INDIA in F1

Author: David Bodapati

  • Best result for Force India at home GP

    Best result for Force India at home GP

    Hulkenberg in rain on way to 7th in the British GP behing Perez (not in pic) in 6th. A Sahara Force India image
    Hulkenberg in rain on way to 7th in the British GP behing Perez (not in pic) in 6th. A Sahara Force India image

    Sahara Force India scored 14 points in today’s British Grand Prix as Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg raced to sixth and seventh places in a thrilling wet-dry race. This result represents the team’s best ever showing at its local track.

    P6       Sergio Perez              VJM09-02
    Strategy: New Wet (7 laps) – New Inter (10 laps) – Used Medium (35 laps)
    Sergio: “It’s a very good result for the team, with two cars in the points, even if I feel I could have kept fifth place without that spin at turn one. When I had that moment I thought my race was over, but I managed to save it. However, I flat-spotted my tyres and that hurt me for the rest of the race in terms of degradation. I pushed hard to try and keep Raikkonen behind, and it was only when he passed me that I was able to take it easy and save the tyres. We had to do a very long stint on the mediums, which was a bit of a risk as degradation was quite high, but the team made the right calls at the right time and it paid off in the end. The conditions, especially in the first part of the race, were very tricky. You had a drying line, but as soon as you put a wheel on the damp parts, all the grip was gone. Just keeping the car facing in the right direction was an achievement. To come away with this many points after a weekend in which I hadn’t been very comfortable with the car is a big satisfaction and it makes up for the disappointment of last week.”
    P7        Nico Hülkenberg       VJM09-03
    Strategy: New Wet (5 laps) – New Inter (12 laps) – Used Medium (35 laps)
    Nico: “Obviously a good result for the team, but I still feel a bit frustrated with how the race unfolded because things didn’t work in my favour today. I really lost out under the virtual safety car, which allowed a lot of cars to jump me when I had already made the switch to intermediates. Then, I was stuck behind Felipe [Massa] for so many laps, even though I was a lot quicker than him. There was only a narrow dry line with a lot of standing water offline so it wasn’t easy to make a move. When everybody moved to dry tyres it was a lot of fun out there and you had to be very careful through turn one, which remained damp for so long. I did a very long stint on the medium tyres and by the final few laps it was just a case of trying to manage the degradation and survive until the end. Although I’m not totally happy, I am pleased with the car performance and the fact that we scored good points today.”
    Vijay Mallya, Team Principal & Managing Director
    “Today’s race was extremely entertaining and I am very happy with our team performance. It’s our best ever result at Silverstone and we are now just 19 points adrift of fourth place in the championship. It wasn’t an easy race by any means, especially with the track drying out so quickly in some places and remaining damp in others. Nico and Checo were both in the thick of the action all afternoon and did a splendid job to bring home 14 important points. We’ve shown today just how competitive we can be on one of the most demanding high-speed tracks of the year and I think there is even more potential to come in the second half of the season.”
    eom/Sahara Force India press release

  • Hamilton gets British GP pole

    Lewis Hamilton claimed a fourth career British Grand Prix, taking top spot on the grid with a superb last-ditch effort after his first Q3 flyer was deleted for exceeding the track limits.

    Overnight at Silverstone the race stewards had informed teams that a “zero tolerance” attitude would be taken to drivers utilising more of the track than is legal, particularly at Copse, Stowe and Club corners.

    Several drivers were penalised during the course of the session and after taking provisional pole position with a lap of 1:29.339 Hamilton too felt the stewards’ wrath as he went over the kerbing.

    “The penultimate lap was a very good lap but unfortunately it was taken away,” he said. “I touched the kerb but it pulled me further. It didn’t feel like I was going to be running wide but the car bottomed and kind of bounced just outside the line.”

    That handed P1 to Rosberg with Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen in P2 ahead of team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.

    Hamilton was left with a single run in which to stake his claim to top spot and the defending champion delivered in spectacular style, bettering his first run time by five hundredths of a second. Rosberg failed to improve and thus Hamilton his fourth career British Grand Prix pole.

    “A lot of pressure for that last lap. I was just sitting in the garage and I knew that I couldn’t let the guys down as on the first lap I had,” said Hamilton. “The second lap wasn’t as good but I was obviously making sure I was cautious, making sure I got that lap in. I’m grateful that I did and really again thank you to my team who have done an amazing job to have the performance we have this weekend, it’s outstanding.”

    Behind the Mercedes duo, Verstappen held P3. The Dutch driver failed to improve on his first-run time but Ricciardo too could find no more pace and the teenager out-qualified his more experienced team-mate for the first time since joining Red Bull ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix. Today’s result is also Verstappen’s best qualifying finish to date.

    Kimi Raikkonen claimed the front slot of row three with a time 0.263 behind Ricciardo. The Finn survived a Q2 scare in which several errant laps saw him in P15 in the final moment of the middle session.

    Raikkonen found a clean lap with his final flyer, however, to make it through to Q3 in P6 and then bettered that by one place in the final session. Team-mate Sebastian Vettel took sixth place but is set to drop down the grid after requiring a replacement gearbox following an issue in FP3.

    Valtteri Bottas was seventh for Williams ahead of Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg, Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz and McLaren’s Fernando Alonso.

    The first session saw Jenson Button, in the second McLaren, eliminated in P17 ahead of Renault’s Jolyon Palmer, the Manors of Rio Haryanto and Pascal Wehrlein and the sole Sauber of Felipe Nasr. The Brazilian’s team-mate Marcus Ericsson did not take part in the session having been sent to hospital for checks following his heavy crash in FP3.

    There was confusion ahead of Q2 with McLaren believing that Button might make it into Q2 owing to the possibility of Magnussen’s final time being deleted. But it was not the case and Button’s scramble to be ready for the session, having left the garage after Q1, was in vain.

    Raikkonen’s was not the only driver to make a good escape in Q2. Carlos Sainz too put in a superb final flyer to rise from the lower reaches of the order to claim P8 and a Q3 berth.

    Behind tenth-placed Alonso, eliminated in Q2 were Force India’s Sergio Perez, Williams’ Felipe Massa, Haas’ Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutierrez, Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat and Renault’s Magnussen.

    2016 British Grand Prix – Qualifying
    1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:30.739 1:29.243 1:29.287
    2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:30.724 1:29.970 1:29.606
    3 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:31.305 1:30.697 1:30.313
    4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:31.684 1:31.319 1:30.618
    5 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:31.326 1:31.385 1:30.881
    6 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:31.606 1:30.711 1:31.490
    7 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:31.913 1:31.478 1:31.557
    8 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:32.349 1:37.770 1:31.920
    9 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:32.115 1:31.708 1:31.989
    10 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:32.281 1:31.740 1:32.343
    11 Sergio Perez Force India 1:32.336 1:31.875
    12 Felipe Massa Williams 1:32.146 1:32.002
    13 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:32.283 1:32.050
    14 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:32.237 1:32.241
    15 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:32.553 1:32.306
    16 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:32.729 1:37.060
    17 Jenson Button McLaren 1:32.788
    18 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:32.905
    19 Rio Haryanto Manor 1:33.098
    20 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:33.151
    21 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:33.544
    22 Marcus Ericsson Sauber

    eom/FIA press release

  • I am delighted and over the moon to be here in Silverstone: Vijay Mallya

    I am delighted and over the moon to be here in Silverstone: Vijay Mallya

    Mallya at Fri PC in Silverstone 8jul2016 FIA picTEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Dave RYAN (Manor), Eric BOULLIER (McLaren), Vijay MALLYA (Force India), Claire WILLIAMS (Williams), Maurizio ARRIVABENE (Ferrari), Toto WOLFF (Mercedes)
    PRESS CONFERENCE

    First question to all you, it’s been two weeks since the UK public voted to exit the European Union. As team principals employing many EU nationals in the UK, as well as UK nationals in Italy of course, what impact do you think this will have going forward and what impact has the falling pound, for example, made so far?
    Toto WOLFF: Well, for us it has a big impact because from a personal level we don’t know where it’s going to go. There are many experts working in Brackley and we don’t know how that’s going to be handled in the future and it’s the same in Germany, within the DTM team there are many Brits and it looks like everybody could be impacted the situation. In terms of the currencies, you can’t interfere anyway. The weak pound is not so bad for us as we are getting the income in dollars and the mothership subsidises in euros, so it is actually a good ratio. But we have to wait and see. Nobody really knows what consequences are going to be, whether some kind of agreements are going to be formed. There is no short-term impact I guess.

    Vijay, your thoughts?
    Vijay MALLYA: I’ve reviewed the position at Force India and we are largely British-centric, so we don’t expect that Brexit will affect is in any significant way. Of course the depreciation in the value of the pound helps because the income is largely in dollars. Other than that I see no change.

    Claire?
    Claire WILLIAMS: I think it’s slightly too early to see what the long-term impacts are for us as a business. There have been some short-term impacts around costs. We unfortunately pay for our engine in euros. All the hard work that we have done to bring the cost down by €4m for 2018 have been counterbalanced. Maybe Toto will let us pay for our engines in euros going forward, I don’t know – a conversation offline. And then, for us there are concerns on the medium term once Article 50 is invoked and the implications of that around freedom of people to move in employment. I think we have to wait and see the true implications of that. Personally, for us an independent team, we don’t have a mothership, like Toto does, and many other teams, and sponsorship is one of our key incomes. I think with the political instability that Brexit has caused there are a lot of businesses out there that are going to have to wait and see what they do particularly with their marketing spend and that of course could have implications for us as an independent team. As much as we were having great conversations prior to the referendum, those conversations are slowing down now and people are waiting to see what’s going to happen. That’s a real concern for us and I think a concern for a lot of sports teams out there. But again, I’m not going to worry too much. I think we’ll wait and see what happens.

    Dave?
    Dave RYAN: Well, I think it’s early days yet. Everyone seems to have an opinion but we don’t know what’s going to happen. The government doesn’t know what’s going to happen, so for us to speculate is just a bit too soon I think.

    And Eric, as a Frenchman working in England, with a Japanese partner?
    Eric BOULLIER: Just a few visa issues maybe in the future, but I doubt it’s going to be that complicated. I think everything has been said. Nobody knows. We are definitely not the right experts to predict what is going to happen. It’s a concern just to know where we go, exchanging, travelling, our money currency but so far nobody knows, so we just monitor what’s going on.

    And finally Maurizio, obviously you employ quite a few Brits.
    Maurizio ARRIVABENE: Concerning Ferrari we are at the early stage. We have some employees they are coming from the UK. We are at the early stage now to evaluate how the situation is going to evolve. The big problems need to be solved at the European level with all the member states to better evaluate the impact of this decision. At the right time we will see how it’s going to impact the guys working in our company but at the moment it’s more important to have a clear vision and a clear view on the global situation in the EU and I think that the problem is even bigger than what could be related to us.

    Thanks for that. Coming back to you Eric, obviously a positive result in Austria and news that you have another update from Honda. Are you getting towards your performance targets for 2016 and how is the second half of the season roll out for you?
    EB: Let’s say the development is going as per to plan. As far as targets are concerned we have much more ambitious targets, but this is as per plan going so far. There are some more upgrades coming this year and we believe if it’s like today, we have validated all our upgrades as per planned on the engineering side and I hope that the other ones will be as the one we had before. But we keep working hard and keep under-promising and slowly, little by little we are getting there.

    Thank you. Vijay, we haven’t seen you for a while. You said a few weeks ago in an interview that your circumstances mean that your are devoting much more time these days to the Formula One team. Tell us about that?
    VM: I am. First of all, I’m absolutely delighted and over the moon to be here in Silverstone. Apart from the fact that Silverstone is a very special race track for Force India, I am personally delighted I’m here, because all the other races I have virtually experienced in this virtual world. But sadly, currently I am unable to travel. That has to go through due legal process. And since I am now spending my time in England – far more regulated, less hectic – I am doing what I am passionate about. And one thing I sure am passionate about is Force India and Formula One and I spend a lot more time, I get a lot of pleasure out of it and the team is delivering results.

    Absolutely. Okay thank you for that. Dave, in the points in Austria. You’ve had a very long career in Formula One and I’m sure you’ve had many more important results in many ways, but how much did that result mean to you and the team ?
    DR: It was a big moment for the team. I think more than anything else it put a bit of a marker down that we are serious players and we are working very hard. Yeah, it’s one point and we need a lot more points, but it’s one step at a time. So a great moment in the development of the team.

    Maurizio, you’ve confirmed Kimi Raikkonen today for the 2017 season. Was that mainly due to his performances and podiums so far this season and did you have any other candidates under serious consideration?
    MA: We confirmed Kimi because first of all he deserves it. Having said so we are looking for the interests of the team and the interest of the team was not looking for another driver but concentrating on car development. We have two good drivers so that was not an issue for us, so we remove all the pressure from the shoulders of Kimi in taking this decision, that actually was confirmed yesterday in a phone call from the President, and a couple of hours [later] we are with Kimi. We turn the page and we look forward to work very hard where the problem is.

    Picking up on that Claire, where are you at with drivers for next year?
    CW: We are evaluating our options. We still feel it’s quite early in the year to be making our decision. We have some performance issues at the moment so we really need Valtteri and Felipe to be concentrating on their track performance rather than worrying about what’s happening in 2017. As you’d expect those conversations are going on behind closed doors and when we’re ready to make an announcement we will, but I don’t foresee that being the next few races.

    Just picking up on what you said there, it’s clear that Williams haven’t been able to build on the performance of 2014 and 2015. What effect is that having on your thinking about strategy for next year and beyond?
    CW: Running a Formula One team you have always have to evolve don’t you and you have to look at your performance and if you need to make changes, whatever those changes may be, then you have to do that. We don’t want to be going backwards. At the moment we seem to be having to look over our shoulders more than looking ahead to Red Bull and worrying about the Force Indias. That’s a problem and that’s a real concern for us and we need to address it. Fortunately, we’ve done quite a lot of analysis over the past few races to identify those areas of weakness and put them right. For us, that work is going on behind closed doors. We have some upgrades coming to the next few races, we have a new front wing here, which we hope is going to deliver a bit more performance to us, but there are other areas, structural areas of weakness in the business that we’re addressing at the moment.

    Q: Toto, obviously you delivered the ultimatum to your two drivers after the collision in Austria. You called it a final warning: are you satisfied they have 100 per cent got the message? And why did you choose to make this whole process public rather than do everything behind closed doors?
    TW: The whole story obviously brought a lot of narrative for everybody and as a team we have always communicated in a transparent way because we believe this is the DNA and the more you try to hide things, the more suspicious you become, the worse you can actually be in control of the situation. So, a lot has been said and I think at that point we should stop and look forward. We believe we have the best driver pairing in Formula One. For sure one of the best driver pairings in Formula One and we have confidence these kind of incidents can be avoided in the future.

    And you’re satisfied they 100 per cent got the message, yes?
    TW: I am satisfied they 100 per cent got the message, yes. But at the end of the day they are behind the steering wheel, they drive the cars and they are in control.

    And just quickly, an update on Nico’s situation. We saw he had to climb out of the car early in the session.
    TW: Yeah, we had a water leak, which at the beginning looked like we can solve the problem and then we figured out that it was meaning to take more risks on the engine if we were to go into the session.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Joe Saward – Auto X) Question for Vijay. You say you’re passionate about the sport, and you are the FIA representative of India. You don’t want to go back to India to solve the problem, what would you say to people who say that you’re doing the sport damage?
    VM: Nobody has ever said that I’m doing the sport any damage. Irrespective of where in the world I physically am present, doesn’t affect my contribution in any part of the world. Certainly in India. I have been used to managing a multinational group of companies for the last 30 years and I couldn’t possibly be physically present in each territory in which my business interests operate but yet I was able to guide and contribute and that continues.

    Q: (Abhishek Takle – Mid-Day) Question to Vijay. You said things have to go through the due legal process but you expect to be able to go to more races this season and as you mean you are able to travel, would you consider returning to India to fight the allegations levelled against you there? Thank you.
    VM: First of all, with respect, this is an FIA press conference about motorsport and not about my ability to travel. Having said that, when the due legal process follows its logical course, your questions will be automatically answered. Until then my job is to make sure that Force India continues to perform and closes the gaps to my dear Claire in front.

    Q: (Marc Surer – Sky Germany) Question for Toto. Is this the race engine that had the problem today?
    TW: No, it’s not. It’s a Friday engine.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Question for Toto. Toto, there’s been an awful lot of controversy around your team, the last lap accident, meetings, final warnings, threatened race suspensions, a non-executive chairman making comments whether in a casual context or not which have damaged the relationships. Are you really confident that you and your team are strong enough to control this monster you seem to have created?
    TW: We have won eight of nine races this season so far, two championships in the last two years. Nobody speaks of boring racing. There is stories and headlines being created. The spirit within the team is really great. We haven’t lost people and we are very much looking forward into the new regulations for next year. So, you as a journalist, you should know that headlines are important for the sport, that headlines are sometimes being blown out of proportion. We contribute with these headlines. Not more, not less.

    Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday) Question for Vijay. Back to racing and next year’s car. Are you working exclusively on the 2017 Force India and how are you coping with wind tunnels? Are you still booking, or having to pre-book a Toyota or are there any plans to upgrade your 50 per cent wind tunnel here on site?
    VM: To be honest, 2017 we see as a great opportunity, we have already shifted to the 2017 car development. We still continue to use the Toyota wind tunnel facility and for the first time in this team’s history we actually have a 60 per cent model in there. So that’s the focus. Brackley is an old wind tunnel with a 50 per cent model. In any event, according to the rules, there is a restriction on wind tunnel usage so we obviously like to maximise our time at Toyota.

    Q: (Joe Saward – Auto X) You’re all looking so miserable I’m going to ask a question. I want an honest answer from all of you. If you could hire someone who’s not one of your drivers right now, who would it be? To drive racing cars.

    You’ve just committed Maurizio, so why don’t you start with this one?
    MA: Why me? I give you a hypothetical answer. The two drivers I have they are fine. And if I have to make a choice it is these two.

    Claire?
    CW: I would have Nigel Mansell and Juan Pablo Montoya.

    Toto?
    TW: I like Pascal Wehrlein, Valtteri Bottas, Esteban Ocon. I like Sebastian Vettel also. So a couple that are quite good…

    Eric?
    EB: Same answer as Maurizio. I’m happy with my drivers. I’ve got Stoffel on the wing as well. So, Stoffel.

    TW: I like that one also!

    EB: You can’t!

    MA: Go back to your motorhome afterwards!

    EB: The driver market is now all over the place thanks to Toto.

    Vijay?
    VM: We are very happy with Nico and Checo. Both are signed for 2017. And really I haven’t thought about it beyond that. In any case, we’re pretty early, much earlier than normal. We used to wait almost to the onset of winter before we announced our driver line-up but this time we signed both for 2017 well in advance – and of course today’s announce by Ferrari put to rest a lot of speculation that has been taking place in the last several weeks.

    And finally David.
    TW: Well if Toto, if either of his drivers jump ship we’ll obviously take either of them.

    Q: (Ralf Bach – Sport Bild). Question to Toto. Concerning the background with all the love your drivers feel to each other at the moment. Can you confirm 100 per cent your driver line-up next year will be Lewis and Nico?
    TW: Well, you know that we are in discussion with Nico and hopefully these discussions will come to a positive end soon. I have no doubt at the moment that they will so absolutely yeah, this is going to be the line-up next year. You can never say 100 per cent because you don’t know what happens tomorrow and after tomorrow. If one gets food poisoning he will not be driving – so you can never confirm 100 per cent. But I am very, very confident that will be the line-up.

    Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday) Claire, Austria saw you take the pit stop win yet again, undefeated all year, something Williams has revelled in and you’ve actually made yourself the pit stop kings because you concentrated on that. Are you now picking a different aspect to work on as the next phase in the development of the team or were the pit stops just something that was unique that you had to concentrate on?
    CW: It’s not a case of – with any Formula One team – that you just pick one area of weakness that you need to focus on, obviously, as you will all well know, but last year we had the weakness in our pit stops but it was nothing to do with the performance of our boys, it was more because we had an issue with our wheelguns and our nuts sticking. We’ve resolved that issue and we’re now seeing the performance, and I am personally so proud of the job that our guys are doing. To record the fastest pit stop in every race this year is phenomenal but we need to get every area right in our team and as I said earlier, that we’re looking at all our areas of weaknesses, we do, as every team does throughout the course of the year, and try and improve upon on them.
    I think it’s very clear to see that the car struggles in slow speed corners, the car isn’t competitive in the wet, the two key areas and we’re currently struggling to understand our tyres. The tyre science is definitely an area that we’re looking to build upon.

    Q: (Mike Doodson – Auto Action) This is for Vijay: let’s stick to sport, Vijay. You’re a sporty chap, you’ve got your interests in Formula One and in Indian cricket. We hear that you now own a team in the Caribbean premier league. Will this require you to spend time in Barbados and while you’re there, do you think you might see any potential for motor racing out there in the Caribbean?
    VM: Well, yes, my son does own the Barbados Tridents cricket team and they’re currently playing in the Caribbean premier league which requires me to be up from 2am to 6am every morning because of the time change, if I want to watch the games. I’ve been to Barbados several times, I’ve been to Bushy Park  which is the race circuit. The FIA representative from Barbados is a very dear friend of mine, Andrew Mallalieu, who is absolutely passionate about motor sport. They organise karting events, single-seater events, saloon car events almost every weekend. I can say that the Bajans are very keen on motor sport which is something fantastic to see and witness. So whenever I go to Barbados, I make a point of visiting Bushy Park as well. Now whether my interests are going to go beyond that in Bajan motor sport we will have to see. Right now I’m sticking to cricket.

    Q: (Dieter Recken – Racing Lines) Dave, the point scored a week ago ensures that your FOM money going forward is guaranteed for an additional year, which wasn’t the case beforehand and particularly now there are eleven teams. Does this mean that you’re able to make proper investment plans and if so, how are you aiming to develop the team?
    DR: The plan was always to make investment in the team, that was always going to happen and it’s an ongoing process. If you were party to what was going on in the team you would see that we’re looking forward, we’re planning not just for 2017 but beyond that and we plan, our goal, is to be a solid midfield team so we’re working towards that and that’s what we’re gearing up to do.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Maurizio, talking with the TV you said that to explain why you signed a contract with Kimi so early in the season that he signed a little bit the pressure you wanted to take off the pressure from his own shoulders. Could you explain us how a driver show you that the pressure, that he’s under pressure about the contract please?
    MA: The story of the pressure was at the end of my answer because I said something more interesting before and I said that our main interest, our issue, was not related to the driver. We were very proud and very happy about the work of Kimi since the beginning of the season. He was asked to show his commitment, his results so he deserved the confirmation for next year. Then I was talking about the fact that we needed a kind of good atmosphere in the team and the drivers could help to keep this atmosphere and due to the fact that the team is still quite new and we need to keep the same commitment for everybody without inserting into the team elements that they can disturb or something new that could break this balance. Having said so, I also said that we confirm Kimi not very soon, because we are in July but normally the tradition of Ferrari, this is probably what you refer to, it was to do a press release in Monza. We are a new team, we have changed the tradition and we are confirming now because I think we would like to be, as I said, focused and concentrated on car development and not about confirmation or non-confirmation of the drivers. So it’s a message of stability.
    Relating to the pressure, you know better than me that in the last three or four races every time that Kimi was sitting in a press conference somebody would ask what about his contract, what about your contract? I asked many many times for a bit of respect for a driver that was a World Champion with Ferrari. I know that his nickname is Iceman but he’s a human being. Sometimes in Formula One we need to be conscious that we are talking, not with cars because actually the computer talks with the car but the cars are driven by human beings so even Iceman is a human being with his emotions and I think he could feel the pressure. That’s it .

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Dave, back to my previous question to you when you said that you’ve got various plans in place and in progress and whatever else. It’s no secret that your facilities are fairly modest so what are these plans? Are you going to build a wind tunnel, are you going to get cfd in or a gearbox shop? What are the plans?
    DR: We’re quite happy being a modest facility to be honest. We’ve got great partners with Mercedes, with Williams Advanced Engineering so that side of it is good. We are expanding our capabilities and you will see that in due course.

    Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday) To all six of you, given the crash by Checo in Austria last weekend where the team couldn’t let him know what was going on with the brakes situation due to the FIA’s clampdown on radio communication, has there been any talk amongst you as the strategy group or amongst team principals in talking to the FIA about perhaps relenting a little, perhaps a joker or two during a race for each team?
    EB: Well, there were discussions between the teams and the FIA and seeking either some more freedom on this or clarification and the FIA has been clear that they will not change their position.

    Q: (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas) Maurizio, I would like to know which is for you, do you think, which is the main factor you have to work on to try to catch Ferrari or Red Bull?
    MA: Mercedes, you mean? Because Mercedes is here, Red Bull is there. No, Red Bull is not in front of us. I think the main area – I said so last time – we need to improve in areas, mainly, and we need to understand the tyres a bit better. That’s what we have to do to catch them.

     

    eom/FIA transcript of the Press Conference

  • Vijay Mallya attends Friday sessions at British GP

    Vijay Mallya attends Friday sessions at British GP

    Silverstone, 8 July 2016: Sporting a smile and a new-look beard in trendy black Sahara Force India t-shirt, Vijay Mallya was as cool as a cucumber at the British GP paddock on Friday as he watched the two Free Practice sessions where Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez completed over 130 laps together.

    Mallya, who left India in March, is living in England and is facing trial back home. He expressed concerns about the lack of free and fair trail and said he would not be able to travel until things go through due legal process.

    Before he attended the official FIA press conference, Mallya said about today’s sessions: “The conditions out there were not the easiest, with very strong winds that could unsettle the car, especially through the high-speed corners. This morning we were able to evaluate the new parts we brought for the car, while the rest of the day’s work was focussed on preparing for the race. In any case, we only used the two harder compounds in the afternoon session. The drivers are reasonably happy with the baseline set-up and with the balance of the car. Of course, we had a wide range of parts to test on the car and slightly different programmes for the two drivers, so we will analyse all the data tonight to find the best way to move forward. Overall, we’re happy with how the day went, especially in these conditions, and we can be optimistic for tomorrow and Sunday.”

    Earlier on Tuesday, looking forward to the team’s show at the home race, he said: “Leaving Austria empty-handed was very disappointing. We showed good form throughout the weekend, but various factors prevented us from realising our true potential. We’ve understood what went wrong and I’m confident we can bounce back this weekend at Silverstone.

    “We shouldn’t let one unlucky race overshadow the great results we have been achieving recently. We’re sitting fifth in the championship and the battle for fourth remains wide open with twelves races still to go. We’ve got some extra performance coming for the VJM09 this weekend and that should help us for the races leading up to the summer break.
    “There is no denying that Silverstone is one of the most special races of the whole season. Being so close to our factory, just across the road, means our staff can be close to the action and we enjoy incredible support from our fans. The British Grand Prix is one of the classic races on the calendar and the atmosphere is unique: the supporters are brilliant and knowledgeable; there is a party atmosphere in the campsites and the weekend is a true celebration of our sport.”
    eom/david

    Vijay Mallya at the FIA press conference on Friday. A Sahara Force India image
    Vijay Mallya at the FIA press conference on Friday. A Sahara Force India image

  • Buemi wins title after controversial final: Formula E

    Sebastien Buemi is the new FIA Formula E champion after clinching the title courtesy of setting the Visa Fastest Lap during the season-ending Visa London ePrix.
    The final race of the 2015/16 season was a controversial affair, brought about by title rivals Buemi and Lucas di Grassi colliding on the opening lap of the race. Buemi made a slow start from pole, and was rear-ended by di Grassi under braking for Turn 3.

    The incident took the rear wing off Buemi’s Renault e.dams entry, while there was significant front end damage to the Abt Schaeffler car of di Grassi. Both drivers limped back to the pits so that they could switch to their second car.

    With two points on offer for the Visa Fastest Lap and both drivers tied on points, the championship now boiled down to a fight over who could be quickest over a flying lap. Both drivers – and Stephane Sarrazin – were awarded FanBoost, but the rules state that this power boost cannot be used to claim the bonus points.

    Waiting for a clear piece of track to emerge, the protagonists bided their time in the pits, waiting for the perfect time to get a clear lap. Di Grassi struck first, but Buemi’s response was emphatic. Di Grassi gave everything in his response, but fell short, leaving the Swiss racer to succeed Nelson Piquet Jr as Formula E champion. 

    “The most important thing is that we won both championships,” said Buemi. “I’m actually sad you know, to win it in that way, but also to see what Lucas did because I was very respectful of his driving, he’s been amazing. Like he’s said many times, his car is very bad and he is a very good driver, and if he was in my car he’d be at least half a second quicker! 

    “He’s a great driver, he did 24 hours in Le Mans, he never touched a car. He went between Nico and the wall, and I could tell you there was maybe five centimetres and once he braked, I just saw on the camera, he has two options – either go to the right or nail the back of my car and he nailed it perfectly. But a little bit too strong because we both went out.

    “I’m a bit sad to see this because I think that was his only opportunity. In the end we had the quickest car, we were the best team. If we could’ve come out of this corner in front of him, we would’ve been far quicker.”

    Alain Prost, Senior Team Manager at Renault e.dams, said: “It was fantastic, we have improved the car a little bit and made it a little bit better for Nico’s style in the last few races. Sebastien was stunning today, we wanted to be on Super Pole for the three points and we got it. We wanted to be champions, we could not expect much more because in these types of races, especially on a track like this, like here in London – it’s tricky, with the weather. You can have a really different situation. It was the target and goal to be champion at the beginning of the year and we did it. It’s not very often that you have a target and you achieve your objective.”

    With all the focus on the championship permutations, it was easy to ignore the stunning drive that Nico Prost put in to claim back-to-back wins around Battersea Park. His win ensured that Renault e.dams retained the teams’ championship and secured him third overall in the drivers’ points.

    “I think di Grassi wanted to visit London so he went straight, but Seb was in the way! It didn’t end well,” he observed. “The safety cars were the main challenge, but the first car especially was flying so I could pull away quite easily every time. Then it’s just a case of remaining focused and not making a mistake. The team gave me a fantastic car this weekend, they don’t get much better than this to be honest.”

    “Congratulations to Sébastien. He’s a strong racing driver and no doubt a deserving Formula E champion.” said Lucas di Grassi. “Still, we’re leaving London with our heads held high. We were able to battle for the championship up to the last race – every one of our mechanics, our engineers, our fans and our partners should be proud of this, because so am I.” The South American was on podium seven times in the ten races this season and clinched three victories. Di Grassi: “Obviously, we’re disappointed today. But we’ll start thinking about the next season tomorrow or day after tomorrow. We’re going to come back stronger than ever before.” 

    There were three Qualcomm Safety Car periods during a stop-start race, and the drama continued after the flag fell with third-placed man Jean-Eric Vergne (DS Virgin), Nick Heidfeld (Mahindra) and Antonio Felix da Costa (Team Aguri) all being hit with time penalties for exceeding the permitted energy limit.

    This promoted Jerome D’Ambrosio of Dragon Racing to third place, his team-mate Loic Duval into fourth and Stephane Sarrazin into fifth for Venturi. Bruno Senna claimed sixth for Mahindra ahead of team-mate Nick Heidfeld. Vergne’s additional penalty for an unsafe release dropped him to eighth and the two NEXTEV TCR drivers picked up the final points positions.

    The weekend was a great success with 42,000 fans piling into Battersea Park over the two races and enjoying a host of eSports action and live music acts, both presented by Visa.

    Now the teams turn their attentions to developing their season three packages to ensure they’re ready when the all-electric racing series sparks back into life on October 9 with the HKT Hong Kong ePrix.

    Following an appeal from Dragon Racing regarding the Stewards decision relating to two penalties applied to Jean-Eric Vergne, the result of the race remains subject to the findings of the International Court of Appeal.

    Click the link to download a selection of hi-res images from the Visa London ePrix (Rd 10) – https://we.tl/hj7qSeNcUO

    2016 Visa London ePrix (Rd 10) – Race results

    1. 1.           Nico Prost, Renault e.dams, 56:32.648s (25)
    2. 2.           Daniel Abt, Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport, +7.633s (18)
    3. 3.           Jerome D’Ambrosio, Dragon Racing, +22.524s (15)
    4. 4.           Loic Duval, Dragon Racing, +23.290s (12)
    5. 5.           Stephane Sarrazin, Venturi, +24.984s (10)
    6. 6.           Bruno Senna, Mahindra Racing, +27.174s (8)
    7. 7.           Nick Heidfeld, Mahindra Racing, +1:07.544s (6)
    8. 8.           Jean-Eric Vergne, DS Virgin Racing, +1:08.002s (4)
    9. 9.           Nelson Piquet Jr, NEXTEV TCR, +1:14.270s (2)
    10. 10.         Oliver Turvey, NEXTEV TCR, +1:22.216s (1)
    11. 11.         Antonio Felix da Costa, Team Aguri, +1:58.324s
    12. 12.         Ma Qing Hua, Team Aguri, +1 lap
    13. 13.         Mike Conway, Venturi, +1 lap
    14. 14.         Lucas di Grassi, Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport, DNF
    15. 15.         Sebastien Buemi, Renault e.dams, DNF (5)
    16. 16.      Robin Frijns, Andretti Formula E, DNF
    17. 17.      Simona de Silvestro, Andretti Formula E, DNF
    18. 18.      Sam Bird, DS Virgin Racing, DNF

    Driver standings

    Sebastien Buemi, Renault e.dams – 155

    Lucas di Grassi, Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport – 153

    Nico Prost, Renault e.dams – 115

    Sam Bird, DS Virgin Racing – 88

    Jerome D’Ambrosio, Dragon Racing – 83

    Stephane Sarrazin, Venturi – 70

    Team standings

    Renault e.dams – 270

    Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport – 221

    DS Virgin Racing – 144

    Dragon Racing – 143

    Mahindra Racing – 105

    Venturi – 77

    Andretti Formula E – 49

    Team Aguri – 32

    NEXTEV TCR – 19

    eom/FIA press release

  • Hamilton tops times in both the FP

    Hamilton tops times in both the FP

    Hamilton during second FP. An FIA image
    Hamilton during second FP. An FIA image

    Silverstone, 8 July 2016: After edging team-mate Nico Rosberg by just three hundredths of a second in opening practice for the British Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton made lighter work of the second session, taking top spot by almost four tenths of a second ahead of Daniel Ricciardo after Rosberg failed to take to the track due to car issues.

    Rosberg pushed his chief championship rival hard in the morning session but his second 90 minutes of track was halted before it had begun, with Mercedes detecting a water leak in his car. The German did climb into his car again an hour into the session but when the engine was fired up another issue was found and he sat out the remainder of the session.

    By contrast Hamilton’s session was smooth, with the defending champion setting his best time of 1:31.660 after 35 minutes, using the Soft compound Pirelli tyres. The time was marginally slower than his morning best of 1:31.654, set on the Medium tyre.

    With Rosberg ruled out of the session, Ricciardo took second place 0.4s behind Hamilton, running the Briton closer than in the morning when Ricciardo was fifth and 1.1s behind the Mercedes driver.

    The Australian’s team-mate Max Verstappen also made progress, finishing third after taking P7 in the FP1. The Dutch teenager’s time was almost a second quicker better than his best lap of the morning.

    The Red Bull driver took third almost three tenths of a second clear of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel who repeated his FP1 slot of fourth, nine tenths off Hamilton’s pace. The four-time champion’s team-mate, Kimi Raikkonen, ended the session in fifth, 0.166s ahead of the lead McLaren-Honda of Fernando Alonso.

    After a quiet start to the weekend for Williams, with 12th and 13th positions respectively for Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa in FP1, the team improved in the afternoon with Bottas seventh and Massa 10th. Behind Bottas in eighth was Haas’ Romain Grosjean’s Haas with Jenson Button in the second McLaren ninth, though the Briton was seventh tenths of a second down on team-mate Alonso.

    2016 British Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
    1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:31.660 36
    2 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:32.051 30
    3 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:32.286 36
    4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:32.570 40
    5 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:32.736 38
    6 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:33.040 31
    7 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:33.493 38
    8 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:33.614 32
    9 Jenson Button McLaren 1:33.763 20
    10 Felipe Massa Williams 1:33.801 29
    11 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:33.840 27
    12 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:34.000 32
    13 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:34.139 35
    14 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:34.154 25
    15 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:34.321 35
    16 Sergio Perez Force India 1:34.356 37
    17 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:34.549 40
    18 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:34.610 41
    19 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:34.722 36
    20 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:34.959 41
    21 Rio Haryanto Manor 1:35.841 36
    22 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 0

    eom/FIA press release

  • Kimi, Vettel to continue at Ferrari

    Maranello, July 8 – Scuderia Ferrari announces that it has renewed its technical and racing agreement with Kimi Raikkonen. The driver line-up for the 2017 racing season will still consist of the Finnish driver and Sebastian Vettel.

    A press release from Maurizio Arrivabene, team Principal and Managing Director Scuderia Ferrari said on Friday.

     

    eom/Ferrari release

  • Yes they are scary deterrents but no team orders, says Hamilton

    Yes they are scary deterrents but no team orders, says Hamilton

    DRIVERS – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes), Jenson BUTTON (McLaren), Jolyon PALMER (Renault), Valtteri BOTTAS (Williams), Romain GROSJEAN (Haas), Pascal WEHRLEIN (Manor)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Hamilton-centre-front-row-at-the-Thursday-Press-Conference.-An-FIA-image

    Hamilton-centre-front-row-at-the-Thursday-Press-Conference.-An-FIA-image

    Jenson, let’s start with you, 2009 Formula One World Champion? A positive result in Austria showed clear improvement in car pace. Was that circuit and tyre-specific or do you expect that to roll out this weekend and the weekends to come in the best few weeks?
    Jenson BUTTON: First of all, good afternoon. I would say it was weather-dependent rather than tyres. I think the conditions helped us quite a lot. In the wet we were pretty quick and in the drying conditions we made the best of it. Put it P5, and obviously got lifted up to P3 and was running P2 for a bit of the race but were quickly put into our place. But considering that, I don’t think P6 was too bad. The three teams in front of us were a massive amount quicker than us but to beat the cars that we did, we did alright. Coming here I don’t expect to be qualifying fifth, unless we get some really good British weather and have a good downpour, which I’m hoping for, because then I think we do have more of an opportunity. Yeah, we’ll see. Then race is going to be reasonably tricky for us here. The car is very good in low-speed corners. High-speed corners we don’t really know. We do have some upgrades, aero-wise, engine-wise, so it’s moving forward. It’s just never as a quick as you hope is it. But the guys are doing a very good job of bringing something to every race and on the power side it should be a positive step.

    That’s performance, but in nine races McLaren has only managed to get both cars to the finish on three occasions. Is that because you are pushing it so hard in development or is reliability a bit of a concern?
    JB: I don’t think so. If you look at a lot of teams, cars aren’t finishing and yeah, so I don’t think that is an issue. I would rather be pushing things to the limit and getting better results and possibly having some reliability issues. We’re not fighting for a world championship this year, far from it, so it’s important for is to try to maximise what we have, enjoy the weekend and get the best out of what we have on the weekend and I think they are doing a good job of balancing that.

    Thank you. Romain, turning to you, you were back in the points in Austria, your fourth time this year scoring points, the first time since Russia. It was based on a long stint on the tyres. Were you encouraged by what you achieved in Austria?
    Romain GROSJEAN: Yeah, I thin Austria was a good weekend for us. I think qualifying could have been a bit better but then the car felt great for the long run on tyres. We understood a bit better how to use them, so hopefully we can transform that and keep it going here in Silverstone. Then in the race the car felt good. We managed to get the one-stop strategy that we planned working. It’s a shame we didn’t have enough speed to just overtake the McLaren but generally very happy with the result.

    It’s only the first season for the team but performance seems to have fluctuated all season. Do you feel you now understand the strengths and weaknesses of this car, enough to establish a good baseline for next year’s car, for example?
    RG: I think we started very well and then we had some issues, very different every time, that didn’t allow us to score points. I think Baku and Canada we did have the chance to score points but once we had debris in the radiator and the other time we lost the front wing. That cost us a shot at good results. I think we could have been a bit more consistent but it’s a brand new team, first year and things like that you expect that to happen. Hopefully now things are a bit more settled and we can try to score points as much as possible.

    Pascal, turning to you, your first Formula One points last time and the first for Manor under that name as well. It was based on getting the tyres into the right operating window, which has been a bit of a struggle for you and the team this year. Do you think you have learned the magic formula now?
    Pascal WEHRLEIN: I don’t think so. I think the new surface in Austria helped us a lot. It was quicker and so we put more energy into the tyres and it helped us a lot. We were in the working window for qualifying and for the race and we could extend the run in the race. In qualifying, on the first lap the tyres were there and I could do a very good lap with P12 in Q2 and that’s it.

    You’re coming from a track that you knew very well from your previous racing experience to one here at Silverstone that you have never raced on I believe. What are you looking forward to about Silverstone, what’s exciting you?
    PW: I think there are many nice corners, like… I don’t really know the names, but it’s Copse of Hops…

    RG: Maggotts, Becketts, Chapel…

    PW: A bit strange names but still the corners are really nice, really high-speed corners. I like that challenge, basically. With the Manor car it won’t be easy because we are struggling a bit with downforce. In general, I am really looking forward to drive this track tomorrow. I’m always looking forward to new tracks.

    Thanks. Turning to Valtteri Bottas, a podium finisher here a couple of years ago. Of course you know all the corners, you’ve been through them many times in the past, one of your favourite tracks I believe. It’s been a good track for Williams over the past couple of years. This year do you arrive here feeling optimistic you’ll be able to compete on that same level again, because at other circuits this year it seems to have been a bit more of a struggle for you?
    Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, definitely. It’s really cool to be in Silverstone, one of my favourite tracks. It’s a home grand prix for Williams so it’s always great. There is a very special atmosphere racing around these high-speed corners. Of course we have high expectations, but we will need to wait and see how the practice goes, because there have been some circuits where it’s been very close… I mean, just a few races ago we had high expectations but we couldn’t execute that. We just need to do everything we can in the practice, find a good set-up with the car and try to get the tyres to work perfectly. That’s been the main issue in Baku and Austria. So yeah, just waiting for quali and race and hopefully we can be high up there.

    Now, I think that I’m right in saying that you’ve had the opportunity to drive some of the great Williams F1 cars from the past around Silverstone in your time in with the team. Tell us about how that felt, any highlights, what the experience was like?
    VB: Yeah, I’ve driven Keke Rosberg’s wining car from ’82 and Damon Hill’s car from the ‘90s. Yeah, it’s been really cool trying out those cars on the same track that I’m driving in nowadays Formula One. Of course they are very different. Completely different behaviour. The technology has gone so much forward nowadays. But I have to say that with the cars we have now it’s a real enjoyment driving here in these corners, so I wouldn’t change that.

    Turning to Jolyon, first British Grand Prix as a Formula One driver. Some 135,000 people are expected here on race day. Everything has built up to this I guess, so what does this weekend mean to you?
    Jolyon PALMER: Well, it’s huge. My first British Grand Prix, a race I’ve been looking forward to since the start of the year really. So a track I know really, really well, I’ve been racing here for a long time. And I love the track as well. The layout is awesome, lot of fast corners. You need a lot of commitment but I really enjoy it. And then the crowd, which is every year fantastic here. Been coming here myself for many years and now to be racing Formula One here is going to be pretty special. So I’m looking forward to it.,

    Now you out-raced Magnussen in Austria, but you haven’t managed to get into Q2 for a while, in fact I think it’s the first race of the season. So is qualifying the clear for you at the moment?
    JP: Yeah, 100% really. For us we have been quite close – Montreal I was only 15,000ths off Romain to get to Q2. It was really close. Austria as well we were OK but then we had a red flag and we struggled to get the last set of tyres on. I think we’re not far away and hopefully this weekend we can find the last bit. I think the track should suit us more than the last few. And then once you’re in Q2, you’re starting a few places higher, you’ve got the pace to start a few places higher and you have more chance of scoring points. I mean they are the two aims: to get into Q2 and then score some points.

    Turning to Lewis, defending world champion of course, a three-time British Grand Prix winner. Just mention to Jolyon there, 135,000 people expected here on race day, so a lot of expectation, but lets’ talk about the championship. Twelve races to go, 11 points behind your team-mate, nearest rival challenger is 50 behind. Do you see this now as a two-horse race and how excited are you about it?
    Lewis HAMILTON: I don’t think it’s a two-horse race. I should take a page out of your book [Jenson], good afternoon everyone. No, I mean, it’s the same as it’s been since the beginning. It’s still a fight. I think Ferrari are still there. Sebastian has had a couple of unfortunate races but they are still a force to be aware of. Every time I look up the cameras go… watch this!

    JB: We need some silent shutters, can we do that?

    LH: We do, we do. It’s definitely a nicer position to be in. I’ve definitely seen worse days and worse times, obviously I was 43 points behind at one point. It’s still behind but it’s not impossible to come back.

    Mercedes bosses met with you and Nico and the team’s issued a statement in the last couple of hours saying “in the last five races there have been three incidents that have cost us over 50 points in the championship. We have therefore strengthened our rules of engagement to include much greater deterrents to contact between the cars. With these in place we will our drivers to manage the situation. Their destiny is in their own hands.” Now clearly, last time out in Austria, the stewards found that the collision was your team-mate’s fault but what’s your comment on the statement today and how will it affect the battle going forward?
    LH: In all honesty, I think our destiny has always been in our hands, so it doesn’t realty change anything. We are still able to race, no team rules or team orders or whatever it’s called, which I think is great for the fans, so I think everyone should be excited.

    And you’re both completely clear on what it all means and what these “much greater deterrents” are?
    LH: Yeah.

    Are they scary deterrents?
    LH: I should say yes.

    You should?
    LH: I guess I should say yes.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FOOR

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Speedsport Magazine) Two questions for Valtteri. Has the team discovered what went wrong in the last race and going into the second half of the season is Red Bull still a target or are you looking over your shoulder at Force India?
    VB: First of all with Austria, it was a really disappointing race for us. Like Pascal and Jenson said they could really use the conditions to their benefit with the tyres and the temperature and the new asphalt but for us it was completely the opposite, so we really struggled massively. I think there are multiple factors. I’m still yet today to have a better look with the engineers about it. I can say we don’t 100% understand our performance yet. We have some kind of ideas but we are still analysing everything. But the good thing is at least we now to a more normal type of tarmac, not new at least, so hopefully it works out better. With the Red Bull, definitely they are strong and they are getting stronger all the time. But we also have some updates lined up. I am trying out the new front wing that Felipe tried out in Austria. I think we both have and also some other updates lined up for the next few races. With that in mind then if we can get better results than Austria and if we start to understand things better and really use those tracks that are good for us, getting string points for our cars, then it is still possible. I think it is a good target for us to try to put pressure on them, try to beat them in the races and if we can’t make it then at least we should finish ahead of Force India.

    Q: (Sean McGreevy – CSMA) Question for Lewis, you, Jim Clark and Nigel Mansell have all won three races, British Grands Prix at this circuit. If you win on Sunday you’ll be the most successful British driver at Silverstone. Have you thought about that and what would it mean to you if you won?
    LH: Is that true? Nigel has four. [one at Brands Hatch] Ah, I see. No pressure then! I didn’t know that. Ask me if I get there. It doesn’t change anything into the weekend. As Jenson said, it’s a great thing to be able to arrive here and have the incredible support we have. We’ve definitely got the best following of fans here and the Brits turn out regardless of what the weather is, they turn out in their thousands and it’s just a very  proud experience being here and being able to represent all the Brits. I’m still of the mind that… I remember being here when I wasn’t even in Formula One and one day dreaming of driving Formula One, so it’s just crazy to think I’ve had those wins here and I hope that I can continue to, along with the drivers here, raise the flag proudly.

    Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) Along the same lines Lewis, as time has gone on, this race has grown bigger and bigger for you and for the British sporting public and I wonder if there is a point where you have to be very disciplined about it not affecting your weekend performance and how you approach the weekend to find that balance between what you normally have to do and this massive audience which you find yourself facing?
    LH: Honestly, I personally draw a lot of energy from the fans. There’s races where you have a few and races where you have a lot. You come to Silverstone and that’s when the energy is in abundance. I just absorb that. Seeing people that have saved up there money to come and spend their money here and put all of their energy towards you getting across the finish line first, that’s… pretty much impossible to describe how amazing that feels. And when there’s so many of them, all drivers will talk about it giving you that extra tenth or two on the weekend and I generally find that is the case. So the more and more there is, hopefully there’s more time in it. Don’t know if that’s the case, I hope so! I’d like to believe so.

    Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Has Toto given you any guidelines about how you can race with Nico, side-by-side now? For example, could you do what you did in Suzuka or Austin last year under whatever new guidelines there might be?
    LH: Unfortunately Andrew, everything that’s been said is private and confidential so I’m not allowed to… it’s a good question. We’re still able to race, and obviously in those races the stewards deemed me racing, so we… I… will still race like that.

    Q: (Qasim Abdul – Renaissance Foundation) Lewis, my question is in two parts: how can young people get into Formula One first of all. Because it’s not broadcast as much as other sports. Second, when we spoke to you, you were very interested in “Peace”, and right now with all the media that’s going on, how can we spread peace [unclear] Would you like to come with us to the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway?
    LH: That sounds pretty cool. I’ve never been invited. Is it a good gig?
    It’s in Oslo, so it’s really cold, but good…
    LH: Maybe we should chat about that off-line. I’m always up for good events. Peace. For us as a team, fortunately we have people higher-up and obviously we’re adults so we, with our bosses, we work very hard, or they work very hard to try and dilute whatever tensions there are between all the people in the team. Whilst it’s not the easiest thing to come across, it’s something that I think, as men and women, we are able to reach an agreement at that point. So, while at one specific moment you might be angry, there’s always peace on the horizon. The first one, it’s really hard. It’s not like the other sports, like football, tennis, basketball. Not taking away from how hard it is to get into those sports but growing up I could go and buy a basketball and play in my driveway. You could play at school, you could play anywhere you want. Go-karts, you have to go and find a kart track, you can hire a kart but it’s expensive. It’s very expensive, and that’s the issue. But there are people, like Carolyn Hoy who does the karting championship in the UK, who really try to make it manageable for all families. Ultimately there’s going to be a wealthier and those families that have less money – but I think Jenson and I, from what I know of Jenson’s background, we both didn’t have money but we both got here which shows it is possible. There is always a way. Where there’s a will there’s a way and our parents somehow found that way. Jenson’s Dad worked so hard – he even did my engines, at a decent rate as well! He didn’t overcharge us! Our job is really to encourage kids. And it’s not just for motor racing. It really is for whatever it is that they’re into. I guess this is a platform for us to real inspire people in whatever genre or sport or form of work or whatever ambition they have, to fight for it and not give up, even though times do get low. I think the races we have that are good and the races that are bad, hopefully through those experiences we show that.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Lewis, if you were a team principal – let’s suppose – in the circumstances you are facing now with Nico, what would be your reaction? You would let free completely? You would give some orientation? Because you also would answer to the president of the company, for example.
    LH: Me personally, I think I’d be in a better position because I’m a racing driver, so I know what you would do, and what I would do on a race track and what I would not. Our great engineers and generally individuals who don’t race, it’s difficult to understand the decisions we take when we’re racing at 200mph. So I think I’d be in a better position – but I’m not going to tell you what I would or would not do. I would want them to race, that’s for sure, and I wouldn’t bring in team orders ‘cos racing is why I’m here and why I’d want to be there: to see the guys race. I’d probably be more understanding that, when you have cars that are racing first and second, there are going to be times, out of 60 races together… I don’t know if it’s five collisions we’ve had, I don’t know how many collisions we’ve had, but it’s a small amount compared to the amount of successful races we’ve had and 1-2s we’ve had. So, that’s me.

    Q: (Sarah Holt – Channel Four) Just a really simple question for the British drivers: what’s your favourite thing about coming home to race here in Britain? Whether it’s on track or something you do off-track like seeing your families or watching TV or something…
    JB: Watching TV or something! That’s the best question. I’m not taking the mickey, it was a very good question. The best thing about the British Grand Prix. We can say that we love the circuit because I think every driver likes Silverstone. It’s flowing, there’s so much history here, whether your car works here or not, you still enjoy the circuit. As a British driver, it has to be the fans. It has to be the support that you get here. I camp here, as a few of the drivers do, and when you drive from the campsite – motorhome site I’ll call it, glamping I think it’s called – you drive in, see the people coming in, see the Union Jacks, and obviously the different team kits. They don’t just come here to support the British drivers, they come here to support whoever they like and whatever team they like. But if you drive past someone with a Renault hat on, and you’re a British driver, he’s still going to cheer for you. And he’s still going to say good luck for the weekend – or a Mercedes hat – because they’re so supportive of Formula One as a whole, not just individuals. Which is what makes this race so special. I think for everyone a race that stands out because of that. Also, after the race we get to go to the stand, where they have the live bands, and standing up there, whether you’ve had a good race or not – and most of mine haven’t been good here – you stand up there and there’s just a sea of people, different flags, people that are British, people that are from all over the world that come to watch this race, the atmosphere’s electric. It’s a very special feeling. Then you head back to the motorhome and have a Bar-B with your mates. It’s old-school. Like the karting days.

    LH: I’m trying to think what it is because you’ve now taking my answer, so I’ll pass it to Jolyon for a second.

    JP: Not getting onto a plane to get to a race is a bonus. Just an hour up the M40 is quite nice. It’s the same as Jenson, it’s the fans, I think. Home support, friends and family that can come up as well but just generally the fans are pretty awesome here.

    LH: He’s covered then all!

    JP: I’m just going broad so you’ve got no more options!

    You mentioned the fans earlier Lewis, but I wonder also racing here, as Jenson said, it’s old-school. Does it basically just bring back a lot of memories. Does it connect you with your childhood and all those races?
    LH: What I love firstly, is landing here the other day, whether it’s going home, seeing family, driving down the countryside where I grew up, seeing friends who I grew up with. I guess just being around something you’re used to. We’ve been to Baku, for example, and it’s all new: you don’t know the streets, you don’t know the restaurants. Here you can go to your usual favourite restaurants, meet up with your friends, it’s an amazing feeling. Last night I caught up with a couple of friends that I grew up with, that I met 21 years ago. It’s that but most importantly, as Jenson said, it’s when we arrive here. It’s the history, it’s knowing that we’re going to be one of only 22 people in the world that get to be here and one of the relatively small amount of British drivers, compared to the amount of people in the world, who get to come here and represent their country. It’s just an amazing feeling when you get on your home turf. I would imagine it’s similar for football fans in their own stadium with their own fans… the majority of fans are there for them. It’s unbelievable. It’s as powerful as, for me, the energy is as powerful as the sea. Like a wave. It’s unreal. It’s so powerful it’s hard to absorb – but you absorb as much as you can. It’s amazing.

    Q: (Angela Bern – SID) Lewis did the reaction of the crowd last Sunday in Spielberg affect you in any way? They were booing during the victory ceremony. Is that something that affects you, that you are thinking about afterwards?
    LH: Fortunately not at all. I don’t know if you saw my Snapchat but I had an amazing time literally… once we got away from the track, leaving, went to a really beautiful place for the last couple of days and had the best two days of the year. And also, someone mentioned to me that potentially that someone… some of the fans didn’t see exactly everything what happened and also a comment from someone that… someone told me that someone said that I had rammed Nico off. I understand that that was the first reaction and whether some of them still feel the same away, it doesn’t really make a big difference. This weekend, the cheers will make those boos so small which is a good thing.

    Q: (Mikolaj Sokol – Rzeczpospolita)  Lewis, when you’re battling on the track, attacking or defending, what’s the balance between rational thinking, preparation and analysis, and just pure racing instinct and reflex? What goes on in your mind in those split seconds when you have to take a decision the track?
    LH: Can you just tell me that again? I’m just struggling to… So when I’m racing for the championship, the balance…
    Q: (Mikolaj Sokol – Rzeczpospolita)  No, when you’re battling on the track, attacking or defending against any other driver, what’s the proportion between thinking, analysing and preparation, when it comes to every move on the track, and pure racing instinct in those split second decision?
    LH: Well, the more of every single one of those, the more instinct, the more preparation and the more… yeah, you want to have it all. Some of us drivers have more instinct, some of us drivers have better preparation, but we’re all working on our skills throughout the years to be the best at overtaking and analysing manoeuvres, so when I’m trying to make a manoeuvre, for sure it’s analysing the weaknesses of the car ahead, analysing your strengths and then planning and executing and in executing it takes a lot of instinct to know… you know, when you go for a manoeuvre, you basically have a calculation, a percentage of your chance of overtaking. Sometimes it’s 100 percent, sometimes it’s less but as racing  drivers, we even go for the small percentages and that’s what makes us racing drivers and if we don’t then we’re not racing.
    Q: Any others? Valtteri, does it come from experience, how much of it is experience, how much of it is instinct?
    VB: I think it is both really and of course it depends completely on the situation. Sometimes you don’t have time to plan things, if something comes in front of you in the race and you suddenly need to go with your instinct rather than planning. But it is funny, sometimes, when you’re really at your best, really focused and sometimes it feels like there’s plenty of time to think about the situation, what to do and how to make the move and then if you see it in the replay for example, it just looks really quick, completely depends on the situation.
    Q: How about you, Romain, because you had to consider how much risk was appropriate? You went through that process and it made you a better driver.
    RG: I knew that would come to me! I messed up a few times. I think the start, for example, is instinct because you cannot prepare for what’s going to happen in front of you and you cannot think ‘well  these guys are going to turn right and they’re going to go left  and so on’. It’s all at the minute and that’s where you really need to take the right decision and aim for the right objective. And then during the race, there are other times as Valtteri says where you can take your time and you can actually follow another guy for a few laps and for a while and then you know that you’re much faster and I can actually go for it and it feels more natural but it’s well prepared. Another case where a car just comes out of the pits in front of you and in the instinct and decides to go right/left.

    Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday) Romain, arguably last year you had a pick of where you could go. You could have stayed – if the rumours and the gossips are to be believed – you could have stayed at Lotus. You could have gone to other teams but you chose Haas. Nine races into the new season with a new team, what are your thoughts? Are you happy you’ve made that decision? What do you want to do next year and also tell us a bit about NASCAR.
    RG: Well, I’ll tell you one thing. On the 9th of September last year, I made my decision and I didn’t regret it from there. I like to think before, but when I stick to one plan then I don’t like to regret. I think I’m living a very nice experience in a very good team, very proud to be driving for the US, for a US team. Very proud to have scored a first time ever in Formula One, the first points for Haas so all of that together, it’s a very nice experience and I don’t regret one thing that I’m doing and the more we go, the more we learn, the more the people I work with are really following the same trend so that’s great.
    NASCAR, when I was sitting on my sofa watching the Sonoma race, I wished I was there. It looks good fun, I liked the last lap with Tony Stewart winning the race and pushing Martin Truex a little bit wide but it was great fun. I do need to get a few laps, a few days in the car, do some laps, get some good sensation and then I will come to do a race.

    Q: (Ralf Bach – Autobild Motorsport) Lewis, if in future you will get some team orders – you or Nico, you will get some team orders – would you follow them or would you react as angry, two years ago when your team told you to let Nico past but you didn’t?
    LH: Oooh, buddy, you’re feeling in a certain way, hunh? Hey, you’ve just got to let it go buddy, that was a couple of years ago. I would, that’s my job, that’s what I get paid to do. That’s what we agreed today, that’s what’s in our agreement. If you go back to 2014 and if you listen to the manuscript, you understand I didn’t say no. I just said I won’t get in the way. He didn’t get close so…

    Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) Just going to back to instinct versus experience, Valtteri I’m just wondering: turn one at Bahrain with Lewis? Was that instinct or was that experience, maybe get some Lewis input here?
    VB: It was both, I think 50-50. For sure coming into the corner I remember seeing a gap there, I was sure I could get inside and try and keep my position. Not sure Lewis maybe saw me and I was also sliding at the same time, slightly drifting off the apex, not a lot but… Yeah. I don’t know how Lewis saw it. I would say that was a 50-50 situation.
    LH: I can tell you, I didn’t see it, I just felt it. I don’t know, it was a racing incident.

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Lewis, speaking about you being a team boss. Seeing what Nico did last week, would you understand it as a racing driver?
    LH: Didn’t I just answer that question? I’m pretty sure that I did say that if I was a team boss I would be in a better position to understand the situation because I have driven and know what I would do in that situation. I do believe so. I’m pretty sure I said that before.
    Q: Would you accept from Nico’s point of view, would you be more understanding of Nico’s point of view?
    LH: Any more than I am now? I don’t really understand it, more accepting than what?
    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) As you are a racing driver, seeing it as a racing driver, would you understand what he did?
    LH: Well, I understand it now and I would understand it then. It doesn’t mean it’s right or wrong. I would have to take an opinion, I would have an opinion whether it was right or wrong but I would understand it just as I do now.

    Q: (Casseem Campbell – Renaissance Foundation) On a more positive note…
    LH: It’s all about positive energy, yeah.
    Q: (Casseem Campbell – Renaissance Foundation) To Lewis and Jenson. I’m a big believer in the mental part of any sport as I’m a tennis player as well. Well, not a tennis player, I play tennis. I wanted to know, in terms of Formula One specifically, what are the main nuance qualities you feel that a Formula One driver has to have to be successful?
    LH: Good question. I think… is that for all of us?
    Q: To you and Jenson.
    LH: Go first.
    JB: You’ve started mate, go for it.
    LH: Ah s***. I think it’s very similar to other sports. I watch other sports like tennis and I’m amazed  when – and I always refer to Federer as one of my favourite players – when a player’s up and I understand the positive mental space you’re in when you’re up and then when you make a mistake, how you don’t drop it all or lose it all, how they come back from a couple of sets down, for example and those kind of things. You take a lot of energy, I think I try to take a lot from that because for us it’s kind of similar, you know? We have our ups and downs, you have your good days and your bad days but as a racing driver, for us it’s a long long season, it is about focus, it’s about… the training helps massively. You go out for a run, it helps you really… you have a lot to think about. I think for every single person it’s different but for me, if I go and work out whatever it is, it helps me stay focused. It is about keeping the eye on the prize, it’s about learning through every single experience, whether good or bad. Hopefully you have more… hopefully you learn more through the bad times because that’s how you grow. You learn less in the good times I would say. But if you understand to learn and enjoy from the bad times, then you appreciate the better times. I don’t know if that’s really… I don’t think I’m answering it, I’m leaving you space to answer it. The nuances in the performance…
    JB: I think Formula One is a sport but it’s not as physical as most sports so it has to be mental. A lot of it is about feeling but mentally to have to be in the right place, you really do. Off the back of a good race, you have so much more confidence coming into the weekend. I think we’ve all been through tough times  in our careers and some people, they fall into the tough times and never come out again, and you see that with racing drivers which is a shame because you know the raw talent is there. So it’s not just about being strong enough as an individual because you can only learn that with time and it can be too late by the time you’ve learned that, you are already cast aside for another driver. So you need good people around you to support you, family and obviously close friends but also the people you work with. Formula One is a massive team sport and it’s not just about people doing their job correctly, building the front wing or designing the rear wing or what have you. It’s about making sure that you are in the right frame of mind and everyone working together and making sure there’s a positive attitude, because it’s not just the drivers that have difficult days, it’s the mechanics as well and the engineers who have a bad day if they make the wrong call. They’re told they’ve made the wrong call and it hurts, mentally, a lot. And it’s about you all pulling together in those difficult times and making the difference. It’s a massive mental game, Formula One, and a lot of people don’t realise that.
    LH: Ultimately down to the positive mental attitude. I think that’s the key, as Jenson said.

    eom/FIA transcript of the Thursday Press Conference

  • Nikita Mazepin to drive for Force India at Silverstone test

    Nikita Mazepin to drive for Force India at Silverstone test

    Silverstone, 4 July 2016:  

    Nikita Mazepin, a file phot by Sahara Force India
    Nikita Mazepin, a file phot by Sahara Force India

    Sahara Force India is pleased to announce that its development driver, Nikita Mazepin, will drive the VJM09 at the test session following the British Grand Prix in Silverstone. The 17-year-old Russian will drive both days of the test, which will take place on the 12th and 13th of July.

     
    Mazepin, who was announced in his development role with the team in February, is currently competing in the FIA European Formula 3 Championship with Hi-Tech Racing. He has already attended several Formula One events with the team this season and has begun an extensive simulator programme at the team’s Silverstone HQ.
     
    Nikita Mazepin: “I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to test the VJM09 at Silverstone. There’s no doubt it will be the biggest moment of my career and it’s something I’ve been working towards my whole life. It’s been a few months since I joined the team and I feel ready for this opportunity. I know it’s an important test for the team and they will be counting on me to do a good job, so I will work hard to make sure we achieve our objectives.”
     
    Dr Vijay Mallya, Team Principal and Managing Director: “In just a few months since his announcement as a development driver, Nikita has shown a great level of technical understanding to go with his driving skills. His progress in our simulator has been excellent and to be in the car during this test is the next step in his natural progression within the team. We are looking forward to working with him in Silverstone.”

  • Hamilton wins dramatic Austrian GP; Rosberg 4th

    Spielberg, 3 July 2016: Lewis Hamilton grabbed a dramatic Austrian Grand Prix victory after colliding with Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg on the final lap.

    Rosberg was leading the race but after the German made a small mistake at Turn One on the final tour, Hamilton was able to close on his team-mate and attempt an overtaking move in Turn Two. Later Rosberg was penalised with a 10-second penalty by the stewards and was reprimanded for not stopping over…

    Rosberg cover the middle of the circuit, forcing Hamilton to make a move around the outside. With Rosberg’s car wide across the track the Briton ran wide and as he returned to the track, Rosberg left little room and he ran into the side of Hamilton’s car. The collision severely damaged Rosberg’s front wing and that allowed Hamilton to easily pass the German on the run to Turn Three.

    With Rosberg slowing as his front wing disintegrated, Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen flew past to claim second place, with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen also passing the stricken Mercedes to take the final spot on the podium. Rosberg crossed the line in fourth place, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo.

    Starting from pole, Hamilton led in the early stage of the race as Rosberg made his way up from sixth on the grid.

    Then German climbed to third behind Raikkonen before his first pit stop on lap 10, when he changed from opening used ultrasoft tyres to soft tyres. Behind him at that stage were Verstappen, Sebastian Vettel in the second Ferrari and Daniel Ricciardo in the second Red Bull.

    Hamilton, though, stayed out, trying to eke a long stint out of his starting ultrasofts and the Briton continued in the lead until lap 21 when he too pitted for softs. It was a poor stop, however, and problems with the rear left wheel saw him emerge behind Rosberg.

    Vettel now led and he too was trying to get the most out of his starting supersoft tyres. It wasn’t to be, however, and after 26 laps his rear-left tyre exploded on the pit straight. He careened into the wall and the safety car was deployed.

    When the action resumed Rosberg now led ahead of Hamilton, Verstappen, Ricciardo and Raikkonen.

    A long second stint followed for the Mercedes driving during which Rosberg and Hamilton traded blows, one lapping fastest followed by an immediate response from the other.

    The pace-setting led to the duo pulling away from the Red Bulls who were in turn slowly being reeled in by Raikkonen who had been disadvantaged by the stops and the safety car.

    Raikkonen eventually passed Ricciardo on lap 57 and set off in pursuit of Verstappen. That was Ricciardo’s cue to make a final stop to take on ultrasofts for a final charge. He rejoined behind McLaren’s Jenson Button but soon passed the Briton to reclaim P5. With 24 seconds between him and Raikkonen, though, there was no hope of further progress and he settled for fifth and 10 points.

    Ahead, Hamilton was closing on Rosberg and eventually the German erred. Hamilton, seeing his chance pushed hard and attempted a move around the outside into Turn Two. As Hamilton was forced wide and Rosberg took a hard line, collision and controversy were inevitable.

    Hamilton powered on to take his third win of the season and the 46th of his career while Rosberg was left to finish fourth and to face a post-race stewards’ investigation for ‘causing a collision and failing to stop with a seriously damaged car’.

    Verstappen took the second podium finish of his young career, while Raikkonen salvaged Ferrari pride with third.

    With Rosberg fourth and Ricciardo fifth, sixth place went to Button, McLaren’s best result since the US GP of last year. Romain Grosjean took Haas back into the points with seventh place, while Carlos Sainz was eighth for Toro Rosso. Ninth place went to Williams’ Valtteri Bottas and Pascal Wehrlein scored Manor’s first point of the season with 10th place.

    2016 Austrian Grand Prix – Race
    1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 71 laps – 1h27m38.107s 4
    2 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing +5.719 3
    3 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari +6.024 3
    4 Nico Rosberg Mercedes +16.710 4
    5 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing +30.981 4
    6 Jenson Button McLaren +37.706 4
    7 Romain Grosjean Haas +44.668 3
    8 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso +47.400 3
    9 Valtteri Bottas Williams +1 lap 4
    10 Pascal Wehrlein Manor +1 lap 4
    11 Esteban Gutierrez Haas +1 lap 4
    12 Jolyon Palmer Renault +1 lap 4
    13 Felipe Nasr Sauber +1 lap 3
    14 Kevin Magnussen Renault +1 lap 4
    15 Marcus Ericsson Sauber +1 lap 4
    16 Rio Haryanto Manor +1 lap 4
    17 Sergio Perez Force India +1 lap 4
    18 Fernando Alonso McLaren DNF 5
    19 Nico Hulkenberg Force India DNF 6
    20 Felipe Massa Williams DNF 5
    21 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari DNF 0
    22 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso DNF 0

    eom/FIA press release