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Tag: F1
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We may be surprised later on in the season: Ferrari’s Binotto
PART TWO: TEAM PERSONNEL – Mattia BINOTTO (Ferrari), James ALLISON (Mercedes), James KEY (Toro Rosso)
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Mattia, a lot of new parts on the car this weekend. How have they performed and can you give us an explanation of the stoppages for Räikkönen and also for Vettel?
Mattia BINOTTO: It’s true, we’ve got a few new parts on the car this weekend. The most obvious was the front wing. To see how if they are behaving well or not, we need some more analysis. So far, so good but let’s see when the engineers have looked at all the data what we run for the rest of the weekend. On the problems we’ve got. In FP1, power unit issues for Kimi, I think it was quite obvious. We change it for the afternoon, just a precaution, important for us to make sure Kimi could run in the afternoon trouble-free. And then for what happened, honestly it’s still to be fully understood. We analyse all the parts and hopefully all the elements of the power unit could be used in the future once again and sorted out. In the afternoon with Seb we had a minor electrical problem but this one is not too worrying and we had the opportunity to run once again within the afternoon.
Q: The second question is, how did you manage to deal with taking on the new technical management structure last summer and then produce a competitive 2017 car. What were the building-blocks for this? How did you do it?
MB: I think honestly we’ve got in Maranello good people, good engineers. It’s a good, and great team. Finally it’s really the team itself that works well and very hard during the winter time and somehow we got the good results we’ve got so far.
Q: James Allison, welcome. You only joined Mercedes last month so where is your input going at the moment: to the 2017 development or to the 2018 design masterplan?
James ALLISON: OK, well all of my effort at the moment is just focused on getting properly up to speed with a completely new group of people and a big and complicated organisation, so that I’m able to contribute as I learn more and more about that organisation. So it’s learning where I stand now, hopefully contributing as I do so to this season and looking beyond to the seasons to come.
Q: Well the other person who is new within that team is Valtteri Bottas and we’re seeing him improving through the testing and through the first two races. Can you give us a bit of insight into what you’re seeing behind the scenes in terms of his development?
JA: Yeah, we are both the new boys but Valtteri has certainly found his feet very quickly with his engineering team in the racing group and has shown, really from the outset, that he has a very tidy pace but he’s learned quickly all the systems on this car and he’s bedding himself in very well to the team and starting to do what we hoped he would do which is be pretty close and ever closer to Lewis.
Q: And James Key, coming to you: three points scores from four starts so far, fourth in the Constructors’ championship. Is this shaping up to be your most competitive season for a while?
James KEY: Well, we’ve got ninety per cent of the season to go still at the moment, so I think we have to be a little bit careful. I think where we are is a snapshot of the situation with the teams that are around us to be honest. But yeah, we’re fighting to try and be the best of the rest behind the top three teams, just as all the other teams around us are. I think although it’s going to be substantially down to a development race, I think ultimately, given how close everyone is we have got the benefit of probably the most experienced driver pairing the team’s ever had and we’re developing PU so there are two things to tick off the list that perhaps we haven’t had before. The rest, I guess, is down to us.
Q: How much is success this year dependent on Renault delivering the goods on the engine? Obviously we saw them today going very quickly with the works car.
JK: Absolutely, yeah. I think it’s a mix of things to be honest with you. I think that there’s still an awful lot of potential left in these power units even now in their fourth year. We see that as each year progresses so more performance is found so definitely it’s still got a large authority on the total car’s performance still and therefore it’s definitely important for us but I think probably with these new regs the chassis has a slightly bigger authority so a mix of the two is ultimately the answer but I don’t think you can rely on one or the other.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Question is to James Allison but if Mr Binotto would comment afterwards. James, you started in Ferrari in July 2013 and the basis of these new regulations was created in February 2015. You left Ferrari in July of last year, so you had a lot of time to work there. What was your importance for this existing car of Ferrari today, because when you left, you also had the final text of the regulations that was decided in April of last year?
JA: Well, I left Ferrari many months ago and joined Mercedes just some small number of weeks ago and anything that Ferrari has done for this year’s car, as Mattia said, is a credit to the people that work at Ferrari over these months and what they have delivered. Similarly, in the team that I’m in now, the credit for the fantastic performance of this team so far is down to all the people that have been putting in the effort at Brackley over those months. I can only really be held responsible for the state of my garden at the moment which is looking very fine as a result of all the effort I’ve put into it in the last six months or so.
MB: I think that somehow James has already answered, nothing more really to add. James was part of our team at the beginning of last year, as it’s true that there is plenty of people working at Ferrari and the credit is to everybody.
Q: (Kate Walker – New York Times) I was wondering if you could talk me through the individual decision-making process at each of your teams when it comes to requesting clarification from the FIA on the legality of your opponents’ vehicles? At what point do you decide it’s worth pursuing and how do you decide when it’s not worth the paperwork?
JK: I think it’s a case-by-case basis to be honest with you. Clearly we all look at each others’ cars, we all have photographers and so on. You rarely see something that’s particularly controversial because it would be very obvious to everyone but I think if you felt that someone had something questionable or let’s say something you clarified before which the FIA perhaps didn’t entirely agree with your view but you see it on another car, typically you might pursue it but I think it’s a bit of a case-by-case basis. Sometimes you might talk to the team and question and sometimes you might talk to the FIA and discuss it with them and escalate accordingly but I really think it’s very much a case-by-case.
JA: OK, it’s pretty much as the other James said. The only thing I would add is that the FIA are normally pretty attentive to these things themselves and it’s their job to get on with and decide what’s right and what’s wrong and they are pretty much on that stuff all the time.
MB: For me, there is one more thing we need to add. Certainly sometimes we seek clarification from the FIA to know exactly what’s possible to be developed some more. I think it would be wrong to start development spending investment and money on something which will be judged illegal by the FIA and I think that’s the main reason why we are asking the FIA for clarification.
Q: (Lennart Bernke – Bild) Signor Binotto, Niki Lauda said this week he believes the secret behind the success of Ferrari is basically you, since you reorganised the structures and all that. Can you give us a little insight what do you think about the quote from Niki and what did you change since you are in charge since July?
MB: I don’t think any comment is necessary and is not really relevant. As I said before, we are many people in Ferrari. Each of us has his role which is an important role and there is not one more important or less important in the team. What we’ve done since July, I think… as I said, it’s a great team with great engineers. It’s simply making sure that everybody was delivering, being accountable, feeling accountable and getting the right team spirit.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Whenever there’s a major regulation change as we’ve had for 2017 for example, there are all sorts of various interpretations of the regulations and solutions and whatever else. Referring to what you said just now about case-by-case, are there are any details on any cars that you see out there at the moment that any of you have any suspicions about whatsoever or are you totally happy that all cars are legal at the moment?
JK: Yes. I think there’s a few things that we probably want to question but there’s nothing major, let’s say, just details.
JA: I think that’s pretty much the case. It’s a huge reg change and it’s been a remarkably troublefree one so far, given the magnitude of the change. Cars have come out looking good, they’ve come out hitting the performance targets that the reg change was supposed to have. We’ve got a brilliant fight at the front of the field. Those are the things that I think the reg change has bought us and if there’s any skirmishing going on then it’s no different from any other year and is just part of the normal cut and thrust of the sport.
MB: I would agree with what they said and what James Allison just said. I don’t think there is anything different compared to the past years, nothing major to be mentioned.
Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) James Allison, question about the T-wing. It fell off today again as in China. Is there any pattern, that you can already see why it happened?
JA: Well, it’s a surprise because we’ve done a huge number of kilometres without problems and then we’ve had two annoying hassles so I suspect it will be a small manufacturing defect and it’s something we will need to reinforce to make sure it doesn’t happen again, come Saturday and Sunday.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) At the end of March there was a meeting of the engine people looking at the formula from 2021 onwards. What would you prefer to see: a completely new change of engine, architecture, etc. or retain the existing one, maybe tickle it round the edges, make it a bit cheaper or whatever; fundamentally retain this one?
MB: We had a good and positive and constructive discussion in Paris and I think that the output finally was that we should try and keep the current format but as you said, a few things certainly need to be reviewed. I don’t see any sense why we should change completely. All the automotive is going towards hybrid cars and the technology we’ve got currently in F1 somehow is on the edge of the technology and that, I think, is where we should be and we need to stay.
JA: Well, as Mattia said, there was a meeting, all sorts of possibilities were discussed and now a bunch of opportunities and guidelines for further discussion were tasked to the teams to look into and come back to that same group and report back in the coming months. I think what’s important, as Mattia said, is that the power unit retains the sort of broad direction that it’s been heading in and that it stays an important part of the competitive elements of what makes this sport so interesting.
JK: I fully agree with the technological points made by Mattia and James to be honest. I think they are amazing machines that we have in these cars and probably we don’t talk about how amazing they are enough to a certain extent. Equally, I’m the only customer here and the majority of teams are customers and when you have the level of authority that these power units currently have over your performance and there’s not much you can do about it if you’re in a bad shape – and unfortunately my team’s been in that position before – it’s pretty serious, so I think from a performance point of view we need to consider what options there are, not to rein in people because both Mercedes and Ferrari have done a fantastic job with where they are but when you’re really suffering – and there’s a team out there now who have been suffering a lot this year, as we know – it really is a bit of a killer and there’s not much you can do so we probably want to understand what options there could be because as a customer you’re kind of very reliant on your supplier and of course the cost is fundamental as well. The costs now for customer teams are incredibly high. If there’s a way to control that better and make it more feasible then that would be very welcomed, I think.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) This year, all the teams are working on new territory: more downforce instead of less downforce. Is there any area in particular after two races that you saw something or ‘this I didn’t pay attention to properly: this is something new, we didn’t realise why we must make an effort’, more in one area than another one?
JA: Actually, for such a big regulation change, I don’t think any single team has come out with any breathtaking interpretation that everybody else missed. I think there’s a number of detailed interpretations that each team will look at the others for but there’s not one thing where you think ‘oh my God, I wish we’d seen that.’ And I think in that regard it’s been a pretty successful regulation change. All the teams have done a good job of interpreting what those regs mean and that’s one of the reasons why the performance uplift has been where it was supposed to be.
MB: I align with James’ comments. So far I would say no main surprises or let’s say, OK, we didn’t realise, we didn’t think about it. I think it’s only the start, it’s only the start of a new era in terms of new regulations, more to come. We may be surprised later on in the season.
JK: I echo the comments Mattia and James have made, to be honest with you. I suppose the one thing that was obvious for us behind these two guys is the disparity in performance, so there’ s a lot more still to be found by many of us but it’s not one single thing, it’s a mix of many things, I think.
Q: Can you pin down the causes of that performance?
JK: I think that if I knew what it was we would be in better shape but I think there’s lots of detail and there’s some tricks aerodynamically, I think, that are pretty complicated to get right and some have and maybe some haven’t. And that could be quite a big performance differentiator but also power units and other things probably play their role too but there’s no one thing but we have got a big spread of performance at the moment, so there’s more to be found, for sure.
eom/FIA transcript of the press conference
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There hasn’t been a massive overhaul, says Claire Williams
PART ONE: TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Zak BROWN (McLaren), Christian HORNER (Red Bull Racing), Claire WILLIAMS (Williams)
PRESS CONFERENCE
Zak, we’ll start with you, it was announced today that Jenson Button will race for you at the Monaco Grand Prix. Tell us about that.
Zak BROWN: He was the obvious first choice but we had to make sure he was up for it, since he’s now relocated to the States and he was very up for it as soon as we contacted him. I think it’s great for our team to replace one world champion with another for Monaco. Jenson has won a round there, loves the circuit, and didn’t take any convincing whatsoever when we contacted him. So good for us and good for the sport.
Q: Obviously this comes about because Fernando Alonso is going to race in the Indianapolis 500. What did it take to pull this deal off, Alonso to Indy, both externally, but also internally within McLaren?
ZB: It came together very quickly. Take a step back: my boss, or bosses, are the executive committee, which is run by Sheikh Mohamed and Mansour Ojjeh and they are a real driving force and motivational individuals who are really pushing us to do new and exciting things. And so, ultimately on that direction Jonathan Neale and I work very closely together. And when this opportunity came along it really started off with me and Fernando kind of joking around about it. I was actually kind of serious, but I wasn’t sure if he would be. He kind of flirted back… that was pre-Australia. We then had a breakfast with Honda and he told them of his desire to race at Indianapolis and ultimate try to win the triple crown. At that point I could tell he was serious about it, but didn’t think 2017 was the timeline we were talking about. Then we spoke after Australia and he asked for a dinner Friday in China and I said “hey, about that Indy thing” and he said “that’s exactly why I want to do dinner and discuss”. At that point I knew it was serious, so I got on the phone to the chief exec of Indycar to see if it was possible. And through a lot of skunkwork, because I really didn’t want any rumours getting out there, in case it wouldn’t happen, which I thought would be the case, and we were able to put it together. We went to the executive committee and checked in with Eric to see what he thought of the idea. The executive committee blessed it and Saturday morning Fernando said ‘let’s do it’ and then we ran pretty hard for 72 hours to make it happen.
Briefly, Fernando yesterday here said that you have a vision of McLaren as a multi-disciplinary organization, a bit like in its past, racing chassis at Indianapolis and Le Mans and so on. Tell us a little bit about that.
ZB: Yeah, as you mentioned our past… we have a lot of history. We’ve won Indianapolis three times, we won Le Mans, we won CanAm, we’re now doing batteries for Formula E in the future and I think the McLaren brand is raced all over the world in all sorts of different formulas and as the executive committee said, if we can go win, if it’s commercially viable and it fits the McLaren brand, we’re all a bunch of racers, so let’s go racing. I think that is what we will see McLaren continue to do.
Thank you for that. Christian, first of all, long run pace today looked pretty promising. Obviously it’s very close on single laps, with some strange things happening to various different drivers, but you must be pretty encouraged by what you have seen?
Christian HORNER: Yeah, I think today has been a very positive day really, particularly on Daniel’s side of the garage; he’s had a very productive day. So yeah, I think we’ve hopefully closed that gap a little bit here. The car seems better suited to this circuit and hopefully we can build on that through the weekend.
Q: Slightly tricky start to the season – over a second off the pace initially, podium for Max in China – but we’re hearing that there’s a radically or updated car planned for your team in Spain, according to some comments from your team today. Would you like to clear that up?
CH: I think that all the teams are developing hard and the first real acid point tends to be the start of the European season and we’re no different. I’m sure several teams are targeting Barcelona with various update packages and we’re no different. But in between now and then we’re trying to get performance on the car, understand some of the issues and constantly move it forward.
Q: Just for clarity would you describe it as a very significant upgrade?
CH: If it delivers lap time, yes. It’s a significant cost, so we’ll see. Hopefully it will be value for money.
Q: Finally, it’s not yet 12 months sine Max Verstappen came to your team. His learning curve, by his own admission, has been almost vertical but I wonder in what areas have you seen real improvement, real transition from last year to this?
CH: I think he’s just growing more and more in experience. He’s 19 years of age. It’s obvious that anybody of that age is still learning everyday a huge amount. As he gains more experience, his development is extremely impressive. His race again last weekend was outstanding particularly the first half, it was particularly impressive, particularly from where he started on the grid after a difficult Saturday afternoon. He’s growing and growing and that’s what makes him so exciting and personally I think we’ve got the most exciting driver line-up in Formula One at the moment and it’s great to see the guys really pushing each other hard and racing like they did last weekend.
Q: Thanks very much. Claire, first of all, congratulations on your baby news; that really will be a first for a Formula One team boss?
Claire WILLIAMS: Having a baby? I think Christian’s had a baby recently…
Not personally!
CW: I think there are lots of team principals that have had babies before me, but thank you.
Since you were last here there has also been a major overhaul of your senior technical staff. Tell us a little bit about the background of that and also what influence Paddy Lowe has had and your expectations of him.
CW: There hasn’t been a massive overhaul; we still have most people in play. You’re probably talking about our two most significant hires over the past… that we hired a while ago but who have just come into the team over the past few months. So, starting with our new head of aero, Dirk de Beer, who joined us now many weeks ago actually and who has already had a significant impact in our aero team and is doing a fantastic job and obviously the car he designed won the first race this year, so that’s a real positive for us. And then obviously Paddy. His arrival into the team has been hugely motivational more than anything so far. Obviously it’s going to take a bit of time for him to embed himself in the team and to found out where the true weaknesses are and to start rectifying those. Just having somebody of Paddy’s calibre, I suppose, join our team is not only a message for everybody out there, looking and seeing where our ambitions are, but also it’s a huge motivating force for everyone within Williams to know that the board at Williams is hugely ambitious about our future and we want somebody of Paddy’s calibre to come and help turn our fortunes around.
Q: Obviously you raced for a couple of years more or less on your own after the introduction of the hybrid turbos. Last year you were arcing with Force India. But this year it looks like you’re in a very tight midfield battle. With a rookie driver in one of your cars is there a risk of not scoring the 130 plus, 150 plus points that you’ve been getting that you need to get to maintain that?
CW: Yes, I know that having a rookie in your car you are always going to have those concerns but I think it’s still fairly early days, we’re only at race three of the season but I think to date in those first two races, despite obviously having the two DNFs, neither of which was Lance’s fault, that he’s already acquitted himself quite impressively to date. He’s done a fantastic job in China alone, getting into Q3 in only his second qualifying session, when he had very few laps in the Friday session, like everybody obviously, but still… I don’t have as many concerns as you might imagine. I think Lance has really proved that he deserves the seat in a very short space of time. Obviously we are going to give him the space he needs in order to grow and to build but I don’t actually doubt that he’s going to be able to be capable of scoring the points that we need him to.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Ysef Harding – Xero Xone News) Zak, Fernando Alonso said it is a win-win situation or everyone involved with him appearing in Indy. Do you agree with that? And do you also feel that it will help, while he’s there, the branding issue that exists with F1 and Indy, that a lot in the States get the two confused, and that him being there will spark that curiosity, especially for young people, about who Fernando Alonso is and what series he races in?
ZB: Yeah, I think the announcement is great for the world of motorsports, definitely Formula One. Anytime you have a two-time world champion and McLaren racing all the fans are going to want to see how the Formula One team and the Formula One driver does. I think that’s definitely going to raise a lot of awareness for Formula One, because that’s the headline: Formula One driver, Formula One team. On the flipside, obviously great for Indianapolis. I think the last time there was that much noise was when Nigel Mansell came over to Indianapolis when he had won the world championship with you [Claire Williams]. It’s great, it’s a lot of intrigue and it’s a real racer thing to do that used to happen all the time with the Jackie Stewarts and the Mario Andrettis and that’s all the feedback we’ve had ‘it’s great to see it’ and hopefully we’ll be competitive.
Q: (Kate Walker – Motorsport.com). One of the things we have seen with our new owners is a loosening up of an awful lot of things in the paddock and the surrounding environment and I was wondering if you had seen a similar loosening up in the attitude of sponsors towards Formula One. Whether or not deal are being done or not, are you seeing increased enquiries or increased interest from parties new or old?
ZB: Yeah, I think there is a really good buzz around Formula One. It’s early days, finding partners takes time. We’ve been fortunate to announce a couple: Logitech in Australia. I think everyone is excited about the future of Formula One. Liberty Group, which is now really FOM, we keep calling them Liberty but it is FOM, are going to push the envelope and I think there is… the drivers, you see them doing a lot more fan engagement, there is a big degree of optimism in pit lane.
CW: Everything Zak said really. I don’t want to repeat what he said. The level of interest is higher than it probably normally is, certainly more than it has been for the last two or three years at least. But I think, as Zak said, people are waiting to see what happens. Liberty, I’m sorry, FOM, have got some great ideas and teams are able to do more than they have been in past season and that’s going to have a positive knock-on effect but the more we see coming out of the sport I think that’s going to then start increasing the conversations we are having, and maybe towards the end of this year when our conversations for ’18 start ramping up that’s when we’ll really see the positive impact.
CH: I thought it was great to see Bernie doing a Facebook Live from the paddock earlier today. Times are obviously moving on and changing. Opening up the digital channels had an immediate impact where the personalities of the drivers are shining through a bit more. The way people follow media in general now, particularly social and digital media, being able to engage with drivers, with teams through a race weekend, seeing some of the behind the scenes action of what’s going on. Some of the content that’s getting out there is fantastic and Formula One is all about generating great content and great on-track stuff and if we can bring more fans in through some of the social channels hopefully they will turn on the broadcast on a Sunday to see what happens in a grand prix. Hopefully the strategy that’s being worked upon and built for the future will enable more revenue streams to come into the sport.
Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and Speedsport) Claire and Christian, would you ever consider letting one of your drivers skip a grand prix to compete in another race?
CW: I knew that someone was going to ask this question! And not to upset the gentleman on my left but, no. I don’t know if that’s because I’m my father’s daughter and I know Frank probably wouldn’t but no I don’t think I would but I wont expands on the reasons why.
CH: It’s a difficult one for Fernando, he’s having a tough time. Zak’s got the problem that he got a depressed driver on his hands; he’s trying to keep him motivated. He’s come up with this idea – send him to Indianapolis. Must be barking mad, it’s the nuttiest race I’ve ever seen. No testing. He’s just going to jump in the car. Turn One is a proper turn as well. It’s not just easy flat all the way round. I think he needs to see a psychiatrist personally. Would we let our drivers do it – no. I believe if a driver commits to a team… it’s a bit like disappearing with another girlfriend half way through the year and then coming back, it doesn’t seem the right thing to be doing. Perhaps if the races didn’t clash or do it at the end of his Formula One career, but obviously McLaren have got this approach which is different to ours but good for them.
Any reaction?
ZB: Fernando’s not scared. No, he’s going to get some testing in. He is studying Indianapolis. It’s obviously going to be a challenge but he wants a challenge. A rookie driver won it last year. Not that we’re going to set any expectations. He’ll have a car capable of running at the front. He’ll be extremely prepared and I think he’s going to put on a good show. He’s very smart and that’s what you need to be around Indianapolis. So yeah, I think it’s going to be good. Everybody is going to be watching.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) I wonder, I heard many people here in the paddock saying that maybe one of the reasons Red Bull does not have a competitive car is because it was concepted with the suspension it used with success last year and was legal. Then suddenly the suspension was not legal and then you almost lost the project. Is there any meaning in it?
CH: Unfortunately not. It sounds good and I’d love to be able to hang our coat on that one but the clarifications that came out about suspension shut avenues of development down and the systems we’re running on the car are very similar, almost identical to what we ran last year. We started to pursue a different route over the winter in R&D that never actually ran on the car because of the weight involved – and that’s another challenge of the current cars. All it did is close off that avenue. It didn’t fundamentally change anything. I think our problems are more aerodynamic than they are mechanical and that’s very much where the focus of attention is.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) If we have at look at the respective histories of your teams, Claire in your case Williams’ last big winning period was before you branched out into Advanced Engineering, if you look at McLaren, McLaren’s successful periods were between Can-Am and the road car operations: whenever you seem to do something else, Formula One results have dropped off, in Red Bull’s case, you’re now looking at the road car work with Aston Martin. Is it purely coincidental that Formula One results seem to drop off as teams get involved in other activities or should Formula One actually be a single-minded pursuit?
CW: We set up Williams Advanced Engineering in 2010-2011 and despite the one-blip wonder of Barcelona in 2012 we haven’t had much success since the parting of the ways with BMW which was, what? Six years prior to that. So, I don’t think you could possibly say our dip in performance was related to the fact that we set up Advanced Engineering. I disagree. Having seen how our operation works, and how integrated the two are, there are very fine boundaries between the two. Yes, there are some shared facilities operationally but each business division operates independently of the other and doesn’t strain resources of the other. Actually, they benefit each other. So, for us having an advanced engineering division is fantastic from a partner perspective and there are shared learnings as well on each side from a technological perspective so, from a Williams perspective, I don’t believe the reason we had a dip in performance was because we setup a different division. I think if you are set up efficiently and properly then you are perfectly capable with having both.
ZB: I think in McLaren’s case that’s not accurate. We did the F1 Road Car in the 1990s and have won multiple championships since. We then built, with our former partner Mercedes, some road cars and we were winning races. And I think, as Claire said, these are individual businesses. There are learnings from one to the other but we are not a few thousand employees and the people building the automotive cars are not the people involved in Formula One, or [McLaren] Applied Technologies. So I think it’s beneficial, they learn from each other and I think it’s nothing more than a coincidence that you point that out and the three of us here have additional activities. I think you need to have additional activities and it’s pretty hard to be just a Formula One team now is also the commercial reality.
CH: Red Bull’s run Red Bull Technology for many years now, supplying obviously, Toro Rosso, various elements, obviously within the regulations. Red Bull Advanced Technology has been a further development of that. Has it had an impact on our performance? I don’t think so in reality. I think that it’s a small group of people that are focussed in a separate building. Of course, Adrian is splitting his time between the two projects so you could argue, ‘well, Adrian being half-time involved in Formula One, has that had an impact or not?’ but the group is sufficiently big to be able to cope with that. Of course, his interest and input into Formula One is pretty intense at the moment.
Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS) For Christian. How much damage can a T-wing make?
CH: Today it did about £50,000 worth of damage so I think they should be banned on the grounds of safety and cost! And that’s not just because we don’t have one. It’s unfortunate. It’s one of those things. A bit of debris on the circuit today that had fallen off, I think, Bottas’ car. Max was the unlucky victim that was the first car at speed to come across it. It did quite a lot of damage to the underside of the car. One of those things, unfortunately.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) To all of you. You were talking about better promoting Formula One and everything. What do you think about some teams that they don’t make the drivers available for the media? And also, if you go to the media centre, and you look, all the time the teams dedicate to the media in general are extremely low – and all of them at the same time. If you are alone, you must choose where to go. Don’t you think it time Formula One tried to follow different rules, to put media in the place media should be with all respect that is missing today?
ZB: I think with drivers, obviously with time, they have a lot of demands behind the scenes with sponsors and engineers and the fans. And media want to spend as much time with them as they can, which is understandable. I think we need to be more creative in how the media engage with the drivers and vice versa and how the drivers engage with the fans. I know our drivers are very happy to talk about new and exciting topics in new and different ways, and so I think hopefully some of this stuff teams can work together on with the drivers and the media and FOM. I think the energy and excitement is there, we just need to do it in new and innovative ways.
CH: Personally… Formula One is a media business and the drivers, part of their responsibility is to communicate with the fans and in order to sometimes do that, obviously, they’ve got to communicate with the media. My biggest bugbear and the thing that really pisses me off is when you see drivers sitting up here with a mobile phone showing zero interest. So, I think Matteo should ban mobile phones from all press conferences with drivers. They can Snapchat now whenever they like outside. I think they have a responsibility. They are the heroes that people are looking to. Looking to be inspired by, looking to follow, looking to get excited by. They have a responsibility as well to driving the car but to promote the brands that they represent, the teams that they represent and the sport overall.
CW: I totally agree with what both Christian and Zak have said. I think it’s all of our responsibilities as teams, drivers, to do more and to be more present and available to fans, to the media. I know that Liberty, FOM, have lots of plans in place. As I said earlier, it’s going to take them a while to evolve through that process – but I think that process needs to be done collaboratively with the teams and the teams engaged. I don’t think you should be looking at one thing you think there’s a problem with and trying to fix that. It needs to be done from a holistic perspective with everybody working together in order to achieve the maximum benefit for the whole of the sport.
Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS) Question for all three of you. After China, this is Bahrain, which is mentally, physically hard on team members. Your colleagues, are they all 100 per cent the same as in China or did you fly in members from other parts of the world. Does the team change in a week?
CH: Fundamentally the team doesn’t change. On average, we’re travelling with mid-70s in terms of personnel, 75-76 people. We have less marketing people here because we’re quieter on the hospitality but the guys in the garage are 95 per cent all the same people that you would have seen in China last weekend; the guys and girls in the engineering department are all the same. Of course, there’s a few additional people that have come out, that we rotate, so they experience a grand prix weekend. And then there’s a bigger influx of people for the two-day test, so we’ll actually have more people at the test than we do at the race for the two days of running with one car.
ZB: We had a lot of people that went direct from China to here. I went back on Sunday night and came back on Wednesday, I think the teams are pretty used to it. It’s not an abnormal schedule. And then you get on the right sleep patterns and its nice that this race is not a super-early start – obviously it ends later. But no, I think everyone’s in good shape.
CW: Nothing to add, it’s the same.
eom/FIA transcript of the press conference
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Vettel quickest in FP2 before `complete shutdown’! Bahrain GP
Bahrain, 14 April 2017: Sebastian Vettel went quickest in the second free practice session ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix, before a mid-session “complete shutdown” of his Ferrari that left him briefly stranded on the track.
The German’s P1 time came just before half an hour of the evening session, run under floodlights, had elapsed. Bolting on a set of supersofts, the Ferrari power to through a lap of 1:31.310.
Later, however, during a longer run in the final 40 minutes of the session Vettel’s car slowed dramatically before the German reported a “complete shutdown”. He managed to coast towards the pit entry and after being pushed by marshals his car was brought back to the Ferrari garage. With 15 minutes left in the session the Ferrari crew managed to get Vettel back on track for a final burst of running.
In an earlier opening session also topped by Vettel, Mercedes has a muted outing, with Lewis Hamilton 10thand Valtteri Bottas 14th. In the more valuable second session run at a time and in temperatures comparable to the weekend’s crucial sessions, the defending champions showed their real pace, at least with one car. Bottas finished second, just four hundredths of a second behind Vettel. Hamilton, though, was fifth after his qualifying simulation, almost three tenths adrift of the Ferrari driver.
Daniel Ricciardo, second quickest in the first session, again showed good pace in the evening, setting a best time of 1:31.376 to finish just 0.066s behind Vettel.
Fourth place went to Kimi Räikkönen in the second Ferrari, just under two tenths off his team-mate and with Hamilton next on the timesheet just 0.284s separated the top five drivers.
Sixth place was taken by Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg, with the German just shy of six tenths off the pace set by Vettel. Felipe Massa was seventh for Williams ahead of Max Verstappen in the second Red Bull. The Dutchman’s running was compromised however by a problem with the floor. The top ten order was completed by Haas’ Romain Grosjean and Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat. Elsewhere, Carlos Sainz completed just five laps before pulling over with smoke pouring from his car.
2017 Bahrain Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m31.310s – 29
2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1m31.351s 0.041s 35
3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull/Renault 1m31.376s 0.066s 28
4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m31.478s 0.168s 34
5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m31.594s 0.284s 35
6 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1m31.883s 0.573s 37
7 Felipe Massa Williams/Mercedes 1m32.079s 0.769s 37
8 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Renault 1m32.245s 0.935s 18
9 Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 1m32.505s 1.195s 34
10 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso/Renault 1m32.707s 1.397s 35
11 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1m32.854s 1.544s 33
12 Esteban Ocon Force India/Mercedes 1m32.875s 1.565s 38
13 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1m32.876s 1.566s 38
14 Fernando Alonso McLaren/Honda 1m32.897s 1.587s 31
15 Sergio Perez Force India/Mercedes 1m33.319s 2.009s 34
16 Lance Stroll Williams/Mercedes 1m33.361s 2.051s 36
17 Marcus Ericsson Sauber/Ferrari 1m33.944s 2.634s 34
18 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso/Renault 1m34.072s 2.762s 5
19 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber/Ferrari 1m34.117s 2.807s 29
20 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren/Honda 1m34.230s 2.920s 8eom/FIA Press Release
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Being small some things are easier, some things are more difficult: Magnussen
PART TWO: DRIVERS – Fernando ALONSO (McLaren), Kevin MAGNUSSEN (Haas), Jolyon PALMER (Renault)
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: So, Fernando, twice a winner here in Bahrain but really only one thing to ask you about this afternoon, which is the Indianapolis 500. First current F1 driver to do Indy, I think, for around 40 years. What’s in it for you, and what’s in it for Formula One?
Fernando ALONSO: As you said, it’s something that is not very common now. I think the past it was all about the best drivers in the world with the best cars in the world and the best races in the world. Then it became more and more professional, the sport, and everyone was dedicated or fully committed to only one series and I think that changed over time. This possibility, it was there for us this year, and I think I am excited to try a different thing. If I want to be the best driver in the world there are two options: I win eight Formula One World Championships, one more than Michael, which is very unlikely; the second one is to win different series in different moments of my career and be a driver that can race and win in any car, in any series. So, that’s very challenging – but attractive as well. So, this is the reason behind. With the same team is a win-win situation. I think it is good for Formula One. This big market in North America that we’ve been pursuing for many years: I think it’s good to go there now and show the respect for the Indy Car series; good for Indy, I guess, to have some Formula One drivers in the competition, and same for McLaren-Honda. I think, as a team, to be racing in the same day in Monte Carlo and in the Indy 500, two McLaren-Hondas in different series, is an amazing thing for motorsport fans. As I said, I think it’s a win-win series for everyone.
Q: It’s obviously a very different kind of driving discipline. In terms of the preparation, how many days of running do you expect to get before race day and what kind of preparation do you think you’re going to be able to do?
FA: There is not a defined plan yet, it’s still on-going, so I cannot answer 100 per cent sure what will be there. The plan, at the moment is that next weekend I will be in Alabama just visiting the race and meeting the team members to see how things go there. Probably on Monday after the race I will do the seat fitting, and then I will fly to Russia for the race. After Russia, I will try to be in Indianapolis for a couple of simulator days and hopefully test the car – but it’s not 100 per cent sure. And after that I will go to the Spanish Grand Prix and then fly to America on Sunday after the race because the free practice is on Monday at midday. So, definitely busy weeks in front. On the planes, I will try to look at some videos and some races from the past years and try to learn as quick as I can. It’s completely different skills that you need there, to adapt to the car, to adapt to the circuit, strategies, ways of racing: that close, at that speed, so many things that I have to learn and I’m not ready yet, at the moment – but in the next couple of weeks I am confident I will be able to adapt as quick as I can.
Q: Just before you came in, Lewis and Sergio were talking about it and thinking about the challenge ahead of you, they were both saying they think you’ll go great because you’re outstanding at race management: if you need to save fuel, save tyres, managing the tyres – but also moving through traffic. When you look at those races do you feel confident that there’s a lot of areas like that that you’ve got in your game that will really help you?
FA: Hmmm… not really. I never thought about that before making the decision. I think… I don’t feel prepared now. I don’t feel… let’s say I’m not in my comfort zone driving those cars or thinking about those cars. But I’m not afraid of trying and I’m not afraid of not delivering a good result – but knowing at the same time that there are very important weeks ahead. If I want to win one day the triple crown, I have to make this step. This year was the best opportunity for us as a team.
Q: Kevin, coming to you. Eighth, obviously, in China, scoring Haas’ first points of the season. We asked Sergio earlier on about the intensity of that midfield battle this year, with Haas’ best-ever result coming here 12 months ago. Do you feel this again is a circuit that gain you can rise on, as a team?
Kevin MAGNUSSEN: I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be as good as China, or even Melbourne. I think we have a good car that works well in most conditions and I think, yeah, as I said, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to perform here. The midfield is very close and competitive, so getting points, you really need to be on top of everything. That’s our target: to be on top of everything and to try and score points again – but it’s not easy.
Q: You’ve raced with two well established operations in McLaren and Renault. How different is it racing for a start-up? Does being in a team like this actually suit you?
KM: In some ways it does. Being small some things are easier, some things are more difficult. I think there’s a lot of talent in the team. They’ve got together a really strong, small group of people that work really well together. In some situations, it’s difficult when you’re small. For example, when we need to go into FP3 with no practice; when we miss Friday like we did in China, it’s not easy because our preparation before the race weekend is not as strong as the big teams, of course. But, we react quickly and we take decisions well and, as I said, if everything goes well, I think we should be strong.
Q: Jolyon, a brutal weekend in Australia but then in China, qualified 18th but finished 13th, it’s clearly not gone as expected so far? So, what have you had to deal with?
Jolyon Palmer: Australia was very tough for many reasons but China was much better, to be honest. The car was feeling good, I finally had a clean session in FP3 and we were in the top ten. And then qualifying I really feel I could have been in Q3 as well but I didn’t get a lap in in Q1 really. Starting from the back, it’s difficult to do much and we couldn’t make a lot of inroads in the race. I think the performance of the car is pretty good, as Nico has been showing, especially in China qualifying, so it’s just a matter of putting a clean weekend together, getting some laps on Friday – I think I’ve done about ten so far across two weekends, so yeah, would be nice to have a clean weekend and I think we can get in the points.
Q: Do you think this generation of cars suits you?
JP: I like it! That’s for sure. I think probably every driver is enjoying driving one of these cars: there’s a lot of downforce. For me, having never driven a V8 or a V10 era of F1 car, this is really exciting. It’s easily the quickest I’ve ever driven. The downforce is the main thing that we feel and it’s exciting.
Q: Do you feel you’re more comfortably in race mode than in qualifying? Is qualifying an area that’s a particular focus for you going forward this year?
JP: No, I just think we’ve had particularly difficult weekends. Qualifying in China would have been fine. The lap that I was on in Q1 would have easily seen me through to Q2, so I’m really sure I could have been in Q3 but it’s just how it goes. The Sauber crashing meant that meant I couldn’t complete the lap properly.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Fernando, if you win in Indianapolis, and you’re able to win at Le Mans after that – and both are big ifs unfortunately, it would still only pull you level with another double World Champion who won the triple crown. So, what other iconic event could you aim for to really set yourself apart from everybody else, as you said earlier on you’d like to?
FA: I don’t know. That’s thinking too much ahead. Go-Kart World Champion. I don’t know if the other guy was.
Q: (Ian Parkes – New York Times) Fernando, two-part question: would this have happened had Ron Dennis still been in charge. And b) more significantly, would you be doing this if you had a competitive car beneath you this season?
FA: First part of the question, I guess not. Zak is a man who has a bigger vision that other team principals or bosses that I had. He sees motorsports differently; he sees McLaren bigger, not only concentrated in Formula One. McLaren won Le Mans a couple of times, won the Indy 500 in the past as well a couple of times. I think he is a true racer. I think it is great that McLaren and Zak joined forces last year It’s a good thing. Secondly, if the car was competitive this year and we were with 43 points together with the other two guys, you cannot afford to lose 25 points possibility missing one race. So, probably the feeling was different if we were competitive.
Q: (Jerome Pugmire – AP) Fernando, do you have any idea when you think you’ll be able to race Le Mans?
FA: I don’t know. It’s between Canada and Baku no? We’ll see how many flight connections there are! No, I think definitely… it was something also on the table this year, also because Zak, as an American was pushing for the Indy 500, Eric as a Frenchman, he was pushing for the Le Mans, so I had two good friends in one moment pursuing the race. I think the McLaren-Honda partnership, to be able to run this in the Indy 500, was very attractive this year. For Le Mans it is something I will do – probably as soon as I can. I don’t know if it will be next year or from the following years. The only and first priority is Formula One, so if I can race together with Formula One and other series, as I’m doing this year, will be great. If not, I will do only Formula One.
Q: (Simon Lazenby – Sky Sports) Just to follow-up again, on what Ian Parkes was saying, you said this wouldn’t have happened under Ron Dennis potentially but it’s happening under Zak. What about the new owners, Liberty, have they given it their blessing – they don’t have to but have they done so? And could you imagine you being allowed to do this, or would the squeeze have been put on for you to not, one of the leading Formula One drivers to have done this, under Bernie?
FA: As you said, I don’t think they have a key role on all of these decisions. It’s more of a team decision but yeah, I think they are also more open than in the past. We see that also with all of the things we are allowed to do here now. A little bit more relaxed environment. I think it’s also great for Formula One.
Q: (Abhishek Takle – Midday) Two part question to Fernando: firstly, who would you like to see replace you in Monaco, who do you think would be the ideal driver to do that? And secondly, when you say good result at Indy, what do you mean? Are you going there for the win, or is it too early to set that target? Do you see winning this year a realistic prospect at Indy?
FA: I think for the Monaco replacement I don’t know. I have no idea of what the team is thinking of at the moment and I don’t have any preference either. I think whoever will be in the car will do great because the team will try to make the best decision possible. Also I’m sure that Stoffel will put the car where he will need to put it because now with some more races and also testing next week here, I think we will get to the maximum speed as soon as possible, so I’m not concerned for this. It will be a good weekend in Monaco for the team, I’m sure. In Indy, I don’t have a clear target, let’s put it that way. I’m going there just with the feeling of enjoy this experience, learn as much as I can from the track side with the different skills that I will need to drive those cars – and also from the outside which I think… the event is quite big, it’s a 14 day event with many things happening there. So (I’m) very open to anything that comes, but at the same time I’m a racer and if I want to win the triple crown one day I have to win that race. If that win happens earlier than expected it’s welcome. Otherwise I need to go again.
Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Fernando, was McLaren’s desire to keep you for 2018 any part of these discussions?
FA: No, no. At the beginning of the year, the team asked me what was my intention and my thoughts for the future. I told them the same thing that I told you guys at the launch of the car. After the summer I will think and I will make a decision of what I will do next year, so nothing has changed after this discussion. It’s not that I’m thinking ‘away from Formula One’, so this will be my last year because this decision and obviously it’s not that thanks to this decision… You know I’m closer and closer to McLaren and to renew the contract so it’s completely independent. After the summer I will see.
Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday, Motorsportweek.com) Fernando, you said you’re open to other things in Indycar as well. Would you be open to other Indycar races, bearing in mind there’s a double-header the week after Indy before Canada, and you’re in North America already? And it’s a street circuit?
FA: No. I don’t think so. I think it’s a one-off. I will do the Indy 500 because it’s the race, it’s the biggest race in the world and the fastest race in the world but after that, especially after Indy and Canada I will probably be two weeks in the living room watching television and relaxing.
Q: Just before we move on, I just wanted to ask the other two gentlemen what do you think of this and is it something that you’d like to do?
JP: I think it’s cool. I think it’s obviously something pretty different, it’s exciting for everyone, for him especially but the whole of F1. For me to do it, we’re in quite different positions right now so maybe in 15 years if I’m in a similar position then maybe.
KM: Yeah, I can see that with his situation it makes sense and it’s a really cool thing to do so I can understand it.
Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Fernando, two parts: was it your idea to go racing elsewhere, Indy or Le Mans, and secondly, you had some tough times physically in Bahrain – I don’t remember when, 2006? Did you prepare differently for this race with the new cars?
FA: Indy and Le Mans – I don’t know, it was a conversation at dinner in Australia that we were sharing our ambitions for the future: me as a driver, of my karting school and different things, different projects that I’m in and as a driver to win something else other than Formula One that we succeed to win a few things was attractive. Zak was telling me his vision about the team in the near future, expanding McLaren into different series in motorsport so I think it was a conversation that began casually but it didn’t come from my side or his side. It was just a conversation. And then in Bahrain, it was 2009 when I lost five or six kilos of sweat, five or six litres of water. We had a problem with one of the looms on the radiator. I completely burnt all my back in the race and after the race I was completely off, so hopefully everything will be in place and we will not burn the skin any further than in the sun in the morning.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – Globosport.com) Fernando, what is the influence of the difficulties of your team today in your decision to compete in the USA 500? And will this decision interfere in your presence in this Formula One season this year in other races?
FA: It will not influence anything for the remainder of the year. I will be back in Canada, stronger, hopefully, because there are some improvements also during the year which will put us in a more normal position. Right now we are very uncompetitive and we are not happy with the situation so I think it’s going to be much more fun for us, the remaining races from Spain onwards, let’s say. And what was the first question? Not really. I think it’s true that it’s a good motivation and the possibility to win a big race, a big trophy like the Indy 500 in the middle of a year is like winning a World Championship in one weekend so you have two possibilities in one year, so it’s very attractive but it’s not that it came to our mind because this year we’re struggling or last year or the last two years we’re not competitive. This is something that I keep repeating since 2014. I remember leaving Ferrari and talking about this possibility to Mattiacci and people at Ferrari, even racing the 24 hours of Le Mans with a 458, so you’re competing in two different categories in the first year in the same year. So it’s nothing new because of the performance of this year.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Fernando, given what you’ve just said, if you don’t win in Indianapolis would you consider putting a clause in your future contracts regardless of which team, that you can actually compete in say Le Mans or the Indianapolis 500?
FA: No, no, I think if it’s something that comes naturally from the team and from myself and we want to do it, it’s one thing but my commitment and my desire to win in Formula One is bigger than any other challenge that I can find outside Formula One so it’s Formula One or nothing at the moment but if, together with a team, we arrive at a decision that maybe could be interesting for both sides to try something else we do it but I will never put a clause or anything in a future contract because Formula One is the only thing that I want to do and the only thing that I’m probably prepared to do. The other things are just a question mark.
Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Fernando, how hard is it then to miss the race in Monte Carlo, the one where you can probably overcome the deficiencies of the car more than at any other place?
FA: It’s very hard. Definitely Monte Carlo, we know with the package we have in the last couple of years, it was our best opportunity, it’s where we achieved the best results in the last couple of years so it’s a very magic event in Formula One so with all respect to all the other races, any other race to miss was fantastic compared to Monte Carlo. I will try to follow it from Indianapolis, also that that weekend is more or less free there, it’s only the race on Sunday so I will miss Monaco massively.
Q: Abhishak Takle – Midday) Fernando, I know that you said you haven’t yet set any targets but you must be reasonably confident of being able to run at the front because without that, to give up competing in Monaco is a pretty big decision.
FA: Yeah but in a way Monaco is the biggest race of the calendar in Formula One and the event is amazing, not only the race on Sunday but the whole weekend is amazing but the best result that we achieved was last year, fifth. Thinking that we are a little bit less competitive this year, you know and maybe you had a possibility to do another top five or seven or six or wherever, it’s great to have some points but I’ve won a couple of times there already and two times World Champion so to have fifth, seventh or ninth in Monaco will not change my life. In a way, it’s impossible to compare… to have the minimum chance to win the Indy 500 compared to a fifth or sixth or seventh in Monaco. It’s much bigger, the other possibility.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Kevin and Jolyon, your fathers both raced at Le Mans in the endurance championship etc. Could you see yourselves going there?
JP: It’s possible but yeah, I think for me, I’m so focussed on Formula One at the moment, only my second year so yeah, my position’s pretty different. Still all eyes only on Formula One. I think I love the sprint racing but wheel to wheel racing which is not so much endurance. But Le Mans is still a legendary race so maybe.
KM: I think, for me, I want to be in Formula One and focus on that but my Dad is still racing, he’s in a competitive team in his series and also racing at Le Mans, so I think it would be a shame not to try and do a race together. Me growing up with him racing all the time, it would be a really special experience to do a race with him and imagining winning something like Le Mans with him would be fantastic. It’s weighing up those two things that Formula One is my main priority, that’s what I want to do and what I want to focus on but there is the desire to do something like that with my Dad as well so we will see what happens.
Q: (Rebecca Clancy – The Times) Fernando, just saying then that coming fifth or sixth at Monaco isn’t going to change your life, is that the approach you’re also going to take when you look at where you’re going to be next year as well and who you’re going to be racing for?
FA: Yeah, yes, definitely. I want to win, I’m here to win. I think this year I prepared harder than ever for this year. There’s also the change of regulations. We have high hopes for this year. I feel great with these cars, I’m able to extract the maximum from the cars while during the last couple of years it was difficult because especially with the tyres you had to manage the tyres in a strange way: the less you push, the more performance was there in the tyres so this year is coming back to more normal Formula One and I really enjoyed the race in Australia and in China as well. We were running and securing eighth place. With the performance we have now, it was completely unexpected. Even the most optimistic simulation we had was telling us that we were around 14th or 15th. So I think I’m really at the best of my career right now in terms of driving so for next year, the target has to be only one: fighting for the World Championship, so not any more fifth or sixth.
eom/FIA transcript of the press conference.
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It would be great to have Jenson back: Hamilton
PART ONE: DRIVERS – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes), Sergio PÉREZ (Force India), Stoffel VANDOORNE (McLaren)
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Lewis, great win last time out in China, current joint leader of the FIA Formula One World Championship – so far so good?
Lewis HAMILTON: So far, so good, yeah. Happy to be back in Bahrain; always amazing weather. Yeah, it’s been an awesome season so far. We’re working very hard collectively as a team to try and continue at that level.
Q: Just following up on some comments after the last race, obviously you are a two-time winner here in Bahrain but given the circuit layout here, and particularly the higher temperatures, which could possible play to Ferrari’s strengths are your expecting an even tougher battle to keep them behind you this weekend?
LH: I definitely do. I think Ferrari have shown tremendous pace and I think obviously in the first race, particularly in race trim, they’re very, very quick, particularly on the hotter circuit. So, being that it is a hotter race here I think the gap is going to be even closer, if not different that to perhaps it was before, but we shall see.
Q: Obviously, yesterday Fernando Alonso announced he’s going to race at Indy next month, in the Indianapolis 500. As a motor sport fan yourself, as well as an old rival of Fernando’s, what do you think of him skipping Monaco for Indy?
LH: I think, firstly, it’s great that a driver is able to do that. I think us drivers should be able to do more than one series. Obviously there was a period of time in the past when there were drivers doing multiples series, so I think it’s pretty cool that he’s doing it. And I hope that Jenson comes back, I think it would be great for the sport to have Jenson back in.
Q: Thanks for that. Stoffel, coming to you, you obviously made your Formula One race debut here 12 months ago with a points-scoring finish. It’s been a pretty tough first couple of races for you, but what have you taken from them to make you stronger going forward?
Stoffel VANDOORNE: Yeah, it’s great to be back in Bahrain. I obviously had a good race here last year, which was nice to get that opportunity. A year on, I think it’s a lot different; I’ve now got two races under my belt and a bit more experience. It’s not been an easy situation for us at the moment but I feel in a good position and hopefully this weekend we can prove again that we made a step forward.
Q: Clearly very tough for you to have that lack of performance from the McLaren-Honda package at the moment. When do you expect a step change and how have you revised your expectations for the season?
SV: It’s difficult really to put any timeframe on it, when it will get better. Obviously we are all hoping it’s gets better sooner rather than later, I don’t know exactly when we will see a step in performance.
Q: Thanks for that. Sergio, you finished on the podium here in 2014 and you have a 100 per cent finishing record at this track, so is it one of your favourites?
Sergio PÉREZ: Yeah, I think it’s one of my favourites. I’ve had good races here in the past, certainly the podium the year before. This track suits my style quite well, so hopefully we can have a good finish, close the gap to the cars ahead, especially now that the midfield is so packed and we are probably a little bit behind in that group but hopefully we can keep scoring good points on Sundays.
Q: Let’s drill down into that a little bit, about the midfield. The team has bagged two double points finishes in a row, but give us an insight into just how tight that midfield battle is and what kind of things make a difference to getting a good result in that battle?
SP: Basically the whole difference is getting a perfect qualifying because if you don’t get a perfect qualifying it’s the difference between getting P8 and P14 or P15. So having a great qualifying makes a huge difference to your weekend. The first lap counts a lot as well and yeah, just have good strategy calls, executing a perfect weekend. Otherwise, that’s the difference between scoring points and not scoring any points.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Frédéric Ferret – L’Equipe) A question for Lewis. You said you love the weather. How have you been working to deal with the heat for Sunday’s race?
LH: Just running in this heat. I was in Dubai from Tuesday onwards. I was in Dubai for a couple of days and got here this morning. A couple of good runs in this heat always help. It’s hard work, but that’s really all you can do.
Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday/Motorsportweek.com) A question for all three drivers: with Fernando announcing that he is doing the Indy 500, would any of you like to do the Indy 500 or possibly another iconic race like Le Mans if you were offered?
SV: Yeah, I think I’ve decided to do the Spa 24 Hours instead of Hungary this year!
LH: I wouldn’t miss out any of the races in Formula One. I’d definitely continue to do all the races, but I’d like to do MotoGP. I’d like to ride a MotoGP. Is there another race? Probably a NASCAR race, like the Daytona 500 maybe.
SP: I certainly wouldn’t miss Monaco because for me Monaco is my favourite weekend in the whole calendar, so I wouldn’t miss Monaco and normally you have that clash. But I’d like to do some other racing. I certainly have some interest in IndyCar. The Indy 500 is certainly one of the best races in the world, so I’d definitely to do some.
Q: (Simon Lazenby – Sky Sports) A question for Lewis. I know it’s early days but how does it compare, fighting a four-time world champion at another team as opposed to fighting your own team-mate in the same car? Does it excite you more this year if you were to take it a relative stage as last year say?
LH: I’ve commented on that same question a couple of times in the last two races but yeah, it is more exciting racing another team, very much like I experience in 2007 and 2008. Also, growing up seeing races with McLaren and Ferrari, the great teams that were at the top competing with each other was always exciting. So to be in amongst the fight with the Silver Arrows and Ferrari, which is also a very historic, great team, I think it’s more exciting than just silver at the front.
Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS.nl) A question for all three drivers. This is a back-to-back race. Can you explain a little bit not how heavy it is for you as drivers but for the team, logistically, physically, mentally?
SP: Yeah, it’s very hard for our guys. They have such a hard time, the mechanics, they come here very early in the morning and they leave very late at night, pretty much every day, they are coming here since Tuesday, so it’s very hard for the mechanics. I think for us as drivers, it’s not that hard. It’s another race and we have plenty of time to rest. But especially everyone who is involved in the team they have a very hard time. Having two races back-to-back is pretty much the limit, if week have a third one it would be very hard for all the boys in the team.
Lewis?
LH: Yeah, I think for the drivers it’s easier doing back-to-backs. Could be back, weekend on, weekend off. Just keeping weekend in, weekend in, I think would be easier for us because staying in the zone between races, it’s just easier that way. When you have the gap you have to switch back into it, so it’s a little bit trickier. But for the team it definitely is very, very tough. It’s time away from the family; they’re on their feet for long, long hours during the day. But in all honesty, a lot of the guys, particularly my guys, they love it. There’s nowhere in the world they’d rather be. So whilst it is very tough for them, for sure, and they definitely feel it, it’s great to see that enthusiasm, and that sheer drive to just keep doing something you love. So, I never, ever see them complain, ever.
Stoffel?
SV: I think they pretty much covered everything.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Lewis, when you are racing your team-mate, regardless of who it is, you both have very similar characteristics, similar strengths, weaknesses, you have data. When you are racing someone in a different car, the Ferrari for example, that car has different characteristics, you don’t have data. Which is more difficult to do?
LH: Ah, I think it’s more difficult for sure racing up against… I wouldn’t say there’s one more difficult than the other, they’re just different. When you’re racing up against another team there are strengths and weaknesses. You know last week when we were qualifying against the Ferrari they looked like they were going to get pole but we were finding a bit more time on the track, in the blind really, because at the time I was the quickest of the two guys in our garage, so I was having to base myself on myself, I couldn’t base myself on Sebastian. Definitely having to push the boundaries on your own is more of a challenge, which I love. When you are comparing data and you are constantly pushing each other, it’s OK, but it’s not as much fun as competing against an unknown.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – Globosport.com) I’m sorry to come back to the same subject. If you were going to race in the Indy 500, what would be the biggest challenge, considering the average speed you have, the cars are most of the time very close, you have a wall at your side? What would be the main lesson should be important to race there?
LH: It’s a completely different category; it’s a lot, lot different. I’ve never driven one of those tracks, but it would so much different for us to go and do that – how a car’s set up, because it’s asymmetric I think, I believe the set-ups are asymmetric. The banking, how much you lift, how you use the tyres. It takes us guys forever through these test days to learn how to operate these tyres in the right window, so I would imaging it’s not an easy thing to do in one go, so it’s definitely a tall order in a short space of time, but Jeez, you’ve got one of the best drivers in the world going there, For sure, he will be the best driver in the paddock, but he won’t have the experience any of them have. So I think it will be a very exciting challenge for him, to see how strong he can fare against those who have all that experience.
Q: What do you think Stoffel? You’ve obviously watched a few of these races. What’s the biggest thing you would be wanting to understand straight away?
SV: I think it’s a very strategic race. We’ve seen last year Alex Rossi winning the race and doing huge amounts of fuel saving. I think anything is possible. Fernando is a clever guy. He knows what he is doing. Hopefully he comes back with a trophy. I’ll give him a bottle of milk as well.
Q: Have you spoken to him about it?
SV: Only a little bit at the moment, but I’m sure I’ll catch up with him over the weekend.
Q: And what about you Sergio? What would you be thinking about on your first runs around the Speedway?
SP: Yes, as these guys say, there’s so much to learn from a completely new series. I mean we have been doing this for many years and through the lower series as well, which is something more similar to what we do now, so going to a completely new tyre, new characteristics, new ways of setting up the car, circuits, driving in the traffic. But I think with Fernando that’s probably one of his strengths, how he can manage the race situations, so he’ll be really good on that. Indy really depends on the last 10 laps, so I think he wqill be really good at it.
Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Lewis, you said you’d like to see JB back in the car for Monaco. Can you just elaborate on why you’d want to see him there? And Stoffel, is JB the man you’d like to see back at McLaren replacing Fernando in Monte Carlo?
SV: It’s not in my hands in the end. I’m sure the team has got everything under control. I don’t know yet who it will be. I’m sure the team will pick the right driver.
LH: Because I like Jenson and I think he’s still one of the best drivers and his calibre is still higher than any other driver that’s going to be able to take that spot for sure.
Q: And experience is important in Monaco?
LH: Yeah, his calibre and his experience for sure.
eom/FIA transcript of the press conference
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Verstappen, a real breath of fresh air: Hamilton
DRIVERS
1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
2 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)
3 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull)
Max Verstappen (Red Bull) celebrates his 3rd place at Shanghai on Sunday. An FIA image PODIUM INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Martin Brundle)
Congratulations, Lewis, you led from start to finish, but it was pretty tricky at the beginning, the conditions looked part slick, part intermediate…
Lewis HAMILTON: It was incredible. Firstly, a big thank you to all the people here in Shanghai for coming out. Thank you. We’ve got such a great crowd here. Today was very, very tough for us all. It was difficult to know. I went out in inters initially, on the laps to the grid, and then I tried the slick and it was impossible, and then we all started on inters and it was very, very hard, because there was a lot of dry patches everywhere, mostly dry except for a couple of corners that were wet. So trying to keep the car on the track and look after the tyres at the same time was very tough. A great job done by Sebastian and this young dude here [Max Verstappen], who’s always like…
[Max] has actually been voted driver of the day today, so he’s beat you on that vote today.
LH: Oh, great, great! It’s OK, I don’t mind being on the top step! Lastly, I just want to say a big thank you to this team. I’m just so tremendously proud of everyone on my own personal team, in terms of my own like staff and that, but also my team who work so hard back at the factory to make this possible. And this race is so real; it’s so exciting for me personally. I don’t know how it is for everyone else but I hope they’re enjoying it.
But he suddenly appeared just eight seconds behind you and closing you down at the end. You had to get back on the gas.
LH: Yeah, exactly. We were matching times. I think if there wasn’t safety cars and stuff it would have been a lot closer.
Talking of that, congratulations Sebastian, a bit unlucky really, you pitted under the virtual safety car and there was a safety car straight after.
Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, my start was OK but then I realized that the intermediates had quite a lot of degradation. It was very dry in some parts of the track so I knew they would not last. I was happy to take the risk. Obviously virtual safety car you save a bit of time in the pit stop. And then the safety car came just when I was about to start to feel that the dry tyre was a lot quicker, so I couldn’t use the momentum, the advantage and I lost a lot of positions. But then I had a very exciting race; I really enjoyed it. I was stuck a little bit in the train for a whole but then I finally made the move and then, yeah, I tried to chase Lewis down as much as possible but I had the feeling that every time I put a lap in he was able to respond, so I think we were a good match, it could have been a different race but a good recovery and as I said, wheel-to-wheel racing… I touched wheels with Daniel as well….
You took the paint off the side of his tyre!
SV: It was good fun at least.
Take us through those moves, because I think any racing driver in the history or Formula One would like those moves on his CV, because they were committed weren’t they? Down into Turn 6 you were really going for it there.
SV: Yeah, obviously my target was to catch Lewis and I was stuck in the train and I was getting a bit angry or annoyed and I wanted to get by and I had the feeling that I could go a lot faster in these conditions, so when I was behind Daniel I saw him blocking down the inside because I had a good run out of Turn 4. I said ‘OK, you have to try it around the outside, brake really late and hard’. Fortunately he didn’t lock up. I had him in the mirror, checking, otherwise I have to open immediately before he would make contact. Then on the exit I was a bit compromised, a bit in the dirt, getting a bit of wheel spin, but then I got a bit my elbows out. Yeah, he really squeezed me, but it was good fun and I had the inside for the next corner.
Some cracking overtaking today. Moving on to Max. Wow, driver of the day as I said, the fans have voted for you. You had some pretty spectacular first few laps coming through the pack, tell us about it.
Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, it was very challenging. I think on lap one I passed nine cars. So, not to bad…
It was like a video game for you!
MV: More or less! It felt a bit like that. Of course very happy with that and then afterwards I think a very good race. I didn’t have a lot of track time with the car balance from yesterday because I didn’t do qualifying, so I was just basically nursing the car to the finish. And then, of course, very happy to be on the podium, I didn’t expect that at all, especially starting 16th.
We sensed a bit of tension at the end. Daniel was catching you. You couldn’t lap the Haas in front of you and you were getting a little bit anxious on the radio.
MV: I just wanted clear air, because I was already struggling a lot with the fronts and that doesn’t help, but in the end I still finished on the podium, so very happy.
Great drive, congratulations, you gave us a lot of thrills there. Back to you, Lewis, you are equal on points now [with Vettel] after two races. This is going to be a real championship isn’t it?
LH: I think it’s going to be one of the closest ones, if not the closest I’ve personally ever experienced and I’m looking forward to this fight, not only with Sebastian but the other guys as well who are still going be in amongst it. I think it’s great that we have… we were just saying that we were both pushing. Those last 20 laps or so really exchanging times. I kept having to be fed what times he was doing so I could try to match and he was closing the gap a little bit, but I managed to stay ahead.
You know what makes me really happy is you’re all up here really smiling. You’re enjoying these cars aren’t you, you’re enjoying the championship this year.
LH: We are because it’s that close a battle, and the cars look better and they are nicer to drive. It’s not the easiest to get past but this guy seems to find it possible, particularly when it’s wet, so we’ll have to watch the video and see what he’s been doing.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Lewis, that was the third grand slam of your career: pole, win, fastest lap, led every lap. You’ve had a few minutes to reflect on it now: how good was that?
LH: It’s been a fantastic weekend and very, very grateful for all the efforts that the team have put in to enable us to be where we are and where I am today. It’s very overwhelming when you have a weekend like this, because I’m just a link in the chain and, when you really think about it, there’s thousands of people involved, hundreds and hundreds of people involved in me being up here and us being where we are. So, congratulations to all of them. I hope they’re all celebrating back home. I hope they’re feeling the spirit, I hope they’re feeling the fight… because it’s on. With the race… qualifying was great, to be able to pull that good lap out, it put me in a great position. Start was fantastic: I’m so happy with the way starts are going to I need to keep that up! And then in the race, really just keeping my composure. Some really tricky conditions out there, particularly on the Intermediate. Then, after that, once we’d done the pitstop with the Safety Car, the speed was very low and being very cold, our temperatures in our tyres, they’re like… they’re just not working, they’re so cold. So it was very, very easy to make mistakes and I’m just grateful I didn’t. And then at the end, the last 20-odd laps we were just pounding around as fasts as we can, exchanging lap times and I think that’s what racing is all about. Perhaps in the future there will be times when we won’t have a Safety Car and their won’t be that six seconds gap, it’ll be right on the tail either way. Excited for that.
Q: Who had the faster car today? Mercedes or Ferrari?
SV: Well, you won, so…
LH: Yeah, the only summary we can come up with is that. It is, as I said, very, very close and there were times when Sebastian put laps in and it was hard to even match the time. The last ten or 12 laps he was doing a 35.6 and I was doing a 35.8 and it was very hard to get to where he was. Then there was other times in the race when I was quicker.
Q: Sebastian, perhaps I can put that question to you as well. Who do you think had the faster car today?
SV: I’m maybe not clever enough but I try to not confuse myself. So I just go with the fact that who wins the race deserves to win. Every race we do I think the race winner deserves to win. So, yeah, Lewis did the best job. Obviously we were a bit unfortunate maybe with the Safety Car maybe early on – but even if it wasn’t there you never know how it could have impacted on the race. Was it enough? We thought… I thought yes – but then it’s a long race from there and it could have been a different outcome. But yeah, it was really good fun. Like Lewis said, I had a bit more to do in the race than he had. I saw he was controlling the pace, probably, in the beginning. Once I got past Kimi and Daniel I obviously tried to hunt him down but knowing that it would be difficult with that gap. And in the last couple of laps I asked the team to give me an average of what we needed to catch up etcetera, just to know what I have to do. When they came up with the conclusion that it’s a bit more than half a second a lap… yeah… I kept pushing because you never know, maybe Lewis is doing a mistake, or has an issue with the car so I wanted to keep the pressure on – but yeah, I enjoyed the fact we were racing, even though not side-by-side or right behind each other but five, six, eight seconds apart. To hear that he was pushing as well I think is good news. So in terms of pace it was probably a match. Sometimes he was a bit faster, sometimes I was a bit faster. Overall it was good fun.
Q: Could you have challenged Lewis had you not lost so much time behind your team-mate?
SV: Ah, would, could, should. I think Lewis was quick. Full stop. I think they did a good race, he did a good race, so to get into these kind of conversations, or discussions, usually there is no point. Today we finished second, very happy with that, we take it, good points. More than that, and much more valuable than that, it was an entertaining and fun race for me. I had some overtaking. It was difficult to get close to the car, like last race you felt the effect but here I think it’s a better track to overtake and yeah, it’s the way it should be in my opinion: you need to make it stick so it shouldn’t come for free. You shouldn’t just open the flap and sail past. It was good fun. I can’t complain.
Q: Max, you’ve scored Red Bull Racing’s 100th podium today – but when you ripped open your curtains this morning, did you really think third place was on from 16th on the grid?
MV: No, of course not. I was targeting… if we could score some nice points that would be positive but then the first lap was very challenging. I think I passed nine cars. So that’s not too bad. From there on I think we made the right call with the change of tyres to slicks. It’s a bit of a gamble but it worked out. I was a bit cautious to not go too early and it paid off. Then I was in a good position afterwards. I managed to get past Daniel in Turn Six and then I was building a gap. But then straight away I felt the balance of the car was a bit limited to the front so I was destroying the left front and I couldn’t get the car to turn and that’s what basically happened when Sebastian was behind me, just under braking, very difficult, locked up and went wide. Then had quite a bit flat-spot. Tried to continue for one lap but then I decided to box. I knew the last stint would be very hard with which lap I stopped, but I managed to stay in third and that’s, of course, very positive, especially after starting 16th. It was a great and entertaining race, I think.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Fu Yu – China Radio International) Question to Max. Congratulations on a podium finish. You conquered much of the field ahead of you and surged up early on in the race. When did you realise a podium finish was in sight and what did you do after that? I mean, did you keep on pushing and hope for a better place or were you more conservative and trying to hold on to your third place?
MV: To be honest, with ten laps to go I looked on the board and saw I was third. Before that I didn’t know where I was. I had to keep pushing because I had my team-mate behind who was trying to get past. And then I had a Haas in front of me. He didn’t move out of the way and he was always one and a half seconds in front so it was very tricky for me to get the front tyres to work, y’know, with the understeer? So yeah, I had to push quite hard at the end – but that’s how it should be.
Q: (Keren Wang – Top Driver) Max, do tell us more about the first lap when you said you passed around nine cars on the first lap. How did you find the grip so quickly on the first lap?
MV: To be honest, I had a good start, but I got a bit blocked because the two cars in front of me went into the middle so I had to back off, but still I gained one or two positions and then, yeah, basically just trying to find a gap so trying to go round the outside in turn one, I got another car, then inside turn two, another car, outside turn three, because there was space, trying to find grip because when you’re behind a car you lose a lot of downforce so just trying to find some free space and basically everything happened… also turn six, turn seven, eight, always trying to go around the outside or inside and it worked. Yeah, nine cars is quite a lot on one lap but of course very happy that it worked.
Q: (Ma Yue – Shanghai Daily) Just wanted to ask you all, do you think the weather was an advantage or disadvantage for you?
LH: I think the weather often makes it more exciting. These are some of the most exciting circumstances when you have a track that starts wet and it goes through a drying phase. It just adds so much more fun and more of a lottery into the equation, so then your smart decisions, driving and how you utilise the tyres. Driving in the dry is a great thing or just in the wet is also very tough but this one is quite spicy with both in it.
SV: Nothing to add.
MV: Well, for me, definitely for me today it worked out because I started 16th, so in the wet it’s easier to overtake. I think it was a perfect race for me because then afterwards you go on the slick tyres, you have passed most of the field already and you are basically back in the position where you should be.
Q: What do you think you could have achieved, Max, had it been dry?
MV: Well, not third, for sure. Maybe sixth? Good conditions for me.
Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, what do you expect from the Bahrain race, another great battle against Lewis as in Melbourne and maybe better than today?
SV: I don’t know what to expect. Obviously in a week we will know. I think if we can challenge Mercedes again, that’s very good news. They are very very strong. They have had a very very strong run the last couple of years. This year as well, so a good package. If we can be close it’s good. I think we need to look after ourselves. I think there’s stuff that we can do better, must do better, can improve so I’m happy to get a surprise, but expectation I don’t really have.
Q: Before we move on to Max, Lewis, what are you expecting from Bahrain?
LH: Being that it’s often a warmer race, Ferrari is very good in hotter conditions. These were quite good conditions for me today with our car. When it steps up in temperature… so far in the first race it’s been shown as not the greatest for us just yet, so we’re just learning on the tyres. Hopefully it will be better… it will definitely be better than it was in the Melbourne. I think they will be very very quick in the next race but there’s a lot of straights there as well and we’ve obviously got, I think, still the strongest power unit on the grid, so I think that will come into play, for sure.
Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Max, was that the best race of your career?
MV: I always find it difficult to compare but it was definitely one of the best, yeah, of course very happy with it. Looking back to last year, I think a victory is always very special so it’s one of my best for the moment and Brazil was also very nice but this is definitely in my top five, I think.
Q: (Oscar Garshagen – NRC) There were in the last weeks some issues with your car, Max. Does this third place mean that those issues are behind you right now?
MV: Difficult to say. On true pace, both Ferrari and Mercedes should be ahead with both of their drivers so we still need to work very hard to catch up. I think at the moment we’re a bit in a lonely competition because in front of us they are too quick and behind us they are too slow but like I’ve already said before, we are working really hard and trying to close the gap but it’s not that easy. But we’ll keep pushing hard.
Q: (Arjan Schouter – AD) Lewis, I was just wondering how you see this young Dutch guy next to you? He’s delivering all those overtaking shows; what do you think of it?
LH: I quite like him up here next to us; makes me look younger when I’m up here. It’s good to have a younger person around and yeah, Max has obviously done a fantastic job since he’s been in the sport and I think he’s been a real breath of fresh air for everyone so obviously he’s got a great following and he’s definitely been in some great situations in some races and really maximised above and beyond in those, which is why he gets driver of the day. It’s a lot harder to do that when you’re in the lead of a race, obviously, because you can’t really do much overtaking.
MV: If you want to swap it’s alright.
LH: No… Honestly, I hope that Red Bull can improve through the season because I think a third element in the fight I think would be even more exciting.
eom/FIA press release
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Hamilton claims fifth Chinese GP win; Verstappen 3rd from 16th
Shanghai, 9 April 2017: Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton held off the challenge of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel to take his fifth Chinese Grand Prix victory as Max Verstappen claimed his eighth career podium finish after a sensational drive that saw the Red Bull Racing driver rise to third from 16th place in the FIA Formula One (F1) World Championship on the Shanghai grid on Sunday.
Hamilton, starting from pole, held his advantage when the lights went out and took the lead ahead of Vettel and Bottas. Daniel Ricciardo passed Kimi Raikkonen for fourth place.
The order swiftly changed, however as first Williams’ Lance Stroll spun off and the Virtual Safety Car was deployed and, soon after, when Antonio Giovinazzi crashed heavily as he crossed the finish line. With his Sauber stranded on the main straight the Safety Car proper was sent on track.
Vettel chose to discard his intermediates under the VSC but that move was penalised when Giovinazzi crashed and the German dropped back. Ricciardo, now on supersofts, rose to second behind Hamilton who had taken on soft tyres during the cautionary periods.
The Australian wasn’t the Red Bull on the biggest charge, however. Max Verstappen lined up 16th on the grid but the Dutchman mad a sensational start and by the end of lap one he was up to seventh.
As the stops played out he rose further and then when the SC retreated he passed Raikkonen and then to cap a remarkable opening spell he passed team-mate Ricciardo to claim second place.
Ricciardo soon came under pressure from fourth-placed Raikkonen and fifth-placed Vettel as Ferrari came back but neither could find a way past the Red Bull across the opening stint, a situation that allowed the front pair of Hamilton and Verstappen to pull away. By the start of lap 20 Hamilton was 3.6s clear of Verstappen, while the Dutchman was 5.1s ahead of Ricciardo.
The pressure on Ricciardo intensified when Vettel got past Raikkonen with a well-executed move at the hairpin. The German closed in on the Red Bull driver and then tried the same move on lap 22.
Ricciardo resisted and they ran side by side through the exit, banging wheels as they attempted to get the upper hand. It was Vettel, though who emerged ahead the Ferrari driver then set off in pursuit of Verstappen.
The Dutchman was 4.9s up the road at that point in the race and within four laps the German had reduced that deficit to 1.8s. Vettel’s pace was irresistible and on lap 29, as Verstappen locked up on the approach to the hairpin, Vettel eased past to claim second place. He was now just under 12s adrift of leader Hamilton.
Further back Alonso’s excellent race, in which he rose as high seventh came to an end soon after he ceded the place to Sainz. The Spaniard slowed soon afterwards and was quickly on the radio reporting a driveshaft problem, which forced him to stop at Turn 9.
Further ahead Vettel stopped for soft tyres on lap 34 in a bid to pressure Mercedes and Hamilton responded, stopping for softs two laps later.
When the order resolved after the stops, Hamilton led from Raikkonen, but the Finn was reporting handling issues with his car saying “there are 20 laps left and I have no front end”. He pitted for new tyres on lap 40 and Vettel once again moved to second place, this time 9.5s adrift of Hamilton. Raikkonen, meanwhile, dropped to sixth behind Sainz.
Vettel was pushing hard to reel in Hamilton but the Briton always had pace in reserve and with eight laps remaining the Mercedes driver was a comfortable eight seconds ahead of his rival.
Behind them Ricciardo began to put pressure on Verstappen and in the closing stages a knife-edge battle developed between the team-mates, with the Australian using DRS to close in hard on the Dutchman and Verstappen not having the benefit of clear air to pull away as Haas’ Romain Grosjean was just over a second further up the track.
A rattled Verstappen complained long and loud about not being able to get past the Haas but in the end he was able to hold off his team-mate’s challenger and soon after Hamilton claimed his 54thcareer victory ahead of Vettel, Verstappen crossed the line to take his eighth career podium finish in 42 grand prix starts.
Ricciardo was forced to settle for fourth place ahead of Raikkonen and Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz. Kevin Magnussen took Haas’ first points of the season with eighth place, while Force India enjoyed a double points finish for the second race in a row, with Sergio Perez ninth ahead of Esteban Ocon.
eom/FIA press release
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Ferraris looked so fast and we knew it would be close: Hamilton
Hamilton celebrates after taking Chinese GP pole on Saturday. An FIA image Shanghai, 8 April 2017:
DRIVERS – 1. Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes), 2. Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari), 3. Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)
TV UNILATERAL
Lewis, many congratulations on what looked like a great lap at the end of Q3 there. Talk us through the lap and your session.
Lewis HAMILTON: Thank you. Yeah, it’s been an interesting weekend so far, obviously without testing yesterday. Today was a real challenge for all of us in the sense that we had to compile a lot of yesterday’s testing into this morning and hope we’d hit the nail on the head with the balance of the car. But the Ferraris have looked so fast, through practice this morning and then through each qualifying session. We knew it was going to be close, and it was going to mean we would have to pull out all the stops and really have a very, very perfect lap, you know, a solid lap. I managed to just chip away at it from session to session. No major issues. But the last lap was my best lap, which is always the plan – sometimes it’s in another session. The lap started off not as good as perhaps the Q1 first lap but then the rest of the lap got better and better – I think it may have been tyre temperatures or something, who knows. It felt strong and then obviously coming into the last corner knowing I was up a couple of tenths… it’s always nervous going into Turn 14 because you want to break late and gain some but you don’t want to throw away everything you’ve gained. And through the last corner and coming across the line, and then just waiting after that to see what everyone else had done. These guys behind were still finishing off their laps. So, very, very happy, super grateful for the huge efforts that the team have put in to keep us in the fight. It’s more exciting than ever for me, because we’re really fighting these guys, you know. It’s amazing, and I think that’s what racing’s all about. It really pushes you to raise the bar every time you go out, which I love. Lastly, just a big thank you to all the fans. We’ve got a lot of British flags here in China, which is amazing.
And Lewis what does it mean to you to take the 75th pole in the history of Mercedes?
LH: Well, I’ve been with Mercedes for a long, long time, since I started when I was 13 actually. Since I’ve been in Formula One, all my wins, all my poles have been with Mercedes, so very grateful and thankful to be in the family, and to be a part of this amazing journey that the whole team is on, that this whole brand is on. I’d like to go along and keep stamping something in the history books so someday I can look back on it.
Q: Sebastian, a great session from you and Ferrari as well. How important was it for you to get on the front row today?
Sebastian VETTEL: We’ll see tomorrow how important it was. It was a nice session; I enjoyed it a lot. I think if we could have been a bit quicker at the end I would have enjoyed it a bit more. I think I was very happy with the lap I had. Last corner maybe I lost a little bit – maybe I ‘chickened’ onto the brakes a bit too soon. Obviously it was very close with Valtteri, good job we got just enough margin to make it to the front row.
Q: Do you think you have a better race car than qualifying car at the moment?
SV: I think our car is strong no matter what. It obviously depends what these guys are doing. Certainly we’ve seen also in the previous years that in quali they seem to be able to really get on top of what they have. I think we can still improve. Let’s see what the race looks like tomorrow. The conditions will be quite different. Maybe we should put fuel in the car and race now. I don’t know what happens tomorrow.
Q: Valtteri, have you worked out where you lost that one thousandth of a second to Sebastian?
Valtteri BOTTAS: I think on one lap around here there are quite a few places. One thousandth, like you mentioned, it like this maybe? It’s not so much. It is a real shame he managed to get between us. I think last time it was two thousandths and now it’s one thousandth, so…
SV: I think it was two hundredths, I don’t know.
VB: It’s getting closer! So yeah it’s a shame but the race is tomorrow. We are starting as a team first and third. It’s a good place to start. The weather can be anything really tomorrow. Lewis was strong today, Ferrari was strong and we were always expecting a close fight today on track. I think it will be the same case tomorrow. Thanks to the team again. We did a good job in the short amount of time in the practice today to get the car set up well and it was enjoyable to drive, but let’s see what tomorrow brings.
Q: Thank you Valtteri. Coming back to you Lewis, well, it looks like you’ve got a real fight on your hands tomorrow. How much are you relishing this battle with Ferrari?
LH: Particularly for tomorrow, it’s going to be an unusual day. I heard it’s going to be wet potentially, to start off the race. I’ve not driven the wet tyre this season, so that’s going to be fun, to experience the bigger car, wider tyres for the first time. I mean I did an out lap yesterday on the extreme, but it was a very slow lap, so I’ve not actually experienced it. So tomorrow will be a new lesson for me to learn if it is wet and it will be interesting to see… I think the Ferraris have a very, very strong car, particularly a step-up more so in the race pace and how they treat their tyres, particularly when it’s warm, so it will be interesting to see what the weather brings us tomorrow. But I think we have worked hard to understand our car a little bit better and I think whatever the case it’s going to be close between us and that bodes well for one of the most exciting days to come for a long time.
Q: Lewis, how much do you feel that you are on the back foot after the lack of running yesterday? How much has it set everybody’s programmes back?
LH: I don’t know. I think the thing is we’ve all been here for so long and the more you drive the more you learn to minimise the loss of a day like yesterday. So, y’know, as a team we’ve learnt so much over the years, and as a driver as well. You learn, even while you’re not driving, you’re thinking about the steps that you need to take. So we try go into a day like today as if there hasn’t been a loss. But as I said, this morning we had to do long run, short run, and a qualifying run in one short session, as opposed to doing it in three sessions – but I think we got as much as we could done and if we had had yesterday, I don’t think we’d have been much further up the road, if any at all, to be honest. Don’t know how these guys feel but we’ve got great engineers who analyse and analyse and analyse and did a fantastic job and, I’m assuming, for Sebastian.
Q: The weather forecast looks indifferent for tomorrow at best… it could rain. You’ve touched on it already that you haven’t used the new full wet tyre from Pirelli. Does that make you nervous?
LH: No, I’m excited about it, to be honest, because it’s a new experience. I’m sure it’s not a huge, huge difference to what we’ve had in the past. Perhaps a little bit. I’m kind of excited about. It makes it more… it’s great to have some excitement. To be faced with a new challenge. You just have to be the most proactive, most reactive tomorrow. If it is wet. If it is raining I just hope that the clouds stay high so that the helicopter can stay take off so that we can actually do a race. We’ve got an amazing turnout here so we want to make sure we can put on a good race for them.
Q: Sebastian, it’s 380m from the grid to Turn One tomorrow. How significant is that going to be – or do you think you are going to be able to overtake tomorrow?
SV: For me it’s 388m, I guess. Hopefully I can make up those eight metres. Which side are we starting on. Where’s pole? [on the outside] OK, so if I make up 8m then it looks pretty good. I don’t know. There’s a lot of things that can turn out in many ways tomorrow. That’s one option that I mentioned but we don’t know what the conditions are going to be like. We’ll see. I think it should be an exciting race nevertheless. Obviously very limited running yesterday, hardly any for me. I think I did two laps but nobody really did a lot of laps, so we’ll see. The car is good, the car is fine, so I’m confident, no matter the conditions that the car is working, and then we try to do the fastest race.
Q: Lewis has already said that racing against someone like yourself is what racing is all about. Just how much are you relishing the battle with him?
SV: Well, it’s been a while so yeah, I think we’re on a good way. Obviously it’s a lot of fun when you fight for poles and wins. Certainly enjoyed Australia a lot, despite the outcome on Sunday which obviously was fantastic – but in general, to be able to fight at the front for the podium, and really fight for it is a great feeling. Same here. You go into the weekend and… we didn’t really have much expectation because it’s a completely different track but on the hand we did know that our car is working well. So, just need to keep it up. Need to try to improve it whenever we can. So overall, I can only give it back, and hopefully there’s a lot more for the rest of the season. But this is only race two. A lot of things can happen but we need to obviously give everything we have to stay there.
Q: Valtteri, as Sebastian says, this is only race two, it’s your second race with Mercedes. How comfortable are you feeling in the team? Are you settling in? Are there still a few things you need to learn?
VB: Definitely. Approaching this weekend, compared to Melbourne, the first one of the year, it was a different feeling. Being true, that one full race weekend with the team, doing the qualifying session and the race, with a podium finish, it was a nice start, so definitely feeling more and more comfortable. I think still, as I’ve been mentioning, there is a big learning curve for me with everything and I feel more better and better still, every single day with the team and every single lap with the car. So, yeah…
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Maybe a question to all of you. Different circuit, same result as in Melbourne. The advantage a little bit smaller than in Melbourne. Where does Ferrari stand against Mercedes? What do you think Lewis, Sebastian and Valtteri?
LH: I’m not really sure how to explain that. Close. The times show it as close as it’s been. It’s within a tenth, I think, the distance between us.
SV: Being pragmatic, I think if you take the average of what we’ve had so far, then you can say that in qualifying we’re still lacking a bit and in the race I think we are a good match. I think Lewis was struggling a bit in Australia with his tyres. We weren’t as much. I don’t know what happens tomorrow. It will be a lot cooler. Certainly after tomorrow you can draw another average – but what matters most is that after 20 races you draw the average and we come out on top. That would be great! But it’s a long way, as I said. So, for now we’re very happy being able to challenge Mercedes and hopefully we can do that more and more.
Q: And Valtteri? What did you expect the gap between yourselves and Mercedes to do here in China?
SV: A thousandth!
VB: Yeah! I was hoping for one thousandth at least. We were always expecting it would be really, really close. Everything between the two teams is between one or two tenths, depending on conditions for the sessions, race or qualifying. That’s why it’s going to be interesting tomorrow.
Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Seb, the distance between you and Lewis, Ferrari and Mercedes in general, seems to be even closer than last year and the past years in general. This difference in qualifying, compared to last year and previous seasons; do you think it can be a trend throughout the season?
SV: Well, I think we’ve made a big step as a team so I think it’s really thanks to the team that simply supplied me with a better car. I think in general I like this formula a lot where you can push on the limit. Probably the last couple of years it was creeping away from all of us, step by step, and with this year’s cars it’s back to how it was a long time ago and back to how it should be. I don’t know if it’s a combination of things; as a driver you jump into the car and you always try to do your best but as I said, big thank you to the team to supply me with a great car this year, right from the first outing and I have high hopes that we can still improve it from where we are. I know the team is still growing together, there is still a lot of progress that we can make but the way I feel and the way the team feels and the way the team shows it to me directly and indirectly, there’s no rush. We are here to do our job and we know that we can be strong. I think we’ve laid a good foundation and now it’s up to us to build onto it. Now it’s April, we still have a lot of time. The most important thing, I think, is that we enjoy it.
Q: (Keren Wang – Top Driver) Lewis, we’ve seen a bit of happy tail from your car today on your flying laps. Could you tell us a little bit about your car set-up; is it compromised for a wet race tomorrow or is it somewhere between wet or dry, either condition?
LH: What was the first part? Happy tail, ah oversteer. It’s actually a little bit understeery I would say.
SV: Where was the happy tail? One corner to another?
LH: It was pretty good. It’s like a see-saw, you know? You can decide to have it more understeery or oversteery. This is a track where you need to have a very good front end. I think generally in Formula One it’s not too often where we have to set the car up for a wet race, particularly when you don’t know if it’s definitely going to be wet so you set it up for what you’re faced with that day and tomorrow you can make changes to the wing; tomorrow, for example, if it is wet, that’s the only real difference you need to make. It’s not like go-karting where you loosen everything off, you slacken the car off. You don’t really need to do that necessarily for… If we know it’s a completely wet weekend and maybe we can do some small things but it’s quite similar. We’ve got to make sure we’ve put ourselves at the front.
Q: (Jens Nagler – Bild) To all three of you: what do you think will be the key tomorrow: the start, the strategy or perhaps even some overtaking which would be exciting?
LH: I think probably in that order: start, strategy and then, depending on what the conditions are on the track… if it’s wet of course there are opportunities to overtake, if it’s dry it’s very hard to follow as has been the rule now, particularly when there’s thousandths between us. You lose a lot of thousandths behind each other with the loss of downforce. Yeah, I think it would be great if we get some… a wet race would be exciting.
SV: I think… mostly conditions. If it’s dry we know what to do, everybody knows what to do. It’s fairly easy knowing what to expect. If there’s an element of wet then it can mix things up so we will see. I think we wake up tomorrow, look outside and see what to do. We have enough wet tyres so it should be fine if it’s wet.
VB: Seeing the forecast, I think really making the most of the conditions throughout the race, being on it with the strategy. I think that’s going to be one of the key points.
Q: (Fu Yu – China International Radio) Valtteri, you’re only a thousandth of a second slower than Sebastian on the front row. Do you think you could have done a little bit better and how confident do you feel about making up that gap tomorrow?
VB: Always if you could do the lap again, especially when it’s one thousandth, you can find it somewhere, especially with the short amount of running throughout practice. We only really had practice three. Yes, definitely, I could have done better but I think every driver on this grid, having got a second qualifying, would improve and then it becomes more and more tricky to improve.
Q: (Fu Yu – China International Radio) How confident do you feel about making up that thousandth of a second tomorrow?
VB: When we’re on the grid tomorrow then it doesn’t matter. I always tend to get all the points from the qualifying that I need to improve and what we need to improve as a team. We move on for tomorrow and tomorrow I’m not going to think about the one thousandth; it’s a new day and a completely new opportunity and we are going to do everything we can to be one and two and for me still chasing my career-best result.
Q: (Marius Salvini – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Lewis, pole position number 65 is even closer. What do you think about it, is it something of a magic number for you?
LH: It really is, I think. Every pole has been – it might be hard for you to believe – but every pole position has been so unique in its own way. There’s always been a different journey to gain that pole, there are different things that have happened on that lap. It’s still today – and I’m sure it will never change – it’s still so real that I have that amount of poles and to think you can have a pole in Formula One…. because the dream was to get to Formula One. And now, it’s perhaps even more exciting, I’m nearing Ayrton, he had a lot of pole positions with less races. We know what he did back then was just phenomenal, the same with Michael but just grateful to be up there up amongst them. I definitely feel that what I love even more now is that I feel like more than at any other time, I feel like I’m really having to earn those pole positions being that it’s so close, so again, on top of that the feeling is even better.
eom/FIA transcript of the press conference
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Hamilton takes pole: Chinese GP
Shanghai, 8 April 2017: Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton powered towards the 63rd pole position of his career in Shanghai, edging out Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel by just under two tenths of a second, with the German claiming second spot on the grid ahead of the second Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas by just 1000th of a second.
Hamilton was the first to make a move in Q1 setting the early pace with a time of 1:33.333. Team-mate Bottas then slotted into P2, four-tenths behind the three-time champion.
The Briton’s time in P1 was short, however, as Vettel swiftly appeared to dislodge him, the Ferrari driving lapping almost three tenths quicker than the Mercedes man. Vettel also took top spot on soft tyres, whereas Hamilton had used the supersoft rubber. Raikkonen, who also used only the soft tyre, took third ahead of Bottas, while Williams’ Lance Stroll put in an excellent final flyer to claim fifth place ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo.
The Australian ensured passage to Q2 with a time 1:34.041, set early in the session. There was no such comfort for team-mate Max Verstappen, however.
The Dutchman was slow on opening flyer and after reporting a problem with his power unit he abandoned the lap and retreated to the pit lane. He was soon back on track but time was rapidly running out. Midway through the lap he was being fed possible solutions to the loss of power by his team but the remedial action appeared to achieve little.
His first time, set 30 seconds before the flag was good enough for P17 and he was told to try for another lap, but any possibility of improvement was eradicated moments later when Sauber’s Antonio Giovinazzi crashed heavily in the final corner just as the chequered flag came out.
It meant that Verstappen ended the session in P19, eliminated ahead of Esteban Ocon and behind 16thplaced Stoffel Vandoorne of McLaren, Haas’ Romain Grosjean and Renault’s Jolyon Palmer.
Raikkonen set the early pace in Q2 with a lap of 1:32.602 before again being bested by Vettel and Hamilton. Bottas too eclipsed the Finn to leave the two Ferraris split by the Mercedes pair. Ricciardo slotted into P5 with his first run.
In the drop zone with five minutes to go were McLaren’s Fernando Alonso in P11, followed by Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg, Haas’ Kevin Magnussen and Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson.
It was Hulkenberg who made the most of the final run. The German posted an excellent lap of 1:33.636 to vault from P12 to P6. He finished ahead of Massa, Force India’s Sergio Perez, Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat and 10th placed Stroll.
Eliminated at this stage were Carlos Sainz in the second Toro Rosso in P11, Magnussen, Alonso, Ericsson and the unfortunate Giovinazzi.
At the front of the pack the Mercedes drivers and Ricciardo opted to sit out the final run. Ferrari, though, chose to send out its drivers and it was Räikkönen who made the most of the lap. The Finn jumped to the top of the order with a time of 1:32.181, two tenths of a second clear of Vettel who did not improve.
Having dominated the opening segments it might have been expected that Ferrari would again lead the way at the start of Q3. It was Hamilton, however, who set the early setting a time of 1:31.90 to head by Vettel by just over a tenths of second, with Bottas third ahead of Raikkonen and Ricciardo.
And Hamilton kept the momentum in the final runs. The first across the line he set a benchmark of 1:31.678. Bottas then slotted into P2 with a time of 1:31.865. Raikkonen couldn’t get close to that but Vettel was edging towards the end of what was looking to be a very competitive lap. In the end though he couldn’t match Hamilton and finished 0.186 behind the Briton. He was, however, 1000th of a second quicker than Bottas and so claimed his 72nd career front row start. Ricciardo remained in fifth place ahead of Massa, Hulkenberg, Perez, Kvyat and Stroll.
2017 Chinese Grand Prix – Qualifying
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:31.678s –
2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:31.864s 0.186s
3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:31.865s 0.187s
4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:32.140s 0.462s
5 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull/Renault 1:33.033s 1.355s
6 Felipe Massa Williams/Mercedes 1:33.507s 1.829s
7 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:33.580s 1.902s
8 Sergio Perez Force India/Mercedes 1:33.706s 2.028s
9 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso/Renault 1:33.719s 2.041s
10 Lance Stroll Williams/Mercedes 1:34.220s 2.542s
11 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso/Renault 1:34.150s 2.472s
12 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1:34.164s 2.486s
13 Fernando Alonso McLaren/Honda 1:34.372s 2.694s
14 Marcus Ericsson Sauber/Ferrari 1:35.046s 3.368s
15 Antonio Giovinazzi Sauber/Ferrari – –
16 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren/Honda 1:35.023s 3.345s
17 Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 1:35.223s 3.545s
18 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:35.279s 3.601s
19 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Renault 1:35.433s 3.755s
20 Esteban Ocon Force India/Mercedes 1:35.496s 3.818seom/FIA press release
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I am still positive about our weekend: Sergio Perez
Shanghai, 7 April 2017: Friday’s second practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix was cancelled due to poor weather conditions that prevented the medical helicopter from operating.
The first session at the Shanghai International Circuit had already been disrupted due to the helicopter not been able
Karun Chandhok interviews Sergio Checo Perez on Friday. A Sahara Force India image to land at the hospital designated for the event, and with little improvement in conditions in the following hours, the start of the second practice period, scheduled for 2pm local time, was delayed. Eventually, with around 12 minutes remaning in the time allotted, the decision was taken to cancel the session.
Sergio Perez of Sahara of Force India who could just do three laps was seen talking to Karun Chandhok and later he said: “It’s always frustrating when you cannot do any running because it’s a lost chance to prepare for the weekend. It’s also a shame for the fans: the grandstand had a good crowd and they have been so supportive throughout the day. The hope is that the rest of the weekend will give them something to cheer about. Missing all today’s running is a challenge, not just for tomorrow, but also for Sunday because FP3 is a very short session to recover all the lost ground. I am still positive about our weekend: I think today’s lack of running can turn into an opportunity for us and I hope we can benefit from it and come away with a strong result.”
Verstappen quickest in truncated FP1
Max Verstappen set the fastest lap of opening practice for the Chinese Grand Prix in a session heavily disrupted by red flags.
In damp and cool conditions Verstappen found a gap between two lengthy stoppages to post a best time of 1:50.491 on intermediate tyres, a lap that put him almost 1.6s clear of Williams’ Felipe Massa.
The session got under way at the scheduled time but was halted soon after as weather conditions elsewhere in Shanghai made it impossible for the medical helicopter to land at the hospital designated for the event.
The first red flag period lasted for almost 45 minutes but once the green light appeared at the end of the pit lane the opportunity for teams to get their weekend preparations under way was brief.
With the track still damp most drivers appeared on the blue-banded wet Pirelli tyres before moving quickly to intermediates, with Williams rookie Lance Stroll establishing a benchmark of 1:52.507.
Verstappen thought was quickly into the groove on the green-banded tyres and as the track improved he moved ahead of Stroll with a lap of 1:52.266 before cutting almost two seconds off that time with a lap of 1:50.491. The Dutchman only turned four laps during the session however.
With Massa second and team-mate Stroll anchoring third place for Williams, fourth place in the session went to Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz, who in his five laps set a best time 2.349 adrift of former team-mate Verstappen.
Sainz was followed by Haas’ Romain Grosjean and then by Toro Rosso team-mate Daniil Kvyat who was the last man to finish within three seconds of Verstappen.
Fernando Alonso was seventh for McLaren ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo and Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas. The top ten order was completed by Haas driver Kevin Magnussen, 4.613 behind Verstappen.
With half an hour remaining Nico Hulkenberg spun his Renault into the gravel traps at Turn 3 and by the time his car had been recovered the red flags were being displayed again, as once more the helicopter could not operate. With no let up in the inclement weather conditions in sight, the decision was eventually taken to end the session early.
2017 Chinese Grand Prix – Free Practice 1
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:50.491 – 4
2 Felipe Massa Williams 1:52.086 1.595s 7
3 Lance Stroll Williams 1:52.507 2.016s 7
4 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:52.840 2.349s 5
5 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:53.039 2.548s 6
6 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:53.314 2.823s 4
7 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:53.520 3.029s 5
8 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:54.038 3.547s 7
9 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:54.664 4.173s 4
10 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:55.104 4.613s 8
11 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:55.608 5.117s 6
12 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 1:57.445 6.954s 4
13 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 2:15.138 24.647s 4
14 Antonio Giovinazzi Sauber 2:15.281 24.790s 4
15 Jolyon Palmer Renault – – 3
16 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari – – 2
17 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari – – 1
18 Esteban Ocon Force India – – 2
19 Sergio Perez Force India – – 3
20 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes – –
