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Category: Formula 1
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Valtteri Bottas tops opening practice session: Belgian GP
Spa Francorchamps (Belgium), 28 August 2020: Valtteri Bottas went quickest in the opening Formula 1 practice session for the Belgian Grand Prix, narrowly beating Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen.
Bottas set his best time of 1:44.493s on soft tyres to eclipse championship leader Hamilton by 0.069 seconds. Verstappen got close to the Mercedes pair on the longest circuit on the calendar and the Dutchman ended the session with a best time of 1:44.574, just 0.081 off Hamilton’s P1 time.
Fourth and fifth places in the session went to Racing Point’s Sergio Pérez and Lance Stroll who continued the team’s traditional good form at Spa that stretches back to its previous incarnation as Force India. Pérez finished just five hundredths of a second behind Verstappen. Stroll, meanwhile, ended the session two tenths of a second behind his team-mate.
The two Racing Points were sandwiched by the Red Bulls, with Verstappen ahead and Alexander Albon in sixth place. The Thai driver set a best time of 1:45.049, just under half a second off his Dutch team-mate.
Behind the top six Renault’s Esteban Ocon was seventh ahead of the McLaren’s Carlose Sainz, with Daniel Ricciardo in the second Renault in ninth place ahead of the second McLaren of Lando Norris.
AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat and Pierre Gasly were 11th and 12th respectively, though Gasly was left fuming over the radio during the session after coming across a slow Norris on track. Both AlphaTauris set their fastest times on the medium tyre.
It was a muted session for Ferrari, however, with Charles Leclerc finishing in 14th place, 1.266s off the pace, while team-mate Sebastian Vettel was 15th and a further four tenths of a second behind.
There was greater trouble for other drivers, however, with Haas’ Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean and Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi all failing to set a time. Grosjean reported a loss of power on his Haas F1 car early in the session and the team then reported that Magnussen’s car also had an issue and both would be having an engine change before the second session. Alfa Romeo reported that Giovinazzi’s car had suffered a ‘technical issue’ that limited him to just two installation lap.
2020 FIA Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix – Free Practice 1
1 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:44.493 18 241.302
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:44.562 0.069 17 241.143
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 1:44.574 0.081 20 241.115
4 Sergio Pérez Racing Point/Mercedes 1:44.629 0.136 22 240.988
5 Lance Stroll Racing Point/Mercedes 1:44.868 0.375 22 240.439
6 Alexander Albon Red Bull/Honda 1:45.049 0.556 22 240.025
7 Esteban Ocon Renault 1:45.099 0.606 20 239.910
8 Carlos Sainz McLaren/Renault 1:45.222 0.729 24 239.630
9 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1:45.225 0.732 21 239.623
10 Lando Norris McLaren/Renault 1:45.274 0.781 28 239.512
11 Daniil Kvyat AlphaTauri/Honda 1:45.447 0.954 25 239.119
12 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 1:45.503 1.010 17 238.992
13 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:45.704 1.211 19 238.537
14 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:45.759 1.266 18 238.413
15 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:46.179 1.686 15 237.470
16 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 1:46.488 1.995 19 236.781
17 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 1:46.570 2.077 21 236.599
18 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1
19 Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 2
20 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 2 -
Bahrain to host a double-header; Season-ender at Yas Marina
Paris, 25 August 2020: Formula 1 has today announced an update to the 2020 FIA Formula 1 World Championship calendar, bringing the total number of races to 17. The calendar has been approved by the FIA.
The full statement from Formula 1 is as follows:
Following the recent announcements regarding the initial 13 races of the revised 2020 calendar, Formula 1 is today announcing additional races for this season taking the total to 17.
We can confirm that Turkey, Bahrain (hosting two races), and Abu Dhabi will be part of the revised season and want to express our thanks to the hard work of all our promoters and partners in making this 17-race season possible. Sadly, we will not be racing in China this season and want to thank our partner Juss Sports for their support and engagement in recent months and hugely look forward to returning to Shanghai next year.
We can confirm that a number of races in the revised 2020 season will be open to a limited number of fans, including hospitality, and we are working with each promoter to finalise the details. While we want to see as many fans as possible return as soon as it is safe to do so, our priority remains the safety of the Formula 1 community and the communities we visit, and we review fan access on this basis.
Due to the ongoing fluidity of the COVID-19 pandemic we continue to maintain close dialogue with all promoters and local authorities to ensure we operate in the safest way possible and monitor each national situation closely – including travel restrictions and local health procedures.
The latest races added to the 2020 calendar are as follows:
November 13-15 FORMULA 1 DHL TURKISH GRAND PRIX 2020 – Intercity Istanbul Park* November 27-29 FORMULA 1 GULF AIR BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX 2020 -Bahrain International Circuit December 4-6 FORMULA 1 ROLEX SAKHIR GRAND PRIX 2020 -Bahrain International Circuit December 11 – 13 FORMULA 1 ETIHAD AIRWAYS ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX 2020 – Yas Marina Circuit *Subject to circuit homologation
Chase Carey, Chairman and CEO of Formula 1, said:
“We are proud to announce that Turkey, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi will be part of our 2020 season. This year has presented Formula 1 and the world with an unprecedented challenge and we want to pay tribute to everyone across Formula 1, the FIA, the teams, and our partners who have made this possible. While we are all disappointed that we have not been able to return to some of our planned races this year we are confident our season has started well and will continue to deliver plenty of excitement with traditional, as well as new, races that will entertain all our fans.”
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FIA, Formula 1, F1 teams conclude Concorde Agreement
Jean Todt: “The conclusion of the new Concorde Agreement between the FIA, Formula 1 and all ten of the current teams assures a stable future for the FIA Formula One World Championship.”
Paris, 19 August 2020: The FIA and Formula 1 can today confirm that all ten teams have agreed to the new Concorde Agreement. This follows extensive discussions over the past twelve months with all teams, Formula 1, and the FIA.
The agreement will secure the long-term sustainable future for Formula 1 and combined with the new regulations, announced in October 2019 that come into force in 2022, will reduce the financial and on track disparities between the teams, helping to level the playing field, creating closer racing on the track that fans want to see more of. Closer racing will attract more fans to the sport, benefitting every team, and continuing to increase the global growth of Formula 1.
The COVID-19 pandemic created huge uncertainty around the world and Formula 1 has not been immune from that. It was therefore right that the focus in recent months was a safe return to racing. It is a testament to our whole sport that in recent months we have returned to racing in the safest possible way and have also agreed as a collective group to a revised cost cap and finalised the Concorde Agreement.
The FIA and Formula 1 want to thank all the teams for their ongoing engagement during recent weeks and while there are always robust discussions the agreement by all teams puts in place an important foundation for the long-term future of the sport.
Jean Todt, President of the FIA said:
“The conclusion of the new Concorde Agreement between the FIA, Formula 1 and all ten of the current teams assures a stable future for the FIA Formula One World Championship. Over its seventy year history, Formula 1 has developed at a remarkable rate, pushing the boundaries of safety, technology and competition to the absolute limits, and today confirms that an exciting new chapter in that history is about to begin. During the unprecedented global challenges currently facing everyone around the world, I am proud of the way that all of Formula 1’s stakeholders have worked together over the past months for the best interests of the sport and the fans to agree the pathway for more sustainable, fair and exciting competition at the pinnacle of motor sport.”Chase Carey, Chairman and CEO, Formula 1 said:
“This year has been unprecedented for the world and we are proud that Formula 1 has come together in recent months to return to racing in a safe way. We said earlier in the year that due to the fluid nature of the pandemic, the Concorde Agreement would take additional time to agree and we are pleased that by August we have been able achieve agreement from all ten teams on the plans for the long term future of our sport. All our fans want to see closer racing, wheel to wheel action and every team having a chance to get on the podium. The new Concorde agreement, in conjunction with the regulations for 2022, will put in place the foundations to make this a reality and create an environment that is both financially fairer and closes the gaps between teams on the race track.” -
Hamilton beats Schumy record for highest number of F1 podiums
Lewis Hamilton romped to a dominant victory in the Spanish GP as he broke Michael Schumacher’s record for the highest number of podium finishes achieved by a driver in Formula 1. With his 88th win, he was on the podium for the 156th time in his career. Max Verstappen split the Mercedes cars and Valtteri Bottas completed the podium in P3.
New Delhi, 17 August 2020: In qualifying, it was the usual suspects who occupied the front row. Hamilton on the pole, while sister Mercedes of Bottas in P2. Verstappen qualified P3 and his teammate showed better form to qualify P6 on the grid. Sandwiched between them were the two Racing Points of Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll in P4 & P5 respectively. Carlos Sainz out-qualified his younger teammate Lando Norris, who has reached Q3 at every race this season. Ferrari only started as high as P9 with Leclerc, as Vettel was knocked out in Q2, starting P11. Gasly completed the top 10 and Kvyat was one place behind Vettel. Renault had a dismal qualifying as Ricciardo started P13 and Ocon in P15. Brilliant effort in qualifying by Raikkonen saw him start P14 while his teammate Giovinazzi started last for the first time in his career. Then it was a two by two grid as Haas occupied out P16 & P17, Williams locked out P18 & P19.
All cars in the top-10 were starting with soft tyres. The track temperature was around 50C. But Friday Practice showed that the hard tyre offered a low level of grip, thus, to be avoided for the race. The predicted strategy was a two-stop, starting on the softs and then two sets of mediums.
Hamilton had a clean race start and maintained P1. Contrary to him, Bottas bogged down at the start and fell to P4 behind Verstappen and Stroll. Norris too lost out by two positions and fell to P10. As the DRS was enabled, Bottas got past Stroll on lap 5 to run P3 and started his hunt for Verstappen. Hamilton was maintaining a constant gap of 1.5-2s to Verstappen in P2.
The big question mark was that would Mercedes have tyre blistering issues again, similar to last week, as track temperatures were hovering around 50 C. This was answered on lap 10. Hamilton opened his taps and started extending his lead on Verstappen. Verstappen tried to keep up, but as soon as he pushed, the Red Bull overheated its tyres. He was struggling to match Hamilton’s pace, meanwhile Bottas was catching him from behind. A frustrated Verstappen signalled to his team that his rear tyres were finished.
Pirelli Graphic – Pit Stops Verstappen’s teammate Albon was first to pit on lap 17 and surprisingly put on hard tyres-only driver in the race to do so- which everyone wanted to avoid. Maybe this was a way by Red Bull to check the pace on hard tyre and if Verstappen could be fitted onto them to make a one-stop work. Ultimately this move compromised Albon’s strategy as he was stuck behind slower cars and was overcut by Sainz who finished ahead of him in the race. Both the McLaren’s were on a two stop as they looked to use the fresh rubber to get past their rivals.
Red Bull finally pitted Verstappen at the end of lap 21 on a new set of mediums, Hamilton and Bottas followed suit two laps later for the same tyre. Behind them both Racing Point cars pitted for medium tyres as well and made way to their original positions of P4 & P5 by lap 35. Renault were trying a one-stop strategy with both their cars, as at one stage Ricciardo was running in P4 and Ocon in P9.Leclerc and Vettel pitted on lap 29 for medium and soft tyres respectively.
Meanwhile, dark clouds appeared north of the circuit, with Vettel’s race engineer indicating rain to hit the track around lap 50. Alas, rain failed to materialise just like it had in the middle of the Hungarian GP. Hamilton now was around 8s clear of Verstappen and Bottas just behind the Dutchman. The one-stop strategy looked like a miss hit from Renault as both cars dropped out of points once pitted. Gremlins struck Leclerc on lap37, as his engine was cut off and he spun in turn 15. He managed to start the car but ultimately retired, later diagnosed as an electrical issue.
Verstappen pit for a second time on lap 41, taking another set of medium tyres to get to the end. Hamilton was not in the undercut range and therefore, carried on. Bottas went long till lap 48 and then pitted onto soft tyres, to create a tyre offset to Verstappen. The soft tyre didn’t work well for Bottas as he was unable to close the gap for Verstappen, let alone overtake him. Hamilton pitted on lap 50 for a second set of medium tyres, as he cruised home to a dominant victory, 24.177 seconds ahead of Verstappen. Bottas pitted for a third time to bolt on a set of medium tyres, to score a fastest lap point and in the process broke the lap record of the circuit. He finished P3.
Racing Point cars finished in lofty P4 & P5, Stroll finishing ahead of Perez as the Mexican got a 5-second time penalty for ignoring blue flags. Sainz finished P6, a confidence boost after couple of bad races in Silverstone. Vettel held off Albon to finish P7 thanks to an audacious one stop strategy and good tyre management. Vettel did 36 laps on the soft tyres. The top 10 was completed by Gasly and Norris. Interesting to note, only the podium finishers finished the race on the lead lap, everyone else was lapped in the race. Renault cars finished out of the points, so did the cars of Alfa Romeo, Haas and Williams.
Mercedes were expected to struggle once again in hot conditions, but they did not. They had a big advantage over Red Bull regarding race pace and also looked after their tyres better. Tyre management from Mercedes drivers was on point as they did not face any issues similar to last week. Mercedes had reverted to their Hungary specification high downforce rear wing with double swan neck pillars and a t-wing on the engine cover. Red Bull are inherently slower than Mercedes and they were slightly worse on their tyres as Verstappen complained of the rear tyres being finished. Albon also struggled to preserve his tyres, especially in the first two stints.Red Bull too reverted to Hungary specification rear wing with louvred endplates and a deeper main plane.
Like Mercedes and Red Bull, Racing Point, Renault, Ferrari and AlphaTauri used high downforce rear wings with a deeper main plane. The reason being, rear stability is essential in high speed corners and sector 3 is made up of slow speed corners.
Racing Point showed expected pace, just behind the top 2. McLaren had a resurgence in race pace as Sainz was able to finish in P6 and Norris in P10. Arguably Norris could have finished higher, had he had a better start. Ferrari and AlphaTauri were similar on pace. Ferrari’s move to put both drivers on one stop worked as Vettel finished ahead of the two stopping Gasly and Leclerc would have finished in points had he not retired. Renault slumped after two encouraging races as they could score no points on the basis of pace-which they lacked compared to their rivals- or the strategy.
Alfa Romeo showed improvement in pace as Raikkonen briefly ran in the top-10. Meanwhile, Haas have to find answers as they looked competitive on Friday but were unable to explain their loss of pace on Saturday and Sunday. Williams will be encouraged by the race pace and the ability to fight other cars. Saying that Russell was unable to make it to Q2, for the first time since round 1, prompting Williams to find answers for their lack of one-lap pace.
*Malhaar Khaladkar is an intern with INDIAinF1. You can read his articles here. We invite your comments below.
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Easy victory for Hamilton; Verstappen start gets him 2nd
Barcelona, 16 August 2020: Lewis Hamilton took a dominant lights-to-flag victory in sweltering conditions at Spanish Grand Prix, eventually crossing the line 25 seconds clear of Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen. Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas was third ahead of the Racing Points of Lance Stroll and Sergio Pérez.
In an ambien temperatures of aeround 30˚C and on a track nudging above 50˚C, Verstappen made a good getaway at the start and he was able to outpace the slower-starting Bottas on the long run to Turn 1 and steal P2 behind Hamilton.
Stroll also made a good getaway from fifth place on the grid to pass team-mate Pérez and Bottas. Behind them Alex Albon in the second Red Bull also made a solid start and he might have claimed fourth but in Turn 1 he was boxed in by the battle between Bottas and Stroll and was forced to hold his starting position.
Hamilton began to eke out a small gap to Verstappen, but the Red Bull driver clung to the race leader and after 10 laps he was just 1.6s behind the champion. Behind them, Bottas made his way past Stroll on lap five to close to retake third place.
Verstappen made his first stop of the race on lap 22. The Dutchman switched to medium tyres in just 1.9s, and when Hamilton made a slow change of 4.3s the Red Bull driver found himself back in second place, four seconds behind the Briton. Bottas was still in third, two seconds adrift of Verstappen. Fourth place was occupied by Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo, though the Australian had yet to make his first pit stop.
Verstappen made his second stop for a set of mediums, on lap 41 and after a two-second stop he was released back into third place, 18.2s behind Bottas.
Bottas pitted eight laps later but though he was on fresher soft tyres he failed to make serious inroads on the gap to the Red Bull driver.
Hamilton followed his team-mate to the pit lane on lap 51 but after insisting to his team that he did not want softs, he was given a set of mediums before rejoining 9.6s ahead of Verstappen.
From there the result was set. Hamilton again began to build a lead and with little chance of an assault on the lead and with Bottas well behind, Verstappen managed his pace to the flag. The task was made more straightforward when Bottas made a late stop for medium tyres and a final-lap blast to the fastest lap of the race.
Behind the top three Lance Stroll took fourth place ahead of Racing Point team-mate Sergio Pérez, who dropped behind the Canadian due to the five-second penalty for ignoring blue flags.
Sixth place went to Carlos Sainz, while Sebastian Vettel made a one-stop strategy last to take seventh place, just one second ahead of Alex. Ninth place went to AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and the final point on offer was taken by McLaren’s Lando Norris.
2020 FIA Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix – Race
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 66 1:31’45.279
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 66 1:32’09.456 24.177
3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 66 1:32’30.031 44.752
4 Lance Stroll Racing Point/Mercedes 65 1:32’06.724 1 Lap
5 Sergio Pérez Racing Point/Mercedes 65 1:32’09.464 1 Lap
6 Carlos Sainz Jr. McLaren/Renault 65 1:32’11.045 1 Lap
7 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 65 1:32’23.813 1 Lap
8 Alexander Albon Red Bull/Honda 65 1:32’25.008 1 Lap
9 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 65 1:32’25.597 1 Lap
10 Lando Norris McLaren/Renault 65 1:32’26.154 1 Lap
11 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 65 1:32’27.145 1 Lap
12 Daniil Kvyat AlphaTauri/Honda 65 1:32’32.998 1 Lap
13 Esteban Ocon Renault 65 1:32’41.207 1 Lap
14 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 65 1:32’46.682 1 Lap
15 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 65 1:32’54.370 1 Lap
16 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 65 1:32’55.069 1 Lap
17 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 65 1:33’04.656 1 Lap
18 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 64 1:31’47.297 2 Laps
19 Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 64 1:32’14.948 2 Lap
Charles Leclerc Ferrari 38 55’31.636 Electrical -
Hamilton takes pole ahead of Bottas, Verstappen
Barcelona, 15 August 2020: Lewis Hamilton beat Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas by just under six-hundredths of a second to claim pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took third place ahead of the Racing Point cars of Sergio Pérez and Lance Stroll.
Hamilton led the way in Q1 thanks to an early lap of 1:17.037. That put him less than a tenth of a second ahead of Pérez, with the Mexican’s team-mate Lance Stroll third ahead of Bottas. The final runs saw Hamilton improve to a segment-best time of 1:16.872, while Verstappen rose to P3 behind Pérez thanks to a lap of 1:17.213.
At the lower end of the timesheet, Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen made a late jump out of the danger zone to P15, though team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi dropped to the bottom of the order and he was eliminated along with 16th-placed Kevin Magnussen, his Haas team-mate Romain Grosjean and the Williams cars of George Russell and Nicholas Latifi.
Hamilton was again quickest in the opening runs of Q2, with the championship leader posting a lap of 1:16.013 in the first run of the session. That left Bottas in second place ahead of Verstappen whose opening lap left him half a second adrift of the champion.
Ahead of the final runs, 11th-placed Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari was joined in the drop zone by Renault’s Esteban Ocon, AlphaTauri drivers Daniil Kvyat and Pierre Gasly, and by 15th-placed Räikkönen.
And at the end of the session, Gasly was the only one to make it to safety. The Frenchman put in a good performance to jump to fifth place at the flag. His rise, along with other improvements in the top 10 meant that Daniel Ricciardo fell to 13thplace behind Kvyat but ahead of Räikkönen and Ocon.
Hamilton, Bottas and Verstappen elected to remain in their garages during the final runs and they made up the top three ahead of Stroll, Gasly, Sainz, Perez and Leclerc. Alex Albon, meanwhile, went through in P9 ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Hamilton continued to set the pace in the opening runs of Q3. The defending champion posted an opening lap of 1:15.584 to go 0.176 quicker than Bottas. Verstappen took a provisional P3 with his opening lap of 1:16.292 – almost three tenths clear of fourth-placed Pérez.
And Hamilton’s opener ended up being good to secure his 92nd career pole just five hundredths of a second ahead of Bottas. Verstappen held third place just under two tenths ahead of Pérez and Stroll. Albon jumped from P8 to seal P6 with a time of 1:17.029 to finish ahead of Sainz, Norris, Leclerc and Gasly.
2020 FIA Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix – Qualifying
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:15.584 6 221.713
2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:15.643 0.059 6 221.540
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 1:16.292 0.708 6 219.656
4 Sergio Pérez Racing Point/Mercedes 1:16.482 0.898 6 219.110
5 Lance Stroll Racing Point/Mercedes 1:16.589 1.005 6 218.804
6 Alexander Albon Red Bull/Honda 1:17.029 1.445 6 217.554
7 Carlos Sainz McLaren/Renault 1:17.044 1.460 6 217.512
8 Lando Norris McLaren/Renault 1:17.084 1.500 6 217.399
9 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:17.087 1.503 6 217.390
10 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 1:17.136 1.552 6 217.252
11 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:17.168 1.155 6 217.162
12 Daniil Kvyat AlphaTauri/Honda 1:17.192 1.179 6 217.095
13 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1:17.198 1.185 6 217.078
14 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:17.386 1.373 6 216.550
15 Esteban Ocon Renault 1:17.567 1.554 6 216.045
16 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1:17.908 1.036 6 215.099
17 Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 1:18.089 1.217 6 214.601
18 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 1:18.099 1.227 9 214.573
19 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 1:18.532 1.660 9 213.390
20 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:18.697 1.825 6 212.943 -
Faster Mercedes cars suffering high tyre degradation
Max Verstappen won the F1 70th Anniversary Grand Prix at Silverstone on Sunday, overcoming the challenge of the mighty Mercedes. Pole man Valtteri Bottas slipped to third and a late electric charge saw Lewis Hamilton finish second. Verstappen became the first non-Mercedes race winner this year.
New Delhi, 10 August 2020: As expected, Mercedes locked out the front row of the grid in qualifying, this time Bottas in pole and Hamilton starting in P2. Nico Hulkenberg put in a solid lap, out-qualifying his teammate Lance Stroll and Verstappen. He started P3 and Verstappen P4. Stroll was in P6 and Verstappen’s teammate Alex Albon lined up in P9, behind the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. Daniel Ricciardo put in a mega lap to start P5, Pierre Gasly was in P7 and Lando Norris completed the top 10. Sebastian Vettel lined up P11, after a 3-place grid penalty applied to Esteban Ocon for impeding George Russell in Qualifying meant that he started P14, alongside Russell in P15. Second McLaren of Carlos Sainz started in P12 and Romain Grosjean gave Haas the highest grid position of the season in P13. Daniil Kvyat’s mistake in qualifying meant he could only achieve P16, behind him were the second cars of Haas and Williams. Alfa Romeo locked out the last row of the grid. Contrasting to the first-ever Formula 1 race held at the same venue in 1950, where Alfa Romeo’s started P1, P2, P3 & P4 on the grid. Get in touch with Jeep Dealership, if you need to buy such cars.
Important to note that Verstappen was the only person to start on hard tyres in the top 10. This was the first race since Pirelli became the exclusive supplier to Formula 1, that no car started the race on the softest tyre available.
This weekend’s tyres were one step softer compared to last weekend and with hotter track temperatures. This meant that there would be high levels of tyre degradation. Optimum predicted strategy was a two stops, with one set of medium tyres and two sets of hard tyres.
The race start was uneventful apart from Vettel spinning at turn 1 and falling to the back of the grid. Hulkenberg had a poor getaway and Verstappen stole P3 running behind the two Mercedes cars. It looked like the two Mercedes cars on medium tyres would pull away from Verstappen, who was on hard tyres. Albon was the first driver to pit on lap 6, to get out of traffic and dirty air of other cars. Gasly followed suit a lap later.
Around lap 8, both Mercedes cars started to show blistering on their tyres and were radioed to warn them about tyre temperatures. By lap 11, Verstappen was all over Hamilton, lapping faster than the Silver Arrows. Bottas pit for fresh hard tyres on lap 13, Hamilton did the same one lap later, releasing Verstappen in the lead to manage his own pace.
As the Racing Points and Leclerc pitted, Bottas and Hamilton emerged in 2nd and 3rd respectively. They were unable to make inroads into Verstappen, as the gap between them kept increasing, even though the Mercedes drivers were on fresher tyres. As soon as they tried to push, the tyres were overheating and blistering making them back off. Verstappen lapped faster on older tyres. He pitted on lap 26 emerging just behind Bottas, but by turn 7 overtook him and bolted off. Red Bull and Verstappen had pulled off a great overcut on the Mercedes cars.
A Pirelli graphic Lap 29 onwards the midfield cars started pitting for the second time. McLaren’s Norris was the first one to do so, trying to undercut the cars in front of him. Stroll, Hulkenberg and Albon covered Norris by pitting on lap 30 and 31. Ricciardo had an uncharacteristic spin which dropped him out of contention for points as he had to pit again.
At the front, after only six laps on the mediums, Verstappen pitted with Bottas on the same lap, both going for hard tyres. Meanwhile, Hamilton was left out in the lead to take an advantage if the safety car emerged. Hamilton on his blistering and worn tyres, maintained a gap to Verstappen of around 10 seconds. At one point, it looked like he would try and go to the end of the race. Ultimately, he pitted on lap 41, as Mercedes did not want to risk tyre failures similar to last week.
Bottas could not keep up with Verstappen as he was overheating his tyres when pushing them. Meanwhile, Hamilton’s pit stop meant that he emerged in P4. Ahead of him was Leclerc who had pit only once, and his teammate Bottas. Using the fresh tyres, he overtook Leclerc and then Bottas with two laps to go. In the process setting fastest lap of the race. Hulkenberg pitted for a third time due to vibrations on his set of tyres. He bolted on softs, the only driver to use them for the race. His teammate Stroll, was overtaken by Albon on the penultimate lap.
Verstappen cruised to victory, Hamilton finished second and Bottas in third. Leclerc miraculously pulled of a one stop strategy – one of only three drivers to do so. He finished P4. Albon had a good recovery drive after disappointing qualifying as he finished P5. Racing Point got a double points finish in P6 and P7. Ocon was in P8 and Norris in P9. Their teammates finished out of the points. Alpha Tauri’s Kvyat completed the top 10. Vettel finished a disappointing P12. Williams, Haas and Alfa Romeo were unable to score points. There was no safety car appearance in the race and only one retirement of Kevin Magnussen.
Mercedes struggled with tyres in the hot conditions. They had unexpected blistering on medium and hard tyres. Also, the minimum tyre pressure increase by Pirelli meant that it was difficult to manage overheating. Mercedes is still class of the field as they qualified almost a second faster to the nearest team. Mercedes were at the worst end of the spectrum regarding tyre blistering. It could be due to their car being much faster than last year, therefore, increasing the load on the tyres, which are 2019 specification. Red Bull have worked on the balance of their car, as both drivers showed good race pace and tyre management. Red Bull did not suffer any blistering issues on the tyres. Verstappen qualifying on hard tyres was an advantage as he was able to go longer in the race and overcut the Mercedes cars. Ferrari still lack qualifying and race pace as they only managed to qualify in P8. Leclerc made the one-stop strategy work to get P4 but his teammate was way behind outside the points.
Racing Point looked the strongest behind Mercedes and Red Bull. Ferrari’s one stop strategy, Albon’s recovery and an extra pit stop for Hulkenberg meant they were unable to finish higher than P6 & P7. Ocon, similar to Leclerc pulled off a one stop strategy to finish in points. Renault and McLaren showed similar race pace, though in qualifying McLaren seemed to lose out to their Anglo-French rivals. Behind them is Alpha Tauri as they were the second team apart from Mercedes to struggle with heavy blistering. Williams once again in the hands of Russell showed good qualifying pace. Both drivers were happy with the balance of the car but still lacked the pace to compete with their rivals in the race. Haas too showed promise in qualifying but withered away in the race. Alfa Romeo looked to have improved their race pace but to capitalise on that they need to qualify higher, which is their current Achilles Heel.
*Malhaar Khaladkar is an intern with INDIAinF1 and will be writing on F1 and technical aspects of the sport. The passionate student is also a keen student of the sport. This is his third article and you can read the first and the second articles here. We invite your comments below.
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Max Verstappen wins 70th Anniversary GP ahead of Hami
Silverstone, 9 August 2020: Max Verstappen took a well-worked 70thAnniversary Grand Prix victory at Silverstone beating Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas. Despite starting from the front row both Mercedes were hampered by significant tyre degradation during the race, while Verstappen, who started fourth, managed his tyres well to steadily pull away in the final third of the race. The Red Bull driver eventually took his ninth career win with 11 seconds in hand over the lead Mercedes of Hamilton.
At the start, Verstappen made a good getaway and as Bottas fought off Hamilton to hold the lead, the Dutchman powered past third-place starter Nico Hülkenberg as the field swept through Turn 1.
As the opening stint developed Verstappen was able to keep pace with the Mercedes pair but midway through the first phase of the race his race engineer warned that that his tyre temperatures were high and that he should back off. The Dutchman was in no mood to comply and replied that this was his only chance to clear the Mercedes.
Bottas made his first stop on lap 14 and a lap later Hamilton made his switch to hard tyres. Verstappen now led the race, had clean air ahead and began to pull away from the Mercedes cars.
On lap 20 he led Bottas by 13 seconds, with Hamilton third. McLaren’s Carlos Sainz was fourth on starting hard tyres, with Hulkenberg fifth ahead of Stroll. Sainz made his stop for medium tyres on lap 23 and he rejoined in 13thplace.
Verstappen made his first pit stop on lap 26 and took on mediums. As he rejoined, Bottas went past and took the lead. The Red Bull driver attacked immediately and the pair went through Brooklands side-by-side. However with more grip, the Dutchman was able to make the move stick and he reclaimed P1.
After a short, quick stint on mediums Verstappen arrowed towards the pits for another set of hard tyres on lap 32. He rejoined in P2 behind Hamilton who needed a second pit stop.
Hamilton, though, stayed out until then end of lap 41 before making his final stop and after taking a set of new hard tyres he rejoined in fourth place as Verstappen once again took the lead. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who had only made one stop, was now third, 2.8s behind Bottas and just 1.7s seconds ahead of hard charging Hamilton who was setting fastest laps.
On lap 45, Racing Point made the odd decision to pit Nico Hülkenberg from P5 for a third time. The German took on a set of softs tyres and rejoined in P7, 12 seconds behind the second Red Bull of Alex Albon.
At the front, with five laps to go, Verstappen led Bottas by 6.8s. Hamilton, though, was closing in, and having dismissed Leclerc he was now third and just two seconds behind his team-mate.
Bottas did his best to defend the position but with little life left in his tyres he was forced to brake earlier than Hamilton into Brooklands on lap 52 and the champion swept past to take P2.
There was no catching Verstappen, however. And two laps later the Dutchman crossed the line with 11.3 seconds in hand over the lead Mercedes with Bottas a further 7.9s behind in third place.
Fourth place went to Leclerc with the Monegasque executing a risky one-stop strategy and behind him Alex finished in a superb fifth place.
In the final laps Albon had closed quickly on the Racing Point of Lance Stroll and with a couple of laps remaining chose the run to Copse to make a move. At full speed he pulled out from behind the Canadian and powered past around the outside of the flat out turn to secure fifth place.
Stroll was forced to settle for sixth place, with team-mate Hülkenberg in seventh after his mystifying late pit stop for soft tyres.
Like Leclerc, Esteban Ocon made a one-stop strategy work to take P8 for Renault ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and the final point on offer was taken by AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat.
2020 FIA Formula 1 70thAnniversary Grand Prix – Race
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 52 1:19’41.993
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 52 1:19’53.319 11.326
3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 52 1:20’01.224 19.231
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 52 1:20’11.282 29.289
5 Alexander Albon Red Bull/Honda 52 1:20’21.139 39.146
6 Lance Stroll Racing Point/Mercedes 52 1:20’24.531 42.538
7 Nico Hülkenberg Racing Point/Mercedes 52 1:20’37.944 55.951
8 Esteban Ocon Renault 52 1:20’46.766 1’04.773
9 Lando Norris McLaren/Renault 52 1:20’47.537 1’05.544
10 Daniil Kvyat AlphaTauri/Honda 52 1:20’51.662 1’09.669
11 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 52 1:20’52.635 1’10.642
12 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 52 1:20’55.363 1’13.370
13 Carlos Sainz Jr. McLaren/Renault 52 1:20’56.063 1’14.070
14 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 51 1:19’48.644 1 Lap
15 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 51 1:20’05.037 1 Lap
16 Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 51 1:20’07.207 1 Lap
17 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 51 1:20’13.007 1 Lap
18 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 51 1:20’13.889 1 Lap
19 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 51 1:20’14.496 1 Lap
Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 43 1:08’20.363 Retirement -
Bottas takes pole ahead of Hamilton; Hulkenberg P3
Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas beat Lewis Hamilton to take pole position for Formula 1:s 70th Anniversary Grand Prix, as Nico Hulkenberg took to third for Racing Point in his just his second weekend back in the sport.
Hamilton led the way ahead of the final runs of Q1, with the Briton setting the pace with a lap of 1:26.818, set on soft tyres. That left him just under two tenths of a second ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in third thanks to a lap of 1:27.154.
The Dutch driver’s team-mate, Alex Albon, was finding thew going tougher though and after a mistake on his opening run he went into the final runs in P16, in the drop zone ahead of Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, the Alfa Romeos of Kimi Räikkönen and the Williams of Nicholas Latifi.
However, on his final flying lap the Red Bull driver he set a good time of 1:27.153 to rise to P3, 0.001s ahead of fourth-placed Verstappen. At the top of the order, Bottas took over in P1 ahead of Hamilton with a lap of 1:26.738.
Further back, AlphaTauri’s Dany Kvyat had his final lap deleted for exceeding track limits and that put him 15thin the closing moments. And when Renault’s Esteban Ocon improved to P8 with his final lap, Kvyat was eliminated in P16 ahead of Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, Williams’ Nicholas Latifi and the Alfa Romeos of Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Räikkönen.
In Q2 most drivers went out on medium tyres, except Williams’ George Russell, who stuck with softs, and Verstappen who chose the more radical option of hard compound Pirellis.
Bottas set the pace with a lap of 1:25.785 ahead of Hamilton and Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo who was enjoying a good session. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fourth and Verstappen slotted into fifth place.
At the end of the middle segment 11th-placed Ocon exited the session along with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, McLaren’s Carlos Sainz, Haas’ Romain Grosjean and Williams driver Russell. Ocon was later hit with a three-place grid penalty for impeding Russell in Q1.
In the final runs of Q3, Hamilton set the early pace with a time of 1:25.284 with Bottas second ahead of Ricciardo and Hulkenberg. Verstappen and Albon on mediums, took P5 and P6 respectively ahead of Leclerc, Stroll, Gasly and Norris.
Hamilton made an improvement in the final run, finding around six hundredths of a second. But Bottas was able to find more and he took pole position with a lap of 1:25.514.
Behind the Mercedes pair it might have been expected that Verstappen, now on soft tyres, would take third and though he improved by 0.256s to a time of 1:26.176 it wasn’t good enough to beat surprise package Hulkenberg who went just under a tenth quicker to claim third place in just his second weekend in the Racing Point.
Behind the top four Ricciardo took fifth place ahead of the second Racing Point of Stroll. Pierre Gasly scored an excellent seventh place for AlphaTauri with Leclerc eighth for Ferrari. Alex took ninth place with a time of 1:26.669 and he’ll start alongside 10th-placed Lando Norris.
2020 FIA Formula 1 70thAnniversary Grand Prix – Qualifying
1 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:25.154 6 249.049
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:25.217 0.063 6 248.865
3 Nico Hülkenberg Racing Point/Mercedes 1:26.082 0.928 6 246.365
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 1:26.176 1.022 6 246.096
5 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1:26.297 1.143 6 245.751
6 Lance Stroll Racing Point/Mercedes 1:26.428 1.274 6 245.378
7 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 1:26.534 1.380 6 245.078
8 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:26.614 1.460 6 244.851
9 Alexander Albon Red Bull/Honda 1:26.669 1.515 6 244.696
10 Lando Norris McLaren/Renault 1:26.778 1.624 6 244.389
11 Esteban Ocon Renault 1:27.011 1.226 6 243.734
12 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:27.078 1.293 6 243.547
13 Carlos Sainz McLaren/Renault 1:27.083 1.298 6 243.533
14 Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 1:27.254 1.469 7 243.055
15 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 1:27.455 1.670 3 242.497
16 Daniil Kvyat AlphaTauri/Honda 1:27.882 1.144 6 241.319
17 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1:28.236 1.498 9 240.350
18 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 1:28.430 1.692 6 239.823
19 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:28.433 1.695 6 239.815
20 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:28.493 1.755 6 239.652 -
I will keep the car where it deserves to be: Nico Hulkenberg
DRIVERS
1 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)
2 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
3 – Nico HÜLKENBERG (Racing Point)
TRACK INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Paul Di Resta)
Q: Valtteri, that was a pretty epic lap – right at the end. I was watching the sectors all the way through and you nipped it right in the last sector. What does that feel like?
Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, it feels good. I just love qualifyings and especially when it goes well it’s a good feeling. Really nice to get everything out of myself and out of the car. I thin set-up-wise we made good steps from last weekend and that’s why I think the qualifying performance from me was better today then last weekend. Really pleased with that and proud to drive this amazing car, it’s so quick.
Q: It’s been a pretty good week – new contract from Mercedes to continue on from after the difficult race you had last week. How has that changes you mentally? Do you think you have come out of stronger because you’ve got that stability and the championship goes on?
VB: Well, of course mentally, when you’re starting from the pole, you can only aim to win the race and obviously the starting point is good. I think the race pace is good. The first job is to get a good start off the line, as I had last weekend, and go from there. But the mentality is to try to win it.
Q: Lewis, it was a pretty close battle with Valtteri. Obviously he just nipped it at the end. Your first lap was very good and your second just improved. What can you say about it?
Lewis HAMILTON: I wasn’t that great! Valtteri did a good job and deserved the pole I guess; for me it just wasn’t a perfect last lap.
Q: Obviously ahead tomorrow. It was difficult to do a one-stop last week, do you feel it’s going to be harder tomorrow with the softer compounds or do you think because you’ve that experience you can manage it differently?
LH: I don’t think many people will be managing with a softer… I was already managing last weekend and the tyre didn’t make it to the end. It’s highly unlikely I think many people will do a one-stop tomorrow.
Q: Nico, it’s been some kind of course in the last 10 days but quite a special feeling to be standing there. Only second grand prix in, only drafted in at the last minute – tell us?
Nico HÜLKENBERG: Yeah, crazy last week, or seven or eight days or whatever it is now. Obviously last week a big high to come back and then the low on Sunday, so very extreme. This weekend I felt much better in the car, much more prepared. Quali was still tricky. In Q2 I made life hard for myself a but and I was scared that I had damaged the car and then Q3, was just head down, full beans, whatever I had. I’m a bit surprised to be honest to stand here but obviously big smile on my face but obviously a lot of respect for the race tomorrow.
Q: You’ve got a difficult day tomorrow. Obviously fitness is going to a key thing, because preparing for a race is always a hard thing. You didn’t get a chance last week. What can you expect?
NH: Yeah, that’s definitely going to hurt tomorrow, not having last week’s experience, not having gone through motions there with the start and everything, because it’s still new with this car. But we’ll do what we can. I’ll try to learn fast and to keep the car where it deserves to be.
Q: And from a marketing point of view, that’s put you back on the list to speak some teams for next year?
NH: Well, it’s only Saturday. It’s always Sunday that always matters the most, but it’s one of those nice little highlights but you know it’s no time to cheer yet, because tomorrow is the big day.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Valtteri, great lap at the end, just six one hundredths of a second faster than your team-mate. Where did you find the time on that final lap?
VB: Thanks. Very good feeling to be on pole. I love the qualifying and especially here in Silverstone. It’s pretty good fun. The feeling was from the practice sessions that the medium could be even faster than the soft tyre so that’s why in Q2, when we had both compounds, I knew that there would be still good opportunities to improve on the second run and yeah, the first run was OK, but I knew there was a bit missing and I could find more. There was no one key place, it was just about getting a nice clean lap and putting sectors together. It was a good lap, no doubt, so good feeling.
Q: And looking ahead to tomorrow’s race, can you give us any thoughts on strategy?
VB: To be honest I think one stop could be quite difficult here with the compounds we have here this weekend. So I think things are going to be a bit different than last weekend in terms of strategy. I’m sure the guys will be looking at all the options overnight and obviously myself the expectation tomorrow, there’s nothing more than to win the race when you start from pole.
Q: Lewis, coming to you, this is the 67th front-row lockout for Mercedes, but the roles are reversed from last weekend between you and Valtteri. How was your car at the end of the session?
LH: It was good. Valtteri did a fantastic job today; he was just too quick for me. The first lap in qualifying was fairly decent and the last one wasn’t spectacular. Ultimately he did a better job, so I’m happy though for the team to have a 1-2 and to see another great result for Racing Point.
Q: Let’s move on to Racing Point. What a statement of intent from you, Nico. Tell us how good that lap was at the end and also how much more comfortable you feel in the team and in the car from last week.
NH: Yeah, much more. Obviously last weekend was really extreme – Formula 1 comeback within 10 hours, just getting back in the paddock without any preparation 10 minutes before a session was challenging to say the least. But good fun at the same time. But this week I had all these days to digest the feelings of the car and I felt much better prepared for this weekend and he lap in quali was good. In Q2 I made life a bit hard myself, going off in the first run. In Q3 I didn’t think much. I was just giving it everything, trying to squeeze everything out of the car and the tyres and myself, which is also a challenge this weekend and yeah, quite happy to be here.
Q: What were you expectations coming in?
NH: This weekend?
Q: This session? Did you think P3 was on?
NH: No, I didn’t. I think we always had good one-lap pace this weekend. I was pretty confident we could make it into the top 10. To be third, couldn’t really expect that and didn’t really expect that to be honest. Of course a bit of a surprise but for today a nice one to take.
VIDEO CONFERENCE
Q: (Christian Menath – motorsport-magazin.com) Question for Nico. First of all, congratulations. As you’ve mentioned, you’re much better prepared this weekend but something that’s still missing is a race simulation – a proper race simulation – because you didn’t have it last weekend. How were your long runs yesterday? Do you still have to learn the tyres or do you already know them from last year? And also, the Racing Point didn’t look like the best car on race pace the whole season so far – but could the softer tyre choice help you because you have to do two stops?
NH: The long runs yesterday were quite good. I felt comfortable in the car and, I think, better than last week. I think the team found some good things and made some improvements there in terms of race pace, so that should hopefully help. Tyres is the least of my worries because I think they’re still pretty similar to the last few years and kind of know what to expect – but everything else is obviously going to be new and kind of the first time, so that side is obviously more exciting and a bit more difficult.
Q: (Scott Mitchell – The Race) Question to the two Mercedes drivers. Last weekend when Red Bull were so far off the pace, they admitted they didn’t have an answer to the way you were able to step it up through the weekend. Can you just talk a little bit about the progress you are able to make through qualifying. Do you have extra engine modes you can go to in Q2 and Q3 or is it just natural evolution in the track and yourselves?
VB: I think, of course from last weekend to this week we’ve been just really working on everything that we can improve with the car, and also for us, me and Lewis, driving-wise, we’ve been trying to find more. I think we’ve been able to in terms of set-up and – at least for me, driving-wise – find a bit more. The same process goes throughout the weekend. So I think we’ve been able to go in the right direction from the beginning of this weekend until the qualifying and in the qualifying session, obviously car set-up-wise there’s not much you can do. There’s obviously tyre temperatures that we are run-by-run learning more and then we tried to nail it in Q3 when it comes to out-laps and all that. And the same with the engine. We know that with the quick car we have, we don’t necessarily have to use the highest engine modes in Q1 and, of course, if we can save the engine, we save it and yeah, obviously towards the end of the quali, we are going to be running the full power, so for sure there is a lap-time difference as well but I think also us drivers, we’re learning throughout the session and the tyre and out-lap performance is pretty important and that improved a lot during the qualifying as well.
Lewis?
LH: I haven’t got anything to add. I think Valtteri answered it pretty well.
Q: (Luke Smith – Autosport) Question to Nico, congratulations on a brilliant result. A lot of fans out there are very excited about you returning this weekend and perhaps breaking that long-awaited podium drought. How special, remarkable, crazy would it be if were to do that tomorrow and finally get that monkey off your back and get a podium?
NH: Yeah, I knew this was going to come up now, obviously. To be honest, it’s very challenging and difficult circumstances but I know I have a fast car beneath me. So it’s just trying to make sure to do everything right. Obviously it’s starting lap one. It’s going to be also new for me but I think I’ll just try to get it right with all the experience that I have and then we’ll race. Obviously a couple of races behind the other guys but I still remember what it feels like. Just try not to think too much, keep my head down and have a good race tomorrow.
Q: (Alex Kalinauckas – Autosport) Question to both Mercedes drivers please. Could you explain the thinking behind the run plan in Q3. Was it a case of going out, getting a banker lap on the Softs and then switching, both of you, to the Mediums or did the team allow you individually to chose what to do – and what was the reason behind the switch in the middle of that session? Thank you.
LH: I think we decided as a team. We both, Valtteri and I, agreed that the Medium tyre was better, so that’s why we saved it for the end.
Valtteri, anything to add?
VB: Yeah, like I said, we saw in practice that there’s not much in it. When it came down to the decisions, we decided the Medium was most likely going to be the faster. That’s why we saved it to the end, because normally at the end of the session the track is the fastest, so wanted to maximise everything.
Q: (Edd Straw – The Race) Question for Valtteri please. Can you just run through a little bit the process of what you went through since last week to find the car improvements? Roughly, what have you done, what characteristics have you dialled in or dialled out that have allowed you to do this today?
VB: Of course I can’t go too much into set-up details but we’ve been able to improve the car set-up, I think, for me. I think I had a slight deficit last weekend in qualifying, just in terms of the direction I went during last weekend. I don’t think it was a bad race car but I hope now it’s optimised for both. Always between the races we analyse everything from the race weekend set-up, from my driving in qualifying and in the race and I try to be better. At least today I managed to do some things better than I did last weekend. It is a pretty standard process, to be honest. I don’t want to go into details of the set-up, just I feel better in qualifying today than a week ago.
Valtteri, have you been on the simulator this week back at the factory?
VB: Yes, I have.
Q: (Scott Mitchell – The Race) Nico, on the mental and physical challenges of coming back into F1 over the last eight days; mentally, how different have you found it going into these weekends, I guess with less pressure a fulltime driver because maybe expectations are a little bit lower? And physically, how did you feel last week and yesterday on the longer runs, and how do you expect your neck to hold up tomorrow?
NH: Yeah, I think you’re quite right. Obviously I’m just here as a temporary guest so naturally expectations are a bit different and I’m just going with the flow, especially last week, obviously, you couldn’t expect too much. But emotionally, obviously, the high coming back on Friday and then Sunday the big low not being able to make it to the race and now, back here, so yeah, it’s been a pretty wild week in a positive way. Physically, yeah, it’s been tough, these G-forces. These cars are brutally fast and the change of direction and the peak G is pretty impressive. No gym in the world and no training can really prepare you for that so… I definitely feel it. I’m going to get biggest tape that I have on tomorrow but I think I will survive somehow.
Q: (Giles Richards – The Guardian) Nico, after all the criticism Racing Point have had over the last few days and the punishment they’ve received, does this result for you feel like vindication for the team and the car they built, and the fact that they are still allowed to continue to race it?
NH: Well, that’s one side I have not totally kept up with and it’s not really my cup of tea or my problem at the moment. Obviously that’s team management that are dealing with that so I don’t really have anything to say about that.
Q: (Alex Kalinauckas – Autosport) A question, again, back to the Mercedes drivers: Max Verstappen will be starting the race from fourth place on the hard tyre; how is that compound in terms of the base? Is it a better race tyre and if so, does that give him an advantage over you guys earlier in the race?
VB: Yes, the hard this weekend is obviously the same tyre as the medium last weekend. I think it’s a good race tyre. For sure, it can go longer than the compound everyone else is pretty much starting on in the top ten, so obviously there is a small deficit at the race start itself but then it’s a bit more robust, less overheating, more durable. I think everyone learned quite a lot about that tyre already last weekend. I think we have two new sets of hards.
Q: Were you tempted to try and get through on the hard?
VB: Not really, no. That was not in – at least, didn’t come into my ears in the discussions. I hope we made the right choice. Obviously we managed to get the front row, so that’s always good.
Q: Lewis, what’s your take on the hard tyre, Max being on the hard tyre tomorrow?
LH: I think it could be good. Gives a bit of a difference, it will make it more interesting. We’re not doing it this weekend, last weekend. It will be interesting.
Q: (Christian Menath – Motorsport-magazin.com) Nico, do you think you have a realistic chance to keep Max behind you tomorrow?
NH: Whilst I would like to say yes, obviously that’s going to be very tough and challenging given all the circumstances but you never know. I feel the car is decent and this weekend it’s just – since last week – finding my feet with the car but I’m much more connected with it. But I think it’s very tough to answer and obviously speculative but for me it’s not really about that, it’s about getting a good race in and hopefully taking some points home for the team.
Q: Can we get your thoughts about Max being on the hard tyre at the start?
NH: Yeah, I think the harder compounds, they have been performing pretty well here so we will definitely, I think… not a bad option for him, I feel. It could play out well for him at the end of the day if he doesn’t miss the train.
Q: (Edd Straw – The Race) Lewis, you’ve spoken a few times in the past at the frustration when sometimes other drivers can learn from your tricks and your data etc and in more recent times you’ve spoken how that keeps driving you to continue, but it seems this is a case were obviously Valtteri’s been able to put the effort in, do his homework, learn from everything he did and you did last weekend and find more gains, whereas you’re probably closer to the – last weekend, obviously you were closer to the ultimate ceiling. Although Valtteri’s done a great job, is there a little bit of you that’s thinking it’s part of the… your advantage being eroded by that whole process and the fact that you can’t keep some of that to yourself in competition?
LH: No. At the end of the day, we driver, we go out and we continue to push. I was in the sim too, although we weren’t particularly working on this race but no, I improved this weekend also so Valtteri just did a better job right at the end. I don’t feel any way about it. Still got a long race tomorrow and I will bring everything I can to try and beat this guy.
Ends
