F1 Madness

Tag: sebastian vettel

  • Niki Lauda orders investigation into “unnacceptable” strategy call

    Niki Lauda orders investigation into “unnacceptable” strategy call

    Mercedes team boss Niki Lauda has called on fellow big chief Toto Wolff to launch a full investigation into what he called an “unacceptable” strategy call by the Mercedes pit wall at the Monaco Grand Prix.

    Hamilton had dominated for the majority of the Monaco GP but lost victory as a direct result of a completely unnecessary pit stop under a late safety car. Changing tyres saw Hamilton drop back behind both Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg and Ferraris Sebastian Vettel. Lauda insisted that the mistake needs to be fully investigated by the team.

    Lauda apologised to Hamilton and his engineers, “Honestly, I really feel sorry,” he said. “I apologised, even to his engineers over there, because this is for me unacceptable.

    “Nevertheless, Toto, I gave him the order to analyse it properly and see where the mistake was made. But absolutely the decision to bring him in was completely wrong.”

    Lauda said that there was confusion between Hamilton and the pit wall just before he pitted.

    “I was listening to the talks – the talks were going forward and backwards – and there was too much confusion. In the end it was the wrong decision, no question about it.”

    Photo Credit: Niki Lauda, Toto Wolff – Mercedes AMG Petronas

  • Mercedes Apologises to Hamilton

    Mercedes Apologises to Hamilton

    Mercedes Head of Motorsport Toto Wolff has apologised to Lewis Hamilton on behalf of the team following the late pit stop mistake at the Monaco Grand Prix.

    Hamilton was leading the race when a late safety car was deployed because of Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen colliding with Lotus’ Romain Grosjean. Initially the virtual safety car was deployed which meant drivers are to stick to a delta lap time. A short while after that the Safety Car was deployed. This prompted Mercedes to ready their pit crew for a pit stop. Hamilton, who had built up a considerable gap to second place man, Nico Rosberg, pitted under instruction from the team. The gap, which was anticipated to be enough for Hamilton to rejoin back in the lead was not large enough and when he emerged from the pits he lost two positions and was running in 3rd.

    There was a bit of uncertainty between Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Hamilton as to who crossed the safety car line ahead at the exit of the pit lane. In the end, replay’s showed Vettel crossing the safety car line ahead of Hamilton by about half a car length.

    When the race ended Hamilton was distraught. He took his time returning to parc ferme and even pulled over at the Portier corner for a while. Supposedly to collect himself. He got going again and returned to parc ferme. On the podium he was visibly upset choosing not to say much in the podium interviews.

    Toto Wolff, after the race, apologised to Hamilton said that they had got their maths wrong by miscalculating the gap between Hamilton and Rosberg.

    “First of all, we must apologise to Lewis,” said Wolff

    “We win and we lose together and what I am proud of in this team is that we take collective responsibility,” he added.

    “But this is a day when we simply have to say sorry to our driver, because our mistake cost him the victory here.

    Toto Wolff_Pit Wall“What happened? In simple terms, we got our numbers wrong.

    “We thought we had the gap for Lewis to take fresh tyres and come back out in the lead behind the Safety Car, ahead of Nico and covering off any risk of another competitor taking fresh tyres.

    “But the calculation was incorrect and he came out in third place. It was our decision to call him in and our mistake, pure and simple; in these situations, a driver trusts his team.

     

    Wolff lauded Hamilton for the sportsmanship he showed after the race.

    “Lewis had driven flawlessly until then and really delivered a perfect weekend, with a stunning pole lap and a masterful race.

    There’s nothing more to say other than to highlight the grace with which he handled the situation; he was a leader and a true sportsman this afternoon.”

  • Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2015: Sunday Press Conference

    Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2015: Sunday Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1st Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

    2nd Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

    3rd Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by Martin Brundle)

    Nico, congratulations, the first time in your career you’ve won two races on the bounce but more importantly three consecutive races here in Monaco. The last man to do that was the great Ayrton Senna. That was quite a race.

    Nico ROSBERG: Yeah, for sure, very, very happy of course. But I know also that it was just a lot of luck today. Lewis drove brilliantly and he would have also deserved the win for sure. But that’s the way it is in racing and definitely I’m extremely happy and going to make the most of it.

    Yeah, you spent most of your time looking in your rear view mirrors because Sebastian was coming at you and Lewis was down the road. Can you explain to us why your car wasn’t brought in for a pit stop and Lewis’ was under the safety car?

    NR: I have no idea, sorry. As always, we’re in the car and it’s very difficult to judge what decisions are being made and things like that. Of course it was extremely difficult to do the restart with those hard tyres and them being very cold but it worked out and I’m ecstatic.

    Sebastian, well, suddenly you were looking for and fighting for a victory when you had been struggling with Nico for the whole race. You must be pretty satisfied; it was a strong race for you.

    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, obviously a bit of a turnaround in the end, which was a bit of a surprise, but we were there in the moment when it mattered obviously we were able just to pip Lewis when we he came out of the pits. I think it was pretty close but I was pretty confident I was ahead. Yeah, I think we tried all race to put pressure on Nico but I think, first of all, he had the speed to respond and second, when we decided to pit we were probably a little bit too far back and the undercut didn’t really work. Nevertheless, P2 is a great result for the team, thanks for the hard work. It’s good to be always there and I think we were a lot closer in the race than in qualifying so hopefully we can keep up this trend.

    And you were saying on the radio ‘look, this is like swimming with weights on my legs and feet’. You were expecting a lot of trouble on the restart with cold tyres?

    SV: It was, it was. The thing is these tyres are not made for cooling down and then going again. I think Nico and myself we both kind of saved the tyre; we knew that it was difficult to catch Lewis and difficult to really attack each other. So I think we didn’t get it all out of the tyre before, which helped at the restart but it was incredibly difficult to warm the tyres up and obviously Lewis behind with a fresh set of supersoft was in much better shape. But I think for all of us it was, you know, like being handicapped for two or three laps. After it was starting to be OK, but Nico drove very well after the restart. No chance for me to stay close, so I had to make sure that I keep the guys behind.

    And the man you had to keep behind was Lewis Hamilton. I’m sure I speak for millions of people when I say I’m sorry for you Lewis, that didn’t work out today.

    Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah, it was not the easiest of races. But, you know, the team has done amazing all year long and we win and we lose together, so I’m just grateful for the job that I did and congratulations to Nico and Sebastian.

    Can you tell us why your car was brought in? You had quite a big gap didn’t you and then the safety car picked you up. Your car was pitted and your team-mate’s wasn’t.

    LH: I’m sure we’ll sit down afterwards and try and think of ways we can improve.

    How bad is it? How bad do you feel now? You’ve lost the Monaco Grand Prix, it has been taken away from you. What’s going through your mind?

    LH: Come back to win the next one.

    Some positive thoughts there from Lewis Hamilton. Finally, back to the man who won the race. You must love safety cars now and that’s helped you in the world championship and very much game on.

    NR: Yeah, but at the same time, you know, I know that I got lucky today. I’ll just enjoy the moment now but I need to work hard because Lewis was a little bit stronger this weekend, so I need to work hard for the next race for sure.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Nico, many congratulations, your third consecutive Monaco Grand Prix victory, a feat equalled before by Prost, Senna and Graham Hill, so you join a very elite group in having done that. I guess you take them how they come – but did you discuss a late pitstop behind the Virtual Safety Car that became then, obviously, a Safety Car? And how do you feel for Lewis now?

    NR: For sure that’s the best words to describe it: take it as it comes, y’know? So, just very, very happy to have won the race. On the other side though, of course, Lewis was stronger this weekend. He deserved it for sure and I got lucky in the end there. I don’t even know what happened. But, yeah, ecstatic about that anyways. No, we didn’t discuss pitting in the end. It was quite treacherous out there with those hard tyres because they were really stone cold. They were telling me the temperatures, we’ve never ever had those temperatures before I think in those tyres – but did the best I could and managed to bring them back up and push, so that worked out well in the end.

    Q: Sebastian, a couple of talking points for you really. Obviously you tried the undercut on Nico, it didn’t quite work out. Maybe you could tell us a bit about that. And also, behind the Safety Car you were on the radio saying that, exactly what Nico’s just said, that you were really concerned about how low the tyre temperatures were getting.

    SV: First of all, for the undercut, it was a shame. I had to lap a Manor, I think, and I lost about one second, otherwise I think we would have been closer to Nico. Whether it would have been enough, I don’t know. Probably not. Obviously we were trying everything to jump him but they reacted straight away. My approach to the pitbox, as well, was not spot on, so I lost a bit of time there as well. So, not perfect in terms of lining everything up. And then at the end there, it was quite clear on the radio it was… I mean the rules are the rules but it was ridiculous how slow we were going. Trying to let the lapped cars go. In the end they are, I don’t know, racing nowhere when we restart because they’re just 30 seconds down the road but nowhere near the back of the field. So, I don’t know what’s the point. And then obviously we go so slow the tyres cool down a lot. And for Nico, myself, we were on the harder compound. Extremely difficult to get them up to temperature and it’s just… yeah, you need to understand the tyres are not made for that. That’s why its extremely slippery and obviously I was under huge pressure at the restart. I think Nico was a bit more comfortable with the warm-up but for us it took two, three laps just to bring them up again. It was very much on the limit I would say.

    Q: Lewis, coming to you, obviously we all understand how difficult this must be for you. The crowd clearly sympathised with you, you got a huge cheer when you collected your trophy. Can you just tell us what part, if any, you played in the decision to make that late pitstop and how that unfolded.

    LH: To be honest it happened so fast I don’t really remember but it was a good race up until then and, still, we got good points there.

    Q: Did you think you had it won, obviously, at that point? Did you come into the pits full of confidence that you were doing the right thing at that time?

    LH: As I said, we will probably analyse and try to figure out what we did wrong – but we’ll collectively – together as a team – try to rectify it in the future.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Ian Parkes – Autosport) Question for Lewis. First of all, can you gives us just some idea as to how you’re feeling right now. Obviously we see you’re very low, very down but just express in your own words how you’re feeling. And, secondly, when that Safety Car situation unfolded, did you not at all question whether to come in or not? Bearing in mind, regardless of the situation with the tyres, track position is ultimately king in Monaco.

    LH: I can’t really express the way I feel at the moment. So I won’t even attempt to. You rely on the team. I saw a screen, it looked like the team was out and I thought that Nico had pitted. Obviously I couldn’t see the guys behind so I thought the guys behind were pitting. The team said to stay out, I said “these tyres are going to drop in temperature,” and what I was assuming was that these guys would be on Options and I was on the harder tyre. So, they said to pit. Without thinking I came in with full confidence that the others had done the same.

    Q: (Barna Zsoldos – Nemzeti Sport) Lewis, after what happened today, will you have 100 per cent confidence in the team’s strategy decisions in the future?

    LH: Yes.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Lewis, can you imagine that maybe the strange situation of first having a virtual safety car and then all of a sudden a safety car could have added or contributed to the confusion?

    LH: I’ve no idea. I was just driving.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and Speedsport Magazines) Nico and Seb, this has probably happened to you in your past careers as well. Can you remember a time when you had the race won and it all went bad?

    NR: Not now, immediately, no but for sure it is an awful feeling, definitely, but that’s for sure, yeah.

    SV: Well, I think it’s normal that you have ups and downs. Probably the lowest low was in 2010 in Korea when I was in the lead and the engine blew up. Fernando, at the time, the biggest rival, three races to the end of the championship, won the race. That was pretty bad. We didn’t finish at all. I would have been happy at that time to finish third but I think today the circumstances for Lewis were totally different.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – Globosport.com) Lewis, did you know the gap between you and Nico at that moment?

    LH: Before the safety car came out I knew the gap. It didn’t worry me when we got behind the safety car. I didn’t know once we got behind the safety car.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – Globosport.com) Sebastian, what did you think when you were climbing up to the Casino and you had Lewis side-by-side with you?

    SV: Well, it was very close. I had something very similar back in 2008 here also, coming out of the pits with Jarno Trulli at the time. I was pretty confident that I was just ahead  – thanks for the design office for the long nose, it helped today. And obviously…  you’re quite emotional, I gestured to Lewis straight away to say I was ahead, you go back, but that’s the heat of the moment. I think we both waited for confirmation who ultimately was ahead. I think at the time we probably both thought we were in front.

    Q: Lewis, do you want to share your side of that story, coming out of the pits side-by-side with Seb after the pit stop?

    LH: I was behind.

    Q: (Ottavio Daviddi – Tuttosport) Sebastian, your race pace today was good, I think. Do you think that the Barcelona problem has been solved or it was due to the particularities of the track here in Monte Carlo?

    SV: Well, I think it’s natural that the gaps are smaller on this track. It’s a shorter track so that’s normal. I think in the race we were a lot closer than yesterday. Obviously there’s a lot of things that we still need to learn and understand. Taking the restart is similar more or less to what caught us out yesterday, so that’s something we need to work on quickly to try and understand, but in the race itself I think for the majority of the race we were on a very good pace. Obviously I knew that it was pointless really to put Nico under pressure too much, because I would just burn my tyres. You don’t know what might be coming at the end, a safety car etc, and at the end there was a safety car. There was a point when I was driving around thinking ‘we can’t be at Monaco without a safety car’ and then I think four or five laps later there was a safety car. Yuh, you obviously have to prepare a bit for the unknown, but I think the pace was good today. I was happy.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Sebastian, did you discuss with your engineers to go on supersoft for the last few laps when the safety car was out?

    SV: Not for the safety car. Obviously depending on the gaps behind to the car behind, we spoke about some things, some options, should the safety car come at various times but at that time it was clear that we stay out.

    Q: (Ian Parkes – Autosport) Lewis, you’ve suffered loads before, I can think of Monaco and Belgium last year, obviously, to name but two. When you’re involved in situations like this, when you walk away at the end of the Grand Prix, do you still think ‘well, I’ve got a ten point lead, I’ve still got the best car in the field?’ Are they the kind of positives that you have to cling to?

    LH: Sure, yeah. At the moment I can’t really think of anything else at the moment. Yeah, this is a race that has been very special… close to my heart for many years and so it was very important, it was a great feeling leading the race. I had so much pace as I have for many many years, including last year. I could have easily had that gap last year as well. Today, I didn’t really have to push too much, I could have doubled the lead if I needed it so on the one hand it’s a good thing that I had that pace and I’m grateful for that. You live to fight another day.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta- Turun Sanomat) Nico, how does it feel to win two races in a row for the first time in your career?

    NR: It’s not something I think about at all. I’m just thinking about today. I told you the emotions from today and that’s it, sorry, so I don’t think about two races in a row or three times here in Monaco. It’s not something that’s at the top of my mind.

    Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Seb, there is a big difference in the performance of the car between qualifying and race; have you had some problems with tyre temperatures and the performance of the tyres in qualifying? In your opinion, is that due to the particular nature of your car or do you just have to adjust something in your set-up to try to improve in the next races?

    SV: Well, first of all, you are making a good point. If I had the answer than I would go down straight away and tell everyone what to do, so obviously it’s something we need to try and understand, whether there is something we can change with the approach we are taking with the set-up or there’s something we need to change with the approach of how the car is made. As I said, obviously there’s a key to understanding it, because some part of the race is decided on Saturday and if we struggle in cooler conditions it can happen once, twice but we need to make sure we get on top of it, so if it keeps happening it’s not an excuse, it’s a mistake and it’s bad for us so we need to work hard and make sure we fix it.

    Why didn’t we have any grid girls today. What was that?

  • Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2015: Saturday Press Conference

    Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2015: Saturday Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1st Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    2nd Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

    3rd Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

    TV UNILATERAL

    Lewis, it’s seems to strange that it’s your first pole at Monaco, what does it mean to you?

    Lewis HAMILTON: It does, it’s been a long, long time. I can’t express to you just how happy I am. It wasn’t the easiest session. I had a lot of things that kind of [would easily] throw you off your rhythm. Which it did. I didn’t have the rhythm until the last two laps. So I was really, really happy with it and coming across the line just hoping for once that you’ve got it. This is incredibly special for me and for my guys who have worked so hard this weekend, so I’m very, very happy.

    At one point, as you say, you weren’t terribly happy and you said to your engineer, and to yourself it seemed as well, ‘OK guys, we all just need to calm down here and refocus’. Can you just tell us a bit about what was going on and what was going on in your mind?

    LH: At this track it’s so hard. It’s difficult to express just how difficult this track is. We do it because we’ve been racing for years, but getting your head around it and improving… it’s important to get into a rhythm and it’s really important to continue to improve. It’s like climbing a ladder and every time you’ve got to be taking one step and if you slide back down it’s sometimes harder to get back up. In our session we had some problems with tyres and we had some problem with some wing and traffic, so, you know, it wasn’t easy. It makes it even more special, because normally if you just back-to-back good laps, good laps, good laps you can kind of expect it but we had some really bad laps, didn’t get the quickest laps in Q1 or Q2. So, anyways, I’m blabbing on, it was great; I’m really happy.

    Well done. Coming to you Nico, not your year this year, as far as qualifying is concerned anyway. A couple of lock-ups in Q2 at the end there and also it seemed at the end in Q3. What was going today?

    Nico ROSBERG: Yeah, probably a bit the opposite to Lewis. I had a good rhythm starting off qualifying, which I didn’t have all weekend, so it was good to get into it in qualifying and then just lost touch a little bit towards the end. Of course going for it, because I have to, because I know Lewis is going to be quick. So I needed to go for it and it didn’t work out. That’s it.

    That banker lap, that first run in Q3 is the important one isn’t it? You had it last year and obviously Lewis got it this time. How hard is the recovery if you don’t have it after that first run in Q3?

    NR: Recovery? I didn’t really see it as too much of a problem because it was very close and I was confident that I could improve on my lap time. I changed my balance also, because on the first run I had too much understeer so I went up on the front flap by a good step. I was confident it was going to come my way, but it didn’t.

    Well done anyway. Sebastian, coming to you, back up the front again in qualifying, third again. Did you get the most out of the car today?

    Sebastian VETTEL: Not really. Generally happy with the result but I think it was a bit too cool for us today. I think everyone was struggling a little bit with warming up the tyres. It sounds surprising because it’s the supersoft. It was a shame the sun was hiding behind the clouds. Nevertheless, I think it was a good session for us and P3 is a good place to start from tomorrow. Hopefully we can split the Mercedes and therefore have an exciting race tomorrow.

    Some of the midfield and backmarker cars were doing some quick laps on the supersoft in Q1, yet you and Kimi both chose to stay in the garage. Were you completely calm for those final few moments of Q1?

    SV: No, not completely calm! Obviously I knew roughly that the time should be fine with what we thought will be enough. But it was close and then when you see yourself dropping down and the time ticking away from you and you can’t really react and go out and have another run it’s not nice but in the end it was OK for both of us. So we did the right thing and targeted to prepare for the last part of qualifying. Unfortunately it was not enough to get really, really close to them and put them under pressure, but tomorrow is another day.

    Well done. Back to you Lewis, what percentage of the job is now done do you think, given the nature of this circuit and the way the race unfolds and how do you see the race unfolding tomorrow?

    LH: Oh, this is… not even half the job is done. There’s so much to do tomorrow. There’s a long, long way to go, many, many laps here. It’s going to be mentally and physically challenging. Again just so happy; nothing was able to get in my way today in this. I’m just sitting here thinking about all the previous years and things that kind of got in the way or that I wasn’t good enough or whatever it may be. I’m looking forward to tomorrow. I think 2006 in GP2 was the last time I started on pole here. It’s a very special day and again just a big thank you to the team. The performance we have with our car is outstanding and the guys have been perfect all weekend, so I hope we can get a real result for them tomorrow.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Lewis, can you tell us a little about bringing the tyres in and what was the ideal lap for these supersoft tyres. Because obviously you hadn’t done any running on them prior to this morning due to the rain on Thursday etcetera. There was various different teams with various messages about which was the ideal lap, how many timed laps etcetera. How did you find your way to the ideal moment to use them?

    LH: Well, I guess I’m going to have to choose my words carefully. These tyres, they take a quite a long time to bring in. We have to push quite a lot to get the tyres to start working. They’re very hard. Considering they’re the soft and supersoft, they’re incredibly hard. When I looked at the wear life yesterday, there’s a lot of laps you can do. A lot of laps, and so to bring the tyres in you… this morning was OK. The track was a bit grippier at one point so the tyres came in really nicely, quite soon. But this afternoon, being a little cooler perhaps, we had to do the two… kind of an out-lap, a warm-up lap and then the fast lap. Even on that fast lap, they were so-so. It’s interesting that you have to do that with both tyres.

    Q: Nico, Lewis just said a moment ago in the Unilateral that he doesn’t consider even half of the job is done yet with this pole position. What’s your view on what you can do from where you are? He feels there’s clearly a threat from you and from Sebastian. Can strategy help you?

    NR: I am very glad to hear Lewis’ opinion on that! Yeah, I’m going to try and keep the pressure up, of course. That’s all I can do tomorrow. Well, that’s what I need to do tomorrow. And I’ll do it.

    Q: Sebastian, the gap is again that stubborn three-quarters of a second between you and the Mercedes. It doesn’t seem to be changing too much at the moment. Obviously Lewis won from third on the grid, I think back in 2008, so it can be done. Drawing some encouragement from that?

    SV: Definitely. I think, y’know, so far nobody has scored any points so everything is possible tomorrow for sure. We know it’s Monaco, we know it’s difficult to pass, so if you start on pole you have a good chance of winning the race – but there’s 78 laps to do. The start will be important. I start on the inside which obviously gives me the possibility with a good start, yeah, to split them, and then we’ll see what happens. In terms of strategy it’s pretty straightforward: it’s statistically not the most exciting race but if you take 2008 as an example it was very exciting. I think there was some rain, I remember it was very slippery. I don’t know the forecast for tomorrow but who knows? Anything can happen around here.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Ottavio Daviddi – Tuttosport) For Sebastian, you mentioned the weather forecast – do you prefer a wet race tomorrow or not?

    SV: Well, it’s very easy to look at it: if it’s wet there’s a lot more chances. Also, there’s higher risk. So, y’know, if you’re on the good side, you take the chance, if you get it wrong and hit the risk the wrong way then it goes, y’know, in the wrong direction. So, in the end the weather, thanks God, is something we cannot influence and we have to deal with it. Sometimes it makes things a lot more exciting. But we see tomorrow. I think nonetheless we should have a good car in the race. Obviously we weren’t really able to have a look in long runs, no-one was. But the car feels good around here and hopefully we can put some pressure onto these two guys tomorrow.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Question to Sebastian. Do you think that today’s performance is confirmation of what we have seen in Barcelona or are you now back to where you have been in the first four races?

    SV: No, I don’t think you can compare this race to Barcelona. It’s a completely different track. I think today was significantly cooler. Probably it’s true with a little bit higher temperatures we could have been a little bit closer. As it stands today, obviously we were quite far away again but tomorrow we should be a bit closer to them.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Lewis, you finally achieved this pole position; you are a fan of Ayrton Senna. How did you miss this pole position? Do you feel that this is an important milestone in your career, to get this pole position on this track?

    LH: I don’t feel like it’s a milestone, but I definitely feel like it’s an important day for me because, as I was saying, since 2007 it wasn’t great, 2008 wasn’t great again, and every year, generally, it’s been quite poor. Some years I’ve had the car to do it, sometimes – at least once or twice – some things have got in the way. Sometimes I’ve not actually had the car to do so and if I have, I have not executed it. So yeah, I’ve got a long way to go to get anywhere near what Ayrton achieved here but this is kind of… maybe this is the first step in the sense of Monte Carlo. And as this is now my home for the past three or four years, it makes it even more special. I wake up here, I’ve never been so happy living here with the views and the way of life here. You get to drive the track every day when I’m here so it’s a very special day.

    Q: (Rodrigo Franca – VIP Magazine) Lewis, here in Monaco, we know that fans are really close to the drivers and sometimes maybe movie actors and even athletes don’t like this proximity. How do you feel about it, very close to the fans here in Monaco?

    LH: This is probably the best track… for me, this is the best track not only to drive on but because the fans get close. There’s a lot of races where we go to and the grandstand is 100 meters away from the side of the track. People are having to use binoculars to watch the cars. It’s so much more exciting when you can get close up. I was watching the Renault cars going round – the V6 is it, World series – and I was watching at Rascasse and I was standing right by the barrier and I’ve seen them come by and I’m thinking this is how racing should be, this is how spectating should be. Not that I can change anything but as a spectator, I think this is the best place to come and watch.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – Globosport.com) Nico, I’m sorry to put it this way, but you have a first problem to start behind Lewis. The second is, two sets of tyres on which you’ve locked the front left tyre. Will it be a problem for the race condition?

    NR: First problem, you are right, to start behind Lewis. Second problem is not a problem because it’s one stop so I don’t have to use those tyres because we just start on soft(er) and then one stop and then the hard(er) tyre, so I don’t have to use the soft tyres that I flat-spotted. And the set that I’m starting the race with is my Q2 set which I did my lap time with in Q2 and there was no blocking there. That one’s fine.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Nico, in the last part of Q2 you had an exit at Ste Devote. Did you have any psychological handicap about it in Q3?

    NR: Well, of course it’s not ideal: better not to have such a thing of course in the middle of qualifying, but I had two shots in Q3 afterwards, so with two solid runs, it doesn’t have an influence, eventually then, so not really, no.

  • F1 2015: Monaco GP Qualifying Report – Hamilton On Pole

    F1 2015: Monaco GP Qualifying Report – Hamilton On Pole

    Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton secured pole position ahead of his teammate Nico Rosberg for Sunday’s Monaco grand prix.

    The Mercedes pairing were well clear of the third placed Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel as they locked out the front row of the starting grid. Lewis Hamilton snapped up his first pole position start around the Monte Carlo streets with a three tenth margin over his Monaco-specialist teammate Rosberg. The German, who has won on the last two visits to the Principality, took to the escape road at turn one as he attempted to start his final run in the third part of the qualifying session.

    Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel finished best of the rest and will share the second row of the grid with Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo. Daniil Kvyat wrapped up fifth with Kimi Raikkonen in the other Ferrari round out the top six. Force India’s Sergio Perez delivered the performance of the qualifying hour as he set the seventh fastest time in a season which has so far been a struggle for the Indian-owned team.

    Carlos Sainz out-qualified his teammate in eighth while Lotus’ Pastor Maldonado will line up ninth ahead of Max Verstappen. Romain Grosjean set the eleventh quickest time but a five place grid penalty for a new gearbox means he will start the race from 16th. It promotes McLaren’s Jenson Button to eleventh ahead of the other Force India of Nico Hulkenberg.

    The biggest disappointment of the qualifying session was Fernando Alonso’s inability to show any of McLaren’s improvements as he ground to a halt in the first part of the qualifying hour. Elsewhere, Williams endured a woeful afternoon which will see Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas start the race in 13th and 17th respectively.

    monacoquali

  • Vettel wants F1 to be scary again

    Vettel wants F1 to be scary again

    As far as Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel is concerned, Formula 1 is doing the right thing by working on bringing back more extreme cars that force drivers to be the bravest of the brave and focus on pure racing talent.

    Formal talks with technical chiefs about framing the proposed rule changes to make F1 cars up to six seconds faster per lap, are set to start in Monaco this weekend and Vettel has urged the decision makers to deliver cars that are more challenging to drive.

    “I am very old school,” Vettel said. “I would like to have a much bigger engine, turbo or not, better tyres, more grip, so the cars are faster in general.

    “The first time I drove an F1 car to be honest I was scared and now I don’t think you get that impression any more. The step from GP2 to F1 is not very big.

    “It is still difficult to drive fast, but probably back in the years you needed a little bit bigger balls, which is what the drivers would appreciate and also the fans.”

    Vettel is of the opinion that F1 has put way too much emphasis on car and engine performance – and not enough on the talent of the pilots of these machines.

    “Driving should always be the core, and I think it has been discussed a lot in the past period of F1 with the cars getting slower,” Vettel said. “In the end you are looking for the fastest driver. In the end you should not change the core of the sport which is that the fastest driver should win. I think maybe to more and more of an extreme we have gone away from that a bit.”

    Vettel GPDA fan surveyIn his role as a director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association (GPDA), Vettel has helped launch a Global Fan Survey. The survey has been so popular that it crashed their servers three times in the first day of being launched.

    Vettel believes that feedback from fans will show that they too want things to change and give F1 bosses a clear idea of the changes that need to be made to make the sport more popular.

    “I think it has been largely confusing the last one-and-a-half years about what people want or don’t want, because many times you only read or hear what individuals are saying.

    “Unfortunately in F1, it is mostly what individuals want to see because it might benefit them. The [Fan] Survey is completely independent and it is really a chance for the fans to have a vote, so we can finally find out what people actually want.

    “We hope to learn and understand what the people actually want. Obviously there is a chance now to click and vote on what you would like to see and that gives everyone a much better understanding of what is the truth.

    “There has been a lot of talk going back and forth so I think it is good to finally find out.”

  • Hamilton doubles up on the dominance in Monaco practice

    Hamilton doubles up on the dominance in Monaco practice

    Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton served up a double dose of dominance in today’s free practice sessions ahead of qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix.

    Hamilton set the pace early on in the first practice session at Monaco with an impressive run, finishing the session 0.149 seconds quicker than – and outshone only by – Toro Rosso rookie Max Verstappen, the clear star of the FP1 show.

    Verstappen, who is not even old enough to rent a car – let alone drive one unsupervised on public roads, put in a magnificent performance. Young Max, son of former Formula One driver Jos Verstappen, had never raced around the tight, twisty and very unforgiving street circuit before and team principal Franz Tost was mightily impressed.

    “He went out in the morning and from run to run he improved his lap time without making any mistake. No locking, nothing. His car control and his feedback during the run was really extraordinary,” he said.

    Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner was just as impressed. “I thought it was super. For a guy that can’t rent a hire car yet, it’s enormously impressive, at 17 years of age.

    “I think the two Toro Rosso drivers actually have done a wonderful job this year,” he added. “I think it’s one of the positive stories in Formula One at the moment, those two young rookies that Red Bull have given a chance.

    “They’re here on merit and it shows that the junior programme is most definitely working.”

    Meanwhile, Daniel Ricciardo placed his Red Bull in third position ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Spanish F1 driver Carlos Sainz Jr in the second Toro Rosso.

    Pastor Maldonado ended the session in sixth place for Lotus, ahead of Red Bull driver Daniil Kvyat and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.

    Nico Rosberg and Williams’s Felipe Massa rounded out the top 10, just ahead of the McLarens of Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button.

    The track was slippery, starting off a little wet from overnight rain and several drivers had incidents in which their cars sustained damage and everyone struggled with grip due to not being able to generate enough heat in their tyres.

    Lewis Hamilton, Monaco GP PracticeHamilton seemed dominant throughout though and continued FP2 right where he left off after FP1. The Mercedes driver seemed to be on his own planet as the rain stopped play for much of the second practice session. He finished 0.74 seconds faster than team mate Nico Rosberg.

    Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen were third and fourth in their Ferraris, ahead of Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat.

    After only about 20 minutes of dry running, Roberto Merhi lost control under braking while heading into the harbour chicane and crashing into the barriers bringing out the red flag. Before the session could be restarted, the rain flushed out any ideas of running and soaked the circuit.

    A few drivers did decide to head back out at the very end of the session, including a few drivers trying out Pirelli’s extreme wet tyres.

    Nico Rosberg finished the session down in ninth place but Verstappen continued to impress, despite only just missing out on the sixth place on the timesheets being beaten to the position by his team mate Carlos Sainz Jr this time around.

    McLaren seemed to be doing just a tad better, too – with Fernando Alonso, who is optimistic about being able to challenge for points this weekend, finishing in 7th place. Team mate Jenson Button finished 15th for the session.

    There will be no practice sessions tomorrow. Please join us on Twitter @F1_Madness on Saturday morning for live coverage and chat during the third practice session, as well as qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix!

    Photo Credit: Mercedes AMG F1

     

  • F1 2015: Monaco Grand Prix Preview – Magical Monaco Is Back

    F1 2015: Monaco Grand Prix Preview – Magical Monaco Is Back

    Often words are used to describe things and situations and just as often the true meaning of these over-used words are lost. But if you have ever looked for a true definition of opulence, then look no further than Monte Carlo.

    The Monaco grand prix weekend is arguably the most looked forward to race on the F1 calendar. It’s the visual representation of what Formula 1 can and should be. It’s glamorous, drenched in money and diamonds, daringly fast and dramatically out-of-place.

    The history of the famous Monte Carlo race alone is enough of a tale to weave the most majestic of Formula 1 stories. For around these famous streets the definitive legends of the sport artfully plied their trade. So rapt was the great Ayrton Senna with the Anthony Noghes circuit that he described it as the most extreme out of body experience he ever had behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car, as if it was a sixth sense driving him around the narrow streets, centimetres from the barriers.

    Fairmont_VIP_Monaco_Grand_Prix_v2Even in the year 2015 this venue and circuit has lost none of its magnificent charm and remains the jewel in the Formula 1 crown. This means too that qualifying for the Monaco grand prix is as important as ever. It could spell the end before the weekend has even begun considering the definite advantage that Mercedes hold over one lap.

    But don’t consign anyone else’s chances to the scrapheap just yet. In 2009, Jenson Button all-dominant Brawn secured the Monaco Grand Prix pole position by a few thousandths of a second over the lacklustre attempt of a car Ferrari slapped together that year.

    Then there is the potential undercut on new Pirelli rubber. The supersoft is a choice this weekend and the performance advantage of this particular compound has been nearly two seconds in some circumstances. It has been the case so far this season that Ferrari are lot kinder to their tyres than Mercedes and they will undoubtedly be looking to exploit such an advantage this weekend. However, Ferrari’s advantage isn’t quite as clear-cut as that. Much will depend on the temperatures and it will have to err on the sizzling side of things for Ferrari to have a genuine leg up on Mercedes. Alas, if no one else can stem the Silver Arrows’ dominance this weekend at least the rivalry between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg should be quite intense.

    Nico Rosberg won the 2013 Monaco Grand PrixLast year’s Monaco grand prix was shrouded in controversy thanks mostly to Nico Rosberg’s “mistake” in qualifying. It cost Lewis Hamilton the chance of snapping up the coveted pole position and put the fraying tension between the two on display for the world to see.

    In 2015 the story reads a bit differently. Although Hamilton starts the weekend in the lead of the drivers’ championship for the first time this season, he is the one who will have to make the running around these famous streets. Consider Rosberg’s dominant win in Spain and add to the equation that he has quite an affinity for Monaco grand prix and has won on the last two visits to the Principality then it certainly looks like a leg up on his teammate.

    The Monaco grand prix is literally the most regal event on the F1 calendar given that the trophies at the end of the race are presented by the Monegasque Royal family.  Now all we need to know is who will be crowned maestro of the Monaco streets.

  • F1 Video: 2014 Monaco GP Race Edit

    F1 Video: 2014 Monaco GP Race Edit

    Relive the thrill and action of the 2014 Monaco GP with the official F1 Monaco GP race edit from FOM.

    The Monaco GP is always one of the favourite races of the F1 race calendar and the 2014 Monaco GP was no different. Accidents, safety cars and drivers having trouble with their vision are just a few of the highlights. Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg led home a Mercedes 1-2 to take a four-point lead in the drivers’ championship from team mate Lewis Hamilton.

    Monaco GP race edit as provided by Formula One Management.

     

  • F1 2015: Spanish GP Review – Rosberg Rises To The Occassion

    F1 2015: Spanish GP Review – Rosberg Rises To The Occassion

    It’s taken a bit of time but Nico Rosberg has struck back and with quite a dominant victory at that.

    The circuit de Barcelona Catalunya has always been a good hunting ground for the German/Monegasque but given the way his 2015 season has been going the weekend wouldn’t have started with Rosberg as the favourite. In the Mercedes garage it’s been all Hamilton for the first four races and on the championship log too. But if there’s one thing in sport you can always count on its that there are always ups and downs.

    From the Saturday qualifying session onwards Nico Rosberg was most definitely on the up.Perhaps it started even earlier than this as Hamilton appeared off-colour for most of the practice running. The reigning champion was never one hundred percent comfortable with the balance of his car and that was all Rosberg needed to pounce.

    The under pressure German snapped up pole by a comfortable two-and-a-half tenths and never looked back. A clean launch off the line and good management skills was all Rosberg needed in Sunday’s 66 lap race. At no stage in the race was he ever under pressure and in fact as the chequered flag beckoned he was far enough ahead that he could ease off and coast to victory.

    Spain 2015_PodiumLewis Hamilton had to work a bit harder for his eventual second place as he opted for a three-stop strategy. The early phase was highlighted by a fight with Sebastian Vettel during which he easily matched the pace of the Ferrari. However, Hamilton thanks to modern aero regs couldn’t get close enough to overtake on the circuit and opted for the pit-stop undercut which affected the position change.

    Many would have been quite keen to see what the Ferrari upgrades would deliver in relation to Mercedes. The conclusion was far less spectacular than our lofty daydreams and the Spanish grand prix was a far from stellar weekend for Ferrari.

    It could have gone worse for Vettel and Raikkonen; they could, for example, have been McLaren drivers. While Jenson Button was hauling his McHonda around in 18th place and complaining about incessant understeer Fernando Alonso was forced into retirement with brake failure who, at the time, was running in 13th place.

    Let’s remind ourselves that this is the mighty McLaren. A team once reserved only for the greats such as John Surtees, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna. A team that has amassed 182 racewins now reduced to retirements and also-rans. In the innermost part of your racing heart you know that it’s just wrong and desperately sad. It’s difficult to quantify just how far McLaren are from their once inspiring prominence but Jenson Button and Fernando Alonsoaccount of the “scary to drive” car is illuminating and quite disturbing.

    Jenson Button_Spain 2015Sebastian Vettel secured his customary third place on the grid but over on the other side of the garage a bit of a freak accident meant Raikkonen’s tyres were overcooked and the Finn was forced to set his Q3 time on a used set which netted him seventh on the starting grid. Things didn’t go spectacularly better in the race either. Vettel had a bit of a fight for second with Hamilton but was ultimately relegated to third. Raikkonen too turned a decent pace with yet another impressive stint on the harder, and slower, compound tyre. Yet, Ferrari conceded the biggest victory margin to Mercedes of the season so far.

    The first four races of the 2015 season haven’t painted a pretty picture for Nico Rosberg. He has been so comprehensively whipped by Lewis Hamilton that his psychological well-being came into question. A mini-meltdown after the Chinese grand prix and a lacklustre Bahrain grand prix rendered a rather gloomy outlook for the once championship contender.

    And while we were rightly discouraged by Rosberg’s lack of grit deep-down we were hoping for resurgence from the number 6 Mercedes. Now, one race doth not make a consistent Hamilton-beater but it has to start somewhere and he is the most likely contender. Given that thenext round is the Monte Carlo grand prix with which Rosberg has quite the love affair this Spanish Gpwin could turn out to be an important turning point for Nico.