Watch highlights of the final race of the 2012 season where Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel had an incredible drive after crashing at the start of the race with major damage to his RB8. Vettel didn’t win the race but he did finish high enough to ensure that he had more points than Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.
In the same race we also said goodbye to one of the best drivers in formula 1, Michael Schumcher. This was his final race of his F1 career. #KeepFightingMichael
The penultimate round of the Formula 1 World Championship brings us to the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace in Sao Paulo, Brazil for the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Usually the final Grand Prix of the season, but this year things are a bit different. But that doesn’t matter. No matter where on the calendar you put the Brazilian Grand Prix, you are guaranteed unpredictability in the race. We don’t even have to remember that far back either. Who can forget the 2012 race where Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso fought to the bitter end to just narrowly loose out to Red Bulls Sebastian Vettel for the Drivers World Championship.
The drivers title for 2014 is still wide open. Either one of the Mercedes drivers could win it. Love it or hate it, the double points rule at the final race of the season does make things very unpredictable. But at the same time it casts a shadow over the drivers title if the driver who wins it, wins because of the double points in the final race. Will it be a deserved title or not?
Lower down the order, the rest of the teams are still fighting for position for the Constructors Championship. Red Bull look to have second place all sewn up. The battle for third between Ferrari and Williams is still ongoing. The slow and twisty nature of the Sao Paulo track will suit the Ferrari’s more than the Williams. Ferrari on the other hand need both their drivers to finish in strong positions. Williams will make the best out of the situation. Ferrari need to weary of McLaren who are just 49 points adrift.
This week times will not be as late as they were for the American Grand Prix, but we can expect early evening times for the people in Europe and Africa, with early morning times for the folks over in the eastern regions of the world.
Here are your broadcast times for this weekends Brazilian Grand Prix(All times are GMT+2):
Free Practice 1: 14:00
Free Practice 2: 18:00
Free Practice 3: 15:00
Qualifying: 18:00
Race: 18:00
In general terms a conundrum is defined as a difficult and confusing problem. In Nico Rosberg terms the conundrum is Lewis Hamilton. The latest win in Texas gives Hamilton five consecutive race victories and leaves Rosberg without any answers.
As the weekend started to take shape it was Rosberg who stepped up to the qualifying plate. The German got the better of Hamilton by a hefty four tenths which Hamilton would later chalk up to “brake issues.” Nevertheless, at the first hurdle it was Nico Rosberg who pulled it off.
The first stint of the race too was all Rosberg as he controlled the initial laps. The sting was taken out of the start of the grand prix as a collision between Force India’s Sergio Perez and Sauber’s Adrian Sutil brought out the safety car on lap one. Both drivers’ race was ended by the coming together and Perez has been given a seven place grid penalty for the Brazilian GP.
The two Williams drivers, very much embroiled in a constructor’s fight with Ferrari, shadowed the Mercedes duo for the first stint of the race without ever being able to launch a serious threat on any of the first two positions. For the most part Felipe Massa looked set for the final step of the podium but Red Bull’s plucky Aussie once again lived up to his billing. Daniel Ricciardo snatched third from the Brazilian in yet another afternoon of mighty fine wheel-to-wheel racing.
By lap 24 Hamilton has eroded the two-and-a-half second gap that Rosberg had steadily built and flung his car down the inside of Turn 12 and into the lead of the race. It wasn’t a swashbuckling, throw caution to the wind kind of move either from Hamilton. It was calculated and infused with an ominous hunger. Five straight race wins sends quite an imposing message to the other side of the garage.
For once Valterri Bottas finished second to teammate Massa in a quiet fifth place. Fernando Alonso dragged a reluctant Ferrari up to sixth and managed to hold off a late charge from Sebastian Vettel. The Red Bull driver’s didn’t look sharp after a pitlane start but a late stop for fresh rubber breathed some life into his afternoon. Kevin Magnussen brought his McLaren home in eighth ahead of Lotus’ Pastor Maldonado. The Lotus turned out to be the surprise package of the weekend and ran competitively in the points for most of the afternoon.
Jean-Eric Vergne was stripped of ninth place after incurring a penalty for a collision with Romain Grosjean. The Frenchman ultimately finished tenth. The mid-field battle for points was responsible for some spicy wheel-to-wheel battles as several drivers duked it out. Both Jenson Button and Kimi Raikkonen finished outside the points and a lap down on the leaders.
Besides the mega quick Lewis Hamilton-shaped conundrum that Nico Rosberg has he faces an even bigger dilemma. Rosberg’s problem isn’t that
he can’t win it; it’s that he doesn’t know how to win it. He hasn’t had to deal with an unrelenting teammate before certainly not while at the same time being the focus of so much attention. Hamilton’s move to take the lead of the race came from pretty far back and it was Rosberg’s caution that consigned him to second best. This isn’t a call to throw all rationality out of the window but through all of this sport’s history it has been courage that has made and defined its champions. As impressive and consistent as Rosberg has been this season he just doesn’t seem to have the uncontained hunger to win it.
It is far from over and Brazil’s legendary Autodromo Carlos Pace has always been the wildcard in the Formula 1 calendar. Here, the unpredictability seems to ratchet up a notch or two and it tends delivers some of the most astounding results. Rosberg faces a deficit of twenty-four points and call to unleash all he has on a near unbeatable teammate.
DRIVERS
1st Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
2nd Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)
3rd Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing)
PODIUM INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Mario Andretti)
Hello Austin, another exciting and beautiful race in the record books. Amazing, guys. All my deputies here. Lewis, if my math is correct it’s your tenth win this season, a 24-point lead in the championship. Oh my gosh. Three races, two wins and a second, is there anything you can tell me about your secret here?
Lewis HAMILTON: You know, this is an incredible place. I’ve got such great support here, so a big, huge thank you to the fans here. Again, I’ve been so fortunate – I’ve got an incredible team, an incredible and I had a great competitor today and I’m really grateful to be up front. I’m really excited. It’s such a privilege to be representing my country and to be at the top of the driver wins is really quite special.
A beautiful job, obviously. You had work to do. You’ve done that in the past. You made a beautiful pass on your friend here Nico and I think you might have caught him by surprise a little bit but after that in clear air it looked like clear sailing, because it looked like the car just worked perfectly for you?
LH: The car was great today, but you know what, where’s the Stetson? Can I use your hat?
MA: In a minute… I’m still on official duty.
LH: Oh yeah, you’re the sheriff.
Nico, great start, brilliant pole. It looks to me like you were caught a little bit by surprise on that overtake early on in the race and once Lewis got into clear air it seemed like you had a tough time. Nevertheless a one-two, many times this year, a brilliant performance by both of you and kudos to Mercedes.
Nico ROSBERG: yeah, it definitely kind of sucks to me today, but that’s the way it is (inaudible). It took too long for me to find my rhythm. Once Lewis got by I found my rhythm, but it was too late, so that kind of sucked. But anyways, thank you to all of you; you’ve been fantastic today. As I see, you’ve had a great time, that’s important and it’s great that F1 is in Texas.
Seventy-five points still available before the end of the season, so the fight is still open right. Daniel, wow! Eight podiums this season, you’re just right there aren’t there aren’t you? Keeping these two pretty honest aren’t you? That’s fabulous to see.
Daniel RICCIARDO: Yeah we’re doing what we can. We all had a great weekend. So, firstly, thanks to all the fans. It’s honestly a pleasure to come out here. Austin’s great – the circuit, the facilities, the town, everything’s good. So thanks to Red Bull for giving me the package to fight for the podium today and I’m really happy with third place.
That was brilliant obviously as I said. Some of your overtakes are textbook. As a young man it’s amazing. It’s fun to watch, honestly.
DR: Thanks. This place is great. You can overtake here, there are a lot of opportunities. I got Magnussen on lap one and then Fernando on the restart, so it wasn’t too boring out there.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Lewis, well done, what an amazing run of races you’ve had, these five victories, absolutely fantastic. How have you felt about those?
LH: It’s been an incredible run. This whole season has been incredible really. Just an unbelievable job done by the team. Nico was very quick in qualifying yesterday. Obviously I said I had a couple of problems and I corrected them today and, never know how the race is going to go but I pushed as hard as I could, particularly in the first stint. And the second stint I seemed to be even quicker on that stint. Once I got past Nico it was really just about controlling it. Coming here today, just having that same determination and hunger to get that win. And, as I said, there’s not a better crowd really to do that in front of.
Q: Tell us about that overtake. How did that happen? How did you feel about that? Was it all DRS? How did it actually happen?
LH: It’s obviously a very good circuit to be able to follow but it’s not easy and it was very hard through the middle sector to try to stay as close to him as possible and get as close as I could to the DRS zone. And I was quite a bit back, I would say, but I felt very confident, there was a big headwind into 12, and I just felt like I was waiting for the moment really, to just be just close enough to throw it up the inside. And that’s what I did. There’s a kind of… you have to decide how much of a risk you’re willing to take. Nico wasn’t defending there really so almost caught him unaware. And after that, really I was just trying to maintain it. But what an incredible achievement. I’m so grateful. Big thank you to all my team and to my family because the results that I’ve had and the amount of wins that I’ve had wouldn’t have been possible without those people.
Q: You talked yesterday about brakes and also a little bit about a flat-spot. There was no sign of that during the opening laps?
LH: No, there was no problem. Fortunately it was a small one. But when the Safety Car came out I did have that big difference of around 100°C between the left front brake and the right front, so was trying very hard to keep it as high as possible but fortunately once we got going again it started to rebalance itself and I didn’t have too many problems. Locking was still there but it didn’t seem to hinder me.
Q: Nico, great start again the overtake saw you back in second place. What happened there?
NR: Yeah, the start was good so thanks to the team for that, that worked out really well. It’s pretty simple that I didn’t find my rhythm early on. It took a long time, like all the way until after Lewis passed me. In the overtake, I knew there was a chance. Maybe he would try or not, so I went kinda, halfway defensive but Lewis just did a good job and that’s it. Five or ten laps later I started to find a better rhythm and then I felt OK – but it was unfortunately just way too late.
Q: At one point, for something like five laps in succession, you were lapping so close, the two of you, within thousandths of a second of one another, I guess that when you’d found the rhythm.
NR: Yes. That’s the period went I started to feel more comfortable. I never gave up in this race, of course, I was just fully determined all the way to try and put the pressure onto Lewis, try and get a bit closer, but it just wasn’t possible today.
Q: And you radioed in that you hit a kerb at some point. Was there any lasting effect from that?
NR: No, it’s just that with these kerbs around the back there, if you take a little bit too much, they’re quite high and it was a little bit of a thump but everything was OK. Again, they’ve built a good car. Robust.
Q: Daniel, fantastic pace to get past both of the Williams. It looked like the car really came into its own in the middle of the race.
DR: Yeah. I think we had good pace. Williams were strong. I think we used good strategy to get ahead of them basically, and that paid off. But yeah, the first few laps were fun. We dropped a few places on the start but then got Magnussen into 12 and then Alonso on the restart so, couldn’t really hang with the Williams at first but it seemed like the longer the stint went, the more pace we had. Really happy with third. As we know, Mercedes are a bit out of reach, so third I think was the best we could do today.
Q: And when you had the Williams behind you, within the DRS capability as it were, a slippery Williams with a Mercedes engine, you must have thought it was all over.
DR: Yeah, Felipe was coming on strong at the end. I could see him. At the beginning of the stint I pulled but then he came back stronger than he expected. I don’t know if he had DRS or not but I was trying to do a little bit down the straights so he couldn’t get too much in my tow. But anyways, I think we held on pretty comfortably in the end but they had good pace and kept me honest until the last lap.
Q: So really happy to be on the podium.
DR: You betcha!
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Sef Harding – Zero Zone News) Lewis, you’ve been focused out there like a Jedi knight this season. Big numbers for you: this makes five in a row and ten wins through the season. Did everything just come together for you today, once you had the car hooked up?
LH: I like the Jedi knight reference! That’s cool. Yeah, today, just really doing my homework. Before the race there’s a lot you can do to really understand what opportunities could come up and in different scenarios, how you approach it and I felt very much on top of that as I have done for quite some time. Just went into the race with the belief that I could win it. Incredible support from my fans, even from when I was in New York this week. The support from my fans and the tons of flags out there and team tops and team caps, I really am so grateful for that support that I have here in the US. It’s amazing. I hope it continues to grow over the years. Great weather, the circuit’s just fantastic. I went into the race thinking I need another race just like 2012 and it was just like that. I was catching him through exactly the same points at which I was catching Sebastian. There wasn’t a moment in the race when I didn’t think that I would get him. Once I was past, as I said, I was able to relax for a second and really try to manage the tyres, because I knew that perhaps he would push at some other point. And so I was always having to respond. It’s such a great feeling when you have a race like that, it just feels great that you’ve really done it as best as you can.
Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action/National Speed Sport News) Daniel, as you said, a slow start. What happened at the start and also, looking forward to next weekend, the Red Bull is second best here, how will it be in Interlagos?
DR: I don’t really want to talk about the start! We’ll see. I feel that it was my fault today. It just didn’t feel like I got the procedure right but I will have to look back and see the ins and outs. But I think it was… for getting off the line poorly, I think we had good damage limitation. Yes. Think I picked a better line in turn one and then, as I said, got Kevin back in turn 12 so in the end we only lost one spot. I think it could have been a lot worse. Yeah, we’ll work on that and then Brazil, hopefully we’re strong. In the past, it has definitely been a good track for Red Bull but I think, again, it’s going to be that last step on the podium that we’re going to fight for. I don’t know. I would like to say that I could catch these two but I think I will be happy with third but let’s see how we go.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – Universo OnLine) Nico, now there are 24 points difference to Lewis; do you go to the two last races with the same approach until now, or emotionally inevitable that it affects you? And Daniel, can you describe the manoeuvre to overtake Alonso and then Massa in the operation of pit stops?
NR: Same approach from me: fully committed, full attack, try and be on pole in qualifying and then win Interlagos and that’s it. There are still many points to be had and a lot can still happen. Same as all the time.
DR: Fernando on the restart; I don’t think that, from memory, the two Williamses didn’t get a great restart so it sort of bunched us all up. We were close and I saw Fernando cover a bit but it’s so wide at turn one, I knew there was a bit more room on the inside. I guess I committed to that, already out of the last corner when I knew I was close enough and that worked, so that was good but then Massa or Valtteri cut in late. I was very shallow on the apex and I nearly actually collected the Williams but I’m sure Fernando was watching me and saying ‘it’s all over here. He braked too late. Silly boy.’ It was close but that worked well and then I think just the undercut worked to our advantage. I don’t know if Felipe had a slow pit stop or not but yeah, that probably helped us out and I think our pit stop was pretty quick so that was the story there.
Q: (David Estrada – The Port Arthur News) Lewis and Nico, you guys had a very similar tyre- changing strategy today. Do you think it was done intentionally, to level the playing field between you two? And do you guys see that continuing in the future races?
LH: It wasn’t because of that. It was because if you look at some of the races, you have been able to offset. Usually the first driver will have the optimum strategy, but then the second driver usually has… say it’s option, prime, prime, the second driver would have a chance of doing option, prime, option but the option’s quite weak here so you had to run option, prime, prime. It was much much slower to run an option, so then we were both on that strategy and that’s why I had to push so hard to make sure I got by as soon as possible because I wouldn’t have that opportunity later on.
Q: (Matthew Walter – Bleacher Report) Lewis, now if you were to finish second in the next two races, no matter what Nico did, you would still be World Champion, so does this change your approach at all, in terms of maybe being a little bit more conservative, taking fewer chances or is it the same for you?
LH: It doesn’t really change, same as for Nico really, because we’re hunting for those points. I think during the year you have to be balanced in the risks you take and I think that so far I’ve not been taking too many risks. I’ve done what I’ve needed to do to get by in the safest way, in the cleanest way, which has worked all year, so I should just continue to do the same. Even in this race, I was looking after the car, trying to nurse it home and make sure that it had no problems, and I think really you’ve just got to keep going until the last chequered flag.
Q: (Steve Aibel – Drafting the circuits) Daniel, the atmosphere here in Austin and Texas, you seem to really have embraced. You’ve talked about Sixth Street, wore a cowboy hat but the thing that I think really embraces you to the State is that number on your hat. Is there any way you can talk about the three and the influence of Dale Earnhardt in picking that number?
DR: Yes, you’re absolutely right. I love this place. I’m definitely not alone but yeah, it is special, it’s cool. And then yeah, the three. I was a big fan of Dale Earnhardt. I’m a fan of motorsports but I’ve followed NASCAR since I was very young. It was follow Dale and it was my first go-kart number as well. When Formula One said you can pick your numbers this year, it was a no-brainer for me to chose the three and then once they agreed I could run it, I thought what better way to have the style of Dale on my helmet. Yeah, it’s been pretty cool. Dale Junior has seen that we’ve spoken via social media a little bit and it’s really nice that he’s supportive of that. So really quite honoured, obviously, to represent that in Formula One.
Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday) Lewis and Nico, no matter what the result is at the next race, the Abu Dhabi race will be the determining who wins. There’s fifty points on offer, various scenarios and mathematical computations can be played out. Any views on this, how you approach it?
LH: I think I just said I would do exactly the same. There isn’t much more to add to it, just going to be exactly the same as I approached this weekend and previous races: I want to win.
NR: For me, that’s great to hear of course, because then there’s a definite shot at the championship this year, even with the points that I’m now behind and anyways, there’s still Brazil to come so in Brazil it’s even possible to completely turn it around. You never know what will happen there so I’m sure it will be an exciting end to the season. I hope it’s going to be exciting for the fans, that’s the most important thing also, that we put on a good show which I think we managed to do today. I look forward to the last two races. With the car that we have, it’s awesome, it really is.
Photo by courtesy Pirelli
Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat will drop 10-places down the grid because of an engine change.
Toro Rosso fitted a 7th engine to Kvayt’s car before the start of qualifying for the United States Grand Prix. Kvyat’s team mate, Jean-Eric Vergne had his engine replaced on his Toro Rosso as well, but did not incur any penalty because the engine was an old unit.
Kvyat who qualified in P14 will drop 4 places to the back of the grid and will drop a further 6 places down the grid in Sao Paulo.
McLaren’s Jenson Button, after qualifying in P7 will start tomorrows race in P12 after changing his gearbox.
Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel will start from the pit-lane tomorrow after taking his 6th power unit for the season.
The FIA have confirmed that Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel will incur a penalty for taking his 6th power unit of the season.
In the statement the FIA confirmed that Vettel was replacing his entire power unit, which includes a new turbo, new engine, MGU-H and MGU-K, a new battery and a whole host of other electronic systems.
With Vettel taking a new power unit it will mean that he starts from the pit lane for Sunday’s race. Since he is starting from the pits there is no point for him to take part in qualifying, but Team Boss Christian Horner has hinted that he may run in Q1. Vettel would not want to run too much in qualifying as he needs to preserve the mileage for the engine as it needs to last him two more races. It is, however, very unlikely that Vettel will take a 7th power unit.
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton finished on top of the time sheets in the first practice session for the United States Grand Prix.
Hamilton finished on top with a time of 1:39.941. His team mate Nico Rosberg finished the session 0.292s slower than his team mate in P2 with a 1:40.233. McLaren’s Jenson Button was the little surprise of the session finishing in P3 with a 1:40.319, just 0.378s off Hamilton’s pace.
Daniil Kvyat in his Toro Rosso ended his session in P4 with a 1:40.887 while Kevin Magnussen in the other McLaren finished off the session in P5 with a 1:40.987.
The session was rather quiet with a few spins and some drivers getting caught out at turn 19 by running wide or getting too late on the brakes and locking up.
It was a rather anonymous session for Red Bull and Ferrari. Daniel Ricciardo had to cut his session short after the team found and issue with his engine. Sebastian Vettel had a fair amount of running out on track but struggled with the rear grip on his RB10. Vettel ended the session in P7 while Ricciardo could only manage P17 after 5 laps.
The two Ferrari drivers trailed new wings and evaluated new parts for the first part of the session. Fernando Alonso seemed to struggle with the rear of the car while Kimi Raikkonen just seemed out of sorts on track.
McLaren’s pace does look very promising for now. If they can keep up the pace we could be in for a very exciting qualifying session.
At the end of the session, a virtual safety car was trailed. Cars are given a delta time to stick to. This delta time has to be followed. At the end of the session/race two cars will be chosen at random and the data from their ECU’s analysed to determine if the driver did, in fact, adhere to the delta time.
Fernando Alonso says he has a “very ambitious plan” for his future in Formula One as rumours about where he will race season continue to swirl around in the F1 rumour mill.
Alonso has driven for Ferrari since 2010 but former president Luca di Montezemolo revealed after the Russian Grand Prix that the Spanish driver will leave the team at the end of the season. Meanwhile, Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel announced that he will be leaving Red Bull and is expected to be joining Ferrari to fill Alonso’s seat.
Despite being constantly bombarded by the media (and fellow drivers like Felipe Massa) about his plans, Alonso is yet to confirm where he will be going next year.
“I know, yes. More or less,” he said when questioned about whether he knows where he will be moving to next season.
“I have a very ambitious plan in my head for my future.
“I think that this is the best thing for Ferrari as well. If that happens people will be very, very excited – as I am.
“I am extremely happy and all the things in the last two or three months follow exactly the plan that I had.”
Alonso is currently in 6th place in the F1 Drivers’ World Championship and has only made it to the podium twice so far this season.
Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel says that he will sit out this weekends qualifying for the United States Grand Prix.
The German will use his 6th engine of the season, that’s one more than the regulations permit. This comes after his problems at the Singapore Grand Prix where he suffered an oil pressure loss in Friday Practice. Red Bull knew that Vettel would need to use a 6th unit and it looks as they have chosen this weekend to take the penalty.
This will not be just an engine change for Vettel. Nearly all the components that make up the power unit will need to be changed, so he will have to start from the pit lane instead of taking a penalty.
“As far as I know, the plan is to use the opportunity to change, to have a sixth component of all the various components,” said Vettel talking to AutoSport.
“Obviously for that as far as the regulations are concerned we have to start from the pit-lane.”
Red Bull will take a completely different approach to the weekend for Vettel. Instead of concentrating on qualifying setup during practice, they’ll use that time to focus on their race setup.
“Once you have to start from the pitlane your focus is not on qualifying because no matter what you do in qualifying it doesn’t matter because you still have to start from the pitlane,” added Vettel.
Drivers:
Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull Racing)
Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes AMG Petronas F1)
Valtteri Bottas (Williams)
Sergio Perez (Force India)
Romain Grosjean (Lotus)
Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber)
PRESS CONFERENCE
Let’s start with the world championship leader. Lewis, 17 points ahead, the biggest lead you’ve had this year so far, which poses the greater threat do you think: Nico or reliability from here on?
Lewis HAMILTON: It’s a good question. I don’t know, I think they are both relatively de cent threats. But the guys have worked very hard to eradicate those through the year so I hope that we can all go through these next races together as a tea, without any of those issues.
Do you feel a bit more in control of things now, though?
LH: It doesn’t really feel any different to several races ago really. As I keep saying: just fighting and chasing the ultimate goal.
You’ve won twice here in the US, once in Indianapolis and then the first race here at COTA. You have a great affinity for this country, how do you see the potential for Formula One here in the US?
LH: I think there is a huge market for Formula One. I think if you watch all the different sports here the people in this country are so passionate about sports in general, whether it be basketball, baseball or NFL or even NASCAR and IndyCar, so they are extremely enthusiastic about competition and wheel-to-wheel racing or just real out and out heart racing or competition. Whilst we only have one race here, there’s lots of opportunity here for it to grow. I’ve just definitely seen from 2007, even though we missed out quite a few years, there’s still quite a lot of growth here. I was in New York yesterday for example and there were people waiting outside this building, with signs and just Formula One fans with our team tops on, which was huge.
Thank you for that. Daniel, coming to you, nice look you’re sporting this weekend. Third in the drivers’ championship, you’re 10-6 against Sebastian in qualifying, which means that whatever happens from here to the end of the season in the head-to-head he can’t beat you. How does that feel?
Daniel RICCIARDO: Yeah, I’ve said it I think before that I’ve been really happy with the season. Yeah, I guess it’s exceeded my expectations and probably everyone else’s as well. A few more races left, I would love to get another… or ar least a few more top results. I think Austin is a good chance for us. A circuit I’ve personally enjoyed a lot the last few years. I think it’s not only fun to drive but for racing it provides… I honestly think it’s the best circuit on the calendar for overtaking. I think there are more spots around the lap here for overtaking opportunities than any other, so that’s always exciting. Yeah, so we’ll see how we go. I think we should be alright here.
Well, the Red Bull boss has obviously spelled out that you’re the new team leader of Red Bull Racing for 2015. The target then is now on your back. How big a threat do you see Kvyat being to you, to do to you what you have done to Sebastian this year?
DR: I feel a bit still young to the team but yeah I guess I will be the old guy next year. But yeah, I know Dani, I know him pretty well from a few years already. I definitely won’t take him lightly. I know he’s very quick and just because he’s still inexperienced in Formula One I’m sure he’s going to bring a lot to the team and a lot to the table. I’ll keep working on myself, try to keep improving. I feel I’m not at my peak yet, so I’ll try and get there personally first and then see where Dani fits in. I’m sure we’ll have a good working relationship, we joke around a bit already now, so I think that light sort of humour will remain in the team.
Valtteri, coming to you, you scored your first ever Formula One points here at the Circuit of the Americas 12 months ago, and what a 12 months it’s been since then for you, five podiums and now you’re fourth in the drivers’ championship. Is it realistic to think that you can improve on this for next year, which are the areas?
Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, I have really good memories from here, it’s so good to be back. It’s a nice circuit, everyone really likes to drive here. The atmosphere, everything is great. And like you said: what a 12 months it’s been. It’s been really good for us, we’ve been improving step by step, we made a big step in the winter and now we are in a really good position. But I do think we can still improve next year; that’s the goal. We aim to do better than this season and I’m sure it is possible.
Looking at the characteristics of this Austin circuit, it looks like a track that should suit the Williams, like a number of places we’ve been this year. Is that the way you guys are reading it too? Do you think you can be a bit of a threat this weekend?
VB: Yeah, I think it should be not bad. I think we can be strong here. It could be difficult to be close to the Mercedes as we were in Sochi but still I think it should be good and we’re going to have a good fight with Red Bull and Ferrari for sure.
Romain, coming to you, you finished second here last year, great memories there, but you’ve only had two points finishes since that fantastic result. Are you committing your future to Lotus? Can you tell us any more about that and whether Lotus is the right team for you?
Romain GROSJEAN: Yeah, very good memories from last year, not so good to remind me that I only scored two times this year. For a long time I’ve said that Lotus will be much better next year than they are this year, for a few reasons. There’s been a lot of work at the factory and the fact that the team brings a new nose here just to try to prepare for 2015 is a strong sign. I have a contract with the team. I have the option to leave if I want to – this is from some performance clause. So far there are still places available at top teams or they haven’t been confirmed and that’s there where I want to be in the near future and that’s what we try to do.
It sounds like the ball is in your court. In terms of news, of course you’ve got some good news. I understand you’re going to have another. So at the end of a difficult year a nice bit of news for you and your wife.
RG: At least that worked! So, pretty good timing as well for next year. I think personally I had a tough season with the results but outside the track I lost four people that were very close to me, the next one being the boss of Total, Christophe de Margerie, last week or the week before. So I thought it was important to announce good news. We have support in tough times but now we have support in good times and I am glad to be the father of a family of almost four people.
Many congratulations to you. Staying on the theme of next year, Sergio, if we could come to you, your team-mate, Nico Hulkenberg, has confirmed for 2015 with Force India, where are you with the process? Is the deal almost done?
Sergio PEREZ: Yes, it’s getting very close. Obviously it’s getting close to the end of the season, so things are getting very close to sort out the deal for the team. I definitely want to stay longer in the team. I want to establish myself in the team. I’m four years in Formula One and I’ve been moving around probably too many times. So I want to do a second year with the team and that’s my target. So hopefully everything goes right and we can announce things soon.
Obviously we’re very close to Mexico here and presumably you’ve been back home in the past couple of weeks or so. Can you give us any updates on how the track is coming on, what the mood is like, what the expectation is for next year?
SP: It’s really high. There are a lot of enthusiasts back home and the people are really excited to have the grand prix back home. I know the circuit is getting rebuilt; there was an event a couple of weeks ago. So, yeah, things are moving on very quick and Mexico is very excited to have all of you, all the drivers, all the teams all together, so it will be a very nice event.
Staying on that theme, Esteban, obviously next year the US Grand Prix will be paired with Mexico on the calendar. What do you think that will do for the development of Formula One in this region?
Esteban GUTIERREZ: I think it’s very positive in many ways to have more and more races in America. So I think now complimented with the Mexican Grand Prix and to have all the Mexican energy and also the American energy, in combination to that, it’s, I think, very positive to all of that.
A quick thought on your championship position with Sauber. You’re still behind Marussia in the constructors’ championship, but they aren’t here. How hopeful are you that you will come out ahead at the end in the constructors’ championship?
EG: Well, we are fighting all weekend. We’ve been doing that in the second half of the season, we have been very close to score the points on many occasions. We’ve had some technical issues which made it very difficult to consolidate those results but we still have three more chances and probably out of those three maybe only one or two! So we have to get the most out of what comes up as an opportunity and we are fighting all the way and, yeah, let’s hope we get the points that we want.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / National Speedsport News) A question for Lewis and Romain: Lewis, guys like Lauda and Prost took a year or two off, came back, won races and championships. Given how intense F1 is these days, the lack of testing, how much momentum would you lose if you took a year off. And Romain, you did take a year or so off, how much momentum did you lose?
LH: It’s not something I’m thinking about. I would imagine, yeah, naturally you would definitely lose some traction and then coming back into testing, you don’t have a lot before the season, and particularly with all the controls, the new updates every single year, the technology’s constantly evolving, so to be on top of that, I imagine that would definitely take a while to come back into. So it wouldn’t be helpful. But perhaps back in the day, there was more running and testing, so perhaps… Niki could tell you more. But I’m sure, perhaps, it was a little bit easier for them to come back in.
Romain?
RG: Yeah, I think there it two ways of seeing things. Of course you do lose some of the confidence that you had in the car and the stuff you could do – but on the other hand, you learn in a tough time. And when your car is not so nice to drive, you learn some new tricks and learn to do around. And the day you jump back in a good car, it may feel very easy and quick.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) With the demise of the two teams, there’s been a lot of talk about third cars and teams. For the front running teams that obviously means it could dilute your efforts if the team is running three cars instead of two. And for the mid-grid teams it means you’re inevitably going to finish further down the order than you would at the moment. How do you drivers feel about third cars and teams?
DR: I think from our position it’s something, if we’re requested to have a third car, I think we’ll definitely look into it and try to make it happen. From my side, let’s say, having another team-mate, I wouldn’t see any negatives. I remember 2008, I think I had six team-mates in Formula Renault, so it was like being in a school classroom. I wouldn’t see any downside from a driver’s point of view.
Lewis?
LH: I haven’t really thought about it to be honest but I think, as you said, we would have to expand the team to make sure the efforts aren’t diluted, as you said. But yeah, if it’s a position for a younger driver, it could be quite good. Especially bringing then on, giving them the best experience and especially putting them alongside top drivers who have the experience. Perhaps they will come along a lot more than they ever have in the past. When I think about the two teams that have dropped out, my biggest concern really is just for all the employees in those teams that have to provide for their families that perhaps don’t have a job now. If we do do this perhaps they still have space in other teams.
Valtteri?
VB: Not too much to add really. Just I really think it’s an interesting topic. Everyone wants to see more cars on the grid and the more is better, so we just need to find out how soon that would be possible for the teams to make it happen. I think it would be quite interesting. I don’t see, as a driver, any downside in it really.
Esteban, does it create opportunities as well?
EG: Yeah, it could bring more opportunities for the drivers and also I think it would be good for the level of competition overall, so, yeah, all in all, it’s a positive.
Romain – I’m sure you’ve thought about this.
RG: Yeah. It really depends where you are. If you are one of the smaller teams, you see it as a non-chance of scoring points and showing what you’re capable of. On the other side, if you put it on a good team and you’re racing in the same cars as what we call the superstars, then it gives you an opportunity to show how strong you and then get called one of those superstars. I think whoever is doing a good job as a driver, bringing them to the good team, like Daniel, showing that he’s capable of winning races. A third car would certainly help some of us to have a good reputation.
Sergio, your thoughts.
SG: I think it will definitely help the opportunities of the drivers. Obviously there will be a bit more of a chance. Formula One is really limited. The spaces where you can go and where you can actually win during a year, so it can create a bit more opportunity to the drivers, as a driver point of view. I think it’s also sad to not have so many people set out from Marussia and Caterham – so hopefully they can be in a better position for the future and, if it’s good for the sport, why not? I think we should all help this sport to get better.
Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Very probably we’re going to have Sebastian Vettel, who is the World Champion, not taking part in the qualifying on Saturday because of the change of the power unit. Don’t you think this is quite bad of the sport to promote? To have the World Champion not taking part, or any of you not be able to take part in a qualifying session just to preserve the engine?
Daniel, can you clarify this? Hasn’t there been a question raised about this?
DR: Yeah, he’s been asked quite a bit and I don’t think anything’s 100 per cent yet. I think it’s… if he qualifies on pole he still has to start from pitlane so its… why would you put miles on the engine? It’s not 100 per cent but that’s the though behind everything. It’s… yeah… not ideal for him and for everyone, for the fans if that is the case. You want to be out there. You want to drive. For yourself, you want to learn more, you want to be on track, and yeah, you want to give the fans what they came for, so, yeah, we’ll obviously see what happens but that’s the rules and the regs for this year, and unfortunately that’s a negative from it – if that is the case.
Lewis, do you have a view?
LH: I agree with Daniel.
Q: (Sef Harding – Zero Zone News) This questions for Lewis. Lewis, what is it about new tracks that you enjoy so much, being that you won here back in 2012 for the inaugural race, and you won the inaugural race in Sochi three weeks ago?
LH: I like the fact it’s just a new challenge for us, y’know? We get every year… I’ve been in Formula One now eight years and every year you go to those tracks and you’ve experience them before. You’re always trying to better yourself at the tracks you know but the new circuits, you want to be the one that masters it before everyone else, that kind of thing. Of course, when you get a car that you’re able to do that, it’s even more exciting. One of the most exciting races for me was here in 2012. Being about to follow… it’s very, very difficult to follow in one of these cars but, as Daniel mentioned, this is one of the circuits that enables you to. For whatever reason, it’s just the way the corners are laid out, you can follow a Formula One car. And when I was able to follow Sebastian and actually attack a Red Bull – which was the dominant car that year. And also, the amount of people that were here for that race. Sochi, that was a great new circuit again, and to have a car that I was able to fight and obviously be ahead of. In ten years time you’ll look back and know that Hamilton was at the forefront of those debut races – that’s quite cool for me. I look back at history and at Michael who’s got the world record on all the laps on all these previous circuits and also won the first time. Hopefully in the future I’ll have a couple of these.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – Universo OnLine) Lewis, your numbers, your statistics are the best this year and maybe, in the last race of the championship something bad happens to you and you lose the World title because of the double points in the last race. First, is it fair for you and do you think it should be re-thought for next year?
LH: I think the question is ‘what is fair?’ This is the rule that they have brought in for the first time; do I really agree with it? I don’t know if any of us agree with it or do not agree with it, but it is the way it is and you just have to deal with it and just hope for the best really. It would suck if that was the case – big time – but I’m not even going to put that negative energy out there. I’m just going to try and do the best job I can with the car that I have and what will be will be, I guess.
For the future, I wouldn’t perhaps advise it for the following years but…
Q: (Ian Parkes – Press Association) Lewis, you touched earlier on your trip to New York yesterday. What do appearances like that do for Formula One, when you appear on a major American TV programme? And secondly, you’re wearing quite an interesting item around your neck, could you give us an insight as to what exactly that is, whether it’s got any significance, any special meaning?
LH: New York was just very… it was incredible really. I just remember growing up watching all these movies and you see it in New York, all the cool taxis and then to be in the middle of New York, in the street with the Formula One car and actually people had arrived at 5.30 in the morning for the 8.30 show. There were fans there with team tops and it’s just something I just wouldn’t have perhaps expected over here. It really was a great buzz these guys had. There’s more and more excitement growing here in the States and as I said, they are massive sports fans over here. I really hope that it continues to grow, and obviously with this race, they did such an amazing job from 2012 until now and I hope that continues to grow. Over here, they have a good recipe for good shows. When you go and watch an NBA game you know you’re excited the whole way through. Same with NFL and the same with baseball and so they have a good recipe for entertaining fans and we can perhaps take a bit of that and add it into this race and maybe others and make it even more attractive.
And then just my piece; I’m really into art. I couldn’t afford the real Andy Warhol painting so I thought I would get it on a miniature scale so that’s what I have, it’s the Mercedes 300SL cars.
Q: (Greg Creamer – COTA PA) To all of you – perhaps Lewis, as a former winner here, you will take this first – with the changes this season with less downforce, more weight on the cars, more torque, in the past couple of years you’ve been able to do this with one stop. You’ve got these sections from (turns) three to nine and then from 12 through 15, are you seeing anything on the simulator, any kind of indication as to what the toll is going to be on the tyres this year and how they will work?
LH: I personally haven’t yet, but I’m going to speak to my engineers shortly after this but I hope that we’re doing more than one stop. One stop is not really particularly exciting and I think it’s good for the fans to see it all changing. To have degradation… I know in the past we maybe complained about too much degradation but having at least two stops I think would maybe be good for the fans to see. Otherwise it becomes a bit of a procession.
VB: I think it’s definitely going to be more difficult to do one stop just because with all the changes from last year and also we have one step softer set of tyres here so I think it’s definitely going to be more difficult. Let’s hope there’s… for the fans more than one is better so we will see.
EG: I agree with both of them. I hope that we can get more than one stop to play a bit more with the strategy and to make it more interesting for everybody.
Q: Sergio, you’ve done a few strategy things in your time and got good results. Do you see any opportunities here this weekend?
SP: To be honest not. I think it will quite likely be a one stop. The tyres are just too hard. Most probably we will see one stop for many people.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Sticking to the topic of tyres; since Sochi, Pirelli have announced that they’ve come softer a grade each for Brazil after two drivers had voiced their concerns. Did you people have similar concerns about the choice of tyres for Brazil and are there any other choices in the past where you’ve had particular concerns?
RG: I think there have been a few places where we knew we could race softer tyres, especially when you have to remember that this year everything is… tyres are one step harder than they were last year. So it just makes things harder and even the rear we have soft and medium whereas last year was medium and hard. At the end of the story, they’re exactly the same tyres. Yeah, a few places we knew they were too hard. I think Brazil used to be supersoft, I wasn’t racing in Formula One then, it was before I came, it was supersoft down there so when hard and medium came, they were a bit too hard.
DR: Nothing further.
Q: Valtteri, you’ve been caught out a few times this year.
VB: Yeah, well, not much to add really. I think sometimes there have been races where they could have been a bit more aggressive but now at least I think Pirelli’s reacting, making changes for the rest of the year, so that’s a good thing so I think everyone is learning more and more all the time about new compounds and we will see in the future. Possibly there are some things which could have been done better but it’s always easy to say afterwards.
Q: Final thoughts on this, Lewis, because the Mercedes has always been able to make the harder tyres work this year, hasn’t it?
LH: Yeah, I think I agree with what was just said. I think it’s important to remember that Pirelli have actually done a really solid job this year, and OK, whilst the tyres are sometimes a little bit too hard for us, it’s what we’ve asked for and they’re learning and they’re improving and hopefully these next steps will be… but you know, safety has not been an issue this year which is huge because this last year it was sometimes a concern. Yeah, it would be good to move forward with a tyre that does (not) allow anything worse to happen. A few more problems in terms of pit stops would not be too bad.
Q: (Carlos E. Jalife – Fast Mag, Mexico) You’re going to be racing in Mexico in 2015 and Azerbaijan in 2016, yet we do not have a French Grand Prix. What do you think about losing all these traditional sites and yet racing in a place like Azerbaijan – I’m not saying Mexico because Mexico started in 1962 and it’s older than everything else except for seven of the other locations, it has an older tradition. What do you think, starting maybe with Romain, about not racing in France which had the first Grand Prix in 1906?
RG: I’ve missed racing in France; I’ve never raced Formula One in my own country. I’m sure it’s something special so I wish it would come back one day, but there are different… I think it’s quite good as well that we discover new places, for example, Austin. Indianapolis was not a very good end and then we came here the first year and I was very surprised to see how many fans came so it’s good to see new countries, it’s good to see new tracks and it’s good to see that fans love it. I think it goes on and off and things change.
DR: I think it’s definitely nice having some traditional places. It would definitely be a shame to lose some of the iconic – let’s say European – circuits but with that, I also love coming to new places as well. I’ve been very vocal about Austin, my love for this place, my love for the venue, the circuit, everything. I think it’s definitely been one of the (best) if not the best of the new generation circuits in Grand Prix for us. I’m also really excited for Mexico next year. I know Esteban and Sergio are pretty crazy people so I’m sure we’ll get a good following there. We definitely have to keep some of the iconic ones in Europe. It would definitely be a shame to lose those. As for moving further away from those and exploring new places, I think that’s also great for the sport.
LH: I think it’s probably already been said but the old circuits… growing up and seeing the history of Formula One, I remember when I was younger, watching a lap of Senna’s, for example, around Monaco and then dreaming of one day driving that track and knowing the history of it, even way before and then driving it for the first time, that feeling was just unreal, I can’t really describe it. Obviously you’re into a new circuit, there is none of that history, so there is that difference but we’re coming to a new age where in fifty years’ time people will be talking about these circuits which are at the beginning of the history here. Inevitably, things are going to change a bit. Something in Paris would be cool.
SP: Obviously I’m a big fan of Formula One for a long time so I love the historical circuits: when we go to Spa, Monza, Silverstone, those kind of races are very special for a driver to live the tradition that those places have but also when we go to new places, for example when we came to Austin, it was great and every time we come here it’s fantastic. When we go to Mexico, there are really some special venues coming up but obviously the traditional ones must remain in Formula One, I think.
EG: Yeah, I like exploring new places. I’ve been enjoying racing on new tracks a lot, ever since I came into Formula One. To get to know a new track is very exciting and as long as the fans love it, I think we’re going to be very happy anyway.
VB: Yeah, I also like discovering new places, new tracks, I think it’s nice but it’s also really good to have the history of Formula One as part of the calendar so it’s important to have a good combination of both, I think, which I think, at the moment we more or less have