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Category: Formula 1
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Hamilton to fight back with a pole at Sepang
Hamilton (centre) take pole at Sepang to fight for championship lead with teammate Rosberg (left). An FIA image Sepang, 1 Oct 2016: After losing the championship lead to Nico Rosberg in Singapore two weeks ago, Lewis Hamilton today took the title fight to the German with a blistering qualifying lap at the Sepang Circuit that earned his eighth pole of the season for tomorrow’s Malaysian Grand Prix.
The Briton posted a final Q3 time of 1:32.850 and while Rosberg improved enough on his final lap to claim P2, he could not compete with Hamilton’s pace and ended up four tenths of a second behind his team-mate.
Red Bull Racing locked out row two, with Max Verstappen ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, while Ferrari took row three with Sebastian Vettel in front of Kimi Raikkonen.
In Q1, both Mercedes drivers were on track early, and on soft tyres Hamilton and Rosberg soon established themselves in P1, with the Briton to the fore with a lap of 1:34.444. Rosberg was less than two hundredths of a second adrift.
Behind them Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg was third ahead of Red Bull’s Daniel Riccirado who took fourth on medium tyres. Sergio Perez was fifth in the second Force India, while the second Red Bull of Max Verstappen was sixth. Like his colleague he set his time on medium tyres.
Ferrari also opted for medium tyres in the early runs in the final minutes Ferrari, perhaps concerned that others might greatly improve, sent Raikkonen and Vettel out on softs tyres. They immediately jumped to third and fourth respectively, and to safety. Verstappen too was forced to bolt on the softs at the end of the session just in case, though he safely made it through in P12 and backed out of the run early to save the set.
In the drop zone going into the final runs, though, were Haas’ Esteban Gutierrez, Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson, Felipe Nasr in the second Sauber, Manor’s Pascal Wehrlein, McLaren’s Fernando Alonso and the second Manor of Esteban Ocon.
Gutierrez went into the final runs just four hundredths of a second off Jolyon Palmer’s P16 time and the Mexican easily bypassed that in the closing moments, jumping to P16.
Palmer though erred and slipped down the order. It meant that he qualified in P19 behind Ericsson and Nasr. Also out went Ocon and Wehrlein and Alonso, who due to engine changes will take a sufficiently large grid penalty tomorrow to make extended running in qualifying pointless.
Mercedes were again on track early in Q2 and Rosberg was first across the line with a time of 1:33.609. Hamilton was tearing through the sectors, though, and despite a moment were he overran a kerb the Briton posted a time almost six tenths clear of the championship leader.
Behind them Red Bull took third and fourth with Verstappen ahead, while Ferrari were fifth and sixth. Fifth-place Raikkonen was just five thousandths of a second behind Ricciardo.
In the drop zone ahead og the final Q2 runs were the sole remaining McLaren of Jenson Button, the Haas cars of Romain Grosjean and Gutierrez, Renault’s Kevin Magnussen and the Toro Rossos of Carlos Sainz and Daniil Kvyat.
The top six as well as seventh-placed Felipe Massa of Williams all stayed in their garages for the final runs and it was left to the rest to tussle over the remaining Top 10 spots.
And it was Jenson Button who did the most to claim one of those spots. The Briton, who will tomorrow become just the third man in F1 history to start his 300th grand prix, jumped from P11 to P8 to seal a Q3 berth ahead of Hulkenberg and Perez. All of the top 10 in Q2 set their fastest time on soft tyres, so they will start the race on that compound.
Out then, from P11 back, went Valtteri Bottas, Grosjean, Gutierrez, Magnussen, Kvyat and Sainz.
Mercedes were again early adopters in the final top 10 shootout but Rosberg pile pressure on himself by making a mistake in the final corner. It would see him fifth after the first runs.
Hamilton though was finding time everywhere and at the end of his first run he’d set a blistering time of 1:32.850 to claim provisional P1. That was almost six tenths clear of second-placed Verstappen, with Ricciardo taking fourth ahead of Raikkonen, Rosberg and Vettel.
And it was a similar take in the final runs. Rosberg improved across the first two sectors but again he erred in the final sector. It was enough to secure the championship leader second place on the grid, however, as Verstappen failed to improve.
Ricciardo did improve, but it wasn’t enough to eclipse his team-mate and so he will line up fourth for the second year in a row. Ferrari took row three, while Perez was seventh ahead of Hulkenberg, Button and Massa.
2016 Malaysian Grand Prix – Qualifying
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:34.444 1:33.046 1:32.850
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:34.460 1:33.609 1:33.264
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:35.443 1:33.775 1:33.420
4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:35.079 1:33.888 1:33.467
5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:34.557 1:33.972 1:33.584
6 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:34.556 1:33.903 1:33.632
7 Sergio Perez Force India 1:35.068 1:34.538 1:34.319
8 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:34.827 1:34.441 1:34.487
9 Jenson Button McLaren 1:35.267 1:34.431 1:34.518
10 Felipe Massa Williams 1:35.267 1:34.422 1:34.671
11 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:35.166 1:34.577
12 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:35.400 1:35.001
13 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:35.658 1:35.097
14 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:35.593 1:35.277
15 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:35.695 1:35.369
16 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:35.605 1:35.374
17 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:35.816
18 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:35.949
19 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:35.999
20 Esteban Ocon Manor 1:36.451
21 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:36.587
22 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:37.155eom/FIA press release
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Too early to predict the direction F1 takes with the arrival of Liberty Media: Bob Fernley
TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Franz TOST (Toro Rosso), Robert FERNLEY (Force India), David RYAN (Manor), Eric BOULLIER (McLaren)
PRESS CONFERENCE
A question to all of you, we asked the other team principals the same question in Singapore, your thoughts on the arrival of Liberty Media in Formula One, what it means for the sport, and in particular what it means for the smaller and medium-sized teams?
Robert FERNLEY: I met Chase Carey for the first time, I found him extremely approachable and willing to listen, but I think it’s far too early to make any predictions of where things are going to go or even opinions on that. I think they need time to be able to look at where they are going and what plans they have for Formula One and then once they make their announcements on the direction they want to go I think then maybe we can make some comments but it’s too early to judge at this point.
David?
David RYAN: Well, I’ve never met the guy, so I can’t really comment from that point of view. I know what I’ve read, which is the same as the rest of you. Really, it’s a case of waiting. I’m sure that he didn’t buy into it not to make any changes and I wait to see what happens and see how it all pans out, but I’m sure it’s all good news.
And Franz, your thoughts, particularly with reference to the medium-sized and smaller teams?
Franz TOST: First of all, congratulations to Liberty Media for this fantastic deal, because Formula One in the meantime is a very well known trademark all over the world, thanks to Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley – they have done a fantastic job over the last 40 years. I assume that Liberty Media, as they belong to a very financially strong group, have a quite clear programme and plan of what they want to do with Formula One. Personally, I hope that Formula One will become much more interesting in America, that we will hopefully have three races over there – one on the east coast, one in Austin and one on the west coast – and I expect that especially on the media side they will work on our weak platform, the digital media and social media, and then for the smaller teams, from 2021 onwards, the money is being distributed in a much fairer way and equal to the teams and last but not least, together with the FIA, they will find a way to reduce costs in Formula One.
OK. Eric, obviously McLaren is not a smaller team, but your thoughts on the above?
Eric BOULLIER: Well, at McLaren we are very positive about the arrival of Liberty. They are used managing big business, connecting fans to media, so we believe it’s good for Formula One. At the same time, I think they will take their time to understand the business, where they want to bring the business, the show, the entertainment, to which level. We will see what they suggest and plan.
OK. Moving on Eric, tell us about the strategy around the updated Honda power unit this weekend and looking forward to next weekend in Suzuka. It seems to perform quite well today in the back of Fernando Alonso’s car, what’s decision on Jenson Button and where is this power unit improved?
EB: It’s mainly reliability-driven, so it’s a reinforced block and a few things on the engine. There is a possibility to exploit the PU a little bit better, but it’s not definitely right… not just pure power on top. So it’s mainly reliability-driven. I think we are happy with today, we did a lot of miles with no issue at all, so it’s just a green light for the future, for the end of the season. And as far as Jenson is concerned, when the mileage of his PUs reach the limit we will swap the engine.
That won’t be this weekend.
EB: No, not this weekend.
Thank you. Robert coming to you, Williams’ Rob Smedley recently said that his team should not get too hung up on its battle with Force India for fourth in the Constructors’ Championship, but what’s your team’s stance? Are you diverting resource to continue to develop this car to make sure you get that P4 finish?
RF: No, not at all. Our focus in terms of the design side is on the ’17 car and has been for some while. But I think there is more to come out of the ’16 package from a track engineering point of view and we continue to get performance out of it every week and as long as that happens we can hopefully take the battle to Williams all the way.
Thank you. Coming to you Dave, Esteban Ocon was here yesterday, saying in the Drivers’ Press Conference that it’s been quite tough to come into Formula One halfway through the season. So how do you, as the boss, assess his performance relative Wehrlein’s, given that Haryanto outqualified Wehrlein several times?
DR: I think Esteban is quite right. To arrive part way through the season into a team that has been developing along with Pascal is a big ask. We haven’t helped the situation because he hasn’t had the best of reliability up until now. But the kid’s fantastic. He’s got a fantastic attitude, he’s got huge potential and together with him and Pascal it’s a great driving line-up.
Q: Franz, we heard again here yesterday in the drivers’ conference Dany Kvyat saying he’s rediscovered his love for Formula One after the performance, the drive in Singapore last time out. How good a performance do you feel it was and is there still time for him to retain his seat for next year?
Franz TOST: He showed in Singapore a very good performance and it’s good to hear that he still loves Formula One, especially if he is driving for Toro Rosso. Daniil Kvyat is a high-skill driver, you know this because there’s a reason behind that he won the GP3 European Championship, and the way how he won it. He lost it a little bit in the last months but fortunately he is coming back. I hope that he will also do for the rest of the season good races that he shows his talent and his potential – and then we will see what happens in the future.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Kate Walker – motorsport.com) I’ve got a question for all of you please. One of the things that we have heard about the change in ownership is the potential introduction of a franchise system. I was wondering both what your individual opinions were and, if they differ from your owner or boards opinion, what the official stance was on the potential of a franchise operation?
Robert?
RF: I think… I mean the devil is always in the detail Kate, and I think we have to wait again and see what they’re proposing in terms of how the franchise is going to work up or whether it’s either going to be a full franchise program. But I think something that is giving Formula One stability, more importantly I think something that is anchoring the teams into Formula One, because it takes four or five years to build a team and whilst owners do come and go, the teams tend to be the same teams being transferred. I think it would be very, very good for the teams to have that stability and that security going forward. If the owner comes in and they perform well, then hopefully he or she can make a profit. If they don’t, then they take a small loss. It’s part of the trading. But I think it is a different view for Formula One and one that we should look at very positively.
David?
DR: Actually I think Bob put it very well and I support that view. I’ve heard lots of different approaches they’re going to take but until we get something firmly on the table, I can’t really comment. Bob’s view is correct.
Franz?
FT: I think it’s quite early days to discuss this and to think about this. We will see then, it’s a decision of Red Bull whether they buy shares on it or not and for the rest we will see.
And Eric.
EB: It’s difficult to have a strong opinion at this stage, y’know? Just based on the word ‘franchise’. We need to see the details of what they want to achieve. We don’t have yet the full picture, so I can’t have a strong opinion on this obviously. I think yes, what Bob said is true. If everything is happier in a better world everybody will be happy. Today I don’t know what’s going on, what’s going to happen yet.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Bob, it’s a year virtually to the day since you and Sauber registered a complaint with the EU Commission in Brussels. First of all I’d like to know some progress to date in the past year but before we do that, I’m now advised from Brussels that you and Sauber are possibly looking at filing some complaint in the US as well, an anti-trust complaint. If you could comment on that as well please and give us some idea of the progress. And then the other three, have you received requests for information from the commissioner in connection with this particular case.
RF: Yes, let’s… probably start from the beginning I think Dieter is the easiest one. Yes, we have put the complaint, that’s common knowledge, I think about a year ago, it has gone through due process and I can confirm it has gone to next level in terms of a request for further information from the EU. Who those have been sent to, I don’t know. From our point of view, because we’re in legal process with them, we can’t say anything about what we’re doing – but I can confirm it is at that stage from an EU point of view. With regard to your question on the US legal matters, I think, you know, it’s not appropriate for us to discuss something where we’re getting legal advice. It’s probably a bit speculative – but for sure everything is still on the table from our side. We are very, very committed to challenging what we believe is a very anti-competitive system with these bi-lateral agreements. Whatever it takes to deliver that, we will certainly look at.
And the second part of the question, to the other three, have you been requested any information from the EU? Eric?
EB: No.
Franz?
FT: No
David?
DR: Not that I’m aware of.
Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and Speedsport) Gentlemen, the provisional calendar for next year is another 21 races. The new owners of Formula One are on record saying they want to add more races. At what point do you have to start rotating crew and would you have to add staff or is there enough back at home to do that?
EB: I think we are at the limit already so if there would be more races, we would have to have a rotating system with staff people. And no, we don’t have reserve people back in the factory so that means we would have to hire some people.
FT: That’s the same. I think that 20/21 races is quite a good number and if additional races come onto the calendar we also would have to think of a rotating system to bring in more people, because otherwise it’s difficult to handle everything but if we have more races, we also have more income and therefore it shouldn’t be a problem. In the end, there must be a profit for the teams otherwise it doesn’t make sense.
DR: I go back to the days when we had 14 races and that was too many so… Twenty-one feels like it’s too many but if they’re talking 25 races… Dan, I guess it depends what the package is. Maybe they are two-day events, maybe it’s a different format. Again, until we know what they really are asking for or what they’re thinking of, it may be that it works or not. We just have to wait and see.
RF: Same as Eric. We would need to increase the personnel significantly to be able to bring in reserves.
Q: (Chris Lyons – AP) Bob, in Singapore Sergio said that he felt sure that his contract would be organised by the time we got to Malaysia. Now he’s saying if it doesn’t happen by Japan, he’s going to look elsewhere. Can you give us some insight into what the hold-up is? Is it the commercial aspect, sponsorship aspect of the contract or is there something else?
RF: No, there’s nothing else. The driver contracts have been completed for quite some time, as you know. Vijay announced that some time ago and it’s literally dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s on the commercial side and if it takes a week, that’s wonderful, if it takes a couple of weeks, so be it. It’ll happen, we’re very confident that Checo will be with us next year. I don’t think we ever deviated from that.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Eric, there’s a report in Autosport this week that Honda are expanding their facilities in the UK in preparation or possible preparation for a second team. The way that I understand it McLaren needs to approve this. Is it something that McLaren’s in favour of? Would McLaren like to see a second team and what sort of level of development are we at given that you’re partners?
EB: Well, we had a position in the past, obviously, where we both agree with Honda that it would be better to focus on us, on one team. As you know, the regulations have changed as well. In the future there will be some obligation for an engine manufacturer, and I think that at some stage it’s going to be interesting for maybe Honda and the McLaren-Honda package as well to have another team but we don’t know when, so we see this as them just making themselves ready with the possibility in the future that it can happen but so far we are still one team and focused on McLaren.
Q: (Chris Lyons – AP) Just to follow up to that question to the other three: it’s clearly too late for 2017 but would you be interested in a Honda supply and how soon could that happen?
FT: We have a Renault contract.
DR: I think we’ve got the best engine on the grid in our car at the moment so we’re fairly OK with that.
RF: We’re also committed through to 2020 with our engine supplier and have a very strong relationship with Mercedes.
eom/FIA transcript of the Press Conference
Bob Fernley (top row left) of Force India at the Friday Press Conference in Sepang. An FIA image -
Definitely we aim for 4th place and we are working hard for it: Hulkenberg
DRIVERS – Jenson BUTTON (McLaren), Felipe MASSA (Williams), Esteban OCON (Manor), Daniil KVYAT (Toro Rosso), Nico HULKENBERG (Force India), Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)
PRESS CONFERENCE
Jenson let’s start with you. Your 300th grand prix, only the third driver to do it, it’s a big number. What does your place in Formula One history mean to you?
Jenson BUTTON: That’s a good question that deserves a very long answer and I’m not going to give it to you here. It means I have been around for a hell of a long time. I remember when Rubens got to 300 – it was unbelievable that he’d reached 300 grands prix. I was like, “I’m never going to race for that long”. I remember when I started in 2000 – I’m not going to give you my life story – but when I started in 2000 I remember speaking to my dad and he said: “How long do you think you’re going to race for?” and I said: “No! I’ll be done by the time I’m 30 years old.” And here I am at 36 and this weekend I’m starting my 300th grand prix. It definitely sucks you in, Formula One. It doesn’t let go for a long time, as long as you are performing. So it’s been a great ride to 300. Lots of ups and downs, as every career will have, and the important thing is that you stay on top of those bad times and you enjoy the good times as much as you can, because you never know how long they are going to last. A very exciting career to this point, 300 races, and if any of these guys can achieve it around me, fair play to them, because it’s a long time doing the same thing.
Now, Honda have said, going into this weekend, they’re going to review whether to use updated power units, presumably with tokens used, during the weekend at some point. What will be the decisive factors and what would you personally like to do from a strategic point of view looking at this race and at their home grand prix in Suzuka?
JB: Obviously they don’t want to take any penalties in Suzuka, which is completely understandable. It’s basically our second home race. Here – I can’t speak for the other car – but I personally won’t be having a penalty. It will be a normal weekend for me.
OK, that’s very clear, thank you very much for that. Nico Hulkenberg, coming to you, Force India are now fourth in the Constructors’ and have outscored Williams 39 to 19 in the last five races. Is there a belief in the team that you can beat them at the end of the season?
Nico HULKENBERG: Yeah, absolutely, of course. We’re doing well, especially since Barcelona the second half has been quite successful. The scores and the points back that up. But obviously there is still a long way to go. For us we definitely aim for and target that’s fourth place, but Sunday night in Abu Dhabi, that’s when we count everything and that’s when we have to be ahead. Now it’s a tight margin, they’re not going to give it to us for free. We have to work for it and yeah, make it work.
Let’s throw that same question to Felipe. Is that scoring ratio causing concerns internally at Williams and how are you addressing it?
Felipe MASSA: It’s definitely a big fight. So they are doing a very good championship. I think they improved the car a lot during the season. I believe we can fight them to the end and I believe maybe we can finish in front of them. But you don’t know. You will count race to race the amount of points we are doing compared to them, so I would say some of the tracks you have now are a bit better than some of the tracks we did, like maybe Singapore, the road tracks where they really have a very quick and competitive car. The circuits now are a little bit better for us, but the fight will be race by race and I hope we can do it.
And back to Nico Hulkenberg: you’re both using the same engine, so what’s giving your side the added value?
NH: The car hopefully. It is close and I think it will be a battle all the way to the end. I think good clean weekends, consistent from here is very important, maximise the opportunities we get, and yeah, that will determine at the end who will be fourth.
We’ll move on to Dany Kvyat and come back to Felipe in a moment. You said after the Singapore Grand Prix performance that you had rediscovered your love for Formula One after a tough few months. Why? What was so special about that race for you?
Daniil KVYAT: Well, it was an enjoyable race first of all, first time in a while, because we managed to have a good start. We were fighting all the race for quite high positions and it was a bit of a relief for the whole team to find ourselves fighting for the usual positions we used to fight for. Even though maybe the final result left us slightly disappointed, but the race itself was exciting. It was full of good fights. It was always promising pace. Our car was quite kind with the tyres and hopefully it’s a good confidence boost for the whole team, including myself.
It’s no secret that Toro Rosso lost the way a little bit with an update introduced around the time of the German Grand Prix, which seems to have been rectified now, so how confidently do you approach the reaming races of the championship?
DK: Well, like I said, Singapore gave us good indications. Obviously there were a lot of tests carried out by the people in the team and hopefully there was a few things discovered. Obviously we had a good Singapore but now we need a few more confirmations and hopefully they will arrive here in Sepang, even though the track layout is a bit different, maybe not as favourable as Singapore. Probably it won’t be an easy one for us but we will hope to have another confirmation that we are moving in the right direction from Singapore onwards.
Q: You made the announcement in Monza about your retirement at the end of this season, it’ll be your 250thgrand prix in Abu Dhabi. Do you now arrive at these grands prix between now and the end of the season with a slightly different mindset? Are you determined to enjoy every experience, to take the most out of every grand prix?
FM: Yes, definitely! I’ll just enjoy massively doing what I’m doing – since I always did in my life. In a way you can say I have less pressure now – but we do have a lot of pressure with this fight with Force India. I just want to give everything I can to finish well, to get the fourth place in the Championship and enjoy every race, enjoy every moment. I’m still really happy with my decisions so I’m sure there’s a lot to do in life for this second step so, as Jenson was saying before, it’s a really long career, so even if we are pretty young… y’know you stop pretty young, he’s 36, I’m 35 and you’re like, retired! That’s why there’s still a lot of things to do in life. I’m really ready for that and happy. I’ll have a little bit more time at home as well. So, yeah, just thinking… so many things for the future and enjoying every race, every moment in different countries, different places. Really it’s fantastic to see all the support from the fans. From everybody around the sport. Enjoying the moment.
Q: Esteban, you’ve finished all of your grands prix so far. How do you assess your performance in qualifying and race compared with your team-mate?
EO: Coming into the season with less experience, of course, it’s not an easy thing. We had some ups and downs I think. We are pretty happy with the first grand prix we did. I improved quite a lot during the weekend. Of course it was my first grand prix so the pace was not great but we were pretty happy with that. Then unfortunately in the second qualifying in Monza we had a problem so we couldn’t show our pace, but I think we could have done a great result there. And in Singapore it has been a bit more difficult. So, we have to put all the details together and come back stronger for this race.
Q: If you look back through recent history, Alonso, Ricciardo, they all started out in a similar level team to the one you’re in at the moment, to learn the ropes in Formula One. Do you think another year at that level would be good for your development – especially, as you say, given that you came in, in a difficult situation quite late this year?
EO: For sure. The more you drive, and more you take experience. Any year, any races would help me. For sure. Getting in, after three races, you start to discover everything and start to build up a strong relationship with the team and see how they work. It’s a lot of details that you have to put right and once they are right, you can start to see some performance.
Q: Nico, Mercedes can wrap up its third consecutive Constructors’ Championship this weekend. How does this year compare from the team’s point of view to the two previous ones. What’s stood out for you about this year?
NR: It’s been another incredible year really. Every time we think it can never repeat itself and be as good as that again, and yet we manage to do it again. And this year as well now, so early in the season we have the opportunity to clinch the Constructors’ Championship, which is phenomenal. Everybody’s done an unbelievable job. Very impressive.
Q: It’s an open secret that the Mercedes team feel that your qualifying lap in Singapore is the best that you’ve driven since you’ve been with them – and Toto Wolff said it was the most complete, I think, performance he’d seen from you across the whole race weekend. What can you take out of that Singapore weekend that will make you a consistently strong competitor to the end of the season?
NR: I don’t need to take anything from the Singapore weekend. It was a great result, great weekend and all, so I’m very happy about that, but now it’s in the past. Now I’m here in Sepang and ready to go. Of course I believe that I have a great chance to win here as well. Just going to try to go for that.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Nico, you are all the time insisting that you are not thinking about the championship. How can you avoid it when you are leading the championship?
NR: It’s not that I don’t think about it – I’m aware of the situation, I’m aware of the points and whatever else – that’s fine but I try and focus on the race weekend I have in front of me because that’s been working really well for me to do that and not think about anything else. That’s it. I want to win here in Sepang and I’m going to go for that.
Q: (Daniel Johnson – The Daily Telegraph) Another one for Nico. You guys leave no stone unturned in trying to beat each other – just out of interest, does that extend to things like the event you and Lewis were doing at the mall the other day? Are there silly little games that go on? Do you try and unsettle each other, nobble each other, anything like that?
NR: It’s not quite that extreme, that we’d be doing stuff at the mall, no. It’s not. But yes, for sure, we’ll be pushing each other very hard on the race track and even off the race track in many different areas, yeah, definitely. It’s a great battle and everything counts.
Q: (Chris Lyons- AP) Felipe, the calendar for next season came out with an asterisk next to Brazil saying it’s to be confirmed. Are you disappointed with the state of things in Brazil and how confident are you that it will stay on the calendar?
FM: Well, to be honest, I think it’s very difficult to answer in a proper way. We are just racing and we don’t know what’s happened behind (the scenes) with the contracts. Sometimes you just see some pressures over a country because maybe something’s not working like Bernie – or who decides – is thinking. We know that you always have pressures around. It’s not nice, definitely. Brazil is part of this sport, it’s part of Formula One since a very long time so it would be really disappointing to lose a race in Brazil even if I will not be there. But I will be supporting my country for new Brazilian drivers, so I know the situation in Brazil is not really easy for the moment economically, so this is maybe some fact around this. But you never know, maybe this is just some pressure but maybe this can happen as we saw it happened last year in Germany. I hope it will not happen to Sao Paulo, Interlagos. It’s also one of the most fun and great races to watch so I hope the best for them, for my country, for Brazil and I hope these guys will still enjoy their race in Brazil.
Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) To all of you, how will the new tarmac affect your way of driving during the Grand Prix?
Q: Let’s start with Jenson; have you done your track walk yet?
JB: Er, no, but I’ve seen lots of pictures. It’s dark so that’s a major difference. I think it’s going to… with the temperatures that we see here anyway are very high, so if it’s clear then the temperatures are going to be very high on track, which obviously has quite a big effect on the way the tyres work. It’s very smooth, from what I see. Obviously we’re going to try and watch every practice session that runs today. You get a better understanding. What else? And the last corner is obviously very different with the off-camber but yeah, I don’t know if it’s similar to Sochi or not but it seems like it, the bitumen, the way that the asphalt is. So it might be a completely different circuit, but we won’t know until tomorrow, probably get a bit of an understanding from watching GP2 and GP3.
NR: It will be a big challenge because it will be very different and we all need to adapt to the new asphalt, which we don’t know how it’s going to handle here.
EO: I have been around on a track walk but it will be my first time on this track so I come here as I don’t know how it was before.
NH: Neutral, same for everyone but generally the smooth tarmac… we’ve seen recently we perform quite well on that so hopefully again here.
DK: I think I just copy and paste Jenson’s answer. It was perfect. It’s enough.
Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS.NL) For the five drivers who raced here before: what is your best Sepang memory?
JB: I’m the oldest. Yeah, I won here which was a pretty good memory, back in ’09. It was also quite a strange race. The rain was so severe that we had to red flag the race and it wasn’t restarted. I won the race but I got half points which was a bit of a pain. It’s always been a great circuit to race on, it’s also the place where I scored my first podium in 2004. I was running in third place in 2002 as well. On the last lap my suspension failed and handed the third place to Michael Schumacher. So that would have been my first podium. So this place… I’ve got lots of memories from here.
FM: Well, actually I always love this place, the circuit, the layout. I never won but I twice started on pole position, 2007, 2008. I will keep those memories but I was never on the podium here. Amazing. But I really love the circuit. I’ve had some great races, even if I wasn’t on the podium. Hope this one will be a better one.
NR: Just the track which is a really cool track to drive on. That’s it.
NH: I think my best or favourite memory would be qualifying 2010, coming here in my rookie year. I think it was only my second event, qualifying went pretty well, like full wets. In the conditions it was going pretty well, I think I qualified fifth or something so that was good fun and probably my best memory here.
DK: Yeah, actually quite a special track because I did my first ever race here in Formula BMW and won my first ever race in Formula BMW in single seaters, so it’s quite cool memories.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Esteban, you started in the Formula Three European championship when you were very young, you won the championship, you beat future Formula One star Max Verstappen. Then you moved to GP3, in your first season you won the championship. Now you’re in Formula One, the reality is very different. Can you make a comment on the main difficulties you are facing, the challenge is maybe higher than you expected or less?
EO: No, I don’t think it’s harder than I was expecting. I was expecting it to be hard, coming after eleven Grands Prix or twelve Grands Prix. It’s never easy if you come in any championship at halfway through the season, all the drivers have had time to work on everything, on all the points and you arrive, you have to catch up everything again, so of course it’s tough. But at the end, you are working for the same thing and the important thing are the tracks. For sure there is much more things to do in F1 and you work with many more people. But at the end, it’s the same thing and the track is the important bit.
eom/FIA transcript of the press conference
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Rosberg wins Singapore GP to take championship lead; Hamilton takes third
Singapore, 18 Sept. 2016: Nico Rosberg once again took control of the F1 Drivers’ Championship standings as he sealed his eighth win of the 2016 season just half a second clear of Red Bull’s Daniel Riccirado who almost overhauled the German in the final stages of the race. Lewis Hamilton was third.
The race got off to a dramatic start as a hard charging Nico Hulkenberg powered forward from eighth on the grid. Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz was also trying to get ahead, however, and as the Spaniard moved across the pair collided. Hulkenberg was pitched into the pit wall. With his Force India heavily damaged and with debris strewn across the track the Safety Car was
Nico Rosberg waves to the crowd after winning the night race at Singapore on Sunday. An FIA image deployed, neutralizing the race.
At the front, pole position man Rosberg had made a good start and held the lead ahead of Ricciardo who had also made a good getaway. Behind them, Lewis Hamilton held third place.
However, fourth-on-the-grid Max Verstappen in the second Red Bull made a poor start and dropped back to eight place under the safety car. The Dutch teenager would spend the rest of the race toiling on the fringes of the top 10, mostly with Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat, before hauling himself up to P6 in the final third of the race.
When the safety car left the track Rosberg began to cement himself into the lead and by the time of the first round of stops, the German was seven seconds ahead of the Australian, Hamilton a further four seconds back. At the rear of the field Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who had started in P22 due to a mechanical issue in qualifying, was already up to P10 as he passed slower cars and his soft tyres allowed him to stay out longer than rivals.
For the drivers at the front the second stint saw Mercedes losed some ground as Ricciardo, on a second set of supersofts reduced Rosberg’s advantage to less than three seconds. Hamilton, struggling with brake issues, was chased down by Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and on lap 34 the Finn muscled his way past to claim P3 just before they made their second stop
Vettel, meanwhile, was continuing to scythe through the order and by the time of his second stop he was sixth.
As the final third of the race approached Hamilton made a last roll of the dice, making a third tyre stop on lap 45 for ultrasoft tyres.
Fearing that Raikkonen might be overahauled in the final laps if he stayed out on old tyres, Ferrari reacted. The stop was not smooth, however, and the Finn emerged behind the champion, leading him to question the mechanics of the stop.
At the front Rosberg was looking secure, but on lap 47 Red Bull too gambled. With the gap back to Hamilton now more than safe thanks to his stop, Ricciardo pitted for supersoft tyres.
The Australian emerged some 27 seconds behind Rosberg and after briefly considering a reactive stop, Mercedes opted to leave Rosberg out on track.
Across 14 intensely exciting laps Ricciardo almost succeeded. Within five laps he had taken more than 10 seconds out of Rosberg’s advantage and the seconds continued to fall away. He continued to press and by the final sector of the final lap he was inside DRS range as he and Rosberg hit traffic. The German held his nerve, however, and he kept Ricciardo at bay to cross the line just 0.488s ahead of the Red Bull.
With Hamilton third ahead of Raikkonen, Vettel’s superb driver from P22 led to a deserved fifth place. Verstappen passed McLaren’s Fernando Alonso in the final third to take sixth place and behind the Spaniard Sergio Perez was eighth for Force India. The final points positions were taken by Kvyat and Renault’s Kevin Magnussen.
eom/FIA press release
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Hulkenberg to start in eighth place: Singapore GP
Singapore, 17 Sept 2016: Sahara Force India performed well in Saturday’s qualifying session for the Singapore Grand Prix with Nico Hulkenberg ending the day in eighth place ahead of Sergio Perez in tenth. However, Perez is expected to start the race from P18 following a grid penalty for yellow flag violations during a qualyfying session. The Mexican was also handed three penalty points on his licence for the two double yellow infringements and for overtaking under yellow. This is the first penalty on licence for him this season.Sahara Force India is currently placed in the fifth place in the Constructors Championship with 108 points, three points behind Williams. With Force India expected to be stronger in the fly-away Asian races, the fight for the fourth place assumes significance. Sergio Perez with 62 points is ahead of Nico Hulkenberg in the 8th place in the Driver’s Championship. Nico is once place behind with 46 points.The team had its best result in its nine years of Formula one, when it bagged 22 points with Nico and Sergio finishing fourth and fifth, just outside the podium in Belgium last month.The team is expecting to earn crucial points in the night race at Singapore.P8 Nico Hülkenberg VJM09-03Q1: 1:46.081Q2: 1:44.737Q3: 1:44.479Nico: “I’m not entirely happy with eighth place. I believe there was more speed in the car – maybe two of three tenths – but it was quite a messy session and we couldn’t extract the maximum from it. We always felt that Q3 was a realistic target, but we faced some strong competition, especially from the Toro Rossos. It was quite hard to find my rhythm because I had a software issue in Q1 and then the yellow flags in Q2 meant I didn’t complete my second lap. Considering all the circumstances, eighth place is a reasonable result and I think we are in good shape for the race. The long run performance from yesterday looked solid and we’ve done the homework we need ahead of the race.”P10* Sergio Perez VJM09-02Q1: 1:45.204Q2: 1:44.703Q3: 1:44.582Sergio: “It was a very tricky session for me – pretty much like the rest of the weekend so far. We had a few technical issues yesterday and we had to make some compromises with the set-up to get a better feeling with the car, so to make Q3 was a good result. The final session was very tight and a couple of hundredths would have moved us up the grid. I’m disappointed to receive the grid penalty because I did significantly lift off for the yellow flags during Q2. Tomorrow’s race is going to be very long and the chance of a Safety Car is very high. It’s one of those races where just getting to the end gives you a chance of points: anything can happen and we need to make the most of every opportunity.”Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal“Even though we saw both our cars through to Q3, there was definitely a sense that we didn’t maximise our full potential this evening. Both drivers found it difficult to find their rhythm and there were various issues that disrupted the flow of qualifying on both sides of the garage. A few tenths here and there would have certainly moved us up the grid. Looking ahead to the race, I’m wary of making any bold predictions. It’s always a long race, close to the two-hour mark, and there will be plenty of opportunities to show our competitive race pace and hopefully collect some valuable points.”File photo of Nico Hulkenberg from Sahara Force India. eom/Force India press release
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Rosberg takes pole ahead of Ricciardo; Hamilton P3: Singapore GP
Rosberg after taking Singapore pole on Sunday. An FIA image Singapore, 17 Sept. 2016: Nico Rosberg set a blistering pace to claim pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix finishing half a second clear of Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo and seven tenths ahead of championship-leading team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
FP1 got underway with Mercedes making the first move, both Hamilton and Rosberg taking to the track early on ultrasofts. Rosberg drew first blood with a time of 1:45. 316, but that was quickly bettered by Hamilton who went 1500ths of a second quicker.
Kimi Raikkonen then took over at the top of the order with a lap of 1:44.964. Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen then slotted into P2, just seven hundredths of the a second behind the Finn. As the team’s prepared for final runs Daniel Ricciardo hit the top of the timesheet with his first hot lap of 1:44.255.
Sebastian Vettel was in trouble, however. “I think the front anti-roll bar broke,” said the German as he headed to the pit lane in P21, with six minutes to go.
Ahead of the final runs the drop featured Renault’s Kevin Magnussen in P17, followed by Sauber’s Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson, the Manors of Pascal Wehrlein and the unfortunate Vettel in P22.
And despite frantic work in the Ferrari garage, the team could not get Vettel out for a final run and the four-time Singapore Grand Prix winner exited qualifying in P22.
Prior to the final runs it was Renault’s Jolyon Palmer who was the target man in P16 with a lap of 1:46.960 and in the final shake-up it was Sauber’s Ericsson who best beat the Briton’s benchmark to claim a Q2 berth. Out then went Magnussen in P17, followed by Nasr, Palmer, Wehrlein, Ocon and Vettel.
Q2 again saw the Mercedes drivers take to the track early and Rosberg quickly hit the front, with a quick lap of 1:43.020, followed by Hamilton who was four tenths back.
However, Red Bull Racing’s drivers took to the track with supersoft tyres and Ricciardo soon jumped to P3 with a time of 1:43.933, almost two tenths ahead of team-mate Max Verstappen in P4. That put them ahead of the ultrasoft–shod Ferrari of Raikkonen and Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz.
Meanwhile, in the drop zone ahead of the final runs were: McLaren’s Jenson Button, Force India’s Sergio Perez, the Haas of Esteban Gutierrez, the second McLaren of Fernando Alonso, the second Haas of Romain Grosjean and Ericsson. The target man this time was Williams Felipe Massa in P10 with a time of 1:44.991.
But the quest to beat him was only afforded to a few as Grosjean crashed his Haas to bring out the yellow flags. Alonso and Perez managed to get a time in, however, and their times meant that out went Williams’ Valtteri Bottas and Massa, Button, who also broke his steering in a scrape with the barriers on his final run, Gutierrez, Grosjean and Ericsson.
Grosjean’s crash led to a 10-minute delay to the start of Q3 as repairs were done to the barriers at Turn 10.
When the final session got underway it was Rosberg who took command, with the German setting a blistering lap of 1:42.584 to take P1 0.7s ahead of Hamilton in second. Raikkonen was third ahead of the Red Bulls of Ricciardo and Verstappen, with the Dutch driver saying poor grip had resulted in a “terrible lap”. Sainz was sixth ahead of Alonso, Hulkenberg, Perez and Kvyat.
In the final runs the only drivers to make steps forward though were the Red Bulls. Ricciardo put in an excellent lap of 1:43.115 and when Hamilton failed to better his time from his first run the Australian took P2 to claim his second front-row start in a row in Singapore. Verstappen too improved, posting lap of 1:43.328 to take P4.
Behind them, Raikkonen was fifth for Ferrari, ahead of the Toro Rossos of Sainz and Kvyat. Eighth place was taken by Hulkenberg, with Alonso ninth ahead of Perez.
2016 Singapore Grand Prix – Qualifying
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:45.316 1:43.020 1:42.584
2 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:44.255 1:43.933 1:43.115
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:45.167 1:43.471 1:43.288
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:45.036 1:44.112 1:43.328
5 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:44.964 1:44.159 1:43.540
6 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:45.499 1:44.493 1:44.197
7 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:45.291 1:44.475 1:44.469
8 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:46.081 1:44.737 1:44.479
9 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:45.373 1:44.653 1:44.553
10 Sergio Perez Force India 1:45.204 1:44.703 1:44.582
11 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:46.086 1:44.740
12 Felipe Massa Williams 1:46.056 1:44.991
13 Jenson Button McLaren 1:45.262 1:45.144
14 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:45.465 1:45.593
15 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:45.609 1:45.723
16 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:46.427 1:47.827
17 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:46.825
18 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:46.860
19 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:46.960
20 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:47.667
21 Esteban Ocon Manor 1:48.296
22 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:49.116eom/FIA press release
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Team chiefs feel entry of Liberty Media is a positive sign: Firday Press Meet
TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Christian HORNER (Red Bull Racing), Toto WOLFF (Mercedes), Maurizio ARRIVABENE (Ferrari), Monisha KALTENBORN (Sauber), Cyril ABITEBOUL (Renault), Guenther STEINER (Haas)
PRESS CONFERENCE
If I could start with a question to all of you, your thoughts on the arrival of Liberty Media in F1, the next steps and what it means for the development of the sport?
Christian HORNER: I think with what we’ve heard so far it sounds very positive. They are obviously part of a very serious group and I can’t believe a company like Liberty would buy into Formula One at the value that it is rumoured to have been purchased at without having a long-term game plan and rather than having a venture capitalist or a financial institution buying into the sport I think it’s far better for the start that a company like Liberty has bought in and hopefully that will address some of the areas we have been weak in previously. I think hopefully for the US market it could be a great thing and some of the other platforms like the digital and social platforms could also be very interesting. So I think we’ll wait to hear what their plans are in detail but everything we have heard so far has been very positive.
Toto?
Toto WOLFF: There is nothing more to add – Christian summarised it all. We rarely agree but this time I am 100% on the same page.
Maurizio, your thoughts?
Maurizio ARRIVABENE: They said everything, Christian and Toto, I don’t really have anything add more than that.
Cyril?
Cyril ABITEBOUL: Nothing to add. Perfect – solidarity for once.
Monisha?
Monisha KALTENBORN: I agree with what’s said. From what we’ve read so far and heard in the statements made I do also hope that they see that the sport has to be looked at from the inside and that they will take steps to ensure a certain competitive parity. That’s for us equally as important as looking towards the outside, how the product is going to be promoted.
Guenther, your thoughts on this?
Guenther STEINER: Agree with all of that. What I would like to say is being an American company, I hope, as Christian said, there is big potential in the States, so we being an American team we hope they bring that to fruition, that market, and that we can all have gains on it. We are more than happy to help them to do anything they need to do in the United States.
Just a quick follow-up on that, they’ve made it pretty clear that they would like the teams to become shareholders. Do you and your boards envisage taking up that opportunity? Guenther?
GS: You’d need to ask Gene Haas. Our board is pretty small: Gene Haas owns the board, so he needs to decide if he wants to take part of it but I think it’s like always – it depends on the price.
What about your Monisha, what are your thoughts on the teams becoming shareholders?
MK: Well, why not. We’ve had these kind of discussions before. It’s an interesting idea. It can make sense to have all teams actually being given this opportunity and be represented as well. At the end of the day it depends on what your get and what the price is.
Cyril?
CB: Again pretty much same answer. I think it is a great opportunity. A lot of value has been derived for the existing shareholders of Formula One. I think it would be a great thing if Formula One teams were able to capture some of that value given the risks that are taken by the different parties that finance a team, so yeah, if it makes sense then I would say clearly, why not?
Maurizio?
MA: This is a strategic decision that must be taken by the chairman of the company, with the board.
Toto?
TW: Yeah, the idea sounds good. If you are able to align all major stakeholders with a long-term visions and your make the teams shareholders there are many problems you could solve but obviously this is a commercial and financial decision and the devil lies in the detail.
Christian
CH: Yeah, I think it’s a sensible thing. I think the teams are key stakeholders in Formula One; without the teams there is no Formula One. I think for the teams to take a minority shareholding would make sense and to offer it to all the teams under the same terms would make total sense. To keep it as a minority shareholding for the teams would be the right thing because obviously anything beyond that we’re never going to agree on but it does make sense for the teams to be a participant in the shareholding.
I’m sure we’ll come back to this topic, but just moving on then, Christian It’s been a while since you came to a Grand Prix as favourites, how much of a sense is there within the team of getting the win this weekend to make up for the one that got away in Monaco?
CH: We approach grand prix with the same preparation. The difference with this venue is that it plays a little more to our strengths than some of the previous races but you could see today that Mercedes look pretty quick and certainly Ferrari look right there as well, so I think it’s going to be a close battle this weekend particularly in qualifying tomorrow. But both of our drivers have enjoyed positive practice sessions, working on the set-up of the car and yeah, so far, so good.
Cyril, can you help us to understand the objectives for Renault in the short and medium term, as a works team, and when does it become important, for example, to go after a big name driver?
CA: Large question! First, I think that what we want is to put this first season behind us, simply because it’s a first season, or season zero frankly. Ten months ago none of what we are today was in existence, so I think we need to give credit to everyone for the job that has been achieved. An awful lot remains to be achieved this season. We want to finish as good as possible, as high as possible, in order to show our commitment, to show what we are capable of doing. We are not just here to make up the figures. We are here for the long term and to be a very competitive outfit. I think that a big name will at some point in time will be important. I think it is a bit too early. But clearly if you look at all the key success factors for all successful teams, there was always a symbolic ambassador who was a driver. It will be important but in my opinion it is too early to focus on that aspect only.
Guenther, You brought an update to the car this weekend, how is that looking, notwithstanding the problem that Romain had this morning. Do you think you can bridge the 17-point gap to Toro Rosso before the end of the season to finish sixth in Constructors’ championship in your debut season?
GS: I think that would be very difficult. We had a difficult two sessions today with Romain so we didn’t get as much data as we wanted. Esteban had to do most of the work. I think Toro Rosso looks to be very strong here again, so I think it will be very difficult but nevertheless we will try to do our best and whatever comes out comes out and see if we can get to seventh actually.
Monisha, clearly you are hiring again, some solid signings in the last few weeks, will we see much more of that over the coming months and where do you need to strengthen in particular?
MK: I wouldn’t really say much more but yes, there will be some more key people hopefully joining the team – we are talking to a couple of them. We have suffered a little bit in the last few months with some people leaving or a bit earlier. We gave certain areas we are looking at, it’s not going to be just overall through the entire company and we will decide how things develop and how we can get new partners onboard.
Q: Maurizio, coming back to you. A beautiful memory, obviously, here 12 months ago with a win for Sebastian from pole position. How have you refocused your goals for this season though, with an eye on next year?
MA: ‘Refocus’ is not the right word. We are still concentrated to do our best this year and, of course, as all the other teams, we are working for next season. So, we have a very, very good memory of last year but last year is not giving us points for this year, so we need to try to do our best and our maximum here. The fact that we are… the gap is very, very short in between us and Mercedes, Red Bull etc., is making, probably, tomorrow the qualifying more exciting and interesting and as well the race. Our intention is not to give up.
Q: Finally, coming to you Toto, clearly you don’t want to lose the winning habit as we move into a new set of regulations. You’ve secured your drivers in the last few months, have you also managed to secure all of your key people on the technical side and do you expect any changes there?
TW: There is lots of rumours out there and it is a little bit of the silly season has extended from drivers to other key personnel. We are happy where we are now with the team. We have obviously great spirit within the team and we want to maintain that.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Chris Lines – AP) Just a question… we’ve had a change in the commercial rights holder, a change in the ownership but we all know the impediments there are in Formula One to getting anything done, getting agreement between all the various parties. A simple change of ownership, how is that going to cure these impediments and these blockages in decision-making?
TW: Well it’s a bit of a black and white view to say there are blockages. There is a governance in place and that governance on the one hand doesn’t make us move as efficient as maybe one would want – but on the other side it gives stability to the sport and prevents irrational decision-making. So, you are right, the ownership doesn’t change the governance per se, but it’s only a couple of years until the next Concorde is going to be discussed and agreed and therefore I would say that all is going to come into play.
Monisha?
MK: I agree with what’s been said. Ownership itself does not make a difference, it will depend on what content is now put on the table, what the views are, and maybe we can find more commonalities than before.
Christian?
CH: If you take a simplistic view of it, the promoter is there to promote the sport and really should dictate what product they want Formula One to be. The regulator is then there to regulate and the teams are the participants and entrants. I think it’s not so much what’s going to happen for 2017 or ’18, I think it’s what does the future beyond 2020 hold in store? What is the vision of the promoter going to be for what Formula One, what the product should be like. How it’s going to engage with the fans, how it’s going to improve the show for the future past 2020. I think that’s the key element.
Do you agree with that Maurizio?
MA: Yeah. In general yes, because it depends a lot on the strategic view for the future but without ignoring what is at the moment the agreement we signed, all of us, what I still call the Concorde Agreement, or we want to call it contract. I think looking forward to the future it depends on the strategic view on how the new commercial rights holder wants the new Formula One to look like. I think many ideas, they were coming in the past, I think good ideas coming for the future.
Cyril, anything to add?
CA: I would just add that I think it’s good that we have some form of long-term stability because that will be an opportunity to think about the product, which is Formula One. I think always Formula One needs to find some balance between entertainment and technology. We all want to showcase technology; a number of partners want to showcase technology, which sometimes goes against the interests of entertainment and the show. So it will be interesting to see, with the arrival of a pure player on entertainment and show, how it can impact the product, which can only happen through the regulations. It will be interesting to see what they produce on that.
A final thought on this subject from Guenther.
GS: I would say it’s quite a dark picture painted. The question is ‘why can you not agree on anything?’ I think there is stuff which is agreed on but nobody knows about. So I think we should see the glass half-full and not half-empty. A little bit is like people, for sure, pick up on stuff we cannot agree on and people don’t get to know when it is agreed for the good of the sport. We need to get better in that process. I think the governance is in place and will not be changed for a while, and isn’t a bad one.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Following on Chris’ question, it’s inevitable that the new commercial rights holders, or controller of the commercial rights will meet with all of you teams as their major suppliers and obviously discuss what you would like with them. What would be top of your wish-list when you eventually meet with Mr Carey and his various co-directors? Starting with you Christian please, and to all of you. What would be top of your wish list for the restructure of Formula One?
CH: Pretty simple really: more money for the teams, lower prices and bigger distribution of cash for all – but that probably isn’t going to happen any time soon. What we need to understand is: what’s his plan, what’s his vision of how Liberty see Formula One for the future. I think it’s going to be … he’s going to have to get himself up to speed, it’s great they’ve come to an agreement with Bernie for him to be around for a few years to come, because that intervening period is going to be crucial. But he’s going to have to get himself up to speed with the business and therefore then decide what actions they want to take for the future. There’s going to be a period of establishing what Formula One is and how that fits within their plans for the future.
Guenther?
GS: I think Christian’s right, we all want more money, more distribution. But that will not happen, as he said. I think we are waiting for their plan to tell us because maybe they have got some ideas we haven’t thought of, you know? Because we are quite stubborn in the business, we just keep on asking for the same. Maybe they’ve got some great ideas and we can support them and help them along.
Monisha?
MK: Well I agree that first of all we’d like to understand the strategy they want to take with regard to Formula One and, as I said before, for us it’s important they look at the product, into the inside and achieve some kind of competitive parity in here, which means not only more money, or redistribution of money but also looking at the costs. We don’t see why it shouldn’t happen soon. For us there’s no need to wait that long.
Cyril, do you agree with that?
CA: I would say that the automotive industry is about to experience a major revolution and breakthrough in a number of things we read about constantly: you know, autonomous driving and so on and so forth. It will be interesting now we have this long-term visibility, to have someone who has the capacity to take the leadership to think about what it means when transposed to Formula One. Will motorsport remain in the same shape when our experience of the car, usage of the car, and ownership of the car will evolve. I think that’s a crucial challenge but also a fantastic opportunity which hopefully these guys will help us address.
Maurizio, your thoughts.
MA: I think for somebody to do an investment in this sport that does mean that they can see some potential in this sport but it’s only one week that this thing has happened, so I think it’s an early stage to make any judgement or provision. Normally what you do when you buy something, you are listening, learning, sharing and acting. So I think all these phases, they are going to happen and they request good time to make sure that the sport is growing. If you’re asking me, ‘spectacularisation’ and cost-reduction, they are two topics to take into consideration.
Final word Toto.
TW: Everything has been said, you probably don’t need to reinvent the wheel, the sport is one of the very few successful global sports, Liberty is going to help us maybe tap new revenue streams, digital revenue streams and technology and then see if it’s going to enhance the product.
Q: (Wojciech Paprota – Swiatwyscigow.pl) Question to Guenther. Your first season is slowly coming to an end. How did it go from a financial point of view? Did you have any unexpected additional costs?
GS: You always have unexpected costs on a project like this – but nothing which we wouldn’t expect. There’s a little bit more on one side, little bit less on the other. In general it went very well. We hold up a business plan and we fulfilled it almost as we planned it.
Q: (Berk Sarioglu – Motorsport.com) Mr Wolff and Mr Horner, I wondered about your opinions on the halo device which Lewis tried today in the first practice session; I think it was the first time Mercedes tried that. And how did he inform you? And we just saw another new device, the third solution for an active thing. It’s just a drawing now but we just saw it on the internet, that we saw some drawings. What are your thoughts about all this stuff?
TW: It was the second time that we tried it; we had it on Nico’s car in Spa. Both drivers didn’t complain about it, they said there was the visibility that was the problem with the mirrors so we need to work on that but beside that, they didn’t complain.
CH: About the halo or about the… I think you’re talking about Scalabroni’s drawing. Again, it’s an interesting concept. It’s more for the FIA to consider than for the teams. It looked ambitious from what I’ve seen of the drawings and perhaps there’s a more simple solution that can be pursued. I think the positive thing is that moves are afoot to address it. Everybody takes safety incredibly seriously and it’s important that the solution that we do come up with is the right solution and deals with all the issues like visibility etc, that some of the drivers are concerned about.
Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Maurizio, James, before, said about the key people of Mercedes. I would like to know for you which is the scenario for the future? If you are looking for somebody to make a stronger team. And the second question is about this season. You talked before that you are doing the maximum. Is it more important at this moment for you to beat Red Bull for second position in the Constructors’ championship or to look for next season’s car?
MA: I will start with the first question. For us, the most important thing is to try to win races. That’s the point for this year and to finish the season in a good way.
Concerning the other question, I’m surprised that it’s coming from you because we were repeating ten thousand times that our team is done, we’re perfectly OK with the people that we have. The atmosphere today in Maranello is very good. We have the right people with Mattia (Binotto) and the people who are working with Mattia. They just need to continue to keep up this kind of atmosphere, to look forward to next year, keeping an eye on this year also and eventually to work in peace. That means, without pressure. It’s exactly what they are doing and I have nothing to add. So we don’t need to add anyone.
Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and Speedsport) Cyril, I know that the Renault team has a lot of things to do but could you expand a bit on the drivers? Is it a long list, a short list, are the current drivers on it? Yesterday they said they had no idea if they would be back.
CA: It depends who you ask, if the list is too long or too short. I think we’ve got some options. Frankly we are not rushing into making a decision, it’s an important decision, it’s likely that the drivers we will be choosing for next year will be really the first drivers that we chose as Renault, will be here for a couple of seasons so I think we are not taking that decision lightly. It’s good that we have options and we are trying to make the decision that is as much informed as possible and we are in a position to sort of take our time and look at what’s going on around us. So it’s an important decision but we are not rushing into anything.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) If Liberty’s takeover of Formula One follows the same route as CVC’s takeover ten years ago, EU regulatory approval will be required so Monisha, question to you: you filed a complaint with the EU with Force India. Have you had any feedback and could that complaint possibly put a spoke in the wheels of this deal?
MK: You know we filed our complaint irrespective of this change of ownership because the issues are not affected by that. We know our complaint is being looked at very seriously and that’s an ongoing process. If it comes to the same department, what the EU is going to make of it is for them to know and assess, not us. We have our arguments, we have put them forward and that’s what we will stick to.
Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) I would like to have a clarification from Maurizio about what he said before, it’s quite clear but we knew that last week a man, a leader of the production of racing F1 parts left the racing department. I would like to know from you if the revolution which started with the divorce with James Allison is already finished and if there are any more people who are coming and going?
MA: Sorry but you have the ability to confuse me! I said many many times that we are perfectly fine. Mattia is doing a good job, we are OK as we are, and we don’t need anyone else. Mattia is our technical director where before James was our technical director, now it’s Mattia with all the organisation that is in place. We have explained about the organisation many many times. What more do I need to add?
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Cyril, obviously your results this year haven’t been particularly good but we know there are mitigating circumstances with the recent acquisition of the team etc. But are you totally convinced that the team of people that you have is in fact the right team to ultimately achieve the objectives you set the team?
CA: I think we have never hidden the fact that there will be a lot of investment, there will also be growth in the company. We are recruiting in France for the engine side, we are recruiting in the UK for the chassis operation so it’s no secret. So the short answer to your question is no, otherwise I would be saying exactly the same answer as Maurizio which is not the case so no, I think we need to grow if we want to be in a position to compete against the teams that we want to compete with, which are the people on the front row. We know their figures, we know their head count so that’s the process we are going through and that’s at every level of our organisation.
eom/FIA transcript of the press conference
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Verstappen edges out Ricciardo for a Red Bull 1-2
Max Verstappen edged team-mate Daniel Ricciardo to hand Red Bull Racing a 1-2 placing in first practice for the Singapore Grand Prix. Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg, meanwhile, hit the barriers late in the session.
Red Bull Racing has been a force to be reckoned with at the twisting Marina Bay Street Circuit, heading the list of repeat winners here with a hat-trick of wins from 2011-2013, and even after the team’s dominance ebbed following th4e adoption of hybrid engines, it has continued to do well in Singapore – with Ricciardo take back-to-back podium finishes in 2014 and last year.
And having earlier this year set the pace in Monaco and figured well in the similarly winding Hungaroring, it was expected that the Milton Keynes squad would set the pace this weekend.
So it proved, with Verstappen leading the way. The Dutch teenager logged the early evening’s best time with a lap of 1:45.823, just under five hundredths of a second clear of Ricciardo, who had been quicker than his team-mate across the first two sectors of the 23-corner layout. Both drivers set their best times using Pirelli’s ultrasoft tyre. They were also the only drivers to dip below the 1m46s barrier.
Their closest challenger was Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who end the session 0.4s behind Ricciardo. He too used the ultrasoft tyre.
He was followed by Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton in fourth and Rosberg in fifth. The defending Constructors champions struggled badly in Singapore last year, when the race was won by Vettel, and in the opening exchanges this time out they were again off the pace, with Hamilton finish 0.6s behind pacesetter Verstappen and with Rosberg just under a tenth of a second further back. Both Mercedes drivers did set the best times on soft tyres however.
Rosberg’s session was ended early however, when he hit the wall at Turn 18 with 15 minutes remaining in the session. The German was able to reverse his car from the barriers and managed to get his car back to the pits for repairs.
Kimi Raikkonen in the second Ferrari finished sixth fastest, although he was six tenths off team-mate Vettel and a second slower than Verstappen.
Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz and Daniil Kvyat finished the opening 90 minutes in seventh and eighth respectively. Behind them Williams Felipe Massa was ninth, with a time set on supersoft tyres, with Esteban Gutierrez rounding out the top ten. Gutierrez ended the session almost 2.3s off Verstappen.
The Mexican fared better than his team-mate Romain Grosjean, however. The Frenchman completed just two laps during the session due to a mechanical issue with his car.
McLaren’s Jenson Button also had problems during the session. He stopped on his installation lap at the start of running. The car was pushed back to the pit lane and he managed to get going again later, completing 20 laps in all to finish in 16th place.
2016 Singapore Grand Prix – Free Practice 1
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:45.823 25
2 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:45.872 27
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:46.287 22
4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:46.426 24
5 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:46.513 22
6 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:46.890 20
7 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:46.936 28
8 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:47.683 29
9 Felipe Massa Williams 1:48.044 27
10 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:48.109 23
11 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:48.202 21
12 Sergio Perez Force India 1:48.214 28
13 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:48.359 28
14 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:48.453 26
15 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:49.595 16
16 Jenson Button McLaren 1:49.615 20
17 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:49.794 27
18 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:50.263 29
19 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:51.112 23
20 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:51.479 16
21 Esteban Ocon Manor 1:52.379 33
22 Romain Grosjean Haas 2
eom/FIA press release
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It is a real battle between us and Force India: Bottas
DRIVERS – Marcus ERICSSON (Sauber), Felipe NASR (Sauber), Jolyon PALMER (Renault), Sergio PEREZ (Force India), Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing), Valtteri BOTTAS (Williams)
PRESS CONFERENCE
Congratulations on your marriage last week. While your private life is settled, clearly you will be looking for a new partner in a professional sense next year, as a team-mate at Williams. What kind of driver would suit, a rookie or someone more experienced?
Valtteri BOTTAS: Thank you very much. The one thing is it is a fact that I’m going to have a new team-mate next year and it’s still not obviously confirmed if I will be with Williams or not, but yeah, new team-mate and I’ve always said and that’s how I feel, the quicker team-mate you have, it doesn’t matter who it is, as long as he’s quick it always boosts the performance of both drivers and helps the team, so that’s always good. And a team player would be nice, but obviously I have nothing to do with choosing the team-mate, it’s completely up to the team who I will be racing with so I hope everything’s OK.
The battle with Force India in the championship is very tight: they were ahead on points, you moved back ahead after Monza. Where do you think your relative strengths lie as teams?
VB: I think it’s going to be a great battle between us and Force India, we been have really close the last six races, really depending on the track; some tracks they have their strong points and some places us. So I think overall we are very, very equal in terms of how quick the cars are so it will be just depending race by race and trying to maximise everything, getting the strategy right every time and having a good qualifying, trying to be ahead of them. I’m looking forward to the end of the year and it’s going to be a good fight.
Marcus, coming to you: congratulations, 50th GP start this weekend, only 4th Swede to make that mark. Sauber is now hiring again, some solid signings the last few weeks, how is the team evolving??
Marcus ERICSSON: Thanks a lot. Yeah, 50 sounds like a lot of race, but it’s nice. With the team I think we are definitely moving in the right direction. Like you say, we got some new signings, new personnel in the team, and it’s good, with fresh ideas, it’s positive for everyone I think. Also on the car side we got some updates going in the last couple of races and it’s interesting, we’re trying them out, trying to optimise them, and coming here to Singapore will also be very interesting for us because it will be the first time we really run the full new package we have introduced after the summer break, so it will be a very interesting weekend for us to see how far it gets us really.
What weaknesses were you working on with that update package and what are you expecting this weekend from the sort of test that Singapore provides?
ME: I think for sure it’s just general downforce that we have been lacking and hopefully from the signs we have got so far is that we have gained quite a bit on that side. Like I said, it’s been both Monza and Spa, the last two races that we have had this package; it’s not been high downforce tracks. It’s a bit of an unknown, so hopefully here in Singapore it’s obviously a very high downforce track so we will see then how this update package is working.
Felipe, coming to you: In points here last year. It’s always a complex race strategy wise as Valtteri was alluding to earlier on, but with three different tyre options this season, how do you see the variables playing out, Saturday and Sunday?
Felipe NASR: Well, yes it is, it’s normally a very challenging track, very demanding for both the car and the drivers and I feel the tyres will play a big part on it this weekend, you know having such softer compounds. I will be curious to see how many stops will be going in the race and I think the key really is to understand the tyres, how much you can make them last, understand how the car is reacting on track, with the temperatures here being very high. So it’s always a challenging weekend and Singapore always brings some surprises in terms of the racing always being exciting. A lot of things can happen so hopefully we are in a position to take any profit.
The driver market is in gear now, you’ve been linked with a possible move to Williams, there may be openings at Renault, obviously Sauber has had investment. What’s your personal objective regarding next season??
FN: Well, it’s difficult to say. Right now I don’t have any news. Hopefully soon but right now I don’t have much to say realty. All I can say, at Sauber things are moving forward. I can see the team really stepping up a lot of new people coming in, so as I said, it’s still a very attractive place to be, but it’s still and unknown. Hopefully when I have some news I’ll bring it in.
OK, thank you very much for that. Sergio, 23-race finishing streak, scored points in all five of your appearances here in Singapore. What do you like about Singapore and do you see this as a weekend where you’ll get the edge back over Williams?
Sergio PEREZ: Yeah well, that’s the target coming here. We obviously want to close up the gap. We lost out in the battle last race. We knew they were going to he strong there, so hopefully here we can close up and hopefully beat them. Singapore is a great place, it’s a very unique race, starting from racing at night, the way you get your routine; it’s totally different to any other race, waking up so late, going to bed also. Yesterday I was running at the track at 1am in the morning. Things like that are just not common in any other race. Also, the track is a very big challenge – mentally, physically, it’s just very difficult to finish the race, not having a contact or a crash. So it’s always important to make it until the end of the race. So hopefully I can keep my good score in Singapore with the points on Sunday.
You seem to hold the key to the driver market at present. Force India say you are definitely with them next year, when will we know for sure your plans for 2017?
SP: Well, I tried. I was hoping to be able to be in a position to announce my plans for this weekend. Obviously we got some delays. But I really hope that bef0re the next race we can definitely announce where I’ll be racing.
Any little hints?
SP: Well, I always say I’ll be very happy if I can stay, if everything is fine for me to stay where I am.
Jolyon, you won GP2 feature race here in 2013 and you’ve outqualified your team-mate Magnussen in 3 of the last 4 races, do you feel it’s an important moment to show what you can do with an eye on securing a seat for next season?
Jolyon PALMER: I think so, yeah. Still obviously the seats are in doubt, or up for grabs, so every race from now on is a chance to show what I can do. It’s a track I really like here and I feel like I’m driving the best I’ve driven all season at the moment. The results haven’t really shown in the last couple of races but I feel good within myself. Yeah, it’s a track I really like, I’ve had some good success here before, so hopefully keep on the good form at the moment and I think this one will suit our car a little bit more as well. Hopefully we will be able to challenge a little bit higher and I can show what I can do a bit more.
That leads on to my next question: Renault have been rather erratic in qualifying, between row seven and row 11 of the grid depending on which race track, so is this more of a row seven weekend than a row 11 weekend?
JP: I think it’s more of a row seven. Row 11, Monza was pretty much everything that we don’t want from a track. It was high speeds; Renault has made good steps with the engine but we’re still behind Ferrari and Mercedes, and then slow-speed corners and kerb riding, so it was everything we don’t want. Here, the straight-line speed is not so much; the corners are more suited to us. Even though it’s a street circuit, it’s reasonably smooth, so I think this could be one of our best of the year.
Coming to you Daniel: twice on the podium here, front-row starter last year and Monaco pole sitter this year, that adds up to making you many people’s favourite for this weekend, Do you share that view?
Daniel RICCIARDO: I think I’ve got a pretty good chance of the top 10, absolutely. That’s about it.
Come on, you can do better than that!
DR: I hope so, but top 10 is pretty safe you’d think.
The narrative for this weekend seems to be a chance to put right what went wrong in Monaco, to take the win that was snatched from you in the Principality, do you have a sense of unfinished business and are you asking the team for perfect execution this weekend?
DR: It’s obviously the next closest track to Monaco, so sure we look at it as a good chance to try to get the victory I’ve been after this season. With the team, since Monaco, a lot of things have been working better, in terms of I think we’ve executed a lot more on a Sunday and I’ve left Sundays feeling a lot happier the last handful of races, so that’s been good on both sides. I feel I have executed as well good things on Sunday. Let’s see. I’m not going to put too much pressure on myself or them for this weekend but I think deep down we obviously want to win. I believe we are a group of winners, so if there is a bit of pressure on us to get it done then I think we will thrive off that. Let’s see what happens. I’m definitely prepared and excited. I don’t know what I’m paying for a top 10, but it’s safe money.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Luis Vasconcelos – Formula Press) Question for Valtteri, Monza was supposed to be a very good circuit for your car – and it was, you could compete with Red Bull. This, on the other hand, shouldn’t be as good, so what are the expectations for this weekend?
VB: Yeah, definitely. Monza was a lot better than what we’ve seen in the few races before that with high speed circuits really suiting our car. Definitely had Red Bull had a bit of an upper hand but definitely we could keep them behind for quite a long time. And yeah, this is a completely different circuit. You need so much more downforce from the car, you need good mechanical grip, you need good tyre life. Last year it wasn’t too bad for us actually, coming to the weekend slightly carefully but then ending up fifth in the race with reasonable pace all weekend. So I think there are still good opportunities here, even though it’s maybe in theory the best – but I always see every weekend as a new opportunity, especially here where with a good qualifying, and if we can get a perfect strategy, very strong points are still possible.
Q: (Wojciech Paprota – Swiatwyscigow.pl) Question to all of the drivers, a simple one. Do you think it’s the hardest race of the calendar?
ME: Definitely. I think it’s for sure the hardest race of the year. It’s probably similar heat and humidity to Malaysia but just the fact it’s a street circuit and not many places to rest makes it the hardest one. But I like it, it’s a good challenge and you need to be really on top of your fitness. For me it’s the toughest – but it’s also one of the most enjoyable.
Jolyon?
JP: I’ve never raced it in Formula One but in GP2 it was hard. It was the hardest of the year in that so I believe these guys – I’m sure they’re all going to say it’s the hardest.
Felipe?
FN: I agree. I think it’s an amazing event. Night race, very demanding as I said, for both car and driver. Really it’s an endless track, you’re just doing corner by corner and to get everything precisely correct, it’s a challenge. The race itself, normally it brings a lot of surprises here so I’m looking forward to the weekend, as I said, we’ve been fighting to get, to sneak into those points, so why not this weekend? Let’s try it again.
Valtteri, you find this the toughest?
VB: It is, at least physically at least it is the toughest. Mentally, I think it feels a bit like Monaco. It’s very intense and needs to be zero mistakes during the race.
Daniel, bit of tiredness, fatigue coming in, affecting concentration towards the end? Always a bit of an enemy there I guess?
DR: Yeah, when you’re a high performance athlete… it is, it’s the toughest, sure. I think they touched on it, it’s similar heat and humidity to Malaysia but you’re surrounded by just the city and a lot of concrete, so it’s the one race I feel where you open your visor to get some air and you’re not getting any reward for that. It’s just heat and stale air. In Malaysia there’s a bit of circulation: even though it’s hot you get a bit of a breeze but here, no. It’s a track that you can’t… if you come here unprepared, then you can’t luck into a good result. You’ve got to come ready to go.
Sergio?
SP: I don’t feel the heat at all! I think it’s just a normal race. No, just kidding. I think it’s a really hard race out there. The last ten laps, twenty laps, you’re really praying for a safety car because it’s just really hard to finish the race, physically. And mentally as well. Mentally it’s a very big challenge because every corner, most of the corners, if you do a mistake you just touch the wall and it’s a puncture or something like that. I would say for me it’s definitely the most demanding race of the year.
Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / Speed Sport) Daniel, the last couple of times on the podium you’ve poured the sparkling wine into your shoe and drank it. What’s the background for all that?
DR: I didn’t start it! Well, as far as I know I started it in Formula One but not worldwide. It was a few loose Aussies, from what I saw, the Mad Hueys, they’re surfies and fisherman and just loose guys, they travel the world fishing, surfing and whatever and they like to drink a bit of beer and whatnot, and that’s where the shoey began. On their travels they’d get people to do it as well and it’s just a bit of a laugh. I know Jack Miller knows a few of the guys from the Mad Hueys, so when he got his win in Assen, I suspected he was going to do it, and he did, so I thought I’d keep the Australian tradition going – and now Valentino’s got in on the mix, I saw he Instagrammed it yesterday and he said “everyone loves a shoey”, and “delicious”, and all that. A few words I used for it. I think it’s just a bit of fun now – everyone’s enjoying it.
VB: How does it taste?
DR: Honestly, if the sparkling wine is cold, then it tastes good. Normally it’s cold on the podium, if it’s warm then sure, you’d get the sweat and that through it – but the cold taste kills the bad stuff, so it’s delicious, as we said!
So we can expect a shoe on Sunday if you win?
DR: If I win, sure! If it’s just a second or third probably not now. For a victory, I’d expect to see a few people do it with me!
Q: (Chris Lines – AP) Question for Dan, bit different tyre strategy between Red Bull and Ferrari this weekend in terms of allocation of super soft and ultra soft. Do you think the tyre strategy will be the key factor here or will there be something else?
DR: I think it can maybe decide a few things, whether it’s on Sunday I’m not sure, obviously we’ve got freedom to use any of those tyres during practice. Maybe us or Ferrari for example, will change our practice runs now and use a different compound to try and have something similar for the race – but yeah, it can, here because it’s so hot, the tyres do normally get a hard time and it’s low speed corners, a lot of traction and the rears can get a hard time for sure so I think if you’ve got too many softer compounds, you might run into a bit of trouble in the race but we’ll see. It’s been quite exciting this year, being able to use three compounds over a weekend and having been forced to choose them months in advance. Sure, if we could have picked the tyres this week, we all probably would have done something different. It’s a bit more of a lottery, makes it exciting and makes our practice runs perhaps a little bit more calculated.
Q: (David Croft – Sky Sports F1) Obviously since Monza, gentlemen, some quite seismic news in Formula One, new commercial rights holders, new owners in Liberty Media. As drivers, you keep saying that you’d quite like to have more of an input in the sport so if the new owners came to you and said what would you like to see in the future, to maybe make the sport better, to put a bigger smile on your faces, what would your advice be to them?
SP: I think I would love to see Formula One a lot closer, the competition a lot closer, closer teams, giving the midfield teams the opportunity to be capable of winning a race, fighting for titles. I think that would be just something great for the fans to see one race Williams on top, another race another team, that would just be very good and for that you need to change the system, how you divide the money because there’s obviously a massive difference, so I think that would be a very good thing for the sport.
DR: Nothing springs to mind; obviously we always talk about bits and pieces but nothing, I guess, that anyone’s heard before. Saturday races, like a Saturday race as opposed to Sunday, just so we can plan a bigger night on Saturday. That would be good fun!
VB: Yeah, I think we need to see first of all how next year is going to be with all the changes already fixed for next year with the new cars, bigger tyres, more grip. I think we need to see how it goes then.
FN: I would say a bit of what they have already said I agree with but I think the most important thing is to see closer competition between the cars, I think that’s what I hear from people or from fans – they always like to see more fighting on track between car, between teams. I think the closing line is what were looking for but also next year we have a big change in terms of the cars being different. I think everything will be a bit more aggressive in terms of the racing itself so let’s wait and see how it goes and we’ll take it from there.
JP: Yeah, I would agree with these guys. I think the main thing is closer competition. At the moment, we turn up for a weekend and we pretty much know maybe it’s two, four, maximum six drivers can win the race but it would be nice to turn up here and think maybe, you know, Williams can win or maybe Force India or maybe someone can put in a big surprise. I think that’s the biggest thing which would change a lot of fan involvement and make it a lot more interesting to watch.
ME: Not much to add, I agree with these guys: closer competition throughout the grid and more teams getting involved in race wins and podiums. I think that will make a big difference for the attraction to fans. That would be the biggest thing for me.
Q: (Luis Vasconcelos – Formula Press) For the three drivers in the back row: not so long ago, you were fighting for championships and winning them and fighting for victories but you get to two thirds of this season and you have no points probably for the first time in your careers. Does that play a little bit on your mind when you go into a race weekend and how do you cope with it?
FN: Well, I guess I’m experienced at this. Last year I had plenty of opportunities to score points and it’s very rewarding when you can come into a weekend knowing that you have something to fight for. As I said, most of it is the reward you get back but coming to this year, you’re facing a lot more difficulties but on the other hand, you try to explore areas that you’re not really giving a hundred percent attention to so I think that as a driver I feel a lot more complete this year. Any opportunity counts so when it comes to a race weekend like this in Singapore, we know that there are a number of facts that happen in the race, you must be ready because they can come any time so let’s see. Three of us here, we don’t have a point so let’s see who gets it first, if we can…
JP: I’m not massively focused on it. Of course I want to score points but if we don’t have the car to score points then there’s nothing we can really do. I’m focused on my own job, basically doing the best job I can with the machinery I’ve got. The last two races have been quite difficult. Hungary was the better chance to score, I think this one will be a better chance to score but I think for me it’s all about improving as a driver, doing the best job I can with the machinery I’ve got and then I’m sure… I know in the future Renault will be fighting for points. If I can do a good job with what I’ve got at the moment, then the points will come further down the line.
ME: Yeah, of course it’s different to when we were in junior categories like I said, fighting for wins every weekend or at least aiming for them. Now it’s different. When you’re in a smaller team and you know you’re going into a weekend when even scoring points is a big challenge – it’s a different mindset but it’s something you have to accept and that’s how it is in Formula One. I think it’s always been like that as well, that different teams have different strengths so you need to accept that and try and maximise the car that you’ve got and that’s all you can do, focusing a lot on your own performance and maybe not look so much at the results because it’s more important to try and maximise what you’ve got. But of course, it’s a lot nicer if you can fight for points.
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, you have scored only 26 points from the last seven races since Canada; what number of points would have satisfied you from the last seven races?
VB: Yeah, it’s not quite as many as I was hoping for after being on the podium in Canada but it is what it is at the moment. I can’t say the exact number of points but the absolute maximum we can… I hope as a team we can leave every single race weekend at the end of the year feeling that we maximised the weekend, that we got everything out of it and the same for me personally. As a driver, that’s the main thing and hopefully that way we will be ahead of these guys (Force India).
Q: (S. Dipak Ragav – The Hindu) Sergio, for the last two years, Force India have had a slow start to the season. Do you think it’s a concern for you, going into the next year with the regulations? And the second part of my question is if Force India finishes fourth, do you think it has the ability, in terms of resources and infrastructure, to take the leap to beat the top three like Red Bull did in 2008, 2009?
SP: Yes, I think the team, especially this season, now that the rules are more consistent, I think we started with a competitive car. We just needed to figure out some set-up options on the car to improve the tyre degradation but the car straight away in qualifying was capable of achieving Q3s in the early part of the year so that makes a good difference. And when you look at the past, when we had the massive regulation change for 2014, on my third race I was on the podium for the team, so it shows that Force India is capable of adapting well to new regulations so I think we have the potential to do so. I believe that we are going to be in front of them (Williams) at the end of the year so I really hope that we move up and hopefully next year we can do another step forward which is going to be very tough. Now you’re fighting Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes, so it’s going to be very tough but I fully believe in the team and I think if we manage to finish fourth it will be a massive bonus for everyone in the team.
Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Jolyon, have you been given any indication by Renault when you’ll get a decision for next year?
JP: No, nothing yet, so yeah, nothing changes for me really: just keep doing the job, I’ll know when I know but yeah, if I just keep doing what I’m doing. I know I’m in the mix but we’ll just see how things pan out.
eom/FIA transcript of the press conference
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Fourth place in our grasp: Vijay Mallya
Q&A with Vijay MallyaTeam Principal, Vijay Mallya, looks forward to the final three months of the season.Vijay, give us your verdict on the team’s performance in Monza…“Qualifying and racing inside the top ten represented a good effort when you consider we never really found the sweet spot with the set-up. The five points we scored could prove valuable come the end of the year. To finish the European season just three points away from fourth place is an excellent achievement. I’m optimistic some of the upcoming races will play to our strengths more than Monza and I look forward to the hard work required to earn fourth place in the championship.”The team has already picked up two podiums on street circuits this year – what is possible on the streets of Singapore?“We’ve usually performed well in Singapore. We’ve scored points in every race there since 2010 and had some very strong performances over the years. We had our best showing of the year in Baku on a circuit that shares many characteristics with Singapore so there’s every reason to feel optimistic. I think the warm conditions will work in our favour as well. Solid points must be the objective in Singapore and all the remaining races.”Nico on SingaporeNico Hulkenberg gets ready for one of his favourite races of the year in Singapore.Nico: “Singapore has really become one of the highlights of the season, next to Monaco and perhaps Baku. It’s a street circuit; it’s a night race and it’s in a city which is one of the hubs of the world. The track is spectacular and you drive next to an amazing backdrop – definitely one of the best races you could have on the calendar.“The strange sleeping pattern you get into also adds to the unusual weekend – you sleep until late in the day and stay up well into the night – it’s an interesting way to break from the usual routine of a race weekend. It’s nice to have a change. Coming from Europe, this schedule makes it much easier on you because you don’t have any jet lag; you don’t have any adjustment to make and can go straight into the racing matters. The only struggle is to find any restaurants that still serve food after midnight when you’re finished at the circuit!“I’ve never had a chance to explore Singapore, partly because of the schedule, but also because Marina Bay is quite far from the heart of the city. Once the race weekend kicks off, it’s difficult to move around the town because many roads are closed so we usually end up not seeing too much of the place. It seems a fun city, though – Asian but with a European vibe.“The track is very challenging. It’s a very long lap, with many corners and that in itself is an added difficulty when you try to strike a balance for the set-up with the engineers: it’s never-ending! From a driving point of view, it makes it really hard to get all the sectors together and deliver the perfect lap. It’s also very hot and humid – you’re in the car for pretty much two hours in steaming hot conditions… it definitely tests you.“There are some nice corners, such as the fast right-hand kink of turn six and the approach to turn seven. The first sector is my favourite part of the lap – there are bumps and big kerbs, so you need a car that can take them nicely, and you need good traction out of the low and medium-speed corners to get a quick lap.”Sergio on SingaporeSergio Perez sums up the challenge of the Singapore Grand Prix.Sergio: “Singapore is unique – starting from the very special schedule we have there. The European season may be over, but we keep to their times: it’s a weird routine – you wake up late, go to the track in the afternoon and stay up late into the night.“It’s a very demanding race from a physical and mental perspective: it’s hot, races usually last up to two hours and you have nearly 25 corners to get right every lap. There is no margin for error and generally the racing is very intense, which takes a lot out of you as a driver.“The key to being quick in Singapore is precision. You need to find every last millimetre of the track, almost kiss the walls and have a stable rear end of the car. It’s a circuit that can catch you out and I can’t remember a race there without a Safety Car, so races can be shaken up at any time. It’s also a track that rewards guts and where the driver can make a big difference.“As a street circuit, it’s not as unforgiving as Monaco because the track is much wider, but it also means the speeds are higher and there are more overtaking opportunities. I have a good relationship with the place, with some strong results in the past. Hopefully I can do the same this year!”eom/Sahara Force India press release
