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Tag: F1
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Max Verstappen heads Red Bull Racing’s one-two
Mexico City, 26 Oct 2018: Max Verstappen headed a Red Bull Racing one-two in the opening practice session for Sunday’s Mexican Grand Prix, with the 2017 race winner here beating out team-mate Daniel Ricciardo by almost half a second in the 19th round to the Formula One World Championship here on Friday.
Verstappen and Ricciardo set their quickest times on Pirelli’s hypersoft tyres and while both Mercedes and Ferrari ran on the pink-banded tyre during the 90-minute session, they posted their best laps on the ultrasoft tyres as they minimised running on the softest tyre in Pirelli’s range.
As such, championship leader Lewis Hamilton, who can seal the title with a seventh-placed finish on Sunday, ended the session in fifth place, with team-mate Valtteri Bottas sixth ahead of the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen.
Verstappen seized control of the session with a lap of 1:18.588, with Ricciardo just a tenth behind his team-mate. Hamilton then moved into top spot with this best lap on hypesoft tyres, three tenths ahead of the Red Bull drivers’ early pace, but in the second half of running Red Bull again bolted on the pink-banded tyres and after exchanging improvements, Verstappen eventually stepped up the pace and set a time of 1:16.596. Ricciardo also found more improivement but in the end couldn’t get close to his team-mate’s pace and ended the session 0.483 behind the Dutchman.
Third place in the session went to Renault’s Carlos Sainz with a lap of 1:17.926, some 1.2s behind Verstappen. The Spaniard’s team-mate Nico Hulkenberg was next on the timesheet, a tenth off Sainz.
With fifth to eighth occupied by Mercedes and Ferrari, ninth place went to Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley. The New Zealander, who was running with the upgraded front wing and floor trialled last weekend on team-mate Pierre Gasly’s car, set a best time of 1:19.024 to finish 2.368s off Verstappen’s pace.
Force India tester Nicholas Latifi, standing in for Racing Point Force India regular Esteban Ocon rounded out the top ten, finishing four hundredths of a second ahead of local hero Sergio Pérez in the second Racing Point Force India.
Twelfth place was taken by future Sauber driver Antonio Giovinazzi who was in Charles Leclerc’s car for the session. The Italian driver finished 2.478s off P1 but 1500ths of a second ahead of Haas’ Romain Grosjean.
The final stand-in driver of the day was Lando Norris who took P15 in Fernando Alonso’s McLaren, behind Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson but ahead of McLaren team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne.
At the bottom of the order, Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly did not set a time. His car required an engine change, with Honda reverting to a pre-Russia spec which the manufacturer deem better for the conditions in Mexico City.
2018 Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix – Free Practice 1
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 19 1:16.656
2 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 19 1:17.139 0.483
3 Carlos Sainz Renault 20 1:17.926 1.270
4 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 21 1:18.028 1.372
5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 23 1:18.075 1.419
6 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 27 1:18.322 1.666
7 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 17 1:18.746 2.090
8 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 22 1:18.936 2.280
9 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 29 1:19.024 2.368
10 Nicholas Latifi Force India 23 1:19.078 2.422
11 Sergio Perez Force India 29 1:19.124 2.468
12 Antonion Giovinazzi Sauber 25 1:19.134 2.478
13 Romain Grosjean Haas 26 1:19.276 2.620
14 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 28 1:19.312 2.656
15 Lando Norris McLaren 23 1:19.646 2.990
16 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 29 1:19.716 3.060
17 Kevin Magnussen Haas 28 1:19.853 3.197
18 Sergey Sirotkin Williams 30 1:19.899 3.243
19 Lance Stroll Williams 26 1:20.142 3.486
20 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 2 -
Raikkonen redeems himself with a brilliant win after 5 years; Hamilton wait for title stretched
Kimi Raikkonen after winning the US GP ahead of Max Verstappen at Austin on Sunday. An FIA image Austin, 21 Oct 2018: A stunning opening move catapulted Kimi Räikkönen to his brilliant first win in five years as he carefully managed his drive to the flag ahead of Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, as Sebastian Vettel clawed his way back from a first lap spin to take fourth place in the United State Grand Prix, the 18th round of the Formula One World Championship at the Circuit of The Americas (COTA) on Sunday. Defending champion who was well-placed to seal the championship here, became a victim of not only his mistake but a strategy that ended up inferior and had to wait for at least the next GP at Mexico next Sunday. He is now 69 points ahead of title rival Sebastian Vettal of Ferrari with 75 points available in the last three GP of the 2018 season.
Starting from second on the grid Ferrari’s Räikkönen stole the lead from pole sitter Hamilton into Turn 1 at the start and thereafter balanced pace and race management over a one-stop strategy to hold a narrow lead over Verstappen and Hamilton on the final third of the race. Both attempted to pressurise the Finn but Räikkönen was faultless in the closing stages as he marched to his first victory since the 2013 Australian Grand Prix 113 races ago.
At the start, Räikkönen got the jump on Hamilton and stole the lead as the field made its way through Turn 1. Behind them Daniel Ricciardo held P4 behind Valtteri Bottas but later in the lap was attacked by fifth-on-the-grid Sebastian Vettel. The German got a run on the Red Bull driver into Turn 12 and took the position, but his exit was poor and Ricciardo got a shot at reclaiming fourth as they went into Turn 13. Vettel took a wide line, pushing Ricciardo to the outside of the asphalt. The Australian tried to remain inside the track limits but they banged wheels and Vettel was sent into a spin. The Ferrari driver dropped to P15, but Ricciardo was able to hold fourth place.
Further back, Verstappen was on a charge. After starting from P18 he was 14th by the end of the opening lap, and over the following eight laps rose to fifth place, just under seven seconds behind Red Bull team-mate Ricciardo.
That would become fourth on lap nine. As Ricciardo exited Turn 1 at the start of the lap, he suddenly slowed. The Australian pulled over at the side of the track and stopped, a suspected battery issue ending his race.
The stoppage, at the edge of the track, led to the Virtual Safety Car being deployed and Mercedes took the opportunity to pit Hamilton from P2 on lap 11. The Briton took on soft tyres and emerged just ahead of Verstappen. Hamilton then moved back into second place when Bottas let him past on lap 13.
Vettel, meanwhile, had clawed his way back into contention and by lap 15 had made his way to fifth place, 21.5s behind his race-leading team-mate and 9.0s behind Verstappen.
Ahead and armed with new soft tyres, Hamilton began to quickly close on Räikkönen and on lap 17 he was just 2.4s behind the Finn. However, over the next half dozen laps, Räikkönen defended brilliantly to keep Hamilton at bay, but more importantly he slowed Hamilton’s progress and allowed Vettel to close on the leading pack. When Räikkönen finally surrendered on lap 21 and dived for the pits to shed his starting ultrasofts, Vettel was 12s off new P1 man Hamilton, though he required a pit stop.
Verstappen was next into the pits, taking on soft tyres on lap 22. That put Vettel into second place, but the German was beginning to struggle on his starting supersofts. As such, Räikkönen quickly moved past his team-mate to regain second place and a lap later Verstappen swept past Vettel as the Ferrari man was called to the pits for new tyres. The German took on soft tyres in his stop and rejoined in fifth place. Hamilton now led ahead of Räikkönen, Verstappen, Bottas and Vettel.
Räikkönen’s race then switched to attack mode as he began to edge towards Hamilton and between lap 30 and 33 he turned a 16.3s deficit to the title leader into a 13.7s gap. Verstappen also began to close in on Räikkönen and on lap 35 he was just 3.9s behind the Finn.
Hamilton’s times continued to drop and at the end of lap 37 he dived towards the pits and took on another set of soft tyres. Räikkönen now led again, with Verstappen now in P2 ahead of Bottas. Hamilton rejoined in fourth place ahead of Vettel.
Hamilton was soon setting fastest laps and on lap 41 Bottas slowed and moved aside to allow the Briton to sweep past into third place. He was now just under nine seconds behind Verstappen, who was now just 2.3s behind Räikkönen.
At the front Räikkönen was now attempting to control the gaps, saving tyres and fuel. With five laps remaining, though, the gaps were tight. The Finn was just 1.1s ahead of Verstappen, but the Dutchman was having to keep a close eye on his mirrors, as Hamilton was now inside DRS range. Behind them Vettel was still fifth and could not find a way past Bottas. Hamilton now knew that if he passed Verstappen to take P2 then he would be champion.
He saw a chance to do that on the penultimate lap. Verstappen made a mistake and went wide into Turn 12. Hamilton pounced and the pair battled furiously through the following corners. Verstappen held firm and when Hamilton ran out of grip in Turn 18 and went wide, Verstappen was assured of second. Behind them, on the same lap, Vettel made his move on Bottas, passing the Finn under DRS as the lap started.
Räikkönen then duly took his first win in 113 races, ahead of Verstappen, hamilton and Vettel. Bottas finished fifth ahead of the Renaults of Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz. However, while eighth and ninth places were initially taken by Force India’s Esteban Ocon and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, both were later disqualified, Ocon for a fuel flow irregularity on the opening lap of the race and Magnussen for using more than the permitted 105kg of fuel across the duration of the race.
The disqualifications meant that Sergio Pérez in the second Force India was promoted to P8, Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley moved to P9 and the final points position was inherited by Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson.
Hamilton’s third place, allied to Vettel’s fourth, means that the title battle continues to the next round in Mexico, with Hamilton taking a 70-point lead to the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in a week’s time.
2018 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix – Race
1 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari –
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1.281
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 2.342
4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 18.222
5 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 24.744
6 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:27.210
7 Carlos Sainz Renault 1:34.994
8 Esteban Ocon Force India 1:39.288
9 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:40.657
10 Sergio Perez Force India 1:41.080
11 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 1L
12 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1L
13 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 1L
14 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 1L
15 Sergey Sirotkin Williams 1L
16 Lance Stroll Williams 2L
Charles Leclerc Sauber
Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing
France Romain Grosjean Haas
Spain Fernando Alonso McLaren -
The Esses are just incredible; it’s a little bit like Maggots and Becketts, says poleman Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton (centre), along with Sebastian Vettel (left) and Kimi Raikkonen at the press conference after qualifying on Saturday. An FIA image Austin, 20 Oct 2018: Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes won the pole position with the Ferraris behind him on Saturday. He was joined by dismayed title rival Sebastian Vettel in P2 and Kimi Raikkonen in P3 for the 18th round of the 21-round FIA Formula One (F1) World Championship here for the Press Conference.
TRACK INTERVIEWS (Conducted by Martin Brundle)
Q: Congratulations Lewis, another pole position. Take us through the lap. That was an important one wasn’t it?
Lewis HAMILTON: That was very important. How are you guys doing? You good? That was close. These guys have… I didn’t know how close it was going to be once we got to qualifying, but once we got to the last run I knew it was quite edgy between us and that it was going to require solid laps. The first one was decent, but not good enough, and the second one was just that little better and enabled me to pull that out. You know there have been some races where I’ve not actually done a better time and I’ve had to bail out of the second lap, so I was very, very adamant that today I was going to do a better second lap, so I’m very happy with that.
Q: Just spitting rain a little bit, but any troubles out on track?
LH: No, the track has been incredible. It started out very, very green and slippery in practice three and then once we got into qualifying it was just rubbering in and it was getting faster and faster every session. The wind direction: there is a beautiful headwind going into the Esses. The Esses are just incredible; it’s a little bit like Maggots and Becketts. And also, there’s such a big crowd here. We did a fan signing earlier and I’ve never seen the fans so hyped before, so it’s great, but big thank you to the team and everyone here.
Q: Just very briefly: the supersofts – you had to do an extra lap, so your start tyres, are they OK?
LH: We’ll see tomorrow. But the Ferraris are obviously really quick so… I just hope for better weather for everyone that’s in the grandstands watching and I hope that it’s an exciting race tomorrow.
Q: Thank you. Where is Sebastian? Sebastian, great lap, P2, through your Friday pain you’ll start P5 of course. Take us through your qualifying session?
Sebastian VETTEL: It was pretty close obviously. It’s always a bit of a shame when you miss out on just that little time. I think with six hundredths you can always debate you had them somewhere in you. But I was pretty happy with the laps I had. I think it was quite tricky to get everything together. Obviously, it’s been dry today and better for us, but the wind was quite tricky for us but it’s the same for everyone. Yeah, pretty happy. I think given the last couple of weeks that we had, pretty happy that we are back in range.
Q: Yeah, Ferrari are back on form aren’t they it seems; you’ve found your pace again?
SV: Yeah, it seems that we are, obviously not in the wet but in the dry it seems that we are better off and I think today has been surprisingly close. I don’t think we expected it to be that close, so that’s good.
Q: So, some work to do in the race from P5?
SV: Yeah, I’m used to it, so I know how to do it now.
Q: Kimi, happy 39th birthday during the week, still plenty of speed there isn’t there?
Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: Yeah, a little bit too slow, but I can deal with it. No, it’s been a pretty positive day and for sure I think we got pretty close. It’s far from ideal but I feel good with the car. We’ll try tomorrow; it’s going to be a long race, and nobody really knows how the tyre will survive, because of yesterday’s rain, so it will be interesting.
Q: And of course you will start on the ultrasofts, unlike people around you?
KR: Yeah, not much to lose, so we’ll try to make a good start and go from there and see what we can do. I think it should be OK.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Lewis, your third pole position here at COTA – but an extremely tight battle with all three of you covered by less than a tenth of a second. Just how intense was that fight out there for you today?
LH: Clearly very intense. Naturally, going into qualifying, really wasn’t sure what to expect – because basically, obviously, we were driving in the wet yesterday. And today, in practice, the Ferraris looked like they’d made some improvements, obviously. They’ve brought an upgrade of some sort and looks like they may have taken it off. But otherwise, anyways, we were very, very close. So, I knew it was going to take perfection and very, very neat laps to outpace them. I think James had told me, our strategist had told us it was very, very close between us all so give it everything. And I think Q1 and Q2 was fairly straightforward for us – but then once we got to Q3 it was just really about maximising, making sure on the track at the right time and not leaving a millisecond on the track. The first lap was good but obviously quite close between us all. I knew, being that I was less than a tenth, I think it was, ahead, I knew that the next lap, these guys would improve also. So, there was no room for error. And considering there’s been some qualifying Q3s in the past races where I’ve had to bail out of the second one because it wasn’t good enough, so I was very, very strict with myself today. I was like ‘today, you have to make sure you pull through on that second lap’, which I’m so grateful I did. Nonetheless, the team have done a really great job this weekend. I think the approach for us has been very sturdy and we’ve not been getting ahead of ourselves. We knew that this weekend it was going to be close and that we have to do the same due diligence and same work effort and workload as before, and yeah, this a great result. I’m so happy. It was a different feeling today, coming in. I don’t know why. I don’t know if I slept longer or not. I was in a different headspace going into qualifying, which is weird but it was a good one.
Q: Sebastian, Lewis is talking about how fine the margins were today. Do you feel that gap was out there anywhere, or can you not pinpoint where the gap is between the two of you?
SV: I think if it’s less than a tenth, you always think probably there was a little bit left but I was pretty happy with the laps I had, to be honest, and I think overall it’s been a positive surprise, I guess for both of us, to see how competitive we’ve been today, given how far we’ve been behind the last events. So, I think there’s probably more positives – but yeah, if you’re that close, you want to be ahead, not behind.
Q: Kimi, similar question to Sebastian really, with the gaps so close. Were you happy with your run, or do you feel you left anything out there?
KR: I think if you do a few more tries then for sure that amount you can improve. It’s just a very small difference somewhere, and you could be suddenly that much quicker – but this is what we got today. I think the last run was pretty good but the previous had very little grip, so then I was surprised how much on the last run I had, so obviously, when you have a bit more consistent grip it’s easier to know how much you can actually push – but yeah, it was OK.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: Question for Sebastian. You talked about it being a positive surprise after the last few races. Why do you think you’ve been able to make that step? Is it an understanding of what happened before? Do you think maybe the cooler conditions helped? And is there in any way an element of frustration to be so close to pole and obviously know that you’ve got the three-place penalty applied?
SV: Well, I can’t change that now. Obviously, it is what it is. We went back with our car quite a long way, and it seems to work better that way.
Q: Lewis, congratulations. You used the word ‘perfection’ there. I’m interesting to know from your perspective whether that was the perfect lap? I don’t think you were purple in [sector] one but I wonder if that was a function of perfectly using the tyres for the lap?
LH: No, it wasn’t a perfect lap. You know I never talk about perfect laps. Naturally, I think that’s what we’re all striving to achieve but it’s just… there’s so many parameters out there. You get out there and there’s different gusts of wind every time you hit a corner. Tyre temperature differences. You know. A different heartbeat on the different bumps. There’s so many different variables and you’re really just on your tippy-toes the whole way, trying to catch it and grab it and utilise the grip. But anyway, for me, no, I think the first section, for some reason they’re particularly quick there. I think some of that was probably in Turn One, mostly. They generally have a car that’s better in corners like that. But then the rest of the lap was good. There was no mistakes. The first lap was quite good – but there was a little bit of time loss I think maybe, in the exit of… in a couple of corners. Turn 11, Turn 12. Maybe 13 and a little bit in 20 – but that second one, I was obviously able to capitalise and make sure I didn’t drop the ball. So, I mean, it was a good lap but for me the highest one I have still is Singapore. But, I tell you, this track is incredible this year. It’s taken another step for us. That first section, we’re flat-out through Turn Two – which is easy – then Three, Four, Five, all the way into Six, and you’re pretty much flat all the way into Six and halfway through Six. So the G-Force that you’re pulling through there is incredible. And then you don’t really have much of a lift, or much of a lift for Seven. And then you’re braking down, and because there’s a headwind coming from Turn 11, which hits you dead on into Eight, the cars hooked-up through there and it’s really fantastic to drive. So I really enjoyed today’s lap.
Q: Looked like in Q2 with the Supersoft tyres, Ferrari had the upper hand. Lewis, are you concerned by that and Sebastian and Kimi, do you see your biggest chance in that?
LH: I’m not really sure where all the time was. They were obviously very quick. I don’t think it was as big as that. What did Kimi have? It was just Sebastian, wasn’t it, so it was about four tenths? Well, I just think it shows… I mean this weekend, we’re pretty much on a par performance-wise, I think. As you can see in qualifying, that was the max for all of us and as Kimi said, we could go around and do some improvements, more improvements everywhere but we’re pretty much dicing around the same kind of performance which, as Seb said, they’ve gone back on some of their potential updates and the car is better in the sweet spot and for us, we’ve not brought updates here so we’re on max downforce level here. I think that’s how it is for us all. I think that’s great to see us so close and still I’m hopeful for the future to have more teams, more qualifyings like that, that are closer, but with more cars involved, that’s got to be the ultimate goal for Formula One.
Q: Sebastian, do you think you’ve got an advantage on the supersoft tyre?
SV: No, I think he probably had a bad lap, I don’t know.
LH: Me? No, it was a good lap. I don’t really do bad laps too often.
SV: Yeah, so if that’s the case, I will take it and we are half a second faster tomorrow on the supersofts. Thank you.
Q: And Kimi, you’ll be starting on the ultrasoft. Do you think the supersoft holds an advantage or are you confident?
KR: I have what I have and I’m happy about it so we will see how it works out tomorrow. It’s a bit impossible to say.
Q: Lewis, when Max had his problem, did you then have to change the way you used any kerbs at all, did it affect the way you were thinking in terms of kerb strike after Verstappen’s problem? You were told on the radio that he’d hit a kerb…
LH: The team were a little bit more nervous about it. I hadn’t hit the kerb where he had his… Max likes to use a lot of the track as you know from history here so… but there are those big sausage kerbs at the back which… yeah, I don’t know how he damaged the car there but I wasn’t going over that area. I think there was another corner out of the exit of the last corner where there are those bumps also which I might have just clipped the edge of them but it wasn’t really a problem but no, naturally the team were just alerting me to an issue that someone else has had so you can avoid it. But it didn’t really come into my driver thoughts because I wasn’t driving on those areas anyway.
Q: Sebastian, were you told of Max’s problem and did that affect anything, the way you attacked the lap?
SV: Not really, but I saw it on TV and then… yeah, of course, you take action, you don’t want to damage the car so I tried not to go there too much.
Ends
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Vettel quickest in FP3 but hit by 3-place grid penalty for Sunday
Vettel on way to the fastest time in FP 3 at Austin on Saturday afternoon (midnight India time). An FIA image Austin, 20 Oct 2018: Sebastian Vettel set the quickest time of the final practice session for the United States Grand Prix, outpacing Ferrari team-mate Kimi Räikkönen by less than a tenth of a second as championship leader Lewis Hamilton finished third in the FP3 of the US GP, the 18th round of the FIA Formula One World Championship.
On Friday, Vettel’s hopes of maintaining a fragile title challenge were hit when he incurred a three-place grid penalty for failing to slow sufficiently during a red flag period, but he bounced back this morning as F1’s teams finally got some dry running at the Circuit of the Americas.
Ferrari focused its attention on the ultrasoft tyre during the one-hour session and after the early pace was set by Räikkönen with a time of 1:34.419, Vettel took over at the top of the timesheet with a time of 1:33.797, displacing Räikkönen who dropped to P2 with a lap of 1:33.843.
Of the likely front runners, Ferrari were alone in running the ultrasofts in the early part of the session, with both Mercedes and Red Bull concentrating on longer runs on the supersoft compound.
It meant that Hamilton was a late adopter of the ultrasoft tyres and after a scruffy opening flyer on the purple-banded tyre, the Briton later jumped to third place with the best time of 1:33.870. The lap left him just 0.073 behind Vettel.
Valtteri Bottas was fourth overall with a time of 1:34.556, some 0.759s off Vettel’s pace. The Finn avoided the ultrasofts throughout the session however and set his best time on the red-banded supersoft tyre.
Behind Bottas were the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo. The pair both focused on supersoft running early in the session but moved to ultrasofts with a little over 20 minutes remaining. Verstappen’s best time on the compound was 1:34.703, 0.906 adrift of Vettel’s P1 time.
Ricciardo might have eclipsed his team-mate’s time and the Australian was a couple of tenths up on his team-mate after the first two sectors of his run, but he was forced to back out of the lap when yellow flags were shown when Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley spun in Turn 19.
Sauber’s Charles Leclerc finished as best-of-the-rest in P7 with a time of 1:35.365, 1.568s off Vettel, while Racing Point Force India’s Sergio Perez was eighth with a time of 1:35.411. Ninth place went to Renault’s Carlos Sainz, while Haas’ Romain Grosjean was tenth with a time of 1:35.468, 1.671 off the pace.
2018 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix– Free Practice 3
1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:33.797 20
2 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:33.843 0.046 21
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:33.870 0.073 23
4 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:34.556 0.759 21
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:34.703 0.906 21
6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:34.910 1.113 20
7 Charles Leclerc Sauber 1:35.365 1.568 21
8 Sergio Perez Racing Point Force India 1:35.411 1.614 21
9 Carlos Sainz Renault 1:35.450 1.653 21
10 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:35.468 1.671 19
11 Esteban Ocon Racing Point Force India 1:35.562 1.765 22
12 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso1:35.713 1.916 27
13 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:35.770 1.973 19
14 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:35.882 2.085 19
15 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:36.000 2.203 21
16 Lance Stroll Williams 1:36.188 2.391 21
17 Sergey Sirotkin Williams 1:36.193 2.396 20
18 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 1:36.302 2.505 23
19 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 1:36.330 2.533 26
20 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:36.332 2.535 20 -
Hamilton dominates wet opening practice session
Hamilton in action in the wet opening session in Austin on Friday. An FIA image Austin, 19 Oct 2018: On a United States Grand Prix weekend on which he can seal his fifth Formula 1 world championship title, Lewis Hamilton began his preparations in style, dominating a wet opening practice session at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas to finish 1.3 seconds clear of Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas in the First Practice session of the 18th round of the FIA Formula One World Championship here on Friday.
Behind the Mercedes pair, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo were the Silver Arrows’ closest challengers, while Hamilton’s only real title rival, Sebastian Vettel ended the session in fifth place, almost two seconds off the championship leader’s pace.
Heavy rain in the morning led to a cautious start to the session, with most drivers restricting themselves to reconnaissance laps to test the conditions and thus an absence of lap times in the opening third of the session.
Track conditions eventually improved to the point that intermediate tyres became an option and in those circumstances Red Bull initially led the way, with Ricciardo leading Verstappen with a lap of 1:50.642s.
Ricciardo improved on that but then Mercedes driver Bottas took to the track and he swiftly took over at the top of the timesheet when he posted a time of 1:48.806.
Soon after the action ground to a halt when Sauber’s Charles Leclerc brought out the red flag.
The Monegasque driver went off track at Turn 9 but in rejoining from the gravel trap he spread inadvertently spread a large number of stones on the track, and with the debris requiring removal the session was stopped for 10 minutes.
When the green lights were once again shown, Hamilton vaulted to the top of the timesheet with his eventual session-best lap of 1:47.502. That put him 1.3s clear of Bottas and Verstappen and 1.8s ahead of fourth-placed Ricciardo.
Ferrari, meanwhile, appeared to target long runs, with both Vettel and team-mate Kimi Räikkönen posting more than double the amount of laps turned by the Mercedes and Red Bull driver. As such neither Ferrari driver made any real impact at the top of the timesheet. Vettel finished with a best lap of 1:49.489 that put him just over four tenths of a second clear of Räikkönen.
Best of the rest status in the opening session was claimed by Renault’s Carlos Sainz, with Haas’s Romain Grosjean in eighth place ahead of the Saubers of Leclerc, who recovered from his early spin, and Marcus Ericsson.
McLaren’s Fernando Alonso ended the session in 11th place, just under two tenths of a second clear of his 2019 replacement, Lando Norris. Both drivers were more than 3.5s off the pace.
2018 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix – Free Practice 1
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 6 1:47.502
2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 7 1:48.806 1.304
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 9 1:48.847 1.345
4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 9 1:49.326 1.824
5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 18 1:49.489 1.987
6 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 20 1:49.928 2.426
7 Carlos Sainz Renault 8 1:50.665 3.163
8 Romain Grosjean Haas 10 1:50.821 3.319
9 Charles Leclerc Sauber 14 1:50.961 3.459
10 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 14 1:51.016 3.514
11 Fernando Alonso McLaren 9 1:51.036 3.534
12 Lando Norris McLaren 9 1:51.232 3.730
13 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 19 1:51.234 3.732
14 Sergio Perez Force India 18 1:51.459 3.957
15 Sergey Sirotkin Williams 14 1:51.589 4.087
16 Kevin Magnussen Haas 15 1:51.614 4.112
17 Esteban Ocon Force India 17 1:51.655 4.153
18 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 7 1:51.717 4.215
19 Lance Stroll Williams 14 1:51.896 4.394
20 Sean Gelael Toro Rosso 21 1:52.625 5.123 -
Haas not happy with special status for Racing Point Force India: Friday press meet
Friday press meet in progress. An FIA image Austin, 19 Oct 2018: The FIA Press Conference for team representatives on Friday had Maurizio Arrivabene of Ferrari, Claire Williams of Williams, Gene Haas of Haas and Zak BROWN of McLaren as the 18th (of the 21) round of Formula One World Championship saw the free practice here on Friday.
Transcript:
Maurizio, please can we start with you? After Japan you said that Ferrari needs to challenge the impossible in terms of the title race. Is an unpredictable one like this one, with this weather, an opportunity to hit back?
Maurizio ARRIVABENE: You mean with the weather? I suppose. If you have a good car, the weather conditions, they are no influencing the performance of the car. With the sun, with the rain, you must always be into the situation where you are leading. So for us the rain is not really a factor that is going to determine the result. Of course it’s going to mix it up a bit more but it’s not the main concern.
Yesterday, in the press conference, Lewis sat where you are sitting now and reiterated his support for Sebastian, saying he had been perhaps unfairly criticised at times this season. What is your opinion of that?
MA: My opinion is that Lewis and Sebastian started in 2007 together, they are professional drivers and colleagues. I don’t want to get into the conversation in between the two drivers. It’s normal that being a Formula 1 professional that they are supporting each other, despite what they do at the track. In the track they fight like hell and out of the track they are colleagues and they are supporting each other. Having said so, you mention criticism. For sure the criticism to Sebastian they are not coming from the team, because I have said many, many times, we are winning and losing together. It’s not new news, but I would like reiterate that we win and we lose together – end.
Q: Thank you Maurizio. Claire, you recently announced George Russell as one of your race drivers for next season. Just what will George bring to Williams and why did you sign him?
Claire WILLIAMS: Yes, so we announced George last week and we’re very excited to do so. I think everybody regards George as an exciting talent. We have a few new rookies coming into the sport next year, which obviously is a great thing for the teams and for the fans. I think George’s racing pedigree really speaks for itself. He’s won the F4 championship, the GP3 championship and hopefully later this season he’ll win the F2 championship in Abu Dhabi. So I think his on-track prowess speaks for itself, but overall George, as a person, he’s a very impressive individual. He’s got a great personality. He really is truly determined. He knew exactly what he wanted going into 2019 and he’s got it, and we’re really excited to start working with him.
Q: George will be one of the drivers, but what about your second seat? Is there any news, and who is on your shortlist?
CW: No, unfortunately, we haven’t made that decision yet, we’re taking our time with it. We’re not in any mad rush. We have a few drivers on the list; clearly, I wouldn’t confirm who they are. But we are excited about that decision too, we have some exciting prospects that we are evaluating now. We’ve got a number of considerations to factor into that decision and we’ll make an announcement in due course; I’m hoping by the end of the season.
Q: Thank you very much. Zak, speaking of announcements, yesterday you announced that Coca-Cola will partner with McLaren until the end of this season. Just what are your hopes for that partnership?
Zak BROWN: We’re very excited to have Coca-Cola. They are one of the world’s most famous brands. I think they are a great entry into the sport. They will help bring a younger audience and great for McLaren. We’re going to be activating with them in the remaining markets and hopefully it will be a successful partnership that will go on into the future.
Q: Something else that McLaren has been doing a lot of this season is restructuring behind the scenes. You’ve made some big technical changes. Are all of those changes complete? Is everyone in the position that would like in position before 2019?
ZB: I’m very happy with the progress and the changes that we have made. I wouldn’t say it was complete. I think a Formula 1 is always reviewing and modifying on almost a race-by-race basis – not necessarily the team in the same way you would a race car – so we are where we wanted to be as far as who we’ve brought in and who we’ve promoted and excited for our future and hard at work on next year’s car, while trying to get the most out of this one here for the last few races.
Thank you. Gene, I think this is the first time we’ve had you in the press conference this season, so if we could just look back over the year, how do you reflect on Haas’ third season in F1 and has it exceeded expectations?
Gene HAAS: Well, this season I think we are stable. I think we’re more stable than we’ve been in the past. The faces are becoming familiar and I think that lends itself to communication, better results. Unfortunately, we haven’t had the results that we should have but the potential is there. I feel good about that. The partnerships we have are important but it’s becoming a little bit more transparent as to what our responsibilities are and what we have to do and the learning process has gone well. Unfortunately, we just haven’t gotten the results we should have had, even though we’re fifth in the championship. That by itself looks good. It kind of reflects on how much luck has do with it among all the teams when they are racing. It seems that especially in the mid-pack, who makes the least amount of mistakes is the one that comes out ahead.
You mention being fifth in the championship, but the fourth place does look like a realistic proposition over these last four rounds. If you were to achieve that, how do you then go about bridging the gap to the top three teams?
GH: Well, I kind of feel like we’re not really racing in Formula 1, we’re racing in Formula 1.5, so if we were to finish fourth then that would be a win in our series.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: Zak, you’re American, we’re in America and the big race in America is Indianapolis and McLaren would like to do Indianapolis and the Indycar series with Fernando. Any progress?
ZB: For the Indycar series, we’ve taken the decision to not compete on a full-time basis in 2019. We’re simply not ready yet and very focused on Formula 1. So we won’t be doing that in 2019. We do have a desire to do it, as I’ve mentioned before, in the near future. As far as the Indy 500 is concerned, it’s something that remains of interest to us. That will be a decision that ultimately we take in the off-season. I think it’s something that Fernando would like to do as well, but right now we’re still focused on Formula 1 and until we get a little bit of fresh air we’ll remain focused on that.
Q: For Mr Arrivabene. You always of course race to win. Now from Sunday to the last… the next three grands prix, you are kind of forced to win in order to keep alive the hope of winning the championship. In which way would change your, if any way, strategy or how you race these grands prix.
MA: It’s not a question of strategy. The question is to find the right balance in a car that in the last two to three races was not easy to manage – especially in relation to the slow-speed corners. I know that the numbers are all against us in terms of the Constructors’ and Drivers’ Championships, but our job is to go there, to go to the track, without giving up. We have done analysis in Maranello about the issue that we need to sort to be competitive in the next few races, including this one. We have most probably a certain answer and we will see in the next few days if instead of being a simple answer they are a solution.
Q: For Gene, Claire and Zak: a little earlier this season, over the summer, one of your midfield rivals, Force India, went through its process of falling into administration and then being rescued. When that happened there was obviously the slightly confusing situation about prize money – what they would and would not be eligible for. I just wanted to know, do you have a resolution on that. Is it a satisfactory resolution and if not what are you hoping will be the outcome from that?
GH: I think from the standpoint of being a participant in Formula 1, we’re just looking for an even enforcement of the rules. Like the stewards in a race they have to be non-judgmental and they have to enforce the rules in front of them and every team expects those to be evenly enforced, and our argument with Force India is: is it a new team or a continuation of an existing team, and that’s really where the stumbling block is. We went through the process of becoming a new team. We abided by the rules. The big one is the two-out-of-three-year rule and our argument is that if we had to go through that process we feel that with Racing Point if it’s a new team then it really should have to go through the same process we went through. So the question for FOM is: is it a new team or the continuation of an existing team. We think it’s pretty obvious to us it’s a new team and therefore should have the rules applied as per the Concorde Agreement.
Q: Claire, Williams’ position on this?
CW: Williams has signed the waiver that everybody knows about that would see Force India receive their prize money payments. We’re happy with that. I think from our perspective, the team is operating as it did prior to Lawrence buying it, acquiring it, and so we don’t necessarily consider it to be a new team, as such. I believe, as Gene just said, there are still some issues that need to be ironed out behind the scenes with FOM and the FIA. We’ll wait to see what happens.
Q: And Zak, your comments?
ZB: I agree with what Gene has said. Take a step back: obviously very happy that a Formula 1 team continues in business, that’s good for the sport, but what it did highlight were some of the governance issues and inconsistencies in the sport that need to be tackled moving forward. So I hope that what we do is we learn by this event and other events and not have things be chaotic, as it kind of was. There were different waivers flying around and it was in and it was out, it’s a new team, it’s not, and I think more than anything the sport needs to learn by some of these holes and get a better governance system in place.
Q: Maurizio, you’ve had a few strategic and operational snafus of late. Can you tell us, have you taken steps to try and solve those problems for this race and the remainder of the season? And do you also envisage having a much more intensive investigation into your structure for those kind of things over the winter?
MA: I mean, I already answered the question. I said, of course, if we are here, we were not sleeping the last few weeks. We were making an analysis, as I said before, to certain weaknesses that we notice in the last few races. We are taking here solutions – but it is the track that is judging if the solution is really a solution – or is not, for sure. We are here to compete, with a mission impossible, but working in this kind of environment, it’s our job.
Q: Claire, George obviously has a long-term Mercedes contract. Is that a factor for him arriving? Basically, shorthand for ‘are you getting a cheaper deal on the engines’? And secondly, the second drive, what are the financial considerations involved in that? Do you need someone to bring financial support with them – and would you be open to having two Mercedes-backed drivers in your line-up.
CW: George has obviously come up through the Mercedes young driver programme but that was not a factor in our decision-making. We purely saw a young talent coming up through the junior championships, as I think we all have. We’ve all recognised the talent that George has, and are probably all pretty excited about the talent that he has coming into this sport. So no, the Mercedes relationship wasn’t a factor. George has a multi-year arrangement with us moving forward and he will be a Williams driver during that period and will focus on being a Williams driver. There were no factors around financial considerations with Mercedes on making that decision. It was purely a decision made on the talent that George has. When it comes to the second seat, clearly as an independent team, and clearly, as everybody knows, independent teams in this sport haven’t had an easy ride over the past few years, the sponsorship landscape is pretty tough out there. The way that the prize fund distribution is at the moment in Formula One doesn’t make it easy, and not least coming tenth in the championship this year puts the squeeze on things a little bit – but we’re managing our finances pretty well, we’ll have a good budget going into 2019, it will be on par with the one that we have raced with this year – but there are a lot of considerations when it comes to choosing the driver for the second seat – but predominantly the main one has to be on talent.
Q: Gene, I’ve got to ask you, and tell you a little bit, there was a media representative about a year and a half ago, two years more like that, when we mentioned an American team coming to F1, she chuckled, as if it were a joke. You definitely demonstrated the prowess to be on the grid. This team has responded well. You started off with a single name on the car as Haas. We’re seeing it grow. Do you think that is also a reflection of the fan base that is growing in the United States?
GH: Well, it’s all be very positive, as far as the reception of the team and the name Haas Automation on the car. I’ve seen probably the most recognition over in the European markets. There’s a lot of brand name recognition. I was over in Tunisia, I was getting off a plane to go to one of our factory outlets and the person asked: ‘are you with the F1 team?’ which is pretty interesting in North Africa, so we’re getting good brand recognition there. Obviously there’s a huge fan base here in the United States. So, I think as far as my company’s concerned, it’s all been very, very good. Now we have brand recognition. People don’t necessarily know what we do – but at least they know the name. So from that standpoint, I think the enthusiasm of at least American Formula One fans, it’s really done well, really done well. I appreciate all the fans that support us and tell us that. If we can just get them to send us some money, it’d even be better!
Q: Maurizio, the last time Ferrari had an extended spell without championships was from 1979 to 2000 – 21 years. You’re heading for half that now, having won the last championship in 2008. With a budget cap coming, one of your major advantages, namely the team’s size, is likely to be reduced a fair amount. Can you see Ferrari not winning a championship for 21 years again?
MA: I’m here only since three-and-a-half years, I can respond for my period. I think the budget cap has nothing to do with the performance of the team because the performance is due to the quality of the work that you are doing, due to the professionalism and many other things. The budget cap, it could help to enhance the creativity of the guys: if you have talented guys in the team – and I’m talking about all the various areas, from the chassis, to to aero to the engine – for sure it’s a good thing to do because in the last five, six years, the amount of money teams are spending, it’s really important. These are important numbers. For a car manufacturer like we are, it’s also an investment, especially on the engine part, which can be transferred in terms of research and development and technology to the GT side. But we need to think also about the so-called small teams. I mean, the budget cap, it could be beneficial for us, and also for the teams, can reduce, a bit the gap but hoping
that means we keep the DNA of Ferrari and our focus is reducing cap but keeping up the performance and continue the research and development to be transferred into the GT side.
Q: In Trento a couple of weeks ago you said you were still not sure if you were going to stay at the helm of Ferrari next season. I was wondering if two weeks later there is any change in this decision? If you know already, or when eventually you would announce the decision?
MA: Every day I hear a different version of what I said in Trento! The latest one, that somebody, the public, said “yeah, you have to say”, I asked to the public, you want me say yes, you have to say it. Then I read, everybody said yes – but you must win. That was not true – because before I asked the question, half an hour before, somebody, talking about another subject said: “guys, when are you going to win?” Then they mix up the two. OK. This is a new version. Of course, when I answered the questions related to Juventus, so we are opening up another topic, I said that my future is in Ferrari – but it was the top management that have to give to me the final blessing. This is the answer.
Q: Mr Arrivabene, what will be the reaction of the team if Charles Leclerc can give Vettel a run for position next year? And Mr Zak Brown, letting go a two-times World Champion as Fernando, how will it change the team dynamics?
MA: I mean, I always said Charles is a very, very talented driver. It’s the reason we took him in Ferrari. I think, for the first time in the history, because you have to go back to the Rodríguez brothers that is similar to the one of Leclerc. I said he’s very talented, we took a decision, it’s more or less in line with the decision that all the other teams took. If you look at Mercedes, they took two years ago Bottas, that he was a kind of rookie coming from Claire’s team, Williams. If you look at the other teams, they have Verstappen, a young driver, McLaren the same, Renault the same, so we are more or less aligned. There is no novelty. I mean, it depends what you mean. These two guys, fighting together. Enzo Ferrari always said the first competitor of the driver is his team-mate. Until they are competitors, to try to gain the first and the second position is fine. If they are competitors who crash into each, this is not fine. But, in all honestly and seriously, I think Leclerc, he needs to gain experience to do the job. He needs to try to win races – but the main objective for him is to gain experience and always do his best. We are at the early stage to think that in the future they will fight head-to-head together. Hopefully yes – but I think it’s a bit early.
Zak?
ZB: Yeah, obviously Fernando’s an immense talent with a tremendous amount of experience. Of course, we’ll miss him in the garage but we have two outstanding talents, Carlos Sainz, who has some good experience in Formula One, so while young, he has good experience, and Lando Norris who we think is a great talent who is going to need to get experience – which is what we’ve been giving him in free practice one these last few races – and he has done an excellent job, so we’re very excited for our driver line-up for next year.
Q: The new budget cap’s coming in. Do you really think this is the magic bullet which is going to put you all on the same plane? Zak’s talking about competing in F1.5. Do you think it’s going to bring a level playing field to the teams, because you should all be able to make the budget caps, or is there something else missing from the seven smaller teams?
GH: Well, when I watch some of the races and I see how fast the top three teams just blow by us on the racetrack, you’re just somewhat aghast: wow, how do you we miss that? I don’t know how those cars are so much faster but if I talk to Ayao (Komatsu) and he’ll tell you ‘you’ve got a couple of tenths on your tyres, you’ve got a couple of tenths on your aero, your chassis is off a couple of tenths and there’s your second or two’. I know that we’ve put a huge effort into trying to address all those parameters but I just don’t see how we’re ever going to make up a second and a half, two seconds off of these guys. They are just so much faster than we are and it’s evident in the race. Will budget cap help? Probably if it reduces the size of their R&D department. I guess for every person we have they have five people. Personally, I would think that five people would make it more confusing but it does seem to work. If there’s anything that can reduce that gap between the technology they have and what we don’t have, that would probably be very helpful. How you go about doing that without the bigger teams somehow have workarounds I don’t know. There’s something wrong that… I don’t think we can ever make up that gap.
CW: Yeah, I would tend to echo what Gene has said, that there’s unfortunately no way that teams like mine, anyway, that are operating on a budget of around 120m could even consider competing to win races or World Championships against the likes of Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull, that are spend at least two if not three or four times the budget that we are. For me, that’s not a level playing field and for me, at any rate, that’s not how competitive sport should be. It shouldn’t be about the money that you have, it should be about the talent but talent only takes you so far when teams are outspending you three-to-one. So I am very much looking to the budget cap coming in but I also believe that there’s a whole lot of other work that we need to do in order to make sure that this sport has a sustainable future and one that probably matches the DNA that this sport has grown up with over the past fifty years, that we tend to be veering from at the moment, in my opinion.
ZB: I pretty much echo the same thoughts. I don’t think there’s a silver bullet in anything but I do think the budget cap can play a significant role in balancing the playing field. You also need to do that by having the right regulations moving forward which is something that we’re all very active on but if you do look at the sports, most of them have some sort of budget cap, salary cap and probably one of the most successful being the NFL where everyone’s pretty much on a level playing field and that’s where you see the upsets and the surprise champions and I think that would be healthy for the sport. I still think, at the end of the day, the best teams will rise to the top but it would be good to have some more unpredictability in the sport and have a chance to get back on the top step of the podium.
MA: I think from the financial point of view, of course reducing the cost is always more than welcome. It’s not related to the what, it’s related to the how. If reducing costs means equalisation it’s not for us. Standardisation is one thing, equalisation is another so equalisation is not in the DNA of car manufacturers. Reducing costs? Of course it is, that’s normal but I’m not telling you something new. We always stick to this point, to this direction. The problem is a bit more than the simple question related to the budget cap, that as I said, is very important. The question is related to the overall F1. What we want to do, to increase the interest in the sport, we need to analyse the mistakes of the past, to look forward for solutions in the future and this is also very important and to be honest, with ourselves: how is the level of interest to Formula One versus yesterday? What do we need to do? It’s not the budget cap, it’s one of the solutions but it’s the solution. We need to go back and to re-launch the sport. Launching the sport is kind of complicated and a complex equation but it’s something that we absolutely need to do and analysing also the audience that we have. If at a certain point you have an audience that is becoming older, older, older and you work to retain what you have and (Inaudible) to acquire – I’m talking about the past – and your attention is less focused on acquiring the young generation, this means that you have a problem. If you have a problem, you need to find a solution and the solution is not only related to the budget cap that I underline is important, it’s very very important, but it’s not the only one solution. In terms of competitiveness within the teams, OK, we mentioned NFL but I am European, I mention football. For example, how can you tell to Real Madrid ‘sorry, if you play with – I don’t want to mention a small team – don’t play with your best team, play with your middle team.’ Come on, it’s ridiculous. The sport is done also by the big teams which are participating in the sport and it’s part of the fascination of the sport. In the last few years in Formula One, we saw Ferrari at the time of Jean Todt and Michael Schumacher that they were winning for years. Afterwards, we had the period where Red Bull was winning for years and nobody complained. In the meantime we never focused our attention on the audience and the audience, little by little, became older. This is the exercise that we need to look at. Our competitor today, in my opinion, it’s my personal opinion, they are the Playstations. If you look at Gran Turismo, most probably we need to switch our minds and focus our attention on our competitors. Today we have a broad offer of entertainment and we need to look at everything, not only certain sports and try to equalise everything. Is Playstation a competitor? In my opinion yes. What do you have to do to beat the PlayStation? You have to do something that is more interesting, most probably. It’s not a detailed answer to the question but we need to the direction our attention to the entertainment industry and today what they offer is bigger than many many years ago. And then you need to ask why other sports – and let me underline football – they are still big numbers – even if they sometimes face the crisis – versus us. It’s an enormous and transparent exercise and then you apply the Ryder Cup, you apply whatever you want because if you save money it’s always perfect, everybody is happy. But as I said before, standardisation doesn’t mean equalisation for us.
Ends
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The Indy 500 is still very attractive, says Alonso
Thursday Press Conference in progress at Austin. An FIA image Austin, 18 Oct 2018: Formula 1 2018 returns to the USA for the 18th round of the FIA World Championship and with only three races to left after the US GP here on Sunday Mercedes driver and defending champion Lewis Hamilton is sitting pretty with a chance to seal the championship here. Along with other drivers, he spoke at the Thursday press conference.
Transcript:
Q: We’re going to start with you. You’ve been hugely successful here in the past and it looks like they’ve had you busy here as well this week, so just talk us through what you’ve been up to in New York this week?
Lewis HAMILTON: It’s just been the normal promotion stuff. I was there with IWC and with the team at the NASDAQ conference that we had… and then a bunch of other TV stuff I just did.
Q: Well, America seems to be a place you have quite an affinity with, and you’ve won the last four races here, as well as the Drivers’ title in 2015. Does it feel like it’s all coming together again for a repeat this weekend?
LH: Not particularly, no. It just feels like another race weekend we have, and we want to win, so it’s a simple goal for us, we just arrive to try and do the same thing. The weather is up and down and our goal is really just to perform as we have in previous races, we’re not thinking about it in any other way.
Q: Thank you. Fernando, you’ve got a huge following here in America after your Indycar exploits, but how special will this final US race in Formula 1 be for you this weekend?
Fernando ALONSO: Yeah, it’s always special racing here, with all the fans. Hopefully, we’ll have a good show on the weekend. As Lewis said, the weather is a bit up and down on Friday and Saturday especially, hopefully, that will mix things a little bit and we’ll see a good race on Sunday. In our case, I think we different targets, to try to score points after two races out of the points. It’s going to be challenging but we’ll try.
Q: You’ve spent a fair bit of time in America this year. Will you be spending even more time here next year? Can you tell us anything about your 2019 plans?
FA: Yeah, I don’t have 21 races in F1 to travel around to, so with more free time I will come to the States… for a holiday. A little bit more.
Q: How about from a racing perspective?
FA: Let’s see. As I said many times, the Indy 500 is still very attractive, as it was last year, and after winning Le Mans this year, it’s even more attractive to try to achieve it in the short term. Still working on plans for next year and as soon as they are finalised you will know.
Q: Daniel, you also seem to really enjoy it over here. We’ve seen you’ve been at a Longhorns game this weekend. Is this one of your favourite events of the season?
Daniel RICCIARDO: Yeah, it is. I love it. I don’t know, I’ve always enjoyed coming here. The football was a really cool experience. It’s amazing how many people go to a college game, how the capacity is that alone. It’s cool to experience new things and yeah, I’ve had a good week!
Q: Well, this season you’ve had two race victories but no podiums alongside that. Is it realistic to expect you to change that record here this weekend.
DR: Yeah, I think so. I think we’ll have a decent car around here. It’s weird, yeah I know, that I haven’t had any actual podiums. So yeah, we’ll try to make it happen. Last year I was going pretty strong in the race but then we had to stop with some mechanicals. It’s definitely a fun track to race on. I enjoy Austin alone, but the circuit as well is really good for racing. You can overtake and it’s pretty unique, so I’m happy if it’s kind of wet for Friday and Saturday but I kind of feel if the race is dry Sunday it will still be pretty exciting.
Q: Thank you. Romain, we’ve talked about the affinity these guys have with America, but it’s a home race for Haas, and you’ve got just four races left to try to overhaul Renault in the Constructors’ Championship. So us there a lot of pressure on this weekend?
Romain GROSJEAN: I think the pressure is always on, to be fair. Different levels, obviously for the top guys to win the championship, and for us to go and try to get Renault in the Constructors’. It’s a great weekend, it’s going to be very busy, a lot of marketing commitments, but I think it’s a good that we’re here, racing here for an American team and coming this year with a competitive car compared to the first two years us great.
Q: If I could just ask you about your own form. You had a tough start to the season, but then I think you scored 31 points in the last nine races. Just how did you go about turning that around?
RG: Thirty-nine. I got eight stolen in Monza.
DR: He’s not still bitter!
RG: No, I think everything is going great since Germany. It was a rough start to the season and things didn’t go my way. A bit of bad luck and bit of mistakes and all together it makes like a snowball effect. At one point I managed to stop that and come back to where I wanted to be. I’m really enjoying driving the car. I think we’ve had some really good races and I’m looking forward to the four last ones and here especially.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: Lewis, I know you’re not looking at the championship all the time, but if we would do an overlay from last years championship to this year’s championship it was pretty tight all season but then after the summer break the car and you personally, you really kicked off. Is this just a coincidence or is there anything – that you are understanding the tyres better, the team is understanding the car better? What is your explanation for that?
LH: Yeah, it’s probably just a coincidence that it’s exactly the same but we are improving the car the whole year long. We are improving our knowledge of the car and how to get the most out of it. If we knew what we knew in the second half we would do a lot better at the beginning. That’s just how it is in the sport. That’s how it always is. It’s been the same since I started in 2007. I think it’s probably the same for everyone. Not really much more else to say.
Q: For all of you, though Fernando I know this doesn’t really affect you for next year. The 2019 regulations state that the drivers weighing under 80 kilos will be ballasted up to 80 kilos, that ballast to be carried within the sort of cockpit area. How do you feel about that? Is that correct or should drivers be allowed to take advantage of their physique, as they can in other sporting activities?
DR: I personally feel that they are just getting us prepared for more races in America.
LH: NASCAR.
DR: All of us will enjoy our food a little more! I’m not complaining about it. It’s not like we’re going to, let’s say, take the piss, it’s more just a lot of us now tend to starve ourselves on race weekends and even training we can’t really do much strength training because we would just put on mass. I think it will just allow us to train harder, eat harder… Eat harder? Eat more. But it’s not like we’re going to have beer bellies or anything, we’re just going to be stronger and I think that’s only a good thing.
LH: I disagree. I think there are going to be some people with bigger bellies.
DR: Well, the small guys can afford to do everything!
Q: Romain, your thoughts on the weight?
RG: I think it’s a great thing. I’ve been the same as… Daniel and Lewis are quite tall. I think it hasn’t been great to starve ourselves and not eat as want to, so a few kilos of margin is going to be great. It will be a challenge for the team, because getting to the minimum weight for the regulation with the 80 kilos for seat and driver together is going to be tricky, but on the other hand it’s going to make our lives an awful lot better.
Lewis, any further thoughts?
LH: I think it’s great. It’s definitely going to open the doors up for people like Will Ferrell and all those who weigh a lot more to come in! It’s always been something we’ve all worked hard to keep in shape and it has been something we’ve worked really hard at; to make sure we’re not overweight. I guess we can eat more pancakes. I think we will prepare more and we can all be a little bit stronger next year. I guess for the people who are struggling to come under the weight; for example there are some of the taller drivers who struggle to be less than 80 kilos. I guess it doesn’t really make much difference for them otherwise.
Q: Fernando, you won’t be racing here next year, but you have raced in other categories where weight balances are different. Do you think this is a good move for Formula 1?
FA: Yeah, I think it is. In Formula 1, I’m obviously not one of the tallest, so it’s more a question for the tall guys and I think it’s fair for everyone, so I think it’s good. In other series, in WEC in particular, where the weight is free, that normally gives and advantage to the lighter and smaller guys, and probably that is unfair in a way, so I think Formula 1 is doing great on that.
DR: Ricky Bobby.
LH: Ricky Bobby.
DR: I caught it, it’s alright.
LH: I noticed. No one else watched Talladega Nights. Ricky Bobby. No? Overweight NASCAR driver. NASCAR drivers can now come over to Formula 1, which is cool.
Q: Daniel, we know you’ve not had the smoothest season, you’ve talked about that before. Your 2019 team, Renault, hasn’t had the smoothest end to the year either: they’ve been quite honest about falling behind on the engine side and the car side. That situation’s changed, obviously, since you agreed to join them. How much of a concern has it been watching their performance, and how encouraging is it to hear they’re planning an all-new engine for next year?
DR: It’s encouraging, obviously. When I signed, I knew that there was work ahead but I know that they’re putting a lot of effort into making things better and expanding a lot of departments and trying to make ’19 stronger and ’20 and whatever. Yeah, the way the last few races have been this year, obviously, it would be nice to see them improve every race and whatever but I honestly don’t look into it too much yet. I think ’19 is a new car and it’s going to be a fresh start again, so I’m not spending too much energy on that at the moment. Obviously, all I can do is, once my year’s done is try to be fully immersed into it all and try to help as much as I can and see how things go from there.
Q: We’ve got a lot of American fans excited about the Haas F1 team, the momentum they have coming into Austin for good points – but all four of you up there talk about excited to race in the United States. I want to ask, what can we do to continue the momentum to grow the sport here in the United States?
RG: Well, I think, to me, the obvious answer is to get more races in the US. I think most of the time it’s really hard for the audience to watch the Grands Prix, it’s the middle of the night. It’s not easy to grow the fan base. I think more races in the US. I think races a bit more exciting as well. If you look at NASCAR, you never know who’s going to win the race. In Formula One I can tell you it’s going to be the Mercedes or Ferrari winning on Sunday. I think that could be improved – but definitely more races in the US to get closer to the fans would be the first thing.
Lewis, your thoughts on how we can grow it here?
LH: I agree with what he said. We do have the one race and this is a big, big country with a lot of sporting heritage. They love intensely-fought games but also have something to look forward to – because there’s a build-up to multiple games. We only have that one race here, so the people, for example in this city or people in the close States that fly over for this one grand prix, which happens once a year, it’s like a festival. You can’t really get too excited about one festival in a season. So, that’s probably something that Liberty will be working on for the future.
Fernando, your thoughts?
FA: More or less the same. Try to get more races here, hopefully, one American driver into F1 soon, and that will help. I think it will take a little bit of interest into the sport and have a little bit more unpredictable races is more or less what they have here. To have people expecting the unexpected until the end.
And Daniel, your thoughts on growing the sport here.
DR: I have to agree with all that. Currently they don’t have an American driver. We can do our best to put on an accent and fill those boots. [Approximation of Texan accent] I can try all I can – I don’t know how these boys can do it but I’ll give it a red-hot crack and see how we go.
We wondered how long it would be before you did that…
DR: It was only a matter of time!
Q: Lewis, what’s your explanation for how you’ve taken off, collectively, since the summer break. Is it just stepping forward with the car? Is it personally? Is it mistakes from the opposition? What is it? What’s the biggest factor do you think?
LH: I haven’t really thought about it much. It’s a combination of so many things. Naturally, as a driver, you do improve. Or, at least, I’ve noticed in myself, I can’t speak for everyone – but I’ve noticed I improve throughout the year. How you conduct yourself, how you perform within the team, how you’re able to maximise in the car. If you go back through all the years, you know I always say that by the second half of the season I should be better, and most of the time that’s usually the case. I think also, as a team, we’ve collectively done a better job in every area. And then, the other side, for sure, has not done as good a job in that respect, coming into the second phase. So, I don’t really have a massive explanation for it. My knowledge is as good as yours in that sense.
Q: Lewis, you said you’re concentrating one race at a time – but you do stand on the brink of winning a fifth World Championship. What does that mean to you, were you to do that this weekend here in Austin?
LH: Again, really as a team, none of us are saying how cool it would be if it happened this weekend or the next, we’re not focussing on ifs. We’re focussing on making sure that we deliver. There’s still 100 points available. We can just never be complacent in life, and in a Championship as intense as this. We expect Ferrari to punch back hard here this weekend, so we can’t be relaxed in any way, shape or form. We’ve got to make sure we come here and raise the bar again. So, I’m definitely not thinking this weekend, how’s it going to feel if we do the job. Because I’ve got to do the job and that just adds more pressure and you just don’t need more pressure. So, focussing on making sure that I drive the best that I’ve driven all year long and we get the car where we need to get it. It’s going to be wet, I think, all day tomorrow, as far as I’ve heard, and potentially on Saturday, so it’s going to be a tricky weekend. So, nothing is a given.
Q: Lewis, given that this season has been a chase for a fifth championship, what does the name Fangio mean to you, his place in history and can you imagine yourself trying to drive the cars he muscled around the track back in his era?
LH: Imaging myself driving some of those cars back then? I have driven some of those cars. Stirling Moss’s car I’ve had a go in, some of the Silver Arrows they had, around the old Monza circuit, for example, with Sir Stirling, which is pretty intense. It’s always really strange to hear the drivers’ mental philosophy back then. Sir Stirling would say you’d want to fall out if the car’s going to crash: you hope that you get thrown out the car. It’s a much more confined space for us. It’s all about being stuck in and being safe. I would have… I don’t know if the 50s was a particularly good time, wasn’t a great time for black people either, so probably wouldn’t have been racing back then, but I’m grateful to be in this era and with the technology that we have and seeing the cars advance. I’m so grateful to be part of this era. Fangio is always… he’s like the godfather of the drivers’ sport for us. He’s the godfather for us, one of the greats from the beginning and will always be admired in the sport. It is crazy to think that I’m embarking on a similar number of championships that he had.
Q: Fernando, just on Lewis, when you first met him in 2007, did you think this guy would have the credentials to go on and match Fangio, win five titles and all the races? And Lewis, we saw you issued a post in Instagram, just defending Sebastian. Do you think his criticism has been a bit unjust this year?
FA: Well, probably at that time it was difficult to image what the future could bring for Lewis, and for any of the guys on the grid. But yeah, definitely, he had showed the talent from day one, and fighting for the Championship in his rookie year, winning in 2008. Probably at that time, we all agree that five or seven World Championships will be possible. Then, obviously, was a little bit down due to the performance of the car for a couple of years. And then, yeah, switching to Mercedes at that time, we all were thinking that maybe was not positive – because at that time Mercedes was struggling in 2013, and things like that. So, it’s up and down, the feelings. I’m happy for him because he showed the talent from day one. He was able to win races when the car was there to win it but he was able to win races in some of the seasons when the car was not in the top of the form, like 2009 and things like that, he’s still winning a couple of grand prix a year. It’s impressive – and now it’s time to enjoy for him, so I’m happy.
And Lewis, your comments defending Sebastian after Japan?
LH: I think if I was in the same position they would probably do the same thing so it’s more as drivers we are all members of the GPDA and I think we all just need to stick together and I think the respect that we have for one another I think is probably the greatest that it’s been for many years. At least in the years that I’ve been in Formula One. I think ultimately as a four-time World Champion, it is the most intense year that we’ve had. So every hiccup is magnified, naturally, as it is perhaps in any sport at the top. But there have been many – or several – times that I’ve been in the firing range and Seb’s always been really respectful and supported me, so I thought it was only just to do the same.
Q: Two questions, the first for Lewis. Can you explain to us why you do love America so much? And the second one for Fernando; can you give us your top five of the World Champions and what does it mean for you to have one driver equalling Fangio with five titles?
LH: I don’t know if I love it more than everyone else loves it. So many people come out here and… I grew up watching… movies are something I’m massively into… grew up watching these great movies which were filmed here in the States and then dreaming, as a kid, of one day coming to the States: I think it wasn’t until I was 17 and I finally went to New York and loved it and the more and more time I spend out here the more I enjoy it. I love the big roads they have, they do everything generally bigger and better in most cases. They’ve just got some great cities, good energy, good people, music is the centre of the universe for entertainment here so there’s many many reasons. The food is great, they’ve got the best pancakes out here.
FA: I guess it’s difficult to do the top five.
LH: Yourself?
FA: Not really! Probably Michael, Fangio, Senna, Prost, Lewis, probably this will be the top five, probably, that come to my mind but it’s difficult to compare different times and different ways to win those championships. Lewis winning five now and being the same as Fangio, as I said before, it’s a great achievement and if one had to do that in our generation, I’m happy that it’s Lewis because he showed the talent and he showed the commitment, as I said before, when the car was dominating he delivers and won the championship. When the car was not good enough to win the championship, he still put in some performances to show his talent and that’s difficult to see in our days.
Q: Fernando’s already been to Indianapolis but when we as a motor sport of community think of the US we generally think of the Indianapolis 500. A lot of Formula One World Champions, race winners etc have actually raced at Indianapolis. Could you imagine yourselves ever racing there?
DR: Yes and no. The thought of it sounds good. Ovals creep me out a little bit. I won’t lie. It would be cool. I don’t know. I would at least like to have a go, like maybe just a test. Let’s see how things go but yeah, it was cool watching Fernando do it, don’t get me wrong and part of me was like trying to picture myself being there and doing it but yeah, maybe one day. At the moment I don’t say it’s something I’m looking to do in the near future. I don’t know. Probably the older I get, the more scared I’ll become, so if it doesn’t happen now maybe it won’t ever happen. I don’t know.
RG: I’ll join Daniel. It sounds cool, looks cool, it’s a great race. Ovals, yeah…
DR: Who thought turning left could be so hard?
LH: I kind of feel in a similar way. I would definitely like to try it as I’ve never really driven an oval before and the cars are incredibly fast and (I) always want to go faster. I probably will get a chance to have a go. I’m sure if I wanted to have a go I could but it’s never been a series – naturally, growing up in Europe, it’s never been a series that you grew up aspiring to be in, it was always Formula One being it was the highest technology and has always been – at least growing up – the thought was that it was the highest grade of drivers that you wanted to compete against but they’ve got some great drivers there as well. I think I would prefer to try NASCAR. Watkins Glen, I’ve always wanted to have a go up there, beer cans in the side. I have driven a NASCAR years ago at Watkins Glen which was awesome so that’s something I could do potentially. I honestly have no desire to do any other racing beyond Formula One if I’m really honest but maybe that will change when you do stop, because you do it your whole life and temptation is always going to be there, I’m always going to be a racing driver at heart.
FA: Well, they need to commit to the race. I think if they just want to do a test they will never do the race after testing the car, because it feels quite bad. It feels quite difficult. The car is self-steering to the left, you go on the straights and you are turning right and it feels very weird to drive the car, but then in the race it is just a different thing. You wake up your competitive instinct and you forget about all these weird things that those cars have and it’s a lot of fun. It’s part of history. I think the biggest thing is to go out of your comfort zone and drive something that you don’t feel ready to handle, ready to control and that adrenaline is magic.
Q: To the two World Champions, Lewis and Fernando: there’s been a lot of attention on Mick Schumacher winning his Formula Three series. I wonder how you feel about him progressing into F1, one being whether the Schumacher name will be an asset or a burden to him?
LH: I don’t think it will be a burden. I think naturally for any of the champions when they have youngsters come through, naturally Michael is named the greatest driver of all time, he’s got the most titles, so there will one hundred percent be a Schumacher back in Formula One, partly because of the name, but secondly because he’s doing a great job. He’s obviously got a lot of talent as his Dad had, just like Keke and Nico, just like when Fernando has kids I’m sure an Alonso will be here again. Even if I have a kid who wants to race and even if he’s no good he can make it Formula One because of the name. But no, he’s doing a really great job and he’s a really great kid as well. He’s come to… and been a part of our team a couple of weekends, I think it was last year, very attentive. He’s got a great talent as his Dad had so I don’t think it will be a burden in my personal opinion. I think it could be great for the sport.
FA: Not much to add. I don’t know him. Obviously I never met him, probably. You only see the results from the outside and he has a great talent and he will be good for the sport, to have the Schumacher name again in F1. Let’s see what the future brings, not putting extra pressure on him which I’m sure he has enough already. Let time decide.
Q: Lewis, you’ve had so much success here and really your name has become synonymous with this track. Is there anything in particular, over the years, besides winning that you’ve enjoyed about coming here and also you were talking about the food, pancakes, is there anything that you like to eat while you’re here?
LH: They don’t make tracks really like they did in the olden days. The older circuits that you’d go to, you’d dream of going to, watching the legends drive there, so some of the new tracks aren’t really that good but this is one of those that is, it’s got great character and from day one when we arrived here, there was a massive crowd that came who I’m sure, at least half of them, probably were new to the sport which was great so it had the impact it was meant to have and I think every year it’s kind of been growing but just driving the track is a massive challenge and also you can actually race here, you can follow which is one of the downfalls of some of the circuits: it’s harder to follow. So I think that’s really why I’ve enjoyed it a lot because I’ve had the chance to have races here, real races and obviously there is that great sporting heritage here and people are genuinely super enthusiastic about sports, no matter which sport it is. And the last race here that we had, the whole spectacle, I think, was probably the best of the whole year, the whole build-up and everything I thought was great. It’s great to celebrate the culture wherever you go. I think there was negativity I think I heard after the race about how American it was but I was like ‘we’re in America, we’ve got celebrate America at this Grand Prix particularly’ and I think that should happen in all the countries we go to.
Food-wise, I grew up… for a period of time I lived on an American airbase in England and chicken wings… this guy my Mum was dating did the best chicken wings ever and I used to come out here and have that but I don’t eat chicken any more, being as I’m on a plant-base diet so I don’t know how that’s going to go while I’m here, I might be living on pancakes all weekend but I don’t mind that.
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Racing Point Force India confirms Perez for 2019
File photo of Sergio Perez by Force India Silverstone, 18 Oct 2018: Ahead of the F1 Grand Prix in Austin, Racing Point Force India announced that Sergio Perez has agreed for an extension to his contract and will race for the team in 2019. The Indian outfit formerly owned by now-beleaguered Indian liquor baron Vijay Mallya ran into administration before it was acquired by a Canadian consortium, Racing Point led by F1 driver Lance Stroll’s father Lawrence Stroll. No decision on the second driver is taken yet amidst wide speculation that Lance Stroll would be moving from Williams to Force India for 2019.
Perez, was said to be instrumental in dragging the old team into administration as it owed him huge monies. It was reported that the new management had not only paid the Rs.25 crore due to Perez, but like last season, has also finished the deal with the Mexican driver’s sponsors before signing him for one more year.
Though Force India lost all the points it won with the previous team, it retained the name due to the use of the Force India Chassis and began afresh striving to keep up its mid-ladder status. The Force India name is unlikely to continue for 2019 season with the team which was born in 2007. Perez joined the team in 2014 and this his fifth year with Force India.
Otmar Szafnauer, Team Principal & CEO of Racing Point Force India: “I’m pleased that Sergio will continue his journey with us in 2019. Over the last five years, Sergio has confirmed his position as one of the most talented and consistent drivers on the Formula One grid. He gives us valuable stability going forward and is a huge asset to the team. As we begin an exciting new chapter in the life of this team, we are delighted that Sergio will race with us going forward.”
Sergio Perez: “I am very happy to finally announce my future and I’m really motivated for 2019. Force India has been my home since 2014 and has allowed me to grow as a driver and show my skills on the track. We have achieved so much success in the last five seasons but I think the best is yet to come. The new investment the team is enjoying fills me with confidence and I am really excited about the future.”
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McLaren and Coca-Cola announce Formula 1 partnership for remainder of 2018 season
Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne. Photo: McLaren Woking, 18 October 2018: McLaren Racing and Coca-Cola today announced a new partnership that will see the companies collaborate for the remainder of the 2018 Formula 1 season.
The partnership will see the iconic Coca-Cola brand carried on a Formula 1 car for the first time as part of the McLaren Racing livery, and continues its rich history of sports sponsorship, including motorsport.
Coca-Cola and its sub-brands will be represented on the two McLaren race cars as well as the team’s race drivers, Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne, and McLaren test driver Lando Norris. Activation will focus on sub-brands Dasani Sparkling and SmartWater at the USA, Brazilian and season-ending Abu Dhabi Grands Prix.
Zak Brown, Chief Executive Officer, McLaren Racing, said: “Coca-Cola has a rich history of sponsorship and a record of innovative activations and we are honoured the company has chosen to partner with McLaren to explore opportunities in Formula 1. Formula 1 as a sport is changing, as are we as a team, and we’re looking forward to introducing Coca-Cola to the potential that our team and fantastic, global sport represents.”
Ricardo Fort, Vice President, Sports Partnerships, Coca-Cola, said: “We are looking forward to this activation with McLaren, both our companies are innovators, and we are both looking to further connect with youth. This partnership will guide us to what our customers, markets and consumers are craving from this high octane passion.”
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FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting: 2019 Formula 1 season to commence on March 17
Paris, 13 October 2018: With no new additions, the 2018 Formula One season will again comprise 21 races, beginning with the Australian GP in Melbourne on the weekend of March 17 as per the calendar announced by the sport’s World governing body FIA following the meeting of the World Motor Sport Council here on Friday, hosted by FIA President Jean Todt and Deputy President for Sport Graham Stoker.Besides approving the calendar for Formula 1 and the World Rally Championship, the Council also approved MRF Challenge as one of the four international series, the others being Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East, Asian Le Mans Series and the W Series.
The 2019 season calendar was approved as follows:
17 March: Australia, Melbourne
31 March: Bahrain, Sakhir
14 April: China, Shanghai
28 April: Azerbaijan, Baku
12 May: Spain, Barcelona
26 May: Monaco, Monaco
9 June: Canada, Montreal
23 June: France, Le Castellet
30 June: Austria, Spielberg
14 July: Great Britain, Silverstone
28 July: Germany, Hockenheim
4 August: Hungary, Budapest
1 September: Belgium, Spa
8 September: Italy, Monza
22 September: Singapore, Singapore
29 September: Russia, Sochi
13 October: Japan, Suzuka
27 October: Mexico, Mexico City
3 November: USA, Austin*
17 November: Brazil, São Paulo
1 December: Abu Dhabi, Yas Marina
* Subject to ASN approval
THE DECISIONS IN BRIEF
The Council approved changes to the 2019 Sporting Regulations including:
– Changes to the Safety Car regulations to ensure there is a consistent point at which drivers may overtake when the Safety Car returns to the pits. This will now be the same in all three types of restart
– The teams will now be responsible for initial scrutineering of their cars. Before the cars go on track for the first time, teams must declare conformity with all safety related matters
– The official end-of-race signal will now be a chequered light panel, although the chequered flag will still be shown
RELIEF FOR TEAM PERSONNEL
For 2020, the team personnel curfew – the amount of time for which all team personnel must be away from the track – will increase from eight to nine hours.
Formula 1 Strategy Group and Commission proposals concerning the 2019 Technical Regulations were agreed, including:
– Changes to the mirror regulations and also associated rear wing changes (height) for rear view visibility and safety (Articles 3.6 and 14.3)
– The on-board camera regulations will be modified to improve the TV spectacle (Article 21)
– Rear end-plate lights are to be added for safety (Article 14.5)
– Minor modifications to the halo fairing (Article 15.2.6) are to be made for safety reasons during a potential driver extraction.
– Source: fia.com
Paris, 13 October 2018: With no new additions, the 2018 Formula One season will again comprise 21 races, beginning with the Australian GP in Melbourne on the weekend of March 17 as per the calendar announced by the sport’s World governing body FIA following the meeting of the World Motor Sport Council here on Friday, hosted by FIA President Jean Todt and Deputy President for Sport Graham Stoker.