INDIA in F1

Tag: F1

  • Sahara Force India covers 150 laps; Mallya’s first visit to paddock this season

    Sahara Force India covers 150 laps; Mallya’s first visit to paddock this season

    (L to R): Otmar Szafnauer (USA) Sahara Force India F1 Chief Operating Officer with Dr. Vijay Mallya (IND) Sahara Force India F1 Team Owner.
    British Grand Prix, Friday 14th July 2017. Silverstone, England.

    Sahara Force India had a positive first day of track action in Silverstone, with Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon covering 150 laps between them.

    SERGIO PEREZ – VJM10-02

    FP1 1:31.297 P13 33 laps
    FP2 1:30.624 P13 43 laps

    Sergio: “It’s been a positive day for us, despite the windy conditions that added a bit of difficulty. We have a good understanding of what the car is doing and of what we can improve for both qualifying and the race. Driving the 2017 cars on this track is impressive. The amount of downforce you carry in the high-speed corners is incredible. Of all the tracks we have raced this season, this is probably the one on which I have experienced the biggest difference compared to last year. All the reference points you have built up in the past change and this can put you at a disadvantage: it took me a bit of time to get used to the amounts of grip we have, but I am feeling comfortable now.”

    ESTEBAN OCON – VJM10-01

    FP1 1:31.210 P12 32 laps
    FP2 1:30.383 P10 42 laps

    Esteban: “It’s been a solid Friday overall. Our pace was promising from the start of practie and we kept improving every time we went out. We didn’t make any mistake on a day of tricky conditions and I generally felt the car was pretty good. This is not an easy track on which to drive – it’s fast and demanding, but also very enjoyable to drive. We have work ahead of us and we’ll need to wait until tomorrow to see where we stand, but I think we have a strong base.

    “Something that really struck me on this track is the performance of the cars: they are so fast and the cornering speeds are impressive. You really feel it in your neck through the fast corners – I think I’ll need a really good massage tonight!”

    VIJAY MALLYA, TEAM PRINCIPAL & MANAGING DIRECTOR

    “It has been a pretty straightforward Friday with a lot of work to get through. We have been able to evaluate the new parts we brought here and made progress with the car set-up. Both drivers are reasonably happy about the balance of the car but there is obviously still more performance we can find. We expect the battle in the midfield to be extremely tight and it will be crucial to maximise what we can extract from our qualifying performance. The weather forecast for the next few days keeps changing, so we will need to ensure we adapt to the conditions quickly.”

    eom/Sahara Force India press release

  • Bottas continues to set pace at Silverstone

    Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas maintained his grip on the top of the timesheets at Silverstone but he was pushed hard by team-mate Lewis Hamilton who finished under five hundredths of a second adrift of the Finn.

    Bottas had topped the opening session by just seven hundredths of a second but his time of 1:29.106 was eclipsed early in the session as Hamilton quickly dipped into the 1m28s bracket on soft tyres. He then improved to time of 1:28.543 to sit six tenths ahead of the rest of the field.

    Half an hour into the session Bottas bolted on supersoft tyres and once again rose to the top of the timesheet with a time of 1m28.496s.

    Hamilton then also moved to the supersofts but an off-track excursion scuppered his chance of beating Bottas and the Finn’s time stood until the end of the session.

    After a muted morning session for Ferrari in which its drivers finished fifth and sixth, the Italian squad bounced back in the afternoon with Kimi Raikkonen third-quickest. The Finn finished the session 0.332 behind Bottas but his progress wasn’t entirely smooth and late in the session he spun off into the gravel at Becketts. He was able to rejoin the circuit, however. Sebastian Vettel, meanwhile finished fourth, just over a tenth behind his team-mate and just under half a second behind Bottas.

    Red Bull Racing were best of the rest, with Max Verstappen quickest for the Milton Keynes team. The Dutchman took fifth place, 0.602s off Bottas on supersofts, while teammate Daniel Ricciardo was sixth, nearly half a second down his team-mate on the same tyre. Verstappen was the last man inside a second of a Bottas’ time.

    Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg took seventh place, 0.350s behind Ricciardo, while Felipe Massa was eighth for Williams.

    After finishing eighth in the morning session using Honda’s ‘Spec 3’ engine, Fernando Alonso continued McLaren’s good start to the weekend by taking ninth place on the timesheet with a lap two tenths behind Massa. Esteban Ocon took the final top 10 place for Force India.

    2017 British Grand Prix – Free Practice 2 
    1 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 31 1:28.496
    2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 35 1:28.543 0.047
    3 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 36 1:28.828 0.332
    4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 36 1:28.956 0.460
    5 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 32 1:29.098 0.602
    6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 35 1:29.586 1.090
    7 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 37 1:29.936 1.440
    8 Felipe Massa Williams 36 1:30.006 1.510
    9 Fernando Alonso McLaren 28 1:30.238 1.742
    10 Esteban Ocon Force India 42 1:30.383 1.887
    11 Carlos Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso 26 1:30.555 2.059
    12 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 34 1:30.562 2.066
    13 Sergio Perez Force India 43 1:30.624 2.128
    14 Romain Grosjean Haas 33 1:30.661 2.165
    15 Lance Stroll Williams 37 1:30.695 2.199
    16 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 31 1:30.782 2.286
    17 Kevin Magnussen Haas 33 1:30.835 2.339
    18 Jolyon Palmer Renault 25 1:30.879 2.383
    19 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 27 1:31.616 3.120
    20 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber 30 1:31.929 3.433
    eom/FIA press release

  • Every year British GP is a must-win for a British driver, says Hamilton

    Every year British GP is a must-win for a British driver, says Hamilton

    Hamilton at the FIA Press Conference on Friday at Silverstone. An FIA image

    PART TWO: Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes), Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing), Daniil KVYAT (Toro Rosso), Pascal WEHRLEIN (Sauber)

    Q: Lewis, four-time British Grand Prix winner, looking to equal the record of five. How have you spent the last few days in the build-up to the race and are we set to get a strong statement from you on track here, as so often in the past?

    Lewis HAMILTON: It’s good to be here. I tried to prepare in the best way I can, quite relaxed the past few days and I’ve come here excited for the weekend, as always. You’ve got the championship, which is obviously the most important thing, but a very close second, if not tied, is the British Grand Prix, being a home grand prix, the home of motorsport, such an incredible, intense weekend. Every year it is a must-win for a British driver, so yeah I tried to prepare the best way I could.

    Q: Daniel, you looked like you were having fun in London yesterday evening, but you’ve also been having fun on track with 70 points from the last four races I think it is, second best tally in the field. What does that say about your competitiveness now?

    Daniel RICCIARDO: It’s certainly getting better. The season started slow but we’ve found some good momentum the last few races. I think Austria was a bit of a breakthrough in a way. It was a third, obviously not as good on paper as Baku, but in terms of actual performance we finished six or seven seconds off the win and there were no safety cars and it felt like really for once this year had genuine pace and we could run pretty much with the pace of the leaders. So that was super encouraging. Last few laps it was looking like it was going to get tight. I’d held that podium spot the whole race and I could see Lewis closing in, so I was relieved to have stayed on the podium when it looked like he was going to come past pretty easily at some point. It felt like from one lap to the next he was in my mirrors. I didn’t really have to look in the mirrors most for the race but then I saw a car and I was hoping it was a car that had come out of the pits, out of sequence, and it stayed in my mirrors for a few corners. Then I had a proper look and it was a silver car and I knew it wasn’t Valtteri, so I knew we would have a bit on the last few laps but it’s been a good run, so we’re building.

    And last night?

    DR: Oh last night, yeah, it was a good event. Look, I’m sure that would have been pretty difficult to organise and get that all going but I felt like it was a success and you know, we had a bit of time on track to try to give the fans what they wanted to see. I doubt they left disappointed.

    Q: Daniil, we had a big discussion in part one about the idea of using street promotions and the kind of thing we saw yesterday. What do you think of the idea of putting events on like that and reaching out to fans, in a place like Moscow for example?

    Daniil KVYAT: I think it would work – not in January! But in summer yes, I think why not. I mean if every year, once a year, they could rotate this kind of event between one of the biggest cities of the world to promote the sport, then I think why not. Like Daniel said it was a good success yesterday I think. A lot of people there in the city centre of London. It was a cool and enjoyable atmosphere and I think it was nice for sure.

    Q: Pascal, coming to you, how are you finding life at Sauber without Monisha Kaltenborn, but with the prospect of Fred Vasseur arriving as the new team principal.

    Pascal WEHRLEIN: I’m looking forward that Fred is coming. I respect him a lot for what he has done in motorsport so far, like in junior categories and last year in Formula One. So, looking forward to working with him and let’s see where he can bring Sauber.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) Just repeating a question from a colleague from the previous session. Lewis, Copse corner this year? Do we think it will be flat in eighth and if so what is that going to be like and if so how will it compare with Becketts in terms of fun factor?

    LH: I think Copse is going to be flat this year. I would imagine quite easy, yeah. I would imagine probably eighth, you should get to eighth by then. It’s going to be rapid. I don’t think any of us are prepared for how quick Silverstone is going to be compared to previous years. It was awesome in the last race. Maggots and Becketts, again, are going to be the same. It’s going to be a physical race for us, being that it is mostly medium and high-speed corners. The G that we are going to be pulling is definitely going to be one up, maybe two, who knows, but it’s going to be a lot of fun.

    Daniel, you’re nodding and smiling, as if you’re looking forward to this?

    LH: It’s because he’s got an upgrade package!

    DR: Ha! We’ve got more coming later. It’s going to be fun. I love high-speed corners. From Turn 9 to 15, Copse to Stowe, it’s some of the coolest sequences… probably [the best] mile of race track we go on all year. We got a taste of it, as Lewis said, in Austria. The second, third sector we were carrying some serious speed, so it’s a sign of what this weekend is going to be like I think.

    Q: (Jon McEvoy – Daily Mail) If they organised an event such as last night’s again in London, would you all go?

    DK: You mean every day or what? Probably no. But next year again? Why not. Wednesday? Yeah I think why not, of course.

    LH: I guess I’ll decide when the time comes.

    DR: Yeah.

    PW: Yeah I would and I would do more donuts, as Daniel did.

    DR: That was controlled sliding.

    Q: Is that what you told the council?

    DR: It’s alright… arrest me.

    Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) Lewis, just in your words, why were you the only driver not there when your colleagues were there and you were missing?

    LH: I don’t why I was the only one. Everyone had the right to make their decision for themselves. For me, I felt that it’s been a pretty intense season so far and I felt for me, I needed to prepare the best way that I could for this weekend. The season’s the most important thing for me. That’s really it.

    Q: (Rachel Brookes – Sky TV) Lewis, just following on, from what you saw of yesterday’s event and the crowd that turned out that was there, you’re someone who talks a lot about what you get from the fans and how much it helps you. Looking at those pictures and what happened, do you feel that actually being there yesterday might have helped you coming into this weekend and given you a boost a day early even, coming into the British Grand Prix?

    LH: I generally haven’t been on my phone the last couple of days, I tried to switch off, I switch on a couple of times just to receive a message but otherwise I’ve tried to stay away from it. Personally, I feel I prepared the best way for this weekend and that’s really all I can do. Of course, there are people who have other opinions about it but I’m trying to do the best… it’s a very intense season, I’m trying to prepare the best way I can. Other people will have different ways of doing so. I love this Grand Prix, I love this race so I feel yesterday, personally, plays any role in how great this weekend is for me. Every season, for the last years has been incredible, it’s been growing every year. You get people who have saved up so much through the year to come up to this Grand Prix and I think you will have seen over the previous years how much I appreciate and respect that and tried to give and enjoy the weekend with the fans and that doesn’t change.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Lewis, on the same topic, there’s suggestions that there has been some sort of disagreement over the use of your image for this particular event, that you wanted to be paid or something like that. Can you refute that categorically?

    LH: Yeah, that’s… No, I mean I told the organisers last week that I wouldn’t be going. I spoke to Toto, informed the team which was very understanding and understood and respectful of the decision. Yeah, I think they used my image so that wasn’t a problem.

    Q: (Rob Harris – AP) Lewis, first of all, how is flying for what, seven or eight hours round trip to Greece better preparation than staying in the UK? And you were booed by the fans in London, they obviously are unhappy with you, this was a big event, used by the F1 owners to try and engage with fans. You are the biggest British driver. What were your thoughts when you heard they actually booed you?

    LH: To be honest, I didn’t really know about it. In terms of flying, I don’t live here so I wouldn’t have been here anyway as I was back in Monaco first, but I fly a lot longer than that for trips and I usually arrive pretty good. But you know, right now my focus is on this weekend, making sure I put every bit of energy into this great weekend that we have and I received incredible love from the fans every single year that I’ve come here. Yeah, looking forward to seeing them.

    Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Lewis, sorry to keep harping on about yesterday, but do you still stand by your decision and do you think it was the right decision, given you were the only driver missing? You’re the home star, you’re the home favourite. Do you think you got it wrong?

    LH: Well, I mean, like I said, I think I’ve felt like I’ve answered as much as I really want to. I’m solely focused on this weekend now, I feel great, being here, I feel the best prepared I could be.

    Q: (Stephen Camp – Paddock Magazine) I was just wondering, I asked the last four drivers if there was anything that Liberty had come to you about, what you would like to give back to the fans. Are there any ideas that you would like to give back to the fans, anything that you would like to do to widen the audience of the sport?

    DR: Not anything right now, off the top of my head. Yeah. You’ve kind of got me. I don’t know. I wasn’t expecting to be asked the question. We’ll come back…

    DK: Well, I just drive the car, you know. I think that’s what I should be focused on. I think there are other people who know how to do their job a bit better for that.

    LH: I don’t really have all the ideas. I think there are people who make those decisions.

    DR: Probably more locations, where we go. I think we can keep expanding in different parts of the world perhaps. I guess put F1 on the map in places that it’s not currently. That can always help to raise awareness of our sport and give people an interest. Yeah, that’s something that comes to mind.

    PW: I think that after yesterday some louder engines again. It was really nice to hear the old V8 engines, that was great. Hopefully we can have the same in the future again.

    Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Lewis, I’m not going to ask about London! This weekend – it’s obviously been very close between Mercedes and Ferrari all season – but with the different characteristics between the two cars, do you feel that this might be one of the tracks that’s more suited to Mercedes and it could be a particularly strong weekend for the team?

    LH: I hope so but I think that being that we’re (indistinct) on the car you would have hoped that it would have worked better in the medium and high speed corners but if you look at previous races, the last one, the Ferraris were very strong, the Red Bulls were very strong in all sections but there is also that balance of the high speed as well and drag. I think it will be very very close but I’ve heard that these guys have brought a big upgrade. He’s always smiling anyway so he smiling a little bit more…

    DR: I’m good at bluffing, I always smile because you never know. We’ve got more.

    LH: You’ve got more. They did a great job in the last race so to see Red Bull up there I think is great, to see a three way team challenge competition and I think this weekend’s going to be… you know, they were very very strong here last year, particularly on intermediates, in the race, so I think it’s going to be a spectacular British Grand Prix in that respect.

    Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday) Daniel Ricciardo, you seem to be really getting into the shoey business on the podium and the podiums are becoming more and more regular. You are persuading the interviewers to drink but you’re not having very much luck with your fellow drivers. Can you think of any way to encourage them to join you, and to the other three: should you be up there with Daniel, would you be partaking of the amber nectar?

    DR: Well, most of the last ones have actually come from the others wanting – not the drivers – but the interviewees if you call them (he means interviewers) – they’ve been wanting to do it. I honestly didn’t plan on doing it in even Baku – I was ‘ah, I won’t do it.’ But DC took my shoes off and then Austria, Martin was like frothing for it. So I feel that there are some really sick bastards around here. I never thought it would continue like this. Even yesterday, people were shouting it. I’m just walking along, minding my business and they’re like shouting ‘do a shoey.’ I don’t actually just take my shoe off while I’m walking in the street and drink out of it. I feel like I’ve dug a hole for myself with this one. On that note, I feel like it’s been fun. I want to say it’s run its course. We’ll see what happens but I heard that the Finns drink, I really heard that. But Valtteri did not carry his flag well last Sunday. I mean shame on him! He needed vodka in it, so Valtteri Bottas – disappointed. And that’s it. No more shoeys.

    Lewis, you’ve avoided it so far…

    LH: Absolutely. I still stand firm on… I told you… the juice from the foot is not something that I wish to drink, especially someone else’s!

    DR: It’s risky with back-to-backs. It is! We put – all the podium guys could end up in hospital for a week. Yeah.

    Q: (Ralf Bach – Sport Bild) For all of you: we heard that Red Bull has a great update on the car. What are the updates of Toro Rosso, Sauber, Mercedes, Red Bull here and in the future; what is planned? 

    DK: Well, it’s probably not as much as these guys but we also try, we try hard and hopefully there will be some, maybe Budapest. I think we’re working on it and I think that it will be efficient so let’s see.

    PW: We expect a big one in Budapest. I was in the factory two weeks ago and I was told in Budapest there’s a big one coming, hopefully.

    Q: Any particular reason why there?

    PW: I don’t know. As soon as possible, hopefully.

    So you’ve obviously got a massive upgrade this weekend, Daniel, another one coming…

    DR: No, I do believe we’ve got something significant for Budapest and this weekend it’s usual bits and pieces which we kind of bring now nearly every race but Budapest is probably more of an  advertised update as opposed to this weekend.

    Q: And the reason why it’s there?

    DR: I think mostly it seems it just takes time, but yeah, it’s a high downforce package.

    LH: We had a small upgrade in the last race and I think we’ve got some small bits here but nothing major. Similar to what Daniel was saying, and I think in the next race there will be some small parts as well. I think after the break there will be more substantial bits coming.

    Q: (Jon McEvoy – Daily Mail) The day before the hearing, the FIA hearing into Sebastian Vettel and his accident with Lewis, the boss of Mercedes, Toto Wolff, went to a birthday party to celebrate the thirtieth of Sebastian Vettel. I was wondering, from all drivers, would you be surprised most relevantly for Lewis, but would you be surprised and see it as maybe an act of loyalty or otherwise for your boss to go to a birthday of a rival with whom you’ve just had an accident before the hearing?

    DR: Free alcohol. Doesn’t matter how much money you make, you don’t turn that down.

    Unless it’s out of your shoe.

    DR: Yeah, actually, good point.

    LH: All I can do is laugh at that one. I don’t really have an answer for that one to be honest. That’s the dumbest question I’ve had so far.

    PW: I think Seb is a really nice guy so I would also go to his birthday.

    DR: Why weren’t you invited?

    PW: I don’t know! Maybe he doesn’t think that I’m nice.

    Q: Daniil, were you washing your hair that evening or did you go as well?

    DK: I was hoping you’d forgotten about me already. I don’t have an answer for you. I cannot even imagine.

    DR: There was an invite for the torpedo. I saw it. Not so cool.

    DK: You have a good memory.

    Q: (Giles Richards – The Guardian) Lewis, sorry to return to this but it’s quite a big issue: you’ve always tried to connect… you’ve made a point of trying to connect with your fans. Do you think it was a missed opportunity not attending yesterday, given that a lot of people who were there, who were attending, would be kids and people who can’t afford to go Grands Prix, so this was a really good chance to connect with those people who just can’t make it to Silverstone?

    LH: Like I’ve said, I feel like I’ve said everything I want to say on the subject but I like to think that I do everything I can to connect with the fans. I do have the biggest following in Formula One and I communicate with them as much as I can. The fans mean everything to me and they always have. I’ve made no secret of that. I think hopefully my commitments to the sport over the last ten years and what I do actually outside the sport, things that perhaps you don’t comment on such as when I go and visit the hospitals and spend time with young kids who can’t come to a Grand Prix. That’s not something you report on but that’ s actually very important to me and that’s where I put my energy mostly. I think lots of us have decisions to make and you have to stand firm with the decisions you make and feel proud of the decisions you make and I personally do and this weekend, as I say, coming here and give everything to shine as much light and raise the flag in the best way I can, and try the best I can. The goal is to win the British Grand Prix for my home crowd. I’ve been very fortunate the last few years to do that and the yearning and the need to do that again is greater than ever.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) To the three non-Mercedes drivers: you’ve heard what Lewis said; do you guys feel that you’ve prepared any less intensively for this race by being in London and not being on a beach in Greece, for example? And just because you’re not leading the championship or up there, do you feel that you haven’t prepared as well for this weekend?

    DR: Each to their own. We’re all adults now. Obviously the spotlight’s on Lewis because he was the only one that wasn’t there, out of all of us, so I understand that but yeah, he’s been doing it long enough to know what he needs to do. For me, personally, I thought it was a good event. I thought it was a good opportunity to reach out, obviously, to a few more fans but it also gives Liberty some more encouragement. They’re trying to start something now so just to get behind that and see where we can take it.

    PW: Nothing to add.

    DK: I think Lewis justified it very clearly. I think everyone has different preparations. I think it’s enough said on the topic.

    Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing ) Daniil, this year Toro Rosso has shown some real pace on occasions but it seems to be quite difficult for the team to have a consistent weekend from Friday morning to Sunday night, Austria being a good example: very quick and then it fell away in qualifying. What is your feeling about that, why did it happen in Austria, for example?

    DK: I think in Austria we know really what happened in qualifying, and we dropped a bit out of the working window in the important session. Coming to the year, I would say that for my personal case, Sundays, for one reason or another, on the good days the races were not finished and I think it’s very important because that’s when the points are given on that day and I think that’s what I’m looking for really. I’ve had really good Fridays, really good Saturdays, good Sundays until the car stopped but now what we’re looking for is to put all three days together and that should bring good things to my side of the garage.

    eom/FIA transcript of the Press Conference

  • 2nd career win for Bottas; Hamilton finishes 4th

    Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas took his second career Formula One victory with a powerful yet controlled drive lights to flag win ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel. Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo held off a late surge from Lewis Hamilton to take the final podium position.

    Bottas got away best at the start, but so good was his getaway that there was the suspicion the Finn had jumped the start. Further back Max Verstappen made the poorest start, bogging down badly when the lights went out. He was swamped by rivals and dropped back to where 14th-place starter Fernando Alonso was profiting from taking an inside line.

    The Spaniard was followed by Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat but as they went into Turn 1, Kvyat braked too late and collided with Alonso who in turn hit Verstappen. The McLaren and Red Bull sustained significant damage and though both made it back to the pits they were forced to quit the race. Kvyat was later handed a drive through penalty for causing the collision.

    Ahead Daniel Ricciardo, who had made a good start, was on the attack. He pressured Kimi Raikkonen into Turn 3 and stole third place from the Finn. Pushed wide, Raikkonen was also passed by Haas’ Romain Grosjean, though he passed the Frenchman on the next lap.

    Bottas meanwhile was carving out a solid lead. By lap 17 the Finn had built a five-second to Vettel, with Ricciardo a further 3.5s back. Raikkonen was fourth but he was being hunted down by Hamilton, who had risen to fifth place from eighth on the grid. Grosjean was now sixth ahead of the Force Indias of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon, while Williams had profited hugely after the start, with Felipe Massa now ninth from P17 on the grid and team-mate Lance Stroll in 10th from a P18 start.

    After closing to within a second of Raikkonen, Hamilton’s pursuit of the Finn stalled and by lap 31 he was looking for options as he failed to find a way past on track. The response was for him to pit on lap 32 for supersoft tyres.

    That caused a ripple effect and two laps later third-placed Ricciardo stopped for supersofts, with Vettel pitting immediately after. Bottas and Raikkonen stayed out however and by lap 38 the Mercedes driver was 19.5s ahead of the Ferrari driver, with Vettel now third and 7.1s further back having made a stop. Ricciardo was now fourth, 4.5s ahead of Hamilton.

    Bottas eventually pitted from the lead on lap 41, taking on supersofts for his final stint. Raikkonen, though, soldiered on with his starting ultrasofts. Bottas though was closing on his newer tyres and retook the lead on lap 44. That was the cue for Raikkonen to finally pit for supersofts at the end of that tour. He rejoined in fifth place behind Hamilton.

    Hamilton’s task was then to chase down third-placed Ricciardo. The Australian was alive to the threat and as the Briton upped the pace, the Red Bull driver responded. That he was able to almost match the pace of the Mercedes was to the credit of the Australian and his team.

    Inevitably though Hamilton began to eat into the gap and 10 laps from the flag the Briton was just 2.3s adrift of the Red Bull.

    With three laps to go Bottas was a slim 1.2 ahead Vettel, while Ricciardo was just 1.1s ahead of Hamilton. It looked like a grandstand finish was in the offing, but in the end both the Finn and the Australian held their nerve well and despite both gaps shrinking to less than a second, Bottas took the win ahead of Vettel and Ricciardo held third ahead of Hamilton. Raikkonen finished fifth ahead of Grosjean, while Perez was seventh ahead of team-mate Ocon. Williams enjoyed a positive day as Massa finished ninth and Stroll came home in in tenth.

    eom/FIA press release

     

     

  • Both Force India cars to start in top-10: Austrian GP

    Both Force India cars to start in top-10: Austrian GP

    Sergio Perez signs autographs in Spielberg on Saturday. A Sahara Force India image.j

    Spielberg, 8 July 2017: Sahara Force India once again came up with a top-10 performance in the Austrian GP with Sergio Perez taking 8th place ahead of Esteban Ocon in 9th for Sunday’s F1 race, the eighth race of the Formula One World Championship.

    Starting the season with a string of strong double points finish, the team got stuck with both the teammates fighting with each other. However, they recovered and got into points again  and the team is keeping its fourth position in the constructors’ championship intact with 79 points and hoping to continue the good run. The last race, they were in a good position to bring home a podium or even a win, but with the two teammates coming into contact, Perez had to retire.

    Perez is in 7th position with 44 points ahead of Esteban Ocon in 8th place with 35 points.

    Sergio Perez

    “I’m feeling happy with our performance today. I think it was one of my best qualifying sessions when you consider how difficult things have been leading up to the session. I was P17 in second practice and P18 in final practice this morning. So to end qualifying in eighth place shows the mega steps we have taken to improve the car. It’s been a huge effort by the whole team. I was a bit unlucky with the yellow flag at the end of the session because there was an opportunity to improve my time. I’m really looking forward to this race and I think we will be even stronger in race conditions. We need to keep an eye on the weather, but wet or dry I think we can have a great race tomorrow.”

    Esteban Ocon

    “I am not completely happy with ninth place, given all that happened in the session, but it’s still a good starting position. My fastest lap in Q3 was set on used tyres, but the yellow flags meant I couldn’t finish my attempt on fresh tyres. I feel I could have been a couple of places higher up, but it’s the way racing goes sometimes – you have to take your chances when you can. We need to review if there is something we could have done better, but I am still feeling positive about the weekend. We improved a lot since yesterday and the feeling I have with the car is much better now than it was during practice. I enjoy this track and it’s a place where you can overtake so hopefully we can bring home some good points tomorrow.”

    Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal

    “After a challenging Friday, it’s great to see both cars qualify well this afternoon. It sets us up nicely for a strong race tomorrow knowing that we have a competitive car with solid race pace. The team has done an incredible job to get on top of the balance issues we had during yesterday’s practice sessions and the car is now much more to the drivers’ liking. The yellow flag towards the end of qualifying meant we didn’t necessarily maximise the session with either car, but we can’t be disappointed with the outcome of today’s qualifying session.”

    eom/with inputs from Sahara Force India

  • Bottas beats Vettel for pole; Hamilton to start 8th

    Bottas beats Vettel for pole; Hamilton to start 8th

    Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas scored his second pole position in Austria, edging Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel by just four hundredths of a second. Lewis Hamilton finished third but a grid penalty for a changed gearbox is set to drop the Briton to eighth for tomorrow’s race start.

    Bottas established the narrow advantage in the opening runs of Q3 and when Romain Grosjean’s Haas broke down on track as the quickest men began their final flyers, the yellow flags shown as a result meant that there could be no improvement.

    Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, who had finished in P7 in FP3, set the early pace in Q1, before he was first usurped by Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Riccairdo and then sidelined by a suspension failure. The Haas driver would eventually go through to Q2 in P12 but did not take any further part in the session and qualified in P15.

    As the segment got into its stride it was Vettel who established himself at the head of the pack with a time of 1:05.585. The Ferrari driver set the time on suspersoft tyres and sat back and waited to see if he could get through without resorting to the ultrasofts almost every other driver was using.

    Lewis Hamilton’s 1:05.064 dropped Vettel back, as did Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen’s 1:05.148, set on ultrasofts, but otherwise Vettel went safely through on supersofts in P3 ahead of Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz, Bottas (the only other man to just use supersofts in the opening segment) and the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo in sixth and seventh respectively.

    Sainz’s excellent lap came right at the end of the session and was much needed, with the Spaniard languishing in the drop zone in the final minutes. There was to be no escape for the Williams drivers, however.

    As the final time arrived, Felipe Massa and team-mate Lance Stroll found themselves lodged in 17th and 18th places respectively and unable to find the pace to make up the time to vault past 16th placed Jolyon Palmer of Renault. The Williams drivers went out ahead of the Saubers of Marcus Ericsson and Pascal Wehrlein.

    In Q2 it was Bottas who seized the initiative. With ultrasofts onboard he powered to P1 with a best time of 1:04.316, almost half a second clear of second-place Vettel and third-placed Hamilton, who this time was the one to opt for supersofts, meaning he’ll start on that compound.

    Verstappen was fourth for Red Bull ahead of Raikkonen and Ricciardo. Grosjean was seventh for Haas ahead of Force India’s Sergio Perez, Sainz and the second Force India of Esteban Ocon.

    Eliminated at this stage, though, were Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg in P11, followed by the McLarens of Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne, Daniil Kvyat in the second Toro Rosso in P14 and the unfortunate Magnussen.

    After the first runs in Q3 Bottas held a narrow advantage over Vettel and it proved crucial. As the drivers warmed-up for or began their final flying laps, Haas’ Romain Grosjean stopped on track and the resulting yellow flags prevented improvements at the front.

    The top three positions remained unchanged, with Hamilton in third and set to start from eighth place once his gearbox penalty is applied ahead of the race start. Raikkonen was forced to settle for best of the rest in fourth, half a second down on his team-mate.

    Ricciardo outqualified team-mate Verstappen for the first time since the Russian Grand Prix. The Australian qualified fifth and is set to start fourth. Verstappen, meanwhile, might have improved by he made a mistake on his final lap and went off in Turn 7. Grosjean qualified seventh, with Force India duo Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon in eighth and ninth, and Carlos Sainz making up the top 10 for Toro Rosso.

    2017 Austrian Grand Prix – Qualifying
    1 Valtteri Bottas  Mercedes 1:04.251
    2 Sebastian Vettel  Ferrari 1:04.293 0.042
    3 Kimi Raikkonen  Ferrari 1:04.779 0.528
    4 Daniel Ricciardo  Red Bull 1:04.896 0.645
    5 Max Verstappen  Red Bull 1:04.98 0.732
    6 Romain Grosjean  Haas 1:05.480 1.229
    7 Sergio Perez  Force India 1:05.605 1.354
    8 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:04.424 0.173
    9 Esteban Ocon  Force India 1:05.674 1.423
    10 Carlos Sainz Jr.  Toro Rosso 1:05.726 1.475
    11 Nico Hulkenberg  Renault 1:05.597 1.346
    12 Fernando Alonso  McLaren 1:05.602 1.351
    13 Stoffel Vandoorne  McLaren 1:05.741 1.490
    14 Daniil Kvyat  Toro Rosso 1:05.884 1.633
    15 Kevin Magnussen  Haas
    16 Jolyon Palmer  Renault 1:06.34 2.094
    17 Felipe Massa  Williams 1:06.534 2.283
    18 Lance Stroll  Williams 1:06.608 2.357
    19 Marcus Ericsson  Sauber 1:06.857 2.606
    20 Pascal Wehrlein  Sauber 1:07.011 2.760

    eom/FIA press release

    Bottas beats Vettel (left) for Austrian pole at Spielberg on Saturday. An FIA image

  • Vettel, Hamilton patch up, move on…

    PART ONE: DRIVERS – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari), Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes), Kevin MAGNUSSEN (Haas)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Sebastian, begin by looking back at events in Baku two weeks ago. You said in a statement on Monday that you over-reacted in the heat of the moment. Please can you just talk us through what happened in that moment.

    Sebastian VETTEL: I don’t think that’s necessary, is it? I think we’ve seen it many times. I’ve seen it, I’ve looked at it, so err… obviously, I had a very different view inside the car than I had with a little bit of a gap and outside the car – hence why obviously I made a statement. I had the chance to quickly talk to Lewis after the race – but I don’t want to pump this up more than it is already. I think that it’s my right, our right that it stays between us. I think I said everything I had to say. I think it was the wrong decision. Obviously I got a penalty in the race and, yeah, lost a potential race win. We couldn’t obviously foresee that Lewis was running into a problem with his headrest but could have been a lot more points at stake. After that obviously I tried everything to recover.

    Q: Seb, you said ‘it was the wrong decision.’ What was the wrong decision?

    SV: It was the wrong move, the wrong decision. It was the wrong move to drive alongside him and hit his tyre. So, that’s obviously I guess what you all want to hear but there’s not much more to say. At the time I was surprised. It felt like Lewis hit the brakes and I couldn’t stop running into his car – but I also said in the statement and said afterwards that I don’t think there was any bad intention. So I don’t think he actually brake-tested me. At the time I read it like that. I was surprised, and hence why I was obviously I was upset and over-reacted. Am I proud of the moment? No. Can I take it back? Do I regret it? Yes. So I don’t think we need to drag it out any longer.

    Q: Lewis, is it the end of the matter for you as well now?

    Lewis HAMILTON: It is for me, yeah. Solely, really focussed on this weekend. Obviously it’s an interesting press conference, as I mentioned, with so many people here. The people watching can’t see how many people are behind the camera. Yeah, I mean, I said everything I felt I needed to say at the last race and just left it there. Now the job is just to focus on… still got a lot of races ahead of us and a little bit behind points-wise. So just trying to keep my head down.

    Q: Does what happened in Baku in any way change the dynamic between you and Sebastian?

    LH: I don’t think it does. Sebastian and I, we spoke after the race and on Monday and shortly after that he messaged me, I think the day after I think it was. For me, I just said that, for me, I still have the utmost respect for him as a driver and will continue to race him hard for the rest of the season in the same way I always have. No less hard than we have been already up until now. My only point to Sebastian was that I felt that, saying I had brake-tested him, I was like, I hope you can correct that publically – because people who are watching felt that this was something I did. In the data it obviously showed that was not the case. In actual case he accelerated. I think the goal was to try and be as close as possible to me but that was an error in judgement. My own point there in reply to him was that I hope he makes that clear because I had no intentions… there was no need for me to do something like that. I was in the lead. And… yeah. I accepted his apology and moved forwards.

    Q: Sebastian, just a few words from you about the relationship with Lewis. The dynamic between you.

    SV: Well, I’m happy to hear that it doesn’t seem to have a big impact. Obviously what I did was wrong and I apologised. I think it’s totally up to Lewis. Obviously I did a mistake so I can understand he’s upset but it’s nice to hear that we are able to move forward. Yeah. I think the respect that we have for each other on-track, off-track helps us in this regard.

    Q: Kevin, team’s best finish of the season in Baku. Haas are now up to seventh in the championship. You must be very pleased with how things are going. Do you feel you’re getting the best out of the team and yourself?

    Kevin MAGNUSSEN: Yes. I feel like it’s going well. I’m enjoying my time at the moment. We’re getting good results, both me and Romain, scoring points for the team. As a team the size that we are with so little people and limited budgets, it’s a good effort to be where we are. I hope to be able to keep it up. I think seventh in the championship is one position better than last year and I think our target as a team was to try to improve at least a little bit on last year – which was already a good rookie season for Haas. So, y’know, we need to keep it up and keep scoring those points when other people make mistakes and take the opportunities when they’re there.

    Q: You talk about the target for the season; what’s the target for this weekend? You’ve never been out-qualified by a team-mate here but you haven’t been in Q3 yet this season. Can you do it here?

    KM: Q3? I think… it’s not going to be easy. It’s not our natural position. We don’t have the actual pace to be there but I think it’s not far away. With a slight variation in people’s performance and if we get a little more out of the tyres, balance, setup etc., we can get there. But for this track it’s not our natural position but for sure we’ll do our best.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Sebastian, of course I respect what you said that you wouldn’t want this topic to drag and drag – but there’s one interesting question. There are some suggestions that you didn’t deliberately move onto Lewis’ car and it was only because you were just showing the gestures that we all know about and it was unintentional. Was it really intentional to crash into Lewis or it was only that you didn’t really pay any attention to the steering?

    SV: It’s a very confusing question. I think it’s very simple: obviously, I got surprised. I got the impression at the time – which I have corrected: I was wrong – that I got, let’s say, fouled and y’know I wasn’t happy about it. I drove alongside him, obviously wasn’t happy about it, over-reacted. I don’t think I need to explain further. I think it’s very clear. You all saw what happened, so… yeah. Not sure I get the question.

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – AP) Question for Lewis. After that race you had some strong words, obviously in the heat of the moment you were very angry and you said that Sebastian, on that incident, was a disgrace to the sport. Do you regret saying that now? Do you think perhaps you were overly upset? Do you regret those words?

    LH: I don’t feel I was particularly upset after the race. If I was upset it was for other reasons but I don’t feel like I said anything I particularly would wish to take back. But I think, I still have the same opinion of what happened – but it’s water under the bridge now. We move forwards. We spoke about it, we move forwards. There’s no point really saying much more.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Sebastian, you’ve admitted that you made a foul. Why did it take you so long then to actually apologise? Why did you have to wait until after you’d appeared before an FIA investigation?

    SV: I don’t have your number. I don’t want it. So, I don’t feel the need to talk to… sorry… all of you for more than what I have to. So, I think the person that I had to talk to was Lewis, that was the most important. Obviously then Monday I went to Paris to see the FIA, we had the hearing, they asked me my opinion in terms of what happened, to run through the incidents, that’s what I did, so yeah, I don’t think, as I said, there was a need to talk to you straight after. You’re not the most important people I think. As I said, the most important for me is the guy I’m racing with, is Lewis, and that’s the one I decided to call first.

    Q: (Christian Menath – Motorsport Magazin) Question for Lewis, we were a bit surprised with the reaction from inside the car that you stayed so calm when Sebastian hit you. Can you explain how you managed to stay that calm? Because if something like that happens we probably expect… we ourselves would probably react differently.

    LH: Well, it’s a little bit different perhaps to if it had happened on a football pitch and you’re face-to-face with someone. I think maybe your initial reaction would be different – but we’re strapped into these cars so there’s not much I can do in the actual car at the time. As I said, I was more focussed on the race result and the difficult race that we had had. So, whilst that was a difficult scenario – or an unfortunate mishap during the race – that was not my main focus or goal. So, while there are questions about it, I was just thinking about the points that we had lost, how we are going to regroup as a team again to try to make sure we don’t have that same issue again, and that we still have a pretty steep mountain to climb before the end of the season.

    Q: (Ralf Bach – Sport Bild) A question to Lewis. Gerhard Berger said last week, first the FIA punished Sebastian in Baku but then God himself punished you. Can you tell us something about what he could mean?

    LH: I don’t know what he’s talking about, so… [Question repeated off-mike] I guess that’s an opinion of his, and… what do you think it means? I don’t care what he thinks he means, he didn’t say it to me, he said it to you! I don’t know. I don’t think it had anything to do with God.

    Q: (Natalie Pinkham – Sky Sports) You’re both guys who are passionate and vocal and speak your mind – I’m thinking Seb, you with Kvyat in the cooldown room. Why didn’t you just speak to him straight away after the race?

    SV: Well it’s the same as if you ask me to try and exit through that door. There’s a lot of people I have to go through first and I think it was the wrong time given how much fuss there was kicked up after the race to talk to him. So, I’m sure he was busy as well after the race. You usually have your meetings and so on. So I don’t think that was the right time, straight out of the car. Too many people in between us, let’s say.

    Q: (Rebecca Clancy – The Times) For Sebastian. You’ve just said now that you’re happy to hear that it’s moved on, following Lewis’ comments now. Does that mean that’s not the impression you got after you spoke on Monday? And just a very quick question to Lewis: did you accept his apology?

    SV: No, it’s not the impression I got. I’m just in that regard happy to hear that we, obviously… yeah… mature enough to move on. Obviously what I did was wrong and I did a mistake. I apologise but it doesn’t take it away. It’s still there. If I can could literally take it back and go back in time, I would – but I can’t do that. And since I can’t do that, it’s good that we’re able to sit here and say that we’re focussed on the weekend and we go out there and race and do what we love most.

    Lewis?

    LH: Just on my point, the conversation we had… there wasn’t actually an apology in the conversation that we had – even though that was perhaps the intent. It was literally the next day when we were texting. I got a text from Sebastian, apologising and I did accept it.

    Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) A question for Sebastian. You’re laughing about it now but I would suggest that you have nine penalty points, you tell the Race Director what you did in Mexico, you swear at him, you use your car as a weapon. Would you agree that you got off quite lightly?

    SV: Well I got a penalty, obviously the race was potentially handed to me with the fault or the technical problem Lewis’ car had with the headrest, so you can believe me that I wasn’t happy at all after the race because I finished fourth and I could have won the race. So I dion’t need to tell you how many points difference that is. So…

    Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) Yet you were driving into him, using your car to ram into him…

    SV: Well I said also to him that I never had the intention to hurt him. It’s not like I tried to punch him…

    Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) But you did.

    SV: As I said, the Intention… I over-reacted. The intention was not to hurt him, damage his car, it was at low speed but looking back it was the wrong thing to do, it was dangerous, plus it was unnecessary because it didn’t win me anything.

    Q: (Livio Orrichio – GlobeEsporte) To all drivers, when you have a stress point in a relationship, as Sebastian and Lewis now, even if it’s clarified between you, and you go to the next race, here or Silverstone for example, is it possible to leave everything in the past or unconsciously do you take it to the moment of the fight with the same driver into the track?

    LH: No honestly I really don’t feel that there is tension here. Obviously you guys might feel that there is. We just really distinguished that when we spoke on the phone and it remains respectful. As I said, there are two things that are most important for me, the first is that Sebastian acknowledged that I didn’t brake test him, which while he has apologized I don’t know if people still understand that. That’s important for me because people were commenting or sending messages to me saying that I was out of order. Obviously I didn’t do any of the braking. Secondly, road safety is a big issue, a campaign the FIA are constantly pushing and obviously the decisions and how they govern the sport and how it reflects to the rest of thr world, they were the only two points I was focused on.

    Q: Sebastian, can you let it be or do you take it with you into the next race?

    SV: No, I’m quite happy to get into the car tomorrow. I think come practice, come race day you try to do your best. Obviously, you’re very busy driving the car, when you fight someone, we know that overtaking is not easy, I don’t think you have much time to think. Obviously you’re planning an overtake, etcetera – but sitting here I think I would say it doesn’t impact on the next race and who you’re racing.

    Q: Kevin, do you have anything to add?

    KM: I have no grudges to either of those guys!

    Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) There’s too much tension in this room right now. This question’s for Lewis and Sebastian. Lewis, I know recently both of you were involved in Cars 3 doing voiceover work, and Sebastian you did a German version of it. What was it like working with the people at Pixar, and for Lewis, what was it like doing another voiceover for Cars, and Kevin, would you do any voiceover work or acting like these two?

    Let’s start with Kevin.

    KM: I did, actually! On the Danish Cars, as well. I’m one of the Cars, I guess. Yeah, we all did it.

    SV: All the same car, I guess, Sat Nav.

    KM: I’m not a Sat Nav, I’m… I can’t ever remember which one it is. That’s too bad!

    SV: I’m sure they ask you again!

    Sebastian, how did you find the experience?

    SV: Well, I think I’m quite comfortable with voiceover… acting maybe less. It was good fun, it’s a fun experience. People help you a lot. Obviously, as I said, it’s quite easy because they just put your voice wherever they need to – whereas with acting I think you need to be a lot more precise. It was good fun. I did the German version and also the Italian version, which was a bit more difficult but good fun. Looking forward to hear myself when the movie comes out.

    Lewis, how did you find it?

    LH: It was the second time I’ve done it and I had a lot of fun with it. I’m appreciative of the opportunity.

    Q: (Peter Vamosi – Vas Népe) Question is to Lewis and Sebastian. Fernando Alonso’s management is right now in talks with Ferrari and Mercedes – at least the rumours are about this. How do you like the idea having him as team-mate?

    Lewis, why don’t we start with you? You’ve had him as a team-mate before.

    LH: I’m pretty happy with the team-mate I have, so it’s not even a thought in my thought process right now.

    And Sebastian?

    SV: Well, I’m not responsible to sign the drivers but if I had a say, I’d say I prefer Kimi.

    Q: (Tom Slater – Soymotor) A question for Kevin. I wanted to know your vision about the Baku incident because these last days a lot of people were saying the FIA wasn’t hard enough with the penalty. If it had been different drivers do you think the penalty, the FIA would have acted the same?

    KM: I have no idea.

    Q: (Petr Hlawiczka – F1news . cz) Sebastian, do you have each other’s phone number now and the other questions regarding latest technical directive about burning oil, do you think Ferrari is most suffer by this latest technical directive?

    SV: I’ll start with the second question. I don’t think so. I think it’s better for you to ask somebody who understands a lot more about the engine. For me it’s important that the engine is running, that it’s working. Then, I’m not sure I understood the first question. I said we spoke on the phone. To call somebody… I don’t know where you are from but to every place I have been to you need the number of the other person! Maybe you have a good phone, you just say the name and it dials the number.

    Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) This is also for Lewis and Sebastian, but about the racing at last. There are now two races where Mercedes seem to be much stronger than Ferrari. Lewis, are you now confident that you are on top of the tyre problems you had before and Sebastian how concerning is it? Obviously the race in Baku was hard to judge because it was chaotic but especially in qualifying the gap was really big and how optimistic are you that you will be able to get close to Mercedes again?

    LH: I think we’re constantly learning about these tyres, so I think we definitely made a big step, I think it was going into Montreal and from there we are continuing to learned weekend-in, weekend-out. Of course we’re coming to other circuits. Each time it’s a little bit different – different abrasiveness, different challenges – but I think we do understand obviously what the issue has been and that it can occur at any point but I think we have the better tools and understanding now to be able to tackle whatever issue we do.

    SV: I know what was going on in the last two races. They were very different. The tracks are different. But if you take Canada: we actually had good pace in the race. The car was damaged and obviously my race looked very different to Lewis’, he could control the race from the front. Then in Baku in qualifying, we just didn’t get it together. The gap was artificially big. I’m not sitting here thinking that we are 1.1s behind in quali here. Came Sunday I think the pace was very similar. Overall it’s probably fair to say that Mercedes had the upper hand Saturday and Sunday but the difference was small. I think you are constantly trying to push all the areas, trying to improve the car, understanding the tyres, these kind of things. But I think for here we should be all set and we should be ready to race. Hopefully we have a calmer race and we should have more, let’s say, consistent conditions, then you are able to read much more how close we are.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS) Kevin, do you think the next world champion is on your right or on your left?

    KM: I have no idea. I can’t see into the future. Let’s see.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Mark Webber has recently suggested that drivers shouldn’t be penalised for technical issues with grid penalties etc. How do you feel about that – can one separate a driver from a team and vice versa?

    SV: I think it’s a difficult one. I think we understand as drivers what Mark meant and he’s probably right about it but on the other hand you have to get the rules straight and set some rules so that the teams comply with it. Since everyone is always really competitive in Formula One, you are always trying to look for something maybe the other guy hasn’t, so you might develop a pattern of I don’t know, changing your gearbox every race because of whatever advantage it brings to you, so I don’t know… yeah, that’s a tricky one.

    LH: I understand his point. I’ve only just heard it, so I haven’t had much time to think about it. But I imagine it’s difficult to really implement that. You’re a team. If a driver makes a mistake, the team loses points and if teams, ultimately if it’s a team, collective mistake when something or when reliability hits, it hits you all together… and then also you know, if you have an engine issue and you get a brand new one and you don’t take a penalty you gain an advantage on power quite often. I don’t know. Perhaps there’s a way they could do it.

    KM: I think it’s frustrating for the driver but it is also for the team. It’s true that if you make a mistake as a driver it goes to the team as well. But if there is an engine failure it’s more on the team’s side of the blame, if you want. I think it could be looked at a solution to take a constructor point or something like that instead of penalizing the start position for the race. But it’s not something I think too much about.

    Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriere Della Sera ) A question for Sebastian. Today we heard that in the team there’s a change, the [person] responsible for the engine is not any longer in his role. Do you think it could affect the second part of the season?

    SV: I don’t know. I don’t know what you’re referring to, but again I think these kind of things it’s better you ask a little bit higher up.

    Q: (Giles Richards – The Guardian) Lewis, after the race you said you were concerned about the example the incident set for children. Are you happy with the message being sent from the hearing on Monday after what happened to Sebastian?

    LH: I don’t think anything changes. My opinion stays the same. With all due respect, Jean [Todt] should be sitting next to us to be honest to answer some questions perhaps because they didn’t change anything on the Monday, so the message that was sent still remains the same.

    Q: (Nathalie Pinkham – Sky Sports) Seb, in the heat of the moment, you do seem to lose your cool a bit. Do you think you have a problem with your temperament? Lewis, do you think that judging by the size of this crowd this kind of jeopardy and rivalry is good for the sport?

    SV: To answer your question, I don’t think so. I could see why you might believe it’s not, but I think I have faced a lot of situations that are quite hot and I don’t think so.

    LH: I think an intense battle is always a good thing for any sport, so I don’t disagree with that but of course we are used as a platform, we are supposed to be role models, we are supposed to give a certain message. We are only human beings, so we don’t always get things right. However, collectively we are supposed to inspire and send the right message to young kids. There are so many people who want to be in our position. We are in a position of power and how we utilise that is very important

  • I am over the moon right now: Lance Stroll

    Baku City Circuit, Baku, Azerbaijan.Sunday 25 June 2017.World Copyright: Steven Tee/LAT Imagesref: Digital Image _O3I4034

    DRIVERS: 1 – Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing); 2 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes); 3 – Lance STROLL (Williams)

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS  (Conducted by David Coulthard)

    Q: Did anyone predict this podium – I don’t think so! Congratulations. Can you believe you’ve won the grand prix from 10thplace?

    Daniel RICCIARDO: Not really. It was a crazy race. We knew the podium was a chance after the re-start but then we heard the problems with Lewis and Seb. It was just a crazy race. I made an unplanned pit stop at the beginning. After a few laps we had some debris I think in the brakes so we had to stop and clean it, so we dropped back to I think 17th place. Did I think then that I would the race today? Absolutely not. I would have put all of my money on it that it was very unlikely. Crazy race. This is the race we expected last year, with all the safety cars and all the chaos and we got it this year.

    Q: Well, it was a fantastic comeback from a difficult quali. You kept your chin up when we spoke to you after putting it in the wall there, so it just goes to show you never give up.

    DR: Yeah, obviously yesterday I was disappointed with the mistake but hey, I guess you have to make these to try and find that last little bit. I knew today would be a different outcome and yeah, I said it yesterday, we had to stay out of trouble and it certainly paid off today. Big thanks to the team, Red Bull Racing, it was nice to get one car home and on the top step, so thanks guys and thanks everyone that came out.

    Q: Valtteri, right on the line. You were a lap down in last place and you come through and deliver a result for the team, you must be mighty relieved? 

    Valtteri BOTTAS: It’s what Daniel also said: just a crazy race with so much happening. I was one lap down in the beginning and during the safety car I had to overtake everyone and catch them again. But this just shows you should never give up, you never know what is going to happen in the race. Just kept the head down, kept pushing, and team also during the red glad managed to fix the car a little bit so they did a really good job during that. I really enjoyed it and just had fun. But shame, in the end, that Daniel was just too far away but you know, taking the circumstances at the beginning it’s a good result for us.

    Q: Well, tell us about that, you seem to be magnetically drawn to your countryman. You and Kimi came together? What’s your view from the cockpit? 

    VB: Yeah, going into Turn 2 I was on the inside and he was on the outside and there was no space for me to go apart from over the kerb and when you go over the kerb the car obviously jumps and I couldn’t keep the line, so I think another racing incident to be honest but it’s just unlucky that it’s me and Kimi again.

    Kimi took full responsibility.

    VB: OK…

    Q: No, he didn’t, but it was great to see you believe that for a moment. Right, the man who is going to feel that he won this grand prix. One of the youngest ever podium finishers – Lance Stroll. Fantastic feel free to full express all the emotions. Your father is down there. It’s all come good in the past two races.

    Lance STROLL: Yeah, I’m just lost for words right. I don’t even know what to say. I can’t quite realise what just happened. It was a hectic race… people crashing. We just stayed out of trouble. I just kept my head cool and took it to the end. I just lost out to Valtteri there in the end. I think that was probably one of the closest finishes of all time. But what a race! I couldn’t believe coming into the weekend that I would be standing on the podium. It’s amazing.

    Q: Well I know your father has broad shoulders but I can see a tear in his eye from up here, so I think you’re going to get a monster bear hug when you come down from here? 

    LS: Just the whole team, it’s amazing.

    Q: You were voted by the fans of Formula One as the driver of the day as well, so you’ve really punched through and connected with the public. 

    LS: I was chatting to Daniel and saying motor sport is a love/hate relationship. We’ve had a couple of hard race but the last two races have been amazing and I’m just over the moon right now.

    Q: Fantastic, very well deserved. Daniel, another line from you? You’ll take the wins when they come. You seem… you could see the smile almost through your helmet when you were in the cockpit, but now you seem a bit calmer than I was expecting. You’ve just won your fifth grand prix!

    DR: Honestly, I’m speechless. After the race on the cool down lap I was kind of just giggling; giggling like a little schoolboy.

    [Coulthard unties Ricciardo’s bootlaces]

    DR: You want some?

    Q: I think your podium colleagues need a little celebration.

    DR: Well it’s Stroll’s first podium, so he certainly deserves one. Is he old enough to drink?

    LS: You realise this is going to scar me for life! Oh, my God, I’m too young for this. It’s like there’s some dirt in there as well.

    [Both drink from Ricciardo’s race boot]

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Daniel you said this is taking a while to sink in, but how does this victory, the fifth of your career, compare to the ones before, particularly that first one in Montreal, where you took the lead with three laps to go? 

    DR: I don’t know. I think I have been pretty fortunate. I’ve only had a few victories but I think pretty much all of them have come under pretty crazy circumstances or the races have been far from dull. Obviously all of them are special. Today was just crazy. We haven’t been necessarily the quickest car on track or all weekend. I said it yesterday after my crash in qualifying, I said ‘be there and capitalise on opportunities’ and I certainly capitalized on all the re-starts where I was able to gain at least one position if not more. Then we had some fortune, with Lewis, I think he had a loose headrest or something and he had to box and then Seb has his penalty behind the safety car. It was crazy, there was so much going on, but it was fun. It was fun to be in the battle for the most part and towards the end, obviously once I got the lead it was just trying to keep the laps I could. As I said, we knew we weren’t setting probably the quickest times on track but I knew if I kept that rhythm it was enough to win. Now it’s sunk in a bit more, I’m obviously very happy.

    Q: And after you made that unscheduled pitstop near the start of the race to remove some debris, was the car behaving as you wanted it to?

    DR: Yeah, it got better after that. We pitted very early on, I can’t remember what lap but I assume it was within the first handful of laps. I think it dropped me back to 17th on one of the restarts or something. How we’re here a few hours later, I don’t know – but it was cool. It was a lot of fun. Thanks to the team, thanks for… yeah, making it happen today. It’s cool. Nice feeling.

    Q: Coming to you Valtteri, can you explain how your goals today fluctuated. Second on the grid, what did you think was possible? A lap down at the end on lap one and then, of course, you’ve ended up in second place. Just talk us through that race.

    VB: Yeah, like Daniel said, it was a completely crazy race and especially for me. Had a puncture in lap one with the contact with the Ferrari in Turn Two. I was one lap down, had to overtake everyone, under the Safety Car. Catch them. There was another Safety Car, which really helped me out and just, y’know, step-by-step started to go forwards. For me, obviously, the goal going to the race today was to fight for the win, and after lap one, what happened, you can’t really set a goal. For me, I just tried to keep my head down, keep pushing and take maximum out of every single corner, every single situation and, yeah, ended up really good for us in the end. We managed to get some more points against Ferrari and some good points for me personally as well. But yeah, just… don’t really know what else to say! Crazy race. Well done to Daniel and especially to Lance. His first podium. I know the feeling, it’s a good one. Enjoy it mate!

    Q: Let’s come onto Lance. Lance, you got your first points in Formula One two weeks ago at your home grand prix in Canada. Now your first podium in your eighth grand prix. Just describe your emotions.

    LS: That’s tricky right now. I’m a bit lost for words. It was such an intense race. A crazy race. So much happened. The red flag… hopping out of the car then having to get back into the car and having to reset and everything… it just all happened so quickly but I think today what we did well was just stay out of trouble. We let some of the other drivers make mistakes and took it to the end. Just lost out to Valtteri in the end. He came pretty quick towards the last couple of laps. Still extremely happy with the result today. I can’t really describe how I feel, it’s beyond amazing. Yesterday was such a great day already and starting to get back to grips with the car. I had a couple of races where Saturdays didn’t go too well, and then we got back into Q3 since China yesterday and that was really a breakthrough for me. Today to come away with a podium is absolutely amazing. And the shooey at the end, that killed it. Still sitting in my gums… Kidding aside, I’m so happy for myself, for the team, for everyone. A day to remember.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – AP) Question for Lance. You faced a lot of criticism earlier in the season, you were really up against it and you had to defend yourself from waves of possibly unfair criticism as well. Do you feel that you’ve proved a point today – and how pleasing is that for you?

    LS: I don’t think I proved a point. I don’t listen to that stuff. It’s just noise, y’know. It was there last year when I had a perfect year so this year when I had some tough times, it’s probably still going to be there. It’s just people talking. I’m just happy for myself, happy for my team, my friends, family. Everyone who’s in it with me. That’s all that matters. The rest is all just noise in the background and I don’t really care for it.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte) To Lance. What happened? In Canada you had self-confidence, we could see that in the track and also here. You feel more comfortable in the car that you can take more risk and go to the limit? And from the outside we saw, maybe,  a different driver?

    LS: Yeah. I think it just takes a bit of time. And there will still be hard weekends moving forwards. Sometimes I’m perfect but no one, I think, understands that sometimes a jump from F3 to F1 is quite big and it took me a bit of time to understand what I wanted from the car. This weekend we took a very different direction with the setup. We kinda shifted away from that setup after Bahrain. We started in Barcelona taking a different direction with the car and we came back to it this weekend. I’m much more competitive, similar to the beginning of the season, China, Bahrain, when I was in Q3, P11 in qualifying, much more competitive. And this weekend we came back to that set-up and it gave me a lot more confidence with the car. I feel like I’m able to really drive the car now and push the car, and it gives me a lot of confidence and comfort and I think that’s a big reason why I’m much more competitive this weekend. But also, there’s so many other things in the background. I’ve really improved my driving style, adapting to Formula One and I need to keep working on little things moving forward. It’s not finished yet – I still can improve a lot. It just takes a bit of time. I think sometimes people don’t realise that. This year is a very different formula for me and I just need to experiment it and try different things and come back and figure this and that out. I think that’s a big part of the reason why sometimes it’s tricky. This weekend it was good. It’s just about improving myself, the car, what I want from the car. Yeah, it’s a process. You just have to hang in there and keep driving.

    Q: (Arjan Schouten – AD Sportwerld) Daniel, you’re one of the lucky, fortunate guys today. Your teammate was one of the unlucky guys again. Do you feel pity for him?

    DR: Yeah. Look, I do understand. Obviously I’m super happy to be here but yeah, Max has had two races in a row where I guess where he’s been in strong positions and it hasn’t worked out for him through, I believe, no fault of his own. Today as well. Yeah, obviously he’s going through a harder time on the fortune side of things right now but he’s driving well and I think he knows that. Obviously he’s missing possible podiums and chunks of points here and there but for sure he’ll bounce back. It’s frustrating and I’m sure he’s annoyed right now but he’s driving well, as I said, and he knows it so I’m sure he will continue to persist and be strong and we’ll keep pushing each other so that will continue to be important for both of us and the team as the season goes on.

    Q: (Luis Vasconcelos – Formula Press) For Daniel, Lewis pitting to replace the headrest and Sebastian getting his penalty came at the same time. You probably heard both at the same time, so did you believe then that you could win or did the realisation come when you saw how far behind they were? 

    DR: Once they had their penalties and whatever was going on, yeah, I certainly believed I could win but you never know, obviously, until it’s the end but sure, I believed the race was then in my hands so I kind of understood more or less the lap times the guys around me were doing and I knew the gap I had so I was just trying to be consistent with the times I could do, more or less, and that was that. So yeah, just trying to match those times and get it home to the finish. It was nice on the last lap, I could finally smile a little bit.

    Q: (Luis Vasconcelos – Formula Press) For Valtteri, how difficult was it to keep going, especially in the first part of the race when you were behind the Saubers and the McLarens and all that and did you, with 14 laps to go when you got clear of Ocon, and you were 14.5s behind, did you still really believe it was possible to get it on the podium? 

    VB: So, for me, when I got the message about the headrest I actually… I think I got the message wrong, I thought it was Sebastian’s so I thought he had a double problem so I was really surprised that at some point Lewis was behind me. But anyway, like I said before, it was difficult to set a target really, what is achievable, but once I got through Ocon, I was already in a good position and the team gave me the gap to Lance and also the possible place difference if I did everything right. Then I just really focused every single corner, every single lap absolutely perfect and pushing the maximum there was in the car, there was in the engine, in the brakes and really glad I managed to get a couple more extra points in the end. Just tried to keep my head down and keep pushing.

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) Lance, you mentioned before when you were growing up, I think, watching Formula One on Sunday mornings with your father and with Michael Schumacher as your idol, I believe. Could you talk about those days? 

    LS: I’d watch the start and then go and do something else but they were good days. Growing up, I’d always been into cars and motor sport, Formula One. Michael was really my hero, growing up as kid, a true champion on and off the track. Yeah, he was just someone I really looked up to and I still look up to. So those days were special and we’ve definitely come a long way and to be sitting here today on the podium, in a Formula One Grand Prix, is a part of the dream come true, I guess you could say.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte) Valtteri, we were expecting that you could overtake the safety car but it took so long to overtake in order to enter in the lap that gave you the chance to finish second. You were there in the cockpit. Were you maybe pressuring the team to ask why I can’t overtake the safety car?

    VB: Yes, I was actually asking. It was a long time I had to wait to get through the cars in front and the safety car and I was asking for the permission and then once the track was clear, then they gave me the permission so it was very late, I had no time to catch up with everyone but after that, not so long, there was another safety car which allowed me to close the gap and that gave me the opportunity for this podium today.

    Q: (Luis Vasconcelos – Formula Press) Debris was a main concern today; there were safety cars because of that, the race was stopped because of that. Is this something we have to accept can happen every time we come here or do you think there’s another way of doing things? 

    DR: It’s hard to say right now. It seemed like it was the right call. Obviously for us it’s hard when you stop a race, we’ve got our adrenalin and we’re in that race mode so to then stop, get out and then, as Lance touched on, you reset but yeah, there was a lot and I guess that was the right thing to do a) for punctures and then b) for when another car runs over it, then the debris flies and it can become dangerous as well for us when travelling at speed and then hitting it. I believe they did the right call today. As for the future, right now I’m not sure if they could make this better. Perhaps we’ll talk about  it in the future, yeah.

    VB: I don’t know really if there’s any solution to make it better. On street circuits you get more collisions and more debris and I think it was good to have a red flag because I was coming from behind and there were relatively big amounts of debris and actually some pieces of carbon were flying and hitting my helmet and visor as well. I think it was a really good call  to have a red flag.

    LS: I think they’ve said it all. It was a good call in my opinion and they see more than we do. So surely they took the right decision.

    Q: (Teymur Maksutov – Sportbox) Can you describe your emotion about Baku city circuit? Last year we didn’t see any safety cars and crashes but this year there are a lot of safety cars, red flag and crashes. What’s your opinion about this weekend and this race? What do you feel now? 

    DR: I think this was the race that we expected last year. Last year, as you said, there were no safety cars or anything but we were really surprised and this year we got it. To be honest I’ve enjoyed the two years that we’ve come here. Even after my crash yesterday I wasn’t bitter with anything that the circuit provided. Part of me actually enjoys that risk and reward with the street circuits and you make a mistake, you pay the price. I thought it was a lot of fun this weekend. It’s a challenging circuit, it’s not easy and the racing is intense, you know. It’s tight and twisty but then you’ve got the long straight to really make things happen and overtake so personally I think it’s got it all. I’ve been pretty happy the first two years I’ve come here.

    VB: I agree with Daniel. I enjoy coming here. I like the place, the weather is nice and the track is really challenging. We always love a challenge. It’s very different to any other street circuit on the calendar or any other circuit anyway. For me it’s a good race to have and today showed that it is pretty exciting as well.

    Q: And Lance, of course, it’s your first visit here. 

    LS: I didn’t enjoy anything about this weekend! That was a joke!

    DR: I want to know. He got ninth and crowd surfed so what are you going to do after a podium?

    LS: Kidding aside, I really enjoyed driving here, I’m really looking forward to coming back here again next year. It has everything: high speed, you can overtake, it’s technical, I agree with what Daniel said. You have to know where the limit is and then once you go over the limit push back. I think that’s kind of the feeling you get here, Monaco, Singapore – I haven’t been yet – but the same style. Those are the tracks that I enjoy to drive most, even though sometimes it’s a bit of a pain when you touch the wall and you get a puncture, you shunt. That’s kind of the beauty of driving these city circuits.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte) Daniel, you and Max have made it clear that you have had some difficulties with your power unit up to now. But on a very demanding circuit for power units, you could control the race being in the front. Does it mean that with the new specification of power unit here and the good chassis that you seem to have now, you can expect Red Bull to be stronger? Also at the next race in Austria? 

    DR: I think this weekend we certainly… we looked pretty good in the speed traps and as I mentioned on restarts I was always moving forward. There was all different types of power units in front of me on several restarts and we were able to – if not pass them, hang with them. Obviously we had a few little updates this weekend and it seems to have helped so yeah, it’s positive, it’s positive. I believe that Max’s issue was maybe due to some debris after the first lap and that maybe got caught and everything overheated so I don’t think his problem was necessarily a genuine one from that respect and obviously we saw some good performance at least from mine in the race. Yeah, we’ll move forward and try and get stronger and stronger.

    eom/FIA press release

  • Ricciardo wins a dramatic race in Baku; Hami 5th

    Ricciardo wins a dramatic race in Baku; Hami 5th

    Daniel Ricciardo won a hugely dramatic, incident-packed Azerbaijan Grand Prix as title contenders Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel both finished off the podium. Mercedes Valtteri Bottas passed Williams’ Lance Stroll across the line at rthe flag to take second place. The Williams driver became the youngest ever podium finisher in a rookie season at 18 years and 239 days and the first Canadian to stand on the podium since Jacques Villeneuve in 2001.

    Vettel, meanwhile, finished fourth after he was handed a 10-second stop and go penalty following a bizarre incident in which he swerved into Hamilton’s car during a safety car period after Briton had slowed so dramatically in the lead that second-placed Vettel ran into the back of the Mercedes.

    Hamilton finished fifth after he was forced to pit from the lead due to a loose head restraint. That dropped him back to P8 and though he recovered to put pressure on Vettel, who emerged from his penalty stop just ahead of the Briton, it wasn’t enough to rise higher than fifth.

    A dramatic start saw Bottas go into Turn 2 on the inside of Kimi Raikkonen. The Mercedes driver appeared to take too much kerb in the corner and he was launched into the side of his fellow Finn’s Ferrari. Raikkonen shipped damage and dropped to fifth, but Bottas suffered front wing damage and a front right puncture. He was forced to pit for repairs and dropped to the rear of the field.

    At the front, Hamilton, who had taken the lead at the start began to swiftly build a gap to second-place title rival Sebastian Vettel. By lap eight the margin was 3.6s but Vettel responded with a fastest lap on the following tour to stay within touching distance.

    Further back, Ricciardo made an early stop, shedding his starting supersofts for softs. The Australian, who also had debris removed from brake ducts during the stop, then began to haul his way back up the order from the ninth position he had taken at the start.

    Debris was a worry too for team-mate Verstappen. Soon after the start the Dutchman reported that he was unhappy with the behaviour of his car and he was told he may have had debris in the radiator ducts and that the situation would be monitored.

    On lap 13, though, Verstappen suddenly slowed and began to fall down the order. At the same time Kvyat’s Toro Rosso expired and he pulled over at the side of the track. The need to recover the car brought out the first safety car of the race and that caused a flurry of pit stops with all of the frontrunners taking on fresh tyres. Verstappen too headed for the pit lane, but unfortunately for the Red Bull man, his visit wasn’t temporary and he retired from the race.

    Under the safety car the order saw Hamilton leading Vettel, with Perez in third place ahead of William’s Felipe Massa and the second Force India of Esteban Ocon. At the back Bottas was allowed to unlap himself and the Finn began a comeback.

    On the re-start Hamilton kept his lead but Vettel came under heavy pressure from Perez who drew alongside the Ferrari. Vettel protected the line well, however, and kept second place.

    Within seconds, though, the Safety Car was again deployed, this time to clear debris at several locations on the track, and cars were directed through the pit lane as the wreckage was removed.

    Just before the Safety Car left the track again at the end of lap 19, the key incident of the race unfolded.

    Hamilton slowed dramatically to back up the field and Vettel ran into the back of the Briton’s Mercedes. Vettel responded by running alongside Hamilton and banging wheels with the Mercedes man’s car.

    Then, as the racing resumed, Vettel was attacked again, not just by Perez, but also by Massa and Ocon.

    The Brazilian got past Perez and tried to pass Vettel down the inside. Vettel again resisted and held P2 but Massa’s move dropped Perez into the clutches of Ocon who tried to pass his team-mate. The team-mates collided and Perez was forced to the pits where it looked like he would retire.

    Caught up in the mess was Raikkonen. The Finn ran over the debris from the Force India collision and suffered a right-rear puncture. By the time he made it back to the pits his car had sustained too much damaged and it looked like he too would be forced out of the race.

    The Safety Car was deployed yet again, but this time, with debris strewn across the track in a number of places, the red flag was eventually displayed.

    Cars were directed back to the pit lane and the dissection of the events that had just taken place began, with the incident between Vettel and Hamilton being placed under investigation by the stewards and the two drivers engaging engineers and team principals in animated discussion.

    Action resumed just after 1815 local time, with both Perez and Raikkonen rejoicing the field having been repaired. However, as the SC got set to leave the circuit, third-placed Felipe Massa reported that he had a car problem.

    When racing resumed the Brazilian was immediately in trouble. Team-mate Lance Stroll passed on the right but Ricciardo was smarter and went down the inside, outbraking both to rise from fifth to third with a standout move. Behind them Renault’s Hulkenberg made a mistake and clipped a barrier, breaking his right front suspension, and exiting the race.

    On lap 27 Hamilton now led from Vettel, Ricciardo and Stroll with Haas’ Kevin Magnussen in fifth place. McLaren’s Fernando Alonso was in an unlikely sixth place after starting 19th, while Sainz was seventh ahead of Bottas and Grosjean. Perez was in P14 ahead of Raikkonen but both were under investigation as it appeared their crews had worked on the car outside the fast lane in the frenzy to get them going again.

    Hamilton, though, had a problem with his head restraint and was told he had to pit to fix the issue. That dropped him to eighth place. The damage was minimised when moments later Vettel was handed a 10-second stop and go penalty for the SC incident with Hamilton. The German served the penalty at the end of lap 33 and dropped to P7 ahead of Hamilton.

    Ahead, and somewhat improbably, Ricciardo now led the race in front of Stroll and Magnussen. The Haas driver didn’t hold the podium position for long, however, and on lap 38 the Dane was passed by both Ocon and a resurgent Bottas.

    The Finn then passed the Force India driver and began setting fastest laps as he chased down Stroll. As the laps counted down it didn’t look like the Mercedes driver had done enough but on the final lap he closed hard and after Ricciardo had taken the flag to claim his fourth career victory, Bottas managed to pass Stroll across the line in a hugely exciting finale. Stroll took third, becoming the first Canadian to stand on the podium since Jacques Villeneuve at the German Grand Prix in 2001.

    Behind them Vettel held Hamilton at bay to finish fourth, while behind the Mercedes driver Ocon took sixth ahead of Magnussen, Sainz, Alonso and Wehrlein.

    2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Race
    1 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 2h03m55.573s
    2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 3.904s
    3 Lance Stroll Williams 4.009s
    4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 5.976s
    5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 6.188s
    6 Esteban Ocon Force India 30.298s
    7 Kevin Magnussen Haas 41.753s
    8 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 49.400s
    9 Fernando Alonso McLaren 59.551s
    10 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber 1m29.093s
    11 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1m31.794s
    12 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 1m32.160s
    13 Romain Grosjean Haas 1 Lap
    14 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari Not running
    – Sergio Perez Force India Retirement
    – Felipe Massa Williams Retirement
    – Nico Hulkenberg Renault Accident
    – Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing Retirement
    – Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso Retirement
    – Jolyon Palmer Renault Retirement

    eom/FIA press release

    Ricciardo of Red Bull after winning the Baku GP on Sunday. An FIA image

  • Bob defends Perez-Ocon incident, says Sahara Force India is not for team-orders

    PART ONE: TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Cyril ABITEBOUL (Renault), Eric BOULLIER (McLaren), Robert FERNLEY (Force India)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Eric, if I could start with you, we saw another engine failure for Fernando Alonso this afternoon… you’re shaking your head.

    Eric BOULLIER: Yes, it wasn’t an engine failure. It was a gearbox failure.

    Q: A gearbox failure, but regarding that thorny subject of Honda. The regularity of the criticism from McLaren senior management suggests that the situation is now irretrievable. Is there anything that can be done to repair the relationship?

    EB: Well, first of all, your question is a suggestion, as you said, which is not exactly the truth or the case. Both organisations are working very, very hard to get to where we want to be. The level of friction, let’s say, if there is any, is a little bit exacerbated by the media. It is true that we have to deliver what we need to do, we have to be where we want to be but both organisations are working hard to deliver and I don’t think there is such a drama like in your questions.

    Q: But Eric, both you and Zak Brown have said it’s not good enough what Honda are doing. So what have Honda got to do to satisfy you, McLaren?

    EB: Well, we have to compete these guys, not to be in the back of the grid. As a partner we expect obviously a certain level of performance, not commitment, because they have that in terms of resources, it’s just a level of performance and today we need another step, a big step.

    Q: And have Honda given any indication as to when the next big step will come?

    EB: Yes, they have some plan and obviously they will be able to respect them.

    Q: OK, let’s talk drivers then. How does the state of flux, if I can call it that, leave you regarding driver for 2018?

    EB: Well, we don’t have any contract with Fernando. Fernando has been very clear. He likes the team, he would like to stay with us, but we need to be competitive. So there is also… say, after summer he will take his decision, so we know the agenda, the calendar for us, what we have to do and Alonso knows what he has to do as well.

    And Stoffel? 

    EB: Stoffel is a long-term contract with McLaren, so there is not any concern for the future.

    Q: Final question for now. How do you assess the performance of the car this weekend in Baku?

    EB: Well, the global performance is very easy, you just see the lap time. We are very slow this weekend; we were expecting to be slow. Then, if you want to be more in detail, we all have GPS traces of each, this is shared data between all the teams so then you can work more about where you need to improve your car in terms of performance.

    Q: Bob, that accident involving Sergio Perez in that first practice session: what are the ramifications of that crash, is there much damage to the car? 

    Robert FERNLEY: The damage wasn’t quite as bad as we thought. The credit goes to the team really for that. They were very well prepared and we were able to effect what were considerable repairs in a very short period of time, so a more than credible effort by the team.

    Q: Let’s cast our minds two weeks, to the Canadian Grand Prix. Quite a lot of controversy after the race regarding team orders, so can you give us your version of events about those closing laps in Montreal? 

    RF: Well, we don’t run team orders to race, which we did. If you look at the difference in tyre performance it’s very, very small. If you at Checo’s history of being able to pass other drivers, it’s incredibly high, and he felt he had the3 opportunity to do so. From our side, there was a suggestion to let us have a turnaround, but he felt quite confident and we were happy to back that and support that, and we will continue to do so.

    Q: Was there a feeling in the team afterwards that somehow Sergio was wrong?

    RF: No, I don’t think so. You can speculate many, many things in terms of what ifs, and hindsight is wonderful, but in reality we were dealing with a Red Bull and we mustn’t underestimate it. A Force India trying to pass a Red Bull isn’t the easiest of things. And we had Ferraris coming back and whether we had pitted or not pitted there is a second a lap difference on optimum, optimum. I think we did the best we could and I have had no recriminations from the team whatsoever and we will continue to follow that path and evaluate things on a race-by-race basis.

    Q: Vijay Mallya said after the race that there would be some new rules of engagement from Baku onwards. What are those rules? 

    RF: No I don’t think he said that. He said he would look at the rules of engagement and we discussed it at the management meetings, which we normally do, and what I am telling you now I think are Vijay’s sentiments entirely.

    Q: Cyril, let’s also start with the on-track action as well. We saw an accident involving Jolyon Palmer today. What is the situation with Jolyon regarding his future? What does he have to do to keep his seat at Renault? 

    Cyril ABITEBOUL: I think it’s a bit unfair to link today and the future. Today we saw a lot of drivers going a bit outside of the track – a lot, and I mean a lot. Clearly, indeed, Jo has been one of those at a Turn that unfortunately doesn’t forgive, unlike other turns. Which means there is a bit of damage on the car but it’s not huge. Not really different to what Checo did this morning. If you want to link that to the bigger picture for Jo, our situation is very clear: he has a contract with us; we are completely committed to helping him get through the period, which is a tough period, that’s obvious. He has no ultimatum, but having said that he has to deliver, like every single member of the team. But I think what will help him is that frankly we take him out of the spotlight under which he is constantly, in particular in starting the first day, Friday, and all the media focus, all the media attention, is not necessarily helping. Obviously you have to do what you have to do, and ask the questions, which you feel are the right ones. But that doesn’t help. That’s part of the job, part of the pressure that every Formula One driver has to go through. He has to live with that. We are trying our best to protect him but at the same time to do the best as a team to explain to him what we are expecting and we had that type of conversation with him yesterday – go through the metrics and try to define the targets short to medium terms so that he can improve. So that’s the situation really.

    Q: And can you just clarify the situation with Robert Kubica. He tested with the team just prior to the Canadian Grand Prix. Why did the test come about and is he going to be testing in FP1 ahead of the Italian Grand Prix? 

    CA: Easy answer on the last one – no, absolutely not. I don’t know where this is coming from and I can completely wipe that one out. Also I would to make it clear that I guess the questions are unconnected – the question regarding Jo and the question regarding Robert. Robert has been a family member of the Enstone team, and Eric on my right knows what I mean. He has been very close and very loyal. The team in Enstone, which is a very small group of people, actually have been very loyal to a number of drivers. In particular Robert made a huge impression on people who’ve been around, Alan Permane, Bob Bell, Ricardo on the Viry side. People feel very loyal and feel they owe something to Robert for making something big in their life and there was this opportunity that we give to him, that we could afford to him to drive again, because it was actually a marketing event that got cancelled, so we had a car available at the track and we offered that opportunity to him. Robert is going through some form of programme to try to understand what he can do. He has been driving a number of cars, Formula E, GP3, F2, LMP2, you name it, so I think he wants to understand what he can do as part of his sort of rehabilitation programme. We’ll see. There is nothing else that is planned for the time being, apart from a marketing event at Goodwood, where he will be driving the same car, E20, in front of Lord March’s house.

    Q: Just looking at performance, you said recently there are no magic bullets in Formula One. How should we translate that comment?

    CA: Yeah, I think I was trying to make reference and clarify as situation regarding engine upgrades and actually it’s not so easy to be clear in that respect. Just to make it clear, I think there was some speculation, some expectation that we do on the engine side this year the same thing that we did last year, with a major upgrade that was very visible to everyone, particular our customers and I think there was this sort of expectation that we were about to do the same. No, unfortunately it’s not happening. But I’m not saying that because it’s not happening that there won’t be any improvement. There is improvement. For instance, this weekend, we have two tenths of an upgrade in the engine. We were not expecting to make huge publicity on that but I feel that I have to make that clarification. And that upgrade is coming despite the fact that we are not changing the engine. That’s why it’s important to disconnect the different aspects. It would be the same thing on the chassis side. We are having a sort of arms race. All teams are bringing big upgrades, we are doing the same but same thing as on the engine, there won’t be a golden bullet.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Ben Edwards – Channel 4) Bob, can I just ask quick question about the accident this morning for Sergio. We saw the week come off but it certainly didn’t look like the tether failed because it didn’t look like that was involved in that – so can you just explain what happened with the wheel coming off?

    RF: It’s not something we’ve seen before. As you rightly say, the entire wheel came off the hub. We need to look into it to see. The tethers were fine. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen that. In fact Eric and I were talking about it coming up – he hadn’t seen anything like it either. We’ll just have to have a look at what that is and make sure if there needs to be any changes across the board for Formula One.

    Q: (Ben Edwards – Channel 4) Eric, quick question about Stoffel’s season so far. Obviously, it’s not been an ideal season for him – it’s always tough being up against Fernando – but can you talk us through his season and what has been his struggles and what he’s going through?

    EB: First of all, he’s had a lot of issues with his cars since the beginning of the season. Not only the engine but also the car. A lot of little glitches y’know that stop him, let’s say, doing complete runs during free practices and various qualifyings. I think his confidence level then went a little bit lower – that’s why a couple of times in qualifying he was not ready to deliver on the first lap and that cost him actually a Q2 because there was a yellow flag or something else. I think it’s just for him to find his place in the team to make sure he can voice his needs to setup the car the way he likes to drive it. Formula One is also a bit different when you talk about driving style so you need to maybe both need to move toward each other. We are now since a couple of races addressing this seriously with a working group around him – his engineers first but some others, trying to address this and get his confidence back.

    Q: (Gunel Safarova – BBC Azerbaijan) So you say today three accidents happened. It’s interesting, why do you think these accidents happened so much. At the moment there is speculation this road in Baku is very dangerous and it has very dangerous turns. Do you think it’s because of this?

    CA: We’ve seen a lot of accidents and also our drivers escaping from accidents. Frankly I think we should put a bit more walls to create a bit more penalty and incentivise the drives to stay on track. I think there is a combination. I understand that it is not easy on some corners actually to see with the sun in the drivers’ eyes, struggling to see the apex. That’s one, another thing to take into consideration, without wanting to start a debate, it’s maybe the grip from tyres which is maybe not where it should be for a track like that and the sort of braking energy that you need to dissipate. So that might be an explanation – maybe more than last year in particular with the shift in compounds that we’ve seen this season. That might be one explanation also.

    Eric or Bob, do you have anything to add?

    EB: Cyril answered mostly. The only reason why you have got these cars going into the escape road is just because of the grip and the braking energy. Track is also very green today, obviously a lot of dust everywhere, so this is even more difficult to generate some energy in the tyres.

    Q: Bob, Pérez, why did he crash, what did he say when he got back to the garage?

    RF: I don’t think it was anything to do with them. He was trying to find the limit and found it! I agree with Eric and Cyril. It’s about tyres – and obviously the track was green. Tyres are probably a little bit hard compound. And maybe next year we’ll start going softer.

    eom/FIA transcript of the press conference