Tag: silverstone

Let’s talk tyres … again – a fan’s perspective by @Reynardg

Reynard Gelderblom, Motorsport Editor of Streetmotion, sent us his perspective on the entire tyre debacle.

We’d love to hear your thoughts too! Let us know what you think in the comments below, or let us know if you’d like us to publish your opinion too.

Here’s what Reynard had to say:

I’m starting to feel like I’ve become a stuck record, but yet again the topic after the race is tyres. In fact, I’ve mentioned the name Pirelli so much during the 2013 season that I should start asking them to pay me for doing so.

With F1 moving back to a purpose-built racing circuit for the first time since Barcelona and the controversial ‘testgate’ scandal, everyone was waiting in anticipation to see what Mercedes would’ve gained. With the penalty for their part in this being nothing more than an eighth grade teacher telling you “If I catch you smoking behind the rugby pavilion again…”.

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg ensured a Mercedes front row, but we’ve seen them strong in qualifying before this season. Soon after the start, Hamilton’s left rear tyre called it a day with what seemed to be a puncture and a dramatic delamination. One lap later Ferrari’s Felipe Massa’s left rear did the same at almost the same spot.

“Okay, debris on the circuit or something about that curb” is what we thought. A few laps later Jean-Eric Vergne’s left rear and our theory blew out at the end of a straight. After the first round of pitstops, Red Bull reported something that resembled cuts in the left rear tyre that came off Sebastian Vettel’s car. Then the news broke that the general talk in the paddock was that this might be caused by the heat generated on the faster straights. Near the end of the race, McLaren who already had a bad weekend, suffered another blow out with Sergio Perez.

Earlier in 2013, I said the FIA asked Pirelli to supply a tyre which won’t last till half race distance, but I don’t think that anyone wanted anything like what we’ve seen at Silverstone. This has taken the tyre concerns from being something for the teams to work around, to being something outright dangerous. After everything that has been said over the secret tests with Mercedes at Barcelona, you at least would think that 1 000km of testing with a 2013 car would’ve provided some valuable data for further development.

Shortly after the GP, Pirelli came out with a statement that the new bonding process is not to blame for this, although they themselves appear to be clueless for now on possible causes.

Or do they just prefer to remain quiet? The FIA still needs to announce the sole tyre supplier for 2014. Hankook is one of the names which have been mentioned, but there is speculation that the FIA would love to see Michelin back in F1 in the near future. However, despite no contract yet, changing tyre leftovers may prove to be a bit easier than changing a tyre supplier. The money and advertising aspect alone would provide Pirelli with enough grounds for a better day in court than at the races.

With only six months remaining in the 2013 season, there’s not nearly enough time to start a legitimate tender process and then still expect a manufacturer to come up with something which will be reliable. So the immediate future of Pirelli in F1 may not be as uncertain as we would like to think.

A suitable solution needs to be found though – and soon. With fast circuit races like the Belgium, Italian and Indian GPs coming up I’m sure I’m not the only one who wouldn’t like to see a repeat of what we saw at Silverstone.

Even the night race in Singapore features some fairly fast straights for a street circuit and the bumpy surface at the Brazilian GP with it’s fast main straight could be a genuine reason for concern.

Nor would I think anyone would like to see a repeat of the 2005 USA GP when teams participated in a strike action due to safety issues relating from tyres, but you have to ask: With drivers putting their lives on the line at more than 300km/h, and having to rely on the equipment they’ve been given – how far are we away from someone saying “I’m boxing this lap, these tyres are unsafe”?

An even worse thought – are we going to have to see someone die on a live TV broadcast before we start coming up with ideas on how this could’ve been prevented?

Surely the British GP served as a stark warning that for the safety of all the competitors and spectators involved, someone should come up with answers and solutions that are better than extra sets of tyres or controversial secret tests.

Hopefully the questions of when something is going to be done about this will only be asked by happy fans next to a bar counter and not by a crying family member next to an open grave.

Reynard Gelderblom is the motorsport editor for Street Motion.

Keep up to date with the latest local motorsport news by following Street Motion on Twitter.

July 2, 2013
Pirelli: full statement regarding the Silverstone debacle

Pirelli has issued the following statement tonight, regarding what happened at Silverstone – and what they plan to do next.

After exhaustive analysis of the tyres used at Silverstone, Pirelli has concluded that the causes of the failures were principally down to a combination of the following factors:

1) Rear tyres that were mounted the wrong way round: in other words, the right hand tyre being placed where the left hand one should be and vice versa, on the cars that suffered failures. The tyres supplied this year have an asymmetric structure, which means that they are not designed to be interchangeable. The sidewalls are designed in such a way to deal with specific loads on the internal and external sides of the tyre. So swapping the tyres round has an effect on how they work in certain conditions. In particular, the external part is designed to cope with the very high loads that are generated while cornering at a circuit as demanding as Silverstone, with its rapid left-hand bends and some kerbs that are particularly aggressive.

2) The use of tyre pressures that were excessively low or in any case lower than those indicated by Pirelli. Under-inflating the tyres means that the tyre is subjected to more stressful working conditions.

3) The use of extreme camber angles.

4) Kerbing that was particularly aggressive on fast corners, such as that on turn four at Silverstone, which was the scene of most of the failures. Consequently it was the left-rear tyres that were affected.

The only problems that had come to light before Silverstone were to do with delamination, which was a completely different phenomenon. To stop these delaminations Pirelli found a solution by suggesting that the teams use the tyres that were tried out in Canada from Silverstone onwards. When this proposal was not accepted, Pirelli found another solution through laboratory testing, with a different bonding process to attach the tread to the carcass. So the problem of delamination has nothing at all to do with what was seen in Great Britain.

Following the conclusions of this analysis, Pirelli would like to underline that:

1) Mounting the tyres the wrong way round is a practice that was nonetheless underestimated by everybody: above all Pirelli, which did not forbid this.

2) In the same way, under-inflation of the tyres and extreme camber settings, over which Pirelli has no control, are choices that can be dangerous under certain circumstances. Because of this, Pirelli has asked the FIA for these parameters will be a topic of accurate and future examinations. Pirelli has also asked for compliance with these rules to be checked by a dedicated delegate.

3) Pirelli would also like to underline that the 2013 tyre range does not compromise driver safety in any way if used in the correct manner, and that it meets all the safety standards requested by the FIA.

The logical conclusion is that it is essential for tyres with the performance and technical sophistication of the 2013 range to be regulated and carefully controlled by Pirelli itself. In order to ensure the optimal functioning of the tyres, the Italian firm would need real-time data from the teams regarding fundamental parameters such as pressure, temperature and camber angles. While waiting for new regulations that would permit Pirelli access to this data, vital for the development and management of these state-of-the-art tyres, the following measures are proposed for the forthcoming grands prix, in agreement with the FIA, FOM, the teams and the drivers:

1) The use of the evolution of the current tyre that was tested in Canada (and proved to be completely reliable) for the German Grand Prix this weekend. This represents the best match for the technical characteristics of the Nurburgring circuit. In particular, the rear tyres that will be used at the German Grand Prix, which takes place on July 7, have a Kevlar construction that replaces the current steel structure and the re-introduction of the 2012 belt, to ensure maximum stability and roadholding. Given that these tyres are asymmetric as well, it will be strictly forbidden to swap them round. The front tyres, by contrast, will remain unaltered.

2) From the Hungarian Grand Prix onwards, the introduction of a new range of tyres. The new tyres will have a symmetrical structure, designed to guarantee maximum safety even without access to tyre data – which however is essential for the optimal function of the more sophisticated 2013 tyres. The tyres that will be used for the Hungarian Grand Prix onwards will combine the characteristics of the 2012 tyres with the performance of the 2013 compounds. Essentially, the new tyres will have a structure, construction and belt identical to that of 2012, which ensured maximum performance and safety. The compounds will be the same as those used throughout 2013, which guaranteed faster lap times and a wider working range. This new specification, as agreed with the FIA, will be tested on-track together with the teams and their 2013 cars at Silverstone from 17-19 July in a session with the race drivers during the young driver test. These tests will contribute to the definitive development of the new range of tyres, giving teams the opportunity to carry out the appropriate set-up work on their cars.

What do you think about Pirelli’s statement? Is it reasonable to be shifting the blame to the teams? What are your thoughts? Leave us a comment below.

July 2, 2013
F1 2013: British GP Review – Rosberg tops at dramatic Silverstone

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

July 1, 2013
Formula One teams demand urgent action over Pirelli tyre failures

Formula One team bosses are demanding urgent action over the Pirelli tyre failures suffered during today’s F1 British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

According to McLaren team principal, Martin Whitmarsh, Formula One is in a “serious situation” as work needs to be done to come up with an urgent solution to the Pirelli tyre crisis witnessed at today’s race.

Meetings are scheduled for the upcoming week, including a Sporting Working Committee meeting on Wednesday but Whitmarsh has added to the sentiments of Charlie Whiting, saying that urgent action is required even before that.

“We clearly have a serious situation where we have to act responsibly, and respect Pirelli,” said Whitmarsh. “They have to do the best they can. We have to make a decision urgently, as it gives you a much better chance than talking about it on Wednesday when you want to drive out of the garage Friday.”

Whitmarsh said that the only way to avoid a repeat of the drama at the German Grand Prix next weekend, would be to revert to last year’s tyres.

“In 2012 we were not having this problem,” he said. “Therefore, if that is a known, established, durable specification, you would have thought that is the easiest thing to do.”

Red Bull boss, Christian Horner has backed Whitmarsh’s view saying, “The most logical thing would be to go back to the tyres that worked well for them previously. The tyres they had last year did not have these failures. They need to find a solution, and they need to address it. Whether they go back to last year’s car or a different tyre they need a solution.”

Lotus team principal Eric Boullier also seems to think reverting to the 2012 rubber is a possible solution saying, “Going back to the Kevlar belt from last year would be one solution. I don’t know what they have in stock and how quick they can produce tyres. That is a question for Pirelli. It is a different track lay-out next weekend and first we need to find out what is causing these failures. But it is a concern.”

June 30, 2013
Kimi Raikkonen furious over Lotus strategy error

Kimi Raikkonen seemed pretty furious after the Lotus F1 Team decided not to pit him under the final safety car for new tyres.

The retirement of Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull 11 laps before the end of the British F1 Grand Prix brought out the safety car with Raikkonen running in second place behind race leader Nico Rosberg.

Behind the Iceman, both Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso took the opportunity to pit and although they both lost track position the fresh tyres allowed them to quickly pick off the cars ahead of them and finish in second and third place respectively.

Raikkonen eventually finished in fifth place and after the race made his feelings pretty clear about the team getting the strategy wrong.

“I don’t understand how we can get it so wrong,” Raikkonen said. “I asked the team, they said no and we had more than half a lap to make the
right call. I think we gave up second place today and I think it’s pretty simple. We had an easy P2 … it was absolutely the wrong call. It’s disappointing but not my fault this time.”

Lotus F1 Team principal, Eric Boullier, explained that Lotus didn’t expect the drivers who pit under the final safety car to gain such a performance advantage.

“It’s very easy after the race to look at it if you look at the three cars on a two pit-stop strategy which were Sutil, Ricciardo and us. We considered the pit stop, to be honest we were not expecting such a big gain in performance by switching to fresh tyres and that’s it, end of story. Alonso was lucky to pit before and Webber had to stop anyway so yes we should have stopped, no question.”

June 30, 2013
Pirelli say new bonding process not at fault

Pirelli have released a statement following the British F1 Grand Prix saying that they will closely investigate the cause of the left rear tyre failures during today’s Silverstone Grand Prix and that the new bonding process is not at fault.

Here is the full statement from Pirelli:

TYRE FAILURES TO BE CLOSELY EXAMINED NEW BONDING PROCESS NOT AT FAULT

Silverstone, June 30, 2013 – Nico Rosberg has given Mercedes its first victory in the British Grand Prix since 1955 with first place at Silverstone.

The were a number of rear-left tyre failures during the race, which affected Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa (Ferrari), Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso) and Sergio Perez (McLaren). Pirelli engineers will investigate closely the cause of the failures ahead of next week’s German Grand Prix.

Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery said: “There have obviously been some issues with rear-left tyre failures which we have not seen before. We are taking the situation very seriously and we are currently investigating all tyres to determine the cause as soon as possible, ahead of the next Grand Prix in Germany. At the moment, we can’t really say much more until we have fully investigated and analysed all of these incidents, which is our top priority. However, we can exclude that the new bonding process, which we introduced at this race, is at cause for the tyre failures we have seen today. There might be some aspect to this circuit that impacts specifically on the latest version of our 2013 specification tyres but at this point we do not want to speculate but will now put together all the evidence to find out what happened and then take appropriate next steps should these be required.”

June 30, 2013
Charlie Whiting says “I almost red-flagged the race”

Formula One Race director Charlie Whiting said today that he “almost red-flagged the race” referring to today’s British Grand Prix which saw four tyre delamanations during the race.

The safety car was deployed after the third tyre blow-out, suffered by Jean Eric-Vergne. Charlie said that not only were the drivers in danger, but the marshals too were being put at risk as they continually tried to clean up all the debris following the incidents.

“It was quite close to being red-flagged; it did occur to me to do that,” he said. “To clear up all the debris was putting marshals at risk, and it is not satisfactory. We haven’t seen a failure like this before – and that is what has been addressed. So we need to analyse it very carefully to see if we are able to establish the cause.”

He went on to say that it was, “too early to draw conclusions” regarding the cause of the tyre issues but hinted that tyres that did not fail could provide vital information in Pirelli’s analysis.

“They have a lot of analysing to do. This includes the tyres that didn’t fail, because maybe we will find something there that was on the verge
of failing that will give us a better indicator of what happened.”

Charlie added that although the failures are to be discussed at a meeting of the Sporting Working Group on Wednesday, a solution must be found in advance, that suits all parties since the German Grand Prix is only one week away.

June 30, 2013
Rosberg wins dramatic Silverstone British Grand Prix

Nico Rosberg took the win at a dramatic Silverstone British Grand Prix riddled with tyre delamanations and blow outs today.

The two favourites for the win – Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel both lost their hopes of winning when Lewis suffered a tyre blow out and Vettel suffered a gearbox failure.

It was a thrilling race from start to finish but many questions will be raised around the Pirelli tyres and their safety going forward.

Full race review to follow.

Here are the results of the Silverstone F1 British Grand Prix.

June 30, 2013
Paul di Resta disqualified from Silverstone Qualifying

Paul Di Resta has been disqualified from qualifying at Silverstone ahead of the British Grand Prix after his car was found to be 1.5kgs underweight.

The Scot will now be deprived of his career-best qualifying position.

Force India are shifting blame to a discrepancy in Di Resta’s weight after qualifying since the driver and car count together.

The FIA has said that Di Resta will now move to they back of the grid would move to the back of the grid, but he may well be forced to start from the pits.

If the team need to add anything to the car to make up its weight, that would be considered a setup change, which is not allowed under Formula One parc ferme regulations.

It may make more sense for him to start from the pit lane either way – which will allow him to start on fresh tyres and change to a race setup.

Force India have decided not to appeal against the decision. This despite the discrepancy with Di Resta’s weight. Apparently he weighed less than expected on the FIA scales after qualifying but team boss Bob Fernley said that when he was weighed again later he was back to his normal weight. The weight of the driver and car together must be at least 642kg in order to comply with regulations.

Before the problem came to light, Di Resta said he was “shocked” he had been able to qualify so well, saying he had driven the lap as well as he could have. “That was it,” he said. “There wasn’t any more. It takes a lot of commitment and it’s satisfying when you get it done.”

He had qualified a career best 5th position.

June 29, 2013
F1 Silverstone Qualifying Team and Driver Quotes

Team and Driver quotes following today’s qualifying session at Silverstone.

Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton (1st, Q3 – 1m 29.607s)

“It feels incredible to be on pole, just like it did back in 2007. We have the greatest Formula One fans in the world here in Britain and there was a great turnout today, which makes the atmosphere so special. My lap in Q3 was a lap for the fans out there around the circuit. I haven’t been feeling comfortable in the car all weekend, so I was really happy to find a good lap and this feels fantastic. The team has done a phenomenal job and it’s a great reward for the guys here at the track but also back at base, especially as our two factories are so close to the track. But we know that tomorrow is another day and our Sunday performance isn’t quite as strong right now. Our long run pace looked ok yesterday and we were able to manage the tyres quite well. It’s going to be tough to keep Seb behind but we will give it everything we’ve got.”

Nico Rosberg (2nd, Q3 – 1m 30.059s)

“A fantastic team result today and it’s great to see how much progress we have made together since last year. The feeling of confidence that our car will be quick in qualifying is fantastic and I love going to a race knowing that we have a shot of a strong grid position. The team are doing a great job and we are keeping up the development so a big thank you to everyone at the factories, many of whom are here today watching. My lap was good and starting from the front row is great but Lewis did a fantastic job today. I hope we have improved our race pace; it will be all about tyre management tomorrow and keeping the others behind us. I’m confident that we can get a good result.”

Ross Brawn, Mercedes team principal

“The team has worked incredibly well over the past few months to achieve a result like today’s. We have been chipping away at the performance, quietly bringing new updates and continuing to push, while also focusing our efforts on how we could improve our tyre management issues, and it seems to be paying off. The engineers and drivers got the cars into the perfect place for qualifying and, as the wind dropped towards the end of the session, both Lewis and Nico were able to deliver strong performances. Lewis put in a stunning lap at the end of the session and it’s great to see him and Nico pushing each other so hard in every session. It will be more of a challenge to remain as competitive in the race but we gathered good information yesterday and hope to be able to build on that tomorrow.”

Toto Wolff, Mercedes team executive director

“A fantastic result for the entire team to take our third front row lockout this year. Fair, sporting competition is what Mercedes stands for and, while a lot has been said and written this weekend, the only thing that really matters is what happens out on track. The focus this afternoon should be on our drivers, Lewis and Nico, and on this fantastic team who have pushed so hard to keep developing the car in tough times and solve our problems. Lewis put in a mega lap: I don’t know if it’s the Silverstone factor or something else, but that was an incredible performance. Nico has been strong all weekend and second position gives us a great platform for the race tomorrow. Tomorrow should be warmer and we have struggled with race pace at some circuits so far this year. But the trend is going in the right direction, and I hope we can continue that tomorrow.”

Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel (3rd, Q3 – 1m 30.211s)

“We will see what happens tomorrow. It’s a long race, but I’m happy with today. Either Lewis found a short cut or he has something special round here, it was a phenomenal lap and he wasn’t in reach today. I was very happy with the lap I did at the end, it was very close with Mark also. We did what we could for the team and it’s always nice to position well in qualifying, especially around here – qualifying is good fun and I’m enjoying the high speed corners. We’ll see how we get on with the tyres tomorrow and with looking after them. I’m happy for the team today, our factory is very close to this track, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

Mark Webber (4th, Q3 – 1m 30.220s)

“We were up against it to get on the front row against the Mercs, they’re on another level as they have been for the last few events. It was disappointing to get pipped by Seb there at the end by a hundredth, it was very close. I was happy with the first part of my lap, but I could have done better in the last sector. We have a good balance for qualifying and race pace in terms of where we prioritised things. It should be an interesting race, we can get a good result from there.”

Christian Horner, Red Bull team principal

“We could see this morning that Mercedes were very fast over a single lap and they’ve demonstrated that again this afternoon, so congratulations to Lewis on his pole position at Silverstone. It was a great performance from both of our drivers with only one hundredth of a second separating them on the second row. Hopefully we can give Mercedes a good run for their money tomorrow from there, and I’m sure it’s going to be an exciting British Grand Prix.”

Thierry Salvi, Renault support for Red Bull

“Silverstone is one of the hardest circuits on the engines, with some of the fastest series of corners we see all year and one of the highest average speeds, but also some of the tightest complexes. As a result, getting the maps correct is always a compromise, but we were on the right side today. While it would have been great to get a front row start at the team’s home race, we did the best we could. We’re still in a good position to let the race come to us and hopefully we can win for the fourth time in five years.”

Force India

Paul di Resta (5th, Q3 – 1m 30.736s)

“I’m over the moon with the qualifying result and I think the whole team can feel very satisfied with fifth on the grid. The morning practice session was quite difficult so it feels great to come through and end up just behind two Mercedes and two Red Bulls. This track takes a lot of commitment and you need to build up your speed, but I think we saved our best till last – and that’s when it mattered. For tomorrow our tyre wear looks healthy and we’ve given ourselves a good opportunity to get in some clean air during the race. I will sleep well tonight and hope that we can have a straightforward race, and come away with lots of points.”

Adrian Sutil (7th, Q3 – 1m 30.908s)

“Seventh place is a great result today. The car was not easy to drive this morning, but we made some improvements before qualifying and found more speed with each session. If we can do our homework tonight then we have the potential to have a great race. There are still some unknowns with the tyres over long runs because I haven’t really done more than ten laps on a set of tyres, but I feel comfortable on both compounds. So we can be happy with the result, but we need to concentrate on tomorrow because that’s what counts. In terms of strategy we need to keep an open mind and have several options going into the race so that we can react as the race develops.”

Dr Vijay Mallya, Force India team principal and managing director

“I am delighted with today’s qualifying result. The sun was shining, the grandstands were full, and we put on a fantastic show. Fifth place for Paul at his home Grand Prix is a tremendous effort, especially on this high-speed track, which has not been our strongest race in previous years. Adrian’s seventh place confirms just how competitive we are this weekend and we know that we have good race pace. For tomorrow it’s important that we maximise these starting positions and hopefully give our supporters and partners something to celebrate at our local race.”

Toro Rosso

Daniel Ricciardo (6th, Q3 – 1m 30.757s)

“Coming off the back of a bad couple of races, I expected to be strong here and I was more motivated than ever. However, if I’d been told I could be sixth this afternoon, I would have been surprised. We were very close to Di Resta in fifth, but we can be happy with this position. We showed good pace all weekend, including this morning when I was sixth, so it was nice to confirm that this afternoon. Now I am looking forward to the race when I hope I can come away with a good handful of points. I’d like to think I could finish at least in the same place I am starting from. It would be nice to do even better and I will be pushing hard to achieve that. I believe it will be a few degrees warmer tomorrow, which could make the track conditions change quite a lot. This is a very demanding circuit with lots of high speed corners, so the tyres don’t get much of a rest, therefore tyre wear will be an important factor tomorrow.”

Jean-Eric Vergne (13th, Q2 – 1m 31.785s)

“I made a mistake on my quick lap in Q2 and that’s the plain fact and I’m very upset about it, as it lost me the chance to get into Q3 which was definitely possible. As to what happened when I got it wrong, I am not exactly sure what was the reason: maybe I was too close to Vettel in front of me, but I felt I lost downforce and then just went straight on. Anyway, I am not looking for excuses. The car was working well, as it has done all weekend, so now I must make up for it in the race tomorrow. Looking at Daniel’s performance this afternoon, it’s a good sign as it shows the car is quick and we will have something to work with tomorrow afternoon. I think it’s still feasible to have a good race tomorrow and to bring home points.”

James Key, Toro Rosso technical director

“It’s good to have got through to Q3 with one car here. We’ve been reasonably on the pace right from the start of the weekend, even if neither driver has been completely happy with the balance of the car. However that did not stop them from setting what we consider a competitive lap time. We were not sure what to expect at Silverstone, as it’s such a different track to the last three venues, especially to Monaco and Montreal. We did a lot of work to ensure we had the car in its sweet-spot for here and that paid off. Daniel did a fantastic job to get to Q3 and then to P6 completely on merit, while it was a great shame for Jev, who had matched Daniel’s pace all weekend but just did not get the maximum out of his Q2 lap. Overall, it shows that the steps forward we are making on the performance front are working consistently and a two car points finish is a realistic target tomorrow.”

Lotus

Romain Grosjean (8th, Q3 – 1m 30.955s)

“Whilst were very quick on the hard tyres at the beginning of qualifying, we weren’t as competitive on the mediums, I don’t know if it’s the weather or something else, but we weren’t as good on them as in free practice this morning meaning we didn’t have enough to qualify further up the grid. We are working hard and in the right direction, but the tyres are still playing a key part. I’m quite satisfied with my performance today.”

Kimi Raikkonen (9th, Q3 – 1m 30.962s)

“It was a close qualifying session between both of the team’s cars so I think we both got pretty much all there was from the car today. It’s not ideal as we’d like to be nearer the front of the grid, but it is what it is. We’ll go into the race wanting to get a better result than we did in qualifying. Usually this is what happens for us and and hopefully that is the case again tomorrow.”

Alan Permane, Lotus trackside operations director

“I’m reasonably happy with both cars making it into the top ten but, of course, we would have liked a bit more from today. Romain didn’t have a perfect last lap and suffered from understeer in Turn 15 whilst there didn’t seem to be much more pace in Kimi’s car. We had quite a dilemma as to whether we should run Romain on the harder tyres in Q3 as he went very well on them in Q1. Other than that, both compounds are well suited to the demands of Silverstone and there should be a range of strategy permutations available tomorrow. Like many of the crew, the E21 certainly prefers warmer temperatures. The cloud cover today can mean a reasonable temperature drop, so we’re certainly hoping for clearer skies and a warmer track tomorrow.”

Ferrari

Fernando Alonso (10th, Q3 – 1m 30.979s)

“This weekend has been complicated for us by problems that we haven’t managed to get on top of, concerning various aspects such as the balance of the car, its driveability and performance. We can consider this the worst Saturday of the season so far, having never finished so far down, but now we must react immediately to try and return to the form we showed at the start of the year. We definitely expected a lot more here, because this is a track that suits our car’s characteristics better than others. In Q3, we hesitated a bit over tyre choice: we went out on the Hards because they had worked well in free practice this morning and in Q1. Then we switched to Medium with the idea of just coming back to the pits if it did not go well but then we decided to finish the lap and nevertheless our rivals were quicker. Now, we must try to do the same, starting from tomorrow: even if the race will be an uphill struggle we are well aware how things can change during a race. We hope we can stage a good climb up the order and bring home as many points as possible.”

Felipe Massa (12th, Q2 – 1m 31.779s) “It was an extremely difficult day as we did not have the car we were expecting and we had no grip whatsoever with new tyres. Compared to other cars, we struggled to put together a good lap. The time lost when I went off the track yesterday and the interruption this morning to change the engine definitely cost me valuable kilometres and in qualifying I lacked the few tenths necessary to make it through to Q3. Now we must think about tomorrow, as the race is an altogether different matter and I hope that, with a full fuel load and higher temperatures, things can change in our favour. If the car is more competitive, I’m sure I can pull off a few passing moves and fight for a good result.”

Pat Fry, Ferrari chassis director

“Today, the much awaited sunshine didn’t manage to push the temperatures up as much as we had hoped, especially on the track. The surface stayed rather cold and already in the final free practice this morning had created some problems with grip, with several drivers going off the track. Things only improved slightly in qualifying, but not enough to improve the grip levels. Looking at our start positions, it’s obvious that our cars suffered more than others, even if the gaps in the small group of cars ahead of Fernando are very close. While trying to improve the balance on the car, we tested various solutions, trying to increase driveability in both the high and low speed corners, always keeping in mind what will be the key factors in tomorrow’s race. We can be more confident when it comes to the race and we will be counting on the performance we have seen over a long run, which is encouraging. During the opening laps it will be important to try and make up a few places. Then, our strategy will be aimed at helping the drivers as much as possible in their efforts to close up to our direct rivals.”

McLaren

Jenson Button (11th, Q2 – 1m 31.649s)

“I’m higher on the grid than I expected after practice. Yesterday, I didn’t think we’d qualify ahead of one Ferrari and just behind the two Lotuses. But I was much happier in qualifying than I’d been all weekend – we should be positive that we’ve improved the car. I think 11th was the best we could have realistically achieved today. Even if we’d got into Q3, we’d probably have been 10th; so starting 11th means I’ll have a new set of tyres and will start from the clean side of the grid. After Q2 I walked down the pit lane to the FIA scales, waving to the crowd. There were so many Union Jacks and rocket-red caps out there, and the fans have been unbelievably supportive all weekend. You always want to do a good job in front of your home crowd, so I want to say a big ‘thank-you’ to them for their support. You never know what will happen tomorrow: starting 11th isn’t great, but we can race well from there. I will drive my heart out for a good result.”

Sergio Perez (14th, Q2 – 1m 32.082s)

“It’s been a difficult day. The puncture in FP3 wasn’t the best preparation for qualifying – and it made it more difficult, because we had to change the damaged floor for the older-spec version. This afternoon, I struggled a little with the warm-up of my tyres during Q2; I lost temperature when I was stopped and weighed at the FIA scales. We’ve been a bit unlucky all day. Still, we were a lot closer today than we were yesterday. Even if it’s not apparent, we’ve definitely made some improvements, and I think we might have had the potential to slip into Q3 if we’d been a little bit luckier. Our race pace should be better than our qualifying pace. Tomorrow is still going to be difficult, but I’m positive we can go forwards from here.”

Martin Whitmarsh, McLaren team principal

“It’s been a difficult weekend for the team, but our pace in qualifying shows an upturn in form that we hope to carry into the race tomorrow. Jenson was unfortunate to miss out on Q3. In Q2, he lost out to 10th place by just 0.057s, and was only 0.659s from the fastest qualifier. Checo had an unlucky day: his poor luck started with his puncture in FP3, which damaged his floor and meant we had to fit an older-spec floor to his car. Into qualifying, he was called to the FIA weighbridge, which lost him tyre temperature, and then encountered traffic on his critical run, which lost him time. However, both our drivers are fantastic racers: Jenson will have the support of the home crowd behind him, and Checo will be determined to recover from the setbacks that affected him today. So I think our drivers are both set for charging races tomorrow.”

Sauber

Nico Hulkenberg (15th, Q2 – 1m 32.211s)

“Unfortunately P15 is reality. It was more or less the best we could do today. The car was difficult to drive, especially at high speed with a little bit of wind the car is very sensitive. We are simply not quick enough. Of course, a lot can happen during the race tomorrow, and maybe a bit of English rain would help us. But I think points will be difficult, then again you should never say never.”

Esteban Gutierrez (18th, Q1 – 1m 32.666s)

“Compared to the practice sessions yesterday, I think we made a step forward, but it’s tricky because we find ourselves in a position where everything is on the limit. Whatever we do there is always a compromise to it, which is challenging. It seems I am losing a lot of time at the exit of the corners, and this is tricky, because that is usually when I try to push and get things right. I believe I did my best with overall good and consistent laps. But it is just not quick enough. This is something we have to evaluate and see what we can do to be better in order to progress.”

Tom McCullough, Sauber head of track engineering

“We struggled with the car’s balance in FP3, but were able to improve it for qualifying. P15 and P18 on the grid is clearly not where we want to be and will make the race difficult tomorrow. The current forecast is dry, so we will work hard tonight on the strategy in order to maximise our chances.”

Monisha Kaltenborn Sauber team principal

“We can’t be happy with a result like that. Nico did a good job, while Esteban was struggling. Of course, this is not the position you want to be in looking ahead to the race tomorrow. It won’t be an easy race for us.”

Williams

Pastor Maldonado (16th, Q2 – 1m 32.359s)

“We were expecting to be a bit closer to the top ten today, but we were struggling to put everything together in the car for one lap. Hopefully tomorrow we can work on our race pace and fight with the teams around us to move up a few positions. We need to keep improving as a team because we’re not where we want to be still, but race by race we are aiming to close the gap.”

Valtteri Bottas (17th, Q1 – 1m 32.664s)

“We were unlucky to miss out on Q2 today as I was very close to my teammate and we could have both made it through. There are always things you can do better during a lap but we didn’t have the pace to be in the top ten today so we need to do everything we can to get closer. We will look at our strategy going into tomorrow and try to maximise our potential for the race.”

Mike Coughlan, Williams technical director

“It was a difficult session for us, after a promising FP3 we were expecting more from qualifying. In the high speed corners here we feel we are competitive but we still have work to do in the low speed sections. There is always a great crowd here at Silverstone and we are looking forward to the race tomorrow. We will be aiming to put on a good show for all our fans here supporting us at our home event.”

Caterham

Charles Pic (19th, Q1 – 1m 33.866s)

“The final lap in quali is one of my best laps of the year so far so I’m very pleased with how today’s gone. We made some good progress in FP3 with the balance and that carried over to qualifying, and breaking into the 1.33s and finishing ahead of the Marussias was about as much as we aimed for today, so it’s gone to plan. It changes from race to race but it does look like we have a small advantage over our nearest rivals this weekend, but having seen good race pace all year I’d like to think we’ll be fighting with a couple of cars ahead as well in the race tomorrow. We’ve been close to the Williams cars this year in a few races so with a good start, decent deg levels and no reliability issues tomorrow could be a good day.”

Giedo van der Garde (21st, Q1 – 1m 35.481s)

“It’s been an interesting day as we ran a different plan to the normal FP3 and then did just the one run in quali. It’s finally dry so we used some of FP3 for aero evaluation and then switched to race prep, bearing in mind the penalty from the last race which meant we knew pretty much where we’d end up in quali. We worked a lot on managing the tyre degradation, not really looking at quali at all but we still ended up beating one of the Marussia cars in quali which was a bonus, but really today’s all been about getting ready for Sunday. I think we’re in pretty good shape now and after the work we did today the degradation levels look manageable, even with the warmer track conditions we had today and which it looks like we’ll have tomorrow, and we have a good setup for the race so let’s see what happens.”

Marussia

Jules Bianchi (20th, Q1 – 1m 34.108s)

“It’s good to have one Caterham behind us but less good to have one ahead. In the short space of time that we have had to work on our dry set-up, I don’t think we are quite there yet, so we’ll be spending the time we have now to see what we can do to give us the best chance for tomorrow.”

Max Chilton (22nd, Q1 – 1m 35.858s)

“Today was a challenging day. We had some work to do this morning trying to get the balance right and it felt like we had made a good step forward, but so did everyone else. We still have quite a bit of work to do but our race pace yesterday looked more promising, so that’s what we’ll focus on now. We’ll do what we can to have a better race tomorrow.”

John Booth, Marussia team principal

“Following on from yesterday we had two differing car balances to contend with and Jules was slightly happier with his car than Max. We made some changes to Max’s car in order to equal up the set-ups, however this morning both cars appeared to be suffering with balance issues. During and after FP3, the engineers and crews worked hard to make significant changes to the cars to gradually improve the balance, however at the end of our qualifying session we still have two cars for which the balance is less than perfect. Overall we are slightly disappointed with the result and need to understand how we can improve our pace in qualifying. For tomorrow it looks like we will have a better race set-up and I am sure that with the top speed we have and the improvements we have made to our race pace, we can have a better day. It looks like the race will be dry and temperatures up from today and these conditions should suit us better.”

Pirelli

Paul Hembery, Pirelli motorsport director

“The wet conditions yesterday morning meant that the teams had to work hard in the morning to make up for time lost gathering data on the slick tyres. All of them managed to find plenty of pertinent information: vital not only for qualifying today but the race tomorrow as well, which we expect to be dry. During the final free practice session this morning we saw a deflation on the rear left tyre of Sergio Perez. First findings show that this was unequivocally caused by a cut in the inner sidewall: something went into the tyre, pierced it, and then came out again, in the direction of travel. Whether that was a piece of debris or the edge of a kerb is hard to say at the moment and it is important to point out that this incident was unrelated to any of the delamination issues we have had in the past. Congratulations to Lewis Hamilton for sealing a great pole position with a stunning lap at his home grand prix. Yesterday’s rain meant the fans didn’t get a chance to see much on-track activity but today was action from start to finish. We’re looking forward to an exciting grand prix tomorrow with between two and three pit stops per car if conditions stay largely the same.”

June 29, 2013