INDIA in F1

Author: David Bodapati

  • Marquez takes pole; Vinales P2 with Rossi in P3

    Marquez takes pole; Vinales P2 with Rossi in P3

    Austin, 22 April 2017: Marc Marquez extended his record of most Pole Positions in Grand Prix history across all classes, taking the 67th pole in career (his 39th in the MotoGP class, his second in a row this season and his fifth in a row at Austin at the Circuit of the Americas on Saturday. Marc worked hard with his team on race pace on used tyres and despite suffering two crashes (without consequences) in FP3, he was able to regain good confidence on his RC213V and keep a fast pace, according to a Repsol Honda release.

    While the stunning dash by the reigning champion got him another pole, the winner of the first two races, Vinales was second and multiple winner Valentino Rossi is third.

    Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team‘s Maverick Viñales scored a position on the front row with second place in this afternoon‘s qualifying for tomorrow‘s Grand Prix of The Americas. Teammate Valentino Rossi also pushed his YZR-M1 to the limit at the Circuit of The Americas (COTA), claiming third place on the grid in the final minutes, adds Movistar Yamaha release.

    The Movistar Yamaha MotoGP riders wrapped up today‘s intense Qualifying 2 session with some red-hot laps, securing Yamaha its first double front row start of the 2017 MotoGP season and setting the stage for a thrilling race.

    Viñales waited for most of his competition to head out at the start of the 15-minute qualifying session. Wasting no time, his first flying lap was looking promising, but traffic on the track spoiled his efforts in the final corner. His second attempt, a 2‘03.912s, moved him to second place before he rushed back to the box for a fresh set of tyres.

    With four minutes remaining, the young Spaniard pulled out all the stops to earn first place. He narrowed the gap to provisional pole to 0.083s with a 2‘03.125s, but knew he had a margin for improvement left. He made good on his promising pace, when he dropped a 2‘02.871s to briefly take over pole, before being pushed back to second after the flag was out. Nevertheless, Viñales is perfectly satisfied to have secured his second front row start for Yamaha, 0.130s from the front.

    Teammate Rossi went straight into action as soon as the green light signalled the start of the 15-minute time attack. The Italian’s first lap initially lifted him to fifth, but he dropped to eighth when all riders had completed their first attempt. The long American track allowed him one more try and he responded soon with a 2’04.758s for seventh, but was back in eighth when he entered pit lane for a quick stop.

    The Doctor returned to the pits with around six minutes on the clock and quickly changed tyres in under 60 seconds, before heading back out. Having dropped to tenth place, he was determined to show what he got and cleverly searched for some clear space on track. He perfectly timed his final attack, stepping up his pace on his seventh lap to better his time to a 2’03.673s  to take third, 0.932s from first.

    Dani Pedrosa, fourth

    Pedrosa, who was another victim (among many others today) of the tricky track conditions and had a small, inconsequent tumble at the end of FP4, also lapped among the fastest during the day and set the fourth-fastest lap in qualifying, missing out on the front row by just 0.193”.

    Marc Marquez, 

    POLE POSITION  2’02.741

    Marquez celebrates with team after taking COTA pole on Saturday. A Repsol Honda image

    “This pole makes me feel really good because I honestly didn’t expect it, or actually I thought it would be difficult. In fact, even considering that this circuit suits my riding style, I’ve been struggling a bit this weekend. We knew that our opponents were very strong on new tyres and we worked a lot on race distance, and I felt better on race pace than on qualifying pace. But anyway, this is a track I love, so I told myself, ‘Let’s try!’ and on my last lap I pushed to my maximum, doing my best, and we got another pole here in Austin which is very good. I’m happy with the team; we changed many things on the bike over the weekend and step-by-step we regained some confidence, so this afternoon we just focused on keeping a good pace and it worked well. We did a good job in FP4. I feel quite good on used tyres so we’ll see what we can do tomorrow.”

    eom/Honda and Yamaha releases

  • Maini tops 1st session in Barcelona: GP3 2nd test

    Maini tops 1st session in Barcelona: GP3 2nd test

    Barcelona, 19 April 2017: Arjun Maini has set the bar for the second GP3 Series pre-season test by topping the timesheets this morning at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona, with the Indian grabbing the top spot late in a session which started with rain and ended on a fully dry track with a laptime of 1:34.163, just three tenths faster than Niko Kari and Santino Ferrucci.

    The session opened to unexpectedly cold and wet conditions, and although all drivers were straight out for installations there was no meani

    Arjun Maini at second Test at barcelona Pic by Zak Mauger/GP3 Media Service (1).jpg Image added on 20 April 2017 from second day action.

    ngful running, with the ART quartet the only drivers to set laptimes, and well off the regular pace. Anthoine Hubert led the way at the one hour mark, with teammate George Russell taking over at the halfway mark, but it was only around the second hour that drivers were switching to slicks and setting competitive times, with Nirei Fukuzumi taking over on top of the timesheets.

    The field made up for lost time in the final hour, with Kari setting the pace with 45 minutes remaining on 1:35.367, with Ferrucci slotting into P2 briefly before being displaced by Fukuzumi just seconds before the American grabbed the top spot by two tenths. The Japanese driver struck back with half an hour remaining, breaking the 35s barrier with a 1:34.761, ahead of Leonardo Pulcini and Ferrucci, but with ten minutes to go Maini grabbed the top spot by half a second, and then went even quicker with 5 minutes remaining to secure the top of the timesheets.

    With the times tumbling late in the session not everyone had time to respond: 8 drivers are within 1 second of Maini’s time, and all bar one are within 2 seconds. There will be time for a further answer when the teams return to their pits after lunch, in two hours’ time.

    Day 1 Morning results

    Driver Team Laptime Laps
    1 Arjun Maini Jenzer Motorsport 1:34.163 24
    2 Niko Kari Arden International 1:34.522 23
    3 Santino Ferrucci DAMS 1:34.651 16
    4 Nirei Fukuzumi ART Grand Prix 1:34.761 45
    5 Leonardo Pulcini Arden International 1:34.828 19
    6 Raoul Hyman Campos Racing 1:34.877 18
    7 Dorian Boccolacci Trident 1:34.929 12
    8 Giuliano Alesi Trident 1:35.146 13
    9 Alessio Lorandi Jenzer Motorsport 1:35.173 16
    10 Marcos Siebert Campos Racing 1:35.249 19
    11 Kevin Joerg Trident 1:35.261 14
    12 Steijn Schothorst Arden International 1:35.330 19
    13 Anthoine Hubert ART Grand Prix 1:35.379 45
    14 Julien Falchero Campos Racing 1:35.407 25
    15 Tatiana Calderon DAMS 1:35.415 17
    16 Bruno Baptista DAMS 1:35.639 17
    17 Jack Aitken ART Grand Prix 1:35.748 41
    18 George Russell ART Grand Prix 1:36.094 40
    19 Ryan Tveter Trident 1:36.545 12

    eom/Source: www.GP3series.com

  • Jehan makes an impressive F3 Euro debut

    Jehan makes an impressive F3 Euro debut

    Silverstone, 19 April 2017: Sahara Force India Academy racer, Jehan Daruvala had an impressive debut in the highly competitive FIA Formula 3 European Championship. The Mumbai-based teenager stepped up to F3, after two commendable seasons in Formula Renault 2.0. Jehan’s first F3 weekend saw him on pace with the front runners and earned him two rookie podiums by Sunday.

    The first round of the 2017 F3 calendar was held at the famed 5.9km Silverstone Formula 1 circuit. Jehan was 11th in the first practice but improved significantly to finish third in the second session, just 0.28 seconds off the quickest time. Jehan continued his impressive pace to qualify fifth out of 19 racers in the first qualifying session. He was 0.28 seconds off the local British racer Lando Norris who bagged pole. Qualifying session 2 saw Jehan narrow down the gap to 0.173 seconds off pole, set by Callum Illot. With such a small gap, Jehan who is with Carlin team is qualified 6th which shows the competitiveness of the series.

    Race 1 started under the safety car due to rain and Jehan did not have an ideal race. He soon dropped down the order to 8th, before falling even further. Once the conditions improved, Jehan was able to make back some ground and eventually finished in the points with tenth. “Testing here, was under much better conditions. It took me a bit of time to adjust to the damp conditions on slick tyres which lost me a few places. It is good that I was able to recover at the end and finish in the points in my first F3 race” said Jehan after Race 1, which was eventually won by Norris.

    The start of Race 2 went terrible for Jehan. Overnight rain meant that the inside of the track was still wet and most racers on that side of the track had a bad start. As they fell down the order, Jehan found himself in 14th  after the start! Jehan was on pace immediately though and he slowly started climbing back, up the order. Ahead of him, race 1 winner Lando Norris also had a bad start and Jehan went on to have an exciting battle with Lando. On the last lap of the race, Jehan got the better of him and overtook Lando for eighth and finished in the same position.  Jehan’s impressive pace saw him overtake more cars than anyone else in race 2 which was won by Swedish racer Joel Eriksson.

    In the Rookie classification in Race 2, Jehan was second behind Mick Schumacher while Lando was 3rd .

    Race 3 grid was based on the second fastest lap in Qualifying 2. Jehan started well from fifth and managed to hold his position. Soon he overtook Lando to move into fourth. Jake Dennis joined them to make it a three car battle and soon got the better of Lando. Jehan then made a small mistake which allowed Lando to overtake both cars at one time, dropping Jehan to fifth once again. Jehan was then overtaken by Jake, which dropped Jehan to sixth, where he eventually finished. Callum Illot won the race.

    In the rookie classification in Race 3, Jehan once again bagged the trophy for coming 2nd behind Lando Norris while Joey Mawson was third.

    “ There were many positives from my first weekend in Formula 3. Qualifying 5th, 6th and 5th for the 3 races of the weekend and finishing in the points in all 3 races was very satisfying. The experience of battling through the field from 14th to 8th in Race 2 and the top 6 finish in Race 3 was a good result. I must thank everyone at Carlin for the hard work they have put in over the winter to give me a competitive car.”

    Jehan came away from the first event 3rd in the Rookie Championship and 8th in the overall table. Jehan’s next race will be at the end of April where the FIA Formula 3 European Championship will race alongside the World Touring Car Championship in Monza.

    eom/Rayo Racing press release

    Jehan Daruvala on way to podium in Silverstone on Sunday (16 Apr 2017). A Rayo Racing image

  • Celis Jr completes 71 laps for Force India

    Bahrain, 18 April 2017: Unmindful of team principal Vijay Mallya’s arrest and subsequent release on bail, the Sahara Force India successfully completed the first day of testing at the Bahrain International Circuit, with Alfonso Celis Jr. behind the wheel.

    With a best lap time of 1:33.939, Alfonso Celis Jr. finished tenth in the order but his 71 laps were very useful to the Force India programme.

    Alfonso said: “It was a straightforward day for me and I completed more than a race distance. There have been a lot of changes since I last was in the car in Barcelona and the first few laps were a bit of a learning process. Fortunately the aero programme at the start of the day gave me some time to get used to the car again. We were able to complete some performance runs in the afternoon, but I ran into traffic each time so I couldn’t really take everything out of the car. The temperatures out there were much hotter than I’ve ever experienced on these tyres and it was useful for me to understand how to manage and look after them. All in all, I felt pretty comfortable in the car and I am happy with my performance”

    Chief race engineer Tom McCullough said: “It was not a trouble-free day with our programme disrupted by the numerous red flags for other cars, which always seemed to come out at the worst possible times. Despite this, we managed to work through our priority test items and will try and catch up with the remaining tasks tomorrow. We had a busy programme with aerodynamic rakes fitted to the car carrying out mapping and correlation work, even though the windy conditions made the latter quite difficult. Alfonso quickly settled back into the VJM10 and drove very sensibly to help us get through our test programme. He didn’t make any mistakes and showed good improvement. Our race drivers will be back in the car tomorrow for the final day of testing.”

  • Mixed bag for Sarath: FIM Asia Road Racing

    Mixed bag for Sarath: FIM Asia Road Racing

    File photo of Sarath Kumar by Anand Philar

    Buriram, 17 April 2017: India’s Shankar Sarath Kumar and his team RAMA Honda Racing by NTS T.Pro Ten10 had mixed fortunes in the FIM Asia Road Racing Championship here over the weekend.

    Sarath Kumar picked up three points from the first race of the SuperSport 600cc class, but drew blank in the next while team-mate Rajiv Sethu missed the Asia Production 250cc double-header due to a crash during free practice session.

    Both the Chennai-based riders are supported by Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India and Honda Motorsports Japan besides John Sudheer of RAMA Group of Companies and are part of a five-rider team.

    For Sarath Kumar, it was hard work through the race weekend, but he did well to gradually improve his timings that reflected his ability to adapt to the 600cc bike as he scored points for the third consecutive race this season to take his tally to seven from two rounds.

    However, in the second race, Sarath battled to control the bike, especially through some of the corners and came away without any points.

    Rajiv Sethu could not start the races in the AP250 due to crash he suffered in the third Free Practice session. The bike is damaged and as it was a new model bike, the frame was not available immediately and hence he had to sit out the weekend.

    Team manager Ramji Govindarajan said: “Overall, it was not a great weekend for the whole team. Out top rider Taiga Hada (Japan) had a crash in Race 1 and finished seventh in the next to score some points.

    “Our only other rider in the AP250 class, Tomoyoshi Koyama managed to finish sixth and seventh in the two races with the bike still under development. He fought hard with the second batch of riders who still had faster bikes.

    “We now look ahead to Suzuka round in June. With much deserved recovery, training and development time for the team and the riders, we will re-group strongly for the Suzuka outing.”

    eom/FMSCI release

  • Amanpreet crowned king of mountains in JK Tyre Festival of Speed

    Amanpreet crowned king of mountains in JK Tyre Festival of Speed

     

    Dirang Valley (Arunachal Pradesh), 17 April 2017: Former Indian National Rally Champion Amanpreet Ahulawalia emerged as the undisputed king of the mountains as he claimed the JK Tyre Arunachal Festival of Speed crown here at the spectacular Dirang Valley on Monday.

    The Noida-based veteran rallyist and his navigator Ajay Kumar were virtually unbeatable on each of the three days, conquering eight of the ten stages to pocket a major chunk out of the total prize money of Rs 10 lakh.

    On the third and final day too, he won the first three Special Stages before easing up on the last one. He finished all the stages, including the Super Special Stage on Day 1, in just over an hour to win with an impressive 27 second lead.

    “It was an honour to compete against so many good drivers and good cars,” said Amanpreet graciously. “But as a driver I am more comfortable in the hills, especially where it’s more about technique than speed, and I guess that’s where I scored,” he explained.

    Amanpreet, who owns one of the largest rally car workshops in India, gave all the credit to his 1300cc turbo charged Gypsy. “I worked on it for three months, and was managing to produce close to 150-odd bhp power that is pretty good for a gypsy. I guess that was the only good and best part of my car: the engine,” he said, flashing a triumphant smile.

    Coorg’s INRC regular KM Bopaiah went all out in his 1600cc Vento but still has to settle for the second place. He was barely 2 or 3 seconds off the leader in each of the stages, and even claimed the final stage, but the 28 second deficit over the first two days proved to be a bridge too far to cross.

    He finished all the stages in an equally commendable one hour and 29 seconds. “I gave it my all in the Special Stages. But I guess my car wasn’t suited for some of the rough terrains and the uphill climbs,” he said.

    Delhi’s Sandeep Sharma held on to his position to take the third place. His feat was particularly laudable as he was driving a stock car, and it was clear on the second day itself that it was struggling. “I knew I had a huge disadvantage. But I pushed myself and my car to our limits today as I firmly believe that that’s the only thing that counts, not where you finish,” he said.

    In the Autocross for local talent, Babit Lyngdoh continued his good run to win the last two sprints on Monday to become the local hero.

    Maninder, wife of Sandeep Sharma and the only lady driver in this category, slipped from her second place to finish fourth.

    About JK Tyre

    Part of the JK Organisation, JK Tyre & Industries Limited is a leading four-wheeler tyre manufacturer in India and among the top-25 manufacturers in the world with a wide range of products catering to diverse business segments in the automobile industry. JK Tyre has global presence in 100 countries across

    Amanpreet Ahluwalia won the 4th JK TYRE Arunachal Festival of Speed in Dirang on Monday. Image by JK Tyre Motorsports

    six continents, backed by production support from 12 plants – 9 in India and 3 in Mexico. Currently, the capacity across all its plants is about 35 million tyres per annum. In April 2016 JK Tyreacquired Cavendish India Limited from Birla Tyres. While acquisition added three modern plants to its portfolio taking the total count to 12, it helped the tyre major foray into the two/three wheeler segment as well. Pioneers of radial technology, JK Tyre produced the first radial tyre in 1977 and is currently the market leader in Truck Bus Radial segment. With over three decades of technological innovation, JK Tyre offers tyre for entire range of passenger and commercial vehicles, starting from a 3 kg two-wheeler tyre to a 3.5 ton OTR tyre. Apart from a strong network of 4000 dealers and over 200 dedicated outlets, JK Tyre was the first tyre company to introduce unique concepts like “Dial-a-Tyre” and is the only tyre company to launch a 24×7 on-road tyre assistance initiative called “Fix-a-Tyre”.

    eom/JK Tyre press release

  • It was a great team effort, says Vettel

    DRIVERS

    1 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

    2 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    3 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by David Coulthard)

    Sebastian, your 44th victory. Normally 44 is a lucky number for Lewis but you’ve just added another win, your third time here in Bahrain, but most importantly the second of the season out of three races, great day.

    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, really a great day. I don’t know what to day. The last half of the in-lap when all the fireworks were there and track was lit up, it was. I just love what I do. I didn’t find any words. It was a really great team effort today. Right after the start I could feel that ‘yeah, we’re quick, we can have a word’. So really tried to put Valtteri under pressure. He didn’t do any mistakes. It was difficult down the straights to get near him. But then we obviously went for the undercut, early pit stop, worked fantastic, very good job. But when the safety came initially I thought ‘not again!’

    Yeah but this time it worked for you…

    SV: I’m not sure.

    You pitted and then when you cleared another lap we had the safety car.

    SV: I think I was lucky because the others were just close to the pit lane so they couldn’t really benefit let’s say. I don’t know. I was a bit surprised when I came out ahead of all of them because I thought with the safety car we might have lost the advantage. After that it was good. The car was really amazing to drive. I had a good feeling yesterday, so for many laps it really worked well. It was just a pleasure. I could control the pace in the end. Lewis was obviously a bit of a threat again towards the end, with the traffic you never know. But a very controlled race, the car, as I said, was a dream today. Happy Easter and thank you very much.

    Q: Lewis, pit lane, what do you think of that? Those five seconds were pretty costly today?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah definitely, but firstly a big congratulations to Sebastian, he did a fantastic job today, and also a big thank you to Valtteri for being a gentleman out there. Obviously a very difficult race, it didn’t start out the best, but the pit lane was my fault, so apologies to the team for losing the time there. I tried my hardest to catch up but it was a long old way to go, it was 19 seconds. But I gave it everything I could but Ferrari did a great job today. So we’re going to push hard together, re-gather as a team and come back fighting.

    Q: You know, I’m noticing this year that even when you’re getting the wins, you’re very composed; you’re not too disappointed. What is this then? Do you really feel that this is going to be a long-game championship?

    LH: Of course the disappointment is there. Losing points for a team, particularly when you could have won the race is definitely painful, but it is what it is and all I can say is I gave it everything I could. Yeah, I mean, I’m getting old I’m catching you up.

    Q: You’ll never catch me up! Lewis congratulations. Valtteri, after the high of yesterday, a disappointing day. We heard you on the radio talking about struggling to keep the rears alive. What happened with the race balance? Talk us through that.

    Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, it was really a tricky race for me; struggling with the pace all through the race. I think in the first stint we found a bit of an issue with the tyre pressures and that explained the rear end struggle. But ever since that I was just rear limited and I was out of the tools on the steering wheel, so it was just oversteering all through the race, which is why the pace was slow, which is a real shame because for sure the target for today was a lot, lot higher.

    Q: It’s difficult to win in Formula One. You had a lot of support after that pole yesterday, especially within the team, so you’re feeling well settled in Mercedes?

    VB: Well, for sure I think this was overall the best weekend yet with the team, but there is much more to come.

    Well, we wish you luck with that journey. Back to Sebastian. You seem a little bit surprised by the ultimate qualifying. After qualifying the pace to Mercedes was a little bit down but you’re right in this championship, you’re leaving this grand prix leading the world championship.

    SV: Yeah, it’s a long year; I’m not really looking at that. As I said, I’m really enjoying, the car has been a pleasure. It was very good yesterday and I was a bit down because the gap was so big. I think we could have been a bit closer. But something inside me told me we have a good car and we can do well. Right from the first lap I felt the car was there and yeah, I think the Easter hunt was on. They were hiding some eggs but it looks like we found them today. No, really, really happy. Big thank you to the team, they have been working incredibly hard. The guy that has been up here, Matteo, works day and night at the track, in the factory. So really a lot of commitment from every single one and it’s great to see everything coming together.

    Q: Well, we can hear the marshals who have been supporting the grand prix celebrating by revving a motorbike here. You’ve got to say we have a tremendous welcome here in Bahrain, so it’s one your better grands prix?

    SV: Well, I guess. I’ve been reasonably successful the last couple of years. I love the trophy, I think it’s one of the most beautiful trophies we have, so when I crossed the line I was really happy because I knew we were going to get it, so I think we can leave here very happy. Not yet, because we’ve got the test next week, but yeah for now we just enjoy.

    Q: Are you doing the test?

    SV: Yes.

    You’re relentless aren’t you?

    SV: Well, I thought halfway through the race that I’m really looking forward already next time to jump in the car, which is in two days, so I’m looking forward to it.

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Congratulations Sebastian, obviously you got ahead of Lewis at the start. Tell us a bit about that and also the final stint, just judging the pace as he was coming through like a rocket, having come into the pits after you, how you measured that pace and measured your gap to him?

    SV: The start, obviously it was crucial for us to get between, to not allow them to get in their rhythm, pull away, do their thing. So, upset them a bit. I think we all had more or less the same start. Mine initially was maybe a tiny bit better than Lewis, which put me just about side-by-side – but their car is really long so it’s a long way to get side-by-side – but then I think I benefitted from the act I had a clear track ahead, Lewis was a bit stuck with Valtteri and it’s a bit of a tricky one to judge, so I could just take lots of risk under braking and get the move done. Then, the final stint, obviously we had quite a decent gap plus the safety margin of Lewis’ penalty – which I wasn’t sure why but it didn’t matter at that point – and I just tried to control the gap to Valtteri, maybe pulling away a little bit and at that point just controlling the gap. He was very fast when he came out. I was expecting him to be quick on a new set of supersoft tyres but probably not that quick and he was closing in. When I faced the traffic I lost a lot of time but then obviously he had to face traffic as well. In the end it was safe enough. At the beginning of the stint I really didn’t push at all, just took it easy and responded to what those two guys were doing, which obviously helped me at the end because I had a lot of tyres left.

    Lewis, coming to you, as Sebastian said, you had a tremendous amount of pace today but perhaps there were one or two too many setbacks to give you the chance to win: the start, obviously the penalty as well and the tyre choice for the final stint which you questioned on the radio. Maybe you could just drill down into those three for us.

    LH: Yeah, a challenging weekend. The start was OK but Sebastian was in my blind spot so I didn’t know whereabouts he was. I didn’t know where anyone was behind me. Valtteri got a good start and it was really just about covering him. I obviously lost position to Sebastian there. It was really hard to follow but we’re generally all similar kind of pace, and then yeah, completely my fault with the Safety Car. Supposed to have a five-second gap and I think I had a four-second gap. Just a misjudgement from myself. Valtteri was great to… obviously I had very good pace, particularly the second and last stint and I honestly believed I would be able to catch Sebastian up but obviously with a five-second penalty that made it twice as hard as it was already going to be. As I said, apologies to the team but I tried the best I could to recover it and we still got good points for the team today with a second and third but we still have this great fight and Sebastian did a great job and he had fantastic pace.

    And just on the tyre choice. You have a four-lap fresher only set of softs compared to Sebastian rather than a new set of supersofts. The team’s saying it was based on, presumably, Valtteri’s middle stint.

    LH: The tyre felt great so I believe it was the right choice. The team have generally been making really great choices this year. I thought it was going to be a supersoft but honestly I think the tyre was the best one, particularly for 16 laps pushing at the pace I was going was a long way to go. I don’t know if the supersoft would have lasted that long.

    Part of what informed that decision was, I guess, your supersoft stint Valtteri. Not the easiest but before that, Toto Wolff has said you had a problem with the generator on the grid that meant your tyres were over-inflated or had too high tyre pressure in the opening stint. Tell us about that.

    VB: Yeah, so I don’t know the exact issue but I was just told there was a problem with the tyre pressures, which I could really feel in the first stint since lap two. I was just sliding around with the rear end, struggling to get on power out of the corners, so the pace wasn’t good and Sebastian was really putting pressure and they could undercut us as well and trying to extend the first stint, I just couldn’t keep up with the pace. The tyres were just dropping. Then on the second stint it was a bit better initially. I think the second stint was not that far off. Still struggling with oversteer but much less than in the first one, and then the last stint, again, used the tools I had to adjust the car balance but still couldn’t get the rear end to work. Really strange race for me and the pace was disappointingly poor for me. Yeah, not a good day for me.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Question to Lewis and Valtteri. If you compare this race with Melbourne, is the softest compound a weakness for Mercedes? You seemed to have the same problem like in Melbourne that the rear tyres were going away.

    LH: I don’t really remember what the issue was in Melbourne. I think it was more front tyres – but I’m sure it was the rears as well. Here was maybe more rears, I would say – but yeah, I would say it’s similar.

    VB: At least for me personally yes. The softer compound has been more of a struggle with the tyres and also the hotter it is, more of a struggle. So something definitely for us to understand.

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Valtteri and Sebastian, can you tell us how difficult was the battle between the two of you?

    SV: For about the first stint. I passed you in the pit stop, didn’t I?

    VB: No, we were side-by-side at some point.

    SV: Ah,  the safety car, after the safety car. Yeah, that was hairy. I thought I did reasonably well on the restart. It was a bit tricky because we only got the message very late: ‘the safety car’s coming in’ and then, you can’t just be stupid and break the field down, do a stop-and-go but I tried to use a little bit of momentum. I thought I had a decent gap leaving the last corner and then… I don’t know, it felt like I had more headwind than in the whole race on that particular lap. I was fairly confident halfway down the straight, just looked in the mirror to check and he was coming. I saw sparks behind me everywhere and then I obviously had to defend. Yeah, then I wasn’t quite sure where he was under braking but I guess we were side-by-side so it was a lot closer than I expected, leaving the last corner. But fortunately, I stayed ahead.

    VB: Yeah, obviously it was getting close and I tried to make a move into turn four.

    SV: I was just thinking, then there was another one, exactly, because I had a bad exit and it was quite close tight. I think you locked a little bit and then I locked a little bit into turn four.

    VB: I was obviously outside so then it’s always tricky. There was some good racing but that was a short moment unfortunately.

    SV: I forgot about that…

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) To Bottas and Lewis: when the safety car came in, Sebastian had stopped on lap ten and the safety car came out on lap 13 and you entered the pits on the 13th lap, with the safety car. It looked like it would help a lot but for some reason it didn’t, maybe the opposite. Without the safety car, maybe Bottas could get out from the pits in front of Vettel. Do you have the same feeling? Did you have a slow stop?

    VB: Yes. Under safety car on the first stop, there was a problem with the pit stop. We lost a lot of time and maybe it would have been very very close. Maybe I would have been just in front but the team is still investigating what was the issue there. I think there was also some traffic as well because the stop was slow. One of the Red Bulls came into the pit lane and we couldn’t exit immediately so double the time.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Without the safety car?

    VB: I don’t know, to be honest.

    Q: And Lewis, I think you had… one of the front tyres was a bit slow coming off or going back on again or slight delay?

    LH: I couldn’t tell what the issue was but there was a bit of a delay. There was a domino effect, you know. If I had had a five second gap Valtteri would have pulled in, the Red Bull would have pulled in. I would have pulled in before the Red Bull, I would have got out before the Red Bull. It cascaded for me in the domino too early.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Sebastian, Kimi last year was many times in front of you. What have you done that nowadays he’s always behind you?

    SV: Well, I guess for a start, compared to last year, I’ve started the race. That helped. I had my – so far the only – and I hope it stays that way – DNS last year here so not even starting was quite a disappointment. And then, I don’t now, he was behind the Red Bull in the opening of the lap and so obviously we’ve seen that it’s quite tricky to pass. I was a bit faster in the opening stint than Valtteri but I couldn’t really get close enough and I guess he probably lost a bit of time and then I just saw the final result. I don’t know what happened to his race but I think he came back to fourth, not finishing too far behind Valtteri so I think for both of us the car probably worked really well today and yeah, I think it depends on… from my own experience, how the opening lap goes and so on, but this has usually been a very very good hunting ground for Kimi, so maybe the time loss on Friday for him with the issue he had in the car didn’t help but yeah, you do your own race and then I’m sure we will talk about it afterwards.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Sebastian, in the race simulation on Friday you didn’t look like you had a very good performance from the car and also qualifying seemed to confirm it. We had this impression, looking at the long runs. And suddenly, in the race, the performance was there. Did you change the car dramatically or did the conditions on the day change and help you?

    SV: No, from yesterday to today, you can’t change anything. Friday to Saturday we did a bit but yeah, it’s not that sudden. If we could go faster in qualifying we would because qualifying higher up is always advantageous. But yeah, I had a good feeling yesterday so I was a bit surprised by how big the gap was because the car felt really good and for today, I had a good feeling because Friday was a bit mixed, I wasn’t so happy with the car. We improved it for Saturday and I thought OK, if it stays like that then today can be a good race and after a couple of laps I felt everything was making sense and yeah, obviously I was in Valtteri’s gearbox for all of the first stint and not falling back too much so that was obviously good for us, a good start with the opening lap, getting between them and then yeah, the pace was certainly key today to win.

    Q: (Sef Harding – Xero Xone News) For Sebastian, it looks like the Prancing Horse has really come alive and it looks like you’re going to have a hero’s welcome back in Maranello. What has this done for the team and the morale of the team heading into Sochi?

    SV: Yeah, I think at this stage Sochi is quite far away so I’m not willing and I don’t think the team is really looking to Sochi right now. I think we enjoy the moment. Yeah, obviously we did a massive stint over the winter. I think last year was a very good year for us. It wasn’t good in terms of results, don’t get me wrong, but I think for the team, getting together, a lot of things that had changed now seem to start clicking. Obviously it helps when straight from the box, in testing, we had a good feeling. We looked reasonably competitive. Australia obviously was a massive boost for all the team and yeah, you can see when they are singing down there, and the whole factory has really come alive so that’s great and we need to just make sure we keep it going and yeah, keep enjoying that way, but for now, I think the team has obviously done a really really great job, a lot of hard work, commitment and as I said, things start to click and hopefully that sort of success now in the first couple of races helps us to build up some sort of momentum that maybe these guys had in the past and the last couple of years, so they will be the ones to beat. It’s a long season, but for now, as I said, looking forward to tonight.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, Sochi has suited you very well so far. Do you expect to have your best weekend because of that?

    VB: Well, for sure that’s the goal. I still haven’t definitely got… there’s no race results as I’ve been hoping for so it’s always the next one. Anyway, it would be the target to have a strong weekend but Sochi has normally been pretty good for me. I really like the track layout and I have always been comfortable there so we will see. It’s a completely different type of track again, completely different kind of temperatures, different asphalt so many different things. We’ll see.

    Q: (Ralph Woodall – L’Equipe) Valtteri, how did you feel when you were ordered by the team to let Lewis pass you?

    VB: Well, I think honestly as a racing driver it’s maybe the worst thing you want to hear. That’s how it is. For sure I did it because there was potential. Lewis could challenge Sebastian. In the end it didn’t happen but the team tried which I completely understand but personally it is tough but that’s life. I didn’t have enough pace today and we need to find the reasons why that was.

    eom/FIA transcript of the press conference

  • Vettel edges out Hamilton as Ferrari take Constructors lead: Bahrain GP

    Bahrain, 16 April 2017: Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel took his second victory of the season in Bahrain as Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton recovered from a poor start and a penalty to finish in second place ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas at the third round of the FIA Formula One (F1) World Championship here on Easter Sunday.

    Hamilton exerted intense pressure in the final stages, chopping deep into a 13-second deficit to Vettel but the German kept a cool head to thread through traffic and take the flag with 6.6 seconds in hand. Had Hamilton not earlier been penalised for holding up Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo during a pit stop, the battle might have been more nerve-wracking for Ferrari. Behind, Kimi Raikkonen was fourth in the second Ferrari ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo.

    At the race start, pole sitter Bottas led through Turn One. Hamilton, though, lost out and was passed by Vettel as the field streamed through the first corner. Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen made an excellent start to rise from sixth on the grid to fourth by the end of lap one, the Dutchman profiting from Hamilton’s poor start and the fact that the Briton backed up Daniel Ricciardo as they went into the first corner, with the result that the Australian was demoted to fifth ahead of Williams’ Felipe Massa. Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, meanwhile, dropped to seventh from fifth on the grid.

    Over the opening laps, Bottas was unable to carve out a significant lead and by the time the drivers were starting their 10th lap, just three seconds separated the top five drivers.

    With a Vettel was the first to take a strategic gamble, pitting on lap 11 to take on more supersofts. Verstappen noted it and request similar action but when he emerged from his first stop he almost immediately arrowed off track and into the barriers, reporting brake failure.

    Moments later Vettel’s early stop reaped dividends when the Safety Car was called into action when Carlos Sainz and Lance Stroll collided in Turn One, with the Williams’ driver’s car stranded on track.

    Bottas pitted and Vettel inherited the lead. Hamilton was brought into the pits at the same time as his team-mate and as he approached the pit entry the Briton slowed dramatically to minimise waiting time in the stacked stop. The result was that Ricciardo, also on his way to pit lane, was held up badly. The incident eventually led to a five-second penalty for Hamilton, who was punished for driving unnecessarily slowly in the pit lane.

    When they emerged supersoft-shod Vettel led from the similarly equipped Bottas, while Ricciardo and Hamilton, both now on softs, were in third and fourth respectively.

    When the safety car left the track, Ricciardo’s tyres appeared to be far from the right operating window and he was rapidly passed by Hamilton, Massa and Raikkonen.

    At the front, Vettel began to eke out a gap to Bottas and by lap 26 the German had 4.8s in hand over Bottas and a second more over Hamilton. On lap 27, though, Hamilton surged past Bottas to claim P2.

    Soon after, Ricciardo was also the move. Raikkonen had passed Massa and on lap 29 the Brazilian was passed by the Red Bull driver, under DRS and under braking through Turn One.

    On lap 31 Bottas pitted for the final time, taking on soft tyres. Ahead Hamilton was catching Vettel, whose supersoft tyres, by lap 32, were beginning to look spent. With the gap to Hamilton shrinking Ferrari opted to put the German on lap 34. Vettel took on a set of softs for his final stint and rejoined in P3 behind Raikkonen. He was soon past his team-mate, however, and then he began to chase down Hamilton, lapping a second quicker than the Briton as he ate into the 15.7s deficit.

    By lap 39 the gap was down to 12.1s and closing. Behind them, Bottas was now third ahead of Ricciardo who had inherited fourth when Raikkonen made his final stop for soft tyres. The Australian then made his final stop, for supersofts on lap 40 and prepared for a late-race blast from fifth place.

    Hamilton made his final stop on lap 42, serving his five-second penalty and taking on soft tyres. He dropped to third, 9.4s behind Bottas and 19s behind Vettel who was now looking comfortable in pursuit of his second win of the season.

    The race looked like it might open up again in the final stages after Hamilton passed Bottas and then began to scythe through a 13-second gap to Vettel, but the German held his nerve and applied the pace necessary to keep Hamilton at bay to take the 44th win of his career.

    With Hamilton second and Bottas third, fourth place went to Raikkonen who finished 16.8s ahead of Ricciardo. Massa was sixth for Williams, while Force India’s Sergio Perez enjoyed a great evening’s work to rise from P18 on the grid to seventh place at the flag. Romain Grosjean was eighth for Haas and the final points placings went to Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Ocon in the second Force India.

    eom/FIA press release

  • I am always proud to drive for my country: Bottas

    Bahrain, 15 April 2017: The following drivers who finished on top of the charts in the qualifying sessions attended the FIA press conference on Saturday ahead of the Formula One (F1) World Championship here on Sunday evening under lights. Bottas took his first pole edging out teammate Hamilton. Vettel will start on P3.

    DRIVERS: 1 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes); 2 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes); 3 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari).

    TV UNILATERAL

    Q: It must be a brilliant feeling for you Valtteri, describe the emotion?

    Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, obviously really, really happy. It’s the first pole in my career. It’s my fifth season now in Formula One. It took a few races but got it and hopefully it’s the first of many. But just want to say big thanks to the team for giving me this car, to drive it on pole. We’re both starting on the front row. I think we made a really good job this weekend, to really focus on the evening conditions and we really managed to get a lot of lap time out of the car in the slightly cooler conditions and hopefully that’s going to help is tomorrow as well, so grateful for the team.

    Q: This is what you came to Mercedes for, of course. How did you do it? What was the key this evening for you personally? 

    VB: You know, it’s not an easy track to get everything right. It is quite technical; there are quite a few difficult braking points, turning ins to the corner, it’s easy to have a lock-up or just miss the apex slightly. So it is just getting the lap together and to get the car well balanced. It was a good enough lap for the pole today, so that’s good.

    Q: Well done to you. Lewis, fastest in the first runs in Q3. It looked like a little correction towards the end of the lap. Is that where it got away or was it elsewhere in the lap that you felt it slipped?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Well, firstly a big congratulations to Valtteri, he’s been working so hard, he’s gelled so well with the team and today he was just quicker. He did the better job, so hats off to him. Yeah, the first lap felt great and I looked up and the time was so close and I thought ‘wow, he’s doing some… that was a good lap, he did a great job’. But I was losing quite a bit of time through the first sector, that was generally my weaker point, which is actually unusual; usually it’s a stronger point for me. I’ll work on it for tomorrow, but Valtteri found some great pace, particularly through the first sector, the second and third ended up being quite good but just overall a little bit down. But a great battle and that’s how close I think qualifying should always be. It forces us all to be more on the limit. I’m generally happy with the job I did and it’s great for the team to be one-two.

    Q: Very well done. Speaking of close, Sebastian, it was very close in Q2, I think it was six one hundredths of a second, the top three. Was it a little bit dispiriting for you when you saw they suddenly found another four tenths of a second when we went into Q3?

    SV: Yeah, it was. I think overall I was very happy with how qualifying went, with how the car felt, because we had some issues yesterday. Nothing wrong but we just tweaked the balance for today I think in the right direction, so I was happy how it turned out to be. Felt good; Q2 I thought ‘OK, this will be tight’. I was very happy to go into Q3. Then I was very happy with my first lap. I crossed the line, looked up and saw both of them were ahead and then when I got the time, yeah, I was a bit down to be honest because four tenths was a lot more than I expected, also given how good the lap felt. Then, on the next run I just tried a little bit too hard everywhere but equally I had nothing to lose. I was quite safe also to cars behind. So I was quite confident, also the lap felt good as I said, so I tried a bit harder. It didn’t work; I went slightly slower. Obviously if I go a tenth quicker it’s not enough, so I tried to do a bit more but yeah, hopefully we can do a bit more tomorrow.

    Q: Well done. Back to Valtteri, obviously a lot of satisfaction at your first pole but no champagne at this point. I guess you go to be tonight dreaming of your first grand prix victory tomorrow?

    VB: I think the main thing is that I need to personally, and as a team, we need to enjoy for a very short period of time… you need to enjoy what you have done so far in the weekend. But the main thing is tomorrow so there is not point to start dreaming about anything. We need to look at everything, whatever we can do tomorrow, work together as a team and plan a good strategy, a plan for the race tomorrow. For me it’s all about just focusing for the race and getting the maximum out of it but definitely a good place to start and I think as a team we can be really strong tomorrow and we can get that one-two, the first one for the year.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Valtteri, I think if you were to plot your qualifying in the last three races it would just be about three-tenths off Lewis in Australia, less than two in China and now you’ve gone and got the pole. Describe to us how you’ve chipped away at that, how you’ve worked at that.

    VB: Well, for sure, every single qualifying is always different circumstances and different track, different scenarios but I definitely feel I’ve been getting more and more comfortable with the car, how it is behaving and also working with the team and fine-tuning the setup of the car. I’m getting better with that as well with the engineers. So overall just, yeah, feeling more confident in the car and today it felt good, especially towards the end of the qualifying in Q3. Got some good laps, felt that I could extract pretty much the maximum out of the car. That’s always a good feeling and for sure it always takes a bit of time to get there.

    Q: Lewis, obviously you managed to find that little bit of a margin today that Sebastian was talking about in qualifying – but generally, it is pretty close in terms of race pace, what we’ve seen so far, particularly on a track like this: higher temperatures; looking after the rear tyres is important. What kind of a battle are you expecting tomorrow in the grand prix?

    LH: Well obviously today we had a bit of a margin to the Ferraris but generally in race trim they seem to be a bit quicker but I guess we’ll see tomorrow. Perhaps it will level-out a little bit more. It’s definitely going to be a close battle. Valtteri’s long runs were very good and I think… I don’t necessarily know how good their long-runs were but I heard that they were quite quick, the Ferraris so it’s definitely going to be close, all of us, and looking after the tyres is definitely very difficult. Whether it’s a one or two stop will be interesting to see. Temperatures, all those different things. Hopefully we’ll have a great battle tomorrow.

    Q: Sebastian, maybe you could articulate for us, it seems to have been quite tough for everybody – and Valtteri referenced it earlier on – to put a perfect lap together, to join all of the dots, and particularly this weekend going into qualifying. Can you just articulate why you think that is today?

    SV: Well I think generally we struggle less, everyone struggles less in the evening because the temperatures are dropping. Something we’ve seen now for two days is that generally we struggle a bit more, everyone with the hot conditions. The tyres don’t hold up as well as they used to in the first two races, so in a way, it’s probably a bit more similar to how it probably was last year, that you can’t attack all the way through the first flying lap. So I think that’s a difference. At Valtteri touched on, this track historically has been fairly technical. Corners like 9-10, they are probably built to lead drivers into mistakes so it is very easy to get it a little bit wrong and overshoot a bit, so those two things combined I think make it quite tricky. Yeah, at the end of the day it’s probably risk-assessment. When you are steering towards the corner and then you have to make a judgement how much you trust the car, how much risk you take, and in the end if you take a lot and you get the reward, it feels great. If you take you a lot and it goes wrong, you lose time.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, congratulations, I counted that is has been 168 races without a Finn in the pole. How important is it for you to put Finland back in the polesitters group?

    VB: Thank you Heikki, and congratulations to you as well! Sure, it feels good. I didn’t even realise it’s that long – nearly ten years.

    SV: Who? Where? [Heikki Kovalainen, Silverstone] Oh.

    VB: It’s good to break that, it’s a lot of races without a Finn on pole so that is good and obviously very proud always to drive for Finland, for my country and very glad for all the support I’ve got from there. So yeah, happy.

    SV: Where were you in 2008. F3?

    VB: Formula Renault!

    Q: (Ysef Harding – Xero Xone News) This question is for Valtteri. Valtteri, first off, congratulations on your first pole with the team. It really looks like you are starting to find your groove out there, really find your mojo. Do you feel that that’s starting to come alive for you in the car? That you’re finding that groove, you’re bonding with the car out there on the track now?

    VB: I definitely feel now much more comfortable in the car, with the car than, for example, qualifying in Melbourne. So yeah, the more laps, the more time you spend with a car and driving it, you get to be more at one with the car. So, definitely feel better and better, like I said earlier. Yeah. Felt better here than, for example, last week in China in qualifying. It’s good. I need to keep doing that progress and keep trying to get better all of the time.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Sebastian, any explanation why the gap was bigger here than in the two races before?

    SV: No, not really. I haven’t seen obviously where we lost most of the time but I think a little bit spread everywhere. I think Sector One, Sector Three stood out so Sector Two wasn’t too bad. Yeah, there’s more straights in Sector One and Three, so I don’t know if they had an update for here that allowed them to push harder but it seems that we lost a little bit of time everywhere and maybe a little bit more than usual down the straights. Yeah. I think for tomorrow the most important thing is that the car felt good today and I think we should be closer. Hopefully it’s going to be a tight race and then we’ll see.

    Q: (Khodr Rawi – motorsport.com) Question to all three drivers. Are you surprised by the lap times set today in qualifying? Because the pole position is faster by around seven-tenths compared to last year pole position. Where you expecting faster lap times? Thank you.

    LH: It’s seven-tenths? We’re seven-tenths quicker than last year? I can’t remember. I wasn’t even thinking of that. The car feels better here than it did last year but I don’t have an answer for why it’s not a bigger gap than it was in the past. At least they’re faster.

    SV: I think it was expected that we go quicker this year, depending on the layout: sometimes a bit more, sometimes a bit less. Probably this layout is one of the least favourite ones this year in terms of how much faster we can go, compared to the year before.

    Q: (Chris Medland – Racer) Valtteri, you said in the week that you bounced back very quickly from the error you made in China and put it behind you on Tuesday, I think. You allowed yourself to be annoyed on Monday but does this really help to properly put it to bed and look forward to have a result like this straight away afterwards?

    VB: Well, I think it’s always nice to have a good result whether you’ve had a good or bad weekend before but for sure if you’ve had a bit of a struggle in the last race it’s always nice to start the weekend in a good way but anyway tomorrow is the day that then matters but it’s good. I’d rather be on pole today than anything less, so let’s see tomorrow.

    Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) To all three of you: does Valtteri’s pole now mean that this is a three-way fight? We’ve all been saying it’s just going to be between Lewis and Seb; is it going to be a three-way battle now for the championship?

    LH: It always was, at least three, maybe four. Yeah, Valtteri’s been right there with us from the beginning so nothing changes.

    VB: I think it’s obviously very early days to speak about the title fight, how it’s going to be. It’s going to be a massively long season. As I said at the first races, it’s going to be a massive year in terms of development for the cars and which team is going to develop the most and that’s going to be the fight for the title. Too early to say about the title fight but for sure we are now the two best teams and I feel I’m now in the game.

    SV: Well, today is the day for Finland and Formula One. Keeping it Finnish, I would say yes.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta –Turun Sanomat) Lewis, like I said that the last time you lost the pole to a Finnish driver was 2008; do you still remember how that felt? Does it feel the same as now?

    LH: Cold! Yeah, I remember 2008, Silverstone, I remember it very very clearly. Heikki did a fantastic job. He was quicker throughout the weekend and we had a different set-up from testing which he chose and he was just quicker and it ended up being one of those… Back then you divided the cars by two laps of fuel and often I would have… sometimes I would have the lighter fuel load;  on that weekend, he was just quicker and we needed as a team to be at the front so he ended up having the lighter fuel load and did a great job but obviously I got a great start in the race. You know, when you asked the first question I had a really crazy thought: I’m sure at home he (Heikki Kulta) has like a wall and every day he goes home and he ticks off – ‘damn, it’s another race that…’ He’s got a whole wall, 130 or 180 or whatever it is, 168 crosses so I’m sure on Monday you’re going to be repainting the wall, a nice clean one!

    SV: Does the word excited exist in Finnish?

    VB: Kind of.

    LH: It’s probably something really simple. What is “exciting” in Finnish?

    VB: (Inaudible)

    SV: See! It doesn’t exist!

    LH: It’s not one that’s really used much in the vocabulary.

    VB: I don’t know really.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) To Lewis and Bottas: in 2014 we had a wonderful battle between Lewis and Nico here at this Grand Prix. Are you free to fight tomorrow or after what happened in Barcelona and Austria last year there are some internal rules: you can put the car here, you cannot there? It depends what position your teammate is in?

    LH: Are we allowed to fight? Nothing’s changed in the sense that we are allowed to fight. It’s the same as it was last year – as always as it remains respectable but yeah, we can fight hard out there. None of us wants to not finish the race. It’s just about being sensible and making sure we bring both cars home but generally yes, we are allowed to fight.

    VB: Yeah, I agree. I’m really happy that we are allowed to fight and I’m sure we can do it hard, hard but fair and try to avoid what we did last year with Lewis in turn one. We actually collided.

    LH: I’m behind this time…

    VB: I’m sure we can be alright.

    SV: I wouldn’t mind!

    Q: (Ysef Harding – Xero Xone News) Lewis, this looks like this is starting to get interesting now that Valtteri’s got a pole and he may have a good result and you’ve gotten very happily because of the battle with Sebastian Vettel. You looked about as happy as a warrior getting ready to go into battle. Do you look forward to it possibly being a three-way battle at the end of this weekend?

    LH:  I do, I do. I think it’s great how close it is between the teams because then it brings out the best in each driver and I just feel… when you feel like you’re at your best and you do a good job and you’re fighting against someone else who is doing just as good a job it’s that much more exciting and the more drivers we have in the mix then the more tense it gets. Fortunately…  don’t think for a long time it’s been more than three or four drivers but anyway I’m really happy it’s more than just the two of us. There’s going to be lots of ups and downs throughout the year but Valtteri’s definitely keeping me on my toes and I’m thoroughly happy for him today. As I said before, he really deserved that lap and his first pole… I know how special it is to have your first pole position. It is just amazing. You dream of it as a kid and I know that he will be enjoying it and tomorrow could be his first Grand Prix win but obviously I will try my hardest to win the race but whichever the case, he’s going to have one at some stage this year. If it’s not tomorrow it will be…because he’s getting stronger and stronger.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Sebastian, according to the power unit report, a turbocharger and one of the E-motors have been changed in your car. Is that a concern this early in the season?

    SV: Not really. Obviously it was not planned but yeah, it doesn’t set us back. I think we’re doing fine. I think we pushed very hard over the winter. I think we did a very very good job, especially on the engine side, power unit side. I think there’s been a very big step so it feels great, feels like a lot more power than last year and yeah, obviously the year isn’t over yet but as I said, it shouldn’t be a problem.

    eom/FIA transcript of the press conference

  • Bottas takes career’s first pole; Hamilton second

    Bottas takes career’s first pole; Hamilton second

    Bahrain, 15 April 2017: Valtteri Bottas claimed pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix, the third round of the Formula One (F1) World Championship, edging team-mate Lewis Hamilton by just two hundredths of a second to claim the first front-of-grid start of his career here on Saturday. Sebastian Vettel was third for Ferrari ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo and the second Ferrari of Kimi Räikkönen.

    Pascal Wehrlein got things underway in Q1 with a time of 1:33.502, but that

    ottas takes career’s first pole Bahrain on Saturday ahead of teammate Hamilton. An FIA image

    was soon eclipsed by Haas’ Kevin Magnussen and then by Bottas, who elected to run with soft tyres as he set a P1 time of 1:31.041. The Finn was then bounced out of P1 by Verstappen who set a time of 1:30.904 on supersoft tyres. Hamilton, though, was just about to cross the line and when he did so it was in a time of 1:30.814, set on soft tyres. Both Ferrari drivers also set their opening times on soft tyres, with Vettel slotting into third behind Verstappen and Räikkönen taking seventh behind Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo.

    As the clock wound down, Räikkönen elected to take to the track again, this time on supersoft tyres and despite an imperfect run that saw him go wide, breaking a piece of bodywork, the Finn climbed to third place behind Hamilton and Verstappen. The remainder of the top placed drivers chose to stay in the garage and all eased through to Q2 with Ricciardo being the lowest place of those who stuck with their first laps in P10.

    At the lower end of the order, Carlos Sainz was the first driver eliminated. The Spaniard’s session ended when he pulled over at Turn 14 and reported a loss of power. That left him in P16 ahead of McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne, Force India’s Sergio Pérez, Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson and the Haas of Magnussen.

    As has become tradition, Mercedes were early runners in Q2 with Bottas taking the track, this time on supersofts, as did team-mate Hamilton.

    The Finn set the early pace with a lap of 1:29.555 but Hamilton quickly went two hundredths of a second faster to take P1. Behind Bottas, Vettel slotted into P3 ahead of Räikkönen, Verstappen and Ricciardo.

    In the drop zone ahead of the final Q2 runs were 11th placed Haas driver Romain Grosjean, followed by Force India’s Esteban Ocon, Wehrlein, Williams’ Lance Stroll and McLaren’s Fernando Alonso.

    Grosjean was the one to make the jump to Q3, with the Frenchman slotting into P9 as the final times were logged. Renault’s Jolyon Palmer also enjoyed a good session, making it through to Q3 for the first time in his F1 career in 10th place.

    It meant that the man bumped out in P11 was Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat. The Russian might have edged Palmer but a mistake in the final corner saw the Russian run wide and the time lost cost him a Q3 berth. Eliminated behind him were Stroll, Wehrlein, Ocon and Alonso. The McLaren driver opted to not run in Q2.

    It was Hamilton who held sway after the first runs, the Briton posted a provisional pole time of 1:28.792, five hundredths of a second clear of Bottas. Vettel was third ahead of Räikkönen, Verstappen and Ricciardo.

    With Hamilton having beaten Bottas in the previous two qualifying sessions, the form guide dictated that it would again be the Briton on pole, but Bottas wasn’t paying attention to form and the Finn managed to find a fraction more pace on his final run to edge the three-time champion by just two hundredths of a second to take his first career pole with a lap of 1:28.769.

    Vettel took third for Ferrari 0.478 behind Bottas. Ricciardo, meanwhile, put in a superb final flyer to improve on his opening time by almost half a second. That left him fourth ahead of Räikkönen and Verstappen, who did not improve on his opening time. Seventh place went to Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg, with Williams’ Felipe Massa eighth ahead of Grosjean and Palmer.

    eom/FIA press release