Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg cruised to a comprehensive Grand Prix of Europe win, finishing more than 16 seconds ahead of second-placed Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari, while Sergio Perez recovered from a grid penalty to take a deserved third place.
With plenty of incidents enlivening the support races at the inaugural race in Baku, similar unpredictability had been expected from the grand prix, but when Rosberg went through the first corner in the lead and quickly built up a solid gap to fellow front-row starter Daniel Ricciardo, the identity of the winner, at least, was never in doubt.
Racing in clear air, Rosberg set a blistering pace and by the mid point of the race, jst after his one and only stop to shed supersoft tyres in favour of a set of softs, he was more than 18 seconds clear of then second-placed man Kimi Raikkonen.
From there it was a simply a case of managing his pace, staying clear of the walls and bringing his car home. And after 51 laps, Rosberg did just that, taking his fifth of the season and his first career ‘grand chelem’ for pole position, victory, fastest lap and for leading every lap of the race.
“It’s been an amazing day really, an amazing weekend,” he said afterwards. It’s been spectacular; great track, really exciting racing. Of course, for me the weekend went perfectly: qualifying, race, everything to plan, so it was really awesome.”
The potential stumbling block in Rosberg’s path came from a technical glitch that affected both he and team-mate Lewis Hamilton. The Briton was badly affected by issue, which his race engineer explained was a problem with mode he was in. Rosberg, though, was able to solve the problem.
“I think I had the same [as Hamilton] but I’m not sure,” Rosberg said. “It was just a matter of getting out of it with the right combination of switches.”
Hamilton began the race in 10th position after a Q3 race but recovered well to rise to fifth before the technical problems began to affect him. He was unable to close on Perez and Raikkonen ahead and had to settle for salvaging 10 points from a troubled weekend.
Ahead, Perez had used his Force India’s Mercedes power unit and a one-stop strategy to great effect and in the closing laps he found himself chasing down Raikkonen.
The Finn has risen as high as second in the race, passing team-mate Vettel with an undercut, but he later ceded the position back to the quicker German and then found himself fending off Perez.
Raikkonen was also hit with a five-second penalty due to crossing the white line at the pit entry and while Perez was safe in the knowledge that with a 0.5s gap to Raikkonen he would take P3 in the classification, the Mexican was determined to take the position on the track. He managed it on the final lap to score his
“I knew that the podium was secure but when I saw the opportunity, that it was safe enough to do it and no risk at all, I went for it, because it obviously feel a lot nicer to finish the race P3,” said a delighted Perez who rose from seventh on the grid to take third place, after a gearbox change following an FP3 crash yesterday dropped him from P2 in qualifying.
With Hamilton fifth, Valtteri Bottas took a lonely sixth for Williams, ahead of the Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen.
Ricciardo started the race from P2 but while he held the position in the early stages he quickly went backwards following an early stop for soft tyres and then again when he took on medium tyres in a second stop.
Verstappen was on a similar strategy and while he dropped to as low as P18 after starting in P9, both Red Bull drivers eventually began to climb back through the pack as their more durable tyres gave them an advantage of those on soft tyres at the end of a two-stop race.
Nico Hulkenberg took ninth place for Force India, while Felipe Massa took a solitary point for Williams with tenth position.
Rosberg’s victory extends his championship lead over Hamilton to 24 points, while Vettel closes the gap to second place to 21 points. Raikkonen is 15 points further back in fourth.
2016 Grand Prix of Europe – Race 1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 51 laps – 1h32m52.366s
2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari +16.696
3 Sergio Pérez Force India +25.241
4 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari +33.102
5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +56.335
6 Valtteri Bottas Williams +60.886
7 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull +69.229
8 Max Verstappen Red Bull +70.696
9 Nico Hülkenberg Force India +77.708
10 Felipe Massa Williams +85.375
11 Jenson Button McLaren +104.817
12 Felipe Nasr Sauber +1 lap
13 Romain Grosjean Haas +1 lap
14 Kevin Magnussen Renault +1 lap
15 Jolyon Palmer Renault +1 lap
16 Esteban Gutierrez Haas +1 lap
17 Marcus Ericsson Sauber +1 lap
18 Rio Haryanto Manor +2 laps
19 Fernando Alonso McLaren DNF
20 Pascal Wehrlein Manor DNF
TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Frédéric VASSEUR (Renault), Roberto BOCCAFOGLI (Pirelli), Eric BOULLIER (McLaren), Gene HAAS (Haas), Toto WOLFF (Mercedes), Claire WILLIAMS (Williams)
PRESS CONFERENCE
If I could start with you Eric: you had both cars in the points in Monaco a couple of races ago but it was a tougher race for you in Montreal. How do you reflect on the team’s performance in Canada? Eric BOULLIER: We know obviously that some track layouts are suiting are package, chassis, power unit, and some others are not. Clearly you have a long straight line in Montreal and downforce level obviously different from the other track layouts, so you have to specifically design your downforce levels there. Conditions were better for us on one lap on Friday and Saturday but the race was a bit difficult and we had also a slow stop due to a technical issue. But I think we are still on the move and proving every weekend that we are improving by bringing more updates and I think this is a positive.
Well, where do you go from here? IN terms of development, the drivers want you to keep pushing for 2016, but is the prudent thing to focus on 2017 now? EB: I think you still have to mix both of them. We don’t want to stop developing this year’s car. Even if there is a strong change for next year into the technical regulations I think we can still carry over some of the development we are having now. Thank you. Gene, if I could come to you: Esteban Gutierrez appears to be growing in confidence while Romain Grosjean has struggled a little bit more in recent races. How do you explain the shift in performance between your two drivers? Gene HAAS: I think a lot of it is just the learning curve of trying to get the tyres to work. We’ve struggled with tyre temperatures. We’ve had issues when the Safety Car comes out that once the tyres come out of their optimum temperature we just lose pace rather quickly. So that’s probably the biggest problem – trying to maintain the tyre temperatures, especially when you’re in back of the pack where you’re always going to be a few seconds off the leaders and that differential makes a huge impact on how hard the tyres are worked and also their temperature.
You had an emphatic start to the season, but your last points finish was in Russia and after a strong start to the campaign do you feel that you are now starting to lose out in the development race? GH: No, not really. Actually, I think the team is coalescing together quite well. There’s no more scrambling to figure out why this didn’t work or that didn’t work. We had a lot of problems with the simple things like radio communications and electrical boxes and at the last few races we don’t have those issues anymore. So they’re starting to sort out how the cars work, what it takes to put them together. So I think I feel very, very comfortable with the progress the team is making.
Thank you. Frédéric, you’ve said on many occasions that this is a transitional year for Renault, but only the one points finish so far, so how do you assess the team’s performance? Frédéric VASSEUR: To be honest, even if I told you it is a transition year, we have to stay focused and don’t give up the season. It’s very important to keep everybody under pressure. For sure the last two races were a bit difficult and we had too many issues. But we are on a good improving curve and I’m sure we will be quite soon.
Those issues that you refer to in the last couple of races: both drivers had accidents, unfortunate, but how do you sum up the job that Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer are doing for you? FV: You don’t have to forget that Jo is a rookie and Kev didn’t run last year and I think so far they did a good job. For sure we had some crashes over the last weekend but so far they did a good job. I think they are improving in terms of collaboration with the team and we are on a good direction.
Roberto, today the FIA has rubber-stamped Pirelli’s new three-year deal with Formula One. What does that mean for both Pirelli and the sport? Roberto BOCCAFOGLI: For Pirelli it means a big satisfaction of course. As we can imagine it is the final step of a very long path. We know already for quite a long time that we are remaining in Formula One for the next three years, but when it gets ‘officialised’ by the FIA it gets really true. Now it is. We found a very good agreement, a very good collaboration. Everybody knows that next season many new things will be happening in Formula One from the technical point of view and also many modifications are very strongly related to the new tyres for next year. We are ready to start our job, which is a very important job for next season.
Well, you gave us a glimpse of those tyres at the Monaco Grand Prix a few weeks back. What can you tell us about the testing programme that you are going to do with the 2017 tyres for the remainder of this season? RB: With the 2017 tyres things are still to start. They are expected to start for possibly, for us, hopefully, in August, very shortly after the grand prix in Hockenheim. We have 25 days’ testing with these wider tyres. As everybody knows we will start with three teams. Many details still need to be fixed but we know the three teams are Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull. We should be starting very early in August and then we should be testing again immediately in September before going away from the long hauls to the east and to America and possibly a last testing session by the end of the championship. It is a very big job to be done.
Thank you. Claire if I could come on to you please. It was a frustrating start to the season in many ways fro Williams, so how much of a shot in the arm was Valtteri’s podium last weekend in Canada? Claire WILLIAMS: Yeah, it was great for everybody in the team to have that. It’s been a long time coming. I wasn’t there, so I was gutted. I did tell Valtteri not to dare get a podium in Canada if I wasn’t there, but he did and it was great for the team to have that and I think we have come here really much more motivated. This hopefully will be a good race for us as well. We’ve got a string of races coming up where the circuits will all suit our car, so hopefully we’ll have a positive few races in the next ones to come. Q: Let’s talk about third place in the Constructors’ Championship. You currently lie fourth, 49 points behind Red Bull Racing. Do you feel you have to strike now, at these tracks that you’ve just mentioned if you’re going to stand a chance of regaining that third place?
CW: Yeah, I think we absolutely have to capitalise on these races: this one here and then obviously the ones coming up in Austria, Silverstone, etcetera. They will suit our car and we have to make the most of it. But then that’s not to say we haven’t got to ensure we have a chassis that can compete competitively at all the circuits so that we can take the fight to Red Bull. Obviously all the work’s still going on in the factory to make sure the car remains competitive – or as competitive as it can be for the remaining rounds. Because we do want to take the fight to Red Bull. We aren’t happy lying in fourth. Unfortunately that gap’s opened up a little bit but we have to work hard and make sure we can keep closing that gap and taking the fight to them.
Q: Toto, both of your cars were passed by Sebastian Vettel at the start of the Canadian Grand Prix. Can you just talk up through what went wrong and why with both of your cars? Toto WOLFF: The purpose of the change in regulation last year was to make the starts more unpredictable and more variable – and this is exactly what’s happening. You cannot see a pattern throughout the field that some teams always get it right or some teams always get it wrong. We have had some amazing starts before Montréal and in Montréal both of the cars didn’t really have a good getaway. This is now the nature of the sport. Having said that, you still need to optimise – and there is room for optimisation in the clutches and its operation and the execution with the drivers, all needing to remember it’s a tricky operation. But we’re working on it.
Q: We’ve seen in the last few races a momentum swing from Nico Rosberg’s side of the garage towards Lewis Hamilton. After Nico’s strong start to the season, how do you feel he’s coping with his current difficulties? TW: We always have the discussion that if one wins and the other one doesn’t, is there the change of momentum or has the balance swung? It didn’t. As a matter of fact, both of them are very close: Nico had a brilliant run, winning seven races in a row and it was clear that would eventually stop, and it did. And the balance has swung more towards the direction of Lewis and some of the other drivers and that’s normal: it doesn’t mean that he’s going to fall into depression because it doesn’t continue. These guys are very professional and they don’t swing a lot emotionally or mentally – so I have no doubt it is not a big issue for him.
Q: Is there any evidence the current contract negotiations are weighing on Nico’s mind? TW: No, first of all he had a brilliant adviser who is pretty experienced in negotiating good contacts, and that was very clever because he took himself out of it and I don’t think it affects him at all.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Chris Lines – AP) Question for Roberto. There were reports from some of the teams that the damage on the tyres today from the kerbs, getting cuts and that kind of damage on the tyre. Could you tell me, did you notice anything here in this circuit damage-wise that was different to what you would get in a normal practice session. RB: We saw during the season some cuts which were, I just want to underline, cuts with no air loss. We told it to FIA as a normal procedure because we normally say, we normally tell FIA when we see something on our tyre which could mean something strange on the track. We simply told FIA. FIA made their checks, you know what was going on afterwards and… nothing strange.
Q: (Ben Edwards – Channel Four) Question for Toto and for Eric. Can we have a summary of today’s running? It’s the first time we’ve been to this Baku street track, so what kind of feedback are you getting from the drivers? Is it as we expected? How’s it going to be in terms of setting the cars up for tomorrow and are we likely to see positions change quite a lot for tomorrow when we get into qualifying, do we think? TW: For us it went pretty well. Immediately you realise when you put the car down and you just hit the sweet-spot or not. Today that was the case. The track has everything: it has that high-speed straight line, we’ve seen more than 350km/h, that’s pretty exceptional, and then the very narrow part through the old city. It’s still a matter of getting the tyre in the right window mechanically and aerodynamically – and that has functioned pretty well for us. I personally find the track very exciting: it’s something new and certainly very challenging for the race, in terms of virtual safety cars and safety cars. Probably strategy’s going to play quite a crucial role on Sunday.
Eric? EB: Well first, the drivers didn’t complain, so that means it must be good. And I agree with Toto: it looks a fantastic place. The general feedback from the paddock is very positive. I think you know with the tools we have at home now, the simulation tools, we can see the car was more or less set up for this track. We see there is huge track evolution: this is the first time we are running on this track, the tarmac is very slippery. Couple of glitches this morning obviously but this is normal when we hit a new venue. But I think globally it was a positive day. It is a track where over the weekend there will be huge track evolution, long straight lines so favouring the higher power PUs, so I think the show on Sunday will be good, will be great. You could see a lot of cars went off in the runoff, so that means it is going to be a challenge as well for the race as well on Sunday.
Q: (Christian Nimmervoll – Motorsport Total.com) There is the long straight at the end of the circuit; is slipstreaming between teammates going to be an issue or Saturday, or something that you might consider? FV: I think that will be difficult to manage, because you will disadvantage one of your two drivers so I don’t think anybody will play this kind of game. CW: Nothing to add. GH: Well, I talked to the drivers a little bit. They really like the track, they like the high speed straightaways. I don’t know so much about slipstreaming as much as it is getting your brakes to work, very very high speeds going into a left hand, right hand turn, you have to get that right and I think that’s really where they’re going to pull a lot of their times, getting the brakes to work. TW: Since I have been in motor racing in the early nineties, I have never seen slipstreaming between two teammates work for both of them in any category so I don’t see that really.
Q: (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas) Question to Claire; Claire I would love to know… you have been given a big honour just a few days ago, coming from the Queen. I would love to know how important that is for you and what it really means for you and if you ever expected anything like that? CW: No, I’m still a bit speechless about it to be honest. I never expected it and it is a real honour to receive an award in the Queen’s birthday honours. But from my perspective, it’s a team effort, we always say that at Williams. I wouldn’t have been able to have done what I’ve done without the support of all seven hundred people at Williams, so the honour is for everybody at Williams, not just for me.. I’m just the figurehead that gets to run it after their name but is an enormous privilege and I’m delighted that we have it.
Q: (Chris Lines – AP) Toto, do you have any diagnosis yet on what happened with Nico, why he had to pull over? He called it an engine and drive issue. TW: We don’t know yet. We have to look at it, what exactly it is so I can’t really give you a comment on that at the moment but it’s a Friday engine so whatever the outcome is, it’s not dramatic.
Q: (Christof Becker – Frankfurter Allegemeiner Zeitung) Question to follow up on some of the discussions on the situation of human rights here in Azerbaijan which was going on yesterday. You will have heard what Bernie Ecclestone has said. About the situation today that there were reports that an Azeri news agency did not get accredited although the situation here is being said or handled differently than before at other races of Formula One, there have not been any calls for boycotts. What are your thoughts on the situation here? TW: Look, I think we are responsible for sport, for the sports and sporting side and sport should unite and not divide and I think if we can add our bit in bringing people together and putting on a good spectacle then this is all we can do. The federation and the commercial rights holder are fundamentally responsible for hosting the race. It’s not that we are closing our eyes, on the contrary, but we need to know what we need to do and this is sports. CW: As Toto said, we are not politicians, we run sports teams and we’ve come here to race. Bernie and Jean believe that it’s right to race here and we go where the calendar asks us to go. And from our perspective, I think the organisers have done a fantastic job of putting on some great facilities for us to do that, but as Toto says again, sport is supposed to unite people and we just want to put on a good race on Sunday. GH: … it’s a very controversial topic. I know in the US human rights are extremely important and the American people have a tendency to throw their weight around to make sure that people do get treated equally in the world. But I think, as Toto said, I think racing is a sport that brings people together to see that differences between people can be overcome. Sometimes when I go to races – like I was in Russia and I think the US has had a long history of rub-ins with Russian people but they are so friendly and it was so great to be there. So I really think that our sport can help smooth over some of those problems and hopefully when the politicians get to it, they can come to an agreeable solution.
Hamilton celebrates after winning the Canadian GP for the fifth time in Montreal on Sunday. An FIA image
Montreal, 12 June 2016: Lewis Hamilton took his fifth career Canadian Grand Prix win to close the gap to championship-leading Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg to just nine points as the German finished fifth.
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel managed to take the lead at the start but could not make a two-stop strategy work and he finished second ahead of a hard-charging Valtteri Bottas who scored Williams’ first podium finish of the season.
Hamilton began the race from pole position but when the lights went out he bogged down slightly, as did fellow front-row starter Rosberg, and Vettel shot past around the outside to take the lead into Turn One.
The Mercedes drivers then tussled on the way into Turn One as they attempted to recover and as they banged wheels Rosberg was forced to cut the corner and he dropped to tenth.
Rosberg’s return to track forced Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo to brake and that allowed his team-mate Max Verstappen to sneak through to grab third.
In P1, Vettel controlled the race until lap 11 when McLaren’s Jenson Button pulled over at the side of the track with a blown power unit. That brought out the Virtual Safety Car and Ferrari took the opportunity to pit Vettel for a set of supersoft tyres.
Hamilton, though, stayed out on his starting ultrasofts and the battle between his one-stop gambit and Vettel’s two-stop plan began.
The German had the pace to close Hamilton down but the Mercedes driver’s final stint on the soft tyres was such that there was no drop off in his pace and Vettel could not find the extra performance to beat the Mercedes’ man power and the low tyre wear he was encountering.
Hamilton eventually took his fifth Canadian Grand Prix win and his second race win in a row with five seconds in hand over the Ferrari driver.
“I had another really bad start, I’m not quite sure why, I think probably I overheated my clutch,” said Hamilton. “Sebastian and Nico got quite a good run down to Turn One, tyres are cold, big understeer, and I feel very grateful that me and Nico didn’t damage anything on our cars. And otherwise it was just trying to chase this guy down. He was so quick out there. The car felt fantastic and it was set up just right with great work from the engineers and mechanics.”
Bottas, meanwhile, enjoyed a superb run to third, with the Williams driver also making a one-stop strategy work. The Finn made the most of a difficult race for Red Bull and early in the race he passed Daniel Ricciardo to rise up the order and then cleared Max Verstappen to seize third. Bottas then sat in clear air for the remainder of the race to finish some 46 seconds behind Hamilton.
“As a team, it was really a strong one for us, really good strategy, really good pit stop; the time was perfect, the car felt really good today. I felt I was pretty on it today. So it’s great to be here,” he said.
Verstappen managed to hold onto fourth and late in the race the teenager showed great determination and skill in fending off sustained attacks from a hard-charging Nico Rosberg, who was recovering for a mid-race puncture.
After expertly placing his car in just the right spot to frustrate Rosberg’s assaults, the Mercedes man looked to have found a way past ujnder DRS on the run to the final chicane a few laps from home.
But Rosberg’s brakes let him down and he spun, leaving Verstappen to sail past and take fourth place. Rosberg managed to keep going and took fifth place.
Ricciardo was seventh having been held up by team-mate Verstappen early on and then he dropped back during the pit stops.
Eighth place went to Nico Hulkenberg, while Carlos Sainz took an excellent ninth place from 20th on the grid and Sergio Perez rounded out the top ten.
2016 Canadian Grand Prix – Race 1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 70 laps – 1h31m05.296s 1 2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari +5.011 2 3 Valtteri Bottas Williams +46.422 1 4 Max Verstappen Red Bull +53.020 2 5 Nico Rosberg Mercedes +62.093 2 6 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari +63.017 2 7 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull +63.634 2 8 Nico Hulkenberg Force India +1 lap 2 9 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso +1 lap 2 10 Sergio Perez Force India +1 lap 2 11 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso +1 lap 2 12 Fernando Alonso McLaren +1 lap 1 13 Esteban Gutierrez Haas +2 laps 2 14 Romain Grosjean Haas +2 laps 3 15 Marcus Ericsson Sauber +2 laps 2 16 Kevin Magnussen Renault +2 laps 1 17 Pascal Wehrlein Manor +2 laps 2 18 Felipe Nasr Sauber +2 laps 2 19 Rio Haryanto Manor +2 laps 2 20 Felipe Massa Williams DNF 2 21 Jolyon Palmer Renault DNF 1 22 Jenson Button McLaren DNF O
DRIVERS 1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes) 2 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari) 3 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Williams)
PODIUM INTERVIEWS (Conducted by Michael Douglas)
Bonjour Montreal. It’s a pleasure for me to be here and an honour to be able to introduce our podium winners. Lewis, incredible. We have to talk about the first turn. You had Sebastian coming in on your left, you had Nico touching wheels on the right. Tell us about that. Lewis HAMILTON: It was horrible. Firstly, I want to say a big thank you to everybody who came out here today and made the atmosphere the way it is. Thank you everyone here. We come here every year and we have the best week. The city, they just put on such a great event. The ambiance, the atmosphere is better than ever. Today, I had another really bad start, I’m not quite sure why, I think probably I overheated my clutch. Sebastian and Nico got quite a good run down to Turn One, tyres are cold, big understeer, and I feel very grateful that me and Nico didn’t damage anything on our cars. And otherwise it was just trying to chase this guy down. He was so quick out there. The car felt fantastic and it was set up just right with great work from the engineers and mechanic. Hey man, I won my first grand prix here in 2007, so this just feels like such a blessing.
Congratulations Lewis, well done, fourth time? LH: I think fifth time!
Yes, fifth time! Sebastian, nice to see you, wonderful, wonderful race. You had a phenomenal run earlier in the race, what were the issues later on? Sebastian VETTEL: Lewis was a bit too quick! That was the issue. No, I think we had a great weekend. Obviously a fantastic start and then, yeah, lap one was a bit hairy, I just struggled to stop the car in the last corner. It was very windy today and maybe I struggled a bit with the wind from behind but I was pushing all race. I think we committed fairly early to a different strategy, which we were planning to come back. Obviously then Lewis had the chance to stay out and see what the tyres were doing and I think probably the tyres lasted a bit better than what we expected, so that made it quite tricky to refresh the tyres and close the gap but overall a great weekend for us. We struggled a little bit in the last couple of races and the beginning of the season and now to see that the car has performance and to unleash it, it was a really fun race, I really enjoyed it. I can only add on what Lewis said: thanks to the crowd, it’s great to come here. Friday, free practice, to have you guys here at the hairpin, all around the track, waving at us is making our job just much more pleasant, so this is a place we’ll have to come to forever I guess, so thank you very much.
Fantastic, a really, really wonderful run, congratulations. Mr Bottas, really nice to see you up here on the podium again. I think it was Mexico last see [the last time]. The season started a little slow but you’re coming on strong. How was the race for you today?
Valtteri BOTTAS: Well, I’m really pleased with today. As a team, it was really a strong one for us, really good strategy, really good pit stop; the time was perfect, the car felt really good today. I felt I was pretty on it today. So it’s great to be here. I really want to thank Williams, thank you guys; everybody made an amazing job. Thank you Montreal, you’ve been really good to me.
Congratulations. Lewis, that’s two wins in a row, so how does the rest of the year look to you, what do you think? LH: We’re going to just take it one race at a time. There’s still work to do. We’re going to continue to improve this car. There’s a lot of race so we’re really just trying to stay… we need to try to keep on a roll if possible. There’s a long, long way to go. These guys are getting faster and faster at Ferrari and Red Bull, so collectively as a team we’re just going to keep our heads down and keep pushing. Honestly I’m just overwhelmed with today. I remember, what was it, ten years, nine years ago here, and it feels just as great [as it did] back then.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Lewis, 45th career victory and your fifth in Canada, as you were quick to point out on the podium. You obviously lost the start to Sebastian, but you got this win I guess, in a way again, because for the second race in a row you were able to do a very, very long final stint on the tyres. How much of that was data about what the tyres would do and how much was pure feel? LH: Well, firstly, if I may, I want to… I never really dedicate wins to anyone but someone who really inspired me so much throughout my life, Muhammad Ali, and obviously he passed just recently, so I’d love to be able to dedicate this to him and his family. The last 15 laps, for some reason all I could think of was him and Rumble in the Jungle, it was really, really weird. I was driving and I was just thinking of him, and thinking maybe he would be watching the race, I don’t know. So, that’s to him and his family. Rest in peace.
In terms of the tyres: It was really feel. The team obviously told us what the tyres could do, how far they would go. I wasn’t really sure how far the ultrasoft would go. I had already seen graining earlier when I was behind Sebastian. So I was a little bit nervous about it, but it seemed to last, which was great. I could have kept going on the ultrasoft, which was interesting; I had a good pace. Then we swapped. It was a long stint on the information we got before that that tyre could last quite a long time and it was just a beauty. I didn’t have to push too much on the tyre at the beginning, just looking after them, but very conscious that this guy behind was pushing. I was really enjoying the race with him, you know, just battling times here and there. He was so quick and it’s great to see how quick they are and they are really giving us a run for our money, and I just happened to be on a one stop. But fantastic job by the team. I’m really overwhelmed to think just how difficult this season was before these last two races and I feel incredibly grateful and very blessed to have had these two great weekends. I’m just going to keep working hard, as you can see I’m super-focused. For me I felt that today was one of my best races for a while, maybe not as good as the last one, but still really happy with it. Onwards and upwards hopefully.
Very well done. Turning to you Sebastian, got the feeling before the race that Ferrari might be able to win this, had that amazing start, and then obviously you committed to that two-stopper with the pit stop on lap 17 under the VSC. Was that because the team thought you wouldn’t be able to do what Lewis did and do that one-stopper and in the final part of the race did you think that a 13-lap tyre offset to Lewis would be enough to challenge? SV: Yeah, I think that was the plan, so obviously we committed fairly early. We were in the lead. As the second car in the row, which was Lewis in that case, obviously you have the chance to choose – if the car in front pits you might pit, if the car front stays out you might pit. We committed fairly early to that strategy and I think I was probably the right thing to do in terms of getting to the chequered flag the quickest way. But obviously we lost track position and we didn’t expect that the soft tyre that Lewis put on… first of all the ultrasoft and then the soft would last as long. Myself, I was also surprised to see how long the supersoft lasted and then the soft tyre lasted until the end. As Lewis said, we could have kept going. The degradation wasn’t maybe as high as we expected. That’s maybe where we lost the race. But I want to make one thing clear: I’m not a big fan of blaming anyone or anything. I think it was a great weekend for Ferrari. We’ve had a difficult start to the season because we were never really able to show the true performance of the car and this was maybe the first clean weekend if you look at Saturday and Sunday. And actually I enjoyed the race a lot. Didn’t get the result I was hoping for, especially after the start, but I was enjoying it a lot. The last 30 laps I was just flat out – maybe pushing a little bit too hard at times. It just felt great. That’s what racing should be about. The tyres were fairly consistent. I really enjoyed chasing him down but a couple of laps to go I realised that he was just a bit too quick or the tyres didn’t drop enough.
Q: Valterri,, podium here for the second year in a row in Montreal. Same strategy as Lewis that got you ahead of the two–stopping Red Bulls and Kimi Raikkonen; tell us about your drive today and also those strategy calls? VB: Thank-you, yes. It feels really good to be here again. Montreal has been pretty to me and pretty good to us as a team. For sure it was always going to be one of the good tracks for our car but really pleased with what we have done. Of course, today didn’t come easily. I really needed to thank the team for the decisions they made to commit to the one stop and also the stop lap, it was perfect. This stop was again, massively quick as we’ve seen all season so really thankful for Williams, for today and for the whole weekend. We need more of these kind of results. We just need to keep trying but just very happy at the moment.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) Lewis, what happened at the start, more of the same? LH: Yeah, the start was… I don’t understand it. This time I really don’t understand because practices have been good, the formation lap was amazing, dropped the clutch and the thing pulled away perfectly. Yeah, I stopped, did the normal procedure, let the clutch out and it just didn’t go anywhere. I’m really lost as to know what… Obviously I had really good pace today and that really got in the way. Had it been a longer straight, I would have been a sitting duck. I don’t really know what to say about it. And into turn one, these tyres, these ultrasofts, he(Sebastian) was lightning on the first lap but me, I had no grip. I got to turn one and I had this understeer and I thought that it was going to continue for the rest of the lap. I think the guys behind me were also tiptoeing but very close, obviously, between me and Nico which wasn’t intentional. But fortunately none of our cars were damaged.
Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) And second question is – as Sebastian has said, the cars are pretty good as you’ve said as well, you had a good view of them in the early laps. What’s the power like on the straight, how quick were they on the straight compared with you now? SV: Quite quick. I think we’re quite quick. LH: These guys were pretty quick on the straight. I didn’t get quite close enough to really gauge just how quick they are but I think it looked pretty close, I have to say. I was so excited with wheel-to-wheel racing but then he pitted after the VSC and I’m like shoot, I was a bit annoyed. Still it was a good battle at the time.
Q: (Dan Knutson – Speedsport Magazine) Valterri, as you say, a good track for you and the team. However does it give you confidence that you can now start to challenge Red Bull or was it just track and strategy specific today? VB: It definitely keeps confidence for us that we can do good things. For sure, it is one of the good ones, as a track for us but I think as a team we did such a good job with the strategy but the car was also good today at the beginning and end of the race when everyone was on the same tyres, I did feel that I could put pressure on Kimi in front and even the Red Bulls, so that was a good feeling and even though some of them were on two stop and we were still on one stop and we put pressure, so that was good. I think the next few races should be good. Lot of confidence now and this really makes a lot of good for the team, a result like this, a motivation boost for the next ones.
Q: (Ralf Bach – AutoBild Motorsport) Seb, my impression is that we already saw the race from today in Melbourne, didn’t we? SV: I don’t think that’s true. I think Australia, you can argue with hindsight, we would do a different strategy. If it’s that straightforward and easy to know what it’s like, then everyone is doing the right thing. As it turned out, we committed fairly early, maybe we were also hoping that the virtual safety car gives us a bit of an advantage and makes the two stop favourable but I will always defend our strategies, what we committed to as a team. I think there were other people as well, favouring the two stop. With hindsight maybe they would do a different job but as I said, that’s a decision we take as a team. Kept in hindsight it’s always easy. Put yourselves in the shoes of those on the pit wall, to make that call is quite tricky and you have to be really quick. Strategy-wise I think we have a very very strong team. I wouldn’t favour anywhere near to criticise them because the guys are really on the money and very strong, reacting very well and if here and there we maybe don’t do the optimum, that’s part of the job but overall I think we end up doing better choices than other people.
Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Lewis, was the tyre management here more difficult than in Monte Carlo because at a certain stage we saw one big, black stripe on one of your front tyres. Was that graining? LH: Honestly, as Sebastian said, the tyres were really good today, I have to say. I guess with the cooler temperatures graining wasn’t really an issue. I think if it was hot like it was in P2, I think, maybe a one-stop wouldn’t have been possible but yeah, there was a small bit of… on the Ultrasoft there was a little bit more graining but on the soft there was hardly any graining at all. It was like a small band on the front left tyre but otherwise they stayed very, very consistent. Being so cool I think you just had to try to keep the temperature in them more than anything. I was really actually, for once, happy with the performance of the tyre, to be honest. They did a good job.
Q: (Jimmy Gordon – AP) Lewis, we heard you talk about Ali. Can you tell us what it was about his life or his career that made such an impact on you? LH: I think it’s the same for everyone really. I think he was just a unique, iconic individual who had a character unlike anyone else’s and everyone aspired to be like him. I wish I could have spoken with the charisma that he would have, or the comedic side that he would have, that confidence that he could carry into a fight and outwit and outsmart his opponents. And then for the things that he stood for. Even more importantly politically, I think believing in who you are and not letting anyone dictate who you have to be. I think as a kid, when I saw that, I think I was like: ‘this is the guy I want to be like’. In terms of an athlete I hope one day I can be like him. Coming from a family of similar background in a sense of ethnicity, it was someone to look up to. Obviously in Formula One there was no one of the same colour as us as a family, so it was another athlete for me to look up.
Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) A question for Seb. Seb, during this weekend we’ve seen one of the closest gaps between Ferrari and Mercedes. Are you confident you feel you can be even closer to a win in the next race? SV: First of all, I hope that you write exactly that tomorrow: that we were closer than ever. So, I think sometimes it’s a bit surreal. We are an Italian team. I think Ferrari stands for great passion and a lot of values in Italy and sometimes it seems like the Italian press is our biggest opponent. So, maybe you can write something nice, which would be a nice message for all the people in Maranello that are really working their arse off day in, day out to make a strong Ferrari car. I’ve never had a doubt. I know this car is a big step up and I think we had a mixed-up start to the season which was difficult because we were never really in the position to show what the car can deliver. Especially because Saturdays here and there weren’t great. So, I think this weekend was just normal. We had a great Saturday and great pace today. Just look at the opening laps of the race. I was pulling away, pulling a gap to… maybe not so much to Lewis but to all the cars behind. So, it felt great and the car felt great all weekend. So, really happy and happy with the progress the team is making. Again, I ask you to be a bit patient, a bit more patient. The team is on a great path, things are improving and I think we’re seeing results quicker than anyone else so far in the history of F1. So, I think we’re on the right track, it’s a great team and I’m enjoying it a lot.
Q: (Bill Beacon – The Canadian Press) For Sebastian. Can you go over for us what you did off the start? Where you planning that ahead of time? And what exactly did you do to slip by everybody and get first place? SV: I know it sounds silly saying it now but I sort-of had the gut feel that I will have a good start. Obviously it depends on what the other people are doing but I had the feel that, when the lights went on… [to Lewis] I didn’t know what you were doing but I knew there would be a good start. I had a good feeling the formation lap and I think I reacted well, as well – without giving myself too much credit. I just… I don’t know… I felt it would be a good start. It was, so I was very happy with that and just went for it. Had a big lead in the first lap which, nearly all of it I gave away in the last corner and then it was obviously it was a bit more tricky to keep Lewis out of the DRS until a couple of laps in – until just before the Virtual Safety Car actually. I was a bit distracted, we chatted about it, I have to mention it, I don’t know why but I have to, there were two seagulls. I think it was a couple that wanted to commit suicide. They were at the apex of Turn One. Lewis obviously didn’t care, so he made up quite a bit of time, about half a second, but I didn’t do that couple that favour to say goodbye for good, so by the time Lewis came around they just flew off. Wasn’t fair! I brake for animals, Lewis doesn’t but… yeah. Then the Virtual Safety Car came and freezes the gap at that point.
Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) Following on from that Sebastian, I wonder what you felt about the grip level on the in-field of the chicane there? You went through it three or four times just to get it right. What was the racing line like through there? You were very quick the first time you went straight on. SV: Very quick on the first lap. Braking very late. I think I was a bit caught out by the wind, to be honest. I shouldn’t have – I had all the information but I was struggling a bit. It was very gusty and, here and there, got caught out. So, I was trying everything all around the whole lap. I was getting close to the wall: exit of Four; exit of the last corner, exit of Nine as well. So really trying everything. Eventually in there too much, which obviously loses you more than a second. And then yeah, I think I was around four and a half seconds to Lewis and then back to five and a half. Didn’t do myself a favour but I had to try. For some reason yesterday I was very good friends with the last corner and today not so much. So, yeah, not great from my side obviously to miss the braking. Quite tricky with a bit of bottoming. Just locked it three times in total and didn’t make it.
Montreal, 11 June 2016: Lewis Hamilton beat Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg by just six hundredths of a second to claim a fifth career Canadian Grand Prix pole position, putting him just one adrift of Michael Schumacher’s record at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
After setting an impressive lap of 1:13.076 to top the list at the end of Q2, Hamilton ramped up the pace even further with his first run in Q3, lowering the benchmark to 1:12. 812. Rosberg followed almost immediately and while the German’s lap was similarly outstanding, he could not outpace his team-mate and so sat six hundredth behind in P2. And when Rosberg locked up in Turn One of his second attempt the battle was over. Hamilton had secured his fifth career Canadian GP pole position.
Afterwards the defending champion admitted that margin was tight but added that “it doesn’t matter how far you are ahead, as long as you are ahead”.
“In practice it was a much bigger gap than today,” he continued. “Today, I just didn’t have the pace that I had yesterday but clearly it was enough. There was definitely more time in it. But it was great to see how close we all were, I think that’s great for the fans to see. It’s going to be interesting tomorrow but [pole] is the best place to start that’s for sure.”
Rosberg, meanwhile, said that he had been pleased with his first run in Q3 and that in the race “everything is possible”.
“The first lap in Q3 was good. Not quite enough to beat Lewis but it was still a good lap,” he said. “Next one I tried to pull one out of the bag but it didn’t work out, so that’s it, so second place. Still a good team result of course, again to show that we are the fastest, the fastest car, which has been great, even on this very unique track here. Yeah, for tomorrow everything is still possible, you know, the weather forecast is all over the place, and from second place it’s all doable.”
After the first runs, third place was occupied by Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen but on the final runs he was eclipsed to great laps, by team-mate Daniel Ricciardo who found two tenths of a lap over his first run to set a time of 1:13.166, two tenths ahead of Verstappen’s besty time of 1:13.414 and also by Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who claimed third place on the grid.
The German might have got closer but over the radio he told the team that he had lost traction out of the hairpin on his way to a lap of 1:12.990, making him the only non-works Mercedes driver to get below 1m 13s.
“I was very happy with the lap in general, I was maybe a bit greedy out of ten and maybe not greedy enough into turn six but yeah, there wasn’t an awful lot to grab otherwise, as I said, very happy,” he said “I wanted to get below the 1m 13s mark because then I knew it would be very close with the Mercedes. I did that but just by one hundredth so yeah, a little bit was missing but overall I think we have a great car, we did a step so I’m happy with how the weekend has turned out. We did a step or so overnight so I felt in general very comfortable and enjoyed qualifying a lot.”
With Ricciardo fourth and Verstappen fifth for Red Bull, sixth place went to Kimi Raikkonen who only completed one run in Q3. Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa will make up an all-Williams row eight, while Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg and McLaren’s Fernando Alonso rounded out the top ten.
Earlier Q2 was halted almost as soon as it began when Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz crashed at the Wall of Champions. Having only completed an out lap he would thus end the session in P16 and eliminated ahead of him from P15 up were Romain Grosjean, Esteban Gutierrez, Daniil Kvyat, Jenson Button and Sergio Perez.
Q1 ended under yellow flags as Manor’s Rio Haryanto hit the wall and sustained a punctuire that forced him to stop at Turn 12. That meant there could be no further improvements and eliminated at the end of the first session from P17 back were Jolyon Palmer, Pascal Wehrlein, Marcus Ericsson, Felipe Nasr and Kevin Magnussen who did not take part following a crash in FP3.
2016 Canadian Grand Prix – Qualifying 1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:14.121 1:13.076 1:12.812 2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:13.714 1:13.094 1:12.874 3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:13.925 1:13.857 1:12.990 4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:14.030 1:13.540 1:13.166 5 Max Verstappen Red Bull Rcaing 1:14.601 1:13.793 1:13.414 6 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:14.477 1:13.849 1:13.579 7 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:14.389 1:13.791 1:13.670 8 Felipe Massa Williams 1:14.815 1:13.864 1:13.769 9 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:14.663 1:14.166 1:13.952 10 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:15.026 1:14.260 1:14.338 11 Sergio Perez Force India 1:14.814 1:14.317 12 Jenson Button McLaren 1:14.755 1:14.437 13 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:14.829 1:14.457 14 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:15.148 1:14.571 15 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:15.444 1:14.803 16 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:14.714 1:21.956 17 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:15.159 18 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:15.599 19 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:15.635 20 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:16.663 21 Rio Haryanto Manor 1:17.052 22 Kevin Magnussen Renault
Oxfordshire, 10 June 2016: Williams is delighted to announce that its Deputy Team Principal and Commercial Director, Claire Williams, has been appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Queen’s 2016 Birthday Honours List announced today. Claire has been awarded the honour in recognition of her services to Formula One.
In her role as Deputy Team Principal, Claire has been instrumental in the successful restructuring of the Williams Group over the past three years. The team has returned towards the front of the grid in Formula One, moving from ninth in the Constructors’ Championship in 2013 to third place in 2014 and 2015, and has successfully diversified through the continued growth of Williams Advanced Engineering. Since stepping into her Deputy Team Principal role, Claire has used her position as a female in a traditionally male dominated industry to encourage more women to consider careers in engineering and technology. In addition to this, she has recently been appointed Vice President of the Spinal Injuries Association, a charity extremely close to her heart.
Speaking about the honour, Claire said; “Today is a very proud day for me, but this is also a bit of a surprise. To be recognised in this way is a tremendous honour but one everyone at Williams can take credit for. I’m extremely lucky that I get to do a job that I love. To be able to play a role in a family legacy is an enormous privilege and one I don’t take for granted. Formula One, and Williams, are great success stories for the UK and I will continue to use my role to help showcase what a great sport Formula One is, what a brilliant platform for this country’s expertise in high class engineering it is, as well as a place that welcomes women across all of its disciplines.”
Montreal, 10 June 2016: Lewis Hamilton set the quickest time of the first practice session for the Canadian Grand Prix as running got underway at Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Felipe Massa’s session ended early, however, after the Brazilian crashed heavily at the first corner, destroying the rear end of his Williams car.
Massa’s crash came just before the half hour mark in the session, when on the approach to Turn One the back end of his car snapped out under braking and he spun and slid backwards into the barriers, sustaining a heavy impact on the rear right corner of his car. “I think I had a problem, I closed the DRS and lost the rear completely,” he told the Williams pit wall.
The session was red flagged for a period and when running got underway again it was Hamilton was set the pace. The defending champion’s best time of 1:14.755 was set on the supersoft Pirelli tyre, while team-mate Nico Rosberg took second place with a time of 1:15.086 set on the purple-banded ultrasoft tyre.
Third in the session was Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel. The four-time champion set his best time on the supersoft tyre to finish 0.157 behind Rosberg.
Fourth place went to Max Verstappen. The Red Bull driver was 0.8s adrift of Hamilton’s time but his best time was set on the soft tyre, a step up the Pirelli’s from the Mercedes driver’s supersoft time. The Dutch teenager’s time was also good enough to put him seven hundredths of a second ahead of the second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen who finished the session in fifth place.
With Massa out of the running, all of Williams’ work was left to Valtteri Bottas and the Finn logged 30 laps, the most of the session on his way to sixth place, ahead of Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg, Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz and the second Force India of Sergio Perez.
Tenth place in the session went to McLaren’s Fernando Alonso, who completed 18 laps on his way to a best time of 1:16.663. It was a less profitable session for his team-mate Jenson Button, however.
The Briton completed just eight laps and then, when he was sent back out again late in the session, he emerged from the McLaren garage with smoke pouring from the rear of his car. The McLaren pitwall immediately informed him to return to the garage, though his engineer informed him that “Honda know what the problem is”.
2016 Canadian Grand Prix – Free Practice 1 1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:14.755
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:15.086
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:15.243
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:15.553
5 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:15.618
6 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:16.301
7 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:16.464
8 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:16.543
9 Sergio Perez Force India 1:16.577
10 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:16.663
11 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:16.734
12 Jenson Button McLaren 1:16.788
13 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:17.008
14 Felipe Massa Williams 1:17.065
15 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:17.310
16 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:17.319
17 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:17.855
18 Rio Haryanto Manor 1:18.103
19 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:18.129
20 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:18.409
21 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:18.453
22 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:18.583
Sergio Perez (bottom row centre) at the FIA press conference on Thursday. An FIA image
DRIVERS – Marcus ERICSSON (Sauber), Sergio PEREZ (Force India), Felipe MASSA (Williams), Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing), Jenson BUTTON (McLaren), Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (Ferrari)
PRESS CONFERENCE
Daniel, let’s start with you, our 2014 Canadian Grand Prix winner of course. You didn’t want to hear what the team had to say after the last race in Monaco, so how have the conversations gone since, around strategy decisions, the pit stop issue and how have you personally got over the disappointment? Daniel RICCIARDO: Yeah, I gave it a few days to cool off. I definitely felt after the race that I wasn’t in a place, probably no one was in a place to try to resolve what happened. For me it just get away for a few days and then address what happened once we’d cooled and settled. So I spoke to various people in the team and they basically explained what happened at the time and the situation. It was obviously important to hear the explanation but I think more important how to move on from it and how to make sure it doesn’t happen again. They’d done a lot of things since then back at the factory and they have set up some new parameters and things that will happen during pit stops and before pit stops to make sure that these things don’t happen again and to make sure that tyres are ready and that various compounds are ready at once. So, yeah, obviously from my said now I’ve moved on. It’s obviously good that they’ve… I knew they were going to take it seriously because it was obviously a big disappointment for all of us, but I’ve been assured that if we’re in that position again then it won’t happen, so that was obviously what I needed and what I wanted to hear.
With the Renault engine upgrade, which seems to be pretty valid there, as well as the nature of the Red Bull chassis and of this circuit layout here in Montreal, is there a realistic expectation that you can bounce back with this weekend with a win? DR: In my mind there is. That would obviously be a lovely way to bounce back. Let’s see, I think realistically Mercedes are still going to be, as expected, the ones to beat. I expect that we can be the next best, or I hope we can be the next best. But it’s hard, you know, Ferrari have been there and surprised us sometime and then been less surprising on other occasions. You never know, but I do believe we’ll be the next ones in line behind Mercedes and how far we’re behind Mercedes I’m not sure but hopefully close enough to again put some pressure on them and grab a win.
Marcus, coming to you, a little bit of ice hockey this week with Valtteri Bottas. Who’s the more aggressive on the ice, you or him? Marcus ERICSSON: Most aggressive? I don’t know, but obviously Sweden and Finland have a big rivalry in ice hockey and it was a fun event and he was very good on the ice I have to say.
Speaking of aggression, there was a self-destructive situation between you two Sauber drivers in Monaco. Do you and the team just have to accept that as Sauber isn’t really racing any other team you’re going to be racing each other like this week in week out? ME: No, it shouldn’t be like that of course. Now it happened in Monaco and we all spoke about it and discussed it and we cleared the air about it. We had different opinions but it’s all done and settled now and we are looking forward to Montreal together as a team.
Thanks. Felipe coming to you, you’re scored points in four of the last five Canadian Grands Prix, you’re the only driver this season to have scored points in every round and you’ve been ahead of your team-mate 60% of the time. How satisfied can you be with that? Felipe MASSA: Well, satisfied, when you score one point, is not really the right answer. I really hope we can score more than what we’re doing. You always want more. It’s on the consistent side in terms of scoring points but we need to work to get a little bit more than one point like we did in Monaco and getting closer to the top five at every race, that’s what we want to do, that’s what we’re working for and I really hope that we can carry on scoring a good amount of points at every race.
Williams has owned third place for the past few seasons but that looks to have slipped to fourth this season, and Force India in the last month or so have been coming for you as well. What’s holding you back? FM: Well, I think that Red Bull is definitely the team that has grown most and as everybody could see, they even won races this year and they were fighting to win even the last race, so I think with the other teams we are fighting a good way. Definitely Monaco was not the best track for us but I’m really looking forward to being competitive back here and even in the next races and be back on this important fight to maybe even fight for the third, which would be not so easy, but to keep our fourth position also I think we can do and we’re fighting for that.
Thank you for that. Kimi, coming to you, three podiums from the opening six rounds is your best start to the season since 2013, but do you and the team feel that you have fallen behind Red Bull rather than closed on Mercedes? Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: I wouldn’t say it like that. We know what we’ve done, we’re definitely more strong in the car and other areas than we were last year. Maybe the results haven’t showed it exactly, but it’s not been the easiest start for us as a team, but we know that as long as we do our stuff and keep working it will pay off. As I say, it’s not been what we’re looking for exactly, but the package has improved and we’re working on that all the time. We know our weaknesses and where we have to improve. Obviously you always look for better results and wins, putting the two cars up there, but so far it’s been a bit tricky this start of the year, but we are more or less there, so we keep doing the same things.
A significant update to the car is a pretty traditional thing for Ferrari in Montreal, so the turbo update you have this weekend has been long awaited. Will this now allow you to fully exploit the power unit? KR: We fully exploit it all the time. This is a step forward. How much, time will tell. It’s a new part and we would never put any new parts on the car if we didn’t think it improves, but is it going to be what kind of step? I don’t expect any miracles suddenly but it’s the right direction and it’s something that’s been for a while that we’ve been waiting to have it. It’s more like any other new parts we bring, it’s not suddenly something magic, so it’s a very normal work in progress for us as a team, as Ferrari, and it’s going in the right direction all the time.
Thank you for that. Jenson, coming to you, a former winner of this race, the epic wet race of 2011, two other podiums here in Montreal in 15 appearances at this track. Tell us what makes this place special for you, and what’s the best way to drive it? Jenson BUTTON: Wow, what makes it special? I think it’s always your history that makes a place special, isn’t it. First time to every circuit, it’s nice, but it’s the history and your experiences there that makes a place special. 2011 was very special. You know me, I’m a trouper, and it’s about fighting through and never giving up. So, it’s always those special experiences that make an event for me.
And the best way to drive it? The best way to be quick here? JB: To be fair, you need a car that is efficient. You need a car that’s good on braking. I suppose every circuit is the same, but those are specifically important areas/. It’s having confidence to use the kerbs here, carry speed and when the weather is like this, making the right calls.
A bit like Felipe, it’s not been big points, but you have scored in the last three races, from a fairly consistent P12, P13 on the grid. Where is the step coming from to get into Q3 and challenge for he bigger points? JB: For big points, I think it’s going to be a while before we’re actually going competitive enough to fight for big points, but we are making good progress. People would think that this isn’t a circuit that would suit our car, but it’s going to be alright. We’ve come here with some upgrades, which should help us. It’s not big but it should help us. We are very efficient in terms of our car. I know that Exxon Mobil had been working very hard with Honda with fuel. We have an upgrade here, which should help in that areas, so, yeah, we’re positive.
Q: Sergio, coming to you, fantastic podium last time out in Monaco. Your sixth in Formula One. You scored one here back in 2012. Is there a sense of optimism that you can continue this strong run? Sergio PÉREZ: Well, Monaco was a very special race under certain conditions and to get into the points , everything worked perfectly for us: with the strategy; with all the calls that we did in Monaco. So it was a race under very special conditions. We are expecting something similar here for Sunday but you never know. I really hope we can carry the form, y’know? Probably podiums is not the realistic word for us at the moment but certainly continue the progress and keep scoring points and aim to beat Williams, which is the team ahead of us, which is going to be difficult but I think we are making good progress and we are getting better and better every race.
Q: With 100 grands prix on the board in what’s been essentially a career of two parts, where do you go from here? Do you sense that there is a chance to move back to a top team? SP: You never know. To be honest I’m not really obsessed with that. If that happened that would be a great opportunity to me and I really hope in the near future I can have the opportunity to be in a car that can give me the opportunity to win. But right now all I can do is to focus on this weekend, do my best for this one and then after this one think about Baku and whatever. The most important thing for me is to focus on the present and try to keep doing the job that I’ve been doing so far.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) Daniel, I’m interested to know in the debrief whether or not, in the context of other dramas we’ve had at Monaco over the years, drivers missing the red light for scrutineering, Lewis’ obvious problem last year with the call, whether or not Monaco itself is a function of the issue that happened, because of the tightness of the garage, the general confusion of Monte Carlo, or if it was something that could have happened anywhere? DR: I think… yeah, the nature of the pits and everything in Monaco, it does make it harder to move around. The garage is small. Whether it would have been a different story at another track, I’m not sure. I think it came down to a late call, a late change of heart. Basically after the team saw what tyres Lewis had put on, they decided to change their decision. Let’s say we were always intending on using one compound and once they saw Lewis change, or go to the UltraSoft – I think the team probably expected him to use a SuperSoft – then it got them thinking and then it was all a bit last-minute. So, whether a last-minute call, say at Barcelona, would have allowed that to happen a bit more fluently, I’m not sure. Yeah, I think the call was just a bit rushed and with Monaco being what it is, it was probably just a bit chaotic for the circumstances. I think it all probably added up: small garage; the intensity of the whole weekend and that track and what it does probably didn’t help. Yeah.
Q: (Andrea Cremonese – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Question for Daniel and one for Kimi. For Daniel, is about the ambition of this season. After the win of your team-mate in Barcelona, the pole position and nearly victory in Monaco, if you wish that the car is going well here, you can think even to fight for the Championship this year? And for Kimi, we would like to know about your future, if you have a deadline with Ferrari to decide what happens next year? DR: Yeah, coming into the season, didn’t expect to be… probably didn’t expect to be third in the Championship but after so many races in, and yeah, we’ve seen no points in Russia and could have got more in China without the puncture, and the last two races, we could be very close to probably… yeah… we’d be very close to the front of the Championship right now. So, you know, I’m still not looking at that yet. I would love to be in a position in a few races time and say yeah, we can fight for a title this year. I think that would be a pretty nice, unexpected fight and story for F1. I think this race will be pretty telling. If we can be competitive here, you never know. It’s still a long-shot, for sure, but if we can be competitive then sure I believe in myself that I can fight and do what I’ve got to do to put myself in a position come the end of the year. So, fingers crossed we can… Barcelona and Monaco isn’t… wasn’t a one-off. I hope we can fight again for the rest of the season. And I believe we can: whether it’s a win or a podium… to be continued.
Kimi, second question was to you, is there is a deadline in terms of your future with Ferrari? KR: I don’t know anything more. You guys seem to be knowing a lot every week, this and that. It’s not in my decision in the end. I always said I’m happy to be here, I hope I will be here for helping Ferrari get where we want to get as a team. What happens in the future, we will see.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Daniel, first Spain then Monaco. How much have these two events damaged your relationship with the team – have you forgiven the team absolutely and totally for these two incidents? DR: Yeah, obviously, as I said after Monaco I was happy to keep some distance for a few days. For myself as well, it probably wasn’t healthy to just address it straight away. But yeah, for sure, for a few days I was upset I guess, and obviously ruing some missed opportunities – but it’s one of those things: it happens; it’s unfortunate it happened back-to-back. That, how do I say, expanded the feelings and the emotion a lot more. But yeah, I’ve moved on. I’ve still obviously got a lot of faith in the team and I don’t doubt things with them moving forwards. For me it’s obviously really important this weekend to execute a perfect weekend from my side and from the team’s side and get back on track. Because obviously we’ve shown we have a good car, we’ve got good material. It’s just trying really to maximize it. The last four weekends I’ve left Sunday feeling I should have got more. So yeah, this weekend it’s just to try leaving on Sunday knowing that we’ve maximized everything from both sides.
Q: (Jérôme Bourret – L’Equipe) Braking is of course something crucial here. Could you please tell us something about how difficult it is to find the right braking lap after lap during the race – and how demanding it is from a physical point of view? JB: I think the race is fine in terms of braking. I think with the way that the cars are these days it does make it a little bit trickier with the deployment that we have that is obviously different to qualifying – well it is for us, I don’t know if it is for everybody else – and also there will be fuel saving here so – and again I don’t know if it is for everyone else – but that does change your braking. It changes the brake temperatures, obviously. So you have to be very careful of that and it’s studied throughout the race. But for me the more difficult time to get your braking right is qualifying. Because you’re right on the edge: it’s bumpy; easy to lock wheels – but you’ve got to have that confidence in the car to brake as late as you can because there’s a lot of lap-time there.
Felipe, what’s your perspective on this? You’re obviously running a Mercedes engine, will you be fuel-saving on Sunday? And your thoughts on the braking. FM: For sure it’s a track that you need to have a good… brakes need to work well so it’s easy to get… we saw in the past many teams struggling with overheating problems in the braking. We need to be careful, try to use everything in the proper way to have no problems. Actually in all these two and a half years that I’m here with Williams, we never had a problem on the brakes so I don’t really see we can have any problem during the race. I think the fuel consumption can be an issue for everybody here, so we need to wait and see how it’s going to be tomorrow and the numbers and prepare the race in the proper way.
Sergio, anything to add? SP: Yeah, I think Montréal is very hard on braking, especially in the race if you are in the traffic and it’s hot on Sunday – which doesn’t look like. It can be really demanding on the brakes with the brakes overheating. And, as Jenson said, we’re going to be fuel-saving, all of us, on Sunday if it’s a straightforward race. That makes it a bit easier in a way, on the brakes, but it can always be quite tricky. I think the most challenging day for the brakes is Saturday. Saturday in qualifying you really have to be on the edge and there’s a lot of time to be gained under braking. So you have to have the confidence to approach it well.
Q: (Alexander Govorov – Championnat.com) Felipe, the last couple of years in Montreal Williams was very strong, but you’re struggling on slow tracks. Do you see the race in Montreal as an opportunity to be back in the top six and maybe fight for the podium? FM: Yeah, definitely. I really hope we can be competitive on this track, not just this track but maybe Baku can be a positive track for us, Austria, so I’m really looking forward that this next race can be a circuit that we can be strong on, maybe fighting for the top five, maybe a podium because that’s what we want and we will try.
Q: (Leigh Diffey – NBC Sports) Jenson, there’s an abundance of information for us all to look at to see how things have improved, whether that’s lap time or your qualifying spots or race results, but what are the immeasurable things that have changed within the team? Has there been a shift in morale or a change of tone in conversation? Just take us inside the team. JB: Yeah, from the outside, you always ask the questions: where is it, when are you going to be competitive? And then you get… every time I speak to the press it’s how about now? How about now? How about now? How about now? It’s unbelievable, the pressure from the outside but from the inside we know where we are, we know we’re improving and I think the atmosphere in the team is very good. Fernando and myself are both very experienced, I think we bring a lot to the team in terms of our experience and direction and there is a lot in the pipeline. It’s always very difficult because we’re in a season where we want to get the result we can, as everyone does, and I think it’s the same for everyone. With a regulation change next year, it changes everything, in terms of how much effort is put into that single season. But I’m happy with the progress that’s being made there is a good feeling. We feel that a lot of the time we are getting the maximum out of the car which is the main thing right now and yeah, we’re still quite a way off the pace but it will come, it is just a matter of time but it always takes a lot longer than you want.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Daniel, sorry to harp on about this but how did the reconciliation come about? Did you make the ‘phone call, did they call you, did you just arrive at the factory or how did that happen? DR: It was all over the ‘phone. I let it cool a couple of days and then I spoke to Christian, I spoke to my engineer and obviously Christian just explained… obviously apologised on everyone’s behalf and just explained what went down and the reasons why there was confusion and why obviously the tyres weren’t ready and this and that. So that was really the ‘phone call with Christian and then I spoke to Simon, my engineer, that was later in the week, after they’d got a chance to spend some days in the factory and basically just to hear what they’d put in place. And also I questioned… because everyone highlighted the second pit stop which was where effectively we lost the race but I questioned the first pit stop as well because that was the one… already when I came out behind Lewis, I was like ‘well, we’ve put ourselves in a race now with Lewis which we didn’t have to be in so…’ I just wanted to make sure that the first pit stop was being addressed as heavily as the second one and then Simon obviously explained that they were not looking into that but acknowledging that that was also, I would say, a mistake. So yeah, it was just to get some clarity on everything. Yes, there’s going to be some new software they’ve now put in for strategy and some live stuff during the race that can obviously make us more prepared, and if there are some late calls again, to make sure that everything’s put in place. Yes, obviously I had plenty of questions to ask but they answered them with confidence and that’s all I needed to hear.
Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) Sergio, it wasn’t that long ago that you were certainly heading for a podium if not a win here. Big shunt with Felipe but I noticed you and Felipe are now big mates at the back there, chatting away, having a laugh. I wonder when you come back here whether you think about that and how that incident in your mind has been resolved, whether you think it was 50-50 now? SP: I still think it was his fault. But I got the penalty though. Well, it was a long story after that. FM: Very long.
SP: But yeah, that day I was so close to win the race, actually. I remember Rosberg had an issue in the last laps and I was getting really close to him but then I had an issue as well with the brakes actually, my brakes were quite overheated, I had a problem with the BBW(brake by wire) so that was hurting my brake balance a lot, I was losing a lot of lap time with the brakes and I lost the place to Daniel and he went on and won the race. But in general that day was an extremely good race for me and we found ourselves in a position that we were not expecting to. Unfortunately, on the last lap, it all went to bad with a crash but it was a really good race and we were close to win that day.
FM: My thoughts? So we crashed, it was really bad for both of us and I hope this thing doesn’t happen any more. But I was not penalised!
Q: (Robby Pacicco – Popular Hispanics) Felipe, last year you had a little intruder on the track while you were racing. Did you adjust your race strategy for another groundhog this year? FM: Here is a place that you can maybe see that. I hope they stay safe in their place. It can maybe happen but it must be really dangerous what happens to us or to the race. It was fun actually.
Q: (Leigh Diffey – NBC Sports) Kimi, there’s been a lot of discussion about braking today. For the last two years in a row, going up into the hairpin, exiting the hairpin, you’ve spun in exactly the same manner and you even said on the radio to the team last year ‘that was the same as last year.’ Have you guys got to the bottom of what that was and how that happened two years in a row at the same corner? KR: I’m pretty sure we have but hopefully I’m not wrong on Sunday but it’s quite frustrating in a way the last couple of years but we knew the issues and we took care of it in our mind but actually it never happened in any other thing. The first year it happened in practice but last year, because we knew what the problems( were) then kind of tried to even force it in practice and nothing happened but then in the race (it happened) again. I will make sure this year it’s not going to happen hopefully. I think we’ve learned now since that.
Alfonso Celis Jr (MEX) Sahara Force India F1 Development Driver. Sahara Force India F1 Team Studio Shoot, Friday 19th February 2016. Silverstone, England.
Monaco, 29 May 2016: Sahara Force India ended their lean run with a fantastic performance by Mexican Segio Perez, who took the third place, his third for the team in three different seasons and his sixth career podium. Teammate German Nico Hulkenberg passed championship leader Nico Rosberg on the line to take a well-deserved sixth place to put Force India in a double points finish for the first time in the season.
Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton took his first win of the season, his 44th win, with a one-stop strategy. Ricciardo who started on pole had to be content with a second place as a faulty pit stop ruined his chances. Championship leader Nico Rosberg finished 7th, as Hulkenberg pipped him to the chequered flag.
A pleased Sergio Perez during the podium interviews said : “I’m extremely happy because my team has done a tremendous job. It’s my third podium and to have it here in Monaco is very special.
“I want to dedicate this podium to my boss Vijay Mallya. I think we did the right calls.”
Force India has now 37 points and moved up to 5th place. Perez with this podium has garnered 23 of them. Hulkenberg has 14 points.
Perez started on P7 as the race started behind the Safety Car in wet conditions and managed to keep Sebastian Vettel at bay for the better part of the race and came third on his soft tyres making only one pit stop.
Monaco, 28 May 2016: Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo claimed the maiden pole of his Formula One career with a superb lap of the Circuit de Monaco that left him over a tenth of a second clear of Mercedes Nico Rosberg and three tenths ahead of third-placed Lewis Hamilton, who once again had a troubled qualifying session.
Ricciardo had made his way through the first two sessions with ease, finishing both segments in fourth place, even setting his fastest lap of Q2 on the supersoft tyre.
In those segments, however, it was Ferrari and Mercedes making the headlines, with Sebastian Vettel fastest in Q1 with a time of 1:14.610 for the Italian squad and Rosberg fastest in Q2 with a lap of 1:14.043.
As has become his trademark, however, Ricciardo was keeping his powder dry ahead of showing his real pace in the final segment. On past occasions, with a less than competitive Red Bull Racing car at his disposal, the benefit has often been masked, a couple of tenths perhaps gaining him a position in the middle of the top 10.
However, aided today by Renault’s upgraded power unit, and with clearly the best-balanced chassis on track, Ricciardo delivered a stunning first lap in Q1, power through to a time of 1:13.622 that would remain unbeaten.
“The plan was to go out on the ultrasoft in the first run in Q2 and at least try and do a good enough lap with that and then we had the time on our side and we thought ‘let’s try and see what a supersoft can do’,” said Riccirado afterwards. “We just feel maybe it opens up a few more options for the race tomorrow.
“Ee did a good lap on that, and then yeah it sort of set us up well for Q3, knowing that I had the ultrasoft and that step in grip and I think I was able to maximise that and do that lap, so let’s see. I think today were sitting pretty and hopefully it turns in our favour tomorrow.”
Rosberg got close with his second run in Q3, improving to a 1:13.791, but the German admitted that he had simply been outclassed by Ricciardo on the day.
“I don’t think it really went away from me; it never was with me, because Daniel was just quick today,” said the championship leader. “They got a well deserved pole and that’s it. I just wasn’t quick enough.”
Hamilton, too, might have threatened but as he left the Mercedes garage for his first run in Q3 his car’s power unit behaved strangely and he was left stranded at the end of the pit lane.
His mechanics quickly pushed him back to the team’s garage where the problem was solved but though Hamilton was on target to challenge Ricciardo’s times on his sole run, a ragged third sector meant he finished third.
“It was a difficult qualifying,” he said. “The good thing is that I did get out to do a lap at least. It wasn’t as bad as some of the races have been in that respect, with the engine problems. I’m grateful to be up in third. Obviously pole was there for the taking I think, but nonetheless I will do what I can in the race tomorrow to salvage what I can from today’s result.”
While Ricciardo’s efforts gave Red Bull Racing their first pole since the Brazilian Grand Prix of 2013, the day was less successful for the team’s most recent race winner, Max Verstappen.
The 18-year-old was an early casualty of the session, getting too close to the barriers on the entry to the Swimming Pool section. He clipped the barrier on the right and with his suspension broken he went straight into the barrier on the exit of following corner.
The red flags brought out for his crash weren’t the first of the session. Four minutes into Q1, the power unit in Felipe Nasr’s Sauber’s let go in spectacular style and with the Brazilian’s car parked on the track near Tabac the flags had to be shown.
With those two removed from the session only four more would be eliminated at the end of the session and there was a predictable shape to that order when the chequered flag fell. Out went Marcus Ericsson in P17, ahead of Jolyon Palmer, Rio Haryanto and Pascal Wehrlein.
Q2 was less predictable and at the end of that segment, the major casualties were Williams, with both its driver being eliminated. Valtteri Bottas finished in 11th place ahead of Haas’s Esteban Gutierrez and McLaren’s Jenson Button, while Felipe Massa was 14th ahead of Haas’ Romain Grosjean and Renault’s Kevin Magnussen.
At the head of the field Rosberg pipped Hamilton for Q2 honours, but the final segment would be all about Ricciardo blistering first flying lap.
Behind the Red Bull man and the Mercedes drivers, Sebastian Vettel was fourth and complaining of a poor car. Nico Hulkenberg took a good fifth place for Force India ahead of the second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen, while Carlos Sainz gave Toro Rosso hope of good points with seventh place, two ahead of team-mate Daniil Kvyat who was beaten by the Force India of Sergio Perez. The final top 10 place was taken by McLaren’s Fernando Alonso.
2016 Monaco Grand Prix – Qualifying 1 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:14.912 1:14.357 1:13.622 2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:14.873 1:14.043 1:13.791 3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:14.826 1:14.056 1:13.942 4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:14.610 1:14.318 1:14.552 5 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:15.333 1:14.989 1:14.726 6 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:15.499 1:14.789 1:14.732 7 Carlos Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso 1:15.467 1:14.805 1:14.749 8 Sergio Perez Force India 1:15.328 1:14.937 1:14.902 9 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:15.384 1:14.794 1:15.273 10 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:15.504 1:15.107 1:15.363 11 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:15.521 1:15.273 12 Esteban Gutierrez Haas F1 Team 1:15.592 1:15.293 13 Jenson Button McLaren 1:15.554 1:15.352 14 Felipe Massa Williams 1:15.710 1:15.385 15 Romain Grosjean Haas F1 Team 1:15.465 1:15.571 16 Kevin Magnussen Renault F1 Team 1:16.253 1:16.058 17 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:16.299 18 Jolyon Palmer Renault F1 Team 1:16.586 19 Rio Haryanto Manor Racing 1:17.295 20 Pascal Wehrlein Manor Racing 1:17.452 21 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:22.467 22 Felipe Nasr Sauber
