INDIA in F1

Category: Formula 1

  • Vettel, youngest triple champ; Alonso shattered

    Sao Paulo, 25 Nov 2012: Jenson Button stood between Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and the World Championship as Alonso lost the battle finishing second to watch Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull become the youngest triple world champions as he finished sixth at the Interlagos circuit here. Jenson Button emerged from the gloom to take a shining victory at Interlagos while behind him raged a battle royal for the F1 Drivers’ World Championship.

    In a dramatic race, the Red Bull driver went back of the grid and appeared to have lost the battle but he  emerged from calamity to win his third consecutive Formula One Drivers’ World Championship.

    In a dramatic, rain-affected Brazilian Grand Prix, Button took the lead from McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton on lap six after both made a clean start – but Button’s route to victory was far from straightforward, though the trial-by-water of the leaders was not the main attraction.

    Vettel finished sixth, more than sufficient to maintain his lead over Fernando Alonso in the title race. Alonso didn’t give up but in the end could only finish second to Button – with a little help from Felipe Massa, who took third in the other Ferrari. If he had managed to win the race here, he would have won the World championship provided Vettel is not in the first four.

    Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull (centre) with Adrain Newey (left) and Christian Horner after winning the third World Championship in Sao Paulo on Sunday 25 Nov 2012. A Red Bull Content pool photo.

    Going into the race, Vettel’s numerical advantage was 13 points. He also had a positional advantage, starting from fourth alongside team-mate Mark Webber, behind the front-row McLaren pair. Alonso, by contrast was starting from seventh. Those positions did not last as far as the first corner.

    The start took place in light drizzle: not enough to call for intermediate tyres but sufficient to make Interlagos incredibly difficult. It didn’t seem to hamper Alonso who surged forward at the start to challenge the McLarens. Vettel lost out initially and by Turn Four was back in the pack, where he was hit hard by Bruno Senna’s Williams. Vettel was pitched into a spin and ended up facing the wrong way as the field went around him. He spun back and resumed his race dead last and with heavy damage to his left-hand sidepod. The slippery conditions worked in his favour, however. With cars lapping around seven seconds slower than would be expected on a fully dry long stint, the championship leader cut through the field and was up to sixth by lap eight, back in touch with Alonso who was running fourth.

    To have any chance to taking his third title the Spaniard needed to finish on the podium. Having taken third at the start he was muscled out by Force India’s Nico Hülkenberg, who seemed to have the car and the talent for the tricky conditions. As the weather worsened and everyone else dived for the pits and intermediates, he and Button elected to press on with the dry tyres. As a dry line began to appear their advantage stretched to over 40 seconds as they had their own private race at the front. On lap 18 Hülkenberg pounced, taking the lead.

    Their advantage was to be cut dramatically, however. An accumulation of shattered carbon-fibre on the circuit saw the safety car deployed, though not before Nico Rosberg had picked up a puncture. The leaders took the opportunity to pit for fresh tyres but their advantage was gone. Once racing resumed on lap 30 the order was Hülkenberg, Button, Hamilton, Alonso, Vettel, Kobayashi, Vettel.

    Button lost second place to Hamilton, and Vettel was passed by Kobayashi for sixth. Hülkenberg was able to pull out a small gap but was then remorselessly hunted down by Hamilton. The departing McLaren driver took the lead on lap 48 when Hülkenberg slid wide in conditions that were becoming slippery again as more rain fell.

    The German did not lose touch and stayed on Hamilton’s tail. He attempted to take the position back at the start of lap 55, but in between backmarkers he ran out of space, braked too late and slammed into the side of Hamilton. The 2008 Champion’s final race for McLaren would end there. Hülkenberg was passed by Button but continued. He would, however, receive a drive-through penalty for causing the accident and emerged in fifth where he stayed until the end.

    The crash was concurrent with a slew of pitstops, with the field going back onto Inters for the final stint as the rain became heavier. Once the stops shook out, the impact of Hamilton’s exit and Hülkenberg’s demotion changed the complexion of both the title fight and the Brazilian Grand Prix.

    Button led but was now trailed by an early-stopping Felipe Massa. Alonso was third, followed by Webber, Hülkenberg, Michael Schumacher and Vettel. When Alonso was promoted to second through the acquiescence of Massa, Vettel’s position was precarious: on the road he was now leading the championship by a single point.

    That wasn’t enough of a cushion for the Red Bull driver and he pushed on to pass Schumacher and take a more comfortable margin. As the rain increased the positions were static but the tension was palpable. It was the unlikely figure of Paul di Resta who broke it. Running ninth with two laps remaining, the Scot slid wide while climbing the hill and came to rest on the track at Arquibancadas. The race finished under the safety car.

    Button was victorious with Alonso second and Massa third. Webber finished an eventful race in fourth, Hülkenberg was a disconsolate fifth, Vettel ecstatic in sixth. Schumacher finished his career with seventh, ahead of Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne and Kobayashi. Kimi Räikkönen took the final point of 2012 – he is the only driver to finish every race this year, and finishes third in the Drivers’ Championship courtesy of scoring in every race but one.

    “It’s difficult to imagine what goes through my head now, I am so full of adrenalin,” said a drained Vettel, now a three times World Champion. “I was crying in the car but my radio wasn’t working, so I’m maybe happy for that! Tomorrow I can probably say more, but now I just don’t have the right words.”

    A philosophical Alonso meanwhile admitted his hunt for a third title had not been lost on a wet Interlagos afternoon but in other incidents. “I feel very proud of my team, very proud of the season we did,” he said on the podium. “Obviously we lost the championship now, but I don’t think that we lost here in Brazil: we lost in some races where we were a little bit unlucky. But this is a sport, but when you do something with your heart, when you do something with 100 per cent, you have to be proud of your team, happy for them, and we will try next year.”

    Button was fulsome in his praise to the title challengers and his team, both on the podium and in the subsequent press conference – but he’d said the most pertinent thing over the radio on his victory lap. ““It was a great way to finish the year.” He was speaking to his pitwall, but the sentiment was shared by most here at Interlagos.

    ends

  • Hamilton pips Button to take pole at Brazilian GP

    Sao Paulo, 24 Nov 2012: McLaren lock-out the Interlagos front row ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix 2012 Formula Once championship but the title battle continues with Sebastian Vettel qualifying four places higher than Fernando Alonso. Vettel will be on 4th and behind him is Felipe Massa on 5th. Ferrari might once again chose to change the gear box on Massa’s car to help championship contender Alonso move up a place. Alonso is 13 points behind Vettel.

    Ferrari might not be breaking any rules but it is certainly not a sporting decision when they changed the gear box on Massa in the last race to help Alonso get on to the right side of the track. They were also known for their team orders over the years.

    Having been quickest in every session so far it wasn’t unexpected that a McLaren would take pole position for the Brazilian Grand Prix. The only question was which one. In the end Lewis Hamilton beat Jenson Button by less than a tenth of a second. Mark Webber will line up third on the track where he’s won twice in the past three years and Sebastian Vettel was fourth – but all that really matters for tomorrow is that he’s got a gap between himself and Fernando Alonso who lines up eighth. After the session messrs Hamilton, Button and Webber faced the shortest press conference in living memory: they’ll be fighting for victory tomorrow but they’re still the support act.

    Rain was expected to play a part today and it did – though mostly by its absence: a shower briefly hit the track half an hour before the session beg but the circuit dried before the session began. Nico Hülkenberg tried a lap with the Inters but aborted that run – it wasn’t wet enough. In fact the track was drying quickly in the warm São Paulo air. When the session began the times were around six seconds off those set in morning practice, the gap narrowed minute by minute.

    Confident more rain would not fall, the big guns all held their fire until the second half of the session, going out with around seven minutes remaining. Interlagos is a short lap: they had plenty of time for a four or five lap stint, and they took advantage of that. With the track picking up speed everyone ran to the flag. That created it’s own problems: Interlagos is narrow and Romain Grosjean was caught out, losing a front wing trying to pass Pedro de la Rosa’s HRT. The Lotus driver had time to come in for a new nose and return to the action, but he could do no better than 18th. Eliminated with him were Petrov, Kovalainen, Glock, Pic, Karthikeyan and de la Rosa. Hamilton was the pick of the bunch, finishing the session in P1 with a time of 1:15.015, roughly a second off a hard tyre time from free practice.

    If rain was on the way there would have been a mad dash to the end of the pitlane before the start of Q2. Obviously it wasn’t threatening because the both McLarens and Red Bulls elected to sit tight and watch their peers. At the halfway mark Alonso was fastest with 1:14.288 but at that point Hamilton, Button, Vettel and Alonso were just pulling on their gloves and preparing to run. They went out and duly slotted into the first four positions. This time Vettel gained the upper hand, eight-hundredths quicker than Hamilton. Game on. Eliminated were Di Resta, Senna, Pérez, Schumacher, Kobayashi, Ricciardo and Vergne. Felipe Massa looked like he was heading for the exit but just squeaked through on his last lap by a couple of hundredths.

    Q3 began with only Nico Rosberg interested in lapping but soon afterward the bulk of the fielded rolled out though Kimi Räikkönen and Nico Hülkenberg elected to keep their powder dry, Pastor Maldonado did an outlap but returned to the garage, and of the remaining seven, Hamilton was quickest of all, followed by Button, Webber, Massa, Alonso, Vettel and Rosberg. But this was only the hors d’oeuvre: after a brief visit to the pitlane the field reassembled with two minutes left on the clock. With the chequered flag flying, times came thick and fast. Webber took provision pole, then was knocked off by Hamilton, then Button grabbed P2 pushing the Australian down to third. Meanwhile Fernando Alonso had come through more than half a second off the pace. All eyes were on Vettel, he was setting his personal best sector times but crucially not challenging the leaders for ultimate pace. The last to cross the line he could do no better than fourth. That is his worst performance in qualifying since Monza – but crucially it was better than Alonso who could do no better than eighth – though that improved to seventh when Pastor Maldonado was penalized for this third reprimand of the season – the latest for missing a visit to the weighbridge – and demoted ten places.

    It’s McLaren’s first front-row lock-out since Monza and given both drivers have looked the quicker at various times in practice, both will be confident of a first Brazilian Grand Prix victory. “We both want to win the race tomorrow, that’s the aim for both of us,” said Button afterwards in the FIA press conference. “ The car seems to be working very well in the dry, our long-run pace is pretty good, but there’s a massive chance of rain tomorrow and that just throws it up in the air for us, it’s quite exciting for two people, their stress levels are going to be through the roof.”

    “We need to keep our eyes open tomorrow and be ready for everything because that’s what can happen around here,” added Webber. “It’s going to be a good final grand prix of the year.”

    The final order on the grid has Hamilton and Button on row one, followed by Vettel and Webber on two. Felipe Massa was fifth, continuing his fine end of season form, and alongside him will be Pastor Maldonado. Nico Hülkenberg is ahead of Alonso on row four, while Kimi Räikkönen and Rosberg complete the top ten.

    The talk of rain always brings with it questions of setup but a delighted Hamilton dismissed those: “Generally nowadays you don’t even really have much of a wet set-up. We’ve just set the car to attack the qualifying and we don’t know what the hell is going to happen tomorrow.”

    ends

    From left: Webber, Hamilton (pole) and Button after qualification at the Interlagos on Saturday. A Vodafone McLaren F1 team photo.

  • Brazilian GP: FIA Saturday press conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Lewis HAMILTON (McLaren)

    2 – Jenson BUTTON (McLaren)

    3 – Mark WEBBER (Red Bull Racing)

    TV UNILATERAL

    Q: Lewis, a fantastic pole position, it must give you great satisfaction, particularly in your final Grand Prix with McLaren.

    Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah, absolutely. It’s been a good weekend so far. Grateful to be able to put the car on the front row and to have the last one-two in qualifying with Jenson in the same team. Just a fantastic job by the team – so grateful for all the opportunities they’ve given me. I hope that we can turn it into something really positive tomorrow.

    Q: Jenson, you’ve obviously been very quick all weekend and starting on the front row of the grid, now. Well done.

    Jenson BUTTON: Thank you, yeah, it was a pretty good lap. I’m not going to point at areas where you lose or gain time. It was a good time but Lewis’s was half a tenth quicker. Very happy to be on the front row as the last couple of races have been a bit tricky in qualifying. So yeah, good, as Lewis said, it’s great to both be on the front row for his last Grand Prix for the team. The team’s in great shape at the moment and it’s a pity things have got to change, but things do change.

    Q: Mark, third on the grid, obviously you have your teammate and championship contender Sebastian Vettel alongside you; question is how can you/will you help for the championship tomorrow?

    Mark WEBBER: Well, I think we focus on ourselves tomorrow, do the cleanest race I can. We know there may be some tricky weather tomorrow. It’s  a long Grand Prix and I’ll be focused 100 percent on my efforts in my cockpit and get to the finish line as quick as possible.

    Q: Back to Lewis; obviously you won the last Grand Prix last weekend, fantastic pace last weekend, what are the chances tomorrow?

    LH: Well, I think the weather is going to be tricky tomorrow so it’s definitely going to make it more of a lottery but I think, as Jenson said, we’ve put ourselves in a really good position and we are just going to do the best job we can from there and work together as a team, the best we have been for quite some time, so we will make sure we will do absolutely everything to get the top result.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Lewis, first time on pole here. You mentioned the weather just now. Have you made any allowances for that? Is there anything in the set-up for that? Or is it too much of a gamble to go for a wet set-up with high downforce?

    LH: Generally nowadays you don’t even really have much of a wet set-up. It’s not like in karting when you soften everything off.  The set-up in the dry and the wet is very, very similar – apart from ride heights maybe. We’ve just set the car to attack the qualifying and we don’t know what the hell… what’s going to happen tomorrow. We just have to wait and see, make sure we get our tyre pressures right, make sure we get the tyre temperatures right and the brake temperatures and try to steer clear of any big puddles.

    Starting in front is obviously the best thing if it is wet. Do you want it to be wet?

    LH: I don’t mind. I love driving in the rain. Here in Brazil it’s quite a special race for the rain… [it’s special] even in the dry. But I’m massively happy to be… every year I’ve generally qualified fourth since 2007, I think one year I was 18th, so I’m really happy not to be on that fourth spot. Who’s there? I don’t know, I guess Sebastian will be there, so he’ll experience what I’ve experienced in the past.

    Jenson, your best grid position here as well in 12 grands prix so that must be good for you. What sort of race is it tomorrow for you? Is it try and beat Lewis, is it a team race, what do you think?

    JB: We’re there to win the grand prix as I think every driver it, unless it’s team-mates fighting for the world championship. So, we both want to win the race tomorrow, that’s the aim for both of us. So we’ll see what we can do. The car seems to be working very well in the dry, our long-run pace is pretty good, but as you said, there’s a massive chance of rain tomorrow and that just throws it up in the air for us, it’s quite exciting for two people, their stress levels are gong to be through the roof. But for us starting near the front it’s hopefully going to be a very exciting race. We just have to hope that the rain level is OK for us to actually race. That’s always the worry here in Interlagos.

    Mark, what are you looking forward to in terms of conditions?

    MW: Well, we know Interlagos can be very hit and miss, the little showers can just generate from anywhere and surprise you pretty quickly, the guys on the pit wall. We could have a little bit of both tomorrow, we could even run all three sets of tyres, in terms of wets, inters and slicks at some stage. So, obviously I think it will be pretty humid tomorrow as well. I think the ambient is going to be quite cool but the humidity will help dry the circuit out in some cases. We need to keep our eyes open tomorrow and be ready for everything because that’s what can happen around here. So looking forward to whatever it is. It’s going to be a good final grand prix of the year, looking forward to getting a really good result.

    Ends

    File picture of Lewis Hamilton courtesy McLaren F1 Team.

  • Button quickest in FP3

    Sao Paulo, 24 Nov 2012: McLaren continued to dominate Brazilian Grand Prix free practice but in FP3 it was Jenson Button not Lewis Hamilton at the top of the order.

    All through Friday Button was quick in the final sector of the lap but on Saturday morning he managed to hook up the earlier part of Interlagos to rise to the top of the order early in the running. He was on the hard tyre with a time of 1:14.419. He held that position for most of the hour and replicated his pace on a qualifying simulation medium tyre run in the last five minutes, his ultimate pace being 1:13.188.

    Behind Button, Sebastian Vettel was

    Jenson Button tops FP3 in Brazin on Saturday. A McLaren photo.

    once again in P2 for Red Bull Racing, five-hundredths down on the Briton. Vettel’s team-mate Mark Webber was third, only two-tenths off the pace with only thousandths keeping him in front of fourth-placed Lewis Hamilton, who had been quickest in FP1 and FP2 on Friday.

    Behind the top four, Romain Grosjean was fifth for Lotus, ahead of the Force Indias of Paul di Resta and Nico Hülkenberg. Fernando Alonso was eighth for Ferrari, with Pastor Maldonado’s Williams in between him and tenth-places Felipe Massa. The two Ferraris spent the middle part of the hour running in close formation. At Monza they worked on a towing strategy and there was speculation they were attempting the same at Interlagos on the long flat-out section from Juncao to Turn One.

    The session started with track temperatures of around 34°C, cooler than yesterday which may have contributed to the large number of lock-ups that occurred in the early laps. Worse, however, was to befall Kimi Räikkönen. After his engine problems on Friday morning the Finn suffered again, this time stopping his smoking Lotus on the outlap of his first run.

    Outside the top ten Bruno Senna was 11th in the second Williams, followed by Nico Rosberg for Mercedes. The two Sauber were 13th and 14th with Sergio Pérez ahead of Kamui Kobayashi. Michael Schumacher was 15th for Mercedes, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne of Toro Rosso. The backmarkers lined up in team order with Vitaly Petrov ahead of Heikki Kovalainen for Caterham, followed by Timo Glock and Charles Pic for Marussia, with Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan bringing up the rear for HRT, ahead of the stricken Räikkönen who did not set a time.

    ends

  • Brazilian GP: Friday FIA press conference

    TEAM REPRESENTATIVES –Eric BOULLIER (Lotus), Monisha KALTENBORN (Sauber), Ross BRAWN (Mercedes), Stefano DOMENICALI (Ferrari), Christian HORNER (Red Bull Racing), Martin WHITMARSH (McLaren)

    Eric, first of all great news from you yesterday on the Burn sponsorship. Can you tell us a little more about it? Is it a title sponsorship? How big is it?

    Eric BOULLIER: I’m not going to release any more information; we have a marketing and communication plan about the endorsement and so you will know later a little bit more detail about this deal.

    Is it big enough to make a big difference to your budget for next year? Does that mean you can spend more on development? You know what it takes now.

    EB: Whatever it is, it’s always welcome. It’s obviously more budget for next year and the next years, and it’s going to be good to have this brand on the car, obviously, and all the activations that go on around; also promotion for the team and Formula One.

    Can you be a top contender for next year then?

    EB: Ah, I don’t know yet to be honest. There is some stability in the regulations so it’s going to be up to every team to deliver a good car for next year. I cannot see any reason why we would lose some ground, I just hope that yes, we will be better. I know Kimi will be on top form from race one, so that will be a big change for us as well.

    Monisha, today you announced Esteban Gutiérrez as your… number two driver I guess. How important was it to maintain the Mexican connection?

    Monisha KALTENBORN: Well, it’s always good if you have stability but I think you have to also see clearly that these are two different issues. Just because Esteban is from Mexico it’s not the same situation as we had with Sergio because unlike Sergio, Esteban is not a member of the Escudería Telmex. Of course there’s a natural connection there because Telmex has this bigger vision of establishing motor sport in Mexico and Latin America, but it’s a different situation. But it’s important for the team’s stability to continue with the partners.

    Both your drivers are very popular but sadly it seemed that worked against Kamui, is that the case?

    MK: I won’t say it worked against him. To take up a new driver is always a strategic decision where many factors play a role. Kamui has been with us for the last three years. He’s a very good driver, he is an excellent team player and actually a very fine human being so it’s tough to take such a decision. I think if a driver deserves to be in Formula One he’s definitely one of them and I hope he can get support from Japanese companies – because Japan is an important market for Formula One – and stay in the sport.

    Ross, obviously we’re losing double DRS next year. Is that going to be a big change for you for next year’s car?

    Ross BRAWN: Not a huge change. Obviously as a facility it’s only of benefit when the DRS is being used and next year there’s also a move to DRS only being used in small areas during practice and qualifying, so there’s a general move away from it anyway. It’s always helpful, it would be foolish to say it’s not been an advantage, but we’ve got other solutions in place for next year.

    Change in the financial structure in that Mercedes have brought back a shareholding from Aabar. How much is that changing for you? How much does that mean things change for you?

    RB: No change for the team, quite frankly. I think it’s part of a bigger disinvestment Aabar are making in the Daimler group and it wasn’t logical for the Formula One team to stand out separately. So part of an overall strategy from Aabar. I think it demonstrates the commitment of Daimler to Formula One. So for our team it makes very little difference, but it gives us reassurance and confirmation of Daimler’s commitment to Formula One.

    For Stefano and Christian, basically similar questions. Stefano, first of all, preparations so far: has everything gone according to plan? I’m sure you had a strategy worked out, a plan worked out for this weekend

    Stefano DOMENICALI: First of all, last weekend was the birthday of Christian and this weekend is the birthday of Ross, so happy birthday Ross. We have to keep the tradition of that. We have done the job we were supposed to do today. We know that this weekend for us is a challenging weekend. We have to do the maximum on our side and that will not be enough if we want to win the Drivers’ Championship. We need to go in the race, as I said, trying to be perfect on our side and then seeing what’s going to happen. But that’s the only thing we can do and we will do.

    What’s the mood like within the team?

    SD: The mood is that we have nothing to lose, because we are already behind. We need to go there with a rational approach, as I said, to try to be there, if some situation will arise, we need to be prepared to take them. This is really the spirit that is around the team at the moment.

    And the weather forecast doesn’t look very good. Does that work for you or against you?

    SD: I’ll tell you later. Before, it’s always difficult. It can be good in terms of mixing the cars but it depends on how intense the rain is, when it will come. It is another thing on the table that has to be used in the best way we can.

    Christian, similar for you: preparations so far, how have they gone.

    Christian HORNER: It’s been a pretty normal Friday really. Track temperature has been very high today, so I’m sure that’s been a challenge to some degree to each of the teams, but it’s been a sensible Friday. We’ve worked through our programme with both cars and plenty of information to look at tonight. How relevant that will be, as Stefano has alluded to, with the rest of the weekend, we’ll only see when we get up in the morning and particularly on Sunday morning. It’s been very much a normal Friday for us.

    And the mood within the team?

    CH: Fantastic. I mean, obviously, just having sealed a third consecutive Constructors’ World Championship the mood in the team has never been as high. It’s extremely focused; we’re approaching this race just as we have the other 19 and you know for us it’s a question of trying to extract the most out of ourselves, out of the cars, out of the drivers this weekend and we’ll see where we are at the end of it. But certainly our approach to this race isn’t any different to any of the previous 19.

    And is the rain, is it a variable you could do without?

    CH: At the end of the day it’s the same for everybody so whoever wins this championship is going to have to have mastered different conditions, different circuits, different challenges and we could well get another factor on Sunday. We take absolutely nothing for granted despite the fact we’re coming here with a 13-point advantage. We know from our own experience how quickly that can change. We saw that in 2010 in Abu Dhabi when I think we were actually more than 13 points behind going into the race. So our focus is very much, as I say, going into this race to try and get the most out of it we can and when the chequered flag falls we’ll know where we are.

    Martin, a great race last weekend for Lewis Hamilton. A great win for Jenson Button at the start of the season. You had the fastest car at the start and the end, but is it a source of frustration that you’re not involved in the title battle.

    Martin WHITMARSH: Of course. I think we’ve had six great wins this year and we haven’t done a good enough job for the rest of the season one way and another and that’s a little bit frustrating, but at the moment we’re in a position where with one race to go we’re going to focus. These guys have got some pressures on their shoulders and we’re going to try and win the race. In one sense it makes it simple for us this weekend.

    How much does that affect your preparations for next year, knowing what you’ve had from this?

    MW: I think there’s no secrets: to be consistently winning you’ve got to have a quick car, you’ve got to have reliability. We’ve often had a quickish car this season, we’ve had a number of errors, a number of issues, which are disappointing, but we know we’ve got to work on that and we’ll aim to come out next year with a quick car and hopefully be reliable and be there at the last race.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Dan Knuston – Honorary) For Stefano and Christian: the championship has come down to your two drivers. Please evaluate the strengths and qualities of your driver over the season and how do you evaluate your opponent?

    CH: I’ll start with my driver. I think that Sebastian has driven incredibly well this year. It’s all too easy to say he’s had the fastest car because on numerous occasions this year he hasn’t. McLaren have had a very strong car throughout this year but Sebastian has never given up, he’s kept fighting. He came back from the summer break almost 40 points behind the championship lead. He focused hard, he worked hard at it and he maximised his chances. I think he’s driven superbly well this year. He is up against a formidable opponent, who is very much at the top of his game and I think you’re witnessing two great talents and hopefully it will be an exciting race on Sunday, but I can’t speak highly enough of certainly the job Sebastian has done this year against some formidable opponents.

    SD: For my side, Fernando, in my view, up to now, did one of the best seasons of his career. We knew that at the beginning of the season our car was not really the quickest. Well, I would say it was on the second half of the grid rather than the other side. He was able to extract from that the maximum out of it. He was able to get great victories in a moment where the car has improved, he drove really well in wet conditions when he was in that situation. He was always at the maximum. Always he was working with the team knowing that it was a very delicate situation for all of us in that moment. So on top of his ability on the track he was able to keep the team together in a difficult moment. So I agree, who will win will deserve it. And of course, on his side the only remark we have to say is that he was not able to do all the races because he was unfortunately kicked out two times. Not his fault, but of course in this situation where the championship is so tight they’re very heavy points. But as I said, don’t look back, look ahead. I’m sure Fernando will do the maximum of his capability to make sure… to do the best with the car that he has with a team that is working hard under a lot of pressure. I’m happy for that, because the team was able to do sometimes incredible work. As I said the spirit together I think was the most important thing… was the most significant thing, sorry, that I would like to remark on that respect.

    What about Sebastian?

    SD: I’m exactly of the same opinion as Christian, I speak about my driver.

    Q: (Gary Meenaghan – The National) Stefano, we’re coming to the last race of the year again, and again, Ferrari are capable of winning the last race of the championship. Can you just compare how you are feeling, compared to how you felt in 2008 and 2010?

    SD: Well, also 2007 we were near. Different feelings, of course. In 2007, I think that if you remember well, Martin, we were in a situation where honestly we had the same approach as at this race: try to do the best job that we can, we could, but knowing that the opponent was very strong and the race evolved in a situation where we were able, as a team, to work extremely well. Then in 2008 we were able to win the Constructors’ title, to have Felipe as World Champion of Drivers for 20 seconds, but after Hamilton won the race, in a  championship where I would say we lost, if I remember well, mainly because the car was not reliable enough, because we had some races where unfortunately we had severe DNF that caused us to lose that championship. And I believe that season, Felipe did an incredible job and we were very disappointed for him, because I think we deserved it, but at the end of the day Lewis did (win).

    Then 2010 was the most frustrating because we knew that we had a couple of situations to handle and it was our fault that we were not able to do it, for a mistake that we made; we didn’t help Fernando. I think that season we didn’t have the best car. I believe that we were able to always be there winning a lot of races but because of unfortunate situations that Red Bull had and we lost that championship. This is, I would say, the heaviest of my thoughts on the past. On Sunday, I think that, as I said, we are in a different spirit. We cannot look back;  we need to see whatever will be the outcome we need to accept it. So therefore I would say our mindset is closer to what we had in 2007 at the moment.

    Q: (Lucas Santochi Da Silva – ESPN Magazine) Christian, when do you think was the turning point of the main factors for Red Bull to develop from a medium team to a team that may now win its third title in a row?

    CH: It’s a good question. Red Bull came into Formula One at the beginning of 2005. Dietrich Mateschitz had a vision. He’d been a sponsor, he’d been a shareholder and for the first time, after acquiring the Jaguar team became a team owner and his vision was very much to compete at the front in Formula One. Certainly the perception, perhaps, in the early days was that Red Bull turned up, played their music loud and were perceived as a party team, perhaps just happy to be in Formula One but underlying that was a determination to work our way to the front and slowly and steadily we gathered the right people into the team during the course of 2006 and at the beginning of 2007. We started to build, we started to work as a unit, to work as a team and then by the time the new regulations came along, a clean sheet of paper in 2009, it allowed all of the departments to demonstrate their abilities to work together as one group. In 2009, we started winning. We challenged for the championship; we fell short that year, but then we have kept that momentum. We went on to win both titles in 2010, both titles again 2011 and again a third Constructors’ championship this year. And that is purely down to the hard work, the dedication, the application of every single member of the team. We’ve got some great leadership in the team: Adrian Newey does a stunning job of leading the technical team but it requires all of the departments to do their bit. I’m extremely proud to say that they’ve absolutely done that and the testimony to that is the 34 races that we’ve won, the 80 podiums that we’ve had in only eight seasons. It’s all down to the people and of course to talented drivers: Sebastian and Mark Webber have been a very successful pairing and what Sebastian has achieved in only 100 races again is quite remarkable.

    Q: (Michael Neudecker – Sud Deutsche Zeitung) Question for Mr Whitmarsh and Mr Domenicali: 2013 might be a very special year because you have to be prepared for the rule changes coming up for 2014, but at the same time you want to be successful. Maybe you can give us a general view on what you expect for 2013?

    SD: I think that 2013, as you quite rightly said, in terms of regulations, will be a stability, so I’m expecting to see the situation that we are facing now in terms of performance of the team. What I believe will happen during the season, depending on how the season will go, is that some teams will start to dedicate more and more resources to the 2014 project because it’s a project that will be totally, totally different and at least on our side, we already have, at the moment, a small group of people that is working on this project, and of course, on our side, we also have the duty – being a constructor – to work on the new powertrain. For us it’s a massive job next year. This is maybe the most difficult in that respect because there are so many new things that we have to do at the same moment where we need to make sure that we are fighting for another season and championship. So for me, the 2014 season could be a year where we can see once again a split between the group of the cars in terms of pure performance. If you remember, at the beginning of this year, we had so many cars that were very very close. I’m expecting a different scenario for 2014 because all these changes which will come into place very very soon.

    MW: Well, not much to add to that. I think, as Stefano alluded, I think it will be quite interesting. It will probably be two or three of the teams sat before you today who are underperforming at the halfway stage of next year’s championship and the decision that they might take to then give up on the ’13 championship and apply all of their resources to ’14 makes it quite an intriguing process. It’s a difficult one. If you’re competitive as we all aim to be next year, you’ll want to win the races, you’ll want to win the championship next year but knowing that in doing so and in applying the resources to do so, you’re actually robbing 2014. I think it’s an interesting second half of the year and as Stefano said, undoubtedly a very interesting start of 2014.

    Q: (Alberto Antonini – Autosprint) As you may be aware, Honda has shown some interest in the new engine technology coming up in 2014. I would like to know whether a possible comeback by them fits the frame of the new regulations. If so, how much will you welcome Honda back in Formula One?

    MW: As we just said, 2014 we’ve got, as far as I know, only three manufacturers committed to the sport. I imagine there will be a greater level of technical diversity than we currently have in powertrains just as there will be in the aerodynamic solutions that run with it. Normally, when you have a new regulation that encourages a certain amount of creativity, and then over a period of years you get a convergence onto very similar technology and very similar approach.

    RB: I think this is the sort of challenge they relish, they quite like. I know from my time with them they like to have fresh technical challenges. They very much look upon Formula One as a research and development exercise and I think the new regulations appeal to them. But there’s no concrete signs they’re doing anything at the moment. I gather, as a company, they’re improving after some difficult years and I think there are lots of engineers there who would love to get involved. Whether there will be a strategic decision high up to do it, there’s no signs of that yet. But we would welcome Honda in as well. I think the more manufacturers, the more engines we have in Formula One the better.

    Q: (Vanessa Ruiz – ESPN Radio) Christian, how do you see the possibility of maybe having another drink company joining Formula One as a title sponsor? Would it be bad for Red Bull? Is it a difficult or easy business model to follow? What are your thoughts?

    CH: I don’t think it will be bad. I don’t think it would be bad for Formula One. I think that Red Bull welcomes competition and that’s the way it is in the market place. Red Bull’s positioning is quite unique, not only what it’s achieved as an energy drink but in terms of what it’s done and the way it carries itself in Formula One. There would certainly be no concerns from our side. I think it would be welcomed within Formula One. I have no idea what their business model is. The Red Bull one works OK.

    Q: (Kate Walker – Girl Racer) Ross, happy birthday; for next year, obviously you have Lewis Hamilton signed up to drive with you. Now Lewis is something of a free spirit and the Daimler brand is not associated with free spiritedness. I was wondering if you have any plans to try and curtail Lewis’s free spirit, or if you’re just going to let him be Lewis?

    RB: I think that’s going to be taken on a race-by-race, day-by-day, week-by-week basis. I think it’s impossible to predict those sort of things. I know Lewis. Obviously I’ve had a lot of conversations with him. He’s an intelligent guy, he understands Formula One, he understand the exposure Formula One gets. He understands the positioning of Daimler and an understanding of all those things, I think, will avoid any issues in the future. But I think Formula One needs characters. I think Formula One needs individuals, so we’re not going to suppress is too much. I don’t anticipate any major issues.

    Q: (Ted Kravitz – Sky TV) A quick one to all of you: you’re all from quite different backgrounds: a lawyer, engineers, an ex-racing driver. Just a quick word on what makes a good team boss and whether you only look like a good team boss when you’re winning?

    MW: A thick skin!

    EB: When you start to win races. The proof is not only one profile, it’s just the capacity of managing the right people, to bring the right people at home, to build up the right business for your team, and obviously to seek the best drivers and make all the group of people work well together in a very competitive environment and having also a little bit of some politics around this which makes the whole package a success. I think this is a simple definition but this is the way I think it should work.

    MK: I don’t think there are any hard and fast rules about that. I think we are all measured at the end of the day by performance and if you are good, if you are performing well then you must be a good team boss.

    RB: I agree. I think you’re measured on your results. One of the things that is very demonstrable in Formula One is the results in the team and there’s no hiding place. But I think all of us in Formula One probably demonstrate our strengths mostly when we are failing rather than succeeding. I think the reaction to failure and how you deal with it, how you continue to motivate the team, how you continue to put all of the pieces in place is the most critical quality that all of us round here, this group needs. All of us have faced failure many times, that’s the nature of Formula One, there is only one team that can win and the rest of us are failing. How we react to that, what we do and how we try and improve our situation is, I think, the measure of being the boss of a team and trying to make it work.

    SD: I agree with what they said, so really nothing to add to that

    CH: I don’t think there’s any hard and fast rules. I guess the role of team principal in different teams represents different things even, and I think that fundamentally it’s a people business and it’s a question, a matter of what your background is, what your education is. It’s a matter of getting the best out of people, encouraging people and removing obstacles where necessary and sharing one vision, one goal, one objective and that needs to flow through an organisation from the top to the bottom, throughout an entire team, because Formula One is the biggest team sport in the world, and it is still a sport. You can argue that from Monday to Friday it’s a business, but at the end of the day it’s a sport where you are competing, department for department against your rivals and if you work collectively as a group, you can go on to achieve great things. There are no guarantees, nobody is owed success, but it’s a type of sport that what you put in you get out.

    MW: Not much to add, really. I think a lot has been said about the team, and I think all of the Formula One teams are really great teams of people that work incredibly hard, whichever end of the grid you’re at, everyone’s working very hard. I think to be a good team member, to recognise it, just one part of the team’s important but everything else has been said already.

    File photo of Monisha Kaltenborn courtesy Sauber F1 team.

    Ends

  • Hamilton tops in Free Practice

    Free Practice 2

    Sao Paulo, 23 Nov 2012: McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton topped the order in FP2, again leading from Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel.

    Hamilton carried on where he left off in the morning, fastest of anyone, though by an increased margin, 0.274 up on Vettel. Mark Webber was again third quickest, followed by Felipa Massa and Fernando Alonso in the Ferraris. Michael Schumacher was sixth for Mercedes ahead of team-mate Nico Rosberg.

    Hamilton, a McLaren photo

    Jenson Button was eighth ahead of Romain Grosjean’s Lotus, with Paul di Resta rounding out the top ten for Force India.

    With track temperatures at Interlagos reaching 49°C, the cars hit the track immediately the pit lane light turned green. Fastest in the initial stages was Webber with a time of 1:16.000. While most runners were working with the hard tyre, Vitaly Petrov and Daniel Ricciardo continued to gather data with the experimental 2013 compound.

    Hamilton briefly took top spot before Vettel took over with 1:15.226 but then the migration to the medium tyre began. Romain Grosjean was the first man under 1m15s with 1:14.994 before Lewis Hamilton set 1:14.026 with 39 minutes of the session remaining. That time would stay top until the end of the session, though others would close the gap.

    Outside the top ten Nico Hülkenberg was 11th, ahead of Räikkönen, Bruno Senna, Sergio Pérez, Kamui Kobayashi and Daniel Ricciardo. Pastor Maldonado was 17th, though in the high-mileage session managed a colossal 47 laps. Behind him came Jean-Eric Vergne, Vitaly Petrov, Heikki Kovalainen, Pedro de la Rosa, Timo Glock, Charles Pic and once again Narain Karthikeyan brought up the rear. Pic was the only casualty of the session, an alternator problem ending his session 20 minutes early.

    “It’s been a positive first day – I hope we can maintain our form or even progress it tomorrow,” said Hamilton afterwards. “We’re certainly looking strong, but this place can be so tough on tyres that it’s hard to make any accurate predictions at this stage.”

    Free Practice 1

    Earlier, Lewis Hamilton did just enough to finish on top of FP1, nine-thousandths of a second ahead of Sebastian Vettel.

    FP1 was busier than usual with teams taking advantage of Pirelli’s 2013 prototype tyres, which were available today in addition to the 2012 specifications. Hamilton set his fastest lap of 1:14.131, 20 minutes into the session with the experimental rubber on his McLaren. Vettel got to within three-tenths of a second early in his run on the same 2013 tyres, and closed to within 0.009s after putting the 2012 hard tyre on the Red Bull.

    Mark Webber would complete the top three in the second Red Bull and Jenson Button finished P4 in the other McLaren. All four men were within a tenth of a second. There was then a gap of two-tenths back to the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso is P5 who was three-tenths up on his team-mate Felipe Massa. Massa was the only spinner of the session, rotating his car at Pinheirinho as the session drew to its conclusion. Romain Grosjean, Paul di Resta, Pastor Maldonado and Nico Hülkenberg completed the top ten.

    Valtteri Bottas was the first man to set a time, the Williams tester did an extended installation at the start of the session and recored a time of 1:21.218. Sergio Pérez opted to go out early for his first run and soon knocked the benchmark down to 1:15.869 before Hamilton appeared and set about taking large chunks out of that time. One name absent from the early running was that of Kimi Räikkönen. The Finn reported engine issues on his installation lap and returned to the garage. Lotus got him running towards the end of the session but the 2007 World Champion only managed 16 laps, whereas most runners got into the thirties. Also frugal with their time on track were the HRTs. Pedro de la Rosa managed 15 laps and Narain Karthikeyan 13.

    Michael Schumacher in his final race finished FP1 in 11th, just ahead of Kamui Kobayashi, Pérez and Bottas. Daniel Ricciardo with fifteenth ahead of Räikkönen and Ricciardo’s Red Bull team-mate Jean-Eric Verge was 17th. Nico Rosberg could only managed 18th and behind him came Caterham tester Giedo van der Garde. He was followed by the Marussia of Timo Glock, Vitaly Petrov’s Caterham, Charles Pic for Marussia and then de la Rosa and Karthikeyan bringing up the rear.

    ends

  • Brazilian GP: FIA Thursday press conference

    DRIVERS – Felipe MASSA (Ferrari), Lewis HAMILTON (McLaren), Bruno SENNA (Williams), Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing), Michael SCHUMACHER (Mercedes), Fernando ALONSO (Ferrari)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    A very important weekend for everybody, the final weekend of the championship and lots of pressure all round, apart, perhaps, from Michael Schumacher. You’ve been here before Michael, you have an extraordinary record at this race and you’re finally ending your championship bid after many, many years, after many seasons. What are your feelings coming into this weekend?

    Michael SCHUMACHER: I guess I have some experience and that’s why, probably, I’m rather relaxed about the happenings. On top [of that] we are not in any championship fight compared to last time that happened to me, obviously. Well, I’ll just take the best out of it and enjoy it as much as I can.

    Is there a certain sadness?

    MS: Probably not, no.

    Quite happy to leave it.

    MS: Yeah, I have tried that mission to end successful. It didn’t work this time but I’m quite happy to finish from here and go for a different life again.

    Felipe, if we can come to you. You’ve won here twice before, what can you do to help Fernando win the championship.

    Felipe MASSA: Well, first of all I’ll try to win a third time. That’s always the right direction to think about racing – always thinking about victory. Here is a very special place for me and I’m going to try to win and hopefully Fernando can finish second without any problems to win the championship.

    Just give us a bit of a summary of your season so far. What are your thoughts on the season?

    FM: I think it was a very difficult season until August. So, struggling… in some of the races I was not struggling but I could not put together the result. Always happened something in the race that I couldn’t finish in the right position. I would say after August everything was better and we were able to put together the right… almost the right result at every race. It was a very good second part of the season and very good preparation for next year.

    Lewis, we saw what you can do in this championship last weekend, a fantastic race, and of course you won the championship here; you know what it’s all about this final race of the series. For you, you’ve been with McLaren for many years, it’s your final race for McLaren. How do you approach this weekend?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Good morning everyone. It’s quite a unique experience for me. I’ve obviously never been in the situation I’m in this weekend, where it’s my last race for the team I grew up in. It’s going to be a tough one. Nonetheless, we’re going to push as hard as we can, as we did in the last race, and try to win. I’ve never won here before. So I’m going to have to try and beat Felipe, as he wants to win it. It’s such a beautiful race here so hopefully the weather will hold up for us.

    After so many years with McLaren what are your feelings leaving the team?

    LH: I only have good memories. I leave with just the greatest memories, the best experiences and hopefully a lot of good friends I will continue to be friends with throughout the future. I was just saying to them that even though I’ll be with Mercedes, I’ll probably keep coming back to have lunch and dinner back at the hospitality because the food’s great there. So, I hope Mercedes’ hospitality lives up to the one we have.

    Bruno, a summary of your season so far.

    Bruno SENNA: It’s been a very challenging season, lots of learning. We got some very good results and some tough races as well. Considering it was my first full year in Formula One, and with the small handicap of not doing free practice on Fridays, I think it’s been a pretty good year. In the end most of my races have been very strong. Just starting from a different position from where I should be starting has made me score less points than I could have had. In the end of the day it’s learning and you normally do much better on the second attempt at the same thing, so for sure there will be a lot of improvement to be done for next year.

    Are you confident there will be a next year? The future seems to be undecided at the moment.

    BS: Yeah it’s undecided and I think we will have to wait until after the season to see what’s going to happen. Let’s hope it comes in a good way and we can be in a competitive car for next season.

    Sebastian to some extent we look at an unpredictable weekend, in that the weather seems to be unpredictable and there’s a little bit of a question mark over the reliability. To what extent are you nervous about this weekend?

    Sebastian VETTEL: In terms of general preparation we do what we can. Weather-wise, it’s Sao Paulo. It’s the same as if you go to Spa, you know, things can happen quickly and the weather can change a lot here, so… yeah, I spoke to some locals and I think there was a big rain two days ago which wasn’t expected. Probably for Saturday, Sunday there’s some rain on the way, but then again you don’t know how much and when so I think I asked Pirelli yesterday if they have all the containers here with the rain tyres, and that’s the case, so I don’t think we have to be concerned.

    At the same time you can be confident: 13-point lead in the championship, you’ve had excellent results here, Red Bull have had excellent results here.

    SV: Yeah, I think the circuit seemed to suit our car in previous years. I think we need to confirm it. So all eyes on Friday, to start the weekend, to get into the groove, but I think we can be as confident as we could in this stage. Obviously we know there is a lot ahead but we are in a great position.

    Michael, we’ll come back to you again. It’s been 20 years of grand prix racing. How can you sum it up?

    MS: Well, I don’t think we have long enough here to sum it up, but let’s put it that way: It was mostly 20 good years and lots of fun and lots of excitement.

    You’d recommend it to Sebastian would you?

    MS: Well, I just remember when I was in the early days, I said if you’re going to do this four or five years that’s going to be probably most of it, and then I will be tired and I can’t see myself longer than this. Obviously it became almost 21 years. I’m pretty sure it’s difficult for those guys to imagine that longer time ahead, but let’s see.

    Fernando, it’s quite difficult for you from where you are, 13 points behind in the championship. What are the chances this weekend?

    FA: Well, I think we need to try to do a normal weekend, try to score as many points as we can, obvious it will be good to be in the podium and score a minimum 15 points and then when we cross the line we see where Sebastian is and we try to do some numbers after that. The first priority for us is to be in the podium, let’s say, which give us the possible to score more than 13 points and then we need to wait obviously for the results from Red Bull because we have not… it is not in our hands, we have not much to lose, we have only the possibility to win something and we will try to do our best.

    Regardless of what happens this weekend, what do Ferrari need to do to be in a better position for next year?

    FA: Well, we are working hard, it was a tough season for us, the first couple of months were not as we expected. When we put the car on the circuit the first time in Jerez we were two seconds off the pace and we didn’t understand how was the car working so we changed many things. There was a lot of work going on in the wind tunnel in Maranello, in the car itself and after some understanding of the car we were a little bit more in the pace and we were able to fight for podiums more or less constantly all the season and that gave the possibility to be right now fighting for the World Championship. But we are not totally happy with the performance of the car all through the season and many changes will be for next year and hopefully we can recover a little bit of the gap we have now. In winter we will have to do an extra job compared to the other teams to recover this gap.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    (Kate Walker – Girl Racer) Seb, despite your enviable record in this sport, quite often people say… or they may not give you the credit that you might feel you deserve because you’ve always had such a strong car. How does it feel for you hearing people say ‘oh, I’d like to see him in a different car, I’d like to see him in a worse car’? Does that demotivate you or motivate you to just prove everybody wrong?

    SV: Well I think if you look back, I don’t know how far, but as far as I can look back, I think there was never people, y’know, really, really successful in a really bad car. I think you always… I think it’s a natural thing to happen that one day you have strong drivers in a strong team so you end up with a strong combination and then obviously that is difficult to beat. I think it’s natural to start in a weaker car, I think we have all been in that situation. Michael started in a Jordan which wasn’t competitive but he set some highlights, Fernando I think started in a Minardi, set some highlights. Obviously in my case I started with the BMW, replacing Robert for one race, which was a great chance and then afterwards I got the seat in Toro Rosso, which at the time was not a very competitive car but I think we did a very good job and even won a race. Obviously with the circumstances allowing us to close the gap back then but… yeah, nevertheless I think we had a great season, finishing in the points a couple of times and obviously after that to step up to Red Bull Racing and 2009 was a great and fantastic season for myself, for the team, for the first time to be competitive, finishing on the podiums, win races, so I think it was a fairly normal way that I went.

    (Simon Cass – Daily Mail) Another one for Seb, would you like to have a team-mate like Felipe Massa? And you were very cool about the situation last weekend: will you be just as cool about the situation last weekend if you’re not World Champion on Sunday?

    SV: Well what they do is not in our hands. I didn’t follow up if Felipe had a real trouble with the gearbox or not but as I said it’s not our job to focus on these things. After seeing Felipe on Sunday night in Austin I’m not sure whether he would be a good team-mate! No, I’m joking. I think obviously it is a different approach compared to my team but that’s how life is. I think everyone handles certain situations in a different way.

    (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Michael, you know both of the contenders for a long time, what kind of memory will you give us for Seb and for Fernando? And question for Seb and Fernando, what kind of memory will you keep from Michael?

    MS: Well, I mean obviously with Fernando I have had quite a few more years together competing and fighting championships. Obviously that is slightly different in this respect, it was tough moments. I mean, he was unfortunately in quite a few moments looking very strong and doing too good a job honestly – should have taken it easy and looked after the old man! But on Seb’s side, we’ve been friends for a long time and I sort of follow his career into Formula One and seeing him doing so well, obviously makes me proud. We’ve both grown up on my home track in Kerpen and to see from where he started to end up and kind of being dominant for quite a while recently, that’s quite an achievement.

    And you two on Michael.

    FA: I think we will always remember the privilege to race and compete with someone like Michael that will be record in history of Formula One, maybe for a very long time and we’ve been there, we’ve been in the grid close to him. As Michael said, some good fights and great respect on the circuit and always constantly learning with someone that changed a little bit this sport.

    SV: I think it’s a little bit different for Fernando than it is for me because obviously I had the privilege to meet Michael when I was a small kid. He was my childhood hero. Maybe he can close his ears or shut his ears now, but he was a true inspiration back then, for me and for many other kids, as he mentioned, in Kerpen. He was our hero. Obviously we had the honour to meet him. He was taking care of the championship held in Kerpen and came to the last race, gave all the trophies to everyone, every child, more than 100 at the time, so he was very patient and now, obviously, we understand that the busy schedule that he had, taking that extra time for the fans but especially for us, for the kids who were racing, was something very special, a very special memory. When I met him the first time, obviously I didn’t know what to say because I didn’t want to ask something stupid but for sure, I remember these moments and then later on. Today I think it’s a little bit different because you are more grown up, you have a normal relationship so when I talk to him now, it doesn’t feel like talking to my childhood hero, it feels like talking to Michael so I see the person rather than what he has achie

    Hamilton in Sao Paulo. A McLaren photo.

    ved but obviously, if you remind yourself of that and the fact that I was racing against him for the last couple of years, unfortunately not as close as he probably shared with Fernando, but still that thought or that image was very very far away when I was a small kid, because obviously he was already in Formula One but for me it was a dream so very far away but very special for the last couple of years, very special the relationship we share and I think he will always be an inspiration for myself.

    Q :(Marco dell’Innocenti – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, Bernie Ecclestone said to the German Bild Zeitung that despite you already having won two titles and maybe now a third, you miss out on charisma, compared to former drivers such as Hunt, Senna, Lauda. And he also said that not only you but all the drivers of your generation are more or less in the same situation, because, he said, teams pampered you too much and the FIA put muscle to you, so you are not free to explain yourselves. What do you think about that? Maybe this is also a general question; if somebody else would like to answer, I would appreciate it.

    SV: Well, I think it’s a difficult question. I don’t know exactly what he said but maybe he was just taking the piss out of… sorry, maybe he was just taking the mickey out of the newspaper which is very possible with Bernie, but given what he said what you just said, I think generally it’s difficult. Hopefully I have a little bit left in the sport so I can make up a little bit but also I think these days are very different to the previous days in terms of the freedom that we have. To give you an example, imagine that you find all of us, sitting here on Saturday night having a beer, even if it’s just one beer, it would be a massive scene on Sunday. Yeah, unfortunately it’s not that easy as maybe it used to be in the past. Last race we were in Austin, in Texas. The last winner in Texas was Keke Rosberg in 1984, I think, and he was having a smoke on the podium. I’m not sure whether people would be too happy with that when they already get excited when sometimes the language is not appropriate after just getting out of the car.

    Q: (Paul Weaver – The Guardian) Fernando, if win the championship, people will recalls some great driving from you, but do you think your achievement will be damaged by the memory of what Ferrari did to your teammate’s gearbox in the last race in Texas?

    FA: Funny. I think we’ve seen so many scenes coming from the teams, not only this year but in the past in Formula One; we don’t need to go too far this year with some of the races that we had some doubts – even Saturday night – of which teams and from which position they will start, depending on some decisions or some limits that they were finding in the regulations which we saw this year from many teams. I’m proud of my team, it was a strategic decision, to start on the clean side with both cars, also fighting for the Constructors championship that is one of the targets that we have, beating McLaren and it worked quite well. Because it worked quite well, maybe the people were not very happy but I’m proud of my team, more than anything it’s because they said the truth when we changed the gearbox. Not many teams are able to say the truth when they make a strategic decision.

    Q: (Andy Benson – BBC Sport) Fernando, Lewis is moving teams next year. You’ve been his teammate, what can Nico expect? What’s it like having Lewis as a teammate?

    FA: I think it will be fine for him, it will be a good challenge at Mercedes, and as a teammate, I think he will be very strong, so Nico will have some extra work to do. After three years with Michael, I think Nico keeps learning many things and another tough challenge with Lewis will arrive. I think they will be very strong. I think Nico and Lewis together, with the Mercedes, they can be serious contenders for next year. In the future, who knows, but I have a lot of respect for Lewis. I always said that he’s probably the best or one of the best here. I shared a year with him, it didn’t work too well because maybe we were not sharing the same philosophy but without McLaren, why not?

    Q: (Ian Parkes – Press Association) Fernando and Sebastian; two years ago in Abu Dhabi, Fernando you had a 15 point lead over Sebastian going into the very last race. Sebastian went and won the title. Does what happened then – although the track and circumstances are a bit different – does that give you belief as to what can be achieved? And Sebastian, does that make you fearful as to what could happen?

    FA: I think these are different circumstances from Abu Dhabi. Now we have DRS, KERS so it (was) a little bit more difficult to pass (then) and maybe the rule was also introduced because of that race. I think even if you find yourself at the back of the grid, you’re still able to recover positions as we saw in Abu Dhabi this year. Even if Seb started last, he finished on the podium, so we will see what we have in mind, that this is Formula One. This is a sport and anything can happen until the chequered flag so we will try to do the best race we can and, as I said, cross the line on the podium which gives us more than 13 points and see where Sebastian crosses the line. If we win, we will be very happy but we know that we need some strange combination of results; if we don’t win, we will congratulate him and we will try next year. Nothing really surprising.

    SV: I think we’re very happy in the position that we are in. I think two years back we would have loved to have been in Fernando’s position. If you could chose, I think it’s clear but as Fernando said, in sport anything can happen so we need look after ourselves. The weekend starts tomorrow morning and not on Sunday, so really we have to go step by step, trying to do everything to ensure that we get the maximum result. Historically we’ve been very quick here, historically we know also it’s quite a place where a lot of things can happen so we need to be sharp in the moment and see what we can get.

    Q: (Ian Parkes – Press Association) Lewis, what memories will you be taking away from McLaren? I presume here, four years ago, will be your greatest one.

    LH: I think I’ll take away only the positive memories of our journey together. Obviously winning the World Championship, winning my first Grand Prix, starting out together and I guess this weekend.

    Q: (Carlos Miguel – La Gaceta) Sebastian, is there extra pressure that a lot of people think that you must win this championship?

    SV: Yeah, I think it’s obviously normal if you’re in that position. I think we fight all year, some ups, some downs. I think everyone had the same to be in that position so now there’s no reason to complain or not to be happy. Obviously there’s one thing that the people expect, but another thing what we expect. All year we’ve been trying to push very hard and trying to put ourselves in a very strong position, to fight for the championship, ideally until the last race and be in the best possible place. Now we arrive in the last race, we are in a strong position so I think we can be happy with that but nevertheless, there’s one more race to go, and as I said, we have to make sure that we focus on every single step to get the job done here.

    Q: (Carlos Miguel – La Gaceta) Fernando, is there less pressure in that you have nothing to lose?

    FA: Well, I think in Formula One there’s always pressure but definitely we have less than on some other occasions and maybe less than probably if we were leading the championship, because as you said, we have nothing really to lose. We are arriving in second position, we are arriving after two qualifyings dominated by Red Bull – well not two qualifyings, five or six – and then we were around positions seventh, eighth in the last couple of Grands Prix so recovered 13 points, it looks like a very difficult achievement and I think, as I said, if everything goes normally, we should finish second. If something happens, maybe we will win the championship so, because it’s probably not in our hands, the pressure is much less.

    Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Fernando, do you think you will have another possibility in future, if not this year?

    FA: I hope so. I think I’m 31 and I still feel that I will have some more possibilities. I’m at Ferrari for the next four or five years, minimum, so I think that will always give you the possibility to fight for World Championships. In three years at Ferrari, I arrive two times already fighting for the championship at the last race: 2010 in Abu Dhabi and now in Brazil, even with so many difficulties and chaotic years, let’s say, for us, in terms of performance, in terms of problems and we were not dominant in any part of those championships, so even with those problems we are fighting for two or three years at Ferrari, so I have no doubts that in the next four or five years there will be more fights and more championships, but let’s concentrate on this one.

    Q: (Rodrigo Gini – Estados de Minas) Fernando, you said about the qualifying position, as you said in Austin, you said you would start in sixth, seventh. Do you think it will be the same, the gap will remain in Brazil?

    SV: Yeah, I think so. I think there’s no magic part that you can put on the car in five days. We were seventh in Abu Dhabi, we were ninth in Austin so I think around those positions should be the normal for here but hopefully we can do a better job.

    Q: (Rodrigo Gini – Estado de Minas) Sebastian, in 2010 you needed to attack to win the championship and last year it was so easy, perhaps one can say. This year, you have an advantage to defend. Does it change your mental approach to the race, or will you take it as any other?

    SV: I think the secret is to take it as any other. If you look in the calendar, Brazil is a race like every other one. You get the same amount of points and I think we are here to attack. Obviously we know that we are in a good position. Obviously, as I said, it’s something we know but still we have to be – as I said before – sharp and ready to attack.

    Q: (Manuel Franco Pernal – Diario AS) Fernando and Seb, if you finally win this title, will it be the most simple for you?

    FA: Not really. I think winning the championship is always winning the championship. They all feel different, they all can feel special but I don’t think there is one that becomes more important for you, or more special so I think it will be nice but nothing bigger than the other two.

    SV: I think the man to ask sits in the middle. He has won more than two times. For us, for Fernando and me, it’s the same with two championships and maybe a third, so we will see after this weekend but I don’t think it makes sense to talk about it now and therefore, as I said, maybe Michael is the one to ask. He can chose from a variation of titles.

    MS: I think the question was slightly different: whether this is the important one? Whichever one  you win the latest one is the most sweet one.

    Q: (Toni Lopez Jorda – La Vanguardia) One question for Sebastian and Fernando: at this point of the championship, looking at the whole season, do you feel that you had good luck or bad luck to arrive in this situation, with a gap of ten points?

    SV: Well I think we have so many races this year, 20 races, some of them you might have a bit of luck; others you might have bad luck but I think it’s the same probably for all of us, if you look over the course of 20 races. Sometimes it might feel this way or that way, but I think it evens out until the end.

    FA: Yeah, it’s up and downs for everyone. We have more or less two or three retirements for each of us, fighting for the championship until the end and those retirements were sometimes for mechanical problems, sometimes for accidents, sometimes they were bad luck but at the end of the day this is normal and we see what happens here.

    Ends

  • Sahara Force India gets £50 million boost

    Sao Paulo, 21 Nov 2012:Dr Vijay Mallya, Sahara

    File photo of Dr Vijay Mallya, courtesy Sahara Force India F1 team.

    Force India team principal revealed today that the F1 team’s Board has approved a sum of £50 million capital investment programme for the team as he sums up 2012 and looks ahead to the season finale here on Sunday.

    “We had a board meeting in India after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the board has approved a £50 million capital investment programme for the team. We are going to invest heavily in new technology and give more tools to our design team to try and move further up the grid,” said the beer baron of India.
    Last year, Sahara Force India finished in sixth place ahead of Sauber but going into the last race the Indian team is 12 points behind Sauber. But they have been improving year after year and have scored more points this year. With one race to go the team has 99 points.
    “Looking back at the season so far, we have every reason to feel proud. We’ve scored more points than in any previous season and every year we’ve demonstrated that we’ve gone up the ladder. And we’ve taken fairly significant steps, not just baby steps. Given the tools that we have, which are mostly of the Jordan era, we have done exceptionally well,” felt Vijay Mallya.
    With the championship’s driver’s title precariously poised and with the prediction of rain, it is anybody’s game. Though Sebastian Vettel is leading by 13 points, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso hopes different circumstances will give him a better chance to beat Vettel. Meanwhile, Mallya is hoping that Nico will come good at a place where he has good memories.
     
    “We hope that Nico will be able to pull off what he did for Williams in 2010 [pole position]. That’s what is needed if we want to catch Sauber! Otherwise I hope we can end the season with a strong result. Two cars in the points would be nice. Up at the front I look forward to seeing how the fight in the drivers’ championship concludes because it’s never over until it’s over.  Also, many congratulations to Red Bull for securing the constructors’ championship in Austin,”  said Mallya.
    The team says goodbye to Nico this weekend and when asked how much has Nico contributed to the team this season, Vijay Mallya said: “Nico has been one of the stars this season. He’s delivered exactly what we expected of him and brought a lot to this team. He has a big future in Formula One and we wish him well.”
    Nico on Brazil
    Nico Hulkenberg gets set for his last race with the team and hopes to capture a special result.
    Nico, another four points in Austin brings your total to 53. How do you look back on the second half of the year?
    It has been very positive. We had some good results in the first half too, but I think we found our consistency after the summer break. I think some of my best races were Japan and Korea where we didn’t necessarily expect to do so well. To score points there was very satisfying. Also, races such as Austin, where I was under so much pressure towards the end are the moments I will remember from the second part of the year. These were races where we maximised everything.
    Your two-year spell with the team comes to an end this weekend. How much have you enjoyed being a part of Sahara Force India?
    First of all I want to thank everyone for believing in me and giving me the chance to return to Formula One this year as a race driver. I’ve learned a lot during the last two seasons, even as a third driver, and the time has flown by very quickly. It’s a great team of people; they’re fun to work with and I think we can be proud of the results we achieved together. That’s why it was not an easy decision to leave, but I’m happy to be leaving with good memories. The task now is to end the year in style with a great result.
    Paul on Brazil
    Paul Di Resta looks back on the season.
    Paul, after 19 races you’ve scored 46 points. Are you happy with the season as a whole?
    I think as a whole it has been a good year. For me the standout races are Bahrain and Singapore – races where everything came together. The second half of the season has been more mixed. When you look at the results on paper, it certainly doesn’t tell the whole story. For various reasons some good results slipped away from us and we’ve had issues that held us back while we tried to understand them. The last race in Austin was looking very positive to begin with, but after my pit stop I just could not get the tyres to work, so I’m hoping that the conditions in Brazil will suit me better.
    You raced in Brazil for the first time last year. Tell us about that experience…
    I enjoy the circuit, but at the same time it’s quite tricky because of the undulating layout and there are some unusual corners. It’s also quite a tough track on your neck because of the anti-clockwise layout and the high number of left-hand corners. After three races on very new circuits it will make a nice change to go back to one of the classic old-school tracks. It’s a circuit that usually produces good racing and there’s also talk of rain, which would add another element into the mix.
    ends

     

  • Hamilton wins in Austin

    Austin, 18 Nov 2012: Lewis Hamilton won a tense rather than spectacular US Grand Prix as Red Bull Racing picked up the Constructors’ Championship.

    While Hamilton was the star of the show, Sebastian Vettel took second and Fernando Alonso third, ensuring their battle for the Drivers’ Championship goes down to the wire in Brazil. Vettel, who had been fastest in every session up until today, controlled proceedings at the front after the start

    Lewis Hamilton of McLaren team on the podium after winning the US GP on Sunday 18 Nov 2012. A Vodafone McLaren Mercedes F1 team Photo.

    . However, as he got tangled up in traffic on lap 42, he fell back towards Hamilton and the McLaren driver, who had been stalking the Red Bull man for most of the race, cruised past to take the lead.

    A clearly angry Vettel was straight on his radio to complain about the backmarkers who had held him up, but the lead was gone. “I wasn’t too happy to send a nice big invitation to Lewis when I obviously had to go through [Narain] Karthikeyan and he [Lewis] was basically right behind at the DRS zone,” said Vettel. “I tried to defend, I moved to the inside but I knew that he would have so much more speed that he can pick either side, so it didn’t really matter what I was doing and after that, I was obviously not too happy.”

    Just as the German had controlled the pace for the first two thirds of the grand prix, so Hamilton managed the pace until the chequered flag. While Vettel often closed the gap, he was never able to challenge for the position.

    “It’s been a great weekend,” said Hamilton of his second US GP victory, the previous one coming in F1’s final visit to Indianapolis in 2007. “To be able to beat Red Bull and Sebastian is definitely a tough challenge but we managed to do it today.

    “We pitted maybe two laps before Sebastian, so then he came out quite far ahead but traffic really worked out quite well for once. Traffic usually catches me out, so I was glad that it worked slightly in my favour at some points. But what a great feeling to win the first grand prix here, back in the States.”

    Almost 30 seconds behind the leading duo Fernando Alonso crossed the line in third. Prior to the race start Alonso was moved up a place from eighth on the grid when Ferrari broke the seal on team-mate Felipe Massa’s gearbox, leading to a five-place penalty for the Brazilian. That put Alonso seventh at the start and even more crucially on the clean side of a track where there was a lot more grip.

    Given a chance to take the fight to Vettel in the Drivers’ Championship, Alonso didn’t fluff the opportunity. At the start he passed both Nico Hulkenberg and Michael Schumacher to take fourth. And when Mark Webber retired from third with yet another alternator problem, Alonso stole into third, where he held station until the chequered flag.

    “We keep our championship alive thanks to the first laps,” said Alonso. “We always qualify around seventh or eighth and we finish the first lap in the first three or four positions and then after that the race becomes a little easier when you are in the leading group, and today we knew that was a good chance: try to overtake people at the first corner, and then our pace on Sunday normally improves, so we knew that if we are in the leading group we can more or less keep the pace.

    “I think this podium, after all the difficulties we went through this weekend, is like a victory for us,” he added. “Losing three points maybe was in no-one’s thoughts last night or Friday after the practice [sessions] we had, so we are really happy again to have a very good Sunday and again score good points.”

    Alonso’s 12th podium finish of the season means that the battle for the Drivers’ title heads to the final round next week in Brazil, to which Vettel will now take a 13-point lead. That gap means Alonso must finish third or better at Interlagos even if Vettel finishes outside the points. The Red Bull driver acknowledged that he is now in the box seat.

    “I’m excited [about Brazil] because the car seems to work very well, good enough to fight for a win,” he said. “We’ve been very quick in Brazil the last couple of years so plenty to look forward to. On top of that, we increased our lead in the championship today so I think we are in the best possible position.”

    While the destination of the Drivers’ title remains unclear for another seven days, the manufacturers’ crown went to Red Bull Racing for the third time in three seasons. Vettel’s second place leaves the Milton Keynes team with 440 points, 73 clear of Ferrari and with a maximum of 43 on the table in Brazil.

    “It has been a fantastic job for the team today to seal the Constructors’ Championship against Ferrari who are now in second,” said Vettel. “I’m very happy with that and the guys can be, for sure, very proud of themselves.”

    ends

  • USGP: Hamilton thanks fans at FIA press conference

    The top three Drivers who attended the final FIA Press Conference after the race at the United States Grand Prix are: 1 – Lewis HAMILTON (McLaren); 2 – Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing) and 3 – Fernando ALONSO (Ferrari)

     PODIUM INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by Mario Andretti)

     Lewis, I know you really tormented Sebastian for most of the race but you have the resolve and did a fabulous race. What I’m interested in, give me some reaction, your reaction to the circuit. Obviously everything’s new, first winner, first time winner and all of that.

    Lewis HAMILTON: First time winner, yeah, I’m so happy. The fans have been amazing this weekend, so thank you so much. The warm welcome we’ve had has been fantastic and I think this is probably one of the best, if not the best grand prix we’ve had all year. Especially for me and my team, this is so special. It’s been a long, long time since I had a win and I’m just so proud, so proud of the work the guys did, so grateful for the support we’ve had.

    Sebastian, obviously you did everything you needed to do to protect your lead in the championship and as usual you were fantastic with your qualifying and so forth. The obvious question again is your reaction to the circuit.

    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, I mean first of all thank you very much. As Lewis said, it was incredible. Actually I did my first race five years ago, the last time we were racing in the United States, so it’s a very nice comeback today, it was my 100th grand prix, and amazing y’know, the amount of people we had all weekend. It’s great for us to have so much support, very happy today for the team in particular. We won the Constructors’ Championship so, yeah, thanks to all of you, it’s been a great year, now we’ve got another station coming up in Brazil and as you said, in terms of the Championship it’s looking a bit better after the race today. Obviously it was a close fight with Lewis, he had one chance and he took it. After that I tried to stay with him and maybe pass him again but he was probably as quick as I was and there wasn’t much in between us. All in all, a great race and a great result for us.

    Fernando, as usual, you’ve been brilliant the entire season, fantastic start, as usual again, you’ve always done your very maximum and here again you’ve kept this championship fight alive, fighting to the end obviously. The same question to you, how about this circuit? You like it? You enjoy the ride? What’s your reaction?

    Fernando ALONSO: Yes, as Sebastian said, the circuit was fantastic but the fans were fantastic all weekend. We really enjoyed and we really have to say big thanks to all the fans coming here, all the Americans, the Mexicans and all the South Americans that came also to support us. So the circuit… basically the layout is challenging for us, challenging for the engine as well. As I said we enjoyed racing here thanks to the fans, thanks to the fantastic facilities and I hope we put on a good show for everybody and people will enjoy even more next year.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Lewis, an absolutely fantastic drive and victory in a straight fight with Red Bull Racing and with Sebastian. How much satisfaction does that give you?

    LH: A huge amount. It’s been a great weekend, to be able to beat Red Bull and Sebastian is definitely a tough challenge but we managed to do it today. I don’t know, we weren’t so bad in the first stint but it was very difficult to follow and to get past. In trying to do so I locked… my tyres went off. We pitted maybe two laps before Sebastian, so then he came out quite far ahead but traffic really worked out quite well for once. Traffic usually catches me out, so I was glad that it worked slightly in my favour at some points. But yeah, what a great feeling to win the first grand prix here, back in the States, I won the last one here as well, so I’m massively proud.

    Where was the Red Bull so strong? Because it did take quite a few DRS efforts before you managed to make it.

    LH: It was everywhere, they’re pretty strong everywhere. I think it was more so… the first sector is very difficult to follow through Four, Five, Six, Seven, such high speed it’s quite difficult to follow through there. The place where he really extended his gap was the exit of Nine. That was really where, in the most important part, where he made over a second gap, so I was struggling to really get… to remain close. As I said with traffic it all worked out really well. He kind of… I knew that lap would be the lap that I would have a chance, so I turned the engine up and got close.

    Sebastian you did all you could and you’ve extended your championship lead. What are your feelings after second place?

    SV: I think, as Lewis said, obviously it was close between us, there wasn’t much between. I think very quickly we noticed that Lewis is the one we are racing. Obviously, for the rest, I don’t know what happened to Mark – he was quite a while in third place. After that, obviously, there was a big gap down to the Ferraris, so yeah, it was clear that we were racing Lewis. Everything seemed to be in control. As Lewis touched on, with traffic it’s quite difficult depending where you get it on the track. Surely it didn’t work in my favour. Lewis was then close enough, after he tried many times before, to open his rear wing and then down the back straight, it was a bit of an invitation really. It didn’t matter which side I would have picked, they were quick enough on the straight and he took the lead fair enough. After that I tried to be as close as I could but, as he said, it was difficult to follow, difficult to get in range. So, bit of a shame to lose first place but as you said I think we did everything we could. Fantastic job for the team today to seal the Constructors’ Championship against Ferrari who are now in second. I’m very happy with that and the guys can be, for sure, very proud of themselves. I think we will have a drink tonight, enjoy the time here. All weekend has been incredible, I think, for all of us, for the whole Formula One paddock here. The last race [in the US] obviously, as Lewis said, he won it. It was my first race in Formula One here in the United States and to come back and get so much support, so may fans… The signing session yesterday was absolutely crazy and full grandstands, so full house. It was really, really nice to race today in front of the crowd.

    Fernando, really a fantastic start and then it was just a matter of holding station.

    FA: Yes, we know our championship keeps alive maybe thanks to the first laps. We always qualify around seventh or eighth and we finish the first lap in the first three or four positions normally and then after that the race becomes a little easier when that happens, when you are in the leading group, and today we knew that was a good chance, try to overtake people at the first corner, and then the pace on Sunday normally improves so we knew that if we are in the leading group we can more or less keep the pace. Today not possible to keep the pace with these two guys, that they were too far ahead but enough to keep for the guys behind. And then I think this podium, after all the difficulties we went through this weekend is like a victory for us. Losing three points maybe was in no-one’s thoughts I think yesterday night or Friday night after seeing the practice, so we are really happy again to have a very good Sunday and score again good points.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Sebastian, your teammate stopped with another alternator problem, you probably heard that over the radio. To what extent is that a concern? It seems to be an unsolved problem.

    SV: I don’t know what happened to him, so I need to check, obviously. The first info I only get now, so it’s hard to comment but in case it was the alternator, it’s not good news but I think we’ve managed the last couple of races pretty well so I’m sure it should be easy to explain, to find the problem. After Monza, I think we learned the lesson and we should be prepared enough for next week.

    Q: (Leonid Novozhilov – F1 Live) To all three of you: with what feelings will you go to the last race in Brazil?

    LH: For me, it’s excitement that we have a good car and hopefully we can try to compete again with these guys. I’m obviously not fighting for the championship. It’s maybe more exciting for these guys but for me, I’m just having fun.

    SV: I think pretty much the same as Lewis: excited because the car seems to work very well, good enough to fight for a win. We’ve been very quick in Brazil the last couple of years so plenty to look forward to. On top of that, we increased our lead in the championship today so I think we are in the best possible position.

    FA: We will try to go to Brazil with the possibility to fight for the World Championship which is something that we fight for all through the year and we arrived in that fantastic position. Only Sebastian is in a better position than us but we should be proud of ourselves so try to enjoy the Brazil race and do our best, fight all the race and see what is the outcome at the end.

    Q: (Adam Hay–Nicholls – Metro) Seb, what were you complaining about when Lewis overtook you?

    SV: I think you misunderstood. I wasn’t complaining about Lewis, obviously. I wasn’t too happy send a nice big invitation to Lewis when I obviously had to go through Karthikeyan and he was basically right behind at the DRS zone; to do a big difference within one corner is hardly possible and then he took that opportunity – fair enough – down the straight and passed me. I tried to defend, I moved to the inside but I knew that he would have so much more speed that he can pick either side, so it didn’t really matter what I was doing and after that, I was obviously not too happy, because on all the laps before I tried to manage the gap to him, tried to manage the tyres until the end of the race, to be able to attack towards the last couple of laps. We had, I think, something like 20 laps, 15 laps to go at the time. It was not targeted at Lewis, it was more targeted at the backmarker which, as I said, gave a nice big envelope with an invitation to Lewis.

    Q: (Sarah Holt – CNN.com world sport) It was a similar question, actually, but we don’t often see you, Sebastian, being very emotional but we heard you being emotional on the radio there. A question about the pressures you’re feeling. You’ve been in this position twice before, is it harder third time around?

    SV: I don’t think it had anything to do with that in that moment. I was really thinking about the points that could make a difference today or next week or the championship. I wanted to win today. I had a fantastic race, I was very happy, enjoyed the fight with Lewis a lot and obviously through that lost the lead. Equally knew that we can get it back but as it turned out it was extremely difficult. We had the same pace so I think I was probably in the same boat as Lewis, the first half of the race where I was just trying to get close enough to try and get the move done but that didn’t happen until the end. I think many times it’s difficult for you to judge what’s going on because not all the messages get broadcast so we do communicate quite a bit during the race –  sometimes calmer, sometimes not so calm so at that moment, obviously, I wasn’t too happy to lose the lead.

    Q: (David Estrada – Port Arthur News) Lewis, welcome to the United States; you had celebration champagne. Are you going to have a celebration barbecue tonight?

    LH: I had a few burgers last night so I was nice and heavy today! I tell you what, I’m so happy to be here. We’ve had such a great weekend. I actually don’t really drink. I had a little bit of champagne, it doesn’t really taste that good. Fernando said it was 7-Up or Sprite at the last race, it wasn’t the same this time. Tonight, hopefully I can get together with the team tonight. We already did last night but I’m sure we will celebrate tonight.

    SV: He said earlier he…  and I saw him exchanging phone numbers with the girls on the podium. He said earlier we’ll have a good time tonight!

    LH: I think it was the other way around actually! He stayed behind. That’s why we were late here.

    SV: He was first, you know, not just in the race but also picking up the girls.

    File photo of Lewis Hamilton at the US GP on Thursday. A Vodafone McLaren Mercedes F1 team photo.

    Ends