Tag: Valtteri Bottas

Rosberg leads the pack in final practice

Nico Rosberg topped the time sheets during the final practice ahead of qualifying for the German Grand Prix with a time of 1:17.779.

Rosberg’s time is a surprising 0.601 clear of his Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton.

Despite a spin in at turn eight halfway through the session, Fernando Alonso recovered to set the third quickest time of the practice session, a mere 0.004 down on Hamilton.

The Williams duo of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas led much of the practice session on prime tyres, but ended up fourth and fifth respectively after the supersoft runs.

Kevin Magnussen finished sixth after setting the pace during the opening stages of final practice, with Daniel Ricciardo and Kimi Raikkonen behind him.

Raikkonen switched to options very early on, but was unable to continue in the final stages of practice due to a problem with his fuel pump. The Ferrari team are working ferverishly to change the fuel pump before qualifying gets underway.

Red Bull’s performance was either lacklustre, or one big sandbag as reigning world champ Sebastian Vettel parked his car in ninth place.

Nico Hulkenberg took the last spot in the top ten for Force India.

Jenson Button had much complaining about understeer and problems with his braking during practice, most likely a result of no longer having FRIC suspension. None of the teams will be running FRIC this weekend after it was deemed illegal by the FIA earlier this week.

Full timesheet for the session is below. Please join us on Twitter @F1_Madness for qualifying later this afternoon at 14h00 GMT +2.

Photo credit: Mercedes

July 19, 2014
2014 Formula 1 Santander British Grand Prix: Sunday Press Conference

DRIVERS

1st Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

2nd Valtteri BOTTAS (Williams)

3rd Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing)

PODIUM INTERVIEWS

(Conducted by David Coulthard)

Lewis, congratulations. Your adoring fans. Your emotions must be running high right now. Your fifth win of the season. That equals your 2008 World Championship year. Now 27 grand prix victories, equalling Jackie Stewart. There’s only other Englishman in front of you with more wins – Nigel Mansell. So tell us about the emotions of today?

Lewis HAMILTON: It’s very mixed at the moment, but just to see the support we have here… I could see everyone cheering us on through the whole race. We’ve got the greatest fans here. And today, just arriving today, it’s you guys that really spurred me on so thanks very much.

Well it was a fantastic drive. You never want a competitor to drop out, but of course the battle is very hot between you and your team-mate Nico, so what was the emotion when you saw him have the issue?

LH: At the beginning… he got quite a good gap at the beginning and I really just tried to look after the tyres. After that I utilised the tyres, was catching and we came out on the harder tyres and I was catching him at a second a lap at the time. I couldn’t believe I had that kind of pace. You never want to see a team-mate fall behind, we wanted to really work and get those one-twos, but at the end of the day I really needed this result so I’m very grateful for it.

It was a great result. If I can move along to another man who has had a fantastic result. Third in Austria, second here at the British Grand Prix – you must be looking forward to Germany?

Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, we are on the right way. Like I said on the team radio: one step more to go. The team has done such a good job. You see how quick the car is. It was behaving really well, it was really a pleasure to drive it. Still Mercedes is in front, but we are on the right way.

Any scares out there this afternoon or was it running like clockwork? You did some great passes.

VB: Yeah, there was some good stuff going on. I really enjoyed it. The plan was to come as high as possible, as high as the pace of the car is giving the possibility. I think as a team we made the most out of it. I have to say I feel sorry for Felipe, his 200^th grand prix, a shame it ended like this.

If I can just come across to Daniel Ricciardo. Congratulations on your third place. Australians have a good record around here?

Daniel RICCIARDO: Yeah, they do! Obviously Mark enjoyed this track a lot, so it’s nice to be up here on the podium. It’s been a good circuit to me in the past, so really, really happy. We just held on at the end. I think one more lap would have been tough, Jenson was coming, but really happy with the podium.

If I can just come back across to Lewis…

LH: Where’s the gold trophy, man? This thing’s falling to pieces, look!

You might want to speak to the sponsor. Lewis, do you know the points situation now at the end of race nine?

LH: I assume we’re four points behind now. I think this weekend really just showed that, for one, you never give up. Yesterday wasn’t a case of giving up, I didn’t think I could do the lap, I was really shocked that the last sector was so fast. But coming here today I had my family with, just focused, the support from the fans, as I said, just spurred me on, and I really couldn’t have done it without them.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Lewis, many, many congratulations. Over the radio at the end of the race you said to the crew “I’m sorry about yesterday”. I guess your spirits were so down yesterday; they must be soaring now. But the race really was about the offset you had to Nico Rosberg and you were catching him in the middle stint of the race. Do you believe that without his problem you would have been able to pass him and how do you feel right now?

LH: Yesterday was a really difficult day. Obviously you never think situations like that would come up the way they did and I really felt… I went away feeling terrible for the fans. They all turned up and there’s so much support here, I felt that I had let them down, not only them but the team and myself. Coming back today, trying to turn that serious emptiness and negativity into a positive today was really my priority. The support has been incredible this weekend. Just thinking of the history of this circuit, the great drivers that have won in the past… leading last year and not being able to see it through. It’s been since… 2008 since I had the win and I just feel very, very grateful for the opportunity. I honestly feel that I had the pace today. I was catching Nico in the first stint. I was able to extend my first stint longer than ever before. I was feeling pretty comfortable. Of course, you never want a team-mate to fall away, to win like that. I was looking forward to a wheel-to-wheel battle but I’m sure we’ll get many in the future.

Well done. Coming to you Valtteri. From 14^th on the grid to second at the finish, which is your best ever result in Formula One and your second consecutive podium, so brilliant effort. You did a one-stop strategy, which is a talking point, but surely the overtakes in the opening stint, there were so many of them – around the outside, around the inside – just tell us about your race?

VB: Yeah we knew that this race could be good fun. We knew that we had a quick car. Maybe it was a bit surprisingly quick today, but since the first stint the pace was good, since the first lap. I was able to go through the field quite well. Of course, sometimes it needed a bit of risk, because it’s really important to get through quickly and not get stuck behind people, but I really managed to get well in position, where the pace of the car was. I’m just really, really happy with what we’ve been doing as a team. Again, the race pace shows we are really doing the right things and I’m very happy to be part of this.

Well done. Completing a very happy podium is Daniel Ricciardo, in third place. For you strategy was the key as well. Like Valtteri you did one stop, you did something different, both you and your team-mate taking the hard tyre early on. Was the tyre deg much lighter than you expected today, was it a race where expectations were changing as the race went on?

DR: Pretty much. We chose to restart on the prime. It didn’t seem like the best thing to do at first because we were really slow at the restart. Valtteri and Fernando got past me pretty easily and pulled away and I was coming on the radio basically saying “let’s see if we can try something a little bit different” as we didn’t really have the pace as we hoped, as we expected today. Once we came in for the option, we just ran and pushed pretty much for the whole stint. I didn’t intend on doing a one-stop when I started on that tyre but laps ticked off and we were still able to keep the pace. The team said “do you think you could do another 15-20 laps” and I was like “at the moment, yeah, I think we can”, so we stayed out and just held on at the end. It was awesome. I think all three of us had a bit of redemption on our plate today. It was a pretty dismal Saturday for us. I think we’re all pretty happy. This is definitely one of my best podiums this year.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Ian Parkes – PA) Lewis, not very often this season you’ve had family with you: you’ve pretty much kept yourself to yourself at various races but this weekend you’ve had your brother, your Dad, they were here today supporting you. They’ve said on TV how down in the dumps you were last night. How much help did they give you last night after what happened yesterday?

LH: My family have been incredible. Last night, my Mum, my Dad, spent a lot of time with my Dad last night just talking it out. And my brother. And today I just said I needed them here today. Y’know? I just really wanted that support. I do come to the races on my own and I do generally do it on my own. I have my trainer with me. But I thought this weekend it would be nice to have them. At least today, as yesterday was such a difficult day.

Q: (Sean McGreevy – CSMA magazine) Lewis, would you consider this one of your great, greatest, great wins and how does it compare to 2008?)

LH: It doesn’t compare to 2008. It’s a different time, it’s a different experience. It’s still as special. Obviously 2008 was a much trickier race in a sense of being a completely wet track, everyone aquaplaning. Everyone being in the rain, everyone being soaking wet, it’s a different kind of experience that one. Today, I felt I earned it today. From the start some good manoeuvres and I really felt that I had the pace on Nico, I really was hunting him down like never before. I really was happy with the balance that I managed to get, even though I didn’t do the long run in P2. To say this is up there with all the greats… it’s my home grand prix, it’s my second win here and I’m very privileged to have even just had one, so I feel very humble to be up here today.

Q: (Julian Harris – City AM) Lewis, do you think this can be a turning point for you? Nico was up here yesterday saying that he thought he had the momentum at the moment – but he also said momentum comes and goes. Can this give you the confidence and maybe even the peace of mind to push on and get the momentum back in your favour.

LH: I came into this weekend saying it would great to really have that. I thought maybe the fans could be the wind in my sails to really change the direction and get the momentum. Obviously I’ve got the win today. I’ve got the points back. I’ve been chasing all year really, since I lost the points at the first race, and then I was chasing again after the previous DNF. It’s been very, very difficult. I was speaking last night, just comparing it to how difficult it is psychologically, it’s got to be something similar to the tennis players when they’re two sets down. It’s so hard to get your mind in gear, to get yourself back and not lose points from then on. And so the pressure is high but I really feel that now we’re back, kind of close and with the pace that I had today, I really feel that I can… just got to refocus for the next part of the season.

Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / National Speedsport News) Daniel, what was your mindset last night and this morning, knowing that you’re so far back and, often in races, when you start that that far back, like these two guys, you’re not going to finish in the top three?

DR: Mindset was just… yeah… like it always is I guess when you’re out of position, just go for it, try and do something a bit different. Not much to lose. I knew we were a better car than eighth on the grid, so… yeah… I was a bit surprised during the first stint, even though we were on a different tyre, I was surprised not to be as quick. We didn’t have much pace, so then it was ‘let’s try something different and make something work.’ Yeah, I was very hungry today. I like to think I always am but today I was pretty jacked up. So it’s nice to be up here.

Q: (Nick Skeens – The Independent) Lewis, today Niki Lauda said he thought in some ways yesterday was a good thing because it gave you a motivation and a hunger that perhaps you would not have had. Would you agree with that?

LH: No. I feel like I like I’ve… we’ve had four wins, now five wins, but I’ve had the four wins and I think my hunger is on a par with any other year that I’ve ever raced in – but yesterday was a real kick in the balls. I really had to pick up, pull up my socks and get on it if I want to win this world championship, and I can’t have situations like yesterday. The last two races I’ve easily had the pace to be pole position and I’ve not put it there. I’ve put it much further back, made it much harder for myself but now I’m going to try to rectify that for the future.

Q: (Mike Doodson – GPweek) Lewis, you’re obviously very happy with the gold trophy [present on the platform]– but you seem to have been a bit unhappy with the sponsor’s trophy. Did I hear you say it fell to bits on the podium? And how did you come to get this one between the podium and here?

LH: Well, yeah! This one’s a lot nicer. I mean, growing up watching Formula One, you see trophies like this. Real trophies, y’know? And the trophies that we have nowadays, whilst it’s a real privilege being on top of the podium, my one fell to pieces! The bottom fell off the one we just had. It’s plastic, it must cost ten pounds! It’s so bad. I might just get the plaque, which is probably the most expensive part of the trophy I think. Back in the day they really, really made the trophies. And this is the special thing about being on the podium and winning. These trophies mean – for me, I don’t know how it is for the other drivers – but this is what we have to show for our lifetime achievements. I hope we can get some better ones moving forwards.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – Universo Online) Valtteri, Friday morning you didn’t went to the track. Saturday morning also, only qualifying. You didn’t have miles in the track. Where you surprised at the beginning of the race when you started overtaking everyone with the performance of the car?

VB: Yeah, definitely. Our prediction was Mercedes is going to be strong and also Red Bull, we thought, would be here a bit quicker than us in the race and Ferrari to be really close to our pace. So, we definitely knew that the position we were starting wasn’t going to be that easy to get into good points and we were not really thinking about the podium, we were just thinking about getting in the points and, yeah, definitely it was a positive surprise in the beginning of the race. The tyre life wasn’t really a limitation so we could do the strategy. Well, I have to say the strategy guys did a really good job today. We actually switched the strategy during the running as we saw the tyre wear was so low. Positive surprise. Really happy.

Q: (Jussi Jäkälä – YLE) Valtteri, two podiums in a row. Does this show you and the team have learnt your lesson, how to score podiums. And is this maybe the start of a catch-up battle?

VB: Well, we are definitely a stronger team than we were in, let’s say Melbourne, or the first few races. Difficult to compare even to last year or two years before. I think we are really getting stronger all the time. It’s not going to be easy to be on the podium in every race as I think this season is going to be quite a bit race-by-race but we are definitely on the right way and really happy to be part of this. Myself, I have been improving also all the time. Every race I aim to be a better driver and as a team we aim to be a stronger team every single race – and that’s what we’ve been doing.

Q: (Haoran Zhou – F1 Express) Lewis, obviously the celebration after the race has been extraordinary. You managed to do a doughnut despite the strict restrictions on the engine and gearbox and you were singing – I’m not sure if you were singing or not but you obviously were feeling on top of the world. Can you share your emotions on the slowing down lap with us?

LH: Yeah, it’s so difficult to really explain the feelings. When you feel like the world is crumbling beneath you, somehow with your family and friends, they help pull you through and also the fans. Yesterday, after qualifying, it looked so hard to… I really was almost speechless when I spoke to them, and it was no one else’s fault but mine. I was just so disappointed in myself. And then to get that result today, to really climb through… the team have just done an incredible job. Even coming into this weekend, the developments and improvements to our car, the balance. My engineers, who work so close to me, regardless of how well we do, they’re so supportive and having that good team of people round you really makes a difference. I did the doughnuts… yeah, I hope it doesn’t do anything to our gearbox but I know how much the fans love it here and so it was really important to try and do at least one but fingers crossed, it should be OK.

Q: (Rosanna Tennant – Pole Position) Lewis, as media, we like to speculate on upcoming races as to who might win and who won’t win. Are you looking ahead, thinking next race Nico is going to have the home advantage, obviously Hungary was good for you last year? Do you look ahead through the season like that, blocking it out and perhaps where you might be stronger and work out the points?

LH: I don’t. You look at the schedule and you see what tracks you know that suit you. Just going into Germany, to Hockenheim, I know whilst it’s Nico’s home Grand Prix, he doesn’t have even one eighth of the support us Brits get here. The fans are unlike anywhere else so I’m not worried in that sense. It’s a track where I won before, in 2008 I think it was. It’s a good track for me, so I think… I’m gonna use the pace that I have, because I have the pace. I’ve just got to put the damn laps together and when I do, then I think the opportunities will come in front of me.

Q: (Ian Parkes – Press Association) Daniel, you’ve obviously become one of the most likeable guys in F1 I think it’s fair to say, but in denying – there’s that big beaming smile, thank you – but in denying JB’s (Button’s) long overdue podium here, do you perhaps feel like a bit of a villain for once?

DR: It did cross my mind a little bit. I was thinking… especially in the last few laps, he was catching me pretty quickly at the end. I had sort of stabilised the gap a bit and then with four laps to go, I think my options were really suffering and he was coming, so I was thinking, yeah, probably for once I’ve got a lot of people booing me and cheering on the local lad but obviously for me it was good. I think for him as well; they haven’t had a great season so a fourth is – yeah, it’s not a podium, but he’d still be fairly pleased with that result so hopefully we’re all happy.

Q: (Kate Walker – crash.net) For all three of you, and it goes along the lines of momentum but not championship momentum. Obviously we had a fairly long delay after all you guys all made mega starts on the first lap. When you’ve got that one hour delay, what are you thinking? Are you worried that you’re going to lose the momentum that you picked up? What’s going on in your heads?

LH: Yeah, I think it’s… We work very hard, I’m sure everyone is working so hard in preparation. You get in the car, do the start, you really gain the momentum and then the race stops and we had quite a long break. I went back to my room just relaxing, drinking, making sure I was having plenty of fluids and trying not to think of anything else. Yeah, it wasn’t alcohol. It isn’t easy but I managed to get back and start where I finished.

VB: Yeah, it’s not easy, you know. There’s a break and you need to keep your focus in the race. You can’t really start to think about other things than the race so you just need to keep thinking about… forward: the restart, how to get your tyres warm, brakes warm, everything. You can always speak with the engineer. You just really wait, let the time go and all the time keep focused for the next moment.

DR: It’s tricky when you don’t know how long the break’s going to be. The race was at one today, so you do all your preparation to sort of peak at one o’clock in terms of your energy and your focus so you get the race started and you feel your adrenalin and everything is where it needs to be and then it comes back down and I think the limbo of not really knowing when we were going to start again, it’s like do I still keep a high level of intensity or do I go and relax? When do I start to then warm up again? It’s a little bit tricky but at the same time it’s the same for everyone. It does break a little bit of momentum, I guess, but then it’s up to us and our trainers how we get it back and make sure we’re switched on for the restart.

Q: (Paul Turner – South Wales Evening Post) Lewis, this victory, is this going to help you mentally for the next race or is it back to square one at the next race, you have to start again and plan all over again?

LH: I think this is now, kind of… we’ll draw a line under that last nine races and now it’s attack mode, start again and now, utilising that pace and utilising the car’s pace. There are still some things we need to improve on. I wasn’t too worried about the time lost in the pit stop today as I knew the next one would be better. I’d been working on my position so I didn’t lose time in that but qualifying really – just getting myself back to my normal qualifying mode and that, I think, will be good.

Q: (Rosanna Tennant – Pole Position) Daniel, we were talking about what you do before the restart; can you explain what you do with your trainer and the tennis balls?

DR: We sort of change it a lot but it’s more to get the hand-eye co-ordination going. I guess everyone does something a bit different. Sometimes we use tennis balls just to get my hand-eye co-ordination switched on and make sure my reactions are there. We do some different drills with that. It depends as well on what… I don’t have a ritual routine as such but it depends on what I feel like doing before the race, but that’s something.

July 7, 2014
F1 2014: Hamilton Fastest in Free Practice 2 at Silverstone

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton finished the second practice session of the British Grand Prix on top of the time sheets.

Hamilton set a time of 1:34.508 to go fastest for the session with his team mate Nico Rosberg finishing the session in P2 with a time of 1:34.736, 0.228s slower than Hamilton. It wasn’t all good news for Hamilton though, with 30 minutes left in the session he emerged from the pits and immediately pulled off the track with his Mercedes suffering from a sudden loss of power.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso finished the session in P3 with a 1:35.244, 0.736s slower than Hamilton in P1. The Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo finished the session in P4 and P5 respectively.

There were a few weird moments in the session with Williams’ Valtteri Bottas loosing a few bits off his engine cover. There was also another incident with Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne where his front left wheel came loose without any warning.

The Mercedes of Nico Rosberg showed rather dominant long run pace with Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull right on his heels. Ferrari are a close third with regards to long run pace.

The full timing sheet is included below

July 4, 2014
2014 Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix: Sunday Press Conference

DRIVERS:

1st Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)

2nd Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

3 rd Valtteri Bottas (Williams)

PODIUM INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Mark Webber)

Q: Another dominant one-two victory for Mercedes, so Nico what a very, very special for you again. Three now in the season. You capitalised on a very, very good qualifying and now another victory. Run us through it. Lot of control on the brakes by the sound of it, managing issues at the end there?
Nico Rosberg: Yeah, it wasn’t the easiest of races – trying to manage certain things that were a bit on the limit on the car. But in the end I had a very, very fast car again, so it was fantastic to win today. It’s great also to get a one-two here in Austria and it’s great to come back here to Austria. I mean Austria for sure deserves a race. The fans have been amazing, the atmosphere has been spectacular this weekend, so thank you very much for that and yeah it’s been awesome.

Q: Lewis, over to you mate. Well done. A good recovery after a tough qualifying. In terms of… mega first lap, right on Nico at the start there after the first lap. In terms of pit stops, are you happy with your positioning because I’m a bit worried about how much time you’re losing in the pits. The guys… good stops for Nico but are you happy with the positioning on that? Also at the end of the race did you have to manage any issues and could you fight Nico?
Lewis Hamilton: I don’t know. I have to have a look at the feedback and just see what the team say about the stops. Maybe my positioning is not right, you know obviously in those situations you’re just pushing. But the guys have done a fantastic job. As Nico said, to get another one-two here is just incredible. This track has been fantastic and the fans have been insane this weekend, so thank you all for the support.

Q: Congratulations Valtteri – first podium. It’s an incredible feeling up here isn’t it? Run us through the race. Obviously starting on the front row. Obviously these guys have a lot of big experience on the big occasions to close a race out but you really drove a clean race. Run us through it, are you happy with it?
Valtteri Bottas: Thanks Mark. Really, really happy. Difficult to put into words really. Just really thankful to the team for giving me this car. It’s been a long way for us since last year, I mean, and many, many years at Williams and now it’s so much better. The race was exactly what we needed at this point – clean, nice, everything went like planned really. The car was good for the podium this time and I’m just so happy.

Q: Well done, and big points for Williams, which is fantastic. Final one for you Nico. A 29-point lead, off to Silverstone, a track that you know well; a track that I tried to catch you on in the last few laps last year but you’ve had a couple of good wins there and you’re very strong at Silverstone, Lewis’ home track, so the battle continues. Looking forward to that race; home race obviously for Mercedes as well. So how’s the feeling for that one?
NR: Yeah, for sure, looking forward to the next one; home race, so it would be awesome to do another one-two there, that would be great to give something back to all of our colleagues back in the factory. So I’m looking forward to that.

Q: Nico, congratulations, Mercedes sixth one-two finish of this season, your third victory and you’ve now extended your championship lead, as we’ve heard, to 29 points. Clearly strategy was an important part of the story today – but did the race turn out as you had expected it to when you were sitting on the grid?
NR: To be honest yes it did. Pretty much exactly like we were trying to make it work. OK, I thought I would get Valtteri at the start and I did – but then they’re quick on the straights and he just went flying straight by me again, which was not good. But I knew pre-race that even if I am third after the start, the chances are still very good to make it and win the race because we have just a little bit more pace and less tyre degradation than the Williams – we expected to have less at least – so we could go aggressive on the stops and that’s what we did and it really worked out well and so I’m, yeah, extremely happy with that result. Also, great to extend the championship lead, which was really my goal coming into Austria.

Q: Lewis, obviously the platform for your result today was that stunning start, off the grid from ninth into fifth on that opening lap. Tell us about that and then also about how you made your way through the field. Clearly that second round of stops was important for getting in front of Valtteri.
LH: Yep, it was a good start. We’ve been working very hard on our starts throughout the year and the team have done a great job to help out with that, and yeah, so I got one of the best starts I’ve ever had really and positioned the car in the correct places. It would have been great if I’d started where perhaps I should have started this weekend – but damage limitation. To get from ninth to second and be pressuring Nico at the end of the race really shows the pace that I had this weekend.

Q: Valtteri, your best-ever grand prix finish to follow up your best-ever qualifying performance yesterday – you’re starting to really make your mark on the sport. I guess the decisive moment for you was the first round of stops with Felipe and getting ahead.
VB: Yeah, I think overall the best-ever weekend. So, really happy. Really happy for us as a team. We were really strong the whole weekend and that’s down to all the hard work. Of course it was a good track for us. You never know what’s going to happen in the next race but overall we are making progress. Step-by-step we are getting there, getting closer to the positions where we belong. I’m really happy. The race today: it was really nice to have a really nice, clean race. Good points for the team. We’ve had some issues lately, been a lot of talk, not maximising car we had but I think today we showed what we can do.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Question for Nico and Lewis: can you tell us more about the final five laps, about the chance to overtake Nico for Lewis and the chance to finish first for Nico?
NR: Well, I generally felt comfortable in the last few laps. I thought that I could keep a nice gap and just on the last lap my tyres dropped away a little bit but as soon as they got past the first couple of hairpins, I knew that I was going to be fine so it wasn’t as close as maybe some other races have been recently.
LH: There wasn’t an opportunity to overtake.

Q: (Livio Oricchi – Universo On-line) For Nico and Lewis: 29 points difference between both of you. It means that in one race, it is not possible to change the lead. It means that Nico would be the leader of the championship. What’s your analysis of this Nico and you also Lewis?
NR: Well 29 points, yeah, for sure it’s a nice gap but it’s still so early in the season. I really like to concentrate on each weekend and keep on trying to make the most of them and enjoying the moment, also with the car that we have. It’s so great to come to the next race at Silverstone, our home race, with the best, knowing that if I do a good job I can do pole and win the race. So I’m more taking it step-by-step and every weekend my aim is to extend the championship lead which I managed to do this weekend.
LH: Well, Nico’s done a great job. He’s finished every race and fortunately hasn’t had any car problems so it’s inevitable.

Q: (Kate Walker – crash.net) Lewis, after one your stops – and I can’t remember which one – we actually saw some flames coming out of your front right. To what extent was the braking problems that you suffered hampering your ability to really take the fight to Nico in the final laps? I know he had issues too.
LH: Yeah, I think it was probably the same for both of us, maybe, I don’t know. I need to check later but it was constantly an issue during the race. Obviously I was following people all the time so that’s not always the best but I was being told to back off quite a lot, unfortunately. The last couple of laps I tried to eke it up a little bit more but still I had to be cautious, but I’m just grateful I finished. I didn’t finish the last race, that’s really got to be goal for the next few races, trying to actually finish.

Q: (Chris Medland – crash.net) Question for you, too, Lewis, about the pit stops. You lost 1.9s across the two stops to Nico, very evenly split in each stop. Is that frustrating, because for a long time you were running about 1.9s behind Nico at the end and did the team tell you the reasons for it?
LH: They haven’t yet. I didn’t even know I lost that much time, they didn’t feel that fast. Could be my positioning. I don’t know. I’ll obviously investigate… obviously it is frustrating when you lose time because you’re constantly doing everything you can to gain a tenth here, a tenth there, so when you lose quite a chunk… two seconds over two pit stops it’s tough but the guys… at least we haven’t really made any mistakes. If we step back a little bit and look, we’ve had so many one-twos this is just incredible this year so I’m hoping in the future we won’t have those problems.

Q: (Barna Zsoldos – Nemzeti Sport) Valtteri, do you think with a slightly different strategy the win could have been possible today because your pace was quite strong and you were simply undercut by first Nico and then Lewis at both pit stops?
VB: Yeah, it’s a difficult one. We need to always – like we always do – we need to analyse if there’s anything we could have done better. It’s difficult to say. Today it was difficult to know the real difference between the option and prime because the prime tyre has been taking quite a long time to warm up so we really thought it would be really difficult to undercut because it takes many laps to warm up and get a good pace after the supersoft tyre. Yeah, we need to analyse, it’s difficult to say. Yeah, too early to say. For the moment, I’m really happy with what we’ve done as a team, third and fourth. Obviously we always aim for better.

Q: (Peter Vamosi – Vas Nepe Kiadoi) Nico, if you will win the championship this year, will you let grow a moustache like your father?
NR: Maybe. Yup.

Q: (Istvan Janos Simon – Auto Magazine Hungary) Lewis, you seem to have a brake problem; this problem is coming back since Montreal or maybe even before. You’ve had this problem during this race. What can you do against these troubles, to get over it finally? What can you do together with the team?
LH: I don’t know. Going into the race I wasn’t aware that we had a brake problem, so it was news to me when we started to… when they started to speak to me about it. We had the problem in the last race but the last race was the rears and in this race it was the fronts, a little bit different perhaps. I’ll be guessing what’s gone wrong but it didn’t look like it was the same as Nico; maybe it was, I don’t know. I think they said maybe it was. We just need to make improvements.

Q: (Eli Shaouly – Automagazin Israel)Question to Valtteri and Nico: yesterday at Williams you looked in a way pretty sure you wouldn’t win the race and Nico, you were pretty sure that you would win the race in yesterday’s conference. What made you so confident in the result?
NR: Because generally I still believe that we have the fastest car and we had very good long run pace on Friday, that’s the race practice. We were quick there and I didn’t get the best out of it in qualifying, so I was pretty confident that the chance would be very good. Of course, you never know how to overtake and things like that, but it all worked out well.
VB: Yeah, I agree really. I think that from all the data that we had from practice we knew that in the race it’s going to be difficult and overall Mercedes have still got the quickest car but we really nailed it yesterday so we knew that maybe Sunday could be difficult but actually it was a bit better than I expected. We were really close to them on pace.

Q: Was that because it was 14 degrees warmer today than it was on Friday, do you think?
VB: Difficult to say that was the factor or not, I don’t know what Mercedes did just before qualifying with the car set-up. I don’t know. It’s difficult to say; we need to analyse.

June 22, 2014
Austrian Grand Prix: Saturday Qualifying Press Conference

DRIVERS

1st Felipe MASSA (Williams)

2nd Valtteri BOTTAS (Williams)

3rd Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

TV UNILATERALS

Felipe, pole for the first time since, I think, Brazil 2008. Describe your emotions now.

Felipe MASSA: Yeah, I’m so happy with what’s happened today with us and our team. It was such a great moment. It was already long time when I had my last pole position, which was, yeah, in Brazil, 2008. So, such an incredible moment. For sure we need to concentrate on the race tomorrow, you know, it’s a difficult and important race for us. But I think it’s a great moment. The best place to be is here in the first place. It’s something that I got the chance to be many times in all my career and I am again now. After a long time I couldn’t be in this place and I hope this is just the beginning of maybe some great possibilities to be here again, not just in the qualifying but also in the race. The race is tomorrow but I’m so happy, very emotional – not just for me but I think it’s a similar feeling what I feel and what Williams feel as well. Williams Martini had an incredible career in the past and they are back to the top, they are back to the fight. There is still a lot to do but the work is going on the right line. I’m so pleased for me and for Williams Martini as well.

Very well done. Coming to you Valtteri. Your best ever Formula One qualifying in second place. You were in provisional pole though, but it looked like a mistake on your last and it ended up very close with Felipe, I believe only nine one hundredths of a second the gap between you.

Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah best position so far in my career, so one more place to go. Well done Felipe. I’m really happy for us as a team. This result is really good at this point. We’ve made some big, big steps from last year and now we get a result like this. Of course it’s only Saturday but still we can see that all the hard work really starts to pay off. I’m really happy for us. As Felipe says the race is tomorrow, so we need to focus on that. It’s going to be a different story tomorrow, it’s not going to be easy to keep the Mercedes cars behind for sure, and even some other cars like Ferrari and Red Bull are going to be strong. Yeah, not a bad day today but we just need to keep focused now.

Very well done. Nico, coming to you now. Championship leader but it’s not the first time that you’ve not been on the front row of the grid. Did you expect to have these two cars in front of you and what happened today for you?

Nico ROSBERG: No, of course, I definitely didn’t expect the Williams to be ahead of me today but they did a good job and it just didn’t come together perfectly for me. I also lost out on that last lap because of Lewis spinning in front in the corner, so I couldn’t do that lap. You have to lift off two tenths of a second you know and doing that, to do at least two tenths you have to do three tenths and it’s just… it wouldn’t have been possible to improve on my lap time so I backed out of it. So that definitely cost me today but that’s just the way it is. But still third place is OK, it’s OK to start from there tomorrow and I have a quick car in the race, so I’m still looking forward to it and I’ll make the most of it.

Well done. Coming back to you Felipe. Obviously the race tomorrow, but there’s a big football tournament going on at the moment in your home country. I guess though that all eyes will be on you in the early part of tomorrow, what do you expect?

FM: Yeah, I think there is a lot going on in Brazil in this moment so I really expect that we can have a great show, a great show for everybody which is looking, you know the World Cup in Brazil. So I hope the best definitely for the World Cup in Brazil but I hope the best for Brazil. Just before I go to the car my son gave me a little Neymar, a little one, so I bring the little one to the car and I put on the side of my helmet. It was a nice feeling. I’m a great fan of football, so I hope we can have a great World Cup. I know what it is to win at home so I can imagine winning the World Cup at home is like a dream come true, not just for the players but also for everybody which is watching, so I really hope the best for Brazil.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Felipe, it was noticeable this morning in Free Practice Three that you guys were working on qualifying from fairly early on. Was it a real plan here to really focus on qualifying and do the best possible job that you could do here this afternoon?

FM: Well, it was not different, what we was doing this morning compared to the other races. We were doing similar working compared to what we was doing before, so definitely… also the Saturday the qualifying is the main focus y’know, but it was no different to what we did in the other races so… but I mean it’s pretty clear that our car was good, our car was competitive and it shows really a very good performance today and also yesterday since we started, both tyres it shows good performance. And it shows again in the qualifying that definitely we are a little bit surprised – we expect maybe Mercedes to be a little bit heavier, y’know? Just preparing the qualifying to put the right level of fuel and be like they were in the last races. Maybe not a big gap because this is a small track but, yeah, it was a little bit of a surprise – but it was a great job from us. From both of us, from the team, from everybody.

Q: Valtteri, it’s obvious, as Felipe was saying, the car is working well. But it seems this year, your team, when you’ve bought updates to the car, they’ve worked straight away. Obviously the correlation is very good between the wind tunnel and the race track and everything seems to be pointing in the right direction.

VB: That is true. We haven’t been making any bad updates. We’ve always… if we have bought something it has always worked and that has been a big improvement from last year. We can really put all the energy into the right direction, developing parts and knowing that they will work, so, no energy wasted there so that’s good. Like Felipe said, I’m really happy for the result today. For us as a team it’s a great achievement. Of course it’s only Saturday but we are really looking forward for tomorrow, trying to get some really good points with both cars. So, we really just need to focus on that.

Q: Nico, some thoughts from you. Obviously still a good chance for you to win the race tomorrow, taking on these two gentleman here. And also some thoughts on your team-mate who’s going to be starting down in ninth.

NR: Yeah, chances for the race are obviously good from P3. It’s more difficult than starting on the front row, of course, but it’s still a good chance there because I think it’s possible to overtake on this track. First stint, also, the tyres are going to degrade massively on the Option, so already there maybe at the end of the stint there’s a little bit of a chance. And I’ll have a good race car for sure. The balance was not ideal today in qualifying but definitely more a race car. So, in the race I’m sure I’ll be more happy with it. So I look forward to trying to make the most of it. Points-wise also with Lewis starting in ninth, that’s of course for the team not good but for me it’s, yeah, good that way. I need to make the most of it and try to extend the gap tomorrow.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Livio Oricchio – Universo Online) Nico, last race Mercedes didn’t win after six races in a row winning everything. Here, the first competition with qualifying ended with Mercedes not starting again in the first position. It’s just the circumstance of the competition or the opponents are really approaching your team?

NR: It’s a short track here and still we have the fastest car, even today, it’s just that I didn’t get that second lap to give it a go and my first lap, the balance was not good. In general also today my balance was not good because I’d worked more for the race – but I didn’t expect it to be that bad. I didn’t expect to be that uncomfortable. But anyways, not it’s third and for the race I’m sure I’ll have a good car, so, I think that’s a very small view that we’re taking now: two races, no wins, no pole… or no pole now. But I still think we’re dominant and definitely have the fastest car and I hope it’s going to stay like that for some time to come.

Q: (Michael Shields – Reuters) Felipe Massa, how does it feel to be starting from the pole position? I think this is the first time since 2008.

FM: Yeah, it’s the first time since 2008. I think it’s always the best feeling we can have. Being the quickest on the track against everybody, it’s always the best feeling a driver can have. A driver always works and fights to achieve this. It’s definitely a great moment, this qualifying. Only, work for tomorrow is very difficult. Long and tough race but, y’know, is a good start.

Q: (Sarah Holt – CNN) Felipe, you had a chance to win in Canada last time out and you’ve spoken passionately about the events that happened there since then. Do you think that tomorrow you’ve got a cool head and Williams has got the race pace that you need to make it a win this time and keep Valtteri and Nico etc at bay?

FM: Well, I think that depends on these guys here. We need to try to do the best we can. I think we have a good car, definitely we show a very competitive car since yesterday morning. I think what happened at the last race is past. I think you cannot live the past, we need to live in the present and the future. We lost some opportunity, we lost great points in Canada. Unfortunately we had some problems in the first pit stop when I lost four or five seconds and that put me in a difficult situation for the race but I had incredible pace as well and looking what happened with the Mercedes, it would definitely have been possible to win. I was in front of Ricciardo and he won the race. Normally my pace was also good to fight with… to be in front of him. The race is tomorrow, it’s a different situation, we’re starting in a better position which is always a help and we need to see how Mercedes will be tomorrow in the race but we will try everything we can, definitely.

Q: (Panagiotis Seitanidis – Alpha TV) Felipe, we saw a very touching emotional moment with your wife and son. After all the troubles you had with the accident and the difficult times that came after that, how important was the support of your family all this moment, and what did your son tell you, or what did you feel when you looked at him at that moment?

FM: Actually, I was also very close to my family. When I was a kid, with my father, my mother, my brother, my sister – we were always together at the races. I have always had great support from my family and then after, with my wife, my son now. It’s a great moment. When I saw him, it was just like… he never saw me in first place so it’s the first time. I think that makes the father feel nice, a good feeling, to see that your son is looking that you are in first place so it’s a great feeling, it’s a great moment and for sure, it’s part of my motivation. He’s part of everything I’m doing for my career, so it’s definitely a great feeling. I hope we can have a great race tomorrow as well with him watching and my wife and all my family as well from home.

Q: (Sven Haidinger – Sport Woche) Valtteri, what influence did the arrival of Pat Symonds have on your team and on the performance of the car?

VB: I think we can see it in the performance. I think the results have shown that he’s been one of the key persons for Williams to come back to closer to the positions where we belong to be in the races. As soon as he arrived, many things started to change and are still changing. Every week, as a team, we are still getting stronger and stronger, so we are definitely on the right way and that is thanks to Pat but also many other people in the team.

Q: (Anthony Rowlinson – F1 Racing) Felipe, has the change of team environment to Williams allowed you to find your best form again?

FM: For sure, I had a great time with Ferrari. I’m not a guy who is trying to speak bad about the past. I have had an incredible time in my past and I really enjoy everybody from Ferrari, but I feel that sometimes a change helps. Always when you are in the same place for many years… also I had a difficult moment as well, you know, it was good to have a change. I think it was good for the motivation and everything, so I think it was definitely positive, this change and I really really feel happy with Williams Martini with really great people. I think they work 110 percent, happy, and they really believe in my job, they really believe in what I say and I think that’s really positive. It makes me feel better, it makes me feel nice and it makes me feel very important inside the team.

Q: (Mikhail Rudoi – Autodigest Belarus) Valtteri, tomorrow, when you will see green lights, how do you think? You will concentrate not to lose second place or you will try to attack Felipe to the first turn?

VB: I think you always try to do the best you can. I think it really depends how good a start you get and it depends on the situation, what kind of start the other cars around will get and then you see how is the situation but I think both of us, me and Felipe, we really need to just try and do the best we can, try and go as forward as possible after the first corner and the first lap and keep the position as long as possible. We know that Mercedes’ race pace is going to be really really strong so it’s not going to be an easy day tomorrow but we will do our best.

Q: (Eli Shaouly – Automagazine, Israel) Felipe, it’s the first time that somebody actually beat Mercedes fair and square this season. This actually looked closed, like finished, one or two races ago. Do you think it’s now a new opening, do you think you can handle a big challenge to them or do you think it’s just one track that is very unique and the future will be different? Maybe also Nico can answer this?

FM: Honestly, we cannot forget what Mercedes has been doing up to now. We cannot forget that they didn’t have a clean qualifying as well. For sure, for the moment they are in front. For the moment, they are stronger. I hope, during the championship we can close or maybe can even pass (them). This is what we’re always working for, you know. But I think it’s not enough to say that we are there with Mercedes. I think that for the moment we don’t know. For the moment is maybe this track helps us definitely, but we don’t know. As Valtteri just said, I think we will see a very strong Mercedes tomorrow, so we need to be ready for everything, we need to be ready also that finishing behind them is still an incredible job for us.

NR: I still think we are the quickest team and car at the moment, but we are always keeping a close eye on the opposition and today Williams was definitely close, so we need to keep on pushing. Today was Williams, two races ago it was Red Bull that were getting closer so we need to go for it, but I’m confident that we can keep up the development rate and stay ahead.

June 21, 2014
Massa takes all Williams front row pole in Austria

The Williams team have been at the brink of something great for the last few races now and they have done it in Austria! Felipe Massa will lead an all Williams front row to start the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring tomorrow.

This brings to an end Mercedes’ front row streak and brings a whole bucketload of new excitement ahead of tomorrow’s race.

Massa banged in a brilliant lap for his Williams team, ringing in a time of 1:08.759, four tenths off Michael Schumacher’s 2003 lap record of 1:08.337. Williams teammate Valtteri Bottas also put in a special lap to lock out the front row with a 1:08.846. Who could have predicted this result? Certainly not Nico Rosberg who brought his Mercedes home in third place and in the post qualifying press conference said he never expected to see the two Williams drivers ahead of him.

Massa hailed a “great moment” for his Williams team stating at the press conference, “I’m so happy what’s happened today with us, our team it was such a great moment, it was a long time I had my last pole which was Brazil in 2008”.

“It’s such an incredible moment, for sure we need to concentrate on the race as it’s important but this is the best place to be, in the first place, it’s something I got the chance to be many times in all my career. Now I’m here again, after a long time that I couldn’t be on this place. I hope this is the beginning of great possibilities to be here again also in the race. It isn’t just emotional for me but I think is similar for what Williams feel as well. They had [an] incredible career in the past and they are back to the top, back to the fight. There is a way to go but I’m so pleased for me and for Williams.”

Mercedes had looked fastest throughout this afternoon’s qualifying session but it all fell apart in Q3 for both Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. Hamilton will start 9th from the grid following a nasty little spin with Rosberg claiming that his teammate’s spin hampered his chances of getting the pole position.

Hamilton lost the rear of his car under braking at Turn 2 which sent him into a 180 degree spin and out of contention. This after his first attempt at a pole time was disallowed after he ran wide at Turn 8 and left the track which the stewards had warned before the race would result in times being deleted.

Bottas also made a mistake on his final lap which could very well have been the difference between himself and Williams teammate Massa.

Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest in his underwhelming Ferrari ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, Kevin Magnussen and Daniil Kvyat. Kimi Raikkonen opted not to set a competitive time in Q3 and qualified 8th. Nico Hulkenberg rounds out the Top 10 behind Lewis Hamilton after deciding not to set a time at all in Q3.

Your full timesheets are below. Tomorrow’s race is all set for action and we can only wonder how the Williams duo will hold back the Mercedes team for the race. Join us for live commentary on Twitter and don’t forget to enter to WIN A VIP EXPERIENCE AT THE BELGIAN GRAND PRIX!

June 21, 2014
Canadian GP Qualifying: Rosberg narrowly beats Hamilton to pole

Nico Rosberg secured pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix after putting in a rocket fast final lap in qualifying denying teammate Lewis Hamilton the pleasure of his fifth pole position.

Hamilton dominated the entire weekend in Montreal but a mistake heading into Turn 8 on his final lap meant the Briton had to settle for second place on the grid. Rosberg beat Hamilton to pole by less than a tenth of a second.

Qualifying got underway with only 21 cars after Esteban Gutierrez crashed in the final practice session today, forcing Sauber to change his chassis. Valtteri Bottas was first out on track and posted the initial benchmark at 1.18.270 but teammate Felipe Massa went half a second faster to occupy the top spot on the timesheets until Rosberg came around to put his Mercedes up in first place.

Pastor Maldonado dropped out of Q1 once again – for fifth out of six times this season. He pulled his stricken Lotus over into an escape road ending his session. Things just aren’t going right for Maldonado at all this season and his Venezuelen sponsorship is already rumoured to be at risk.

With 16 seconds left on the clock, Marcus Ericsson brought out the red flag on the session when he binned his Caterham at turn nine. The session did not restart and Maldonado, Chilton, Bianchi, Kobayashi and Ericsson were eliminated from the proceedings.

Q2 got underway with Adrian Sutil first out on track with the entire field heading out on the supersoft tyres. Felipe Massa was the early leader in the session ahead of his teammate, Valtteri Bottas, and former Ferrari teammate, Fernando Alonso. The two Mercedes drivers only headed out a little later in the session but neither could shift Massa off the top of board with their initial efforts. It became clear that the Mercedes duo were not as strong on the supersofts as the Williams drivers were.

Nico Hulkenberg, Kevin Magnussen, Sergio Perez, Romain Grosjean, Daniil Kvyat and Adrian Sutil were all eliminated at the end of Q2.

Q3 saw Bottas first out on track for a bit of clear air, setting the first benchmark at a 1.15.550. Rosberg was the first of the Mercedes to cross the line, going six-tenths quicker than Bottas. Hamilton also managed to go quicker than Bottas but fell just short of Rosberg’s time putting the German on provisional pole.

Both Rosberg and Hamilton made slight improvements on their final runs but Hamilton just couldn’t find the pace to match his teammate and a small error into Turn 8 likely cost him the pole position. Sebastian Vettel pulled a rabbit out of the bag and pushed out a flyer to qualify third ahead of the two Williams drivers, Bottas and Massa respectively.
Daniel Ricciardo qualified sixth ahead of Alonso and Vergne, with Jenson Button and Kimi Raikkonen rounding out the top ten.

Hamilton will no doubt be frustrated to not have been able to convert his dominant performance throughout the weekend into a pole position but the Briton seemed to take it in his stride today and seemed pleased to have another all-Mercedes front row. “Let’s go make history tomorrow,” Hamilton said at the post qualifying press conference.

History will indeed be made whatever happens tomorrow. We’re all set for a crack-a-lacking race and the stage is all set for a good battle upfront between Rosberg and Hamilton. The Williams drivers are looking exceptionally strong and they are definitely making a mark on the grid this weekend.

Please join us on Twitter for live chat and commentary as we watch it all pan out at 8pm GMT+2.

Full timesheets and your chance to win a VIP trip to the Belgian Grand Prix are below.

June 7, 2014
2014 Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

DRIVERS:

Jules BIANCHI (Marussia)

Jean-Eric VERGNE (Toro Rosso)

Valtteri BOTTAS (Williams)

Romain GROSJEAN (Lotus)

Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

Kimi RAIKKONEN (Ferrari)

PRESS CONFERENCE

Jules, can I start with you? Obviously it’s been quite a tough start to the season for you. What do you put that down to? Is it adapting to the car, is it bad luck or a combination of those things?

Jules BIANCHI: Yeah, obviously it’s been a very difficult start. The first few races have been pretty tough for me and the team but actually the last one especially was pretty good for me, so I am happy with that. So I will think about this only now and be focused for the next races coming now.

Tell us about your experience and thoughts about this unique race track here in Monaco. You had a good result here back in Renault 3.5 a few years ago, does that junior experience help in the first few years in Formula One?

JB: Yeah it helps a lot for sure to race in Monaco before your first year in Formula One. Last year has been really difficult for me. I had some issues in qualifying, I had engine failure and then in the race again some issue with the engine to start with and a brake failure to finish with, so it was not the best race I could have but I’m pretty confident now that I can do a good race this year.

Coming to you Valtteri, you’re seventh now in the Drivers’ Championship and well ahead of your team-mate. You had another good result in Spain. Do you feel that you and the team have moved up a gear now?

Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, since the start of the season everything’s been positive if we compare it to the year before. All the time during this year we’ve been able to make progress, we’ve been bringing some updates, which always gave us a little bit. That’s what we aim for, for that to continue for the whole season. We are definitely keeping up at least with the development. We just need to keep pushing really, because everyone is going to improve so much.

You said in the build-up to this race that you feel confident this year at Monaco. I wonder how much of a handicap it was last year for you that you’d never driven anything around this circuit? Can you tell us a bit what it’s like to drive this place with absolutely zero database when you’re driving a Formula One car.

VB: Yeah, definitely it was really tough last year, first time, immediately with a Formula One car but, you know, you just need to adapt to it, you need to build the speed up step-by-step in the practice and definitely going for the race this season I know the track now well, so it’s much easier to approach the weekend and build from practice one onwards. I definitely feel very confident for this weekend and I really think we can fight as a team for some really good points.

Nico, winner from pole here last year. Can you tell us what a win around this race track means to a Formula One drive, what it did for you personally and for your confidence?

Nico ROSBERG: For me personally it was a very, very special experience, because it’s my home, it’s where I’ve grown up. My whole life has been centred around Monaco. So to win here, yeah it was great. And not only that but also it’s the race to win. It’s the most challenging race to win and the most prestigious race to win, so really that was awesome.

With what happened in Spain, losing the initiative in the championship to your team-mate, how are you feeling at this point, going into this race? Do you feel the strain or do you feel an impatience to get that lead back again?

NR: I’m not too focused on that. Of course I would prefer to be ahead than behind but it’s very, very close and there still a long way to go. So I’m just focused on this weekend here, looking forward to it, because I know that I have a fantastic car at the moment and I expect the car to be very, very quick also here in Monaco. The gap – they might be a lot closer to us this weekend and we need to wait and see if we are the fastest and the chances are we will be, so I look forward it and hope to have a fantastic weekend again.

Jean-Eric, like Jules you’ve had a difficult start to the season. You got four points in the opening round but since then you’ve been in a position to score more points but then you’ve had non-finishes. What’s been going on?

Jean-Eric VERGNE: Yeah I think I’ve been pretty unlucky since the beginning of the season, started well in Melbourne and then always in a position to score some good points. But that’s how it is; it’s part of the sport. I’ll just keep on smiling and hopefully the bad luck will go away and get tired of me. I’m just hoping to finish the race and have a good car and that’s all I’m hoping for. So it will come.

You won here in your junior career I believe and last year this race was the start of a real turnaround in your season. What are your thoughts on the venue, your prospects for the weekend, and also I noted that you said that a driver must arrive in a humble state of mind at the beginning of a weekend in Monaco. What do you mean by that and what happens from there?

J-EV: Well, I think this track is really difficult for sure. You want to stay far away from the walls and at the beginning the walls always look really close, a lot close than in the end of the weekend. This is a particular track where even the first session, the first P1, is really important for the confidence over the whole weekend, so you really have to build up your weekend in a good way.

Q: Romain, coming to you, first points of the season obviously in Spain and also fifth on the grid, followed up by what looked like a very encouraging test for Maldonado and Pic in Barcelona. Can you sum up where Lotus are now and what level of optimism there is for this next phase of the Championship?

Romain GROSJEAN: Well, if you look at the trend from Melbourne, we’ve been improving every time, going to Q3 for the first time in China, going to Q3 and being fifth on the grid in Barcelona. I think we were looking good in the race to keep the Ferrari behind but I had a small problem. It’s good that all the work has been done, and the fact we understand more and more our car, it’s going in the right direction and, of course, if you are fifth on the grid in Monaco, the race is even kind of easier to defend your position. You never know what you are going to get when you come to Monaco. It’s such a specific track. But I do hope we get the same kind of car we had in Barcelona. Then we can be well placed in Q3 and score some more points.

Q: Looking at your record here over the years, Monaco has not been a very happy hunting ground for you, has it? In Formula One or the junior categories. Why is that, do you think?

RG: I think that’s not fair to say. I’ve been on pole position here in GP2, won the race in GP2 – but on the other side if you have a look at crashes, I have a good record and few corners I know too well. To be fair, last year I completely missed my weekend and wherever I would have been, it would have been the same story. So, just try to not do that again. You have to respect the track. Every mistake is more obvious than everywhere else – but I’ve always been quick so I’ll try to keep that in my pocket but stay away from the rails.

Q: Kimi, another Monaco winner, do you consider a win here to be more important than other races? What did you feel when you ticked that Monaco win off your bucket list?

Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: Obviously it’s been pretty OK many times for me the race but then it’s not always from your side that the things go wrong here. There’s so many things that can affect your result in the end. Previous years haven’t been the most best again but hopefully this year can be a bit better and hopefully we get some good points but obviously it’s too early to say how the car will be. Everything is different from last year so we have to just go open-minded and try to do the best that we can.

Q: Was Spain something of a turning point for you in terms of being able to extract closer to the maximum potential from the Ferrari? What made the difference there for you? And also, can you say anything about your analysis of the strategy in that race afterwards?

KR: We’ve been pretty good in other races also but obviously had some problems in the race or in practice and always messed up the complete big picture a bit. But obviously it was a bit better last time around. To be honest, if we finished where we finished, I think sixth and seventh, it’s not at all where we want to be as a team, so we still have an awful lot of work to do. We improve things little-by-little but the other teams are also going forward so it’s not a simple thing to fix and be in front suddenly. We know how it works and we know how much things have to improve but we keep working hard and for sure one day we will get there.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Aron Day – FormulaSpy.com) Kimi, you’ve driven the V10s, the V8s around Monaco. Do you think the new cars will be more difficult to drive?

KR: It’s difficult to say before we drive. I think if your car is normally good, it doesn’t really matter where you go. You know how it behaves and it will be OK. Obviously a bit less grip this year and maybe some cars are a bit more hard to handle but we have to see how it goes on the first practice and see what it is. But I think we’ve improved a lot since the winter and it should be OK.

Q: (Paolo Ianieri – Gazzetta dello Sport) Nico, Lewis says he should be dominating you more. Does it mean the time of smiles is getting over slowly? Are we going to see a harder battle between you and him?

NR: I don’t know what he said so I’m not going to… I didn’t hear it myself so I’m not going to comment on such things. But, in general, it’s been a tough battle up until now and I expect it to continue like that. Of course now he’s had the result rhythm in a couple of races but it’s been very close. I just need a tiny bit to turn it around. I’ll start with trying to do that here in Monaco.

Q: (Vladamir Rogovets – SB Belarus Segodnya) To all of you: what is your favourite braking zone in Monaco?

JB: Well, I think after the tunnel, that’s good, I like that.

J-EV: Last corner, there is nearly no braking. I don’t know.

VB: Yeah, I think the tunnel as well, because that’s one of the places it could be possible to overtake, so let’s say that. Yeah.

RG: Casino. It goes quickly up hill and when you get to the top you just have to brake. It’s quite a nice feeling.

NR: Same, up the hill, it’s very very difficult because it’s a very very fast corner and you’re trying to carry the speed in and if you get it wrong and you’re going too fast, it’s very easy to lose the line.

KR: No, I don’t really have one favourite one. Any of them. You can chose

Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, are you going to carry on with the James Hunt-style design of your helmet here?

KR: No.

Q: (Vincent Marre – Sports Zeitung) To all six of you: if there is one day race that we have now in this calendar that you would like to change into a night race, assuming there is no technical issue, which one would it be? There must be one.

VB: This one would be cool, I think. It would look nice.

J-EV: Yeah, I think this one as well under lights.

JB: Same, same thing. It would be really nice to race in Monaco at night.

RG: I don’t know; why not Melbourne?

NR: Japan, so there’s no jetlag.

KR: I cannot hear the question. I understood by their answers but I’m happy how they are, we can always dream about things but we don’t make the rules, so there’s no point.

Q: (Haoran Zhou – Formula One Express) Nico, last year you controlled the race all the way until the last few laps because of the fear of tyre degradation. This year’s tyres have more endurance, and also your car is quite good on tyre management. Are you going to be able to push more in the race, according to your simulation?

NR: Well, last year, before Monaco, it was really really bad, our car with the tyres so in Monaco it was all about just trying to make the tyres last for the race but this year the tyres are more durable and also we have a better control on tyres, as a team, so it should be a faster race if I’m at the front.

Q: (Pierre van Vliet – F1i.com) Nico, four pole positions for Lewis so far; do you plan to change your approach to qualifying? Here, you know that you dominated him last year; what do you plan to maybe change something in qualifying?

NR: No. Of course three of those qualifyings were in the wet; in the dry it’s 1-1 and it’s supposed to be dry on Saturday so I’m confident I can make it happen so I’m not changing my approach or anything.

Q: (Ben Edwards – BBC) Nico and Kimi; we lost a legend of Formula One, Sir Jack Brabham, this last week. Obviously his exploits were before you guys were born but can I just ask if you had any contact with Sir Jack Brabham, if you have any thoughts about his career and also if you’d been born in a different era, would you have ever considered going down that kind of route that he did, of building his own car? Kimi, you’ve set up teams; Nico you have an interest in engineering. If you’d been born in that era, could you have seen yourselves go down that route?

KR: Obviously I read and I was so sad to hear that he had passed away. Obviously these days are different than the days that they used to race and they could do different categories, different races. It would be very nice if they would be able to do different things at the same time and different races and try different things more. But the problem is everything gets so much more expensive these days and obviously people are more scared that you get hurt that they try to limit everything that you do. It’s a shame because I think it would be more fun for everybody and all sports would also benefit from it, and F1. It would be nice to do stuff like they did.

NR: It’s an amazing achievement that he did at the time, to win in another team but also in his own team, in his own car that he built. It’s extremely unlikely to ever happen again but you never know, but it’s a record that is definitely going to last a long time.

May 22, 2014
F1 2014: Free Practice 1 – Alonso Fastest in China

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso ended set the fastest time for the first free practice session in China.

A relatively quiet session was marked with a track temperature of 18 degrees Celcius for nearly all of the 90 minutes of running. Overcast conditions around the Shanghai International circuit made it more difficult to optimise the tyre temperatures; evident by the fact that several drivers struggled front locking.

Fernando Alonso set the quickest time of the session, a 1:39:783 but it wasn’t all smooth sailing for the Ferrari team. A steering/front-suspsension issue reduced Kimi Raikkonen’s running to a solitary installation lap. New team principal Marco Mattiacci spent most of the session in the garage.

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg was second quickest by the time the chequered flag came out and completed a total of sixteen laps. Lewis Hamilton, eighth position, completed only nine laps as his session was cut short with an unknown issue.

Felipe Nasr completed the first free practice session for Williams in place of Valtteri Bottas while Giedo van der Garde filled in for Adrian Sutil at Sauber. Marussia’s Jules Bianchi managed to set one flying lap at the end of the session as he recovered from a fuel pressure issue. The Frenchman improved to eighteenth overall on his second flying lap.

April 18, 2014
Bahrain Free Practice 2 – Hamilton Finishes Top of the Time Sheets

Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes made it two from two this evening by finishing on top of the time sheets in the second practice session for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Hamilton finished the session in P1 with a time of 1:34.325. His team mate Nico Rosberg ended the session in P2 with a 1:34.690. Fernando Alonso finished the session in P3 with a 1:35.360, a full 1.035s slower than Hamilton’s P1 time.

Alonso could not do any better than P3. His long run pace looked encouraging but Ferrari are struggling with high tyre degradation. Kimi Raikkonen in the other Ferrari struggled this session. He ended his FP2 down in P14 with a 1:36.962. So not a good session for the Finn who’s looking to get a strong finish in the race.

With 35m left in the session Max Chilton in his Marussia suffered a front left brake disk failure under braking into T4. The front brakes went, the rears locked up and he spun off the track into the run off area and that was his session. He was not the only casualty of the session. Sauber’s Adrian Sutil stopped out on track with 30 minutes left in the session. The final casualty of the evening was Caterham’s Marcus Ericsson. He stopped his car on the back straight on the run down to T11 with just 5mins left in the session. There was a bit of a moment between Rosberg and Perez in the Force India that will be investigated after the session. Rosberg was on a slow-down lap with Perez on a timed lap approaching rather quickly. Rosberg moved to his left to get out of the way, but by then Perez had already committed to passing Rosberg on the left. Perez had to move a bit more to the left to avoid Rosberg. All this happened on the run into T14

The Williams cars of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas spent most of the session in their garages and with 42 mins left in the session they both took to the track with very encouraging pace from Massa. Massa and Bottas finished P5 and P11 respectively.

Red Bull confirmed just after the start of the session that the had a fuel flow sensor failure together with Toro Rosso and Lotus. They had a relatively quiet FP2 with Ricciardo finishing in P4 and Sebastian Vettel finishing P7. Red Bull do have some tyre degradation issues but not as bad as Ferrari. They actually looked much stronger on the long run race than Ferrari.

Mercedes look to be in a class of their own. At the moment qualifying looks to be between Hamilton and Rosberg for P1 and P2. But we all know how quickly things can change in F1. There’s still FP3 to come.

Below is the timing wall for the session:

April 4, 2014