INDIA in F1

Tag: Charles Leclerc

  • Charles Leclerc leads Ferrari 1-2 in FP3: Mexican GP

    Charles Leclerc leads Ferrari 1-2 in FP3: Mexican GP

    Charles Leclerc tops FP3 in Mexico on Saturday morning. An FIA image

    Mexico City, 26 Oct 2019: Charles Leclerc went quickest in the final practice session for the Mexican Grand Prix, with the Monegasque driver beating team-mate Sebastian Vettel by just 0.027s at the end of a late chase for top spot following a wet start to the session.

    Heavy overnight rain left the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez track surface too damp for slick tyres and the early part of the session saw the few teams that took to the track run cautiously on green-banded intermediate tyres.

    Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen led the way in the first half-hour, the Dutchman posting a time of 1:26.118 that left him four-tenths clear of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.

    With a little over 13 minutes left in the session, Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen bolted on a set of soft tyres and when the Finn immediately went more than four seconds quicker than Verstappen it sparked a furious final 10 minutes of action as teams attempted to learn as much as possible in the short time available.

    The top spot was traded among Bottas, on medium compound Pirellis, Verstappen, the second Red Bull of Alex Albon and McLaren’s Carlos Sainz, all on softs, before Bottas moved further ahead.

    The Finn moved to soft tyres and with a little over two minutes left on the clock he took P1 with a lap of 1:16.259. Hamilton couldn’t match that with his run on softs, with the Briton putting in a slight scruffy lap to cross the line over a tenth behind his team-mate.

    It was left to Leclerc and Vettel to lead the way and as the chequered flag was shown Leclerc took top spot with a time of 1:16.145, just under three-hundredths of a second ahead of Vettel.

    Their times shuffled Bottas and Hamilton to third and fourth places respectively, while Sainz took fifth place for McLaren.

    Neither Red Bull driver found space for a clean run in the final minutes of the session, with Verstappen coming across a slow Alfa Romeo on his run and Albon being slowed by Williams’ Robert Kubica. Verstappen thus had to settle for sixth place, almost eight tenths of a second off Leclerc, while Albon finished eighth.

    The Red Bulls were split by the Toro Rosso of Pierre Gasly. The Frenchman sat out the bulk of the session with illness but he went out on track in the final minutes to post a time of 1:17.090 to edge Albon by 0.004s.

    Lando Norris was ninth in the second McLaren, 1.001s off the pace and the final top 10 position was taken by Racing Point’s Sergio Pérez.

    Down at Renault technical problems prevented Daniel Ricciardo from taking part, while team-mate Nico Hulkenberg completed a single installation lap. The team reported “pollution of one of the cooling systems, which requires careful cleaning not to damage any component”.

    2019 FIA Formula One Mexican Grand Prix – Free Practice 3
    1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 14 1:16.145
    2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 11 1:16.172 0.027
    3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 18 1:16.259 0.114
    4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 16 1:16.381 0.236
    5 Carlos Sainz McLaren 14 1:16.638 0.493
    6 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 12 1:16.903 0.758
    7 Pierre Gasly Scuderia Toro Rosso 10 1:17.090 0.945
    8 Alex Albon Red Bull Racing 19 1:17.094 0.949
    9 Lando Norris McLaren 11 1:17.146 1.001
    10 Sergio Perez Racing Point 10 1:17.207 1.062
    11 Daniil Kvyat Scuderia Toro Rosso 14 1:17.529 1.384
    12 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo Racing 19 1:17.740 1.595
    13 Lance Stroll Racing Point 8 1:17.866 1.721
    14 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing 8 1:17.881 1.736
    15 Kevin Magnussen Haas 12 1:18.132 1.987
    16 Romain Grosjean Haas 14 1:18.527 2.382
    17 George Russell Williams 13 1:20.965 4.820
    18 Robert Kubica Williams 13 1:22.002 5.857
    19 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1

  • Vettel takes pole ahead of Leclerc; Hamilton P4

    Vettel takes pole ahead of Leclerc; Hamilton P4

    Sebastian Vettel, centre, flanked by teammate Charles Leclerc, left, and Valtteri Bottas after taking pole on Sunday. An FIA image

    Suzuka, 13 Oct 2019: Sebastian Vettel claimed the 57thpole position of his career as Ferrari locked out the front row at Suzuka in a delayed qualifying session for the Japanese Grand Prix. Mercedes will start from row two, with Valtteri Bottas third ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

    The arrived of Typoon Hagibis yesterday caused the cancellation of all track action at the Mie Prefecture track and qualifying got underway on Sunday morning.

    The first segment began in disjointed fashion with two red flags in quick succession. First Williams’ Robert Kubica went onto the gras at Turn 18 and slid off into the barriers and then, after an eight-minutes halt, Haas’ Kevin Magnussen did almost the same. The Dane got out of shape on the exit of the final chicane and then simply spun out in Turn 18 before slapping the barriers with both end of his car. Magnussen managed to keep his Haas going, however, and limped to the pits, though he was not seen for the rest of the session.

    When the green lights went on again the segment was straightforward for the front runners. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc led the way ahead of Hamilton and Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen. However, eliminated at the end of the session were Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo in 16thplace, followed by Racing Point’s Sergio Pérez, Williams’ George Russell and the unfortunate Magnussen and Kubica.

    The second session saw Vettel set the early pace with a lap of 1:28.174, though that was soon beaten by Hamilton who set a time of 1:27.826.

    The kept the title leader on top until the late in the session when Bottas jumped ahead of his team-mate with an improved lap of 1:27.688. Red Bull’s Alex also improved on his final run of the session, gaining almost seven tenths of a second over his first attempt to steal P3 with a lap of 1:28.156. Ferrari, meanwhile, chose to skip the final runs and Q2 ended with Vettel fourth ahead of Leclerc with Verstappen. Behind the Dutchman, McLaren’s Lando Norris made it into Q3 ahead of team-mate Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly and the Haas of Romain Grosjean.

    Eliminated at the end of Q2 were 11th-placed Alfa Romeo driver Antonio Giovinazzi, followed by Racing Point’s Lance Stroll, the second Alfa of Kimi Räikkönen, the second Toro Rosso of Daniil Kvyat and Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg.

    It was Vettel, though, who rose up through the ranks to claim pole position. The German set blistering pace to set a outright track record of 1:27.064, almost two tenths of a second quicker than team-mate Charles Leclerc.

    Behind the Ferrari front row lockout Mercedes seized row two with Bottas ahead of Hamilton. Red Bull locked out row three, with Verstappen and Albon posting identical times of 1:27.851, with the Dutchman only securing P5 by virtue of setting the time first. It was impressive performance from Albon on his first F1 weekend at Suzuka. Behind the Red Bulls, McLaren took row four with Carlos Sainz ahead of Lando Norris, while Pierre Gasly was ninth for Toro Rosso ahead of Haas’ Romain Grosjean.

    2019 FIA Formula One Japanese Grand Prix – Qualifying
    1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:27.064 6 240.113
    2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:27.253 0.189 6 239.592
    3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:27.293 0.229 6 239.483
    4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:27.302 0.238 6 239.458
    5 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 1:27.851 0.787 6 237.962
    6 Alexander Albon Red Bull/Honda 1:27.851 0.787 6 237.962
    7 Carlos Sainz JrMcLaren/Renault 1:28.304 1.240 6 236.741
    8 Lando Norris McLaren/Renault 1:28.464 1.400 6 236.313
    9 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso/Honda 1:28.836 1.772 6 235.323
    10 Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 1:29.341 2.277 3 233.993
    11 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:29.254 1.566 6 234.221
    12 Lance Stroll Racing Point/Mercedes 1:29.345 1.657 6 233.982
    13 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:29.358 1.670 6 233.948
    14 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso/Honda 1:29.563 1.875 6 233.413
    15 Nico Hülkenberg Renault 1:30.112 2.424 4 231.991
    16 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1:29.822 1.417 8 232.740
    17 Sergio Pérez Racing Point/Mercedes 1:30.344 1.939 9 231.395
    18 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 1:30.364 1.959 10 231.344
    – Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 2
    – Robert Kubica Williams/Mercedes 1 .

  • Hamilton heads Mercedes one-two at Sochi

    Hamilton heads Mercedes one-two at Sochi

    Hamilton takes the chequered flag at Sochi. An FIA image

    Sochi, 29 Sept 2019: Mercedes maintained its perfect record at the Russian Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton taking the team’ sixth win in Sochi overall and his fourth ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas as Ferrari’s challenge was undone by a DNF for Sebastian Vettel and a safety car period that dropped Charles Leclerc to third place at the flag.

    At the start of the race Vettel made a superb start form third on the grid and was past front-row starter Hamilton before they reached Turn 1. Vettel then got a tow from pole-sitting team-mate Leclerc and stole the lead through Turn 2.

    Further back, though, there was a collision involving Haas’ Romain Grosjean, Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi and Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo. The incident resulted in Grosjean exiting the race, while both Ricciardo and Giovinazzi required pit stops for repairs.

    The collision brought out the Safety Car and under the caution, Vettel led Leclerc with Hamilton in third place ahead of Carlos Sainz who had passed Bottas at the start.

    When the Safety Car left the track Vettel held his advantage over his team-mate, a situation that appeared to cause some friction, as Leclerc had apparently expected the German to allow him to retake the lead after affording Vettel a tow after the start. Leclerc was eventually told that the pass would take place later in the race, information that seemed to mollify the fiery Ferrari youngster.

    Leclerc was the first of the leading pack to pit, with the Monegasque driver stopping for medium tyres on lap 22. He rejoined in fourth place behind Bottas (who had earlier got back past Sainz) and then began to set fastest laps.

    Despite complaining of fading rear tyres Vettel stayed out until lap 26 and when he finally dived into the pits to take on medium tyres the lead changed hands as promised, with Leclerc flying past to take the lead.

    Vettel’s time in action after his stop was brief. By the time he reached Turn 15 of his first lap out from the pits his Ferrari had given up and an engine issue saw him pull over at the side of the track.

    That brought out the Virtual Safety Car and then when Williams’ George Russell crashed out under the caution, the physical SC was deployed.

    When the order shook out, Mercedes had profited hugely. The free stop and pace under the VSC allowed both Hamilton and Bottas to jump ahead of  Leclerc, with Hamilton now leading. Leclerc was now third ahead of Max Verstappen who had climbed from ninth on the grid. Sainz was fifth ahead of Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, McLaren’s Lando Norris, Racing Point’s Sergio Pérez and Lance Stroll and the second Red Bull of Alex Albon who had made it into the points after a pit lane start.

    Albon then began an impressive march forward, starting after the re-start when he passed Stroll and Pérez on in the space of two laps before bypassing Norris on lap 34 to to claim P7.

    Albon then began to hunt down Haas’ Kevin Magnussen and at the end of lap 42 he launched a late-braking attack into Turn 13 that worked perfectly. With P6 claimed he next set off after Sainz who was on the medium tyre.

    And the Thai racer capped a brilliant afternoon with an equally brilliant move past Sainz at the start of lap 49. He pulled alongside the Spaniard on the sweep through Turn 3 and then powered past on the entry to the next corner to seal fifth place.

    And that was how the order remained until the chequered flag. Leclerc pushed hard to get past Bottas, but the Finn resisted the pressure and after 53 laps Hamilton crossed the line to take his ninth win of the season and the bonus point for posting the fastest lap on lap 51. Bottas was second ahead of Leclerc while Verstappen and Albon took fourth and fifth places respectively.

    Sainz took sixth place for McLaren ahead of Pérez. Norris added to a positive result for McLaren with eighth place, while Magnussen managed to hold on to P9 despite incurring a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage earlier in the race. The final point on offer went to Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg.

    2012 FIA Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix – Race 
    1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 53 1:33’38.992
    2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 53 1:33’42.821 3.829
    3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 53 1:33’44.204 5.212
    4 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 53 1:33’53.202 14.210
    5 Alexander Albon Red Bull/Honda 53 1:34’17.340 38.348
    6 Carlos Sainz Jr. McLaren/Renault 53 1:34’24.881 45.889
    7 Sergio Pérez Racing Point/Mercedes 53 1:34’27.720 48.728
    8 Lando Norris McLaren/Renault 53 1:34’36.741 57.749
    9 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 53 1:34’37.771 58.779
    10 Nico Hülkenberg Renault 53 1:34’38.833 59.841
    11 Lance Stroll Racing Point/Mercedes 53 1:34’39.813 1:00.821
    12 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso/Honda 53 1:34’41.488 1:02.496
    13 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 53 1:34’47.902 1:08.910
    14 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso/Honda 53 1:34’49.068 1:10.076
    15 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 53 1:34’52.338 1:13.346
    Robert Kubica Williams/Mercedes 28 51:42.308
    George Russell Williams/Mercedes 27 48’58.002
    Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 26 45’29.330
    Daniel Ricciardo Renault 24 43’41.568
    Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 0

  • Charles Leclerc beats Hamilton for pole

    Charles Leclerc beats Hamilton for pole

    Leclerc takes Sochi pole on Saturday. An FIA image

    Sochi, 28 Sept 2019: Charles Leclerc beat Lewis Hamilton by four tenths of a second in qualifying for the Russian Grand Prix to become the first Ferrari driver to score four consecutive pole positions since Michael Schumacher in 2001.

    After securing poles at Spa-Francorchamps, Monza and at Singapore’s Marina Bay Street Circuit last weekend, Leclerc was again untouchable at the Sochi Autodrom and he set a final Q3 time of 1:31.628 to eclipse Mercedes driver Hamilton by 0.402. Sebastian Vettel was third in the second Ferrari, two hundredths of a seconds behind the championship leader.

    Q1 got underway with Leclerc setting the pace on medium tyres. The Monegasque driver logged a time of 1:33.613 to top the timesheet but Hamilton took over in P1 on soft tyres with a lap of 1:33.230.

    Red Bull Racing drivers Max Verstappen and Alex Albon then took to the circuit and Verstappen immediately jumped to second place with a lap just 0.138 slower than Hamilton’s early table topper. Albon’s opening run was compromised, however, when Williams’ Robert Kubica spun ahead of him and he was forced to make another attempt. It ended early, however, when the Thai driver lost the rear end of his RB15 in Turn 13 and he slid into the barriers and out of the session.

    The red flags were shown and on the resumption, Vettel, who had earlier also had a moment at Turn 13, went out on soft tyres. He jumped to the top of the timesheet with a lap of 1:33.032. That stood as the benchmark until the flag as Leclerc, Verstappen and both Mercedes drivers sat out the remainder of the session.

    Eliminated at the end of the session, however, were 16th-placed Alfa Romeo driver Kimi Räikkönen, Williams pair George Russell and Robert Kubica and Albon. Already facing a back-of-the-grid start due to replacing PU elements and having suffered another PU problem in final practice, Daniil Kvyat did not take part in the session.

    In the second session Leclerc led the way, with the Monegasque claiming top spot with his first run before shaving more time off to hold the position after the second run thanks to a lap of 1:32.434.

    Vettel was closer to his team-mate this time, finishing the segment just 0.102s behind the younger Ferrari driver and Verstappen progressed to Q3 in third place with a lap of 1:32.634, two tenths of a seconds off the P1 pace.

    Eliminated at this point were 11th-placed Toro Rosso driver Pierre Gasly followed by Racing Point’s Sergio Pérez, Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi and the second Racing Point of Lance Stroll.

    And after he had topped the opening two segments of qualifying there was to be no denying Leclerc in the final top-10 shoot out. Vettel began his first flying lap strongly but a very quick final sector saw Leclerc take provisional pole with a lap of 1:31.801, three tenths ahead of the German. Hamilton was fourth ahead of Bottas, while Vertsappen lost the rear end slightly through the final turn of his lap and the error saw him slot into fifth place.

    Leclerc then improved again on his final run to seal his fourth consecutive pole position with a lap of 1:31.628, while Hamilton split the Ferraris with a lap just two hundredths of a second quicker than Vettel’s. Verstappen improved on his final run to take fourth and edge Bottas back to P5.

    Behind the Finn, sixth place in the session went to McLaren’s Carlos Sainz with Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg in seventh. Lando Norris was eighth in the second McLaren ahead of Haas’ Romain Grosjean and the final top-10 place went to Daniel Ricciardo in the second Renault.

    2019 FIA Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix – Qualifying
    1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:31.628 7 229.763
    2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:32.030 0.402 7 228.760
    3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:32.053 0.425 7 228.703
    4 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 1:32.310 0.682 6 228.066
    5 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:32.632 1.004 5 227.273
    6 Carlos Sainz Jr. McLaren/Renault 1:33.222 1.594 6 225.835
    7 Nico Hülkenberg Renault 1:33.289 1.661 6 225.672
    8 Lando Norris McLaren/Renault 1:33.301 1.673 6 225.643
    9 Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 1:33.517 1.889 6 225.122
    10 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1:33.661 2.033 6 224.776
    11 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso/Honda 1:33.950 1.516 5 224.085
    12 Sergio Pérez Racing Point/Mercedes 1:33.958 1.524 6 224.066
    13 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:34.037 1.603 6 223.877
    14 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1:34.082 1.648 5 223.770
    15 Lance Stroll Racing Point/Mercedes 1:34.233 1.799 6 223.412
    16 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:34.840 1.808 8 221.982
    17 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 1:35.356 2.324 8 220.781
    18 Robert Kubica Williams/Mercedes 1:36.474 3.442 8 218.222
    19 Alexander Albon Red Bull/Honda 1:39.197 6.165 4 212.232.

  • The car felt amazing, says poleman Charles Leclerc

    The car felt amazing, says poleman Charles Leclerc

    Charles Leclerc (centre) at the FIA Press Conference after taking pole on Saturday. An FIA image

    DRIVERS
    1 – Charles LECLERC (Ferrari)
    2 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
    3 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

    TRACK INTERVIEWS
    (Conducted by Jenson Button)

    Q: Charles, all I can say is, wow! What a dominant performance. All of the way through practice, yesterday, today, qualifying – you really are on a role.
    Charles LECLERC: Yeah, the car felt amazing. It definitely feels great to be back on pole. I don’t know if it’s the best track to start on pole. The straight is very long after the start. Tomorrow the start will be very important as always, but here probably even more, because of the straight length.

    Q: It’s still the best place to be in. The last person to score four [consecutive] pole positions for Ferrari was Michael Schumacher. That must make you feel pretty special?
    CL: Yeah it definitely feels very, very special, but I don’t really want to think about those kind of stats for now. I just want to focus on the job. There’s still a long way to go until tomorrow. It’s definitely a good start, we’ve been competitive all weekend long and the race simulation seems positive too, so it’s looking good for tomorrow.

    Q: Congratulations. Lewis, I must say, all the way through qualifying, obviously the Ferraris have had the upper hand, but as always you pulled the lap out there at the end and got the best out of the car?
    Lewis HAMILTON: I’ll tell you, it was a tough qualifying session, because these guys have some crazy speeds on the straights. They go to another level, you know. That whole party mode you talked about us having, they have something else beyond that – jet mode! Nonetheless, I gave it absolutely everything I had at the end and the team did such a great job to just tinker and push forwards. I’m so glad it came together. I wasn’t expecting to get on the front row for sure, so I’m really, really happy with it nonetheless.

    Q: And the great thing for you guys also is that you have the medium tyres for the start of the race. It looks like you knew they would be quick in qualifying so you’ve gone for a slightly different strategy for the race.
    LH: Yeah, well we know that they are on a slightly lower drag level this weekend plus they have that power, so we’ve got to try something. You’ve seen the last couple of races we’ve been behind all the way, so we’re fortunate enough to opt for another strategy and I think the team have done a really good job with putting us in that position. It’s a long way down to Turn 1, so it’s not always the best for starts on the harder tyre, but I’m going to try to two the hell out of Charles if I get the chance. But it’s going to be hard because they get good starts as well.

    Q: Sebastian, not the easiest qualifying I’m sure. Q1 was pretty tricky: one little mistake and all hell broke loose after that. But, P3, you’ve got the run down to Turn 1 and I’m sure that after the last race, with the strategy and winning that race, there are still a lot of opportunities tomorrow?
    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, definitely. Obviously I’m not entirely happy, I think I couldn’t extract the absolute maximum from the car. As you said, it was a bit disruptive in Q1 but by the time we got to Q3 I thought it was OK. You spoke about Turn 1, it’s a long way, obviously we’ll see. We’re on different tyres strategies compared to the Mercs, so I think the race will be decided tomorrow. The speed is there so let’s keep it up.

    Q: As you said, there’s a long straight down to Turn 2. You guys are pretty quick in a straight line too. For us it’s going to be great watching, but it’s going to be pretty crazy for you guys into Turn 2?
    SV: Yeah, first you need a good start; then you worry about the rest, sort of thing. Let’s see. Obviously there’s potentially an advantage if you are behind but I guess if you are behind you always tend to say that, so let’s see what happens.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Charles, you got progressively quicker as the session went on. Where were you finding the time?
    CL: I don’t think I had any clean laps before the one of Q3. The first lap of Q3 felt very good. The second lap: very good until Turn 16, where I lost rears, and I lost a little bit of lap time. But overall the car was just coming together. The balance was better and better. I was adjusting a little bit the aero balance and I just felt more and more confident.

    Q: And what about your confidence for tomorrow’s race – the long run pace of your car?
    CL: I believe that the long run pace yesterday was extremely positive, I think probably the most positive of the whole season, so this is looking good. But it’s going to be an interesting race. I mean, Mercedes are starting on the medium, so I think the strategy will play a role. I think we did the right choice to start on the soft, but we will see tomorrow.

    Q: Good luck with that and well done today. Lewis, if we could come on to you. You sounded very happy at the end of the session, happy to split the Ferraris for the second week in a row. How good was your lap?
    LH: Pretty decent. It was a pretty good lap. Honestly, it was a really good lap. Last time, Singapore felt like a really good lap as well, it’s just… I was just saying to Charles out there that already by Turn 1 we were already three tenths down or something like that, so it’s very, very hard. But nonetheless I pushed, we pushed, as hard as we could and I was really, really happy with the lap. It all came together. That last one was the best of the weekend – as it should be – and no mistakes or anything like that, so I really feel like I got everything and maybe a little bit more from the car to split the Ferraris once again, which is not an easy task.

    Q: Charles thinks it’s going to be a strategic battle tomorrow. Do you feel the same way?
    LH: Yeah. Yeah, definitely. I think the team did a great job to put us on the mediums and naturally from the two tyres there’s obviously a delta and the softer the tyre the better the start. So it will be a little bit tough off the start tomorrow. But even if we were in the lead, if we were on pole for example, they are just so fast on the straights by the time we get to Turn 1, which is the little kink, they blast past us with the jet fuel or whatever it is. So, yeah, it is about strategy, which is why we are on a different tyre and I hope that we can utilise that and keep the pressure on. If you’ve seen the couple of races we’ve had we’ve been right with them but I’m hoping tomorrow we can really give them a good fight.

    Q: Sebastian, coming to you, it seemed a good opening lap of Q3 for you but then it seems to slip away on that second lap. Is that a fair assessment?
    SV: Not really. I was quite happy in general. Obviously a bit disruptive with Q1 where we got a bit unfortunate with yellow flags and stuff. I thought by the time we got to Q3 that was fine. I think overall I was pretty happy with the car. I just felt that there was more in the car that, yeah, I couldn’t get to. Nevertheless, I think tomorrow is a long race. I think we have good pace for the race. It will be very interesting with the Mercedes on different tyres to start with, so let’s see what happens.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Lewis, how important was it to be on the first row for tomorrow’s race? And would it be crucial to be at the second corner first, before the Ferraris to avoid what happened last week in Singapore?
    LH: Time will tell. But, of course, if I’m able to try and somehow keep Seb behind, and there’s only one car ahead, for example, that changes things on top. So, naturally we’re going to push as hard as we can but it’s going to be very, very hard. Down to Turn One it’s a long drag – but I’m sure we’ll have a good battle, one way or another.

    Q: (Christian Menath – motorsport-magazin.com) Question for all three of you. You all sounded pretty confident that you’re on the right tyre, even though you have different ones. Can you explain why you are confident this is the right tyre you’re starting on? Do you think this has to do with the car that the tyre suits better to your car – or is it only strategic reasons?
    CL: On our side I think the start is very important here and we thought that the benefits of starting on Soft was big. And then there was not much difference, in terms of degradation, from the Soft to the Medium. So, yeah, we thought it was worth it to make it our start tyre.
    LH: I just wanted to be on something different.

    Is that what it now takes to beat these guys? You’ve got to roll the dice?
    LH: I don’t know. I haven’t beaten them for a while! So I can’t tell you. I’ll tell you at the end of tomorrow.

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) To all three. Charles, this is your fourth pole in a row. You were asked downstairs, you’re the first person to do that for Ferrari since Michael, which is obviously pretty special. Are you on a roll at the moment in qualifying where you feel like you can’t do anything wrong, and everything comes together. And to Lewis and Seb, you’ve both had massive success in Formula One, been on this sort of run – what does it do for you as a driver when you have this sort of succession of poles?
    CL: Of course I felt confident going into qualifying but at the end anything… I mean at one point it’s going to end, so whether it’s now or later, I don’t know. So, the only thing I’m trying to do is focus on myself, try to have exactly the same procedure as I’ve had since the last four races and not… yeah, I definitely don’t come in the car thinking it will be easy and that it will come together alone. I just try to keep working as I did in the last few races, and then hopefully the lap time comes.

    Lewis, how does it feel? The importance of momentum, invincibility when you’re on a roll?
    LH: I don’t know – I’ve never felt invincible. Of course, when you get on a roll, it doesn’t really make… from my experience, it’s nice, for sure but it doesn’t make a difference. So if it’s separated: one pole; one second; one pole, it doesn’t make any difference to me. But he’s stealing all the poles right now, so it’s going to be very, very hard to beat their poles when they’re so fast on the straights but we’re working at it.

    SV: I don’t know – it’s been a while for me! Yeah, I think you take every session separately, so you’re not really trying to look back. I think it’s just about nailing every session.

    Q: (Dzhastina Golopolosova – The Paddock Magazine) Question to Charles. Mercedes dominated here for five years and today you showed that you can break this trend. What do you think about tomorrow?
    CL: For now… I mean the race it tomorrow. It will be very important to stay in front, and they were also strong in the race pace, as they’ve always been since the beginning of the season, so, it obviously feels good to be on pole here. I think Singapore was a big surprise for everyone, for us to be in front and here, I think we felt we had our chances, considering how quick we were in Singapore. Yeah, I mean it feels good to break that but we need to finish the job tomorrow.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Charles, Jenson already mentioned the record that you equalled today with Michael Schumacher but I want to consider with you that there was this past 19 years from that and there are some other guys, for example Seb, who are with you that couldn’t do that. So how is your feeling, to think that today is an historical day not only for you but for Ferrari?
    CL: As I said, it feels good but it doesn’t change my approach to the other weekends and as Seb and Lewis said, every time you go into a session, you take it just normally, without thinking about the others, the last poles I’ve had. So yeah, obviously it feels great but I don’t want to think about these things and I just want to focus on the job ahead.

    Q: (Giusto Ferronato – La Gazzetta dello Sport) For both Ferrari drivers: in Italy probably now many people are thinking that you have found the solution to win all the races. Is this correct or they are too optimistic?
    CL: I think we need to keep our feet on the ground. Obviously at the moment we are in a good momentum, we are having really good performances but at the end it doesn’t change… Mercedes are still quite ahead in the overall championship, which at the end is what matters the most. I think we need to keep our heads down, keep working. Of course at the moment it seems that it’s working our way but I will not say it will be like this for the rest of the season, so we need to keep working.
    SV: Not much to add so maybe too optimistic. I think we need to wait until tomorrow. I think at the last race obviously it was difficult to pass. I think Mercedes was faster than us in the race so we will see what happens tomorrow with different strategy.

    Q: Sebastian, is this the best Ferrari you’ve driven?
    SV: I think the car got a lot better since the beginning of the year when we started to really struggle. Obviously we had a bit of a high at winter testing. I think we understood what it takes and I think the step in Singapore in particular seemed to help us and allowed us to make another step forward. But I think the ’17 car out of the box was probably the best so far.

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Sebastian, have you looked at all the data with Charles on the exercise of pole and have you found where he is better than you since the return of the summer?
    SV: Well, obviously in qualifying here and there. I think we didn’t have the best sessions on my side. I think obviously today Charles was faster so it’s pretty easy to see where he’s faster but it’s a little bit here and there. I don’t think there’s any pattern standing out, saying that he’s always faster in the same type of corner. As I said, obviously the last couple of races was closer than maybe it looked on the result so we will see what happens tomorrow. Usually come race day I’m getting more and more confident in the car and pace has never been a problem in the race so we will see what happens.

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Lewis, you’ve mentioned the deficit you’ve got at the moment to Ferrari and where you feel that deficit is so how deep are you having to dig inside yourself for a lap like this? You had a big gap to Valtteri today for example and you said your Singapore lap was also very good.
    LH: Yeah. Honestly I feel like that maybe the last couple of laps have felt worthy, like pole-worthy in terms of how this has come together and optimising within the car. Naturally obviously they are faster than us and Charles has done a good job but I mean in terms of being as close to the limit as possible and yeah, I think I’ve just been getting more and more comfortable with the car, I think in this second half of the season, a little bit more comfortable with it, even though we’ve lost a little performance compared to them but there’s still work to do collectively, in all of us, including myself so we just keep working on that. Please don’t write that the wrong way, pole-worthy, I was meaning in terms of what do you… putting the perfect lap together, I feel like each time I’m getting as close to that as possible and then you finish the lap and it’s quite a long way off pole but it feels like quite an achievement to get in between the two Ferraris who have a bit of a delta to us at the moment.

    Ends

  • Max Verstappen outpaces Charles Leclerc in FP2: Russian GP

    Sochi, 27 Sept 2019: Max Verstappen went quickest in the second practice session for the Russian Grand Prix, beating Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by more than three tenths of a second with the quickest Mercedes driver, Valtteri Bottas, third and six tenths of a second off the pace.

    Having only achieved a best result of fifth place at the Sochi Autodrom since the race’s calendar debut in 2014, the Black Sea circuit was not expected to be a venue suited to Red Bull, but Verstappen gave lie to that assessment by posting a time of 1:33.162 during his FP2 qualifying run.

    The lap put him 0.335s ahead of Leclerc who had claimed top spot earlier as the first of the expected front runners to bolt on a set of new soft tyres and go for a performance run.

    Verstappen’s soft-tyre best followed an opening phase run on medium tyres during which the Dutchman lagged two tenths of a second off the pace set by Leclerc.

    However, Verstappen’s good low fuel pace give Red Bull hope of scoring a good result on Sunday despite an impending five-place grid drop as both it’s drivers, along with Honda-powered Toro Rosso stablemates Pierre Gasly and Daniil Kvyat are facing PU-related grid penalties on Sunday.

    Behind Leclerc, Bottas took third place for Mercedes, though the Finn, who won here in 2017, was only able to get to 0.646s off Verstappen’s pace. Bottas set his best lap of the session shortly after Hamilton and he managed to eclipse his championship-leading team-mate by 0.152s.

    Singapore Grand Prix-winner Sebastian Vettel failed to make a significant improvement during his qualifying simulation and having gained just a tenth of a second over his medium-tyre best he ended the session in fifth place, a full second off Verstappen.

    Penalty-hit Toro Rosso driver Pierre Gasly was an impressive sixth in the session finishing marginally ahead of Racing Point’s Sergio Pérez, with Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg eighth.

    The German finished the session almost four tenths of a second ahead of 14th-placed team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, and perhaps more importantly two tenths clear of 11thLando Norris, the quickest driver from Renault’s Constructors’ standings rivals McLaren.

    Ninth place in the session went to Lance Stroll in the second Racing Point, and the final top-10 spot was taken by Alex Albon in the second Red Bull. The Thai driver spent much of the session in his team’s garage after taking too much kerb early on and damaging the floor of his car.

    2019 FIA Formula One Russian Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
    1 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 29 1:33.162
    2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 33 1:33.497 0.335
    3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 22 1:33.808 0.646
    4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 32 1:33.960 0.798
    5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 32 1:34.201 1.039
    6 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 26 1:34.971 1.809
    7 Sergio Perez Racing Point 31 1:34.998 1.836
    8 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 33 1:35.026 1.864
    9 Lance Stroll Racing Point 31 1:35.176 2.014
    10 Alex Albon Red Bull Racing 18 1:35.216 2.054
    11 Lando Norris McLaren 33 1:35.223 2.061
    12 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 38 1:35.337 2.175
    13 Kevin Magnussen Haas 26 1:35.351 2.189
    14 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 28 1:35.370 2.208
    15 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo 34 1:35.374 2.212
    16 Romain Grosjean Haas 31 1:35.593 2.431
    17 Carlos Sainz McLaren 29 1:35.635 2.473
    18 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo 29 1:36.004 2.842
    19 George Russell Williams 38 1:36.785 3.623
    20 Robert Kubica Williams 36 1:37.838 4.676.

  • Charles Leclerc wins epic battle with Lewis Hamilton at Monza

    Charles Leclerc wins epic battle with Lewis Hamilton at Monza

    Charles Leclerc wins at Monza on Sunday. An FIA image

    Monza, 8 Sept 2019: Charles Leclerc took his second F1 win in a row and handed Ferrari its first home win in nine years after edging a titanic race-long battle with Lewis Hamilton and resisting pressure from the Briton’s Mercedes team-mate in the final laps.

    At the start pole sitter Leclerc held his advantage and took the lead ahead of Hamilton and Bottas. Behind them Sebastian Vettel in the second Ferrari lost out to Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg early in the lap and dropped from his starting position of fourth to fifth place.

    Vettel fought back, however, and at the start of the next lap he retook fourth with a move past Hulkenberg into Turn 1. His hold on the position didn’t last long, however. On lap five the German carried too much speed into Ascari and lost control. The Ferrari driver spun in mid-corner and slid off track.

    He quickly rejoined but in doing so he forced the onrushing Lance Stroll to also spin. The Racing Point driver then mirrored Vettel’s unsafe return to the track and the Canadian’s actions forced Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly wide into the gravel.

    The incidents resulted in Vettel behind handed a 10-second stop/go penalty, while Stroll received a drive through penalty. Both drivers made their way to pit lane to serve the sanctions and dropped to the rear of the field.

    Hamilton was the first of the leading pack to pit, on lap 19. The Mercedes man opted for medium tyres and rejoined in fifth place. Ferrari covered, with Leclerc pitting on the next lap for hard tyres, a choice that would prove crucial later in the race.

    Leclerc emerged ahead of Hamilton but the Mercedes driver quickly began to close the gap. Leclerc passed the slower Hulkenberg around the outside of Parabolica to regain third place and that allowed Hamilton attack into Turn 1 and into the second chicane. Leclerc defended hard, however, and Hamilton was forced to cut the chicane. The Ferrari driver’s defence earned him a black and white flag for unsportsmanlike conduct.

    Hamilton once again began to put Leclerc under heavy pressure and on lap 36 the Monegasque driver made a mistake. He outbraked himself on the approach to Turn 1 and was forced to cut the first chicane. Hamilton tried to pounce into the second chicane and Leclerc again defended robustly to hold off the challenge.

    With 15 laps remaining, Hamilton’s medium tyres began to go off and a mistake into Turn 1 allowed Bottas to sweep past into second place.

    With his challenge over and a huge gap back to fourth-placed Daniel Ricciardo the championship leader opted to pit for new soft tyres and on lap 51 he posted the race fastest lap of 1:21.779 to grab a bonus point to add to his 15 for third place.

    Ahead, Leclerc comfortably held off Bottas to take his second career win and a first victory for Ferrari on home soil since 2010.

    Behind Hamilton Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg were fourth and fifth respectively. Hulkenberg was closed down by Red Bull Racing’s Alex Albon in the closing stages with the Thai driver closing a 12-secomnd gap on lap 36 to just 1.1s by the flag. Sergio Pérez was seventh for Racing Point, with the Mexican resisting enormous pressure from Max Verstappen in the final laps as the Dutch finished in a strong P8 after starting from 19thon the grid. Behind Verstappen, the final points positions were taken by Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi and McLaren’s Lando Norris.

    2019 FIA Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix – Race 
    1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari
    2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 0.835
    3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 35.199
    4 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 45.515
    5 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 58.165
    6 Alex Albon Red Bull Racing 59.315
    7 Sergio Perez Racing Point 1’13.802
    8 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1’14.492
    9 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing 1 lap
    10 Lando Norris McLaren 1 lap
    11 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 1 lap
    12 Lance Stroll Racing Point 1 lap
    13 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1 lap
    14 George Russell Williams 1 lap
    15 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo Racing 1 lap
    16 Romain Grosjean Haas 1 lap
    17 Robert Kubica Williams 2 laps
    Denmark Kevin Magnussen Haas
    Russian Federation Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso
    Spain Carlos Sainz McLaren

  • Charles Leclerc puts Ferrari on pole as top drivers miss final flying lap in a messy qualifying

    Charles Leclerc puts Ferrari on pole as top drivers miss final flying lap in a messy qualifying

    Charles Leclerc (centre) of Ferrari takes pole position in Monza ahead of Hamilton (left) and Bottas of Mercedes on Saturday. An FIA image

    Monza, 7 Sept 2019: Charles Leclerc handed Ferrari top spot on the grid for its home Italian Grand Prix, with the Monegasque drive taking his third career pole position at the end of what he later described as a “messy” qualifying session at Monza. Leclerc took top spot just 0.039s ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton with the Briton’s tea-mate Valtteri Bottas third.

    The Ferrari star claimed provisional pole with a time of 1:19.307 before a crash involving Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen brought out the red flags early in Q1. Then, in the final runs the remaining drivers all sought to seek a laptime-improving tow and amid the backing up and jockeying for position, time ran out and the bulk of drivers failed to cross the line for a final flying lap before the chequered flag was shown.

    “It feels unbelievable,” said Leclerc after securing pole for the second race in a row. “I’m happy with the pole but it’s a shame that at the end there was a big mess. I hoped for the last lap but that was enough with what happened for the pole.”

    Leclerc laid down an early marker in Q1, taking spot midway through the opening segment with a time of 1:20.126. That put him ahead of Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg, Bottas and Hamilton.

    At the back of the field Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen, facing grid penalties for taking a new power unit, stayed in the team’s garage for the bulk of the session. But, following a red flag period brought about when Sergio Pérez stopped on track, Verstappen was at the head of a queue of cars seeking to post late lap times. However, midway through his out lap Verstappen reported a loss of power and he limped back to the pits, thus missing out on posting a time.

    Eliminated at the end of the session were Haas’ Romain Grosjean in P16 followed by Pérez, and Williams’ George Russell and Robert Kubica.

    Q2 was topped by Hamilton. Thanks for purple times in the last two sectors on his final run the championship leader was able to take P1 just under a tenth of Leclerc, with Vettel two tenths further back in third.

    Eliminated at the end of the middle segment were Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi, followed by the Haas of Kevin Magnussen, Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat, McLaren’s Lando Norris and the second Toro Rosso of Pierre Gasly.

    The final phase of qualifying started with a number of drivers jockeying for position in a stream of cars as all looked to secure a position that would guarantee a slipstream.

    It was Leclerc who made the most of whatever opportunities were available in the first run and he topped the order with a time of 1:19.307, three hundredths of a seconds ahead of Hamilton. Further back, though, Räikkonen brought out the red flags when he crashed out at Parabolica and several drivers including Red Bull Racing’s Alex Albon and Racing Point’s Lance Stroll were unable to complete a first run.

    It looked like Bottas would be similarly disadvantaged but the Mercedes man was deemed to have crossed the line ahead of the red flag so had his time reinstated. He slotted thus into third place ahead of Vettel, Ricciardo and the last man with a first-run time, McLaren’s Carlos Sainz.

    And it proved to be a fortunate decision for Bottas as in the final runs the jostling for track position became almost farcical as drivers slowed and backed up rivals during what amounted to a group out lap.

    The result was that only Sainz managed to get across the line before the chequered flag was shown and the session ended in anti-climax as Leclerc backed off and sealed pole position with his first-run time. Hamilton was second ahead of team-mate Bottas, Vettel and the Renault’s of Ricciardo and Hulkenberg. Then came McLaren’s Carlos Sainz, followed by Alex in P8. Racing Point’s Lance Stroll qualified in ninth place ahead of the unfortunate Räikkönen.

    Following the session, race control announced that the final lap was being placed under investigation and later Hulkenberg, Sainz and Stroll were summoned to the stewards’ office.

    2019 FIA Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix – Qualifying
    1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 6 1:19.307
    2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 6 1:19.346 0.039
    3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 6 1:19.354 0.047
    4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 5 1:19.457 0.150
    5 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 5 1:19.839 0.532
    6 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 5 1:20.049 0.742
    7 Carlos Sainz McLaren 6 1:20.455 1.148
    8 Alex Albon Red Bull Racing 4
    9 Lance Stroll Racing Point 2
    10 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari 2
    11 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing 6 1:20.517 1.053
    12 Kevin Magnussen Haas 6 1:20.615 1.151
    13 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 8 1:20.630 1.166
    14 Lando Norris McLaren 6 1:21.068 1.604
    15 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 6 1:21.125 1.661
    16 Romain Grosjean Haas 8 1:20.784 0.658
    17 Sergio Perez Racing Point 6 1:21.291 1.165
    18 George Russell Williams 8 1:21.80 1.674
    19 Robert Kubica Williams 9 1:22.356 2.230
    20 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 3 .

  • It is an anti-climax at the end, says Hamilton about the messy F1 qualifying session

    Monza, 7 Sept 2019: The following drivers who qualified at the top attended the post-qualifying session FIA Press Conference on Saturday: Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) and Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes).
    Track Interviews were conducted by Paul di Resta:

    Q: Charles, you must have to pinch yourself at the moment, to come here on the back of that win in Spa, to claim pole position in front of Ferrari’s home crowd. And when you get that reception when you draw up, it must be incredible?
    Charles LECLERC: It feels unbelievable. Already on Wednesday in Milan was just incredible and today to see so many people feels absolutely amazing. Happy with the pole but it’s a shame that at the end there was a big mess. I hoped for the last lap but that was enough with what happened for the pole.

    Q: A pole is a pole, regardless of what happened. But tomorrow there’s a big day ahead. Do you feel that you’ve got the pace to take the win to these home fans?
    CL: Yeah, I think the pace was quiet good actually during the race simulations in FP2 so it’s looking positive, better than in Spa, so let’s hope for a good race tomorrow.

    Q: Lewis, I know you’re never happy unless you’re getting pole position, but I guess that at the end of the day Ferrari were always going to be strong here. You’re on the row and at the same time you missed out on the last run because of all the tactics for getting that tow. How do you sum it up?
    Lewis HAMILTON: To be honest, I have to be grateful that I’m on the front row. We get to have a fight with the Ferraris tomorrow, which is nice. We’ve split them, so as a team it’s a really good position for us to be in. It is definitely a bit of an anti-climax that we couldn’t all go out and do that last final lap, that’s one of the most exciting ones we have. It’s crazy with this timing that we have, the system we have, where everyone backs up, everyone is trying to get a position and they times us out. They basically timed us out. It’s interesting – get pole position in the first run and then just time everyone out.

    Q: I know normally you look for free space in qualifying but it seems like the two has been extra important this year. Is it strange as a driver to have that tactic when you go into a session, knowing that you have to be four or five seconds behind someone?
    LH: Yeah, definitely. I mean on the out lap it’s dangerous for us all. There are people slowing down, you don’t know who is alongside you and that. It’s definitely risky business out there but it’s kind of enjoyable at the same time. But for us we are down on the Ferraris in a straight line, so we particularly need. I think others also do. I think it’s with this new wing, the drag is much bigger this year, so everyone is focusing on that. But honestly just to be up here on the front row, we can give them a good fight tomorrow.

    Q: Valtteri, that was quite a difficult session. You almost had a lap cancelled, just before the red flag came out but it got reinstated, and luckily because that last run didn’t come off.
    Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, I was quite unlucky there and also I had a yellow flag in the first run in the last corners so I had to lift off and I believe I lost the pole because of that. Obviously the last run was a bit of a mess for everyone. But the pace was good. Happy still to be very much at the front because it’s tomorrow that counts.

    Q: How much fun are these cars to drive around Monza. Is it a place you enjoy?
    VB: It’s always good fun. Definitely enjoying it and for sure I’m going to enjoy tomorrow.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Charles, it was very close, less than one tenth of a second separating all three of you on the panel. But you’ve done it, you’ve got pole at Monza, so how does it feel?
    CL: Obviously the feeling I got when I went out of the car, hearing the crowd cheer so loud is absolutely amazing. On the other hand a bit of a shame for the team, Seb couldn’t do his second timed lap; he was very quick. I felt like a 1-2 was an opportunity even though these two guys were extremely quick and it was very, very close. But yeah, the whole qualifying was a big mess with all the slipstreaming and having the best one. But very happy with this pole position.

    Q: And throwing it forward to tomorrow’s race, do you think you’ve got a closer fight on your hands than you did last week at Spa?
    CL: Yes, I think the race pace was more positive compared to what we had the Friday in Spa, so on that we are pretty confident. But the start will be very important, as always. But there is quite a long way here from the start to the first corner so the start will be very important.

    Q: Well done, good luck tomorrow. Charles has described the quali session as a bit of a mess. Just talk us through what happened at the end of Q3 from your point of view.
    LH: Well, it’s then same as has happened for some races now. The drag is a big issue here, the tow is a key to getting a good lap. Everyone was slowing right down and also blocking the way, so you couldn’t really get through. It was pretty dangerous. I nearly crashed a couple of times trying to stay out of the way of the guys that were braking ahead of me and then people trying to come past me. Nonetheless, Charles did a great job. I was a little bit unfortunate with Kimi spinning in front of me, so I had to lift in the last corner. That was really our pole lap lost there. It would have been nice to have obviously been able to compete on that last lap, get to really thresh out the cars and see who really had that little edge right at the end.

    Q: Was there more time in your car?
    LH: Definitely. Definitely. But I’m sure it’s the same for all of us. The track progresses so you can find little bits here and there. Also, I was quite close behind Kimi, so I was losing out a little bit through the corners, so you are trying to find the right compromise. But tomorrow there’s still a long, long way to the finish line so we’ll try to put ourselves in the best position. This is great for us to be able to separate the Ferraris and we can work together as a team tomorrow and try to overhaul him and fortunately not have the Ferrari in the way this time… Vettel.

    Q: Valtteri, another quite messy qualifying session, with your first time having to be reinstated and then what happened at the end of Q3, so do you feel that the whole thing was a bit of a compromise for you?
    VB: It definitely was. I think it was compromised for sure for many drivers so in that kind of messy session it’s always good to be ending up in the top three. The same for me as for Lewis, and I was actually more far back. I had the yellow flags for Kimi so I had to lift off properly and I also feel I lost the pole there. It’s annoying when it could have been possible but it could have been a lot worse today. I hope we can really learn something from the last run because everyone pretty much missed their lap. There were two cars going slow at the front and no one could get by. So not ideal but we are here, very much close to the front and it’s going to be a good fight tomorrow.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Christian Menath – motorsport-magazin.com) First part of the question for you Charles: could you talk us through, I think you were behind Seb at the beginning of the lap then did you decide on your own to just go flat-out and make it to the line on time? And for both Mercedes drivers, did you think about ‘OK, I have to go fast now otherwise I won’t make it,’ or is it something that you’re just relying on the team what they say to you?
    CL: To be completely honest, the plan was that, in the first run, Seb was giving me the tow and in the second run, I will give him the tow. So, I actually went out of the box in front of him, and then there was the huge mess after Turns One and Two and the McLaren and a Renault – I don’t know whoever that was – they stopped in the middle of the track and we had nowhere to go. Seb overtakes me there, because of the mess, because obviously we were aware it was quite tight on time, and then I stayed, basically, behind Seb, until the last straight where I’ve heard also on the radio “you can overtake Seb,” so I overtook him – but I had no time for me either to start the lap, so yeah, it was a shame – but I don’t think I could have done much more.

    And for the Mercedes drivers, how reliant were you on the pitwall? Lewis?
    LH: Well, naturally, you’re listening to your delta, understanding whether you’ve still got time left but I tried to get through… I was supposed to be behind Valtteri but I overtook him, knowing that I needed to get further ahead, but I couldn’t overtake everyone, they were weaving and braking and it was like trying to avoid carnage all the time. So, we had a couple of people I think were holding everyone up, trying to, I guess, let people by but yeah, a bit of an anti-climax, I think, probably for all of you. Maybe they should have extended the session or something like that, so we could finish, or something – I’m not really sure how we’re going to get around this. Everyone’s brake testing and slowing down to let others past, just to get a tow. I’m not sure how we’re going to get around that in the future. But… yeah… in hindsight I wish I just went out earlier. Just got out there and got a clean lap. That would have been great.

    Valtteri, anything you can add from your point of view?
    VB: No, it’s the same. Same view for me. It was a bit of a mess and I was also just behind other cars, exit of Turn Two, and things started to go very slowly and, short on time, and everyone was pretty much in the same boat.

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Lewis, we heard you over the radio after Q3, and again down on the grid, that it was an interesting tactic from Ferrari – because obviously Charles was on pole after the first run. Do you think it was intentional? A clever play from them to back them up? And how unflattering do you think the whole thing looked for F1?
    LH: Honestly, I don’t know how many cars were up ahead, so I don’t know… Charles just said it was a couple of other cars up ahead so maybe it was them – but ultimately it worked out well for them. I really don’t know what else to say. It would have been nice to just finish the lap and both put the pedal to the metal but it didn’t happen and we move forwards.

    Lewis, how did it look for Formula 1, just to follow up on Scott’s question?
    LH: I don’t think it looks good but I’m not a fan so I’ll let the fans decide on that. I think fans get excited,  at least I remember I used to get really excited about watching qualifying and all the way down to that last minute, so it’s down for you guys to have an opinion. For me, just as a driver, I would have loved to have obviously driven more qualifying. One of the best stages of the weekend. I think some drivers didn’t even have a lap – is it true that Seb didn’t even have a lap? Is that right? Yep, it is the way it is.

    Q: (Luke Smith – crash.net) This is the second race in a row now that this has happened. Lewis, you used the word ‘dangerous’ both at Spa and here as well. For all three of you, do you think a qualifying format rethink it required to avoid situations like this happening again?
    VB: Well, these two tracks, we’ve seen this is really specific on the tows and I think Spa and Monza are the biggest gains on the straightline speed you can get really, being behind another car, and here especially. So, I don’t think it’s going to be an issue in most of the tracks, like at the next race where, for sure, everyone just tried to find a clear gap. But for tracks like this, it’s always been a bit like that, and maybe now a bit more extreme, with the cars getting more draggier and more of a gain being in the slipstream.

    Charles?
    CL: Yeah, as Valtteri said, it’s only on a few tracks during the season where we have this issue. I’ve got no quick fix to try and help this quickly – but maybe we can all think about to to try and understand. It has always been like this. I think slipstream has always been that way. I don’t really know what to say. We just need to analyse a little bit more, the situation. I think today was special, was definitely not the intention from our side. Obviously there was also Seb that was capable of having the pole position and we obviously didn’t want to sacrifice one car for the pole of the other so, yeah, it was quite tricky. I definitely think that situations like after the second corner shouldn’t happen when there are two cars side-by-side. I cannot go at 20kph, we couldn’t pass and I think most of the drivers behind wanted to pass but didn’t have the opportunity so, yeah, these situations have made a big mess towards the end and that’s why so many cars didn’t make it to start their laps. But yeah, that’s it.

    Lewis, your thoughts
    LH: I don’t really have an answer, to be honest. I don’t remember every qualifying session this year but it was similar last year, I think. We were all trying to get a gap, which continues to be key. In some places, you want a bigger gap, in some places it’s all about the tow, so each track’s specific. I always through they could do something different on weekends anyways, different weekends, depending on the track but it’s highly unlikely that’s going to happen.

    Q: Do you think we’ll see such an extreme case going forwards, looking at the last seven races?
    LH: I’m sure it’s going to continue. Positioning is key. If we were to… everyone going out as late as we just did there, for example, with two minutes to go, it’s going to continue to be an issue in places where you particularly need a tow. It won’t be until someone crashes that they’ll change it, most likely.

    Q: (Godina Zsolt – f1vilag.hu) Charles, Sebastian is going to start from P4 tomorrow. How difficult will it be to keep behind the Mercedes cars compared to Spa?
    CL: Well, it’s obviously going to be very, very difficult because, first of all, they are quick, secondly, slipstream and DRS are very important here – but I think the race pace looks better than what it was in Spa, so on that we are pretty confident – but for sure it’s going to be very difficult to keep them behind. As I said, I think a very good start from myself and also from Seb will be very important for the good result of the team tomorrow.

    Q: (Carlo Ferraro – Fuoritraiettoria.com) We saw more than half of the Formula Three field getting grid penalties for driving unnecessarily slowly on their warm-up lap. Do you think this may or should happen today as well?
    LH: Honestly I don’t know. It’s not our… it’s the system probably needs to shift a little bit maybe. I don’t think they should start handing out penalties. We just need to look upon it and reflect a little bit and see what we can do to make it better, make it better for the fans and make it less dangerous. Like they already made a change today that we have to finish the out lap within a certain delta time but even that’s still too slow. There’s improvements we can make, for sure, for safety but also for the spectators to watch.
    CL: Yeah, I agree and today actually is quite difficult. If you put the penalty to one, you put the penalty to the 10 drivers that were in Q3 because we were all together.
    VB: Nothing to say, really.

    Q: (Simon Istvan Janos – V4NA) We have seen a very nasty accident this morning in Formula Three at the Parabolica. There was a very high kerb. It has been removed by Formula One qualifying; what was your impression of the accident, very close to Anthoine’s accident, within one week? And my other question is if you, as drivers, were consulted before removing it today?
    VB: Yeah, obviously a big accident. I saw it afterwards. At least from me… no one asked me if the kerb should be taken off or not but my view would have been for sure because we’ve seen an accident like this so for sure and it was actually not making any difference to the track limits because people were going off the track before the bump so it was in the wrong place and wrong height obviously. I’m sure there’s a lesson learned. It’s a super high-speed place and if you hit it at the wrong angle obviously those kind of things can happen so… Definitely not so good for safety that one but I’m sure something learned today.
    CL: Yeah, I think it was maybe a bit pointless to put a kerb like this, once they said they would look at the track limits there, because anyway if you go out, you have your lap and the next lap deleted. But I was quite a fan of gravel there in the past. I think that was quite a good fix for every track limits.
    LH: Did you drive here with the gravel?
    CL: Yup, in Formula 3.
    LH: Yeah, I agree with him. It was much better when it was grass and gravel on the exit there because I remember you used to come into that corner, you kind of… you were a bit nervous going in too deep because you might end up in the wall. The grass would pull you out wide and you’d pay the price for pushing beyond the limit. So now you can go beyond the limit and that’s the biggest – for me – the biggest problem with all these run-off areas that are tarmac now. We didn’t need to be consulted about the kerb. It’s a band-aid on the issue of putting tarmac there in the first place. I don’t think they needed tarmac round there.

    Q: (Joe van Burik – Racing News 365) Lewis, on Instagram you shared an image of an article featuring Max responding to quotes from Nico Rosberg, being a critic of his driving style in Spa. What do you think of a former World Champion being so explicit about how modern day F1 drivers talk?
    LH: I don’t really think much of it, to be honest. I thought it was really funny – I think Max is generally a really funny guy so I was cracking up when I saw it. It’s interesting because obviously we know what it’s like – all the drivers have all been here and know what it’s like being criticised from the public and when [they are] in the sport moan about being criticised by people from the outside and then when drivers retire they become those critics, so it’s an interesting dynamic. And also some of those… unfortunately drivers become irrelevant when they retire and ultimate have to hang on to utilise other people’s light to keep them in the light and so… but that’s the way of sport, I guess.

    Q: (Fabio Seghetta – Tutomotorsport.com) Charles, did you think that you had more advantage over the Mercedes cars during free practice or do you think that this gap has been reduce during qualifying?
    CL: I think they’ve been quick all weekend, to be honest. I expected them to be very quick today. The straightline speeds are not as different compared to Spa. I think we were surprised to see them so quick on the straights during free practice. I think it was the same in qualifying, so yeah, I think it’s been the same from free practice to qualifying.

    Q: (Giovanni Messi – News Formula One Italy) Charles, do you think that here Ferrari can be better race pace than in Spa, looking also at the time that we see in free practice yesterday ?
    CL: Yeah, as I said earlier, I think in FP2 the race pace was a bit more positive compared to the race pace that we had in FP2 in Spa. It looks a little bit better but again, here the tow and the DRS has a bigger effect, so it’s going to be difficult to lead.

    Q: (Christian Menath – MotorsportMagazin.com) Considering the weather forecast for tomorrow, for rain, did any one of you change the set-up for the rain, raise a bit more wing than you would usually have gone for for qualifying?
    LH: Position is everything, so you want to go quick on the straight so no, you want to take absolutely everything off as possible to go as quick as you can.
    CL: Same for us.
    VB: Yup.

    Ends

  • Charles Leclerc tops rain-affected first practice

    Charles Leclerc tops rain-affected first practice

    Charles Leclerc tops FP1. An FIA image

    Monza, 6 Sept 2019: Charles Leclerc topped a rain-affected first practice for this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix that was interrupted by red flags on three occasions.

    Leclerc, who last weekend in Belgium became Ferrari’s youngest grand prix winner, claimed top at the end of the damp session as the field moves to slick tyres at the end of the session. The Monegasque driver set a best time of 1:27.905 to beat McLaren’s Carlos Sainz by three tenths of a second, with the Spanish driver a further two tenths ahead of team-mate Lando Norris.

    Following heavy overnight rain and drizzle this morning the session featured a brief early period on full wet tyres before the field quickly moved to intermediate rubber. Around half an hour into the session running was halted for the first time when Kimi Räikkönen beached his Alfa Romeo in the gravel traps at Parabolica.

    However, the second delay arrived moments after the green flags had been shown for the re-start. This time it was Racing Point’s Sergio Pérez who was caught out by the conditions. The Mexican driver lost control of his car through the Ascari Chicane and he slid off backwards into the barriers. The impact flipped him round and he also damaged the front left side of the car.

    After a period of improvement for many drivers on a drying track, Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly then caused a final brief red flag spell when he became stranded on a kerb at the first Rettifilo chicane. With the aid or mashals the Frenchman was able to get going again, however, and thus the halt was a brief one.

    In the final phase of the session, with conditions steadily improving, the times began to tumble with Leclerc and the McLaren driver posting their time at the very end of the session.

    That left fourth place to Lewis Hamilton who set a time eight tenths of a second slower than Leclerc’s late slick tyre lap. Fifth place went to Red Bull Racing’s Alex Albon with former Toro Rosso team-mate Daniil Kvyat. The Russian briefly claimed top spot with his time of 1:29.960 in the final two minutes of the session but the rapidly improving conditions saw his eventually beaten by more than two seconds as the leading drivers in the session all made large gains in the final flurry.

    Max Verstappen finished seventh in the second Red Bull, ahead of the second Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel, while Valtteri Bottas took ninth for Mercedes ahead of the second Toro Rosso of Gasly who ended the session 2.790s off Leclerc’s P1 time.

    2019 FIA Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix – Free Practice 1 
    1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 20 1:27.905
    2 Carlos Sainz McLaren 25 1:28.211 0.306
    3 Lando Norris McLaren 23 1:28.450 0.545
    4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 11 1:28.730 0.825
    5 Alex Albon Red Bull Racing19 1:29.025 1.120
    6 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 25 1:29.960 2.055
    7 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 11 1:30.10 2.195
    8 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:30.507 2.602
    9 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 11 1:30.596 2.691
    10 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 26 1:30.695 2.790
    11 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing 22 1:32.848 4.943
    12 Lance Stroll Racing Point Racing Point 9 1:33.976 6.071
    13 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 10 1:34.528 6.623
    14 Kevin Magnussen Haas 7 1:34.715 6.810
    15 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 10 1:35.133 7.228
    16 Romain Grosjean Haas 7 1:35.980 8.075
    17 Robert Kubica Williams 12 1:37.816 9.911
    18 George Russell Williams 12 1:38.421 10.516
    19 Sergio Perez Racing Point 4
    20 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo Racing 4