F1 Madness

Tag: Valtteri Bottas

  • F1 2019: Belgium Gp Preview – Return From Hiatus

    F1 2019: Belgium Gp Preview – Return From Hiatus

    The summer hiatus is over and Formula 1 returns in true style at Belgium’s legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit.

    In the interim between races F1 has carried on its merry way of making headlines. Relatively early on in the summer break the somewhat inevitable announcement was made that after a string of lackluster performances Pierre Gasly will swop cockpits with Alex Albon from the Belgian Gp onwards.

    It’s a big knock to Gasly’s already tattered confidence but, at the very least, he has a chance to regain his footing as a Toro Rosso driver for the rest of the 2019 season. It won’t be an easy task by any stretch of the imagination but he should take heart from the fact that he wasn’t booted out of F1 and the Red Bull driver program entirely.

    As much pressure as Gasly faces to put his F1 career back on track Alex Albon faces exponentially more as a new Red Bull driver. The Thai-born driver is no stranger to success and many would go so far as to brand him a bonafide Karting superstar. He’s impressed in the lower Formula and at Toro Rosso too but the spotlight will become immeasurably more focused as he steps into a cockpit of a front-running car. He won’t be expected to beat teammate Max Verstappen from the word go but the Red Bull decision-makers are scrutinizing his performances. Should he perform well, which he definitely has the potential to do, he’ll all but seal his place at the team for 2020.

    M132185Pressure is everywhere in F1 and it’s found a home too in the cockpit of Valtteri Bottas. The Finn started the season with a bang but has faded in the last few grand prix weekends in comparison to teammate Lewis Hamilton. The pressure comes in the form of Esteban Ocon who is confirmed to be under consideration, along with Bottas, for the second Mercedes seat for 2020.

    However, Bottas may yet be safe as some rumours suggest that Merc could allow Ocon to be signed by Renault who is nearly always under pressure to be a put a French driver in the French works team. Where is the vacancy at Renault you ask? Some suggestions abound that Nico Hulkenberg could be off the Haas for next season in place of Romain Grosjean. Isn’t the silly season great?

    Ferrari too is under pressure. But then they have been under pressure to deliver a title for more than a decade now. The characteristics of Spa-Francorchamps should suit the 2019 Ferrari and its low-drag philosophy to a degree. Whether the red team will be able to get all their ducks in a row is another question. As Kimi Raikkonen’s triumph Texas last year remains Ferrari’s last race win the team will be desperate to get their name on the winners’ board for the first time in 2019. Spa may provide them their best chance of doing just that.

    There are few greater stretches of tarmac in the world than the 7.004 km Circuit at the foot of the Ardennes Mountains. It’s an old-school test of man and machine and demands precision, bravery, and respect. It’s a circuit seeping with nostalgia for all of the greats who has graced it before. It is Spa-Francorchamps.

  • F1 2019: Hungarian Gp Review – Hamilton Charges to Victory

    F1 2019: Hungarian Gp Review – Hamilton Charges to Victory

    For the first time in his career Max Verstappen secured pole position for the Hungarian grand prix with a breathtaking lap on Saturday. Not only was P1 a new experience for the Dutchman but so would be leading a grand prix from the front.

    For nearly all of his previous seven race wins Verstappen has been the hunter. However, the tables were turned and it was up to the Red Bull driver to control the race and maintain the lead while being hunted by the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton. And until the last third of the race Verstappen had been doing a mighty fine job of holding P1.

    But such was the pace of the leading pair that it created a colossal gap to the Ferrari’s of Leclerc and Vettel. A gap big and obvious enough for Mercedes to bring Hamilton into the pits for a fresh set of tyres. While Verstappen tried to eek out the laps on his set of hard tyres Hamilton was unleashed on fresh rubber and eviscerated the nineteen-second gap to the leader. Initially, Verstappen seemed able to respond and for the briefest of moments it seemed possible that he could hold the lead. But Hamilton delivered a blistering pace, sometimes more than two seconds a lap quicker, to be right on the Red Bull’s gearbox with four laps to go. He made short work of a defenseless Verstappen and career victory number 81 was in the bag.

    It’s gone from bad to worse for Ferrari in the first half of the season and Hungary was no exception. Sebastian Vettel, on an alternate strategy, was able to snatch the final step of the podium from teammate Charles Leclerc but it was an embarrassing outing for Ferrari who finished more than a minute adrift of the race-winner. Fundamentally, the 2019 Ferrari is lacking in downforce. So it doesn’t come as too much of a surprise then that they would struggle around the long medium speed corners of the Hungaroring. Still, to be more than a minute behind will smart all the way through the summer break.

    2019 Hungarian GPElsewhere, Carlos Sainz finished in a fine fifth place ahead of the ever under pressure Pierre Gasly in sixth while Kimi Raikkonen, in seventh, once again punched well above the Alfa Romeo’s weight. Valtteri Bottas finished eighth after suffering front-wing damage on the opening lap with a coming together first with teammate Hamilton and then Charles Leclerc. Lando Norris made it a double points score for McLaren in ninth while Thai-born driver Alex Albon secured the final point on offer in tenth.

    After pre-season testing the mid-field battle looked as if it would be an extremely close fight between several teams. And while it is for the most part still closely fought the opening half of the season hasn’t gone quite the way many would have expected. What has gone accordingly to expectation is that McLaren are well in charge of the mid-field battle with 82 points on the board. Toro Rosso too will be pleased with 5thplace in the constructor’s championship courtesy of Kvyat’s podium finish in Germany.

    But there are big question marks at Renault as they are not only being beaten by their customer team in McLaren but also by both Honda powered teams. For a works team it simply isn’t good enough and the French team will have serious conversations over the break. It could possibly result in some restructuring at the top with team principal Cyril Abiteboul likely the most under pressure.

    2019 Hungarian GPAlfa Romeo may not say so publically but they’ll be thanking their lucky stars for Kimi Raikkonen who has scored 31 of the teams’ total of 32 points in 2019. They might even try to extend the Finn’s contract which currently takes him to the end of 2020. Despite a significant uptick in investment Racing Point it hasn’t materialized in the way they would’ve expected. There is still half a season to go however and they may yet come good as that investment begins to filter through.

    So far 2019 has been a head-scratcher for Haas. Though the American-based team clearly has a quick car it’s only shown in brief flashes. By their own admission they have struggled to understand the car and are still trying to comprehend why and how of it. For Williams there has hardly been a more difficult time than this season. But there is light at the end of the tunnel, as a new upgrade package appears to have pushed the team closer to the rest of the field. The important thing now for Williams will be to continue with this trend.

    In Austria, Silverstone, Germany, and Hungary Formula 1 have delivered four stunning races in succession and the good news is that there is still half a season to go.  It re-starts with the famed Belgian grand prix on August 30.

    All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport 
  • 2019 Formula 1 Hungarian GP: Saturday Press Conference

    2019 Formula 1 Hungarian GP: Saturday Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)

    2 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)

    3 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    TRACK INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by Paul Di Resta)

     

    Q: Question inaudible

    Max Verstappen: It’s incredible! This one was still missing. The car felt good all weekend and then of course you know it’s always going to be hard in qualifying but we managed to do it and of course a big thank you to the team. The car was flying out there in qualifying. It was incredible.

    Q: If you’d saw how nervous the garage was when you went out for that last run, but I guess when you hear on the radio that you’ve actually nailed that, it’s just growing isn’t it, the confidence with there, and tomorrow you’re in a great position with that.

    MV: Yeah, absolutely. Very happy about today. Still a race to do and that’s at the end of the day the most important, but for me today was an important one, a very nice one and also a great one for the team.

    Q: The Dutch travel in form and you can hear when you drew up… ? 

    MV: They’re loving it!

    Q: …You had the engine noise but you could hear them. You’ve lifted this place. Max, congratulations. Valtteri, you nearly got the job done. I guess after last weekend, Max pulling out a great lap, but you came close and you’re in a good position.

    Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, I’ve been kind of chasing a little bit this weekend after missing pretty much all practice one, only limited laps in practice two, and I only really started to get into the rhythm this morning. It was getting better and better in qualifying and I’m pretty pleased with the lap in the end. Very close with Max, they’ve been quick all weekend, but, you know, as always it’s tomorrow that counts.

    Q: Can you still win this race from the position you’re in?

    VB: Of course. We are here to fight for the win. There’s lots of support for that, so that’s going to make a difference.

    Q: All the best. Lewis, third position. I guess you would say it’s been a difficult day after your form in qualifying normally. But I guess Max pulling out a great lap, Valtteri there as well, are you happy with where you ended up?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Naturally we’re always targeting first. Max did a great job and so did Valtteri. It kind of got away from me a little bit once we got into qualifying but still we’re in a good position to fight for the win, so we’ll just be pushing hard tomorrow.

    Q: These guys are starting to ramp up the pressure now, Ferrari were very close as well, the Red Bull. Are you relishing this fight that they’re taking to you?

    LH: I’m always down for a fight so…

    Q: I guess you’ll have to pass some cars tomorrow to try and get this win?

    LH: Yeah, I think it’s obviously a long, long way down to Turn 1, so it will be interesting. It’s not the easiest place to overtake, but strategy will come into it tomorrow, so I hope we can give them a run for their money.

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

     

    Q: Max, what an exciting moment for you. You’ve had a few minutes now to digest it, how does it feel?

    MV: Yeah, it feels good. I think the whole weekend already the car was very competitive. Of course there’s always a bit of a question mark how it’s going to work out in qualifying when we know that they can turn up a bit more power. But we seemed to hang in there and the car actually got better and better throughout qualifying. I was very happy with it, very pleased. It was really enjoyable to drive. I didn’t really have any comments throughout qualifying, I just said ‘keep it going, keep the car going and give me new tyres’ and that’s exactly what we did. Of course to get your first pole is very nice but it’s of course what counts on Sundays always.

    Q: Well, you’ve been brilliant on Sundays, you’ve had seven wins. What’s the overriding emotion now that you’ve finally go this first pole?

    MV: People will stop asking me that question. Yeah, I guess so. For me it never really mattered. I knew it was a matter of time. You need a bit of luck sometimes as well. Of course, I made mistakes myself to miss a pole position shot. And today we got it, so very happy with that.

    Q: Many congratulations, well done. Valtteri, it’s been a difficult build up to qualifying for you, with very little running in practice yesterday. How was the car this afternoon?

    VB: Yeah, it’s been not the easiest of weekends so far. I missed the whole of practice one, I had no track time, and I obviously very limited running in practice two. So this morning it was really important in practice three to find the rhythm and it was really getting better and better. I was getting the confidence in the car. Luckily there were no big set-up issues and I could just fine-tune it for qualifying. And again in qualifying, just learning each lap more and more and it started to feel very nice in Q3. It’s a shame to miss the pole by such a small margin, always, but congrats to Max and to Red Bull, they’ve been strong all weekend. But on how the weekend started, in that sense, I’m quite happy with that, but obviously a lot happier sitting in the middle.

    Q: Thank you and well done. Lewis, you came into the qualifying session seeking your seventh pole position here in Hungary. You’re lining up third. Just talk us through it?

    LH: Firstly, congratulations to Max. It’s an amazing feeling to get your first pole position, so really happy for him. For me a difficult qualifying session. Practice was going quite well. We knew the Red Bulls were quick – they’re always quick here. I think when I got into qualifying the car wasn’t the same as it was in P3 and it just was a bit of a struggle from the beginning and it kind of just plateaued there. It didn’t really get any better. But nonetheless we’re still there in the fight and hopefully for the race we’ll have better race pace than I did in quali.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

     

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and Speedsport) Max, you have a powerful engine but I think at the start of the season the chassis wasn’t really optimum. How much has the chassis improved from Spain testing to here?

    MV: I never said it was only the chassis, I think it’s a bit of both where we were lacking in the beginning. We made good gains with the engine, but we’re not where we want to be and I think everybody knows that. But we are pushing hard and we are improving and we are getting close to Mercedes and Ferrari, especially Ferrari, they seem very quick on the straights. With the chassis I think since Austria where we introduced a few crucial updates I think the car has been a lot better. From there onwards we kept bringing new parts. Maybe not as major as that one but it always gave me more of a balanced feeling in the car. And that’s exactly what we were looking for in the car and I guess it shows today on a track where you need a lot of downforce that the car was working really well.

    Q: (Vladimir Rogovets – Sb Belarus) My question to Mr Hamilton. Lewis, seven years ago you were here the winner but 2012 we had six champions in the peloton and you were only a one-time champion. Today we have only three champions in the peloton and you are a five-time champion. Do you think tomorrow, will it be easier for you to win than seven years ago – or not?

    MV: I didn’t know we had a peloton…

    LH: Did I win 2012? I don’t really remember that far back. Competition-wise, I don’t think it makes any difference, I don’t think, between those years. We’ve got some fierce competition within the top three teams. Is it easier now to win than before? I wouldn’t say so. It’s different circumstances now, naturally, and with more experience hopefully you are slightly prepared that I was back in… I would hope I’m better prepared than I was in 2012 but you’re still fighting an uphill battle all the time. You’re always finding new circumstances each weekend. This weekend, it started out well and it’s not gone great today but that doesn’t mean tomorrow can’t go great.

    …but you have more experience?

    LH: So, hopefully we’ll see that play its role.

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Max, by getting the breakthrough pole position for yourself and Red Bull with Honda, what message do you think that sends? Obviously you’ve made it clear that qualifying is the area you think you need to improve. And to the two Mercedes drivers, obviously you won’t take your eye off the challenge from Ferrari but do you think that Max is now your nearest, most consistent challenger?

    MV: We know that, if you can start more upfront in the race, it all makes it a bit easier to control a race – but we kept working really hard to improve the engine, to get a bit more out of it in qualifying, and I think that showed again today – that we were able to push it a bit more but of course within the limits of not blowing up. We keep improving. There are positive things also coming in the upcoming races. Of course, very happy to get my first pole position but also with the team, how quickly we turn things around from the beginning of the year where we were clearly lacking and now we are definitely closing up. And this weekend we were there, so that was good.

    Mercedes drivers: Valtteri, how do you see the pecking order at the front now? Do you think Max is your closest rival?

    VB: Well obviously it always depends on the tracks and circumstances but if you look at the trend, let’s say from the last five races, I think Red Bull has been the one who has been improving the most, closing the gap and today qualifying on pole. So, for sure they are doing many things right, and that means we have to work harder as a team but, y’know, I’m sure Ferrari isn’t standing still either. It’s maybe a tricky track for them but we’re going to see a strong performance from them as well.

    Lewis, your thoughts.

    LH: Enough said.

    Max is the top scorer in the last four races

    MV: You need to be the top scorer over the whole season, that’s what counts.

    Q: (Péter Farkas – Autó-motor) Max, you have been quite close to pole on a couple of occasions recently but you had a problem with the throttle application – turbo-lag, I think – is that problem now solved. And do you agree with Lewis the Honda engine is now at least as powerful as the Mercedes one at certain places.

    MV: Yeah, no problems this weekend, so that was all very good. No, I think we are still a bit down, in qualifying especially, but we are definitely closing up.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, you have had only one victory from P2. How tricky a place is this to get the second one?

    VB: Well, for sure it’s going to be a good battle tomorrow. It’s never going to be easy, and that’s obviously the only target as a driver. And starting in the front row and it’s very much possible. If the performance is there from my side, we as a team, it’s possible. It really doesn’t matter where you start from, as we’ve seen in the past, anything can always happen. Good chance. Very upbeat for tomorrow.

    Q: (Luke Smith – crash.net) Max, throughout your career so far you’ve held the majority of records for being the youngest driver to hit certain achievements. This is one of the few things you’ve missed out on. Do you care much for those kind of accolades and records – or not really?

    MV: No. I don’t’ know, I can make it a long story but it’s not so. It’s nice but it doesn’t make me sleep better, or anything.

    LH: Who has the youngest pole?

    MV: I think it’s Seb.

    VB: Now you can’t sleep.

    MV: Yep, now I’ll have a bad sleep.

    Q: (Masahiro Owari – Formula Owari) Question to Max. You struggled with an issue at a couple of grand prix, Hockenheim and Silverstone, how was the issue in today’s qualifying?

    MV: Yeah, I just had the same question before. There was no problem this weekend.

    Q: (Peter Vamosi – Racing Line) Renault claims that the engine is now at 1000bhp. What about Honda and Mercedes engines in this case? And an engineer said it’s impossible right now in this state to break this, also for Ferrari.

    MV: Well, if they claim to have a thousand horsepower they have a really bad car! I think it’s better to do the talking on the track than in the media anyway.

    LH: I have no idea what brake horsepower we have so similar; it’s all very close.

    VB: Actually just yesterday I asked the team – because we had some engine issues, we had some talks about the engine and I asked how much horsepower we had in qualifying and the engineers said they don’t know, they don’t actually know, so no one knows.

    LH: That might be why you’re catching us up.

    Q: (Peter Windsor – Clarksport) Max, you used the phrase earlier on ‘we knew Mercedes were going to turn up the engines for qualifying.’ Just to be clear, are you now able to turn up the Honda engine for qualifying, because you implied that but not actually said that?

    MV: Yeah, we do but it just seems like it’s not as powerful as maybe… well, looking at Ferrari they really turn it up. We do turn it up but maybe not as aggressive.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – liviooricchioF1.com) Lewis and Valtteri, Mercedes presented almost a new version of the car at Hockenheim with great changes in the aero package and here the results were maybe not what the team expected. Is that because the teams needs to understand better the new spec of car or even the upgrade was not one the team was expecting?

    VB: Well, based on everything we saw with the new package and analysis after last weekend as well it’s working as it should, so it’s a reasonable step forward in terms of downforce and efficiency. I guess other teams are moving ahead as well, forward as well with the performance but for sure we kind of expected to have a bit of a step compared to others but I think they are improving as well. It’s still a development race for quite some while before things are done.

    LH: Still trying to understand it. I think there are bits of it that are better and bits of it that are the same. So as I said the other day, we’re just constantly trying to understand it and improve it and I don’t think it’s a negative at all. We definitely have moved forward but clearly the others continue to move forward at the same time, at a steeper pace, maybe.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS) Practice starts, did they go OK, did they give you confidence?

    MV: Yeah, they were all good.

    VB: I had a really good practice start.

    MV: Yeah? I had a wheelie off the line! I was wheelie-ing.

    VB: Yeah? Me too!

    MV: Up to second gear!

    Q: (Daniel Majer – GPHirek.hu) Lewis and Valtteri, track position on this track is very important so tomorrow if Max comes first from the start, he can have an easier task. Do you think it would be good to discuss with the team any kind of tactics to hunt him down and then play it between yourselves or do you prefer just to mind your own thing?

    LH: Where’s the other Red Bull? So we’re in a good position in terms of working as a team tomorrow. We’re in a fortunate position, potentially, if we can hold on to Max to be able to work together to pull him closer to us and give him a bit of a run for his money. It’s a little bit harder when you’re on your own at the front in the team, because you can come under attack from undercuts and all this sort of thing. We’ll see how that plays out but we’ve got a long run down to turn one so hopefully we will have a nice long battle down there and then after that it’s down to team tactics.

    VB: Yeah, for sure we always discuss it, especially if we’re kind of starting next to each other and like Lewis said, we have a good chance as a team because we have two cars very much at the front. Obviously we are both also racing for our own result but also working as a team will benefit both of us so it should be interesting tomorrow.

    Q: (Zsolt Godina – F1Vilag.hu) Lewis, can you please tell us how was your preparation for this race weekend after your problems in Hockenheim?

    LH: It was just sleep. I didn’t get any training done, just literally sleeping a lot all week. That’s all I can really say about it.

    Q: Are you healthy this weekend?

    LH: Yeah, I feel a lot better, a lot better. Sweating a lot still but much better.

    Q: (Viktor Bognar – Magyar Szo) Max, in the past couple of weeks you were quickest in the fast and very hot Red Bull Ring. You were quickest in the wet Hockenheim and now you’re quickest here in the cooler and slow Hungaroring. Can Red Bull and you be favourites in the next races or what makes you think you can’t be?

    MV: I don’t know. We’ve got Spa and Monza coming up. Monza is maybe not our best track. Spa I don’t know actually, but first we have the summer break as well so honestly I’m not thinking about that yet. I feel good. I think the last few races, even on tracks where I didn’t expect to be like really, really competitive we were still there so anything can happen, to be honest.

  • F1 2019: German Gp Review – Verstappen, King of the Ring

    F1 2019: German Gp Review – Verstappen, King of the Ring

    On its day there isn’t a sport that can match the drama, exhilaration, and rapture of Formula 1. And on a rainy day in Germany Formula 1 was most definitely delivered a race to remember.

    Saturday qualifying was as embarrassing a day as Ferrari has experienced in some time. Well set to claim at the very least one spot on the front row neither Vettel nor Leclerc made it to the final shootout as both cars suffered technical failures. It left Hamilton to pick up the pieces and secure pole position with Max Verstappen alongside on the front row.

    Though most of the weekend had seen the Hockenheimring drenched in sunshine race day was markedly different as the rain came down. It prompted a couple of formation laps behind the safety car but conditions were good enough for a standing start. It was Hamilton who led away cleanly from pole as bad start, similar to Austria, dropped Verstappen down the other. It allowed Valtteri Bottas into second while Kimi Raikkonen scythed his way into third.

    Charles Leclerc, starting tenth, made an impressive start to be running sixth within a few laps while Seb Vettel too charged his way through the back-markers to fourteenth. The first Safety Car was brought out by Sergio Perez’s crash, which triggered the first round of pitstops with driver’s swopping full wets for intermediate tyres. The race settled momentarily before the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) was deployed for Daniel Ricciardo’s Renault that expired in a plume of smoke.

    As conditions improved drivers dived back into the pitlane for dry tyres. With Hamilton and Bottas still running one-two Verstappen struggled to heat his medium tyres and spun in the stadium section but rejoined without any damage. Again, the VSC would be called on as this time Lando Norris retired from the race with a loss of power.

    2019 German GPThe most dramatic sequence of events was just about to unfold. Leclerc, now in contention for the podium and even the race win, ran wide at the penultimate corner and slammed his Ferrari into the barrier and out of the race which prompted the appearance of the Safety Car. No sooner had Leclerc stepped out of his cockpit when race leader Hamilton lost control of his car at the same corner. Though the Mercedes driver too hit the barrier he was able to rejoin with the need for a few front wing.

    He dove into the pitlane but in doing incurred a five second penalty for failing to enter the pitlane before the bollard that indicates the correct pit entry. It wasn’t the end of Hamilton’s misery though as his arrival in the pitbox caught his team unaware. The pitcrew rushed around for the correct tyres and a new nose but thanks to the Safety Car and reduced speed Hamilton emerged in fifth overall.

    As the race ‘settled’ Verstappen was comfortably in the lead with Nico Hulkenberg in second ahead of Bottas. No sooner had the whispers begun spreading that Hulkenberg could be on for his first ever podium than the German driver found himself in the same barrier as Hamilton and Leclerc moments later. Yet another Safety Car was called on as drivers were back in the pits to swop dry tyres for inters. However, Lance Stroll and Racing Point gambled on dry tyres which worked a treat as the Canadian driver found himself in the lead as the rest of the field to the pitlane. Verstappen regained the lead of the race shortly afterward with Stroll desperately holding on to second ahead of Kvyat, Bottas, and Carlos Sainz. As Kvyat took second place from Stroll a few laps later it was going from bad to worse for Hamilton who flat-spotted all four tyres in a high-speed 360 in Turn 1.

    Mercedes’s day was about to get even worse when Bottas, just like Hamilton, spun at Turn 1. Unfortunately for the Finn he didn’t get away with it and destroyed the front of the Merc prompting yet another Safety Car.

    As the race re-started it was Vettel’s turn to come alive. He produced several brilliant overtakes and was past Sainz, Stroll and Kvyat in quick succession. It was a brilliant drive for Vettel who started 20thand last on the grid, kept his composure amid the chaos, and finished a fabulous second.

    2019 German GPUp ahead and well clear of the pandemonium Verstappen led serenely and apart from the earlier spin had no other issues. Apart from Mexico 2018 nearly all of Verstappen’s other race wins have come in dramatic fashion and Germany 2019 was no different. The seventh victory of Verstappen’s career was likely his most mature and reveals a driver ready to be a championship contender.

    While Verstappen marched to his second win in the last three races his teammate Pierre Gasly had a miserable afternoon. There were some good moments for the Frenchman but they were clouded by several off-track excursions before a coming together with Toro Rosso’s Alex Albon which put him out of the race. You cant help but feel as Gasly brought his damaged car to a halt it likely also marks the end of stint as a Red Bull driver.

    As impressive as Verstappen was it is undoubtedly Daniil Kvyat who deserves driver of the day for a sensational third place finish. It has been a long road back from the doldrums for Kvyat who was first replaced at Red Bull by Verstappen and later sacked by Toro Rosso. It couldn’t have come at a better time for the Russian driver who may find himself back at Red Bull in quick time.

    Elsewhere, Stroll eventually finished fourth ahead of Sainz in sixth who survived his own spin in the penultimate corner. Alex Albon made it a double-points finish for Toro Rosso in sixth. While the Alfa Romeo’s of Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi finished seventh and eighth on the track the two cars were later given a 30 second penalties for a pre-race rule infringement of, effectively, driver coaching. Alfa have stated their intention to appeal the penalties.

    This promoted Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen to seventh and eighth while Hamilton too benefited by being elevated to ninth. It also means that Williams secured their first point of the season with the elevation of Robert Kubica to tenth.

    Although this German grand prix is likely the last for the foreseeable future it went out on a spectacularly high-note. There’s little time for F1 to catch its breath as the paddock head to the Hungaroring this weekend for the final race before the month-long summer break.

  • F1 2019: German Gp Preview: The Case of Seb Vettel

    F1 2019: German Gp Preview: The Case of Seb Vettel

    Sebastian Vettel is a four-time Formula 1 World Champion. In all the noise and criticism that has been flying around the German driver it seems necessary to state this otherwise obvious fact. It needs mentioning because many a pundit, and several so-called pundits, has begun to question his prowess as a racing driver. They aren’t wrong in their criticism of his mistakes but they are wrong in their doubt of his ability and commitment.

    On numerous, if not two thousand, occasions some have stirred speculation that he may walk away from the sport. He did seem fairly disillusioned with the whole shebang after what happened in Canada but has confirmed, directly, that he has no intention of hanging up his helmet. In fact, he is contracted with Ferrari until the end of 2020. But that’s not provocative enough so ‘they’ continue to speculate about it week in and week out.

    The other favourite one-liner is ‘Well, you don’t see Hamilton making these mistakes’. It is quite silly to compare Sebastian Vettel to Lewis Hamilton. If you were making a direct driver-to-driver comparison, then have it at it. But F1 is never only about the individual and through that lens their situations could not be more different. Hamilton shows up to a grand prix weekend fully convinced that he will walk onto the top stop of the podium come Sunday afternoon. Yes, there are dozens of factors that can conspire to prevent this scenario but with all being equal he likely stands a more than 90% chance of winning. He is also in the most clinically efficient teams on the grid. Mercedes operate at a level that demands victory and anything else in inconceivable and unacceptable. More importantly they know how to win and how to solve their issues, almost immediately, if they don’t. In reality, his life is an awful lot easier than Vettel’s right now.

    Austria 2017_Sebastian Vettel_Thursday Press Conference Part 1Now Ferrari. Let’s not kid ourselves the Ferrari of 2019, heck of the last decade and a half, is not the Ferrari of the Schumacher-era. It doesn’t operate as proficiently as it should. That is evident, for example, in the repeated failure of upgrades brought to the car and in the calamity of their decision-making. This pressure isn’t only resting on the shoulders of those in the factory or even just top management. It filters through the entire organization and directly into the cockpit of Sebastian Vettel. Because he is fully aware that he is in car that has a deficit to Mercedes he pushes hard, sometimes over the limit. While Hamilton pushes his car to the edge Vettel needs to push beyond that edge to get on par with Mercedes and then the mistakes happen. Does this mean he isn’t a good driver? That he should retire from the sport? The answer is a resounding no.

    It doesn’t get any easier for Vettel as he returns this weekend to the German grand prix at the Hockenheimring. It is here, in 2018, where he crashed out while leading and handed Hamilton a handy 25-points. It seems as good a place as any then to start turning around his fortunes.

    Long straits dominate the first sector of the Hockenheimring making sector 1 fairly power dominant. The first overtaking opportunities of the lap comes at the turn 4 hairpin before the track evolves in a series of medium to fast corners that will test the aero efficiency of the car. The second half of the circuit layout of the circuit doesn’t inherently favour the strengths of the Ferrari but they have an opportunity to pull something together in Germany. It wont be easy to stop the might of Mercedes or to contend with the canny Red Bulls but Ferrari and Vettel must begin to find their way out of the messy position they find themselves in.

  • F1 2019: British Gp Review – Brilliant from start to Finish

    F1 2019: British Gp Review – Brilliant from start to Finish

    By just six milliseconds Valtteri Bottas snatched pole position for the British grand prix from Lewis Hamilton. It was as important a pole position as Bottas had ever had – beat Lewis Hamilton at Silverstone and you sent a pretty emphatic message.

    And Bottas did everything right on Sunday too. He led cleanly off the start and held teammate Hamilton behind for the first laps of the race. And though Hamilton was able to take the lead of the race into Luffield corner Bottas hit back straight away to retake P1 into Copse corner. It remained fairly close between the two Mercedes and as they gradually pulled away from the rest of the field Bottas seemed to have it all under control.

    Though Ferrari and Red Bull were unable to match the Mercedes race pace a tasty battle that lasted for the majority of the race raged between the four drivers. First it was Leclerc against Verstappen and although it wasn’t for the lead of the race as in Austria it was every bit as exhilarating. Verstappen, somewhat quicker, tried everything to get past the Ferrari driver but just couldn’t pull it off on the track. The two pitted together and some brilliant work from the Red Bull crew had Verstappen emerge ahead of Leclerc. The joy would be short-lived though as Verstappen ran wide out of the pits and allowed the Ferrari back into third.

    Up front Bottas pitted from the lead while Hamilton stayed out. It proved a vital decision as Antonio Giovinazzi beached his Alfa Romeo in the gravel trap. It prompted the deployment of the safety car and handed Hamilton a free pitstop and the lead of the British grand prix. Sebastian Vettel too gained as result of the safety car and emerged in third place. Ferrari had, once again, called a baffling strategy for Leclerc that left the Monegasque driver in sixth overall after being brilliantly dispatched by Verstappen.

    2019 British GPVerstappen quickly eased past teammate Gasly and was soon on the gearbox of Vettel’s Ferrari. A brilliant overtake into Stowe saw Verstappen ahead of Vettel only for the Ferrari driver to midjudge his braking and slam into the back of the Red Bull. It sent both drivers into the gravel trap but able to rejoin the race. While Vettel limped back to the pits with a broken front-wing Verstappen, miraculously, raced on and eventually finished fifth.

    Vettel was, rightly, handed a ten second penalty for causing the collision. Though never intentional the incident was definitely questionable. For one, Ferrari will do well to admit that they are no longer the second quickest car on the grid, that’s Red Bull. Second, while Vettel may be one of the top drivers in F1 with four titles behind his name his driving, in totality, over the last season-and-a-half is rather alarming. The talent is undoubtedly there but Sebastian Vettel cuts a somewhat disillusioned figure at the moment.

    Ahead Bottas would likely feel hard done by the safety car but that’s part of motor racing. The Finn had to settle for second while Hamilton scored a record-breaking sixth British Gp win. Leclerc drove through the carnage of the Verstappen/Vettel crash to take a fourth consecutive podium finish. And in a very timely fashion Pierre Gasly secured his best finish of the season in fourth with Verstappen recovering to fifth.

    It was an overtaking extravaganza behind the top teams with Carlos Sainz and Daniel Ricciardo finishing less than a second apart in sixth and seventh. In eighth was Kimi Raikkonen ahead of Daniil Kvyat in ninth and Nico Hulkenberg in tenth.

    The British grand prix delivered a race brimful of entertainment which makes the news that it will be on the F1 calendar for at least five more years all the sweeter.

    All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport
  • 2019 British Grand Prix – Post Qualifying Press Conference

    2019 British Grand Prix – Post Qualifying Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)

    2 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    3 – Charles LECLERC (Ferrari)

    TRACK INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by David Coulthard)

     

    Q: Valtteri Bottas, pole position here at Silverstone. It’s been a while – Barcelona your last one – but you must be particularly proud of that one?

    Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, it feels very good. It just reminds you of why you do this, these kinds of feelings, but yeah, it’s been pretty close all weekend, and today, with Lewis and just really, really happy to get a good lap and be on pole.

    Q: Put us in the cockpit. You had the provisional pole you would look at the overlay and realise that Lewis had made a mistake at Brooklands and you know you have to dig deep and find something. You didn’t manage to improve on that time but where was your mind on the lap in terms of know how good the previous one was?

    VB: Yeah, I knew the first lap was good but it was not perfect. Honestly I should have improved on the second run. I didn’t quite get the lap together, especially in the first part of the lap, but I’m glad it was enough. It’s not easy to get a good lap together, it’s easy to do mistakes and I think everyone was struggling a bit, so happy to be on top.

    Q: I’m not sure the crowd are happy with what you’ve done but congratulations? 

    VB: Thank you.

    Q: Lewis Hamilton, it was close and you worked that hard, but we saw you had that little wobble in the second-last lap in qualifying. Tell us about your actual ultimate lap, it’s a tiny gap between you and Valtteri.

    Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah, firstly, congratulations to Valtteri, he did a solid job throughout qualifying. Ultimately not good enough, We had worked hard throughout the session but it just got a little bit away from us. We sacrificed a lap in Q2, which would have helped get a reading of where the car was, but we didn’t end up doing that. At the end I had that mistake on the first lap and the second one just wasn’t that great so fair play to Valtteri he did the job. But it’s a long race tomorrow, we’ve got a great crowd here and hopefully I can do something good for them tomorrow.

    Q: The crowd are willing you on. It’s another grand prix, or is it? It’s more than just a grand prix, the British Grand Prix for you?

    LH: Yeah, completely. It’s the best grand prix of the year and it’s really because of the energy the3 people bring. These tracks are great layouts and designs and areas of space but without people like this to fill it up and bring energy it’s nothing. That’s why we’ve got the best fans here in England.

    Q: Charles, well done, fastest Ferrari driver but that’s ultimately not your goal. We looked through free practice and Ferrari looked like they could challenge Mercedes but in the end it was a tough one for you?

    Charles LECLERC: Yeah, well, I think also in Q2, up to Q2 we were quite good but then in Q3 Mercedes turned up a little bit the engine, and they were very, very quick also round the corners, that’s where we need to work, we know it. Third place is the best we could have done today and I’m very happy about it.

    Q: I saw you having a close look at the Mercedes car. This is the one time on a weekend when it’s acceptable to be a little bit nosy. Anything standing out there that you like?

    CL: No, just looking at the state of the tyres, that’s nothing special.

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Valtteri, a tremendous lap by you at the start of Q3. Very tight between you and your team-mate. Just how good was that first lap?

    VB: It was good. Obviously good enough for pole. There was not much in it between me and Lewis in the end. But still, going into the second run, there were a couple of place where it was clear there was margin to improve so I wouldn’t say it was a perfect lap, but I doubt anyone got a perfect lap today. It was not easy to get everything right and super-sensitive to tiny mistakes here and there with this new tarmac and also with a bit of wind. But yeah, I’m happy that it was enough and it’s definitely a good feeling.

    Q: Valtteri, you now have more poles this season than any other driver. Is that significant to you and have you worked specifically on qualifying this year, something more than previous seasons?

    VB: It’s not that I have been specifically been working on it. Obviously you always try to improve your performance both on low- and high-fuel, short and long runs. I think the biggest thing for me to work on is the pure race pace definitely, in some kinds of conditions. I mean, year-by-year you are always learning and you get quicker if you work. The main thing is to turn those poles into wins and that’s the main thing for tomorrow.

    Q: Congratulations. Lewis, motorsport is full of ifs, buts and maybes. Had you not made that error at Brooklands on your first lap in Q3 and got a complete lap in might it have been different?

    LH: It doesn’t really matter at the end of the day. You can’t go back, you can only go forwards. Valtteri did the job, so congratulations to him. And for us, yeah, it just wasn’t the best of qualifying sessions. But there’s a long race tomorrow so I just have to see how I can convert the position I’m in to progress forward. I think the long run yesterday was good, so I hope we can utilise the tyre advantage we have, in the sense of starting on the mediums, so hopefully we can do a good job with that tomorrow.

    Q: Did the track conditions fluctuate a lot during that session?

    LH: Not really. It’s a little bit gusty here. That’s why it’s so great here at Silverstone, because it’s spread over such a vast piece of land and sometimes it’s raining on one section of the track and not another and it’s gusty in some places and not so much in other places. It really bodes well for a tough track to finish a lap on.

    Q: Charles, like Lewis, you came on the radio and said you had made a mistake on that first run in Q3. Do you feel there was more out there today?

    CL: No, I don’t think so. Very, very happy with my lap. I think in the last corner I maybe could have done a little bit better, but not much. Overall, I think we are very happy with the performance, very close to Mercedes and we did not expect it. We thought we would be struggling more this weekend. We have been struggling since FP1 with the front end of the car, still in qualifying, but a little bit less. So yeah, it’s a good qualifying session for us. Of course, I would have hoped for a higher position, but third is the best we could have done today.

    Q: As with Austria you will start the race on the soft tyre, the guys next to you are going to be on the medium tyre. How do you see the tyre war playing out .

    CL: Again, it was thought. So we wanted to do that. Again, in Austria it wasn’t a bad choice. That’s not what made us finish second there so we are pretty happy here too.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Christian Menath – motorsport-magazin.com) Charles, just following up on the Q2 and the soft tyre. You made the first run on the medium tyre and then set the fastest lap on the soft. Was it always the plan to qualify with the soft, because yesterday’s long runs didn’t look that great and it was a bit surprising to us that you improved your time?

    CL: Yes, it was planned like this. The race run was not great yesterday but it was not due to the tyre, as I said. We had some issues with the front end and I think it got better today, so we will see tomorrow whether we have a significant improvement on the long runs, but it was not due to the tyre.

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Valtteri and Lewis: Lewis, after practice yesterday you talked about having a little bit of difficulty with the balance of the car, the rear was stepping out a bit. Did that carry into today or were you happy with the car. Valtteri, you started strongly yesterday, has that just continued and do you just feel very happy with the balance of the car?

    VB: Well, yeah, from the very beginning, since the first practice the feeling was quite nice. There was definitely room for improvement, especially with the rear end of the car, mainly on the entry of the corners. I think we managed to get it a bit better. It was still the weakness in a couple of places the rear end of the car but it’s not been a massive drama. I managed to build up from yesterday, except for practice three, I was a bit off the pace. I just tried to reset and remind myself of everything I was capable of doing yesterday and it turned out to be good.

    Q: And Lewis?

    LH: Yeah the car was good. We made a big step forward, so no problems.

    Q: (Simon Amberley – Nevis Radio) To Charles: it was mentioned yesterday that maybe the Ferrari race pace wasn’t quite as strong as Mercedes, but with the gaps today and the difference on the tyres do you think possibly if you get a jump at the start, of getting Valtteri and Lewis, do you think you can maybe dictate the pace a bit more?

    CL: That’s definitely the target  – to try to use our tyre advantage, especially at the start, to gain positions and then try to keep them. Keeping them will be very difficult because they are extremely quick in race runs but that’s the target.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – liviooricchiof1.com) Lewis, from the outside it didn’t appear that you had the car in your hands all the time. Is it because of the circumstances or maybe you have a set-up thinking more of the race?

    LH: No, the set-up suited race trim best and I think yesterday I really did struggle with it on a single lap and of course I was trying to improve it over the evening and into today. It felt great into P3 and it felt really good at the star5 of the Q sessions and it kind of deteriorated through the session, so it got harder and harder, back towards a similar problem we had yesterday – as you saw in Turn 6 for example. But it was also windy. The race trim is still good. I didn’t want to move from the set-up I had, too far away, because it worked so well on the long run yesterday. Fingers crossed the strength in the race should be quite good but again it depends on what position we are in and how the wind is and a bunch of other factors.

    Q: (Yassmin Abdel-Magied – The Guardian) I’ve got a slightly less technical question. Lewis, this is your home race and  there’s lot of British flags out there and you’ve talked about loving coming back to the UK but there’s contention because you live in Monaco, and your accent isn’t maybe as British as others because you spend a lot of time in the US. So, why do you think that people question your Britishness.

    LH: I don’t really know. I don’t really have a good answer for that.

    VB: We all live in Monaco!

    LH: We all do live in Monaco. It’s crazy now because every driver… I remember growing up, you remember watching Jenson Button and all the youngsters come through, and every one migrated to Monaco and no-one ever said anything about it at the time. Of course, when I did, they had something to say about it. But no matter how often you go abroad or elsewhere in the world, you come back to the UK and you see the beautiful countryside, you see this great… y’know, the history of Formula One and motorsport which is really here, and I see all my family who are also here and this is, of course, feels like where my heart is and ultimately fully British. Of course, I still like to honour my family heritage. My family are from the Caribbean. But… I don’t know. People have a right to their own opinion. If you look around, there’s a lot of Team LH caps. The support that I’ve had has been just incredible and it’s been growing over the years, and whilst, of course, there’s always going to be people with negative views on things, I feel like every day is an opportunity to try to turn those that do have a negative view on things. I guess over time I’ll do more and more positive things for the country. Ultimately, I go to all these race and I lift the British flag proudly. There’s no-one else in this sport that’s raised it so high. At the moment, probably that’s not enough. I’ll keep looking out for what else I can do. And for those who do follow me, I really do appreciate their support.

    Q: (Mike Doodson – Honorary) Lewis, there’s been some dramas here at Silverstone with the surface and they seem to have got everything done pretty quickly, but there were quite a lot of incidents at Turn Six yesterday. I wonder if you could tell us – you had one too, I think, there – can you tell us what was wrong there and is it better today and is the circuit settling down?

    LH: Ultimately last year, we’d come out of Turn Four and it was the bumpiest straight that probably you’ve ever been on before, rattling your teeth out for most of us. Also, for the motorbikes, it was quite bumpy then. In other areas it was OK. I think they’ve redone it this year; it’s much better on that straight but there are – and I guess it’s just the way it goes – but bumps into Turn Six are pretty hardcore but I think more so it’s the crosswind people are struggling with there. Maybe the bumps and also the crosswind that you have there, which everyone struggles with, and I’ve also struggled with – but then there’s also Turn Seven, it’s very bumpy but then the straight down to Copse is good, and then up to Maggotts and Becketts it’s good. It’s fantastic, and then after Maggotts and Becketts, down Stowe Straight it’s great, 15, 16, 17. So, it’s pretty much spot-on, perfect, apart from three bumps at the entry of Six and exit of Seven.

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Question to all three drivers. What kind of weather do you expect tomorrow and what is the weather that will suit more the strategy you chose for the first tyre you will start on.

    CL: I haven’t watched the forecast yet, so I don’t really know – but I guess, yeah, in Silverstone it’s often very unpredictable, and as we’ve seen in the last two days, you can have drops any time. So, it will make the race quite interesting if it’s like this. Then, if I can choose, the best would probably have a good start on the Soft, do seven laps and then big rain and keep this position. But I don’t choose. I think it will be very unpredictable anyway.

    VB: Like yesterday there was no proper chance of rain but it still had a bit of drizzle, so I think anything can come from the sky, you never know – and no idea what will be best for us. At least it’s cooler than Austria, so that’s always good news but anything else, we should be OK.

    LH: I’m down for some good old English weather tomorrow! Good old English weather is sunny, hale, rain! Sun, snow, the whole mixture. No, naturally it’s better for all the fans when it’s dry but I don’t mind if it rains either way. It’s really great, this track, in the wet. I guess we’ll all discuss whether we do the rain dance tonight or not.

    Q: (Rob Harris – AP) Hi Lewis, it came down to six milliseconds today. Some quotes around from Nico Rosberg saying that, if he’d been travelling and partying in LA, then he’d be qualifying down in tenth – but you can cope with it, he was suggesting. When you assess things, do you think the clearing of the mind outweighs the travel by… sort of… going to LA between races like that and having the trips?

    LH: I think naturally it’s easy to say that. People to have views. I do have five world titles. They didn’t come on their own. You know me.

    VB: I think you gain time by partying. As a Finn, it’s a feeling.

    LH: Valtteri parties way more than me!

    VB: I have a party, I gain lap time, so…

    LH: I think ultimately, when I started doing the travels and focussing on these other things, people always had… there was always the issue and people would have comments on it. Particularly the pressure of then having to arrive and making sure you definitely delivered the same. It took a long time to break that mould, and I’ve done it time and time and time again. My preparation comes first. I’ve felt fantastic all weekend. The pressure’s quite high here, obviously being your home grand prix, and so I don’t look upon that lightly, and I prepare the best way I can. But also, I do what I want – I don’t do what you think I should do, or anyone else thinks I should do. Only I know what’s right for me – and again, that’s what’s led me to five world titles. And don’t forget the amount of wins I have, all of that stuff, so… yeah.

    Q: (Keith Collantine – racefans.net) Question for Charles, you’ve said a few times in recent races you feel you’ve raised your game in qualifying recently. The clearest way we can see that is you’ve just out-qualified Sebastian for the third race in a row – but how much more do you think there is that you can find in the Ferrari? And particularly today, was there the extra eight hundredths of a second that you needed to be sitting where Valtteri is sitting?

    CL: At the time, as I said earlier, I think out main issue is the front end. Once we’ll fix this, I’m pretty sure there will be quite a bit of performance in that – because also again, in qualifying today, especially the third sector, I was struggling quite a lot with the front end to grip-up. So yeah, there’s still a lot of performance into that, whether we’ll know how to overcome this issue is another matter, so we need to be working very hard on that, and hopefully some performance will come when we fix this.

    Q: (Tom Jackson – City Press) Charles, both Red Bulls split you and Sebastian today. Do you think tomorrow you will be able to comfortably stay ahead of them or do you expect a fight with them more than you do with the Mercedes?

    CL: If we look at the Friday race simulations, I think it’s going to be very difficult to fight with  – or at least Lewis’s race run was very very strong so yeah, we need to work on that but Red Bull seems to be very quick also in the race runs so it’s going to be tricky. If we manage to gain some positions at the start, it’s a track where it’s quite hard to overtake so then we have some chances to keep them but if not I guess it’s going to be very difficult to fight with them.

    Q: (Laurence Edmonson – ESPN) Valtteri, two of your pole positions earlier this year didn’t quite go to plan, the starts didn’t work out. Can you just explain if you’ve anything to try and rectify that and how the other starts have been and whether you’ve found a solution to it?

    VB: Yeah, I’ve definitely been working a lot on the starts this year and especially after the couple of not ideal ones, so I’ve been focusing a lot and feel much more comfortable  with the starts than earlier in the year. Obviously every start is going to be different, we always have different circumstances, different set of tyres, temperatures but yeah, feel more confident and obviously aiming for a good start tomorrow and use the good grid position.

    Q: (Sam Hall – Autoweek) Lewis, this year it seems that you’ve found qualifying a little bit harder to get pole on the Saturdays. Is the car a bit more difficult to get the one lap pace out of or is it something that’s changed with you as a driver?

    LH: No, I think… we’re not halfway through the year yet. We’ve definitely had some poles but Valtteri has done some great laps throughout qualifying. It definitely has been a car that’s a little bit… I think with the tyres it’s a little bit harder to get it perfect every single time but it’s just qualifying, if you’ve seen a lot of the races, it doesn’t necessarily always determine what happens always in the race. Of course it’s great to always start at the front. It makes your day a little bit more simple but nonetheless it’s really great that we continue to work forwards as a team and lock out the front row. I’m really proud to be a part of that and still to get a one-two today is still significant, considering we have all of our team actually coming this weekend. Of course, Valtteri and I, I think we have a great relationship, we always want to beat each other but I’ll go back, look at the data today, did a better job and tomorrow you’ll do a great job as well and the duel tomorrow is who can do a better job tomorrow. There’s plenty more pole positions up for grabs between all of us so just got to keep working hard.

    Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) Valtteri and Lewis; Valtteri, when we spoke you said the time is now for you to start effectively getting your elbows out. Indeed, is this the time that you’re starting to sense that? Lewis, are you prepared to race against what I guess we could call Valtteri 2.1, new version, newly enthused, ready to go again after a good start and obviously a bit of a slump but coming back?

    VB: Well, if you look at the points, for sure the championship fight is still on. Obviously I’m the one chasing, I’m behind with I don’t know the exact number but roughly thirty points or something but so many races to go and it’s going to be a lot up to me and my performance, so definitely every single opportunity there is I need to get those and if I don’t get those then Lewis is going to be far away and not be able to reach in terms of points so tomorrow is super important, but so is the race after and the race after. The season is still long so I really need to try and take those opportunities and for sure will do everything I can to keep that lead tomorrow.

    Q: Lewis, your thoughts on Valtteri 2.1?

    LH: 2.1 or 2.4 or what’s the difference? I work closely with this guy, it’s Valtteri. I just see him as the man he is. Obviously we’re still fighting for the title. I don’t feel necessarily that he’s the only one chasing, I’m still chasing. I try to put an imaginary individual ahead of yourself. For me, I generally kind of put the previous year’s performances so last year’s myself ahead of me, for example and that’s my target: to improve and beat that, but on days like this I’m behind another so he’s now the guy that I’m chasing. So as long as you’ve always got a goal to chase, then you can always make improvements, you always have strides to make and so that’s my approach always.

    Q: (Simon Amberley – Nevis Radio) The past couple of races we’ve had incidents that have been reviewed after the race which have either potentially affected the result or have affected the result. Has this been discussed within the drivers’ meetings and can we expect results to actually stand at the end of the race and drivers to be able to race more aggressively in future races including here?

    LW: I was focusing on folding… I don’t know what the question was.

    CL: I’m always up for hard racing so very happy if they relax a little bit on the fights but I think consistency is key. At the end, I think they also need time to review some incidents or sometimes it be bad to wait for the results but at the end I think it’s the best way to take the right decision.

    VB: Yeah, I’m a big fan of hard racing as well so the harder we can race, but safe and fair, is always good and obviously for everyone it’s always better to have the results as quickly as possible and penalties as quickly as possible but sometimes they need to review more which is understandable.

    LH: I feel exactly the same as these two guys. I still don’t know what the question was really! But close racing is always yeah, what he just said. Sorry. It wasn’t intentional to miss what the question was. About tough racing, was it? I haven’t discussed it. No. I don’t think it was brought up in the drivers’ briefing either. I think the last race was good. I don’t know what Charles thought of the incident he had.

    CL: No, I thought it was OK. The only thing is consistency as I said. I feel like there have been some incidents in the past this year that have been not analysed or penalised, sorry, for much less than that, so that’s the only thing. I think consistency is very important but if it’s clear that we can race that way then I’m more than happy to race like this and I think every driver likes to race that way.

    LH: I agree again! I think it’s really hard with the consistency thing because we’ve got these rules that… but every scenario is different but you have to apply the same rule to it so it’s… that’s why they’ve got some of the guys that are at the stewards, some even have to interpret certain a way what has happened at certain way and as Charles said, consistency is really what we want to try and get. But I think every year you go through all the lessons or they, together in the sport, go through the lessons and learn and improve and people told us that it needs to get better and so I’m sure we will.

  • F1 2019: Austrian Gp Review – Verstappen & Formula 1 Win

    F1 2019: Austrian Gp Review – Verstappen & Formula 1 Win

    What a difference seven days can make. From the doldrums of France Formula 1 was transformed, albeit for one race, into the sport that so many millions have come to adore. Drama, some controversy, and adrenaline-charged overtakes dominated all of the 71 laps of Austrian grand prix.

    Saturday qualifying was bittersweet for Ferrari as Charles Leclerc secured a dominant pole position. However, a mechanical issue stopped Seb Vettel from participating in the final session of qualifying and left him to start the race at the lower end of the top ten. Lewis Hamilton, second quickest in quali, was demoted to fourth for blocking Alfa Romeo driver Kimi Raikkonen in qualifying. This promoted Max Verstappen to the front of the grid and put him in the perfect position to, at least, secure a podium at Red Bull’s home race.

    For only the second time in his career Leclerc lined up in the pole position. And just as in Bahrain earlier this season he aced the start. It wasn’t the same for Verstappen whose anti-stall kicked in and dropped him to seventh place on Lap 1. Behind the race leader Valtteri Bottas took up second while McLaren’s ever-impressive Lando Norris briefly challenged Lewis Hamilton for third.

    Kimi Raikkonen too made a good start to run as high as fourth while Vettel rocketed off the line into sixth by the end of the first lap. Several fantastic fights dominated the opening stint of the race as Verstappen and Vettel fought their way through the field. It was far more serene at the front for Leclerc who’d built a healthy lead over the two Mercedes by Lap 20.

    2019 Austrian GPRecord-high temperatures in Europe severely limited Mercedes performance in Austria as they suffered with cooling issues nearly from the first lap of the race. Their need to lift and coast into the corners severely hampered their pace meant that neither Bottas nor Hamilton was ever in contention for the win.

    It was clear that the Ferrari thrived in the hotter condition but still errors abounded. As Vettel pulled into the pitlane for his first stop the Ferrari mechanics were late out of the garage and lost Vettel precious seconds over his nearest rivals. Ferrari later confirmed that a communication malfunction as the reason for the tardy stop. Meanwhile Hamilton was forced to take a new front-wing at his stop after damaging it on the exit kerb of Turn 9.

    As things settled after the round of pitstops the Red Bull of Verstappen came alive. Despite holding a clear power deficit to the Ferrari Verstappen scythed past Vettel’s Ferrari for third. A handful of laps later the Dutch driver saw of second placed Bottas and set off after race leader Leclerc. A five second gap was reduced to a few tenths of a second in just a handful of laps by Verstappen’s blistering pace.

    On Lap 68 Verstappen stole into the lead of the race but it was only momentarily as Leclerc fourth back and regained the lead. One lap later, and to the utter euphoria of the vast amount of Dutch fans, Verstappen moved to the inside of Turn 4, briefly touched wheels with Leclerc, and seized the lead of the race. This victory was sixth of Verstappen’s career and easily his most impressive to date. It was also Honda’s first win since returning to F1.

    2019 Austrian GPStewards subsequently investigated the move for the lead between Verstappen and Leclerc after the race. More than two hours later Stewards ruled that no further action would be taken and the result would stand. While there will be many who hold the argument that the move deserved a penalty, it simply didn’t. Considering it purely technically it was clear that Verstappen had the racing line, was alongside Leclerc turning into the apex and he did not open his steering to force the Ferrari off the track. From on-board footage it was evident that Leclerc had left the door open and lost the corner. For Formula 1 too it was the correct decision. Just as in Canada this move in Austria did not warrant a penalty. It was a spectacular drive by Verstappen and Ferrari and Leclerc ought to take it on the chin and try again in Silverstone.

    While Bottas brought his Mercedes home in third Vettel, after a late stop, recovered to fourth. Lewis Hamilton finished fifth and accepted that his car was limited by the conditions. It was another stellar day for Lando Norris in sixth with Pierre Gasly trundling home in seventh. If Pierre Gasly wasn’t under pressure to maintain his Red Bull before the start of this race then he certainly is after it. The French driver out-qualified by a McLaren, a Haas, and both Alfa Romeos and he didn’t fare any better in Sunday’s race. In fact, despite Verstappen dropping down the field on Lap 1 Gasly still found himself lapped by his teammate at the end of the race. The Austrian Gp is easily Gasly’s worst performance and it has undoubtedly edged him closer to being replaced. In fact, it is likely that the Red Bull management has given him until Hungarian grand prix, before the summer break, to drastically improve his or face the axe.

    spielbergsunday13-780782Carlos Sainz underlined McLaren’s clear progress by finishing in eighth despite starting at the back of the grid. Kimi Raikkonen was ninth for Alfa Romeo while his teammate Antonio Giovinazzi finished tenth and scored the first point of his F1 career.

    For nearly all of the Austrian Gp the eventual winner was a mystery. It was chock-full of overtaking and brilliant performance up and down the field. This may only be one race but this is what Formula 1 can and should be. Whether this will carry forward to the rest of the season is unknown but one thing is certain Max Verstappen delivered a stellar drive, the best of his career, and there is more where that came from.

  • 2019 Austrian Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    2019 Austrian Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    DRIVERS
    1 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)
     2 – Charles LECLERC (Ferrari)
    3 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)

    TRACK INTERVIEWS
    (Conducted by Martin Brundle) 

    Q: Max Verstappen, what an astonishing race you drove. We see two cars down there from the great Niki Lauda – a Ferrari and a McLaren. A worthy champion of course, three times, a legend in this country, who we recently lost. You and Charles did him proud during that grand prix, congratulations. 
    Max VERSTAPPEN: Thank you. Wow! After that start I thought the race was over. But we just kept pushing hard. Quite quickly I saw the pace was actually not too bad, but I had quite a bad flat spot on my first [set of] tyres. And then after the pit stop we were flying. You can see it now on the straight we had good pace as well so we could make the pass. Of course extremely happy for the whole team and also for Honda. We just started working together this year but to win here is incredible.

    Q: It got a little bit cosy, a little bit close during the overtake of Charles. It’s under investigations. I’m sure you’ve been told by the team. What’s your point of view on that? 
    MV: It’s hard racing. Otherwise we have to stay home.

    Q: So you’re really comfortable. Your elbows are out, you took the place and you were up the inside. 
    MV: Well, I mean, if those things aren’t allowed in racing, then what’s the point of being in Formula One.

    Q: Well, let’s just celebrate a magnificent drive, well done. Charles Leclerc I thought your first win was there; so did you I’m sure. Take us through it from your point of view. Perfect start, perfect race until the closing stages. 
    Charles LECLERC: Yeah, overall I thought the race was good. At the end I had a bit more degradation than I thought so Max came back. Then, on the incident, I’ll let the stewards decide. For me it was pretty clear in the car, I don’t know how it looked like from the outside. We’ll see what the decision is.

    Q: You don’t feel it was a fair pass? 
    CL: I don’t know. I was the outside, just like the lap before. Actually, the lap before was completely fine. He left a space for a car width on the exit of the corner but he didn’t on the other lap, so we touched and then obviously I didn’t have a chance to pass back. It’s a shame.

    Q: Incredible performance still, congratulations. Valtteri, a couple of 21-year-olds today putting on a stunning performance. You’re the top Mercedes man, was it a difficult race? 
    Valtteri BOTTAS: I think we made the most out of it. It was a bit more difficult than we expected, especially with the overheating of the engine, so couldn’t really race properly – had to manage all those temperatures. That’s why defending was difficult and also attacking. But, yeah, got some good points. It was one of those weekends, but it’s not bad.

    Q: Anything you could have done better? The start was reasonable, pace was reasonable but you couldn’t stay with those two.
    VB: On pure race pace I don’t think there was not much difference, but once we had to start to manage the temperatures we were dropping back, so…

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Well Max, many congratulations. A great race from you although you didn’t make it easy for yourself, dropping back to seventh at the start. First question: how does this win compare to the ones that came before?
    MV: It’s a bit different again. At the start I had anti-stall. So I guess we set the clutch a bit too aggressive. But yeah, from there onwards, I think my first stint was a little bit limited with the flat-spot I had after lap one – but still, we stayed out quite long and, once we came out again, we had great pace initially. I think we were looking after the tyres a bit, just settling in. Then, one-by-one we were overtaking the cars ahead. The car really came alive.

    Q: At what point of the race did you think the win was on?
    MV: Difficult to say. I think once I got past Valtteri, with the pace we had, I could definitely have a go at it. But you never know. I just kept pushing really hard – but we did it with a few laps to go so, of course, extremely happy but also to the team. I think all weekend we’ve been working really well and the upgrades we bought, they’ve worked really well, so a big thank you to Red Bull Racing themselves, all the boys there – but also to Honda because it’s not been easy for them in the past but today it’s been incredible, so I’m very happy for them.

    Q: Charles, the disappointment must still feel very fresh for you. Can you just give us your thoughts on the weekend as a whole and what positives you can take away from this Austrian Grand Prix.
    CL: Yeah, the weekend was positive. Quali was positive, the race though, I feel like we missed something. Quite  a lot of degradation again on the second set. So yeah, on that we need to work but overall a positive weekend.

    Q: And what about your performance of your car in race conditions versus qualifying. Were you expecting a little more from it?
    CL: Maybe a little bit. I think what we didn’t expect is Max going that long in the first stint, and then the second stint was harder because we pitted quite early onto the Hard compound.

    Q: Valtteri, you celebrate your 50th start for Mercedes with another podium. Great start from you. Did that lay the foundations of this third place?
    VB: Yeah, obviously the start was important because, I think, for us to attack any cars ahead was quite difficult today with the overheating issues we had, so had to do big amounts of lift and coast and couldn’t actually use any of the better engine modes in the race so everything was on safe mode, just by overheating. Felt like we couldn’t really race today, so it was nice to have a good track position in the beginning and actually, in the circumstances today, I’m happy that I managed to be on the podium and also get a few points against Lewis.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Max and Charles, obviously you went side-by-side with each other two laps in a row. Max can you just talk us through how the attack the second time was different, what you did differently? And Charles, do you think that when you did make the contact, you could have done anything yourself to avoid a collision? 
    MV: I think the second one I braked a bit deeper into the corner. We had a little contact of course, mid to exit of the corner but yeah, from my side I think it’s racing. We all know there is a crest in that corner as well. If you take the crest wrong – because we both went a bit straight on – at one point you run out of room but it’s hard racing, it’s better than just following each other and have a boring race, isn’t it?
    CL: Yeah, I did the same thing from the first to the second lap. The only thing that changed was on the second lap there was contact and then I had to go wide and I lost quite a bit of time there.

    Q: (Christian Menath – MotorsportMagazin.com) Charles, just following that, could you have done anything to avoid the contact, probably go a bit wider and then come onto the next straight a bit deeper or anything like that? 
    CL: As I said, I’ve done exactly the same thing from the first to second lap, so I did not expect  any contact on the second lap. Yeah, as Max said, I think he braked a little bit deeper. I don’t know if he lost it or not but then there was the contact. I felt I was quite strong in traction, from the first attempt I managed to have a better traction and I kept my position. On the second one I couldn’t do that because I was off track.

    Q: (Luis Vasconcelos – Formula Press) Valtteri, you mentioned the overheating issues but it was clear that the car was also being aerodynamically compromised to improve that situation. Was the team surprised that even with all those openings for cooling there were still overheating issues? 
    VB: The issues today were definitely bigger than we expected. We knew it was going to be difficult and we would have to do some lift and coast but we never expected we would have to do that big amount and also by not being able to use good engine modes it made quite a big difference. And on top of that there were the aero losses and we were fully open with everything, so quite big losses and aero-wise as well, but the bigger thing was the engine power and the lift and coast.

    Q: (Luke Smith – Crash.net) Max, congratulations on your win, how significant do you feel this is for the Red Bull Honda project going forward and I guess the validation of the faith that Red Bull have shown in the Honda project so far? 
    MV: Yeah, of course I think this is very important for us and also for the future, for Honda as well. I’m just very happy that it happened today and it just gives us a lot of confidence as well to the boys and maybe a few doubts are going away because of it so yeah, at the moment it’s an amazing feeling.

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Max, did you have the time to enjoy the ambiance of the orange army? Did you hear it during the race or at the end? 
    MV: I think I was a little bit too busy myself, driving, but I could see them going up, like cheering me on. I was watching a little bit, next to the track. You  can’t miss the orange but of course the in-lap, you see everybody going wild so yeah, I don’t know, it just gives me a lot of positive energy going into a Sunday like this, and of course after the start I was disappointed but we never gave up and of course then to come back like this is amazing.

    Q: (Peter Hlawiczka – F1News.cz) Valtteri, have you already seen the incident from Charles and Max? And what is your opinion, would you penalise it or was it just a racing incident? 
    VB: I have not seen anything of the race apart from my own race so I can’t say anything. I’ve seen nothing.

    Q: (Christian Nimmervoll – motorsport-total.com) Charles, do you feel like this one has been stolen from you? 
    CL: Umm, well I think overall Red Bull was very quick today, very good at keeping the tyres better than us. If I feel the overtake was done rightly? I don’t think the second one was but I believe that anyway the end would have probably been the same but it’s just not the way you overtake, I think.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Max, on lap number 55 we heard ‘I’m losing power, guys’ and suddenly you overtake Valtteri. What does it mean? 
    MV: Yeah, the radio is always a bit late, so it’s maybe one or two laps later, because I had one attempt running towards Valtteri and then suddenly I lost power so I had to do a few changes on the steering wheel and then I was fine again.

    Q: (Peter Vamosi – RacingLine.hu) Juan Pablo Montoya said yesterday that he wanted to be a race steward; are you happy with that? 
    MV: I think he was quite a hard racer himself so I would definitely support him being a steward. I think he would be my mate.
    CL: I think it’s always good to have ex-drivers as stewards, as mentioned during the press conference on Thursday. Yeah, I believe that they probably know how it feels to be in the car and what it’s like to push on the limit and when it’s wanted or not wanted so yes.
    VB: Yeah, I think it’s good to have drivers’ view. He was a good hard racer as well so…

    Q: (Arjan Shouten – AD Sportworld) Max, sixth win of your car; can you compare this one with the other five because it’s the first one with a new engine, the drama at the start. Does it feel any better? 
    MV: It’s always a different feeling, I think, especially coming back from P7 or whatever it was. Of course also the new partnership with Honda. At the moment I’m just really happy for them especially.

    Q: (Zsolt Godina – Favilag.hu) Charles, what are your expectations for the next races in terms of car performance and tyre performance after this weekend? 
    CL: I still expect Mercedes to be very very strong in the next few races. It seems that Red Bull also have a very good package, especially in the race, to keep the tyres and push on them, so yeah, we need to work. I still believe that we also did a step, especially in qualifying. I don’t think we are yet at the level of Mercedes but yeah, hopefully we are getting closer.

    Q: (Flavio Vanetti – La Corriera della Sera) Charles, looking back at the choice of the soft tyres to start, was it the right one in your opinion or not? 
    CL: I think it was because I knew that starting on medium wouldn’t have changed anything. We didn’t stop because my softs were dead but we stopped because Valtteri stopped and we had to protect (ourselves)  from him. So yeah, I would have stopped also on the medium I think, just to keep that track position.

    Q: (Luis Vasconcelos – Formula Press) Max and Charles, was turn three the only place where you thought you could attack Charles and Charles, was that the only place where you were concerned and keeping an eye on him? 
    MV: Depends how it ends up. If he closes the door fully into three then you try to get him out of three into four, that’s what I did with Seb, for example so it just depends how the car ahead of you is defending.
    CL: Yeah, and for me I think there are two places where you overtake on this track which is turn three and turn four or where you overtake mostly so I was aware that he was coming very very quickly so checking but these two places, I knew that if he had the opportunity or if he was getting closer, I believe that it was here that he would have tried.

    Q: (Jukic Velimir Veljko – Autofocus) Mr Charles, you have been known up to now as a gentle, nice, polite driver. After this overtaking would you adapt your style more Max’s way, more tough, more aggressive? 
    CL: Which overtake? I got overtaken but yeah, I’m always like this. I think outside the car I’m a bit of a different person than what I am in the car but yeah, that’s it.

  • F1 2019: French Gp Review – Mercedes Dominate…Again

    F1 2019: French Gp Review – Mercedes Dominate…Again

    A cursory scroll through social media comments would easily lead you to the conclusion that the 2019 French grand prix is not one that will down in history as a great race. Heck, it’s likely to be remembered for the exact opposite.

    Unlike Canada’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, with several pitfalls mere centimeters away, the acres of run-off area at the Paul Ricard circuit doesn’t offer anywhere close to the same on-the-edge challenge. Here the vast asphalt run-offs do nothing more than take away the challenge of driving an F1 car.

    But sanitized racetracks are hardly F1’s biggest issue. The teams, Liberty Media, and the FIA are currently in discussion about regulations for 2021 and they would do well to use the French grand prix, and the fans’ response to it, as a case study for what needs to change in the sport.

    Before then there is still a season, or two, to run and the latest race in France was little more than a Sunday afternoon drive for Lewis Hamilton. The Mercedes driver led every one of the 53 laps and seemingly had more pace to unleash if he felt like it. As it were Valtteri Bottas could mount no serious challenge and Hamilton won the race by 18 seconds. A late race VSC and Bottas’ difficulty in getting his tyres switched on afterwards nearly gave Charles Leclerc a run at second but the Ferrari driver ultimately finished third. Max Verstappen maintained fourth in a rather lonely race as Sebastian Vettel recovered from seventh on the grid to finish fifth.

    Perez penalty

    While most of the drivers kept their noses clean into the first few corners after lights out Sergio Perez quick decision to take to the run-off area netted him a five-second penalty. The Racing Point driver followed the letter of the law by rejoining the track at the stipulated point. But his trip through the run-off gained him a position and therefore a lasting advantage warranting the penalty.

    lecatselletsunday45-797703Ricciardo penalties

    The only bit of excitement surrounded the fight for seventh between Lando Norris, Daniel Ricciardo, Kimi Raikkonen, and Nico Hulkenberg. Norris well in control of his seventh place was hit with hydraulic issues that meant not only an inability to use DRS but also the gradual loss of power steering. Nevertheless, the impressive rookie soldiered on until the very last lap when he fell victim to Ricciardo, Raikkonen, and Hulkenberg.

    Ricciardo’s move on Norris saw the McLaren driver forced off the track which he followed up with a pass, with all four wheels off the circuit, on Raikkonen moments later. The three drivers were summoned to the stewards after the race which resulted in Ricciardo receiving two five-second penalties. Unfortunately for the Aussie driver the rules are rather black and white and clearly state that a penalty must be awarded for, first, crowding another driver off the track, and second, for completing a pass with all four wheel off the track. The Renault driver dropped out of the points to 11th overall but wasn’t apologetic about providing “some entertainment” for the fans.

    Carlos Sainz finished a remarkable sixth in what has been McLaren’s best race to date in 2019. The rejig of the results, following Ricciardo’s penalties, means that Raikkonen finished an impressive seventh with Nico Hulkenberg in eighth for Renault. Despite his issues Norris was ninth ahead of Pierre Gasly in tenth.

    Pierre Gasly

    One of the things that are almost always a certainty is that when a driver gets to his home race he ups his game. But this wasn’t the case for Frenchman Pierre Gasly whose weekend was nothing short of embarrassing. While teammate Verstappen was solidly in fourth Gasly trundled around behind both McLarens, both Renaults and an Alfa Romeo.

    lecatselletsunday13-640986Riccardo’s penalties meant that Gasly was classified as tenth but in reality the Red Bull driver finished 11th on the track. As a Toro Rosso driver Gasly impressed Red Bull enough to earn the call-up to the big team but he has come nowhere near to proving that he deserves to be in the seat. While Verstappen has scored 100 points in 2019 Gasly’s tally is a mere 36.

    Christian Horner’s demeanour after the race was one of barely-concealed irritation at Gasly’s performance. History reminds that Red Bull, in the form of Horner and Dr. Helmut Marko, can be ruthless when it comes to driver demotions, just ask Dannil Kvyat. If Gasly continues in the same vein he may well be replaced, ironically, by Kvyat before the year is out.

    No such issues exist at Mercedes who roll on in 2019 with yet another victory. There are those who would point out that the Ferrari and Red Bull eras were as dominating as this era’s seemingly unconquerable Mercedes. But even the heyday of Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel doesn’t quite stack up to the utter command that Mercedes has over Formula 1.

    Lewis Hamilton’s latest win in France takes Mercedes’ tally to ten consecutive race win if you include the last two races of 2018. Of the 107 races, so far, in the Hybrid era Mercedes have won a staggering 80 of which 50 have been one-two victories. It is difficult to imagine that this number wont increase to 81 victories at this weekend’s Austrian Gp.