INDIA in F1

Author: David Bodapati

  • Rosberg takes pole to flag victory at Baku; Perez gets another podium for Force India

    Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg cruised to a comprehensive Grand Prix of Europe win, finishing more than 16 seconds ahead of second-placed Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari, while Sergio Perez recovered from a grid penalty to take a deserved third place.

    With plenty of incidents enlivening the support races at the inaugural race in Baku, similar unpredictability had been expected from the grand prix, but when Rosberg went through the first corner in the lead and quickly built up a solid gap to fellow front-row starter Daniel Ricciardo, the identity of the winner, at least, was never in doubt.

    Racing in clear air, Rosberg set a blistering pace and by the mid point of the race, jst after his one and only stop to shed supersoft tyres in favour of a set of softs, he was more than 18 seconds clear of then second-placed man Kimi Raikkonen.

    From there it was a simply a case of managing his pace, staying clear of the walls and bringing his car home. And after 51 laps, Rosberg did just that, taking his fifth of the season and his first career ‘grand chelem’ for pole position, victory, fastest lap and for leading every lap of the race.

    “It’s been an amazing day really, an amazing weekend,” he said afterwards. It’s been spectacular; great track, really exciting racing. Of course, for me the weekend went perfectly: qualifying, race, everything to plan, so it was really awesome.”

    The potential stumbling block in Rosberg’s path came from a technical glitch that affected both he and team-mate Lewis Hamilton. The Briton was badly affected by issue, which his race engineer explained was a problem with mode he was in. Rosberg, though, was able to solve the problem.

    “I think I had the same [as Hamilton] but I’m not sure,” Rosberg said. “It was just a matter of getting out of it with the right combination of switches.”

    Hamilton began the race in 10th position after a Q3 race but recovered well to rise to fifth before the technical problems began to affect him. He was unable to close on Perez and Raikkonen ahead and had to settle for salvaging 10 points from a troubled weekend.

    Ahead, Perez had used his Force India’s Mercedes power unit and a one-stop strategy to great effect and in the closing laps he found himself chasing down Raikkonen.

    The Finn has risen as high as second in the race, passing team-mate Vettel with an undercut, but he later ceded the position back to the quicker German and then found himself fending off Perez.

    Raikkonen was also hit with a five-second penalty due to crossing the white line at the pit entry and while Perez was safe in the knowledge that with a 0.5s gap to Raikkonen he would take P3 in the classification, the Mexican was determined to take the position on the track. He managed it on the final lap to score his

    “I knew that the podium was secure but when I saw the opportunity, that it was safe enough to do it and no risk at all, I went for it, because it obviously feel a lot nicer to finish the race P3,” said a delighted Perez who rose from seventh on the grid to take third place, after a gearbox change following an FP3 crash yesterday dropped him from P2 in qualifying.

    With Hamilton fifth, Valtteri Bottas took a lonely sixth for Williams, ahead of the Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen.

    Ricciardo started the race from P2 but while he held the position in the early stages he quickly went backwards following an early stop for soft tyres and then again when he took on medium tyres in a second stop.

    Verstappen was on a similar strategy and while he dropped to as low as P18 after starting in P9, both Red Bull drivers eventually began to climb back through the pack as their more durable tyres gave them an advantage of those on soft tyres at the end of a two-stop race.

    Nico Hulkenberg took ninth place for Force India, while Felipe Massa took a solitary point for Williams with tenth position.

    Rosberg’s victory extends his championship lead over Hamilton to 24 points, while Vettel closes the gap to second place to 21 points. Raikkonen is 15 points further back in fourth.

    2016 Grand Prix of Europe – Race
    1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 51 laps – 1h32m52.366s
    2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari +16.696
    3 Sergio Pérez Force India +25.241
    4 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari +33.102
    5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +56.335
    6 Valtteri Bottas Williams +60.886
    7 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull +69.229
    8 Max Verstappen Red Bull +70.696
    9 Nico Hülkenberg Force India +77.708
    10 Felipe Massa Williams +85.375
    11 Jenson Button McLaren +104.817
    12 Felipe Nasr Sauber +1 lap
    13 Romain Grosjean Haas +1 lap
    14 Kevin Magnussen Renault +1 lap
    15 Jolyon Palmer Renault +1 lap
    16 Esteban Gutierrez Haas +1 lap
    17 Marcus Ericsson Sauber +1 lap
    18 Rio Haryanto Manor +2 laps
    19 Fernando Alonso McLaren DNF
    20 Pascal Wehrlein Manor DNF

    21.  Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso DNF
    22 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso DNF

    eom/FIA press release

  • Valtteri’s podium was a great boost to the team: Claire

    TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Frédéric VASSEUR (Renault), Roberto BOCCAFOGLI (Pirelli), Eric BOULLIER (McLaren), Gene HAAS (Haas), Toto WOLFF (Mercedes), Claire WILLIAMS (Williams)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    If I could start with you Eric: you had both cars in the points in Monaco a couple of races ago but it was a tougher race for you in Montreal. How do you reflect on the team’s performance in Canada?
    Eric BOULLIER: We know obviously that some track layouts are suiting are package, chassis, power unit, and some others are not. Clearly you have a long straight line in Montreal and downforce level obviously different from the other track layouts, so you have to specifically design your downforce levels there. Conditions were better for us on one lap on Friday and Saturday but the race was a bit difficult and we had also a slow stop due to a technical issue. But I think we are still on the move and proving every weekend that we are improving by bringing more updates and I think this is a positive.

    Well, where do you go from here? IN terms of development, the drivers want you to keep pushing for 2016, but is the prudent thing to focus on 2017 now?
    EB: I think you still have to mix both of them. We don’t want to stop developing this year’s car. Even if there is a strong change for next year into the technical regulations I think we can still carry over some of the development we are having now.
    Thank you. Gene, if I could come to you: Esteban Gutierrez appears to be growing in confidence while Romain Grosjean has struggled a little bit more in recent races. How do you explain the shift in performance between your two drivers?
    Gene HAAS: I think a lot of it is just the learning curve of trying to get the tyres to work. We’ve struggled with tyre temperatures. We’ve had issues when the Safety Car comes out that once the tyres come out of their optimum temperature we just lose pace rather quickly. So that’s probably the biggest problem – trying to maintain the tyre temperatures, especially when you’re in back of the pack where you’re always going to be a few seconds off the leaders and that differential makes a huge impact on how hard the tyres are worked and also their temperature.

    You had an emphatic start to the season, but your last points finish was in Russia and after a strong start to the campaign do you feel that you are now starting to lose out in the development race?
    GH: No, not really. Actually, I think the team is coalescing together quite well. There’s no more scrambling to figure out why this didn’t work or that didn’t work. We had a lot of problems with the simple things like radio communications and electrical boxes and at the last few races we don’t have those issues anymore. So they’re starting to sort out how the cars work, what it takes to put them together. So I think I feel very, very comfortable with the progress the team is making.

    Thank you. Frédéric, you’ve said on many occasions that this is a transitional year for Renault, but only the one points finish so far, so how do you assess the team’s performance?
    Frédéric VASSEUR: To be honest, even if I told you it is a transition year, we have to stay focused and don’t give up the season. It’s very important to keep everybody under pressure. For sure the last two races were a bit difficult and we had too many issues. But we are on a good improving curve and I’m sure we will be quite soon.

    Those issues that you refer to in the last couple of races: both drivers had accidents, unfortunate, but how do you sum up the job that Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer are doing for you?
    FV: You don’t have to forget that Jo is a rookie and Kev didn’t run last year and I think so far they did a good job. For sure we had some crashes over the last weekend but so far they did a good job. I think they are improving in terms of collaboration with the team and we are on a good direction.

    Roberto, today the FIA has rubber-stamped Pirelli’s new three-year deal with Formula One. What does that mean for both Pirelli and the sport?
    Roberto BOCCAFOGLI: For Pirelli it means a big satisfaction of course. As we can imagine it is the final step of a very long path. We know already for quite a long time that we are remaining in Formula One for the next three years, but when it gets ‘officialised’ by the FIA it gets really true. Now it is. We found a very good agreement, a very good collaboration. Everybody knows that next season many new things will be happening in Formula One from the technical point of view and also many modifications are very strongly related to the new tyres for next year. We are ready to start our job, which is a very important job for next season.

    Well, you gave us a glimpse of those tyres at the Monaco Grand Prix a few weeks back. What can you tell us about the testing programme that you are going to do with the 2017 tyres for the remainder of this season?
    RB: With the 2017 tyres things are still to start. They are expected to start for possibly, for us, hopefully, in August, very shortly after the grand prix in Hockenheim. We have 25 days’ testing with these wider tyres. As everybody knows we will start with three teams. Many details still need to be fixed but we know the three teams are Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull. We should be starting very early in August and then we should be testing again immediately in September before going away from the long hauls to the east and to America and possibly a last testing session by the end of the championship. It is a very big job to be done.

    Thank you. Claire if I could come on to you please. It was a frustrating start to the season in many ways fro Williams, so how much of a shot in the arm was Valtteri’s podium last weekend in Canada?
    Claire WILLIAMS: Yeah, it was great for everybody in the team to have that. It’s been a long time coming. I wasn’t there, so I was gutted. I did tell Valtteri not to dare get a podium in Canada if I wasn’t there, but he did and it was great for the team to have that and I think we have come here really much more motivated. This hopefully will be a good race for us as well. We’ve got a string of races coming up where the circuits will all suit our car, so hopefully we’ll have a positive few races in the next ones to come.
    Q: Let’s talk about third place in the Constructors’ Championship. You currently lie fourth, 49 points behind Red Bull Racing. Do you feel you have to strike now, at these tracks that you’ve just mentioned if you’re going to stand a chance of regaining that third place?

    CW: Yeah, I think we absolutely have to capitalise on these races: this one here and then obviously the ones coming up in Austria, Silverstone, etcetera. They will suit our car and we have to make the most of it. But then that’s not to say we haven’t got to ensure we have a chassis that can compete competitively at all the circuits so that we can take the fight to Red Bull. Obviously all the work’s still going on in the factory to make sure the car remains competitive – or as competitive as it can be for the remaining rounds. Because we do want to take the fight to Red Bull. We aren’t happy lying in fourth. Unfortunately that gap’s opened up a little bit but we have to work hard and make sure we can keep closing that gap and taking the fight to them.

    Q: Toto, both of your cars were passed by Sebastian Vettel at the start of the Canadian Grand Prix. Can you just talk up through what went wrong and why with both of your cars?
    Toto WOLFF: The purpose of the change in regulation last year was to make the starts more unpredictable and more variable – and this is exactly what’s happening. You cannot see a pattern throughout the field that some teams always get it right or some teams always get it wrong. We have had some amazing starts before Montréal and in Montréal both of the cars didn’t really have a good getaway. This is now the nature of the sport. Having said that, you still need to optimise – and there is room for optimisation in the clutches and its operation and the execution with the drivers, all needing to remember it’s a tricky operation. But we’re working on it.

    Q: We’ve seen in the last few races a momentum swing from Nico Rosberg’s side of the garage towards Lewis Hamilton. After Nico’s strong start to the season, how do you feel he’s coping with his current difficulties?
    TW: We always have the discussion that if one wins and the other one doesn’t, is there the change of momentum or has the balance swung? It didn’t. As a matter of fact, both of them are very close: Nico had a brilliant run, winning seven races in a row and it was clear that would eventually stop, and it did. And the balance has swung more towards the direction of Lewis and some of the other drivers and that’s normal: it doesn’t mean that he’s going to fall into depression because it doesn’t continue. These guys are very professional and they don’t swing a lot emotionally or mentally – so I have no doubt it is not a big issue for him.

    Q: Is there any evidence the current contract negotiations are weighing on Nico’s mind?
    TW: No, first of all he had a brilliant adviser who is pretty experienced in negotiating good contacts, and that was very clever because he took himself out of it and I don’t think it affects him at all.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Chris Lines – AP) Question for Roberto. There were reports from some of the teams that the damage on the tyres today from the kerbs, getting cuts and that kind of damage on the tyre. Could you tell me, did you notice anything here in this circuit damage-wise that was different to what you would get in a normal practice session.
    RB: We saw during the season some cuts which were, I just want to underline, cuts with no air loss. We told it to FIA as a normal procedure because we normally say, we normally tell FIA when we see something on our tyre which could mean something strange on the track. We simply told FIA. FIA made their checks, you know what was going on afterwards and… nothing strange.

    Q: (Ben Edwards – Channel Four) Question for Toto and for Eric. Can we have a summary of today’s running? It’s the first time we’ve been to this Baku street track, so what kind of feedback are you getting from the drivers? Is it as we expected? How’s it going to be in terms of setting the cars up for tomorrow and are we likely to see positions change quite a lot for tomorrow when we get into qualifying, do we think?
    TW: For us it went pretty well. Immediately you realise when you put the car down and you just hit the sweet-spot or not. Today that was the case. The track has everything: it has that high-speed straight line, we’ve seen more than 350km/h, that’s pretty exceptional, and then the very narrow part through the old city. It’s still a matter of getting the tyre in the right window mechanically and aerodynamically – and that has functioned pretty well for us. I personally find the track very exciting: it’s something new and certainly very challenging for the race, in terms of virtual safety cars and safety cars. Probably strategy’s going to play quite a crucial role on Sunday.

    Eric?
    EB: Well first, the drivers didn’t complain, so that means it must be good. And I agree with Toto: it looks a fantastic place. The general feedback from the paddock is very positive. I think you know with the tools we have at home now, the simulation tools, we can see the car was more or less set up for this track. We see there is huge track evolution: this is the first time we are running on this track, the tarmac is very slippery. Couple of glitches this morning obviously but this is normal when we hit a new venue. But I think globally it was a positive day. It is a track where over the weekend there will be huge track evolution, long straight lines so favouring the higher power PUs, so I think the show on Sunday will be good, will be great. You could see a lot of cars went off in the runoff, so that means it is going to be a challenge as well for the race as well on Sunday.

    Q: (Christian Nimmervoll – Motorsport Total.com) There is the long straight at the end of the circuit; is slipstreaming between teammates going to be an issue or Saturday, or something that you might consider?
    FV: I think that will be difficult to manage, because you will disadvantage one of your two drivers so I don’t think anybody will play this kind of game.
    CW: Nothing to add.
    GH: Well, I talked to the drivers a little bit. They really like the track, they like the high speed straightaways. I don’t know so much about slipstreaming as much as it is getting your brakes to work, very very high speeds going into a left hand, right hand turn, you have to get that right and I think that’s really where they’re going to pull a lot of their times, getting the brakes to work.
    TW: Since I have been in motor racing in the early nineties, I have never seen slipstreaming between two teammates work for both of them in any category so I don’t see that really.

    Q: (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas) Question to Claire; Claire I would love to know… you have been given a big honour just a few days ago, coming from the Queen. I would love to know how important that is for you and what it really means for you and if you ever expected anything like that?
    CW: No, I’m still a bit speechless about it to be honest. I never expected it and it is a real honour to receive an award in the Queen’s birthday honours. But from my perspective, it’s a team effort, we always say that at Williams. I wouldn’t have been able to have done what I’ve done without the support of all seven hundred people at Williams, so the honour is for everybody at Williams, not just for me.. I’m just the figurehead that gets to run it after their name but is an enormous privilege and I’m delighted that we have it.

    Q: (Chris Lines – AP) Toto, do you have any diagnosis yet on what happened with Nico, why he had to pull over? He called it an engine and drive issue.
    TW: We don’t know yet. We have to look at it, what exactly it is so I can’t really give you a comment on that at the moment but it’s a Friday engine so whatever the outcome is, it’s not dramatic.

    1. Q: (Christof Becker – Frankfurter Allegemeiner Zeitung) Question to follow up on some of the discussions on the situation of human rights here in Azerbaijan which was going on yesterday. You will have heard what Bernie Ecclestone has said. About the situation today that there were reports that an Azeri news agency did not get accredited although the situation here is being said or handled differently than before at other races of Formula One, there have not been any calls for boycotts. What are your thoughts on the situation here?
      TW: Look, I think we are responsible for sport, for the sports and sporting side and sport should unite and not divide and I think if we can add our bit in bringing people together and putting on a good spectacle then this is all we can do. The federation and the commercial rights holder are fundamentally responsible for hosting the race. It’s not that we are closing our eyes, on the contrary, but we need to know what we need to do and this is sports.
      CW: As Toto said, we are not politicians, we run sports teams and we’ve come here to race. Bernie and Jean believe that it’s right to race here and we go where the calendar asks us to go. And from our perspective, I think the organisers have done a fantastic job of putting on some great facilities for us to do that, but as Toto says again, sport is supposed to unite people and we just want to put on a good race on Sunday.
      GH: … it’s a very controversial topic. I know in the US human rights are extremely important and the American people have a tendency to throw their weight around to make sure that people do get treated equally in the world. But I think, as Toto said, I think racing is a sport that brings people together to see that differences between people can be overcome. Sometimes when I go to races – like I was in Russia  and I think the US has had a long history of rub-ins with Russian people but they are so friendly and it was so great to be there. So I really think that our sport can help smooth over some of those problems and hopefully when the politicians get to it, they can come to an agreeable solution.

    eom/FIA transcript of the Press Conference

  • Gaurav Gill gets ready for Queensland challenge: APRC 2nd round

    Gaurav Gill gets ready for Queensland challenge: APRC 2nd round

    File photo of Gaurav Gill by Anand Philar
    File photo of Gaurav Gill by Anand Philar

    Queensland, 15 June 2016: Indian ace driver Gaurav Gill is raring to go as he prepares for the second round of the Asia Pacific Rally Championship at Queensland in Australia, this week-end.

    Drivers representing five countries headline a top-flight entry list for the annual International Rally of Queensland on the Sunshine Coast on 17-19 June, all competitors chasing the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Cup powered by Würth.

    Hosting rounds of the FIA Asia Pacific, Australian and State Rally Championships, Queensland’s only international motor sport event has attracted more than 40 entries to tackle 240 kilometres of challenging forest stages around Imbil, in the Coast’s northern hinterland.

    The entry list is headed by India’s MRF Tyres team, winner of five of the past six events and of every APRC driver and manufacturer title since 2012. Their factory-backed Skoda Fabia R5 cars – new this year from the Czech Republic – will be driven by 2010 Queensland winner and 2013 champion Gaurav Gill of India (in picture inset) and 24-year-old German Fabian Kreim, the latest in a parade of young European hot-shots assigned Down Under to develop their skills.

    Gill leads the championship after winning Round 1 in New Zealand last month. The series also will visit China, Japan and Malaysia before finishing in his homeland in December.

    Other drivers entered for Queensland this year are from Japan, New Zealand and Australia.

    Starting his sixth season of international rallying, New Zealand’s Mike Young, 24, showed he will be the defending champions’ strongest rival in the APRC’s second round after claiming several stage wins aboard his Cusco EZY Racing Subaru in his home event.

    Young’s team-mate and making a welcome return to the APRC Sanjay Takale from India, will be hoping for a better result in Australia after a DNF in the New Zealand first round.

    Australia’s challenge will be led by Coffs Harbour-based Nathan Quinn. The Mitsubishi driver has had extensive international experience from China to New Zealand and twice completed the Rally Australia World Championship event.

    Japan is well represented with two drivers, Queensland regular Atsushi Masamura in the PCD Engineering Mitsubishi X and also hoping for a better run in Australia, Fuyuhiko Takahashi in the Ahresty Subaru Impreza. Further representation from Australia comes from Mark Beard driving a Subaru Impreza RS.

    All eight drivers will be chasing the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Cup powered by Würth.

    Round 3 of the Kumho Tyres Australian Rally Championship will be equally hard-fought, with the season invigorated by new rules allowing the return of all-wheel drive cars.

    The field features Australia’s fastest gravel drivers, including four-time champion Simon Evans (Subaru), junior star Harry Bates (Toyota), Tom Wilde, Molly Taylor and Brad Marcovich (all Subarus), Mark Pedder (Peugeot) and Queenslander Ryan Smart (Mitsubishi).

    Major attractions among Classic-car entrants will be Neal Bates, in a 1980 Toyota Celica RA40, and Mal Keough in a replica of the infamous Group B Audi Quattro S1 world rally car.

    Twenty cars are entered for the MRF Tyres Queensland Rally Championship third round.

    Pre-event rally headquarters have been moved north from Caloundra to Maroochydore this year, but the weekend competition hub will remain at the Globe Roamer Service Park at Imbil in the Mary Valley, around 50 minutes’ drive into the Coast hinterland.

    Two spectator viewing parks will be available throughout the weekend at Derrier Road and Casey’s Gully Road. Tickets are available through the event website, at the service park or at the gate.

    Spectators, competitors and officials staying in Imbil will be hosted at a free community-run street party on Saturday night.

    Thousands of fans are expected at the rally’s official Ceremonial Start at Rotary Park, Maroochydore, from 5pm on Friday 17 June. The free family-friendly event will feature a rally car display, driver autographs, prizes, children’s rides, international food and other attractions.

     eom/FIA press release
  • Hamilton takes fifth Canadian GP win; moves 9 points from championship lead

    Hamilton takes fifth Canadian GP win; moves 9 points from championship lead

    Hamilton celebrates after winning the Canadian GP for the fifth time in Montreal on Sunday. An FIA image
    Hamilton celebrates after winning the Canadian GP for the fifth time in Montreal on Sunday. An FIA image

    Montreal, 12 June 2016: Lewis Hamilton took his fifth career Canadian Grand Prix win to close the gap to championship-leading Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg to just nine points as the German finished fifth.

    Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel managed to take the lead at the start but could not make a two-stop strategy work and he finished second ahead of a hard-charging Valtteri Bottas who scored Williams’ first podium finish of the season.

    Hamilton began the race from pole position but when the lights went out he bogged down slightly, as did fellow front-row starter Rosberg, and Vettel shot past around the outside to take the lead into Turn One.

    The Mercedes drivers then tussled on the way into Turn One as they attempted to recover and as they banged wheels Rosberg was forced to cut the corner and he dropped to tenth.

    Rosberg’s return to track forced Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo to brake and that allowed his team-mate Max Verstappen to sneak through to grab third.

    In P1, Vettel controlled the race until lap 11 when McLaren’s Jenson Button pulled over at the side of the track with a blown power unit. That brought out the Virtual Safety Car and Ferrari took the opportunity to pit Vettel for a set of supersoft tyres.

    Hamilton, though, stayed out on his starting ultrasofts and the battle between his one-stop gambit and Vettel’s two-stop plan began.

    The German had the pace to close Hamilton down but the Mercedes driver’s final stint on the soft tyres was such that there was no drop off in his pace and Vettel could not find the extra performance to beat the Mercedes’ man power and the low tyre wear he was encountering.

    Hamilton eventually took his fifth Canadian Grand Prix win and his second race win in a row with five seconds in hand over the Ferrari driver.

    “I had another really bad start, I’m not quite sure why, I think probably I overheated my clutch,” said Hamilton. “Sebastian and Nico got quite a good run down to Turn One, tyres are cold, big understeer, and I feel very grateful that me and Nico didn’t damage anything on our cars. And otherwise it was just trying to chase this guy down. He was so quick out there. The car felt fantastic and it was set up just right with great work from the engineers and mechanics.”

    Bottas, meanwhile, enjoyed a superb run to third, with the Williams driver also making a one-stop strategy work. The Finn made the most of a difficult race for Red Bull and early in the race he passed Daniel Ricciardo to rise up the order and then cleared Max Verstappen to seize third. Bottas then sat in clear air for the remainder of the race to finish some 46 seconds behind Hamilton.

    “As a team, it was really a strong one for us, really good strategy, really good pit stop; the time was perfect, the car felt really good today. I felt I was pretty on it today. So it’s great to be here,” he said.

    Verstappen managed to hold onto fourth and late in the race the teenager showed great determination and skill in fending off sustained attacks from a hard-charging Nico Rosberg, who was recovering for a mid-race puncture.

    After expertly placing his car in just the right spot to frustrate Rosberg’s assaults, the Mercedes man looked to have found a way past ujnder DRS on the run to the final chicane a few laps from home.

    But Rosberg’s brakes let him down and he spun, leaving Verstappen to sail past and take fourth place. Rosberg managed to keep going and took fifth place.

    Ricciardo was seventh having been held up by team-mate Verstappen early on and then he dropped back during the pit stops.

    Eighth place went to Nico Hulkenberg, while Carlos Sainz took an excellent ninth place from 20th on the grid and Sergio Perez rounded out the top ten.

    2016 Canadian Grand Prix – Race
    1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 70 laps – 1h31m05.296s 1
    2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari +5.011 2
    3 Valtteri Bottas Williams +46.422 1
    4 Max Verstappen Red Bull +53.020 2
    5 Nico Rosberg Mercedes +62.093 2
    6 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari +63.017 2
    7 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull +63.634 2
    8 Nico Hulkenberg Force India +1 lap 2
    9 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso +1 lap 2
    10 Sergio Perez Force India +1 lap 2
    11 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso +1 lap 2
    12 Fernando Alonso McLaren +1 lap 1
    13 Esteban Gutierrez Haas +2 laps 2
    14 Romain Grosjean Haas +2 laps 3
    15 Marcus Ericsson Sauber +2 laps 2
    16 Kevin Magnussen Renault +2 laps 1
    17 Pascal Wehrlein Manor +2 laps 2
    18 Felipe Nasr Sauber +2 laps 2
    19 Rio Haryanto Manor +2 laps 2
    20 Felipe Massa Williams DNF 2
    21 Jolyon Palmer Renault DNF 1
    22 Jenson Button McLaren DNF O

     

    eom/FIA press release

     

  • Hamilton dedicates win to Muhammad Ali

    DRIVERS
    1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
    2 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)
    3 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Williams)

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS
    (Conducted by Michael Douglas)

    Bonjour Montreal. It’s a pleasure for me to be here and an honour to be able to introduce our podium winners. Lewis, incredible. We have to talk about the first turn. You had Sebastian coming in on your left, you had Nico touching wheels on the right. Tell us about that.
    Lewis HAMILTON: It was horrible. Firstly, I want to say a big thank you to everybody who came out here today and made the atmosphere the way it is. Thank you everyone here. We come here every year and we have the best week. The city, they just put on such a great event. The ambiance, the atmosphere is better than ever. Today, I had another really bad start, I’m not quite sure why, I think probably I overheated my clutch. Sebastian and Nico got quite a good run down to Turn One, tyres are cold, big understeer, and I feel very grateful that me and Nico didn’t damage anything on our cars. And otherwise it was just trying to chase this guy down. He was so quick out there. The car felt fantastic and it was set up just right with great work from the engineers and mechanic. Hey man, I won my first grand prix here in 2007, so this just feels like such a blessing.

    Congratulations Lewis, well done, fourth time?
    LH: I think fifth time!

    Yes, fifth time! Sebastian, nice to see you, wonderful, wonderful race. You had a phenomenal run earlier in the race, what were the issues later on?
    Sebastian VETTEL: Lewis was a bit too quick! That was the issue. No, I think we had a great weekend. Obviously a fantastic start and then, yeah, lap one was a bit hairy, I just struggled to stop the car in the last corner. It was very windy today and maybe I struggled a bit with the wind from behind but I was pushing all race. I think we committed fairly early to a different strategy, which we were planning to come back. Obviously then Lewis had the chance to stay out and see what the tyres were doing and I think probably the tyres lasted a bit better than what we expected, so that made it quite tricky to refresh the tyres and close the gap but overall a great weekend for us. We struggled a little bit in the last couple of races and the beginning of the season and now to see that the car has performance and to unleash it, it was a really fun race, I really enjoyed it. I can only add on what Lewis said: thanks to the crowd, it’s great to come here. Friday, free practice, to have you guys here at the hairpin, all around the track, waving at us is making our job just much more pleasant, so this is a place we’ll have to come to forever I guess, so thank you very much.

    Fantastic, a really, really wonderful run, congratulations. Mr Bottas, really nice to see you up here on the podium again. I think it was Mexico last see [the last time]. The season started a little slow but you’re coming on strong. How was the race for you today?
    Valtteri BOTTAS: Well, I’m really pleased with today. As a team, it was really a strong one for us, really good strategy, really good pit stop; the time was perfect, the car felt really good today. I felt I was pretty on it today. So it’s great to be here. I really want to thank Williams, thank you guys; everybody made an amazing job. Thank you Montreal, you’ve been really good to me.

    Congratulations. Lewis, that’s two wins in a row, so how does the rest of the year look to you, what do you think?
    LH: We’re going to just take it one race at a time. There’s still work to do. We’re going to continue to improve this car. There’s a lot of race so we’re really just trying to stay… we need to try to keep on a roll if possible. There’s a long, long way to go. These guys are getting faster and faster at Ferrari and Red Bull, so collectively as a team we’re just going to keep our heads down and keep pushing. Honestly I’m just overwhelmed with today. I remember, what was it, ten years, nine years ago here, and it feels just as great [as it did] back then.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Lewis, 45th career victory and your fifth in Canada, as you were quick to point out on the podium. You obviously lost the start to Sebastian, but you got this win I guess, in a way again, because for the second race in a row you were able to do a very, very long final stint on the tyres. How much of that was data about what the tyres would do and how much was pure feel?
    LH: Well, firstly, if I may, I want to… I never really dedicate wins to anyone but someone who really inspired me so much throughout my life, Muhammad Ali, and obviously he passed just recently, so I’d love to be able to dedicate this to him and his family. The last 15 laps, for some reason all I could think of was him and Rumble in the Jungle, it was really, really weird. I was driving and I was just thinking of him, and thinking maybe he would be watching the race, I don’t know. So, that’s to him and his family. Rest in peace.
    In terms of the tyres: It was really feel. The team obviously told us what the tyres could do, how far they would go. I wasn’t really sure how far the ultrasoft would go. I had already seen graining earlier when I was behind Sebastian. So I was a little bit nervous about it, but it seemed to last, which was great. I could have kept going on the ultrasoft, which was interesting; I had a good pace. Then we swapped. It was a long stint on the information we got before that that tyre could last quite a long time and it was just a beauty. I didn’t have to push too much on the tyre at the beginning, just looking after them, but very conscious that this guy behind was pushing. I was really enjoying the race with him, you know, just battling times here and there. He was so quick and it’s great to see how quick they are and they are really giving us a run for our money, and I just happened to be on a one stop. But fantastic job by the team. I’m really overwhelmed to think just how difficult this season was before these last two races and I feel incredibly grateful and very blessed to have had these two great weekends. I’m just going to keep working hard, as you can see I’m super-focused. For me I felt that today was one of my best races for a while, maybe not as good as the last one, but still really happy with it. Onwards and upwards hopefully.

    Very well done. Turning to you Sebastian, got the feeling before the race that Ferrari might be able to win this, had that amazing start, and then obviously you committed to that two-stopper with the pit stop on lap 17 under the VSC. Was that because the team thought you wouldn’t be able to do what Lewis did and do that one-stopper and in the final part of the race did you think that a 13-lap tyre offset to Lewis would be enough to challenge?
    SV: Yeah, I think that was the plan, so obviously we committed fairly early. We were in the lead. As the second car in the row, which was Lewis in that case, obviously you have the chance to choose – if the car in front pits you might pit, if the car front stays out you might pit. We committed fairly early to that strategy and I think I was probably the right thing to do in terms of getting to the chequered flag the quickest way. But obviously we lost track position and we didn’t expect that the soft tyre that Lewis put on… first of all the ultrasoft and then the soft would last as long. Myself, I was also surprised to see how long the supersoft lasted and then the soft tyre lasted until the end. As Lewis said, we could have kept going. The degradation wasn’t maybe as high as we expected. That’s maybe where we lost the race. But I want to make one thing clear: I’m not a big fan of blaming anyone or anything. I think it was a great weekend for Ferrari. We’ve had a difficult start to the season because we were never really able to show the true performance of the car and this was maybe the first clean weekend if you look at Saturday and Sunday. And actually I enjoyed the race a lot. Didn’t get the result I was hoping for, especially after the start, but I was enjoying it a lot. The last 30 laps I was just flat out – maybe pushing a little bit too hard at times. It just felt great. That’s what racing should be about. The tyres were fairly consistent. I really enjoyed chasing him down but a couple of laps to go I realised that he was just a bit too quick or the tyres didn’t drop enough.

    Q: Valterri,, podium here for the second year in a row in Montreal. Same strategy as Lewis that got you ahead of the two–stopping Red Bulls and Kimi Raikkonen; tell us about your drive today and also those strategy calls?
    VB: Thank-you, yes. It feels really good to be here again. Montreal has been pretty to me and pretty good to us as a team. For sure it was always going to be one of the good tracks for our car but really pleased with what we have done. Of course, today didn’t come easily. I really needed to thank the team for the decisions they made to commit to the one stop and also the stop lap, it was perfect. This stop was again, massively quick as we’ve seen all season so really thankful for Williams, for today and for the whole weekend. We need more of these kind of results. We just need to keep trying but just very happy at the moment.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) Lewis, what happened at the start, more of the same?
    LH: Yeah, the start was… I don’t understand it. This time I really don’t understand because practices have been good, the formation lap was amazing, dropped the clutch and the thing pulled away perfectly. Yeah, I stopped, did the normal procedure, let the clutch out and it just didn’t go anywhere. I’m really lost as to know what… Obviously I had really good pace today and that really got in the way. Had it been a longer straight, I would have been a sitting duck. I don’t really know what to say about it. And into turn one, these tyres, these ultrasofts, he(Sebastian)  was lightning on the first lap but me, I had no grip. I got to turn one and I had this understeer and I thought that it was going to continue for the rest of the lap. I think the guys behind me were also tiptoeing but very close, obviously, between me and Nico which wasn’t intentional. But fortunately none of our cars were damaged.

    Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) And second question is – as Sebastian has said, the cars are pretty good as you’ve said as well, you had a good view of them in the early laps. What’s the power like on the straight, how quick were they on the straight compared with you now?
    SV: Quite quick. I think we’re quite quick.
    LH: These guys were pretty quick on the straight. I didn’t get quite close enough to really gauge just how quick they are but I think it looked pretty close, I have to say. I was so excited with wheel-to-wheel racing but then he pitted after the VSC  and I’m like shoot, I was a bit annoyed. Still it was a good battle at the time.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Speedsport Magazine) Valterri, as you say, a good track for you and the team. However does it give you confidence that you can now start to challenge Red Bull or was it just track and strategy specific today?
    VB: It definitely keeps confidence for us that we can do good things. For sure, it is one of the good ones, as a track for us but I think as a team we did such a good job with the strategy but the car was also good today at the beginning and end of the race when everyone was on the same tyres, I did feel that I could put pressure on Kimi in front and even the Red Bulls, so that was a good feeling and even though some of them were on two stop and we were still on one stop and we put pressure, so that was good. I think the next few races should be good. Lot of confidence now and this really makes a lot of good for the team, a result like this, a motivation boost for the next ones.

    Q: (Ralf Bach – AutoBild Motorsport) Seb, my impression is that we already saw the race from today in Melbourne, didn’t we?
    SV: I don’t think that’s true. I think Australia, you can argue with hindsight, we would do a different strategy. If it’s that straightforward and easy to know what it’s like, then everyone is doing the right thing. As it turned out, we committed fairly early, maybe we were also hoping that the virtual safety car gives us a bit of an advantage and makes the two stop favourable but I will always defend our strategies, what we committed to as a team. I think there were other people as well, favouring the two stop. With hindsight maybe they would do a different job but as I said, that’s a decision we take as a team. Kept in hindsight it’s always easy. Put yourselves in the shoes of those on the pit wall, to make that call is quite tricky and you have to be really quick. Strategy-wise I think we have a very very strong team. I wouldn’t favour anywhere near to criticise them because the guys are really on the money and very strong, reacting very well and if here and there we maybe don’t do the optimum, that’s part of the job but overall I think we end up doing better choices than other people.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Lewis, was the tyre management here more difficult than in Monte Carlo because at a certain stage we saw one big, black stripe on one of your front tyres. Was that graining?
    LH: Honestly, as Sebastian said, the tyres were really good today, I have to say. I guess with the cooler temperatures graining wasn’t really an issue. I think if it was hot like it was in P2, I think, maybe a one-stop wouldn’t have been possible but yeah, there was a small bit of… on the Ultrasoft there was a little bit more graining but on the soft there was hardly any graining at all. It was like a small band on the front left tyre but otherwise they stayed very, very consistent. Being so cool I think you just had to try to keep the temperature in them more than anything. I was really actually, for once, happy with the performance of the tyre, to be honest. They did a good job.

    Q: (Jimmy Gordon – AP) Lewis, we heard you talk about Ali. Can you tell us what it was about his life or his career that made such an impact on you?
    LH: I think it’s the same for everyone really. I think he was just a unique, iconic individual who had a character unlike anyone else’s and everyone aspired to be like him. I wish I could have spoken with the charisma that he would have, or the comedic side that he would have, that confidence that he could carry into a fight and outwit and outsmart his opponents. And then for the things that he stood for. Even more importantly politically, I think believing in who you are and not letting anyone dictate who you have to be. I think as a kid, when I saw that, I think I was like: ‘this is the guy I want to be like’. In terms of an athlete I hope one day I can be like him. Coming from a family of similar background in a sense of ethnicity, it was someone to look up to. Obviously in Formula One there was no one of the same colour as us as a family, so it was another athlete for me to look up.

    Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) A question for Seb. Seb, during this weekend we’ve seen one of the closest gaps between Ferrari and Mercedes. Are you confident you feel you can be even closer to a win in the next race?
    SV: First of all, I hope that you write exactly that tomorrow: that we were closer than ever. So, I think sometimes it’s a bit surreal. We are an Italian team. I think Ferrari stands for great passion and a lot of values in Italy and sometimes it seems like the Italian press is our biggest opponent. So, maybe you can write something nice, which would be a nice message for all the people in Maranello that are really working their arse off  day in, day out to make a strong Ferrari car. I’ve never had a doubt. I know this car is a big step up and I think we had a mixed-up start to the season which was difficult because we were never really in the position to show what the car can deliver. Especially because Saturdays here and there weren’t great. So, I think this weekend was just normal. We had a great Saturday and great pace today. Just look at the opening laps of the race. I was pulling away, pulling a gap to… maybe not so much to Lewis but to all the cars behind. So, it felt great and the car felt great all weekend. So, really happy and happy with the progress the team is making. Again, I ask you to be a bit patient, a bit more patient. The team is on a great path, things are improving and I think we’re seeing results quicker than anyone else so far in the history of F1. So, I think we’re on the right track, it’s a great team and I’m enjoying it a lot.

    Q: (Bill Beacon – The Canadian Press) For Sebastian. Can you go over for us what you did off the start? Where you planning that ahead of time? And what exactly did you do to slip by everybody and get first place?
    SV: I know it sounds silly saying it now but I sort-of had the gut feel that I will have a good start. Obviously it depends on what the other people are doing but I had the feel that, when the lights went on… [to Lewis] I didn’t know what you were doing but I knew there would be a good start. I had a good feeling the formation lap and I think I reacted well, as well – without giving myself too much credit. I just… I don’t know… I felt it would be a good start. It was, so I was very happy with that and just went for it. Had a big lead in the first lap which, nearly all of it I gave away in the last corner and then it was obviously it was a bit more tricky to keep Lewis out of the DRS until a couple of laps in – until just before the Virtual Safety Car actually. I was a bit distracted, we chatted about it, I have to mention it, I don’t know why but I have to, there were two seagulls. I think it was a couple that wanted to commit suicide. They were at the apex of Turn One. Lewis obviously didn’t care, so he made up quite a bit of time, about half a second, but I didn’t do that couple that favour to say goodbye for good, so by the time Lewis came around they just flew off. Wasn’t fair! I brake for animals, Lewis doesn’t but… yeah. Then the Virtual Safety Car came and freezes the gap at that point.

    Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) Following on from that Sebastian, I wonder what you felt about the grip level on the in-field of the chicane there? You went through it three or four times just to get it right. What was the racing line like through there? You were very quick the first time you went straight on.
    SV: Very quick on the first lap. Braking very late. I think I was a bit caught out by the wind, to be honest. I shouldn’t have – I had all the information but I was struggling a bit. It was very gusty and, here and there, got caught out. So, I was trying everything all around the whole lap. I was getting close to the wall: exit of Four; exit of the last corner, exit of Nine as well. So really trying everything. Eventually in there too much, which obviously loses you more than a second. And then yeah, I think I was around four and a half seconds to Lewis and then back to five and a half. Didn’t do myself a favour but I had to try. For some reason yesterday I was very good friends with the last corner and today not so much. So, yeah, not great from my side obviously to miss the braking. Quite tricky with a bit of bottoming. Just locked it three times in total and didn’t make it.

     

    eom/FIA transcript of the Press Conference

     

  • Hulkenberg takes 8th place: Perez 10th for a double points finish for Force India

    Both Sahara Force India cars finished inside the top ten today with Nico Hulkenberg racing to eighth place ahead of Sergio Perez in tenth.
    After the double points finish,  Nico Hülkenberg, who managed his tyres well used UltraSoft (21 laps), New Soft (30 laps) and New Soft (18 laps) to bring his VJM09-03 home in eighth place.
    After the race Hulkenberg said: “I’m happy to score points, but at the same time I was hoping for a bit more from the race because I really believed we could challenge the top six. For some reason the car didn’t feel as good today as it did during practice and qualifying. Maybe it’s because the conditions were so cold and windy, which meant we lost the sweet spot and the car was not easy to drive. That’s something we need to look at in more detail and understand. At the start I didn’t get off the line very well, but I had a great first lap and recovered some positions. Then, the story of my race was simply tyre management. I think we made the right calls with the tyre strategy because even though we wanted to try and one stop it just wasn’t possible in the end.”
    Sergio Perez   managed to take the last point in his VJM09-02 with a strategy of New Soft (30 laps), Used SuperSoft (16 laps) and Used Soft (23 laps)
    Perez said: “It was a difficult race and looking back I don’t think we chose the optimum strategy. We tried to go down a different route compared to everyone else, but the cooler track conditions didn’t help: it was very difficult to get heat into the soft tyres during the first stint and that cost me a few positions at the start. I got stuck behind the two McLarens and that hurt my race. I lost a few seconds at the final stop when I briefly stalled the car and that dropped me behind Kvyat, but I managed to get the position back with an overtake going into turn one. In any case, to bring both cars home inside the points is a good result for the team, especially when the weekend doesn’t really go your way. We gave it our best and we have come home with points in the bag.”
    Team Principal Bob Fernley was visibly happy for a double points finish: He commented: “To come away from Montreal with another double points finish is a very good effort which consolidates our fifth place in the championship. We started the race hoping we could pull off a one-stop strategy with both cars, but with lots of tyre graining and high wear rates we opted to switch to a two-stop race. Most of the cars around us did the same, so it was the sensible course of action to cover our bases. Nico’s race was pretty non-eventful and he did well in the opening few laps to recover the ground he lost when he bogged down at the start. Sergio’s race was compromised by the slow warm-up of the soft tyres, which dropped him behind both McLarens and cost him quite a bit of time. To recover and score the final point was a good effort. After the chilly conditions of Montreal, we look forward to the weather that awaits us in Baku next week.”
    eom/Sahara Force India press release

  • Hamilton takes pole: Canadian GP

    Montreal, 11 June 2016: Lewis Hamilton beat Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg by just six hundredths of a second to claim a fifth career Canadian Grand Prix pole position, putting him just one adrift of Michael Schumacher’s record at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

    After setting an impressive lap of 1:13.076 to top the list at the end of Q2, Hamilton ramped up the pace even further with his first run in Q3, lowering the benchmark to 1:12. 812. Rosberg followed almost immediately and while the German’s lap was similarly outstanding, he could not outpace his team-mate and so sat six hundredth behind in P2. And when Rosberg locked up in Turn One of his second attempt the battle was over. Hamilton had secured his fifth career Canadian GP pole position.

    Afterwards the defending champion admitted that margin was tight but added that “it doesn’t matter how far you are ahead, as long as you are ahead”.

    “In practice it was a much bigger gap than today,” he continued. “Today, I just didn’t have the pace that I had yesterday but clearly it was enough. There was definitely more time in it. But it was great to see how close we all were, I think that’s great for the fans to see. It’s going to be interesting tomorrow but [pole] is the best place to start that’s for sure.”

    Rosberg, meanwhile, said that he had been pleased with his first run in Q3 and that in the race “everything is possible”.

    “The first lap in Q3 was good. Not quite enough to beat Lewis but it was still a good lap,” he said. “Next one I tried to pull one out of the bag but it didn’t work out, so that’s it, so second place. Still a good team result of course, again to show that we are the fastest, the fastest car, which has been great, even on this very unique track here. Yeah, for tomorrow everything is still possible, you know, the weather forecast is all over the place, and from second place it’s all doable.”

    After the first runs, third place was occupied by Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen but on the final runs he was eclipsed to great laps, by team-mate Daniel Ricciardo who found two tenths of a lap over his first run to set a time of 1:13.166, two tenths ahead of Verstappen’s besty time of 1:13.414 and also by Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who claimed third place on the grid.

    The German might have got closer but over the radio he told the team that he had lost traction out of the hairpin on his way to a lap of 1:12.990, making him the only non-works Mercedes driver to get below 1m 13s.

    “I was very happy with the lap in general, I was maybe a bit greedy out of ten and maybe not greedy enough into turn six but yeah, there wasn’t an awful lot to grab otherwise, as I said, very happy,” he said “I wanted to get below the 1m 13s mark because then I knew it would be very close with the Mercedes. I did that but just by one hundredth so yeah, a little bit was missing but overall I think we have a great car, we did a step so I’m happy with how the weekend has turned out. We did a step or so overnight so I felt in general very comfortable and enjoyed qualifying a lot.”

    With Ricciardo fourth and Verstappen fifth for Red Bull, sixth place went to Kimi Raikkonen who only completed one run in Q3. Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa will make up an all-Williams row eight, while Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg and McLaren’s Fernando Alonso rounded out the top ten.

    Earlier Q2 was halted almost as soon as it began when Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz crashed at the Wall of Champions. Having only completed an out lap he would thus end the session in P16 and eliminated ahead of him from P15 up were Romain Grosjean, Esteban Gutierrez, Daniil Kvyat, Jenson Button and Sergio Perez.

    Q1 ended under yellow flags as Manor’s Rio Haryanto hit the wall and sustained a punctuire that forced him to stop at Turn 12. That meant there could be no further improvements and eliminated at the end of the first session from P17 back were Jolyon Palmer, Pascal Wehrlein, Marcus Ericsson, Felipe Nasr and Kevin Magnussen who did not take part following a crash in FP3.

    2016 Canadian Grand Prix – Qualifying
    1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:14.121 1:13.076 1:12.812
    2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:13.714 1:13.094 1:12.874
    3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:13.925 1:13.857 1:12.990
    4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:14.030 1:13.540 1:13.166
    5 Max Verstappen Red Bull Rcaing 1:14.601 1:13.793 1:13.414
    6 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:14.477 1:13.849 1:13.579
    7 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:14.389 1:13.791 1:13.670
    8 Felipe Massa Williams 1:14.815 1:13.864 1:13.769
    9 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:14.663 1:14.166 1:13.952
    10 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:15.026 1:14.260 1:14.338
    11 Sergio Perez Force India 1:14.814 1:14.317
    12 Jenson Button McLaren 1:14.755 1:14.437
    13 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:14.829 1:14.457
    14 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:15.148 1:14.571
    15 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:15.444 1:14.803
    16 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:14.714 1:21.956
    17 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:15.159 
    18 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:15.599 
    19 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:15.635 
    20 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:16.663 
    21 Rio Haryanto Manor 1:17.052 
    22 Kevin Magnussen Renault

    eom/FIA press release

  • Another podium for Armaan: Super Trofeo Asia Series

    Another podium for Armaan: Super Trofeo Asia Series

    SUZUKA, 12 June 2006: India’s ace racer Armaan Ebrahim and Sri Lankan team-mate Dilantha Malagamuwa bagged a third place podium spot before a blown engine forced retirement in the next race of the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Asia series double header here over the weekend.

    Armaan, supported by JK Tyre and driving for Dilango Racing team, qualified second for the first race on Saturday and looked set to maintain position. However, the team lost one spot after the mandatory pit-stop when Armaan handed over the car to Malagamuwa to complete the remainder of the race.

    On Sunday, in the second race for which the team had qualified ninth, Malagamuwa started and made four places to move into fifth when the engine blew leading to retirement, 20 minutes into the race.

    Armaan, who is among five Asians included in the Young Drivers Program of Lamborghini Squadra Corse, and Malagamuwa had finished second in both races of the first round in Shanghai, China, last month.

    Commenting on the weekend, Chennai-based Armaan, said: “Obviously, we are very disappointed with what happened in the second race, but at least we managed to pick up some points from our podium finish in the first.

    “On Saturday, I qualified second for the first race and Dilantha ninth for the second race. I was running second in the first race at the change-over and we finished third eventually.

    “In the second race, Dilantha did well to move to fifth after starting ninth on the grid, but the engine blew and that was the end of it for us here.

    “We now head to Buriram, Thailand, for the next round in July (23-24) and hopefully, have a better run there.”

    ==================

    eom/AP Media Comm release

    Armaan takes podium. An image by AP media comm.
    Armaan takes podium. An image by AP media comm.

  • Claire Williams Awarded an OBE

    Oxfordshire, 10 June 2016: Williams is delighted to announce that its Deputy Team Principal and Commercial Director, Claire Williams, has been appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Queen’s 2016 Birthday Honours List announced today. Claire has been awarded the honour in recognition of her services to Formula One.
    In her role as Deputy Team Principal, Claire has been instrumental in the successful restructuring of the Williams Group over the past three years. The team has returned towards the front of the grid in Formula One, moving from ninth in the Constructors’ Championship in 2013 to third place in 2014 and 2015, and has successfully diversified through the continued growth of Williams Advanced Engineering. Since stepping into her Deputy Team Principal role, Claire has used her position as a female in a traditionally male dominated industry to encourage more women to consider careers in engineering and technology. In addition to this, she has recently been appointed Vice President of the Spinal Injuries Association, a charity extremely close to her heart.
    Speaking about the honour, Claire said; “Today is a very proud day for me, but this is also a bit of a surprise. To be recognised in this way is a tremendous honour but one everyone at Williams can take credit for. I’m extremely lucky that I get to do a job that I love. To be able to play a role in a family legacy is an enormous privilege and one I don’t take for granted. Formula One, and Williams, are great success stories for the UK and I will continue to use my role to help showcase what a great sport Formula One is, what a brilliant platform for this country’s expertise in high class engineering it is, as well as a place that welcomes women across all of its disciplines.”
    eom/Williams F1 team release

  • Hamilton sets fastest time in FP1; Massa crashes

    Montreal, 10 June 2016: Lewis Hamilton set the quickest time of the first practice session for the Canadian Grand Prix as running got underway at Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

    Felipe Massa’s session ended early, however, after the Brazilian crashed heavily at the first corner, destroying the rear end of his Williams car.

    Massa’s crash came just before the half hour mark in the session, when on the approach to Turn One the back end of his car snapped out under braking and he spun and slid backwards into the barriers, sustaining a heavy impact on the rear right corner of his car. “I think I had a problem, I closed the DRS and lost the rear completely,” he told the Williams pit wall.

    The session was red flagged for a period and when running got underway again it was Hamilton was set the pace. The defending champion’s best time of 1:14.755 was set on the supersoft Pirelli tyre, while team-mate Nico Rosberg took second place with a time of 1:15.086 set on the purple-banded ultrasoft tyre.

    Third in the session was Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel. The four-time champion set his best time on the supersoft tyre to finish 0.157 behind Rosberg.

    Fourth place went to Max Verstappen. The Red Bull driver was 0.8s adrift of Hamilton’s time but his best time was set on the soft tyre, a step up the Pirelli’s from the Mercedes driver’s supersoft time. The Dutch teenager’s time was also good enough to put him seven hundredths of a second ahead of the second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen who finished the session in fifth place.

    With Massa out of the running, all of Williams’ work was left to Valtteri Bottas and the Finn logged 30 laps, the most of the session on his way to sixth place, ahead of Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg, Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz and the second Force India of Sergio Perez.

    Tenth place in the session went to McLaren’s Fernando Alonso, who completed 18 laps on his way to a best time of 1:16.663. It was a less profitable session for his team-mate Jenson Button, however.

    The Briton completed just eight laps and then, when he was sent back out again late in the session, he emerged from the McLaren garage with smoke pouring from the rear of his car. The McLaren pitwall immediately informed him to return to the garage, though his engineer informed him that “Honda know what the problem is”.

    2016 Canadian Grand Prix – Free Practice 1
    1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:14.755
    2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:15.086
    3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:15.243
    4 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:15.553
    5 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:15.618
    6 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:16.301
    7 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:16.464
    8 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:16.543
    9 Sergio Perez Force India 1:16.577
    10 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:16.663
    11 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:16.734
    12 Jenson Button McLaren 1:16.788
    13 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:17.008
    14 Felipe Massa Williams 1:17.065
    15 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:17.310
    16 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:17.319
    17 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:17.855
    18 Rio Haryanto Manor 1:18.103
    19 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:18.129
    20 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:18.409
    21 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:18.453
    22 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:18.583

     eom/FIA press release