INDIA in F1

Author: David Bodapati

  • Ruhaan Alva finishes ninth overall in tough field

    Nottingham, October 6: Bangalore lad Ruhaan Alva capped his 2014 stint of karting in the United Kingdom with a commendable ninth overall in the ‘B’ final of the Little Green Man Championship at the PF International Circuit here on Sunday. He is with team Fusion Motorsport.

    The eight-year-old has moved out of the novice class, in which he got several podium places, and is competing in the overall category that has drivers more experienced than himself.

    “I am happy with the effort and look forward to coming back next year,” said an excited Ruhaan. “I was overjoyed when the spectators cheered me for overtaking six other experienced drivers. This gives me confidence. To finish ninth overall feels good, particularly since I am not competing in the novice class anymore.”

    Ruhaan was 10th fastest in qualifying out of a field of 30 drivers and had three heats to decide on the start order. He started 21st in the first heat and ended up finishing where he started. In the second heat he started sixth and was shunted out at the first corner and had to begin from last position and made up five places to finish 25th. In the final heat, Ruhaan started in 21st and finished 24th since he got blocked at the start.  

    Ruhaan poses in Nottingham. An Alva image
    Ruhaan poses in Nottingham. An Alva image

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  • Bianchi undergoes surgery at Mie General Hospital

    Suzuka, 5 October 2014: Marussia driver Jules Bianchi, who was involved in a serious-looking crash was operated for a head injury and is under observation. He is stated to be in a state of coma after the operation.

    Messages from all the teams and drivers are pouring in with prayers for his speedy recovery and support to family and friends.

    FIA statement:

    On lap 42, Adrian Sutil lost control of his car, spun and hit the tyre barrier on the outside of Turn 7. The marshals displayed double waved yellow flags before the corner to warn drivers of the incident. A recovery vehicle was despatched in order to lift the car and take it to a place of safety behind the guardrail. While this was being done the driver of car 17, Jules Bianchi, lost control of his car, travelled across the run-off area and hit the back of the tractor.

    Once the marshals reported that the driver was injured, medical teams were despatched and the Safety Car was deployed. These were followed by an extrication team and an ambulance.

    The driver was removed from the car, taken to the circuit medical centre and then by ambulance to Mie General Hospital.

    The CT scan shows that he has suffered a severe head injury and he is currently undergoing surgery. Following this he will be moved to intensive care where he will be monitored.

    Mie General Hospital will issue an update as soon as further information becomes available.

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  • Hamilton wins in Japan. Bianchi suffers serious crash

    Hamilton leads Rosberg before winning the shortened Japanese GP on Sunday. A Mercedes AMG Petronas image
    Hamilton leads Rosberg before winning the shortened Japanese GP on Sunday. A Mercedes AMG Petronas image

    Briton wins shortened race at Suzuka ahead of Rosberg and Vettel. Bianchi hospitalised after late-race crash.

    Lewis Hamilton extended his championship lead over Nico Rosberg to 10 points with victory in a rain-lashed, shortened Japanese Grand Prix. Nico Rosberg finished second, with Sebastian Vettel third. The race was marred by a heavy accident involving Marussia’s Jules Bianchi.

    With heavy rain falling before the start, the race began under the safety car but was quickly halted as conditions became undriveable. The cars were guided to pit lane where the field awaited a restart.

    That came after a 20-minute delay, with the cars again taking to the track behind the safety car. It was during this period that fifth-on-the-grid Fernando Alonso’s race came to an end. The Ferrari driver had a sudden power loss due to electrical problems and he was forced to pull over and quit the race.

    With the rain abating, drivers began to radio through that the track was almost good enough to swap from the starting wet tyres mandated by officials because of the conditions to intermediate rubber.

    The safety car left the circuit after nine laps and by lap 11 the field began to dive towards pit lane for intermediate tyres. First in was McLaren’s Jenson Button and his quick thinking allowed him to leap up the order. After the stops had played out, Rosberg led with a two-second advantage over Hamilton, with Button now third, having started from eighth on the grid.

    Behind him were the Williams pair of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa but with the FW36 looking ungainly in the wet, they were being quickly chased down by the Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo in sixth and seventh respectively.

    Vettel passed Massa for fifth on lap 16 with a deft move at the hairpin and then repeated the move on Bottas two laps later. Ricciardo wasn’t about to be left out and made his own perhaps bolder move, passing the Williams with moves around the outside through the ‘esses’ on laps 17 and 19.

    Ahead, Rosberg was complaining of severe issues with oversteer and when DRS was enabled in the improving conditions on lap 25 it was the cue for Hamilton to make a sustained assault on Rosberg’s lead. The championship leader eventually swept past his team-mate into Turn One on lap 29 under DRS. He immediately began to pull out a gap and it was clear that the battle for the lead was over.

    Behind them Vettel made an early second stop, looking to undercut third-placed Button. McLaren responded and brought the Briton in. However a a change of steering wheel saw Button stationary for too long and Vettel and Ricciardo swept by to relegate the McLaren man to fifth.

    Ricciardo ran a longer second stint, but it seemed to provide little advantage and when he eventually made his second stop he was passed by Button. However, he quickly used his pace advantage to close on the Englishman.

    The McLaren driver defended bravely for several laps and that allowed Vettel ahead to pull out a decent gap, which surely frustrated Riccirado.

    The Australian eventually moved past Button on lap 44 but by that time Vettel was five seconds up the road and it seemed the four-time Japanese Grand Prix winner had done enough to take third place.

    On the previous lap, Adrian Sutil had gone off track at Turn Seven and a recovery vehicle went to the scene to remove his stranded Sauber. A lap later, however, Bianchi went off at the same location and appeared to collide with the recovery vehicle. The safety car was dispatched, along with the medical car.

    Vettel pitted under the safety car for new intermediate tyres and rejoined behind Ricciardo. However with an ambulance also now on track the race was red-flagged on lap 47 of the allotted 53 and the cars guided back to pit lane. It was soon announced that there would be no resumption.

    With the result counted back to the end of the penultimate lap before the red flag was shown (thus, to lap 44) the order saw Hamilton take his eighth win of the season ahead of Rosberg, with Vettel third. Fourth place went to Ricciardo, with Button fifth ahead of Bottas, Massa, Hulkenberg and Jean-Eric Vergne, who put in an excellent drive to rise from 20th to ninth. The final point was taken by Force India’s Sergio Perez.

    Bianchi was quickly taken to hospital by ambulance. An update on his condition is expected shortly.

    2014 Japanese Grand Prix – Race Result
    1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 44 1:51:43.021 2 25
    2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 44 +9.1 secs 1 18
    3 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 44 +29.1 secs 9 15
    4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-Renault 44 +38.8 secs 6 12
    5 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 44 +67.5 secs 8 10
    6 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 44 +113.7 secs 3 8
    7 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 44 +115.1 secs 4 6
    8 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 44 +115.9 secs 13 4
    9 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Renault 44 +127.6 secs 20 2
    10 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 43 +1 Lap 11 1
    11 Daniil Kvyat STR-Renault 43 +1 Lap 12
    12 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 43 +1 Lap 10
    13 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 43 +1 Lap 15
    14 Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 43 +1 Lap 7
    15 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 43 +1 Laps 16
    16 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 43 +1 Lap 22
    17 Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 43 +1 Lap 17
    18 Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 43 +1 Lap 21
    19 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 43 +1 Lap 19
    20 Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari 41 Accident 18
    21 Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 40 Accident 14
    Ret 14 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 2 Electronics 5

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  • We are all concerned about our colleague, Bianchi: Hamilton

    DRIVERS

    1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    2 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes) 

    3 – Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing)

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by Nigel Mansell)

    What a race we just had ladies and gentlemen, a very tough one at the office for these gentlemen. Brilliant drives everybody. Lewis, your 30th win, my goodness me, how did you enjoy that?  

    Lewis HAMILTON: It was great. What a day it’s been. It’s been a very difficult weekend. Today, to be raining so much, it was very difficult, tricky conditions. We hope that Bianchi is OK. But we had a great crowd this weekend, as every year.

    Tell us about those hot laps, 15 or 16 laps before the end there. You were putting in some hot laps, a second or second and a half quicker than anyone? 

    LH: Yeah, I really got into a groove. In terms of feeling it was very reminiscent of Silverstone 2008.

    Tell the fans what you really thought when you went off at the first turn when you were really pushing hard early in the race? 

    LH: I was pushing to get by Nico and I had the DRS open and I forgot to turn it off. When I went into the corner the rear end stepped out. It was very, very close but I saved it.

    Well, a brilliant win. Nico, you did everything perfect, great pole position yesterday and then great drive. You were doing all the hard work, acting as the brake, because being out front is difficult isn’t it? 

    Nico ROSBERG: It’s been a good weekend for us as a team. Of course it’s great for us as a team to get a one-two. And you fans have been absolutely spectacular again this weekend, it’s very, very special to drive here and to really get an impression of the whole atmosphere here. Congrats to Lewis for winning today, of course with my thoughts at the moment with our colleagues Jules, because it seems quite serious, so I really wish him all the best.

    As we all do. Unfortunately, we don’t have any news about that at the moment. But brilliant drive and congratulations Nico. Seb, unbelievable drive, you made things very exciting with the Williams drivers, getting on the inside and then the outside. How did you enjoy that today? 

    Sebastian VETTEL: As they both touched on it was very, very tricky. Took a while to get the race started, waiting for the conditions but then I think it was very good fun. Concentration has to be very, very high when it’s wet; it’s so easy to do a mistake. In the end obviously we pitted, decided to go for fresh tyres, lost one position only. Obviously I got lucky to have the safety car coming before, so I’m quite lucky to be up here. Great race, we seemed to have great at some times as well. Overall, very happy and last but not least best to Jules Bianchi.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Lewis, an excellent race, the right result for you in very difficult conditions. 

    LH: Yeah, absolutely. It’s been an interesting weekend. Obviously a great result for the team. I think we’re all very concerned about our colleague, Bianchi. Don’t really know what to say. But again, to have the result, this has been a great weekend with the car; qualifying obviously wasn’t perfect for me but generally the car was absolutely fantastic through the race and once I was passed Nico I was able to really manage the gap and enjoy the ride. Obviously didn’t finish the way we would have hoped but really, my prayers are with him (Bianchi) and his family.

    Q: A great overtaking manoeuvre round the outside of Nico going down into the first corner; tell us about that. 

    LH: Fairly straightforward, really. I had a lot more pace than Nico. This is not a very easy circuit to follow but fortunately I was able to get quite close and particularly in the last corner and I think perhaps he had a small oversteer moment out of the last corner and I didn’t. Obviously the DRS enabled me to get alongside. I was fairly confident with the balance of the car so I put it there and stuck it out. And after that it was really about trying to… you know, the whole approach changed after that because I was attacking, attacking and after that, I kind of took different lines and managed it differently. But it felt very reminiscent of a time years and years ago, of 2008, and it was a great feeling in that respect.

    Q: And you had a couple of excursions but they didn’t really seem to hurt you at all. 

    LH: Yeah, I only remember one of them but yeah, I went into turn one with the DRS open and there’s so much less downforce when that wing is open. You’ve got to remember to close it again and then I started to turn and brake and it was still open, so the back end stepped out. It was very very close but yeah, kept hold of it, didn’t really lose too much time so fortunate.

    Q: Nico, we heard you talking about a lot of oversteer, is that what the problem was throughout the race? 

    NR: I was definitely not happy with my balance but I think we had pretty much the same set-up so Lewis must have had the same oversteer. I just wasn’t happy with that and tried to figure out a way to reduce that and found some improvements then with the pit stop, put down the front wing so that was a bit better but still not good so just need to look into that. But all in all, Lewis just did a better job today and deserves to win. OK, second place is damage limitation and taking everything into consideration, it was very very difficult conditions out there on this track and everything so seven points lost to Lewis… you know, there’s worse than that.

    Q: Sebastian, a late stop and we weren’t awfully certain if we’d see you or Daniel in here; it was a bit worrying with that late stop. 

    SV: Yeah, obviously we didn’t know what happened. The safety car came out and I think we were aware that Adrian went off in turn seven and obviously it was difficult to see what happened after that. From a racing point of view, the safety car comes in and we saw that there was quite a good gap and so we decided to pit and lost only one position. Obviously, as it turned out with the red flag, we thought initially we were not on the podium, but as the rules are similar to… I think a little bit of confusion. Five years ago in Malaysia I think we had a similar scenario and we found ourselves back in third. Obviously it was great to be on the podium, this is my favourite track, it’s for sure very nice in those tricky conditions. In the end, I don’t think it really matters. I think the most important thing, as we’re all probably thinking, is that we hope the best for Jules, obviously currently not in the best shape but we hope that we get some very good news very soon.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Question to all three of you: you were out in the last few laps on intermediates as well when the accidents happened. How slippery was it and was it already too wet for intermediates at that period of the race? 

    LH: For me personally it wasn’t. There was more and more rain coming and you could see the circuit… you started to see more reflections and so you could see that it was increasing –  the amount of water that was on the track, but it wasn’t… I didn’t notice any difference so I was still able to maintain the same pace. I would imagine that we would probably have been able to finish on those tyres since there was only ten laps left. Yeah, but the tyres performed quite well today.

    NR: Yeah, it was fine but the thing is that we have so much more downforce than some other people, so I can imagine that maybe for them… because it was starting to get a little bit more difficult for us and maybe for them, with so much less downforce, it was already on the limit of needing to go to full wets. That’s very possible and I myself was a little bit surprised to hear that other people were already going for full wets but I guess that must be the explanation.

    SV: Yeah, it was borderline. At some stage, towards the end, just before the safety car, it started to rain a little bit less with a little bit less intensity. Also when the race was stopped it was just a drizzle and a couple of laps before it was getting quite bad, that’s why we decided to pit and we decided to go for intermediates again. I think the problem, in general, is that once there is a lot of water, visibility is very poor and once there’s too much water, the inter doesn’t work any more and the extreme wet only has a very very narrow window where it works because also, with a lot of water on the track, water drainage on the extreme tyres is not as good as it probably should be, so that’s why I think the window is narrow and that’s why other people probably decided to pit. For us, I think it was borderline but for sure, the better your car, the better – Nico explained it well – the better it is for you.

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Nico and Lewis, do you have any kind of explanation of the difference of balance and settings for the car and the difference during the race between the two of you? 

    NR: We had pretty much the same set-up, so I’m sure the balance was similar for Lewis and I just struggled more with it I suppose: a lot of oversteer and I don’t like that.

    LH: Yeah, we had pretty much exactly the same set-up so as Nico said, maybe he took out some wing later on in the race. I didn’t really have any problems with the balance of the car. It was oversteery but it was manageable.

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  • Hamilton wins Japanese Grand Prix; Bianchi crashes, shifted to hospital

    Suzuka, 5 October 2014: Lewis Hamilton won the shortened Japanese Grand Prix, the 15th of the 10-race Formula One World Championship here on Sunday to extend his lead in the Drivers’ Championship to 10 points. It is a hat-trick of wins for the British driver for Mercedes AMG Petronas team after he won at Monza and Singapore, the last two races.

    The race was red-flagged twice and the Race Control declared that the race would not resume after the second Red Flag on Lap 46 as Bianchi and Sutil crashed out. Jules Bianchi, the Marussia driver was involved in a serious crash was said to be unconscious before he was shifted to an ambulance. Minutes before Sutil of Sauber too crashed as the same Dunlop curve. It appears that Bianchi hit the rescue vehicle and the FIA Press Officer Matteo Bonciani confirmed that Bianchi was shifted to a hospital.

    With 75 per cent of the race distance completed Hamilton, who won after starting from P2, pushed aside his teammate and championship contender Nico Rosberg to second place. Sebastian Vettel, who announced that he would be leaving Red Bull Racing, had to be content with a third place where he won four times in the past. His Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo was fourth.

    The race started behind a safety flag due to heavy torrential rains following a typhoon and was Red Flagged by lap three. Resuming and seven more laps behind the safety car, the leaders started to pull away and Hamilton overtook Rosberg on lap 29.

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    File photo of Hamilton by Mercedes AMG Petronas.
    File photo of Hamilton by Mercedes AMG Petronas.

  • Latvala eyeing his first asphalt victory: Rallye de France 2nd Day

    Latvala, Mikkelsen and Meeke continue to battle for Rallye de France Alsace honours

    Volkswagen Motorsport’s Jari-Matti Latvala has consolidated his advantage during the second day of Rallye de France Alsace and the Finn now has 28 seconds in hand with just 63.38 competitive kilometres to run on Sunday. Fellow Polo R WRC driver Andreas Mikkelsen has maintained second and while Kris Meeke continues to hold third, the Ulsterman has slipped further back, determined not to risk his position in an all-out fight.

    The second day took the crews south of Strasbourg for two loops of three stages separated by a remote service in Colmar, before heading down to Mulhouse for a short super special stage of just 4.86 kilometres. Latvala has been supreme during the event and dominated the morning, winning each of the first three stages to increase his lead. He won one of the repeated stages this afternoon, losing out to team-mate Sébastien Ogier on the other two, but has such a command of the leaderboard that he remains unchallenged by his rivals. He rounded the day off with a win on the super special stage too. Both Mikkelsen and Meeke have similarly run without problems and Meeke is determined to focus on his own rally and not get drawn into a fight that could push him into errors. He has however pulled clear of the chasing pack during the day.
    The battle for fourth has been intense; Dani Sordo, Mads Østberg, Mikko Hirvonen and Robert Kubica have all been fighting for the position and while Sordo held the advantage over the stages, the Spaniard has come under increasing threat from Kubica who has climbed from seventh to fifth and was just three-tenths of a second adrift of Sordo before the closing super special stage. At the end of the day, the rivals are split by only nine-tenths of a second. Hirvonen has maintained sixth, but also increased his advantage over Østberg when the Norwegian picked up a penalty for starting the penultimate stage late while he tried to repair a leak in the rear differential. Elfyn Evans has climbed from 10th to eighth and Bryan Bouffier is ninth despite a couple of half spins. Thierry Neuville rounds off the top 10, the Belgian not comfortable with the car set-up.
    Rallye de France Alsace – Unofficial Results after Section 6
    1.   Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila Volkswagen Polo R WRC 2hr 06min 40.4sec
    2.   Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Floene Volkswagen Polo R WRC 2hr 07min 08.4sec
    3.   Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle Citroën DS3 WRC 2hr 07min 34.1sec
    4.   Dani Sordo/Marc Marti Hyundai i20 WRC 2hr 08min 22.1sec
    5.   Robert Kubica/Maciej Szczepaniak Ford Fiesta RS WRC 2hr 08min 23.0sec
    6.   Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen Ford Fiesta RS WRC 2hr 08min 35.0sec
    7.   Mads Østberg/Jonas Andersson Citroën DS3 WRC 2hr 09min 45.0sec
    8.   Elfyn Evans/Daniel Barritt Ford Fiesta RS WRC 2hr 09min 57.2sec
    9.   Bryan Bouffier/Xavier Panseri Hyundai i20 WRC 2hr 10min 27.4sec
    10. Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul Hyundai i20 WRC 2hr 10min 44.1sec

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  • Sebastian Vettel says bye, bye to Red Bull; Daniil Kvyat in for 2015

    Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel statement on his website after deciding to leave Red Bull Racing: (It is rumoured that Vettel is moving towards Ferrari)

    After 15 very enjoyable and successful years with Red Bull, I have decided to leave Red Bull at the end of this year.

    Of course it is a big step and hard to make such a decision. The chance to drive in F1, the first win with Scuderia Toro Rosso, the four Championship wins with the Infiniti Red Bull Racing and many other great memories have bound Red Bull and myself together into a kind of family. No one can take these times away from us.

    Now I have decided to take the next step in my career but first I would like to express once again big thanks to Dietrich Mateschitz, Dr Helmut Marko, Christian Horner, the whole Red Bull Family, Infiniti Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso. I would like to thank everybody within Red Bull for their confidence in me, trust and great support over the last years.

    About my future plans, there will be an announcement very soon.

    Christian Horner, Principal, Infiniti Red Bull Racing, on Sebastian Vettel leaving the team…

    It’s one of those things; we have to look back and reflect on the great times we’ve had together, eight World Championships, four Drivers’ titles, four Constructors’ titles, 38 Grand Prix victories – it’s been one hell of a journey. He joined us as a young man and now he’s matured and he’s decided it’s time to move on, it’s his decision, we’re not going to hold him back and it’s an exciting time for us. We’ve invested in youth, we’ve invested in Sebastian and in Daniel and its yielded fantastic results. We’re excited about what the future holds and the young, exciting talent of Daniil Kvyat. It’s been a busy evening.

    On When Sebastian told the team…
    Sebastian informed us of his decision last night. It was emotional, but we can look back fondly.

    On whether it was a surprise…
    I know him well on and off track and you can see he’s had a lot on his mind recently; inevitably you don’t take a decision like this lightly, but it was last night that he sat down with us and told us for the first time. All I can do is wish him the very, very best for the future. He’ll still be close to our hearts here at Infiniti Red Bull Racing, but as of 1 January he’ll be a competitor.

    On what this means for the Team…
    It’s the end of a cycle of course, but inevitably this was always going to happen at some point. It’s also the start of a new cycle, Daniel is doing a great job this year and has got three wins already – he shows the new strength we have coming through and we’re excited about the prospect of Kvyat lining up with him. They’re the next generation.

    On Sebastian’s reasons…
    I think he reached a stage in his career where he fancied a new challenge, so that’s his prerogative and like in any relationship, if someone’s heart is not in it, then it’s time to move on.

    On the reasons for signing Kvyat

    Christian Horner. An Infiniti Red Bull Racing image
    Christian Horner. An Infiniti Red Bull Racing image

    so quickly…
    It’s been our philosophy for several years now to back youth and grow our own talent and that’s what we did with Sebastian Vettel. There were question marks when we signed him for 2009 and there were question marks when we signed Daniel for this year – and both have more than proven themselves. Daniil’s an exciting talent and prospect and it’s an exciting new dawn for Infiniti Red Bull Racing.

    Quote from Daniil Kvyat from Toro Rosso team: “It’s been a very special Saturday here in Japan today, as I was told that I would be driving for Infiniti Red Bull Racing next year. It’s a fantastic feeling and a great opportunity and honour for me, so I want to thank Red Bull for trusting me. As for Qualifying today, I’m happy with our general performance, but we could have done better. Q1 was fine, but in Q2, my last flying lap was disrupted by some slower cars in front of me. When I arrived in Turn 1, my tyres were not up to temperature and so the lap was compromised, as getting into a rhythm is very important here. But still, I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s race, whatever the weather may be!”

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  • Rosberg takes eighth pole of season at Suzuka beating Hamilton; Bottas P3

    Nico Roseberg, cente, takes pole in Suzuka on Saturday. A Mercedes AMG Petronas image
    Nico Roseberg, cente, takes pole in Suzuka on Saturday. A Mercedes AMG Petronas image

    Mercedes lock out front row as Hamilton takes second. Bottas and Massa third and fourth for Williams

    Suzuka, 4 Oct 2014: Nico Rosberg bounced back from the disappointment of losing his championship lead to team-mate Lewis Hamilton in Singapore by comfortably claiming his eighth pole position of the season in Suzuka, his first at the circuit, beating Hamilton to the front of the Japanese Grand Prix grid by two tenths of a second.

    Williams locked out the second row of the grid with Valtteri Bottas third ahead of team-mate Felipe Massa. Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso was fifth, for the sixth time this season.

    In the first session Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne was the early pacesetter, before Rosberg got things properly started with a lap of 1:37.671 five minutes into the session. That was soon eclipsed by Hamilton, who went six hundredths of a second quicker than his team-mate. Bottas slotted into third place ahead of team-mate Felipe Massa, with Alonso sixth.

    That order remained intact until the end of the 18-minute segment. Further back the drop zone was shaping up in largely predictable fashion, and before the final runs the final six places were occupied by Caterhams, Marussias, but also the Force India of Sergio Perez and the Lotus of Romain Grosjean.

    In the final-run shake-up Perez comfortably moved up to P13. Grosjean, though, was not so fortunate. The Lotus driver, complaining of “no traction, no grip on the option tyre”, was eliminated in 18th place. Also out were team-mate Pastor Maldonado (P17), Marcus Ericsson, Jules Bianchi, Kamui Kobayashi and Max Chilton.

    It was a close-run thing for the Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel in the opening segment. Vettel claimed his Q2 berth with a time of 1:35.517 that was good enough for P14, while Ricciardo went through a place behind.

    In the second session, the first series of runs saw Rosberg claim top spot ahead of Hamilton, with Bottas once again third ahead of Alonso and Massa.

    In the drop zone at this point were Ricciardo and Vettel, the Red Bulls again appearing to struggle. Ricciardo eventually eased into the top-10 shoot-out in P7 with a lap of 1:34.466. Vettel, though, scraped through in 10th place, just two tenths of second clear of 11th-placed Jean-Eric Vergne, who outqualified 13th-placed team-mate Daniil Kvyat by a tenth of a second.

    Out went 12th-placed Perez, Nico Hulkenberg in P14 and then the Saubers of Adrian Sutil and Esteban Gutierrez.

    In the final session, it was Rosberg who drew first blood, the German ending the opening runs in provisional pole position, with a lap of 1:32.629, just under three tenths of a second clear of Hamilton. Bottas was again third – just under four tenths down on Hamilton – with Massa fourth ahead of Alonso, Magnussen and seventh-placed Ricciardo. Button was eighth ahead of Vettel, while Kimi Raikkonen did not emerge from the Ferrari garage during the first part of the final 12-minute session.

    In the end Rosberg landed his eighth pole position of the season comfortably. The German set a personal best in the tricky first sector and then lit up the timing screens with session-best times in S2 and S3 to secure a lap time of 1:32.506. Hamilton had no response and the title leader finished two tenths down on his team-mate.

    Williams locked out row two, with Bottas ahead of Massa, while Alonso was fifth. Ricciardo will line up sixth for Red Bull Racing ahead of the McLarens of Magnussen and Button, while row five will see Vettel start ahead of Raikkonen whose sole lap, a 1:34.548, was only good enough for 10th.

     

    2014 Japanese Grand Prix – Qualifying Result

    1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:33.671 1:32.950 1:32.506 13
    2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:33.611 1:32.982 1:32.703 13
    3 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:34.301 1:33.443 1:33.128 16
    4 Felipe Massa Williams 1:34.483 1:33.551 1:33.527 16
    5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:34.497 1:33.675 1:33.740 16
    6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:35.593 1:34.466 1:34.075 17
    7 Kevin Magnussen McLaren 1:34.930 1:34.229 1:34.242 16
    8 Jenson Button McLaren 1:35.150 1:34.648 1:34.317 17
    9 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1:35.517 1:34.784 1:34.432 17
    10 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:34.984 1:34.771 1:34.548 16
    11 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:35.155 1:34.984 14
    12 Sergio Perez Force India 1:35.439 1:35.089 13
    13 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:35.210 1:35.092 13
    14 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:35.000 1:35.099 13
    15 Adrian Sutil Sauber 1:35.736 1:35.364 14
    16 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:35.308 1:35.681 14
    17 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:35.917 9
    18 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:35.984 10
    19 Marcus Ericsson Caterham 1:36.813 6
    20 Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:36.943 8
    21 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham 1:37.015 9
    22 Max Chilton Marussia 1:37.481 8

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  • I am very optimistic even if it rains: Nico Roseberg

    DRIVERS

    1 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

    2 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    3 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Williams )

    TV UNILATERAL

    Q: Nico, after the disappointment of Singapore, how important was this?

    Nico ROSBERG: I’m not thinking about Singapore any more. I’m here, Suzuka, here to try and win and so yeah, it was a great day today. Of course, it’s only one step on the way but really good. It was a real pleasure today because the car is so amazing to drive and on this track which is one of the most spectacular to drive in qualifying, low fuel, the tyre grip and everything. It was really cool.

    Q: Your thoughts on the weather tomorrow; how prepared are you for that?

    NR: As prepared as we can be. We’re expecting it, we’re expecting it to be wet. The last experience we have in the wet was Spa where our car was really really quick, so I’m very very optimistic actually. Even if it rains, it could be even better for us.

    Q: And what’s it going to be like with a strong wind as well?

    NR: I don’t know. For sure, the more windy it is, the more difficult it is out there, because the cars are very sensitive to wind but it will be fine.

    Q: Lewis, we’re used to seeing tiny margins between the two of you but it’s a relatively large margin this time. Tell us about what happened in your Q3?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Not too much, really. Nico was extremely quick today. I did the best I could. My guys did a fantastic job to rebuild the car after I binned it so a big thank-you for their hard work. Yeah, just today, wasn’t really feeling it. Don’t know why. It was still fast but Nico was fantastically fast today. But tomorrow’s the day when you get the points so I’m looking forward to all the different tricky weather that perhaps will come.

    Q: And you mentioned a little bit of a vibration at one point as well…

    LH: Yeah, I generally had that throughout the whole run. I don’t know if that was following the incident but maybe it was just the tyres imbalanced maybe but it didn’t get in the way of the result.

    Q: And was it difficult to have to get back in the car and immediately be on the pace after this morning’s accident?

    LH: No. That’s the way it is, that’s what we’re trained to do.

    Q: Valtteri, much better qualifying position for you, obviously compared to last year, your third third place this year as well, best of the rest, and 0.4s behind Mercedes. How does that sound?

    Valtteri BOTTAS: Not too bad, I think. They looked really really quick yesterday and even this morning so it was nice to get a little closer. They still have some margin and they’re going to be really quick tomorrow as well. But I think we need to be happy as a team, third and fourth, that was the goal today.

    Q: And how is the Williams going to be in the wet?

    VB: We know that we might struggle a little bit more in the wet but there now seems to be also a bit of a margin behind us so hopefully we can still fight for a podium if it’s really wet. But I think like everyone and for the fans, it would be really nice if we could really have a good race so that the rain would not be too much. Let’s hope for the best.

    Q: Nico, how important is pole going to be tomorrow? People have always said it’s very difficult to overtake around here; is that more or less the case in the wet weather?

    NR: Well, for sure it’s better to be first and second, so it’s some sort of an advantage but I don’t yet know how much. If it’s dry, then it’s more of an advantage, maybe if it’s wet a little bit less so but I’m still definitely happy to be on pole.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Your eighth pole position of the year so far and obviously a really good one around here, you really seemed to enjoy that one.

    NR: Yeah for sure. Today was a good day, I just felt very comfortable in the car, I had a good balance. Our car is just unbelievable out there today.

    Q: Are you basically going to be relying on the FIA to run the race depending on the weather conditions? Is there anything the driver can do?

    NR: I’m not really thinking too much about tomorrow. I’m sure they’re going to try and take the best decision for everybody, especially for the fans who are also coming out to watch the race. I’m sure it will be OK.

    Q: Lewis, when it comes to weather we’re expecting tomorrow, have you already set the car up for those conditions because obviously it’s going to be in parc ferme?

    LH: No, because we set it up for qualifying today.

    Q: So not for the race itself, not with a wet set-up or a huge amount of wing?

    LH: No.

    Q: Valtteri, what can you do for the expected weather?

    VB: Well, yeah, if the weather is like it’s expected to be, first of all I really hope we can have a race but it could be difficult, but it’s going to be difficult for everyone. In mixed conditions, a lot of things can happen. The main thing is that as we’re now starting with both cars from a good place the aim is to try and get all the points available for us to take. The main thing is to score the points.

    Q: Nico, finally, what’s that run like into the first corner because it looks incredibly quick; we’ve seen people go off there in the past, that’s where Lewis went off this morning?

    NR: It’s a very exciting corner, for sure, because it’s a bit difficult to feel the limit, as you’re coming towards there, and you just have to give it a guess and give it a go. It’s a good corner.

    Q: Especially when you’re got 21 cars behind you.

    NR: Yes indeed. That’s a bit easier then.

    Q: And finally, tell us a bit about the downhill start?

    NR: It’s not much different. You just have to keep a little bit of brake pressure on so that you don’t roll off the grid, so you don’t get a jump start and then it’s fine.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) To all three of you: the big rumours of the day are Sebastian Vettel leaving Red Bull…

    NR: That’s not a rumour any more.

    Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) It’s not a rumour, right. Sebastian leaving Red Bull and probably going to Ferrari.

    NR: That’s a rumour.

    Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) What do you think about this?

    NR: I don’t know. It was a big surprise. I find it good for the sport when there’s a bit of movement and there’s a bit of excitement. I think that’s all good. A bit of a change, change is always good. And interesting.

    LH: Has nothing to do with me, so…

    VB: Yeah, not much to do with me. I guess it’s nice to see a bit of change but it doesn’t change very much for me.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Lewis, on your last lap, I think, you locked the brakes at the hairpin. Was that a crucial moment when you lost out to Nico?

    LH: No, I don’t think so. I don’t think I lost any time with it. I just wasn’t quick enough today.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) And one to Valterri: how much have the upgrades on the car helped; would you have been in the same position with the old spec?

    VB: We probably would have still been in the same position but with not as good a lap time, so we definitely made gains since the last race. It’s positive to see the whole year, actually, always when we plan for some updates and we put them on the car and it always works so that’s a good sign for the future and those updates should also help us in the future races this year. That’s a good thing.

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  • Rosberg tops FP3 in Japan as Hamilton crashes

    Hamilton crashes as Rosberg fastest in FP3 on Saturday. A Mercedes AMG Petronas image
    Hamilton crashes as Rosberg fastest in FP3 on Saturday. A Mercedes AMG Petronas image

    Hamilton still fast enough for P2 ahead of Alonso, while Vettel and Raikkonen also hit trouble

    Suzuka, 4 Oct 2014: Nico Rosberg went quickest in the final practice session ahead of qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix, while championship leading team-mate Lewis Hamilton crashed out.

    After being second best to Hamilton in the first part of the hour-long session, run on hard compound Pirelli tyres, Rosberg jumped to the top of the timeseheet with his first run on the option medium tyres.

    Hamilton left the Mercedes garage for his run, but as he wound up for a flying lap the Briton went wide in Turn One, ran over a kerb and ended up going straight on across the gravel trap into the barriers. The impact was not heavy but the front-left wheel of his car was torn off, leaving his team with much work to get through before qualifying.

    Rosberg ended the session in P1. Hamilton’s best hard-tyre time, just under a second down on his team-mate’s soft-tyre best, was still good enough for second place. Fernando Alonso was third with a lap 1.2s down on Rosberg’s.

    Fourth place went to Williams’ Felipe Massa, with team-mate Valtteri Bottas rounding out the top five.

    Hamilton wasn’t the only driver to miss out on the option tyre runs at the end of the session. Midway through Sebastian Vettel, fresh from announcing that he will leave Red Bull Racing at the end of the 2014 season, reported that he was having problems with his RB10. He was told to box and then race engineer Guillaume ‘Rocky’ Rocquelin informed the driver that the problem was worse than first suspected and that it would need a “deeper look”. Vettel completed just six laps in the session and finished 15th.

    Kimi Raikkonen, too, was in trouble. Just before the switch to the option tyres the Finn was on the radio saying he was down on power. He was told to return to the pits where Ferrari later reported they would be doing a precautionary engine change.

    2014 Japanese Grand Prix – Free Practice 3 Times
    1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:33.228 14
    2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:34.210 0.982 10
    3 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:34.439 1.211 12
    4 Felipe Massa Williams 1:34.564 1.336 12
    5 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:35.061 1.833 16
    6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:35.086 1.858 13
    7 Kevin Magnussen McLaren 1:35.251 2.023 16
    8 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:35.494 2.266 8
    9 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:35.538 2.310 17
    10 Jenson Button McLaren 1:35.549 2.321 16
    11 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:35.732 2.504 15
    12 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:35.995 2.767 5
    13 Sergio Perez Force India 1:36.365 3.137 8
    14 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:36.407 3.179 22
    15 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1:36.460 3.232 6
    16 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:36.558 3.330 19
    17 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:36.617 3.389 12
    18 Adrian Sutil Sauber 1:36.626 3.398 20
    19 Marcus Ericsson Caterham 1:37.367 4.139 12
    20 Max Chilton Marussia 1:37.883 4.655 17
    21 Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:38.102 4.874 15
    22 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham 1:38.784 5.556 12

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