Tag: rosberg

F1 2021: Azerbaijan Gp Preview – Four Teams in the Mix

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix first made its debut on the F1 calendar in 2016. And all of the races since it’s debut have been packed full of drama.

Nico Rosberg who not only secured pole position and the fastest lap but also led every one of the 51 race laps dominated the first race, dubbed the European grand prix. It was an uncharacteristically messy race for Hamilton who crashed in qualifying before coming home in fifth while Sergio Perez scored a brilliant third-place finish for then Force India. A year later the drama intensified ten-fold and is mostly known for the now infamous incident of Seb Vettel bumping into the side of Hamilton under the safety-car. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo who, at one stage, was 17th in the running won this race with all of its crashes and controversies, and a red flag. It also marked Lance Stroll’s first podium finish in third. The 2018 race will forever be known for the collision between Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo on the start/finish strait. The drama wasn’t over though as race-leader Bottas suffered a late-race puncture ultimately retirement. It handed the win to Hamilton who finished head of Raikkonen and the ever-present Perez. By all previous comparisons the 2019 race was a fairly sedate one in which Bottas earned redemption with a win from Pole.

Because of the global pandemic Baku didn’t feature on the 2020 calendar. Its return in 2021 promises to be nothing short of dramatic if the previous races around the Azerbaijan streets are anything to go by. And it might not by a straight out fight only between Red Bull and Mercedes either. McLaren should fancy their chances around Baku. The car is a rocket ship and did very well, on merit, in Monaco. Perhaps it’s not quite quick enough to take the top spot but any hijinks or drama or mistakes and McLaren will undoubtedly be in position to reap the rewards.

It isn’t all about the sharp end of the grid as the plotlines of the season are beginning to take shape. A driver under pressure and who needs to impress his team boss is Yuki Tsunoda. Aside from a splashy performance in Bahrain the rookie driver hasn’t done anything worth noticing on-track. He has however revealed quite a volatile demeanour over team radio. It’s been reported that Tsunoda has been moved from UK to Italy in order to be more closely “supervised”. Which is really just a polite way of saying the young Japanese driver needs to reevaluate his approach and adjust his attitude quickly. After all Red Bull and Helmut Makro aren’t known for their patience. They’ve racked up more than a few merciless axing’s in their time from Jean Eric Vergne to Sebastian Buemi to Dannil Kvyat, Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon to name a few.

Mercedes had a nightmare Monaco Grand Prix weekend and will want to rectify it in the most emphatic way possible. Bottas has proven to be quite handy around Baku. But all indications are that it simply won’t be a straightforward weekend. Not only could McLaren be there or there about but Ferrari too has traditionally performed well on the Azerbaijan streets. The Scuderia will be buoyed by the car’s performance on the Monte Carlo streets. And with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc clearly in brilliant form Ferrari could find themselves mixing it at the sharp end.

June 2, 2021
Mercedes Reveal ‘Foreign Substance’ Caused Rosberg’s Retirement from Singapore GP

The Mercedes Formula 1 team revealed last night that a foreign substance used in the servicing of the cars during a race weekend caused Nico Rosberg’s early retirement from the Singapore Grand Prix.

After the race, the faulty parts were flown back to Brackley for investigations. It was revealed that the foreign substance caused an intermittent short circuit which meant that Rosberg could not change any of the settings on the steering wheel or engage the clutch.

Mercedes are not taking any chances. They have resolved to bring new parts to the final races of the season as they endeavour to get over their reliability issues.

This problem was particularly bizarre for Mercedes as they have been using the same procedures for servicing and preparing their cars since 2008.

September 27, 2014
Hamilton fastest in Canadian GP final practice

Lewis Hamilton has finished fastest in the final practice session ahead of qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix, repeating his earlier performance from FP2.

This time round, however, he was not followed by team mate Nico Rosberg, who had to settle for third place behind Felipe Massa’s flying Williams.

The session started out well, with Magnussen setting the initial pace, but was brought to an abrupt halt when Esteban Gutierrez put his Sauber in the wall and brought out the red flag. The car took a good deal of damage and it’s looking likely that he’ll need a gearbox replacement before qualifying. If this happens, Gutierrez will face a 5 place grid penalty. Marshalls made very quick work of clearing the Sauber and the session was back underway within 5 minutes.

The front-runners headed back out quickly and it was Sergio Perez who was first to better Magnussen’s lap time before Hamilton ripped another seven-tenths off the Force India’s time.

Ferrari enjoyed a few brief moments in the top two spots with Fernando Alonso leading from Kimi Raikkonen, but Hamilton soon put them back in their places by going another half a second quicker.

The two Williams drivers soon joined in the fun at the top as Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas moved up into second and third places, only for Hamilton to once again stomp his authority everwhere and widen the gap by yet another half a second. Rosberg went just six-hundredths faster but with both of them still on the harder tyres, Mercedes clearly still have a massive advantage.

In the final ten minutes of the session, drivers attempted to complete their final qualifying simulations but Rosberg and Hamilton both chose not to set fast times on their supersofts. Felipe Massa jumped himself back into second place behind Hamilton leaving Rosberg to settle for third ahead of Fernando Alonso, Daniel Ricciardo and Kimi Raikkonen.

Hamilton’s 4/10s advantage over the rest of the field is on the harder tyres so he’s looking set to claim his 5th pole position of the year. But let’s not forget Rosberg who will be keen to fight back and hold on to the championship lead. We should be in for a great battle between the Mercs up front during qualifying today, with the Williams and Ferrari drivers duking it out for the next few places.

Full timesheet below. Please join us on @F1_Madness for live updates on Twitter.

June 7, 2014
F1 2013: British GP Review – Rosberg tops at dramatic Silverstone

Formula 1 in 2013 hasn’t been short of drama but it well and truly ramped up for the eighth round of the season at Britain’s Silverstone grand prix.

It was home-grown hero Lewis Hamilton who thrashed the field to take only his second pole position at the famous circuit. The margin between the 2008 champion and teammate Rosberg was the biggest it had been all season as Mercedes locked out the front row of the grid. Sebastian Vettel was ever present in third ahead of retiring teammate, Mark Webber.

Force India’s Paul Di Resta delivered an excellent lap for fifth but would later be excluded from qualifying for an underweight car. The Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen and Ferrari of Fernando Alonso seemed to struggle in qualifying trim as the duo only managed to start eighth and ninth.

Lewis Hamilton led cleanly away from pole position as Vettel slotted into third ahead of Rosberg. Mark Webber’s race was made a lot tougher after a clash with Romain Grosjean left the Australian with damage to the front-wing. A bit of damage to a front-wing would be the least dramatic issue of the day.

Lewis Hamilton easily in the lead of the race and steadily building a gap over Vettel would become the first driver to suffer a left rear tyre blowout. The Pirelli tyre seemed to completely disintegrate without any indication whatsoever. Somehow Hamilton was able to return his Mercedes to the pits but his chances of victory had been thrown out the window.

It looked like horrible luck for Hamilton until two laps later Felipe Massa’s Ferrari suffered the exact same failure. Jean-Eric Vergne became the third driver to suffer a tyre blow-out on lap 15 as his left rear spectacularly exploded on the Hangar straight.

The Toro Rosso driver’s tyre failure brought out the safety car as debris from the blowout littered the circuit. McLaren’s Sergio Perez would be the final driver to suffer an identical tyre blow-out on lap 46. At this point drivers were being told to avoid the kerbs in case they were the cause for the tyre problems. But Fernando Alonso didn’t share the same opinion after the race. “I have been racing here 12 years & never had this problem (tyre). I think the kerbs were perfectly ok,” said the Ferrari driver.

Racing resumed on lap 22 with no certainty of whose Pirelli could fail next but there was still a race to be had as Vettel led Rosberg over the start/finish line. The Red Bull driver extended his advantage over Rosberg to two seconds but the Mercedes driver was gradually starting chip away at his lead. Rosberg wasn’t required to do much more work in catching Vettel as the reigning world champion’s car grinded to a halt at the pit entry with a gearbox failure.

The stricken Red Bull prompted another safety car and Rosberg, Webber and Alonso dived into the pitlane for a fresh set of medium tyres. The only front-running driver not to take a fresh set of tyres was Kimi Raikkonen. Raikkonen was running second when he asked his team why they had not called him into the pits for fresh tyres. The Lotus pitwall had roughly half a lap behind the safety car to decide on a pitstop but responded to Raikkonen’s question with “I don’t know” and “It’s too late now.” On a day when championship leader Vettel failed to score any points the Lotus pitwall destroyed what could have been a significant gain in the championship stakes. Raikkonen eventually finished fifth, defenceless on hard tyres he had put on twenty laps earlier. It is on moments like this that championships are lost and won.

Mark Webber’s announcement of his retirement at the end of the season sent the rumours of Raikkonen joining the Red Bull team into overdrive. Lotus team principal Eric Boullier has said that they are doing everything they can to keep the Finn in the team. He believes that the ‘atmosphere’ within the team is enough to make Raikkonen stay put – it isn’t. During his two year hiatus from Formula 1 the Iceman let it be known that he is only interested in winning races – not fighting for second. The doubt is whether Lotus can consistently deliver up to that standard. Mistakes such as this will surely make Raikkonen’s decision to stay or leave a lot less difficult. Lotus are a good team but many suggest that the only thing making them great is Kimi Raikkonen. Since his return to Formula 1 he hasn’t put a wheel wrong and he has rekindled a kind of speed and driving class second to none. Give this guy what he needs and he will win you a world championship. Lotus’ mistakes could be more costly than they expect.

Mark Webber, recovered from front-wing damage, charged through the field in the closing laps to within seven tenths of race leader Rosberg. Similarly, Fernando Alonso’s fresh tyres allowed him pass several cars and finish third overall. Fernando Alonso was happy to salvage third place on a weekend where Ferrari look decidedly off the pace but called on his team to ‘raise their game’ in the coming races.

Nico Rosberg inherited the lead of the race but he won the British GP on pure merit. Never putting a wheel wrong he soaked up the late-race pressure from Webber like a pro. Career victory number three was well deserved for the most improved driver of 2013.

The Pirelli tyregate saga took a very dramatic turn during the British GP prompting the teams to angrily demand answers from the Italian tyre supplier. So serious was the tyre situation that race director Charlie Whiting admitted post-race that he was close to putting out the red flag.

Paul Hembery has failed to appear at press conferences at the last two races but at some point Pirelli and their motorsport director will have to face the music. Pirelli have been invited, by FIA President Jean Todt, to attend the Sporting Working Committee meeting at the Nurburgring next week in order to find a solution to the tyre problems.

The teams are now pushing for next month’s young driver’s test to be scrapped in favour of a fully fledged tyre test.

July 1, 2013