INDIA in F1

Category: Formula 1

  • I am really happy to be back, says Sauber’s Werhlein

    Sochi, 27 April 2017: Part II of the FIA press conference on Thursday before the fourth round of the Formula One (F1) World Championship to be held here on Sunday. 

    PART TWO: DRIVERS – Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (Ferrari), Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull), Pascal Werhlein (Sauber)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Kimi, you’ve been knocking on the door of a podium at every race this year – but judging by your radio messages, you’re still not happy with the car. What feeling is it giving you and how does that change over the course of a grand prix?

    Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: I’m more happy now that I was probably first race. I think in the last race it was pretty good, I was very happy with it but qualifying not so, but the race itself was good. Then we had pretty average Saturday, so the starting place already was not very good. Then pretty bad first lap so was a bit off. Bad start then couldn’t really get past Felipe in the beginning. Then got past him, we had very good speed but then Safety Car was a bit unfortunate after our pitstop. Then the feeling was pretty good. So, you know, you have to make the Saturday better and then obviously you can use the speed.

    Q: How do you see things panning out this weekend between Ferrari and Mercedes?

    KR: I don’t know, you tell me. We’ll see tomorrow how it goes. It’s been pretty close between everybody so far, it the first three. You wouldn’t expect it to be a whole lot different here – but who knows.

    Q: Can you say that there are still a few things for you to iron-out with the car? But is this still the best Ferrari you have raced in Formula One?

    KR: You cannot really compare from the early days but comparing the last few years, then yes. I drove a very good Ferrari when I came first time in Ferrari and, you know, it’s a good car, good package but we have to improve it all the time like anybody who does it but yeah, we just need on my side to put things a bit more better where we want it to be and I’m sure we’ll get the results that we want.

    Q: Daniel, I want to start with a technical question. You struggled with tyre temperature in Bahrain, with track temperatures not expected to be that high here, are you worried that the issue will be the same at this grand prix?

    Daniel RICCIARDO: Not worried. I think we learned a bit from that. We had the test on Tuesday after the race. We experimented with a few things, so I don’t expect to be in that position again. So yeah, we’ll see. We know that this track is one where you sometimes circulate for a bit and then do a push lap. The tyres maybe aren’t’ there on that first lap for, say, qualifying but I think for the race we should be OK. We’ll be alright.

    Q: The team is planning to bring pretty much a new car to the Spanish Grand Prix in a couple of weeks’ time. What do you expect from that car – and what are the major problems with the current car that need addressing?

    DR: I expect… I’ll use the word hope, not expect. I hope for a bit of a bullet: something fast. We want to be in a three-way fight with Ferrari and Mercedes. So, that’s what I would hope for: something that puts us in that fight. I look back at least year and think here in qualifying we were over 1.5s off pole and then we went to Barcelona and we were about half a second off pole and we made some gains and then obviously in Monaco we were quick. It’s a time of the year where we should start to see these updates take place and some performance really start to come out of the car. I’m hopeful of that. We just need a bit of everything now. We’ve talked a bit about downforce, feeling a bit in the rear. We’ve had a bit of time to look at Ferrari: they’ve been in front of us for a few races and can study them for a lap or two before they get too far away and yeah, they look strong. Mercedes as well: they’re just carrying a bit more grip in the rear and that’s where all the lap time is in these cars these days.

    Q: You say you want a bullet – but the guys next to you aren’t standing still. Are you confident the upgrade in Spain is going to be enough to make it a three-way fight at the front?

    DR: I hope so. I’m confident it’s going to be better than what we’ve got now and for now that’s all we can ask for is an improvement. A bit like last year: we made that step and were able to just keep chipping away at it. I think to make that first step is important. I believe we will get that in Barcelona and then let’s see where it puts us. If it puts us within half a second, then I think we’re in striking territory soon after that.

    Q: Pascal, great first race back in Bahrain. You then completed 91 laps during testing, so is it safe for us to assume you’re now back to full fitness.

    Pascal WERHLEIN: Yes. Really happy to be back, first of all. I think my first weekend was great, P13 in qualifying, P11 in the race, so couldn’t be more happy about my first weekend. Then obviously the test after the race went well. Nearly did 100 laps and just feeling more and more confident with the car, and also with the team and all of the procedures. Just looking forward to start my season finally now.

    Q: Looking back, how tough, in hindsight, was your recuperation – physically and mentally – to get yourself back to full racing fitness, how tough was it? You posted a picture of you on social media wearing a neckbrace. Was there ever a moment when you felt your career slipping way or were you confident you’d get back and have the sort of race you had in Bahrain?

    PW: No, I fought, of course, very hard to come back and also with the people around me which helped me massively to come back as soon as possible and as quick as possible. We knew that it’s a matter of time but obviously to break a few vertebrae it will take a bit of time and y’know, still it took me only ten weeks to come back to racing and I’m very happy about that. I think, when I posted the picture after Bahrain, people realised more which injury I had, and yeah, as I said, just really happy to be back and to start.

    Q: Daniel has just been telling us about the rate of development at the front of the grid. Given that’s the case, how crucial are the next few races for you, to get points? Do you see the next three as the best chance?

    PW: I don’t think so. Of course we have a disadvantage, especially, I think in the second half of the season with the engine because we have last year’s Ferrari engine but I think we can make bigger progress with the car, then second half of the season, the engine is a disadvantage. Let’s see how the season goes, I will do my best and I’m sure everyone in the team does as well and hopefully we can score a few points.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) The latest information from the FIA says that the cockpit shield has received the nod over the halo for 2018. First of all, which of the two systems do you prefer, what do you think of the shield in any event?

    KR: Well, I have seen a bit of the shield, of what they showed to us. Until we try, it’s very hard to say how it is. Is it better than the halo? I don’t know. Look-wise, I don’t think there’s much difference between either of them.

    DR: Yep. Like Kimi said, we got a presentation in China, I think, all us drivers, about the new shield. I think yeah, we’ve still got to see a bit more but yeah, first impressions seem OK and I guess we’ll now try and get some development on that and then start to run it in some practices as soon as they can put it on the cars and then get some more feedback on it. It’s good that they’re still obviously looking for this head protection stuff so that’s positive.

    PW: I didn’t see the shield yet as I wasn’t in China so I don’t know how it looks. I think it looks similar to the new idea last year, no?

    DR: It’s like a middle of the road look. It looks alright actually.

    PW: I think the halo looked a bit strange so the version of last year of Red Bull. I liked it quite a lot, it looks like a spaceship and very futuristic. I liked it. If it looks similar, it’s good. If it’s more safe, it’s good for us drivers.

    Q: (Simon Lazenby – Sky Sports) Kimi – a similar question that I put to Valtteri – 34 points between yourself and your teammate right now. Have you had a conversation with management about your role in the team this year? Has Sebastian been identified as the number one driver?

    KR: No. Obviously we have our talks at the beginning of the year. We know exactly what we are supposed to do between us as drivers and that hasn’t changed. If it comes to that at the end of the year when either one has no chance, purely on points, then obviously things will fall into place but apart from that, I don’t see anything happening until then.

    Q: (Kiril Zaytsev – 66.ru) Kimi, can you tell us more about your businesses outside of F1? Is it true that you have a karaoke bar in Helsinki? And how can your fans find it to sing some songs, maybe? And do you sing yourself?

    KR: I do some other stuff than F1 in my life but I’ve no interest to tell what I do or where I do. Do I go in bars? Yes, lately less, no time, unfortunately. I’m involved with a few things.

    Q: But Kimi, can you sing?

    KR: Can I sing? Badly. But I can sing. But I don’t think it’s the point of that. It’s more fun than actually trying to sing.

    Q: (Lasse Lehtinen – Ilta Sanomat) Kimi, you’ve been pretty frustrated in the races during this season. What has helped you to handle these disappointments?

    DR: Karaoke!

    KR: No, it’s the normal story I would say. Every year… in any race that you don’t do as well as you hope it’s never going to be fun or easy. It can look either way. I’m lucky that I haven’t been in the position that I have won all the time, so that you get used to these things but on the other hand you would rather be in that position. It’s worse fun. It’s very normal stuff, you know. I want to do better and the fact is that if you don’t do as well as I want then for myself it’s never going to be fun. It’s always more fun when we do have a good result. It’s just go to the next race and try to do better.

    Q: (Marco Mensurati – La Repubblica) Kimi, in Shanghai, Marchionne was not so fine with you. We heard him talking not so gently and I would like to know about your relationship with him and with the team? And the second one: how long do you think your career will last?

    KR: As far as I’ve spoken to our personnel it has always been fine. I know that there’s some things that have been said and written but for me, you can find so many nonsense stories in newspapers, on the web, that I trust much more how my relationship is personal with the team or with him. For me it’s all fine. Like I said before, I expect a good result from myself; when I don’t get them I’m unhappy with myself so if the people aren’t happy that’s fine because I’m not either so it’s not really a big deal for me. What comes to my future I don’t know. There’s always a lot of talk on that since years. I’m not going to try and I’m not going to do this and that. My first thing is that I want to do well and then we’ll see what happens after this year. It’s definitely not the first thing in my mind right now. My first thing in my mind is to do well and here and then the next race and whatever that brings we will see in the future. I have a good relationship with him, I know him well and it depends on many things.

    Q: (Flavio Vanetti – La Corriere della Serra) Again for Kimi: can we say that Ferrari is definitely at the same level as Mercedes or is Mercedes still having something more than your team?

    KR: I think there are many different ways to look at things. If you look at pure results, if you look at qualifying results. It depends what you look at but I think as a team they have done a very good job for us to bring the car to the level that we have and obviously it’s up to us to make the best out of it. Seb has done good races. As a team I think we’ve come a long way from the last few years. Yes, there are still things that we have to improve all the time and do better but that’s the same with everybody. Are we at the same level as them, Mercedes? I don’t know. It’s not far off, let’s put it that way. In qualifying, I think they’ve been a bit stronger I would say but then in the race it seems to even out. That’s a bit the same trend as it’s been the last few years, that they seem to find something extra on one lap and then it evens out a bit in race conditions. I think it depends a bit on the circuits where  we go but we have a good package and we have to make the best out of it.

    Q: (Angelina Grebtsova – Nation Magazine) To you all: which is your favourite track?

    DR: Favourite track? To drive on: Monaco. Yeah. It’s unique. It’s so tight and twisty and the whole weekend is great as a spectacle but for pure driving and as far as adrenalin goes that’s a stand-out above the rest.

    KR: I don’t think there’s one bad circuit but I enjoy maybe Spa, Monaco. I guess they’re quite opposites. There’s a lot of nice places but maybe those two.

    PW: For me it’s Macau. It was very impressive to be there in Formula Three. I think I was 16 or 17 and driving with a Formula Three car at 280kph on a street circuit was something very impressive and the track is also very nice.

    Q: And Pascal, a Formula One track as well?

    PW: Maybe it’s becoming a Formula One track in the future. No. I love street circuits so maybe Singapore.

    Q: (Angelique Belokopytov – Autodigest) Daniel, your lack of performance, if I can call it that, is it all on your car or is there something missing in the driver and if yes, what is it?

    DR: No, nothing’s missing in the driver. I haven’t forgotten anything. I think just with the car – we know that we can do better, I guess. I think we’ll see that in Barcelona. I think the team’s learned a lot from the past, from testing but also the past few races and also with our feedback, myself and Max’s feedback, I think we’ve been targeting the same things and I think now the team has really understood the point on the car to work on, to focus on and that’s why now they’re bringing this update for Barcelona and that’s as soon as it can come. That’s pretty much that, so for everyone asking why isn’t it here for this weekend… it takes time to build the parts, basically, and then to put them on the car. They test them and then it takes time for the development and all the process but  from Barcelona we should be good. From a driving point of view I feel good, very good.

    Q: (Darya Panova – F1 Only) What is the main feature of Sochi for you?

    KR: I think it’s a nice place to come. The circuit is quite good. It’s been a bit tricky over the last three years. It’s just been very slippery – at least for us – but it’s a nice place to come. Everything is new, everything is well done and I enjoy coming here. It’s a beautiful place.

    PW: I like the track so I’m looking forward to driving turn three, hopefully flat this year. It wasn’t possible last year in the Manor. I think there are some nice corners also, the one after the back straight, hard braking into a left hander. It’s very easy to lock up the tyres. There are a few nice places as a street circuit but with a bit more space so you can lock up, you can go a bit wide sometimes so it’s a good track.

    DR: Yeah, I think the low grip makes it quite tricky, quite unique and a lot of the corners are flat so there’s not really any camber, any positive banking to kind of pull you round the corners so when it’s slippery and you have like a flat corner then it’s a lot more easy to slide and it’s harder to sometimes find the grip so that’s a challenge but quite a fun one. There’s not many tracks we go to now with that feature and yeah, as Pascal said, I guess it’s turn 13 I believe, after the back straight, braking for there is quite tricky. That’s a good one, it can be a passing opportunity as well. If you can pull off a move  there it’s normally a nice one.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Kimi, we saw in the tests in Barcelona, bends number nine, ten that you could brake on the entry, you didn’t have a lot of understeer, and this year you have complained on the radio – we have heard that – that you suffer with understeer. Maybe it’s one of the reasons for a lack of performance between you and Sebastian. What has happened from the winter test to now? And to Daniel, you said about the development of the car; what about the power unit? Is there a development from Renault, from Australia to now?

    KR: I think people always look at the lap times in testing and obviously if you’re the fastest they think everything is perfect but I think the problem is also that you do testing in one place, one circuit and any other circuit is usually a chance to set up and we’ve been not far off but off enough to not be 100 percent happy and like I said, last race already we were a lot happy so let’s hope that this weekend we are even better off and go from there. So just small things but they all make a difference.

    DR: Yup, power unit  – we’ve had a little bit since Australia, so it hasn’t been an upgrade but we’ve been able to squeeze a tenth out of it since then, I would say, and I think around Montreal we’re looking for let’s say that power unit upgrade where we should hopefully find a couple of tenths or something like that. Yeah, we’re obviously still trying to get chassis and power unit stronger but yeah, the big upgrade has not come yet.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Kimi, last week or two weeks ago you were in Holland to see the motocross World Championship because you have a team there. Could it be possible to see you there, managing the team when you finish Formula One? You are 37-years old, you said before you are focused on the season to improve yourself but you are in your mind drawing that line to say OK, now that’s enough for me, I want to change my life?

    KR: I don’t want to change my life. I’m happy with my life. I’ve had the World Championship team for many years. I enjoy going there when I have time. Unfortunately I’m quite busy with a lot of stuff so not enough time to go often but it’s good fun, it’s different  to here so I enjoy it also on that side but like I said, we will see what happens in the future. I’ve been in the same position for many years. People always question me on many things but I’m not in a hurry to decide anything and whatever the future brings is what I want also and we will see.

    eom/FIA transcript of the Press Conference

     

  • Force India looks to continue the good run in Sochi

    Sochi, 25 April 2017: Sahara Force India, after finishing in double points in all the three races till now and climbing to fourth place in the constructors, looks ahead of the 2017 Formula One season as it moves to Sochi, Russia for the fourth round of the FIA F1 World Championship.

    Driver’s take: Sergio `Cheko’ Perez:

    “I said after Bahrain that I was very proud of my team. We never gave up and dug deep to recover a great result. It was even more special because we continued our run of races in the points – it’s now thirteen consecutive races. When we qualified in P18, I thought it would be hard to do it, but we delivered a perfect race and really deserved this result.

    “I think the start of the season has gone really well and we can be happy with the results we have achieved already. The team has done an excellent job to read the races, call the strategy and take the opportunities. That’s a real strength of this team.

    “I have good memories from Sochi and our podium in 2015 shows that anything is possible. I think every driver enjoys turn four because it’s an unusual corner that puts high energies through the car. The rest of the lap is similar to a street circuit. Overtaking has never been easy so there’s extra pressure on getting high up the grid in qualifying.”

    Esteban Ocon: “After three races in the points I’m feeling happy about my start to the season. At the same time, I feel a bit of disappointment that we haven’t achieved more. With a bit more luck on my side, I would have come away from China and Bahrain with even more points. Finishing tenth three times in a row isn’t enough for me – I want more!

    “Sochi is quite a similar circuit to Bahrain with long straights and low-speed corners. It’s a track I know already, because I raced there in GP3, and it’s a nice challenge. I think turn four will feel really cool this year with the downforce we have in these cars and it’s going to be demanding for the front right tyre.

    “Performance-wise it’s hard to predict where we will be. We had a good test in Bahrain after the race and we made some progress with the car, but the middle of the grid is very competitive. We have looked stronger in the races compared to qualifying and that’s why we have picked up points in all the races. Getting some more points remains the goal this weekend.”

    Vijay Mallya: “Three races out of three with both cars in the points is a super start to our season. We’re up in fourth place in the championship and making the most of the opportunities. Races such as Bahrain showed our strengths as a team. We never gave up, even after a difficult Saturday, and we raced hard on Sunday. Sergio extended his points scoring run to thirteen races, which is a tremendous achievement and shows our consistency as a team. Esteban did well to score another point and we are pleased with his performance so far. It means we can head to Russia in good spirits and determined to pick up some more points.”

    Brad Joyce, Esteban Ocon’s Race Engineer, talks about the technical challenges of the Sochi Autodrome.

    The circuit in Sochi is very challenging for the car and very different from the tracks on which we have raced so far this year. There are a lot of low- and medium-speed corners that require heavy braking; at the same time, you have some very fast corners – turn three and 12 in particular – that can take the life out of the tyres. Fuel management is important as you spend a lot of time on full throttle: this track actually boasts the highest race fuel requirement in the whole calendar. The track surface is smooth and we expect lower tyre degradation compared to the first races of the year, so we are back to the softest compounds of the Pirelli range. Like in Bahrain, proximity to the coast can make this place very windy so we will need to be able to adapt to changing circumstances on Saturday and Sunday.

    Key points:

    • many low- and medium-speed 90 degree corners
    • very high full throttle time, highest fuel requirements of the year in the race
    • smooth tarmac with low tyre degradation.
      Sahara Force India’s SOCHI TOP 5

      – Wander around Olimpiyskiy Park in Adler and marvel at the stunning venues of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games.
      – Stop over at the tiny Khachapuri cafe to try the eponymous Caucasus delicacy, a filled Georgian cheese bread.
      – Have a bit of time after the race? Head inland to the Vorontsovskaya Cave to see stalactites and other formations. The drive to the caves is very scenic so keep your cameras ready.
      – Visit the Park Riviera amusement and spot the palm trees – they have been planted by Russian cosmonauts!
      – Enjoy a Black Sea sunset on the pedestrianised promenade overlooking Sochi’s rocky beach.

      eom/Sahara Force India press release

  • Celis Jr completes 71 laps for Force India

    Bahrain, 18 April 2017: Unmindful of team principal Vijay Mallya’s arrest and subsequent release on bail, the Sahara Force India successfully completed the first day of testing at the Bahrain International Circuit, with Alfonso Celis Jr. behind the wheel.

    With a best lap time of 1:33.939, Alfonso Celis Jr. finished tenth in the order but his 71 laps were very useful to the Force India programme.

    Alfonso said: “It was a straightforward day for me and I completed more than a race distance. There have been a lot of changes since I last was in the car in Barcelona and the first few laps were a bit of a learning process. Fortunately the aero programme at the start of the day gave me some time to get used to the car again. We were able to complete some performance runs in the afternoon, but I ran into traffic each time so I couldn’t really take everything out of the car. The temperatures out there were much hotter than I’ve ever experienced on these tyres and it was useful for me to understand how to manage and look after them. All in all, I felt pretty comfortable in the car and I am happy with my performance”

    Chief race engineer Tom McCullough said: “It was not a trouble-free day with our programme disrupted by the numerous red flags for other cars, which always seemed to come out at the worst possible times. Despite this, we managed to work through our priority test items and will try and catch up with the remaining tasks tomorrow. We had a busy programme with aerodynamic rakes fitted to the car carrying out mapping and correlation work, even though the windy conditions made the latter quite difficult. Alfonso quickly settled back into the VJM10 and drove very sensibly to help us get through our test programme. He didn’t make any mistakes and showed good improvement. Our race drivers will be back in the car tomorrow for the final day of testing.”

  • It was a great team effort, says Vettel

    DRIVERS

    1 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

    2 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    3 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by David Coulthard)

    Sebastian, your 44th victory. Normally 44 is a lucky number for Lewis but you’ve just added another win, your third time here in Bahrain, but most importantly the second of the season out of three races, great day.

    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, really a great day. I don’t know what to day. The last half of the in-lap when all the fireworks were there and track was lit up, it was. I just love what I do. I didn’t find any words. It was a really great team effort today. Right after the start I could feel that ‘yeah, we’re quick, we can have a word’. So really tried to put Valtteri under pressure. He didn’t do any mistakes. It was difficult down the straights to get near him. But then we obviously went for the undercut, early pit stop, worked fantastic, very good job. But when the safety came initially I thought ‘not again!’

    Yeah but this time it worked for you…

    SV: I’m not sure.

    You pitted and then when you cleared another lap we had the safety car.

    SV: I think I was lucky because the others were just close to the pit lane so they couldn’t really benefit let’s say. I don’t know. I was a bit surprised when I came out ahead of all of them because I thought with the safety car we might have lost the advantage. After that it was good. The car was really amazing to drive. I had a good feeling yesterday, so for many laps it really worked well. It was just a pleasure. I could control the pace in the end. Lewis was obviously a bit of a threat again towards the end, with the traffic you never know. But a very controlled race, the car, as I said, was a dream today. Happy Easter and thank you very much.

    Q: Lewis, pit lane, what do you think of that? Those five seconds were pretty costly today?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah definitely, but firstly a big congratulations to Sebastian, he did a fantastic job today, and also a big thank you to Valtteri for being a gentleman out there. Obviously a very difficult race, it didn’t start out the best, but the pit lane was my fault, so apologies to the team for losing the time there. I tried my hardest to catch up but it was a long old way to go, it was 19 seconds. But I gave it everything I could but Ferrari did a great job today. So we’re going to push hard together, re-gather as a team and come back fighting.

    Q: You know, I’m noticing this year that even when you’re getting the wins, you’re very composed; you’re not too disappointed. What is this then? Do you really feel that this is going to be a long-game championship?

    LH: Of course the disappointment is there. Losing points for a team, particularly when you could have won the race is definitely painful, but it is what it is and all I can say is I gave it everything I could. Yeah, I mean, I’m getting old I’m catching you up.

    Q: You’ll never catch me up! Lewis congratulations. Valtteri, after the high of yesterday, a disappointing day. We heard you on the radio talking about struggling to keep the rears alive. What happened with the race balance? Talk us through that.

    Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, it was really a tricky race for me; struggling with the pace all through the race. I think in the first stint we found a bit of an issue with the tyre pressures and that explained the rear end struggle. But ever since that I was just rear limited and I was out of the tools on the steering wheel, so it was just oversteering all through the race, which is why the pace was slow, which is a real shame because for sure the target for today was a lot, lot higher.

    Q: It’s difficult to win in Formula One. You had a lot of support after that pole yesterday, especially within the team, so you’re feeling well settled in Mercedes?

    VB: Well, for sure I think this was overall the best weekend yet with the team, but there is much more to come.

    Well, we wish you luck with that journey. Back to Sebastian. You seem a little bit surprised by the ultimate qualifying. After qualifying the pace to Mercedes was a little bit down but you’re right in this championship, you’re leaving this grand prix leading the world championship.

    SV: Yeah, it’s a long year; I’m not really looking at that. As I said, I’m really enjoying, the car has been a pleasure. It was very good yesterday and I was a bit down because the gap was so big. I think we could have been a bit closer. But something inside me told me we have a good car and we can do well. Right from the first lap I felt the car was there and yeah, I think the Easter hunt was on. They were hiding some eggs but it looks like we found them today. No, really, really happy. Big thank you to the team, they have been working incredibly hard. The guy that has been up here, Matteo, works day and night at the track, in the factory. So really a lot of commitment from every single one and it’s great to see everything coming together.

    Q: Well, we can hear the marshals who have been supporting the grand prix celebrating by revving a motorbike here. You’ve got to say we have a tremendous welcome here in Bahrain, so it’s one your better grands prix?

    SV: Well, I guess. I’ve been reasonably successful the last couple of years. I love the trophy, I think it’s one of the most beautiful trophies we have, so when I crossed the line I was really happy because I knew we were going to get it, so I think we can leave here very happy. Not yet, because we’ve got the test next week, but yeah for now we just enjoy.

    Q: Are you doing the test?

    SV: Yes.

    You’re relentless aren’t you?

    SV: Well, I thought halfway through the race that I’m really looking forward already next time to jump in the car, which is in two days, so I’m looking forward to it.

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Congratulations Sebastian, obviously you got ahead of Lewis at the start. Tell us a bit about that and also the final stint, just judging the pace as he was coming through like a rocket, having come into the pits after you, how you measured that pace and measured your gap to him?

    SV: The start, obviously it was crucial for us to get between, to not allow them to get in their rhythm, pull away, do their thing. So, upset them a bit. I think we all had more or less the same start. Mine initially was maybe a tiny bit better than Lewis, which put me just about side-by-side – but their car is really long so it’s a long way to get side-by-side – but then I think I benefitted from the act I had a clear track ahead, Lewis was a bit stuck with Valtteri and it’s a bit of a tricky one to judge, so I could just take lots of risk under braking and get the move done. Then, the final stint, obviously we had quite a decent gap plus the safety margin of Lewis’ penalty – which I wasn’t sure why but it didn’t matter at that point – and I just tried to control the gap to Valtteri, maybe pulling away a little bit and at that point just controlling the gap. He was very fast when he came out. I was expecting him to be quick on a new set of supersoft tyres but probably not that quick and he was closing in. When I faced the traffic I lost a lot of time but then obviously he had to face traffic as well. In the end it was safe enough. At the beginning of the stint I really didn’t push at all, just took it easy and responded to what those two guys were doing, which obviously helped me at the end because I had a lot of tyres left.

    Lewis, coming to you, as Sebastian said, you had a tremendous amount of pace today but perhaps there were one or two too many setbacks to give you the chance to win: the start, obviously the penalty as well and the tyre choice for the final stint which you questioned on the radio. Maybe you could just drill down into those three for us.

    LH: Yeah, a challenging weekend. The start was OK but Sebastian was in my blind spot so I didn’t know whereabouts he was. I didn’t know where anyone was behind me. Valtteri got a good start and it was really just about covering him. I obviously lost position to Sebastian there. It was really hard to follow but we’re generally all similar kind of pace, and then yeah, completely my fault with the Safety Car. Supposed to have a five-second gap and I think I had a four-second gap. Just a misjudgement from myself. Valtteri was great to… obviously I had very good pace, particularly the second and last stint and I honestly believed I would be able to catch Sebastian up but obviously with a five-second penalty that made it twice as hard as it was already going to be. As I said, apologies to the team but I tried the best I could to recover it and we still got good points for the team today with a second and third but we still have this great fight and Sebastian did a great job and he had fantastic pace.

    And just on the tyre choice. You have a four-lap fresher only set of softs compared to Sebastian rather than a new set of supersofts. The team’s saying it was based on, presumably, Valtteri’s middle stint.

    LH: The tyre felt great so I believe it was the right choice. The team have generally been making really great choices this year. I thought it was going to be a supersoft but honestly I think the tyre was the best one, particularly for 16 laps pushing at the pace I was going was a long way to go. I don’t know if the supersoft would have lasted that long.

    Part of what informed that decision was, I guess, your supersoft stint Valtteri. Not the easiest but before that, Toto Wolff has said you had a problem with the generator on the grid that meant your tyres were over-inflated or had too high tyre pressure in the opening stint. Tell us about that.

    VB: Yeah, so I don’t know the exact issue but I was just told there was a problem with the tyre pressures, which I could really feel in the first stint since lap two. I was just sliding around with the rear end, struggling to get on power out of the corners, so the pace wasn’t good and Sebastian was really putting pressure and they could undercut us as well and trying to extend the first stint, I just couldn’t keep up with the pace. The tyres were just dropping. Then on the second stint it was a bit better initially. I think the second stint was not that far off. Still struggling with oversteer but much less than in the first one, and then the last stint, again, used the tools I had to adjust the car balance but still couldn’t get the rear end to work. Really strange race for me and the pace was disappointingly poor for me. Yeah, not a good day for me.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Question to Lewis and Valtteri. If you compare this race with Melbourne, is the softest compound a weakness for Mercedes? You seemed to have the same problem like in Melbourne that the rear tyres were going away.

    LH: I don’t really remember what the issue was in Melbourne. I think it was more front tyres – but I’m sure it was the rears as well. Here was maybe more rears, I would say – but yeah, I would say it’s similar.

    VB: At least for me personally yes. The softer compound has been more of a struggle with the tyres and also the hotter it is, more of a struggle. So something definitely for us to understand.

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Valtteri and Sebastian, can you tell us how difficult was the battle between the two of you?

    SV: For about the first stint. I passed you in the pit stop, didn’t I?

    VB: No, we were side-by-side at some point.

    SV: Ah,  the safety car, after the safety car. Yeah, that was hairy. I thought I did reasonably well on the restart. It was a bit tricky because we only got the message very late: ‘the safety car’s coming in’ and then, you can’t just be stupid and break the field down, do a stop-and-go but I tried to use a little bit of momentum. I thought I had a decent gap leaving the last corner and then… I don’t know, it felt like I had more headwind than in the whole race on that particular lap. I was fairly confident halfway down the straight, just looked in the mirror to check and he was coming. I saw sparks behind me everywhere and then I obviously had to defend. Yeah, then I wasn’t quite sure where he was under braking but I guess we were side-by-side so it was a lot closer than I expected, leaving the last corner. But fortunately, I stayed ahead.

    VB: Yeah, obviously it was getting close and I tried to make a move into turn four.

    SV: I was just thinking, then there was another one, exactly, because I had a bad exit and it was quite close tight. I think you locked a little bit and then I locked a little bit into turn four.

    VB: I was obviously outside so then it’s always tricky. There was some good racing but that was a short moment unfortunately.

    SV: I forgot about that…

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) To Bottas and Lewis: when the safety car came in, Sebastian had stopped on lap ten and the safety car came out on lap 13 and you entered the pits on the 13th lap, with the safety car. It looked like it would help a lot but for some reason it didn’t, maybe the opposite. Without the safety car, maybe Bottas could get out from the pits in front of Vettel. Do you have the same feeling? Did you have a slow stop?

    VB: Yes. Under safety car on the first stop, there was a problem with the pit stop. We lost a lot of time and maybe it would have been very very close. Maybe I would have been just in front but the team is still investigating what was the issue there. I think there was also some traffic as well because the stop was slow. One of the Red Bulls came into the pit lane and we couldn’t exit immediately so double the time.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Without the safety car?

    VB: I don’t know, to be honest.

    Q: And Lewis, I think you had… one of the front tyres was a bit slow coming off or going back on again or slight delay?

    LH: I couldn’t tell what the issue was but there was a bit of a delay. There was a domino effect, you know. If I had had a five second gap Valtteri would have pulled in, the Red Bull would have pulled in. I would have pulled in before the Red Bull, I would have got out before the Red Bull. It cascaded for me in the domino too early.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Sebastian, Kimi last year was many times in front of you. What have you done that nowadays he’s always behind you?

    SV: Well, I guess for a start, compared to last year, I’ve started the race. That helped. I had my – so far the only – and I hope it stays that way – DNS last year here so not even starting was quite a disappointment. And then, I don’t now, he was behind the Red Bull in the opening of the lap and so obviously we’ve seen that it’s quite tricky to pass. I was a bit faster in the opening stint than Valtteri but I couldn’t really get close enough and I guess he probably lost a bit of time and then I just saw the final result. I don’t know what happened to his race but I think he came back to fourth, not finishing too far behind Valtteri so I think for both of us the car probably worked really well today and yeah, I think it depends on… from my own experience, how the opening lap goes and so on, but this has usually been a very very good hunting ground for Kimi, so maybe the time loss on Friday for him with the issue he had in the car didn’t help but yeah, you do your own race and then I’m sure we will talk about it afterwards.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Sebastian, in the race simulation on Friday you didn’t look like you had a very good performance from the car and also qualifying seemed to confirm it. We had this impression, looking at the long runs. And suddenly, in the race, the performance was there. Did you change the car dramatically or did the conditions on the day change and help you?

    SV: No, from yesterday to today, you can’t change anything. Friday to Saturday we did a bit but yeah, it’s not that sudden. If we could go faster in qualifying we would because qualifying higher up is always advantageous. But yeah, I had a good feeling yesterday so I was a bit surprised by how big the gap was because the car felt really good and for today, I had a good feeling because Friday was a bit mixed, I wasn’t so happy with the car. We improved it for Saturday and I thought OK, if it stays like that then today can be a good race and after a couple of laps I felt everything was making sense and yeah, obviously I was in Valtteri’s gearbox for all of the first stint and not falling back too much so that was obviously good for us, a good start with the opening lap, getting between them and then yeah, the pace was certainly key today to win.

    Q: (Sef Harding – Xero Xone News) For Sebastian, it looks like the Prancing Horse has really come alive and it looks like you’re going to have a hero’s welcome back in Maranello. What has this done for the team and the morale of the team heading into Sochi?

    SV: Yeah, I think at this stage Sochi is quite far away so I’m not willing and I don’t think the team is really looking to Sochi right now. I think we enjoy the moment. Yeah, obviously we did a massive stint over the winter. I think last year was a very good year for us. It wasn’t good in terms of results, don’t get me wrong, but I think for the team, getting together, a lot of things that had changed now seem to start clicking. Obviously it helps when straight from the box, in testing, we had a good feeling. We looked reasonably competitive. Australia obviously was a massive boost for all the team and yeah, you can see when they are singing down there, and the whole factory has really come alive so that’s great and we need to just make sure we keep it going and yeah, keep enjoying that way, but for now, I think the team has obviously done a really really great job, a lot of hard work, commitment and as I said, things start to click and hopefully that sort of success now in the first couple of races helps us to build up some sort of momentum that maybe these guys had in the past and the last couple of years, so they will be the ones to beat. It’s a long season, but for now, as I said, looking forward to tonight.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, Sochi has suited you very well so far. Do you expect to have your best weekend because of that?

    VB: Well, for sure that’s the goal. I still haven’t definitely got… there’s no race results as I’ve been hoping for so it’s always the next one. Anyway, it would be the target to have a strong weekend but Sochi has normally been pretty good for me. I really like the track layout and I have always been comfortable there so we will see. It’s a completely different type of track again, completely different kind of temperatures, different asphalt so many different things. We’ll see.

    Q: (Ralph Woodall – L’Equipe) Valtteri, how did you feel when you were ordered by the team to let Lewis pass you?

    VB: Well, I think honestly as a racing driver it’s maybe the worst thing you want to hear. That’s how it is. For sure I did it because there was potential. Lewis could challenge Sebastian. In the end it didn’t happen but the team tried which I completely understand but personally it is tough but that’s life. I didn’t have enough pace today and we need to find the reasons why that was.

    eom/FIA transcript of the press conference

  • Vettel edges out Hamilton as Ferrari take Constructors lead: Bahrain GP

    Bahrain, 16 April 2017: Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel took his second victory of the season in Bahrain as Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton recovered from a poor start and a penalty to finish in second place ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas at the third round of the FIA Formula One (F1) World Championship here on Easter Sunday.

    Hamilton exerted intense pressure in the final stages, chopping deep into a 13-second deficit to Vettel but the German kept a cool head to thread through traffic and take the flag with 6.6 seconds in hand. Had Hamilton not earlier been penalised for holding up Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo during a pit stop, the battle might have been more nerve-wracking for Ferrari. Behind, Kimi Raikkonen was fourth in the second Ferrari ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo.

    At the race start, pole sitter Bottas led through Turn One. Hamilton, though, lost out and was passed by Vettel as the field streamed through the first corner. Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen made an excellent start to rise from sixth on the grid to fourth by the end of lap one, the Dutchman profiting from Hamilton’s poor start and the fact that the Briton backed up Daniel Ricciardo as they went into the first corner, with the result that the Australian was demoted to fifth ahead of Williams’ Felipe Massa. Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, meanwhile, dropped to seventh from fifth on the grid.

    Over the opening laps, Bottas was unable to carve out a significant lead and by the time the drivers were starting their 10th lap, just three seconds separated the top five drivers.

    With a Vettel was the first to take a strategic gamble, pitting on lap 11 to take on more supersofts. Verstappen noted it and request similar action but when he emerged from his first stop he almost immediately arrowed off track and into the barriers, reporting brake failure.

    Moments later Vettel’s early stop reaped dividends when the Safety Car was called into action when Carlos Sainz and Lance Stroll collided in Turn One, with the Williams’ driver’s car stranded on track.

    Bottas pitted and Vettel inherited the lead. Hamilton was brought into the pits at the same time as his team-mate and as he approached the pit entry the Briton slowed dramatically to minimise waiting time in the stacked stop. The result was that Ricciardo, also on his way to pit lane, was held up badly. The incident eventually led to a five-second penalty for Hamilton, who was punished for driving unnecessarily slowly in the pit lane.

    When they emerged supersoft-shod Vettel led from the similarly equipped Bottas, while Ricciardo and Hamilton, both now on softs, were in third and fourth respectively.

    When the safety car left the track, Ricciardo’s tyres appeared to be far from the right operating window and he was rapidly passed by Hamilton, Massa and Raikkonen.

    At the front, Vettel began to eke out a gap to Bottas and by lap 26 the German had 4.8s in hand over Bottas and a second more over Hamilton. On lap 27, though, Hamilton surged past Bottas to claim P2.

    Soon after, Ricciardo was also the move. Raikkonen had passed Massa and on lap 29 the Brazilian was passed by the Red Bull driver, under DRS and under braking through Turn One.

    On lap 31 Bottas pitted for the final time, taking on soft tyres. Ahead Hamilton was catching Vettel, whose supersoft tyres, by lap 32, were beginning to look spent. With the gap to Hamilton shrinking Ferrari opted to put the German on lap 34. Vettel took on a set of softs for his final stint and rejoined in P3 behind Raikkonen. He was soon past his team-mate, however, and then he began to chase down Hamilton, lapping a second quicker than the Briton as he ate into the 15.7s deficit.

    By lap 39 the gap was down to 12.1s and closing. Behind them, Bottas was now third ahead of Ricciardo who had inherited fourth when Raikkonen made his final stop for soft tyres. The Australian then made his final stop, for supersofts on lap 40 and prepared for a late-race blast from fifth place.

    Hamilton made his final stop on lap 42, serving his five-second penalty and taking on soft tyres. He dropped to third, 9.4s behind Bottas and 19s behind Vettel who was now looking comfortable in pursuit of his second win of the season.

    The race looked like it might open up again in the final stages after Hamilton passed Bottas and then began to scythe through a 13-second gap to Vettel, but the German held his nerve and applied the pace necessary to keep Hamilton at bay to take the 44th win of his career.

    With Hamilton second and Bottas third, fourth place went to Raikkonen who finished 16.8s ahead of Ricciardo. Massa was sixth for Williams, while Force India’s Sergio Perez enjoyed a great evening’s work to rise from P18 on the grid to seventh place at the flag. Romain Grosjean was eighth for Haas and the final points placings went to Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Ocon in the second Force India.

    eom/FIA press release

  • I am always proud to drive for my country: Bottas

    Bahrain, 15 April 2017: The following drivers who finished on top of the charts in the qualifying sessions attended the FIA press conference on Saturday ahead of the Formula One (F1) World Championship here on Sunday evening under lights. Bottas took his first pole edging out teammate Hamilton. Vettel will start on P3.

    DRIVERS: 1 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes); 2 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes); 3 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari).

    TV UNILATERAL

    Q: It must be a brilliant feeling for you Valtteri, describe the emotion?

    Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, obviously really, really happy. It’s the first pole in my career. It’s my fifth season now in Formula One. It took a few races but got it and hopefully it’s the first of many. But just want to say big thanks to the team for giving me this car, to drive it on pole. We’re both starting on the front row. I think we made a really good job this weekend, to really focus on the evening conditions and we really managed to get a lot of lap time out of the car in the slightly cooler conditions and hopefully that’s going to help is tomorrow as well, so grateful for the team.

    Q: This is what you came to Mercedes for, of course. How did you do it? What was the key this evening for you personally? 

    VB: You know, it’s not an easy track to get everything right. It is quite technical; there are quite a few difficult braking points, turning ins to the corner, it’s easy to have a lock-up or just miss the apex slightly. So it is just getting the lap together and to get the car well balanced. It was a good enough lap for the pole today, so that’s good.

    Q: Well done to you. Lewis, fastest in the first runs in Q3. It looked like a little correction towards the end of the lap. Is that where it got away or was it elsewhere in the lap that you felt it slipped?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Well, firstly a big congratulations to Valtteri, he’s been working so hard, he’s gelled so well with the team and today he was just quicker. He did the better job, so hats off to him. Yeah, the first lap felt great and I looked up and the time was so close and I thought ‘wow, he’s doing some… that was a good lap, he did a great job’. But I was losing quite a bit of time through the first sector, that was generally my weaker point, which is actually unusual; usually it’s a stronger point for me. I’ll work on it for tomorrow, but Valtteri found some great pace, particularly through the first sector, the second and third ended up being quite good but just overall a little bit down. But a great battle and that’s how close I think qualifying should always be. It forces us all to be more on the limit. I’m generally happy with the job I did and it’s great for the team to be one-two.

    Q: Very well done. Speaking of close, Sebastian, it was very close in Q2, I think it was six one hundredths of a second, the top three. Was it a little bit dispiriting for you when you saw they suddenly found another four tenths of a second when we went into Q3?

    SV: Yeah, it was. I think overall I was very happy with how qualifying went, with how the car felt, because we had some issues yesterday. Nothing wrong but we just tweaked the balance for today I think in the right direction, so I was happy how it turned out to be. Felt good; Q2 I thought ‘OK, this will be tight’. I was very happy to go into Q3. Then I was very happy with my first lap. I crossed the line, looked up and saw both of them were ahead and then when I got the time, yeah, I was a bit down to be honest because four tenths was a lot more than I expected, also given how good the lap felt. Then, on the next run I just tried a little bit too hard everywhere but equally I had nothing to lose. I was quite safe also to cars behind. So I was quite confident, also the lap felt good as I said, so I tried a bit harder. It didn’t work; I went slightly slower. Obviously if I go a tenth quicker it’s not enough, so I tried to do a bit more but yeah, hopefully we can do a bit more tomorrow.

    Q: Well done. Back to Valtteri, obviously a lot of satisfaction at your first pole but no champagne at this point. I guess you go to be tonight dreaming of your first grand prix victory tomorrow?

    VB: I think the main thing is that I need to personally, and as a team, we need to enjoy for a very short period of time… you need to enjoy what you have done so far in the weekend. But the main thing is tomorrow so there is not point to start dreaming about anything. We need to look at everything, whatever we can do tomorrow, work together as a team and plan a good strategy, a plan for the race tomorrow. For me it’s all about just focusing for the race and getting the maximum out of it but definitely a good place to start and I think as a team we can be really strong tomorrow and we can get that one-two, the first one for the year.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Valtteri, I think if you were to plot your qualifying in the last three races it would just be about three-tenths off Lewis in Australia, less than two in China and now you’ve gone and got the pole. Describe to us how you’ve chipped away at that, how you’ve worked at that.

    VB: Well, for sure, every single qualifying is always different circumstances and different track, different scenarios but I definitely feel I’ve been getting more and more comfortable with the car, how it is behaving and also working with the team and fine-tuning the setup of the car. I’m getting better with that as well with the engineers. So overall just, yeah, feeling more confident in the car and today it felt good, especially towards the end of the qualifying in Q3. Got some good laps, felt that I could extract pretty much the maximum out of the car. That’s always a good feeling and for sure it always takes a bit of time to get there.

    Q: Lewis, obviously you managed to find that little bit of a margin today that Sebastian was talking about in qualifying – but generally, it is pretty close in terms of race pace, what we’ve seen so far, particularly on a track like this: higher temperatures; looking after the rear tyres is important. What kind of a battle are you expecting tomorrow in the grand prix?

    LH: Well obviously today we had a bit of a margin to the Ferraris but generally in race trim they seem to be a bit quicker but I guess we’ll see tomorrow. Perhaps it will level-out a little bit more. It’s definitely going to be a close battle. Valtteri’s long runs were very good and I think… I don’t necessarily know how good their long-runs were but I heard that they were quite quick, the Ferraris so it’s definitely going to be close, all of us, and looking after the tyres is definitely very difficult. Whether it’s a one or two stop will be interesting to see. Temperatures, all those different things. Hopefully we’ll have a great battle tomorrow.

    Q: Sebastian, maybe you could articulate for us, it seems to have been quite tough for everybody – and Valtteri referenced it earlier on – to put a perfect lap together, to join all of the dots, and particularly this weekend going into qualifying. Can you just articulate why you think that is today?

    SV: Well I think generally we struggle less, everyone struggles less in the evening because the temperatures are dropping. Something we’ve seen now for two days is that generally we struggle a bit more, everyone with the hot conditions. The tyres don’t hold up as well as they used to in the first two races, so in a way, it’s probably a bit more similar to how it probably was last year, that you can’t attack all the way through the first flying lap. So I think that’s a difference. At Valtteri touched on, this track historically has been fairly technical. Corners like 9-10, they are probably built to lead drivers into mistakes so it is very easy to get it a little bit wrong and overshoot a bit, so those two things combined I think make it quite tricky. Yeah, at the end of the day it’s probably risk-assessment. When you are steering towards the corner and then you have to make a judgement how much you trust the car, how much risk you take, and in the end if you take a lot and you get the reward, it feels great. If you take you a lot and it goes wrong, you lose time.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, congratulations, I counted that is has been 168 races without a Finn in the pole. How important is it for you to put Finland back in the polesitters group?

    VB: Thank you Heikki, and congratulations to you as well! Sure, it feels good. I didn’t even realise it’s that long – nearly ten years.

    SV: Who? Where? [Heikki Kovalainen, Silverstone] Oh.

    VB: It’s good to break that, it’s a lot of races without a Finn on pole so that is good and obviously very proud always to drive for Finland, for my country and very glad for all the support I’ve got from there. So yeah, happy.

    SV: Where were you in 2008. F3?

    VB: Formula Renault!

    Q: (Ysef Harding – Xero Xone News) This question is for Valtteri. Valtteri, first off, congratulations on your first pole with the team. It really looks like you are starting to find your groove out there, really find your mojo. Do you feel that that’s starting to come alive for you in the car? That you’re finding that groove, you’re bonding with the car out there on the track now?

    VB: I definitely feel now much more comfortable in the car, with the car than, for example, qualifying in Melbourne. So yeah, the more laps, the more time you spend with a car and driving it, you get to be more at one with the car. So, definitely feel better and better, like I said earlier. Yeah. Felt better here than, for example, last week in China in qualifying. It’s good. I need to keep doing that progress and keep trying to get better all of the time.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Sebastian, any explanation why the gap was bigger here than in the two races before?

    SV: No, not really. I haven’t seen obviously where we lost most of the time but I think a little bit spread everywhere. I think Sector One, Sector Three stood out so Sector Two wasn’t too bad. Yeah, there’s more straights in Sector One and Three, so I don’t know if they had an update for here that allowed them to push harder but it seems that we lost a little bit of time everywhere and maybe a little bit more than usual down the straights. Yeah. I think for tomorrow the most important thing is that the car felt good today and I think we should be closer. Hopefully it’s going to be a tight race and then we’ll see.

    Q: (Khodr Rawi – motorsport.com) Question to all three drivers. Are you surprised by the lap times set today in qualifying? Because the pole position is faster by around seven-tenths compared to last year pole position. Where you expecting faster lap times? Thank you.

    LH: It’s seven-tenths? We’re seven-tenths quicker than last year? I can’t remember. I wasn’t even thinking of that. The car feels better here than it did last year but I don’t have an answer for why it’s not a bigger gap than it was in the past. At least they’re faster.

    SV: I think it was expected that we go quicker this year, depending on the layout: sometimes a bit more, sometimes a bit less. Probably this layout is one of the least favourite ones this year in terms of how much faster we can go, compared to the year before.

    Q: (Chris Medland – Racer) Valtteri, you said in the week that you bounced back very quickly from the error you made in China and put it behind you on Tuesday, I think. You allowed yourself to be annoyed on Monday but does this really help to properly put it to bed and look forward to have a result like this straight away afterwards?

    VB: Well, I think it’s always nice to have a good result whether you’ve had a good or bad weekend before but for sure if you’ve had a bit of a struggle in the last race it’s always nice to start the weekend in a good way but anyway tomorrow is the day that then matters but it’s good. I’d rather be on pole today than anything less, so let’s see tomorrow.

    Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) To all three of you: does Valtteri’s pole now mean that this is a three-way fight? We’ve all been saying it’s just going to be between Lewis and Seb; is it going to be a three-way battle now for the championship?

    LH: It always was, at least three, maybe four. Yeah, Valtteri’s been right there with us from the beginning so nothing changes.

    VB: I think it’s obviously very early days to speak about the title fight, how it’s going to be. It’s going to be a massively long season. As I said at the first races, it’s going to be a massive year in terms of development for the cars and which team is going to develop the most and that’s going to be the fight for the title. Too early to say about the title fight but for sure we are now the two best teams and I feel I’m now in the game.

    SV: Well, today is the day for Finland and Formula One. Keeping it Finnish, I would say yes.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta –Turun Sanomat) Lewis, like I said that the last time you lost the pole to a Finnish driver was 2008; do you still remember how that felt? Does it feel the same as now?

    LH: Cold! Yeah, I remember 2008, Silverstone, I remember it very very clearly. Heikki did a fantastic job. He was quicker throughout the weekend and we had a different set-up from testing which he chose and he was just quicker and it ended up being one of those… Back then you divided the cars by two laps of fuel and often I would have… sometimes I would have the lighter fuel load;  on that weekend, he was just quicker and we needed as a team to be at the front so he ended up having the lighter fuel load and did a great job but obviously I got a great start in the race. You know, when you asked the first question I had a really crazy thought: I’m sure at home he (Heikki Kulta) has like a wall and every day he goes home and he ticks off – ‘damn, it’s another race that…’ He’s got a whole wall, 130 or 180 or whatever it is, 168 crosses so I’m sure on Monday you’re going to be repainting the wall, a nice clean one!

    SV: Does the word excited exist in Finnish?

    VB: Kind of.

    LH: It’s probably something really simple. What is “exciting” in Finnish?

    VB: (Inaudible)

    SV: See! It doesn’t exist!

    LH: It’s not one that’s really used much in the vocabulary.

    VB: I don’t know really.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) To Lewis and Bottas: in 2014 we had a wonderful battle between Lewis and Nico here at this Grand Prix. Are you free to fight tomorrow or after what happened in Barcelona and Austria last year there are some internal rules: you can put the car here, you cannot there? It depends what position your teammate is in?

    LH: Are we allowed to fight? Nothing’s changed in the sense that we are allowed to fight. It’s the same as it was last year – as always as it remains respectable but yeah, we can fight hard out there. None of us wants to not finish the race. It’s just about being sensible and making sure we bring both cars home but generally yes, we are allowed to fight.

    VB: Yeah, I agree. I’m really happy that we are allowed to fight and I’m sure we can do it hard, hard but fair and try to avoid what we did last year with Lewis in turn one. We actually collided.

    LH: I’m behind this time…

    VB: I’m sure we can be alright.

    SV: I wouldn’t mind!

    Q: (Ysef Harding – Xero Xone News) Lewis, this looks like this is starting to get interesting now that Valtteri’s got a pole and he may have a good result and you’ve gotten very happily because of the battle with Sebastian Vettel. You looked about as happy as a warrior getting ready to go into battle. Do you look forward to it possibly being a three-way battle at the end of this weekend?

    LH:  I do, I do. I think it’s great how close it is between the teams because then it brings out the best in each driver and I just feel… when you feel like you’re at your best and you do a good job and you’re fighting against someone else who is doing just as good a job it’s that much more exciting and the more drivers we have in the mix then the more tense it gets. Fortunately…  don’t think for a long time it’s been more than three or four drivers but anyway I’m really happy it’s more than just the two of us. There’s going to be lots of ups and downs throughout the year but Valtteri’s definitely keeping me on my toes and I’m thoroughly happy for him today. As I said before, he really deserved that lap and his first pole… I know how special it is to have your first pole position. It is just amazing. You dream of it as a kid and I know that he will be enjoying it and tomorrow could be his first Grand Prix win but obviously I will try my hardest to win the race but whichever the case, he’s going to have one at some stage this year. If it’s not tomorrow it will be…because he’s getting stronger and stronger.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Sebastian, according to the power unit report, a turbocharger and one of the E-motors have been changed in your car. Is that a concern this early in the season?

    SV: Not really. Obviously it was not planned but yeah, it doesn’t set us back. I think we’re doing fine. I think we pushed very hard over the winter. I think we did a very very good job, especially on the engine side, power unit side. I think there’s been a very big step so it feels great, feels like a lot more power than last year and yeah, obviously the year isn’t over yet but as I said, it shouldn’t be a problem.

    eom/FIA transcript of the press conference

  • Bottas takes career’s first pole; Hamilton second

    Bottas takes career’s first pole; Hamilton second

    Bahrain, 15 April 2017: Valtteri Bottas claimed pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix, the third round of the Formula One (F1) World Championship, edging team-mate Lewis Hamilton by just two hundredths of a second to claim the first front-of-grid start of his career here on Saturday. Sebastian Vettel was third for Ferrari ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo and the second Ferrari of Kimi Räikkönen.

    Pascal Wehrlein got things underway in Q1 with a time of 1:33.502, but that

    ottas takes career’s first pole Bahrain on Saturday ahead of teammate Hamilton. An FIA image

    was soon eclipsed by Haas’ Kevin Magnussen and then by Bottas, who elected to run with soft tyres as he set a P1 time of 1:31.041. The Finn was then bounced out of P1 by Verstappen who set a time of 1:30.904 on supersoft tyres. Hamilton, though, was just about to cross the line and when he did so it was in a time of 1:30.814, set on soft tyres. Both Ferrari drivers also set their opening times on soft tyres, with Vettel slotting into third behind Verstappen and Räikkönen taking seventh behind Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo.

    As the clock wound down, Räikkönen elected to take to the track again, this time on supersoft tyres and despite an imperfect run that saw him go wide, breaking a piece of bodywork, the Finn climbed to third place behind Hamilton and Verstappen. The remainder of the top placed drivers chose to stay in the garage and all eased through to Q2 with Ricciardo being the lowest place of those who stuck with their first laps in P10.

    At the lower end of the order, Carlos Sainz was the first driver eliminated. The Spaniard’s session ended when he pulled over at Turn 14 and reported a loss of power. That left him in P16 ahead of McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne, Force India’s Sergio Pérez, Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson and the Haas of Magnussen.

    As has become tradition, Mercedes were early runners in Q2 with Bottas taking the track, this time on supersofts, as did team-mate Hamilton.

    The Finn set the early pace with a lap of 1:29.555 but Hamilton quickly went two hundredths of a second faster to take P1. Behind Bottas, Vettel slotted into P3 ahead of Räikkönen, Verstappen and Ricciardo.

    In the drop zone ahead of the final Q2 runs were 11th placed Haas driver Romain Grosjean, followed by Force India’s Esteban Ocon, Wehrlein, Williams’ Lance Stroll and McLaren’s Fernando Alonso.

    Grosjean was the one to make the jump to Q3, with the Frenchman slotting into P9 as the final times were logged. Renault’s Jolyon Palmer also enjoyed a good session, making it through to Q3 for the first time in his F1 career in 10th place.

    It meant that the man bumped out in P11 was Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat. The Russian might have edged Palmer but a mistake in the final corner saw the Russian run wide and the time lost cost him a Q3 berth. Eliminated behind him were Stroll, Wehrlein, Ocon and Alonso. The McLaren driver opted to not run in Q2.

    It was Hamilton who held sway after the first runs, the Briton posted a provisional pole time of 1:28.792, five hundredths of a second clear of Bottas. Vettel was third ahead of Räikkönen, Verstappen and Ricciardo.

    With Hamilton having beaten Bottas in the previous two qualifying sessions, the form guide dictated that it would again be the Briton on pole, but Bottas wasn’t paying attention to form and the Finn managed to find a fraction more pace on his final run to edge the three-time champion by just two hundredths of a second to take his first career pole with a lap of 1:28.769.

    Vettel took third for Ferrari 0.478 behind Bottas. Ricciardo, meanwhile, put in a superb final flyer to improve on his opening time by almost half a second. That left him fourth ahead of Räikkönen and Verstappen, who did not improve on his opening time. Seventh place went to Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg, with Williams’ Felipe Massa eighth ahead of Grosjean and Palmer.

    eom/FIA press release

  • We may be surprised later on in the season: Ferrari’s Binotto

    PART TWO: TEAM PERSONNEL – Mattia BINOTTO (Ferrari), James ALLISON (Mercedes), James KEY (Toro Rosso)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Mattia, a lot of new parts on the car this weekend. How have they performed and can you give us an explanation of the stoppages for Räikkönen and also for Vettel?

    Mattia BINOTTO: It’s true, we’ve got a few new parts on the car this weekend. The most obvious was the front wing. To see how if they are behaving well or not, we need some more analysis. So far, so good but let’s see when the engineers have looked at all the data what we run for the rest of the weekend. On the problems we’ve got. In FP1, power unit issues for Kimi, I think it was quite obvious. We change it for the afternoon, just a precaution, important for us to make sure Kimi could run in the afternoon trouble-free. And then for what happened, honestly it’s still to be fully understood. We analyse all the parts and hopefully all the elements of the power unit could be used in the future once again and sorted out. In the afternoon with Seb we had a minor electrical problem but this one is not too worrying and we had the opportunity to run once again within the afternoon.

    Q: The second question is, how did you manage to deal with taking on the new technical management structure last summer and then produce a competitive 2017 car. What were the building-blocks for this? How did you do it?

    MB: I think honestly we’ve got in Maranello good people, good engineers. It’s a good, and great team. Finally it’s really the team itself that works well and very hard during the winter time and somehow we got the good results we’ve got so far.

    Q: James Allison, welcome. You only joined Mercedes last month so where is your input going at the moment: to the 2017 development or to the 2018 design masterplan?

    James ALLISON: OK, well all of my effort at the moment is just focused on getting properly up to speed with a completely new group of people and a big and complicated organisation, so that I’m able to contribute as I learn more and more about that organisation. So it’s learning where I stand now, hopefully contributing as I do so to this season and looking beyond to the seasons to come.

    Q: Well the other person who is new within that team is Valtteri Bottas and we’re seeing him improving through the testing and through the first two races. Can you give us a bit of insight into what you’re seeing behind the scenes in terms of his development?

    JA: Yeah, we are both the new boys but Valtteri has certainly found his feet very quickly with his engineering team in the racing group and has shown, really from the outset, that he has a very tidy pace but he’s learned quickly all the systems on this car and he’s bedding himself in very well to the team and starting to do what we hoped he would do which is be pretty close and ever closer to Lewis.

    Q: And James Key, coming to you: three points scores from four starts so far, fourth in the Constructors’ championship. Is this shaping up to be your most competitive season for a while?

    James KEY: Well, we’ve got ninety per cent of the season to go still at the moment, so I think we have to be a little bit careful. I think where we are is a snapshot of the situation with the teams that are around us to be honest. But yeah, we’re fighting to try and be the best of the rest behind the top three teams, just as all the other teams around us are. I think although it’s going to be substantially down to a development race, I think ultimately, given how close everyone is we have got the benefit of probably the most experienced driver pairing the team’s ever had and we’re developing PU so there are two things to tick off the list that perhaps we haven’t had before. The rest, I guess, is down to us.

    Q: How much is success this year dependent on Renault delivering the goods on the engine? Obviously we saw them today going very quickly with the works car.

    JK: Absolutely, yeah. I think it’s a mix of things to be honest with you. I think that there’s still an awful lot of potential left in these power units even now in their fourth year. We see that as each year progresses so more performance is found so definitely it’s still got a large authority on the total car’s performance still and therefore it’s definitely important for us but I think probably with these new regs the chassis has a slightly bigger authority so a mix of the two is ultimately the answer but I don’t think you can rely on one or the other.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Question is to James Allison but if Mr Binotto would comment afterwards. James, you started in Ferrari in July 2013 and the basis of these new regulations was created in February 2015. You left Ferrari in July of last year, so you had a lot of time to work there. What was your importance for this existing car of Ferrari today, because when you left, you also had the final text of the regulations that was decided in April of last year?

    JA: Well, I left Ferrari many months ago and joined Mercedes just some small number of weeks ago and anything that Ferrari has done for this year’s car, as Mattia said, is a credit to the people that work at Ferrari over these months and what they have delivered. Similarly, in the team that I’m in now, the credit for the fantastic performance of this team so far is down to all the people that have been putting in the effort at Brackley over those months. I can only really be held responsible for the state of my garden at the moment which is looking very fine as a result of all the effort I’ve put into it in the last six months or so.

    MB: I think that somehow James has already answered, nothing more really to add. James was part of our team at the beginning of last year, as it’s true that there is plenty of people working at Ferrari and the credit is to everybody.

    Q: (Kate Walker – New York Times) I was wondering if you could talk me through the individual decision-making process at each of your teams when it comes to requesting clarification from the FIA on the legality of your opponents’ vehicles? At what point do you decide it’s worth pursuing and how do you decide when it’s not worth the paperwork?

    JK: I think it’s a case-by-case basis to be honest with you. Clearly we all look at each others’ cars, we all have photographers and so on. You rarely see something that’s particularly controversial because it would be very obvious to everyone but I think if you felt that someone had something questionable or let’s say something you clarified before which the FIA perhaps didn’t entirely agree with your view but you see it on another car, typically you might pursue it but I think it’s a bit of a case-by-case basis. Sometimes you might talk to the team and question and sometimes you might talk to the FIA and discuss it with them and escalate accordingly but I really think it’s very much a case-by-case.

    JA: OK, it’s pretty much as the other James said. The only thing I would add is that the FIA are normally pretty attentive to these things themselves and it’s their job to get on with and decide what’s right and what’s wrong and they are pretty much on that stuff all the time.

    MB: For me, there is one more thing we need to add. Certainly sometimes we seek clarification from the FIA to know exactly what’s possible to be developed some more. I think it would be wrong to start development spending investment and money on something which will be judged illegal by the FIA and I think that’s the main reason why we are asking the FIA for clarification.

    Q: (Lennart Bernke – Bild) Signor Binotto, Niki Lauda said this week he believes the secret behind the success of Ferrari is basically you, since you reorganised the structures and all that. Can you give us a little insight what do you think about the quote from Niki and what did you change since you are in charge since July?

    MB: I don’t think any comment is necessary and is not really relevant. As I said before, we are many people in Ferrari. Each of us has his role which is an important role and there is not one more important or less important in the team. What we’ve done since July, I think… as I said, it’s a great team with great engineers. It’s simply making sure that everybody was delivering, being accountable, feeling accountable and getting the right team spirit.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Whenever there’s a major regulation change as we’ve had for 2017 for example, there are all sorts of various interpretations of the regulations and solutions and whatever else. Referring to what you said just now about case-by-case, are there are any details on any cars that you see out there at the moment that any of you have any suspicions about whatsoever or are you totally happy that all cars are legal at the moment?

    JK: Yes. I think there’s a few things that we probably want to question but there’s nothing major, let’s say, just details.

    JA: I think that’s pretty much the case. It’s a huge reg change and it’s been a remarkably troublefree one so far, given the magnitude of the change. Cars have come out looking good, they’ve come out hitting the performance targets that the reg change was supposed to have. We’ve got a brilliant fight at the front of the field. Those are the things that I think the reg change has bought us and if there’s any skirmishing going on then it’s no different from any other year and is just part of the normal cut and thrust of the sport.

    MB: I would agree with what they said and what James Allison just said. I don’t think there is anything  different compared to the past years, nothing major to be mentioned.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) James Allison, question about the T-wing. It fell off today again as in China. Is there any pattern, that you can already see why it happened?

    JA: Well, it’s a surprise because we’ve done a huge number of kilometres without problems and then we’ve had two annoying hassles so I suspect it will be a small manufacturing defect and it’s something we will need to reinforce to make sure it doesn’t happen again, come Saturday and Sunday.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) At the end of March there was a meeting of the engine people looking at the formula from 2021 onwards. What would you prefer to see: a completely new change of engine, architecture, etc. or retain the existing one, maybe tickle it round the edges, make it a bit cheaper or whatever; fundamentally retain this one?

    MB: We had a good and positive and constructive discussion in Paris and I think that the output finally was that we should try and keep the current format but as you said, a few things certainly need to be reviewed. I don’t see any sense why we should change completely. All the automotive is going towards hybrid cars and the technology we’ve got currently in F1 somehow is on the edge of the technology and that, I think, is where we should be and we need to stay.

    JA: Well, as Mattia said, there was a meeting, all sorts of possibilities were discussed and now a bunch of opportunities and guidelines for further discussion were tasked to the teams to look into and come back to that same group and report back in the coming months. I think what’s important, as Mattia said, is that the power unit retains the sort of broad direction that it’s been heading in and that it stays an important part of the competitive elements of what makes this sport so interesting.

    JK: I fully agree with the technological points made by Mattia and James to be honest. I think they are amazing machines that we have in these cars and probably we don’t talk about how amazing they are enough to a certain extent. Equally, I’m the only customer here and the majority of teams are customers and when you have the level of authority that these power units currently have over your performance and there’s not much you can do about it if you’re in a bad shape – and unfortunately my team’s been in that position before – it’s pretty serious, so I think from a performance point of view we need to consider what options there are, not to rein in people because both Mercedes and Ferrari have done a fantastic job with where they are but when you’re really suffering – and there’s a team out there now who have been suffering a lot this year, as we know – it really is a bit of a killer and there’s not much you can do so we probably want to understand what options there could be because as a customer you’re kind of very reliant on your supplier and of course the cost is fundamental as well. The costs now for customer teams are incredibly high. If there’s a way to control that better and make it more feasible then that would be very welcomed, I think.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) This year, all the teams are working on new territory: more downforce instead of less downforce. Is there any area in particular after two races that you saw something or ‘this I didn’t pay attention to properly: this is something new, we didn’t realise why we must make an effort’, more in one area than another one?

    JA: Actually, for such a big regulation change, I don’t think any single team has come out with any breathtaking interpretation that everybody else missed. I think there’s a number of detailed interpretations that each team will look at the others for but there’s not one thing where you think ‘oh my God, I wish we’d seen that.’ And I think in that regard it’s been a pretty successful regulation change. All the teams have done a good job of interpreting what  those regs mean and that’s one of the reasons why the performance uplift has been where it was supposed to be.

    MB: I align with James’ comments. So far I would say no main surprises or let’s say, OK, we didn’t realise, we didn’t think about it. I think it’s only the start, it’s only the start of a new era in terms of new regulations, more to come. We may be surprised later on in the season.

    JK: I echo the comments Mattia and James have made, to be honest with you. I suppose the one thing that was obvious for us behind these two guys is the disparity in performance, so there’ s a lot more still to be found by many of us but it’s not one single thing, it’s a mix of many things, I think.

    Q: Can you pin down the causes of that performance?

    JK: I think that if I knew what it was we would be in better shape but I think there’s lots of detail and there’s some tricks aerodynamically, I think, that are pretty complicated to get right and some have and maybe some haven’t. And that could be quite a big performance differentiator but also power units and other things probably play their role too but there’s no one thing but we have got a big spread of performance at the moment, so there’s more to be found, for sure.

    eom/FIA transcript of the press conference

  • There hasn’t been a massive overhaul, says Claire Williams

    PART ONE: TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Zak BROWN (McLaren), Christian HORNER (Red Bull Racing), Claire WILLIAMS (Williams)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Zak, we’ll start with you, it was announced today that Jenson Button will race for you at the Monaco Grand Prix. Tell us about that.

    Zak BROWN: He was the obvious first choice but we had to make sure he was up for it, since he’s now relocated to the States and he was very up for it as soon as we contacted him. I think it’s great for our team to replace one world champion with another for Monaco. Jenson has won a round there, loves the circuit, and didn’t take any convincing whatsoever when we contacted him. So good for us and good for the sport.

    Q: Obviously this comes about because Fernando Alonso is going to race in the Indianapolis 500. What did it take to pull this deal off, Alonso to Indy, both externally, but also internally within McLaren?

    ZB: It came together very quickly. Take a step back: my boss, or bosses, are the executive committee, which is run by Sheikh Mohamed and Mansour Ojjeh and they are a real driving force and motivational individuals who are really pushing us to do new and exciting things. And so, ultimately on that direction Jonathan Neale and I work very closely together. And when this opportunity came along it really started off with me and Fernando kind of joking around about it. I was actually kind of serious, but I wasn’t sure if he would be. He kind of flirted back… that was pre-Australia. We then had a breakfast with Honda and he told them of his desire to race at Indianapolis and ultimate try to win the triple crown. At that point I could tell he was serious about it, but didn’t think 2017 was the timeline we were talking about. Then we spoke after Australia and he asked for a dinner Friday in China and I said “hey, about that Indy thing” and he said “that’s exactly why I want to do dinner and discuss”. At that point I knew it was serious, so I got on the phone to the chief exec of Indycar to see if it was possible. And through a lot of skunkwork, because I really didn’t want any rumours getting out there, in case it wouldn’t happen, which I thought would be the case, and we were able to put it together. We went to the executive committee and checked in with Eric to see what he thought of the idea. The executive committee blessed it and Saturday morning Fernando said ‘let’s do it’ and then we ran pretty hard for 72 hours to make it happen.

    Briefly, Fernando yesterday here said that you have a vision of McLaren as a multi-disciplinary organization, a bit like in its past, racing chassis at Indianapolis and Le Mans and so on. Tell us a little bit about that.

    ZB: Yeah, as you mentioned our past… we have a lot of history. We’ve won Indianapolis three times, we won Le Mans, we won CanAm, we’re now doing batteries for Formula E in the future and I think the McLaren brand is raced all over the world in all sorts of different formulas and as the executive committee said, if we can go win, if it’s commercially viable and it fits the McLaren brand, we’re all a bunch of racers, so let’s go racing. I think that is what we will see McLaren continue to do.

    Thank you for that. Christian, first of all, long run pace today looked pretty promising. Obviously it’s very close on single laps, with some strange things happening to various different drivers, but you must be pretty encouraged by what you have seen?

    Christian HORNER: Yeah, I think today has been a very positive day really, particularly on Daniel’s side of the garage; he’s had a very productive day. So yeah, I think we’ve hopefully closed that gap a little bit here. The car seems better suited to this circuit and hopefully we can build on that through the weekend.

    Q: Slightly tricky start to the season – over a second off the pace initially, podium for Max in China – but we’re hearing that there’s a radically or updated car planned for your team in Spain, according to some comments from your team today. Would you like to clear that up?

    CH: I think that all the teams are developing hard and the first real acid point tends to be the start of the European season and we’re no different. I’m sure several teams are targeting Barcelona with various update packages and we’re no different. But in between now and then we’re trying to get performance on the car, understand some of the issues and constantly move it forward.

    Q: Just for clarity would you describe it as a very significant upgrade?

    CH: If it delivers lap time, yes. It’s a significant cost, so we’ll see. Hopefully it will be value for money.

    Q: Finally, it’s not yet 12 months sine Max Verstappen came to your team. His learning curve, by his own admission, has been almost vertical but I wonder in what areas have you seen real improvement, real transition from last year to this?

    CH: I think he’s just growing more and more in experience. He’s 19 years of age. It’s obvious that anybody of that age is still learning everyday a huge amount. As he gains more experience, his development is extremely impressive. His race again last weekend was outstanding particularly the first half, it was particularly impressive, particularly from where he started on the grid after a difficult Saturday afternoon. He’s growing and growing and that’s what makes him so exciting and personally I think we’ve got the most exciting driver line-up in Formula One at the moment and it’s great to see the guys really pushing each other hard and racing like they did last weekend.

    Q: Thanks very much. Claire, first of all, congratulations on your baby news; that really will be a first for a Formula One team boss?

    Claire WILLIAMS: Having a baby? I think Christian’s had a baby recently…

    Not personally!

    CW: I think there are lots of team principals that have had babies before me, but thank you.

    Since you were last here there has also been a major overhaul of your senior technical staff. Tell us a little bit about the background of that and also what influence Paddy Lowe has had and your expectations of him.

    CW: There hasn’t been a massive overhaul; we still have most people in play. You’re probably talking about our two most significant hires over the past… that we hired a while ago but who have just come into the team over the past few months. So, starting with our new head of aero, Dirk de Beer, who joined us now many weeks ago actually and who has already had a significant impact in our aero team and is doing a fantastic job and obviously the car he designed won the first race this year, so that’s a real positive for us. And then obviously Paddy. His arrival into the team has been hugely motivational more than anything so far. Obviously it’s going to take a bit of time for him to embed himself in the team and to found out where the true weaknesses are and to start rectifying those. Just having somebody of Paddy’s calibre, I suppose, join our team is not only a message for everybody out there, looking and seeing where our ambitions are, but also it’s a huge motivating force for everyone within Williams to know that the board at Williams is hugely ambitious about our future and we want somebody of Paddy’s calibre to come and help turn our fortunes around.

    Q: Obviously you raced for a couple of years more or less on your own after the introduction of the hybrid turbos. Last year you were arcing with Force India. But this year it looks like you’re in a very tight midfield battle. With a rookie driver in one of your cars is there a risk of not scoring the 130 plus, 150 plus points that you’ve been getting that you need to get to maintain that?

    CW: Yes, I know that having a rookie in your car you are always going to have those concerns but I think it’s still fairly early days, we’re only at race three of the season but I think to date in those first two races, despite obviously having the two DNFs, neither of which was Lance’s fault, that he’s already acquitted himself quite impressively to date. He’s done a fantastic job in China alone, getting into Q3 in only his second qualifying session, when he had very few laps in the Friday session, like everybody obviously, but still… I don’t have as many concerns as you might imagine. I think Lance has really proved that he deserves the seat in a very short space of time. Obviously we are going to give him the space he needs in order to grow and to build but I don’t actually doubt that he’s going to be able to be capable of scoring the points that we need him to.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Ysef Harding – Xero Xone News) Zak, Fernando Alonso said it is a win-win situation or everyone involved with him appearing in Indy. Do you agree with that? And do you also feel that it will help, while he’s there, the branding issue that exists with F1 and Indy, that a lot in the States get the two confused, and that him being there will spark that curiosity, especially for young people, about who Fernando Alonso is and what series he races in?

    ZB: Yeah, I think the announcement is great for the world of motorsports, definitely Formula One. Anytime you have a two-time world champion and McLaren racing all the fans are going to want to see how the Formula One team and the Formula One driver does. I think that’s definitely going to raise a lot of awareness for Formula One, because that’s the headline: Formula One driver, Formula One team. On the flipside, obviously great for Indianapolis. I think the last time there was that much noise was when Nigel Mansell came over to Indianapolis when he had won the world championship with you [Claire Williams]. It’s great, it’s a lot of intrigue and it’s a real racer thing to do that used to happen all the time with the Jackie Stewarts and the Mario Andrettis and that’s all the feedback we’ve had ‘it’s great to see it’ and hopefully we’ll be competitive.

    Q: (Kate Walker – Motorsport.com). One of the things we have seen with our new owners is a loosening up of an awful lot of things in the paddock and the surrounding environment and I was wondering if you had seen a similar loosening up in the attitude of sponsors towards Formula One. Whether or not deal are being done or not, are you seeing increased enquiries or increased interest from parties new or old?

    ZB: Yeah, I think there is a really good buzz around Formula One. It’s early days, finding partners takes time. We’ve been fortunate to announce a couple: Logitech in Australia. I think everyone is excited about the future of Formula One. Liberty Group, which is now really FOM, we keep calling them Liberty but it is FOM, are going to push the envelope and I think there is… the drivers, you see them doing a lot more fan engagement, there is a big degree of optimism in pit lane.

    CW: Everything Zak said really. I don’t want to repeat what he said. The level of interest is higher than it probably normally is, certainly more than it has been for the last two or three years at least. But I think, as Zak said, people are waiting to see what happens. Liberty, I’m sorry, FOM, have got some great ideas and teams are able to do more than they have been in past season and that’s going to have a positive knock-on effect but the more we see coming out of the sport I think that’s going to then start increasing the conversations we are having, and maybe towards the end of this year when our conversations for ’18 start ramping up that’s when we’ll really see the positive impact.

    CH: I thought it was great to see Bernie doing a Facebook Live from the paddock earlier today. Times are obviously moving on and changing. Opening up the digital channels had an immediate impact where the personalities of the drivers are shining through a bit more. The way people follow media in general now, particularly social and digital media, being able to engage with drivers, with teams through a race weekend, seeing some of the behind the scenes action of what’s going on. Some of the content that’s getting out there is fantastic and Formula One is all about generating great content and great on-track stuff and if we can bring more fans in through some of the social channels hopefully they will turn on the broadcast on a Sunday to see what happens in a grand prix. Hopefully the strategy that’s being worked upon and built for the future will enable more revenue streams to come into the sport.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and Speedsport) Claire and Christian, would you ever consider letting one of your drivers skip a grand prix to compete in another race?

    CW: I knew that someone was going to ask this question! And not to upset the gentleman on my left but, no. I don’t know if that’s because I’m my father’s daughter and I know Frank probably wouldn’t but no I don’t think I would but I wont expands on the reasons why.

    CH: It’s a difficult one for Fernando, he’s having a tough time. Zak’s got the problem that he got a depressed driver on his hands; he’s trying to keep him motivated. He’s come up with this idea – send him to Indianapolis. Must be barking mad, it’s the nuttiest race I’ve ever seen. No testing. He’s just going to jump in the car. Turn One is a proper turn as well. It’s not just easy flat all the way round. I think he needs to see a psychiatrist personally. Would we let our drivers do it – no. I believe if a driver commits to a team… it’s a bit like disappearing with another girlfriend half way through the year and then coming back, it doesn’t seem the right thing to be doing. Perhaps if the races didn’t clash or do it at the end of his Formula One career, but obviously McLaren have got this approach which is different to ours but good for them.

    Any reaction?

    ZB: Fernando’s not scared. No, he’s going to get some testing in. He is studying Indianapolis. It’s obviously going to be a challenge but he wants a challenge. A rookie driver won it last year. Not that we’re going to set any expectations. He’ll have a car capable of running at the front. He’ll be extremely prepared and I think he’s going to put on a good show. He’s very smart and that’s what you need to be around Indianapolis. So yeah, I think it’s going to be good. Everybody is going to be watching.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) I wonder, I heard many people here in the paddock saying that maybe one of the reasons Red Bull does not have a competitive car is because it was concepted with the suspension it used with success last year and was legal. Then suddenly the suspension was not legal and then you almost lost the project. Is there any meaning in it?

    CH: Unfortunately not. It sounds good and I’d love to be able to hang our coat on that one but the clarifications that came out about suspension shut avenues of development down and the systems we’re running on the car are very similar, almost identical to what we ran last year. We started to pursue a different route over the winter in R&D that never actually ran on the car because of the weight involved – and that’s another challenge of the current cars. All it did is close off that avenue. It didn’t fundamentally change anything. I think our problems are more aerodynamic than they are mechanical and that’s very much where the focus of attention is.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) If we have at look at the respective histories of your teams, Claire in your case Williams’ last big winning period was before you branched out into Advanced Engineering, if you look at McLaren, McLaren’s successful periods were between Can-Am and the road car operations: whenever you seem to do something else, Formula One results have dropped off, in Red Bull’s case, you’re now looking at the road car work with Aston Martin. Is it purely coincidental that Formula One results seem to drop off as teams get involved in other activities or should Formula One actually be a single-minded pursuit?

    CW: We set up Williams Advanced Engineering in 2010-2011 and despite the one-blip wonder of Barcelona in 2012 we haven’t had much success since the parting of the ways with BMW which was, what? Six years prior to that. So, I don’t think you could possibly say our dip in performance was related to the fact that we set up Advanced Engineering. I disagree. Having seen how our operation works, and how integrated the two are, there are very fine boundaries between the two. Yes, there are some shared facilities operationally but each business division operates independently of the other and doesn’t strain resources of the other. Actually, they benefit each other. So, for us having an advanced engineering division is fantastic from a partner perspective and there are shared learnings as well on each side from a technological perspective so, from a Williams perspective, I don’t believe the reason we had a dip in performance was because we setup a different division. I think if you are set up efficiently and properly then you are perfectly capable with having both.

    ZB: I think in McLaren’s case that’s not accurate. We did the F1 Road Car in the 1990s and have won multiple championships since. We then built, with our former partner Mercedes, some road cars and we were winning races. And I think, as Claire said, these are individual businesses. There are learnings from one to the other but we are not a few thousand employees and the people building the automotive cars are not the people involved in Formula One, or [McLaren] Applied Technologies. So I think it’s beneficial, they learn from each other and I think it’s nothing more than a coincidence that you point that out and the three of us here have additional activities. I think you need to have additional activities and it’s pretty hard to be just a Formula One team now is also the commercial reality.

    CH: Red Bull’s run Red Bull Technology for many years now, supplying obviously, Toro Rosso, various elements, obviously within the regulations. Red Bull Advanced Technology has been a further development of that. Has it had an impact on our performance? I don’t think so in reality. I think that it’s a small group of people that are focussed in a separate building. Of course, Adrian is splitting his time between the two projects so you could argue, ‘well, Adrian being half-time involved in Formula One, has that had an impact or not?’ but the group is sufficiently big to be able to cope with that. Of course, his interest and input into Formula One is pretty intense at the moment.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS) For Christian. How much damage can a T-wing make?

    CH: Today it did about £50,000 worth of damage so I think they should be banned on the grounds of safety and cost! And that’s not just because we don’t have one. It’s unfortunate. It’s one of those things. A bit of debris on the circuit today that had fallen off, I think, Bottas’ car. Max was the unlucky victim that was the first car at speed to come across it. It did quite a lot of damage to the underside of the car. One of those things, unfortunately.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) To all of you. You were talking about better promoting Formula One and everything. What do you think about some teams that they don’t make the drivers available for the media? And also, if you go to the media centre, and you look, all the time the teams dedicate to the media in general are extremely low – and all of them at the same time. If you are alone, you must choose where to go. Don’t you think it time Formula One tried to follow different rules, to put media in the place media should be with all respect that is missing today?

    ZB: I think with drivers, obviously with time, they have a lot of demands behind the scenes with sponsors and engineers and the fans. And media want to spend as much time with them as they can, which is understandable. I think we need to be more creative in how the media engage with the drivers and vice versa and how the drivers engage with the fans. I know our drivers are very happy to talk about new and exciting topics in new and different ways, and so I think hopefully some of this stuff teams can work together on with the drivers and the media and FOM. I think the energy and excitement is there, we just need to do it in new and innovative ways.

    CH: Personally… Formula One is a media business and the drivers, part of their responsibility is to communicate with the fans and in order to sometimes do that, obviously, they’ve got to communicate with the media. My biggest bugbear and the thing that really pisses me off is when you see drivers sitting up here with a mobile phone showing zero interest. So, I think Matteo should ban mobile phones from all press conferences with drivers. They can Snapchat now whenever they like outside. I think they have a responsibility. They are the heroes that people are looking to. Looking to be inspired by, looking to follow, looking to get excited by. They have a responsibility as well to driving the car but to promote the brands that they represent, the teams that they represent and the sport overall.

    CW: I totally agree with what both Christian and Zak have said. I think it’s all of our responsibilities as teams, drivers, to do more and to be more present and available to fans, to the media. I know that Liberty, FOM, have lots of plans in place. As I said earlier, it’s going to take them a while to evolve through that process – but I think that process needs to be done collaboratively with the teams and the teams engaged. I don’t think you should be looking at one thing you think there’s a problem with and trying to fix that. It needs to be done from a holistic perspective with everybody working together in order to achieve the maximum benefit for the whole of the sport.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS) Question for all three of you. After China, this is Bahrain, which is mentally, physically hard on team members. Your colleagues, are they all 100 per cent the same as in China or did you fly in members from other parts of the world. Does the team change in a week?

    CH: Fundamentally the team doesn’t change. On average, we’re travelling with mid-70s in terms of personnel, 75-76 people. We have less marketing people here because we’re quieter on the hospitality but the guys in the garage are 95 per cent all the same people that you would have seen in China last weekend; the guys and girls in the engineering department are all the same. Of course, there’s a few additional people that have come out, that we rotate, so they experience a grand prix weekend. And then there’s a bigger influx of people for the two-day test, so we’ll actually have more people at the test than we do at the race for the two days of running with one car.

    ZB: We had a lot of people that went direct from China to here. I went back on Sunday night and came back on Wednesday, I think the teams are pretty used to it. It’s not an abnormal schedule. And then you get on the right sleep patterns and its nice that this race is not a super-early start – obviously it ends later. But no, I think everyone’s in good shape.

    CW: Nothing to add, it’s the same.

     

    eom/FIA transcript of the press conference

  • Vettel quickest in FP2 before `complete shutdown’! Bahrain GP

    Bahrain, 14 April 2017: Sebastian Vettel went quickest in the second free practice session ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix, before a mid-session “complete shutdown” of his Ferrari that left him briefly stranded on the track.

    The German’s P1 time came just before half an hour of the evening session, run under floodlights, had elapsed. Bolting on a set of supersofts, the Ferrari power to through a lap of 1:31.310.

    Later, however, during a longer run in the final 40 minutes of the session Vettel’s car slowed dramatically before the German reported a “complete shutdown”. He managed to coast towards the pit entry and after being pushed by marshals his car was brought back to the Ferrari garage. With 15 minutes left in the session the Ferrari crew managed to get Vettel back on track for a final burst of running.

    In an earlier opening session also topped by Vettel, Mercedes has a muted outing, with Lewis Hamilton 10thand Valtteri Bottas 14th. In the more valuable second session run at a time and in temperatures comparable to the weekend’s crucial sessions, the defending champions showed their real pace, at least with one car. Bottas finished second, just four hundredths of a second behind Vettel. Hamilton, though, was fifth after his qualifying simulation, almost three tenths adrift of the Ferrari driver.

    Daniel Ricciardo, second quickest in the first session, again showed good pace in the evening, setting a best time of 1:31.376 to finish just 0.066s behind Vettel.

    Fourth place went to Kimi Räikkönen in the second Ferrari, just under two tenths off his team-mate and with Hamilton next on the timesheet just 0.284s separated the top five drivers.

    Sixth place was taken by Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg, with the German just shy of six tenths off the pace set by Vettel. Felipe Massa was seventh for Williams ahead of Max Verstappen in the second Red Bull. The Dutchman’s running was compromised however by a problem with the floor. The top ten order was completed by Haas’ Romain Grosjean and Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat. Elsewhere, Carlos Sainz completed just five laps before pulling over with smoke pouring from his car.

    2017 Bahrain Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
    1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m31.310s – 29
    2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1m31.351s 0.041s 35
    3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull/Renault 1m31.376s 0.066s 28
    4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m31.478s 0.168s 34
    5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m31.594s 0.284s 35
    6 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1m31.883s 0.573s 37
    7 Felipe Massa Williams/Mercedes 1m32.079s 0.769s 37
    8 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Renault 1m32.245s 0.935s 18
    9 Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 1m32.505s 1.195s 34
    10 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso/Renault 1m32.707s 1.397s 35
    11 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1m32.854s 1.544s 33
    12 Esteban Ocon Force India/Mercedes 1m32.875s 1.565s 38
    13 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1m32.876s 1.566s 38
    14 Fernando Alonso McLaren/Honda 1m32.897s 1.587s 31
    15 Sergio Perez Force India/Mercedes 1m33.319s 2.009s 34
    16 Lance Stroll Williams/Mercedes 1m33.361s 2.051s 36
    17 Marcus Ericsson Sauber/Ferrari 1m33.944s 2.634s 34
    18 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso/Renault 1m34.072s 2.762s 5
    19 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber/Ferrari 1m34.117s 2.807s 29
    20 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren/Honda 1m34.230s 2.920s 8

    eom/FIA Press Release