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Author: David Bodapati
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Marquez wins chaotic Misano GP in mixed conditions; Rossi 5th, Lorenzo crashes out
Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez took a remarkable victory in difficult conditions at the San Marino G
Marc Marquez celebrates as he takes the chequered flag on Sunday. A Repsol Honda image. P – one of just three circuits where he has not previously won in the premier class (along with Motegi and Phillip Island), but Dani Pedrosa was hindered from seeing his pit board clearly causing him to miss the prime window to swap bikes, a Repsol Honda release says.
As the race got underway, Marc (2nd) and Dani (4th) maintained their grid positions in the early laps, as rain clouds began to roll in. By lap five, rain flags were displayed and some riders began to pit for their wet setup bikes.
On lap seven, the rain intensified and the majority of riders entered the pits for their wet bikes and after emerging back on track, Marc found himself 6th and Dani 11th. Within a lap they had climbed up to 2nd and 8th respectively as the race began to find its rhythm once more. Marc dropped back behind Rossi with Lorenzo leading and the three riders opened up a gap over the field as Dani continued to improve and moved up to 5th by lap fourteen.
As the track began to dry, riders started to enter to change back to their dry bike setup. Marc came in on lap eighteen whilst Lorenzo and Rossi remained out on track. On lap twenty, Lorenzo and Dani came in to change bikes also, but Rossi continued on his wet bike, waiting until lap twenty one to come in to the pits.
With Rossi entering the pits Marc inherited the race lead and Lorenzo crashed out. He maintained his composure to take a convincing seven second win over Bradley Smith, with Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda rider – Scott Redding – completing the podium, despite a crash early on in the race. Dani – who missed his pit board message to come in sooner – was stuck in traffic after his second bike change and was unable to improve further than 9th.
Marc – 184 points – has closed the gap in the World Championship and is now 63 points behind Rossi and 40 points behind Lorenzo. Dani remains 7th on 109 points.
A Bridgestone view: Repsol Honda Team’s Marc Marquez won his first premier-class Grand Prix at Misano today after expertly managing highly variable conditions in what was one of the most dramatic MotoGP™ contests in recent memory.
As the riders took position on the grid for the twenty-eight lap San Marino and Rimini Grand Prix, light rain began to fall and although the track was dry for the opening laps the rain soon intensified, leaving the riders with the option of changing to their spare bikes fitted with wet tyres. Marquez made his first pit stop on the seventh lap alongside Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi who comprised the lead group at the time. After changing from slick to wet tyres, Marquez re-joined the race in sixth place and as a dry line began to appear during the middle stages of the race the riders began to switch back to their bikes fitted with slick tyres, with Marquez doing so on lap eighteen. Once out on track on slick tyres again, Marquez turned up the pace to take the race lead by lap twenty and with track conditions stabilising, went on to win the race by 7.288 seconds ahead of Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Bradley Smith. Amazingly, Smith didn’t pit for wet tyres and after managing the wet track on slick tyres, carved through the field as the track began to dry to seize his best ever MotoGP finishing position. Taking third place a further eleven seconds back was Scott Redding aboard the EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda, the Briton claiming his first ever MotoGP podium despite crashing earlier in the race, thanks to some fantastic pace on his second stint with slick tyres.As well as the intermittent rainy periods during the race, the cloud cover kept track temperatures to a much lower level than yesterday, with a peak track temperature of just 31°C recorded; 13 degrees below yesterday’s high. The lower track temperatures and threat of rain resulted in some riders revising their original race tyre choices. At the start of the race, the medium compound front slick was the most popular choice with fifteen riders selecting this option, with the other eleven riders opting for the hard compound front slick. Rear tyre choice saw seventeen riders select the medium compound rear for the race, with the remaining nine riders running the soft compound rear slick at the start of the race. All riders used the soft compound front and rear wet tyres when making their first round of pit stops in order to ensure maximum grip and warm-up performance on the newly-laid asphalt with which they had no previous experience in wet conditions. On their second stint on slick tyres, most riders used the same compound of rear slick tyre they started the race on, but all riders who started the race on the hard compound front slick, changed to either the medium or soft compound front slick.Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Valentino Rossi now leads the championship standings by twenty-three points after finishing fifth at Misano, with his teammate Jorge Lorenzo still in second place in the standings after suffering his first DNF of the season. Marquez’s fourth victory of the year sees him consolidate third place in the championship and closes the gap to Lorenzo to forty points with five rounds remaining.Hiroshi Yamada – Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Department“The record race day crowd at Misano today of around 92,000 fans were certainly treated to an exciting race due to the changing weather; I don’t think we’ve ever had a race where the majority of the field has two bike changes! The conditions were challenging, but Marc and his Repsol Honda Team were very precise in the timing of their bike changes, and Marc rode fantastically to take his first ever win at Misano. Well done also to Bradley on his best ever result in MotoGP and to Scott for his first ever rostrum in the premier-class. The pace all weekend was quick with a new Circuit Best Lap record set in qualifying and a new Circuit Record Lap set in the race – despite it raining lightly at the time – so overall I am pleased with how our 2015-specification tyres performed at the revised Misano circuit.”Masao Azuma – Chief Engineer, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department“For the second race in succession the weather created track conditions vastly different from the practice and qualifying sessions. However, unlike the last race at Silverstone, for this Grand Prix no one had the chance to work on a wet setup before the race and so some riders found it difficult to find grip on the new Misano asphalt, which is why we recommended all riders use the soft compound wet tyres on their second bikes. Once the rain stopped, some riders opted for softer front slick options to better manage the cool and in parts, damp track so many different tyre combinations were used in the race. Overall, the riders felt our slick tyres performed well in the variable conditions during the race, but the lack of wet setup time means they couldn’t extract maximum performance out of the wet tyres on the new track surface here at Misano.”Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team – Race Winner“During the race I was behind the Yamahas trying to work out how the wet tyres were behaving on the drying asphalt. I could see that their wet tyres were degrading, and my bike was moving a lot at the time so I decided at that moment to change to slick tyres. However it was difficult to understand what parts of the circuit were wet, as the new asphalt was so dark, but it dried quickly. It’s nice to be on the podium, the target for this race was to get a victory and we did so I am really happy.”San Marino and Rimini MotoGP Top Ten Race ClassificationPosRiderTeamRace TimeGapFront specRear specTyres1Marc MARQUEZRepsol Honda Team48’23.819HardMediumBridgestone2Bradley SMITHMonster Yamaha Tech 348’31.1077.288HardMediumBridgestone3Scott REDDINGEG 0,0 Marc VDS48’42.61218.793HardMediumBridgestone4Loris BAZForward Racing48’50.24626.427MediumMediumBridgestone5Valentino ROSSIMovistar Yamaha MotoGP48’57.01533.196HardMediumBridgestone6Danilo PETRUCCIOcto Pramac Racing48’58.90635.087MediumMediumBridgestone7Andrea IANNONEDucati Team49’00.34636.527MediumMediumBridgestone8Andrea DOVIZIOSODucati Team49’01.25337.434HardMediumBridgestone9Dani PEDROSARepsol Honda Team49’03.33539.516HardMediumBridgestone10Aleix ESPARGAROTeam SUZUKI ECSTAR49’03.51139.692HardSoftBridgestone -
Bastianini roars to victory; Mapfre Team Mahindra’s Pecco Bagnaia finishes 8th at Misano: Moto3
A huge Italian party at a sold-out Misano kicked off in perfect fashion for the home crowd as an Italian rider took victory in Moto3. Enea Bastianini, who took pole position yesterday, was roared on to victory after an almighty battle with Fenati, Oliveira, Binder and Vázquez. Despite the skirmish in the lead group the pace was still a rapid mid-1’43 per lap, with a new record of 1’42.841 included. Oliveira tried to take the lead in the closing stages but Bastianini sealed victory with a brutal overtake as Antonelli provided further home joy behind them with the final podium position.
Pecco Bagnaia had already stated coming into the San Marino Grand Prix that a top ten finish in the Moto3 race would be a satisfactory result for him. Today the MAPFRE Team Mahindra rider met that objective but not without a huge effort. The Italian lost contact with the leaders due to a gearbox error but fought valiantly to cross the line in eighth place. Jorge Martín pushed hard early in the race to recover from a discreet start and despite not enjoying the same feeling that he’d had during practice here the MAPFRE Team Mahindra youngster fought to the end for a points-scoring finish. A final-corner battle with his team-mate Juanfran Guevara almost finished with both riders on the floor but as Martín stayed upright, Guevara was not so lucky.
Francesco `Pecco’ Bagnaia said: “Today was a tough race, probably the toughest of the season because I had to give 120% from start to finish. We were losing quite a lot compared to the other guys down the straights so we need to have a look at the telemetry to work out why that might have been and how we can fix it. I pushed hard at the start of the race and together with Masbou we did a good job to catch the lead group but once I got past him I hit a false neutral and lost a lot of time on one lap. Luckily Kent had to give up a position as a penalty so I was able to hang on to him for the last few laps, which allowed me to open a gap over the rest of the group. Masbou passed me again on the straight and I finished eighth. Tomorrow we have an important test here at Misano to try and improve on where we went wrong today.”
eom/Mapfre Team Mahindra release
Bagnaia of Mapfre Mahindra team finishes 8th in Moto3 on Sunday. A Mapfre team Mahindra image -
Record lap launches Lorenzo to pole position at Misano; Rossi on P3
Jorge Lorenzo will start on pole position for tomorrow’s San Marino and Rimini Grand Prix after the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP rider set a new Misano Circuit Best Lap record of 1’32.146 to finish one-tenth of a second of his closest rival, Repsol Honda Team’s Marc Marquez.Lorenzo on way to pole in San Marino on Saturday. A Movistar Yamaha image Having finished yesterday’s practice sessions as the quickest rider, Lorenzo found extra pace during qualifying and his best lap time in Qualifying Practice 2 beat the previous pole position lap record at Misano by almost eight-tenths of a second. In QP2 Marquez set a time of 1’32.252 to qualify in second place and split the Factory Yamaha riders as clocking the third quickest time was Valentino Rossi, who circulated the Misano circuit in his Yamaha YZR-M1 in a time of 1’32.358. All riders that qualified on the front row used the combination of the medium compound rear and hard compound front slick to set their quickest times.The Misano circuit was once again subjected to warm and dry conditions today with a peak track temperature of 44°C recorded during qualifying. The favourable conditions allowed extensive testing of the different slick options available and certain compounds of the front and rear slicks firmed as the favourite race tyre choices for tomorrow’s twenty-eight lap race. For the front tyre, the grid looks set to be fairly evenly split between choosing the medium and hard compound front slicks, although the majority of the factory option riders look set to race the hard front slick. Rear tyre choice appears to show a considerable preference for the medium compound rear slick, although a number of open class riders look set to race the soft compound rear slick. A good sign for a close race tomorrow is that all slick options have shown the potential to provide consistent performance over race distance on the new Misano asphalt, with many riders able to lap under race record pace during their race simulations.The final chance for the teams and riders to confirm their setup and tyre choice for the race will be the morning Warm Up session at 0940 local time (GMT+2) before the 2015 edition of the San Marino and Rimini Grand Prix starts at 1400.Masao Azuma – Chief Engineer, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department“After an initial period of familiarisation with the new asphalt yesterday, today more work was made on refining tyre choice for the race and two front and rear slick options have shown to be well suited to the new track surface. The medium and hard compound front slicks are both working well at Misano, the medium compound option reaches its optimum operating temperature quicker and has better turn-in performance, while for others, particularly the factory Honda and Yamaha riders, the hard compound offers better braking performance and is more consistent. Unless track temperatures increase significantly tomorrow, I don’t think we’ll see any factory riders use the hard compound rear slick as in the track temperatures we have had this weekend, the soft and medium compound rear slicks are performing better. Generally, tyre performance during race simulations in FP4 was quite consistent so we hope to see a strong pace throughout the whole twenty-eight laps in tomorrow’s race.”San Marino and Rimini MotoGP QP2 times – Riders that qualified from QP1 shaded in greyPosRiderTeamQP2 TimeGap1Jorge LORENZOMovistar Yamaha MotoGP1’32.1462Marc MARQUEZRepsol Honda Team1’32.2520.1063Valentino ROSSIMovistar Yamaha MotoGP1’32.3580.2124Dani PEDROSARepsol Honda Team1’32.4340.2885Michele PIRRODucati Team1’32.7360.596Bradley SMITHMonster Yamaha Tech 31’32.8010.6557Andrea IANNONEDucati Team1’32.8210.6758Andrea DOVIZIOSODucati Team1’32.9340.7889Danilo PETRUCCIPramac Racing1’33.1691.02310Aleix ESPARGAROTeam SUZUKI ECSTAR1’33.1871.04111Cal CRUTCHLOWLCR Honda1’33.2201.07412Pol ESPARGAROMonster Yamaha Tech 31’33.2221.076 -
Jehan walks away from a triple roll accident at Silverstone
Silverstone (UK), 11 Sept 2015: Sahara Force India Academy racer, Jehan Daruvala, escaped unhurt as he walked away after a triple roll accident following a contact with teammate at Silverstone
Jehan seen here before his accident on Firday. A Sahara Force India image on Friday.
The Indian racer is taking part in the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup series for the first time. Daruvala was quick in practice but had a terrible crash in Race 1 to effectively bring an end to his event.
The 16-year-old Indian topped the time sheets of the first practice session with a laptime of 1:58.831 with 28 cars on the grid. In session 2 he slipped down to 7th in the order, 0.4 seconds off. In qualifying for race 1 and 2, Jehan at one stage had the quickest sector times, when a small but crucial mistake put him out of contention for pole in both races. The huge number of cars on the grid means that starting orders were not based on pure quickest lap and Jehan would start 6th for race 1 and 14th for race 2.
Race 1 started with Jehan 6th on the grid. Unfortunately the race took a nasty turn for Jehan, as going into the Becketts curve, he was squeezed by team-mate Ben Barnicoat. The 2 cars made contact and Jehan left the track at high speed. He hit the gravel trap sideways and the car dug in, causing Jehan to roll over twice and then flip end-over-end with his car coming to rest on top of the barriers in dramatic fashion.
Luckily Jehan was completely safe, and the marshals were by his side in seconds. As Jehan got out of the car, the race was red flagged due to another horrific looking crash a few corners later.
“We both entered the complex side by side and there was contact. I was a mere passenger after that. It is the first time I have had to get out of a car upside down” said a disappointed Jehan adding a touch of humor to the incident. His car was completely wrecked and the situation meant that Jehan would not be able to participate in race 2.
The team worked hard and somehow managed to put the car back together for Race 3 the next day. Jehan was optimistic about the race, but unfortunately the car had suffered too much damage in the triple roll the previous day. Jehan suffered from suspension issues, with his laptimes around 0.9 seconds slower than the quickest, he crossed the line in 16th position.
“I have to really thank the team for the excellent job they did to prepare the car for Race 3. Sadly, there were some issues which couldn’t be solved at the track and I was off the pace. That’s the way racing is. I am happy with the pace I had in practice and qualifying. I am just going to now focus and look forward to my next race this weekend in Nurburgring” said Jehan
eom/Rayo Racing release
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MAPFRE Team Mahindra rider, Bagnaia kicks off Misano weekend with 11th fastest time on Day One
The San Marino Grand Prix kicked off this morning at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli in spectacular conditions, and even though the track surface has been relaid since the last visit here t
Pecco Bagnaia 11th fastest in first FP in the the Moto3 on Friday. A Aspar Mapfre Mahindra team image here were several crashes for the Moto3 riders in the opening session. Local favourite Enea Bastianini set the pace this morning and the day looked set to be dominated by home riders until series leader Danny Kent produced a late afternoon effort that sealed stop spot by just 0.036 seconds from Bastianini and 0.074 from Romano Fenati.
Meanwhile, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Jorge Lorenzo rode the quickest ever lap around the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli to lead a closely contested opening day of practice at the San Marino and Rimini Grand Prix.
In this afternoon’s Free Practice 2 session, Lorenzo set a 1’32.871 to finish the day fastest ahead of the Repsol Honda duo of Marc Marquez (1’32.924) and Dani Pedrosa (1’33.258) who were second and third quickest respectively. Overall, the combination of the new Misano asphalt and 2015-specification Bridgestone MotoGP tyres resulted in some extremely quick lap times, with the top 12 riders on the timesheets today able to set times quicker than the existing Misano Circuit Record Lap time of 1’32.915.In Moto3 MAPFRE Team Mahindra rider Pecco Bagnaia is one of the Italian riders looking for success this weekend and although he had the setback of a gearbox problem this morning he was competitive from the first lap of the second session this afternoon. The youngster is looking for more front-end performance tomorrow but he is confident after setting the eleventh fastest lap of the day on his fourteenth and final effort. Jorge Martín was twentieth after running into traffic and and Juanfran Guevara was twenty-first after an early crash.
Francesco `Pecco’ Bagnaia clocked 11th fastest time at 1.44.084 and finished 25 laps. He said: “It was important to us to be inside the top ten today. We were quite fast but struggled to maintain a consistent pace. I set a good lap on my last lap and I was riding alone but we have to improve our pace tomorrow. We also need to improve the response from the front end because I am struggling to get into the turns on the brakes, the bike tends to fold and didn’t give me the feeling I was hoping for today. The mechanics worked hard all day to give me the best possible bike but it was a shame we lost time because of a problem with the gearbox. We could have done with six or seven more laps but I am happy, we are working well and we’re on the right lines.”
Teammate Jorge Martin struggled and was 20th in 1.44.584. He did 34 laps. He said: “We struggled to find a feeling this morning because there wasn’t much grip out there but then it got better and the second session went quite well. Once we had the set-up more or less in hand we tried to push for a lap but I got held up by another rider and couldn’t go any faster. Anyway, we have come here with a good base set-up and in general I am happy although we could do with finding some more front-end confidence tomorrow. We will try to improve our pace in the final free practice then push hard for a fast lap in qualifying.”
eom/Mapfre Mahindra press release
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Podium for Armaan Ebrahim at Lamborghini Super Trofeo Series
SENTUL (INDONESIA): India’s Armaan Ebrahim and his Sri Lankan partner Dilantha Malagamuwa notched their second consecutive podium finish as the pair were placed third in the first of the two races of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Series at the Sentul International Circuit, here on Sunday.
JK Tyre Brand Ambassador Armaan and Dilantha, who had finished third in the previous round at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia, put in a fine performance in the first race of the weekend for a podium spot after starting 10th on the grid.
Going into the fourth round, Armaan and Dilantha were placed second on the championship leaderboard and had hoped for a strong showing to take back the lead.
However, their weekend was off to a disastrous start as Dilantha had a bad crash in the opening laps in the first practice session. Consequently, Armaan missed both the practice sessions and most of the Qualifying se
India’s Armaan Ebrahim (right) and team-mate Dilantha Malagamuwa of Sri Lanka celebrate their third-place finish in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Series race in Sentul, Indonesia, on Sunday. Photo courtesy AP Media Communications ssion as the car had suffered extensive damage.
Starting 10th in Race 1, Armaan took the start and drove at a frenetic pace, making eight places and moved up to second before handing over the car to Dilantha.
Dilantha dropped one position towards the end of the race due to a problematic gearbox and the team took the chequered flag in third position which earned valuable points as well.
Armaan took the start again for Race 2 from fifth on the grid. He got off to a storming start and half way through the race, had moved up to second place overall before Dilantha took over.
With just two laps to go for a strong second place finish, disaster struck when the rear right tyre blew, forcing Dilantha to drop down the order.
Reflecting on the weekend, Armaan said: “Coming away with a third placed Podium was definitely a consolation after a disastrous start to the race weekend.
“It was unfortunate that Dilantha lost traction in the first practice session and suffered a big crash which damaged the car badly. Missing out on both the practice sessions and most of Qualifying meant that I had to go into the race blind.
“Nevertheless, it was a good race as I had a very good race pace and we were able to come away with a podium position.
“Race 2 was extremely disappointing as we had done all the hard work and were comfortably placed in second position before Dilantha took over. With just two laps to go for the chequered flag, the rear tyre deflated and Dilantha lost track position to finish 11th.”
“We now look forward to the next race in Shanghai in October and hopefully Lady Luck will smile on us and we can take back the Championship lead.”
Image-1: India’s Armaan Ebrahim (right) and team-mate Dilantha Malagamuwa of Sri Lanka celebrate their third-place finish in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Series race in Sentul, Indonesia, on Sunday.
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Monza circuit is a special one, it gives you incredible pride: Hamilton
DRIVERS
1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
2 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)
3 – Felipe MASSA (Williams)
PODIUM INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by George Lucas)
This is amazing, simply amazing. Congratulations Lewis, you did a great job. You told me earlier when I was kidding you about these close call races of one or two seconds, I said ‘why don’t you win by 20 seconds?’ and you said ‘I could do that, I think’. Well, you did it in spades; I bow to you, you did a great job.
Lewis HAMILTON: Thank you. Today… look at this crowd, it’s incredible. Unbelievable fans here. I couldn’t have done it without my team. I couldn’t have done it without my team. I don’t know if anyone can hear us. This team is just remarkable and what we have achieved together is so special, so I’m incredibly grateful to them for really working so hard through the weekend, through the last weeks, through the whole year to give me the car I had today. These guys also did a great job.
Sebastian, I’ve been to the factory a few times and everybody has been talking about the new engine. Did the new engine live up to your expectations?
Sebastian VETTEL: Well look at this. I think this says it all. Grazie a voi! Grazie tifosi! Questo anno è incredible… Grazie, a tutta la squadra dico ancora grazie.
Felipe, how did it feel when you were coming up to the finish line there and your team-mate was only inches away from you?
Felipe MASSA: It feels very tough! I’m getting old for that! I even said to the team I’m getting old! The last three laps of the race I was fighting with my team-mate. It was very difficult but we managed to be here. Grazie mille a tutti. Sono molto contento di essere qui con voi. Questo podio é meraviglioso. Questo rettilineo è fantastico. Grazie davvero. Siete tutti nel mio cuore.
So Lewis, one last question: Do blonds have more fun?
LH: I hope so! Thank you everyone. Thank you to all the fans. You are the greatest fans here. Grazie a tutti.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Lewis, the technical delegate has referred the team to the stewards saying that “the minimum measured tyre starting pressure of the left-hand side rear tyre of car number 44 was 0.3 PSI below the specified minimum tyre starting pressure” and a representative of the team is asked to go to the stewards. Do you have any comment to make on that?
LH: Not really no.
You’re not aware of it?
LH: I wasn’t aware of it, so…
The team was asking you at the end of the grand prix to build a gap. You weren’t sure what that was for, presumably that was linked to this issue?
LH: Maybe.
They still haven’t told you?
LH: No.
Lewis, your 50th grand prix start for Mercedes, your third win here in Monza, seventh of the season, 40th of your career, now one short of Ayrton Senna, who I know was an idol of yours growing up. Really, obviously, the start was always going to be decisive. You took a defensive line, Sebastian had to go round the outside and from there on you seemed to be completely in control of the afternoon. Tell us about that and also the emotions of the afternoon from start to now?
LH: Yeah, this weekend has been just fantastic. It has been a perfect weekend for me. I don’t know if I have ever had a weekend like this. This circuit is such a special one for… I think it’s the same for all the drivers. When you stand on top of that podium you feel incredible pride and incredibly proud to be amongst the greats that have stood up there and when you see a sea of fans – a lot of them in red – but the sea of fans is just unlike anything I’ve seen. It’s very emotional when you are up there. The race was fantastic. I got a good start. I think we all probably got a difficult start and managed to hold ground. Sebastian was really fair into turn one and after that it was really just chipping away, looking after the tyres, trying to look after the tyres whilst chipping away… trying to take time away, increase the time, the gap behind. I was generally able to control it really after that. I felt comfortable. The car balance I really got perfect for the race. Perhaps not so much for qualifying but perfect for the race. It was actually one of my favourite balances I’ve had through the year, in the actual race. The last few laps I was told to push and I’m thinking I’ve got quite a big gap already, so, for me, I was a little taken aback by it, but nonetheless I still managed to pull it out and do what they asked me to do. Big congrats to Sebastian and Felipe. I know these two have been pushing hard for a long, long time, so I feel proud to be up here with them as well.
Q: And you were 29 points behind coming here last year. You’re 50 points ahead going away, over 50 points ahead going away this year.
LH: I don’t understand…
Rosberg retired
LH: I wasn’t aware of that. Oh. Wow. I think our performance, my performance today, I have to really take my hat off to my team: they’ve done a remarkable job the last two years and I can’t thank them enough. The constant attention to detail. Improvements they’ve been doing back at the factories in Brackley and Brixworth is just… I’ve never seen it before. Incredibly grateful for everything they’ve done.
Q: So Sebastian, you “were very fair in Turn One,” says Lewis. You gave it a go. Did you think it might be on?
SV: I had to! Obviously I was on the outside so it was going to be difficult. I was a bit deeper on the brakes but yeah, I mean I have to give way, he’s on the inside, the first corner goes to the right. It’s a tricky one. We’ve seen across the various years you can get it wrong so I was quite happy. Tried to focus on the exit. He got a magnificent exit out of Turn Two so I couldn’t really get a run on him. I was trying – but I couldn’t get a run on him into Turn Four. After that I though, after the first couple of laps, I think at some points we were similar in lap time, he was only a tenth quicker for one or two laps, I thought that maybe now we get a chance to close the gap but then he just seemed to… in football you call it the second lung. I don’t know – that’s a German saying, it makes no sense in English – but he just seemed to find an extra switch and he was pulling away. I think myself, Felipe and the cars behind, we seemed to struggle with tyres, so we’re losing pace whereas Lewis just kept doing what he was doing in the first couple of laps. So it was quite incredible to see and no chance to stay close to him. After that our race was pretty isolated but I knew I had to keep pushing. Seeing the pace that Lewis had, I knew that Nico eventually will have the same pace. He did in the end, he was closing the gap, it was getting quite tight but I think we could have managed and get the place even with Nico not retiring. So, in the end, to sum it up, it’s fairly simple, it’s the best second place I ever had. The emotions on the podium is incredible. If we take this away from the calendar for any shitty money reasons I think you are basically ripping our hearts out. We are here, we are racing and this makes it so much more worthwhile. It’s what we’re here for. You stand on the grid, you look to the left, you look to the right, people are just happy to be part of it and it makes our day. So, simple as that. It’s incredible. So, thanks for this emotion on behalf of all the Ferrari team. Thank you.
Q: Felipe, on the podium here in Monza, second year in a row. Start obviously decisive for you as well because Kimi just didn’t get away, you were very, very quick on to that and at the end you had a little bit of a tussle with your younger team mate once again, which you seem to be enjoying.
FM: Yeah, it’s really emotional to be here. It’s a fantastic race, very difficult from the beginning to the end, just trying to make the gap and then, the start was OK. It was not really that fantastic a start I had but it was really good to overtake cars and to manage to be in the position compared to the guys behind, so happy for that. But also, just the pace. Trying to open the gap against Valtteri. I went to the pitstop a little bit early and he stays on the track for a few other laps which helps a lot his tyres for the end of the race. Maybe I opened the gap anyway and we were doing good lap times to maintain the gap but at the end I started to lose performance on the rear tyres and he was catching me with better tyres as well. So, in the last three laps it was pretty difficult. He was catching me a lot, he was quicker than me. The only problem was the traction: he has better traction. So, I managed to fight, and getting to the podium was tough, three laps but I’m so happy for the position, so happy for the team. I think we managed to score great and fantastic points today. And also in this amazing place. Being on the podium here, with the whole straight of people so we cannot even see any asphalt, y’know. Even in Corner Three, from the podium. So it’s really, I mean, definitely the best podium and very human. A very hot, human feeling when you see all these people.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Sebastian, as you have said, there was a phase early in the race when you were just a couple of tenths slower than Lewis but then it has increased quite a bit. Why do you think this was? Was it just that your tyres didn’t hold up so well because it was the end of the stint or was it because you weren’t able to use the same engine modes as yesterday in qualifying?
SV: No, I think it’s pretty simple. I was falling asleep! No, I was pushing as hard as possible and Lewis, I think, to some extent, did the same and yeah, I think you could see on my lap times also Felipe’s – I got updated by radio that the lap times kept dropping so I guess we were struggling more with the tyres than Lewis was because he was able to do the same lap time on lap 22 as he did on lap four which is quite impressive. Obviously we had run down some fuel but tyres are 20 laps older. I think he said he felt well with the balance of the car which makes a huge difference so that’s that. They were quick on race pace, quicker than us but potentially they had a bit better tyre wear or tyre degradation, let’s put it this way, so I think that made the difference. On the first three laps I had a bit of hope and then, to be honest with you, I saw them going away, so yeah, that was that.
Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Lewis, have you already received an explanation, either before or after the podium, because you had to push, because there was a problem with the investigation of the tyres. Had they already explained to you or was it something else?
LH: As I just said, I don’t even know about it.
Q: What was the second question? There wasn’t one.
FM: He’s amazing, he never asks one question, always two! I think he has a fever.
Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Lewis and Sebastian, what kind of help could you get with lower tyres pressures?
LH: 0.3 lower? Not really a huge amount on one rear tyre.
SV: Well, it’s difficult to judge now because I don’t know what was going on. I think it’s not fair to hand that question to Lewis because he doesn’t know what’s going on, so that’s that. In principle, the tyres last a bit longer, but as I said, I don’t think… In a lot of respect and fairness he did a very good job today and you have to accept that.
Q: (Barna Zsoldos – Nemzeti Sport) To all of you, after such an emotional podium ceremony, what are your feelings when you hear that the future of Monza on the calendar is uncertain?
Q: Well, Sebastian has already made his feelings very clear on that one…
LH: I think we all have really. As I said on the podium, I said at the beginning here, this is one of the best tracks in the world. This has to stay here for moral reasons. As Felipe is saying, all those fans out there who come every single year. Are you going to take this Grand Prix away from us and put on another one, that would not have the same feeling, or would not have the special impact so we definitely have to keep this.
FM: I don’t think they can take it out. The history of Formula One, this is history here, here is part of what is Formula One… everything that Formula One grows is a lot thanks to these races as well, to these people. We race for the people and when you see the podium with a lot of people like that and they’re screaming and crying, I don’t think we can lose that. This is part of our blood and we cannot lose this type of races. I really like to go to new countries, we go to amazing countries, countries that I even didn’t know what they meant before and then I love to go there, many different countries and I’m really in favour to go there but you cannot lose something which is inside the blood as well.
Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Sebastian, I think it’s highly unlikely because Lewis finished more than 25 seconds ahead of you so even if he gets a penalty I don’t think it will change the order but if he would lose the victory and you would win the Italian Grand Prix with Ferrari like that, what would be your emotions?
SV: Well, it doesn’t change anything, emotions. I was second on the podium and that’s the emotions I got and I’m grateful for them. I had a great car today, not good enough to win but good enough to just finish second.
Hamilton (centre) address the press at the FIA Press Conference after winning the race on Sunday. An FIA image -
Hamilton takes dominant Monza pole ahead of Raikkonen and Vettel; Rosberg finishes fourth
Lewis Hamilton took his 11th pole position of the season, the 49th of his career and his fourth at Monza as he beat Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen to top spot on the grid for tomorrow’s Italian Grand Prix.
Third place in the session went to Sebastian Vettel in the second Ferrari while Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg was fourth after being forced to revert to an older specification Mercedes engine when a problem was detected with the latest version power unit fitted to his car for this weekend’s race following the morning’s final practice session.
After early morning rain had led to wet and intermediate tyre use in a drying final practice session, Q1 got underway in dry and bright conditions. The early pace was predictably set by the Mercedes duo, with Hamilton annexing top spot with a time of 1m24.251s, more than half a second clear of Rosberg, who was running with the power unit used in Spa.
As the 18-minute session wore on and the final runs approached the drivers in danger of the cut were 15th-placed Fernando Alonso of McLaren, team-mate Jenson Button, the Manors of Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi, while Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo had yet to set a time.
McLaren, Toro Rosso and Red Bull are facing grid penalties due to power unit changes but despite the impending sanctions, Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz attempted to secure as positive a grid position as possible and was in P8 before the final runs.
There was drama for Verstappen as he began his only run, however. The Dutch driver’s engine cover flew off at the Curva Grande, scattering debris across the track and he was forced back to the pits without setting a time.
Also out after the first session were Stevens and Merhi in P18 and P19 respectively, with the Manor drivers finishing behind the McLarens of Button in P16 and Alonso.
At the top of the timesheet, Hamilton was quickest with a time of 1:24.251, just over three tenths ahead of Rosberg. Kimi Räikkönen was third fastest for Ferrari on 1:24.662, with the Force Indias of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg fourth and fifth respectively. Sainz, meanwhile, made it through as the highest-placed Renault-powered driver, in 12th place.
The Mercedes and Ferrari drivers were the only qualifiers to make it through the session without using the option soft compound Pirelli tyres.
Hamilton again set the early benchmark in Q2, with the championship making his way to a best time of 1:23.383 ahead of the final runs. He was followed by Räikkönen who was just under four tenths adrift, Vettel and Rosberg.
At the other end of the order were Sainz, Ricciardo and Kvyat, none of whom had not set a time, while Lotus’ Romain Grosjean was in P12 behind the Sauber of Felipe Nasr.
Ricciardo opted to sit out the session and without a time on the board he qualified in P15. Kvyat and Sainz, meanwhile, chose to battle for position and while Kvyat took provisional P13 with a time of 1:25.796 he was quickly pushed back by Sainz who beat the senior Red Bull driver by almost two tenths of a second. Also eliminated at this point were Nasr in P12 and Lotus’ Pastor Maldonado who was pipped to a Q3 berth by Hulkenberg, whose lap of 1:25.510 was 0.015s quicker than that of the Venezuelan.
At the front, Hamilton who sat out the session finished in P1 ahead of Vettel. Raikkonen, who also stayed in the garage for the final runs was fourth ahead of Rosberg and the Williams cars of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas.
After the first runs of Q3 Hamilton, with an opening lap of 1:23.397, was a relatively comfortable three tenths of a second clear of Vettel at the top of the order with Raikkonen third, just seven thousandths of a second behind the German. Rosberg, using the Spa engine, was struggling, however, and after the first runs he was in P5 behind Massa.
He remedied that situation in the final runs, vaulting ahead of the Williams driver by improving to a time of 1:23.703, but it was still only good enough for fourth as both Raikkonen and Vettel found more time. Of the Ferrari drivers it was Räikkönen who succeeded in finding the most time and with a time of 1:23.631 he pipped Vettl to the front row by five hundredths of a second.
Hamilton, meanwhile, failed to improve on his opening lap and closed out his 49th career pole position with just over two tenths of a second in hand over Vettel.
With Massa fifth, Bottas was sixth for Williams ahead of Perez and Grosjean while row five is set to be filled by Hulkenberg and Ericsson in ninth and tenth respectively.
2015 Italian Grand Prix – Qualifying
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:23.397
2 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:23.631
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:23.685
4 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:23.703
5 Felipe Massa Williams 1:23.940
6 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:24.127
7 Sergio Perez Force India 1:24.626
8 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:25.054
9 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:25.317
10 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:26.214
11 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:24.525
12 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:24.898
13 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:25.618
14 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull Racing 1:25.796
15 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing –
16 Jenson Button McLaren 1:26.058
17 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:26.154
18 Will Stevens Manor 1:27.731
19 Roberto Merhi Manor 1:27.912
20 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso –eom/FIA press release
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With more races in the offing, summer break is essential to keep staff from burn-out: Bob Fernley, Force India
TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Robert FERNLEY (Force India), Matthew CARTER (Lotus), Paul HEMBERY (Pirelli), Christian HORNER (Red Bull Racing), Maurizio ARRIVABENE (Ferrari), Eric BOULLIER (McLaren)
PRESS CONFERENCE
Maurizio, if we could start with you. Obviously you’ve been here many times before as a partner of Ferrari. You’ve lived the moments of victory in front of the tifosi with Schumacher, Barrichello, Alonso etc. Tell me about the sense of responsibility you feel today as the boss of the Ferrari Formula One team at the Italian Grand Prix ?
FIA press conference at the Italian GP on Friday. An FIA image Maurizio ARRIVABENE: You’re right, it’s a big story, because you feel Monza, Milan, all the region here on your shoulder. Yesterday, we were out of the track to meet the tifosi and you know looking at the enthusiasm of them, looking at the high of them, the way they were screaming, were thinking myself, Sebastian and also Kimi, we were thinking ‘OK, we have to do something for them’ and your pressure and your emotion is going up to the sky. You want to give them something and you want to see in their eye a big smile. But you are also conscious about what you can do here. So if I… I feel my responsibility here in Monza is huge, especially yesterday when we were nearby the tifosi and we were looking at them and their enthusiasm, I hope that the heart, the big heart that normally they took here after the race can be the equivalent of a token and it goes straight in our engine. What can I say more than that!
The Italian Grand Prix is the only race along with the British Grand Prix that has been on the F1 calendar every year since the start of F1. We hear all the time that the race is potentially under threat. Can Ferrari allow the possibility of there being no Italian Grand Prix? Are you playing any role in this process?
MA: Playing a role is a big word. I mean we are not negotiating with Bernie. It’s not our job, it’s not our responsibility. Having said so, I think the grand prix of Italy is Monza and I want to be very clear on that. The only picture that I saw in Maranello of Enzo Ferrari at a track actually was here at Monza and I said many, many times something very clear: there is a core of Formula One that in my opinion is represented by Monza, Spa Francorchamps, Hockenheim, Silverstone and Monaco. This is the core of Formula One and I think we have to preserve it. Because every person that is losing his own culture, he’s losing the roots, he’s not anymore a person – I mean if we are talking about human beings. But also for these kind of things. If we are losing the core in my opinion then we are losing the show, so I think we can do everything that is in our possibility to defend a grand prix and the clear statement is the following: the grand prix of Italy is Monza. The second sentence is that we need to preserve the core of Formula One. I have nothing against all the other grands prix, because it is an international show but even a show has a core and the core for Formula One is the number of grands prix that I mentioned before. This is my personal opinion and it’s also I think our opinion as Ferrari.
OK, thank you very much. Eric, coming to you: the performance curve is clearly upwards from a fairly low baseline at the start of the season but is the curve moving upwards fast enough for you?
Eric BOULLIER: No. Obviously we would like to be a little higher up in the hierarchy and maybe fighting for more points regularly. There is obviously the last… Spa and here would be difficult for us but we knew this coming here. We see some positives as well, because reliability is a bit better and we keep developing the car as fast as we can.
It’s no secret that you have quandary again over drivers for next season. What plans do you have for Jenson Button, Kevin Magnussen and Stoffel Vandoorne. How many of those three do you expect to be racing in Formula One next year and which one of those three will be in a McLaren?
EB: Obviously we expect the four of them to race. As far as we are concerned, at McLaren we have only two cars, so there will be only two race seats. We have two world champions today and we do intend to keep them, so far. Nevertheless it’s a luxury problem to have four good drivers and we will do obviously… Kevin and Stoffel are very good drivers, both of them we expect to race Formula One but if we can’t fit or accommodate them at home we will do our best to make sure they can race next year.
Matthew, what did the podium at Spa mean to the team last time out and how much were you able to celebrate given all the stuff that was going on after the race?
Matthew CARTER: The podium meant an awful lot to the team and it really is testament to the guys back at Enstone and the guys that work week in, week out and the quality that know we’ve got down at Lotus. It was obviously was bittersweet because of everything else that was going on and I don’t particularly want to talk about that at this stage but certainly for the team it was a real shot in the arm and it’s really helped us and hopefully it’s a stepping stone to go forward.
It’s no secret that the ownership situation at your team has moved on a little in recent weeks. What can you tell us today about the future ownership and direction of this team?
MC: It’s difficult for me to say too much. Obviously my job is to run the team and to look after the team as it stands. The ownership and the shareholding of that team are down to our current shareholders and our potential future shareholders. All I can tell you is that negotiations with a certain car manufacturer have been ongoing for a number of months and as far as I’m aware we’re just trying to run the team as best we can with the tools we’ve got.
Thank you. Coming to you Robert, obviously there’s a draft calendar at the moment for next year with 21 races on it and discussions are ongoing about various areas of that, but the summer shutdown appears to be a talking point amongst your peer group. Can you tell us your thoughts on how important that is and how it would be not to have it?
Robert FERNLEY: I think it’s also very important to support the commercial rights holder. We understand the challenges it faces to put a global sport on and we have to make efforts to accommodate races where we can. But I think also that has to be done around the teams. We run a very tight ship. Most of the teams run a tight ship. The travelling staff need to have that summer break and if we don’t do that we’re going to burn them out or we’re going to have to bring in a second crew. Either way it’s not good for Formula One or the costs of the independent teams. The other thing I think as well is that from a media point of view there is a certain amount of anticipation that comes after the summer break for the second half of the season and I think we shouldn’t forget the importance of that from the expectation of fans and the eagerness of fans to get into the second half. So I think the summer break an
d a whole, from my point of view and from Force India’s point of view, should be retained at all cost.
It’s been a strong middle part of the season for Force India – strong points, good qualifying performances – and you’ve just re-signed Nico Hulkenberg. How important is that piece of the jigsaw for the future?
RF: I think it’s very important for us to try to keep stability and I expect we’ll do that. Vijay is working very hard now to finish off the second contract with Checo and hopefully we’ll get some news on that for Singapore. With the continuity and the stability of rules into 2016 hopefully we can carry the performance through.
Paul, we saw a lot of long run practice today, some pretty big mileages notched up in free practice two. Can you tell us about what was learned in terms of where race strategy is?
Paul HEMBERY: Well, it’s pretty much going to be a one-stop race; we’ve known that coming into the weekend. That I guess is what the teams have been focusing on and 1.2 difference between the two compounds and as I say one-stop race unless of course we get some rain.
Spa was the first time for a while that you’ve had some tyre failures. We saw yesterday’s report but what more can you tell us about recommendations to the teams and what went into that report?
PH: The first thing I’d like to underline is the outstanding collaboration we’ve had from particularly Ferrari, Maurizio’s team, Toto and the Mercedes team. We’ve had a good sharing of information. And that’s been very positive as well, the involvement of the FIA. I think that’s something that sometimes gets lost in the media that behind the scenes there is a lot of collaboration that goes on and we thank everybody for that. Going forward I think it’s important to underline that we feel we need to have a little bit more collaboration directly with the drivers and we’ve already discussed that with a number of the teams and we have an agreement that there should be a clearer exchange between us all so that we’re all aiming for the same things going forward and that opens up what we feel needs to be a very serious testing programme in the future. If we are going to carry on in 2017 there are very dramatic changes to the tyre sizes involved and that needs a proper testing programme. In years gone by tyre suppliers in Formula One have been able to test for 100,000km every season and we’re currently unable to use any Formula One car whatsoever to do testing. We are working with the teams behind the scenes and I believe that going forward we will find a solution that will allow us all to be a lot more comfortable going forward.
Q: Coming to you Christian, obviously not a straightforward afternoon for Red Bull Racing. Can you tell us what was going on, some of the problems you had?
Christian HORNER: Yeah, we’ve had a couple of issues. We had a hydraulic issue on Daniel Ricciardo’s car, which was caused by the DRS system, so that just was a wing change that sorted that out, and we had a gearbox issue on Dany Kvyat’s car that needed some attention after the first session – so it’s certainly been a busy time for the guys downstairs so far.
Q: Red Bull’s owner Dietrich Mateschitz has said he’ll quit Formula One if Red Bull doesn’t have a competitive engine. It’s no secret you’re pushing behind the scenes to get either a Ferrari or a Mercedes engine – what kind of relationship can you promise them if you succeed?
CH: Well. Sitting here today we still have a contract with Renault. To my knowledge I’ve not had any discussion with Ferrari – unless Maurizio can tell me differently. But we’ve got an agreement with Renault as I say, we’ve got conditions within that agreement that aren’t privy to this group here and time will tell in terms of what their future holds for them. So hopefully something will be forthcoming in the near future.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Question to Matthew. Matthew, it’s no secret there have been certain financial issues surrounding your team. A couple of days after Silverstone for example, winding up applications whatever, but from here on in you face enormous expenses in terms of running costs, freight to flyaway races etcetera. Can you guarantee us that you will in fact be at Singapore. Has, for example, your sea-freight container left for Singapore and when did it leave?
MC: I can guarantee you that we’ll be at Singapore. The sea-freight container… one of our sea-freight containers has left, our airfreight will leave next week. We will be in Singapore. As far as the first part of your question is concerned, yes, we’ve had… the financial issues are all over the press, everyone is aware of them. We’re working as hard as we can behind the scenes to get them sorted out. None of them have become terminal, obviously. We’re still here, we’re still racing and we will continue to do that. The negotiations that were referred to earlier on are going on behind the scenes. I’m hopeful that’s going to secure our future one way or the other going forward – and when I say one way or the other it just means we have more than one option going forward to secure the future of the team. As far as the race of the races this season, we have a budget in place and we will operate to that budget and will be at all the races.
Q: (Barna Zsoldos – Nemzeti Sport) Question for Maurizio, Christian and Eric. Sitting on the pitwall during the race, what was your best and worst decision, best and worst moments and most memorable and maybe most embarrassing moments so far?
CH: Christ! I’ve been sitting on there for ten years now so there’s been a few. Most memorable moments, probably 2010 when we managed to go into the last race in Abu Dhabi and there were obviously four drivers in contention for the Championship and we managed to call it right on that day – so that was certainly a memorable moment. There’s been quite a few over the years but difficult to hightlight too many today.
Maurizio?
MA: In eight months I don’t have a lot of stories to tell you…
What was your best decision?
MA: My best decision, or my best thought, it was in Malaysia when we won the race. The first thought was ‘oh my God, it’s too early.’ In terms of embarrassment, I have two choices: one was Austria, the other was Canada when we don’t have a very good race in front of Mr Marchionne. I mean, pick one of the two, it’s the same.
Eric?
EB: Best race would be Abu Dhabi with the Kimi win, obviously. The worst one would be Germany 2013 where Grosjean was on his way to win and couldn’t because of a safety car. Embarrassing moment… I have plenty now.
Q: (Miguel Sanz – Marca) Question for Eric. Which one of the seven remaining circuits, apart from Singapore suits well your car?
EB: Maybe Sochi. There is… it’s not as bad as Spa or here. It should be a bit better in every track. Singapore should suit us much better than the other ones, but more or less the other ones are fine.
Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) A question about the tyre situation today. Paul, could you confirm if the values that have been circulating in the press regarding pressures like 21 front and 19.5 rear have been correct. And have there been any other recommendations regarding cambers? And the same question to a couple of team bosses, especially Christian and Maurizio: are you satisfied with these values and how did it effect your performance today?
PH: Yeah, the values are based on information given to us by the various teams. Of course, not every team is the same so you have to take analysis based over the whole field. Based on what we’ve seen today, we haven’t seen any issues of blistering which might be one of the concerns if you raise the pressures. So, from what we’ve seen, it appears to be working for the vast majority of people.
Christian?
CH: I’m not actually sure what the pressures are: they seem to go up and down like a fiddler’s elbow. I think Pirelli have reacted well to the situation last weekend, Maurizio’s obviously far more informed than I am in that respect. Hopefully there won’t be any issues here this weekend. Certainly in the long runs we’ve had in practice, that we’ve mainly focussed on today, everything’s been 100 per cent normal.
Maurizio?
MA: For us, I said yesterday, we said everything. We have clear and constructive conversation and explanation from Pirelli. Today have another constructive meeting and we are going to meet each other even more often to better communicate between ourselves. I’m perfectly satisfied regarding the pressure. We’ve got that information very clearly from Pirelli and we are perfectly fine with that.
Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Paul, just to follow up that earlier question, could you actually give us the tyre pressures that have been recommended by you. As Christian says, they seem to have been going up and down like a fiddler’s elbow. And, are they just a recommendation is there any action to enforce a particular pressure?
PH: Well, from P1 they’ve been 21, 19.5 on the rear. So, that’s what they are, that’s what they’ll be for the weekend.
Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / Speedsport magazines) Christian, I realise your big engine upgrade is coming for Russia – but for the new units coming in this weekend, what has Renault told you? Do you have some tweaks in them?
CH: No, they’re pretty much the same specification we’ve had so far. At the moment no tokens have been used. When the upgraded engine will appear is TBC. There’s nothing actually confirmed yet. We’ll wait to here in due course, no doubt.
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Maurizio, I heard that last night Kimi set a record for signing autographs with the tifosi for half an hour. Did you push him or where did that eagerness come from?
MA: No. I was simply talking with him in my way – no, I’m joking now. We had several conversations and I said I know that you are a very cool guy and most probably because you are cool, they like you but at least if we meet the guys – the tifosi – you have to sign and at least move your hand and say hallo and possibly to smile. And he stuck to these instructions and I was thinking, is there something wrong here? I was happy, of course, but then I was thinking that maybe he’s becoming superstitious and he’s doing this and tomorrow it’s raining and also on Sunday. And I was hoping about that. He’s becoming a good guy and I was pleased about that, even if I’m still thinking and when I’m thinking, I said it can’t be Kimi, it was a sosia (doppelganger) or somebody else.
Q: (Fernando Ramos – Racing Magazines) Paul, you talk about the need of proper track testing in the future. Is this a condition for Pirelli to stay in F1 or if teams and the Federation and everybody don’t see common sense, can Pirelli afford to stay in F1 for five years without proper testing in the future?
PH: With the proposed changes that have been more or less confirmed with all the teams now with the dimensions of the tyres – going to wider tyres – then yes, it has to be a condition for staying in. You can’t make such a dramatic change without testing.
Q: (Fabrizio Corgnati – Diario del Web) Maurizio, based on the data that you learned today in free practice, what are your realistic goals for the race?
MA: There needs to be an awful lot to look at Mercedes. I think – being serious – we saw, as expected, Mercedes are very very strong in shape but our pace was not bad. It’s too early to promise something but we try to do our best, especially because it’s our home Grand Prix, but again, we have a lot of competitors but Mercedes is still far away from us at the moment.
Q: (Graham Kill – Grand Prix Times) For everyone, apart from Paul: we heard the latest team, Williams, confirming an unchanged driver line-up for next season. There’s a bit of a perception out there that the drivers’ market has become a bit more conservative and teams are more reluctant these days to change drivers. Do you agree that that’s the case and if so, do you have reasons for it, perhaps the testing ban or something else?
RF: Yeah, I don’t think there’s any reason to assume that you’re not going to move drivers and change drivers. I think you’re always looking for stability and if you have drivers that are performing well, you want to retain them. And equally, if they move on and the opportunity comes to bring somebody new through, certainly in the independent teams, you’re going to take that opportunity.
MC: I think we’re probably in a slightly different position in that we have two drivers under contract. The only reason that we haven’t announced our driver line-up for next year is that we’re waiting to see what pans out in the next few weeks/month or so. So absolutely no reason to change, both drivers under contract but I think there’s probably wider issues to play at Lotus at the moment.
Q: Eric, you’ve kind of half answered it already.
EB: Yes, I did it.
MA: We confirmed Kimi after Hungary. Again, he’s a World Champion, he’s the last World Champion with Ferrari. We don’t have to forget that. And the second reason was for stability with the team, it’s quite a new team and we would like to keep the stability in the team and to have a clear goal for everybody. I have nothing to add. And you see also, yes, he is very very good in PR so he’s becoming another Kimi. Vettel, I don’t need to say a word about Seb.
CH: Well, changing drivers in any team is quite a big thing. The drivers are pretty fundamental components and I think that if ever you’re going to change, you want to change for the better. So in answer to your other question, our driver line-up… Ricciardo was on a long term contract as is Dany Kvyat who obviously, from our perspective, has options that we have to exercise at certain points in time. Now Red Bull has always invested in youth and brought in some really young talent and it’s great to see Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz Junior doing such a wonderful job this year and again, through GP2 and other categories, Red Bull continues to be investing in young talent so we’ve got quite a large talent pool but of course you always want to put your best foot forward.
Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS.NL) Maurizio, I saw a lot of yellow T-shirts at Ascari with the text Lello and that’s an Italian driver in GP2, Marciello, so the question is who will be the next Formula One driver from Italy and when?
MA: There is no time. The yellow rumour at the moment in Italy is Valentino Rossi. The yellow. Lello is a driver and all the drivers in the Ferrari Academy have to prove their talent before (they get) a contract in Formula One. I’m pleased that Lello has a lot of fans or supporters. Supporters count a lot but at the end he needs to prove his talent. This is for everybody in life. You want to go there, deserve it. We are pleased with him but the season isn’t finished yet. Sorry people, I was hearing yellow and I was thinking Valentino.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Paul, obviously there’s an awful lot of PR fall-out after the incidents at Spa-Francorchamps and then this week we had some rather warm words coming out of the commercial rights holder. We can think of millions of reasons why but the fact of the matter is that it’s virtually unprecedented. We know that you’re locked in a battle with an opposition tyre company for the contract going forward. Were there any thoughts on the part of Pirelli’s management and board to withdraw from Formula One after the fall-out?
PH: No, I think the fall-out was rather exaggerated. As I said earlier, we’ve been working extremely well behind the scenes with Maurizio and his team and also with Toto and a number of the other Formula One teams and the FIA so I think a lot of it’s more in the media rather than a practical situation. We’re obviously discussing at the moment going forward and there are a number of areas that we need changing to enable that to happen. I’ve already mentioned testing, we also want to make sure that we’re all singing off the same hymn sheet so the teams, ourselves and the drivers all know what we’re aiming for and we’ll all agree with what we’re doing, that there’s a common sense of purpose, so that’s really where we’re at.
Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Maurizio, is there news on James Allison’s contract? Has he signed a new long term contract with Ferrari?
MA: I already said so, I already confirmed that in Belgium. Yeah. He’s got a long term contract with us.
Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Maurizio, could you please confirm that Ferrari has upgraded its engine for Monza and by how much?
MA: The super engine, the famous super engine. We’ve spent a couple of tokens here but we have a little improvement but we are far from this super engine that has been mentioned, a lot of time. I can confirm that we have spent a couple of tokens but I don’t confirm that we have a super engine here. We have a Ferrari engine, this is enough.
eom.FIA press release
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The cars are safer than they have been 30 years ago but there is still room for making them safer: Sebastian Vettel
DRIVERS – Marcus ERICSSON (Sauber), Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing), Carlos SAINZ (Toro Rosso), Felipe MASSA (Williams), Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari), Nic
FIA press conference at the Italian GP on Thursday. An FIA image o ROSBERG (Mercedes)
PRESS CONFERENCE
Nico maybe we could begin with you, congratulations, I understand you became a father. How will it change you and have you decided on a name yet?
Nico ROSBERG: Yeah, for sure it’s been very exciting, very intense of course. Big respect for all the mothers of this world – unbelievable. No, very emotional and super happy. Very excited.
You’ll obviously be losing a little bit of sleep then in the coming weeks but you’ve also been losing a few places off the start line lately, with both the old and the new rules on starts, so it’s now three races in a row, making race day a bit more complicated for you. What thoughts have you and the team had on that and how you are going to address it, as particularly here in Monza it’s a long run to turn one so any loss off the line would be amplified by turn one?
NR: Yeah, it’s true that starts have not been our strength lately, so we’ve been working on it a lot, making progress and then of course the rule change also came in right in the middle of, or off the back of two starts that hadn’t been fantastic. So it’s a work in progress and we need to improve for sure, we know that, and we’re all getting into it.
Thank you. Sebastian, when you started with Ferrari you said you were living the dream and here you are, at Monza, a Ferrari driver, in front of the tifosi. Can you put into words the sense of pride, responsibility, expectation, dare we say even emotion that comes with the job?
Sebastian VETTEL: No! Well, I’m about to find out. Obviously I’ve heard lots of good things. I’ve been here before so obviously [I have seen] the passion for Ferrari, so obviously very much looking forward to becoming part of that. If we do well, which is our target, and we manage to be on the podium on Sunday I’m looking forward to not receiving booing for a long time. So, yeah, plenty of stuff to look forward to. So far we have had a great season. This is our home grand prix as a team and since I didn’t have a home grand prix this year I adopt this one as well and hopefully we can make it a good one.
Now, you made you feelings very clear to the media in Spa about Pirelli and the tyre failure. Having now seen the results of the investigation, what are your considered thoughts on the matter?
SV: Well, first of all I think there was a lot of stuff explained or written that I think was not correct, the way it was expressed. I think it was very clear what I said. I think the most important point is that obviously we have been looking into the issue we had very clearly and Pirelli has been supportive and very open in the discussions, so I think that’s the most important thing and we need to make sure that we learn from that. Other than that we are in Monza now and, as I said, there is plenty of other stuff to look forward to.
Thank you for that. Felipe, coming to you, obviously confirmed for 2016 [at Williams]. On the podium here last year, third for Williams and you’re always popular here with the fans thanks to your years with Ferrari. Given Williams’ chassis and engine characteristics can you dream of maybe moving to a higher step on the podium on Sunday of this weekend?
Felipe MASSA: Yes, for sure. Dreaming is for free. You always dream about the best, about winning the race. Here is one of the best places to be on the podium, to see the whole people, the whole straight [full] of people, especially. Last year that everybody was also happy that I was there on the podium, screaming my name, I think it was so nice, so I’m really looking forward for another one and definitely we dream even to get a better position than third. When you go to the grid you’re thinking about doing the best and thinking about the victory. That’s what I’m doing every race and it’s another one where I will try everything I can to be there.
If we you look at your recent record, you out-qualified Bottas six-five this season, finished ahead of him in the last four races and moved ahead of him in the championship. What’s driven this strong run of form for you?
FM: I think last year I was very competitive as well with my team-mate. We were fighting the whole season I would say. The only thing is that the results of the race are a lot more consistent this year. Last year I had a lot of problems, many races where so many things happened and I couldn’t finish in the position I was supposed to. I think this year the situation is a lot more consistent and I managed to score points and finish more or less where I was supposed to in most of the races. I think that’s really good, but we have many races to go and you always want more.
OK, thank you for that. Daniel, coming to you, you obviously come from an Italian family that emigrated to Australia. When you come here how Italian do you feel and how have the Italians welcomed you in the last few days during all the various promotional activities you’ve been doing?
Daniel RICCIARDO: I start talking with my hands a bit more! It’s automatic: you arrive in Italy and you start using your hands. What was the question?
Apart from how Italian you feel, how have the Italians welcomed you in the past few days in the various different things you’ve been up to?
DR: It’s always a warm welcome here, for sure. The fans are… I’ve always said it, they’re passionate; they’re full on but they’re great. They love the sport, they love getting close and having their moment and stuff. It’s pretty cool walking into the paddock. It creates a bit of a road block but… I think it’s the craziest paddock entrance we go to all year in terms of the fans spreading their love, but it’s nice. I remember the warm-up lap here last year, I think I crossed the second Lesmo and there was a flare blowing across the track… it’s unique, so it’s cool.
Red Bull has yet to lead a lap in 2015 and you’ve spent a fair chunk of the races somewhere between P5 and P7. Tell us about how you’ve set targets for the remainder of the season and also about the decision on power units for you and your team-mate this weekend?
DR: Looking now towards the last part of the season, the last couple of races have been our strongest, as of late, Budapest and Spa have gone well for us. I think in terms of understanding the car we’re much more on top of it now than we were earlier in the season. I think the chassis is back to a really strong level. Monza’s not obviously a circuit that suits us particularly. We’ve got the penalties as well, so you know that’s obviously a strategic things as well – take the penalty here rather than in Singapore where we expect to be very competitive. Then, yeah, have some fun here on Sunday, come through the field as far forward as we can and then Singapore, we can really fight for a podium there.
Coming to you Marcus, 25th birthday celebrated yesterday, happy birthday. Scored points in the last two races consecutively and beaten your team-mate in the last four, do you feel it’s all starting to come together?
Marcus ERICSSON: Yeah, I think my form, like you say, has been strong now lately and it’s nice to see. I’ve been working a lot with myself, trying to change my approach during a race weekend, focusing more on myself and not other people, what they are doing. It’s nice to see that it’s giving results on the track. I just need to continue that form, not relax but continue to work really hard to continue that way.
New start regulations in Spa; it wasn’t the smoothest start for you. What happened there and what do you generally think of the new rules?
ME: I think I did quite a good start. I gained a position, so for me it was pretty good. For me, it doesn’t make a big difference. It’s a bit more feeling for us drivers than there has been before. It’s very similar to how it was in GP2 and I was always a strong starter in GP2, so for me it’s not a problem.
Thank you. Coming to you Carlos, another birthday celebrated, 21 years old now. If we look at your performances, you’ve reached Q3 six times and out-qualified Verstappen 7-4, yet the results show four consecutive retirements from the races and a best result of eighth. Are you getting concerned that the performances are being overshadowed by the results and the retirements?
Carlos SAINZ: No, not really. It’s not my main concern at the moment, because at the end, what is under my control everything is going so far quite well. The retirements are obviously totally out of my control, but four consecutive ones is a tiny bit too much. But I’m confident that this well end soon and I’m confident that it will start playing a bit to my side now and we can have a smooth second half of the season and start finishing races and going back to where we were at the beginning of the year in terms of points and position.
We mentioned that you’ve out-qualified Verstappen to this point, have you been surprised by the speed you’ve been able to find in qualifying?
CS: Well, you never know what to expect when you come to Formula One. I just know that last year in World Series I made a very big step forward with myself in qualifying and in the race and I just brought it to Formula One this year. You never know how you are going to be, you never know how you’re speed is going to be in Formula One. What I am quite sure is that Saturdays this year have gone very well for me and I am performing at a very decent level. I just need to make sure now on Sundays I perform at the same level and we finish races and I’m sure we’ll be in a good position.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Agris Lauznieks – Kapitals Lativia) This is last race in Europe this season. What are your thoughts about the opportunity to add extra races in Europe, especially northern Europe – to do Riga Grand Prix in Latvia. How would you feel about it?
NR: I’ve heard great things about Riga, I’ve got a good friend from there also so that would be fantastic but I don’t know. Races in Europe are great, wherever they are to be honest, so it’s always good to have more of those.
Sebastian, anything to add?
SV: Not many things I know about Latvia. But yeah, would be, I think, a nice place to go to. I think in general it’s a bit of a shame that we don’t have a grand prix in northern Europe, also Scandinavia because people are quite passionate and crazy about racing. I’ve been to Rally Finland some years ago and I was wondering why we don’t have a Formula One grand prix but I guess that, especially next year, we have quite a lot on the calendar so it looks sort-of busy now – but maybe in the future.
Marcus, maybe you can tell us why we don’t…
ME: I think we should have a snow race in Sweden – that would be something! I don’t know. Like Sebastian was saying, we have a lot of passionate fans in all of Scandinavia and northern Europe so it would be very nice to have a race somewhere in these countries, for sure.
Q: (Vladimir Rogovets – Sb Belarus) My question is to Felipe Massa. Today here you are between the very young drivers and in the race you are very quick and very competitive. My question, where is your personal secret to be very young and very quick?
FM: I still feel young, honestly. Definitely when you here with 21 years old, 17… it’s really young, definitely. I think you just need to… I always do my best. I feel quick, I feel competitive and definitely the experience helps in so many areas. I’m happy for what I’ve learned with these days and, definitely also when I see you are competing with young drivers and you show good speed in the qualifying, in the race good performance is always nice – nice feeling, so we always compete for the best result you can. That is what gives you pleasure. I can say I have many pleasures in racing and by the result I finish in races – sometimes not, something yes, this is part of our feeling. I still feel good motivation and I’m not finishing the race tired or whatever, so I think that’s what counts at the end.
Q: (Andrea Cremonesi, La Gazzetta dello Sport) Question for Nico Rosberg. Nico, before you talked about the birth of your daughter. I would like to know if you can compare the happiness of that to some other things in our job, like victory and nervousness. If you can compared nervousness in that moment? And a technical question about the gap with Lewis. The gap has increased a lot in the last two races, do you think this is one of the last chances to recover? To change the direction of the championship?
NR: Emotions extremely intense, more intense than any racing success or anything like that. And also, yeah, because there’s factors… love and health and all these things playing a part. That’s definitely more than a race victory. Then the gap to Lewis, yeah, points of course it’s gone in the wrong direction but it’s just over one race difference so I’m very optimistic and pushing and definitely want to try and close that back down now.
Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC) To Sebastian, Felipe, Daniel and Nico. Are you satisfied with Pirelli’s explanation for the tyre failures in Belgium – especially as a couple of you described them as unacceptable over that weekend? And to Sebastian personally and additionally, have you raised your concerns, as expressed after Spa, with Bernie, who’s deciding the new tyre supplier?
SV: I think in all honestly I had a bit more insight because I was obviously one of the two cars that had a failure during the weekend in Belgium – a bit more insight on what was going on after the race in terms of the analysis and so on, than probably Felipe and Daniel. I’m not sure about Nico. But yeah, from what I mentioned also before, it has been very professional, the way it was handled. It was taken very seriously. And obviously our target is to improve the situation. I think it’s natural that you always try to improve your product. I think if you look at the cars, if you talk about the cars today, the cars are quick and so on, and the cars are safe. They’re surely safer than they have been 30 years ago but there is still room for making them safer: we still have accidents and so on and still some things can happen. It’s a one-way street: you want to make progress and keep making progress. So I think that’s more important than any sort of press release, the feeling that I got when I spoke to the engineers and spoke to Pirelli.
Nico?
NR: It’s being handled with extreme precision and a lot of energy is going into it, which I’m happy to see, of course. It requires that also. I’m confident that we’ll be here and driving safely.
Felipe, what were your reflections on Spa?
FM: I think maybe they know better than me. They were there, they were inside. All these problems the two cars had in Spa with the tyres. For me it’s a little bit more difficult to explain. We want to be safe. What we want is to not have this problem happen – or maybe to understand 100 per cent why it happens and change whatever needs to be changed to give us the most safe tyres and the most safe opportunities to race and to risk ourselves in a safe way – which is what we want. Don’t know what they changed from there to here, but for sure if they change somethings from Spa to Monza, maybe with the tyre pressure and everything. So we need to understand if really they understand what’s happened or not – which is the most important thing. We always want the most safe car or tyres to race.
Daniel?
DR: That’s right. It’s all been covered.
Q: (David Croft – Sky Sports) With all due respect, Daniel, I don’t think it has all been covered. I’m still at a loss, guys; are you satisfied with Pirelli’s explanation? They say as well, in the press release, there were 63 cuts to tyres over the course of the weekend. We know two of them, for Sebastian and Nico, did any of you other guys experience cuts on your tyres? Did your teammates experience cuts? Is this statement right? Were there that many cuts? Was the track that dirty because of all the debris?
DR: There was blistering. I don’t really know the difference in a way, the details: what’s a blister, what’s a cut? Yeah, we experienced some blistering. Certainly not the first time we’ve had it in Spa. It’s pretty common around there. Yeah, so we did see some activity, I guess but there again, not the first time. It’s probably hard to be as attached to it as Nico or Seb. Obviously I wasn’t in the car but I still saw it and I feel their concerns or their disappointment with the situation. I think what Pirelli’s put out has been as much as they can for now. That’s all they can say really is that we’re working on it. Obviously they’ve given us some answers so, yeah, that’s just where it is for now. It’s hard to predict what will happen now in the future.
Q: Carlos, any cuts in your team?
CS: No, not really. I think they’ve given us an explanation, the reasons. I hope they’ve done their job properly. I’m convinced they have because they are the first ones that don’t want to put us drivers at risk so they are giving us those explanations and I’m convinced that at least it will not happen again and we can race safely here in Monza. And if it does happen again, then maybe we need some more investigation.
Q: Marcus, did you have any cuts in the Sauber team?
ME: Yes, we had some issues with some cuts on some tyres but I think they came from debris on the track. That was the explanation that we got. I didn’t experience anything else, not any problems with my driving.
Q: Felipe, Daniel just said it’s quite a common problem at Spa. Could you explain to us why Spa, why it’s particularly common that you pick up debris there?
FM: No, I don’t believe it should be common. Debris we have every race. Some races we have more debris than others. For sure, the tyres should be strong enough to accept the debris or what we have beside the track. I don’t think it’s common. We had cuts as well during the weekend.
Q: (Kate Walker – motorsport.com) More about the tyres, I’m afraid. We know that you guys all have Pirelli engineers embedded in your garage, giving you advice on cambers and pressures and whatever else. To what extent, in each of your teams, is that advice listened to? Do they have real input in the strategy? How can things go wrong when you’re supposed to have an expert with you, telling you what to do safely?
NR: Well, sometimes there are strict things that you must follow and other times there are just suggestions on everything. I’m not sure… we handled everything accordingly in Spa and made modifications also throughout the weekend to make sure we were running the tyres as safely as possible, according to guidelines given by Pirelli. I don’t know about them, what their situation was. I can just say that we did manage things, yeah.
SV: I think it’s fairly simple. There’s a lot of things that you have to stick to because it’s part of the rules. Also the FIA is checking so you can decide not to listen but then obviously you risk to be disqualified, so I don’t think there’s any team taking that risk. And then there’s other things that you talk about and use the expertise of the Pirelli engineer inside your garage and I think it would be stupid not to listen to him, for all of us, for all the teams, because obviously they have knowledge that we can’t get about their tyres etc, so of course we take it very very seriously.
FM: Yeah, I think the same, not really more to add.
ME: Same, same stuff, yeah.
Q: (Daniel Johnson – The Telegraph) Seb, sorry to labour the point slightly. After the race in Spa, among many other things you said was that the current situation was unacceptable. If I can put it this way, is the situation now acceptable to you and any of the drivers who want to chip in?
SV: Well, I think it is not acceptable to have a blow-out at that sort of speed, out of the blue and I think that’s what I said also after the race, so there’s nothing really to add. But, as I said before, I think the investigations that have been going on, the stuff that obviously has been analysed and talked about, explains some of it, maybe not all of it yet but it’s still ongoing and obviously, as I said, the most important thing is that we make sure that we make progress. At the moment, from Pirelli’s side, it looks very very professional, they handle it with extreme care, and I think things are going the right way.
Q: (Daniel Johnson – The Telegraph) So has enough changed from Spa to here? Is the situation more acceptable?
SV: Well, I think there are some short term changes, as I learned, if we talk about tyre pressures, for example. We obviously see how it feels but if that’s a short term reaction within those couple of days or weeks that we’ve had, that’s one thing. Then obviously long term I think we need to understand properly what happened. I think it’s very clear that everybody is trying to do their best. I think we had a situation a couple of years ago which wasn’t acceptable and there was immediate change and we didn’t have problems afterwards so you can see that the professional approach does work and usually leads to the right result.
Q: (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas) Felipe, I would like to know if something has changed in the team after the mistake they made with Bottas’s car when they put on the wrong compound, please?
FM: Well, it should, definitely. We always work for trying to do everything in the correct way, in the best way we can. Sometimes mistakes can happen in our working but for sure mistakes happen which we cannot repeat, so definitely we are always trying to improve things when we see they are not working in the way we want, so we want to be perfect, we want to do everything correctly. This is part of the working we are doing from race to race, the changes we are doing from race to race and whichever mistakes or things that can happen we are always working not to repeat and that’s what we’re doing as a team.
Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Daniel, you’ve mentioned that you are starting to understand the car better, and it was obviously in Spa, the efficiency is there, you were very quick in the second sector in spite of running a very skinny rear wing but the top speed was not there. Do you think that Red Bull again has one of the best cars on the grid and again, is it obvious that now the engine is the biggest hindrance for you?
DR: I think we’re now back at a level we were at last year. We knew the chassis was strong, we felt most of our deficit was the power and then yeah, I think earlier this season it looked like we obviously had issues on both sides, the chassis… obviously I had experience from last year and I didn’t feel like it was where it was last year so I thought we had similar deficiencies on both sides but yeah, we’ve had quite a few updates since. All year we have updates but I’d say since Silverstone it’s really come on strong and we seem to be in the window a lot easier now with getting the car there so I’m definitely a lot happier with where the chassis is now. I feel it’s like we were last year and then yeah, the power we know, we’re trying to make up what we can but we know we started too far back and it’s… I don’t like the word impossible but it nearly is impossible to make all that gap back in one season so I think that’s what it is for now. We’re always going to be somewhat down for the rest of the season, that’s why we look at Singapore and some of these circuits which are obviously a lot less power-dependent, a lot more chassis and we look at those as potential podiums for us.
Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS.NL) Sebastian, can you take us back to a couple of years ago, your first victory here and also explain why it is harder this year to win here for Ferrari than back then for Toro Rosso?
SV: I don’t know yet. I don’t know if it’s harder yet. Obviously it was a miracle that was happening in 2008 so only positive memories of the whole weekend really. But yeah, some years later, obviously another highlight and I’m looking forward to it and obviously can’t promise anything but for sure I can promise that we will give our maximum, trying to have a very very successful home race. I think that I know a lot more than I knew in 2008 so in this regard it should be easier but obviously it’s never easier. If you look on paper, it looks like a simple track with low downforce but still it’s also very technical so for us drivers it feels that the car is moving a lot, it feels very light under braking so it’s still a big challenge around here. You need to get the braking points right etc so it’s not that straightforward and obviously I’m sure that people expect a lot from us, but I think the one thing that we can promise now is that we will give everything we have.
eom/FIA press release
