INDIA in F1

Author: David Bodapati

  • I am over the moon right now: Lance Stroll

    Baku City Circuit, Baku, Azerbaijan.Sunday 25 June 2017.World Copyright: Steven Tee/LAT Imagesref: Digital Image _O3I4034

    DRIVERS: 1 – Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing); 2 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes); 3 – Lance STROLL (Williams)

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS  (Conducted by David Coulthard)

    Q: Did anyone predict this podium – I don’t think so! Congratulations. Can you believe you’ve won the grand prix from 10thplace?

    Daniel RICCIARDO: Not really. It was a crazy race. We knew the podium was a chance after the re-start but then we heard the problems with Lewis and Seb. It was just a crazy race. I made an unplanned pit stop at the beginning. After a few laps we had some debris I think in the brakes so we had to stop and clean it, so we dropped back to I think 17th place. Did I think then that I would the race today? Absolutely not. I would have put all of my money on it that it was very unlikely. Crazy race. This is the race we expected last year, with all the safety cars and all the chaos and we got it this year.

    Q: Well, it was a fantastic comeback from a difficult quali. You kept your chin up when we spoke to you after putting it in the wall there, so it just goes to show you never give up.

    DR: Yeah, obviously yesterday I was disappointed with the mistake but hey, I guess you have to make these to try and find that last little bit. I knew today would be a different outcome and yeah, I said it yesterday, we had to stay out of trouble and it certainly paid off today. Big thanks to the team, Red Bull Racing, it was nice to get one car home and on the top step, so thanks guys and thanks everyone that came out.

    Q: Valtteri, right on the line. You were a lap down in last place and you come through and deliver a result for the team, you must be mighty relieved? 

    Valtteri BOTTAS: It’s what Daniel also said: just a crazy race with so much happening. I was one lap down in the beginning and during the safety car I had to overtake everyone and catch them again. But this just shows you should never give up, you never know what is going to happen in the race. Just kept the head down, kept pushing, and team also during the red glad managed to fix the car a little bit so they did a really good job during that. I really enjoyed it and just had fun. But shame, in the end, that Daniel was just too far away but you know, taking the circumstances at the beginning it’s a good result for us.

    Q: Well, tell us about that, you seem to be magnetically drawn to your countryman. You and Kimi came together? What’s your view from the cockpit? 

    VB: Yeah, going into Turn 2 I was on the inside and he was on the outside and there was no space for me to go apart from over the kerb and when you go over the kerb the car obviously jumps and I couldn’t keep the line, so I think another racing incident to be honest but it’s just unlucky that it’s me and Kimi again.

    Kimi took full responsibility.

    VB: OK…

    Q: No, he didn’t, but it was great to see you believe that for a moment. Right, the man who is going to feel that he won this grand prix. One of the youngest ever podium finishers – Lance Stroll. Fantastic feel free to full express all the emotions. Your father is down there. It’s all come good in the past two races.

    Lance STROLL: Yeah, I’m just lost for words right. I don’t even know what to say. I can’t quite realise what just happened. It was a hectic race… people crashing. We just stayed out of trouble. I just kept my head cool and took it to the end. I just lost out to Valtteri there in the end. I think that was probably one of the closest finishes of all time. But what a race! I couldn’t believe coming into the weekend that I would be standing on the podium. It’s amazing.

    Q: Well I know your father has broad shoulders but I can see a tear in his eye from up here, so I think you’re going to get a monster bear hug when you come down from here? 

    LS: Just the whole team, it’s amazing.

    Q: You were voted by the fans of Formula One as the driver of the day as well, so you’ve really punched through and connected with the public. 

    LS: I was chatting to Daniel and saying motor sport is a love/hate relationship. We’ve had a couple of hard race but the last two races have been amazing and I’m just over the moon right now.

    Q: Fantastic, very well deserved. Daniel, another line from you? You’ll take the wins when they come. You seem… you could see the smile almost through your helmet when you were in the cockpit, but now you seem a bit calmer than I was expecting. You’ve just won your fifth grand prix!

    DR: Honestly, I’m speechless. After the race on the cool down lap I was kind of just giggling; giggling like a little schoolboy.

    [Coulthard unties Ricciardo’s bootlaces]

    DR: You want some?

    Q: I think your podium colleagues need a little celebration.

    DR: Well it’s Stroll’s first podium, so he certainly deserves one. Is he old enough to drink?

    LS: You realise this is going to scar me for life! Oh, my God, I’m too young for this. It’s like there’s some dirt in there as well.

    [Both drink from Ricciardo’s race boot]

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Daniel you said this is taking a while to sink in, but how does this victory, the fifth of your career, compare to the ones before, particularly that first one in Montreal, where you took the lead with three laps to go? 

    DR: I don’t know. I think I have been pretty fortunate. I’ve only had a few victories but I think pretty much all of them have come under pretty crazy circumstances or the races have been far from dull. Obviously all of them are special. Today was just crazy. We haven’t been necessarily the quickest car on track or all weekend. I said it yesterday after my crash in qualifying, I said ‘be there and capitalise on opportunities’ and I certainly capitalized on all the re-starts where I was able to gain at least one position if not more. Then we had some fortune, with Lewis, I think he had a loose headrest or something and he had to box and then Seb has his penalty behind the safety car. It was crazy, there was so much going on, but it was fun. It was fun to be in the battle for the most part and towards the end, obviously once I got the lead it was just trying to keep the laps I could. As I said, we knew we weren’t setting probably the quickest times on track but I knew if I kept that rhythm it was enough to win. Now it’s sunk in a bit more, I’m obviously very happy.

    Q: And after you made that unscheduled pitstop near the start of the race to remove some debris, was the car behaving as you wanted it to?

    DR: Yeah, it got better after that. We pitted very early on, I can’t remember what lap but I assume it was within the first handful of laps. I think it dropped me back to 17th on one of the restarts or something. How we’re here a few hours later, I don’t know – but it was cool. It was a lot of fun. Thanks to the team, thanks for… yeah, making it happen today. It’s cool. Nice feeling.

    Q: Coming to you Valtteri, can you explain how your goals today fluctuated. Second on the grid, what did you think was possible? A lap down at the end on lap one and then, of course, you’ve ended up in second place. Just talk us through that race.

    VB: Yeah, like Daniel said, it was a completely crazy race and especially for me. Had a puncture in lap one with the contact with the Ferrari in Turn Two. I was one lap down, had to overtake everyone, under the Safety Car. Catch them. There was another Safety Car, which really helped me out and just, y’know, step-by-step started to go forwards. For me, obviously, the goal going to the race today was to fight for the win, and after lap one, what happened, you can’t really set a goal. For me, I just tried to keep my head down, keep pushing and take maximum out of every single corner, every single situation and, yeah, ended up really good for us in the end. We managed to get some more points against Ferrari and some good points for me personally as well. But yeah, just… don’t really know what else to say! Crazy race. Well done to Daniel and especially to Lance. His first podium. I know the feeling, it’s a good one. Enjoy it mate!

    Q: Let’s come onto Lance. Lance, you got your first points in Formula One two weeks ago at your home grand prix in Canada. Now your first podium in your eighth grand prix. Just describe your emotions.

    LS: That’s tricky right now. I’m a bit lost for words. It was such an intense race. A crazy race. So much happened. The red flag… hopping out of the car then having to get back into the car and having to reset and everything… it just all happened so quickly but I think today what we did well was just stay out of trouble. We let some of the other drivers make mistakes and took it to the end. Just lost out to Valtteri in the end. He came pretty quick towards the last couple of laps. Still extremely happy with the result today. I can’t really describe how I feel, it’s beyond amazing. Yesterday was such a great day already and starting to get back to grips with the car. I had a couple of races where Saturdays didn’t go too well, and then we got back into Q3 since China yesterday and that was really a breakthrough for me. Today to come away with a podium is absolutely amazing. And the shooey at the end, that killed it. Still sitting in my gums… Kidding aside, I’m so happy for myself, for the team, for everyone. A day to remember.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – AP) Question for Lance. You faced a lot of criticism earlier in the season, you were really up against it and you had to defend yourself from waves of possibly unfair criticism as well. Do you feel that you’ve proved a point today – and how pleasing is that for you?

    LS: I don’t think I proved a point. I don’t listen to that stuff. It’s just noise, y’know. It was there last year when I had a perfect year so this year when I had some tough times, it’s probably still going to be there. It’s just people talking. I’m just happy for myself, happy for my team, my friends, family. Everyone who’s in it with me. That’s all that matters. The rest is all just noise in the background and I don’t really care for it.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte) To Lance. What happened? In Canada you had self-confidence, we could see that in the track and also here. You feel more comfortable in the car that you can take more risk and go to the limit? And from the outside we saw, maybe,  a different driver?

    LS: Yeah. I think it just takes a bit of time. And there will still be hard weekends moving forwards. Sometimes I’m perfect but no one, I think, understands that sometimes a jump from F3 to F1 is quite big and it took me a bit of time to understand what I wanted from the car. This weekend we took a very different direction with the setup. We kinda shifted away from that setup after Bahrain. We started in Barcelona taking a different direction with the car and we came back to it this weekend. I’m much more competitive, similar to the beginning of the season, China, Bahrain, when I was in Q3, P11 in qualifying, much more competitive. And this weekend we came back to that set-up and it gave me a lot more confidence with the car. I feel like I’m able to really drive the car now and push the car, and it gives me a lot of confidence and comfort and I think that’s a big reason why I’m much more competitive this weekend. But also, there’s so many other things in the background. I’ve really improved my driving style, adapting to Formula One and I need to keep working on little things moving forward. It’s not finished yet – I still can improve a lot. It just takes a bit of time. I think sometimes people don’t realise that. This year is a very different formula for me and I just need to experiment it and try different things and come back and figure this and that out. I think that’s a big part of the reason why sometimes it’s tricky. This weekend it was good. It’s just about improving myself, the car, what I want from the car. Yeah, it’s a process. You just have to hang in there and keep driving.

    Q: (Arjan Schouten – AD Sportwerld) Daniel, you’re one of the lucky, fortunate guys today. Your teammate was one of the unlucky guys again. Do you feel pity for him?

    DR: Yeah. Look, I do understand. Obviously I’m super happy to be here but yeah, Max has had two races in a row where I guess where he’s been in strong positions and it hasn’t worked out for him through, I believe, no fault of his own. Today as well. Yeah, obviously he’s going through a harder time on the fortune side of things right now but he’s driving well and I think he knows that. Obviously he’s missing possible podiums and chunks of points here and there but for sure he’ll bounce back. It’s frustrating and I’m sure he’s annoyed right now but he’s driving well, as I said, and he knows it so I’m sure he will continue to persist and be strong and we’ll keep pushing each other so that will continue to be important for both of us and the team as the season goes on.

    Q: (Luis Vasconcelos – Formula Press) For Daniel, Lewis pitting to replace the headrest and Sebastian getting his penalty came at the same time. You probably heard both at the same time, so did you believe then that you could win or did the realisation come when you saw how far behind they were? 

    DR: Once they had their penalties and whatever was going on, yeah, I certainly believed I could win but you never know, obviously, until it’s the end but sure, I believed the race was then in my hands so I kind of understood more or less the lap times the guys around me were doing and I knew the gap I had so I was just trying to be consistent with the times I could do, more or less, and that was that. So yeah, just trying to match those times and get it home to the finish. It was nice on the last lap, I could finally smile a little bit.

    Q: (Luis Vasconcelos – Formula Press) For Valtteri, how difficult was it to keep going, especially in the first part of the race when you were behind the Saubers and the McLarens and all that and did you, with 14 laps to go when you got clear of Ocon, and you were 14.5s behind, did you still really believe it was possible to get it on the podium? 

    VB: So, for me, when I got the message about the headrest I actually… I think I got the message wrong, I thought it was Sebastian’s so I thought he had a double problem so I was really surprised that at some point Lewis was behind me. But anyway, like I said before, it was difficult to set a target really, what is achievable, but once I got through Ocon, I was already in a good position and the team gave me the gap to Lance and also the possible place difference if I did everything right. Then I just really focused every single corner, every single lap absolutely perfect and pushing the maximum there was in the car, there was in the engine, in the brakes and really glad I managed to get a couple more extra points in the end. Just tried to keep my head down and keep pushing.

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) Lance, you mentioned before when you were growing up, I think, watching Formula One on Sunday mornings with your father and with Michael Schumacher as your idol, I believe. Could you talk about those days? 

    LS: I’d watch the start and then go and do something else but they were good days. Growing up, I’d always been into cars and motor sport, Formula One. Michael was really my hero, growing up as kid, a true champion on and off the track. Yeah, he was just someone I really looked up to and I still look up to. So those days were special and we’ve definitely come a long way and to be sitting here today on the podium, in a Formula One Grand Prix, is a part of the dream come true, I guess you could say.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte) Valtteri, we were expecting that you could overtake the safety car but it took so long to overtake in order to enter in the lap that gave you the chance to finish second. You were there in the cockpit. Were you maybe pressuring the team to ask why I can’t overtake the safety car?

    VB: Yes, I was actually asking. It was a long time I had to wait to get through the cars in front and the safety car and I was asking for the permission and then once the track was clear, then they gave me the permission so it was very late, I had no time to catch up with everyone but after that, not so long, there was another safety car which allowed me to close the gap and that gave me the opportunity for this podium today.

    Q: (Luis Vasconcelos – Formula Press) Debris was a main concern today; there were safety cars because of that, the race was stopped because of that. Is this something we have to accept can happen every time we come here or do you think there’s another way of doing things? 

    DR: It’s hard to say right now. It seemed like it was the right call. Obviously for us it’s hard when you stop a race, we’ve got our adrenalin and we’re in that race mode so to then stop, get out and then, as Lance touched on, you reset but yeah, there was a lot and I guess that was the right thing to do a) for punctures and then b) for when another car runs over it, then the debris flies and it can become dangerous as well for us when travelling at speed and then hitting it. I believe they did the right call today. As for the future, right now I’m not sure if they could make this better. Perhaps we’ll talk about  it in the future, yeah.

    VB: I don’t know really if there’s any solution to make it better. On street circuits you get more collisions and more debris and I think it was good to have a red flag because I was coming from behind and there were relatively big amounts of debris and actually some pieces of carbon were flying and hitting my helmet and visor as well. I think it was a really good call  to have a red flag.

    LS: I think they’ve said it all. It was a good call in my opinion and they see more than we do. So surely they took the right decision.

    Q: (Teymur Maksutov – Sportbox) Can you describe your emotion about Baku city circuit? Last year we didn’t see any safety cars and crashes but this year there are a lot of safety cars, red flag and crashes. What’s your opinion about this weekend and this race? What do you feel now? 

    DR: I think this was the race that we expected last year. Last year, as you said, there were no safety cars or anything but we were really surprised and this year we got it. To be honest I’ve enjoyed the two years that we’ve come here. Even after my crash yesterday I wasn’t bitter with anything that the circuit provided. Part of me actually enjoys that risk and reward with the street circuits and you make a mistake, you pay the price. I thought it was a lot of fun this weekend. It’s a challenging circuit, it’s not easy and the racing is intense, you know. It’s tight and twisty but then you’ve got the long straight to really make things happen and overtake so personally I think it’s got it all. I’ve been pretty happy the first two years I’ve come here.

    VB: I agree with Daniel. I enjoy coming here. I like the place, the weather is nice and the track is really challenging. We always love a challenge. It’s very different to any other street circuit on the calendar or any other circuit anyway. For me it’s a good race to have and today showed that it is pretty exciting as well.

    Q: And Lance, of course, it’s your first visit here. 

    LS: I didn’t enjoy anything about this weekend! That was a joke!

    DR: I want to know. He got ninth and crowd surfed so what are you going to do after a podium?

    LS: Kidding aside, I really enjoyed driving here, I’m really looking forward to coming back here again next year. It has everything: high speed, you can overtake, it’s technical, I agree with what Daniel said. You have to know where the limit is and then once you go over the limit push back. I think that’s kind of the feeling you get here, Monaco, Singapore – I haven’t been yet – but the same style. Those are the tracks that I enjoy to drive most, even though sometimes it’s a bit of a pain when you touch the wall and you get a puncture, you shunt. That’s kind of the beauty of driving these city circuits.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte) Daniel, you and Max have made it clear that you have had some difficulties with your power unit up to now. But on a very demanding circuit for power units, you could control the race being in the front. Does it mean that with the new specification of power unit here and the good chassis that you seem to have now, you can expect Red Bull to be stronger? Also at the next race in Austria? 

    DR: I think this weekend we certainly… we looked pretty good in the speed traps and as I mentioned on restarts I was always moving forward. There was all different types of power units in front of me on several restarts and we were able to – if not pass them, hang with them. Obviously we had a few little updates this weekend and it seems to have helped so yeah, it’s positive, it’s positive. I believe that Max’s issue was maybe due to some debris after the first lap and that maybe got caught and everything overheated so I don’t think his problem was necessarily a genuine one from that respect and obviously we saw some good performance at least from mine in the race. Yeah, we’ll move forward and try and get stronger and stronger.

    eom/FIA press release

  • Ricciardo wins a dramatic race in Baku; Hami 5th

    Ricciardo wins a dramatic race in Baku; Hami 5th

    Daniel Ricciardo won a hugely dramatic, incident-packed Azerbaijan Grand Prix as title contenders Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel both finished off the podium. Mercedes Valtteri Bottas passed Williams’ Lance Stroll across the line at rthe flag to take second place. The Williams driver became the youngest ever podium finisher in a rookie season at 18 years and 239 days and the first Canadian to stand on the podium since Jacques Villeneuve in 2001.

    Vettel, meanwhile, finished fourth after he was handed a 10-second stop and go penalty following a bizarre incident in which he swerved into Hamilton’s car during a safety car period after Briton had slowed so dramatically in the lead that second-placed Vettel ran into the back of the Mercedes.

    Hamilton finished fifth after he was forced to pit from the lead due to a loose head restraint. That dropped him back to P8 and though he recovered to put pressure on Vettel, who emerged from his penalty stop just ahead of the Briton, it wasn’t enough to rise higher than fifth.

    A dramatic start saw Bottas go into Turn 2 on the inside of Kimi Raikkonen. The Mercedes driver appeared to take too much kerb in the corner and he was launched into the side of his fellow Finn’s Ferrari. Raikkonen shipped damage and dropped to fifth, but Bottas suffered front wing damage and a front right puncture. He was forced to pit for repairs and dropped to the rear of the field.

    At the front, Hamilton, who had taken the lead at the start began to swiftly build a gap to second-place title rival Sebastian Vettel. By lap eight the margin was 3.6s but Vettel responded with a fastest lap on the following tour to stay within touching distance.

    Further back, Ricciardo made an early stop, shedding his starting supersofts for softs. The Australian, who also had debris removed from brake ducts during the stop, then began to haul his way back up the order from the ninth position he had taken at the start.

    Debris was a worry too for team-mate Verstappen. Soon after the start the Dutchman reported that he was unhappy with the behaviour of his car and he was told he may have had debris in the radiator ducts and that the situation would be monitored.

    On lap 13, though, Verstappen suddenly slowed and began to fall down the order. At the same time Kvyat’s Toro Rosso expired and he pulled over at the side of the track. The need to recover the car brought out the first safety car of the race and that caused a flurry of pit stops with all of the frontrunners taking on fresh tyres. Verstappen too headed for the pit lane, but unfortunately for the Red Bull man, his visit wasn’t temporary and he retired from the race.

    Under the safety car the order saw Hamilton leading Vettel, with Perez in third place ahead of William’s Felipe Massa and the second Force India of Esteban Ocon. At the back Bottas was allowed to unlap himself and the Finn began a comeback.

    On the re-start Hamilton kept his lead but Vettel came under heavy pressure from Perez who drew alongside the Ferrari. Vettel protected the line well, however, and kept second place.

    Within seconds, though, the Safety Car was again deployed, this time to clear debris at several locations on the track, and cars were directed through the pit lane as the wreckage was removed.

    Just before the Safety Car left the track again at the end of lap 19, the key incident of the race unfolded.

    Hamilton slowed dramatically to back up the field and Vettel ran into the back of the Briton’s Mercedes. Vettel responded by running alongside Hamilton and banging wheels with the Mercedes man’s car.

    Then, as the racing resumed, Vettel was attacked again, not just by Perez, but also by Massa and Ocon.

    The Brazilian got past Perez and tried to pass Vettel down the inside. Vettel again resisted and held P2 but Massa’s move dropped Perez into the clutches of Ocon who tried to pass his team-mate. The team-mates collided and Perez was forced to the pits where it looked like he would retire.

    Caught up in the mess was Raikkonen. The Finn ran over the debris from the Force India collision and suffered a right-rear puncture. By the time he made it back to the pits his car had sustained too much damaged and it looked like he too would be forced out of the race.

    The Safety Car was deployed yet again, but this time, with debris strewn across the track in a number of places, the red flag was eventually displayed.

    Cars were directed back to the pit lane and the dissection of the events that had just taken place began, with the incident between Vettel and Hamilton being placed under investigation by the stewards and the two drivers engaging engineers and team principals in animated discussion.

    Action resumed just after 1815 local time, with both Perez and Raikkonen rejoicing the field having been repaired. However, as the SC got set to leave the circuit, third-placed Felipe Massa reported that he had a car problem.

    When racing resumed the Brazilian was immediately in trouble. Team-mate Lance Stroll passed on the right but Ricciardo was smarter and went down the inside, outbraking both to rise from fifth to third with a standout move. Behind them Renault’s Hulkenberg made a mistake and clipped a barrier, breaking his right front suspension, and exiting the race.

    On lap 27 Hamilton now led from Vettel, Ricciardo and Stroll with Haas’ Kevin Magnussen in fifth place. McLaren’s Fernando Alonso was in an unlikely sixth place after starting 19th, while Sainz was seventh ahead of Bottas and Grosjean. Perez was in P14 ahead of Raikkonen but both were under investigation as it appeared their crews had worked on the car outside the fast lane in the frenzy to get them going again.

    Hamilton, though, had a problem with his head restraint and was told he had to pit to fix the issue. That dropped him to eighth place. The damage was minimised when moments later Vettel was handed a 10-second stop and go penalty for the SC incident with Hamilton. The German served the penalty at the end of lap 33 and dropped to P7 ahead of Hamilton.

    Ahead, and somewhat improbably, Ricciardo now led the race in front of Stroll and Magnussen. The Haas driver didn’t hold the podium position for long, however, and on lap 38 the Dane was passed by both Ocon and a resurgent Bottas.

    The Finn then passed the Force India driver and began setting fastest laps as he chased down Stroll. As the laps counted down it didn’t look like the Mercedes driver had done enough but on the final lap he closed hard and after Ricciardo had taken the flag to claim his fourth career victory, Bottas managed to pass Stroll across the line in a hugely exciting finale. Stroll took third, becoming the first Canadian to stand on the podium since Jacques Villeneuve at the German Grand Prix in 2001.

    Behind them Vettel held Hamilton at bay to finish fourth, while behind the Mercedes driver Ocon took sixth ahead of Magnussen, Sainz, Alonso and Wehrlein.

    2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Race
    1 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 2h03m55.573s
    2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 3.904s
    3 Lance Stroll Williams 4.009s
    4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 5.976s
    5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 6.188s
    6 Esteban Ocon Force India 30.298s
    7 Kevin Magnussen Haas 41.753s
    8 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 49.400s
    9 Fernando Alonso McLaren 59.551s
    10 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber 1m29.093s
    11 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1m31.794s
    12 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 1m32.160s
    13 Romain Grosjean Haas 1 Lap
    14 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari Not running
    – Sergio Perez Force India Retirement
    – Felipe Massa Williams Retirement
    – Nico Hulkenberg Renault Accident
    – Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing Retirement
    – Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso Retirement
    – Jolyon Palmer Renault Retirement

    eom/FIA press release

    Ricciardo of Red Bull after winning the Baku GP on Sunday. An FIA image
  • Astonishing win for Rossi; Marquez 3rd

    Astonishing win for Rossi; Marquez 3rd

    Assen (The Netherlands), 26 Jun

    Rossi celebrates ater winning at Cathedral. A Movistar Yamaha image

    e 2017: Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team‘s Valentino Rossi brought his A game to the Motul TT Assen race today. The nine-time World Champion completed a challenging weekend due to mixed conditions with a superb win, giving him the longest winning career through all classes, spread over 20 years and 313 days. Teammate Maverick Viñales fought his way up from eleventh on the grid and was heading towards the leading group, but his efforts ended in a DNF after an unlucky fall.

    Rossi kicked off the Dutch Grand Prix from fourth position as darker skies loomed. He quickly slotted in behind Johann Zarco and Marc Marquez in third place and was quick to respond as his rivals attempted to break away, setting a provisional fastest lap of the race on lap three and four, with Danilo Petrucci tagging along.

    The Doctor piled on the pressure with 17 laps to go and overtook Marquez a lap later in the first corner, making the fans cheer. He duplicated this manoeuvre on the next lap to take over the lead from Zarco, which was followed by a touch between the two in turn 4, but the Italian kept the lead. Four laps later the Factory Yamaha man inched away as his pursuers battled for second place.

    The Doctor increased his lead to about a second, but with 8 laps left white flags came out as rain started to fall. Rossi was forced to lower his pace, allowing his rivals to close up. Adrenaline levels reached an all-time high for the VR46 fans as their hero fought tooth and nail to hold off his rival. Petrucci passed him with five laps to go, but the nine-time World Champion wasn‘t going to let the win slip away that easily. A lap later he used his nimble Yamaha YZR-M1 to charge past his compatriot in the chicane to regain the lead. The last laps were filled with drama as the pair had to deal with backmarkers, but Rossi held firm, taking a sensational win with a 0.063s advantage.

    It was a busy race for teammate Viñales. Starting fro

    m eleventh on the grid he flew off the line and made his way through the first lap settling into tenth place. He took a couple of laps to get his tyres up to temperature at the cool Assen track, before he heated up his pace and started to carve through the bunched-up pack of riders.

    The Spaniard put his head down and hit the front of the group fighting for fifth place with 16 laps left and was making strides, until a crash in the chicane prematurely ended his quest.

    Today’s results see Rossi move up to third place in the championship standings with a 108-point total. He is now three points behind his teammate Viñales in second place. The sensational win sees Yamaha hold the lead in the constructor championship with a 22-point margin and Movistar Yamaha MotoGP remain the leaders in the team standings by 28 points as they move on to Germany for the next round at Sachsenring in one week’s time.

  • Hamilton takes 66th career pole ahead of Bottas

    Lewis Hamilton took his 66th career pole position to move within two of all-time record holder Michael Schumacher after he beat team-mate Valtteri Bottas to the front of the grid for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Kimi Räikkönen was third for Ferrari, while championship-leading team-mate Sebastian Vettel has to settle for fourth place.

    It was Hamilton who made the running in Q1 with the Briton setting the pace thanks to a lap of 1:41.983. Behind him, Verstappen recovered from the hydraulic issues that sidelined him towards the end of FP3 and took second place in Q1 just over half a second behind the Mercedes man. Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen was third ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in the second Red Bull and Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat. Sebastian Vettel, who had also suffered a hydraulic issue in FP3, was sixth.

    At the other end of the spectrum, Fernando Alonso’s lap of 1:44.334 was the P15 target in the closing stages. Haas’ Romain Grosjean, in P16 and a tenth behind the McLaren man, looked the most likely to advance, but in the end the Frenchman couldn’t find the pace. It was team-mate Kevin Magnussen who made the most of the final runs and the Dane vaulted from P17 an eventual P15 to push Alonso out of the session ahead of Grosjean, Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson, Stoffel Vandoorne in the second McLaren and Renault’s Jolyon Palmer who did not take part in the session following a car fire in FP3. Both McLarens are set for heavy overnight grid penalties, however.

    Hamilton again set the pace in Q2, this time by quite a margin. After the opening runs Hamilton sat in P1 just ahead of Bottas and Räikkönen but with his second outing the Briton decimated the competition, setting a benchmark of 1:41.275. As the segment edged to a close only Verstappen seemed to be able to operate in the same timeframe as Hamilton and the Dutchman took P2 with a lap of 1:41.961. However in the final moments, Vettel, who had been low key to that point, vaulted to P2 six hundredths clear of Verstappen. Bottas got closer still to Hamilton to finish with a time of 1:41.502, 0.227 behind his team-mate.

    Eliminated in in P11 was Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat, with team-mate Carlos Sainz 0.161 behind the Russian. Kevin Magnussen was 13th for Haas ahead of Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg and Sauber’s Pascal Wehrlein.

    The first runs in Q3 saw Bottas seize the early initiative as drivers went for two timed laps on their opening runs. The Finn set a benchmark of 1:41.274 with Hamilton, who made a small errors in P2, with a time of 1:41.428.

    The session was brought to a halt, however, when Ricciardo clipped the wall on the exit of Turn 5 and damaged his rear left wheel. He was left stranded on track after Turn 6 and the red flags came out.

    With 3m33s left on the clock it became clear that there would be time for another run but that drivers would only get one timed lap and it was Hamilton who made the most of it. The Briton powered through the 1m41s barrier, the only man to do that in the session, with a lap of 1:40.593. That was good enough to earn his 66thcareer pole position and move into second place in the list of all-time pole positions, one clear of his great hero Ayrton Senna.

    Bottas took P2 with a time of 1:41.027 with Räikkönen third with a lap of 1:41.693. Championship leader Sebastian Vettel had to settle for fourth place ahead of Max Verstappen, with Sergio Perez in sixth place, just in front of team-mate Esteban Ocon. Lance Stroll had a good session to qualify eighth for Williams, four hundredths ahead of team-mate Felipe Massa. Tenth place went to the unfortunate Ricciardo.

    eom/FIA press release

  • Bob defends Perez-Ocon incident, says Sahara Force India is not for team-orders

    PART ONE: TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Cyril ABITEBOUL (Renault), Eric BOULLIER (McLaren), Robert FERNLEY (Force India)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Eric, if I could start with you, we saw another engine failure for Fernando Alonso this afternoon… you’re shaking your head.

    Eric BOULLIER: Yes, it wasn’t an engine failure. It was a gearbox failure.

    Q: A gearbox failure, but regarding that thorny subject of Honda. The regularity of the criticism from McLaren senior management suggests that the situation is now irretrievable. Is there anything that can be done to repair the relationship?

    EB: Well, first of all, your question is a suggestion, as you said, which is not exactly the truth or the case. Both organisations are working very, very hard to get to where we want to be. The level of friction, let’s say, if there is any, is a little bit exacerbated by the media. It is true that we have to deliver what we need to do, we have to be where we want to be but both organisations are working hard to deliver and I don’t think there is such a drama like in your questions.

    Q: But Eric, both you and Zak Brown have said it’s not good enough what Honda are doing. So what have Honda got to do to satisfy you, McLaren?

    EB: Well, we have to compete these guys, not to be in the back of the grid. As a partner we expect obviously a certain level of performance, not commitment, because they have that in terms of resources, it’s just a level of performance and today we need another step, a big step.

    Q: And have Honda given any indication as to when the next big step will come?

    EB: Yes, they have some plan and obviously they will be able to respect them.

    Q: OK, let’s talk drivers then. How does the state of flux, if I can call it that, leave you regarding driver for 2018?

    EB: Well, we don’t have any contract with Fernando. Fernando has been very clear. He likes the team, he would like to stay with us, but we need to be competitive. So there is also… say, after summer he will take his decision, so we know the agenda, the calendar for us, what we have to do and Alonso knows what he has to do as well.

    And Stoffel? 

    EB: Stoffel is a long-term contract with McLaren, so there is not any concern for the future.

    Q: Final question for now. How do you assess the performance of the car this weekend in Baku?

    EB: Well, the global performance is very easy, you just see the lap time. We are very slow this weekend; we were expecting to be slow. Then, if you want to be more in detail, we all have GPS traces of each, this is shared data between all the teams so then you can work more about where you need to improve your car in terms of performance.

    Q: Bob, that accident involving Sergio Perez in that first practice session: what are the ramifications of that crash, is there much damage to the car? 

    Robert FERNLEY: The damage wasn’t quite as bad as we thought. The credit goes to the team really for that. They were very well prepared and we were able to effect what were considerable repairs in a very short period of time, so a more than credible effort by the team.

    Q: Let’s cast our minds two weeks, to the Canadian Grand Prix. Quite a lot of controversy after the race regarding team orders, so can you give us your version of events about those closing laps in Montreal? 

    RF: Well, we don’t run team orders to race, which we did. If you look at the difference in tyre performance it’s very, very small. If you at Checo’s history of being able to pass other drivers, it’s incredibly high, and he felt he had the3 opportunity to do so. From our side, there was a suggestion to let us have a turnaround, but he felt quite confident and we were happy to back that and support that, and we will continue to do so.

    Q: Was there a feeling in the team afterwards that somehow Sergio was wrong?

    RF: No, I don’t think so. You can speculate many, many things in terms of what ifs, and hindsight is wonderful, but in reality we were dealing with a Red Bull and we mustn’t underestimate it. A Force India trying to pass a Red Bull isn’t the easiest of things. And we had Ferraris coming back and whether we had pitted or not pitted there is a second a lap difference on optimum, optimum. I think we did the best we could and I have had no recriminations from the team whatsoever and we will continue to follow that path and evaluate things on a race-by-race basis.

    Q: Vijay Mallya said after the race that there would be some new rules of engagement from Baku onwards. What are those rules? 

    RF: No I don’t think he said that. He said he would look at the rules of engagement and we discussed it at the management meetings, which we normally do, and what I am telling you now I think are Vijay’s sentiments entirely.

    Q: Cyril, let’s also start with the on-track action as well. We saw an accident involving Jolyon Palmer today. What is the situation with Jolyon regarding his future? What does he have to do to keep his seat at Renault? 

    Cyril ABITEBOUL: I think it’s a bit unfair to link today and the future. Today we saw a lot of drivers going a bit outside of the track – a lot, and I mean a lot. Clearly, indeed, Jo has been one of those at a Turn that unfortunately doesn’t forgive, unlike other turns. Which means there is a bit of damage on the car but it’s not huge. Not really different to what Checo did this morning. If you want to link that to the bigger picture for Jo, our situation is very clear: he has a contract with us; we are completely committed to helping him get through the period, which is a tough period, that’s obvious. He has no ultimatum, but having said that he has to deliver, like every single member of the team. But I think what will help him is that frankly we take him out of the spotlight under which he is constantly, in particular in starting the first day, Friday, and all the media focus, all the media attention, is not necessarily helping. Obviously you have to do what you have to do, and ask the questions, which you feel are the right ones. But that doesn’t help. That’s part of the job, part of the pressure that every Formula One driver has to go through. He has to live with that. We are trying our best to protect him but at the same time to do the best as a team to explain to him what we are expecting and we had that type of conversation with him yesterday – go through the metrics and try to define the targets short to medium terms so that he can improve. So that’s the situation really.

    Q: And can you just clarify the situation with Robert Kubica. He tested with the team just prior to the Canadian Grand Prix. Why did the test come about and is he going to be testing in FP1 ahead of the Italian Grand Prix? 

    CA: Easy answer on the last one – no, absolutely not. I don’t know where this is coming from and I can completely wipe that one out. Also I would to make it clear that I guess the questions are unconnected – the question regarding Jo and the question regarding Robert. Robert has been a family member of the Enstone team, and Eric on my right knows what I mean. He has been very close and very loyal. The team in Enstone, which is a very small group of people, actually have been very loyal to a number of drivers. In particular Robert made a huge impression on people who’ve been around, Alan Permane, Bob Bell, Ricardo on the Viry side. People feel very loyal and feel they owe something to Robert for making something big in their life and there was this opportunity that we give to him, that we could afford to him to drive again, because it was actually a marketing event that got cancelled, so we had a car available at the track and we offered that opportunity to him. Robert is going through some form of programme to try to understand what he can do. He has been driving a number of cars, Formula E, GP3, F2, LMP2, you name it, so I think he wants to understand what he can do as part of his sort of rehabilitation programme. We’ll see. There is nothing else that is planned for the time being, apart from a marketing event at Goodwood, where he will be driving the same car, E20, in front of Lord March’s house.

    Q: Just looking at performance, you said recently there are no magic bullets in Formula One. How should we translate that comment?

    CA: Yeah, I think I was trying to make reference and clarify as situation regarding engine upgrades and actually it’s not so easy to be clear in that respect. Just to make it clear, I think there was some speculation, some expectation that we do on the engine side this year the same thing that we did last year, with a major upgrade that was very visible to everyone, particular our customers and I think there was this sort of expectation that we were about to do the same. No, unfortunately it’s not happening. But I’m not saying that because it’s not happening that there won’t be any improvement. There is improvement. For instance, this weekend, we have two tenths of an upgrade in the engine. We were not expecting to make huge publicity on that but I feel that I have to make that clarification. And that upgrade is coming despite the fact that we are not changing the engine. That’s why it’s important to disconnect the different aspects. It would be the same thing on the chassis side. We are having a sort of arms race. All teams are bringing big upgrades, we are doing the same but same thing as on the engine, there won’t be a golden bullet.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Ben Edwards – Channel 4) Bob, can I just ask quick question about the accident this morning for Sergio. We saw the week come off but it certainly didn’t look like the tether failed because it didn’t look like that was involved in that – so can you just explain what happened with the wheel coming off?

    RF: It’s not something we’ve seen before. As you rightly say, the entire wheel came off the hub. We need to look into it to see. The tethers were fine. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen that. In fact Eric and I were talking about it coming up – he hadn’t seen anything like it either. We’ll just have to have a look at what that is and make sure if there needs to be any changes across the board for Formula One.

    Q: (Ben Edwards – Channel 4) Eric, quick question about Stoffel’s season so far. Obviously, it’s not been an ideal season for him – it’s always tough being up against Fernando – but can you talk us through his season and what has been his struggles and what he’s going through?

    EB: First of all, he’s had a lot of issues with his cars since the beginning of the season. Not only the engine but also the car. A lot of little glitches y’know that stop him, let’s say, doing complete runs during free practices and various qualifyings. I think his confidence level then went a little bit lower – that’s why a couple of times in qualifying he was not ready to deliver on the first lap and that cost him actually a Q2 because there was a yellow flag or something else. I think it’s just for him to find his place in the team to make sure he can voice his needs to setup the car the way he likes to drive it. Formula One is also a bit different when you talk about driving style so you need to maybe both need to move toward each other. We are now since a couple of races addressing this seriously with a working group around him – his engineers first but some others, trying to address this and get his confidence back.

    Q: (Gunel Safarova – BBC Azerbaijan) So you say today three accidents happened. It’s interesting, why do you think these accidents happened so much. At the moment there is speculation this road in Baku is very dangerous and it has very dangerous turns. Do you think it’s because of this?

    CA: We’ve seen a lot of accidents and also our drivers escaping from accidents. Frankly I think we should put a bit more walls to create a bit more penalty and incentivise the drives to stay on track. I think there is a combination. I understand that it is not easy on some corners actually to see with the sun in the drivers’ eyes, struggling to see the apex. That’s one, another thing to take into consideration, without wanting to start a debate, it’s maybe the grip from tyres which is maybe not where it should be for a track like that and the sort of braking energy that you need to dissipate. So that might be an explanation – maybe more than last year in particular with the shift in compounds that we’ve seen this season. That might be one explanation also.

    Eric or Bob, do you have anything to add?

    EB: Cyril answered mostly. The only reason why you have got these cars going into the escape road is just because of the grip and the braking energy. Track is also very green today, obviously a lot of dust everywhere, so this is even more difficult to generate some energy in the tyres.

    Q: Bob, Pérez, why did he crash, what did he say when he got back to the garage?

    RF: I don’t think it was anything to do with them. He was trying to find the limit and found it! I agree with Eric and Cyril. It’s about tyres – and obviously the track was green. Tyres are probably a little bit hard compound. And maybe next year we’ll start going softer.

    eom/FIA transcript of the press conference

  • Ocon clarifies on his relationship with Perez

    PART TWO: DRIVERS – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes), Esteban OCON (Force India), Romain GROSJEAN (Haas)

    Q: Valtteri, if we can start with you. There’s no doubting the speed of this year’s Mercedes – the four wins are testimony to that – but it has proved tricky to set up. Can you predict how competitive you’re going to be this weekend – particularly as there’s no ultrasoft tyre? Or is it something you’re only going to find out when you take to the track tomorrow?

    Valtteri BOTTAS: No, I can’t predict. As we’ve seen it’s been extremely close in some races, well, most of the races between us and Ferrari, so it is very difficult to predict, especially on a track like this. Some sections, a bit like Monza, some a bit like Monaco. I think it’s going to be close again but, like you said, we sometimes had a bit of difficulty to get the car set up well and get the real confidence with the car and also to get all four tyres to work with each compound. So, impossible to predict.

    Q: Do you think the harder tyre compounds this weekend will help you?

    VB: I don’t think it’s going to help us in any way. The tyres are going to be the same for everyone, it is up to us to get them to work well and that is going to be through the set up.

    Q: Your boss Toto Wolff said this week at the FIA Sport Conference in Geneva that you’re in an uncomfortable position at the moment: still without a drive for 2018. Do you feel uncomfortable in this situation?

    VB: I feel normal – because every single year in Formula One for me I’ve had the same situation. I’ve had no idea at this point what’s going to be next year. So, for me it’s a normal situation.

    Q: Has the team told you when they’ll let you know?

    VB: Yeah. I know some kind of plan, when they’re planning to have things sorted – but that is between us. There’s no rush.

    Q: Esteban, Force India were attracting a lot of headlines after the Canadian Grand Prix, specifically about team orders. Can you just talk us through the closing laps from your point of view.

    Esteban OCON: Yeah. At that moment I had a different strategy than Sergio. I did push on the first stint a bit later, so I changed my tyres later than Sergio and I was a bit quicker. But the team took the decision to let us race, both, which is respectable, and great also to see that they trust us and let us race. So no, we had a good discussion after the race in the debrief. And I also called Sergio during the week when everyone was relaxed, and discussed our points. We’re all good now. All set for a new weekend and there is no tension between us.

    Q: So Sergio is still on your Christmas card list?

    EO: Yes! No problem.

    Q: Vijay Mallya said after the race in Montreal that there would be some new rules of engagement starting in Baku. So, having had those discussions in the debrief, can you tell us what those rules of engagement are?

    EO: You know what the headline… what Force India always does it let both drivers race. Of course, if there is a big difference of speed between the cars then they will for sure try to do something to always benefit the team at the end. But they didn’t really want to do that in Montreal, which I think is very respectable, as I said. Now we will see if we get other opportunities here to do a great result.

    Q: So if there is a role-reversal this weekend and you’re ahead and are asked to let Pérez through, would you do that?

    EO: I always respect team orders if there are.

    Q: Romain, it’s been a really encouraging few races for you. You’ve scored in three consecutive races for the first time in your Haas career – so where can you and the team go from here?

    Romain GROSJEAN: Afternoon. It’s a good question. I think from the first year we’ve shown that we’ve gained consistency and that the team is growing up and capitalising on good calls, good strategy, getting the best of the situation even though maybe the performance in Canada, for example, was not really good – but in the race it was a very aggressive strategy and, with a bit of luck at the end, we managed to score points. Monaco, we were pretty fast where we struggled last year. So I think we’ve moved a long way. Every time I look back and see what we’re doing I’m very proud of the team and kind of myself, because I was in there since day one and everything we’re achieving today is actually work that we’ve all done together. It’s a very special experience to build a team around you.

    Q: Just looking at this weekend specifically, you said in the team’s preview to this weekend that Baku is a mix of Monaco and Monza. Can you just elaborate what you mean by that and give us some insight into the set up challenges that this track presents?

    RG: Well, I think you’ve got the first sector, first part of the track where you’ve got a big, straight line, big braking and low speed corners which is what you’ve got in Monza: so, top speed and braking stability is important. Then from Turn Five onwards you’ve got much trickier sections: bumpy, up and down, tight, up and down again which is more like Monaco type of corners, so yeah, it’s a pretty tough one to set up the car: which compromise do you do? Which parts to you… yeah, get better? We’ve seen last year that some teams reduced a lot of the downforce for quali performance but then in the race after a few laps the tyres were gone. It’s just finding the right, and the sweet spots in between that quali pace and the race pace and where you’re going to set up your car.

    Q: And I guess you’re hoping for no plastic bags this year…?

    RG: That would be lovely! It didn’t help much our race last year.

    Of course, it got stuck in the radiator, didn’t it?

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – AP) Question for Esteban, you said you rang Sergio to discuss things. Can I just ask why you felt the need to do that if you’d already had a debrief beforehand?

    EO: Well, first of all we had a plane to catch just after so we were in a bit of rush to debrief. It’s always good to do it a little bit after, to talk when you know everyone’s relaxed and the weekend’s finished. To have a further talk was quite important I think. And we just discussed our points, discussed freely, just us both, together. I think it was important to do that. As I said, now everything is settled-down and we are ready to attack that race.

    Q: (Simon Lazenby – Sky Sports) Romain, just following up on Tom’s question there with regard to Haas and where you are at the moment. When you first came into the team you said you were happy, they’re building a team around you but right now do you think you’re ahead of the curve, 15 points, eighth in the championship? And at what point does your frustration – if you like – with wanting to become competitive boil over? For example, with the relationship with Ferrari, do you feel you would be first in line should a seat become available? 

    RG: Well, good question. I don’t know. I don’t know the answer. Life is full of surprises and if you ask Valtteri what he was doing on the 15th of December I’m sure he would say yeah, I’m going to go again with Willliams and next thing you know, you’re in a World Champion’s car. So it’s a phone call and the best we can do is to do the best job on track. I’m frustrated sometimes because I love winning and that’s all that matters to me in Formula One and obviously you come from other categories where you’ve won everything and then you come to F1 and you don’t get the chance to win a race because it’s like you were starting the race ten seconds behind the others. It’s done. But it’s great as well to see that we can start from zero – a new team – and we can build and we can surprise a lot of people. Everyone was ‘ah yeah, Haas coming into Formula One and they’ve got four years fulltime in the wind tunnel and they could be great’ and then last year we struggled a bit and then people were like ‘yeah, you know…’ That’s normal for Formula One but actually the whole process was to prepare for 2017 and we’re already on 2018 and trying to get better every year, and that’s finding resources, the effort and do what it takes to get there; it’s pretty important. I think the year started well, the problem of this year is that there are two Mercedes, two Ferraris and two Red Bulls in the first six positions and they’re already locked so the race kind of starts from P7 onwards and then Williams and Force India have been very fast recently so you’ve got one spot, maybe two spots in the top ten to score points so it’s pretty tricky. We lost a fair amount of points in Melbourne as well because of the issue in the power units when we were ahead of the midfield but generally I think we are working hard and I’m hoping that we can join a bit more the fight for bigger points.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Valtteri, last year you reached 370/380kph here, the highest speed in a Formula One race. Do you think that with these new cars with more downforce it will be difficult to reach this speed? 

    VB: I don’t think we’re honestly going to see that kind of speed now that the cars are more draggy, so it would nearly be a miracle if we can hit those kind of speeds with these bigger tyres and bigger wings. That’s my opinion.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Lap times? 

    VB: I think lap times will be quicker, I think it will be quicker. We are quite a lot quicker in the corners and apart from the two kilometre straight it is a lot of corners and that’s where you need the grip and downforce.

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) Valtteri, with regards to your future, you said there’s no rush. When do you think you will know, when do you want to know by? 

    VB: I don’t know when I will know. The timeline is quite flexible but like I said, there’s no rush really. For sure discussions will be opened soon, because as a driver, at some point, it’s always nice to know what you’re going to do next year but no more to say than that really. It’s still a bit early days for that and for sure I’m keen to have a long term relationship with Mercedes, that is my target, and that’s why every day I work hard and try to make the most out of every single situation and the race weekend.

    Q: Valtteri, are you in discussion with other teams, just in case? 

    VB: No.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) On the same subject, if you were a team principal and you had a new driver who is in a top team for the first time and makes pole position and win races in six rounds of the championship, until now, would you keep the driver? 

    VB: Of course! Yeah.

    Q: Would you re-sign yourself?

    VB: Of course.

    Q: (Ben Edwards – Channel 4) Valtteri and Romain, can you just give a bit more comment from both of you about driving this circuit, the challenge of driving this track and the sort of combination of types of corner, not just from a set-up point of view but from the driving point of view? And turn 15? We saw quite a lot of action in turn 15 last year. Is that still a critical corner here?

    VB: So yeah, it is definitely a challenge here. It is one of those places like Monaco or Singapore that you just can’t afford any mistakes when you’re going so close to the walls, sometimes even slightly touching them, so that’s always a challenge and there’s nice excitement as a driver and it’s one of those places where if you put in a nice qualifying lap for example, it’s really satisfying and you need to take some risks, can’t lose focus at all. I think the high speed section, leading to the main straight, those corners, last year, with new tyres, low fuel, they were just about flat out but this year it will be easier so I think in qualifying for example, it’s not going to be a big challenge to make them flat out but in the race, high fuel, worn tyres, following other cars, it’s still a challenge over there.

    RG: I think turn 15 is a tricky one from the nature of the corner, coming up the crest and then downhill and then it’s kind of a blind corner and the braking zone is not straight. It’s fairly tricky to find the right braking point and you’re in the corner and then you’ve got the off-camber feeling when the car’s on the edge and you go above that and you can lose the rear end. Turn 8, the tiny one, was surprisingly safe last year because I think it’s slower and when you get the line it’s a bit easier but with the wider cars this year you just need to be a bit careful because 20cms around there is a like a good 40 on normal corners.

    Q: A lot of people were predicting incident and accident in last year’s Grand Prix here but that didn’t happen. Eighteen of the 22 cars finished. Are you guys going to take more risks this year? 

    VB: We were kind of lucky, you know, after seeing all the GP2 races, now F2, how many safety cars and virtual safety cars they had whereas we actually had none and there was not much action. I think it is a track that normally with this type of track things will happen so my guess is that we’re going to see a bit more of a mess than maybe before but who knows. We’re always taking risks and always calculating risks, how much you take and there’s no other from last year to this year that you…

    RG: It depends how the race goes. Rosberg last year was far ahead and then Lewis was at the back having various issues and then there were many fights in the field. We’re human beings; after seeing all the GP2 races everyone I guess was like yeah, let’s take it 99 percent and not 101 and that’s why the race went very smoothly.

    Q: (Simon Lazenby – Sky Sports) I know it was a long question, my last one Romain, but sorry to press you on it but can I just clear up with you what your relationship is with Ferrari right now and whether your people are talking to their people about your future? 

    RG: I’ve got an engine, a gearbox, suspensions so… I think it’s early days and we’re not even in July. Who knows what the F1 grid is going to be like next year. Valtteri is of course waiting on Mercedes, then there’s the Kimi case, what is he going to do? Everyone thinks he’s going to be out of Formula One since 2010 and here we are in 2017 and he’s 38 and he’s still here doing a decent job. So I don’t know. If there is an opportunity, if there is a seat, I believe I’m in a good position but it doesn’t necessarily mean anything.

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) Esteban, just before the Monaco Grand Prix you were speaking, you said you were confident you could get a podium fairly soon. Given the last race, how encouraged are you that this is just around the corner, the podium for you?

    EO: Yeah, this is my target to be scoring a podium before the end of the season, that’s the goal I’ve set myself and that’s what I want to achieve and I’m pretty pleased with my progression since Melbourne. I’ve been feeling more and more comfortable with the car and just improving step by step and now I’m starting to feel really well and I think if we have a great car here why not, we can achieve it. I will definitely push for that so we will have to see where we are after practice but if it’s not here, I will keep pushing 100 percent to get it later.

    eom/FIA transcript of the press release

  • Aaroh dominates National Rotax Karting

    Hyderabad, 20 June 2017: Aaroh Ravindra (Team Rayo Racing) from Mumbai, won the Senior final of the FMSCI National Rotax Karting Championship here on Sunday.

    A press release from Rayo Racing said: Ravindra overcame multiple issues in practice and the heats to put up a stellar drive to finish on top. A DNF (did not finish) in heat 2 meant that Aaroh had to start in sixth place for the pre-final. A good start and skilled racing saw the 19-year old Mumbai youngster make his way up the order to win the pre-final ahead of Bangalore-based Rayo Racing teammate, Danesh Vakharia.

    His victory meant that he started the final on pole. A good start saw him build up a good lead. As the field settled down behind him, Nirmal Umashankar (Meco Racing) from Chennai and Manav Sharma (BPC Racing) from Faridabad emerged as the only challengers. Their battle with each other helped Aaroh stay out of danger and he coasted to victory ahead of Umashankar & Sharma.

    Aaroh’s drive is sponsored by IndiKarting, Tata Motors, JK Tyre & Rayo Racing, thanks to him being the runner up of the JK Tyre IndiKarting National Series Powered by Tata Motors, last season. “I practically had no practice on Thursday & Friday. The first time I actually went fast was only in the heats. It was fantastic to come from behind & win the prefinals. I must thank the team for the hard work under difficult circumstances. I must also than Tata Motors, JK Tyre & IndiKarting for also sponsoring” said an elated Aaroh who now leads the National Championship.

    The Junior & Micro Categories were dominated by Bangalore racers, Yash Aradhya (Meco Racing) & Ruhaan Alva (Birel ART) respectively. Both won the pre finals & finals as well.

    Final (Provisional) Results: Senior : 1.  Aaroh Ravindra. Mumbai (Rayo Racing); 2.       Nirmal Umashankar. Chennai (Meco Racing); 3.       Manav Sharma. Faridabad (BPC Racing).

    Junior : 1.       Yash Aradhya. Bangalore (Meco Racing); 2. Chirag Ghorpade, Bangalore (BPC Racing); 3. Muhammad Ibrahim, Pune (BPC Racing).

    Micro : 1. Ruhaan Alva. Bangalore (Birel Art); 2.  Arjun Rajiv, Bangalore (Pregrine Racing); 3.  Saathvik Raju, Bangalore (Pregrine Racing).

    eom/Rayo Racing press release

  • Hamilton wins; Vettel recovers to 4th

    Lewis Hamilton scored a comfortable Canadian Grand Prix victory ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas as championship leader Sebastian Vettel recovered from early race problems to finish fourth behind Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo. Canadian rookie Lance Stroll, meanwhile, scored his first career F1 points with ninth place.

    At the start Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen made the best getaway to shoot down the inside to claim P2 as leader Hamilton went into Turn 1. Slow-starting front-row starter Sebastian Vettel was swamped. Bottas passed him as Vettel sustained broken wing elements in a small collision with Verstappen. He would later pit on lap five for running repairs that dropped him to the rear of the field.

    Vettel succeeded, however, in fending off a hard-charging Daniel Ricciardo who had passed Kimi Raikkonen when the lights went out.

    In the midfield there were more incidents however. Carlos Sainz and Romain Grosjean collided, with the result that Sainz was pitched into a spin. He sailed out backwards through Turn 3 and slammed into Felipe Massa as he did so. The Toro Rosso and Williams drivers were instantly ruled out, but Grosjean managed to continue after a wing repair and a set of supersoft tyres.

    The incident brought out the safety car as the two cars were recovered and on the re-start Bottas attempted to pass Verstappen around the outside into Turn 1. The Dutchman was alive to the threat, however, and fended off the attack well.

    Bottas wouldn’t have to wait too long to get past the Red Bull man, however.

    On lap 11 Verstappen’s Red Bull suffered a sudden and total loss of power on the exit of Turn 2. He was forced to pull over and retire. Bottas inherited second place with Ricciardo third.

    At the front, Hamilton was carving out a lead and by lap 20 he was six seconds clear of team-mate Bottas. Ricciardo, meanwhile, pitted on lap 18 and took on soft tyres. The Australian dropped to sixth and then began to work his way back up the order.

    It was a similar story for Vettel. The German had fallen to P18 after his early pit stop and despite losing more front wing elements the German quickly worked his work through the pack to sit in P8 by lap 22.

    By lap 28, Hamilton was 24.4s ahead of Force India’s Esteban Ocon. Both were still on their starting ultrasoft tyres, but both were lapping in the 1m16s, matching the pace of Bottas on soft tyres. Ricciardo was now fourth, though the Red Bull driver was now 12.4s behind Bottas and almost 13s behind Ocon.

    Hamilton and Ocon eventually pitted on lap 32. Both took on supersofts and while Hamilton rejoined in the lead, Ocon dropped to sixth place, between the Ferrari’s of Raikkonen and Vettel. At the front, after one stop, Hamilton led Bottas by just over 10 seconds with Ricciardo third a further 13 seconds back and with Perez now in fourth place.

    By lap 49 Ricciardo was beginning to come under sustained pressure from Perez. The Australian’s engineer Simon Rennie told him that if he could withstand the pressure for a spell then the Mexican’s times would begin to drop off as his supersoft tyres faded. Behind them, Vettel pitted for a second time from P6 on lap 49, taking on ultrasoft tyres for a final push towards the flag, with his race engineer Ricardo Adami informing him that he should catch his rivals ahead in the closing stages. Vettel duly began setting purple lap times, recording a fastest race lap of 1:15.431 on lap 51 and then taking another three tenths out of that time on the next tour.

    Perez, meanwhile was having no luck in attacking Ricciardo and by lap 56 the Force India pit wall was imploring him to allow the quicker Ocon through to try to pass the Red Bull. Perez, though, was ill disposed to the tactic and resolutely refused to cede the position, insisting that he would have an opportunity to pass Ricciardo.

    Behind them Raikkonen went wide at the final chicane and that allowed Vettel through to attack the Force Indias. He seized the chance and by lap 64 was just 0.4s behind Ocon.

    As Ocon tried to exert more pressure on his team-mate, Vettel attacked. Ocon tried to resist but ended up going wide and then lost position to the German.

    That put Vettel through to P5 and he quickly reeled in Perez, eventually passing the Mexican with two laps left.

    The tussling had given Ricciardo breathing room and as the final laps began he was 3.9s ahead of Vettel. The Ferrari driver closed in rapidly but there wasn’t enough time and the Red Bull driver was able to hold third behind easy winner Hamilton and Bottas.

    With Vettel fourth ahead of Perez and a disgruntled Ocon, seventh place went to Raikkonen and eighth to Hulkenberg. In ninth place was local hero Lance Stroll, the Williams rookie putting in an excellent, aggressive drive to rise from 17th on the grid to take his first career points on home soil. The final point was taken by Haas’ Romain Grosjean.

    eom/FIA press release

  • Aishwarya Pissay wins historic first National Championship race for ladies in a thrilling duel

    Aishwarya Pissay wins historic first National Championship race for ladies in a thrilling duel

    Aishwarya Pissay of Bengaluru tops the maiden ladies class National Championship race to complete a double. Image by Sriharsha Nadiger, Special Arrangement with INDIAinF1.

    Coimbatore, 10 June 2017: The girls race in the Rolon round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship lit up an overcast day marked by intermittent showers with Bengaluru’s Aishwarya Pissay of Apex Racing Academy team winning a thrilling battle at the Kari Motor Speedway, here on Saturday.

    The day’s programme was truncated due to rains in the evening and two scheduled races will be run on Sunday that will have an early start at 9 am, it was officially announced.

    In a very close and thrilling eight-lap race, pole-sitter Aishwarya was off to a bad start and briefly slid to third before recovering to take the lead. However, she got embroiled in a tight battle with Kalyani Potekar (Madhya Pradesh, Speed Up Racing) who nosed ahead in the last lap before committing an error at Turns 3 and 4 where Aishwarya got a jump on her to win the race.

    While Kalyani was left to rue her riding errors in the last lap to finish second, Chennai’s Alisha Abdullah (Alisha Abdullah Racing Academy) came in third.

    “I had a very bad start. I don’t know what happened but I managed to regain my track position. I had a tough battle with Kalyani and in the last lap, I managed to close the door on her and it gave me just enough breathing space to win the race,” said Aishwarya who later won the TVS girls race, a support event, for a creditable double.

    Another impressive winner on the day was Kerala’s Amarnath Menon of Gusto Racing who topped in the Super Sport Indian 300-400cc after front-runner Antony Peter (Kingdom Motorsport) packed up after the first lap.

    Finishing second behind Menon, who faced little competition after he took the lead, was his team-mate Arun Muthukrishnan with Vivek Pillai (Rockers Racing) completing the podium.

    One of the highlights of Sunday’s programme will be a 40-rider grid in the Stock (up to 165cc, Novice) race. The initial 58 entrants went through a process of qualifying and heats in two batches to make the grid for the race.

    The results (Provisional):

    National Championship – Super Sport Indian (300-400cc, 10 laps): 1. Amarnath Menon (Gusto Racing) (12mins, 49.080secs); 2. Arun Muthukrishnan (Gusto Racing) (12:56.517); 3. Vivek Pillai (Rockers Racing) (12:57.274).

    Stock (Novice, up to 165cc) – Heat 1 (8 laps): 1. Aditya Rao (Sparks Racing) (11:34.049); 3. Satyanarayana Raju (Sparks Racing) (11:38.535); 3. Nithish Kumar N (Sparks Racing) (11:40.161). Heat 2: 1. Akshay VM (Palghat) (11:35.275); 2. Navin A (Salem) (11:40.414); 3. AS Alexander (Chennai) (11:45.644).

    GIRLS – (Stock, up to 165cc, 8 laps): 1. Aishwarya Pissay (Bengaluru, Apex Racing Academy) (12:13.213); 2. Kalyani Potekar (Madhya Pradesh,  Speed Up Racing) (12:13.467); 3. Alisha Abdullah (Chennai, Alisha Abdullah Racing Academy) (12:15.613).

    One-Make Championship – Honda CBR150 (Novice, 8 laps): 1. Satya Narayana (Hyderabad) (14:27.445); 2. Bharath BS (Erode) (14:38.111); 3. Syed Nawas N (Chennai) (14:39.523).

    TVS Apache RTR 200 (Novice, 8 laps): 1. Peddu Sriharsha (Chennai) (14:22.692); 2. Shankar Guru (Chennai) (14:28.962); 3. Anup Kumar M (Chennai) (14:42.639).

    Support Race – TVS Girls race (8 laps): 1. Aishwarya Pisay (Bengaluru) (12:20.723); 2.Soundari (Chennai) (12:43.922); 3.Kokila Shiva Shankar (Banglaore) (12:59.397).

    eom/AP Media Comm. Press Release

  • M-Sport’s Ott Tanak leads Rally Italia: WRC

    M-Sport’s Ott Tanak leads Rally Italia: WRC

    M Sport’s Tanak takes a big jump in Rally Italia which he leads. An M-Sports image

    M-Sport’s Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja lead the way at Rally Italia Sardegna – currently holding a 24.3 second advantage at the head of the field.

    Having delivered an intelligent drive through the challenging terrain, the Estonians are now in with a chance of securing a maiden FIA World Rally Championship victory and another win for the Ecoboost-powered Ford Fiesta WRC.

    Team Principal, Malcolm Wilson OBE, said:

    “It’s been a fantastic drive from Ott and Martin. Working with the team they made a great decision on the set-up for this afternoon and now have a good lead going into tomorrow.

    “I was actually speaking with Markko Martin yesterday evening and I said that if Ott could just fine-tune the set-up then he would have a real chance of challenging – he has done exactly that today.

    “As we’ve already seen, anything can happen, but he’s in a strong positon at the moment. He’s looking comfortable behind the wheel and just has to continue exactly as he has all weekend.

    “Fingers crossed that we can deliver another magic WRC moment tomorrow.”

    TÄNAK AND JÄRVEOJA

    RALLY LEADERS AFTER STAGE FIFTEEN

    Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja have delivered an intelligent strategy to lead the way at Rally Italia Sardegna – maintaining a margin through the early stages and increasing their advantage this afternoon.

    With a good feeling behind the wheel of their Ford Fiesta WRC, the Estonians posted a top-three time through all of today’s speed tests and claimed three stage victories on their way to the head of the standings.

    Stage performances:

    SS10: =3rd (+4.2)
    SS11: 3rd (+5.1)
    SS12: 1st
    SS13: 1st
    SS14: 1st
    SS15: 3rd (+1.9)

    Ott Tänak (1st) said:

    “It’s been a big fight all rally and I’ve really enjoyed it. Some guys have been dropping out, but we’ve been doing a good job and all we need to do now is keep going and continue exactly as we have been.

    “I think we had a good strategy for this weekend. Sardinia is a very special event and it needs a very special approach. You always need to keep that margin and that is what we have done and what we plan to continue doing.

     “A massive thanks to the team as the car has been perfect this afternoon. They’ve been working flat-out all hours of the day – literally – and we wouldn’t be sitting here in the first position if it weren’t for them.

    “There’s still 40 kilometres of very demanding stages left to come, but there’s a good gap now and we just need to finish the job.”