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Author: David Bodapati
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Vettel wins Hungarian GP; Hamilton finishes 7th, Rosberg 8th
Sebastian Vettel claimed his second win of the season in an incident-packed Hungarian Grand Prix that saw championship leader Lewis Hamilton finish seventh and title rival Nico Rosberg finish eight after both tangled with rivals during the race.
After crossing the line to claim his 41st career win Vettel dedicated the victory to Jules Bianchi saying that the French driver would have one day been part of the Ferrari squad.
It was a rewarding afternoon for Red Bull Racing, with Daniil Kvyat taking second place and Daniel Ricciardo claiming third. The Australian might have finished ahead of Kvyat but a late collision with Rosberg saw the pair places. Kvyat too dedicated his race to Bianchi and his family.
After an aborted start and an extra formation lap due to Felipe Massa being out of position on the grid, the lights finally went out and for the second race in a row pole position man Hamilton made a poor getaway.
The slow start was immediately seized upon by the fast-starting Ferraris and Vettel went around Hamilton through Turn One to take the lead, while Rosberg snuck past his team-mate. Rosberg was soon dropped to third, however, as Räikkönen hustled past the German in Turn 3.
Hamilton’s woes were compounded when, in hot pursuit of Rosberg, he went off at the chicane, clattering through the gravel before re-joining in tenth place.
Behind the front four Daniel Ricciardo also made a poor start from fourth place on the dirty side of the grid and was passed by Williams’ Valtteri Bottas. Ricciardo dropped to seventh. The second Red Bull of Daniil Kvyat went from seventh on the grid to fifth but he was quickly passed by Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg and then, with the Russian appearing to struggle in the early stages, the pit wall asked him to let team-mate Ricciardo past, which he did.
Once clear of Kvyat the Australian began to push hard. On lap 10 he made his way past Hulkenberg at Turn One and then three laps later he muscled his way past Bottas to claim fourth place.
Williams took the pass as the signal to bring Bottas in for a change of tyres and the Finn’s visit to pit lane triggered the first round of stops. As the major of the field took on fresh rubber Hamilton vaulted up the order, rising to fifth by lap 17. The Briton was setting fastest race laps and running up to four tenths of a second quicker than leader Vettel but the Mercedes man was still 30 seconds adrift of the lead.
Hamilton made his first visit to the pit lane on lap 19, taking on more soft tyres in a four-second stop. He was followed a lap later by team-mate Rosberg who made a rapid 2.8-second stop for medium tyres. Leader Vettel responded on laps 21 and took on soft tyres on a 3.2s stop, while third on the road Ricciardo followed on the same lap but, like Rosberg, he opted for the medium tyre for his second stint. Vettel then resumed the lead when Räikkönen took on more soft tyres.
With only medium-tyre starter Pastor Maldonado and Manor’s Will Stevens left to pit, the order on lap 24 was Vettel with six seconds in hand over second-placed Räikkönen and the Finn a further six seconds ahead of Rosberg. Ricciardo was fourth, 16s off the lead, but with the medium tyre on board he was struggling to resist attacks from Hamilton who was on the soft tyre. Hamilton was now 31.5s behind Vettel.
Bottas was now sixth ahead of Hulkenberg, with the medium-shod Kvyat eighth ahead of Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso who had climbed from 15th on the grid to sit in a points-scoring position. Maldonado, meanwhile, had received a drive through penalty for colliding with Sergio Perez and was now languishing in 18thposition.
At the front, Ricciardo lost the battle against Hamilton on lap 29, with the champion, aided by quicker tyres, a more powerful engine and DRS, sweeping past the Red Bull driver on the run to Turn One.
After passing Ricciardo the middle stint saw Hamilton, on softs, begin to reel in the medium-tyre shod Rosberg and by lap 40 he was just six seconds behind his team-mate. Ricciardo also on the slower medium tyres began to drop back from Hamilton and was now nine seconds adrift of the Mercedes. Vettel and Räikkönen, meanwhile, were on a second soft-tyre stint and would need to complete the race on the slower medium tyre. Vettel’s lead over his team-mate was now 10 seconds and he was a further six clear of Rosberg.
Ferrari’s hopes of a first one-two finish in five years (since the German GP of 2010) began to look shaky on lap 41 as Räikkönen’s times began to drop and he reported a loss if power, attributed to an MGU-K problem.
The picture became even more bleak later in the lap when Nico Hulkenberg’s front wing collapsed on the main straight and the Force India driver straight-lined Turn One and went into the barriers.
That triggered a Virtual Safety car and a flurry of pit stops saw the leaders pit for their final set of tyres, during which Rosberg opted to stay on mediums rather than the softs his team had earlier advised. Under the VSC the gaps were maintained, but with debris from Hulkenberg’s wing strewn across the track the VSC was rapidly replaced by the real thing, which led the field through the pit lane due to the debris on the track, and Vettel’s comfortable lead was almost erased.
The Safety Car left the track at the end of lap 48 and while Vettel powered away to hold his lead and Raikkonen vainly battled to defend from Rosberg, who made it through to second, Ricciardo, on the soft tyre, mounted an attack on Hamilton on the slower medium. He went around the outside of the Mercedes through the opening corners but the pair tangled with the left side of Hamilton’s front wing being shredded on the right sight of Ricciardo’s Red Bull.
The Australian came out of the collision in better shape and set off after Räikkönen. Hamilton though fell back to sixth and he was later penalised with a driver through penalty for causing the collision.
Hamilton was passed by Kvyat and Bottas but in getting past the Mercedes, Bottas was tagged by the Toro Rosso of Max Verstappen and the Finn sustained a puncture.
Räikkönen, meanwhile, was struggling badly and Ferrari’s hopes were finally dashed when he was brought to the pits where mechanics appeared to reset the car. He dropped back to 16th and eventually retired on lap 56.
Vettel now led, with just 1.3s in hand over Rosberg, who was being harried by the hard-charging Ricciardo who was on the quicker soft tyre. Kvyat was fourth in the second Red Bull ahead of Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen but the major surprise, on lap, 59 was that Alonso had kept his nose clean and his McLaren in good shape to hold sixth position with a little over 10 laps to go. Romain Grosjean was seventh for Lotus, while Jenson Button was eighth in the second McLaren. Carlos Sainz was ninth in the second Toro Rosso and Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson occupied the final points position. Hamilton, who had taken his penalty, was down in 12th.
The order looked set but at the start of lap 64, Ricciardo made a bold attempt to pass Rosberg into Turn One. He braked very late and ran wide and then as Rosberg passed him again Ricciardo collided with Rosberg, with the Australian’s front wing being destroyed and Rosberg sustaining a puncture.
That vaulted Kvyat to second. The Russian had been handed a time penalty for exceeding the track limits but when Ricciardo re-joined after pitting for a new nose Kvyat still had enough of a gap to hold the place.
Rosberg, meanwhile, was forced to limp all the way around the track before taking on new tyres and when he re-joined he found himself in ninth place.
Vettel, though, sailed on serenely, and when the flag came out he crossed the line with five seconds in hand over Kvyat. Ricciardo took third, while Verstappen claimed his best ever F1 result with fourth place. Alonso claimed McLaren’s best result of the season with fifth, while Hamilton claimed seventh. Rosberg passed Button for eighth in the closing laps and Ericsson took the final point on offer.
eom/
Sebastian Vettel poses with the trophy along with a Ferrari engineer after winning the Hungarian GP on Sunday. A Shell Motorsport image FIA release
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After maiden pole, Jehan claims podium in Race 1, slips to fourth in second: Formula Renault 2.0 Alps
Sahara Force India Academy’s Jehan Daruvala once again proved his credentials as he continues a fantastic run in his debut season of Formula Car Racing. Racing in only his second event as a guest driver, at the Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS series, the 16 year old Indian ensured the fraternity took notice of his talent. Jehan quickest in practice, went on to earn his first pole position of his formula car career at the Misano Adriatico circuit, named after Marco Simoncelli. He also went on to earn his 2nd podium, followed by another pole.
In Free Practice 1 Jehan was 4th, but went better in Free Practice 2 to emerge as the quickest. The qualifying session for race 1 started & Jehan waited in the pits initially. He got onto track with just 9 minutes left on the clock, setting a laptime good enough for 3rd on the list. Jehan then put in a scorcher of a lap to bag pole with a time of 1:33.045. He was just 3 thousandths of a second ahead of former championship leader – Jack Aitken. Current championship leader Jake Hughes was 3rd on the list.
“I have tested only once at this circuit, but I really like this track. It feels fantastic to take pole position here. I hope I can convert this into a good result for the race” said Sahara Force India Academy racer, after earning his first ever pole in Formula Cars.
The races were a different story altogether. Jehan’s inexperience amongst the seasoned & highly competitive grid showed up as he made a cautious start to fall down to third. By the end of lap 1, Jehan had further fallen to fourth. After settling into a good rhythm, Jehan mounted an attack on the 3rd placed Romanov, of Russia. He soon passed him & sealed the final podium position behind British race winner Jack Aitken & Russian Matevos Isaakyan.
Qualifying for race 2 once again saw Jehan extracting the best out of his car. The Sahara Force India Academy racer took his 2nd pole position with a laptime of 1:32.375. His margin much bigger this time as Hughes in 2nd was 0.178 seconds behind while Isaakyan was in the 3rd.
Unfortunately once again, Jehan was not able to capitalize on his pole once again. After the lights went out, the teenager from Mumbai fell to third. A brief safety car period followed & Jehan remained in 3rd. On lap 7 a small mistake by Jehan saw him fall to 4th. He was not able to gain positions this time & the race was eventually won by Jake Hughes.
Jehan later reflected on his weekend saying, “I am really happy with my pace this weekend & a big thank you to the team for a fantastic car. It has been tough racing against the very best racers at the top. I still have a lot to learn & also need to improve my race starts. I am positive about how things are working out & would like to thank Sahara Force India Academy & my family as well”
Jehan’s next event will be at the famous Spa Francorchamps circuit, in Belgium as part of the Formula Renault 2.0 NEC series.
*END*
Jehan Daruvala on the podium on Sunday. A SFI Adademy image -
Motorsport.com Announces Entry Into India Market with a New Digital Platform
Miami, 14 July 2015: Motorsport.com the premier source worldwide for online motorsports content, today announced its entry into India launching a new website, Motorsport.com – INDIA, maximizing its coverage of worldwide motorsports news content in the region. Motorsport.com’s operations in India will include editorial, marketing, and business development with an office in Mumbai.
The entry into India supports the Company’s strategic business decision and global growth strategy campaign aimed at winning new markets in providing more targeted motorsports coverage of major racing series, including Formula 1, World Endurance Championship, MotoGP, World Rally Championship, and FIA Formula E.
Darshan Chokhani appointed Director of Motorsport.com Photo: PRnewswire “India is a very important piece to our business portfolio which will significantly expand our presence in this thriving and growing marketplace,” said Scott Sebastian, vice president of marketing and public relations, Motorsport.com. “The expansion targets India’s nearly 1.2 billion1residents and allows Motorsport.com to expand its audience and drive the company’s involvement while supporting one of the fastest growing regions in the world.”
Through its technically advanced digital distribution platform, Motorsport.com will provide worldwide, multimedia motorsports coverage into 14 countries and 10 native languages in 2015.
“The region’s digital and global strength will allow us to leverage and accelerate our international growth by supporting its more than 2702 million Internet users and millions of motorsports fans through our use of technology and rich content,” Sebastian added.
Darshan Chokhani Appointed Editor in Chief of Motorsport.com – INDIA
Motorsport.com today announced the appointment of Darshan Chokhani as Editor in Chief of Motorsport.com – INDIA. Chokhani will lead the direction of all regional content for and report directly to Motorsport.com Editor in Chief, Charles Bradley. Chokhani’s appointment is effective immediately.
“From India’s first Formula One driver Narain Karthikeyan to current FIA Formula E championship team Mahindra Racing, India’s thirst for motorsports deserves the commitment of global race coverage,” said Charles Bradley, editor in chief, Motorsport.com. “The addition of Darshan to our talented editorial team further positions our brands ability to provide a digital platform and content that the region richly deserves.”
“I am thrilled to be part of such a prestigious team at Motorsport.com,” Chokhani said. “It is an exciting prospect and I am privileged to be able to keep Indian readers updated with all the news and analysis of Indian as well as World motorsport. The expansion of Motorsport.com to India will certainly help the Indian fans be updated with a dedicated motorsport site.”
Chokhani received a post-graduate degree in Sports Management from the Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management (IISWBM) in Kolkata, India.
About Motorsport.com
Formed in 1994, Motorsport.com is a technologically advanced international network of online motorsports content featuring world-class digital distribution, video and interactive multimedia worldwide with news bureaus in 14 countries in 10 different languages, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. -
Hamilton takes fifth victory of the season; Rosberg second
Lewis Hamilton took a third career British Grand Prix win and his fifth victory of the 2015 season in an incident-packed race at Silverstone, despite an early upset which saw the Briton passed by both Williams cars.
Hamilton made a bad getaway at the start and was passed by Felipe Massa into turn one and then, following a short safety car period following a lap one crash at the back of the field, the Briton was passed by Valtteri Bottas on the restart.
The championship leader made amends later on, however, bypassing both Williams in the first pit stop window. Having taken the lead, he then didn’t look back and powered to the 38th win of his career despite the onset of rain in the second half of the race.
Rosberg also got away badly at the start and was passed by the Williams cars. His route to the podium was tricker than Hamilton’s and he spent the bulk of the race chasing down Bottas and Massa. He eventually made his way past the duo in the damp second half of the race to complete Mercedes’ sixth one-two finish of the season.
Sebastian Vettel finished third, profiting in the unpredictable wet conditions late in the race to vault past the Williams cars and claim his sixth podium finish of the year.
On the way to the grid Felipe Nasr’s Sauber developed a problem, with the Brazilian pulling over at Stowe corner. Nasr eventually made it back to the Sauber garage but despite efforts to get the problem remedied, Nasr was unable to take the start.
Forming up for the start Hamilton radioed his team to report that there was little grip on the grid and when the lights went out the pole sitter got away badly. So too did Rosberg, and Massa, starting third, seized the opportunity, blasting between the Mercedes to take the lead into turn one. His Williams team-mate Valtteri Bottas also took advantage, bypassing the slower Rosberg. He tried to pass Hamilton but the Briton resisted and managed to hold second.
With Rosberg fourth, Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg powered through to take fifth after starting ninth, with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen sixth. Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat held his seventh-place starting position but the second Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel had dropped to eighth ahead of Force India’s Sergio Perez and Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz.
At the back there was drama as both Lotus cars and both McLarens collided, bringing out the safety car. Alonso was the only car in the melee to make it through, though he had to pit for a new front wing and new hard tyres.
When the action resumed, Hamilton pushed hard to get past Massa but the Brazilian held his line well and the Mercedes driver was forced wide and off track.
The loss of momentum allowed Bottas to power past the Briton and with four laps gone, it was a Williams one-two ahead of the Mercedes of Hamilton and Rosberg, with Hulkenberg fifth ahead of Raikkonen and Kvyat. Vettel, though, was passed again, this time by Perez. Further back Max Verstappen went off and was forced out of the race.
By lap eight Massa was coming under pressure from team-mate Bottas, though the Finn could not find a way past. The battle between the two allowed Hamilton and Rosberg to close. Hamilton was just 0.7s behind Bottas, with Rosberg a further seconds back.
The battle between the Williams was becoming tense as Bottas radioed through to say he had more pace than Massa. The team initially told the Finn to hold station but then with the Mercedes gaining ground Bottas was told that he could race his team-mate but to make a clean pass if the opportunity presented itself.
Elsewhere, Daniel Ricciardo was the first make a regulation pit stop, visiting the pit lane from P11 to switch from starting medium tyres to the primer hard compound. He was followed by 10th-placed Sainz who also took the hard tyre.
Raikkonen then pitted for the hard tyre from sixth and was quickly followed by team-mate Vettel on lap 15. The duo rejoined in ninth and tenth, with Raikkonen ahead, and the pair began setting fastest laps on their new tyres. Kvyat then visited the pit lane from sixth position on lap 19, with the Russian also taking on the prime Pirelli compound.
On lap 20 it was Hamilton’s turn to pit from third place. The Briton was stationary for just 2.4s as he took on hard tyres. He emerged in fourth place, just ahead of Perez who had yet to make a stop.
Williams responded immediately, bringing Massa in on lap 20, with Rosberg also called in directly behind the Brazilian. Massa’s stop was marginally slower and the pair went towards the pit exit side by side. Massa eventually made out ahead of Rosberg, but Hamilton had done enough on his out lap to pass Massa.
Bottas then pitted on the next lap and after a 3.2s stop he couldn’t hold the lead and Hamilton surged through to lead the race. Bottas came out behind Massa and immediately came under pressure from Rosberg. The Finn defended hard, however, and managed to hold third.
Rosberg was now facing the prospect of dropping significant points to his team-mate and title rival. His engineer immediately came on the radio and told the German that he was being switched to a different strategy and “to push hard now”. Further back, Daniel Ricciardo retired from the race on lap 23.
The order, at the start of lap 25 saw Hamilton leading Massa by almost three seconds, with Bottas third, less than a second clear of Rosberg. Raikkonen was now fifth ahead of Vettel, with Kvyat seventh in front of Hulkenberg, Ericsson and Sainz.
At the front, on lap 32, Hamilton led Massa by 6.0s with Bottas 7.5s off the leader. Rosberg, meanwhile was some eight seconds off his team-mate.
At the end of lap 33 Sainz ground to a halt just off track at the final corner and the field was put under the virtual safety car.
The restriction ended on lap 35 and Hamilton held his lead comfortably, but around the track umbrellas were going up and drizzle began to fall.
On the following lap Bottas radioed through to say the rain was becoming steadier and that he wanted pit for intermediate tyres but he stayed out, though he began to drop back from Massa and into the clutches of Rosberg.
The rain was seemingly only affecting one side of the track, however, and Bottas was urged to stay out. At the start of lap 38 Bottas struggled at the end of the lap and his car fishtailed across the finish line, while behind him Rosberg lost grip and went well wide.
Raikkonen, who was sixth, was the first of the front runners to pit for inters, on lap 39, though those ahead stayed out. Bottas again lost grip moments later and Rosberg was through to claim third. The German was soon on the tail of Massa and on lap 41 he dived past the Williams driver to take second place.
The rain began to fall again on lap 44 and Hamilton made the brave decision to take on inters. Rosberg stayed out, however, and briefly took the lead. He, too, decided the conditions were becoming untenable on slick tyres and he pitted for intermediate tyres on lap 45 as the rain intensified. The German rejoined in second behind Hamilton.
Vettel, though, had pitted for intermediates on the same lap as Hamilton and the choice vaulted the Ferrari man to third as the Williams cars were forced to run another slow lap on slicks in worsening weather.
The order, with six laps to go, was Hamilton leading Rosberg by nine seconds. Vettel was 24s off the lead with Massa five seconds further back. Bottas was now fifth ahead of Kvyat and Hulkenberg. Raikkonen’s switch to inters in the first fall of rain and the slow laps he had to do as the track briefly dried had cost him badly and the Finn was now down in P8 ahead of Perez and McLaren’s Fernando Alonso who was on course for his first point of the season.
And that was how the order stayed, with Hamilton crossing the line at the end of lap 52 to join fellow Britons Nigel Mansell and Jim Clark as a three-time British Grand Prix winner. Hamilton also broke Jackie Stewart’s 45-year-old record by leading an 18th grand prix in a row.
The win stretches his Drivers’ Championship lead to 17 points over second-place Rosberg, while Vettel cemented himself into third with his sixth podium finish of the season, finishing ahead of the twin Williams cars. Kvyat was sixth ahead of Hulkenberg while Raikkonen held eighth ahead of Perez while Alonso crossed the line in 10th to take McLaren’s second points finish of the season.
2015 British Grand Prix – Race
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:31:27.729 52
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes +10.956 52
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari +25.443 52
4 Felipe Massa Williams +36.839 52
5 Valtteri Bottas Williams +1:03.194 52
6 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull Racing +1:03.955 52
7 Nico Hulkenberg Force India +1:18.744 52
8 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari +Lap 51
9 Sergio Perez Force India +Lap 51
10 Fernando Alonso McLaren +Lap 51
11 Marcus Ericsson Sauber +Lap 51
12 Roberto Merhi Marussia +3 Laps 49
13 Will Stevens Marussia +3 Laps 49
14 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso DNF 31
15 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing DNF 21
16 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso DNF 3
17 Pastor Maldonado Lotus DNF 1
18 Jenson Button McLaren DNF 0
20 Felipe Nasr Sauber DNS 0
21 Romain Grosjean Lotus DNF 0eom/FIA release
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Hamilton delights home crowd by snatching British pole from teammate Rosberg; Massa takes P3
Lewis Hamilton delighted the home crowd by snatching pole position from team mate Nico Rosberg at
Hamilton takes pole at Silverstone on Saturday. A Mercedes AMG Petronas image Silverstone on Saturday, as Mercedes dominated qualifying for the 2015 Formula 1 British Grand Prix. Just a tenth of a second separated the duo, with the Williams of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas locking out the second row.
The Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel will fill the third row of the grid, ahead of Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat and Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz. Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg and the second Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo completed the top ten.
Raikkonen narrowly led the way from Rosberg in Q1, although that owed something to Ferrari electing to switch onto the medium tyre. As they made the change, both Mercedes, both Red Bulls and the Williams of Valtteri Bottas were the only five able to progress whilst only using the hard-compound tyre.
At the other end of the field, Sauber’s Felipe Nasr, both McLarens and both Marussias were eliminated. Nasr was just 0.011s slower than Pastor Maldonado’s Lotus on 1m 34.888s. Fernando Alonso, who had a false ERS leak scare just before the start, managed 1m 34.959s to Jenson Button’s 1m 35.207s, as Will Stevens recorded 1m 37.364s and Roberto Merhi 1m 39.577s.
Good to their word, the stewards were tough on drivers exceeding track limits at Copse. Vettel, Hulkenberg, Maldonado, Kvyat, Merhi and Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen all had times deleted – and drivers would continue to fall foul of track limits over the next two sessions.
Rosberg dominated Q2, when everyone ran the mediums, with a lap of 1m 32.737s. Bottas got close for Williams with 1m 33.020s, while a big oversteer moment at Luffield kept Hamilton in third on 1m 33.068s.
Ferrari were lucky to get Raikkonen through in ninth after an earlier time was disallowed for a track limits infringement, but Lotus failed as Maldonado again had a time deleted when he ran wide at Copse. On a legal time he was only 14th, on 1m 34.511s. Sergio Perez was the first of those eliminated in 11th on 1m 34.268s – having also had a faster time disallowed – and was joined by the oversteering Lotus of Romain Grosjean on 1m 34.430s, and a bitterly disappointed Verstappen, who managed only 1m 34.502s. The Dutchman complained vociferously about the handling of his Toro Rosso, saying it was different in ‘every corner’ compared to his promising runs in practice. Marcus Ericsson also exited in 15th after setting 1m 34.868s in his Sauber.
So who would take pole? Could Rosberg continue his dominance – or would Hamilton get it together?
The first runs ended in favour of the home favourite, as he clocked 1m 32.248s to Rosberg’s 1m 32.361s. Bottas was third, ahead of Massa, Raikkonen and Vettel.
A final run-showdown failed to materialise however, as neither of the Mercedes drivers improved on their second runs. Hamilton therefore claimed pole – his third at Silverstone, his fourth in a row, and his eighth from nine races this year.
Massa was one of the few who did improve on their second run, jumping to third with 1m 33.085s – pipping Bottas’s 1m 33.149s by less than one tenth of a second. Raikkonen had a similarly miniscule margin over Vettel, the duo lapping in 1m 33.379s to 1m 33.547s respectively.
Like Massa, Daniel Ricciardo found gains on his second run, but the Red Bull driver’s lap was promptly disallowed for exceeding track limits, leaving him 10th. Team mate Kvyat was seventh on 1m 33.636s, ahead of Sainz on 1m 33.649s, Hulkenberg on 1m 33.673s and Ricciardo, who had to settle for 1m 33.943s.
The grid will therefore provisionally line up: Hamilton, Rosberg; Massa, Bottas; Raikkonen, Vettel; Kvyat, Sainz; Hulkenberg, Ricciardo; Perez, Grosjean; Verstappen, Maldonado; Ericsson, Nasr; Alonso, Button; Stevens, Merhi.
eom/FIA press release
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It is special to get pole position on home turf: Hamilton at Silverstone
DRIVERS
1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
Hamilton poses with Rosberg (right) and Massa (left) after taking pole at Silverstone. A Mercedes AMG Petronas image 2 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)
3 – Felipe MASSA (Williams)
TV UNILATERAL
Lewis, it was the first run in Q3 again for you – absolutely perfect – that nailed it. Pole position for your home grand prix, how are you feeling?
Lewis HAMILTON: It’s a special day. It’s special when you get the pole position here on your home turf. So many people have come today and this weekend and they really do motivate me through the weekend, so it’s particularly special when you do get the pole. Generally, it’s not been the smoothest weekend, it’s been a bit up and down in terms of set-up and balance and getting laps and throughout qualifying, I made a change to the car, going into qualifying, which was perhaps not spectacular for the quali lap but hopefully will be good for the race. But I’m really, really happy and once I got to Q3 I kind of could just go all out and get that lap in. So, yeah, incredibly happy and my brother’s here with me as well, so big thank you to everyone for all the support.
Thank you. Nico, you missed out today; you were saying on the radio there were a few problems there on the final run, you weren’t completely happy with the balance of the car. Was it something to do with the front tyre?
Nico ROSBERG: Well, first of all the first lap was really good, so there’s not much to say about that, Lewis was just one tenth quicker, which is annoying, but that’s the way it is. Other than that, really awesome to see how many people have come today. Out in the grandstands it’s incredible, it’s full house already more or less today. It’s great to see how enthusiastic everybody is in this country about our sport. And then the last run, something strange. Nobody improved on that one or not many at least. Felipe did? There was something wrong with my left front, so I had big understeer. There was something very wrong, don’t know, we need to look into what it was.
OK, thank you for that. Felipe, you’ve done it again, not only ahead of your team-mate but once again ahead of both Ferraris; good day for you.
Felipe MASSA: Yeah, I think it was a fantastic day for us. As they just said, it’s amazing to see how many people are here. It’s also our home grand prix for the team, so I’m sure it was great to see me and Valtteri third and fourth. We were fighting each other through the qualifying, especially in Q3. I just managed to get a fantastic lap at the end and improve a little bit his lap time. So happy and really looking forward tomorrow that we can have a very strong race, especially in this fight with Ferrari, so today was a very important day for us to see that we can be in front of Ferrari with both cars. I hope we can be also tomorrow. It’s really nice and I’m very happy with what we did today and we just need to concentrate for tomorrow now.
Very well done. Coming back to you Lewis, tomorrow the chance to equal Nigel Mansell and Jim Clark as a three-time British Grand Prix winner. Tell us a little more about what the crowd has been doing to motivate you this weekend and also your two previous wins have come from outside the top three so presumably this makes your task a little easier tomorrow?
LH: I think the previous times… well, naturally I’ve been very fortunate to have had those two wins here and the support has been incredible every year. It’s the banners that are out there, it’s the flags, it’s the team caps, it’s the messages that get sent every day through social media. I was replying to some just before qualifying and they just really create the atmosphere and that buzz. When I’m about to start my lap or when I finish my lap, looking out of the corner of your eye and you know those guys are there, they’re right behind you, so I hope that that wave of energy that they give will help to carry us tomorrow.
Q: Lewis, pole a lot this season, clearly qualifying has been much, much stronger in 2015 than it was at this stage in 2014. What do you think has made the real difference, as far as you’re concerned?
LH: I don’t really know. Naturally that was something that I wanted to improve this year and last year obviously, I think I had seven poles in the whole year. It made the races a lot harder for me, to obviously get past Nico on those occasions, which I did on quite a few occasions – but generally made the races a lot harder to win. So that obviously was a focal point. It’s difficult to say where it’s improved. That first lap in Q3 has been a really important one and generally just through the year I’ve been having good laps in that session. That’s… generally thought the qualifying session wasn’t going great, I had a lot of understeer and… so through the session you’re putting in more and more wing but… and also the wind it all over the place throughout this great track, it makes it very tricky. But, yeah, I’m really happy with that lap, felt fantastic, particularly the middle sector. My favourite part of the track when you go through Copse and then Maggotts and Becketts, it’s fantastic and I really hooked it up on that lap, which made the difference.
Q: It’s interesting that, isn’t it Nico? Because between the two of you since the beginning of last year it’s fairly unusual for whoever gets fastest in the first run of Q3 to be overturned in the final pole position. It does seem to be quite important between the two of you, that first run.
NR: I don’t know. I didn’t see that trend. And yeah, anyway, for me today it was all to play for with the second run – still pushing all out for sure and the chance was there because it was so close.
Q: And a word from you Felipe about the conditions. In the first two parts of qualifying, we saw a lot of drivers exceeding the track limits at Turn Nine and having their times deleted – a lot of drivers – was that ever an issue for you? And how much of a part did the diagonal crosswind into Copse play in that?
FM: Actually it was a problem. It was so easy… it’s a corner where you want to try everything you can – but you have also the wind which sometimes is pushing just a little bit and you lose a little bit of line and you go forwards off. But I was very careful at the beginning not to go off there – but that I was just pushing a little bit harder every lap, a little bit, just to understand what was really the limit but not going to high – and I just managed to do a good job and not passing the lines there.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / Speed Sport magazines) Felipe, you’re really up there at the top of this group here. Do you feel you’re driving maybe even better than in 2008?
FM: I feel good. I feel that I’m driving well, understanding the tyres and trying, y’know, putting the right lap and…
LH: …2008 was pretty good though!
FM: 2008 I had more pole positions – but the car was more competitive. The problem is them! [LH and NR] If they were a little bit slower maybe I could have been on pole today! That’s the problem compared to 2008. But I feel good. I feel really in good shape.
Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / Speed Sport magazines) Lewis and Nico, I read something about you guys having a barbecue together. Was that last night or tonight? What can you tell us about it?
NR: We’re here with motorhomes, sleeping in the middle of the track, everybody, all the drivers together. Not in the same motorhome obviously. It’s good fun, I invited the team, and Lewis as well, of course, so we had a good evening, team barbecue.
Q: How’s his cooking Lewis?
LH: Nico doesn’t… I’ve never seen him cook! He has this great motorhome, and this nice setting outside for everyone so it was good to have all the team there. It’s a nice evening for everyone and Nico invited me along. I was next door, so I would have gone anyway! The barbecue was great but I didn’t get to eat too much. He put all these sweets out just for me. He knows that’s going to make me heavy – but I didn’t go there – so that’s good.
Q: (Sean McGreevy – CSMA Club Magazine) Lewis, throughout your career you’ve met many personalities, many famous people, Hollywood stars to Nelson Mandela. How did meeting and spending time with the Queen compare to all of them?
LH: I’ve been very, very, very fortunate to meet these people and with the Queen – it’s really strange because people made up some silly stories recently about my meeting with the Queen but it was actually amazing. It was great to… firstly be invited back to sit with her and have lunch. But growing up, seeing her on TV all the time and then having her right next to you, so you can literally have a normal conversation was just…never in a million years thought that would ever happen. And the same with meeting Mr Mandela: when you walk into a room and he’s sitting there in his silk shirt and it’s like walking in to see the King. The atmosphere, as you walked in with him, it was immense, incredibly special man so I’m very, very grateful that I got to be in the presence of both these great people.
Q: (Mike Doodson – Grand Prix Plus) Lewis, I was interested because you were chatting with Felipe earlier and you and he have a bit of history together. At the beginning of your career, the two of you were pretty close and then things went into a rather unhappy phase when you tended to blame each other for things that perhaps you might have regretted afterwards but I wondered if you have healed all that up – looks like you have – but I wondered if there’s another driver from another team in whom you take an interest or who you regard as a particular friend in Formula One?
LH: Well, Felipe was a friend of mine before I got to Formula One, when I was in Formula Three and in GP2. Sometimes he would invite me along to some dinners so we had some great times before then and then obviously had a great battle in 2008, fantastic battle in 2008, he drove incredibly well. Then we definitely had a difficult year, I think. Somehow we always happened to be together on the track and the majority of the time I was behind him and Felipe is very good at making the car as wide as the track. It was very hard to get by.
FM: He was a little vague. You were not really concentrated on that year.
LH: I say it’s the other way round. But I’ve never ever had any problems with him. There was nothing ever to get fixed so…
FM: I was just saying that in 2011 he was not really concentrated you know? But anyway, I have a good relationship with most of the drivers. I think the problem with Formula One is that we are together but everybody is separated, you know? I don’t think this is really nice, so I think the problem with Formula One is that we need to be… We fight on the track, but outside we need to be… I’m sure that nobody knows each other in a proper way but I’m sure everybody’s… maybe most of the drivers are very nice but maybe we don’t know each other because is too separated. We need to be more open, we need to be closer. It’s not a problem to go out to dinner with another driver. For me that’s pretty normal, it’s what we miss in Formula One. At least, that’s what I see.
LH: We do get along with other drivers but I can’t pinpoint a particular one.
Q: (Don Kennedy – Hawke’s Bay Today) Lewis, do you feel extra pressure trying to win your home Grand Prix for the third time, I think? And speaking of pressure, did you happen to catch the Heather Watson/Serena Williams match last night and your thoughts on that?
LH: Honestly I didn’t get to see the big match and I don’t know who won. (Serena Williams) I thought she would, yeah, which is fantastic. There’s definitely extra added pressure. It comes from yourself, mainly because you know that so many people save up through the year to come here, spend a fortune on team merchandise and flags and camping and hotels, whatever it may be, and then they come here and they are here to support you and you just want to make sure that you put the icing on top of the cake. They’re already having a great weekend with the great weather but if you can deliver then there’s that extra bit of pressure to do that. But I think that pressure is a positive pressure in which I would hope that I can thrive off.
eom/FIA release of the transcript
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Force India targets fourth in the championship this year: Vijay Mallya
TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Matthew CARTER (Lotus), Vijay MALLYA (Force India), John BOOTH (Manor), Monisha KALTENBORN (Sauber), Eric BOULLIER (McLaren), Claire WILLIAMS (Williams)
PRESS CONFERENCE
If I could start with a question to all of you about the findings from the F1 Strategy Group meeting that took place on Wednesday and which were announced yesterday, particularly the restriction on driver aids, things like the manual clutch, from the Belgian Grand Prix onwards. So some thoughts on that and other perhaps more long-term items that were discussed; what are the key talking points for you and maybe we can start with Eric?
Eric BOULLIER: Well, on this topic of driver aids I think there is more and more communication between the team and the drivers, a lot of electronics these days in the technology of driving the car, if I may say this. More and more the drivers are relying on the analysis of the telemetry to use the car, so I guess there is clearly a push for limiting, let me say, instructions to the drivers, how to run and handle car and to leave the drivers alone to drive the car.
Vijay, your thoughts on the wind of change blowing through – what are the key areas for the future?
Vijay MALLYA: If it make the sport more attractive, the racing more competitive, then I’m all for it. I’ve always, of course, held the opinion that there are several more fundamental issues that the strategy group should be focusing on. Having said that every small step that can make the sport more attractive is a welcome step. Let he drivers drive the cars. Maybe there will be more competitive racing and that would be good for all of us.
Claire?
Claire WILLIAMS: I agree with everything that’s been said so far. I think the Strategy Group meeting on Wednesday was a really constructive one. We discussed a lot of items. The meeting was a long one, but I think the general consensus was that there is a real appetite to make changes to the sport in order to influence the show for our fans. Talking about the driver aids, the communications from pit wall to cockpit was a small part of the conversation we were having and I think that if that makes the racing more exciting that would be really interesting for everybody to see. I think they’re going to roll that one out really, really quickly and then the ones that we have to do a bit more work around we’ll have to wait and see when those come to the fore.
Matthew?
Matthew CARTER: Yeah, I agree. I think that any emphasis that we can place on the drivers has got to be better; it’s got to be better for the sport in general. I hope it’s a step in the right direction and it’s a small step towards some bigger changes being made. Having sat on the Strategy Group last year, I hope that some of the changes do come through. A lot of things get talked about and sometimes not a lot of things happen. I’m hoping it’s a step in the right direction and that there are bigger things to come.
Monisha?
Monisha KALTENBORN: Since we were not part of the discussion it’s difficult for me to go into the specifics of it but from reading what the Strategy Group decided it looks like it’s going in the right direction because to us equally it is important that the competition is interesting again – that’s what the fans want out there, the partners and it seems to be going into the right direction.
And John.
John BOOTH: I think we can all agree that anything that makes Formula One more exciting is a positive thing. But I can’t really comment on the Strategy Group views; all I’ve read is a press release that was released yesterday and without knowing any detail or rationale behind it it’s impossible to comment.
Thank you for that. Now we’ll get down to some individual questions and Eric, we’ll start with you. Only one of your cars has seen the chequered flag in the last couple of races – it’s been a particularly difficult phase of the season for you. Is there any particular reason why that’s going on?
EB: I guess that’s reliability. So far we have been struggling a little bit with transmission and power unit reliability, so it’s been, it’s true, particularly difficult in the last races on track layout which our not suiting our car very well as well, at least at the moment. We have a lot of potential unlock, we always say this, and I think so far we have been unsuccessful to unlock, every time we try we face same unreliability issues.
Thank you for that. Vijay, big weekend for you and the Force India car, with an updated car. Tell us about the effort behind the scenes that’s gone into that and also your hopes for the remainder of the season: you’ve got Red Bull not far ahead but you’ve got Lotus breathing down your neck just behind you, so what’s your focus?
VM: Well, all of us have been eagerly awaiting the British Grand Prix and the launch of our new B-spec car. I have mentioned before that the car that we have been racing so far in the season is basically last year’s car modified to suit the 2015 regulations but the B-Spec car is the VJM08 challenger. I was very impressed when I first saw it myself last night. There is a lot of aerodynamic innovation in it and it looks lean and mean. Today was the first outing, in FP1. I think we still have to optimise the package that we have. There will be the inevitable upgrades that will come in future races, so we are hopeful to have a strong second half of the season, gradually improving race by race. So, yeah, Red Bull are about 23 or 24 points ahead, Lotus are breathing down our necks, we’re used to that, but I wouldn’t be overly optimistic if I said we are targeting fourth in the championship this year.
Good luck with that. Claire, coming to you, you’ve pushed Ferrari off the podium in the last two grands prix. This race, again, at Silverstone should be a good one for you and the team. Is there a belief within the team that you can actually challenge them for second in the championship?
CW: Yes, I think after the past two races, where we’ve secured podiums in each grand prix, there was a slight feeling of that; when we finished Austria that potentially we could be challenging Ferrari in the remaining races coming up. I don’t think any of us probably thought that when we started this year, it was obviously… I’m loath to say the word disappointing because off the back of where we were a couple of years ago to still be third in the championship now is a great effort by everybody in our team. But I think that there definitely now is that feeling that we could potentially take the fight to Ferrari in the remaining rounds and I think that would be an amazing achievement if we could do that. Even just to challenger after thinking about where we were a couple of years ago would be great.
Matthew, three points-scoring finishes in the last couple of races. What’s been making the difference for you and your thoughts on the championship battle with Force India that Vijay has just alluded to?
MC: We’re definitely targeting fourth, so it will be interesting to see how the rest of the season pans out. I think the key for us as a team is to get both of our cars to the end of the race and once we start to do that we can start to accumulate the points we believe we deserve and that we believe we’ve missed out on to this point. As long as we can work on our reliability, I think we know the pace is there, we know the downforce is there, as long as we can work on the reliability and we can get both cars to the end of the race then we are certainly looking for fourth and we’re certainly looking to get up the championship table.
Monisha, obviously Mark Smith has just joined the team, just been announced this week. What does he bring that you have been lacking?
MK: Well, he’s been in motor sport for a very long time, particularly in Formula One. He has a lot of experience, which we will benefit from. He’s also worked with private teams, so he is very well aware of the challenges that private teams have. He fits in well into our structure and I’m sure that with him coming in taking up particularly jobs that are, like, overarching ones and are across all the areas of our technical committee, the people in the technical committee can have more capacity to concentrate on their specific areas.
Thank you. John, some updates here this weekend on your car; Will was telling us about them yesterday in the press conference. What’s your plan, though, in terms of the long-term: the overview of where you go from here, how you build the team, the engine partnerships – the direction for the team?
JB: Well, after a very difficult, well-publicised start to the season, we are at last entering a positive phase. Last couple of races we have brought on board a couple of multi-national companies that are new to Formula One. We are back in the windtunnel on a regular basis, started last week, and we brought the updates to the race this weekend. But on first year looking very positive and we want to continue in that vein and keep pushing forward.
And more long-term, the whole structure of the team?
JB: We’re building, we’re building. We started in Australia with really a skeleton crew back here in Silverstone at the office, the full operating crew at the circuit. But over the months we’ve been gradually building the staff base back at the office and we hope by the end of the season we will be back up to full strength.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Bob Bull – BBC Three Counties Radio) We talk about the Strategy Group and all the changes that have been mentioned, if you were being entirely selfish as a team manager, what one change would any of you make to the rules – would you introduce a rule or take one away – what one, single thing would you do, being selfish, to help your team?
VM: Well, we are on the Strategy Group and the most important thing that we have been focusing on, as Force India, is to ensure the sustainability of all teams in Formula One. If that is addressed as it should be addressed, even the small independent teams can be very competitive. If Williams beat Ferrari I think racing will be very exciting. If Sauber can beat a Williams it will be even more exciting and if Force India can beat a Mercedes that will be the cherry on the cake! But what I’m trying to say, basically, is that if all teams are strong enough to be sustainable and can focus on producing a competitive car rather than worrying about how to survive that will be the best thing going forward.
Monisha, you’re nodding.
MK: I absolutely agree with that. I don’t think we can really put one measure out there and say this is the one because that would be a miracle and in Formula One at least miracle don’t happen. So, I think what we have to target is what we want to achieve at the end of the day and that’s to have an exciting, thrilling competition and so many topics are linked to that. It is making teams sustainable, having independent teams, making the competition, from a technical perspective, exciting but not over-complicated… We have to reach out to the people again and have that connectivity that we don’t have. So, it’s just a very big picture and we have to see what measures really make us get there.
Matthew, what one thing would you pick on?
MC: I think it’s a similar answer. I think at the moment one of things that frustrates certainly us at Lotus, it would appear that in order to win or even get near the podium in a Formula One race it’s pretty much related to how much money you spend. If that can be addressed in one way, shape or form, if the technical rules and regulations can be loosened and can allow for some smaller teams to come up with some innovative ideas, I think that goes back to the ethos of what Formula One is all about and if a small team can come up with something that isn’t immediately overruled or isn’t immediately copied by the bigger teams then hopefully it will open up and it will mean that you don’t just have to spend the most money to get the top of the grid.
John?
JB: I totally agree with Vijay’s view. A fairer distribution of the income would help close up the grid and make the racing a little more exciting. The model’s out there in other sports throughout the world and it would be very easy to adopt for our sport.
What about the two big teams here – Claire?
CW: I think it’s a combination of what everyone has said so far; I don’t think I could add anything to it. But I don’t think it’s all just about changing one small thing. I think it’s a conglomerate; it’s about pulling everything together. I don’t think we should forget that this is an amazing sport. It’s one of the most-watched sports in the world. I remember watching it years ago thinking ‘these cars are amazing, these drivers are fantastic, they’re the heroes of our sport and these cars are rocket ships and they are the pinnacle of technical innovation’ and they still are and we still have to remember that. For me, personally, at the moment I would like to see more people talking more positively about our sport and the great things about our sport, not just the negatives, that we are trying to deal with as the Strategy Group at the moment.
And the manufacturer-based team point of view? Eric?
EB: Being selfish or not selfish?
Being selfish.
EB: Being selfish… I am amazed, because you [the other panelists] are not being selfish at all. It is not like this in the Strategy Group, it is completely different – completely different. Umm… Freeing the engine development. By this I’m not selfish.
The unselfish perspective?
EB: The perception of the sport, I agree with Claire, is a bit wrong. So I think I would be nice… it’s the pinnacle of motor sport, all the technology, blah, blah, blah, but the perception now through the fans, through the media is wrong.
Q: (Rob Harris – Associated Press) Perhaps to someone who was in the Strategy Group meeting on Wednesday, Claire, since you were in there. They talked about changes from 2017 in both qualifying and the race. Could you expand on how different qualifying and the race could look from 2017 if what was discussed is approved?
CW: I’d love to be able to but at the moment the ideas that we are considering are embryonic and we have to ensure that do a full analysis of those ideas. I think it’s very easy to come up with ideas in a meeting and then to come out and talk about them in the public and get everyone very overexcited about them and not actually having done the full analysis can lead to disappoints, getting things wrong and then having to retract ideas. What we wanted to do at the moment was to tell everybody that we have new ideas that we are considering and that we want to bring out to improve the show for our fans. But until we’ve done the analysis to make sure that we get it right I don’t think we want to go into any level of detail about it. But as soon as we’ve done that I think we’ll all come out and be very proud of the ideas we’ve come up with,
Q: (Rob Harris – Associated Press) Wouldn’t it encourage more, as you said, positive talking about the sport if there were some positive ideas thrown out there for the fans to engage with?
CW: Absolutely, and that’s one of the reasons why the FIA are now issuing announcements after the meetings that we have, so that we can tell people what we are doing, perhaps in a headline way, but to try and get people talking more positively about the sport and I very much hope that when we are able to give more information then that will spin off a lot of positive news stories about Formula One, because we3 need to have those at the moment. As I said earlier, this is still a great sport and you need to take away some of the conversation around that to remember that.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) The time has come for a decision to be taken shortly about tyres from 2017 onwards. It appears that there will be two different philosophies: one being the Pirelli philosophy, very similar to now, the other being Michelin’s low profile etcetera. As team principals, or owners of your businesses, or whatever your positions are, all of you, how do you feel about the possibility of a wholesale change on tyres.
MK: Well, for us, we want to the look at it from a perspective of what changes it brings to the cars first of all, and the designs of the car. Our costs again generated by that. From a tyre manufacturers perspective, I guess they have to see what works for their marketing strategy. As such, we’re quite flexible on that. We do think whoever comes in, that tyres maybe shouldn’t be made that big an issue again as they have been in the recent years. We’ve been through so many years before where you had one supplier, development being done by one team, fundamentally for one team. It was never an issue, it was never an issue and it was, again, never a point of contention for the public – again creating negativity around the sport. I think that’s the most important part of it. If you want to bring the sport back, to making the difference through the drivers, the different cars, then these kind of points have to be debated.
Eric?
EB: First we have to understand what has been addressed. Obviously there has been a tender that has been put out. I understand there is a couple of tyre manufacturers who have answered or will answer. I think it’s up to Formula One and the FIA as well to put the conditions of the tender, not up to the potential tyre manufacturer supplier to impose what they want. We, as far as I’m concerned, are running our own business and we know what we want to do with the sport – or I believe we are. It’s not up to the others to tell us what to do. So, I think if the tender has been properly addressed then they should have the right answers. If it’s 13-inches, 17, 18, 25, whatever it is. As long as it makes Formula One better. I think they need to be the same for everybody, then it’s not an issue.
John
JB: Well, Pirelli and Michelin, both excellent, excellent companies with a great record, whichever company is chosen will build a good tyre for the sport. I think it’s important that the correct tender process is followed.
Vijay?
VM: Well it’s pretty clear that there will be only a single supplier of tyres to Formula One, whether it’s Pirelli, whether it’s Michelin or anybody else. It’s probably the optimal solution that all teams be consulted and the FIA then issue an appropriate tender document so that the views of the teams are collectively incorporated and the tyre companies then bid to get the contract for supply. I think it would be wrong to allow tyre companies to dictate what Formula One should or should not accept.
Matthew?
MC: I think Eric probably hit the nail on the head. As a team it doesn’t really matter to us the size or the width of the depth of the tyres. We’ll put the tyres on as they are and as long as it improves the sport and it makes Formula One exciting and better then we’re all for it. Whether that’s with Pirelli or Michelin.
Q: (Daniel Ortelli – AFP) A quick one for Claire. Can you tell us if the Strategy Group had a look at the results of the GPDA survey on Wednesday, and can you tell us if the Promotional Working Group intends to look at the detailed data that was taken from the 200,000 surveys filled by the fans?
CW: Yes, a couple of surveys have come out, the results of which have come out this week – but I believe they came out too late for them to be discussed within the Strategy Group. Obviously we have an agenda set a couple of weeks in advance – so no, we didn’t discuss them in that meeting but that is the forum for those kind of discussions and everything that falls out of the Strategy Group, if they go to the PWG, we’ll have to wait and see.
Q: (Daniel Johnson – The Telegraph] There’s a lot of talk about negativity and often many of us here in the press receive some of the blame for that. I remember having a similar discussion with Toto about this so it’s a shame he’s not here to field the question, however Eric and Claire and others who’ve touched on it, can I just ask why, given that instead, why you don’t turn your guns, as it were, to the main proponent of the negativity that has been in the last 18 months both privately and publically and that would be the chief executive. I mean, why… the press seemed to get blamed for a lot when actually, if look at where it’s coming from and who people are willing to criticise, they are more willing to criticise the press, probably, than the chief executive.
EB: Well, I think we had to find somebody to blame and it was you guys, that’s it! I think, you can’t, as you say, turn to one person or one management or whatever. I think it’s a global perception. I think we have to deal with the view. Formula One has changed: last decade you had manufactures here, money was flowing in, every car manufacturer was here to promote his own brand, Formula One was on one mode. Nobody questioned anything because everybody was happy to live from this business model, let’s say. All manufacturers left 2010, more or less – I make it simplistic – we are left with the same costs but not the same money flowing in. So there was obviously something to be addressed. This is where the negativity turned on. So it’s not… we have to change in some way Formula One. We have to make sure teams are sustainable, teams are making money, everybody is making money in the system – but this is basically a very small story, simplistic story but this is where the negativity came from. We have just… we are in a transition time. We need to readjust it.
Anybody anything to add? Matthew?
MC: I think the negativity does come from the press. I honestly do. And I think… I presume you’re referring to Mr Ecclestone when you say the negative comes from him. I think he reacts to what is written in the press.
Q: (Daniel Johnson – The Telegraph] Do you?
MC: Yeah, I do. I think that Bernie tries to encourage the sport, he tries to make the sport be more appealing to the fans: the fans read what you guys write. The fans listen to what Bernie says, I agree, but ultimately they will read your stories and if your stories are negative, they will read those and they won’t read the positive.
Q: (Daniel Johnson – The Telegraph] Just quickly, in Canada, I think it was, Bernie said that engineers had given him a ‘crappy product’ to sell. I just wonder, is that… how does that tally with… that’s not us. He’s not reacting to us there.
MC: He said that the engineers?
Q: (Daniel Johnson – The Telegraph] …had given him a crappy product to sell.
MC: Our engineers?
Q: (Daniel Johnson – The Telegraph] Engineers collectively.
MC: OK. I think the negativity that we talk about, and certainly the negativity I think Claire is talking about, is negativity in terms of what we achieve as a sport and what we are as a sport. I think there is… and that negativity tends to come from the press. I don’t that you do enough of bigging up what we do achieve. I think it’s easy to look at the negatives. It’s probably easier for you to write stories about the negatives as opposed to the positives – that’s my personal opinion.
Q: (Daniel Johnson – The Telegraph] There are a lot of people in Formula One, your colleagues in other teams. We’re only… we can only write what we’re presented with and sadly a lot of what is being said is negative.
MC: You can write articles about how the technology that we produce… the horsepower they produce from the engines, the fantastic hybrid technology that we produce…
Q: (Daniel Johnson – The Telegraph] …and the ‘crappy product’?
Let’s move on to some other perspectives on this. Perhaps maybe Vijay, do you have anything to add to this talking point.
VM: Formula One is perhaps the most exciting sport in the world. Probably has the highest viewership of all sports and, if Formula One is made sustainable for all participants I think the negativity will be removed. Having said that, and in specific reference to the question posed by the gentleman from the Telegraph, the media can present two points of view: either they can say that the sport is very boring because the two Mercedes cars are quicker than everybody else by miles, or, they can say ‘wow, Mercedes did a fantastic job’. It’s a question of the media’s option on how to present it. Having said that. I believe that all the positives of Formula One as a sport will be given more prominence if the fundamental issue, which everybody is speculating about – I’m sure many of us get asked these questions all the time – about ‘are you going to be around next year?’ This is a burning issue which teams themselves discuss at every possible opportunity and in every possible meeting, whether inside the strategy group or outside. So, as I said before, at this very press conference. If the stability of all participants in Formula One is addressed as a matter of priority, we will have more exciting racing and we will get a lot more positive media.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) A question for Matthew – and I hope you can answer it positively please – what is the situation with Gérard Lopez? By my calculation the last ten races he hasn’t been here at race day at all. Is he involved? Is he committed? Where does he stand as far as the team is concerned please?
MC: Gérard is still our owner, he’s still the chairman of the company. I’m not sure where you missed him but he’s certainly been to two if not three of the races this season – he certainly was in Spain on race day. He’s busy on other projects. He has other involvements, other business involvements and, as far as I’m aware, he’s leaving the running of the team down to myself and I think he’s probably happy with what’s going on at the moment and therefore doesn’t feel he needs to get involved. I hope so anyway.
Q: (Kevin Eason – The Times) Can I just ask you all a straightforward question as businessmen as well as team principals: if the chief executive of your company described your car, or your product as ‘crap’, would you expect him to be fired?
CW: If Pat came to me and called the car crap…? In public… erm… well I’d probably turn around and say “well you designed it, do something about it!” That would be my answer. I wouldn’t’ fire him. We had a crap car in 2012. We all knew that, we all said it. We held our hands up and and we tried to do something about it. I’m not quite sure what the purpose of the question is…
John?
JB: I’m not sure I’m in the best position to answer that question given our current competitive position.
Monisha?
MK: You asked about the chief executive. Difficult for me to answer because I have that position as well. So, I’d have a bit of a conflict of interest on that. No, I’d clearly tell our technical people to get back into our offices, give them a chance to get their act together. If not, yes, you need to make changes.
Eric?
EB: Well, ah, good question! I don’t know if it relates to our car or to some stories that have been related by Daniel. But let’s take my car, which will be easier to manage. Yeah, obviously I would tell him to sort out his house.
Vijay?
VM: The specific question from Kevin is: how would I respond to the chief executive’s comment that he had a crappy product to sell. He shouldn’t be selling the product if he thought it was crap. But considering that he sells the product – that he calls crap and makes billions out of it – he needs to work with the participants to un-crap it!
Q: (Luis Fernando Ramos – Racing Magazine) Question to Monisha and Vijay: you’re talking about making the teams more sustainable and competitive in the long run, and the only point of the document we were given yesterday, talking about costs is about bringing the engine power unit costs down. Is that enough or would you welcome bigger and deeper changes to make costs going down or just the power units going down would be enough?
MK: Well of course it’s not enough, you need to do a lot more and there are different ways to achieve that. Some of us particularly have always been in favour of a cost cap because we feel it sets an overall level above which you don’t go and you still have a lot of freedom under it so that was also in a way articulated by Max Mosley saying you need to have a cost cap and under it you have all the liberties so you have to do much more than just looking at the engines. The engines have been in the recent past the most decisive cost driver. We return to engine prices. You really wanted to move away from that and we did because for many years we were still at like $14m engines with many move engine lives to it. We brought that down to a very significant low level We wanted to go further down and we’ve gone in the wrong direction but that’s just one part of it. You have to look at the chassis side as well but always keeping in mind how you make the competition always interesting and get the field together, to have a reasonably level playing field.
VM: To carry on from what Monisha was just saying, there are multiple ways to reduce costs. It could not or should not be focused on engines alone. Yes, that is a very very important and expensive component but there are so many other ways in which costs can be reduced. There are also ideas that were discussed at the strategy group meeting about teams potentially agreeing to a cost cap or a budget cap and being allowed more technical freedom in return. So there are many ways to skin this cat. We have to find the most optimum solution but once again, the prize at the end is sustainability and that in itself will lead to more exciting competition.
Q: (Kate Walker – motorsport.com) Question to everybody but I suppose to a certain extent it’s probably more applicable for those of you in the strategy group and I hope there’s a positive way of looking at this but one of the complex issues that we’ve got is the way that everything is holistic, so if we want to change the race weekend format to make it more exciting to fans, that means we will be getting through more power units, putting more life on engines, that will in some way add to the cost. Could you give us an idea of the way in which, when you’re discussing these concepts, you sort of take the holistic approach and you consider if X then Y, because there’s so much knock-on and I don’t think we understand how complex a lot of this juggling really is for those in a position to talk about it?
EB: To make it positive, we have discussed a change of weekend format actually based on the fans’ requests, so we have thought about the financial consequences which we don’t see as negative yet but there will be some, definitely. This is why it needs to be addressed. It’s part of what Claire was saying before, this is embryonic, there are many consequences. We have not been through the details of what all the fans want because actually what all the fans want is a major re-shuffle which is going to cost a lot of money so it needs to be addressed differently and we can’t base everything on the fans’ wishes, as there are a lot of things which are good and some of them are maybe not that good. So it’s part of this process which we have to go through. We believe, collectively, a change of format, not necessarily of the race or qualifying but something else, maybe would be good for Formula One, maybe a good content – if I may use this word – for the people who attending the track but there are legal consequences, there are financial consequences, there are technical consequences, there are operational consequences and all these are under consideration.
Q: (Kate Walker – motorsport.com) How do you balance these considerations?
EB: We don’t. One of the challenges of the strategy (group) is to not go into details. We avoid going into legal, finance, technical, marketing operations whatever. If you start to go into this level of details, we will spend ten days just discussing one topic. That was one topic, do we need to change the weekend format or whatever it is and I think it was well discussed, just this topic, and this is why we have created some legal working group, technical working group, sporting working group, even financial working group in the past or promotional working group which Claire is heading, to try to push this, they are doing the job.
CW: I think just to say that when we’ve entered into these new conversations about what we want for 2017, I think the over-riding objective is that we want to make our sport, better, more exciting and more sustainable and then out of that falls all the different elements as to how we achieve that, whether that’s new chassis regulations, looking at the power unit, looking at costs, looking at what the fans want, looking at what the media expectations are, how we talk about our sport. We’re covering everything, but as Eric says, if we get embroiled in every single minute detail of those conversations, we would be in those meetings… we would never come to a Grand Prix! The holistic approach is there, I think. We all know what this sport is about, what the objectives of this sport are but it’s a long process, it’s a very drawn-out process to meet your objectives but the emphasis should be on the fact that we’re trying to do that. Formula One, we all have a collective responsibility to ensure the sustainability of our sport. This is everybody’s lifeblood at the end of the day, this is what pays everybody’s mortgages and so we all have a part to play in making sure that we address the challenges of our sport and make sure that the fans want to keep tuning in and buying tickets.
VM: All these initiatives that Claire just talked about are very welcome and I think have one end objective: make the sport more exciting which should translate into incremental revenue and that is all the process of un-crapping!
Q: (Daniel Johnson – The Telegraph) The question is for Monisha and anyone else who would like to answer it: Monisha, you mentioned Max Mosley; he said today of Jean Todt ‘I suspect he feels it’s not up to him to worry about Formula One. You have all these team principals, Bernie, CVC and they should just get on and sort it out.’ Do you share his view and if you do or you don’t, do you think Jean should worry more about Formula One than he does or does not?
MK: Well, since we are the ones who – and this comes a bit back to your earlier question – who really to a certain extent, at least, have to be blamed for where we are today in this sport although we usually like to blame others for that. We do have to sort out our problems ourselves which means that we have to sit down together, all of us preferably, and try to find the right solution ahead. At the same time, there are things and issues which we cannot resolve, I think we have to accept that. A couple of us have the view that, when it comes to rules, regulations, they should be imposed on us. I think most of the sports have that, particularly of the dimension Formula One has today and we all would never agree to anything that suits everyone, so that job by definition is with the Federation and I understand that the Federation has many other things to do but it is the Automobile Federation, it is the Federation of the ASNs which also deal with motor sport, which get a lot of money from motor sport so I think it would be good if more action can be taken, also towards Formula One as the pinnacle of motor sport activities and more action can be taken and more decisions can be taken.
Q: (Daniel Ortelli – Agence France Presse) For Vijay, John and Monisha as team principals and business people; if you had the opportunity and if it was allowed by the FIA to use a full spec, 2013 V8 engine for thirty percent of the price of the present engines, would you go for it next year?
JB: No. I’ve been an opponent of these engines that we’re using now from the very start because it was obvious they were going to be very expensive. As Claire touched on earlier, we are the cutting edge of technology. What Formula One has achieved in developing the current engines, particularly in fuel consumption and maintaining the same performance is outstanding and to go back would be a retrograde step.
Q: (Daniel Ortelli – Agence France Presse) If there is a balance of performance between the current engine and the V8 engine?
JB: Still no.
VM: This is a very hypothetical question. At the end of the day, I think all the decision makers want to optimise costs, reduce costs and focus on sustainability. I think the type of power unit you use is part of that consideration.
I would like to just take this opportunity of clarifying something to the gentleman from the Telegraph. He directed a question to Monisha about Mr Max Mosley’s article. I’m privileged in the sense that I sit on the World Council and I can absolutely assure you that President Jean Todt is very involved and very concerned with Formula One. He himself describes Formula One as the pinnacle of motor sport at almost every meeting.
Once again, to answer your question: V8 engines, if it’s uncrapping, that’s a solution.
MK: No, the answer’s no because I think we shouldn’t go down the way to create a two tier system like this. These engines are there now. We might like them, we might not like them but they are there and that’s reality so we should rather try to find other ways to… if one of the intentions of this is to support certain teams, we need to find other ways for that.
Q: (Bob Bull – BBC Three Counties Radio website) We’ve heard a lot about this negativity and what the fans do and don’t like. Can you explain why there’s a 140,000 crowd sell-out here this weekend in view of the fact that the fans don’t like the racing? Have you any ideas on that?
CW: I was hoping someone might ask a question about this race weekend. Brilliant. It’s great. Silverstone has done, as they always do – I know I’m biased because I used to work here – but they’ve done a fantastic job in their ticket promotions and selling their tickets. I think we’re lucky with the weather, it’s unusual for Britain in summer to have such a glorious weekend ahead. I hope it’s going to stay dry. But I think that does say a lot about our sport and I think it does say a lot, still, about how passionate British fans are but they are probably fans from all over the world coming to watch us race at Silverstone this weekend. I was stuck in a traffic jam for an hour and 20 minutes this morning which I thought was great because I think it still shows that our sport is healthy and people do still want to come and watch us race and I hope that we as a group of teams put on a really fantastic event for them this weekend.
EB: Yeah, obviously it’s great to see all the British fans around and to have a new record of attendance so I’ve been told but I’ve also been told that Australia and definitely Canada was up by ten percent as well so it’s good to see that our sport is great and attracting people to the grandstands.
JB: I always thought the British fans were the most knowledgeable fans in the world and obviously they are much much more than anybody spreading negativity around.
Q: (William Kimberly – Racetech Magazine) We’ve seen the World Endurance Championship grow from strength to strength over the last few years and some might even argue that that’s challenging Formula One for the pinnacle of motor sport: BMW coming in. Are there lessons to be learned from a technical point of view for Formula One in the way that they approach their regulations and let them work freely in what the engineers can do?
EB: I think the intentions come as well from the fact that there are manufacturers there. When you’re a car manufacturer and you enter any arena you have a duty to activate and communicate around your brand so that attracts attention. To be fair with the ACO, they did a brilliant job at clearly balancing the performance between the different models and not only in P1 but in P2 and GT as well. You could see again, this year, after 23 hours some cars fighting for their positions which is quite amazing. There are maybe some lessons to be learned but I think the FIA, as far as I’m concerned, are doing a great job in Formula One. I guess everybody’s watching what’s going on but I think we, as the pinnacle of motor sport, we’re not doing a bad job on that.
Sahara Force India team Principal Vijay Mallya (back row – centre) at the Silverstone Friday Press Conference. An FIA image -
British fans and public are fantastic: Jenson Button
DRIVERS (from left) Valtteri BOTTAS (Williams), Jenson BUTTON (McLaren), Kimi RAIKKONEN (Ferrari), Marcus ERICSSON (Sauber), Back row: Pastor MALDONADO (Lotus), Will STEVENS (Manor). An FIA image PRESS CONFERENCE
Valtteri, why don’t we start with you? You finished second here last year from, I think, 14th on the grid – equal best result so far in Formula One, your finish. Is this one of your favourite tracks?
Valtteri BOTTAS: Well, it’s one of them, definitely. It’s one of these old school tracks and really high speed, so it’s always really fun to drive here. I think it should be good for our car as well, like we saw last year. We had some new bits for Austria and I think they should work maybe slightly better here, so looking forward to the weekend.
Well, podiums for Williams at the last two races, but can you tell us a bit more about why you think your car particularly suits this circuit and the things that you’re bringing here that are going to help that?
VB: Long straights – that’s where we have been strong the last one-and-a-half years and I think we’ve been this year pretty good in high-speed corners as well and probably the updates we had in Austria… they definitely created more downforce but maybe were a bit too draggy for that circuit. Maybe we can make better use of that and if we just get everything right it could be a strong weekend but let’s see.
Jenson, coming to you, this year I think it’s fair to say it’s been ‘hard yards’ as we say here in England, but does racing here on home soil raise the spirits a bit?
Jenson BUTTON: It does. Every race that we race in is a special race, you can find reasons to be excited, but when it’s your home grand prix it’s always very special. The British fans and public whether it’s raining, 32 degrees, there’s a British guy at the front or a British guy at the back, they will always be here to support us, which is fantastic. It’s always a very, very special atmosphere here and I’m really looking forward to the weekend.
World champion drivers are obviously leaders within a team. What’s the message to Honda and the McLaren management? What strategy do you want to adopt in terms of performance, reliability and what would be a win at the moment?
JB: Well, first of all I don’t think a press conference is the best place to do that, you know. We are one team and we work together and if we have issues we talk amongst ourselves and that’s the only way to improve a situation. The confidence is high within the team. You might say why is that, as the last two races have been very difficult, which they have, but there is a massive belief within the team that we will improve. There is a lot in the pipeline. I don’t want to look too far into the future, you know, I’m on of those people that wants to live in the moment and do the best I can right now. It’s the British Grand Prix, in front of them home crowd and I’m really looking forward to it and I will maximise what we have this weekend.
Thank you for that. Kimi, coming to you, the GPDA fans’ survey revealed that you are the most popular Formula One driver it would seem, amongst those polled. What’s your reaction to that?
Kimi RAIKKONEN: I think it’s a good thing. I would rather take the fans than not having them. Obviously, some people… maybe I was lucky that they were ones that answered the survey, but I’m happy to have fans and obviously that’s a good thing.
What do you think it is about your character that appeals to them?
KR: You’d have to go and ask them who voted, so…
There’s a few too many to do that I think. The team is telling us that retaining your seat for next season is in your hands, do you feel you are on the right track to meet their targets.
KR: I don’t know. Obviously they’ll make the decision. We try to do good races. Obviously the last race was a bit difficult but that’s part of the game, sometimes you have that. Who knows: I don’t know anything more than you guys, so I will know hopefully at some point what will happen. There are always speculations to start off the year and it’s always the same stories. It doesn’t really surprise me a lot so let’s see what happens.
Thanks. Marcus, coming to you, you edged it over your team-mate in Canada, he edged it over you in Austria, describe the duel between you this season at Sauber and what the atmosphere is like within the team.
Marcus ERICSSON: The atmosphere is good. I think me and Felipe are working well together. Obviously he has had the upper hand so far but I’m looking to change that, working hard for that. Now, coming to Silverstone, it’s one of my favourite tracks, I really enjoy driving here, some really great corner combinations, so hopefully I can fight back and have a good weekend.
It looks like Sauber has been caught after that strong start, with the big points finished in the early races – only one points finish in the last five races for the team. Do you have some answers up your sleeve in development terms for the second half of the season and how much of a boost do you think Mark Smith, the new technical director, will be?
ME: I think we knew that the summer would be a bit difficult for us; we have a big upgrade coming after the summer. We are hurting a bit at the moment with people bringing updates to the recent races and we lost a bit of touch to some of them. But I think still we showed in Austria last time out that if we maximise what we have we can still be competitive and fight in the midfield, so that’s what we needs to focus on doing. On Mark Smith, obviously I worked with him a bit last year at Caterham and I have a very positive feeling with him joining the team. Obviously he’s not going to be able to much short-term, but I think in the longer term he is a very good person to have in the team, with his experience, so it’s a good thing for Sauber.
Q: Pastor, points scored in the last two races but you’ve never scored points at Silverstone, amazingly. Looking to put that right this weekend?
Pastor MALDONADO: I hope so. Do my best.
Q: How did you leave it with Max Verstappen after the battle in the last race, in Austria? Spectacular action on track. How have you left it on a personal level?
PM: I mean it was a great battle. This kind of battle I always enjoy, y’know? This is real fight in Formula One, which is always fair. For sure a couple of times it was very close, because he was trying to put me over the track – but this is part of the race. I really like the stewards that allowed us to race and to have more opportunities to fight in the track. Yeah, it was great. For me it was OK. After that, the race started very badly, we had some problems in the start and then we recovered quite well, thanks to the strategy, thanks to the team as well, and I drove quite well.
Q: Will, celebrated your 24th birthday last weekend – what are your feelings on making your home Formula One debut in front of a capacity crowd on Sunday at the British Grand Prix?
Will STEVENS: I’m really looking forward to this race. I have been for a long time. Clearly for us, growing up we watch this race and have come to it for many years. So, to be here for my first home grand prix is really exciting. Can’t wait to get out there on Friday and see everybody around the circuit.
Q: The last couple of races haven’t been so good for you or the team. The margin – particularly in Austria – seemed to be bigger than it’s been elsewhere. Are there technical reasons for that due to the package that you’ve got – and how do you think you’ll be fixed this weekend?
WS: I think the last few races have been a little more up-and-down. I think the actual times from the free practice sessions in Austria were pretty strong. Quali for us didn’t really work out because of the conditions – but looking ahead to this weekend, we should be making some steps forwards with the car for sure. We have quite a few upgrades here, which is nice. So, looking forwards to Friday to see how much that can help us out.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, accident here last year, accident in last race in Austria, how difficult is it for you to come to this weekend?
KR: It’s a new race, different weekend. It doesn’t matter if you have an accident. It was obviously bad for our race but that’s part of the game. It doesn’t change this weekend at all. I’ve had accidents before and probably will in the future, you pay the price when things do wrong.
Q: (Mike Doodson – Grand Prix Plus) A question for Jenson and Kimi. Last weekend we had Formula E racing in London, there were a few good, old F1 names among the drivers. Did either of you see the race and would you seriously consider switching to electric racing after Formula One?
JB: To answer the second question: no. And did I watch the race? No. I have watched a race this year and the reason is, it’s not because of the cars themselves, it’s because of the drivers. There’s a lot of drivers that I’ve raced against over the years, I think there’s 13 ex-F1 drivers, and that’s what makes the category exciting: they’ve got some real talent there; they’ve done a good job of getting talented drivers in the cars. I think there’s a great place for electric racing – if that’s what you want to call it – but I think it’s great and there’s a good fight amongst the talented drivers that are there. But it’s not something that interests me. Motorsport is motorsport for me. Something that I love is the smell, the sound and the speed – and that’s what Formula One is all about.
Kimi?
KR: yeah, actually I saw it. I saw the race and I’m not so interested in the future in some point to race them. It’s… I mean they’ve done well to go in the places that they race – I think it’s nice for people but, I mean, for me, unfortunately… we always talk here: it doesn’t go fast; it doesn’t look spectacular. They are… in my view they are pretty slow. The concept is probably nice in the future. Right now, yes, they get the good racing out of it but it doesn’t really… it’s something that doesn’t really excite me really – but obviously I’m happy for them to make such a good race series out of it.
Q: (Daan de Geus – NU.NL) Kimi, you let it be known earlier in the season that you were quite happy about the 2015 Ferrari and the way it handles and it fits your driving style. Ferrari have obviously been updating the car and made some changes to it. Do you still like the way it handles and the way it suits your way of driving?
KR: I don’t see why I wouldn’t suddenly like it; because I’ve had an accident doesn’t change anything. I’ve had accidents sometimes, like I said, it’s part of the game. We improved the car and it’s still a great car, obviously probably not fast enough to challenge Mercedes all the time but it’s a very good car and it’s a massive improvement from last year. Things go wrong sometimes but it doesn’t mean that you suddenly hate the car or you don’t like things. It’s just a part of the game. Like I said, it’s a good package and obviously we want to improve it and make it faster. Things could always be better. Even if you’re in a winning car you’re always wanting more out of it. Like I said, we’ve come such a long way from last year which people always forget. We’re still a work in progress to improve things.
Q: (Daniel Ortelli – Agence France Presse) Jenson, you were very vocal and supportive when the survey came out in Monaco and you’re one of the most experienced drivers; what’s your general comment or specific comment about the results of that survey? Were there some things that surprised you, is it in keeping with what you think of F1? Is there anything you can tell us about the reaction to the results?
JB: I don’t think there are any massive surprises in there. Obviously Kimi being the favourite driver of the fans – we knew that anyway, didn’t we? No, I don’t think there were any massive surprises. I think it’s really nice to get the view of the people that are out there that are watching us race, whether it’s at the circuit or on TV or read about Formula One. It’s nice to see their opinions. I think a lot of us agree – probably not with everything – but we all have our own opinions of the ways that Formula One can be improved. It’s great to see that there are lots of ideas that are floating around for the future in terms of making the cars wider, tyres wider, lighter, hopefully more sound. These are all things that are interesting and I think that’s great to see so hopefully they will happen in the near future.
Q: Do any of the other drivers have anything they would like to add on the findings of the survey?
Q: (Joe Bernstein – Daily Mail) Question to Will: you said that you used to watch the British Grand Prix as a kid when growing up. Can you tell us your first memory and also maybe your favourite race memory, watching it?
WS: Being British, obviously it’s a race I come to a lot so… Probably the first race I’ve been to was probably ten, twelve years ago. I remember it was wet but that’s not really too unusual for England. There’s been lots of good races here, more so on the old circuit and now obviously with the new layout – personally, I really like it. The racing here is always exciting, there’s always a good atmosphere here and that’s where the British fans do a good job. I’m sure this year’s going to be the same and I’m looking forward to seeing what it brings.
Q: (Joe Bernstein – Daily Mail) Is there one stand-out memory that you have?
WS: Not particularly for here, no.
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, you seem to be very happy with the car after the Austrian test. Is this the best Williams car you’ve ever driven and is it good enough to repeat last year’s result here?
VB: I think we’ve been improving all the time so I think every race it’s the best car we’ve had, I think. It’s good that we’re making the right things because it seems like since last year nearly every single bit we’ve put on the car has made the car better so it’s a good direction and like I said, I’m just looking forward for this weekend to see how strong we can be, possibly even stronger than Austria but let’s see.
eom/FIA release
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Rossi resists Marquez to take victory at the Dutch Grand Prix
Assen (The Netherlands), 27th Saturday June 2015: Movistar Yamaha MotoGP‘s Valentino Rossi completed a perfect weekend at the TT Assen with an impeccable victory, the 111th in his career and his third of the 2015 season. Teammate Jorge Lorenzo also did a superb job at the overcast but dry track, coming from eighth on the grid, to take Yamaha to its fifth double podium of the season.Valentino Rossi kicked off the Dutch Grand Prix from pole with a dream start to take the holeshot. He held a 0,426 advantage to Marc Marquez after the first lap. The Doctor tried to break away from his encroaching rival and the rapidly approaching Lorenzo and responded by dipping under the previous lap record, but was unable to shake his pursuers off.
Rossi had Marquez on his tail by lap four, but used his YZR-M1‘s nimble nature to the fullest to keep him at bay. He held on to his position until the Spaniard made his move going into turn one with seven laps to go, but the Doctor was far from defeated. Refusing to let his rival go he stuck close to Marquez and bided his time for four laps before retaking the lead.
The following laps had the fans on the edge of their seat. Valentino rode a personal best time on the penultimate lap of 1‘33.673 to create a margin, but Marquez closed in on him in the second half of the last lap. The crowd went wild when the Spaniard made his move going into the chicane for the final time clipping the side of the YZR-M1 and forcing Rossi to run straight through a patch of gravel. The Italian did well to hold on to the bike and reentered the track in front of his rival to take his third win of the season with a 1.242s advantage.
It was a lonely race for teammate Jorge Lorenzo. Starting from eighth on the grid he flew off the line, taking fifth in the first corner. With his teammate in his sights he had an incredible first lap and started to claw his way to the front. He overtook Aleix Espargarò and Pol Espargarò to finish the first lap in third, but the passes cost him valuable time.
The Spaniard put his head down to close the gap to Marquez in second place, but was unable to join the front-runners. With no other riders to spar with, he focused on managing the gap to the rider in fourth place and crossed the line 14.576s behind his teammate, claiming his fifth podium in a row.
The results see Rossi hold on to the lead in the championship with a 163 points total. He is now 10 points ahead of teammate Lorenzo in second place.
There is little time for Rossi to recover from today‘s epic battle; he will be heading straight to the United Kingdom for the Goodwood Festival of Speed this evening and tomorrow. After this prestigious event, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP will move on to Germany for the next round at Sachsenring in two weeks’ time.
Bridgestone report adds:Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Valentino Rossi signed off a perfect weekend in the Netherlands by emerging victorious from a fantastic battle with Repsol Honda Team’s Marc Marquez to extend his lead in the MotoGP™ championship standings after the race held on a Saturday.Starting from pole position, Rossi led the opening laps of the race but was closely followed by Marquez throughout the twenty-six lap contest. After relinquishing the race lead to Marquez on lap twenty, Rossi was able to seize back the advantage with a few laps remaining and then held off an attempted pass by Marquez at the final chicane on the last lap to take victory by 1.242 seconds ahead of the reigning World Champion. A further thirteen seconds back in third place was JValentino-Rossi—Movistar-Yamaha-MotoGP—Dutch-MotoGP-race-winner-on-the-podium. A Movistar-Yamaha-image orge Lorenzo, who after starting in eighth place on the grid was able to scythe through the field on his Yamaha M1 to secure a place on the rostrum. All riders on the podium selected the medium rear slick for the race, but although both Rossi and Lorenzo opted for the soft compound front slick, Marquez selected the medium compound front slick for the race and was the only rider to use this option for the Dutch Grand Prix.
Weather conditions were slightly cooler than yesterday but fine throughout the day, with a peak track temperature of 32°C recorded during the race. The stable weather allowed the riders to circulate at record pace, with Marquez setting a new Assen Circuit Record Lap time of 1’33.617 on lap four while Rossi’s race finish time was also a new record, beating the previous best race finish time by over twenty-five seconds. Tyre choice showed a strong preference for the soft compound front slick, with all the riders except Marquez selecting this option, while for the rear tyre the field was evenly split, with twelve riders each selecting the soft and medium compound rear slicks.Rossi’s third victory of the year helps him extend his lead over teammate Lorenzo to ten points, while Andrea Iannone consolidates third position on the championship table and sits 46 points behind Lorenzo after taking fourth place at Assen.Hiroshi Yamada – Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Department“Today we saw a great battle for the race victory but in the end Valentino was too strong so congratulations to him and also to Yamaha for securing their sixth consecutive victory. I am happy that today we had the largest race day crowd at Assen since 2002 and it seems the great racing we are seeing on track is bringing more and more fans to MotoGP. I am very pleased that that new Circuit Best Lap, Circuit Record Lap and overall race time records were set this weekend, as Assen is a very demanding circuit and our tyre allocation performed perfectly. I am sad to hear the news that Stefan Bradl broke his scaphoid in a crash during the race and I wish him a speedy recovery and hope he is able to take part in his home race in a couple of weeks’ time.”Masao Azuma – Chief Engineer, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department“It was a bit cooler today but generally the conditions were very similar to what we experienced earlier on the weekend. As a result, tyre choice amongst the riders was the same that we saw yesterday afternoon in Free Practice 4 with almost every rider preferring the soft compound front slick. For the rear tyre, it was evenly split between the soft and medium compound rear and both of these options performed very consistently over race distance. It was good to have a weekend at Assen with generally stable weather conditions as this allowed the riders to show just how quickly and consistently they could lap at Assen on our latest generation of MotoGP tyres.”Valentino Rossi, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – Race Winner“This was a very important race for me as I was competitive all weekend and started from pole position. I pushed a lot for the whole race and my pace was very quick but Marc was able to stay close to me. I tried to play all my cards and my last two laps were really strong, but Marc tried to pass me into the last chicane but I was already through the corner. To take twenty-five points is important and it was a great victory here in Assen.”Dutch MotoGP™ Top Ten Race ClassificationPosRiderTeamRace TimeGapFront specRear specTyres1Valentino ROSSI Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 40’54.037 Soft Medium Bridgestone2Marc MARQUEZ Repsol Honda Team 40’55.279 1.242 Medium Medium Bridgestone3Jorge LORENZO Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 41’08.613 14.576 Soft Medium Bridgestone4Andrea IANNONE Ducati Team 41’13.146 19.109 Soft Medium Bridgestone5Pol ESPARGARO Monster Yamaha Tech 3 41’18.305 24.268 Soft Medium Bridgestone6Cal CRUTCHLOW CWM LCR Honda 41’18.410 24.373 Soft Medium Bridgestone7Bradley SMITH Monster Yamaha Tech 3 41’18.479 24.442 Soft Medium Bridgestone8Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 41’18.693 24.656 Soft Medium Bridgestone9Aleix ESPARGARO Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 41’20.762 26.725 Soft Soft Bridgestone10Maverick VIÑALES Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 41’21.275 27.238 Soft Soft Bridgestone -
Rossi claims phenomenal Pole position at the Cathedral
Assen (The Netherlands), 26 June 2015: Movistar Yamaha MotoGP rider Valentino Rossi wasted no time on Friday in the dry Q2 session to put in some incredible hot laps around the TT Circuit Assen, setting a new circuit best lap record of 1’32.627 and securing the 61st pole position of his career. Assen is the only venue which hosts the race on a Saturday.
Teammate Jorge Lorenzo was unable to ride the hot lap he had in mind and will start tomorrow‘s race from eighth on the grid.
Topping the combined free practice times after FP4, Rossi was determined to drop a hot lap during the 15 minute long time attack. He was the first man to leave pit lane and momentarily took pole before dropping down the order to eighth place. His second attempt didn‘t gain him any places, but his third hot lap moved him up to fifth.
He hastened back to his pit box for some fresh tyres with seven minutes left on the clock. After a minute he was ready to hit the track once more. The Italian was unable to improve on his next lap, dropping down to eighth in the ranking order, but this only seemed to motivate him even more. Completely focused on getting that all important front row start, he gave it his all on his final push and delivered a brilliant 1’32.627 lap to claim pole.Rossi‘s stunning pole is 0.835s quicker than the previous circuit best lap record set by Marc Marquez last year.
Teammate Lorenzo also posted some very competitive times, but was unable to keep up his front row qualifying streak of four in a row. He started the Q2 session with an opposite approach to his usual strategy. This time he was the last rider out of the box, to be assured of some clear track space. He briefly took provisional pole with a strong first flying lap of 1’33.146, before being pushed back down to fourth place. On his next lap he improved his time by 0.029s, moving up to third, and quickly returned to the pits for a new set of rubber.
He rejoined the track with a little less than six minutes left on the clock. The Spaniard posted a second fastest time of 1’33.044 on his next hot lap, before being pushed back to fourth. He improved his time by two thousandths of a second on his next lap, leaving him 0.415s from the front, but it was not enough to keep him on the second row. He will start tomorrow‘s race from eighth on the grid.
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