F1 Madness

Tag: sauber

  • F1 2015: Texas GP Review – Hamilton Clinches Title in Texas Thriller

    F1 2015: Texas GP Review – Hamilton Clinches Title in Texas Thriller

    On Friday and Saturday race fans would have been cursing the biblical levels of rain that fell over Texas’ Circuit of the Americas. It completely obliterated any opportunity of running in all but one of the practice sessions and forced a postponement of qualifying to Sunday morning.

    However, as the weather cleared in time for Sunday’s race it was the changeable conditions that were the catalyst for a frenzied US grand prix.  As the start of the race drew closer the rain had ceased its incessant pounding but with the track still mostly wet conditions called for a start on the intermediate tyres for the entire grid.

    Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg  snatched pole from teammate Lewis Hamilton in a shortened qualifying session while Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat locked out the second row of the grid. Along with Williams’ Valtteri Bottas, who incurred a five place penalty for changing a gearbox, both Ferrari drivers were demoted ten places on the grid for fitting a sixth, upgraded, engine. Sebastian Vettel started in thirteenth while Kimi Raikkonen lined up in eighteenth place.

    hamtexas2The start of the race followed a familiar pattern between the two Mercedes drivers. Hamilton took the inside line into turn one and forced Rosberg wide and onto the run-off as the pair bumped wheels. The move, which Rosberg later called “a step too far” dropped the German down to fifth. As Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat hounded the back of Hamilton’s Mercedes for the lead of the race the sister Red Bull was in close attendance in third. But a clash between Sauber teammates Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson left enough debris at turn one for race control to call on the virtual safety car.

    As the race restarted the superior performance of the Red Bull on the wearing intermediate tyres was enough for both its drivers to overtake Nico Rosberg. As the circuit dried it was evident that Daniel Ricciardo was able to look after his intermediate tyre slightly better than Hamilton and he took the lead of the race on lap fifteen.

    By lap eighteen the circuit had dried enough to change onto slicks. As conditions changed so too the challenge of the Red Bull’s diminished in the dry conditions. With superior pace Nico Rosberg retook the lead of the race and proceeded to build a stunning ten second gap over Hamilton. This was the Nico Rosberg performance we had been waiting to see all season. By this point, it was a strong, determined drive that would delay Hamilton’s winning of the world championship.

    saubertexasOn lap twenty-eight the Sauber of Marcus Ericsson grinds to a halt at turn eleven and requires the deployment of the safety car to recover the car. Rosberg’s nearly eleven second lead over Hamilton is completely eradicated. Sebastian Vettel, who has fought his way into fifth, takes the opportunity to fit a set of mediums to see him through to the end of the race. The Ferrari driver makes short work of Kvyat and Ricciardo and moves himself into third place.

    It wasn’t long before the virtual safety car was called on again this time to clear the Force India of Nico Hulkenberg. The German driver tried an ambitious move up the inside of Daniel Ricciardo for fourth place but came off second best with fatal damage to his car. It prompted Rosberg to pit as Hamilton took the lead of the race.

    By lap forty-two Hamilton had a six second gap over Rosberg and as Red Bull driver Daniil Kvyat clouted the barrier at the final turn, bringing out the safety car, the Brit dived into the pitlane for a new set of tyres. It dropped Hamilton behind Rosberg and it seemed as if he would have to wait at least one more week to secure the title.

    hamtexas3However, in a bizarre twist Rosberg ran off the circuit at turn sixteen and gifted the lead of the race to Hamilton. Rosberg just held on for second in the closing stages ahead of Vettel. This ensured that as Hamilton crossed the line he was a three-time world champion.

    Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen finished a stunning fourth ahead of Force India’s Sergio Perez in fifth. Jenson Button brought his McLaren home in sixth whilst Carlos Sainz finished seventh in his Toro Rosso. Lotus’ Pastor Maldonado , Sauber Felipe Nasr and Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo rounded out the top ten.

    Eight cars failed to make it to the chequered flag including Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen who retired with overheating brakes after sliding off the track earlier and colliding with a barrier. For Williams too it was a weekend to forget with a  double retirement. Manor Marussia driver Alex Rossi can hold his head high after matching the team’s best result with a twelfth place finish.

    In an incredible season Lewis Hamilton has become only the tenth triple world champion in the history of the sport. Yes, Mercedes has provided him with an astonishing car to drive but the knowledge that Hamilton is a racer of the highest calibre has been there since his first lap at the 2007 Australian grand prix. Now, Lewis Hamilton is no longer just on the cusp of greatness.

    (All images of Lewis Hamilton courtesy of @MercedesAMGF1)

  • 2015 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    2015 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    DRIVERS: Marcus ERICSSON (Sauber), Alexander ROSSI (Manor), Valtteri BOTTAS (Williams), Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing), Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (Ferrari), LEWIS HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    PRESS CONFERENCE
    Q: Lewis, three times a US Grand Prix winner, twice at the Circuit of the Americas. You, Nico [Rosberg] and Sebastian [Vettel] have finished one, two, three, in that order, on four occasions this season. If it happens again on Sunday, you are the world champion. What are your thoughts?
    Lewis HAMILTON: Well, first of all, just happy to be here, excited; I always enjoy myself out here in the States. The track is fantastic; the race has been great here since 2012. Just excited for another weekend. I missed driving the car for the last two weeks.

    Q: You spend a lot of time in this country, as we can see from your regular social media output? Why do you like the US so much?
    LH: Well, I like travelling everywhere in the world, so it’s not just the US, but I have a lot of friends out here. There’s a lot to do. America has a lot to offer, in such a big space. I do a lot of my music out here, so this is kind of the central hub for music, so that’s probably why I spend more time here than usual.

    Q: Thank you for that. Moving on to Daniel: a podium here last year, of course, at the Circuit of the Americas, but pointless in three of the last five races, although your best result of the season came during that run, the second place in Singapore. This recent run now means you’re behind your team-mate Daniil Kvyat in the championship. How important to you is it to finish ahead of him at the end of this season?
    Daniel RICCIARDO: I don’t know to be honest. Because we’re not really fighting for the title it’s sort of irrelevant. I think I have missed out a fair few bags of points at various occasions this year. But, yeah, I’m not too worried. Obviously you want to finish in front, I’m not going to lie, but when you’re seventh or eighth in the championship it’s sort of irrelevant. Yeah, the little Russian’s jumped in front of me, but we’ll see. I’m confident I’ll end up with more points, but as I said, I’m not too fussed about it.

    Q: So, we’re reaching the end of October now, how confident are you about being on the grid next season and what assurances have Red Bull given you about how this whole thing is unfolding?
    DR: Not much has changed to be honest. Yeah, we’re still not really confirmed with anything yet. From my side I’m still confident I’ll be racing. Confident we’ll be there, hopefully competitive. I think that’s more the concern. I have confidence we’ll be on the grid it’s just the concern is can we be competitive? I want to make sure we can be. This year, obviously we have got a couple of podiums, which is nice, but certainly not enough to keep us extremely happy. So, yeah, we want to be competitive again and I think that’s just as important as being on the grid.

    Q: Alexander, coming to you, the only American driver in the field and the first American to race in the US Grand Prix in eight years. How proud do you feel about being in the series today and what’s the reaction been like here in the States in the build-up to the race?
    Alexander ROSSI: I think, first of all, that the reaction has been very positive, which is what we wanted to see, Of course there is pride that goes along with it, but that started in Singapore and Japan as well. Obviously to be here at home means a big deal, but at the same time we have a job to do and very clear objectives to meet. I’m looking forward to it; there are a lot of friends and family that will be coming this weekend. But I think once you get in the car and on track you appreciate the fact that there is a bigger picture.

    Q: Obviously you jumped into the car quite late in the season. Two race outings so far and you beat your team-mate on both occasions. What goals have you set for yourself for the remaining events this season and how confident are you of securing a full-time ride for 2016?
    AR: With the current situation with the performance difference in the cars I think it’s very clear that the objective just needs to be continuing what we’ve done in the first two, as you said. Both of those weekends there was quite a disrupted Friday for the whole team, so I think if we have a strong Friday the Sunday result can be even more positive. In terms of next year, I’m obviously quite keen to be in a full-time seat next year, which is apparent. The position that I’m in with the team at the moment is good and we’re looking to put that all together for next year.

    Q: Kimi, coming to you, you said in Sochi that the collision with Valtteri Bottas was a racing incident, you’ve watched it again by now I’m sure, so how do you feel about it now and how have you left it with Valtteri?
    Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: Well it hasn’t changed. Obviously there were some discussions and penalties given to me, but I would still do it tomorrow again, that doesn’t change the story. Unfortunately, we came together in the end and we both lost a bit, but that’s life, that’s racing. I don’t feel bad about it and if somebody feels that, it’s up to them. It’s OK for me. Like I said, I would still do the same thing next time and maybe it goes better.

    Q: There was another good battle with your team-mate Sebastian Vettel in Sochi. Is the objective for 2016 to beat him or finish in front of him on a more regular basis?
    KR: Well, obviously this year hasn’t exactly been what we hoped but it’s been much better than the previous year and I’m sure we are doing the right things but we don’t get the results sometimes. That’s fine, we are going in the right direction all the time and I’m sure when we get things running smoother and all the time better so we can definitely fight with him every week. Like I always said: I wouldn’t be here if I wouldn’t feel like that.

    Q: Valtteri, coming to you, obviously in that incident in Sochi you lost what would have been only your second podium finish of the year. After some considered thought what’s your attitude to it now?
    Valtteri BOTTAS: For me it’s the same really. It was a good weekend until the last lap, so of course disappointing to lose the points but my opinion hasn’t changed. I wouldn’t do anything different and it’s now history, so I’m 100 per cent ready to move on.

    Q: The result means there are only two points now between you and your team-mate Felipe Massa, so similar question to the one I asked Daniel I guess, how essential is it for you to finish ahead of him in the final standings?
    VB: Of course it is, yes. As a driver you always want to beat your team-mate but as Daniel said, when it’s not for either the top three or winning the title it’s not that important. The main thing is to get the maximum points for the team with the two drivers. But personally I would prefer to keep in front and that’s one of the goals for the rest of the year.

    Q: Marcus, you didn’t race here last year as Caterham didn’t make the trip, but you were here, so what are you most looking forward to about racing on this Circuit of the Americas track?
    Marcus ERICSSON: Yeah, I’m really looking forward to driving the track, I think it looks really cool; some nice corners, the first sector especially. Like you said, it was the first race I missed out last year, so I’m really looking forward to driving the track.

    Q: You were out on the first lap in Russia, ending a 12-race finishing streak. You’ve been knocked out in Q1 in the last three races in a row but you have outqualified your team-mate five time in the last seven, so how would you sum up the state of play Sauber as we get to this closing part of the season?
    ME: I think I’ve had a really good run from the middle of the season really. Then the last three weekends we’ve had some messy weekends with difficult Fridays and difficult Saturdays, so I’m not entirely happy with the last three events. I think we could have done better things there. Like you said, Russia was a tough one, going our on the first lap, especially because I think our car was competitive around there. So not very happy with the last three but looking forward to turning it around here in Austin.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Peter Windsor – Clarksport). Question to Valtteri. I’m sorry I know it’s history but it’s still interesting at least for us. After the race Kimi said that he was surprised the move didn’t work because he had done that earlier in the race to you, at the exactly the same place, in exactly the same way and you had let him through and I wondered if that was the case from your point of view? And Kimi please add to this if necessary. In other words, earlier in the race did he do that pass exactly as he trued to do it later in the race?
    VB: Yeah, I guess it’s still interesting for you guys, but for us not so much. From my point of view the first one was quite a different one, it was much more clear that he could do it. And of course for me, as a driver, not going to leave the door open two times. So, for me, it was a different kind of situation, as we saw from the result.

    Kimi, any response?
    KR: No. It was for him anyway.

    I’m just giving you the right of reply.
    KR: Why would I need to reply? It doesn’t change what we say anymore.

    Q: (Peter Windsor – Clarksport) I guess the follow up question to Kimi is: did you not see that Valtteri was going to close the door on that second occasion?
    KR: I saw it in the end but obviously once you’ve decided to go there… I tried to brake and turn in as much as I can but there’s no way to avoid it. That’ why… what can you do? Once you go there you do it or not. Once I saw that he’s coming… I don’t know. Maybe he didn’t expect or didn’t see me. Tried to slow down and turn in but y’know, in the end if there’s no space there’s no space. We’re going to collide. It’s an unfortunate thing but it’s a part of racing. You get penalised sometimes, sometimes not. We are here to race, it’s pointless to cry afterwards. I’m sure that people like it more like that than just following each other, so… it’s part of the thing.

    Q: (Joesph D Love – Tennessee Tribune) This is a generic question, how do you create more enthusiasm in urban black America for Formula One? I know we’re up against football and basketball – how do you make Formula One as exciting for the urban kid in America?

    LH: Don’t look at me, ask these first. I’d love to see what these others think!

    DR: Just try and be as ‘lads–y’ as possible. Just make it exciting. I mean, we try. I think the sport’s, most of the time, pretty exciting. As performers – let’s say – we try and do what we can to make it cool. In all honest I think Austin, this circuit, is one of the best on the calendar for excitement. I’ve said it before, there’s so many places to overtake, I think the layout is perfect with big, wide apexes, so you can have a lot of fun on this track. I these terms, I think that creates the excitement: overtaking, fights. If it’s just a single train race it’s obviously less exciting so…  I think this track creates a lot of that. I think as drivers most of us try to be y’know, like… cool people, funny people. We try to bring fans into the sport. Yeah… I don’t know. I don’t know if I’ve answered your question.

    Alexander, do you want to have a go at it?
    AR: Sure, I mean, from an American perspective, I think the biggest thing, leading onto what Daniel was saying, the excitement level needs to be there but beyond that I think the accessibility. Obviously motorsports is something that is quite difficult to get into – and that’s the same for any young kid trying to do it. I think the biggest thing is a direction where to go. I think that’s the thing that’s missing the most. Beyond that, kind of just… there’s always things that can be done in terms of making it expand to a different part of the States. I think it’s very much… Formula One is three locations and in America we’re trying to grow it as much as we can. I think once that happens it’ll appeal to a much broader mass.

    Final thought Lewis?
    LH: Yeah, just sitting here trying to think. I agree very much with what they mentioned. It’s difficult for people to get attached here in America. Obviously they’re crazy about NFL and NBA and there sports that you can just go and guy the equipment; buy a ball or a racquet and go play down the road or in the street, whereas karting, you can’t. I was very lucky, my Dad bought me a go kart and we drove it around a car park, like a DIY Homestore car park for a while – but there’s not that much accessibility, as he was saying, for kids who say “hey, I want to go go-karting.” You have to plan it weeks in advance almost, or save up. So, I don’t really know. Maybe Formula One can start to engage more with the NFL or with the other sports. The brands that you have here in the States, and start to engage with them. I never, every see… I don’t know if I’ve ever seen an NBA player come – I’ve had a friend come once. Otherwise it’s never really been anyone from those sports, different kind of sports come and try to see what Formula One’s about to maybe bring some attention to it, maybe. As you can see, I’m doing as much as I can – but I’m only one person. Yesterday I was go-karting with some kids, there were two black kids with us. One passed me, the first time I’d ever been on track with a black kid and, coming past it was like seeing myself come by – it was kinda funny. It was good. It’s open to everyone.

    Q: (Seff Harding – Zero Zone News) This question’s for everyone. There’s been a lot of talk about rule changes, or taking a more of an old school approach to the sport. I wanted to know how you guys felt about that – because I guess there’s a little fear that maybe the cars are getting too technical, you guys might end up being like David Hasselhoff in Knight Rider, talking the car and the car’s driving itself. Just wanted to know how you guys feel about taking a more old school approach to the cars, taking a little more tech out of it.
    KR: I think it’s the right direction. F1 should be easily the fastest racing cars in the world and it doesn’t look right some races where we go and GP2s are a few seconds off almost. They should be definitely faster, more like they were in the mid-2000s. I think that’s the way they plan to go and I think it’s more fun for us, it looks much more greater to the spectators. But also, they have to make it also… nicer for all the people. Everybody is complaining it’s boring, it’s this and that. If something doesn’t change nobody will care how the car looks or how fast they are. Something has to change, that’s for sure, for F1 to get back more interesting for everybody – but I think it’s a good way to go, make the cars faster and more exciting looking.

    Valtteri, your thoughts on this.
    VB: I think the main thing, like every driver for sure, it’s likely the cars are going to be quicker, so that’s a good thing. Maybe more tricky to drive, hopefully. The main thing, the cars are fast and more spectacular for everyone. I’m not sure it’s really an old school thing because the sport will keep developing. It’s a good direction.

    Marcus?
    ME: First of all, I think the cars today are still a lot of fun to drive for us drivers but like Valtteri says, of course faster cars are always going to be nice for us drivers – but I think there’s a fine line there. To not make it too much like ten, 15 years ago when there was not so much overtaking. I think the racing today is great, with a lot of fights and overtaking. I think we should not cross that line and make the races just follow each other and no overtaking. But yeah, of course, faster cars is going to be more fun for us and more fun to watch.

    DR: I think sometimes having such a big difference between cars is not so fun for a spectator as well. You see, I think it was a Williams pass a McLaren in Sochi and it was like it was standing still. That… for a spectator seeing that. That driver’s not better and he’s passed him… holding your foot flat down the straight – there’s no real skill required so when it looks that easy then it’s a little bit… I think it takes something away from the sport, one way or another. So, you always want a bit more equality. I mean, sure, you always want the top teams and you always want to look up to racing for a top team, so you always… there’s got to be some sort of division but a smaller division would be nice. More competition I think, more drivers fighting for wins. I think then, when you win a race also, the reward is much bigger. Somehow to get that back, I think, would be good.

    LH: I think it does need to change. I’ve not really looked at the changes they’re proposing, to be honest, but it needs to be… for example, with the DRS, it doesn’t feel organic, like natural racing. Whatever changes they make, I want to see closer racing. Wheel to wheel racing. It needs to be like go-karting was. If, y’know, go-karting, wheel to wheel and those guys following the train overtaking. We need to make Formula One a bit more like that. Somehow. I don’t know how they’re going to do it. It needs to be a lot different to what it was in the last 20 years.

    AR: I’m going into my third race so I don’t really have much of a comment, other than the fact I’m not really racing anyone at the moment other than one other car. Obviously I have to agree with what everyone said but for my own personal views, nothing different.

    Q: (Greg Creamer – COTA Big Screen Production) Kind of following up this discussion, there’s been a lot of talk about the power units in that and the fact that they are a little bit disparate right now in terms of performance. But what about a re-vamp of the aerodynamic approach, because what you guys were talking about – Lewis in particular – about the go-karting and running close and that, you don’t seem to be able to do that right now because you get close enough, you wash the front end out, there’s no stick? How about re-vamping the aero on the car to get more done, maybe with a tunnel, less sensitivity in the nose so you can follow somebody through say, the last turn at Monza and be able to run right up and not lose the nose as opposed to all the focus on all the power units? That seems like that would improve the racing.
    LH: It does seem that way but I don’t think that’s possible. You’ve got turbulence behind the plane, it’s the same thing, you get turbulence behind the car. All these vortices that are bouncing off the car, whichever rule they change to keep downforce, it’s always going to be like that. They need to do something like where when you’re getting close to another car and the car in front has to… the cars always have to have the same amount of downforce, no matter how close you get, so I don’t know how they’ll achieve that but that would be kind of neat.

    Q: (Tony DiZinno – NBC Sports) Alexander, having had FP1 a couple of years ago, how much nicer is it to have past F1 machinery track experience as opposed to the last two events you’ve done?
    AR: I’ll let you know tomorrow. Obviously it gives you a baseline but at the same time the cars in ’13 were clearly very different to what they are now. I don’t know how much is applicable to be honest. I think it’s more of a bonus, the fact that I’ve actually driven the track, more than anything else.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Honorary) Daniel, Renault has a new engine in the works. What has Renault told you and what has the team told you about this engine?
    DR: Yeah, it’s available if we want to use it. Obviously that would mean a penalty, though, so we’ve got to understand if it’s worth it. Last I heard, it’s not massive so from my understanding it’s probably not worth taking it but yeah, I think we’re down such a chunk that I don’t think we’re going to gain enough in this short time to make it up so if we start from the back, I don’t think we’re going to make (up) the ground we need. Right now, I would say we’re probably less likely to take it. That’s about it. Hopefully today they tell me something different and we’ve found a bigger chunk of horsepower from it but I think realistically there’s not a whole lot.

    Q: (Peter Windsor – Clarksport  Ltd) Just following up on what you were saying there, it looked as if in sector three in Russia your car was actually not bad at all in terms of putting its power down and racing Ferrari- and Mercedes-engined cars and on that basis, I wonder where you feel you’re at around here now, on this circuit, bearing in mind the sector three here as well? How quick is the car now?
    DR: The car’s good and I was surprised to hold Valtteri and Kimi off for as long as I did. Once they caught me I thought I wouldn’t have sat in front as long. That was definitely some nice little surprises, I guess, in Russia. I think it has progressed for sure, the power as well but I think the car has really come alive and yeah, the grip we have through all those tight, twisty bits is really good. I think this circuit will suit us more so yeah, I’m hoping we can be more competitive here. It just seems that (in) qualifying we don’t really have that one lap pace but then (in) the races we seem to be a lot more competitive so if we can somehow start towards the front then I think we can stay there. We’ll see how we go but I’m definitely excited to race here if we’re not floating down the river.

    Q: (Diego Mejia – Canal F1 Latin America) To all of you; Pirelli is set to stay for quite a few years. What would the drivers like to see from the tyres looking at the next few seasons?
    VB: Maybe more grip, that’s always nice, more grip. I think there have been some tracks that – for example Russia – even the supersoft has been a bit too hard so yeah, I’m sure that they are learning from all these things but I think this is adjusting to the different tracks because every tarmac is so different  tracks because every tarmac is different, every track is so different, so to make the races exciting, a good quick tyre for the track, I’m sure they are pushing for that so we will see what they can do.
    KR: I think we’ve had a lot of discussions about Pirelli and obviously they have been blamed for many things but it’s not easy for them to produce tyres that… first of all I don’t think they are ever going to be able to produce tyres that everyone is happy with. Somebody is always complaining and then we are not allowed to do testing so how can they improve the tyres? We always say, OK, we should go this or that way but they don’t have the time on the circuit to do anything so that doesn’t help them. I don’t really see the point of discussing here what we would like. For sure they will talk to us. I think everybody has to work together with the teams to decide that OK, we can do testing, also helping Pirelli in that way. When teams cannot decide themselves together who does the test or whose car is being used then Pirelli cannot do any laps. It’s very difficult to improve tyres and do what the teams are asking of them. I think it’s up to the teams to provide them also the possibilities to get the tyres running in a proper test and try things. I’m sure they will find a way to do that and I’m sure we will get what everybody’s more or less happy with.
    LH: I don’t know. As Kimi said, it’s pointless everyone saying what we would like if we can’t do any testing. I don’t really particularly… more performance is what we always want and I think they’ve got to make a big step if that’s going to be the case.

  • F1 2015: Texas GP Preview – F1 Heads Down South

    F1 2015: Texas GP Preview – F1 Heads Down South

    The old saying goes that everything is bigger and better in Texas and it’s hard to argue with it. The Circuit of the Americas, introduced in 2012, is already a favourite on the F1 calendar and in 2015 has the potential to crown a champion.

    The Circuit of the Americas, designed by Herman Tilke, gets a resounding stamp of approval from all the drivers on the grid and is easily the best of the newer tracks on the F1 calendar. “The track has some special parts, especially the first sector and the uphill turn one. You can take a few different lines through the corner and you can brake really late for it, which makes it a good place to overtake,” says Force India driver Sergio Perez.

    In fact the entire first sector is a combination of elegant flowing high-speed corners of which turns three through eight are reminiscent of Silverstone’s Maggots-Becketts complex. A long back strait and relatively slow final section of corners make up the rest on the 5.5 km circuit.

    However it seems, at best, doubtful that we’ll get to see F1 cars at full-tilt around this circuit as the weather predicts for rain on Friday and Saturday. The forecast on race day could see a break in the clouds. Should there be an opportunity for dry running Pirelli have made the medium (white-walled) and soft (yellow-walled) compound available this weekend.

    Motor Racing - Formula One World Championship - United States Grand Prix - Practice Day - Austin, USAThere will be considerable attention on all cars running the Renault power unit this weekend. The French manufacturer is bringing its biggest, and highly anticipated, upgrade, to the race weekend amid intense speculation about its future in the sport.

    Several weeks ago Renault signed a letter of intent to purchase the Lotus F1 team but hasn’t made a move on the financially beleaguered team since then, at least not publicly. Not only that, but an improved performance from the power unit may also serve as the perfect platform for Red Bull make its way back to running Renault power in 2016.

    As it stands, Red Bull has no engine to put in the back of their 2016 car. At this stage the 2016 Red is likely deep into its development cycle which will make pulling out of the sport very costly. Yes, the divorce between Red Bull and Renault resulted in both parties airing dirty laundry and some rather testy statements about incompetence were thrown about. But a categorical no from Mercedes and a more than reluctant Ferrari has put the Austrian team in quite a mess.  Besides, there won’t be any hard feelings between Red Bull and Renault after all just look at the splendidly semi-restored relationship between Fernando Alonso and Ron Dennis.

    lewisaustinThere is also another matter that will take centre stage in Texas as Lewis Hamilton bids to become a three time Formula 1 world champion. The challenge from teammate Nico Rosberg has been severely diminished due to a couple of reliability issues for the German. As if Rosberg’s retirements haven’t been nasty enough the cruel irony is that he will probably help Lewis Hamilton claim his third driver’s title this weekend.

    Mercedes shouldn’t be troubled in Texas which will leave its two drivers to battle it out. If Rosberg finishes second to his teammate and keeps Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel at bay Hamilton will be crowned champion.

    Now we know that stranger things have happened in Formula 1. Just think about Hamilton’s first championship triumph in most dramatic fashion at the 2008 Brazilian grand prix. By no means should any possibility ever be ruled out in Formula 1.

    Championship Permutations

    Hamilton is champion if…

    Hamilton 1st Vettel 3rd or lower

    Hamilton 2nd Vettel 6th or lower  Rosberg 3rd or lower

    Hamilton 3rd Vettel 7th or lower  Rosberg 4th or lower

    Hamilton 4th Vettel 9th or lower  Rosberg 5th or lower

    Hamilton 5th Vettel 10th or lower  Rosberg 6th or lower

  • F1 2015: Russian GP Review – Russia Redeemed

    F1 2015: Russian GP Review – Russia Redeemed

    It isn’t often in Formula 1 that you get what you ask for. Ahead of the second ever Russian grand prix the request was for a race with a bit more zest and the Sochi Autodrom delivered.

    Where it concerned the winner of the race it wasn’t high on the entertainment stakes. Lewis Hamilton ambled to career victory number 42 in his Mercedes without so much as a whiff of a challenge.

    It appeared at the start of the race as if the double world champ would have some work to do as Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg maintained his pole position off the starting line. But it wasn’t to be for Rosberg as he was forced into retirement with a broken throttle pedal. It the lead up to the race the call for Rosberg to step up and take the fight to Hamilton and he responded with an authoritative qualifying performance.

    Alas, now and then the unpredictability of F1 rears its head and inserts a searing reminder of how cruel the sport can be. If Rosberg’s admittedly fragile championship dream was hanging by a thread before it has now been completely obliterated. The German driver trails Hamilton by 73 points with a maximum of 100 still available.

    podiumrussiaFerrari driver Sebastian Vettel was never within striking distance of Hamilton but showed a solid enough turn of pace for a comfortable second place. The four-time champion pulled off two crucial moves on Raikkonen and Perez for his second place finish.

    The race had two safety car deployments the first of which came on lap one for a collision between the Force India of Nico Hulkenberg and the Sauber of Marcus Ericsson. The safety car was deployed a second time as Romain Grosjean crashed his Lotus heavily into the barrier on the outside of turn three.

    While Grosjean’s race was over it prompted a roll of the strategy dice for Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo and Force India’s Sergio Perez. The two drivers would attempt a run to the flag, some 40 laps away, on one set of the yellow-walled soft compound tyre.  For Ricciardo it came to naught as he had to retire his Red Bull with a suspected suspension issue.

    However, Perez was clinging onto third for dear life. But as Williams’ Valtteri Bottas and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, with fresher tyres, closed him down at a rate of knots it appeared that the Mexican would be consigned to the very least a fifth place finish. Unexpectedly, Raikkonen’s attempt to overtake countryman Bottas proved a bit too feisty and the two collided into turn 4. The clash put Bottas out of the race and left Raikkonen with a damaged car.  Ever the opportunist, Perez swept past to take a deserved third place finish.

    Sochi Autodrom 2014Willliams’ Felipe Massa recovered from fifteenth on the grid to finish fourth; Raikkonen crossed the line in fifth but was later slapped with a 30 second penalty for the Bottas collision which drops him down to eighth. Local hero Daniil Kvyat finished fifth in his Red Bull ahead of Sauber’s Felipe Nasr, Lotus’ Pastor Maldonado, McLaren’s Jenson Button and Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen, in tenth. The sister McLaren of Fernando Alonso would’ve finished in tenth but the Spaniard was given a five second penalty for not respecting track limits.

    Subsequently, Raikkonen’s thirty second penalty has resulted in Mercedes being crowned the 2015 constructors champions. In F1 you’re only as good as your last race and while the 2014 Russian grand prix was a straight up bore fest it’s 2015 edition delivered a race sizzling enough so that we can declare Russia redeemed.

    (Podium image courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport).

  • F1 2015: Russian GP Preview – Second Chance For Sochi

    F1 2015: Russian GP Preview – Second Chance For Sochi

    There are a couple of circuits on the Formula 1 calendar that can be depended on to deliver a cracking race. Brazil’s Interlagos circuit delivers something dramatic and breathtaking almost every year. Then there are those that are as dull as mud such as Bahrain but the Sakhir circuit has transformed over the last couple of years thanks to its new night race status.

    The F1 paddock has only been to Russia’s Sochi circuit for the Russian GP once and although it’s slightly unfair to judge it on the one race it’s had so far, we will. The super smooth circuit delivered a bore fest of epic proportions in 2014. So ‘grippy’ was the circuit asphalt that Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg was able to run a set of tyres for 52 of the 53 racing laps without even a suggestion of an issue.

    Pirelli isn’t exactly our favourite tyre supplier at the moment; see previous rants for evidence, but what happened at the 2014 Russian GP wasn’t entirely their fault. Despite the thousands of terabytes of data at their disposal they were not able to predict how the track would behave. Afterall, circuits are living things influenced by a bevy of variables that can only be calculated with factual data collected by cars running, consistently, on it.  In 2015, Pirelli has some tangible data and can therefore make a better informed choice. As a result the Italian tyre manufacturer is rolling out the red side-walled supersoft tyre for the Russian GP weekend.

    Russian_flagThe Sochi Autodrom, thanks to its variety of corners, provides a technical challenge to the drivers. It’s quite a long lap and a reasonably technical one too. “If you make a small mistake in one corner, you are punished for the rest of the lap,” says Lotus driver Pastor Maldonado. “If you’re off line for one corner, it might not be until one of the straights that you can recover. Off-line is very slippery too so you’re doubly punished!”

    The circuit, situated inside the Olympic Park, holds special memories for the Mercedes team who clinched the constructor’s championship here last year. There are some fears that the street-style circuit and the presence of the supersoft tyre may combine for a repeat of the Singapore grand prix but nature of the Sochi Autodrom and the cooler temperature will play in the favour of Mercedes. The German team must outscore nearest rivals Ferrari by three points on Sunday to secure back-to-back constructor’s titles.

    Lewis HamiltonAt the beginning of 2015 Nico Rosberg would have believed himself a match for Lewis Hamilton. Last year he bested his teammate in the qualifying battle and occasionally looked the part of true championship contender.  But twelve months later this theory has been de-bunked. Mind you, the 2015 season isn’t over yet and much could still transpire between the Russian GP and the season finale.

    All sorts of factors could conspire to stop Hamilton from claiming a third title. But there isn’t a genuine feeling that Rosberg could be one of these factors. There isn’t a bona fide threat that he is suddenly going to turn in to a Hamilton-beater and there never has been this season.  Rosberg must respond at the Russian GP with an emphatic, straight-out, victory against Hamilton and show that he isn’t just a good driver in a great car.

  • F1 2015: Italian GP Review – Hamilton Strolls to Victory

    F1 2015: Italian GP Review – Hamilton Strolls to Victory

    The Italian GP wasn’t one that was ever going to set your heart aflutter but it delivered its fair share of drama.

    The Saturday qualifying session delivered a dream result that elated Ferrari’s fanatical tifosi. Kimi Raikkonen delivered a stunning lap just two tenths shy of pole position to line up his scarlet Ferrari in second place while teammate Sebastian Vettel completed the top three.

    It was Lewis Hamilton however who ran the show on Sunday much like he did on Saturday to secure a staggering seventh consecutive pole position.  Most were drooling about a possible Italian GP battle between the Ferrari’s and Lewis Hamilton’s number 44 Mercedes. Alas, a disastrous start for Raikkonen and all-round lack of pace for Vettel meant Hamilton could stroll through the 53 laps to eventual victory.

    As the red lights extinguished so did Raikkonen’s chances as he remained achingly motionless in his grid slot. As it were, Raikkonen reported that when he released the clutch nothing happened after which the car engaged the anti-stall function. It dropped the Finn to dead last but a dogged drive through the field netted the 2007 champ fifth place.

    GP ITALIA F1/2015The simplicity of Hamilton’s task in the lead of the race was evident as he increased his pace at will. He built a substantial gap over Vettel which could’ve been considerably bigger if he had wished it so. Yet, the sister Mercedes wasn’t enjoying as easy a weekend. A failure in free practice three forced Rosberg to take an older engine onboard which landed him only fourth in qualifying. It looked to be going slightly better in the race as the championship runner-up was able to leapfrog Williams on strategy. The German was even able to take the fight to second-placed Vettel and was set to launch an attack on the Ferrari. However, a spectacular engine failure brought a fiery end to Rosberg’s ItalianGP and most probably his championship aspirations.

    A spicy fight between Williams’ drivers Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas highlighted the closing stages of the race. Despite significant pressure from behind Massa was able to resist his Finnish teammate and secure third much to the delight of deputy team principal Claire Williams.

    The Pirelli tyres seemed to be, mostly, out of the spotlight when compared to the aftermath of the Belgian grand prix. But a suspected breach in tyre pressure regulation, by Mercedes, was noted by the Italian tyre supplier. Both Hamilton and Rosberg’s cars were found to be below the specified tyre pressure and were subsequently referred to the stewards.

    GP ITALIA F1/2015In hindsight the instruction given to Hamilton to increase the gap to Vettel makes sense. At the time however not even the driver was sure what to make of the message coming from the pitwall. It is clear now that Mercedes were trying to avoid losing the Italian GP victory should a time penalty be imposed. As it turns out the stewards, after meeting with Mercedes personnel chose to take no further action.

    While some might term this a lucky escape for Mercedes the details as to how and when tyre pressures are measured remain a tad sketchy. If the pressure were measured at different times it could turn out that Mercedes could well have been within the regulations. There is likely to be clarification on the measuring of tyre pressures in the near future.

    As the newly blonde Lewis Hamilton looked out at the fervent Monza crowd there seemed to be a moment of realisation for the Brit. A comprehension of the very special moment he is experiencing in his glittering career. Are we seeing a soon-to-be three-time world champion in the form of his life? A 53 point gap to second place seems to suggest it.

    All photos by courtesy Pirelli

  • F1 2015: Italian GP – Hamilton On Pole, Ferrari Shines

    F1 2015: Italian GP – Hamilton On Pole, Ferrari Shines

    Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton secured his seventh consecutive pole position for Sunday’s Italian grand prix.

    Bright sunshine bathed the famous Monza circuit as the one hour qualifying session got underway.

    Both McLaren’s failed to get out of the first part of qualifying as Jenson Button lapped a fraction faster than teammate Fernando Alonso to set the sixteenth fastest time.

    monza-verstappen-engine-coverToro Rosso driver Max Verstappen, who will serve a grid penalty, did not set a time and lost some bodywork in his short qualifying session.

    The second part of qualifying saw Lotus driver Romain Grosjean advance into to the top ten shoot-out for the first time at the Italian circuit. Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson too made into the top ten battle but is under investigation for impeding Force India driver Nico Hulkenberg earlier in the session.

    The final part of qualifying commenced with the expectation of a showdown between Lewis Hamilton and teammate Nico Rosberg. However, Rosberg’s subsequent change to the older spec engine, after a reliability issues in FP3, compromised his run. According to Rosberg the team had to revert to an engine that has completed six races. It showed in the laptimes too as the German was only able to set the fourth fastest time.

    Lewis Hamilton secured his seventh consecutive pole of the season but it was Ferrari who gave the Tifosi reason to cheer. Kimi Raikkonen will line up his Ferrari in second place after setting a time a mere two tenths off Hamilton’s pole lap. Sebastian Vettel will start third in the sister Ferrari and share the second row with Nico Rosberg. Williams drivers’ Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas will start fifth and sixth respectively.

    monzaquali

  • 2015 Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    2015 Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    DRIVERS:

    Marcus ERICSSON (Sauber)

    Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing)

    Carlos SAINZ (Toro Rosso)

    Felipe MASSA (Williams)

    Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

    Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Nico maybe we could begin with you, congratulations, I understand you became a father. How will it change you and have you decided on a name yet?

    Nico ROSBERG: Yeah, for sure it’s been very exciting, very intense of course. Big respect for all the mothers of this world – unbelievable. No, very emotional and super happy. Very excited.

    You’ll obviously be losing a little bit of sleep then in the coming weeks but you’ve also been losing a few places off the start line lately, with both the old and the new rules on starts, so it’s now three races in a row, making race day a bit more complicated for you. What thoughts have you and the team had on that and how you are going to address it, as particularly here in Monza it’s a long run to turn one so any loss off the line would be amplified by turn one?

    NR: Yeah, it’s true that starts have not been our strength lately, so we’ve been working on it a lot, making progress and then of course the rule change also came in right in the middle of, or off the back of two starts that hadn’t been fantastic. So it’s a work in progress and we need to improve for sure, we know that, and we’re all getting into it.

    Thank you. Sebastian, when you started with Ferrari you said you were living the dream and here you are, at Monza, a Ferrari driver, in front of the tifosi. Can you put into words the sense of pride, responsibility, expectation, dare we say even emotion that comes with the job?

    Sebastian VETTEL: No! Well, I’m about to find out. Obviously I’ve heard lots of good things. I’ve been here before so obviously [I have seen] the passion for Ferrari, so obviously very much looking forward to becoming part of that. If we do well, which is our target, and we manage to be on the podium on Sunday I’m looking forward to not receiving booing for a long time. So, yeah, plenty of stuff to look forward to. So far we have had a great season. This is our home grand prix as a team and since I didn’t have a home grand prix this year I adopt this one as well and hopefully we can make it a good one.

    Now, you made you feelings very clear to the media in Spa about Pirelli and the tyre failure. Having now seen the results of the investigation, what are your considered thoughts on the matter?

    SV: Well, first of all I think there was a lot of stuff explained or written that I think was not correct, the way it was expressed. I think it was very clear what I said. I think the most important point is that obviously we have been looking into the issue we had very clearly and Pirelli has been supportive and very open in the discussions, so I think that’s the most important thing and we need to make sure that we learn from that. Other than that we are in Monza now and, as I said, there is plenty of other stuff to look forward to.

    Thank you for that. Felipe, coming to you, obviously confirmed for 2016 [at Williams]. On the podium here last year, third for Williams and you’re always popular here with the fans thanks to your years with Ferrari. Given Williams’ chassis and engine characteristics can you dream of maybe moving to a higher step on the podium on Sunday of this weekend?

    Felipe MASSA: Yes, for sure. Dreaming is for free. You always dream about the best, about winning the race. Here is one of the best places to be on the podium, to see the whole people, the whole straight [full] of people, especially. Last year that everybody was also happy that I was there on the podium, screaming my name, I think it was so nice, so I’m really looking forward for another one and definitely we dream even to get a better position than third. When you go to the grid you’re thinking about doing the best and thinking about the victory. That’s what I’m doing every race and it’s another one where I will try everything I can to be there.

    If we you look at your recent record, you out-qualified Bottas six-five this season, finished ahead of him in the last four races and moved ahead of him in the championship. What’s driven this strong run of form for you?

    FM: I think last year I was very competitive as well with my team-mate. We were fighting the whole season I would say. The only thing is that the results of the race are a lot more consistent this year. Last year I had a lot of problems, many races where so many things happened and I couldn’t finish in the position I was supposed to. I think this year the situation is a lot more consistent and I managed to score points and finish more or less where I was supposed to in most of the races. I think that’s really good, but we have many races to go and you always want more.

    OK, thank you for that. Daniel, coming to you, you obviously come from an Italian family that emigrated to Australia. When you come here how Italian do you feel and how have the Italians welcomed you in the last few days during all the various promotional activities you’ve been doing?

    Daniel RICCIARDO: I start talking with my hands a bit more! It’s automatic: you arrive in Italy and you start using your hands. What was the question?

    Apart from how Italian you feel, how have the Italians welcomed you in the past few days in the various different things you’ve been up to?

    DR: It’s always a warm welcome here, for sure. The fans are… I’ve always said it, they’re passionate; they’re full on but they’re great. They love the sport, they love getting close and having their moment and stuff. It’s pretty cool walking into the paddock. It creates a bit of a road block but… I think it’s the craziest paddock entrance we go to all year in terms of the fans spreading their love, but it’s nice. I remember the warm-up lap here last year, I think I crossed the second Lesmo and there was a flare blowing across the track… it’s unique, so it’s cool.

    Red Bull has yet to lead a lap in 2015 and you’ve spent a fair chunk of the races somewhere between P5 and P7. Tell us about how you’ve set targets for the remainder of the season and also about the decision on power units for you and your team-mate this weekend?

    DR: Looking now towards the last part of the season, the last couple of races have been our strongest, as of late, Budapest and Spa have gone well for us. I think in terms of understanding the car we’re much more on top of it now than we were earlier in the season. I think the chassis is back to a really strong level. Monza’s not obviously a circuit that suits us particularly. We’ve got the penalties as well, so you know that’s obviously a strategic things as well – take the penalty here rather than in Singapore where we expect to be very competitive. Then, yeah, have some fun here on Sunday, come through the field as far forward as we can and then Singapore, we can really fight for a podium there.

    Coming to you Marcus, 25th birthday celebrated yesterday, happy birthday. Scored points in the last two races consecutively and beaten your team-mate in the last four, do you feel it’s all starting to come together?

    Marcus ERICSSON: Yeah, I think my form, like you say, has been strong now lately and it’s nice to see. I’ve been working a lot with myself, trying to change my approach during a race weekend, focusing more on myself and not other people, what they are doing. It’s nice to see that it’s giving results on the track. I just need to continue that form, not relax but continue to work really hard to continue that way.

    New start regulations in Spa; it wasn’t the smoothest start for you. What happened there and what do you generally think of the new rules?

    ME: I think I did quite a good start. I gained a position, so for me it was pretty good. For me, it doesn’t make a big difference. It’s a bit more feeling for us drivers than there has been before. It’s very similar to how it was in GP2 and I was always a strong starter in GP2, so for me it’s not a problem.

    Thank you. Coming to you Carlos, another birthday celebrated, 21 years old now. If we look at your performances, you’ve reached Q3 six times and out-qualified Verstappen 7-4, yet the results show four consecutive retirements from the races and a best result of eighth. Are you getting concerned that the performances are being overshadowed by the results and the retirements?

    Carlos SAINZ: No, not really. It’s not my main concern at the moment, because at the end, what is under my control everything is going so far quite well. The retirements are obviously totally out of my control, but four consecutive ones is a tiny bit too much. But I’m confident that this well end soon and I’m confident that it will start playing a bit to my side now and we can have a smooth second half of the season and start finishing races and going back to where we were at the beginning of the year in terms of points and position.

    We mentioned that you’ve out-qualified Verstappen to this point, have you been surprised by the speed you’ve been able to find in qualifying?

    CS: Well, you never know what to expect when you come to Formula One. I just know that last year in World Series I made a very big step forward with myself in qualifying and in the race and I just brought it to Formula One this year. You never know how you are going to be, you never know how you’re speed is going to be in Formula One. What I am quite sure is that Saturdays this year have gone very well for me and I am performing at a very decent level. I just need to make sure now on Sundays I perform at the same level and we finish races and I’m sure we’ll be in a good position.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Agris Lauznieks – Kapitals Lativia) This is last race in Europe this season. What are your thoughts about the opportunity to add extra races in Europe, especially northern Europe – to do Riga Grand Prix in Latvia. How would you feel about it?

    NR: I’ve heard great things about Riga, I’ve got a good friend from there also so that would be fantastic but I don’t know. Races in Europe are great, wherever they are to be honest, so it’s always good to have more of those.

    Sebastian, anything to add?

    SV: Not many things I know about Latvia. But yeah, would be, I think, a nice place to go to. I think in general it’s a bit of a shame that we don’t have a grand prix in northern Europe, also Scandinavia because people are quite passionate and crazy about racing. I’ve been to Rally Finland some years ago and I was wondering why we don’t have a Formula One grand prix but I guess that, especially next year, we have quite a lot on the calendar so it looks sort-of busy now – but maybe in the future.

    Marcus, maybe you can tell us why we don’t…

    ME: I think we should have a snow race in Sweden – that would be something! I don’t know. Like Sebastian was saying, we have a lot of passionate fans in all of Scandinavia and northern Europe so it would be very nice to have a race somewhere in these countries, for sure.

    Q: (Vladimir Rogovets – Sb Belarus) My question is to Felipe Massa. Today here you are between the very young drivers and in the race you are very quick and very competitive. My question, where is your personal secret to be very young and very quick?

    FM: I still feel young, honestly. Definitely when you here with 21 years old, 17… it’s really young, definitely. I think you just need to… I always do my best. I feel quick, I feel competitive and definitely the experience helps in so many areas. I’m happy for what I’ve learned with these days and, definitely also when I see you are competing with young drivers and you show good speed in the qualifying, in the race good performance is always nice – nice feeling, so we always compete for the best result you can. That is what gives you pleasure. I can say I have many pleasures in racing and by the result I finish in races – sometimes not, something yes, this is part of our feeling. I still feel good motivation and I’m not finishing the race tired or whatever, so I think that’s what counts at the end.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi, La Gazzetta dello Sport) Question for Nico Rosberg. Nico, before you talked about the birth of your daughter. I would like to know if you can compare the happiness of that to some other things in our job, like victory and nervousness. If you can compared nervousness in that moment? And a technical question about the gap with Lewis. The gap has increased a lot in the last two races, do you think this is one of the last chances to recover? To change the direction of the championship?

    NR: Emotions extremely intense, more intense than any racing success or anything like that. And also, yeah, because there’s factors… love and health and all these things playing a part. That’s definitely more than a race victory. Then the gap to Lewis, yeah, points of course it’s gone in the wrong direction but it’s just over one race difference so I’m very optimistic and pushing and definitely want to try and close that  back down now.

    Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC) To Sebastian, Felipe, Daniel and Nico. Are you satisfied with Pirelli’s explanation for the tyre failures in Belgium – especially as a couple of you described them as unacceptable over that weekend? And to Sebastian personally and additionally, have you raised your concerns, as expressed after Spa, with Bernie, who’s deciding the new tyre supplier?

    SV: I think in all honestly I had a bit more insight because I was obviously one of the two cars that had a failure during the weekend in Belgium – a bit more insight on what was going on after the race in terms of the analysis and so on, than probably Felipe and Daniel. I’m not sure about Nico. But yeah, from what I mentioned also before, it has been very professional, the way it was handled. It was taken very seriously. And obviously our target is to improve the situation. I think it’s natural that you always try to improve your product. I think if you look at the cars, if you talk about the cars today, the cars are quick and so on, and the cars are safe. They’re surely safer than they have been 30 years ago but there is still room for making them safer: we still have accidents and so on and still some things can happen. It’s a one-way street: you want to make progress and keep making progress. So I think that’s more important than any sort of press release, the feeling that I got when I spoke to the engineers and spoke to Pirelli.

    Nico?

    NR: It’s being handled with extreme precision and a lot of energy is going into it, which I’m happy to see, of course. It requires that also. I’m confident that we’ll be here and driving safely.

    Felipe, what were your reflections on Spa?

    FM: I think maybe they know better than me. They were there, they were inside. All these problems the two cars had in Spa with the tyres. For me it’s a little bit more difficult to explain. We want to be safe. What we want is to not have this problem happen – or maybe to understand 100 per cent why it happens and change whatever needs to be changed to give us the most safe tyres and the most safe opportunities to race and to risk ourselves in a safe way – which is what we want. Don’t know what they changed from there to here, but for sure if they change somethings from Spa to Monza, maybe with the tyre pressure and everything. So we need to understand if really they understand what’s happened or not – which is the most important thing. We always want the most safe car or tyres to race.

    Daniel?

    DR: That’s right. It’s all been covered.

    Q: (David Croft – Sky Sports) With all due respect, Daniel, I don’t think it has all been covered. I’m still at a loss, guys; are you satisfied with Pirelli’s explanation? They say as well, in the press release, there were 63 cuts to tyres over the course of the weekend. We know two of them, for Sebastian and Nico, did any of you other guys experience cuts on your tyres? Did your teammates experience cuts? Is this statement right? Were there that many cuts? Was the track that dirty because of all the debris?

    DR: There was blistering. I don’t really know the difference in a way, the details: what’s a blister, what’s a cut? Yeah, we experienced some blistering. Certainly not the first time we’ve had it in Spa. It’s pretty common around there. Yeah, so we did see some activity, I guess but there again, not the first time. It’s probably hard to be as attached to it as Nico or Seb. Obviously I wasn’t in the car but I still saw it and I feel their concerns or their disappointment with the situation. I think what Pirelli’s put out has been as much as they can for now. That’s all they can say really is that we’re working on it. Obviously they’ve given us some answers so, yeah, that’s just where it is for now. It’s hard to predict what will happen now in the future.

    Q: Carlos, any cuts in your team?

    CS: No, not really. I think they’ve given us an explanation, the reasons. I hope they’ve done their job properly. I’m convinced they have because they are the first ones that don’t want to put us drivers at risk so they are giving us those explanations and I’m convinced that at least it will not happen again and we can race safely here in Monza. And if it does happen again, then maybe we need some more investigation.

    Q: Marcus, did you have any cuts in the Sauber team?

    ME: Yes, we had some issues with some cuts on some tyres but I think they came from debris on the track. That was the explanation that we got. I didn’t experience anything else, not any problems with my driving.

    Q: Felipe, Daniel just said it’s quite a common problem at Spa. Could you explain to us why Spa, why it’s particularly common that you pick up debris there?

    FM: No, I don’t believe it should be common. Debris we have every race. Some races we have more debris than others. For sure, the tyres should be strong enough to accept the debris or what we have beside the track. I don’t think it’s common. We had cuts as well during the weekend.

    Q: (Kate Walker – motorsport.com) More about the tyres, I’m afraid. We know that you guys all have Pirelli engineers embedded in your garage, giving you advice on cambers and pressures and whatever else. To what extent, in each of your teams, is that advice listened to? Do they have real input in the strategy? How can things go wrong when you’re supposed to have an expert with you, telling you what to do safely?

    NR: Well, sometimes there are strict things that you must follow and other times there are just suggestions on everything. I’m not sure… we handled everything accordingly in Spa and made modifications also throughout the weekend to make sure we were running the tyres as safely as possible, according to guidelines given by Pirelli. I don’t know about them, what their situation was. I can just say that we did manage things, yeah.

    SV: I think it’s fairly simple. There’s a lot of things that you have to stick to because it’s part of the rules. Also the FIA is checking so you can decide not to listen but then obviously you risk to be disqualified, so I don’t think there’s any team taking that risk. And then there’s other things that you talk about and use the expertise of the Pirelli engineer inside your garage and I think it would be stupid not to listen to him, for all of us, for all the teams, because obviously they have knowledge that we can’t get about their tyres etc, so of course we take it very very seriously.

    FM: Yeah, I think the same, not really more to add.

    ME: Same, same stuff, yeah.

    Q: (Daniel Johnson – The Telegraph) Seb, sorry to labour the point slightly. After the race in Spa, among many other things you said was that the current situation was unacceptable. If I can put it this way, is the situation now acceptable to you and any of the drivers who want to chip in?

    SV: Well, I think it is not acceptable to have a blow-out at that sort of speed, out of the blue and I think that’s what I said also after the race, so there’s nothing really to add. But, as I said before, I think the investigations that have been going on, the stuff that obviously has been analysed and talked about, explains some of it, maybe not all of it yet but it’s still ongoing and obviously, as I said, the most important thing is that we make sure that we make progress. At the moment, from Pirelli’s side, it looks very very professional, they handle it with extreme care, and I think things are going the right way.

    Q: (Daniel Johnson – The Telegraph) So has enough changed from Spa to here? Is the situation more acceptable?

    SV: Well, I think there are some short term changes, as I learned, if we talk about tyre pressures, for example. We obviously see how it feels but if that’s a short term reaction within those couple of days or weeks that we’ve had, that’s one thing. Then obviously long term I think we need to understand properly what happened. I think it’s very clear that everybody is trying to do their best. I think we had a situation a couple of years ago which wasn’t acceptable and there was immediate change and we didn’t have problems afterwards so you can see that the professional approach does work and usually leads to the right result.

    Q: (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas) Felipe, I would like to know if something has changed in the team after the mistake they made with Bottas’s car when they put on the wrong compound, please?

    FM: Well, it should, definitely. We always work for trying to do everything in the correct way, in the best way we can. Sometimes mistakes can happen in our working but for sure mistakes happen which we cannot repeat, so definitely we are always trying to improve things when we see they are not working in the way we want, so we want to be perfect, we want to do everything correctly. This is part of the working we are doing from race to race, the changes we are doing from race to race and whichever mistakes or things that can happen we are always working not to repeat and that’s what we’re doing as a team.

    Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Daniel, you’ve mentioned that you are starting to understand the car better, and it was obviously in Spa, the efficiency is there, you were very quick in the second sector in spite of running a very skinny rear wing but the top speed was not there. Do you think that Red Bull again has one of the best cars on the grid and again, is it obvious that now the engine is the biggest hindrance for you?

    DR: I think we’re now back at a level we were at last year. We knew the chassis was strong, we felt most of our deficit was the power and then yeah, I think earlier this season it looked like we obviously had issues on both sides, the chassis… obviously I had experience from last year and I didn’t feel like it was where it was last year so I thought we had similar deficiencies on both sides but yeah, we’ve had quite a few updates since. All year we have updates but I’d say since Silverstone it’s really come on strong and we seem to be in the window a lot easier now with getting the car there so I’m definitely a lot happier with where the chassis is now. I feel it’s like we were last year and then yeah, the power we know, we’re trying to make up what we can but we know we started too far back and it’s… I don’t like the word impossible but it nearly is impossible to make all that gap back in one season so I think that’s what it is for now. We’re always going to be somewhat down for the rest of the season, that’s why we look at Singapore and some of these circuits which are obviously a lot less power-dependent, a lot more chassis and we look at those as potential podiums for us.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS.NL) Sebastian, can you take us back to a couple of years ago, your first victory here and also explain why it is harder this year to win here for Ferrari than back then for Toro Rosso?

    SV: I don’t know yet. I don’t know if it’s harder yet. Obviously it was a miracle that was happening in 2008 so only positive memories of the whole weekend really. But yeah, some years later, obviously another highlight and I’m looking forward to it and obviously can’t promise anything but for sure I can promise that we will give our maximum, trying to have a very very successful home race. I think that I know a lot more than I knew in 2008 so in this regard it should be easier but obviously it’s never easier. If you look on paper, it looks like a simple track with low downforce but still it’s also very technical so for us drivers it feels that the car is moving a lot, it feels very light under braking so it’s still a big challenge around here. You need to get the braking points right etc so it’s not that straightforward and obviously I’m sure that people expect a lot from us, but I think the one thing that we can promise now is that we will give everything we have.

  • 2015 Formula 1 Shell Belgian Grand Prix: Friday Press Conference

    2015 Formula 1 Shell Belgian Grand Prix: Friday Press Conference

    TEAM REPRESENTATIVES:

    Nick CHESTER (Lotus)

    Andrew GREEN (Force India)

    Giampaolo DALL’ARA (Sauber)

    James ALLISON (Ferrari)

    Paddy LOWE (Mercedes)

    Paul MONAGHAN (Red Bull Racing)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    If I could start with a question for all of you: coming in next year are further restrictions on driver aids and team radio assistance. Can you give us your thoughts on the difference it will make that fans will be able to appreciate? James, why don’t you start?

    James ALLISON: Well, if it has its intended effect it will make it so that the drivers who are most on top of their game can do a better job than the ones who needed to be led a little bit more by the hand. I think on the whole the drivers are all pretty good in Formula One so I imagine that within six months or so, or maybe sooner, it will feel very much like it did before but maybe in the transition to that there will be a few mistakes made and maybe some interesting events as a result.

    Giampaolo?

    Giampaolo DALL’ARA: Yeah, well, I can tell you about the engineering side of it: it changes quite a bit the way we work, approaching the issues involving the driver more and the engineering side of the car. Eventually I think the result is what James has just mentioned. The driver will be more in charge of what he is doing, also on aspects that today maybe are driven from the back. Judging then the perception on the spectators, this is very difficult from where I sit, honestly.

    Thank you. Paddy, there is obviously a big list of things you can and can’t say on the radio. How do you remember all those things?

    Paddy LOWE: I know. It’s actually quite tricky. We police ourselves on the intercom. People often ask: “Can I say that? Can I say that?” But yeah, we will work our way through it and get used to it in time. As the other two have said, I think we will see a little bit more variability. But the big thing for me is that to a larger extent if a driver has a good or a bad start that will be down to his skill and less dependent on the team’s performance on configuring the start.

    Nick, a step in the right direction?

    Nick CHESTER: I think everybody wants to see the drivers being in charge of their own starts, so I can see why it has come in, but I’d echo the comments earlier, I think people will get used to it very quickly. There might be a few little mixes early on but it will settle down fairly quickly.

    And Paul, looking ahead to next year, obviously more sweeping changes as well, what difference will that make?

    Paul MONAGHAN: I think you’ll see a little bit more variability. We’ll see the odd fluffed start; we’ll see a bit of a shuffle up of the grid order approaching turn one. Mid-race I think when the drivers get used to it and depending on how the teams treat the level of automation there will be subtle differences maybe in ultimate performance you can extract from the car, after that I think it will settle out. What the fans will see? A little bit at the starts maybe but once you’re in the race I’m not sure there’ll be much other than less radio traffic.

    A final thought from you Andrew?

    Andrew GREEN: Yeah, I’m the same. I think within a few months the differences will be quite subtle. Like people have said, maybe a few fluffed starts. But the main thing is that the radio is going to be quite quiet.

    OK. Coming back to you then James. Back on top with a victory in Hungary for Sebastian, but another technical problem on Kimi’s side. What was the reason for that and what expectations do you have both in terms of performance but also reliability for the remainder of the season?

    JA: I don’t think we tend to go into the nuts and bolts of why our bits and pieces fail on our car but enough to say that we had a problem with the ERS system that meant that we were unable to continue in the race. Initially we lost a decent amount of power and then thereafter unable to continue. I hope we have put that behind us with the modifications that we’ve made during the last few weeks and for the remainder of the season, I think it’s going to be a bit like the first half. We’re not a bad car, but we’re not as good as these guys [Mercedes] and if they have a bad weekend while we’re having a good weekend then we can upset the apple cart a bit and if things pan out more normally then we tend to come in behind them. So let’s keep our fingers crossed that they have a bad weekend and we do the opposite.

    Q: Paul, if James is saying the Ferrari’s not a bad car compared to the Mercedes, it looks as though the Red Bull has become a substantially better car in the last month. Obviously a double podium in Hungary. Big progress on the chassis side. Was that a question of new parts or was it just, as much as anything, unlocking the potential of what was already there?

    PM: It’s a combination. We have some new parts there. We’ve improved the car a little bit in many areas, not just, shall we say, focussed on one of them. It’s starting to show benefits. We’ve seen the benefits in increments and in Hungary it was more complete, shall we say. It was nice to be challenging at the sharp end of it again and I think at the moment we have to accept Mercedes have a bit of a performance advantage. Maybe they have a bad weekend, maybe we have a good weekend and then I think it’s all up for the fight, isn’t it? We’ll put ourselves in there such that, if we can benefit from circumstances then we’re there to do so.

    Q: Andrew Green, coming to you from Force India, talking about upward performance curves, you’re certainly a good example of that with Force India. New car, of course, introduced a few rounds ago certainly contributed to that. What do you think is possible for the rest of the season for your team?

    AG: Well, I mean we’ve bought new parts here, we’ve got new parts coming for the next couple of races. I think once we get to Singapore, we’ll start to begin to understand where this car actually sits – that’s where we plan to bring the last of this current suite of updates to the track. We’re looking to start moving ahead of the guys behind us, obviously for sure, and looking to see if we can stay on the coat tails of Red Bull to a certain degree. If we hadn’t had the issues in Hungary, we were racing well in Hungary. Hungary was a shock to us, gave us a bit of a shot in the arm. We’ve learned from that, we’re moving forwards. We’ve got some exciting races coming up for Force India.

    Q: Paddy, first of all, any update on the cause of Rosberg’s tyre failure from your side. What did you see on the screens?

    PL: I think we’ve really only seen the same the same thing that everyone else has seen on the video. So very unusual situation where there seemed to be some bits of tyre structure coming out up to a minute before the actual terminal failure of the tyre. Not something I’ve seen before. So Pirelli have obviously taken the tyre away to analyse. I think we’ll have to wait to see what emerges from that. We’re double-checking everything to do with the car as well, obviously. But yeah, that’ll be something we’ll work through the evening.

    Q: Obviously the reversed qualifying battle between Rosberg and Hamilton this season. Last year 11 poles for Rosberg, this year just one for him in the first ten races. Hamilton seven last year but nine from 10 this year. As the technical boss, the guy who oversees all of this, what do you see is going on there?

    PL: I think it’s just the two drivers’ form as it varies. I know Nico was finding it quite difficult at the beginning of this year but actually he picked himself up from Spain onwards and he’s shown himself a great competitor to Lewis, so the battle’s far from over. As we can see, it isn’t always won on the Saturday grid position so the championship is wide open to the end.

    Q: Coming to you Giampaolo, obviously you have bought some updates to the car this weekend. How happy are you. It certainly looked reasonably encouraging from the practice runs this afternoon. Obviously you can’t draw too many conclusions from Friday but how satisfied are you with what you bought to the track this weekend.

    GD: At the moment we are finding what we are expecting to find. Difficult to say, as you mention, what this will mean for the race. What leaves us with quite some optimism more in general is that we got to the point where, after some frustration after losing some momentum, we expect some updates to come. Some are already here, as I mentioned. This is mostly on Ferrari’s side: we have an upgraded power unit fitted which is seemingly giving up some laptime. On top of this, let me add, it’s one of those tracks where our car feels more comfortable. It was lately some track-by-track troubles that here we don’t expect to have. Plus, in the next couple of races and ultimately Singapore we expect some major aerodynamic update which for us means the main target of getting back into the fight to get the guys here in the midfield in order to be able to score points more regularly than we are now.

    Q: Finally Nick, a couple of talking points for you. On the one hand obviously encouragement with Romain Grosjean I think seventh fastest in that practice session, on the other an accident for Pastor this morning. How much does that kind of thing set you back in a race weekend?

    NC: Well obviously it does set up back a little bit. Pastor was having quite a good P1 session until he had his off, and then that disrupts his P2 because it took us a while to get the car back together. So he’s missed a bit of running in P2 but he’s got back out there, proved the car out again and I’m sure he’ll be back on it for P3.

    And encouragement from the performance of the other car?

    NC: Yeah, quite pleased with Romain in P7. I think there’s only nine-hundredths to P4 and the car’s going quite well.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Mike Doodson – Grand Prix Week) I’ve been very puzzled by the clutch stories we’ve been told. We haven’t been given a lot of information about what the procedure was and I wondered, now that it’s no longer what it was, whether one of you could explain to an ignorant journalist exactly how these clutch procedures worked. I understand there are two clutches, you give advice to the driver over the radio, you’re not allowed to do that any more. Could I ask for a volunteer from the front row to go through the procedure just for me?

    JA: The overall procedure is fairly long and tedious so I will try and shortcut it a bit. When you go with the car from stop to going, there’s a certain amount of grip available on the track. The tyre has a certain amount of grip, the track has a certain amount of grip, you want to go as close to that available grip as possible but not over it and you don’t want to go under it otherwise you’re not making as much performance as there is available. Now if you were super duper skilful you might have fingers that could judge exactly where that grip is but it all happens very very fast so a perfect start is one where you can just let go of the clutch, let go of it and it closes to the perfect point where it delivers exactly the right amount of torque, such that the tyre doesn’t light up and spin, but neither does it give less torque to the road than the road is capable of taking. So our job, during the weekend, is to try to judge exactly how much grip is available and to adjust our clutches so that when the driver says go, the clutch closes the perfect amount to deliver the perfect amount of torque to the road and then off it goes. And that’s something that happens without the driver adjusting stuff, he doesn’t fiddle around with his fingers. The way that we used to do that in the past was there’s two clutch paddles, one which he holds all the way in, keeping the clutch fully open and the other which he holds in a partially closed and open position. We then, as engineers, adjust the clutch so that this partially closed and open position is at exactly the right point to get this magic start. And then when the light goes green, he lets go of the first clutch and the clutch closes to the point that is being held by the second paddle. Off the car goes.

    All that’s changed is that now we‘re not allowed to advise or make any adjustments to that biting point between when the car’s on the grid preparing for the start of the race and when the driver actually does it so the parade lap start and the real start is done all by the driver and if he thinks it’s not closed enough or too open, he has to make his own judgement about that and make the calls. We can be sitting in the garage going ‘no, don’t do that’  but we don’t have any power to stop him.

    Q: (Mike Doodson – Grand Prix Week) I understand what you say but you could, from the pits, via telemetry, actually adjust the clutch? You could, or you couldn’t?

    JA: No, we can’t. All we can do is instruct the driver to change a map that he himself has to do with his fingers but we can judge what he should do. Now we can’t say anything. We can still judge but all we can do is go ‘no!’ or ‘hooray!’

    Q: (Joe van Burik – NU.NL) Paul, Renault Sport have indicated that they worked through the summer break to keep developing the power units. They say that they conducted some notable performance work and also concepts for next year, pleased with the results. How were you involved in the development as a client and do you expect a notable increase in the overall performance when the upgrades arrive for Russia, as Christian Horner stated before?

    PM: As a client, our involvement is in several stages. Clearly we will make a judgement on the relative performance of the car and power unit package. Then we try to separate the power unit from the chassis side of things if you like, to try and offer to – in this instance Renault – to say OK, that’s where we think you sit in relative terms. That sort of sets your targets, if you like, relative to how we perceive the best power unit. They will always push to get as much out of their power unit as they possibly can and it sets a target for that year, the following year and try to give them a relative positioning. If the changes are internal, it’s very much the business of Renault. If the changes again become more external, which can affect our packaging, then clearly we have to be involved. What they may want to do may not fit the car or may require changes to the car and that’s up to us to agree with them on an introduction and how we’re going to do it. So, if that’s making sense, it becomes a multi-phase project. We can get involved, we’re not necessarily involved, we look forward to whatever power increase is coming in the future and hope to exploit it as best we can with Renault.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) James, how close are the driving styles of Sebastian and Kimi compared to how it was last year with Fernando and Kimi, and if they are closer, is it a big advantage for the designer of the car?

    JA: They are certainly closer. I think what Sebastian wants from a car is pretty similar to what Kimi wants and that’s mildly helpful but it really doesn’t make much difference in the way that you set about designing the car. You’re looking for downforce, they both like that. You’re looking for power, they both like that. If one likes a front ride height or a spring stiffness a bit different to another, well there’s very… you’ve got a whole range of springs and dampers that you can fit to either car. It’s only flavours of set-up that change, not fundamental design parameters of the car and that would be true whether it was Kimi, Fernando or Sebastian.

    Q: (Pierre van Vliet – F1i) Nick, you told us a couple of times that the Lotus team is not for sale. Is that still the case and if not, how does it influence your planning for 2016 and maybe even 2017?

    NC: OK, but I’m not sure that I actually told you that but there’s a lot of press about discussions that are on-going. They’re not really at my level so I can’t really give you a lot of information about it.

  • F1 2015: Nasr and Ericsson Signed Up

    F1 2015: Nasr and Ericsson Signed Up

    The Sauber Formula 1 team has confirmed that Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson will remain as its race drivers for 2016.

    Swedish driver Marcus Ericsson joined the Swiss Sauber team from Caterham at the end of 2014 and scored a career-best eighth place with the team in Australia.

    “I’m very happy that Sauber has put its trust in my potential for another year. Up to now I have some good memories of my first year with the long-standing Swiss team,” Ericsson told Motorsport.com

    Brazilian rookie Felipe Nasr made the move up to Formula 1 from the GP2 series with solid performances in his 2015 season. “The extension to the contract with Sauber is an important step in my career,” Nasr confirmed to Motorsport.com