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  • Nico Roseberg springs a surprise to take first career win

    Shanghai, 15 April 2012: Nico Roseberg of Mercedes came out as an amazing winner to put paid to the hopes of Jenson Button, whose late pit stop ruined his changes and McLaren had to be content with a second and third place while it was a brilliant first win for the German. Nico won after starting from pole. It was the first time since 1955 that the front row was occupied by Mercedes but the seven time national champion missed out after an off the field excursion after being in a strong third position.

    It was really grat moment for Nico, who earned his first pole position on Saturday. He was very pleased at the post conference Press Conference where all the first three drivers attended.

    Unfortunately, we will not be able to publish any photos of Mercedes as we are not officially accredited by the Mercedes team.

    Here goes the FIA, final press conerence for the Chinese GP week=end.

    TV UNILATERALS

     Nico, well done. You join an exclusive club of drivers who’ve turned their maiden pole into their maiden win. How do you feel?

    Nico ROSBERG: Thank you very much. Well, it’s an unbelievable feeling: very, very cool. I’m very happy, very excited. It’s been a long time coming for me, and for the team as well over the past two years and a bit. Now, it’s finally here. It’s just amazing and it’s just nice to see how quickly we are now progressing. I didn’t expect to be that fast today. I expected that we had a good chance to be in front, but I was very happy today with the pace I was able to go in the race.

    Jenson, a three-stop strategy for you today, but the third stop really cost you big time didn’t it?

    Jenson BUTTON: Yeah, it did. But before that our race pace was good, especially on the harder of the two tyres. I had some really good battles out there. And then in my last stop, I stopped on the marks and we had a problem with the rear of the car, so I was stuck there for nine or ten seconds I think it was. It was a pity because when I exited the pits I had four cars in front of me; cars that I wouldn’t have been racing, and I would have had a nice clear track to hopefully hunt down Nico. It was a big gap but you’ve got to give it a go. But, all in all, a fun day. I really enjoyed today. It was a good race, some good overtaking out there and nice to eventually come away with some good points and second place.

    Lewis, you started seventh and finished third. Were you surprised by Nico’s pace today?

    Lewis HAMILTON: We knew that all weekend they had been quick and if we let these people get away it would be hard to catch him, so fantastic for him, congratulations. Your first pole and your first win is an incredible feeling. But I’m very happy to have made it up to the podium. As I said, I wanted to just go forwards and the team did a great job with the pit stops and with strategy. I think it was one of the best races so far this season, just because there was a lot of overtaking and there was a train of us – I think seven cars or something – it was incredible. Yeah, fantastic day.

    Jenson Button (in photo) and Lewis Hamilton finished second and third to push McLaren to first place in the constructors' championship at Shanghai on Sunday. McLaren Photo.

    Nico, there were a lot of questions marks about Mercedes’ race pace going into this race. What have you done to the car to improve it so much?

    NR: Big thanks to the whole team, because all the engineers especially in the past few weeks have been working very, very hard also, as everybody else has also, just improving the set-up, because we really struggled in the first two races with race pace. Today it all came good. It’s great to see just how quickly we managed to progress. It’s just fantastic.

    Jenson, a key moment for you was obviously the start, you went up from fifth place to third place. Tell us about it?

    JB: Yeah, I got a good start. I think all year, so far, we’ve had very good starts, if not the best starts and [that’s] promising when you don’t qualify so well. Great job by the whole team for sorting out a special start out for me and great to get up into P3. But I think lastly for me, I’d like to congratulate Nico. We all know how special it is, your first win, and I’m sure there will be many more, just hopefully not too many more this year.

    For you Lewis, a lot of battles throughout the race but a very exciting one at the end with Sebastian Vettel. Tell us about it?

    LH: It wasn’t just with him. It was with everyone really. They [Red Bull] were massively quick on the straight, even when we had the DRS engaged. You had to use all your KERS to get right up behind and obviously you get to the DRS zone and try to use the DRS to catapult past. Finally, I got close enough to do so. I guess he was out a bit longer on his tyres. Nonetheless, he put up a good fight. So did all of them really. I think we lost a little bit of time behind, I think, maybe Pérez. But nevertheless it was still exciting racing.

    Finally, back to you Nico. Your father Keke, of course, a grand prix winner and a world champion. What are you going to say on the phone to your dad tonight?

    NR: We’ll see. Hopefully he’s very happy too and I look forward to speaking to him.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

     Nico, a bit of a packed weekend for you, what with setting records with Mercedes, your first pole, your first win etc. It’s all come at once!

    NR: Yeah, I know. It’s been the perfect weekend. Everything’s gone [well]. It couldn’t be better. Very happy. It was a great race. It was impressive to see really how we’ve managed to progress so quickly. We’ve really had some difficult times in the races, the first two, but we’ve made a lot of changes, worked hard at it and all of a sudden it’s come good. That’s been fantastic to see today. I’m just so happy for all of us and I really look forward now to spending some time with the team later on.

    Was everything perfect in the car as well, throughout the race?

    NR: Perfect? Well, it’s never perfect but it definitely felt very good out there.

    You didn’t seem to have any problems. It seemed to be a trouble-free race for you.

    NR: It’s never easy, especially taking care of the tyres was a big difficulty and a big challenger today because there was a lot of tyre wear, but it worked out well.

    Yesterday you gave the impression that, OK, you’re on pole but it was going to be a lot more difficult to win the race – but you won it, it didn’t seem to be that much more difficult.

    NR: Of course I was a bit careful yesterday because yes, we were on pole but we’ve seen good qualifying performances all along this year and we’ve had more difficulties on high fuel in the race, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect – but fantastic outcome.

    And the tyre strategy, you were happy with that as well, rather than a three-stop?

    NR: I think we got it all right today, even tyre strategy. Everybody in the team did a great job, all the different people, my engineers at the start, the strategy, this and that – everything came together.

    What you did miss was an incredible battle going on behind you…

    NR: I was aware of a bit of that because every lap the name changed of the person behind me – I said ‘what’s going on back there?’

    Jenson, you must love that little DRS thing, that was great, picking them off one after the other.

    JB: Yeah, but we made it a little bit harder for ourselves in the last stint with a long pit stop – but hey, these things happen, and the first two were very good. A great race, we went for a three-stop strategy, which was different to a lot of people, it was good fun, even with the problem we had, and the possibility that we could maybe have chased down this guy [Nico]. Even though we didn’t have that possibility it was still a great race. I’m very happy to come away with second. I can’t remember how many cars I overtook during the race but it was a good fight and most of it was very, very clean, which is good to see. I think we put on a great show for all the viewers and especially all the fans here in Shanghai.

    Your race was a little bit easier than Lewis’. Lewis had a little bit of a tougher time I think.

    JB: Ah, I don’t know. I think when you’re in front for the first few laps it always makes it easier. You’re dropping the traffic better. Everything was going to plan, I knew I’d have traffic and we were picking them off nicely up to the second pit stop. But after the last stop it was a lot more difficult. Kimi was leading a train of about eight cars and everyone was DRS-ing at the same time, so, until Sebastian had a go at Kimi, I couldn’t have a go at Sebastian. It was good fun. Overtaking Sebastian was probably the most fun move of the race, down into the hairpin. Or maybe Grosjean, when I took him before the actual back straight, through the right-hander, that was quite nice as well.

    A lo of satisfaction from that I can imagine.

    JB: Yeah.

    Q: Lewis, I know it’s another third place, but you had a great race out there, a lot of people to overtake.

    LH: Yeah, I had my work cut out today. It was a fantastic race, I really enjoyed it. As I said yesterday, I just wanted to see if I could move forwards: a good start, good pit stops, good strategy, but what an incredible race with so many World Champions and so many of the great drivers all in a train, just fighting each other. It’s great to see racing like that and to see cars so close in pace. It was a little bit unfortunate that there was quite a lot of traffic throughout the race but I’m sure that if we started a little bit higher up it would have been a little bit of a different result for us, but nonetheless, Nico did a fantastic job so congratulations to him. I’m glad we were able to get some good team points today.

    Q: How much downforce were you losing in that train, for instance through the corner onto the straight?

    LH: You try to stay out of the wake of the car in front, so you take a slightly tighter line which enables you to remain as close as possible. As I said, it just provides great racing. I don’t remember being in a race like that for some time so we’re doing something right.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

     Q: (Frederique Ferret – L’Equipe) Nico, you said you wanted to win with Mercedes, now you have done so, just like Fangio and Stirling Moss. What does that mean to you?

    NR: Ah, it’s definitely very special, the whole thing, firstly just to win the race, to win my first race is special and everything that comes with it, with the Silver Arrows, with the team that I have, with everybody who has been working together for more than two years now. Yeah, it’s a very happy moment.

    Q: (Yan Xiao Yan -Titan Sports) It’s your seventh year in Formula One; do you think that the champagne has come to you too late?

    NR: No, I’m not going to say that, no. But I look forward to many more in the future, definitely.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Nico, you said that you have had incredible car development from the last race to this one. Can you give us some details? Is it mechanical, set-up? What exactly explains this?

    NR: Well, it’s set-up really, really thinking about what’s going on in the race and why are we struggling and trying to improve that situation. Surely the conditions helped us today, I think, but even so, we’re just moving forward and that’s very nice to see. Already from the beginning of the year we’ve been very strong in qualifying, perhaps more difficult in the race. Now we’re still strong in qualifying – very strong, maybe even stronger – and also improving the race, so it’s good progress forward and I’m sure that we will continue this ongoing development. It was mainly set-up.

    Q: (Frederique Ferret – L’Equipe) Jenson, you had to wait some time to win for the first time; do you think that Nico can take the same path as you?

    JB: We were talking on the podium and yeah, he beat me by two races. I took113 and he’s on 111. It’s amazing how, with some people, it can happen very quickly if you can find yourself in the right situation. For others it takes a little bit more time. Which way would you chose? We’d all chose to win immediately, I think. I wouldn’t chose my career path and the mistakes that I’ve made and obviously the good things that have happened in my career – it’s just different for all of us. I’m sure that this won’t be Nico’s first and last win. They – the team – seem very competitive this year and Nico obviously hasn’t put a foot wrong all weekend. So I think we’re going to have a battle on our hands this year which is good to see.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Nico, when did you make the decision to stop only twice, and when were you sure it was the right strategy?

    NR: Well, I think we’re very strong on strategy – just great people involved with that as well. We have a lot of competence in the team which is fantastic. Before the race, that was our plan. Of course you have Plan B if things don’t go well but things progressed exactly as we had hoped for. The tyres lasted for exactly the amount of laps that we were hoping for so it just all went to plan.

    Q: (News Time – Yan Peng) Nico, who will you make the first phone call to? Your Dad or (girlfriend) Vivian?

    NR: I don’t know. I will see.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Jenson, if you had come out in front of the train without the problem at the last pit stop, do you think you could have caught Nico? I think your tyres were five laps younger.

    JB: That was obviously the aim but you never know if that’s going to be possible. It was a big gap to chase down but before the stop, we had very good pace on new and old tyres so I don’t know. That was our aim but it didn’t go to plan, but we had a problem at the pit stop which cost us a lot of time – it didn’t just cost us time, it cost us places as well, so it made it very difficult to have the possibility to chase down Nico. But that’s the way it is. Sometimes it doesn’t quite go your way but I must say that most of the pit stops that we’ve had this weekend have been fantastic. We’ve just got to get rid of that bad one.

    Q: In a week’s time we will be in Bahrain, at what we would expect to be a hotter race; how’s that going to affect you? Do you think that you can do the same again – for both Nico and McLaren?

    NR: Yeah. For sure we’re not where we want to be in the race. I had a great race today but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be like that at every race. We still need to push hard and continue progressing. Bahrain could be a little bit of a different story again. We need to wait and see. It’s difficult to predict. I couldn’t have predicted today so we’ll just take it as it comes, but for sure I’m looking forward to what’s to come because we’re looking much stronger.

    JB: I’m looking forward to it being hot. We would hope to go even better. I’ve just struggled – I think everyone has this weekend – with trying to get the tyres in an operating window. It’s been so difficult. The change in four or five degrees has been massive difference in car balance. I would rather it to be a little bit more straightforward and we can really get down to business.

    Q: (Frederique Ferret – L’Equipe) Nico, the last time you were leading in China, both of the McLaren drivers won that time. Are you enjoying the fact that these two guys are behind you now?

    NR: No, I don’t think about that. Not really, no.

    Ends

  • Nico Roseberg springs a surprise to take pole

    Following is the FIA Press Conference for the top three qualifiers at the Chinese Grand Prix held on Saturday in Shanghai.

    DRIVERS Present

    1 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

    2 – Lewis HAMILTON (McLaren)

    3 – Michael SCHUMACHER (Mercedes)

     TV UNILATERAL

     Nico, sensational lap how do you feel about your first F1 pole?

    Nico ROSBERG. Fantastic, yeah, thank you. It went really well, it’s a very special feeling definitely. Now obviously looking forward to starting first tomorrow.

    Where did you find the time?

    NR: The track was cooling off a little bit, the temperatures were coming down slightly and so the rear tyres started to work a little bit better. Changed the setup of the car slightly before the last run and just got a perfect lap so it worked out really, really well.

    Lewis, moving to you, you virtually grew up with Nico through the karting and the single-seaters. Tell us how you feel first of all about his achievement today?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Big congratulations to Nico, it’s fantastic and really done in style: it’s quite a big gap between us. I’m very proud of him and obviously we grew up racing together and always dreamed of being in Formula One together and now we’re on the front row together. Obviously I’ve got a penalty but still, it’s a good day.

    And what about your own performance today and how you feel you’re fixed for the race, bearing in mind where you’re going to start on the grid tomorrow?

    LH: We’re in a good position I think. I made some good setup changes to the car, it feels good, particularly for the long runs. It’s going to be tough for sure, there are a lot of good drivers ahead of me but I’ll be pushing as hard as I can.

    Michael, we heard you on the radio asking for Nico’s lap time and when the engineer told you, you sounded pretty surprised by what he’d achieved. Sum up what you think about what you two have done today.

    Michael SCHUMACHER: No, I said actually ‘well done’, because that was a phenomenal lap time. For all of us, to see the gap that big is a bit of a surprise but there you go. He’s known as a good qualifier and no reason [for me] to be unhappy. The opposite: happy for him for his first pole. Congratulations as we know – I guess – it’s going to be the first [front] row of a proper Mercedes Silver Arrow that we’re going to take place in the Shanghai Grand Prix tomorrow. That’s a great achievement.

    That’s right, with Lewis moving five places back

    MS: Good for us!

    How about your race situation? Obviously you’ve qualified well inn these cars so far this season but we’ve seen you go backwards in the race. Do you think it’ll be easy on the tyres tomorrow in this car?

    MS: Well, my two races, one I retired and the other one I got put backwards by being spun around, so it’s not completely clear what we would have seen with our car. It’s certainly a question mark whether we would have been able to keep up that position but we’ll try our best to do so.

    Back you Nico, that’s qualifying over with but what do you feel you can do in the race because Mercedes certainly need the points tomorrow, don’t they?

    NR: Yeah, for me it’s also sort of the start of the season now because the first two races haven’t gone too well. So it’s not bad to start first, obviously for us it’s fantastic. Of course it’s pretty clear I think that in the race we been not quite as good as in qualifying lately. We’ve worked very hard to try and improve that but it’s not something you can change in a few weeks. It’s going to take some time but we’re making good progress in the race, that’s important. It’s difficult to know exactly where we’re going to be tomorrow because again with the conditions changing, if it becomes a little bit colder that might help us, for example. I don’t really know how it’s going to go. For sure we’re going to try our best. We’re going to work hard tonight to try and do the final little details on the set up, electronically specifically, and make the most of it.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Nico, congratulations, I’m sure you’ve been waiting for this for a little while?

    NR: definitely. It’s a great feeling. Fantastic. It worked out well, qualifying, especially as we got it all right in the end. It was a good lap and it all came together. It’s the perfect start until now. I’m really happy for the whole team. It really shows that, as a team, we’re moving forward. In qualifying we’re very, very strong now. In the race we’re still not quite as strong and not where we want to be yet but also there, we’re learning a lot and progressing fast. The thing is we can’t make huge jumps in a couple of weeks, it’s going to take a bit more time, but we’re getting there.

    You said yesterday that you were struggling a little bit with the front tyres. I guess you weren’t in qualifying?

    NR: In qualifying, not so much, no! In qualifying it was definitely better. The temperature coming down in the end slightly helped, just helped the rear tyres a little bit. We’re depending on that also a lot for tomorrow, then how the conditions are can change things a lot for us. It’s difficult to know really how well we’re going to go tomorrow. We’ll see.

    You had an amazing margin over whoever was going to be second at the end. It must have been a funny situation when you were walking down the pit lane and everyone was still trying to beat you?

    NR: You can say that for sure. The lap time was very, very strange. I had no idea if the track got a lot better or what was going on out there, so I was just hoping, ‘come on, let that be enough, please’ and it was, so it was good.

    It must have been a perfect lap?

    NR: It was, definitely.

    Lewis, on the front row again, but sadly, you won’t be on the front row again [this weekend]. It looked like a good lap.

    LH: Yeah, it wasn’t such a bad lap, but I’m pleased to say congratulations to Nico, it’s fantastic to see him up there and for us to qualify on the front row, for me, is a quite a cool feeling because we were team-mates back in 2000 and good friends from way before that. We always dreamed of being here on the front row and racing in Formula One and here we are. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to have that front row, but I’ll just have to work my hardest to try to catch him up.

    What about that last lap. You aborted it. Were you just not going to be quick enough?

    LH: I probably could have gone a tenth quicker but it was very close. It wasn’t enough to close the gap to Nico. No one else was improving on their times so it was important to try to save the tyres.

    You’re a two-time winner here, so what are your chances tomorrow?

    LH: I have a lot of work ahead of me. Just moving forward is what I’ll be aiming for and obviously to finish the race. Then we’ll just see what happens from there. You know anything can happen here with the weather. These guys are going to be massively quick, so I wish them all the best but I just hope me and Jenson can make our way forward and score some valuable points.

    Q: Michael, you actually won from sixth on the grid here, that was your best ever grid position here and you’ve just beaten that by three places. We almost had the sight of Norbert (Haug, Mercedes motor sport boss) dancing in the garage just now, he was so happy. Obviously it’s a great result for the Mercedes team.

    MS: Absolutely. Norbert has been suffering with us for the last two and a half years. Obviously it’s his little baby, to get the Mercedes car up front and to achieve this, with all the effort that Mercedes has put in, the team has put in, it’s just great. It’s the first front row for Silver Arrows for I don’t know how many years (Monza, 1955, three cars, Fangio, Moss, Kling), yeah, very proud of this one.

    Q: Was this the sort of performance you’ve been expecting for the last couple of races?

    MS: Actually not. Looking at yesterday, I didn’t think it would be enough to fight for pole position and looking at what Nico was able to do, obviously I think it’s a little surprise for all of us, but nevertheless, the gap looked a little bit bigger than it finally was today and good for us, let’s hope we can keep it that way. Obviously the further forward we are the better the prospects are for tomorrow.

    Q: Are you quite confident with the tyres for the race tomorrow?

    MS: Yeah. No, we don’t have a particular problem, it’s just a question of how the general speed on high fuel compares to the others, what that means, and then obviously you have tyre degradation, everybody has it, some have more, some have less but for me, I guess it will be the first proper race which I’m hopefully going to finish and I will tell more at the end!

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

     Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Nico, you only had one run in Q3; was it because you didn’t have any tyres any more or did you save one set?

    NR: It was just a decision to save another set of tyres. It was a good lap, I didn’t know if it was going to be enough or not, but it was definitely a good lap and saving a set is very good for the race, so we just took the decision to go for that, because the race is where the points are, not in qualifying.

     Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) You could have had two runs, did you save a set of tyres beforehand, then?

    MS: Yup, same (as Nico).

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Nico, what was your feeling when you discovered that you had pole?

    NR: First of all, it was strange beforehand because I was standing there on my own and everybody else was still going round, but I couldn’t do anything any more, so it was strange. And then slowly but surely, I saw the sector times and I saw that it was definitely going to be enough so fantastic, very excited.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Nico, you said that tomorrow might be good if the temperature goes down a little bit, because it might be better for the rear tyres, but yesterday, wasn’t it a problem that the low temperatures created some graining on the front?

    NR: Yeah, that’s true, that’s why it’s difficult to foresee tomorrow and our performance compared to the other top teams. We just need to wait. We’re in a good position now, we’ve done our homework over the last couple of days, we’ve optimised what we have with the knowledge that we have. Of course, we’re still learning a lot with the car, a lot of things are different but we will see. Difficult to say.

     Q: (China Radio International – Peng Yan Yuan) Michael, you came back last year, and now you’re doing well this year and we have Kimi coming back this year. So who’s going to be the next former World Champion coming back to Formula One?

    MS: Well, there are plenty of elder champions around so I don’t know. Ask around!

    Q: (Xinmin Evening News – Li Ran Ran) Nico, this year you have your first pole, do you feel pressure with Hamilton and Michael behind you?

    NR: Of course. Of course I’m very proud, the first pole is great, for the whole team, it’s a special moment for the whole team and the first of many moments to come, great results and everything. And it’s great to share the qualifying podium here with Lewis and Michael. With Lewis, in the year 2000, we were saying how we imagined one day we were going to be one and two in F1 and now here in qualifying that’s the case, so that’s nice. Of course, having Michael to share the front row with is fantastic for the team, so it’s good.

     

    Though Lewis Hamilton of McLaren qualified in the second place, a penalty for the gear box change will push him to the seventh spot on the grid. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes F1 team photo.

    Ends

     

  • Force India’s 2012 Chinese Grand Prix, Free Practice Report

    Nico Hulkenberg of Sahara Force India during Free Practice in Shanghai on Firday 13Apr2012. Force India pic

    Shanghai, 13 April 2012: Sahara Force India completed a busy free practice programme in Shanghai today. Jules Bianchi took part in his first practice session with the team this morning alongside Nico Hulkenberg, while Paul Di Resta returned alongside Nico for the afternoon.

    Nico Hulkenberg (VJM05/03)
    FP1:     P14      1:40.328            13 laps
    FP2:     P9        1:37.191            31 laps
    Nico: “A very short FP1 with the mixed weather, but the running I managed was still useful because we did a few laps on the medium tyre towards the end of the morning. Then we had a very smooth FP2 in the dry conditions, which allowed us to complete all our objectives with long runs and tyre evaluation. Already I have a positive feeling in the car: it feels good to drive and I’m happy with the balance.”
    Paul Di Resta (VJM05/02)
    FP1:     Did no participate
    FP2:     P8        1:36.966            31 laps
    Paul: “It was a solid afternoon session and a positive start to our race weekend. The baseline set-up was pretty good to begin with and we just worked away at fine-tuning that during the session. As for the tyres, I would say the medium and softs are quite similar and we managed to get good data during the long runs on both compounds.”
    Jules Bianchi (VJM05/02)
    FP1:     P20      1:44.118            8 laps
    FP2:     Did not participate
    Jules: “It was my first ever practice session in Formula One and my first time driving the Shanghai circuit, so there was quite a lot to learn. We tried to do as much as possible, but the weather made things difficult and we didn’t do a lot of laps. After the install lap the track was still a bit damp in places, but almost immediately it started to rain again so we decided to wait for conditions to improve. I went out for a timed lap on the intermediates towards the end before switching to the dry tyres, but the track was very low grip and it was hard to push to the limit. It was good to work with the team and any time in the car is always valuable experience.”
    Jakob Andreasen, Chief Engineer
    “We made the most of a damp morning session to begin our evaluation of some small aero developments we have introduced to the car this week. It was also Jules’ first opportunity to take part in a free practice session with us and despite covering limited mileage he did a good job and gave valuable feedback. With the weather improving this afternoon we were able to push ahead with the essential tyre data collection and assess our long run performance. The sessions went to plan and we are optimistic heading into tomorrow.”

  • Karthikeyan, Vettel make up in Shanghai

    Shanghai, 12 April 2012: Indian F1 driver Narain Karthikeyan of Spanish team HRT and current world champion Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing spoke to each other and patched up in China ahead of the third Grand Prix of the Forumla One World Championship to be held here on Sunday.

    Sebastian Vettel’s car made contact with Narain Karthikeyan and the former had a tyre puncture when leading in the fourth place with only a few laps to go and both had to pit and Vettel could only finish the Malaysian GP race outside points, on March 25, which infuriated him. The German went to the extent of calling a co-F1 driver an idiot failed to show the gentleman spirit of the game. Narain reacted with a `cry-baby’ comment but later said that he would forget it as a racing incident and move forward as he respects Vettel as a driver for his ability. Narain was given a 20-second penalty for the blue-flag incident but all the top drivers and teams have supported Narain Karthikeyan, and said it was not his fault.

    Narain Karthikeyan drove extremely well in the pelting rain and proved that he is as quick as anyone on the grid, if given a good car. All the teams had one competetive lap after the safety car went in and before the race was red flagged and during that lap Narain outclassed celebrated drivers including all the 9 who were in front of him. In that lap, he was fastest in Sector 1 and through-out the 51-minute stoppage, the FIA timings on the TV screens in media box and in the Live Timings beamed all over the world showed that Narain did extremely well in that sector with a best time of 42.4 seconds and closest was another rain-master Lewis Hamilton of McLaren Mercedes team.

    The drivers present at the Thursday press conference of FIA in Shanghai for the third GP of the 2012 season are: Bruno Senna of Williams, Vitaly Petrov of Caterham, Paul Di Resta of Force India, Sergio Perez of Sauber, Fernando Alonso of Ferrari and Narain Karthikeyan of HRT.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Bruno, great result in Malaysia. Do you think that was your best ever grand prix?

    Bruno SENNA: I think it was a great race. We had strong pace and a pretty good strategy as well, even though we had an accident on the first lap, which could in theory have influenced our race result badly. Anyway, we had a strong race. I didn’t make any mistakes during the race, apart from the first lap, and that’s very encouraging. It shows the car has good performance in the dry and in the wet and we had both conditions in the race. I think it was a pretty good effort, not only from me but from the team as well. I’m not racing on my own.

    Do you feel that those are the perfect conditions for you to perform best in the car this year?

    BS: I don’t think it’s a case of this year but for sure in the early part of the season it’s best when you have more mixed conditions. I’m still learning the team, learning the car, learning the tyres. I only came into the season quite late last year and quite a few things have changed as well. All this settling period takes a few races, so I hope I can get them out of the way as quickly as possible but for sure a few races like this would increase the chance of a good result for us but later in the season the drier the race the better.

    The potential looks a lot better than it did last year for Williams. Are you confident of that and of the development necessary to keep them there?

    BS: Yeah, the team has done a great leap forward in terms of performance. The changes that happened definitely made the team focus on the right areas and now it’s up to us, to me and Pastor, and also the engineers to keep the development rate as high, or higher than the guys we’re competing against to try and continue in the position we are. It’s tough. If it was easy everyone would do it but it’s the situation we’re in. We’re pushing very, very hard and for sure scoring points, especially big points as we did last race keeps everyone motivated.

    Vitaly, you’ve been in the points here in the last couple of races, what are you feelings coming into this race? You’ve had a couple of races with Caterham, so what are your feelings about the team after a couple of races?

    Vitaly PETROV: I think first of all, everyone has a good feeling to come back to a track when you have the first points in F1, so it’s a good memory. I have a god memory to come back here because in 2010 I had a good race here, in the wet. I was quite quick and managed to finish in the points.

    What’s going inside the team? I feel quite happy. I feel more free to work. I felt much less pressure on my shoulders. Definitely I still have pressure because I have a very strong team-mate, so I need to work quite hard. But in general I’m a little bit more relaxed than last year.

    I think we will be watching that battle with your team-mate with interest. It’s been a focal point of watching your team so far this year?

    VP: Last two races we did a good job during the race. I know I need to little bit improve my qualifying performance but we bring some good maps and some good set-up to this race, and we have some good updates coming, so I’ll cross they fingers they work again, as good as we expect. Yeah, but as for the performance during the race we were not too bad. I think I need to work a little bit harder in qualifying and then we will see.

    And are you comfortable now inside the car?

    VP: Yeah, actually. It’s quite comfortable and we still need to adjust the seat a little but at the moment it’s OK.

    Paul, were talking there about the battle between team-mates, which is always of interest. There’s quite an interesting battle between yourself and Nico, you seem to be very closely matched.

    Paul DI RESTA: Yeah, I think it was pretty similar last year with Adrian. Obviously with Nico, I have to have a lot of respect for him. At the moment we seem to be the closest drivers, against their team-mates, but it’s always good to have that competitive nature in the team, you push each other along and drag the best out of each other. At the moment it’s work in progress because were trying to develop the car. And to do that fast we have to work together to build our team to try to challenge the likes of Williams and Sauber, who are a bit in front of us at the moment. But, having scored the points that we have in the first two grands prix, we’re certainly looking forward, hopefully until we get some updates on the car, and we can put some more performance on, which we’re quite confident we can achieve.

    This is your second Formula One season. Do you think the first one was learning and that this one is about confirming the form you showed last year?

    PDR: I think there’s more pressure for you to perform, in terms of being a second-year driver, but I’ve always had the task of just trying to pick the positive and certainly just trying to do the best I can in the sport I love doing. So far our race performance has showed to be stronger than our qualifying and the experience I got last year I think paid a lot to the result I got in Malaysia in tricky conditions and we managed to finish seventh. Everyone achieved the maximum we could from the package we had. We just need to make sure we’re at the top of our game all this season, because to maintain the position, as a driver and as a constructor, that we achieved last year is a mighty challenger. But the vibe in the team is quite high and strong at the moment.

    You talked earlier about how Sauber and Williams are perhaps a little bit ahead of you, whereas they weren’t at the end of last season. There’s a little bit of ground to be gained there. Are you confident of getting that back?

    PDR: Yeah, I think we started this year very strong. They’ve obviously come up with updates and stuff. We’ve been relatively neutral. The tunnel and the factory are working very hard. We are looking forward to the next couple of races when we get back to Europe. We have a good package coming for Mugello. We’ve obviously been working very hard on that. We’ve taken the decision to leave it there to maximise that. Really, at the moment, we’re trying to do the best job we can with the car we have. Certainly in Malaysia we achieved a lot so there’s no reason why we can’t do that again. Last year here our car showed more potential than we thought, so I hope that the philosophies that carried on from that, certainly lead into this year. We got into Q3 here with a car that nearly never got into Q2 in Melbourne.

    Sergio, tell us about the reaction in Mexico to your second place in the last grand prix?

    Sergio PEREZ: Well, it’s been really great. I had some time there with the family, with friends, to enjoy the result we had. The people there were going crazy. It was a great result for my country. It was 40 years since the last podium we had in Formula One, so it was really nice to feel all the support I’m getting from the fans, from the country.

    Do you think there is more pressure on your now? And also, will there be more money for development with, perhaps, more money from Mexico?

    SP: That would be a good sign, no? Already, the interest has come up, not only from Mexico, but from other companies around the world that can help us to develop our car, which is important for us. In terms of pressure, I think the pressure remains the same, giving my 100 per cent every race weekend, trying to have success, and just try to the best, that will be the target for the next 18 races.

    I think a year ago we were thinking ‘that Sergio Pérez is pretty good with the tyres’ and a year later we’re still thinking the same thing – after the first two grands prix. Have the specifications come to you? Have this year’s specifications helped you?

    SP: I don’t think it has helped in terms of last year for me on the roadside. I can play the tyres, but sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t work. I always try to adapt myself to different conditions that you have in Formula One most of the time, which is even more difficult, to be adapting to every single condition. You have different conditions in free practice than in qualifying and it’s very important to be able to adapt yourself to any condition.

    But that’s something that you’re going to continue to exploit?

    SP: Of course, there is a big potential there and with experience it will get better because when I came to Formula One it was (sound drops out) to keep changing your style. People always ask me ‘what’s your style?’ but I think in Formula One you don’t have one – you are always changing your style and trying to adapt yourself to any condition.

    Fernando, what we expecting from you and what are you expecting from yourself and Ferrari this weekend? What’s changed since the last race?

    Fernando ALONSO: Nothing changed. I think it’s going to be a tough weekend for us again. I don’t expect any big surprises as we’ve been saying, the team and myself, all week, the car has some small improvements, nothing big for this race and I think it’s the same, more or less, for all the other teams around us in the paddock. So I expect more or less the positions to maintain, or to keep the same as the first two races, which means a difficult to weekend for us. Struggling to be in Q3, I guess, in qualifying and then in the race to score as many points as possible as we did in the first races – trying to do a good strategy, a good management of the tyres and a little bit of luck. It’s always a factor that we always seem to forget is there. I remember in Australia we had a great team effort from everybody there, a good strategy, pit stops etc, but we also had some luck to get the fifth result and in Malaysia we had the same. Starting from the first corner, we avoided any accident. It seems normal but every first corner is always a risk. We had Grosjean and Schumacher crashing in turn four in Malaysia, which we were very close to being in that accident as well. So, it’s always… a race or a grand prix is not only pace, a good strategy or good driving skills. It’s a big package and luck is a big factor. Hopefully the luck is still with us this weekend.

    Will a wet track be part of that luck?

    FA: I guess so.

    So you’re praying for rain?

    FA: It can be a very good weekend for you or very bad because it’s a little bit of gamble in the rain. Anything can happen. You can be with the right tyre in the right moment or completely the wrong tyre in the wrong moment, so this is what happens in wet races. As I said, with a normal race we know our possibilities, we know our limitations at the moment, which is not quick enough. So in a wet race, we can lose a couple of points or we can win a lot more. Maybe this risk of a wet race can be good for us at the moment because in normal conditions we are not as fast as we expected.

    Fernando, you’ve passed Jackie Stewart’s number of wins with your victory in Malaysia. Only Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell have won more races than you. That last win of yours was also compared with Gilles Villeneuve in that it was a win against the odds. What does it mean to you to be talked about in the company of those drivers?

    FA: I’m privileged to be in that group of great drivers that I watched on TV as a kid and now I’m having a good career in Formula One and I’ve been extremely privileged to drive for fantastic teams in my career. So, the number of victories will hopefully increase even more and I will be up in this table. Records are not something that you pay a big importance to now, as you concentrated on your next grand prix or you are so focused on your daily preparation that you don’t pay too much attention but I’m sure that in 10 or 15 years time I will appreciate it much more than now. But I’m not paying too much attention now.

    Q: Narain, it’s been a difficult start to the season. Just give us some indication as to how difficult it has been for the team, for the drivers and the sort of mountain that there is to climb for the HRT team.

    Narain KARTHIKEYAN: Yeah. The start of the year wasn’t very good because we missed all the testing and then we came to Australia with a new car and like all new cars, it had a lot of problems with cooling and hydraulics and few laps. Clearly our car is still lacking a lot of downforce, which is the biggest problem. Pedro de la Rosa is quite good to help the team to go in the right direction, he has a lot of experience with big teams, so we’re trying to improve. It’s still a very small team and we have limited resources but I can see that the structure is a lot stronger than last year. There are some good people in the team and so we will improve quite a lot at the Mugello test hopefully.

    Q: It’s obviously left you as a backmarker in the last race which got you involved in a public argument which we won’t go into, but what is life like as a backmarker in Formula One, especially when there are a lot of cars on the circuit due to the reliability of the cars? Are your eyes on the mirrors all time?

    NK: Yes, practically after the first 15 laps or so after that it’s very difficult because a lot of blue flags. I think at the last race there were  something like 36 blue flags so it’s quite difficult. The car is obviously five or six seconds off the pace and in tricky conditions like when we switched to dry tyres, with less downforce and it’s so hard to drive and the car is a handful to drive in completely dry conditions, so in mixed conditions it’s really difficult. But it is what it is, this is what I have and I will try to do the best with what I have.

    Q: Is the driver ever going to say that the car is too slow in those conditions, at one circuit or another?

    NK: No, I think qualifying within the 107 percent is no longer a problem, but we need to improve for sure. We need to reduce the gap. If you take our lap times from last year, we have not improved so much. From the numbers we had, we were hoping that the car would take a significant step forward but that is not the case right now. We know the reasons, there is a wind tunnel programme and we’re trying to improve it.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

     

    Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Il Corriere della Sera ) Fernando, are you surprised that the Red Bulls haven’t been as competitive as they were last year and that they will come back very soon?

    FA: Not surprised because I know the complex world of Formula One and developing a car in Formula One is not the easiest thing in the world but for us and for the team, we were surprised that when we put the car on the track in winter testing that we didn’t have the results we were hoping for and that was the biggest surprise. From that point, you start working on the car, you start working on the improvements and you know that there’s not a magic button that you touch, or a magic part of the track that you can change and the car immediately becomes competitive. You start work that has to be done properly, step-by-step and hopefully new parts will come very soon that will make the car quicker but this is something that we need to be calm about, let the people in Italy work and here when we are on trackside and at the Grand Prix try to maximise the potential we have in our hands; it’s what we did in the first two races and what we will try to do in the next two.

    Q: (Steve Dawson – ESPN Star Sports) Does any member of the panel acknowledge that they might have a moral difficulty in going to Bahrain next week?

    There is no reply.

    Q: (Carlos Miguel – La Gaceta) Fernando, in this race are you waiting for big improvements or is everything going according to plan? Or are you waiting until Barcelona for a big improvement?

    FA: As I said, no big improvements for this race and I don’t think… No big improvements for this race and as I said, we’re working, we’re working on the car and I think we cannot say that for Barcelona there will be a big improvement because we don’t know. We are working day and night to do the work and to improve the car and I think we have some new parts for the car which we need to test tomorrow – maybe they are working fine, maybe they are not working and we need to come back with those parts. In Barcelona there will be more new parts which I’m hoping for. We need to test to see if they are working fine. For Canada there will do more, Monaco, so it’s nothing… as I said, Formula One these days doesn’t have a magic button where we change something, we arrive in China, we arrive in Barcelona, in Canada and you change one part on the car and you improve by one second. This will be constant work from the team, improving one tenth, two tenths, three tenths every step that we do and we need to do it quicker than the others because all the other teams will bring a couple tenths (advantage) to every race so we need to bring some more.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Sergio, how is your approach to this Grand Prix, considering that everybody is maybe expecting something similar from you in comparison to the last two races? It looks very hard not to be affected by the interest everybody has in you.

    SP: I think we are really realistic as a team. We know that the Malaysian race was not a normal race, the conditions were extremely difficult for everybody. We got them right, we stopped at the right time more or less and we were able to fight for victory, but I think in normal conditions this is not where we belong, we have to be very realistic and our target is still to score as many points as possible. If we can score another podium during the year it will be great, but we are very realistic that it can really only happen in different conditions.

    Q: (Carlos Miguel – La Gaceta) Narain, tomorrow in the drivers’ briefing what’s your position with Vettel?

    NK: For me it was a racing incident and we’ve spoken to each other so it should be OK.

    Schumy with HRT drivers Narain Karthikeyan (right) and Pedro De la Rosa at Sepang on March 25, 2012. HRT photo
    Schumy with HRT drivers Narain Karthikeyan (right) and Pedro De la Rosa at Sepang on March 25.. HRT photo

    Ends

  • HRT F1 team presents development driver Ma Qing Hua

    Shanghai, 12 April 2012: The official presentation of Ma Qing Hua took place this morning at the Shanghai international Circuit. The Chinese driver joins HRT Formula 1 Team’s driver development programme with the team intending on creating a platform for the formation of professionals in the pinnacle of world motorsport.
    The 24 year-old driver born in Shanghai has taken part in various categories of national and international motorsport over the years and, after competing in competitions such as Formula Campus, Formula Renault and F3, Ma Qing Hua reaches Formula 1 at the hand of HRT. Ma says he feels honoured by this opportunity presented by HRT and feels ready to take the step into the pinnacle of motorsport and become the first Chinese driver in Formula 1.
    Alongside Ma Qing Hua were Luis Pérez-Sala, HRT Team Principal, and Xiang Tong Chun, Secretary of the Federation of Automobile Sports of China.
    Ma Qing Hua: “First of all I must say thank you to everyone for their support and for giving me the opportunity to share with you how honoured I feel because of this opportunity presented to me by HRT Formula 1 Team. I know that I will learn a lot from everyone, especially my teammates, who will surely pass on to me their experience and knowledge. From now on my main objective is to study and learn a lot quickly, I must extract as much information as possible and take in both the most basic concepts and the most technical and specialized ones of Formula 1. Thank you very much to everyone for all the support you have given me”.
    Luis Pérez-Sala, Team Principal: “This year we have two experienced drivers, Pedro and Narain, who we’re very happy with, since they’re helping us to develop in the path that we wish to follow. We also have a driver development programme which started with Dani Clos and that Ma Qing Hua has joined in order for him to develop alongside us. I’ve spent years forming young talents and that is why I know Ma from a few years back and I know what his potential is. Before incorporating him we tested him on our simulator in Barcelona and with a World Series car in Valencia. The data which we obtained proved what we already believed, that he is a very good driver. He’s very secure, sensible in the car and has a strong and balanced mentality. Because of all this we believe that we can help him in his development as a Formula 1 driver, we want him to test as much as possible and, if possible, for him to take part in the young driver tests this year”.
    Xian Tong Chun, Secretary of the Federation of Automobile Sports of China: “Before anything I must thank everyone for attending this event, I welcome you all to Shanghai. I want to congratulate Ma Qing Hua for this new stage in his professional career that starts at the Spanish outfit HRT Formula 1 Team. In 2004 China entered Formula 1 with the inauguration of this circuit in Shanghai and I thought to myself that in ten years we could maybe see the first Chinese driver inside a Formula 1 car. Not that many years have had to pass for that to practically come true and because of that I am extremely proud to see what Ma Qing Hua has achieved. He is an excellent driver, who has taken part in numerous championships, national and internationally, and last year he won the Chinese Touring Car Championships, so I don’t doubt his potential. I must thank his representative for having discovered this great driver and HRT for giving him this opportunity to form a part of their driver development programme”.
    Profile
    Date of Birth: 25th of December 1987
    Place of Birth: Shanghai, China
    Nationality: Chinese
    Ma Qing Hua started racing at the tender age of 8 and won the youth National Karting Championship when he was 12 years old. He continued to race and achieve successful results in karting until 2004, when he entered the Asian Formula Renault Series and won the championship. In 2005 he represented Team China in A1 Grand Prix. From here he would move on to Formula Renault 2.0 NEC, before competing in Formula 3 Spain and Formula 3 Spain Copa de España, managing two podiums this season. One year later, the Chinese driver took part in various events of the British Formula 3 International Series. In 2010 he represented Team China for two races in Superleague Formula before moving onto the Chinese Touring Car Championship in 2011 where he came away with the title after four wins and four podiums in the eight-race season.
    Career Summary:
    2011: Chinese Touring Car Championship: 1st in the Championship (4 wins and 4 podiums)
    2010: Superleague Formula: Team China
    2009: British Formula 3 International Series: Team West-Tec
    2008: Formula 3 Spain: Copa de España F3: Team West-Tec: 7th in the Copa (2 podiums)
    2007:Chinese National Karting Championship (Super Group): 1st in the Championship
    2006:Formula Renault 2.0 NEC: Team Astromega
    2005:A1GP: Team China: 2004:Asian Formula Renault Series: 1st in the Championship
    Formula Campus Asia Championship: 1st in the Championship
    Shanghai Karting Grand Prix (ICA Group): Winner
    2003:Chinese National Karting Championship (ICA Group): 6th position
    2002:Chinese National Karting Championship: 2nd position
    Indian International Karting Championship: 2nd position
    ends

    Ma Qing (left) with HRT team principal Luis Perez Sala (centre) and Chinese Federation secretary.

  • Paul looks confident for Sahara Force India

    Shanghai 12 April 2012: Sahara Force India looks ahead to the third round of the 2012 season in Shanghai, China. 
    After two races the 2012 season appears to have all the ingredients needed to serve up a spectacular year of racing. Already the fans have enjoyed two thrilling races and the intensity of the competition across the grid is sure to capture everybody’s attention.
    “I said last year that the competition in the midfield was close, but this year it seems to be even more so with the majority of the grid capable of fighting for points. It’s a good situation for Formula One, but it also means points are harder to come by. It’s encouraging that we have scored points in both races and that will be our aim once again in China,” says Team Principal Vijay Mallya.
    “I have to congratulate Paul and Nico on their excellent drives in Malaysia. They are only in their second full seasons of Formula One, but they both showed their maturity in the difficult conditions. At times Paul was one of the fastest cars on the circuit, excelling in the conditions, and it’s clear that we can expect another strong season from him. I was also delighted to see Nico pick up his first points with us after such a strong showing,” he added.
    In terms of car development, the factory at Silverstone continues to work at full capacity to improve our performance. The first two races have given us a great deal of information to work with and we will put it to good use in the coming races.
    Paul on Shanghai
    Following points finishes in the first couple of races, Paul Di Resta sets his sights on more of the same in Shanghai this weekend.
    Paul, you must be pretty happy with your start to the season…
    I think the whole team is pleased to have nine points on the board after two races and it was important that we picked up some good points on such an unpredictable day in Malaysia. We’ve seen how close all the teams are this year and getting points isn’t easy, so it feels good to start as we mean to continue.
    Do you enjoy visiting China and experiencing the different culture?
    China is a great place and Shanghai is a city I enjoy visiting. It’s such a big place, there is a lot to see and I enjoy it even more each time I go there.
    Tell us about the track…
    It has some unusual features. Turn one is very long and feels like it goes on forever. The key to getting it right is how much entry speed you can carry into the corner. You also have to look out for one of the biggest bumps of the year at the corner entry, which makes it difficult.
    And what about the overtaking opportunities?
    The best chance is turn one or into the very tight hairpin of turn 14, which widens on the entry and makes it difficult to defend. We also saw the effectiveness of DRS last year, which helped produce some good racing and it should be the same this year.
    Nico on Shanghai
    Nico Hulkenberg looks ahead to racing in Shanghai following his points finish in Malaysia.
    Nico, after the disappointment of Melbourne, you finally got some racing miles under your belt in Sepang…
    Yes, I’m happy with the race we had in Malaysia, which was basically the first proper race I have done since the end of 2010. It wasn’t an easy race and I was never in any clean air, but it was good to pick up a couple of points – my first points for the team.
    Did you learn much about the car given that the conditions were so changeable in Sepang?
    You always learn something and a race distance is always valuable for your knowledge of the car, even racing in the wet. The most difficult part of the race was just after the restart when I struggled for balance on the wets and intermediates, but when I switched to slicks the performance was pretty good.
    Does the team have a better idea of the pecking order yet?
    We’re only at the start of the season – we’ve only had two race weekends, so we still need to wait and see. Because the midfield is so compact nobody can afford to relax. We all need to push hard to improve performance and with 18 races still to go there’s plenty of time to do that.
    What are your thoughts ahead of this weekend’s race in China?
    It’s not my favourite race of the year, but they’ve done a good job to build a really impressive facility and it’s a fun track to drive. It’s difficult to predict how well we will do there, but given how close the grid is at the moment I think it should be a good show for everyone who is watching.

    ends

  • HRT yet to sort out cooling issues; Narain confident

    Madrid, 9 April 2012: A stunning show in Malaysian Grand Prix notwithstanding, HRT driver Narain Karthikeyan feels that the demanding Shanghai circuit will be technically tough on braking stability as cooling issues are yet to be fully sorted out by the Spanish outfit. The team is expected to bring in more developments after the testing in May. The 56-lap, 5.451km race will be held at the Shanghai International circuit from Friday to Sunday, the 15th April, a HRT release from Madrid said.

    Having met the team’s target and celebrating with a “Mission accomplished” statement shows how important it is for the HRT Formula 1 Team to keep meeting the targets. Narain’s driving in Malaysia caught the eye of the world and thanks to the silly spat with world champion Sebastian Vettel, the entire fraternity and other current F1 drivers including Schumacher have supported Narain, who dismissed it as a racing incident. But the world saw the Rain Master, a Padma Shree from India, enjoy some thrilling minutes at Sepang before the race was red flagged.

    On that day on March 25, both the HRT cars qualified and completed their first race of the season after a hard start. They failed to qualify in Melbourne for the season opener. The F112 accumulated many kilometres and data on the track and the engineers had a lot of information to work on during the two week period between the race in Sepang and China. Having met the team’s targets last time out, HRT now aims to progress from where it left things in Malaysia and continue improving.

    Talking about the third race of the season which will be held in the Chinese city of Shanghai, Narain Karthikeyan was confident despite all odds. He said: “We took a step forward in Malaysia and our aim is definitely to carry the momentum into China and rest of the season. Although we managed to finish the race, cooling was still an issue at Sepang and once we have it sorted out completely we’ll be able to unlock some more performance from the car. The back straight at the Shanghai circuit is of course one of the longest on the calendar and the tightening first corner is uniquely challenging since the corner entry is in top gear and by the time you exit you’re in second. Plus there are a fair amount of technical slow-speed corners as well, and the high-speed direction change of turns 7/8. Given these mixed characteristics, it is a demanding circuit for traction, aero and braking stability in equal measures”.

    The Shanghai International Circuit is made up of sixteen turns, with nine being right-handers and seven left-handers. Cars reach maximum speeds on the 1.2km straight between corners 13 and 14, where they try and take advantage of the length of the straight to overtake. In China, the team will have a new member on board, Ma Qing Hua, who will be joining the outfit for the first time as a member of the driver development programme at his local Grand Prix.

    Pirelli have elected their soft and medium tyres for this grand prix.

    Pedro de la Rosa, #22: “After these first two Grands Prix we arrive in China much better prepared, with more mileage and having learned a lot, especially after the Malaysian GP. All the data gathered in the last race is very important for us, as we mustn’t forget that we didn’t have a preseason. Now we have a better insight on the areas where we must improve, but the most important thing in this initial stage is to finish races. That is the prime objective in order to learn and improve race by race. The hardest part comes now but we are better prepared. China is a circuit where I have always done well and a place I know well, both in dry and wet conditions. It’s not a particularly hard track for the car or the driver, but aerodynamics are fundamental”.

    Luis Pérez-Sala, Team Principal: “The start to the season was very complicated because we were behind schedule with regards to the other teams. We had to put in a colossal effort to be able to get on track in Australia and improve our performance just one week later in Malaysia. There’s still plenty to do and many areas to improve on to be where we should be but at least in these two weeks we’ve had a bit more time to analyse data, prepare and recharge batteries, therefore I’m confident that we’re arriving in China in a much better situation. We mustn’t forget that the F112 is only taking its first steps and, as of today, what we must do is progress without stopping. In Shanghai we’ll have some small updates to optimize cooling and aerodynamics, and the target for this weekend is to check that these adjustments work. To sum up, we have to get more out of the car but must als o improve on teamwork and coordination”.

    ends

    Schumy (centre) gets the audience of HRT drivers Pedro and Narain (right)

  • Sailesh bags second place in British GT series

    Oulton Park, Cheshire (UK), 9 April 2012: Indian racer from the port city of Vizag, overcame his inexperience and all odds as he displayed brilliant driving skills to stand on the podium with his teammate, in the inaugural race of the 2012 British GT championship which lived up to its fast-paced, closely competitive racing reputation here on Monday. The Indian driver Sailesh Bolisetti took the second spot on the podium in his Series debut.

    The stage for the cracking race was set early in the day as drivers made their way to a very wet Oulton Park circuit in the morning, with the rain showing no signs of abating.

    Luckily though, the first practice session on Friday was also held under similar conditions, which gave Sailesh an opportunity to get some wet-weather running under his belt.

    “I thought that I’d much rather prefer a completely dry weekend, but with the race conditions it was turned out well that we had some experience in similar conditions.

    “The lines, grip level and tyre characteristics are completely different”, he added.

    By the virtue of setting the pace in first qualifying session for the Lotus Sport UK team, Sailesh was set to take the wheel in the opening stint in one-hour long first race.

    A perfect rolling start later, Sailesh did well to hold the GT4 competition, while conditions went from bad to worse, with several cars going off around him.

    “It was really treacherous, I could see cars going off and coming back all over the circuit. I was just focussing on keeping all wheels on the tarmac and keeping my nose out of trouble. But it was easier said than done since the bunched-up GT3 cars were throwing up an awful amount of spray and their taillights were all I had, to go on.”

    Sailesh managed to keep things in one piece though, and the strategy was working well until the safety car was deployed in the 23rd minute after one of the GT3 cars stopped on the circuit.

    The timing couldn’t have been worse as Sailesh was poised to hand over the car to his teammate Phil Glew at the time, with the mandatory pitstop window approaching.

    The safety car period bunched up the car – which was good and bad in equal measures.

    The GT4 competition was closer now, which meant Sailesh would have an opportunity to pass once the track went green again.

    However, some of the GT3 cars had peeled off into the pitlane after the safety car was deployed and had re-joined at the back of the grid.

    The fear was realised as the safety car came in and racing was resumed. The GT3 cars from the back of grid were jostling for position to move back through the field, bullying the slower GT4 cars out of the way. “We lost several crucial seconds getting out of the way and going off the racing line to let the GT3 cars pass. If it wasn’t for that we could have been fighting for the win.”

    Sailesh finally came in after the half hour mark to hand the car over to his teammate, and some deft work by the Lotus Sport crew in the pitlane allowed the team to claw back some time.

    Glew put his experience in extreme conditions to good use and proceeded to gain two places to give the team a second-placed finish.

    Former BTCC driver and Lotus Sport UK team manager Gary Ayles was pleased with the rookie’s first outing saying: “Conditions couldn’t have been any difficult for a debutant, yet Sailesh showed great maturity and gave the car back to us in one piece – which isn’t what we can say about a lot of other experienced drivers today.”

    Sailesh’s race engineer, Vic Lee also reiterated Ayles’ comments. “He did an extremely good job in his first race, didn’t make things difficult for us since conditions were plenty difficult anyways,” Lee said.

    “At this point it is all about getting as much seat time as possible and staying out of trouble to finish. We’re on the podium for the first race of the season so things are looking quite promising,” he added.

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  • Sailesh Bolisetti qualifies 5th in debut race at British GT

    Oulton Park (Cheshire, UK), 8 April 2012: Despite trying conditions, Indian Saloon car driver Sailesh Bolisetti put on a great showing on his first outing in the British GT championship here today. The series rookie displayed commendable driving maturity under trying conditions at the season-opening round at Oulton Park, according to a Press Release.

    The characteristic British weather at the Cheshire circuit didn’t make things easy for the Indian as a wet first practice session ate into his track time and setup work pencilled in for the session earlier.

    It was also the first time he was driving the

    Sailesh in discussion with his race engineer during the British GT qualification in his debut race on Sunday. Photo courtesy Sailesh.

    full track, having only tested on the shorter ‘Fosters’ layout last month.

    “Certainly it wasn’t the start I was looking for in the morning, the track was soaking wet and the lines were completely different from the dry”, said Sailesh.

    “At this early stage I would’ve much rather preferred a dry track to work with from start to finish.”

    The track was still damp in the second free practice session but was deemed good for slicks.

    The Indian driver then managed to make the most of his half hour session behind the wheel (one hour of practice being split between him and his teammate Phil Glew sharing the Lotus Evora GT4).

    With conditions improving, Sailesh was able to get much closer to his experienced teammate’s benchmark.

    “I was getting into the groove as the track dried up and the car was working well under those conditions.”

    Buoyed by his progress, he was confident of his pace and looking forward to qualifying.

    The British GT format includes two qualifying sessions, the results of each deciding grid position for the each of the two races.

    Come qualifying, this time it was Sailesh who unconventionally took the wheel ahead of teammate Glew.

    However, his relative inexperience came to the fore as he was unable to get the tyres and brakes into the operating window during the short 15-minute session.

    “I was feeling a lot of vibration, and the car didn’t seem to have any grip. I wasn’t sure what was wrong, and was under pressure as I knew the clock was ticking.”

    The team later discovered that Sailesh had not been able to get the brakes and tyres working since during all preceding sessions, it was teammate Glew who always took the wheel first, thereby leaving Sailesh alien to this aspect of car’s performance.

    “It isn’t something we could foresee – Sailesh had never driven an opening stint before so he wasn’t familiar with the procedures we normally undertake to get the car working”, Lotus Sport UK team manager Gary Ayles suggested.

    “During the testing and even practice sessions, we had been focussing solely on his speed and maximising track time since the aim was to get him settled in at the earliest”, he added.

    “So it isn’t a shortcoming, just lack of track time and inexperience, and he should be ok from now on.”

    The short qualifying session was soon over and still struggling with the car as he crossed the line, Sailesh ended up fifth on the GT4 grid.

    As per regulations, he will now start race one and hand over the car to his teammate during the mandatory pitstop window between the 20th and 40th minute.

    In the second qualifying session, Glew went on to clinch pole position in the GT4 category, confirming the potential of the team’s Evora GT4.

    “We know for sure that we have a strong package, and we have a long race ahead of us on Monday”, conceded Sailesh.

    I am therefore aiming to move through the field quickly and finish as high as possible.”

    “The circumstances were a bit unusual today, but there is something to learn from every experience – especially so early in my stint here”, he concluded.

    The two one-hour races are scheduled on Monday April 9th.

  • Sarath Kumar becomes first Indian rider to bag international points

    Imola, 8 April 2012: The first Indian MotoGP driver Sarath Kumar, became the first Indian to earn International points finishing 7th after his teammate, Riccardo Moretti won the 125GP/Moto3 race of the year at the Italian Championship in  Imola’s Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari.

    “It is a moment of great pride and I the satisfaction of scoring my first points in an international championship is an amazing feeling,” said an elated Sarath Kumar. “I am thankful to all the encouragement and support given to me by the Mahindra team, my manager and the everyone at the Group,” he added.

    Anand Mahindra, Vice Chairman and MD, Mahindra & Mahindra who was present teo witness the historic moment for India said: “We are ecstatic about our second consecutive win in the Italian Championship today. Riccardo Moretti has shown tremendous skill and expertise in negotiating the circuit under damp conditions. We are particularly proud of our fellow Indian Sarath Kumar for scoring his first-ever International points.” Incidentally, they are international points for an Indian rider for the first time.

    After heavy rainfall, the Italian track was still wet for the 125/Moto3 race. Riccardo Moretti got a good start and had to fight immediately with Moto3 riders for the first overall position. At the end of the 10th lap Moretti got the chequered flag while his team-mate Kumar ended up with a fantastic 7th position.

    At the end of this second race, Moretti maintained the leadership in the standings with 50 points while Kumar is currently ninth, thanks to the 9 points obtained on Sunday.

    Next CIV race is scheduled for the 29th of April at Monza.

    “It’s been a really tough race. My bike improved a lot compared to yesterday’s qualifying, but we were not still 100% with the set-up. My technicians were still impressive to allow me to win the second race in a row in the Italian Championship,” said a pleased Riccardo Moretti.

    “I was involved in some hard fight straight after the start with some Moto3 riders and it’s been a good race, although the track conditions have made it all harder. I’m happy for the win and I want to thank Mahindra and all my team.”

    125 GP- Italian Championship – Race : 1. Moretti (Mahindra); 2. Dalla Porta (Aprilia); 3. Mantovani (Aprilia); 4. Carpi (Aprilia); 5. Mazzola (Aprilia); 6. Arciero (Aprilia); 7. Kumar (Mahindra);

     

    File picture with Anand Mahindra: Photo: Mahindra Racing

    ends