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  • 2017 Hungarian GP: Friday Press Conference Part 2

    2017 Hungarian GP: Friday Press Conference Part 2

    PART TWO: TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Paddy LOWE (Williams), Nick CHESTER (Renault), Paul MONAGHAN (Red Bull)

    Q: Nick, if we can start with you, it’s been a difficult day for Jolyon in particular. Incidents in both of those sessions. What state is his car in now? He had the new floor this morning: how much damage this afternoon?

    Nick CHESTER: Well, we’ve got a little bit of work to do as you can probably guess from seeing the TV, so we’ll be changing his gearbox anyway because we normally change it on a Friday night, so the rear suspension will get refreshed with that. The floor that was damaged this morning will be repaired and that will go on tomorrow, so he’ll have the news-spec floor. To be honest there’s nothing that we’re not used to repairing. We’ll get it all sorted for tomorrow.

    Q: Silverstone a couple of weekends ago was a tremendous weekend for Nico Hülkenberg. The new floor seemed to give a lot of advantages there. Does that translate to even more performance around here? How is the performance of the car?

    NC: From what we’ve seen so far today it looks pretty similar. So, we’re seeing a pretty good performance here. I think Nico was seventh in P2. It’s performing like Silverstone really and we’re seeing that performance gain that we did see at Silverstone.

    Q: Given the different characteristics of the two circuits, is that very encouraging for you?

    NC: It is, yeah, because they’re two circuits that are very far apart, so if you can perform on Silverstone and Hungary, you should be in a reasonable place for the rest of the year.

    Q: And final question from me is about the Halo. Obviously it’s been confirmed that it’s going to be introduced in 2018. Do you see it an aero opportunity, as well as obviously the safety benefits. Are there any performance benefits that could come from it?

    NC: No, not really. I think Halo, for starters, it’s good to have something there that’s going to give the driver more protection and everyone’s behind that and wants to put it on the car for that reason. But in terms of aero, if anything it’s a detriment and, if anything, you have to work around it being fitted to the car. So, I don’t think they’ll be any huge tricks with it.  I think everyone will just want to put it on the car and make it the best they can for the drivers.

    Q: Paddy, you’ve been in this game a long time. Your thoughts on the Halo?

    Paddy LOWE: Yeah, there’s obviously a lot being written about it. It seems to be quite controversial, let’s say. I think it’s worth bearing in mind the context. Probably five or six years ago the TRM themselves had identified that the big risk they could see still in the sport was to the driver’s head and there were a number of near-misses, typically one per year that we all saw go by and thought one day that could end in tragedy. So that was the background to developing a solution, and we ended up here with the best option being the Halo. I know it’s not the most attractive device but I do think it’s the right decision to get it on the car. At least then we’re started, we can always make it better in the future. I’m sure we can improve it year on year but at least we’ve put in place that protection that we intended from the start.

    Q: Looking at today’s performance, difficult day for the team but in fact it’s been a difficult few races for the team and, if you look at the points this year versus last year, you’re on 41 now, at the same stage in 2016 you had 92 points. Obviously it’s a tougher season but where is the performance lacking this year with the FW40?

    PL: Yeah, definitely at the half-term report stage we’re not looking as good as we’d like. We’re very disappointed, the car is quicker than that points table would reflect. I think one of our biggest problems has been that we haven’t been scoring the points we should have done at the track with our speed of car. That’s for a number of different reasons. On top of that, we’ve seen a lot of variation from circuit to circuit. There are places that we significantly under-perform and we really need to have a car that will perform more equally at different destinations, so that’s a big focus for next year.

    Q: Have you ascertained why the car underperformed at those tracks?

    PL: Some of those things we understand, some of them we don’t. So there’s a lot of work to do. But we’re very much hoping we can have a better second half of the season and put some of that right.

    Q: Paul, well a very promising start to the weekend for you guys, particularly with Daniel. Your thoughts on how today’s gone – and what is Daniel saying about the car?

    Paul MONAGHAN: Today offers a lot of encouragement, doesn’t it? Both our drivers seem competitive and sadly we haven’t got 43 points from Friday afternoon. The bit that remains in our control is our car, so we’ll try to work on it overnight, improve it, get the drivers more settled with their setup choices and so on and so forth, and we’ll deploy ourselves tomorrow, keep it in good order and see what our competitiveness is like in qualifying and then obviously on Sunday in the race. That’s about all we can actually do. The pace of our competitors is down to them, isn’t it?

    Q: Is this performance track-specific or are you confident you can go forward and be competitive everywhere now?

    PM: Up until Silverstone I think Daniel had five podiums in a row, didn’t he, so we’ve been competitive at tracks where we thought we might be a bit weaker, we might have thought we might have been a bit better. In general our car is adept at dealing with most of the tracks. Some will suit us a bit more than others. That’s inevitable and that’s something true of all the cars in the pitlane. Coming to this one, OK, some of our weaknesses are masked, others are highlighted, but the bit that remains in our control is our car, and let’s see what we can do with it tomorrow.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Kate Walker – Motorsport . com) For all three of you please, on the halo: in the briefing yesterday, Charlie was saying that while there are aesthetic objections, you guys have got opportunities with fairings and whatnot to make the device slightly more palatable. I was wondering to what extent you’ve already begun looking at improving the aesthetics and the performance of the halo or is 2018 just going to be spec and move on from there?

    PM: The fairings were, I believe, agreed around about July 2016 or the extent of them. We will make use of the fairings, as Nick alluded to, to reduce the aerodynamic detriment of the halo and I think, beyond that, the aesthetics of it. Yes, if we can have a fairing which reduces some of the aerodynamic detriment and makes it –  to the eye of the beholder, shall we say, slightly more aesthetic, we’ll take that solution but I think the aesthetics of it, it’s not put on there for that reason, is it? It’s put on there as a safety device. We’ll put the fairings on it, we’ll do the work that Nick’s talking about, to reduce the detriment and that will be on for 2018.

    PL: Well, firstly the definition isn’t finally issued yet so we don’t exactly know what opportunities we’ll have but I believe we’ll have the space to minimise the aerodynamic detriment as Nick was saying, and hope within that, generally, we try and find a good aesthetic and these things often go together.

    NC: Not much to add. The fairings are allowed; it’s a fairly small fairing and as Paddy has said, not all of the regulations for fairings are finalised yet. We’ll be doing a little bit to reduce the aerodynamic deficit.

    Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Nick, you’re testing Robert Kubica again on Wednesday. Can I ask you a few questions in one about that? How it initially came about? How long the team had stayed in touch with him? Who contacted who? Why now, after six and a half years? The mental fortitude and struggle it’s taken him to get to this point and what you’ve seen so far about his readiness to return to Formula One? 

    NC: OK. Yeah, quite a few questions there. Yeah, to start off, the background… I must admit I don’t fully know the background or how the contact was made but obviously we know Robert, we know him from when he drove in Renault before. He was a super driver. It’s nice to give him the opportunity to get back in a V8, get some mileage, see how he can handle it and then he’ll get another opportunity in current machinery in the test after Hungary and it’s a good opportunity to see what he can do and whether he can come back to Formula One someday.

    Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) From what you’ve seen so far, what would you say about his readiness and his physical limitations and whether they affect him in the car and what changes you’ve had to make to the car to adapt to those?

    NC: Yeah, well from what we’ve seen so far his mental fortitude is great, he’s pushed very hard to come back. Physically I think he’s passed all of his fitness tests and we’ve had to do very little to the car so he’s actually managed pretty well in a modern F1 car.

    Q: Nick, can you give us any more details about the steering wheel, have you had to make changes to how he changes gear or anything like that? 

    NC: We’ve made some little adaptations but nothing too serious.

    Q: (Roksana Cwik – SwiatWyscigow) Mr Lowe, we saw in the second practice that Felipe had a lot of problems in turns four and five. He also asked for the car to be checked. Can you say something more about those problems?

    PL: Yeah, Felipe did have a couple of spins in P2 which took him by surprise so we are still trying to understand and analyse those. At this point, we haven’t understood it. It was interesting that in that session, a lot of cars were going off at corner entry with very unstable balance so we don’t know whether it might be something to do with the tyres, some general characteristic or not or something to do with our car.

    Q: (Istvan Simon – Auto Magazin) Mr Chester, we have seen a pretty bad accident by Jolyon in free practice when he basically crashed the undertray of the car or the diffuser of the car. Do you know the reason? Was it a driver failure or a failure of the kerbs or anything else? 

    NC: Yeah, I think you’re probably referring to the free practice one accident. Yeah, he ran wide over the kerbs and just… there is a little drop on the outside of the kerbs and that’s enough to bounce the chassis and the floor and the front wing so yeah, it was just enough to rip the front wing off.

    Q: (Istvan Simon – Auto Magazin) Is it the same as we had last year?

    NC: The kerbs are slightly different so there was a single row last year, there’s now a double row so they are different and really the intention is the drivers shouldn’t be going right over the second set of kerbs.

    Q: (Istvan Simon – Auto Magazin) Do you have a spare part for this? 

    NC: Yeah, we do, fortunately. We’ve got a reasonably good stock of front wings and we’re repairing floors for him so we will be in good shape from tomorrow.

    Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) This is primarily for Paul but all three of you please… Even in P1 we saw a spectacular time from Daniel. He was only a couple of hundredths from the lap record, set in 2004 so was it a surprise that the track was so quick, even in P1? But in P2, there didn’t seem to be such a huge track evolution. I mean he only went a little bit better so do you have an explanation for that, did it surprise you that it was already so quick in P1 and why it wasn’t so much quicker in P2? 

    PM: OK. Hungary, as we used to come here years ago, you would see the plumes of dust behind the cars in P1 and there was a huge track evolution. I think to all of our benefits, the track is now superbly cleaned before we start running and as such on the slightly cooler track, if that suits your car and tyres a little bit better, then P1 is an opportunity to operate the car near its limits without being grip limited by dust and so on and exploiting track evolution. Therefore, as the track warms up, it’s not always possible to then have the evolution you typically see from some of the other tracks in P2 and I’m not surprised we didn’t see big steps for the second practice, to be perfectly honest. As for the actual lap time, when you do a simulation, you can obviously factor in an amount of grip on the track; we put in what we think is the aero model, what we think is the engine model, verification actually happens at the track so… Everybody can have a go at their simulation and then we’ll all say yes, we’re on it, or no we’re not or we’re quicker, we’re slower. It doesn’t actually matter. We don’t race the simulation tool. That helps the preparation, it helps everybody and now it’s down to Saturday and Sunday for the competition.

    Q: Paul, can you give us a guesstimate of what you think pole position might be tomorrow? What time?

    PM: I’m not going to do that, no. I’m going to duck that issue on the basis I can’t tell you how fast our competitors’ cars could be and nor am I going to tell you how fast our one can be.

    Q: From Paddy and Nick: any thoughts on the grip level available in FP1 and the track evolution or not?

    PL: Only to say, as Paul was saying, one of the tricky things in modern Formula One is tracking the evolution of the track but what was the track temperatures, these tyres are very sensitive to track temperature. It’s one of the challenges we face and you know that today was no better example.

    NC: Yeah, very similar. I think the cars are very sensitive to tyre temperature. The track temperature came up for the second session and it was a little bit windier as well so I think that made it a bit tougher for some of the drivers.

  • F1 2017: Free Practice 1 Report Hungarian Gp – Ricciardo Quickest

    F1 2017: Free Practice 1 Report Hungarian Gp – Ricciardo Quickest

    Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo set the quickest time of the first free practice session ahead of the 2017 Hungarian grand prix.

    Ricciardo’s 1:18:486 was roughly two and a half tenths quicker than Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen while Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, an Valtteri Bottas rounded out the top five. Sebastian Vettel was sixth quickest while the McLaren’s showed well on a circuit which should suit their car with Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne in seventh and eighth respectively. Renault teammates Nico Hulkenberg and Jolyon Palmer rounded out the top ten.

    Mid-way through the practice session a red flag was brought out by Antonio Giovinazzi. Subbing for Kevin Magnussen in the first practice session Giovinazzi seemed to aggressive on turn in to turn 11 and binned the Haas in the outside barrier, tearing the front-left suspension off.

    A second red flag was brought out right at the conclusion of the session for debris strewn across the circuit as Jolyon Palmer in the Renault tore off his front wing on the Turn 11 kerb.

    Free Practice 1 Standings:

    Screen Shot 2017-07-28 at 11.36.46 AM

  • F1 2017: Hungary Gp Preview – Hungaroring Vital Piece In Championship Puzzle

    F1 2017: Hungary Gp Preview – Hungaroring Vital Piece In Championship Puzzle

    In an F1 championship as closely contested as the 2017 edition every race weekend becomes an important one. At this stage, as Vettel and Hamilton are separated by a single point, none are more vital than the last race before the summer break.

    The 2017 Hungarian grand prix runs around the Hungaroring. A tight and twisting cacophony of medium speed corners this circuit is often described as a supersized karting track. It’s flowing nature mandates total precision, as an error in one corner will be carried through an entire lap and ultimately result in loss of laptime. “It has many low and medium speed corners, which demand stability on corner entry and strong traction on the exit. It’s quite hard on both the front and rear tyres so overall it can be characterised as a tough handling circuit,” said Renault’s Nick Chester.

    The circuit is further notorious for being green at the start of the weekend, as it doesn’t see much running for the rest of the year. However, grip improves throughout the weekend for which Pirelli have brought the supersoft, soft, and medium compounds. While the Pirelli compounds have proved to a step harder than in 2016 the hotter conditions in Hungary should allow for better tyre performance. Meanwhile, the belief is that the medium compound will simply be a travelling tyre as it is too hard to be considered for use.

    hungariangp-merc-twitterWhich teams will the flowing corners of the Hungaroring favour? Traditionally, the streets of Monaco have been a good indicator as to who could do well in Hungary. However, a few things have changed since May race dominated by Ferrari. Significantly, the biggest change has been Mercedes’ ability to get on top of their tyre issues by understanding how to correctly bring them into their operating window. While on the face of it seems as if Merc have pulled away in terms of car development it is in fact in this area where they have made the biggest gain. Red Bull too could go well here as the circuit highlights chassis more than power. What’s more is that overtaking around the Hungaroring isn’t abundant.

    Therefore, if Verstappen or Ricciardo can get ahead of either Merc or Ferrari drivers, and work the strategy in their favour, they could have enough pace to step on the podium at the end of it.

    For Finns Kimi Raikkonen and Valterri Bottas Hungary is as close as they’ll get to Finland and it, obviously, brings out a serious amount of support from across the border. Both Finns had good drives in Silverstone too, barring Raikkonen’s late race puncture. With the championship as close as it has been at any point in the season what the teammates of the two title contenders do is equally as important. With two race wins this season Bottas has already shown his prowess and it’s about time that Raikkonen do the same.

  • F1 2017: British Gp Review – Hamilton Untroubled Amid Ferrari Drama

    F1 2017: British Gp Review – Hamilton Untroubled Amid Ferrari Drama

    The phenomenon of home ground advantage has nearly always been touted in the world of sport as a sort of mythical influence that makes the team or a person nearly unbeatable. This advantage was no more evident as Lewis Hamilton took a record-equaling fifth British grand prix win around the famed Silverstone circuit.

    While Hamilton blitzed the field in Saturday qualifying to the tune of half a second he, similarly, ran unflustered towards the checquered flag on Sunday. While the second-place starter Kimi Raikkonen, who shaded his teammate the entire weekend, briefly threatened in the Ferrari he could, ultimately, not get within striking distance of Hamilton.

    The remainder of the podium places seemed set too as Raikkonen ran comfortably in second ahead of Valtteri Bottas who was recovering from a ninth place starting position after a gearbox penalty. Nevertheless, two laps from the chequered flag the thread on Raikkonen’s left-front tyre appeared to come apart and forced him into the pitlane. The easy second place he’d been heading too suddenly transformed into fourth. But the drama was far from over as Sebastian Vettel, now running third, suffered a seemingly identical front-left failure on the final lap of the race. The German was able to limp back to the pits but the chance of salvaging a podium was long gone as he emerged in seventh place.

    012Pirelli has announced that the failures on Raikkonen and Vettel’s car were not caused by the same problem. In Raikkonen’s case Pirelli found that the thread had separated from the tyre, which makes it a manufacturing fault. However, in Vettel’s case the failure was put down to tyre age. But Vettel’s tyres were not being pushed beyond what Pirelli had said were possible. While Ferrari was the only team to pay a price in terms of points several teams revealed post-race that their own tyres were on the edge of suffering similar failures.

    The drama-filled ending to the British grand prix meant that Mercedes strolled to a one-two victory with Raikkonen in third. Max Verstappen provided some early race entertainment in a fight with Sebastian Vettel but ultimately ran a fairly anonymous race to finish fourth. Daniel Ricciardo, starting from the back of the grid due to reliability issues, delivered a storming drive through the field complete with several stunning overtakes to finish an impressive fifth. Renault’s day started poorly as Jolyon Palmer failed to take the start with mechanical issues but the ever-impressive Nico Hulkenberg’s sixth place finish saved the day. With Vettel in seventh the Force India pairing of Esteban Ocon, eighth, and Sergio Perez, ninth, continues to score important points over their rivals Williams who secured the final point in tenth with Felipe Massa.

    052Besides the formation lap retirement of Renault’s Jolyon Palmer there were only two further retirements. A clash between Toro Rosso teammates Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz saw the latter punted out of the race while Fernando Alonso suffered yet another engine failure despite Honda’s introduction of a so-called reliability upgrade.

    While Ferrari has not only fallen 55 points behind Mercedes in the Constructor’s standings Vettel’s late race troubles have all but eviscerated his championship lead over Hamilton from twenty to a single point.

    It is evident now that the early season pressure has transferred from Merc to Ferrari and the Italian team needs to pull something out of the bag for the Hungarian Gp in two weeks time.

    (All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport)

  • F1 2017: British Gp Qualifying Report – Hamilton Supreme

    F1 2017: British Gp Qualifying Report – Hamilton Supreme

    Mercedes driver and home-town favourite Lewis Hamilton scored the 67th pole position of his career ahead of the 2017 British grand prix.

    There was little in the way of a challenge to Lewis Hamilton under the cloudy Northamptonshire skies as he imperiously took pole position by half a second. Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen will share the front row of the grid with the Brit while Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen line up in third and fourth, respectively.

    While Valtteri Bottas set the fourth quickest time in the final part of quali his five place grid penalty for a gearbox change means that he will start ninth. Meanwhile, Nico Hulkenberg punched above his weight and will start fifth in Renault. Equally impressive was McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne. The Belgian driver will start ninth and has out-qualified teammate Fernando Alonso for the first time in 2017.

    Saturday qualifying was already compromised for Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo incurring a five place grid penalty for a pre-cautionary gearbox change. However, to add insult to extreme frustration the Aussie driver suffered a suspected Turbo failure in the first part of the qualifying session which will see him start 19th on Sunday’s grid.

    Qualifying Standings:

    POS DRIVER CAR TIME GAP
    1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m26.600s  –
    2 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m27.147s  0.547s
    3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m27.356s  0.756s
    4 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Renault 1m28.130s  1.530s
    5 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1m28.856s  2.256s
    6 Sergio Perez Force India/Mercedes 1m28.902s  2.302s
    7 Esteban Ocon Force India/Mercedes 1m29.074s  2.474s
    8 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren/Honda 1m29.418s  2.818s
    9 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes Penalty  –
    10 Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 1m29.549s  –
    11 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1m30.193s  –
    12 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso/Renault 1m30.355s  –
    13 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso/Renault 1m31.368s  –
    14 Felipe Massa Williams/Mercedes 1m31.482s  –
    15 Lance Stroll Williams/Mercedes 1m42.573s  –
    16 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1m42.577s  –
    17 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber/Ferrari 1m42.593s  –
    18 Marcus Ericsson Sauber/Ferrari 1m42.633s  –
    19 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull/Renault 1m42.966s  –
    20 Fernando Alonso McLaren/Honda 1m30.600s  –
  • 2017 British Grand Prix: Friday Press Conference – Part 1

    2017 British Grand Prix: Friday Press Conference – Part 1

    PART ONE: TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Christian HORNER (Red Bull), Claire WILLIAMS (Williams), Vijay MALLYA (Force India)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Vijay, the target for this year was to match, or even improve, on last year’s Constructors’ standings. So far you’re pretty clearly in fourth. Tell us about that and the upgrade you have on the car this weekend.

    Vijay MALLYA: Well, there is a specific upgrade for Silverstone. We take this particular race very seriously because it’s our home race and there’s no question that development must continue through the season, given that this is a brand-new car, and we are in fourth with a fairly comfortable lead over Williams but nothing can be taken for granted and we wouldn’t like to be complacent. When I launched the car I said we must retain fourth or even aim higher. That still remains the objective – because I believe in setting the bar high – but whether we can actually catch Red Bull or not remains to be seen, particularly towards the tail-end of the season but we are pretty focussed on getting the job done.

    Q: What’s the strategy, could you share it with us, with regards to the name and the brand of your team going forward?

    VM: When I bought this team ten years ago – and we’re all very proud of the fact that, as an independent team we have survived amidst a great amount of speculation for ten years and are still going strong. It was Force India because it was the first time an Indian team showed up on a Formula One grid. It met the aspirations of millions of young Indians who never thought that would be possible but then we were running around in P23 and P24 and the then management seemed very happy about it. Since we have consistently now improved and are a serious contender on the grid, it’s time to broaden our horizons, attract more international sponsors and sadly there is no Indian Grand Prix any more. Indian sponsors seem to be passionate about putting all of their money into cricket and so we must appeal to a more international audience and so the idea of changing the name of the team was mooted. We’ve had several discussions, no decision has been taken but we have listed a few options and we’ll take it forward at the appropriate time.

    Q: Christian, Daniel was here in the press conference yesterday, talking about the upgrades situation, saying a decent step is expected for Budapest. From what you’re seeing from your relative development rates to the top two teams, are you likely to converge, do you think, in the second half of the season?

    Christian HORNER: I think certainly since the first European Grand Prix in Barcelona we’ve consistently managed to chip away and get closer to the front of the field. Daniel’s had a great run: five consecutive podiums including a victory in Azerbaijan, and I think our most competitive race of the season to date was actually last weekend in Austria, finishing within six seconds of the leader without any safety cars and obviously beating a Mercedes. So, incrementally, we’re getting the performance on the cars and hopefully that can continue over forthcoming grands prix.

    Q: You were with your peers in London at the live event this week. As the boss of a leading team and particularly one that has a strong marketing background, give us your opinion of that and what it all meant.

    CH: Well, of course, as Red Bull we’ve done an awful lot of those kind of events around the world with a team that we have dedicated to running show car activities but I think the London event was fantastic: it was taking Formula One to the public, it was free of charge, it was combining a music festival with running the Formula One cars, under the background of Big Ben, up to Trafalgar Square, around, y’know, from Whitehall. It was fantastic to see it so well supported and so many people coming out and the enthusiasm and passion and excitement. I think also to see the drivers having fun and enjoying it as well was a great advert. So hats off to FOM and the Liberty guys for putting the event on… As their first big statement of promoting Formula One.

    Q: The same question to you Claire, really. Your thoughts on what it did for Formula One in the UK – and is there open support from the teams for this kind of thing?

    Claire WILLIAMS: As Christian said, it was a fantastic event for all of us to be involved in. It’s great to see the new owners are thinking and having that kind of vision and involving all of the teams in doing something like that. And to come to London, it’s an iconic venue for us. To have all the teams there, the cars, the drivers, was just great to be able to take Formula One to a new audience and I’m sure a lot of those people probably haven’t been to a race before or watched us on TV, so hopefully it will extend our audience but the activities going on ahead of the actual running itself were fantastic as well – the education pieces that are so important as well. We had Dare to be Different, Formula One in Schools was there, we had a presence there, it was just really good to see all the children there as well.

    Q: Big weekend for Williams at the moment, for the team and for the family with the anniversary, with the film. Tell us what the feeling is about where the team – and the family – is at this major milestone.

    CW: It’s been quite a busy week! We launched the Williams film on Tuesday, which was very nice. It’s been a long time coming. It’s been about three years in the making. We had 300 people in London watching that on Tuesday night. We had a bit of rain which kind of dampened things a little bit but it was reviewed really positively, which is nice to see, and obviously it doesn’t tell the traditional story that that you might expect: a chronological tale of Williams and our track performance over our four decades in Formula One but rather the human story and the kind of story of my parents’ involvement in the team over those 40 years. So it’s a very personal account of Williams and one that we just hope Formula One fans, and fans maybe that aren’t fans of the sport, will enjoy seeing as well. Then, obviously, we’re celebrating 40 years here, so we seem to be celebrating 40 years a lot this year! The marketing team at Williams have been really busy but it’s been really good fun and it’s just great to be able to do all of that, and this weekend we’re showcasing a couple of our heritage cars: Nigel’s 1992 Red Five and the six-wheeler as well. Great to be able to show those to the fans here.

    Q: Just a quick one, Felipe Massa seems to be going along well, are you both thinking of going again next season?

    CW: Yeah, there’s a lot of talk already isn’t there, about drivers across the paddock. For us, we’ve decided we’re going to hold off a bit on our driver decision. We’ve got a fight on our hands on the race track at the moment and to be distracted by those kinds of conversations isn’t something that we want to be happening at the moment. As Vijay said earlier, they’ve got a nice points haul on us at the moment we need to focus on, rather than anything else.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Given that the mission of a Formula One team is effectively to market performance and Wednesday in London was actually a major marketing exercise, both for the teams and for the sport, would you ever consider making attendance at an event optional for your drivers?

    Christian?

    CH: Good old Dieter, he gets stuck in. Look, all the drivers were there, bar one. I thought it was a great turnout from the drivers. We didn’t insist our drivers had to be there, we asked them to attend and they were very happy to turn up and take part and I think they actually really enjoyed it as well. So, it was a shame there wasn’t a full complement but I don’t think it detracted from the show. The reaction from all the fans to pretty much all the drivers was fantastic.

    Vijay, your thoughts on that?

    VM: I thought it was an excellent event. I’m glad to see, at least in my ten years of time in Formula One, some very serious marketing that Liberty has commenced. Whether it’s social media, whether it’s the F1 event in London, I think Chase Carey summarised it when he said he wants every Formula One weekend to be like a Superbowl final. That can be only good for the sport. It will only promote the sport, get more revenue and hopefully we’ll get a share of it too.

    And on the subject of drivers turning up being optional Claire?

    CW: Yeah, I don’t want to get sit in judgement on anyone who didn’t turn up on that day when I don’t know the real facts behind it. I’d rather focus on the drivers that were there and the great job that they did. Ricciardo did a fantastic job – I think breaking a lot of the rules that all the drivers were told in the briefing!

    CH: They were controlled turns!

    CW: They were great turns. I thought they were fantastic turns! He did a great job, they all did a great job and to see our drivers… when Lance came in and was able to do the controlled turns, etc., the grin on their faces was great. I think they did a great job to promote Formula One, the drivers out there. To see them all in one place and to see them walk down Whitehall was a fantastic event. Talking about that, and the positives rather than anything else is what I would rather do.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / Speed Sport) Vijay, now that you’re spending all of your time in the UK, have you changed how much time you spend on the day-to-day running of the team?

    VM: In the past I used to be at the race track but, as I’ve always said, in any enterprise, there’s the front office and the back office. Both the front office and the back office are equally important. The team has enjoyed considerable success, particularly over the last two years. I’ve been more a part of the back office than the front office over the last year or so – but I’m delighted at the way things are going for us.

    Q: (Marc Surer – Sky Germany) Question for Christian. What is your opinion about the start of Bottas in Austria?

    CH: It was the perfect start. He had an unbelievable reaction and didn’t get caught – so in that case it was the perfect start. Daniel came on the radio and said that he thought Valtteri had jumped the start because he saw a little bit of movement. But I think a little bit of movement has been permitted because sometimes when the cars select a gear there’s a bit of movement, etcetera, etcetera. I think perhaps it’s something for the FIA to look at, the tolerances that are allowed because of course because sometimes a precedent gets set and then engineers try to grab that little bit of an advantage. Of course if you are moving slightly then it helps to pick up traction, you can see exploitation happening – so hopefully the relevant guys in the FIA will look to tighten it down so there’s very little tolerance.

    Q: (Pierre Durocher – Montréal Journal) Question for Claire. We made the trip to follow naturally Lance, I would like to get your comments on the progress Lance has made since the Canadian Grand Prix and, the second part of the question, it’s a weekend of celebration for Williams but at the same time I would like to know how you feel about the recent comments that Jacques Villeneuve made about Lance. He’s been quite hard on him. I wonder how you feel about it?

    CW: Hopefully I’ll have forgotten the second part of your question by the time I come to it. Lance has done a fantastic job in the last few races but he has actually all year. You may have only just seen the results on the race track but if you could see the hard work he’s put in behind the scenes over the course of the year, it’s been really impressive. We came out at the start of the year and said he, as a rookie, is going to take some time in order in order to familiarise himself with Formula One. This is a big step-up from the junior formulae. I think people can underestimate that step at times. So he’s taken the first few races to get used to Formula One, acclimatise himself, acclimatise himself with the engineering side of things, with the new circuits that he hasn’t been on before. And that’s taken some time but as you saw in Canada he broke that duck and scored his first points and then went to Azerbaijan and had a fantastic race and similarly in Austria after a really difficult weekend for the team, both our drivers managed to score points. So he’s delivered against everything we expected of him and I’m looking forward to seeing how he’ll move forward for the rest of the year. It’s great to now have two cars that are scoring points for us in the Constructors’ Championship. With regard to Jacques’ comments, he’s obviously been pretty vocal in the media. I don’t want to go into a huge amount of detail about it. I don’t think there’s any need. The way that Lance describes it, he just wants to get on and let his track performance do the talking. I think that’s what we should do – because that’s when the critics will stop: when Lance proves he deserves to be in Formula One, which we all at Williams believe anyway.

    Q: (Rob Harris – AP) Question to Vijay. Is removing India from the name of the team some sort of retaliation? Because obviously you have been charged with money laundering and they are fighting your extradition.

    VM: I’ve been charged with a whole variety of things – but let that be kept to one side and let the legal process take its own course. The potential removal of the word ‘India’ from the team name is nothing to do with the events surrounding me. As I’ve said before, we need to appeal to a more international audience. We need to cater to the needs of sponsors who have global businesses – and sponsoring Formula One isn’t exactly cheap. It was ten years ago that the team was named Force India in the hope that there would be an Indian Grand Prix, which took place but sadly stopped after that, in the hope that we would have a whole bunch of Indian sponsors – but they preferred to put their money into cricket. So I have to look elsewhere. And in doing so I also need to give a more international platform for the team for the next ten years. You can’t keep thinking of name changes every year or every other year. So, this is in a work-in-progress stage right now but certainly it’s something we are seriously thinking about.

    Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) To shift gears a little bit, this is for Vijay Mallya. As well as the success of the team you’ve also brought in a new sponsor and with that you’ve brought a unique colour to the grid but along with that it has allowed you to bring in a great organisation like breast cancer care. What is it like working with that group and what about your new sponsors this year?

    VM: Well, the car is pink because the sponsor, BWT, wanted a pink car. They sponsor other forms of motorsport and if you notice they also insist on pink cars. Now, at the end of the day I think that pink looks pretty attractive. As far as association with the breast cancer initiative is concerned, I have always supported charities. I have supported more than 20 different charities in my life. It came naturally to us, with a pink car, so we are very happy to be able to assist in this initiative.

    Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday) A question to all three of you: you’re sitting third, fourth and fifth in the race for the world championship and none of you are works teams. A question in two parts: one, what would you name as the single thing you most want to take you to that next step to fight Ferrari and Mercedes constantly, and second, with the new engine formula for 2020 are you looking further afield to bring in, possibly, new automotive suppliers to make you into works teams. Is it something you are discussing?

    CH: I think the first part of your answer is, we would love the engine to be a non-performance differentiator. Obviously there is still a pecking order and these engines are also extremely expensive, so as a customer it’s disproportionate the amount of money we are spending on these engines. I think what’s really interesting is that Formula One is effectively at a crossroads with the new regulations, because those regulations theoretically come in 2021 and there will be probably and eight to ten-year life on those engines, so what we are looking at is actually is Formula One’s relevance pretty much up to 2030. Now, by 2030 how many people are actually going to be driving cars? Are they going to be autonomous? Are they going to be electric? The world is changing so fast in that sector. So Formula One has some serious questions that it needs to answer today in the choice it makes for the engine for the future. What is Formula One’s primary purpose? Is it technology or is it a sport and entertainment, and man and machine at the absolute limit? I sense that with the new ownership that has come into Formula One that creating great entertainment, creating great content, the noise, the sound, the exhilaration of seeing the drivers as the star is of absolute primary concern to them. So I hope that with the opportunity there is with the regulation change that is being discussed at the moment that the fundamental aspects of cost, performance and attractiveness to the fans, therefore the noise, the acoustics of these engines, are a key factor in the set of regulations they come up with and I think that in turn will produce good racing, reduce costs and bring back some to the appeal that engines of a bygone era used to produce.

    CW: In answer to your first question, which was how would Williams improve on our position, lying currently in fifth. Probably the answer is twofold. We have to make sure that we have the resource in place back at Grove so that we could achieve that, whether that be personnel, equipment or budget. A lot of it is down to budget, as obviously the former doesn’t come without the latter. Budget for us comes through greater sponsor acquisition, a partnership with a manufacturer for example, or the redistribution of income in Formula One. So any of those would be great, they would considerably help us. As much as I always say it’s not about the money, it’s what you do with it, when you are competing with teams with three times the size of your budget it’s always going to be really difficult to make that jump into the top three in the championship. When it comes to engines, I think Christian answered it more eloquently than I probably could. We are looking at a road map for the next decade in Formula One where the engines are going to be and we must make sure that they probably aren’t as dominant as they have been, as much as we have benefited from our wonderful partnership with Mercedes, I think for engines not to play such a role in the performance differentiation would be a good thing and then, equally, as an independent team, for engines not to cost as much money would be really useful for us. But then the wider aspects of fan engagement, having engines that are lovely and noisy is something that we would like to see back in Formula One.

    VM: Well, we have always had a limited budget compared to the big teams in Formula One. We have a culture within our team to spend our money wisely and to get the maximum bang for buck and at the end of the day everybody is passionate about pushing that last pound as hard as you can. Having said that, if we get more sponsors we might spend a little bit more money, but I wouldn’t spent all of it, I would give some back to shareholders because I don’t believe that money can necessarily ensure that I’m going to be at the front of the grid. There may be people who spend a lot of money and who are able to therefore develop a car that is more easily at the front of the grid than we can, but if somebody turned up and gave me a hundred million more and asked me “well, can you beat Mercedes?” I don’t think I’m going to say “yes, I will”. It’s how you spend your money that is more important. The income distribution pattern: I think everybody knows my views, it’s completely lopsided and needs to be addressed. With a little bit more in our pocket we can make that incremental step and certainly fight in the top three consistently. As far as engines are concerned, as Claire has mentioned, we have also benefited from a fantastic power unit with Mercedes. I have been with Mercedes for nine years already and they are a fantastic partner but they are expensive. Going forward, as Christian said, looking ahead to let’s say 2030, we definitely need an independent engine our there at a reasonable cost, which is available to anybody.

    Q: (Luis Aguirre – Reforma Group) A question for Mr Mallya. I would like to ask you about the situation between Checo and Esteban in Baku and Montreal. How was it for you to see that fight and to watch your team having the big team’s troubles, no, I mean the fight between them and how is going to be the approach of the team to avoid those kind of things in the future?

    VM: You know, what happened in Montreal is not something that really concerns me. Esteban wanted to overtake Checo because he felt he could attack Ricciardo. Checo felt he was better placed to do the same job. Ultimately none of them succeeded in doing that but nevertheless the team scored points. What happened in Baku clearly was a great loss to the team, otherwise there was almost a podium for us. That’s unacceptable with our two cars hitting each other. I don’t think it’s road rage. I don’t think it was deliberate in any way. It was just the excitement of the moment and an error of judgement. Both drivers have been spoken to. We don’t believe in making team rules or giving team orders but at the end of the day I think both of them fully appreciate that is their responsibility to bring the cars home and score as many points for the team, because that’s precisely what Claire is going to be doing with her drivers and we need to stay ahead.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Taking everything that has been said earlier on about the Mercedes advantage, the engine differentiation, going to the next step etc there is a team/engine partnership that appears to have got its calculations wrong and they are looking at possibly taking a Mercedes engine next year. Given that this would require certain regulatory concessions, or so it appears, how do you feel about the fact that Mercedes could actually be supplying a team with substantially better resources than both the Mercedes engines and Christian how do you feel about a team that could suddenly possibly beat you?

    CH: First of all, it’s got to happen first. We’ve been there before, from our side of the fence, and it didn’t happen. Speaking to Zak the other day he said he thought he was watching the same movie that we lived through a couple of years ago, so it didn’t sound particularly hopeful that there was going to be a Mercedes in the back of a McLaren next year. But whatever issues there are it’s McLaren’s business and if they had that engine… they have had it before… if they had that engine they would be more competitive than they are today.

    CW: I’m not privy to the conversations that may or may not be going on between McLaren and Mercedes. Clearly, it would not be ideal for us but I don’t think Williams have a place to interfere with that. Those are conversations that need to going on without us.

    VM: We all want McLaren to be competitive. It’s a team with great history, a great presence in Formula One and I’m personally sorry to see them struggling the way they are. So it would be good for the sport in general if McLaren returned to being as competitive as they have been always. But having said that, if they want a Mercedes engine it’s really between Mercedes and them. As far as regulatory aspects are concerned well those have to be ironed out, because I don’t believe that the FIA are going to silent spectators to a situation where McLaren has no engine. But that’s a second step. Clearly, Mercedes has to agree to supply McLaren, if McLaren indeed disengages with Honda. But, if I remember correctly, at the last press conference that happened, I believe in Austria, both McLaren and Honda confirmed that they were still together.

  • 2017 British GP: Thursday Press Conference – Part 1

    2017 British GP: Thursday Press Conference – Part 1

    PART ONE: DRIVERS – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes), Romain GROSJEAN (Haas), Lance STROLL (Williams), Jolyon PALMER (Renault)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Valtteri, we’ll begin with you. Second win and, more importantly, in the last four races Hamilton 53 points, Vettel 67, Ricciardo 70, Bottas 73. You must feel you’ve got some real momentum now in your campaign to be World Champion.

    Valtteri BOTTAS: Definitely got some good momentum now. We’ve been having strong races – as a team – and the car seems to be getting better and better and I feel the same, the same for me really. It’s still my first year with the team and always getting to know the team better. It always helps with everything and, of course, every single lap you get more comfortable with the new cars etcetera. So just try to continue the good run with a good weekend here.

    Q: Jolyon, F1 Live London yesterday, you were there in your Renault retro getup celebrating the 40th anniversary of the company’s F1 debut. What did you think of the event and what it says about Formula One and its place in this country?

    Jolyon PALMER: It was awesome. So many people there, in my home city as well so it was really cool. I think it was the first time anything like that has been done. It was great to see almost all the drivers there. So many people, different cars through the eras as well, it was great fun for me to drive up there. So, it was great. I’m sure it was such a success that, from my point of view, there’ll be a lot more of it in the future.

    And the retro look?

    JP: I liked it. It was 1977 car and wearing the retro overalls. It was nice to try something different as well, try different cars.

    Q: Lance, three straight points finishes including, of course, the podium in Baku. How much did the afterglow from that podium help you to feel really settled here in Formula One?

    Lance STROLL: It was a great result, yeah the last few races have been good. Just getting more experience in the car, feeling more comfortable every time I get in the car. I think it’s really just been a good three races. The podium was the highlight of the season, that’s for sure. Crazy race, we just stayed in it all the way until to the end and took home a great podium. It’s given me a lot of confidence for sure, knowing that I can be there and fight. It was a great day – but got to keep going.

    Q: Romain, another great result in Austria, built on strong qualifying and a fantastic start. So the car – and you – are capable of the results but what will it take to find consistency.

    Romain GROSJEAN: Afternoon. I don’t really know. I think a lot of people don’t know, when things happen in a bit of a strange way – like Williams in qualifying in Austria, where they were in Q1 when they are normally always in Q3. We went well. We got everything to work. Tyres, we know we’ve got a good platform. I guess experience is the key and we’re only 28 grands prix in our life for Haas F1 Team. There are things we need to improve and understand but when everything is working well we’ve got a very strong package.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (David Croft – Sky Sports F1) A question for Lance, Romain and Jolyon after Valtteri’s brilliant start in Austria seven days ago – how many of you think he anticipated the lights and got away with it and how many think it was an absolutely brilliant reaction from him and could you do any better?

    Romain?

    RG: He didn’t jump the start. Did he anticipate the start? For sure. 100 per cent.

    Jolyon?

    JP: It sure looks like a jump but I’m sure he anticipated it perfectly.

    And Lance?

    LS: For sure it was on the limit – but he got away with it. So, it’s all good.

    Valtteri, your right to respond.

    VB: Waiting for the lights to go out. I don’t know. With starts, doing starts and starts you just kind of know always, more or less, when they’re going to go off and, you know, sometimes you can try and be a bit more risky and this was definitely a risky one but it paid off because it’s an absolutely perfect start. Nothing more to say.

    Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Valtteri, how did it feel to be the only Mercedes driver yesterday at the London event. Were you disappointed that Lewis wasn’t there with you?

    VB: I think everyone has the right to decide which kind of events you attend to and, you know, I’m not really the one to answer that – I don’t really know his schedule. So, for me, it’s absolutely fine. And although I was the only team member there it was still all good. I did enjoy the event myself, it was a great event in general, especially for the fans to get so close to F1 and see, in a different way, Formula One. And also a great experience for me, y’know? Never drove a Formula One car before in Central London so that was really cool. So yeah, even though I was alone it was really good for me.

    Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) Valtteri, I’m amazed to hear you say there’s a risk element to the start. Are you saying that there’s a little bit of a gamble, that you might actually jump it, you do try to anticipate it? Or do you actually… are you talking about a risk of how quickly you can react to the lights going out? What do you actually mean by that?

    VB: Well, having a start like that definitely you need to gamble a little bit. If you’re moving exactly at the same point the lights go off you definitely need to be a bit on the risky side rather than safe side. Everyone is obviously free to try and kind of guess when the lights go off.

    Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday) Question for Romain. You’re into your second year with Haas, last year we talked about the possibility of you perhaps trying a NASCAR. Now that you’re cemented in the team and you’ve got a month’s break coming up and there’s Watkins Glen road course coming, any chances of you going on holiday in the States…

    RG: No. The schedule’s getting tight. I wish we’d had a NASCAR yesterday in London. We didn’t have a car so it would have been fun to drive a NASCAR around London – but to be fair, if we do it, we need to do it properly and I need to get a test before, get used to the brake, for example, and see how it goes.

    Q: (Rob Harris – AP) Question to Valtteri. You said on the London event that everyone has their own right to decide whether to attend or not. First of all, why did you decide to attend when obviously Lewis Hamilton didn’t. And do you think that drivers have an obligation to go to these events, particularly at a time when the sport says it’s trying to reach out to new fans, and one of the biggest names in the sport in this country thought he’d go on holiday instead?

    VB: Well, basically, when I first heard about this event and that it was most-likely going to happen, they asked all the drivers to attend and I immediately said yeah, I could attend – and also my team was asking me to attend, so I knew it was just before Silverstone, in the same country, so for me it was all OK.

    Q: (Rachel Brookes – Sky Sports F1) To all four of you really. I know you get a lot of call on your time anyway as it is – but an event like that, the day before Silverstone, has that given you guys a lift? Are you glad you went to it? The looks on your faces look like you really enjoyed it – so has it given you a boost coming into the weekend?

    Lance?

    LS: I think it was a great event for everyone. For the fans, for us drivers something different. I don’t think it gives us a boost but I think it was a good day and I’m fully on board with more of those days to hopefully come in the future.

    JP: I think it’s nice. It’s my home crowd as well so it’s probably especially nice for me. It’s a bit like Goodwood really. You see fans up close to the cars, they’re all very happy and it kind of makes you happy as well. It was fun.

    VB: Like I said before I thought it was great. Great event and I was happy. Happy that I could make it. It was good fun.

    Romain?

    RG: Same thing. I was very happy that I was there. We didn’t have a car but I enjoyed the show, seeing others cars, seeing the McLaren, the Renault, the old V12, the old V6 and then some of the Red Bulls, and donuts in London! Then I was pretty amazed when we went on stage, to see so many people. It was just a great show. Good to see that most of us went.

    Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) Question to anyone who wants to answer really. Back-to-back races, it’s quite important, I thought, to get momentum. Any of you taken a holiday in between back-to-back races – and do you think it’s a good idea.

    Jolyon?

    JP: No and no.

    RG: My kids are on holiday – so it’s no holiday for me at all.

    Lance, obviously it’s a fairly new experience for you. How does it feel to have consecutive weekends?

    LS: Yeah, sure, it’s a busy week. The London Live on Wednesday – but I took a few days to myself, Monday, Tuesday.

    Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) To all of you, to the previous question about Wednesday. What other places would you like to see the F1 Live events held?

    Lance? I guess you’re going to say Montreal…

    LS: Yeah, that would be great. I think the big cities. Wherever we go where there’s a good crowd and people can turn up. I think it’s good for everyone.

    Paris?

    RG: Paris would be good – especially with the French Grand Prix coming back next year – but I guess New York, L.A. Could be some pretty amazing cities to have an event.

    Valtteri? Helsinki?

    VB: Nastola, Finland! My home town. If I could choose.

    JP: Drive down to Clapham! Just shift it down.

    Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) To the other three drivers, whether or not you think in terms of taking a gamble, trying to anticipate the start, or whether you rely on your reflexes for the lights to go out – bearing in mind the penalty of jumping a start?

    Romain, you took off like a rocket on Sunday. What’s your answer?

    RG: No, I normally don’t gamble. I think about it but I just normally react to the lights.

    JP: I think if you gamble nine times out of ten you will get it wrong, to be honest. I think everyone’s normally waiting for the lights to go out.

    LS: I’m no different. I just go when the lights go off.

    Out of interest, do you practice this? Do you have lights that go out? A digital thing that you can practice it on?

    JP: My engineer’s been practising on a little clicky computer now, I think ever since Valtteri last weekend.

    And what’s the fastest you can do it?

    JP: 0.03, wasn’t it?

    LS: I’m not sure, I don’t really look at my numbers.

    And you Romain?

    RG: I’m normally within two and three tenths but I wouldn’t play much.

    Q: (Rifa Uddin – Renaissance Foundation) My question is to all of you. What advice would you give to a younger generation that are interested in Formula One?

    Lance?

    LS: Make sure that you think about it because it’s an interesting world. It’s a very unique business. I think y’know, obviously, you need to work hard at whatever you’re doing in Formula One. You need to follow your dreams and always believe you can get there. At the end of the day that’s what’s important.

    Jolyon?

    JP: To be a Formula One driver’s extremely tough. If someone’s very interested the only way is to have a go. But also, I think it’s worth bearing in mind most people in Formula One are not drivers. They are also mechanics, and engineers, and catering and marketing. If you’re interested in Formula One, then there’s a lot of avenues to go for.

    Valtteri?

    VB: I always think that definitely having goals in your career, whether it is to be a driver or in general, or a mechanic in Formula One, always to have a goal. It really makes you work harder every day for it. Anything’s always possible in life so always good to set a goal.

    Romain?

    RG: It’s a good summary by the guys. Don’t give up on the dream. I lost Formula One once and I dreamt of coming back and I managed to come back, so that’s the key.

    Q: (Stephen Camp – Paddock Magazine) You all looked to enjoy yourselves yesterday at the show but has Liberty Media come to all four of you and the rest of the paddock about any other events that you would like to put on or any ideas that you have for the sport in general.

    Valtteri?

    VB: Not yet, haven’t heard anything more.

    Q: (Iolande Skinner – Motorsport Monday) Question for Romain, after such a great result in Austria, how’s this affected your confidence in yourself and also in the car?

    RG: I think, y’know, confidence, the key’s not to lose it at any time. We’ve all had good races, bad races but I believe in your career you need to believe in yourself. If not, there’s almost no point turning in. The car… well the car, it’s a girl and she’s a bit up and down, y’know? Decides which mood she wants to come in. Hopefully she’s still in a good mood and we’ll have a good weekend here.

    Q: (Tony Dodgins – Channel 4) What with the London Live event and talk about a possible, potential street race in the future in London, obviously Silverstone has talked about exercising a break clause after 2019. How sad would you all be to see Silverstone not part of the F1 schedule? How important is it to you guys?

    Jolyon?

    JP: Well, for me it’s very important. This is where I probably grew my passion for Formula One, so it’s been my local track, my home track for my home life. I first came here in the ’90s and got a real passion for it and now the history and tradition here are pretty big. A London race would also be very cool – but I think Silverstone is also quite important for Formula One.

    Q: Valtteri?

    VB: I agree really. I would be also really sad not to race here. It is a track everyone loves and I personally think it’s one of the best venues for the fans. The atmosphere here is really special. Formula One definitely needs the British Grand Prix, because of all the history and most of the teams are based here. But if not here then hopefully for example central London but, yeah…

    Q: Lance?

    LS: I think it would be a shame not to be racing at Silverstone anymore. I think there is so much history here. It’s great for the fans, it’s one of the best races, although I’ve never participated in it before, but the crowd really gets into it and it’s probably one of the best races of the year so it would definitely be a shame to lose it.

    Q: And Romain?

    RG: Yeah, pretty similar. It’s a great place to race. Most of the teams are around the track as well, so it’s very important as every team around looks forward to racing here. Driving wise it’s one of the most enjoyable track on the calendar, so hopefully we get more years here.

    Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) Valtteri, I’m interested to know when you win a race do you get any feedback from Nico Rosberg – email, text, anything at all – winning in his car, as you are?

    VB: No. I saw him last time I think Monaco Grand Prix. We had a bit of a chat and he told me that he thinks I’m doing a good job and obviously that was nice to hear from him. Otherwise, no messages or anything. I’m getting quite a lot of feedback from the team about everything, so it’s all good.

    Q: (Alex Cheale – Renaissance Foundation) I just wanted to know who are your inspirations for driving?

    RG: Good question. I started watching rallies to be fair. So it was Carlos Sainz and Didier Auriol and then in racing, Formula One, I started watching in ’93, ’94, same time as rallies, Prost and Senna and that was a great fight.

    VB: For me, definitely when I was a kid it was Häkkinen, when he won his first race, his first title, second title I was watching him closely so he was massive motivation for me.

    JP: No one particularly for me but I think when I was young Damon Hill was the British champion and fighting so him.

    LS: For me when I was growing up it was Schumacher. He was the guy I looked up to.

    Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday) A question for Jolyon. You’ve had a string of 11th places and a lot of bad luck this year and you’re still chasing the magical point on the board. How much pressure do you feel at the moment to put points on the board? Do you feel that your drive under threat? Has the team been vocal about it? Have they put you under any kind of targets to meet?

    JP: No. I’m trying my best all the time. The pressure? I put a lot on myself. Of course I wanted to score points by now but it’s not been possible. But I have also had a lot of bad luck. I think most of the reliability problems have been on my side of the garage. We missed some races where I think there were some good chances to score, like Baku, where I had a lot of problems. And then of course all these 11th places. It’s frustrating. Every time I have been 11th there has been a car, last time it was Lance, that is right in front of me but it’s not possible to overtake, actually it was Romain before as well. It’s frustrating like that, but it’s pretty close and we’re not even half way through the year. Things are starting to click a bit better now, so hopefully I can carry the momentum into this weekend and then the rest of the year, I’m sure it will get much stronger.

    Q: (Giles Richards – The Guardian) You were talking about the younger generation earlier. In terms of encouraging a new generation to get into Formula One, do you think attending events such as the demo is absolutely key to bringing a new generation of fans to the sport?

    RG: It definitely helps. It’s not easy to afford to come to a grand prix, when you’re a dad with two kids for example. So yeah, events like this, where you get to see the cars… I fell in love with motorsport when I was going to see my dad racing in Formula 3. When I saw those cars going around I said: “I want to do that when I’m big”. That’s a key element. I think there are more, clearly getting the passion when you are a kid, you dream about things and it’s just make the kids dream that they can do it and they get the feel of what is Formula One and they will join as big fans.

    VB: I think definitely events like this will motivate a lot of young kids. I think it is important for many kids to have opportunities to see F1 live at least once in their childhood. I don’t think it is the only way to get people excited. Personally for me it was enough that I was just doing go-karts. I was watching all the races on TV and I was playing Formula One games. Actually the first time I saw a Formula One car live was 2010 I think. But I was obviously quite keen much, much before that.

    JP: I don’t think it is the only way but I think it is a big contributor. It’s great for people to be up close and see the cars in action. I think for a lot of people in London they hadn’t had that experience before especially to be three metres from the track and then of course to see the stars as well. It’s all about the cars going quick and making some noise and then the stars driving them as well. When I was young, seeing the cars in action – OK it was at Silverstone and not in London – but I was like “wow, this is pretty cool”, so for most people it’s a great incentive.

    LS: Yeah, I think every opportunity to get close to some Formula One cars is great – races, hopefully more F1 Lives to come, it’s always great to see some cars.

    Q: How old were you when you first saw a Formula One car?

    LS: I was young. I was probably four or five when I went to the Montreal grand prix for the first time.

    Q: (Steven Camp – Paddock Magazine) With Silverstone being one of the fastest tracks on the calendar and the upped pace in performance from the 2017 cars, do any of you think you can take Copse flat out?

    VB: Well, it’s always from simulations and driving the simulator and stuff it’s difficult to say for sure, but it could well be, at least with the low fuel. We will see on Saturday at the latest. But it is going to be a lot of fun with these new cars. It’s been anyway in the past years a great circuit, being in the car, driving a Formula One car around here. But I’m really looking forward to this one, it’s going to be really cool.

    Q: If it was, what speed and what gear would it be?

    VB: It could be eighth or seventh gear. I don’t know about the speed.

    RG: That could be the limitation, because if we go in in eighth, the exit might be a bit tricky.

  • F1 2017: Austrian Gp Review: Bottas Holds Off Vettel

    F1 2017: Austrian Gp Review: Bottas Holds Off Vettel

    The Austrian grand prix was a weekend that should have suited the Mercedes W08 to a tee. It did, but in the shape of Valtteri Bottas it wasn’t quite the Mercedes driver that most would’ve expected to see on the top step of the podium.

    The Finnish driver delivered a dominant performance not only throughout the 71-lap race but also over the entire grand prix weekend. So perfect was his pull-away from pole that it was nearly considered inhuman and inspected by FIA stewards for a possible jump-start. As it turns out Bottas’ reaction time of 0.201 was nothing more than flawless precision.

    The Mercedes driver streaked ahead in the first few laps and built a comfortable lead in the first stint of the race. The Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel, starting second, didn’t look especially comfortable in the first stint of the race on the ultrasoft compound and he struggled to consistently match Bottas’ pace. It was only in the second stint of the race, with the supersoft tyre, that the Ferrari came alive and that Vettel was able to exert a significant amount of pressure on the race leader. However, Bottas was well in control and armed with the notoriously calm Finnish demeanour that allowed him to maintain his composure and the lead of the race.

    007While Max Verstappen suffered a fifth retirement in six races after being collected in a first corner incident Daniel Ricciardo shone for Red Bull on home turf with a hard-fought third place. The Aussie valiantly held off the quicker Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton in the closing stages of the race to score his fifth consecutive podium finish of 2017. For Hamilton, in fourth, the day was about damage limitation, as he started eighth after incurring a 5-place grid penalty for changing a gearbox.

    Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen ran fourth in the first stint of the race and dove into the pitlane on lap 42. His longer first stint meant he fell behind Hamilton and while he was consistently catching the Brit in the second half of the race the impetus seemed to evaporate from his charge. Romain Grosjean ran an anonymous but impressive race to sixth ahead of the two Force India’s of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon in seventh and eighth. Felipe Massa and Lance Stroll, in ninth and tenth, recovered a difficult qualifying for Williams to round out the top ten.

    M72982Bottas may only have won the Austrian grand prix by 0.658 of a second but he showed incredible composure in the closing stages and an impressive dominance in the first half of the race. At Williams Bottas’ potential was somewhat masked but what the team’s requirement of him was. Naturally, he had the freedom to drive as rapidly as he possibly could but it was always slightly tempered with the knowledge that he needed to bring the car home in a decent points paying position.

    At Mercedes Bottas has a bit more freedom in the fact that a decent haul of points is already assured, barring unreliability. This is what’s allowed him to stretch his legs and drive with a sort of freedom that has allowed him to finally begin to fulfill the potential he showed before entering Formula 1.

    2017 Formula 1 Drivers Championship

    Sebastian Vettel’s now 20-point lead in the driver’s standings is a handy one as the paddock heads to Silverstone for the British grand prix. Lewis Hamilton at his home race has always been something special and with Vettel pulling away slightly in the standings he needs to deliver in Silverstone.

     

  • 2017 Austrian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference – Part 2

    2017 Austrian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference – Part 2

    PART TWO: Carlos SAINZ (Toro Rosso), Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing), Felipe MASSA (Williams)

    Q: Felipe, if we start with you. Looking back two weeks to Baku. How much have you agonized about might have been in that race?

    Felipe MASSA: Yeah, me and Max actually. What can you do? I think you need to think in a positive way. It was a great race, I was driving well and unfortunately these things can happen in our races. I had a mechanical issue in the car, in the middle of an amazing opportunity, when the victory was totally in the fight. These things can happen and unfortunately we lost the opportunity to win the race or maybe even having a podium with both cars of the team. It would have been amazing, definitely. But we need to think positive, think forward for this weekend and for the next races. I’m happy with the way I’m driving the car. I really enjoy, I understand the car in the right way, you know. That’s what counts and I really hope things come back and we can achieve what we should achieve in the next races.

    Q: About the Vettel and Hamilton incident. We’ve just heard from them about what happened in Baku. As someone who had been around for a few years and seen it all, I would love to get your thoughts on how hard it is to keep a cool head in the heat of the moment?

    FM: I mean just give my opinion, so definitely I really think he maybe passed a little bit over the limit, what’s happened in the last race. I was behind, but I couldn’t really see well from the car. So I think Seb just passed a little bit over the limit and he lost the opportunity to maybe complain that Lewis maybe slowed down a little bit too much. Maybe Lewis could have been penalised if everything goes in the normal way in the race. We cannot decide for what the stewards will decide so you need to keep your head cool, calm. I think if you just put the car on the side and push into another car is something… you will just lose by doing. I think he didn’t lose a lot. He was a bit lucky for what has happened – he scored even more points than Lewis in the race. For the driver he is. He is amazing driver. He won so many championships, have had an amazing experience already in Formula One, he’s a nice guy outside of the car. You just lose by doing that. So I’m sure maybe he’s learned a little bit for what’s happened this week and everything. Everybody wants to see fighting completely, fire around the championship but maybe not really in this way.

    Q: Max, as Felipe has just said, a frustrating race for you as well, but in general your lack of reliability has been an issue for you this year. How do you clear your head when you have such a disappointing end to a race such as in Baku?

    Max VERSTAPPEN: That’s actually pretty simple. You call some friends and you have some fun. And then you re-start again the next race and you try to have a good race. It’s really disappointing but what can I do about it. I just have to try to do my best every single weekend and try to finish the race.

    Q: Looking on the bright side, are you pleased with the pace of the car at the minute. Do you feel you’re closing the gap to Mercedes and Ferrari?

    MV: We still need to be faster but we are catching up, which is positive. But yeah, we definitely need to make another step because still in Baku it was a second. Maybe it shouldn’t have been a second with all the issues I also had in qualifying but the second sector, where all the corners are, we were second fastest, so I can be a bit positive about that but we are not there yet, so we still need to definitely work hard.

    Q: Home race for the team here in Austria. How do you think things will go?

    MV: Honestly I have no clue. After my last few races… I don’t know. We’ll find out on Sunday. I prepared myself on Wednesday on the simulator to have the best possible balance to start the weekend and then we work from and hopefully we score some points.

    Q: Carlos, another crazy race for you in Baku as well, but you have now had six points finishes in eight races. Is that proof that you are getting the most from the car and yourself?

    Carlos SAINZ: Yeah I think I have got to a point where I’m very confident with the team and with the car and I think the season is going very positively until now. Every time we finished we have actually been in the points. We have 11 points than last season and all these facts are obviously very positive. Now it’s time to keep working, no? Williams overtook us in the championship last race so we really need to push hard to bring a bit more performance, to score points with both cars and get back into P5 in the championship.

    Q: The driver silly season is beginning to wake up now and you have been linked to several other teams for 2018. Given that this is your third season with Toro Rosso, when is crunch time for you on deciding whether to stay with the team or move elsewhere?

    CS: Yeah I think it’s still a very long season ahead. Obviously these rumours are always going to come at this stage. As you all know my target number one is to be with Red Bull next year and start fighting for podiums or wins or whatever they are fighting for next year and I’m going to keep pushing for this. If that doesn’t happen obviously a fourth year at Toro Rosso is unlikely so I’m not going to close the door to any opportunity.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Mark Webber has recently suggested that drivers shouldn’t be penalised for technical issues with grid penalties etc. How do you feel about that – can one separate a driver from a team and vice versa?

    MV: I don’t know, maybe we should get fines in place but then maybe the team would be bankrupt. I don’t know. In one way that’s how you can win a championship, on reliability, and that’s good for manufacturers, to show who has the best reliability. I don’t know.

    FM: I think you need to… otherwise the team would be changing engine all the time, so it’s not really right. If you have the rule that you can use four engines during the year, so the teams need to fight for that or otherwise you pay a little bit by using more. Definitely in some cases it’s a little bit too much. What’s happened to McLaren is a little bit too much because they are really struggling a lot, more than what they are supposed to be, but anyway those are the rules.

    CS: I think Mark has a point there, definitely. Something to look into, it’s just very difficult to find the right compromise, as Max said, between giving the advantage to the teams that have good reliability versus those who don’t. But Mark has a point. I just don’t know how people are going to come up with a solution for it, come up a good compromise but he definitely has a point.

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – AP) Max, there’s been suggestions since Baku that Sebastian Vettel has a problem with this temperament – controlling his temper. You had some incidents with him last season, would you say that he does have a problem controlling his temper

    MV: I don’t think so. I don’t know. I think Sebastian thought he (Hamilton) brake tested him. That’s a different thing. Otherwise he would never have done it, I guess. I don’t think he has a real problem, because when you talk to him it’s always good. You can feel somebody has issues with that… We are emotional as well. Yes, sometimes you can hear it on the radio, sometimes you can actually see it but I think that’s how a human being is, otherwise it would be boring, wouldn’t it? Otherwise you would have nothing to write about!

    Q: (Peter Vamosi – Vas Népe) To all drivers: Robert Kubica is talking now about the opportunity that maybe he can make a comeback to Formula One, 80-90 per cent, he thinks. What do you think about his opportunities to make a comeback to Formula One and what do you think of his performance, what he did in Valencia in the private Renault test?

    FM: Well, he’s a great driver. He shows the talent he has, he shows that he’s maybe supposed to be in a big team now, fight for victories or even championships, you know? For sure it’s very difficult to answer because we don’t know exactly how he is and how is his arm, how strong it is, he needs to accept the full season. I have seen Robert maybe two times in the last months, since he had his accident, so for me it’s very difficult to say. It would be fantastic for Formula One to have him back but I really hope he’s really in the position to be back on the right way and strong enough to accept the whole season.

    MV: Absolutely. He was a great driver and I think he still is, even though the injury he’s had. And I think he’s also a very nice personality as well so like Felipe said, he could have had a great career if he didn’t have the injury. It would always be good to have him back, absolutely.

    CS: I have nothing to add really to what they both said. I think he’s a great talent and it was a big shame what happened to him and if he manages to come back in good form it could only be good news for Formula One.

    Q: (Petr Hlawiczka – F1News . cz ) Max, do you think Red Bull is now on the Ferrari or Mercedes level in terms of chassis, after sorting out some correlation issues and the latest upgrades?

    MV: I think it’s always difficult to say. I think Mercedes is still ahead, that’s one thing. With Ferrari, it’s a bit complicated to judge that because in Baku I think we were definitely ahead but we have to wait and see again here. I think we need a few races to see where we are. The teams are not standing still so it’s a development process and I think we definitely did a good job on that but we still need to improve, we still need to work harder than the others to definitely catch up to Mercedes.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS) Max, a bit about the last question; is realistically P5 or P6 where the team is on Saturday, Sunday, or are you getting a little higher already, more chances?

    MV: On Sunday. No, even on Saturday I think we should be around that position. Like I said, we are getting closer but we are not in the fight yet to really beat them. I think in Baku we… well, I was stuck behind Perez but I think we were faster than the Ferraris but the Mercedes are still at another level.

    Q: (Raphaelle Peltier – AFP) For all three: we’ve heard from Esteban Ocon and Lance Stroll that even though they might not have raced the tracks, they know them already because they played on video games. Do you think it makes a difference to how fast the younger drivers become efficient on the tracks?

    CS: I don’t know video games. I don’t really believe so much in video games. I believe in a proper simulator like we have in Red Bull, this definitely helps. A video game? Not so sure but a good simulator like Red Bull has… for me in my first year in Formula One in 2015 it definitely helped to get to know the tracks. I arrived on Friday for FP1 with a bit more information.

    MV: It’s good fun and it’s actually getting a lot better the last few years, but once you have a simulator like Red Bull has it cannot (be beaten by) a video game, which is quite logical, I guess. But I think for all the people out there to at least have a little bit of a glimpse of it, I think a video game is actually (a good thing) to buy because the tracks, they are mainly laser scanned, so I think that’s good. But for us, the most important thing is still with the team and like Carlos said, especially in 2015 it was good for us because some tracks were new to us and it helps us a bit to start in FP1 but now, after three years, it’s just mainly to set up the car because you know the track.

    Q: Felipe, did you rely on video games back in the day when you started out?

    FM: No, for sure…

    MV: Were they there?

    FM: I’m not so old as you think! I saw so many things: I saw drivers learning on the Playstation… on even simulators and getting there, not really understanding the track in the right way. I saw drivers not doing anything, getting there, learning the track really quickly. To be honest, I never drove the Red Bull simulator but all the simulators I drove, if you don’t know the track, it helps a little bit, just to know more or less where to go. To be like reality, it would take for sure a lot more time to be exactly like we feel in reality.

    Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) To follow up on that question, Max, I know you recently shot a promo for F1 2017 by Codemasters and it’s coming out this fall. What are your impressions of this year’s game, given the hard work that they put into it to really try to bring that experience to gamers out there?

    MV: Well, I’m not sure if I’m supposed to talk about it, because otherwise… It looks good, it’s an improvement again from last year’s game and I think it’s cool that they’re bringing some classic cars into it as well. Any other things, I don’t think I can speak about. But it will be good.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte) Max, you’ve had reliability problems in Canada and in Baku, while it’s also true your teammate had three podium finishes and won the last one. Is it possible to establish any relationship between your style and the problems you have, or in Formula One today is that not possible any more?

    MV: No, I don’t think so. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, so no. It’s always pretty clear what’s happening, there’s always an explanation what the issue is, why I stop on track, so I don’t think so.

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) Carlos, you mentioned next season, if you don’t get a seat at Red Bull, where do you situate your ambitions and how confident are you that you can race at the very highest level?

    CS: I think it’s a bit too early now to talk about it. I think we have a very long season ahead…

    FM: Mercedes, huh? Mercedes.

    CS: In a Renault! But seriously speaking, you never know what can happen in such a long season. We are still on race eight or nine, I don’t know, but I’m definitely ready to take a step forward in my career. I’m looking forward to it, I’m ready so as I said before, not closing any doors and we will see what happens.

    Q: (Arjan Schouten – A.D.) Max, can you take us one more time back to Baku. Right after you went out of the race, you went straight to the hotel room. Was it the best decision not to talk with the media then and what happened in that hotel room, is everything still in place?

    MV: Yeah. I was alone!

    CS: You called your friend.

    MV: I was on my phone but that’s it. No. I was very disappointed. It took me ten minutes to find the F1 channel to follow the race. I was very disappointed and I know myself and when I’m very disappointed I know it’s better not to speak so that’s why I decided not to talk to the media because then I will say things which I think later on I will regret and then a lot of stories will get in the media which is not necessary so that’s why I went back.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS) Sorry Max, one more question: what will you do, then, on Sunday – we don’t hope that there’s a problem – but if there’s a problem at the end, will you go to the camera crews or go to the hotel?

    MV: First I will do the Dap and then… I have to change my ones… I mean I’m jumping around and I’m slowly getting out. I don’t know. It depends on the situation but normally I will try to speak. 

    Q: (Carlos Miguel – Auto Motor Sport) Carlos, how many teams have knocked on your door or the Red Bull door for 2018?

    MV: Well, there are the two Red Bull teams, so that leaves eight.

    CS: How many teams are there in Formula One?

    MV: Eight other teams.

    CS: Something like that, yeah. No, seriously, again, with Max’s joke, let’s put it like this: it’s still very early. I don’t really know what is going to happen next year. There is obviously rumours going around the paddock now, I heard, which obviously… silly season, as you all know and it’s good fun but for me the good fun is actually on track, not to… to keep performing as I’m performing up until now, which has been a really good season. I will see. I leave that to other people in my team to judge and to see; for me I have a job that is to drive a car and do it as fast as possible.

    Q: (Peter Vamosi – Vas Népe) Max, how can you read now Harrison Newey’s performance in European Formula Three championship. Adrian is forcing you to (give) a little bit help or you are doing only your own job?

    MV: About his son? Ah. We do speak a bit about it a few times but times change, so what maybe worked back in the day now they find better solutions. If he has questions, I’m always there because he’s racing for the same team as I did so I think I know the guys quite well, but it’s not really to advise or anything, just to share my expressions of back in the day, you know, what I was doing with the team.

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) Felipe, how impressed were you with Lance Stroll’s  performance in Baku and do you think that he’s answered a few – perhaps – unfair critics?

    FM: I know the media, I know that he was struggling a little bit at the beginning of the season and especially you guys were also talking a lot about him. I think he did a really good job in the last race, the whole weekend, so he was competitive a lot. He didn’t make a single mistake and even in Canada he was struggling until the qualifying but then suddenly on Sunday he did a much better race and then in Baku he just kept improving and understanding. For sure, he’s young, he has a lot to learn but he proved that he’s growing, he proved that he shows much better performance than you guys were expecting. I’m also happy that maybe now he can start thinking about scoring points with both cars every race which is quite important for the team, and he’s a lot more confident. As I said before, I met him when he was seven or eight years old so I really have no problem to pass everything I can on to help him and really to see him improving, growing and I do it with pleasure, and it’s nice to see that from now on he can be in a much more strong way and competitive which will definitely be better for the team.

    Q: (Arjan Schouten – A.D.) Max, some weather predictions say that there might be some rain on Sunday, any opinion about that? What do you hope?

    MV: It’s nice. Yeah, it would maybe help but the first priority is to finish the race.

    Q: (Marika Laselva – News F1) Max and Carlos: you were teammates in your first year at Toro Rosso and the goal for Carlos is to get to Red Bull. So what would it feel for you both to be teammates again, because you pushed each other a lot when you were teammates? It was because it was your first year and you were younger, or do you think that maybe you were able to push each other as drivers?

    CS: It was good fun, definitely. I wouldn’t mind repeating it.

    MV: Sure, but maybe we should ask for three cars.

    Q: Max, would you welcome Carlos back as a teammate?

    MV: Well, we had good competition, absolutely, and I like competition but I don’t know how it’s with the other contracts and stuff so we need to wait and see. I’m pretty sure, sooner or later, I think… anyway we are both racing in competitive cars together. I don’t know which team…

     

    Photo Credit: Red Bull

  • F1 2017: Azerbaijan Gp Review – Bedlam In Baku

    F1 2017: Azerbaijan Gp Review – Bedlam In Baku

    If you had been given absolute free reign to dream up the most dramatic script for a Formula 1 race the chances are you still wouldn’t have come up with what transpired in the 51 laps of the 2017 Baku grand prix.

    From the first corner on lap one to the crossing of the finish line there was action and drama and tension stamped on every lap of the race which featured three safety-car periods and red flag stoppage. While Hamilton led cleanly away pole his teammate Valterri Bottas and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen clashed into turn two. Raikkonen with significant damage the floor of his car somehow maintained a place in the top ten while Bottas’ puncture dropped him a lap down.

    Hamilton led Sebastian Vettel by roughly three seconds until lap 13 when the first safety car was deployed to recover the stricken Toro Rosso of Dannil Kvyat. Racing resumed on lap 16 but an overzealous Esteban Ocon attempt to overtake his Force India teammate Sergio Perez ended in a shower of carbon fiber and the deployment of a second safety-car period.

    008The Pirelli tyres, supersoft and soft, available for this weekend, proved a step too hard as nearly the entire field of drivers struggled with warming the tyres to their optimal working range. A tyre not within this critical working range produces little to no grip and leaves drivers vulnerable. It’s for this reason that Hamilton complained that the Safety car was not going fast enough. Nevertheless, Hamilton bunched up the field into turn 16 which must’ve caught Vettel by surprise as he hit the rear of the Mercedes. The Ferrari driver then pulled alongside Hamilton and turned his Ferrari into the side of the Mercedes. It was an outrageously disappointing, irresponsible and daft reaction from Vettel which earned him a ten second stop/go penalty. While some might like to think Vettel’s actions are defensible consider the fact that, post-race, he could not defend his actions.

    So much carbon fiber lay strewn across the racetrack that the race was red-flagged on lap 22 in order to clear it away. While Raikkonen had retired with additional rear-wing damage a lap earlier the Ferrari mechanics had somehow managed to change an entire floor and a rear-wing endplate to get Raikkonen back in the race. Similarly, Force India made running repairs to Perez’s car and he too was back in the race. Unfortunately, the pair would ultimately retire from the race.

    012The race resumed after a 23 minutes stoppage with Hamilton in the lead and Vettel behind. Through the chaos and carnage Williams’ Lance Stroll and Felipe Massa had emerged in third and fourth. Daniel Ricciardo, who had earlier been 17th in the Red Bull after an early stop, was not in fifth for long as he pulled off an exquisite move to pass both the Williams’ into turn one on the restart. Felipe Massa would soon after retire with a broken rear-damper.

    The drama was still far from over however as the headrest on Hamilton’s leading Mercedes had not been attached correctly. He tried in vain to push it back into place before the FIA directed the Mercedes team to stop and fit a new headrest. It dropped Hamilton to eighth and promoted Vettel into the lead of the race but the Ferrari driver still needed to serve the ten second stop/go penalty. He served the penalty on lap 33 and emerged in seventh ahead of Hamilton.

    Now it was Daniel Ricciardo in the lead with Lance Stroll in second and Haas F1’s Kevin Magnussen in third. Magnussen could mount much of a fight for the position though and was quickly shuffled back by Ocon before himself falling victim to a recovering Bottas. Vettel and Hamilton would also pass Ocon and Magnussen.

    026Bottas’ significantly superior pace to the Williams of Stroll proved just enough as he snatched second place, on the line, by one tenth of a second. As if to prove how crazy the Baku grand prix was Fernando Alonso was running in fifth at one stage and with a bit more grunt from the Honda could justifiably have won the race.

    As it were Ricciardo took his first win since Malaysia 2016 ahead of Bottas and Stroll who, at 18, has become the youngest rookie, to score a podium finish. Astoundingly, Vettel emerged in fourth and extended his championship lead to 14 points over Hamilton who eventually finished fifth. Esteban Ocon salvaged sixth ahead of Kevin Magnussen in seventh and Carlos Sainz in eighth. Fernando Alonso finally opened McLaren’s points account with ninth as Pascal Wehrlein in the Sauber finished tenth.

    The Baku grand prix was undoubtedly the race of the season so far as nearly the entire field ran into some sort of trouble. Roll on Austria.

    (All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport)