F1 Madness

Tag: sergio perez

  • F1 2019: Baku Gp Review – Bottas 2.0 Wins Again

    F1 2019: Baku Gp Review – Bottas 2.0 Wins Again

    Since joining the Mercedes team at the start of the 2017 season Valtteri Bottas has had impressive races. But there was recognition by all other drivers that if you show him a front wheel he’d, embarrassingly, give way. But the Valtteri Bottas that has been unleashed at the start of the 2019 season is far removed from the driver of the last two seasons.

    Finns are notoriously measured in how much they say and at the start of Sunday’s Baku grand prix Bottas let his peerless driving do all the talking. The manner in which he held his car inches from teammate Hamilton made it clear that he wasn’t going to budge nor was going to simply give up the lead of the race if he could help it. His statement was clear – you’re going to have to go through me. That tenacity kept him the lead of the race off the start line and he backed it up with a faultless drive to secure the fifth win of his F1 career.

    Mercedes, quite literally, could not have started the season in a more perfect manner than scoring a one-two victory in all four of the races so far in 2019. Operationally, there are no teams on the grid that can touch the might of Mercedes. They arrived on Friday genuinely unsure of their pace. It appeared that Ferrari easily had the measure of the circuit and a pace advantage that seemed insurmountable. But if nothing else Mercedes must be respected and lauded for the stunning work they do behind the scenes.

    2019 Azerbaijan GPIf it’s organizational brilliance at Mercedes then at Ferrari it is the calamitous opposite. The dubious decision to put both cars out on the medium compound tyre for the second session of qualifying was the beginning of Ferrari’s unraveling this weekend. Not only was the track temperature not conducive to the medium tyre but also strategically it made little sense for Sunday’s race, more on that later.

    It resulted in both drivers hitting the turn 8 wall with Leclerc coming off worst with a wrecked front suspension. Vettel was able to carry on but only managed third on the grid after failing to cash in on the slipstream benefit. Ferrari had gone from a near guaranteed front-row locked out to third and eighth on grid.

    But still they had a chance; At least until it came time to make their strategy call. Leclerc made decent headway on the more durable medium tyre in the opening stint of the race and looked set for good result, perhaps even a podium. But Ferrari has become rather infamous for mad strategic calls and it was no different in Baku. They left Leclerc out on track despite the fact that he was losing, often, more than a second per lap to the chasing pack of Bottas, Hamilton, Vettel, and Verstappen. Eventually Bottas and Hamilton made their pitstops, closed down Leclerc and passed him on track. Leclerc eventually finished fifth with a strategy only Ferrari would be able to explain. A late pitstop for fresh tyres earned the Ferrari driver the consolation of an extra point for fastest lap.

    2019 Azerbaijan GPAhead Bottas had the race firmly in control despite a late VSC (Virtual Safety Car) deployed for the stricken Red Bull of Pierre Gasly. Elsewhere the other biggest incident of the race was a misjudgment on the brakes from Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo who took out himself and Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat. To add to his blushes Ricciardo strangely reversed into side of Kvyat when trying to rejoin the track and has been given a three-place grid penalty for the next race in Spain.

    While Bottas and Hamilton secured yet another one-two victory for Mercedes Vettel trundled home third in the Ferrari. Though the German driver was only a handful of second adrift of the Silver Arrows it will be scant comfort on a weekend where Ferrari brought several updates to their car. Max Verstappen finished a solid fourth for Red Bull ahead of Leclerc in fifth.

    Twice a podium finisher in Baku Sergio Perez was sixth for Racing Point ahead of the McLaren duo of Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris. Lance Stroll made it a double-points finish for Racing Point in ninth ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in tenth who started the race from the pitlane in his Alfa Romeo.

    At the start of the season Valtteri Bottas noted that, during the off season, he’d spent a lot of time hiking in the Finnish woods and eating porridge. Whatever he discovered in those woods and whatever is in that porridge it has transformed Valtteri Bottas into an uncompromising and unapologetic racing machine. Long may it continue.

    All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport 
  • F1 2019: Chinese Gp Review – Merc Make it Three in a Row

    F1 2019: Chinese Gp Review – Merc Make it Three in a Row

    For all the hype that surrounded the 1000thgrand prix event the Chinese grand prix didn’t underscore it in the way many would have hoped for.

    For the seventh time in his career Valtteri Bottas lined up in pole position alongside teammate Lewis Hamilton. Ferrari locked out the second row of the grid with Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc respectively. Bottas’ sojourn at the front was short-lived though as Hamilton steamed in the lead of the as soon the red lights went out.

    Behind Leclerc got the better of Vettel into the ever tightening turn one but neither Ferrari seemed able to keep in touch with the Mercedes’ who were steadily disappearing up the road. The opening stint of the race suggested that Vettel had a dash more speed than Leclerc and Ferrari agreed as they ordered the Monegasque driver to let his teammate through. Ferrari’s decision to employ team orders were met with displeasure not only by fans but also by Leclerc himself who voiced his annoyance on the radio. This marks the third time in three races that Ferrari has issued team orders and it was only Leclerc’s choice to ignore the call in Bahrain that meant they weren’t instituted on that occasion.

    Ferrari will have their reasons for issuing team orders this early in the season. But it’s unlikely that many would agree with or accept those reasons. What it is indicative of is that Ferrari still has not learned from past mistakes. In the days of Schumacher team orders worked a treat for Ferrari but then they had the quickest car by a country mile. That certainly isn’t the case now and they need to understand that attempting to fight for a championship with one car is not a winning strategy. They will calm things down with Leclerc but for how long will it suffice before it starts affecting his morale? Strategic decision-making has been one of Ferrari’s most glaring weaknesses over a number of years and what we’ve seen so far in 2019 is that they have not done anything to address or rectify this.

    800_shanghaisunday1-637755It’s the polar opposite at Mercedes as they secured a third one-two victory in as many races. Lewis Hamilton led easily from teammate Valtteri Bottas who in turn matched the race leader’s pace without facing any real threat from Vettel in third. What is absolute fact so far in 2019 is that Mercedes’ W10 is the quicker car for now. But it isn’t the only area in which the team is head and shoulder above their closest rivals. If you were to look for a tangible example of the organizational excellence and strategic brilliance of this team then you need not look further than lap 37 of the Chinese grand prix. The pit crew turned around both Hamilton and Bottas within seconds of each other and it was seamless brilliance. What’s more it was a message, a statement of intent that if Mercedes are to be beaten in 2019 then it will require near perfection from that team.

    While Merc strolled to the chequered flag and Vettel salvaged third for Ferrari Max Verstappen was fourth for Red Bull and never in contention for the podium. Ferrari’s dubious strategy meant Leclerc eventually finished fifth with Pierre Gasly in the second Red Bull significantly adrift in sixth. Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo scored his first points of the season in seventh with Sergio Perez in eighth Racing Point. Kimi Raikkonen maintained his and Alfa Romeo’s run of finishing in the top ten in 2019 with a ninth place finish but driver of the day goes to Toro Rosso’s Alex Albon. The Thai driver was forced to start from the pitlane after a 49G crash in the final practice session precipitated a change of chassis. Albon drove remarkably well to go from the pitlane to tenth place by the time the chequered flag dropped.

    With two wins from three races Lewis Hamilton holds a four-point lead over teammate Bottas in the driver’s standings. More importantly the gap to Vettel and Leclerc already stands at 31 and 32 points respectively. It might only be three races into the season but if Ferrari has any designs on trying to win either title in 2019 they must address their glaring weaknesses and it has to start with their decision-making.

    All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport 
  • 2019 Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    2019 Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    PART ONE: DRIVERS – Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (Alfa Romeo), Alexander ALBON (Toro Rosso), Romain GROSJEAN (Haas), Sergio PÉREZ (Racing Point)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Gentlemen, I’d like to start with a moment of reflection, given that this is Formula 1’s 1000th race. Growing up and watching the sport, what made you want to become a Formula 1 driver? Romain, if we could start with you, please?

    Romain GROSJEAN: Good afternoon. I started watching with my dad, a long time ago. It was the time of the Ayrton Senna versus Alain Prost fights and that was pretty exciting to watch. My dad was always passionate about cars and one day he brought me to a race track – not a Formula 1 race – and I saw the cars going and I thought ‘you know what, that’s what I would like to do’. Then, eventually, I was lucky enough to go to the Monaco Grand Prix to watch the Thursday practice and I saw the car and heard the noise of the engine and it was just something very unique and special, a good memory of my life. I remember going to the toilet and DC was there and he said, ‘oh, you go first son’. He still called me son by then! And I said ‘no, no, you go’. Pretty amazing.

    Q: Thank you. Sergio?

    Sergio PÉREZ: Yeah, for me similar, a similar story. I remember the first race I watched with my dad was ’94 actually, when Aytron had his accident. That was the first race I ever saw. A shock moment, more for my dad than for me. At the time I didn’t understand well what was happening. Obviously from Mexico, Formula 1 is not very big so it always seemed too far, too difficult. It’s been a while since we had a driver, so the history back home wasn’t big. But as a family we always loved the sport and I always wanted to become a Formula 1 driver. At a very young I went to Europe to fight for it. I remember watching so many races, always waking up very early in the morning, because in Mexico the races are very early, six or seven o’clock in the morning. So always on a weekend, when you don’t want to wake up early, I had to, to watch Formula 1. I actually remember watching Kimi back then, at a very young age too.

    Q: Thank you Sergio. Kimi?

    Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: Yeah, I don’t know what year it was, but it was a long time ago, ‘80s, that’s for sure. I think the first memories were somewhere where Keke was racing when he blew up his tyre or something, maybe Adelaide or something, with the long straight, maybe the last races that he did. So anyhow, obviously I was cheering for the Finnish guys, but I didn’t think that I… maybe you dream when you’re a kid, but once you start doing go-karts and everything I didn’t really believe that it was going to happen, because obviously you need a certain amount of money to get from go-karts to racing. Maybe I believed a bit more when I got my managers helping and then actually got to race in Formula cars and then obviously it went very quickly. I guess it was a dream but not very realistic at that point, but it went fast once it started to go there.

    Q: Thank you Kimi. And Alex?

    Alexander ALBON: My hero was Michael Schumacher. That was the guy I always looked up to. I was Ferrari mad actually – even if I should say that or not, I don’t know. But I loved Schumacher. I think I was about six. I was a bit like Romain. I was at Silverstone and there was a competition. You had to fill out the top three drivers that you thought would win the race, or finish in that order, so I just put Michael, Rubens and Montoya. For some reason at that race that’s what happened. I think Barrichello was finishing last or something. So no one wrote what I wrote down. I think it was in hospitality at Ferrari. So I won the prize and got to meet Michael and got to meet Rubens. It stuck with me that. I was always a hardcore fan.

    Q: Thanks to all four of you. Alex, if we could stay with you. Going well so far, you’ve outqualified your team-mate in Australia and Bahrain. Can you describe the learning curve you’ve been on so far in Formula 1?

    AA: Yeah, it’s been steep. Getting in the car in Barcelona, getting up to speed. The speed bit… the cars are so refined now that you do feel quite comfortable with the cars straight away. It’s more the interaction with the team and kind of just extracting performance outside the car, which definitely is a lot about experience. So just being Dany, listening to him really, listening to his feedback, how he communicates with people, it really does help me. But yeah, it’s been going well. Simulator driving, that’s helped a lot as well. But it’s going well so far.

    Q: And are you doing anything different with your helmet this weekend?

    AA: Yeah, so I’ve got a Prince Bira tribute. I thought it would be cool to go back and bring out some of the Thai history in Formula 1. I have a couple of photos, I have his number, well, my number but in his style, because he had the blue and yellow racing scheme. So that’s about it.

    Q: Thanks. Romain, you’re a man in need of some good fortune this weekend in China. Just how was last week’s test session in Bahrain? Did you understand why the car’s pace dropped off in the race?

    RG: Well, it started with three wheels, which didn’t help, after the contact in the first corners. No, we had some good testing. It was a bit disrupted by the rain, which was a surprise to all us in Bahrain on Tuesday, but we did manage, on Wednesday afternoon, to get some good data and info, some interesting set-ups that we should have been running during the race. I think the car is fast and it’s good. You don’t qualify twice in the top 10 if you don’t have a fast car. I think we just missed something in Bahrain that we found at testing, which is good. I think what we need right now is a bit of luck on our side, and to make sure we go through the race with no incident or no issue and we should be able to have a good weekend.

    Q: And anything different with your helmet?

    RG: I’ve changed the design, using the F1 1000 logo – that looks really cool – just the full white helmet. Nothing really from the past of Formula 1 but I was not very… I used to throw all my equipment to the bins of the season, but luckily my wife pushed me to keep at least one thing from every year. I know I’ve got one overall per year, from all my racing career, from go-karts to 2019 season, and actually when I look at them now I think it’s pretty cool. I’ve got some helmets back home that mean more than others. My 100th grand prix helmet and obviously being part of race 1000 in Formula 1 is going to be something big, so that helmet is going to go on the shelf and I really like the design that we have produced. It looks pretty classy and really cool to be driven in China.

    Q: Sergio, it hasn’t been the easiest of starts for the team in 2019, though you did finish in the points last time out. Are there any underlying issues with the car and if there are, what are they?

    SP: I think the upgrade that we brought to the start of the season, given that we didn’t have enough to test or to work on it, I think that put us on the back foot at the moment in the midfield group. We scored points in Melbourne and now in Bahrain. At the moment we are not fast enough, we are not where we want to be, but I think we have proven in the past that it’s a very long season. It doesn’t matter where you are now, it’s where you get to by Abu Dhabi. We are understanding our issues, we have a lot of work to do and I’m pretty sure we will meet all of our targets for this season.

    Q: And your helmet design for this weekend?

    SP: My helmet design didn’t change much. I just wanted to put the 1000 race logo on my helmet just to… it’s obviously very special as a driver to race here, at such a special venue for Formula 1, it’s a very special weekend also. I want, as Romain said, to remember this weekend in many years, to look at this helmet and remember that I was part of the 1000th race in Formula 1.

    Q: Kimi, great start to the season for you and Alfa Romeo, points in both of the opening two races. Can you tell us, what are the strengths of this year’s car and has the performance so far changed your goals for the season?

    Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: No, it hasn’t. I didn’t really have any goals, so it’s pretty hard to change them. I can’t really talk about last year’s car. Obviously I did a test but it’s one track so from my side it’s hard to say what is better on this car than the one they had last year but for sure they did a good job over the winter from the car that I drove in Abu Dhabi in the tyre test to the one we have now. Obviously there’s a lot of things to improve still and it’s a never-ending story and an ongoing thing to try to make it better, holding more downforce and stuff like that – but yeah, I think in general it’s quite a good, solid package and we understand it pretty OK and they seem to have good guys on all areas to bring new stuff. It never comes fast enough but that’s a normal issue in any team you go to. Yeah, I think the basis there is to make it faster all the time, so keep it up and see what we’ve got when we get to the end of the year.

    Q: Anything different on the helmet design to celebrate 1000 races?

    KR: No. I wanted to have an open-face helmet but there were some regulation issues…!

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines / racefans.net) Checo, you say your helmet design hasn’t changed much but I’m hearing from an insider that your helmet has actually changed. Do you have a different brand for this race?

    SP: Yeah, in that regard yes. I’ve moved to Bell. I’ve been in a long term partnership with Schuberth which I’m very thankful for, I think it’s a fantastic helmet. Now I had the opportunity to change and I think Bell is also a fantastic helmet. I’ve tried it, and it’s my first race with them now. I started my career in Formula One with them and now I’m going back to Bell.

    Q: (Steven Wade – AP) Kimi, we see that this summer you’re going to break an F1 record for the most races contested, how do you stay motivated? You’ve had tremendous success already, how do you stay motivated and stay on top of your game?

    KR: I don’t know really. I don’t have any special things that I try to motivate myself. It’s become more of a hobby for me lately than anything else and probably that’s why it’s more fun again, so, yeah, I always try to do the best that I can. Some days it goes a bit better than others – but that’s how it goes when you do a lot of racing. Some days it’s a bit more tricky than others. It’s never really been an issue. A lot of people think so but, y’know, everybody has the right to say what they think. I just try to do what I can and hopefully… when I feel myself that it’s not what I expect from myself then obviously I try to find a new hobby after that.

    Q: (Michael Butterworth – Xinhua News Agency) To all four drivers, keen to know your thoughts on the Shanghai circuit and if there are any particular features or characteristics that make it especially challenging or unique?

    AA: Well, it’s my first time here, so a little bit hard to say but just coming from watching videos and being on the simulator it just seems like there’s about a thousand lines you can do here. A lot of corners leading onto other corners so it seems like there’s a lot of different styles, pushing entries or pushing exits. So yeah, it seems to be a really technical track. So, it’s interesting for the drivers, that’s for sure.

    KR: I think it’s a nice track. It’s been the same since I came here the first time but some good overtaking opportunities and quite good fun to drive.

    SP: It’s quite a long circuit: long straights, very long corners, like Turn One which is quite hard when you first get here. First lap it’s always very hard to reach the apex because it’s so late in the corner that it kind of gets you. Also, the wind is very difficult here. So it’s quite a unique place, I’d say. Normally good racing and a nice feeling on one lap – it’s definitely a circuit I enjoy.

    RG: It’s a good circuit. One of the challenges is to get here on time in the morning. Racing it quite fun, as Kimi said. Qualifying laps are always good and then in the race the challenge is to look after your tyres, especially the fronts with those long corners: Turn One, Turn Seven-Eight, 13. That can really make a huge difference if you’ve used your tyres too much or not. Then you can have some really good racing. It’s a pretty good place to come.

    Q: (Stuart Codling – Autosport) Question for Alex. The 2021  technical regulations are currently taking shape and are under discussion. The desired outcomes are for a more level playing field, for there to be more overtaking opportunities. Do you think that reducing the amount of data capture would provide that – or would it actively be a problem for drivers, such as you, who are just coming into the sport? Would it be a disadvantage?

    AA: To promote overtaking? I wouldn’t say reducing data would effect overtaking. On my side at least, data is just for getting lap-time, it wouldn’t be a tool to affect passes, no.

    Would if make your job harder if there were no data?

    AA: In general, yeah, I would say so. I think data now in Formula One is huge. Especially for me, it’s a fast-track to get getting up to speed and even just about getting performance. It’s definitely something I use a lot, I compare with Dany quite a lot. I think some drivers look at data more than others. I’m a driver that looks at data quite a lot. Just to get up to speed. I’m using it a lot right now. For passing or overtaking, no.

    Q: (Velimir Jukic Avto-Focus) Question for Kimi. They say you are slower for each kid by about one second. How are you compensating for this now that you have two seconds slower conditions to drive?

    KR: Maybe I somehow go faster at the same time to compensate it! I don’t think that kids make any difference. There are an awful lot of stories based on nothing in F1. I didn’t ever feel that there’s something happening on my driving when our family got bigger – but I don’t know. I guess it depends from people to people also. Sometimes it might have an effect but at least on our side, on my side, I don’t feel it. Obviously the life changes a lot outside of racing but yeah, pure driving they didn’t really effect on my side.

    I might just through that to Checo and Romain…

    SP: Similar to Kimi I think it doesn’t…. Formula One drivers are all normal, when we’re driving we don’t think we have family, we have kids, we just want to go as fast as we possibly can. I think outside of racing it changes, you sleep a lot less looking after your kids! All of a sudden a Formula One race weekend becomes a holiday, because you’re able to sleep longer, and so on – but it’s a lot of fun and it doesn’t really affect at all. If it takes one second it means in the past we were really quick! Because we have a couple of seconds in th pocket, it means a lot.

    Romain, anything to add?

    RG: No, no. I think what the boys said is the truth. It changes you as a man back home. It changes your whole life and perspective and probably helps you more than it slows you down. When you’ve had a tough weekend and you come back home, it doesn’t matter, they love you and you love them more than anything, so it puts things in perspective. But yeah, with three kids now, three seconds off the pace, my goodness… quite happy to be qualifying in the top ten!

    Alex, any children we don’t know about?

    AA: No!

    Q: (Julien Billiotte – AutoHebdo) How do you think Formula One will look for race number 2000 in forty or fifty years’ time? Will car racing still exist and what kind of cars could we see on track? Or would you like to see on track?

    RG: Actually I already answered that question. It’s a tough one. I’ve got no idea what the cars are going to be like in forty, fifty years. The only thing I would say is that I hope there is still going to be a driver driving the car because that’s where the emotion goes. If you hold a football game with just robots it’s not going to be much fun so I hope there are going to be drivers.  Technology will be very different, I’m sure, but the sense of racing has been here since 1950, the first F1 race where the guys driving at their best, trying to overtake the guy in front of them and going as fast as they could with what they had and oversteer was oversteer back then and understeer is back today so I think the feeling was the same so I hope the guys would have as much fun as we do have today.

    SP: Yeah, same. Technology these days is developing scarily so I really hope that in the future we still have the drivers and that they are able to have as much fun as we do or because I think things are going to change massively. I really hope that things change the same, at least. Obviously they were will be very different, I think, probably they might be electric in a couple of years –  I hope in many more years. For the drivers, they will still be important. I don’t know if it was in the past but these days the driver is less important, the driver can make less of a difference and it’s now all related to the team so I think for the future and for the time that I’m here I can see a different Formula One where the driver can make the difference instead of the team.

    KR: Yeah, it’s impossible to know what will happen. Probably there will be racing, some sort of racing, who knows what? It’s been 1000 races so I don’t think it’s going to disappear suddenly somehow but who knows? We’ll find out.

    AA: Yeah, same as them. As long as we have a job or the future racing drivers have a job then I’m happy.

    Q: (Zoran Zivkov – Top Speed Magazine) When you look at the past and history, if you’d had a time machine, in which period, in which era, would you like to come back?

    AA: I haven’t really thought about that. I’d say old school, 1950s. I want to see how the sport was back then. I know it’s dangerous so maybe I will bring my HANS device with me and we will see but I think that kind of racing is cool and I’d like to try it out.

    KR: I’ve gone back for the second one any more. I guess in the past, I would look at seventies, sixties, late sixties, seventies. For sure it would have been more fun, more relaxed, more pure racing but obviously much more dangerous but that’s normal at that time.

    Q: We saw you with a James Hunt helmet a few years ago, didn’t we?

    KR: Bit more than a few years but yeah.

    SP: Yeah, I think that 1960s, 70s, those times were good fun. The driving looked very dangerous of course; for the driver, it depended on the risk you took that maybe made the difference. I think it’s something that all my career I have missed. Always the difference is made by the cars and not so much by the drivers. I think back then it was good fun. It looked really good. Also the atmosphere was really relaxed. I think these days Formula One is too posed. I wish it was a bit more relaxed and people enjoying themselves more.

    RG: Yeah, not going that far (back). I’m really in love with ’93, ’94 and then 2005 and 2006. I wish that Kimi was back then: yeah, you were racing. I love the cars around that time and they looked amazing and there was a tyre war as well which was quite fun to watch from outside, I thought, and refuelling and the cars looked really really cool in mid-2000. I drove a 2007 car, it was quite good then.

    Q: (Duan Yiyi – Titan Sports) Kimi, no matter which team you are in you always seem to be the fans’ favourite here in China, so from your perspective what characteristics do you have to attract so many fans in China?

    KR: I have no idea. You should go and ask them. I think generally in Japan, China we Finnish people seem to have a lot of fans. It’s great, especially here. I cannot go anywhere but that’s a part of… the other side of the fans. I’ve always had a lot of fans here, since the first time we came here so I’m happy about it. I don’t know the reason. I guess you would probably get the answer if you go and ask some in front of our hotel, you can ask them there. Or at the airport.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines, RaceFans.net) You may have noticed that in Bahrain McLaren was sponsored by an e-cigarette brand, Vipe. Particularly the three fathers there, how do you feel about this? Do you feel it sets the right sort of example for your children?

    RG: Oh dear. I’m going to dig my own oar. Right. I think you want to watch on Netflix, because they are our friends now, whatever content you can. I am the first one to tell my friends to stop smoking and I’ve actually achieved that a few times and I’m quite proud of that. I think e-cigarettes are maybe less bad. I think if they want to sponsor Formula One why not. I’ve been with Total for many many years which is an oil company in France or worldwide and we’ve actually done some amazing experiences together and you could say that oil is actually not good for the environment and so on but I think companies like Total are trying to do a lot for the environment and just producing oil. So I think, in the end, I don’t know much about e-cigarettes to be fair, but if it’s better for health reasons, if it’s less smelly as well… You know, we just came up the stairs and it smelled of cigarettes like hell. Same when you leave an airport. First thing you do when you go out of an airport, everyone is smoking his first cigarette and it stinks.  If this year it can be better somehow then great. If it’s better then why not and if it helps our sport then great.

    SP: Yeah, Romain did a good job with that one.

    KR: No, I have no issue. I don’t see the connection that if my son sees advertising on any of the… doesn’t matter if it’s alcohol or cigarettes, something, I don’t believe that that affects his choices whatsoever. That’s my belief on that. Did it affect my choices when I have seen them in the past? Rules are rules, whether you can do it or not, that’s not my business but I have no worries.

    RG: … point that Kimi’s bringing in, because we watched Formula One when there was a lot of cigarette advertising on the cars: Williams, Jordan, Ferrari, McLaren. I’ve never smoked all my life but I’ve been watching a lot of races so I don’t think there’s any connection there.

  • F1 2019: Australian GP Preview – Ready to go

    F1 2019: Australian GP Preview – Ready to go

    It’s been an awfully long wait but the start of the 2019 season is here. Twenty-one races, several countries and continents and a excess of expectation await.

    Everyone is clamouring to understand and predict the pecking order and while there is a rough idea of who sits where, at least at the top, Formula 1 has always been better when it’s been unpredictable. Still, the probability is that Ferrari are a smidge ahead of Mercedes on pace. But given the unique layout of Australia’s circuit this may not count for much.

    The traditional season-opener around the semi-permanent Albert Park circuit is unlike any other on the calendar and thus makes it an outlier in terms of performance. The fiddly track is akin to a street circuit albeit with a bit more run off area should the odd mistake arise.  The layout comprises a mixture of medium speed corners and places an emphasis on stability under the braking. It is highly possible for a car to go well around this circuit and not truly be one in the running come Abu Dhabi in December but there are still 25 points for the one who sees the chequered flag first which makes it as important as any of the races in the line-up.

    New for 2019 are the aero regulations surrounding the front and rear wing area of the car as well as the simplification of the barge boards. In addition, three colours have replaced the rainbow selection of tyre compounds for this season. White, yellow, and red will make up the range of compounds with white being the hardest of the weekend, yellow the medium, and red the softest tyre available.

    Valtteri Bottas_Silverstone 2017_Thursday P1It’s a big year for the teammates. At Mercedes Valtteri Bottas has to impress Toto Wolff and co enough to keep Esteban Ocon out of his seat. Not in the Finn’s favour is the fact that in order to do so he has to beat, or at least match, his teammate and five-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. It’s a tall order for the Bottas but his task is crystal clear.

    At Ferrari expectations are high for young Charles Leclerc too. All indications are that the Monegasque driver has all the speed he needs to well at the Italian team but it remains to be seen how he’ll handle the pressure of racing for the most famous mark in motorsport.

    The rivalry between Max Verstappen and his new teammate Pierre Gasly hasn’t been given as much attention as the previous two but is no less intriguing. The French driver arrives from Toro Rosso where he easily had the beating of Brendon Hartley. It will be significantly more difficult to consistently out-perform someone like Verstappen.

    All of this and the incredibly tight battle for mid-field supremacy hasn’t even made into the conversation yet. While Williams, now sans technical director Paddy Lowe, are unfortunately expected to prop up the rear of the grid the battle between the likes of Renault, Haas, and Alfa Romeo appears especially tight. The most important thing that needs to be known, for now, is that Formula 1 2019 is here.

  • Abu Dhabi Gp Review – Hamilton Win Brings Down the Curtain

    Abu Dhabi Gp Review – Hamilton Win Brings Down the Curtain

    Despite the fact that the 2018 Formula 1 season consisted of 21 races it ran through the calendar rather quickly. As the season finale Abu Dhabi grand prix brought down the curtain on a season that will be remembered by many for a variety of reasons.

    One of the biggest and most lasting memories of F1 2018 will be Lewis Hamilton. An unrelenting and near faultless charge has earned him a fifth drivers’ title which he easily capped with victory in Abu Dhabi. The victory marks the eleventh of the season for Hamilton who was never troubled on his way to the chequered flag.

    The race got underway in dramatic fashion as a clash between Romain Grosjean and Nico Hulkenberg sent the latter into a barrel roll. Stewards rightly deemed it a racing incident as Hulkenberg was able to walk away from the spectacular crash without injury. The safety car was needed to clear up the debris by which time the fast starting Charles Leclerc had already dispatched Daniel Ricciardo to be running fifth.

    Up ahead Lewis Hamilton’s easily gapped teammate Valtteri Bottas at the restart after the safety car period. The Ferrari’s of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen followed in third and fourth. Though he started sixth on the grid Max Verstappen dropped to tenth at the start of the race as his engine engaged a safety mode off the start line. At the restart of the race he found himself in close attendance with none other than Esteban Ocon and his Force India teammate Sergio Perez. He got past the Perez relatively easily but it would take slightly more to get eighth off Ocon. Nevertheless, from quite a long way back he dove for the inside line into the Turn 7 hairpin and with a bit of contact was past the Frenchman. There is no doubt that he would’ve had the Brazil incident well in his mind.

    FORMULA 1 2018 ETIHAD AIRWAYS ABU DHABI GRAND PRIXA lap later Kimi Raikkonen pulled off to the side of the start/finish straight as his Ferrari succumbed to an electrical failure. Despite attempting to restart the car there was nothing to be done as the Finn signed off his career at Ferrari with a DNF. Raikkonen’s stricken Ferrari did bring out the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) which allowed race leader Hamilton to score a relatively cheap pitstop.

    While Hamilton pitted early Red Bull attempted the opposite strategy with Daniel Ricciardo by running the Australian driver much longer on his Ultrasoft tyres. Though he led the race for some time it was clear that Hamilton had the pace to negate any advantage Red Bull would get from running longer. Astonishingly and despite being in the desert the camera picked up spots of rain. The few drops though weren’t enough to affect the track surface and Ricciardo dived into the pits on lap 34. He emerged in fifth and seemed to set to make a go of getting on the podium in his final race for Red Bull.

    Further ahead Vettel took advantage of Bottas’ mistake and snatched second place from the Finn. It wasn’t too long before another error allowed Verstappen onto his gearbox and eventually past him. Ricciardo too made short work of the doleful Bottas who eventually finished fifth. There is much for the Finn to contemplate over the winter as he now has the unenviable stat of being the first Mercedes driver since 2012 to not win at least one race in the season.

    While there was little in the way of a close battle at the sharp-end of the race the midfield ensured for several dices with a three-way battle for position between Stoffel Vandoorne, Romain Grosjean and Sergio Perez providing the best entertainment.

    2018 Abu Dhabi GPIt was as easy a Sunday drive as Hamilton has likely experienced in 2018 and it demonstrates a shift in his own mentality too. In previous years his motivation would take a determined dip after securing the title but it never materialized in 2018. It is a great testament to Hamilton and his ability that despite a near faultless season he still sees room for improvement.

    While Hamilton upped his tally of wins to 73 Sebastian Vettel secured second with Verstappen in third for Red Bull. Daniel Ricciardo’s late charge fizzled before the chequered flag but in his 100thrace for Red Bull still finished a solid fourth. While Bottas dejectedly trundled home in fifth Carlos Sainz was best of the rest in sixth. 2019 Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc was seventh ahead of Sergio Perez in eighth while Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen completed the top ten. Though Nico Hulkenberg was out on lap 1 he maintained his seventh position in the championship standings. Elsewhere, Kimi Raikkonen finished third in the driver’s standings despite not seeing the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi.

    There should rightly be a few days of reflection about the 2018 Formula 1 season. After all, it provided extreme highs and created memories that will likely live on for quite some time. But Formula 1 is a sport that relentlessly focuses on the future and with 107 days to go to the Australian grand prix it cant come soon enough.

    All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport
  • 2018 Formula 1: Mexican Grand Prix

    2018 Formula 1: Mexican Grand Prix

    DRIVERS – Sergio PÉREZ (Racing Point Force India), Carlos SAINZ (Renault), Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (Ferrari), Pierre GASLY (Toro Rosso), Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Sergio, it’s your home race this weekend?

    Sergio PÉREZ: It’s amazing. Since the first year we’ve had the Mexican Grand Prix it’s been big. We’ve seen in other countries that sometimes it backs away, but it doesn’t happen. Here the people, the media, everyone is so excited about this weekend. It’s been great, you know. The amount of support that I’ve received during the weekend is amazing and I think, once again, we’re going to have an amazing grand prix.

    Q: You’ve finished in the points every year since the race returned. How confident are you of a repeat this weekend?

    SP: That’s the minimum target, you know, to score the points here, but I hope that this weekend I do my best result through them. I think we should be string. We should be fighting to be best of the rest. Renault was very strong last weekend but I think we should be there and hopefully we score a lot of points for the team.

    Q: Pierre, if we could come to you please. Looking back at Austin last weekend, you ran some aerodynamic upgrades on the car, then took them off just before qualifying. Are you going to be using them here, what can you tell us about that?

    Pierre GASLY: Yeah, in Austin it wasn’t ideal with the weather conditions, so we a new package that we could not run until P3 and yeah, basically, we need more mileage, more running with this one to really understand how to use the package and extract the full potential, so we took it off before the qualifying. This weekend we are going to run it again. We’ve got only one part, so this time Brendan is going to get it on the car and hopefully we can learn a bit more about how to use it.

    Q: Looking ahead to 2019, it’s very clear what Red Bull Racing are going to get as far as you’re concerned but what about Honda, especially in light of recent upgrades they have introduced?

    PG: I think things look really promising. They are working really hard. We saw in Suzuka, we went to all the factories and you can see the dedication and commitment from the people. There is a big opportunity ahead of Honda. They’re going to be in a relationship with Red Bull. They have been struggling in the last few years but next year we are going to be in a position to fight for the top positions. They really want to make the best out of this situation. I think the progress they’ve made over the last few weeks with that new spec is really encouraging and they are still working on next year’s engine, trying to extract even more performance. For sure we need to give them time, for sure it’s super difficult to catch up with Mercedes and Ferrari but slowly they are catching up and I’m really confident they will keep improving and I’m really excited to see what they can do ahead of next year.

    Q: Thank you. Carlos, let’s start by looking back at Austin last weekend. It was Renault’s biggest single-race score of the season. Was that track specific or are you confident that you can repeat that this weekend here in Mexico?

    Carlos SAINZ: Let’s say that after some three or four races the team decided to do a bit of a rethink on how we approach weekends and how we can maybe score some better results and Austin was a great example of a good team effort but at the same time a track that was suiting us better – a lot more low-speed corner that our car works well on; a bit less power sensitive, that obviously in qualifying we feel it, so a combination of hard work but also a track that was suiting us better made us score a very strong result, which we needed for that fourth place in the championship. I think Mexico is another great opportunity to score a double points finish. It’s still less power sensitive; it’s quite a lot of low-speed corners, so it could present some good opportunities, but we need to stay as focused and as determined as we were in Austin for sure.

    Q: Let’s throw it forward to 2019. How are you preparations with McLaren coming along? Have you had any contact, or does that not happen until January 1st? 

    CS: Of course there has been some contact. There has been some organisation of how to plan the winter, but nothing to do with performance or… engineering talking, let’s put it like that. I think I’m fully committed to this project, to the Renault, until the end of the year – until, really, Sunday afternoon after Abu Dhabi – and I think my results in the second half of the season are proving it. We are scoring a lot of points, I think it’s 17 points since Hungary, and finally my season is starting to come together. I’m very pleased, very happy with how things are going here and I really want to finish my season with Renault, my time with Renault, on a high, like we are doing now.

    Q: Thank you Carlos. Max, I’d also like to look at Austin with you. Tremendous race by you; 18th to second. We saw you overtake more cars than any other race you’ve done. How do you reflect on last weekend? Was it one of the best races of your career?

    Max VERSTAPPEN: It was definitely a good one but it’s difficult to choose if it’s going to be the best. I also don’t want to really look at it like that. It’s always important to try to score the most points as possible, especially when you start at the back. I think we didn’t expect to really fight for the podium but looking at the year before as well, we were really competitive in the race and again it showed this time out as well. Doing the opposite strategy I think seemed to be working well and to be at the end of the race fighting for victory was very nice. And of course to hang on to second in the last few laps was challenging with the tyres I had, but also a lot of fun.

    Q: Well you won this grand prix last year and the RB14 is clearly performing well. Of the three remaining races this season, do you think this is your best chance of another victory?

    MV: This is definitely the best chance for us. We’ll try to set up the car in the best way possible and we’ll find out how we’re going to perform. I don’t think in qualifying we have a chance but in the race we anyway seem to be working a lot better, so I expect this to be better than Austin.

    Q: Thank you Max. Kimi, thank you for waiting. Great to see you back on the top step of the podium last weekend in Austin. Can you just tell us with the benefit of hindsight how much you enjoyed that race and everything that came after – and did you send a cap home for Robin?

    Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: No, it’s for the wife but I’ll bring it with me after this race. It was a great result obviously and a good race and we had to fight for it quite a bit, so I think it didn’t come easy. But I think it’s good for us and good for everybody. I think it was an exciting race. What else to say? We were happy. Hopefully this weekend we will be strong. The end result we’ll see on Sunday, but we’ll do our best.

    Q: This has been your best season since rejoining Ferrari in 2014. It’s also your last season with Ferrari, so how will you reflect on 2018?

    KR: I don’t know. Obviously we’ve gone through it and I don’t see much point to look afterwards at what we did. It’s not going to change anything and we’ll see where we finish. It’s not what we want in the end result, but we did our best and we’ll finish maybe third, maybe fourth, maybe somewhere behind that. It’s not ideal. But it could be worse.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Fernando Alonso – Motorlat) It’s a question to everyone. How do you think about the relationship between the experience and the young? Because here we have this mix of drivers, with Kimi like the most experienced, and Pierre like the rookie. But all of you have an opinion and how is the age working for your growing in the results you have with your team. What are your thoughts about that?

    Q: Well, Kimi, you recently turned 39 and you’ve just won a grand prix, so how is age helping you?

    KR: I don’t know if it’s helping or harming but it seems to be working still OK. I guess a certain amount of experience helps, that’s for sure. But I think in this sport it’s not probably that necessary to have a massive amount, because you can do a lot of things on simulators. We are doing basically the same tracks. If it’s 5 kilometres, or four, or whatever it is, we are all going to learn it. It’s not like 10 million miles will help more than the shorter distances. In rally it helps a lot more, the experience, but I think for me it’s helpful. I feel better, for sure, than when I started, in the first year. But I guess there is a certain points when it doesn’t make such a big difference anymore.

    Q: Max, you’ve achieved a lot at a very young age. How difficult was it for you when you first came into Formula 1?

    MV: Well, for me, I think it’s still the more experience I get, the faster I’ll become, so I haven’t stopped learning.

    Pierre?

    PG: I think, for sure, age is probably not that important – maturity is the main thing. For sure, the experience is useful. I’m only in my first complete season and I don’t know how I’m going to be after five years, but I can feel already the difference now, compared to a year ago when I came in Malaysia for my first race, so you just get more confidence, you know how things work. Probably after four or five years things become a bit more automatic. I’ll see that in the future.

    Q: Checo?

    SP: I think experience helps in how you can direct a team, how you can build it around you, how much progress you can make with your car, with the set-up. I think experience really helps and makes a difference. I think it’s definitely a good bonus. As Kimi said as well, you get to a point where nothing really changes. Your speed and a bit of experience always helps as well.

    And Carlos?

    CS: Yeah, I agree with Checo there, that experience helps you a lot to get to know yourself, how to extract the maximum potential of yourself, within a team and within a car, within a set-up. With more experience, the faster you get, as Max said. But at the same time it gives me a lot of tranquility to see that a guy that is 39 years old can win in Formula 1. There’s a lot of time ahead for many of us and seeing Kimi winning last weekend also showed that Formula 1 is one of those sports where you can be successful at a later age.

    Q: (Lawrence Barretto – F1.com) Kimi, can you just talk us through the 24 hours after your victory? How did you celebrate? What did you say to your family and to your little boy when you had a chance to talk to him?

    KR: They were very happy when we talked. We had a small party. It takes a long time to recover these days, so that part is definitely not the nice part – but the first part is always fun. Not really much, just a few friends and that’s about it.

    Q: (Janne Palomaki – Iltalehti) Kimi, your victory last Sunday was received in Finland with overwhelming joy and collective euphoria. Even some political leaders joined in congratulating you. How did it make you feel – and were there any especially surprising congratulations for you?

    KR: I haven’t really looked that much on the news so obviously I don’t know who has. I’m happy if people are happy. The main thing is that I feel good, what I’m doing. The rest, some nice, some not, and that’s absolutely fine. Yeah, I think obviously it’s great. I don’t think we always have the biggest support from Finland. So, I don’t know, when we get it, we’ll take it – but, like I said, I don’t know exactly if somebody congratulated. Not many people have my number so it’s not going to be that direct. Like I said, I don’t read too much stuff on the ‘net, so… I’m more than happy and will take all the good wishes on board. We go forward and see what we can do.

    Q: (Jim Vertuno – AP) Checo, Formula One is back in Latin America. You’ve been the only Latin American driver now on the grid for a couple of seasons and it’s been a long time since there’s been a champion. What do you see as the future for Latin American drivers in F1? Is there one – and what sort of obstacles do you think they face right now?

    SP: Well, I think being in Formula One for whatever nationality or any driver is very hard, y’know? To reach Formula One and to maintain in Formula One is very hard. As you say, it’s only me at the moment and it’s just hard. I see some others coming through, through the series but the journey to reach Formula One is very hard – especially for the Latin Americans. Because we are the ones that have to go to Europe at a very young age, sacrifice a lot more than the European drivers, in a way. It’s very hard – but there are some coming through. We’ll see whether they reach it or not – but it’s just how Formula One is. It’s very hard to reach it.

    Q: (Rik Spekenbrink – AD Sportswereld) Question for Max Verstappen. You return here as the last winner. You were in that situation only once in Spain last year. Does it change something in your approach, in self-confidence, in your love for a circuit – or is it just business as usual.

    MV: It’s the same.

    Q: (Alfredo Lopez Ledesma – MomentoGP) My question is for Max. Christian Horner told yesterday that the Honda engines was 0.6 faster than the Renault unit at Austin. Do you really think that Red Bull-Honda will be a real challenge for the championship next year?

    MV: It is, of course, difficult to say, because we still need to develop a very strong car. So, we’ll find out next year. I think initially we may be not strong enough to really fight for a victory but I think throughout the season we’ll definitely catch up. That’s how we’re planning. So hopefully it will work out like that.

    Q: (Carlos Alberto Velazquez – Reforma) Question for Kimi. In the last three races here in Mexico there has been three different winners. It’s time to you and Ferrari to win. Do you feel that this weekend as confident as in Austin to make all the Ferrari Mexican fans happy this weekend?

    KR: For sure as a team we’ll give our best – but we cannot guarantee anything. Right now we’ll work as normal from Friday to Sunday and then at the end of the race we’ll see what we get out from it. But we’ll do our maximum and hopefully we’ll be up there fighting for the victory.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines, Racefans.net) Sergio, over the five years that you’ve been at Force India, you’ve been able to establish yourself as a major player for the team, both through results and although through your commercial partners etc., But for next year, your team-mate is highly likely to be the son of the team owner. How do you think that will affect the team dynamic?

    SP: I don’t think it will change. At the end of the day, the interests of all the team, even the team buyer, the team owner is that the team is very successful. So, for that you need both cars to be at 100 per cent and for the team to develop as quickly as possible. So, for that you really need full performance. So, I think if that happens, he’s coming in to a great team with great people, engineers, where he’s going to grow a lot. I see great things for the team. I think we have all the guidance, we just need the budget and I think we can be a massive surprise next year.

    Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) To all the drivers, except Kimi. Do you think you would have won the Championship if you had been driving for Ferrari this year?

    MV: I’m not driving for Ferrari so I’d prefer not to comment.

    Pierre, anything to add?

    PG: Similar. It’s difficult to say something about a car you’ve never tried – but probably with my experience it would have been difficult.

    Checo?

    SP: Very, very hard to know. Certainly I would have been a lot closer!

    Carlos?

    CS: Impossible to say. Nothing. I don’t know. If I try the car I’ll let you know. Impossible to say.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS) Max and Kimi, do you think this circuit is a true Mercedes circuit or can all three teams fight for victory? And does it make your life easier that Lewis doesn’t need a win?

    KR: I think that if you look at the past years, all three teams being up there, and then it really depends on the small things whoever came out on top. It’s impossible… it’s pointless to start guessing right now who’s going to be up there, or if one team is going to be better than another. We don’t know. If we look at previous races it can go either way. I don’t know if it’s going to be any easier if he only needs three points to get the championship but who knows?

    MV: I don’t know. It will be close between them in qualifying and I think we will be a little bit behind but in the race we definitely have a chance, I think. And about Lewis, I think as a driver you always want to win so I don’t think that changes a lot.

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Carlos, Kimi and Pierre: you guys are all switching teams for next season. The Abu Dhabi test, after the race, is an opportunity to get first experience of that new team. Have you thought about driving for your new team in Abu Dhabi and do you believe that that will happen?

    CS: Yeah, as you said, it’s a good opportunity to try this year’s car – obviously not next year’s car which is not the same. I’m focussing on these three races. I think my management and company are looking into whether it’s possible or not but at the moment it’s not decided yet or nothing has been clarified.

    Q: Kimi, any decisions about you and Sauber?

    KR: We’ll see. I think we’re quite open to any decisions.

    PG: At the moment it’s not really decided so we’ll see what happens in the next four weeks but it will be a good opportunity to start working with the team ahead of next year.

    Q: (Jaap de Groot – De Telegraaf) Max, could you tell us what the positive and negative effects are of racing at altitude, technical and physical?

    MV: I think the engines will be a little bit closer because it’s just a bit more difficult for them to breath. Downforce-wise you lose a lot of performance and then it’s more about mechanical grip and stuff because even with the biggest wing here you have less downforce than in Monza and I think our car is very good mechanically, anyway, also aerodynamically. Of course, that’s less of a factor so that’s why I think we are normally more competitive on this track than others, even though there is a super long straight in the track, so I think that just explains a lot. Physically it’s not a big deal because it’s so low grip.

    Q: (Francisco Alcalà – Global Com Group) What are your thoughts about Fernando Alonso leaving this season and will you miss him at the end of it?

    PG: Of course. Fernando is a legend of Formula One. I used to watch him before I even started karting, when I was eight years old. For me he’s always been a guy I’ve looked at when I was young. He’s been on top. He won championships with a French team and I remember he was big news, all over the magazines back in France. He’s a fantastic driver, for sure it’s a shame to lose a character like him but he probably has other challenges ahead of him and I’m sure we will keep hearing great things about his future.

    MV: Yeah, I think Fernando is a winner and he wants to win races so he didn’t see that happening in the near future and of course he has already tried for a few years so I think I can understand why he’s leaving. Probably some new advantage where he can probably win again. I think that will motivate him very much and then we will see what happens in the future, if he comes back or not.

    KR: We have had some good battles over the years. It’s how it is, unfortunately, and the fact is that we’re all going to stop at some point. We always know that’s coming and us older ones have to go at some point. That’s how it goes and I’m sure he will find some exciting racing for him and who knows what happens in the future.

    SP: Yeah, as Kimi says, at some point we are all going to stop so I think for Fernando the time came. He’s had a tremendous career, he’s a tremendous character, a great guy, one of the guys I get on with so we will definitely miss him but you never know, maybe he comes back in the future, maybe he doesn’t but he’s definitely one of the legends of the sport.

    CS: The fact that he’s leaving I think is a big loss for Formula One, to not have one of the best drivers or the best driver in motor sport on the grid at the moment is a big loss so I think it is something for Formula One and everyone to consider why one of the best drivers is leaving and why we cannot have a bit more competitive grid where many drivers can fight for wins or for podiums. I think it’s a thing to consider and something to think about for the future.

    Q: How much of an influence did he have on you becoming a Formula One driver?

    CS: Obviously the biggest influence on anyone. I followed Formula One, I met him back in 2005, I also remember meeting Kimi back then. Since then, I really decided that I wanted to become a Formula One driver and gave it all to get here. I managed to compete against him for the last four years which have been a dream come true and of course we will miss him.

    Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) To all drivers, although Kimi, you might chose not to answer it: are you a bit surprised by the mistakes that Sebastian Vettel has made this year and do you think that he has thrown this championship away, given the commanding lead he had at the early stages of the season?

    CS: Well, I think it’s always difficult to judge the performance of any other driver and car because you don’t know what they are going through. Of course, there have been some mistakes that we’ve all seen but I think it’s very easy to judge it from the outside and not know what is clearly going on in there. I really respect Sebastian, I think he’s a four time World Champion for a meaning (reason) because he deserves to be a four time World Champion and he will come back eventually. I think he might have gone through a tough moment but I think he will be back.

    SP: Yeah, similar to Carlos. I think Sebastian is a fantastic driver. It’s very hard to judge the performance of someone when you’re not in the team and you don’t know exactly what’s going on. So it makes no sense for me to say. Obviously we have seen some mistakes. Probably at the end he was just desperate, trying to achieve what was probably not possible but he’s a four time World Champion for that reason so he has a great team and he will be back to fight again and he has a great opportunity to fight Lewis. Mercedes also have a fantastic car so it was very hard for him.

    KR: Well the first thing is that sometimes it happens and he pushes and pushes and sometimes he gets it wrong and unfortunately it happened to him a few times. I think we’ve all gone through it, it’s part of the game.

    MV: I can only look at myself. I think it makes no sense to comment on another driver so I don’t want to piss anyone off.

    PG: I think it’s part of racing. You’re always driving at the limit. I think he probably over-performed with the car he had at the beginning of the season. A couple of times he managed to win races which probably they probably didn’t have the potential to win and then of course, expectations were really high. He did a couple of mistakes in the second part of the season. I think he’s the only one who could answer why. When you’re fighting for the championship, you’re so much on the limit all the time, trying to achieve things, as Sergio said, was probably not achievable with the car he had a couple of times and then things happen. They all say he’s a four time World Champion, I think he knows how to manage a championship. It’s not the first time he’s in this position but he’s the only one who could answer that question.

  • F1 2018: USA Gp Review – Masterful Raikkonen Lassos Texas Win

    F1 2018: USA Gp Review – Masterful Raikkonen Lassos Texas Win

    The United States grand prix weekend produced a race for every F1 fan to relish, regardless of where loyalties may lie. There is little doubt that the Circuit of the Americas produced a race that will be long remembered as, so far, the most absorbing and exceptional of the 2018 season.

    It didn’t start off that way as torrential rain-washed out Friday’s free practice sessions. This ultimately meant that drivers and teams were in unknown territory as far as tyre degradation was concerned. Instead of terabytes of data team strategists had to rely on the feel and feedback of their respective drivers.

    Saturday qualifying went the way of Lewis Hamilton but the top three were covered by less than a tenth of a second. But while Sebastian Vettel qualified a mere 0.060 off Hamilton as a result of speeding under the red flag during Friday’s practice session Vettel was demoted three places on the grid. This promoted Kimi Raikkonen, who was only 0.071 adrift, onto the front row. While Valtteri Bottas shared the second row of the starting grid with Daniel Ricciardo the sister Red Bull of Max Verstappen was all the way down in 18th after having broken the rear-suspension in the first session of qualifying.

    With Vettel in fifth Hamilton seemed set for victory and a fifth world title. But Raikkonen swooped into the lead and held off the Merc relatively easily. But as Raikkonen seized the lead of the race Vettel, once again, found himself spinning on the first lap after banging wheels with Ricciardo. It dropped the German down to 15thand seemingly handed the title to Hamilton.

    0148Despite being second to the number 7 Ferrari Hamilton started on the more durable SuperSoft tyre as opposed to Raikkonen who was on the Ultrasoft compound, which should’ve forced the Finn into the pits earlier than the Mercedes driver. However, a virtual safety car (VSC) was deployed to recover the stricken Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo.  By this stage Verstappen, true to form, had roared back into contention and ran comfortably in the top six.

    Under the VSC Hamilton pitted while Raikkonen carried on. Because of the reduced speed of the cars on track during the VSC Hamilton effectively gained nine second on Raikkonen. At the time it looked as if Ferrari, by not pitting, had handed the advantage to Mercedes on a silver platter. The Ferrari strategists seemed sure that with so much of the race to run Hamilton would need to pit again. It didn’t seem a smart move though as Hamilton closed down Raikkonen by two seconds a lap. But the Finn is by far one of the most experienced and savvy drivers on the grid and was able to hold off Hamilton and cost him a significant amount of time; thereby effectively wiping out the advantage he’d gained with the cheap pitstop under the VSC.It turned out that Ferrari were right as Hamilton dived into the pits for a second stop on lap 38. He rejoined in fourth behind teammate Bottas and Red Bull’s Verstappen while Raikkonen took back the lead of the race. Meanwhile Vettel had recovered to fifth and was closing down Bottas, who ceded position to Hamilton, at a rate of knots.

    What followed was, arguably, the best eleven laps of racing that the 2018 season has seen so far. Hamilton needing second to win the title and on significantly fresher tyres demolished the 12-second gap to Verstappen who in turn was never more than 1.5 second behind Raikkonen. But the Brit could go no further once he ran into the Dutch roadblock in the shape of Verstappen. The penultimate lap was the closest Hamilton came to second-place as he went wheel-to-wheel with Verstappen for several corners. But the resolute defending of the Red Bull driver was enough to keep Hamilton in third where he eventually finished.

    0151The Verstappen/Hamilton fight afforded Raikkonen some breathing room as he went on to take the chequered flag in what is undoubtedly a popular win. So spectacular was the race that even Hamilton who started from pole and finished third was clearly chuffed with the day’s racing in the post-race interview. Verstappen too was thrilled with yet another stunning drive through the field to the podium.

    Elsewhere, Vettel recovered to fourth while Bottas trundled home in fifth. It was good day for Renault as Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz finished sixth and seventh. Esteban Ocon finished eighth on track but was later, along with Haas F1’s Kevin Magnussen, disqualified for exceeding fuel-flow regulations. It meant that Sergio Perez inherited eighth as Brendon Hartley and Marcus Ericsson completed the top ten.

    Where has Ferrari sudden resurgence come from? It turns out that the upgrade package, introduced in Singapore, was the catalyst for the team’s downturn in pace over the last three races. It was only after on Friday in Texas that Ferrari reverted to the car they ran in Belgium that the pace re-appeared. It’s a case of too little, too late for the Italian team though as Hamilton needs to outscore Vettel by only five points to win the 2018 title.

    This victory for Raikkonen has been a long time coming and it put on display the best of his considerable talents. It’s even more poetic when you consider that on the very same day in 2007 he became world champion. Those who are more than casual viewers of the sport will recognize that at the age of 39 Kimi Raikkonen clearly hasn’t lost any of his skill or speed.

    All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport
  • F1 2018: Japanes Gp Review – Hamilton Win Virtually Assures Title

    F1 2018: Japanes Gp Review – Hamilton Win Virtually Assures Title

    It’s not pretentious at all to declare that Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes are assured of being champions, again, in 2018. Victory in Japan makes it six wins in the last seven races for Hamilton and with a mammoth 63-point he is every bit the champion presumptive.

    A faultless weekend from Mercedes ensured a front-row lock out on Saturday while an unnerved Ferrari was left scrambling. On Saturday as the clouds rolled in Ferrari’s senseless decision-making reared its head again as both Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel were sent out onto a dry track with Intermediate tyres. Though there was enough team for both drivers to switch to dry tyres it left them with only one lap in the final part of qualifying. While Raikkonen secured fourth Vettel ran off track and was relegated to the fourth row of the grid.

    All wasn’t lost for the would-be championship contender as a good start to Sunday’s race saw him quickly into fourth. But while Hamilton and Bottas pulled away up front Vettel’s impatience got the better of him. Verstappen, who started third, was correctly given a five second time penalty for re-joining the circuit in an unsafe manner at the final chicane. The Red Bull driver had driven into the side of Raikkonen allowing Vettel to pass his teammate and settle on the Verstappen’s gearbox. Clearly faster it appeared to be a matter of time until the Ferrari would find its way past. But Vettel threw caution to the wind and attempted an overtake on Verstappen in Spoon corner. Not only didn’t he make the move stick but he also sent himself into a spin that left him plumb last. He eventually recovered to finish sixth.

    Australian GP Qualifying - Sebastian Vettel, FerrariThere is no denying that from an operational standpoint Ferrari has had some embarrassing blunders on strategy. But the mistakes in the races lay firmly at Vettel’s feet. The lock-up in Baku, the crash with Bottas in France, the bizarre crash while leading in Germany, the crash with Hamilton in Italy, the mistake on the Q3 lap in Japan, and finally the crash with Verstappen in the race.

    Together all of these moments have ensured that unless some truly miraculous happens in the last four races Sebastian Vettel will not be the 2018 champion.

    It’s clear too that Vettel, in 2018, is a far cry from the driver that won four consecutive titles between 2010 and 2013. The reason could very well be the cockpit he’s currently sitting in. The pressure of being a Ferrari driver and the constant demand and expectation to win in unlike any other and its evident that Vettel has cracked under that pressure.

    Meanwhile, it could hardly be any better if you’re Lewis Hamilton. Yes, Vettel and Ferrari’s mistakes have contributed to his enormous points lead but he’s still delivered. There’s a mental switch that happens with Hamilton in the second half of the season that means he raises his game to a level no one, with the exception of Nico Rosberg, has been able to match. Plainly put, Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes has wiped the floor with Vettel and Ferrari.

    jap1While Hamilton cruised to victory the ever-dutiful Valtteri Bottas followed him home in second while Max Verstappen snapped up the final step on the podium. The sister Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo, once again felled by mechanical issues in quali, recovered to an impressive fourth. Kimi Raikkonen was fifth for Ferrari while Vettel trundled home in sixth.

    Sergio Perez proved to be best-of-the-rest for Force India in seventh while Romain Grosjean, Esteban Ocon, and Carlos Sainz completed the top ten on a day where the mid-field battle proved the most scintillating part of the race. In fact, the battle behind Merc, Ferrari, and Red Bull is so close that only four points cover positions seven through eleven in the driver’s standings.

    Victory in Japan indicates that Lewis Hamilton’s fifth world championship crown is a mere formality. With a 63-point lead and four races remaining in 2018 it’s not if Hamilton will win the big prize but rather when.

    All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport 

  • F1 2018: Singapore Gp Review – Mercedes Rule Marina Bay

    F1 2018: Singapore Gp Review – Mercedes Rule Marina Bay

    The Singapore grand prix was not a classic by any stretch of the imagination. But Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

    A stunning lap on Saturday assured Lewis Hamilton pole position and, arguably, meant half the job was done come Sunday. He wasn’t challenged off the line either and was well in control of all of the 61 laps. Max Verstappen, who produced an equally impressive lap to qualify second, fell behind third-place starter Sebastian Vettel just as the safety car was deployed on lap.

    While those at the front were well behaved through turns one, two, and three the Force India pitwall watched on in dismay as their drivers collided. On-board footage showed Sergio Perez steering into the side of Esteban Ocon with the latter ending up in the wall and out of the race. Though stewards deemed it a ‘racing incident’ the Force India team principal Otmar Szafnaeur called the incident “completely outrageous” and instituted team orders for the remainder of the season.

    This wasn’t Perez’s only adventure during the Singapore grand prix either. Later on his strategy saw him stuck behind the Sergey Sirotkin for a number of laps during which he became increasingly frustrated. As he finally managed to make his way past the Williams he clearly lost his mind as he deliberately crashed into the side of Sirotkin. Surprisingly, race stewards deemed a drive-though penalty enough of a punishment for Perez.

    0026It’s a shockingly light punishment in view of other penalties given to drivers throughout the season. The British grand prix and the Raikkonen/Hamilton incident come to mind. In that case, Raikkonen had locked-up and banged wheels with Hamilton sending the Brit into a spin on lap one. Normally, stewards take a more lenient approach to lap one incidents but in this case they slapped a ten second penalty on Raikkonen.

    And because it was on lap one it effectively turned into a ten second stop-go penalty.  In this case Perez had deliberately crashed into the side of another car and, unbelievably, got away with a mere slap on the wrist. The stewards have set a dangerous precedent with how they have handled this situation.

    While the midfield were involved in quite a battle for positions those at the front were trundling around in a procession with Hamilton firmly in control.  Though Vettel was relatively close behind Hamilton he was never able to make a move for the lead. Clearly frustrated with proceedings Ferrari rolled the dice on strategy. The problem with this approach is that in Formula 1 you don’t roll the dice or take a chance on strategy. It must be a well thought out decision-making process that is going to improve the driver’s position in the race. This is an area where Ferrari are have been, plainly, mediocre.

    Though there is no telling if Vettel had the ultimate pace to beat Hamilton Ferrari’s strategy made sure he never had the opportunity to find out. The opening stint of the race was characterized by drivers trying to eek out their tyre life which saw the frontrunners run, mostly, at the same pace. However, as soon as Hamilton started pumping in fastest sectors Ferrari didn’t respond in kind. Instead they called Vettel in and armed him with a set of Ultrasoft tyres that could ‘potentially’ made it to the chequered flag. Though Hamilton pitted the next lap he fitted the Soft compound tyre, which were sure to easily make it to the end of the race.

    0007Even if Ferrari wanted to try the undercut strategy to get ahead of Hamilton fitting the Soft tyre was still the better strategy, as it was a long shot to work no matter which tyre he left the pitlane with. It was as if Ferrari were too impatient to see how things would pan out and, therefore, pulled Vettel in too early. Conversely, Raikkonen and Ricciardo were able to run 26 laps on the Hypersoft before switching to the Soft compound. As a result Ferrari left their driver without the ability to fight Hamilton and Verstappen, who also got ahead because of Vettel’s early stop. Because he didn’t know if the Ultras would last to the end of the race he couldn’t push as hard as he would have on the more durable Soft tyres. In fact, Raikkonen’s strategy would’ve been much better suited to Vettel. The worst-case scenario, with the Raikkonen-strategy, is that he would’ve finished third which he did anyway. There’s some irony in that.

    As it were Vettel slinked home in a distant third ahead of Valtteri Bottas, Kimi Raikkonen and Daniel Ricciardo in fourth, fifth, and sixth. Some fifty seconds behind the Red Bull in seventh was Fernando Alonso while Carlos Sainz, Charles Leclerc and Nico Hulkenberg completed the top ten.

    This win on the Singapore streets could be the most significant of the lot as far as 2018 is concerned. It wasn’t too long ago that Mercedes were woeful around the slow corners of the Marina Bay Circuit. And while Hamilton produced an exquisite lap to take pole and controlled the race on Sunday the win in Singapore is a true testament to the might of the entire Mercedes team.

    Hamilton and Mercedes have struck a hammer blow, pardon the pun, to Vettel and Ferrari’s chances of winning the 2018 title. This result gives Hamilton a mammoth 40-point lead over Vettel heading to Russia in two weeks time.

     

  • F1 2018: Belgian Gp Review – Ferrari Stroll To Spa Victory

    F1 2018: Belgian Gp Review – Ferrari Stroll To Spa Victory

    Untroubled, Sebastian Vettel drove the perfect race to secure victory at the 2018 Belgian grand prix. While Saturday qualifying, wet in the final part, went the way of Lewis Hamilton Sunday was brought a completely different complexion as the Ferrari driver skillfully scythed past pole sitter Hamilton into the lead of the race.

    Both Force India cars, starting on the second row thanks to a dramatic quali, started equally well and slotted in behind the front two. It all went off behind them however as a dramatic first corner crash, triggered by Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg, saw Fernando Alonso’s McLaren fly over the cockpit of Charles Leclerc. The halo, significantly scuffed by Alonso’s tyre, played a significant role in keeping the Sauber driver safe and uninjured in an otherwise dangerous crash. An example of how well the halo works was never needed or wanted but this serves as the perfect illustration for all those that continually criticized and moaned about the aesthetics of why it is needed in Formula 1. It’s certain that without it there would have been a different outcome for Charles Leclerc.

    Though they retired slightly later the first lap also laid claim to Kimi Raikkonen and Daniel Ricciardo. The Red Bull driver was tagged from behind by Alonso and lost his rear wing. While he did get back out he was a lap down without little prospect of gaining anything meaningful from the race consequently Red Bull retired Ricciardo’s no. 3 car.

    spa For Kimi Raikkonen it was desperately unlucky as Ricciardo’s front wing caused a right-rear puncture on the Ferrari. It subsequently damaged the right endplate of the rear wing, the DRS, and caused enough floor damage to render the car un-driveable.

    While first lap crashes are part and parcel of racing Ferrari only has itself to blame for Raikkonen’s ultimate retirement. The day before an awkward blunder in quali left Raikkonen without enough fuel to complete the final part of the session. While others improved their laptimes the Finn was left to start sixth on the grid. This position often referred to as the ‘carbon fibre zone’ is notoriously where most incidents occur. But Ferrari was flustered when the rain came down in the final part of qualifying and they made mistakes that ultimately cost Raikkonen a shot at a decent result. As if to add insult to injury Raikkonen was fastest well the mix for pole on a circuit where he is considered a specialist and has won on four previous occasions.

    spa1Up front it was as easy a Sunday afternoon drive for Vettel. While both Mercedes and Ferrari introduced upgraded internal combustion engines for this weekend Hamilton and Mercedes just didn’t have the pace to live with the Ferrari. This was something that Hamilton bemoaned after the race too by saying that Ferrari has some “tricks”. Whatever he was implying if he is hoping to play a psychological game it wont land with neither Vettel nor Ferrari.

    Hamilton went on to paint himself as the underdog despite being in the lead of the driver’s championship. But the likelihood is that he doesn’t really believe himself to be the downtrodden. After all, he is the reigning champion in a works Mercedes that will be a force at Monza.

    As Vettel and Hamilton took the first two steps on the podium Max Verstappen drove a lonely race into third while Valtteri Bottas ably recovered to fourth after starting nearly last on the grid. Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon delivered fourth and fifth for Force India in what has been a difficult time for the team off the track. Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen were sixth and seventh for Haas while Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly and Marcus Ericsson completed the top ten for Sauber.

    Vettel’s win brings him to within 17 points of Hamilton in the drivers standing and more importantly gives Ferrari some much-needed momentum ahead of their home race this weekend.

    *Podium Image courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport
    *First lap Images courtesy of Racing Point Force India