Tag: sauber

F1 2017: Austrian Gp Qualifying Report – Bottas Secures Pole

Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas has secured pole position by half a tenth over the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel for the 2017 Austrian grand prix. While Lewis Hamilton set the third quickest time it’s Kimi Raikkonen who will start third as the Brit drops down five places to eighth as a result of a gearbox change.

While Hamilton will start the race on the supersoft compound tyre, which will afford him a longer first stint, he must exercise extreme caution into turn one as he finds himself plumb in the middle of the infamous carbon fibre zone. He’ll also have the likes of the two Force India’s of Sergio Perez, seventh, and Esteban Ocon, ninth, to deal with. Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen will start fourth and fifth respectively for Red Bull’s home grand prix. Meanwhile, despite it being an obviously difficult car to drive Romain Grosjean will start sixth in the Haas. Carlos Sainz, in the Toro Rosso, rounds out the top ten.

At all costs Hamilton must get through the first corner in one piece if he is to have any designs on limiting the damage to championship leader Sebastian Vettel.

(Image courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport)

July 8, 2017
F1 2017: Austrian Gp Free Practice 3 Report – Vettel Leads

Sebastian Vettel set the quickest time for Ferrari in the third free practice session ahead of the Austrian grand prix.

The Saturday practice session commenced under overcast conditions but without any threat of rain. Carlos Sainz lost roughly half the session to an engine issue. However, the Toro Rosso was speedily recovered to the garage and the Spaniard was able to rejoin the session with about twenty-five minutes remaining.

Lewis Hamilton didn’t look as comfortable around the Red Bull Ring but still set the second quickest time overall. Nevertheless, his session ended prematurely with a front-right brake failure. As if to compound matters Hamilton will drop five places from wherever he qualifies due to a gearbox change. Valtteri Bottas, Kimi Raikkonen, Max Verstappen, and Daniel Ricciardo completed the top six.

While Williams struggled for pace with Lance Stroll and Felipe Massa in 18th and 19th respectively, Kevin Magnussen slotted his Haas F1 car into seventh ahead of teammate, Romain Grosjean, in eighth.

July 8, 2017
F1 2017: Austria Gp Preview – Advantage Mercedes

From the confines of Baku City Formula 1 returns to the sprawling vista of Austria for the ninth round of the 2017 championship.

Situated in Spielberg the Red Bull Ring is a short circuit consisting of nine corners in total. These corners are linked with several long straits and though it may be a power-dominant circuit its layout allows more than a few good spots for overtaking. “At any kind of power circuit like Austria you want to be smooth and get good exits in order to give yourself the best chance on the long straights,” said Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo. “The compromise is always the aero package. In the middle to the end of the lap you want more downforce because the corners are quite fast but more downforce means you are slower on the straights, so the key is to find a good balance throughout the lap”.

The Austrian circuit is of course owned by Red Bull which makes the weekend all the more important for the team. Ironically the layout of the Red Bull Ring and its demand on engine power has never been a Renault strong suit. Nevertheless, a minor upgrade, brought by Renault in Baku, has moved them slightly forward in terms of ultimate power output. What’s more, both Red Bulls ran relatively well in Baku, which is similarly in its demands on the power unit. It is perhaps unlikely that Ricciardo or Verstappen could, on pure pace, beat either Mercedes or Ferrari but likewise, they’ll likely not be challenged by either Williams or Force India who traditionally perform well at low drag circuits. Red Bull and their drivers are probably the most canny drivers on the grid and they will be close enough to snatch up any positions should something go awry.

The Pirelli tyre compounds available this weekend, the ultra- and supersoft, would ordinarily play to the strength of the Ferrari. While they’ll still likely fair better on the ultrasoft compound the low level of degradation will limit any creativity on pit stop strategies. What’s more the ultrasoft tyre is effectively last year’s supersoft tyre and on a circuit where drivers made do with a one-stopper in 2016 it’s unlikely that any one team will carry a significant advantage.

The FIA had announced that there would be no further punishment for Vettel behaviour in Baku during which he turned his Ferrari into the side of Hamilton’s Mercedes behind the safety car. While the outcome of the re-investigation has gone in Vettel’s favour it is an important weekend for the Ferrari driver regardless. As it stands Vettel remains in the lead of the championship but there’s no denying that Canada and Baku were messy races, which has somewhat, stalled Ferrari’s momentum. This will not be an easy weekend for Ferrari either. The circuit layout means that Mercedes start the weekend as clear favourites and you can bet that the media will still be posing questions about the Baku-incident. In fact, it wouldn’t come as a surprise if Ferrari institutes a media blackout on their drivers this weekend.

Whatever your opinion of Vettel’s behaviour and what sort of punishment he does, or does not deserve, he must deliver this weekend. The best way to put the last race behind him and to control the story is by delivering on track. It wont be easy though. Hamilton and Mercedes not only start the weekend as clear favourites and without the incessant and uncomfortable attention of the media, but, vitally, with a sort of momentum that can quickly become ominous.

July 5, 2017
F1 2017: Azerbaijan Gp Review – Bedlam In Baku

If you had been given absolute free reign to dream up the most dramatic script for a Formula 1 race the chances are you still wouldn’t have come up with what transpired in the 51 laps of the 2017 Baku grand prix.

From the first corner on lap one to the crossing of the finish line there was action and drama and tension stamped on every lap of the race which featured three safety-car periods and red flag stoppage. While Hamilton led cleanly away pole his teammate Valterri Bottas and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen clashed into turn two. Raikkonen with significant damage the floor of his car somehow maintained a place in the top ten while Bottas’ puncture dropped him a lap down.

Hamilton led Sebastian Vettel by roughly three seconds until lap 13 when the first safety car was deployed to recover the stricken Toro Rosso of Dannil Kvyat. Racing resumed on lap 16 but an overzealous Esteban Ocon attempt to overtake his Force India teammate Sergio Perez ended in a shower of carbon fiber and the deployment of a second safety-car period.

The Pirelli tyres, supersoft and soft, available for this weekend, proved a step too hard as nearly the entire field of drivers struggled with warming the tyres to their optimal working range. A tyre not within this critical working range produces little to no grip and leaves drivers vulnerable. It’s for this reason that Hamilton complained that the Safety car was not going fast enough. Nevertheless, Hamilton bunched up the field into turn 16 which must’ve caught Vettel by surprise as he hit the rear of the Mercedes. The Ferrari driver then pulled alongside Hamilton and turned his Ferrari into the side of the Mercedes. It was an outrageously disappointing, irresponsible and daft reaction from Vettel which earned him a ten second stop/go penalty. While some might like to think Vettel’s actions are defensible consider the fact that, post-race, he could not defend his actions.

So much carbon fiber lay strewn across the racetrack that the race was red-flagged on lap 22 in order to clear it away. While Raikkonen had retired with additional rear-wing damage a lap earlier the Ferrari mechanics had somehow managed to change an entire floor and a rear-wing endplate to get Raikkonen back in the race. Similarly, Force India made running repairs to Perez’s car and he too was back in the race. Unfortunately, the pair would ultimately retire from the race.

The race resumed after a 23 minutes stoppage with Hamilton in the lead and Vettel behind. Through the chaos and carnage Williams’ Lance Stroll and Felipe Massa had emerged in third and fourth. Daniel Ricciardo, who had earlier been 17^th in the Red Bull after an early stop, was not in fifth for long as he pulled off an exquisite move to pass both the Williams’ into turn one on the restart. Felipe Massa would soon after retire with a broken rear-damper.

The drama was still far from over however as the headrest on Hamilton’s leading Mercedes had not been attached correctly. He tried in vain to push it back into place before the FIA directed the Mercedes team to stop and fit a new headrest. It dropped Hamilton to eighth and promoted Vettel into the lead of the race but the Ferrari driver still needed to serve the ten second stop/go penalty. He served the penalty on lap 33 and emerged in seventh ahead of Hamilton.

Now it was Daniel Ricciardo in the lead with Lance Stroll in second and Haas F1’s Kevin Magnussen in third. Magnussen could mount much of a fight for the position though and was quickly shuffled back by Ocon before himself falling victim to a recovering Bottas. Vettel and Hamilton would also pass Ocon and Magnussen.

Bottas’ significantly superior pace to the Williams of Stroll proved just enough as he snatched second place, on the line, by one tenth of a second. As if to prove how crazy the Baku grand prix was Fernando Alonso was running in fifth at one stage and with a bit more grunt from the Honda could justifiably have won the race.

As it were Ricciardo took his first win since Malaysia 2016 ahead of Bottas and Stroll who, at 18, has become the youngest rookie, to score a podium finish. Astoundingly, Vettel emerged in fourth and extended his championship lead to 14 points over Hamilton who eventually finished fifth. Esteban Ocon salvaged sixth ahead of Kevin Magnussen in seventh and Carlos Sainz in eighth. Fernando Alonso finally opened McLaren’s points account with ninth as Pascal Wehrlein in the Sauber finished tenth.

The Baku grand prix was undoubtedly the race of the season so far as nearly the entire field ran into some sort of trouble. Roll on Austria.

(All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport)

June 26, 2017
2017 Azerbaijan GP: Friday Press Conference – Part 2

TEAM REPRESENTATIVES: Jock CLEAR (Ferrari), Rob SMEDLEY (Williams), Beat ZEHNDER (Sauber)

Q: Jock, can we start by talking about the car? What’s the standout characteristic of the SF70H?

Jock CLEAR: I think we could say that the standout characteristic is that there is no standout characteristic. It just seems to be a very well-behaved car in all areas. The drivers are certainly giving us good feedback in all conditions, all circuits: slow speed, high speed, medium speed. So, it’s a very benign car, let’s say.

Q: Is it bringing the best out of both Kimi and Sebastian?

JC: I think so. I think they’re both very happy with the feel they have for it. For getting into the car. Certainly, drivers like to have a car they feel they can attack, especially in qualifying: if they feel they can attack a qualifying lap, and have confidence in the car, and I think from day one – day zero in this car in pre-season – both of the drivers have said that it just gives them a lot of confidence when they’re in the car.

Q: And it’s day one here in Baku. How do you assess your pace so far this weekend? Fourth and fifth this afternoon. Sebastian in particular looked very quick in his long run…

JC: Yeah, I think Fridays are notoriously difficult to read the exact picture from and I think we’ve all understood that here in Baku with a street circuit that’s taking a while to clean up and a very tricky grip level, getting a clean lap certainly on those short runs, on ‘low-fuel’ was very difficult for people – so I don’t think the ultimate lap times you see there are particularly representative for many of the cars. I think they all feel they could have got a better lap in there. Perhaps more representative is the long-run pace and, yeah, we’re very comfortable with where we’re at. Again the car felt good and it’s behaving and everything’s under control, so we’re happy with today.

Q: And looking specifically at your battle with Mercedes this year, on a day when both you and them are on song – who has the faster car?

JC: I think that’s impossible to say. I was just saying to some of the journalists outside, it hangs on tiny margins and I think when you’re spending 1m20s going at over 200km/h around a circuit, those tiny margins can be anywhere at any time, and I think we both have cars that are very, very well-matched in most conditions and we’ve got four very, very good drivers in the Mercedes and the Ferrari and actually, on any given day, any of them are capable of putting it on the front row and putting it on pole. The races we’ve seen so far, again they swing on very fine margins of exactly what sort of tyre degradation you can get out of the first qualifying set, or how well you can work the Option tyre, and that makes the difference. And it is tiny margins.

Q: Beat, the last few years have been difficult for Sauber and just when some stability seemed to be emerging it’s all change again. Can you give us a picture from inside the team about what’s going on?

Beat ZEHNDER: No, I cannot, no. You’ve seen the official press statement from Mr Picci and it seems that Mr Picci and Mrs Kaltenborn had different views how to operate the company. We shouldn’t forget that it’s not only a race team, it’s a home team as well with 350 people or so, but I cannot give you more information because I’m not actively involved in that decision.

Q: So who is running the show this weekend in Azerbaijan?

BZ: We’ve been – Jorg Zander, the technical director and myself – we’ve been entrusted to run the operation of the team this weekend but this is only temporary. It doesn’t change a lot for us because our job is to have two cars running as quickly as possible around the circuit and for me it’s a little bit more media work.

Q: When can we expect news about a new team principal?

BZ: I hope soon. We were talking to some candidates and I hope we can announce it sooner rather than later.

Q: OK, on a different note, have you started with Honda yet? It was announced a couple of months ago that you are going to work with them next year. Have you had engineers go to Japan and vice versa?

BZ: Yeah of course. We have started with the project and there is an exchange of information on the logistical side, on the set-up side and the garages. We have to organise computers and IT stuff and things like this so the work has started, yes.

Q: Rob, there are changes at Sauber, there have been changes at Williams this year as well, notably Paddy Lowe coming in as the technical chief. Can you just explain the impact he’s had on the team, any new processes he’s brought in?

Rob SMEDLEY: Well, it’s been positive, it’s definitely been positive. Paddy comes with a great pedigree of working in teams that, if they weren’t winning, they were certainly expected to win for the past probably about 30 years. He’s got 30 years of experience. We were adding up between us that we’ve got 50 years of experience, but it’s a bit more biased towards him so he’s got the 30, I’ve got the 20. But it’s been really really positive. He’s a very collaborative guy, he’s super intelligent, obviously and he has a great deal of experience and it’s just about him instilling that culture into the team of how to win really. That’s probably one of the biggest things that we need to pick up on at Williams is not only that we want to win – that it’s implicit. If you take 60 people around the world 21 times a year you want to win, of course you want to win but it’s how to win and then it’s putting those processes in place and you can’t really put a timeline on it – or it’s difficult to put a timeline on it but certainly we’re initiating those processes, we’re starting them or they’ve already started, a lot of them. And then it’s when and how those processes bear fruit. Some of them will immediately be very visible to the outside and some of them less so. Formula One is very much about marginal gains and it’s just about the marginal gains that we need to make now but he’s been very positive with the team, a real good breath of fresh air.

Q: OK, so marginal gains there but also huge gains it seems for Lance Stroll. It’s amazing what a couple of points can do, him finishing ninth in Montreal last time out, sixth fastest in second practice here in Baku this afternoon. It seems like he’s got the monkey off his back.

RS: Yeah, possibly. For younger drivers is predominantly about confidence. Once they start to get that confidence then they get into a virtuous circle if you like and I think within the team, certainly the more senior members of the team, it’s always been apparent that the talent is there and we have been making progress but it’s just that that progress is not always visible to the outside world. You’ve got a guy on the other side of the garage who’s got 16 years of experience, who was one point away from being a World Champion, he’s nobody’s fool. He’s one of the quickest guys in Formula One still and you’re being measured against him every other weekend and it’s tough because Formula One cars – especially this generation of Formula One cars – they’re generally quite difficult to drive. I think all of the drivers will attest to that and it’s just about acclimatising yourself in this environment: in the car, in the actual environment, because everything that you’ve done before, including Formula Three in Lance’s case, is just a huge huge step away from Formula One. There’s Formula One and there’s everything else in terms of how difficult it is. So we’ve got to expect that it’s going to take some time, he’s going to take some time to acclimatise to it and he is doing… he’s making progress from Australia to practice today, he’s made progress. And as I said, some of that’s visible to the outside world and some of it isn’t but certainly what we saw in Canada was visible to the outside world and that helped.

Q: Does he seem more relaxed this weekend?

RS: Definitely, I think he gets more and more relaxed… more and more comfortable probably is a better way of putting it, as the events go on and of course he would. The first time you walk in the paddock in Australia as an 18-year old rookie, that’s difficult. I wouldn’t like to have walked in as an 18-year old engineer – thankfully I never did – but certainly as an 18-year old driver, I think that must be hugely difficult with all the pressures that not only go on inside the car but outside the car as well and he’s just got more and more comfortable, more and more comfortable, more and more relaxed and more and more confident and with that, the results start coming.

Q: And just a word on your pace this weekend; what do you think you can achieve?

RS: Yeah, it would be – for where we are at the minute – it would nice to be the fourth quickest car, I think that’s got to be our target for 2017 in Azerbaijan, at least. I think Ferrari and Mercedes are having their fight out at the front and hopefully that’s going to be another good one this weekend. Red Bull are probably – with the development that they’re putting on their car – are a little bit far in front but I would like to see a good fight between us and Force India. Certainly Force India appear to have their car hooked up quite well around here as they did last year as well so that’s going to be quite a fight for us but we’ve got two good drivers, one who’s emerging as a very good driver in the car and hopefully we can have a good fight with them.

Q: Jock, do you feel that Red Bull are in the mix this weekend? Is their pace genuine?

JC: Well yeah, you only have to look at today and the lap times you see at the top of the sheets today are not one-offs. As I say, FP1, FP2 are generally not a true reflection on where things end up on a Saturday and a Sunday but if you pick through the details of it, you can clearly see the cars that are hooked up, as Rob says, and the Force India is certainly one of them and Red Bull is certainly one of them and indeed the Williams looked quite quick today as well so there’s a number of cars at the front today.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Ben Edwards – Channel 4) Jock and Rob, from an engineering point of view, we saw a lot of cars going off today. Clearly the demands of the track were very particular and the tyres perhaps weren’t working. Can you just talk us through the difficulties of getting through today and what you see improving tomorrow as the track rubbers in?

Who’s first, Jock?

RS: Old Jock has more experience.

BZ: For twenty years.

RS: No, no, he’s more got experience of cars going off!

JC: I think you’ve got a street circuit that’s obviously very dirty to start with and taking time to clean up. We saw a huge amount of track evolution last year and as such the grip level is low but as we’ve seen a number of times this year, getting warm-up certainly in the front tyres is really tough and that’s always a challenge in qualifying but certainly today it’s been very challenging to get some temperature in those front tyres. All the time there’s no grip, you don’t get any grip, you can’t brake late, you can’t get any energy in the tyres and when they don’t get hot they don’t have any grip so you’re in this vicious cycle of not being able to get the fronts to work so to speak and that’s certainly what our drivers were reporting early on in their runs until you get into a good six, seven, eight lap run where the tyres starting to get some heat in them. It is all about tyre temperature and that’s been the story of many many qualifyings this year so far and all you’re seeing today is a manifestation of that issue really, on a track that’s very dirty. I think it will be a lot grippier tomorrow and even grippier again on Sunday, so less issues, I think.

RS: I think Jock’s explained it very eloquently. I think what possibly exaggerates it is the run-offs here. The run-offs are quite narrow and you can’t spin turn the car so when a driver does go off, as Jock says, they lock the inside front and then they’ve got to bail out at that point. You can’t try and make the corner because there’s a wall on the other side so you have to bail out and go straight on and once you get down the escape road it’s then a bit of a chore to get out because they’ve got to reverse out, so you saw almost every single driver today using their reverse and that just takes time and double waved yellows come out and because of that, it’s the vicious circle that I think Jock mentioned which is that then the drivers are doing slower laps and later on, very quickly after the track will go green but then it happens again because people have lost tyre temperature so it is pretty much as Jock said, just about tyre temperature.

June 23, 2017
F1 2017: Azerbaijan Gp First Free Practice Report – Verstappen Quickest

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen topped the timing sheets in the first free practice session ahead of Sunday’s Baku grand prix.

The 90 minute session got underway in glorious sunshine in the city of Baku. However, the second longest circuit on the grid proved quite slippery and dusty as several drivers endured spins and running wide at various parts on the circuit.

While Verstappen’s 1:44:410, on SuperSoft tyres, was quickest enough for P1 it was his Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo, also on the SuperSoft compound, who set the 2nd quickest time overall. The first of the Ferrari’s was third in the form of Sebastian Vettel who set a 1:44:967. The first of the Mercedes was Lewis Hamilton who set the 5th quickest time for the session.

There was a lengthy red flag period towards the end of the session at the Force India of Sergio Perez bounced off the wall at Turn 8 after clipping the entry curb. The damage sustained looked quite significant as both the front-right and left-rear corners of the car were torn off. It remains to be seen if the Mexican will make it out at the start of the second free practice later this afternoon.

June 23, 2017
Kaltenborn Steps Down as CEO of Sauber

The Sauber Formula One Team have confirmed that CEO Monisha Kaltenborn is to step down with immediate effect.

Kaltenborn held the CEO position at Sauber since 2010.

The Chairman of the Board of Longbow Finance, Pascal Picci announced in a statement that Sauber and Kaltenborn have parted ways “due to diverging views of the future of the company”.

“Longbow Finance SA regrets to announce that, by mutual consent and due to diverging views of the future of the company, Monisha Kaltenborn will leave her positions with the Sauber Group effective immediately,” said Picci.

“We thank her for many years of strong leadership, great passion for the Sauber F1 Team and wish her the very best for the future.

“Her successor will be announced shortly; in the meantime we wish the team the best of luck in Azerbaijan.”

Initial reports about the split intimated that there was a difference in opinion between Kaltenborn and Longbow finance about the treatment of the Sauber drivers. Longbow wanted preferential treatment to be given to Marcus Ericsson while. Kaltenborn reportedly disagreed with this.

Before announcing Kaltenborn’s departure a statement was released by Picci blasting media reports about the equal treatment of Sauber’s drivers.

“The owners and board of Sauber Motorsport AG take strong exception to speculative and widespread media reports today that our race drivers have not been, and are not being, treated equally.

“This is not only patently untrue, it would be contrary to the team’s absolute and longstanding commitment to fair competition.

“These reports, attributed to anonymous “sources”, are highly detrimental to both Marcus Ericsson and Pascal Wehrlein as well as to the management and all staff of the Sauber F1 Team.”

Kaltenborns announcement will be made soon. According to Motorsport.com former HRT Team Principal Colin Kolles is in the running for the position.

June 22, 2017
F1 2017: Azerbaijan Gp Preview – Merc And Ferrari Battle in Baku

In 2016 Azerbaijan became the newest addition to the Formula 1 calendar as it hosted the country’s first ever street-race in the capital city of Baku. F1’s favourite designer Herman Tilke envisioned and delivered a circuit, which combined the city’s uniquely historical buildings with the modern, and technical world of Formula1.

The Baku City track, the third longest of the season, is an exercise in extreme opposites. While the mid sector of exceedingly tight and twisting corners is more akin to Monaco it is in stark contrast to the enormously long straits that dominates the first and final sectors of the lap and are more reminiscent of Monza. The circuit is the first counterclockwise track on the calendar and provides one of the most picturesque backdrops seen all year.

The last time Lewis Hamilton steered his Mercedes around a proper street circuit was the Monaco grand prix. To put it mildly, thing didn’t go well for the Brit on those streets. Though the Baku race is similarly contested on the streets of Azerbaijan it doesn’t have too many parallels.

There are a few factors in Hamilton’s, and to a greater degree Mercedes, favour this weekend. The longest strait on the F1 calendar will allow Merc to focus on its best feature, the engine. Further the Pirelli compounds on offer this weekend in the soft and supersoft compounds, which Mercedes favour far more than the ultra- and supersoft combo.

From last year’s tyre performance it doesn’t appear that degradation is a big factor in Baku, which saw driver able to run long stints and make fewer pitstops. As there are fewer opportunities for a creative pit strategy on Sunday it ultimately increases the importance of qualifying well on Saturday.

Similarly, there are a few factors that Hamilton will have to overcome this weekend in order to claw back the lead of the driver’s championship. The most important of these are undoubtedly the two Ferrari’s of Vettel and Raikkonen. Be it because of damage or unreliability the Canadian grand prix was a messy one for Ferrari. It was the type of grand prix that will, undoubtedly, harden their resolve of securing a good haul of points this weekend. Given their relative performance on other street circuits so far this year form dictates that the prancing horse will be no slouch around here either.

In 2016 the Italian team delivered a solid race here last year despite not being near the performance level of Mercedes. In far less competitive car than they have in 2017 Sebastian Vettel finished second while Kimi Raikkonen ran third for the majority of the race. Since the Monaco grand prix the team has vehemently denied any team orders are at work between its two drivers. It will make for interesting viewing should the Scuderia be faced with a similar scenario, to Monaco, this weekend.

Valtteri Bottas could yet prove to be a factor for Hamilton too. The Finn is currently thirty-six points adrift of his teammate and that with a retirement in Spain. His first race win, in Russia, came on a weekend when Hamilton was inexplicably off the pace and he delivered in Monaco too and he firmly believes that in a head-to-head battle he has the measure of his teammate. “I think we [Hamilton and I] are very close, I don’t see a difference,” he said. “I believe in myself. But he was shown up in Canada on a circuit where he is considered to be somewhat of a specialist. It’s as perfect a time as any to beat Hamilton in a direct fight.

June 21, 2017
F1 2017: Canadian Gp Review – Hamilton Strolls, Ferrari Struggles

As far as grand prix wins go Lewis Hamilton’s win in Canada appeared no more taxing than a leisurely Sunday afternoon drive. Untroubled, the Mercedes driver, for the sixth time in his storied F1 career, reached the chequered flag first on the circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Hamilton’s unchallenged run to the chequered flag was set up by an exquisite qualifying lap on Saturday which netted him a 65^th career pole position. It was this premium starting position on the grid, and a steady get-away, which ensured that he stayed clear of the mess of the first few turns. Though championship leader Sebastian Vettel started alongside in second he fell victim to Max Verstappen who rocketed off the line from fifth to second. In his charge to the front, the Red Bull driver clipped Vettel’s front-wing prompting the Ferrari driver to pit for a replacement and dropping him to 18^th place.

The carnage wasn’t only contained the sharp-end of the grid either. Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz triggered a crash that damaged Romain Grosjean’s Haas and ultimately eliminated himself and William’s Felipe Massa from the race all on lap one. The incident prompted a short safety-car period on the first lap. The race resumed with Hamilton able to easily pull away from second-placed Max Verstappen. The Dutchman was running comfortably in second until the Red Bull grinded to a halt with a battery failure on lap eleven. It cleared the way for Bottas in the second Mercedes but the Finn was unable to keep pace with Hamilton for the majority of the race.

Behind Daniel Ricciardo drove faultlessly to maintain third place ahead of the Force India pair of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon. While both the Force India cars sat within striking distance of Ricciardo they were never able to get close enough to attempt an overtake. By now Ferrari had opted for a different strategy that had both Raikkonen and Vettel on the ultrasoft tyre for the last 30-odd laps of the race.

Finally, the Ferrari’s were able to run at the pace that was initially expected of them as they closed down on the battle for the final podium spot. However, as Raikkonen closed on the back of fifth-placed Ocon he suffered a brake-by-wire issue that cost him six seconds a lap. Ultimately, the Ferrari was nursed home seventh place. Vettel, without such issues, boldly scythed his way past both the Force India drivers to finish an impressive fourth.

Ferrari’s pace didn’t simply evaporate into thin air either more so it was the fact that they were unable to run in clean air, which is indicative of how an F1 car’s true pace and performance can be nullified if it is running in traffics. It’s no secret that all F1 cars are designed to run in clear air and as soon as that air becomes disturbed, by a car in front, the ‘dirty’ air causes too much instability to run as efficiently as possible. This is an issue, which Ross Brawn, as part of the new F1 brain trust, has earmarked in his quest to make F1 more “raceable.”

On any other day Force India would’ve been pleased with a double-points finish but Perez’s ignored called to swop positions with teammate Ocon, on significantly fresher tyres, likely cost the team a podium finish. Nevertheless, the pair finished fifth and sixth ahead of an ailing Raikkonen in seventh. Nico Hulkenberg brought his Renault home in a solid eighth ahead of Montreal-native Lance Stroll who scored his first F1 points with a fine ninth-place finish ahead of Haas’ Romain Grosjean in tenth.

After the struggles of the Monaco the Canadian grand prix was a must-win for Hamilton and Mercedes. He now trails championship leader Vettel by twelve points ahead of the Baku grand prix in two weeks time.

June 12, 2017
2017 Canadian GP: Thursday Press Conference – Part 2

PART TWO: DRIVERS – Lance Stroll (Williams), Sergio Pérez (Force India), Marcus Ericsson (Sauber)

Q: Marcus, why don’t we start with you. You said you particularly look forwards to this Canadian Grand Prix every year, why is it so important to you?

Marcus ERICSSON: Did I?

Yes, you did!

ME: OK. I enjoy it here, it’s a good race, not only the track but I think the whole city. It’s really cool because it’s buzzing, the whole city, wherever you do, all week. There’s a lot going on. Then the weekend as well, around race day, a lot of fans, the atmosphere is great. I think it’s this combination of things that makes it one of the better races of the year, I think.

Q: Sauber was one of the teams that had real problems getting the softer tyres to work, all weekend in Monaco. Do you anticipate similar problems with them this weekend?

ME: Yeah, it’s true that in Monaco we were struggling quite a lot to get the tyres to work in the right window. We have worked quite a bit after Monaco to understand that and to make sure that we are better off here in Montreal because it’s also a track where you are generally struggling a bit with tyres, especially the front tyres, to get them into the right temperature. We have some ideas of how to do it and hopefully this type of track will help us to get them to work a bit better – and then we hope the temperature stays a bit high, and that will also help – but let’s see how it goes.

Q: Sergio, coming to you, your 15 race points-scoring streak that stretched back all the way to Germany last season was interrupted in Monaco in a strange race for you – how do you look back on it now?

Sergio PÉREZ: Yeah, it was quite a strange race, y’know? Great qualifying and we were on to a… let’s say a piece of cake – a race that was very easy – but then we have something unexpected in lap one. I slightly touched Sainz into the hairpin with my front wing, which meant I had to pit, like after 17 laps or so to change my front wing, and that meant that I end up in a big battle where I didn’t need to be. And from then on I had to take big risks. I take a big risk overtaking Lance, actually, Palmer, Vandoorne, and then I found myself in a very strong position. My team did a massive call to box me under the safety car. I didn’t lose any positions. I was on fresh tyres so I was around two seconds a lap quicker than the car ahead, and I was in the points. Everyone ahead of me was struggling massively. I knew how much they were struggling with the warm-up of the tyre and Kvyat left the door open a bit so I just went for it and, if I have that opportunity again, I think I will do the same. If you don’t go for the gap, you don’t give the right message to your competitors, you know? So, I think one of the reasons that I’ve been so many times in the points was thanks to that aggression. Many times of those 15 I didn’t have the pace to be on the points and yes, sometimes I think you have to be quite aggressive. In Monaco, you know as a driver if you try the manoeuvre there is a big chance that it is not going to happen and it’s going to ruin the race. It’s a risk that you decide to take. I think I was the only car out there to overtake. You saw what happened with Jenson and Wehrlein: with these wide cars, with the amount of limited grip we have in the corners, it is very hard to overtake so you have to take big risks.

Q: You had a podium here back in 2012 but since then it’s not been a particularly kind circuit for you. Do you think this year’s Force India car with it’s characteristics will give you a better shot at a big result here this weekend than the last few seasons?

SP: I think so. I think we should be relatively stronger than probably other circuits in the past. But we still have a big margin to the top three teams ahead. They’re in another category. For us, just in pure pace, if we finish behind them it’s the maximum we can achieve at the moment. So, let’s see what we can do for Sunday.

Q: Coming to you Lance, I guess having grown up here and been inspired by seeing Formula One cars once a year on this race track, you must feel quite emotional at the thought of racing one here this weekend?

Lance STROLL: Yeah, it’s kind of a dream come true for me. Growing up here I was sitting in the grandstands at five or sic years old and watching the races here and now to finally be part of it, it’s very special.

Q: This has been a strong track for Williams in the last few years – back-to-back podiums the last two seasons and there has been a Williams on the front two rows of the grid in three of the last four years. So are expectations high for getting your first championship points?

LS: I think so, yeah. It has been a strong track for us in the past. It suits our car very well. Hopefully that remains the same this year. I think we just need to focus on our job. Hopefully a bit of luck will be on our side, that we can have a clean weekend and get the best out of our car. That’s definitely the plan.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Pierre Durocher – Montreal Journal) I want to ask you, Lance… people some to forget sometimes but two years ago when you first appeared in F3 you had some problems you had to fight to get the results you wanted and then the next year you became champion. Is there anything that you learned through your first year in F3, that was a bit difficult, and make you stronger that you can make you stronger right now and help you go through the hurdles of having success in F1?

LS: I think it just comes down to experience and sometimes it just takes a bit of time for things to fall into place. Back in Formula 3, I ended 2015 very well and then I started 2016 very well and it stayed the same way the whole year. So, it just sometimes takes some time to break the ice and once you get rolling it keeps working. I mean, I think this year has been a bit different. We have had some strong qualifyings – in China, Bahrain, in Russia – there have been some Saturdays, but there has been some bad luck as well with technical issues and other things and we haven’t been able to capitalise on those results on Sunday and I think a lot of our non-finishes are because of that and I think we just need to stay calm, we need to stay focused, focus on what we need to improve on – myself, car, everything – and just every weekend try to get stronger and stronger. I think that’s the goal now. We can’t panic, we can’t lose concentration; we have to stay in it. It’s a long year. There have only been six races and there’s still 14 more to go. The year is a marathon and it’s about forgetting about what happened in the past and focusing on the next one. That’s definitely what I did in F3. There were a lot of hard times in 2015 and then I came back in 2016, worked on my weaknesses over the winter, and came back a much better, a much more complete driver. The same thing happens when you move into Formula One. There are new things to learn. The tyres are very tricky to understand, so that is definitely something I’m learning at the moment, trying to get on top of that every weekend as consistently as possible and just driving the car and getting used to it. I’m getting more comfortable, more confident every where I go. A lot of the tracks are new as well. That’s definitely something that takes some getting used to. In FP1 you just have to learn these new tracks and all that. It’s time and experience. But at the same time you’ve got to always push as hard as you can and focus on what you really need to improve on, weekend by weekend.

Q: (Jeff Pappone – Inside Track) A question for Sergio. I’m just wondering, with the changes to the car, the tyres that are different this year, you have a rookie team-mate: Is this one of the toughest years – F1 Is always hard for rookies – but is this one of the toughest years for them to come in and figure out the cars and figure out how to be fast?

SP: It’s hard for me to judge, because the last time I was a rookie in F1 was seven years ago. I think F1 is quite as well, you know, but certainly with these tyres it’s quite difficult to know what is going on. I think especially in Formula One, you have a lot of people around your team that can help you a lot to understand what is going on with tyres. Since I came to Formula One, the most important thing is tyres. We are always talking about tyres, tyres. When you come from a junior category to Formula One there is so much to learn on tyres. Whether it’s harder now or when I came? I don’t think it’s any harder now, but it’s hard for me to judge. Certainly I’m finding it hard to know what’s going on with these tyres. All the time they are very different, depending on which track they work very different. Having them in the window to having them over the window, it’s a very little margin. So certainly tyres are something that rookies might find a little bit harder than experienced drivers.

Q: (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas ) Sergio, you just said that there are a lot of people around trying to help about the tyres. I would love to know, all of you, what about the sensibility. How sensitive do you have to be, driving a car, to add to this help? Your own feelings into the car. Do you feel this year you have to use even more your sensitive approach?

SP: I don’t think you have to use it any more than any other year. You always have to try to know what’s going on with tyres. It’s obviously very hard to know what’s going on with the set-up and the tyres at the same time, whether it’s a lack of warm-up or whether it’s a problem with the balance of the car. That’s something that for us, as drivers, is hard to judge. I like to do a lot of work with tyres and I like to focus a lot on that regard. Firstly I try to understand what’s going on with the tyres before I judge the set-up.

LS: Sergio said a lot of it. I think tyres are the biggest performance gain in Formula One today. You can do an out lap very slow or you can do one very fast and then get into detail about it and you can find a ton of lap time when you get it right and you get in the window. Coming from junior categories I think there is a big difference in that from Formula One. In F3, for example, where I come from, F4 as well, you go out, the tyre is very consistent all the time, you have three push laps in qualifying where you can get the lap time you want. It’s just very forgiving, it’s very easy, you can slide the tyre, you can do whatever you want, and then just focus on driving. But in Formula One there’s a lot that comes with getting good out laps, getting the tyre working, and if you miss that, if you get traffic on an out lap, and you don’t get it working the way you want you can lose a massive amount of performance and that just really affects your position on the grid. Same in the race. If you have some overheating or something, you slide the surface too much, you go backwards. So these tyres are very, very tricky to understand. There are some weekends that are very straightforward. We’ve seen weekends this year where I think it has been pretty easy for everyone to get temperature into the tyre and then it’s just been consistent and then it’s just about focusing on your driving. Then there have been other weekends where it has been extremely complicated to get it working properly and you just have to wait and see if it’s going to work or not. Definitely you always have to be on top of it, listen to people in your team who are trying to help you. For me it’s just about gaining experience with the tyres and trying different things, seeing if it works, and obviously using the help of people ion my team around me.

ME: Not much to add to be honest. Like they said, tyres are the key to performance and I agree with that.

Q: (Sef Harding – Xero Xone News) A question for Lance. What have you had a chance to do since you’ve4 been home and I’ll slip another question in there: what you have on your playlist this weekend, because I know you’re a music guy?

LS: First of all, it’s great to be home. I don’t get to come back too often, so it’s been a busy week, with some media stuff and sponsor events and a lot of that, but at the same time I have had a chance to visit some friends, family, here in Montreal, that I don’t get to see often, so that’s been great. Music for the weekend? I’m not too sure yet. I’ll have a better idea tomorrow on what I feel like listening to. Some hip-hop, soft rock, deep house, I don’t know yet, but we’ll see.

Q: (Alexandre Geoffrion-McInnis – La Presse Canadienne) Sergio, we all know it’s Lance’s first Canadian Grand Prix, but I want to know how you felt to race in front of your home crowd in Mexico back in 2015? Did you get any emotion boost? Did you feel more pressure?

SP: It’s a big emotion, you know. When you race in front of your home crowd you have all the support from your fans, all your people, your friends, family, people that they don’t get to see you in life for the rest of the year. It’s certainly a weekend where your emotions are 100 per cent, all the time. From P1 to when you finish the race it’s very emotional. They always say that when you are home you are two tenths quicker and I believe so, you know. You have so much energy through you and so much support and there is so much willingness to do well in front of them. And instead of feeling pressure you feel extra energy and that helps you to focus on set-up decisions, on preparing your race weekend, on preparing your qualifying. It’s something really well. It’s important that you don’t let the emotions go too high and always stay calm and just enjoy the weekend, because it will go very fast.

Q: (Alessandra Retico – La Repubblica) Lance, you are very young, but what does Gilles Villeneuve mean to you and how do feel to be the first Canadian guy to compete here since Jacques?

LS: Well, Gilles was a bit before my time, so I didn’t really have a chance to watch him race. But obviously an extreme talent and very loved. He really went for the gaps and took the risks that back then other drivers wouldn’t take. An extreme talent and a very special driver that goes down in the history books in Formula One. To race here since Jacques is really an honour. He won the world championship with Williams in 1997, the year before I was born. Now 20 years later to be here in the Canadian Grand Prix, just memories of when I was a kid watching the race. Formula One was always a dream for, but separately the Canadian Grand Prix is really a dream for me to compete here. I was a bit worried over the winter when they were saying ‘oh maybe next year not sure if it’s going to be on the calendar’, but now to be here and experiencing the whole thing, I think Sergio mentioned, from the moment you get home, FP1, the race, you’re just embracing all that positive energy from the fans, from everyone around. I think it’s one of those grands prix that you really have to enjoy and embrace it and then it’s a race like every other one and you have to go and have fun.

Q: (Salim Valji – CBC) For Lance, how do you handle the perception that maybe you are here based on family money as opposed to talent? Kind of an awkward question but how do you handle that, what’s your response to that perception?

LS: Never heard that question before! You know, it’s always going to be said and asked, about where I come from and all that. But I focus on the positives. I’ve won the championships to arrive here, Formula 4, Formula 3 European Championship, I got my 40 Superlicence points that the FIA has placed just for that reason. Drivers can’t just buy their way into Formula One, you have to actually go out and get the results. There are always going to be haters, there is always going to jealousy, that’s just the nature of sports in general. When you win it’s expected and when you have hard times people put you down and that’s how it goes. But I don’t focus on that. I know who is important around me and those are the people I listen to. The rest of the noise you just have to block it out, it’s out of your control. You have to know who you need to trust around you and that’s all you can focus on and then it’s about going out on track. Sometimes there’s hard times, sometimes there’s good time but you just need to always go to the next weekend and be positive and try as hard as you can and that’s how I go about my business.

Photo credit: Sahara Force India Formula One Team

June 9, 2017