INDIA in F1

Author: David Bodapati

  • I hope we can carry on the form from Monaco, says Perez of Force India

    I hope we can carry on the form from Monaco, says Perez of Force India

    Sergio Perez (bottom row centre) at the FIA press conference on Thursday. An FIA image
    Sergio Perez (bottom row centre) at the FIA press conference on Thursday. An FIA image

    DRIVERS – Marcus ERICSSON (Sauber), Sergio PEREZ (Force India), Felipe MASSA (Williams), Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing), Jenson BUTTON (McLaren), Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (Ferrari)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Daniel, let’s start with you, our 2014 Canadian Grand Prix winner of course. You didn’t want to hear what the team had to say after the last race in Monaco, so how have the conversations gone since, around strategy decisions, the pit stop issue and how have you personally got over the disappointment?
    Daniel RICCIARDO: Yeah, I gave it a few days to cool off. I definitely felt after the race that I wasn’t in a place, probably no one was in a place to try to resolve what happened. For me it just get away for a few days and then address what happened once we’d cooled and settled. So I spoke to various people in the team and they basically explained what happened at the time and the situation. It was obviously important to hear the explanation but I think more important how to move on from it and how to make sure it doesn’t happen again. They’d done a lot of things since then back at the factory and they have set up some new parameters and things that will happen during pit stops and before pit stops to make sure that these things don’t happen again and to make sure that tyres are ready and that various compounds are ready at once. So, yeah, obviously from my said now I’ve moved on. It’s obviously good that they’ve… I knew they were going to take it seriously because it was obviously a big disappointment for all of us, but I’ve been assured that if we’re in that position again then it won’t happen, so that was obviously what I needed and what I wanted to hear.

    With the Renault engine upgrade, which seems to be pretty valid there, as well as the nature of the Red Bull chassis and of this circuit layout here in Montreal, is there a realistic expectation that you can bounce back with this weekend with a win?
    DR: In my mind there is. That would obviously be a lovely way to bounce back. Let’s see, I think realistically Mercedes are still going to be, as expected, the ones to beat. I expect that we can be the next best, or I hope we can be the next best. But it’s hard, you know, Ferrari have been there and surprised us sometime and then been less surprising on other occasions. You never know, but I do believe we’ll be the next ones in line behind Mercedes and how far we’re behind Mercedes I’m not sure but hopefully close enough to again put some pressure on them and grab a win.

    Marcus, coming to you, a little bit of ice hockey this week with Valtteri Bottas. Who’s the more aggressive on the ice, you or him?
    Marcus ERICSSON: Most aggressive? I don’t know, but obviously Sweden and Finland have a big rivalry in ice hockey and it was a fun event and he was very good on the ice I have to say.

    Speaking of aggression, there was a self-destructive situation between you two Sauber drivers in Monaco. Do you and the team just have to accept that as Sauber isn’t really racing any other team you’re going to be racing each other like this week in week out?
    ME: No, it shouldn’t be like that of course. Now it happened in Monaco and we all spoke about it and discussed it and we cleared the air about it. We had different opinions but it’s all done and settled now and we are looking forward to Montreal together as a team.

    Thanks. Felipe coming to you, you’re scored points in four of the last five Canadian Grands Prix, you’re the only driver this season to have scored points in every round and you’ve been ahead of your team-mate 60% of the time. How satisfied can you be with that?
    Felipe MASSA: Well, satisfied, when you score one point, is not really the right answer. I really hope we can score more than what we’re doing. You always want more. It’s on the consistent side in terms of scoring points but we need to work to get a little bit more than one point like we did in Monaco and getting closer to the top five at every race, that’s what we want to do, that’s what we’re working for and I really hope that we can carry on scoring a good amount of points at every race.

    Williams has owned third place for the past few seasons but that looks to have slipped to fourth this season, and Force India in the last month or so have been coming for you as well. What’s holding you back?
    FM: Well, I think that Red Bull is definitely the team that has grown most and as everybody could see, they even won races this year and they were fighting to win even the last race, so I think with the other teams we are fighting a good way. Definitely Monaco was not the best track for us but I’m really looking forward to being competitive back here and even in the next races and be back on this important fight to maybe even fight for the third, which would be not so easy, but to keep our fourth position also I think we can do and we’re fighting for that.

    Thank you for that. Kimi, coming to you, three podiums from the opening six rounds is your best start to the season since 2013, but do you and the team feel that you have fallen behind Red Bull rather than closed on Mercedes?
    Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: I wouldn’t say it like that. We know what we’ve done, we’re definitely more strong in the car and other areas than we were last year. Maybe the results haven’t showed it exactly, but it’s not been the easiest start for us as a team, but we know that as long as we do our stuff and keep working it will pay off. As I say, it’s not been what we’re looking for exactly, but the package has improved and we’re working on that all the time. We know our weaknesses and where we have to improve. Obviously you always look for better results and wins, putting the two cars up there, but so far it’s been a bit tricky this start of the year, but we are more or less there, so we keep doing the same things.

    A significant update to the car is a pretty traditional thing for Ferrari in Montreal, so the turbo update you have this weekend has been long awaited. Will this now allow you to fully exploit the power unit?
    KR: We fully exploit it all the time. This is a step forward. How much, time will tell. It’s a new part and we would never put any new parts on the car if we didn’t think it improves, but is it going to be what kind of step? I don’t expect any miracles suddenly but it’s the right direction and it’s something that’s been for a while that we’ve been waiting to have it. It’s more like any other new parts we bring, it’s not suddenly something magic, so it’s a very normal work in progress for us as a team, as Ferrari, and it’s going in the right direction all the time.

    Thank you for that. Jenson, coming to you, a former winner of this race, the epic wet race of 2011, two other podiums here in Montreal in 15 appearances at this track. Tell us what makes this place special for you, and what’s the best way to drive it?
    Jenson BUTTON: Wow, what makes it special? I think it’s always your history that makes a place special, isn’t it. First time to every circuit, it’s nice, but it’s the history and your experiences there that makes a place special. 2011 was very special. You know me, I’m a trouper, and it’s about fighting through and never giving up. So, it’s always those special experiences that make an event for me.

    And the best way to drive it? The best way to be quick here?
    JB: To be fair, you need a car that is efficient. You need a car that’s good on braking. I suppose every circuit is the same, but those are specifically important areas/. It’s having confidence to use the kerbs here, carry speed and when the weather is like this, making the right calls.

    A bit like Felipe, it’s not been big points, but you have scored in the last three races, from a fairly consistent P12, P13 on the grid. Where is the step coming from to get into Q3 and challenge for he bigger points?
    JB: For big points, I think it’s going to be a while before we’re actually going competitive enough to fight for big points, but we are making good progress. People would think that this isn’t a circuit that would suit our car, but it’s going to be alright. We’ve come here with some upgrades, which should help us. It’s not big but it should help us. We are very efficient in terms of our car. I know that Exxon Mobil had been working very hard with Honda with fuel. We have an upgrade here, which should help in that areas, so, yeah, we’re positive.

    Q: Sergio, coming to you, fantastic podium last time out in Monaco. Your sixth in Formula One. You scored one here back in 2012. Is there a sense of optimism that you can continue this strong run?
    Sergio PÉREZ: Well, Monaco was a very special race under certain conditions and to get into the points , everything worked perfectly for us: with the strategy; with all the calls that we did in Monaco. So it was a race under very special conditions. We are expecting something similar here for Sunday but you never know. I really hope we can carry the form, y’know? Probably podiums is not the realistic word for us at the moment but certainly continue the progress and keep scoring points and aim to beat Williams, which is the team ahead of us, which is going to be difficult but I think we are making good progress and we are getting better and better every race.

    Q: With 100 grands prix on the board in what’s been essentially a career of two parts, where do you go from here? Do you sense that there is a chance to move back to a top team?
    SP: You never know. To be honest I’m not really obsessed with that. If that happened that would be a great opportunity to me and I really hope in the near future I can have the opportunity to be in a car that can give me the opportunity to win. But right now all I can do is to focus on this weekend, do my best for this one and then after this one think about Baku and whatever. The most important thing for me is to focus on the present and try to keep doing the job that I’ve been doing so far.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) Daniel, I’m interested to know in the debrief whether or not, in the context of other dramas we’ve had at Monaco over the years, drivers missing the red light for scrutineering, Lewis’ obvious problem last year with the call, whether or not Monaco itself is a function of the issue that happened, because of the tightness of the garage, the general confusion of Monte Carlo, or if it was something that could have happened anywhere?
    DR: I think… yeah, the nature of the pits and everything in Monaco, it does make it harder to move around. The garage is small. Whether it would have been a different story at another track, I’m not sure. I think it came down to a late call, a late change of heart. Basically after the team saw what tyres Lewis had put on, they decided to change their decision. Let’s say we were always intending on using one compound and once they saw Lewis change, or go to the UltraSoft – I think the team probably expected him to use a SuperSoft – then it got them thinking and then it was all a bit last-minute. So, whether a last-minute call, say at Barcelona, would have allowed that to happen a bit more fluently, I’m not sure. Yeah, I think the call was just a bit rushed and with Monaco being what it is, it was probably just a bit chaotic for the circumstances. I think it all probably added up: small garage; the intensity of the whole weekend and that track and what it does probably didn’t help. Yeah.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonese – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Question for Daniel and one for Kimi. For Daniel, is about the ambition of this season. After the win of your team-mate in Barcelona, the pole position and nearly victory in Monaco, if you wish that the car is going well here, you can think even to fight for the Championship this year? And for Kimi, we would like to know about your future, if you have a deadline with Ferrari to decide what happens next year?
    DR: Yeah, coming into the season, didn’t expect to be… probably didn’t expect to be third in the Championship but after so many races in, and yeah, we’ve seen no points in Russia and could have got more in China without the puncture, and the last two races, we could be very close to probably… yeah… we’d be very close to the front of the Championship right now. So, you know, I’m still not looking at that yet. I would love to be in a position in a few races time and say yeah, we can fight for a title this year. I think that would be a pretty nice, unexpected fight and story for F1. I think this race will be pretty telling. If we can be competitive here, you never know. It’s still a long-shot, for sure, but if we can be competitive then sure I believe in myself that I can fight and do what I’ve got to do to put myself in a position come the end of the year. So, fingers crossed we can… Barcelona and Monaco isn’t… wasn’t a one-off. I hope we can fight again for the rest of the season. And I believe we can: whether it’s a win or a podium… to be continued.

    Kimi, second question was to you, is there is a deadline in terms of your future with Ferrari?
    KR: I don’t know anything more. You guys seem to be knowing a lot every week, this and that. It’s not in my decision in the end. I always said I’m happy to be here, I hope I will be here for helping Ferrari get where we want to get as a team. What happens in the future, we will see.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Daniel, first Spain then Monaco. How much have these two events damaged your relationship with the team – have you forgiven the team absolutely and totally for these two incidents?
    DR: Yeah, obviously, as I said after Monaco I was happy to keep some distance for a few days. For myself as well, it probably wasn’t healthy to just address it straight away. But yeah, for sure, for a few days I was upset I guess, and obviously ruing some missed opportunities – but it’s one of those things: it happens; it’s unfortunate it happened back-to-back. That, how do I say, expanded the feelings and the emotion a lot more. But yeah, I’ve moved on. I’ve still obviously got a lot of faith in the team and I don’t doubt things with them moving forwards. For me it’s obviously really important this weekend to execute a perfect weekend from my side and from the team’s side and get back on track. Because obviously we’ve shown we have a good car, we’ve got good material. It’s just trying really to maximize it. The last four weekends I’ve left Sunday feeling I should have got more. So yeah, this weekend it’s just to try leaving on Sunday knowing that we’ve maximized everything from both sides.

    Q: (Jérôme Bourret – L’Equipe) Braking is of course something crucial here. Could you please tell us something about how difficult it is to find the right braking lap after lap during the race – and how demanding it is from a physical point of view?
    JB: I think the race is fine in terms of braking. I think with the way that the cars are these days it does make it a little bit trickier with the deployment that we have that is obviously different to qualifying – well it is for us, I don’t know if it is for everybody else – and also there will be fuel saving here so – and again I don’t know if it is for everyone else – but that does change your braking. It changes the brake temperatures, obviously. So you have to be very careful of that and it’s studied throughout the race. But for me the more difficult time to get your braking right is qualifying. Because you’re right on the edge: it’s bumpy; easy to lock wheels – but you’ve got to have that confidence in the car to brake as late as you can because there’s a lot of lap-time there.

    Felipe, what’s your perspective on this? You’re obviously running a Mercedes engine, will you be fuel-saving on Sunday? And your thoughts on the braking.
    FM: For sure it’s a track that you need to have a good… brakes need to work well so it’s easy to get… we saw in the past many teams struggling with overheating problems in the braking. We need to be careful, try to use everything in the proper way to have no problems. Actually in all these two and a half years that I’m here with Williams, we never had a problem on the brakes so I don’t really see we can have any problem during the race. I think the fuel consumption can be an issue for everybody here, so we need to wait and see how it’s going to be tomorrow and the numbers and prepare the race in the proper way.

    Sergio, anything to add?
    SP: Yeah, I think Montréal is very hard on braking, especially in the race if you are in the traffic and it’s hot on Sunday – which doesn’t look like. It can be really demanding on the brakes with the brakes overheating. And, as Jenson said, we’re going to be fuel-saving, all of us, on Sunday if it’s a straightforward race. That makes it a bit easier in a way, on the brakes, but it can always be quite tricky. I think the most challenging day for the brakes is Saturday. Saturday in qualifying you really have to be on the edge and there’s a lot of time to be gained under braking. So you have to have the confidence to approach it well.

    Q: (Alexander Govorov – Championnat.com) Felipe, the last couple of years in Montreal Williams was very strong, but you’re struggling on slow tracks. Do you see the race in Montreal as an opportunity to be back in the top six and maybe fight for the podium?
    FM: Yeah, definitely. I really hope we can be competitive on this track, not just this track but maybe Baku can be a positive track for us, Austria, so I’m really looking forward that this next race can be a circuit that we can be strong on, maybe fighting for the top five, maybe a podium because that’s what we want and we will try.

    Q: (Leigh Diffey – NBC Sports) Jenson, there’s an abundance of information for us all to look at to see how things have improved, whether that’s lap time or your qualifying spots or race results, but what are the immeasurable things that have changed within the team? Has there been a shift in morale or a change of tone in conversation? Just take us inside the team.
    JB: Yeah, from the outside, you always ask the questions: where is it, when are you going to be competitive? And then you get… every time I speak to the press it’s how about now? How about now? How about now? How about now? It’s unbelievable, the pressure from the outside but from the inside we know where we are, we know we’re improving and I think the atmosphere in the team is very good. Fernando and myself are both very experienced, I think we bring a lot to the team in terms of our experience and direction and there is a lot in the pipeline. It’s always very difficult because we’re in a season where we want to get the result we can, as everyone does, and I think it’s the same for everyone. With a regulation change next year, it changes everything, in terms of how much effort is put into that single season. But I’m happy with the progress that’s being made there is a good feeling. We feel that a lot of the time we are getting the maximum out of the car which is the main thing right now and yeah, we’re still quite a way off the pace but it will come, it is just a matter of time but it always takes a lot longer than you want.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Daniel, sorry to harp on about this but how did the reconciliation come about? Did you make the ‘phone call, did they call you, did you just arrive at the factory or how did that happen?
    DR: It was all over the ‘phone. I let it cool a couple of days and then I spoke to Christian, I spoke to my engineer and obviously Christian just explained… obviously apologised on everyone’s behalf and just explained what went down and the reasons why there was confusion and why obviously the tyres weren’t ready and this and that. So that was really the ‘phone call with Christian and then I spoke to Simon, my engineer, that was later in the week, after they’d got a chance to spend some days in the factory and basically just to hear what they’d put in place. And also I questioned… because everyone highlighted the second pit stop which was where effectively we lost the race but I questioned the first pit stop as well because that was the one… already when I came out behind Lewis, I was like ‘well, we’ve put ourselves in a race now with Lewis which we didn’t have to be in so…’ I just wanted to make sure that the first pit stop was being addressed as heavily as the second one and then Simon obviously explained that they were not looking into that but acknowledging that that was also, I would say, a mistake. So yeah, it was just to get some clarity on everything. Yes, there’s going to be some new software they’ve now put in for strategy and some live stuff during the race that can obviously make us more prepared, and if there are some late calls again, to make sure that everything’s put in place. Yes, obviously I had plenty of questions to ask but they answered them with confidence and that’s all I needed to hear.

    Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) Sergio, it wasn’t that long ago that you were certainly heading for a podium if not a win here. Big shunt with Felipe but I noticed you and Felipe are now big mates at the back there, chatting away, having a laugh. I wonder when you come back here whether you think about that and how that incident in your mind has been resolved, whether you think it was 50-50 now?
    SP: I still think it was his fault. But I got the penalty though. Well, it was a long story after that.
    FM: Very long.
    SP: But yeah, that day I was so close to win the race, actually. I remember Rosberg had an issue in the last laps and I was getting really close to him but then I had an issue as well with the brakes actually, my brakes were quite overheated, I had a problem with the BBW(brake by wire) so that was hurting my brake balance a lot, I was losing a lot of lap time with the brakes and I lost the place to Daniel and he went on and won the race. But in general that day was an extremely good race for me and we found ourselves in a position that we were not expecting to. Unfortunately, on the last lap, it all went to bad with a crash but it was a really good race and we were close to win that day.
    FM: My thoughts? So we crashed, it was really bad for both of us and I hope this thing doesn’t happen any more. But I was not penalised!

    Q: (Robby Pacicco – Popular Hispanics) Felipe, last year you had a little intruder on the track while you were racing. Did you adjust your race strategy for another groundhog this year?
    FM: Here is a place that you can maybe see that. I hope they stay safe in their place. It can maybe happen but it must be really dangerous what happens to us or to the race. It was fun actually.

    Q: (Leigh Diffey – NBC Sports) Kimi, there’s been a lot of discussion about braking today. For the last two years in a row, going up into the hairpin, exiting the hairpin, you’ve spun in exactly the same manner and you even said on the radio to the team last year ‘that was the same as last year.’ Have you guys got to the bottom of what that was and how that happened two years in a row at the same corner?
    KR: I’m pretty sure we have but hopefully I’m not wrong on Sunday but it’s quite frustrating in a way the last couple of years but we knew the issues and we took care of it in our mind but actually it never happened in any other thing. The first year it happened in practice but last year, because we knew what the problems( were) then kind of tried to even force it in practice and nothing happened but then in the race (it happened) again. I will make sure this year it’s not going to happen hopefully. I think we’ve learned now since that.

    eom/FIA transcript of the Press Conference

  • Rossi keeps Marquez at bay for a stunning victory

    Catalunya, 5 June 2016: Valentino Rossi rode to a stunning  victory on new compound Michelin tyres at the Catalunya MotoGP™ this afternoon as the nine-time World Champion fought off the challenge of his nearest rivals to take his seventh premier class win at the Montmélo circuit.

    Starting from fifth on the grid, Rossi was blocked on the first corner and relegated to eighth position. He quickly rectified that with his trademark passing manoeuvres and was soon in to fourth place. Over the next few laps Rossi passed the Honda of Dani Pedrosa, pole-setter Marc Marquez also on a Honda and previous championship leader – and Yamaha team-mate – Jorge Lorenzo, as he moved to first place on lap-seven. Using the new compound hard front and rear MICHELIN Power Slicks, the Italian consistently circulated the Catalonian circuit at the head of the field before Marquez chased him down and challenged for the lead with five laps remaining. The pair battled for the victory as the race drew to a close, before Rossi took the initiative after a mistake by Marquez and made the final decisive break to take a hard-fought, but thoroughly deserved victory, with Marquez following him home with the consolation of taking the championship lead.

    A crowd of almost 100,000 people packed the grandstands and were treated to a superb day of racing from all three classes. In beautiful, warm sunshine today’s track temperatures rose to the highest this weekend as the asphalt reached 48°C, this combined with the poor condition of the surface, which gave little grip to the riders, made tyre choice an important factor. The majority of the field went for a hard front and rear selection, to give durability over the tough 25-lap race. Pedrosa was one rider to make a different choice, as he chose a medium compound rear to partner his hard front, and used the pair to good effect to take the final podium position.

    Fourth-place went to Suzuki’s Maverick Viñales, while the honour of First Independent Rider was secured by Pol Espargaro on a satellite Yamaha, an impressive result and one that also showed the performance of the medium compound MICHELIN Power Slicks, as the Spaniard was one of only two riders to use these on the front and rear of their machines. Cal Crutchlow on a Honda was sixth, Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso seventh, with the Aprilia of Álvaro Bautista taking eighth. Danilo Petrucci on a Ducati was ninth and Honda’s Jack Miller rounded out the top-ten – the best result of his premier class MotoGP career so far. Lorenzo didn’t make it to the chequered flag, after an incident which saw Ducati’s Andrea Iannone collide with the current World Champion and leave both of them on the side of the track and out of the race on lap-17. This was the only crash during today’s race and for the second successive event no crashes were contributable to tyres, a fact that underlines the advances Michelin is making as the season progresses.

    Today’s race was held on a revised circuit configuration, to the one originally planned, due to the tragic events which have overshadowed this weekend’s proceedings. During Friday’s second Moto2 Free Practice session Spanish rider Luis Salom crashed at turn-12 and the 24-year-old succumbed to his injuries. Following the fatal crash and subsequent discussions, the layout of the circuit was changed for safety reasons and the F1 track configuration was implemented. This featured the addition of the chicane at turn-12, designed to miss out the corner where the accident happened. Everyone at Michelin would like to pass on their condolences and deepest sympathies to the family, friends and team of Luis Salom.

    Michelin will remain at Montmélo for a one-day test on the Monday where the latest versions of the MICHELIN Power Slicks will be tested and evaluated by all riders. The paddock will then move to the most northerly circuit on the calendar, as the championship heads to Assen in the Netherlands for the Dutch TT on Sunday 26th June, the first time this iconic race has not been staged on a Saturday.

    Valentino Rossi – Movistar Yamaha MotoGP:

    “We were a little bit worried about what might happen, because yesterday we had a bit of a problem with the hard tyre and making it work, but today it was good and worked well in the temperature with my bike. I think it was difficult for everybody with some spinning, but the tyres worked really well and I am very happy with the result.”

    Nicolas Goubert – Deputy Director, Technical Director and Supervisor of the MotoGP Programme:

    “This has been a very difficult weekend for all concerned, after what happened on Friday, and I would firstly like to pass on my condolences to the family and friends of Luis Salom, it was a terrible tragedy and one that nobody ever wants to happen.

    “Regarding the race weekend, we had a selection of tyres that we thought would work well here in most conditions, but we never expected the surface to be as poor as it was. The track gave very little grip and all the teams had to work hard to get the best for their bikes. The change of layout also made a big difference and changed the stresses that were put on the tyres. For the race itself the track was at almost 50°C, but the majority of the field used the new hard compound tyres to cope with these difficult conditions and although we experienced quite high levels of wear we were pleased with the overall performance. Valentino rode a great race and when he came under attack from Marc the performance in the tyres was still there in the last laps to produce a memorable end for the fans. One of the most pleasing aspects of today’s race was that again we had no crashes that the tyres could be held responsible for and it was a close race right until the end. This is another step forward for us and shows that we are continuing to work in the right direction. We now have a test on Monday, when we have some tyres for all the rides to try, hopefully this will give use more information as we head towards the second half of the season and some very challenging circuits.”

    eom/A Michelin press release

  • Weekend to forget for Asper Mahindra at Barcelona

    Aspar Mahindra riders Pecco Bagnaia and Jorge Martín crash out of Catalan GP. Martín damages his right hand and will undertake medical tests to establish the extent of the injury.

    The MotoGP World Championship said goodbye to Luis Salom on Sunday morning with a minute’s silence on the home straight of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, in memory of the rider who lost his life on Friday. The tributes were carried over to the podium, as all three rostrum finishers worn T-shirts expressing the sentiment of the entire paddock: “Always in our hearts.” Jorge Navarro was the winner of the Catalan GP, ahead of Brad Binder and Enea Bastianini, in a close race.

    In Moto3, luck was not on the Mahindra Aspar riders’ side in Barcelona, as both ended their day early with crashes. Jorge Martín was the worst affected by his fall, suffering a badly bruised right hand. The Spaniard was taken to the circuit’s medical centre and will undergo further tests to find out the full extent of the injury. Martín was riding in fourteenth when he crashed out. Pecco Bagnaia started from seventh on the grid -his second best qualifying result of the season- and from the very beginning of the race he managed to stick with the leading group. However, at the start of Lap 6 he was hit by another rider, ending his chances of a good result. The Italian remains fifth in the overall standings, twelve points behind the rider in fourth.

  • Sarath Kumar’s Suzuka campaign curtailed: Asian Road Racing

    Suzuka, 5 June 2016: Despite the injured knee playing up, India’s Sarath Kumar managed to make his race debut in the SuperSport 600 category of the Asia Road Racing Championship at the iconic Suzuka circuit here over the weekend.

    Sarath, the 24-year old from Chennai, supported by Ten10 Racing and WOW Digit HK, took part in the Free Practice sessions on Friday and did well to qualify for the first race on Saturday, but finished last. With the knee that he had injured during pre-season testing hurting, the team decided to rest him for the second race on Sunday rather than risk aggravating the injury.

    “I have a seven-week break before the fourth round in Indonesia (August 6-7) and I am confident that I will be fully fit again. I thank Team Honda, Ten10 Racing and WOW Digit HK for all the support and encouragement. I am happy that at least I qualified for the first race and made my debut,” said Sarath who had missed the first round in

    Malaysia and could not race in the second in Thailand.

    Ten10 Racing’s Managing Director Ramji Govindarajan said: “Sarath qualified for Race 1 despite a lot of pain. The race was red flagged halfway through and turned out to be a five-lap shootout which worked to his advantage as he managed to complete his first race in ARRC SS600.

    “The team T Pro Yuzy Honda NTS with WOW helped him to get on the grid and encouraged him a lot. Sarath had to fight lot of pain and had to be helped to get off the bike at the end of Race 1. Given the situation, our target was for him to qualify and take part in the races. To this end, we are quite happy, and hopefully, he will recover fully for the next round in Indonesia in August.”

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

    eom/AP Media Comm release

  • Marquez takes pole; Rossi on P5

    Catalunya, 4 June 2016: Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez has scored the 61st pole of his career for tomorrow’s Catalan GP, with teammate Dani Pedrosa on the front row for the first time of the season. Team Movistar Yamaha’s reigning world champion Lorenzo will start from P2 while his teammate and former multiple world champion Valentino Rossi will start on P5 from the second row.

    Marc and Dani started the day well – despite a small crash for the former at turn 2 on his favourite bike – posting the second and third fastest times in an FP3 session that was extended to 60 minutes to allow the riders to learn the revised circuit layout, introduced after Luis Salom’s tragic incident yesterday.

    After working hard on the setup in yesterday’s free practices Marc and his crew decided to introduce some important modifications to the bike settings for today, which allowed him to improve significantly his feeling on the bike. Marc continued his progress into FP4 and qualifying, recording the fastest time in both sessions.

    Dani, who has worked with one of his bike on a new chassis over the last two days and decided to use it on tomorrow’s race, snatched the third spot on the front row after devoting FP4 to finalizing the setup of his RC213V.

    Marquez said: “We’ve worked well, and this morning we had a good feeling, but that fact was covered up because my crash was on the bike that I liked more. I felt very comfortable in FP4, with a good pace when using race tyres. We did a very good job and everything together meant that things worked out well. I’m very happy with the pole position, but we’re already thinking about the race. I don’t know what will happen tomorrow, but I want to dedicate this pole to my grandmother who passed away two weeks ago and to Luis Salom.”

    From Yamaha:

    Movistar Yamaha MotoGP‘s Jorge Lorenzo continued his strong results from yesterday in a challenging second day at the Circuito de Barcelona-Catalunya, taking second on the grid for tomorrow‘s Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya. The reigning World Champion and his teammate Valentino Rossi only had two sessions before the 15-minute qualifying heat to get used to a track revision following yesterday‘s tragic incident involving Luis Salom. After the Doctor changed his setting to suit the new fourth sector he recorded the fifth best time at the very end of the Q2 session.

    Intending to hit a clear track, Lorenzo was one of the last riders to leave the pits in Q2, allowing the pack to move ahead. With his first flying lap, a 1‘44.452s, he shot straight into second place. He continued to push hard but was unable to improve his time on his first tyre and returned to the pits with six minutes left.

    Two minutes later he was back on track, ready to attack again. The local hero bettered his time but not his placement with his third attempt, a 1‘44.056s lap. Despite a strong fast sector from Lorenzo on his final lap he was unable to snatch pole and took secondon the grid, 0.467s off the front.

    Rossi kept the tension high to the last moments of the qualifying heat. Leaving the pits late like his teammate, he took third on his first flying lap with a 1‘45.315s. Having been pushed back to sixth, he put the hammer down and was promoted to fifth on his second hot lap with a 1‘45.138s before entering pit lane with six and a half minutes remaining.

    Returning to the track with just over four minutes on the clock offered him another chance to step up to the challenge. As the pace quickened towards the end of the session, the nine-time World Champion moved five places up the timesheets as the flag went out with a 1‘44.324s, to take fifth for a second row start, 0.735s from pole.

     

    eom/press briefs from Honda and Yamaha

     

  • TVS Racing to support Alisha Abdullah Racing Academy for Women

    Chennai, 3 June 2016: TVS Racing, undisputed leader in two-wheeler racing, announced an exclusive collaboration with the new Alisha Abdullah Racing Academy for Women– India’s first training school for women racers. TVS Racing will support the academy with the racing bikes and technical expertise. The academy has shortlisted 18 women riders who will race exclusively for TVS Racing Team in the first year.

    The first batch of 18 students at the Alisha Abdullah Racing Academy for Women has been selected from 80 entries after clearing rigorous tests. These riders are now being trained to improve physical fitness and hone their racing skills. The academy is based in Chennai and the racers will be trained on a hired racing track according to their training requirements.

    Alisha Abdullah, founder of the Alisha Abdullah Racing Academy for Women said, “We are proud to be associated with TVS Racing as it is India’s most professional two-wheeler racing team with the best motorbikes and trainers. This association will help the academy develop the best talent among women racers as they get exclusive access to best in class machines, racers and technology. I also hope our racing academy attracts and encourages more women racers to get into motorsports in India.”

    Arvind Pangaonkar, Head – TVS Racing Team said, “We are thrilled to collaborate with the Alisha Abdullah Racing Academy for Women and believe this initiative will help create opportunities for women racers in India. TVS Racing is strongly committed to promote two- wheeler racing in India and generate interest and improve support for the sport in India. We make continuous efforts to take the sport to as many sections of the society as possible and create the ultimate machine and promote the riders for these machines.”

    TVS Racing was established in 1987 with the objective of improving the performance of its bikes. Over the years it has provided valuable data, design inputs, development of reliable motorcycle models, excellent vehicle dynamics & handling etc. The true evidence of it is seen in products like the new TVS Apache RTR 200 4V. TVS Racing has helped enhance the performance and handling capabilities of the TVS Apache series of motorcycles basis the experience on the track.

    Since the past 33 years TVS Racing has been actively participating on and off- road racing events such as road racing, Super-cross and Motocross, Dirt Tracks, Rally etc. TVS Racing is the only factory team in India to have any woman rider as a part of their team. In early 2015, TVS Racing became the first Indian factory team to take part in the Dakar rally, which is the longest and toughest rally in the world. TVS Racing won eight championships across all forms of two-wheeler motorsport events Supercross, Rallies and Road racing last year.

  • Perez takes superb 3rd at Monaco, dedicates podium win to team boss Vijay Mallya

    Perez takes superb 3rd at Monaco, dedicates podium win to team boss Vijay Mallya

    Alfonso Celis Jr (MEX) Sahara Force India F1 Development Driver. Sahara Force India F1 Team Studio Shoot, Friday 19th February 2016. Silverstone, England.
    Alfonso Celis Jr (MEX) Sahara Force India F1 Development Driver.
    Sahara Force India F1 Team Studio Shoot, Friday 19th February 2016. Silverstone, England.

    Monaco, 29 May 2016: Sahara Force India ended their lean run with a fantastic performance by Mexican Segio Perez, who took the third place, his third for the team in three different seasons and his sixth career podium. Teammate German Nico Hulkenberg passed championship leader Nico Rosberg on the line to take a well-deserved sixth place to put Force India in a double points finish for the first time in the season.

    Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton took his first win of the season, his 44th win, with a one-stop strategy. Ricciardo who started on pole had to be content with a second place as a faulty pit stop ruined his chances. Championship leader Nico Rosberg finished 7th, as Hulkenberg pipped him to the chequered flag.

    A pleased Sergio Perez during the podium interviews said : “I’m extremely happy because my team has done a tremendous job. It’s my third podium and to have it here in Monaco is very special.

    “I want to dedicate this podium to my boss Vijay Mallya. I think we did the right calls.”

    Force India has now 37 points and moved up to 5th place. Perez with this podium has garnered 23 of them. Hulkenberg has 14 points.

    Perez started on P7 as the race started behind the Safety Car in wet conditions and managed to keep Sebastian Vettel at bay for the better part of the race and came third on his soft tyres making only one pit stop.

  • Ricciardo takes hes first F1 pole with a stunning lap

    Monaco, 28 May 2016: Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo claimed the maiden pole of his Formula One career with a superb lap of the Circuit de Monaco that left him over a tenth of a second clear of Mercedes Nico Rosberg and three tenths ahead of third-placed Lewis Hamilton, who once again had a troubled qualifying session.

    Ricciardo had made his way through the first two sessions with ease, finishing both segments in fourth place, even setting his fastest lap of Q2 on the supersoft tyre.

    In those segments, however, it was Ferrari and Mercedes making the headlines, with Sebastian Vettel fastest in Q1 with a time of 1:14.610 for the Italian squad and Rosberg fastest in Q2 with a lap of 1:14.043.

    As has become his trademark, however, Ricciardo was keeping his powder dry ahead of showing his real pace in the final segment. On past occasions, with a less than competitive Red Bull Racing car at his disposal, the benefit has often been masked, a couple of tenths perhaps gaining him a position in the middle of the top 10.

    However, aided today by Renault’s upgraded power unit, and with clearly the best-balanced chassis on track, Ricciardo delivered a stunning first lap in Q1, power through to a time of 1:13.622 that would remain unbeaten.

    “The plan was to go out on the ultrasoft in the first run in Q2 and at least try and do a good enough lap with that and then we had the time on our side and we thought ‘let’s try and see what a supersoft can do’,” said Riccirado afterwards. “We just feel maybe it opens up a few more options for the race tomorrow.

    “Ee did a good lap on that, and then yeah it sort of set us up well for Q3, knowing that I had the ultrasoft and that step in grip and I think I was able to maximise that and do that lap, so let’s see. I think today were sitting pretty and hopefully it turns in our favour tomorrow.”

    Rosberg got close with his second run in Q3, improving to a 1:13.791, but the German admitted that he had simply been outclassed by Ricciardo on the day.

    “I don’t think it really went away from me; it never was with me, because Daniel was just quick today,” said the championship leader. “They got a well deserved pole and that’s it. I just wasn’t quick enough.”

    Hamilton, too, might have threatened but as he left the Mercedes garage for his first run in Q3 his car’s power unit behaved strangely and he was left stranded at the end of the pit lane.

    His mechanics quickly pushed him back to the team’s garage where the problem was solved but though Hamilton was on target to challenge Ricciardo’s times on his sole run, a ragged third sector meant he finished third.

    “It was a difficult qualifying,” he said. “The good thing is that I did get out to do a lap at least. It wasn’t as bad as some of the races have been in that respect, with the engine problems. I’m grateful to be up in third. Obviously pole was there for the taking I think, but nonetheless I will do what I can in the race tomorrow to salvage what I can from today’s result.”

    While Ricciardo’s efforts gave Red Bull Racing their first pole since the Brazilian Grand Prix of 2013, the day was less successful for the team’s most recent race winner, Max Verstappen.

    The 18-year-old was an early casualty of the session, getting too close to the barriers on the entry to the Swimming Pool section. He clipped the barrier on the right and with his suspension broken he went straight into the barrier on the exit of following corner.

    The red flags brought out for his crash weren’t the first of the session. Four minutes into Q1, the power unit in Felipe Nasr’s Sauber’s let go in spectacular style and with the Brazilian’s car parked on the track near Tabac the flags had to be shown.

    With those two removed from the session only four more would be eliminated at the end of the session and there was a predictable shape to that order when the chequered flag fell. Out went Marcus Ericsson in P17, ahead of Jolyon Palmer, Rio Haryanto and Pascal Wehrlein.

    Q2 was less predictable and at the end of that segment, the major casualties were Williams, with both its driver being eliminated. Valtteri Bottas finished in 11th place ahead of Haas’s Esteban Gutierrez and McLaren’s Jenson Button, while Felipe Massa was 14th ahead of Haas’ Romain Grosjean and Renault’s Kevin Magnussen.

    At the head of the field Rosberg pipped Hamilton for Q2 honours, but the final segment would be all about Ricciardo blistering first flying lap.

    Behind the Red Bull man and the Mercedes drivers, Sebastian Vettel was fourth and complaining of a poor car. Nico Hulkenberg took a good fifth place for Force India ahead of the second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen, while Carlos Sainz gave Toro Rosso hope of good points with seventh place, two ahead of team-mate Daniil Kvyat who was beaten by the Force India of Sergio Perez. The final top 10 place was taken by McLaren’s Fernando Alonso.

    2016 Monaco Grand Prix – Qualifying
    1 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:14.912 1:14.357 1:13.622
    2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:14.873 1:14.043 1:13.791
    3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:14.826 1:14.056 1:13.942
    4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:14.610 1:14.318 1:14.552
    5 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:15.333 1:14.989 1:14.726
    6 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:15.499 1:14.789 1:14.732
    7 Carlos Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso 1:15.467 1:14.805 1:14.749
    8 Sergio Perez Force India 1:15.328 1:14.937 1:14.902
    9 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:15.384 1:14.794 1:15.273
    10 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:15.504 1:15.107 1:15.363
    11 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:15.521 1:15.273 
    12 Esteban Gutierrez Haas F1 Team 1:15.592 1:15.293 
    13 Jenson Button McLaren 1:15.554 1:15.352 
    14 Felipe Massa Williams 1:15.710 1:15.385 
    15 Romain Grosjean Haas F1 Team 1:15.465 1:15.571 
    16 Kevin Magnussen Renault F1 Team 1:16.253 1:16.058 
    17 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:16.299  
    18 Jolyon Palmer Renault F1 Team 1:16.586  
    19 Rio Haryanto Manor Racing 1:17.295  
    20 Pascal Wehrlein Manor Racing 1:17.452  
    21 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:22.467  
    22 Felipe Nasr Sauber

    eom/FIA release

  • Lot of confidence behind the `big Australian smile’!

    DRIVERS

    1 – Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing)

    2 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

    3 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    TV UNILATERAL

    Daniel, your first Formula One pole and what a place to do it.

    Daniel RICCIARDO: Yeah, definitely a special place. I knew coming into the weekend we’d have a shot at it and it looked good from Thursday. Yeah, I sort of had it in my mind the whole time coming into the weekend. I think also, after Barcelona I felt like… the last few races I feel like I’ve been driving well but haven’t go maximum reward, so I came into this weekend with a lot of a confidence and a lot of belief that I could be in this position now and yeah, I’m very happy to have fulfilled that. It feels good, I’ve always enjoyed this place, obviously the car is good, we’ve got a good package behind us now and it’s nice to be able to make the most out of it.

    Very well done. Nico, first time since 2012 no Mercedes on pole position here in Monaco. Red Bull and Daniel clearly pushed you very hard today, you brushed a barrier during Q2, but where did it get away from you today when it really counted at the end?

    Nico ROSBERG: I don’t think it really went away from me; it never was with me, because Daniel was just quick today and yeah, so they got a well-deserved pole and that’s it. I just wasn’t quick enough.

    Thanks very much. Lewis, there’s obviously a story behind your qualifying today: the engine problem at the beginning of Q3 and dramatically being wheeled back into your garage. How much did that upset your rhythm? On your final run there you were on target for pole but the final sector was just no quite there.

    Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah, it was a difficult qualifying; I don’t really know what to say at the moment. The good thing is that I did get out to do a lap at least. It wasn’t as bad as some of the races have been in that respect, with the engine problems. I’m grateful to be up in third. Obviously pole was there for the taking I think, but nonetheless I will do what I can in the race tomorrow to salvage what I can from today’s result.

    Thanks you for that. Coming back to our polesitter, Daniel Ricciardo. You did your Q2 run on the supersoft tyre, so tactically and strategically Red Bull are trying something here, it means you’ll be able to run a longer first stint in the grand prix tomorrow than either of the gentlemen either side of you. Your thoughts on that; the part you played in that decision and what it will do for you.

    DR: Yeah, we’ll see tomorrow if it works. The plan was to go out on the ultrasoft in the first run in Q2 and at least try and do a good enough lap with that and then we had the time on our side and we thought ‘let’s try and see what a supersoft can do’. We just feel maybe it opens up a few more options for the race tomorrow. Yeah, we did a good lap on that, and then yeah it sort of set us up well for Q3, knowing that I had the ultrasoft and that step in grip and I think I was able to maximise that and do that lap, so let’s see. I think today were sitting pretty and hopefully it turns in our favour tomorrow.

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE 

    We’ll start with our polesitter Daniel Ricciardo, just to say it once again. Do you think you’ll be able to sleep tonight and how much would a win mean to you, particularly after what happened two weeks ago in Spain?

    DR: Yeah, I’ll certainly be able to sleep tonight, I think. I’ll probably sleep easier knowing that I achieved what I set out to do. The whole week has been a lot of anticipation, a lot of excitement, so obviously the race now is hopefully the more controlled part, but anyways it’s cool to get my first pole. Monaco has always been a good track for me in previous categories. I’ve always loved it here. It’s a good day. I’m going to enjoy it while I can and 24 hours from now I’ll hopefully be back here.

    Okay, very well done. Nico, famously you’ve won here for the last three years running. You didn’t know that Daniel had done that Q2 time on the supersoft until you sat down next to him before the press conference. Now that you’ve had a few minutes to think about that, how do you see tomorrow’s grand prix unfolding and what do you think he’s got up his sleeve.

    NR: Yeah, I was very surprised by his time in the first part of Q3. I though I was looking good with my time but then I looked on the board and he was three tenths up the road, so I knew that was going to be difficult to reach. I gave it everything anyways but it wasn’t quite enough. For tomorrow? I don’t know. I have more grip at the start, maybe that can help me hopefully. Because I experienced that in China, starting with stiffer tyres, or harder tyres than everybody else – that was not good. Who knows, maybe that can play in my favour. And if not; strategy-wise no idea. Let’s see, we’re fine with our strategy for sure.

    Thanks a lot. Coming back to you Lewis, you mentioned briefly in the unilateral about your engine situation. Do you know the problem was? Is there still in your mind a lingering question about it for the race or did they get across to you that they think it’s going to be fine, that they fixed it?

    LH: I don’t know what the problem was, so I honestly can’t comment.

    Be that as it may, what do you think you can achieve tomorrow?

    LH: If the car keeps going I will be fighting as hard as I can with these guys. You can’t overtake here so… Daniel’s on a potentially better strategy than we will be on but, you know, hopefully it rains! That would be pretty amazing.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Daniel, considering that the last race has been won by your team-mate, a new guy who has just been promoted to Red Bull just before that, how important was it for you personally to make you mark now and get your first pole position exactly in that moment.

    DR: I think every race I’m treating as as-important as the other. I think from the start of the season, obviously I started off with Dany as my team-mate and wanted to make my mark. I think the whole season I’ve been qualifying really well and I feel I’ve been maximising everything. The race, let’s say didn’t turn into my favour in Spain but obviously I wanted to bounce-back – not that I feel it’s anything I did – but bounce back and have a good weekend here. I’ve always said it: this is a real circuit; it’s a drivers’ circuit and, like any in Formula One, sure, you need a car to help you out – and I’ve got that, I’ve definitely got that here – but that extra bit of confidence and commitment I think goes a long way. From Thursday I’ve felt good in the car. Little tweaks throughout the weekend and I think it’s brought us to this pole position. So it’s definitely a nice feeling.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – globoesporte.com) To Lewis. It’s not very clear, when you came to the pits your time has any relation with the problem you had? The time you registered, it has some limiation or not?

    LH: In Q3? No, I had one lap to do it. Makes a big difference when you have a banker lap and work on it. I only had one lap so it was inevitable that I’d get P3.

    Q: (Ralf Bach – Autobild) A question to Daniel. What was the main reason for the pole: the engine update, the chassis itself or the big Australian balls?

    DR: Big Australian balls!

    Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) Just continuing that theme Daniel – kind of – you’ve been saying for a while now that you felt very confident of Monaco – dare I say the ‘W’ word? – and that was the package you had then. You have a package now, Renault have brought forward this upgrade for Monaco, how different, how much better is the package, compared with, say, two races ago? And b) What is the most enjoyable part of the circuit on that lap from your point of view?

    DR: Enjoyable part of the circuit, I’ll start with that. I’ve always loved Turn 12, 13, 14. Tabac and the Swimming Pool. It’s fun. It’s got really really nice flow, skip across the kerbs. It’s cool. Even the second part now, 15 and 16, it’s a little bit more open and I think probably it’s grown on me over the weekend, it’s quite fun, you can carry a lot of speed through there. So, yeah , the last sector is what I enjoy the most. As for… yeah, I think the car has been working well from the start of the season. I think it’s getting better and better, which is really nice. Had the update here from the power unit. That was working well, I think. You can just feel it pulls a little bit more, so in some practice sessions we didn’t run, let’s say, full power, so it was more like the older spec and you can feel it pull a bit more, up the hill for example out of Turn One. So it’ll be interesting when we get to longer straights, Canada the next one, and Max will have it in there as well, so it’ll be interesting to see where we stand there.

    Q: (Barna Zsoldos – Nemzeti Sports) To the Mercedes drivers, after the winter testing you expected Ferrari will be your main rival. It is a surprise or a shock that Red Bull is so fast now?

    NR: They’ve done a very good job in recent races. They’ve progressed very quickly and now another big step with the engine. We always expected them to be a tough competitor but we did see Ferrari as our closest competitors and now we need to question that. Of course Monaco is a very unique track, so let’s not come to any conclusions here – but for sure it’s them, Ferrari and us. We all seem to be very close here and hopefully the next race we’ll be a bit further ahead again.

    Any thoughts Lewis?

    LH: Same as Nico.

    Q: (Christopher Joseph – Chicane) Lewis, obviously a very frustrating day today. Tomorrow very crucial race for you in terms of the season. How will you balance control and aggression considering you need to score lots of points?

    LH: Today was the crucial day so… tomorrow’s just another day. What will be, will be. I will do whatever I can. There’s many races still ahead. I don’t really expect too much from tomorrow. I’m going in with the goal, of course, of trying to overtake the two cars in front – but we shall see.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Daniel, you had the speed on whatever tyre anyway, so this Q2 on the supersoft, do you see it as a risk or a joker? Why did you go offset to somebody you could have beaten anyway?

    DR: I think we feel it’s not going to change too much off the start and then it just opens up… as we saw Q2, my lap was quicker on the supersoft than on the ultrasoft, so I don’t think there’s that much difference in the tyre. The pure performance. I mean sure, there’s a few tenths, but I don’t think as much as what we thought coming into the weekend. And then I think obviously it should have a little bit better tyre life. It just opens up maybe a few more windows in the race, and here it’s so important obviously to come out and be in clean air and not come out in traffic, so it could just open up a bigger window for us tomorrow and give us a bit more freedom when to pit.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Lewis, you said before that you needed to try to overtake the two cars in front of you. After what happened in Spain, do you think that that can affect your approach at the start tomorrow or not?

    LH: I don’t think so but there’s very little room into turn one anyway so I doubt that there’s going to be much room there. I think it’s more the long-term game, it’s a long race, so I’ll try and do the best I can with the time that I have.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) To Lewis and Nico, what is the meaning of another team fighting with Mercedes, considering that for the last two years and a half we didn’t have it, if Red Bull confirms (it is competitive) from the next races ahead?

    LH: What does it mean? Means we have a race. I think it’s great for the sport.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) For you, in terms of the two Mercedes?

    LH: It’s even better, because obviously that could enable the gap between the two of us. I look at it as a positive.

    NR: Same, good battle, that’s it.

    Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) Lewis, just to draw a line under your problems today, the car was presumably was perfect in Q2, sitting in the garage, and then you drove out and the car just stopped? What actually happened?

    LH: Yeah, I was just accelerating and then I had a loss of power all the way down the pit lane and I didn’t know if it would come back. They asked me to make an adjustment on the switches, which I did, but it was just not idling. Once I stopped, it wouldn’t idle very well, it was hiccupping all the time so I had to switch off, I obviously lost my first run. I’d already done three warm-up laps to get in sync with everyone else, so by the time I pushed, my tyres perhaps weren’t as good as the fresh tyres that they had had  and then as I say, the banker lap is always super helpful in Q3, I did the best I could on that lap. Obviously I will go back and see if I could have done any better but anyways, it is what it is, as I said.

    Q: (Christopher Joseph – Chicane) Daniel, obviously a career objective achieved today, highly emotion, highly elated, tomorrow how are you going to manage your emotions during this race?

    DR: No different. I think winning a race is a bit more than getting a pole. I’ve experienced that a few times a few years ago. I feel it’s been a long time coming, this, so it’s just more…I feel it should have come sooner but obviously I’m happy that I’ve done it but yeah, no other feelings or anything. Coming into the race, it’s just carry the confidence from the weekend into tomorrow and execute a good start and then pick a good window to pit in.

    Q: (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas) We saw wonderful laps, incredible laps today and in these days but I would like to ask Nico, we saw you so aggressively and nearly flying. Do you have time to enjoy these laps or under pressure you don’t have any time to feel what you are doing?

    NR: Well, for sure, this is probably the most enjoyable qualifying in the whole season because the track is just thrilling, and to be on the edge with the most grip you have in the weekend with the most power, the most fuel, it’s really exciting.

    DR: I can’t speak highly enough about driving an F1 car around here. The faster the better in a way. Sure, it can be a bit of a blur but we’re in control and yeah, it’s like the closer you get to the barriers, the more you want to keep pushing the limits then every time you think you’re going to touch but you don’t the next time you go now, I’m going to get closer, a bit closer so it’s fun. For sure the reason why we do it I think is to have this adrenalin that we have around here.

     

    eom/FIA transcript of the Press Conference

  • Max displayed a great level of maturity: Paul Monaghan, Red Bull engineer

    Monaco, 26 May 2016: Thursday:

    TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – James KEY (Toro Rosso), Nick CHESTER (Renault), Paul MONAGHAN (Red Bull Racing), Eric BOULLIER (McLaren), Monisha KALTENBORN (Sauber), Paddy LOWE (Mercedes)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Eric, let’s kick it off with you: some very bullish words from your boss Ron Dennis recently, that you will be the team to end Mercedes domination of Formula One. What justifies that claim?

    Eric BOULLIER: Well, first of all, you know what the ambition of McLaren is and this is what we are targeting anyway. We had to take some strong decisions in the past, first of all to change the PU supplier to go to works team status, because really this is the only way to go back to the front, and I think this is a statement from Ron… you know Ron has a great career, he is a legend in Formula One and I think it’s also an extra motivation for all of us to achieve what we want to do.

    Now, going into this weekend, both of your drivers have been saying that they think Q3 and points are possible for both cars. Based on what you’ve seen today are you feeling that that’s on?

    EB: Yes, it’s possible. Obviously we don’t have any flexibility, we are still missing here and there on the performance, also we have to deliver a perfect lap and obviously expect no traffic or nothing wrong on the track, so yes, it’s possible today, after P1 and P2.

    Thanks for that. Nick, coming to you, obviously an update engine and a new aero package in Spain look to have given you a few tenths of a second. Tell us about this engine upgrade first and the areas where it’s improved?

    Nick CHESTER: Well, the new B-Spec engine we have here, it’s an improvement on driveability and an improvement on power and it performed faultlessly through the test and through FP1 and FP2.

    And on the chassis side: resource-wise are you able to do much more this year than you were able to last year or in fact are you keeping your powder dry looking at the 2017 regulations?

    NC: Well, I’m sure you’ll come to it a bit later, but it’s a difficult split how much you put into 2016 and how much you put into 2017. There’s a bit more we can do in ’16 but we’re also at point in the year when you need your resources to move to ’17, so that sort of split is being carefully judged at the moment.

    Thank you. Monisha, it’s been a while. We’ve heard a lot about the challenges facing your team in the last few months, what can you tell us?

    Monisha KALTENBORN: Well, nothing more than yes, we have certain challenges and we are working very hard to overcome the situation and I’m confident that we’ll resolve it shortly.

    So do you have the feeling you’ve got a solution on the pipeline for long-term sustainability?

    MK: Yes, we are working on that since a while now and we also know that we need that. If you look at today’s Formula One environment to be strong as an independent team you need to have a strong partners. So we have always been open to that and now we are pursuing our chances and we hope to resolve that soon.

    Thank you for that. James, engine manufacturers have committed to the teams they will supply next season. How happy are you with the process and the engine that you’ll be racing with next year?

    James KEY: I think the process is OK, to be honest with you, because if you are in a spot of bother with engine supply at least there is a process there to help you out in sensible time. As far as what we have for next year, I think that we’re happy. We’ve suffered a bit over the past three years with not quite being where we’d like to be. Not that there’s anything wrong with our current supply but it’s not developing, it’s a year old unit. Ferrari are doing a great job to support us with it, but it would be nice to be current with PU and have a developing unit.

    OK, thank you. You seem to be in demand personally on the engineering marketplace. Do you see your long-term future being at Toro Rosso?

    JK: I’ve got a contract with Toro Rosso for some time to come, and there’s a lot of work to do still. So I’m not thinking about anything else at the moment. I want to stick with where I am. It’s a great group of people to work with and there’s still plenty to do, so for now I’ll be a Toro Rosso.

    OK. Paddy, turning to you, we have to start of course with the fallout from the collision of your two drivers in Spain. Very unusual to have two front-running team-mates that take each other out and neither of them score any points –very rare in Formula One. How different from the aftermath of the 2014 Spa collision was the discussion that took place internally within the team and were there any learnings from what happened in Spa and the aftermath that you brought into that discussion with the drivers?

    Paddy LOWE: I think going back to Spa in 2014, we found what really bad looked like. That was a bad moment in the team, but actually a good one, because we built from there a much, much stronger partnership between the drivers and the rest of the team. So there was an understanding and I think we’re in a lot better place now and we saw that pan out with the accident in Spain where it was dealt with very maturely, across between the drivers. We had a good hearing with the stewards. We saw it very much the same way they did: it was a racing accident as a function of two guys really pushing each other to the limits. It was exacerbated by the power difference between the two cars, which really made things happen very, very quickly – so a split second. And they both saw it, in the end, as a racing accident, so we moved on.

    One of the notable features of that incident in Spain and the previous times that Hamilton has started on pole this season, with Rosberg alongside, is that he lost the lead to Rosberg on that opening lap. What’s causing that problem for Hamilton in his starts and how are you addressing it with him?

    PL: Well, in the particular case of Spain, actually Lewis had a better start than Nico, but it’s a function of that race that there is a very long drag to the first corner where you can get an advantage in the two, so Lewis’ start was better than Nico’s. Nico did a great job through Turn One, as we saw, which I think caught Lewis by surprise. It wasn’t a feature of that particular event. Race starts are very variable, even more so nowadays because of the regulations, which have restricted the input of the team to the process. So by intent they’re more variable. I think we’ve had three of best starts of the five races so far, but then we’ve had some very mediocre ones as well. Lewis, for example, had the best start on the grid in China, exactly where he didn’t need it, putting him straight into an accident. So, that’s the luck that sometimes comes your way. In general, we keep trying to make the starts more consistent, as well as better, but that’s a challenge shared with all of our competitors, we’re all in that same game. It’s very difficult.

    Thanks for that. Paul, coming to you, Max Verstappen, he comes to the team, qualifies on row two, wins the race in a car he doesn’t know. You’re an experienced engineer, you’ve worked with a lot of top drivers, can you put that into some kind of context for us?

    Paul MONAGHAN: I was impressive was it not? I think Max displayed a great level of maturity, he was very calm in the car, nothing fazed him, he settled in very quickly. I think we’re blessed with a very good chassis this year, which makes it easier, I think, to learn than perhaps a more difficult one and Max did a very assureds job. So, it was fantastic.

    Let’s talk about the Renault engine. Remi Taffin is quoted as saying he believes it’s worth half a second a lap. What are your impressions and where do you expect this new engine to put you relative to Mercedes and Ferrari when we move on to the power circuits in, for example, Canada and Austria coming up?

    PM: I’ll take your question in stages: Remi is correct – at the more sensitive circuits it should be up there. Onto the next part of your question, where will it put us, we’re only ever measured relative to our opposition, so if they all stand still there’s a chance we’ll be very close if not ahead of Ferrari. Given that they won’t stand still, it’s hard to say that we can be ahead of them, but I think it’s fair to say we’ll be more competitive, we’ll be challenging them and if the opportunity comes we’ll challenge the Mercedes as well. What’s within our control is to maximise the performance of our car and if we do that then the resulting position is just a consequence of our relative pace to our opposition.

    Just for clarity, when you say ‘the more sensitive circuits’ what do you mean? Can you give us some examples?

    PM: Some circuits are more sensitive to engine performance than others. My view of Remi’s statement is that it’s correct at circuits that are more sensitive to engine power – Canada, Spa, Monza – and less so at circuits which are less sensitive to engine performance, which would be here.

     

    QUESTION FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Agris Lauzinieks – Kapitals) Question to all panel. Given significant exposure to Britain at Formula One business and expected referendum on European Union on 23rd June, do you think in case of Brexit there might be impact on teams and sponsorship money, which is already affected by low oil prices and do you think Britain should stay in European Union?

    PL: We have actually analyzed it. One of our directors has looked at the issue because some of our staff members asked which way they should vote. He concluded that it didn’t really make a lot of difference, either to the company or to Formula One in general in terms of how we run the business. So we’ve left it to our employees to vote how they wish personally.

    Eric, have you done a similar process?

    EB: Similar position. We don’t believe there will be a significant impact on the Formula One business. As a team and the industry is mainly based in the UK but we have managed always to use some suppliers abroad and I don’t think it’s going to change much.

    Anybody else? Monisha?

    MK: Well, as you know we’re in Switzerland so in the first instance haven’t taken the step into the EU – may be good or bad. I think Switzerland is doing quite well, so it’s not for me to tell somebody to get out or not.

    And of the people who are going to vote, are you prepared to share what you’re thinking? Paddy?

    PL: I haven’t decided yet. Honestly.

    Nick?

    NC: No, I haven’t decided yet.

    Paul?

    PM: I join the club of undecided.

    James?

    JK: I agree with these guys, I haven’t decided either.

    Q: (Joe Saward – Auto X) A question about the 2017 cars. Can you tell us about how much work you’re doing on the 2016 cars now and how much of your effort is already going into 2017?

    JK: I think, to be honest, the birth of the ’17 regs, if you like, was always a little bit long-winded and so we had a pretty good idea what the chassis direction was likely to be from a tyre and suspension viewpoint, at least dimensionally but we took a little while to try to define the aero regs and the bodywork regs. So, in that respect, everyone’s had a start-point, which is maybe a little later than you’d want for a very fresh set of regulations. But there was still plenty you could do on the principals of a ’17 car beforehand, so we’ve been working on it for several months, as I’m sure everyone else here has. The split’s difficult to define at the moment because it depends of which department… engineering disciple, let’s say, you look at. But certainly on the aero side there’s a pretty massive impact from all of this, so there’s a big emphasis from us on the aero side. The same with simulation. The design office is yet to really pick up the big bits but certainly by after the August break they’ll be pretty much 100 per cent on next year’s car.

    Eric, McLaren were heavily involved, obviously, in the 2017 plans…

    EB: Well obviously we had to wait for the final decision of the regulations so there was obviously a push-back. When you switch your resources. So today I could say we are 50/50 looking at and still working on the current car.

    Monisha?

    MK: Like it’s been said. Work has been ongoing on it. So you’re working in parallel basically on both cars. We’ll all be very soon in the window where you then decide you totally switch over to the new one.

    Paul?

    PM: It was a small group that initially looked at it when the rules were still in gestation. I think as James said, the aero group is now starting to get its teeth into it – yet we’re not dismissing our 2016 car. So it’s a difficult split and I think it’s one that will become clearer as we go through the 2016 season. You move towards ’17. Design office is looking more and more at it, and as the concept evolves then I think they’ll pick up more and more of it and on we go…

    And Paddy, you weren’t too keen on the development, were you?

    PL: Well, the rules are set, we’re on it. It’s always a gradual migration but with such a big rule change, we’re inevitably migrating earlier than normal. But having said that, in the early phase of a project you can’t put hundreds of people on a programme where you haven’t fixed the major parameters, so its inevitably a gradual process.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Question to the team executives: Eric and Monisha. Basically a follow-on to Joe’s question about the 2017 regulations. On the engines, Eric, I wonder if you could expand on McLaren’s position regarding the engine agreement that was struck recently, whether you’re 100 per cent happy with it, whether it ticks all the boxes. The same to you Monisha – but I also believe you sent a letter or similar communication to the FIA and the Commercial Rights Holder outlining your objections on the engine agreement. If you could expand upon that as well please.

    EB: Well, we have still actually… we are currently still discussing with the FIA about the outcome of this regulation, or, let’s say, this agreement between the FIA and the engine manufacturers. Most of it, we agree with it. There are still a few, let’s say, clauses where we may still have discussion on-going. We don’t want, obviously, to make it public. We have our opinion, our position. We are obviously investing with Honda a lot in the sport, making sure there is a competitive fourth power unit manufacturer soon. That’s why we discuss and may, at some times, have some opinions that are a little bit different.

    Monisha?

    MK: I’ll probably refer to the part with the letter. Yes, it’s correct that Force India and we have written a letter to the FIA and the Commercial Rights Holder in which we have stated our concerns about these changes but I guess it’s not up to us now to really elaborate on it or comment more on it. I guess it up to those who have the letter. And I’m sure neither Force India nor Sauber would have any objections if they discussed that with you.

    Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) This is a question for the technical guys basically. Today we are again seeing some spectacular lap times. I think we are 1.1s away from the lap record or something. I find it quite surprised that, even if you take into consideration that this year we are using softer tyres than last year at most circuits, the cars seem to have taken a bigger step forwards technically than between 2014-15, even though this is the third year of the same regulations. Could you please explain why is that? Why has technical evolution been sped-up so much this year from last year?

    NC: I think it is mainly a function of the tyres. We expect all teams to have a pretty good gain rate each year – but I think by the time you add that and you add the tyre delta, you do end up with a big difference to last year.

    Paddy?

    PL: Yeah, I understand what you’re saying. I’m not sure it’s such a clear picture. I think the tyres are certainly causing that impression – but I think in general the teams have made the same amount of progress between the two years.

    Do you agree with that Paul?

    PM: I can only speak for what I know we’ve achieved. The chassis step was good, if not spectacular. It’s not an unusual step to make year-to-year. The majority of the increase, certainly at this track and thinking about it, the ones we’ve visited thus far, have come from the tyres. We are two steps softer than we were last year here? You’re going to see some improvement from that as well.

    James, anything to add?

    JK: I tend to agree the tyres are a big player in this – but equally I think we’re still in a period where power units are developing quite quickly. And this is, y’know, if you look at the beginning of the process, take 2014, everyone’s new to the power units and new to the aero and there’s various discrepancies in performance levels and strengths and weaknesses and so on, they’re beginning to equal out, and by doing so I think it’s bringing teams a little bit closer together but still maintaining maybe a bigger development rate than we expected. And the guys at the front of that race are maybe having to pull out the stops a little more than they expected. For me, although I agree that the tyres and the typical steps we’re making aren’t surprising, I think there are slightly more parameters now to play with, to take one year to the next.

    Q: (Walter Koster – Saabruecker Zeitung) Ms Kaltenborn, how do you see the Sauber situation today and formerly at the time of Peter Sauber as team principal. What are the reasons that you have today a harder time than him? Is it depending only on your results and what are the reasons for financial difficulties to pay your mechanics on time?

    MK: OK, so to maybe sum it up, I think Formula One has changed a lot. If you look at the times when Peter Sauber was team principal and I wouldn’t take the time when he returned as team principal in 2010 to the sport, but if I look at the time before, it was a very different sport and a very different kind of business with a very different financial set-up and sporting set-up. So I don’t think you can really compare the times. Challenges for private teams like ours have become bigger, year-by-year, particularly also due to the rule changes which have made things in the last few years far more expensive, if you look at the power train itself but also with regard to the distribution of income. There was a time when teams were not getting 50 percent but even less  but yet the economic environment was much better, where you could get far more sponsors, so I don’t think it’s really that easy to compare the times, it doesn’t  just have to do with people or the situation within the team, but the overall surroundings we were in.

    Q: (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas) Paul, a question about the new engine today. We saw fantastic laps for Ricciardo. I would like to know when you’re going to be able to give this new engine to Max?

    PM: All being well, Montreal.

    Q: What does all being well mean?

    PM: The engine surviving here, that’s in the car, and the supply of a new one for Max in Montreal.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) The four technical representatives; from this race onwards, the drivers need to keep their tear-off visors inside the car somehow. I know it looks like a trivial question but what have you done to accommodate this stipulation?

    PL: Well, for this race, we’ve been permitted to two tear-offs during the race itself so I think that will be sufficient so I think there’s a constant dialogue with the FIA to find a practical way forward with this.

    Q: How do you mean, that you’ve been permitted to two during the race?

    PL: They’re allowed to use two tear-offs during the race, the drivers, but none in practice.

    NC: There’s just two you can tear off during the race and that’s it really.

    Q: (Sam Collins – RaceCar Engineering) I know there’s a lot of discussion going on at this race meeting about cockpit protection systems. Can you, the four engineers, update us on where you are and what you’re testing in the wind tunnel and cfd at the moment and what you expect to see in 2017 if anything at all?

    PM: It’s a tricky question to answer, that one, because it involves the FIA who are not represented here to discuss that one and I think it would be… It’s fair to say there are two systems available: halo and aero screen. Both have merits, both have downsides to them and whilst the assessment of that is still going on, I think we should let that process continue. There’s a TR meeting tomorrow at which we  can discuss it further, hopefully from there there will be some conclusions and that, I think, is the state of play for all of us at the present time.

    JK: I reflect what Paul says, really. I think there’s a deadline later in the year to go through the final decisions as to how this is going to pan out. I think it’s fair to say there aren’t  any opinions yet because it’s still very much a work in progress and it’s a good thing to be looking at. It’s important that we always look at these new ideas for safety, but I think that mid-year is when we will begin to know exactly where it’s going to go so Paul is right, we need to wait and see what further discussions hold.

    NC: There are the two options on the table, the halo and the aero screen. I think the halo solution may be a little bit more mature, people have done a little bit more work with it, but there’s a lot more to talk about tomorrow in the tech regs meeting.

    PL: Just to say it’s a good example as to how the teams are constantly working together, very constructively, they do a lot of the R&D for new regulations and this is a great example. The work is not yet done. There will be a big discussion tomorrow to decide on what are the next steps.

    Q: (Joe Saward – AutoX) The sport is under attack, legally, as a result of the accident of Jules Bianchi. I don’t suppose you’re going to say an awful lot but is there any reaction from anybody as to whether this is right or wrong?

    Q: Monisha, you have a legal qualification, why don’t you start

    MK: No, I prefer not to react because I have a legal qualification.

    PL: I only saw the  headline, I haven’t read it so I can’t really comment.

    EB: Same.

    JK: Same.

    PL: I can’t quote on the legal side, James, but I think it just shows we need to keep pushing on everything we do to make the cars safer which is what we will be pursuing tomorrow in the tech regs meeting.

    Q: (Peter Varkas – AutoMotor) I am risking another no comment here, I’m afraid. We like to talk a lot about the technology transfer between Formula One and road cars and the amazing thermal efficiency of these power units. There’s been a lot of stories lately about almost all engine manufacturers using pre chamber ignition technology. I think it is now quite common knowledge that the manufacturers know much more about each other’s engines than we do. Why do you still keep secret if the technology basically is in use or not in Formula One? It could be a good story, it would be good to communicate it and I don’t think you could risk giving out any secrets to your rivals. Can you confirm if it is in use in fact and if you can’t comment on that, why not?

    PL: Well. We are always using new technologies in Formula One. It’s one of the great attractions of the sport but at the end of the day, you’re also trying to be a competition, so I think you’ve always got to find that balance between what you say, what you talk about and what you keep to yourself. Inevitably these things do migrate around the paddock because apart from anything else, people move teams or move manufacturers, so information does spread around and so at some point people will talk openly about things they believe to be no longer a differentiator. That’s a general answer rather than a no comment.

    NC: Similar to Paddy’s comment really. Teams work on things, they want to keep them secret. We’re all looking for competitive advantage. There may be some things we do that are useful for manufacturers we work with but we’re not going to transfer knowledge outside that.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Monisha, we haven’t seen an awful lot of you recently. However, in Bahrain, the Grand Prix that you weren’t at, I believe, the commercial rights holder said that there have been conversations between FOM and the EU, as a result of the complaint that you registered with the EU. Have you got any more to add to this? Have there been conversations between yourselves and Force India at the EU at all or has there been no progress?

    MK: No, I’ve got nothing more to add to it but that doesn’t mean there’s been no progress. As you know, there has been a certain restructuring which is commonly known within the EU regarding sport cases so it’s a very good move, generally, for sport and these kind of complaints and Force India, we are absolutely confident that it’s going to be looked at and is being looked at very seriously.

    eom/FIA transcript of the Press Conference