don’t know how close he was to me, but it was good, very close and I’m really happy to bounce back with top three.

Well done to you. Nico, if I can just come back to you and get some thoughts ahead of tomorrow’s race. It’s the first grand prix here in Baku, what do you think are going to be the main flashpoints in the grand prix?
NR: Well, I think they’ve done a great job up to now, with the track especially. We’ve seen one of the most exciting qualifying sessions for a long time. Of course I understand that the gap was pretty big in front but there was a lot going on all over the place, and that’s down to the track. Also, the race I’m sure is going to be very exciting. It’s one of the easiest tracks to overtake, so there’s going to be a lot of changing places I think, probably a lot of safety cars as well, exciting re-starts and everything, so it should be a good show.

Who do you think are going to be challengers?
NR: Of course it’s going to be Daniel… [Ricciardo raises his hand behind Rosberg]. What’s so funny about that? Of course it’s going to be Daniel, Sebastian, Kimi and then Lewis. Never forget him. He can always come back from tenths as he’s shown very often this year.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Nico, you didn’t even do a second run in Q3, how much more time was there in your car?
NR: It wasn’t planned to do a second run. We’d planned one run and just hit it two times: lap two and lap four. Lap two was looking good but Lewis went off in front of me so I had to back out of that one, and then went again on lap four so it worked out well.

Q: And Checo, was there any more to come from your car?
SP: Not on that lap, definitely not. I think that lap was quite strong, hitting every single braking point, getting the exits as close as possible to the wall. I struggle to think that lap could have been better but definitely I think there was some track improvement towards the end but obviously with the track position that I had – obviously I had the Williams and the Red Bull ahead, and we were tight on time as well. I had to warm up the tyres but at the same time I had to go very quick to be able to make it. It was just a disaster. We were all racing the last lap, so it wasn’t a proper chance but I think the lap that I did was pretty special.

Q: Daniel, the other two guys have been there or thereabouts all weekend. We’ve seen the Red Bull performance fluctuate a little during practice. Is the car now where you want it?
DR: We definitely improved today. We took a step in the right direction. Already this morning we were looking like we were in a better… more in the competition. Yesterday we struggled and it didn’t help with me losing a bit of track time with the crash in P1. So, yeah, qualifying was good, we were able to chip away at it. Q3 wasn’t very clean. The first lap was… yeah, made a few mistakes and didn’t put it together and then yeah, obviously the red flag made the second run… just go out and try to set a time. Obviously I put in a time which was good enough to be here so I’m happy with that. I think we recovered well. Did I think we’d be here yesterday? No. Did I think we’d be starting on the front row? Not really – but thanks to Pérez and a few circumstances I think we’ve put ourselves in a really good position.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Ralf Bach – Auto Bild Motorsport) A question for Nico. How sad are you that there is only one Mercedes in the front row?
NR: It’s always divided, you know? On the one side I’m sad for all my team colleagues because they want to have a one-two – and it’s still possible tomorrow but it’s going to be more difficult now, for sure, but you know that Lewis has shown very often that from tenth place he can come back strong, and where he finished easy second in Russia, y’know, so for sure still need to reckon with him.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – globoesporte.com) Daniel, we had the impression you crossed the line of the pit entrance in your last lap. What is the agreement yesterday in the briefing with Charlie Whiting when it happens?
DR: Yeah, so I think it was originally… well I thought you couldn’t cross anything, and then the notes from last night said if you put all four wheels inside the pit entry line then you have to commit to pitting but otherwise you can straddle… you can split the line, as long as you keep two wheels on the track, let’s say, it wasn’t a problem. I’m pretty sure that’s what I did.

Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Question to Nico. You always did two warm-up laps to set your fast time. Does that mean if tomorrow there are some restarts after the start we will see again the scenario we saw the last two races with the Mercedes, that you have a warm-up problem?
NR: Let’s see. It’s not been our strength recently but we’ve worked on it and today everybody needed two laps, not just us. It was the optimum for everybody – so I think it will be OK.

Q: (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas) Sergio, you said in Spanish something like ‘that was the best lap of your life’. And in terms of just the track, we can say this is the track you love most or just because of the circumstances?
SP: First of all, I think the car has worked really well around here. For some reason we are very competitive, we struggled to understand what is making us so competitive and yeah, I think that my lap has definitely been one of my best laps in such a difficult place to get 100 per cent of the car. It was definitely difficult so yeah, I’m pleased with the result. Obviously the penalty of tomorrow is a bit of a shame but let’s see what we can do tomorrow. I think this is a track where you can overtake and you can have a good race so it will be good to enjoy the race. I think there will be a lot happening, a lot of safety cars, a lot of things happening so looking forward to tomorrow.

Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) All of you crossed the finish line on the very left side. Is there a reason for that? Why is it better than let’s say on the other side?
NR: Everybody was following Daniel!
DR: I think it’s probably… it looks good, it looks aggressive, you know? If you go down the middle of the straight, it doesn’t look so spectacular but if we hug the wall and brush, it looks spectacular.
Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) It’s not less bumpy or something like that?
DR: The straight is bumpy, sure, and to be honest, I think all of us, all weekend are trying to find where there’s less bumps and I think it’s actually even changed a little bit compared to yesterday.. But yeah, I think the key for Checo and I today was not the way we took the straight, it’s turn 15. I think having the crash there was very character-building and that’s the reason we’re here today.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – Globo Esporte.com) Daniel, here is a genuine power unit engine and it looks like you’re in very good shape and concerning what you just said, is it because if you go near the wall, it’s the more straight line, it means shorter distance? You’re fighting for thousandths of seconds…
DR: Yeah, yeah. You want to find… there’s a few jokes in my previous answer but yeah, you want to find the shortest line and then the line of least resistance. Yeah, that’s why I was doing it!
Oh, the engine? Yeah, it looks like everyone’s a lot closer this weekend. The Mercedes-powered cars seem quite quick from yesterday; Force India and Williams were very competitive. We had to take a little bit of downforce off to try and get closer but yeah, as Canada, we’re seeing improvements so we’re getting there.

Q: (Oana Popoiou – F1 Zone) Sergio, we are yet to see a clean race for Force India. Is it going to happen tomorrow?
SP: I hope so, I really hope so. I think the team definitely deserves it. I think Nico had a problem today. I think he should definitely be around here, you know, and hopefully tomorrow we can put together a great race and make a lot of progress and who knows what can happen? It’s going to be a lot going on in this race and hopefully we can do a strong performance tomorrow.

Q: (Niharika Karnasingh Ghorpade – Top Gear India Magazine) To all three of you: almost 60 percent of the drivers have had off-track moments at T15, T3 or T4. How do you think you’re going to avoid those in tomorrow’s race, knowing how critical it is?
NR: It is a very exciting track, it’s a tough track so that’s why we have been seeing so many mistakes everywhere and that’s why tomorrow’s race is going to be – for sure – very very interesting and I think there’s going to be a lot going on.
SP: Yeah, we’re pushing to the maximum and sometimes more than that. As soon as you go over it you pay for it. It doesn’t matter if it’s T15 or it’s T2 or T3, it doesn’t matter, you really pay for it here. Tomorrow, I think, you’re going to see some crashes, some mistakes. Hopefully not me again but there will obviously be mistakes around this place because it’s so difficult and we are all pushing to the maximum.
DR: Yeah, I think they’ve really done a really great job with the circuit. It’s very challenging, very easy to make mistakes so I think that’s what’s going to create an exciting race. It makes it difficult for us but that’s why we enjoy racing as well. We love the challenge and some of the real modern circuits, I feel, are too open and you don’t really get that sense of risk and reward and that adrenaline rush that you get through, so here, you get that on several corners and you know if you brake a little bit late you’re going to pay the price. In saying that, I think it’s still done safely, I think if you crash, the run-off or how the barriers are shaped it’s safe but sure it’s going to ruin your race. I think it’s got a really good balance.

June 18, 2016
Rosberg takes pole as Hamilton crashes out of Baku qualifying

Nico Rosberg claimed the pole position for the European Grand Prix at the Baku City Circuit while team mate Lewis Hamilton binned his Mercedes out of Q3. Hamilton will start tomorrow’s race from 10th place.

Rosberg will start the inaugural grand prix at Baku from pole after posting a supremely dominant time of 1:42.758 which he set not long before the qualifying session was halted to allow marshalls to recover Hamilton’s car from the track.

After pretty much writing off his Force India in the final practice session ahead of qualifying, Sergio Perez qualifyied in second place ahead of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo.

Perez left his Force India mechanics with a lot of work to do before the qualifying session underway but managed to bag the second fastest spot for the session. He will, however drop down to seventh place for a gearbox change resulting from the practice crash.

Daniel Ricciardo grabbed position from Sebastian Vettel in an all out final effort with only 2:05s remaining on the clock when the session restarted. Ricciardo will start the Baku GP from second, and Vettel third. The two drivers’ qualifying times were identical with the front row spot decided by Ricciardo having set the time before Vettel.

Kimi Raikkonen will line the second Ferrari up in fourth place on the grid tomorrow, ahead of Felipe Massa’s Williams, the Toro Rosso of Daniil Kvyat and Sergio Perez.

Valtteri Bottas, who is taking some flack for holding up both Jenson Button and Max Verstappen, will start from eigth position ahead of Verstappen and Hamilton.

Romain Grosjean finished 11th fastest for the Haas F1 team after adding a few more escape roads to his excursion map for the weekend.

Nico Hulkenberg threw away what looked to be an excellent opportunity to qualify well by spinning out of Turn 16. Hulkenberg will start the Baku GP from 12th place.

Carlos Sainz Jr will start from 13th with Fernando Alonso’s McLaren alongside him in 14th place. Esteban Gutierrez qualified 15th fastest with Felipe Nasr taking up the final Q2 qualifying classification position.

The Manor team ever so nearly made it through to Q2. Rio Haryanto and Pascal Wehrlein took up 17th and 18th places ahead of Jenson Button who could only manage 19th fastest after running wide at Turn 15. Marcus Ericsson qualified 20th fastest for Sauber with the two Renaults of Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer completing the grid.

Baku Qualifying Classification:

June 18, 2016
What do the Drivers Think About the Baku City Circuit?

After having at a go at the Baku City Circuit the drivers give their views on the track and the layout.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes: “The track isn’t easy – not because the layout is particularly difficult to learn but because it’s very slippery out there. It’s quite Monaco-esque in terms of braking and how close the barriers are – but you’re arriving at much higher speeds. Otherwise it’s like a mixture of Valencia and Sochi with the smooth track surface and the style of the corners themselves. It’s a real challenge and I think it’s going to be tough for everyone over the weekend. It takes a lot of focus, which is something I like. I’ve enjoyed driving here today.”

Romain Grosjean, Haas: “Discovering a new track is exciting in some places and pretty tricky in others. It’s not easy to find the right balance”

Vatteri Bottas, Williams: “It was an interesting day for me, I really like the track. It’s very demanding, it has some high speed corners and some twisty, more technical areas, so it’s definitely one of the most challenging tracks on the calendar, but at the same time it’s a lot of fun.”

Nico Hulkenberg, Force India: “Coming here to Baku has been great fun and the track is very cool. It’s got a bit of everything, with long straights, big braking zones and some exciting high-speed corners, which all the drivers enjoy. So, overall you have to say they’ve done a really good job with the circuit and it makes a nice change to come here and try something that is so different.”

Sergio Perez, Force India: “I knew when I walked the track yesterday that it was going to be good fun to drive – and today didn’t disappoint. It’s an amazing circuit: really challenging, no margin for error, and a real pleasure to drive.”

Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing: “I think the circuit is pretty cool, it’s definitely as tight as it looks and has a lot of corners unlike any others on the calendar. There are a few interesting lines past the castle which adds to the toughness. It’s pretty unique and as I showed this morning some of the corners are pretty challenging and not that easy.”

Photo Credit: Red Bull Racing Formula One Team

June 17, 2016