INDIA in F1

Tag: F1

  • Easy win for Rosberg after Hamilton’s bad start; extends lead to 33 points

    Easy win for Rosberg after Hamilton’s bad start; extends lead to 33 points

    Suzuka, 9 Oct 2016: Nico Rosberg took a comfortable Japanese Grand Prix victory to extend his championship lead over arch-rival Lewis Hamilton, after the defending champion’s race was compromised by a poor start that left him eighth at the end of the first lap.

    The Briton recovered to finish third behind Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen but Rosberg now leads his Mercedes team-mate by 33 points with four races to go. Rosberg’s win and Hamilton’s third-place finish means that Mercedes now have an unassailable lead in the Constructors’ Championship.

    At the start of the race Rosberg made a clean getaway, but Hamilton’s start was dreadful. He bogged down badly and was immediately overrun by rivals. Verstappen moved to second, Force India’s Sergio Perez flew past into third and Daniel Ricciardo held fourth. Hamilton dropped to eighth place.

    Vettel, who had started sixth due to the grid penalty had had incurred after the previous race in Malaysia, was soon on the march, however. He muscled his way past Ricciardo on lap one and on the following tour breezed past Perez to take third place.

    Hamilton, too, was attempting to make his way forward and on lap seven he overtook Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg to claim sixth place. He now had two seconds to make up to P6 man Kimi Raikkonen.

    Verstappen and Ricciardo were the first of the top-10 starters to shed their opening stint soft tyres, with Red Bull Racing pitting their drivers at the same time at the end of lap 11. Both took on hard compound Pirelli tyres.

    Their halt for tyres triggered a steady stream of pit stops as the main contenders all filed towards pit lane over the following few laps. All took hard tyres.

    After 23 laps Rosberg was comfortably in the lead, holding a four-second advantage over Verstappen. Vettel was 2.7s further back in third place, while Hamilton had worked his way back up to fourth ahead of Ricciardo and Raikkonen.

    That order was maintained through the second stint but while Rosberg maintained control ahead of Verstappen, Hamilton managed to pass Vettel in the next and final round of pit stops.

    Perhaps anticipating the move, Vettel took on soft tyres in his second stop and set off in close pursuit of Hamilton in the opening laps of his final stint. The Briton, though, defended resolutely in the opening laps of the stint and then began to pull away from the Ferrari as the German’s tyres began to drift from their optimum performance level.

    After the second stops and behind the front four, Raikkonen was now looking comfortable in fifth, six seconds behind Vettel but 14 seconds clear of Ricciardo. Perez was now seventh ahead of Hulkenberg, Massa and Bottas.

    The biggest battle in the closing stages was between Verstappen and Hamilton. The Mercedes man closed to within DRS range of the Red Bull Racing driver and at the end of the penultimate lap he launched an assault around the outside of the Dutch driver. Verstappen was not for moving, however, and Hamilton was forced to overshoot the chicane and he lost ground to the Red Bull driver.

    Ahead, Rosberg was comfortable and after 53 laps he crossed the line to take his ninth win of the season with almost five seconds in hand over Verstappen.

    Hamilton’s third place, meanwhile, was enough to give Mercedes an unassailable lead in the battle for the Constructors’ title and they are now set to pick up their third crown in a row at the final round in Abu Dhabi.

    Ferrari secured fourth and fifth, with Vettel ahead of Raikkonen, but Verstappen’s second place and sixth for Ricciardo means that Red Bull Racing extend their advantage over the Scuderiato 50 points in the battle for second place.

    Perez and Hulkenberg sealed seventh and eighth places respectively and with Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas only managing ninth and tenth, Force India extend their lead over Williams to 25 points in the battle for fourth place.

    2016 Japanese Grand Prix – Race
    1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 53 laps – 1h26m43.333s 2
    2 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing +4.978 2
    3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +5.776 2
    4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari +20.269 2
    5 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari +28.370 2
    6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing +33.941 2
    7 Sergio Perez Force India +57.495 2
    8 Nico Hulkenberg Force India +59.177 2
    9 Felipe Massa Williams +97.763 1
    10 Valtteri Bottas Williams +98.323 1
    11 Romain Grosjean Haas +99.254 2
    12 Jolyon Palmer Renault +1 lap 1
    13 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso +1 lap 2
    14 Kevin Magnussen Renault +1 lap 1
    15 Marcus Ericsson Sauber +1 lap 1
    16 Fernando Alonso McLaren +1 lap 2
    17 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso +1 lap 2
    18 Jenson Button McLaren +1 lap 2
    19 Felipe Nasr Sauber +1 lap 1
    20 Esteban Gutierrez Haas +1 lap 2
    21 Esteban Ocon Manor +1 lap 2
    22 Pascal Wehrlein Manor +1 lap 2

    eom/FIA press release

    Rosberg after winning the Suzuka GP on Sunday. An FIA image
    Rosberg after winning the Suzuka GP on Sunday. An FIA image

     

  • F1 – A matter of centimetres

    DRIVERS

    1 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

    2 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    3 – Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (Ferrari)

    TV UNILATERAL

    Q: Nico, the pressure was really on for that final run but you did it, pole by 13 thousandths of a second which I think your team calculates to be 82 centimetres around this Suzuka circuit.

    Nico ROSBERG: Yeah, of course, happy with the result in the end. I was going well the whole weekend, I had a good balance in the car, feeling good, feeling comfortable so that’s what allows me then to put in a lap like that in the end. Yeah, pleased with that.

    Q: And Lewis, not the end of the world from your point of view because as we look back over the last couple of seasons you’ve won here from second place on the grid, so is that very much what’s on your mind as you sit here this afternoon?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Well, I’m happy with qualifying. It’s been a weekend of a lot of work that’s gone on, getting the car set-up right and some big changes went into qualifying. Considering that, to be that close I was really happy with it. I got everything I could… I did as well as I could, I think. Naturally, if you have more laps, I guess you could always find more time but yeah, generally very happy with that and history has shown that you don’t have to be on pole to get the win. But Nico did a great job and has done all weekend.

    Q: Kimi, great lap for third place; for the fourth time this season you’ve qualified in this position. Do we infer from this that Ferrari has made a bit of a step compared to Red Bull in the last few races?

    Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: I don’t know. Honestly, it’s pretty much the same car that we raced a week ago. I don’t think many people have had a lot of difference but it’s very…  positively surprised how well the car’s been behaving and how quick it’s been. Obviously it’s been a bit tricky to get the right balance but it’s been pretty good and so far so good but obviously third is not exactly what we’re looking for but I think we’re pretty close. It was not too bad.

    Q: Coming back to our pole-sitter, Nico Rosberg, you’ve been fastest in every single track session so far this weekend – obviously Lewis got the quicker first run in Q3 – but you’ve topped every single track session so far this weekend, but as Lewis was saying, the last two years he’s won the race from P2; how do you make it go your way tomorrow?

    NR: It’s just putting everything together, you know. For sure the start is going to be an important one, definitely tomorrow and we’ve seen this weekend that it’s not been too easy, because it’s downhill and the grip somehow has been a bit lower than usual so it’s going to be an interesting challenge. And from then on, then just need to get the tyre life to be able to do long enough stints and everything to get the strategy to work so it’s putting everything together.

    PRESS CONFERENCE 

    Q: Back to our pole-sitter, Nico Rosberg, third year in a row here in Suzuka, thirtieth of his Formula One career. Nico the last sector on that final run was what made the difference for you versus Lewis, I think it’s fair to say. Tell us about the pressure you were feeling after that first run in Q1 and what it was about that final sector that eventually nailed it for you?

    NR: It was just a good lap, just got it all done properly, that’s it. I knew I could do it, I knew I could do a good lap and just the first one in Q3 wasn’t perfect so I just had to get my head down and nail it.

    Q: Why was it not perfect?

    NR: I’m not really sure. I just felt a bit less grip somehow and it just didn’t come together so I don’t really have an explanation.

    Q: OK, moving to Lewis, Lewis bouncing back strongly from obviously the disappointment of last weekend, you were referring there in your first answer to the fact that you’ve been working very hard on the set-up of the car, particularly presumably with an eye on the race but you were in the groove as far as race pace is concerned?

    LH: Well, we just kind of veered off on a different tangent in terms of set-up this weekend and it wasn’t until qualifying that I veered back so some big changes. It’s not that easy to go straight into qualifying with a completely different car so that’s why I’m relatively happy with considering what I did. I think we’re in a good position for tomorrow.

    Q: Kimi, obviously balance is a big thing around here. You were complaining a few times on the radio of understeer throughout the last couple of days and again this afternoon. Tell us a little bit about that and also you did a soft tyre run in Q1 which Red Bull did not do, not a quick one. They only went on to it in Q2 and Q3. Do you think that helped you to find the balance that ultimately gave you this third place today?

    KR: Well, I think it doesn’t harm, that’s for sure. I mean it’s always more easy when you have more sets of the same compound so you can fine-tune a little bit but obviously in qualifying there’s not an awful lot that you can do that is correct or not. We been suffering a bit of understeer all weekend and even in qualifying just slowing us down a little bit in the first sector but it got a bit better in the end. Obviously it got faster then but it’s the very small details that have to come together and we managed to put all these together more or less and the car’s been behaving quite good. It’s shame that Seb has a penalty but we will try to do the same if not better tomorrow.

    eom/FIA transcript of Saturday’s Press Conference

  • I am excited to get on track: Hamilton on Suzuka

    I am excited to get on track: Hamilton on Suzuka

    Hamilton (front row - centre) at the Thursday Press Conference in Suzuka. An FIA image
    Hamilton (front row – centre) at the Thursday Press Conference in Suzuka. An FIA image

    DRIVERS – Jolyon PALMER (Renault), Carlos SAINZ (Toro Rosso), Pascal WEHRLEIN (Manor), Kimi RAIKKONEN (Ferrari), Fernando ALONSO (McLaren), Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Fernando, there’s been a lot of talk about your starts this year and the fact that in the last five GPs you’ve made up 29 places on the opening lap! Making up places is something you’ve consistently done – in circumstances you’ve had to do it of course – but can you explain a bit about your starts; is it experience, instinct or is it just pure risk taking?

    Fernando ALONSO: I think it’s a little bit of everything probably. A little bit of luck as well. Sometimes you try to recover places and you try to choose a line into turn one – left or right – and you never know what if going to happen in front of you. It’s a little bit of luck also that you need. Over probably 16 years of Formula One, I recover many, many places so it cannot be only luck every single year. Yeah, probably doing a lot of Playstation and starting last – it’s good practice!

    The results seem to be coming through now more consistently for McLaren-Honda, outside of the top three teams on a more consistent basis. Are you seeing the things you need to see at this stage from the team to give you confidence you can fight for podiums more regularly next season and what’s the plan for the new engine you ran in Sepang?

    FA: I think let’s say we are happy with the progress we made this year and definitely we are able to fight with some competitive teams there, like Force India, Williams, and now we finished now like four times seventh after the top three teams in the last five races. Definitely a step forward that we are enjoying, this process of starting to be competitive but I think looking for next year I don’t think we can see anything that is clearly positive or negative. Everything will change massively so we need to work and to be very focused on next year’s car in a way now that is only theoretical – simulators and wind tunnel numbers and dyno numbers etc. I don’t think the performance of the actual car is a reference for next year. So that’s one thing. Yeah, we want to be more competitive next year. I think the biggest step has been done, from last year to this year, but we need another big step next year, which is going from the last Q3 spot and some points to fight for podiums and wins. I think it’s still possible. We have the potential, we have the facilities, we have the talented people. This project, as we have said many times, it’s a question of time that we will be able to win. Hopefully we are trying to make it as short as possible and let’s see. With the new engine, actually it’s just an engine that we fitted in Malaysia just for reliability issues more than performance. Also, we didn’t have engines to finish the season, so we chose Malaysia to fit new engines, to pay the penalty and then have the rest of the races without any more concerns. We plan to use that engine here but, as I said, the engine has exactly the same power, so we will fit the engine and we will try to do our best.

    Thank you. Lewis, coming to you: this has been a happy hunting ground for you recently, with victories in the last couple of years as you moved towards those two world titles. How do you feel going into Suzuka this year?

    Lewis HAMILTON: I feel same as probably last year. I feel good. Excited to get on track, the weather’s great today, I love being here, so ready to get going.

    What did you do then in the three days since Malaysia and what conclusions did you come to when you were thinking about the race: were you concerned about the championship position or were you satisfied about the way you drove, that you did everything right?

    LH: I haven’t been thinking about the last race. Usually when I leave the racetrack I think about a lot of other thing. I have a lot of other stuff going on. I was in Tokyo, enjoying my time. I love being in Tokyo. One of my favourite cities, it’s in my top three favourite cities in the world. That’s about it.

    Any thoughts on the way you performed in Malaysia?

    LH: Yeah, it was good, happy with it. I hope that I can continue performing like that.

    OK. Pascal, looking ahead to the new car Formula One cars of 2017 that Fernando referenced earlier on, you’ve done quite a lot of development work for Mercedes and Pirelli recently, what are you impressions of the changes, particularly with reference to the tyres?

    Pascal WEHRLEIN: It’s faster, but I think I cannot tell you in detail how it was. So yes, it’s faster and therefore more fun, but apart from that I can’t tell you, sorry.

    What about your own racing programme for next season? Are you likely to stay put with Manor but are there other options for you?

    PH: Let’s see. At the moment there are discussions going on and in the next few weeks I think I will know more.

    Fair enough. Kimi, you’ve already scored more points at this stage, you’ve gone past your 2015 points total, with five race to go and you’ve scored in more grands prix than your team-mate has, do you feel satisfied?

    Kimi RAIKKONEN: I think it’s a bit difficult to be satisfied with where we are right now. Obviously we want to be in better places, fight in the front, but this is what we have right now. We always try to do our best but obviously the places where we’ve been recently are not, for sure, where we want to be as Ferrari, but we have to keep working and giving our best and hopefully, sooner rather than later we will be up there.

    Picking up on what Pascal was saying, or not saying, about 2017, you are one of very race drivers that has done test work on the 2017 tyres with Ferrari’s mule car. What can you tell us about the difference in feel, for example, and what we can expect next year

    KR: It’s very early days. There’s nothing to really compare, apart from some lap time from the previous race there or testing, but obviously the conditions are different and a lot of things are… there’s a bit more grip but to be fair it’s very early days for Pirelli’s new tyres, so I think we are only going to really see what we have once we have the proper cars next year and the tyres in the first test and the cars are far from what they will be next year, what we’re using in testing. I think it will be faster, but how much and how it’s going to be, how the car is and the tyres together, it’s too early to say.

    Q: Jolyon, coming to you, congratulations on your first championship points finish in Malaysia. You were actually in a points-paying position for much of the race – what made the difference for you last weekend in getting the result?

    Jolyon PALMER: Firstly, I’d say performance-wise we were definitely quicker than we have been. I think on Friday we knew that on quali and also on the long runs we were looking quite good. And then in the race a mixture of keeping the tyres alive and good strategy because starting 19th there was quite a lot of work to do. We did one stop and we used the soft tyre which was quick to the end. So, I have Carlos putting me under a bit of pressure but we managed to keep the pace up and make the one-stop work.

    Q: You’re 3-3 in qualifying with your team-mate for the last six races. Do you feel now that you’re getting a chance to show what you can do? Again, what’s making the difference?

    JP: Well, I feel that the early part of the season was quite difficult but I think after Monaco everything’s been pretty close all the time with Kev. So, I don’t think the last six races, it could be the last ten races is more accurate really, between us there’s never much. Malaysia I think qualifying wasn’t my strong point to be honest. I think I was doing quite well until qualifying but at least I recovered in the race. I think we’re showing what we can do, both of us, pushing hard, always close and I’m sure it’s going to be the case to the end of the year.

    Q: Carlos, you qualified strongly in Singapore but got caught up in that start line incident and other results have slipped away recently. Are you getting a bit frustrated with the second half of your season?

    Carlos SAINZ: No, I wouldn’t use the word frustration to describe that tough end of the season we’re suffering at the moment in Toro Rosso. Singapore was obviously a very big opportunity missed, starting P6, we knew we had the pace to finish at least in the top six, which is when you are fighting with McLaren and Haas for those P6, P7, it’s a lot of points but you cannot keep thinking too much about it. We went to Malaysia; we knew we were not going to be as fast as in Singapore and it got confirmed – but yeah, we are trying to extract the maximum performance out of the car every race, we know our performance can vary a lot from circuit to circuit and we just need to go race-by-race seeing where we stand in every race.

    Q: We’ve heard a little about the 2017 cars, they’re obviously going to be quicker but how are you feeling about the physical side of driving next year? Looking at Malaysia, quite a few drivers said it was tough – I’m interested to know with much faster cars, higher cornering speeds next year, to what extend next year are you all going to have to step up the training in view of that?

    CS: I think for sure we will need to. It’s not a secret we will need to do a step in our physical condition for next year. Already Malaysia this year we were in qualifying nearly as fast as the lap record; the race, because of the tarmac change, was 3-4 seconds per lap quicker than last year and you could already feel it. It’s a challenge that I always welcome. At the end it means OK, more time in the gym, more time on a bike – but it means that also in the race a physical limitation comes into play and it’s where you can make the difference. So, I will welcome it. Also the challenge of driving a faster car is always more difficult, always more selective with drivers, so it can only do good for Formula One.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Manuel Franco – Diario AS) First question for Fernando Alonso, second for Carlos Sainz. Fernando, what’s your opinion about Ferrari’s situation because when you leave all people say were wrong – what’s your opinion now? And for Carlos, last year you were first in FP1 in your first time at Suzuka in rain – are you praying for rain again in the race?

    Fernando?

    FA: Nothing really to comment. They are struggling a little bit now but it didn’t change probably the situation in the last couple of years but yeah, I wish always the best for Ferrari. I will have always Ferrari in my heart. So, hopefully they can improve. Thanks for asking. It’s been a long time that they didn’t ask me about Ferrari. Especially after they won Malaysia last year.

    Carlos?

    CS: I have very good memories of Suzuka last year: first time in Japan; first time in this circuit and first in FP1 in the rain. So… yeah. I know the lines, I know that Toro Rosso normally performs pretty well in the rain, so I would welcome it. I always welcome the rain but particularly these last five races. We need some of that now to score a strong result. There’s some showers around for Saturday and Sunday, so I think also for Formula One, and apart from me it’s always good to have some mixed-weather races.

    Q: (Kate Walker – Motorsport.com) Two questions for Fernando please: first of all, I was wondering what you think of Honda’s philosophy and of their engineering ability? And secondly, I was wondering if you could say how you find working with Honda compared with working with Renault and with Ferrari?

    FA: I found it very interesting from day one working with Honda, the philosophy and the approach they have to racing in general and I think to some extent to life. It’s interesting and I’m a big fan of Japanese culture and Japanese traditions and I think they translate that also into their racing philosophy. They’ve been following their programme, sometimes for us as sportsmen or fans. Sometimes it’s frustrating because we want everything now or everything tomorrow but that is not this magic solution in Formula One. Everything requires some time but yeah, they are doing the job, they are doing the maximum. They are, as I said, they are following the times, everything made in Japan, only with Japanese people and it’s their mission, let’s say, so I’m extremely happy to feel part of this project from day one. Now that the results are coming, I also think they are a little bit more motivated and they are starting to be more creative, let’s say, in terms of design and progress. So, happy and compared to other big manufacturers, big car manufacturers, I think it’s just that. The way they work, the discipline, working and the loyalty also. All the engineers we have in our team, they’ve been working for Honda all their lives, from university. So the university they chose, one way to the other, they chose Honda and they will be with Honda for all their lives so that’s quite different to our culture and also I’m learning a lot.

    Q: (Luc Domenjoz – Le Matin) Lewis, in Sepang you said after the race that possibly ‘the high power’, using your words, would prevent you from winning the championship, so at this stage of your life, how important is religion for you in your culture, in your day-to-day life?

    LH: It doesn’t change, nothing’s changed. I just said it appears that currently the guy above doesn’t really want me to… perhaps doesn’t want me to win right now. But I’ve made a point on my Instagram so I don’t really have much more to say about it.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and Speedsport) Kimi, you say you can’t be happy with where you are right now. You’re currently fourth in the championship, third is within reach so two questions: would it make  a difference to you if you finished third, fourth or fifth? And would it make a difference if you finished ahead of your teammate?

    KR: Not really. We are here to try to win and anything less than winning is obviously not why we are here or why all the guys in Ferrari work hard to try to be best. So obviously not winning… second is better than third but it’s not an awful lot in the end. It’s been a more solid year and more consistent, and things are running most… but like I said, we want to be back in the front and fighting consistently for putting ourselves at least to have a good chance of winning. So that’s the aim and then obviously after that it depends on many other things also but we are lacking speed a bit but we’re not giving up and we keep trying and improving and I’m sure we’ll get there. It just takes time. In a way it’s been better than the last few years but it’s still not what we want.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and Speedsport) Lewis, is there anything you can share with us what you’re looking at?

    LH: Hunh? Yeah, no, just… it’s quite funny, just some snaps of us drivers, it’s quite funny. That’s about it. Hey man, we’ve been doing this a long long time and it’s the same each time so got to keep adding new things to it.

    Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Lewis, I’ve noticed you’ve posted a series of messages on Facebook about your team last night. I was just wondering why you decided to do that?

    LH: Been planning to do it for a while. We’ve been building that up for a couple of weeks already, so it just turned out to be the appropriate time to do it.

    Q: (Daniel Johnson – The Telegraph) Lewis, a lot of your fans, after the race on Sunday, they kind of felt the sense of injustice about your engine blowing up and some of them saying that they think Mercedes are favouring Nico, as they’ve said at different points in the year. I just wonder what your message to them is?

    LH: Well, they just go on my Instagram. I’ve put all my feelings on there so… They have the right to their own opinion but as you see from my posts, you see how passionate I am about this team and about my guys so.

     

    eom/FIA transcript of the press conference

  • Ricciardo wins after Hamilton engine blows-up

    Ricciardo wins after Hamilton engine blows-up

    Daniel Ricciardo wins at Sepang on Sunday. An FIA image
    Daniel Ricciardo wins at Sepang on Sunday. An FIA image

    Sepang, 2 Oct 2016: Daniel Ricciardo led team-mate Max Verstappen to the flag to take Red Bull Racing’s first one-two finish since the Brazilian Grand Prix of 2013, as Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton was forced out by engine failure while comfortably in the lead.

    After a dramatic start in which front-row starter Nico Rosberg was pitched into a spin by Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, Hamilton looked to have the race firmly under control. But on lap 41, disaster struck when the defending champion’s power unity failed. Ricciardo inherited the lead and 25 laps later the Australian took the chequered flag ahead of team-mate Verstappen for his fifth career win.

    Rosberg claimed third place despite dropping to the rear of the field at the start and being hit with a penalty for causing a collision with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.

    At the start Hamilton made a good getaway and held his advantage over Rosberg. Two rows back Vettel had also made a good start from P5 and had passed Ricciardo. However, the German then took a narrow line into Turn One and, carrying too much speed, he went straight into the back of Rosberg’s Mercedes.

    The championship leader was sent into a spin that resulted in a drop to P21 at the end of lap one.

    Vettel, however, shipped heavy damage, breaking the front left suspension of his car. He pulled over and stopped at Turn 3, which resulted in the Virtual Safety Car being deployed.

    Rosberg’s spin, and the efforts made to avoid colliding with the Mercedes, had a significant effect on the order further back. Most notably, McLaren’s Fernando Alonso vaulted up the order, rising from the P22 start caused by engine penalties to P10 soon after the action resumed. At the front though, Hamilton was comfortable, easily controlling a slender gap to Ricciardo.

    The man on the move was Verstappen. The Dutchman has dropped back after the start but was soon up to P5 and then when the VSC ended he climbed to P3.

    There was trouble on lap nine, however, when Romain Grosjean’s Haas arrowed off track at Turn 15 due to brake failure. The VSC was deployed again and Red Bull pitted Verstappen from P3 for new soft tyres. He dropped to P4 behind Raikkonen.

    Also making his way back up the order was Rosberg and by lap 19 the German had recovered to seventh place.  On the following lap he breezed past Carlos Sainz’s Toro Rosso into Turn 15 and set his sights 1.6s up the road to Valtteri Bottas.

    It didn’t take long for the Mercedes man to erase the gap and he passed the Williams on lap 19, emerging just behind Raikkonen who had pitted for hard tyres. Soon after, race leader Hamilton and second-placed Ricciardo made the same strategic decision in their first pit stops and thus Verstappen was boosted to P1 on soft tyres.

    By lap 26 Verstappen was reporting that he was losing grip and at the end of the following lap he made his second pit stop, this time for hard tyres. He emerged five seconds behind team-mate Ricciardo in P3.

    The next stint saw Hamilton continue to extend his lead and by lap 38 he was 20 seconds ahead of Ricciardo and 21 ahead of Verstappen.

    Once again, though, it was Rosberg who was on the move. This time he chased down Raikkonen and on lap 39 attempted to pass the Finn into Turn One. The move failed but he persisted and in Turn 3 he went down the inside but he went a little wide on exit and the pair banged wheels hard with Raikkonen being bounced right. The move was immediately put under investigation by the stewards.

    Then, though, the race took its most dramatic turn, as on lap 41 flames burst from the back of Hamilton’s car and the race leader retired with a blown engine.

    That promoted Ricciardo to the race lead but with Verstappen on newer hard tyres would the Australian be able to hold the lead?

    The answer came swiftly, with the pair being pitted in tandem. Both were sent out on soft tyres. Rosberg too pitted for the same compound and set off in pursuit. The chase was quickly called off, however, the stewards handing the German a 10-second time penalty for causing the collision with Raikkonen.

    It left Ricciardo in charge and he began to establish a gap to his team-mate.

    Rosberg continued to push but with just nine seconds in hand over Raikkonen there was the possibility that the championship leader might miss out on a podium finish.

    Raikkonen’s race engineer told the Finn “you know what you have to do”. The Finn might have but his car would not co-operate and within a few laps he began to lose time to Rosberg and when the pair crossed the line and Rosberg’s penalty was applied the German still had three seconds in hand over the Ferrari man to hold on to third place.

    At the front Verstappen was pushing and with seven laps to go he was just 1.1s behind Ricciardo. But the Australian held firm and eventually crossed the line 2.4s clear of Verstappen to claim his fourth career win.

    The result means that Rosberg extends his championship lead over Hamilton to 23 points, while Ricciardo further cements himself into third place in the title fight with 204 points.

    In the Constructors’ battle Mercedes’ woes meant they missed out on their chance to seal the team’s title in Malaysia. They now have 533 points to Red Bull’s 359 with Ferrari third in 313.

    eom/FIA press release

  • Hamilton to fight back with a pole at Sepang

    Hamilton to fight back with a pole at Sepang

    Hamilton (centre) take pole at Sepang to fight for championship lead with teammate Rosberg (left). An FIA image
    Hamilton (centre) take pole at Sepang to fight for championship lead with teammate Rosberg (left). An FIA image

    Sepang, 1 Oct 2016: After losing the championship lead to Nico Rosberg in Singapore two weeks ago, Lewis Hamilton today took the title fight to the German with a blistering qualifying lap at the Sepang Circuit that earned his eighth pole of the season for tomorrow’s Malaysian Grand Prix.

    The Briton posted a final Q3 time of 1:32.850 and while Rosberg improved enough on his final lap to claim P2, he could not compete with Hamilton’s pace and ended up four tenths of a second behind his team-mate.

    Red Bull Racing locked out row two, with Max Verstappen ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, while Ferrari took row three with Sebastian Vettel in front of Kimi Raikkonen.

    In Q1, both Mercedes drivers were on track early, and on soft tyres Hamilton and Rosberg soon established themselves in P1, with the Briton to the fore with a lap of 1:34.444. Rosberg was less than two hundredths of a second adrift.

    Behind them Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg was third ahead of Red Bull’s Daniel Riccirado who took fourth on medium tyres. Sergio Perez was fifth in the second Force India, while the second Red Bull of Max Verstappen was sixth. Like his colleague he set his time on medium tyres.

    Ferrari also opted for medium tyres in the early runs in the final minutes Ferrari, perhaps concerned that others might greatly improve, sent Raikkonen and Vettel out on softs tyres. They immediately jumped to third and fourth respectively, and to safety. Verstappen too was forced to bolt on the softs at the end of the session just in case, though he safely made it through in P12 and backed out of the run early to save the set.

    In the drop zone going into the final runs, though, were Haas’ Esteban Gutierrez, Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson, Felipe Nasr in the second Sauber, Manor’s Pascal Wehrlein, McLaren’s Fernando Alonso and the second Manor of Esteban Ocon.

    Gutierrez went into the final runs just four hundredths of a second off Jolyon Palmer’s P16 time and the Mexican easily bypassed that in the closing moments, jumping to P16.

    Palmer though erred and slipped down the order. It meant that he qualified in P19 behind Ericsson and Nasr. Also out went Ocon and Wehrlein and Alonso, who due to engine changes will take a sufficiently large grid penalty tomorrow to make extended running in qualifying pointless.

    Mercedes were again on track early in Q2 and Rosberg was first across the line with a time of 1:33.609. Hamilton was tearing through the sectors, though, and despite a moment were he overran a kerb the Briton posted a time almost six tenths clear of the championship leader.

    Behind them Red Bull took third and fourth with Verstappen ahead, while Ferrari were fifth and sixth. Fifth-place Raikkonen was just five thousandths of a second behind Ricciardo.

    In the drop zone ahead og the final Q2 runs were the sole remaining McLaren of Jenson Button, the Haas cars of Romain Grosjean and Gutierrez, Renault’s Kevin Magnussen and the Toro Rossos of Carlos Sainz and Daniil Kvyat.

    The top six as well as seventh-placed Felipe Massa of Williams all stayed in their garages for the final runs and it was left to the rest to tussle over the remaining Top 10 spots.

    And it was Jenson Button who did the most to claim one of those spots. The Briton, who will tomorrow become just the third man in F1 history to start his 300th grand prix, jumped from P11 to P8 to seal a Q3 berth ahead of Hulkenberg and Perez. All of the top 10 in Q2 set their fastest time on soft tyres, so they will start the race on that compound.

    Out then, from P11 back, went Valtteri Bottas, Grosjean, Gutierrez, Magnussen, Kvyat and Sainz.

    Mercedes were again early adopters in the final top 10 shootout but Rosberg pile pressure on himself by making a mistake in the final corner. It would see him fifth after the first runs.

    Hamilton though was finding time everywhere and at the end of his first run he’d set a blistering time of 1:32.850 to claim provisional P1. That was almost six tenths clear of second-placed Verstappen, with Ricciardo taking fourth ahead of Raikkonen, Rosberg and Vettel.

    And it was a similar take in the final runs. Rosberg improved across the first two sectors but again he erred in the final sector. It was enough to secure the championship leader second place on the grid, however, as Verstappen failed to improve.

    Ricciardo did improve, but it wasn’t enough to eclipse his team-mate and so he will line up fourth for the second year in a row. Ferrari took row three, while Perez was seventh ahead of Hulkenberg, Button and Massa.

    2016 Malaysian Grand Prix – Qualifying
    1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:34.444 1:33.046 1:32.850
    2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:34.460 1:33.609 1:33.264
    3 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:35.443 1:33.775 1:33.420
    4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:35.079 1:33.888 1:33.467
    5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:34.557 1:33.972 1:33.584
    6 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:34.556 1:33.903 1:33.632
    7 Sergio Perez Force India 1:35.068 1:34.538 1:34.319
    8 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:34.827 1:34.441 1:34.487
    9 Jenson Button McLaren 1:35.267 1:34.431 1:34.518
    10 Felipe Massa Williams 1:35.267 1:34.422 1:34.671
    11 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:35.166 1:34.577
    12 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:35.400 1:35.001
    13 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:35.658 1:35.097
    14 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:35.593 1:35.277
    15 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:35.695 1:35.369
    16 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:35.605 1:35.374
    17 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:35.816
    18 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:35.949
    19 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:35.999
    20 Esteban Ocon Manor 1:36.451
    21 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:36.587
    22 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:37.155

    eom/FIA press release

  • Too early to predict the direction F1 takes with the arrival of Liberty Media: Bob Fernley

    Too early to predict the direction F1 takes with the arrival of Liberty Media: Bob Fernley

    TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Franz TOST (Toro Rosso), Robert FERNLEY (Force India), David RYAN (Manor), Eric BOULLIER (McLaren)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    A question to all of you, we asked the other team principals the same question in Singapore, your thoughts on the arrival of Liberty Media in Formula One, what it means for the sport, and in particular what it means for the smaller and medium-sized teams?

    Robert FERNLEY: I met Chase Carey for the first time, I found him extremely approachable and willing to listen, but I think it’s far too early to make any predictions of where things are going to go or even opinions on that. I think they need time to be able to look at where they are going and what plans they have for Formula One and then once they make their announcements on the direction they want to go I think then maybe we can make some comments but it’s too early to judge at this point.

    David?

    David RYAN: Well, I’ve never met the guy, so I can’t really comment from that point of view. I know what I’ve read, which is the same as the rest of you. Really, it’s a case of waiting. I’m sure that he didn’t buy into it not to make any changes and I wait to see what happens and see how it all pans out, but I’m sure it’s all good news.

    And Franz, your thoughts, particularly with reference to the medium-sized and smaller teams?

    Franz TOST: First of all, congratulations to Liberty Media for this fantastic deal, because Formula One in the meantime is a very well known trademark all over the world, thanks to Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley – they have done a fantastic job over the last 40 years. I assume that Liberty Media, as they belong to a very financially strong group, have a quite clear programme and plan of what they want to do with Formula One. Personally, I hope that Formula One will become much more interesting in America, that we will hopefully have three races over there – one on the east coast, one in Austin and one on the west coast – and I expect that especially on the media side they will work on our weak platform, the digital media and social media, and then for the smaller teams, from 2021 onwards, the money is being distributed in a much fairer way and equal to the teams and last but not least, together with the FIA, they will find a way to reduce costs in Formula One.

    OK. Eric, obviously McLaren is not a smaller team, but your thoughts on the above?

    Eric BOULLIER: Well, at McLaren we are very positive about the arrival of Liberty. They are used managing big business, connecting fans to media, so we believe it’s good for Formula One. At the same time, I think they will take their time to understand the business, where they want to bring the business, the show, the entertainment, to which level. We will see what they suggest and plan.

    OK. Moving on Eric, tell us about the strategy around the updated Honda power unit this weekend and looking forward to next weekend in Suzuka. It seems to perform quite well today in the back of Fernando Alonso’s car, what’s decision on Jenson Button and where is this power unit improved?

    EB: It’s mainly reliability-driven, so it’s a reinforced block and a few things on the engine. There is a possibility to exploit the PU a little bit better, but it’s not definitely right… not just pure power on top. So it’s mainly reliability-driven. I think we are happy with today, we did a lot of miles with no issue at all, so it’s just a green light for the future, for the end of the season. And as far as Jenson is concerned, when the mileage of his PUs reach the limit we will swap the engine.

    That won’t be this weekend.

    EB: No, not this weekend.

    Thank you. Robert coming to you, Williams’ Rob Smedley recently said that his team should not get too hung up on its battle with Force India for fourth in the Constructors’ Championship, but what’s your team’s stance? Are you diverting resource to continue to develop this car to make sure you get that P4 finish?

    RF: No, not at all. Our focus in terms of the design side is on the ’17 car and has been for some while. But I think there is more to come out of the ’16 package from a track engineering point of view and we continue to get performance out of it every week and as long as that happens we can hopefully take the battle to Williams all the way.

    Thank you. Coming to you Dave, Esteban Ocon was here yesterday, saying in the Drivers’ Press Conference that it’s been quite tough to come into Formula One halfway through the season. So how do you, as the boss, assess his performance relative Wehrlein’s, given that Haryanto outqualified Wehrlein several times?  

    DR: I think Esteban is quite right. To arrive part way through the season into a team that has been developing along with Pascal is a big ask. We haven’t helped the situation because he hasn’t had the best of reliability up until now. But the kid’s fantastic. He’s got a fantastic attitude, he’s got huge potential and together with him and Pascal it’s a great driving line-up.

    Q: Franz, we heard again here yesterday in the drivers’ conference Dany Kvyat saying he’s rediscovered his love for Formula One after the performance, the drive in Singapore last time out. How good a performance do you feel it was and is there still time for him to retain his seat for next year?

    Franz TOST: He showed in Singapore a very good performance and it’s good to hear that he still loves Formula One, especially if he is driving for Toro Rosso. Daniil Kvyat is a high-skill driver, you know this because there’s a reason behind that he won the GP3 European Championship, and the way how he won it. He lost it a little bit in the last months but fortunately he is coming back. I hope that he will also do for the rest of the season good races that he shows his talent and his potential – and then we will see what happens in the future.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Kate Walker – motorsport.com) I’ve got a question for all of you please. One of the things that we have heard about the change in ownership is the potential introduction of a franchise system. I was wondering both what your individual opinions were and, if they differ from your owner or boards opinion, what the official stance was on the potential of a franchise operation?

    Robert?

    RF: I think… I mean the devil is always in the detail Kate, and I think we have to wait again and see what they’re proposing in terms of how the franchise is going to work up or whether it’s either going to be a full franchise program. But I think something that is giving Formula One stability, more importantly I think something that is anchoring the teams into Formula One, because it takes four or five years to build a team and whilst owners do come and go, the teams tend to be the same teams being transferred. I think it would be very, very good for the teams to have that stability and that security going forward. If the owner comes in and they perform well, then hopefully he or she can make a profit. If they don’t, then they take a small loss. It’s part of the trading. But I think it is a different view for Formula One and one that we should look at very positively.

    David?

    DR: Actually I think Bob put it very well and I support that view. I’ve heard lots of different approaches they’re going to take but until we get something firmly on the table, I can’t really comment. Bob’s view is correct.

    Franz?

    FT: I think it’s quite early days to discuss this and to think about this. We will see then, it’s a decision of Red Bull whether they buy shares on it or not and for the rest we will see.

    And Eric.

    EB: It’s difficult to have a strong opinion at this stage, y’know? Just based on the word ‘franchise’. We need to see the details of what they want to achieve. We don’t have yet the full picture, so I can’t have a strong opinion on this obviously. I think yes, what Bob said is true. If everything is happier in a better world everybody will be happy. Today I don’t know what’s going on, what’s going to happen yet.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Bob, it’s a year virtually to the day since you and Sauber registered a complaint with the EU Commission in Brussels. First of all I’d like to know some progress to date in the past year but before we do that, I’m now advised from Brussels that you and Sauber are possibly looking at filing some complaint in the US as well, an anti-trust complaint. If you could comment on that as well please and give us some idea of the progress. And then the other three, have you received requests for information from the commissioner in connection with this particular case.

    RF: Yes, let’s… probably start from the beginning I think Dieter is the easiest one. Yes, we have put the complaint, that’s common knowledge, I think about a year ago, it has gone through due process and I can confirm it has gone to next level in terms of a request for further information from the EU. Who those have been sent to, I don’t know. From our point of view, because we’re in legal process with them, we can’t say anything about what we’re doing – but I can confirm it is at that stage from an EU point of view. With regard to your question on the US legal matters, I think, you know, it’s not appropriate for us to discuss something where we’re getting legal advice. It’s probably a bit speculative – but for sure everything is still on the table from our side. We are very, very committed to challenging what we believe is a very anti-competitive system with these bi-lateral agreements. Whatever it takes to deliver that, we will certainly look at.

    And the second part of the question, to the other three, have you been requested any information from the EU? Eric?

    EB: No.

    Franz?

    FT: No

    David?

    DR: Not that I’m aware of.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and Speedsport) Gentlemen, the provisional calendar for next year is another 21 races. The new owners of Formula One are on record saying they want to add more races. At what point do you have to start rotating crew and would you have to add staff or is there enough back at home to do that?

    EB: I think we are at the limit already so if there would be more races, we would have to have a rotating system with staff people. And no, we don’t have reserve people back in the factory so that means we would have to hire some people.

    FT: That’s the same. I think that 20/21 races is quite a good number and if additional races come onto the calendar we also would have to think of a rotating system to bring in more people, because otherwise it’s difficult to handle everything but if we have more races, we also have more income and therefore it shouldn’t be a problem. In the end, there must be a profit for the teams otherwise it doesn’t make sense.

    DR: I go back to the days when we had 14 races and that was too many so… Twenty-one feels like it’s too many but if they’re talking 25 races…  Dan, I guess it depends what the package is. Maybe they are two-day events, maybe it’s a different format. Again, until we know what they really are asking for or what they’re thinking of, it may be that it works or not. We just have to wait and see.

    RF: Same as Eric. We would need to increase the personnel significantly to be able to bring in reserves.

    Q: (Chris Lyons – AP) Bob, in Singapore Sergio said that he felt sure that his contract would be organised by the time we got to Malaysia. Now he’s saying if it doesn’t happen by Japan, he’s going to look elsewhere. Can you give us some insight into what the hold-up is? Is it the commercial aspect, sponsorship aspect of the contract or is there something else?

    RF: No, there’s nothing else. The driver contracts have been completed for quite some time, as you know. Vijay announced that some time ago and it’s literally dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s on the commercial side and if it takes a week, that’s wonderful, if it takes a couple of weeks, so be it. It’ll happen, we’re very confident that Checo will be with us next year. I don’t think we ever deviated from that.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Eric, there’s a report in Autosport this week that Honda are expanding their facilities in the UK in preparation or possible preparation for a second team. The way that I understand it McLaren needs to approve this. Is it something that McLaren’s in favour of? Would McLaren like to see a second team and what sort of level of development are we at given that you’re partners?

    EB: Well, we had a position in the past, obviously, where we both agree with Honda that it would be better to focus on us, on one team. As you know, the regulations have changed as well. In the future there will be some obligation for an engine manufacturer, and I think that at some stage it’s going to be interesting for maybe Honda and the McLaren-Honda package as well to have another team but we don’t know when, so we see this as them just making themselves ready with the possibility in the future that it can happen but so far we are still one team and focused on McLaren.

    Q: (Chris Lyons – AP) Just to follow up to that question to the other three: it’s clearly too late for 2017 but would you be interested in a Honda supply and how soon could that happen?

    FT: We have a Renault contract.

    DR: I think we’ve got the best engine on the grid in our car at the moment so we’re fairly OK with that.

    RF: We’re also committed through to 2020 with our engine supplier and have a very strong relationship with Mercedes.

    eom/FIA transcript of the Press Conference

    Bob Fernley (top row left) of Force India at the Friday Press Conference in Sepang. An FIA image
    Bob Fernley (top row left) of Force India at the Friday Press Conference in Sepang. An FIA image
  • Definitely we aim for 4th place and we are working hard for it: Hulkenberg

    Definitely we aim for 4th place and we are working hard for it: Hulkenberg

    DRIVERS – Jenson BUTTON (McLaren), Felipe MASSA (Williams), Esteban OCON (Manor), Daniil KVYAT (Toro Rosso), Nico HULKENBERG (Force India), Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Jenson let’s start with you. Your 300th grand prix, only the third driver to do it, it’s a big number. What does your place in Formula One history mean to you?

    Jenson BUTTON: That’s a good question that deserves a very long answer and I’m not going to give it to you here. It means I have been around for a hell of a long time. I remember when Rubens got to 300 – it was unbelievable that he’d reached 300 grands prix. I was like, “I’m never going to race for that long”. I remember when I started in 2000 – I’m not going to give you my life story – but when I started in 2000 I remember speaking to my dad and he said: “How long do you think you’re going to race for?” and I said: “No! I’ll be done by the time I’m 30 years old.” And here I am at 36 and this weekend I’m starting my 300th grand prix. It definitely sucks you in, Formula One. It doesn’t let go for a long time, as long as you are performing. So it’s been a great ride to 300. Lots of ups and downs, as every career will have, and the important thing is that you stay on top of those bad times and you enjoy the good times as much as you can, because you never know how long they are going to last. A very exciting career to this point, 300 races, and if any of these guys can achieve it around me, fair play to them, because it’s a long time doing the same thing.

    Now, Honda have said, going into this weekend, they’re going to review whether to use updated power units, presumably with tokens used, during the weekend at some point. What will be the decisive factors and what would you personally like to do from a strategic point of view looking at this race and at their home grand prix in Suzuka?

    JB: Obviously they don’t want to take any penalties in Suzuka, which is completely understandable. It’s basically our second home race. Here – I can’t speak for the other car – but I personally won’t be having a penalty. It will be a normal weekend for me.

    OK, that’s very clear, thank you very much for that. Nico Hulkenberg, coming to you, Force India are now fourth in the Constructors’ and have outscored Williams 39 to 19 in the last five races. Is there a belief in the team that you can beat them at the end of the season?   

    Nico HULKENBERG: Yeah, absolutely, of course. We’re doing well, especially since Barcelona the second half has been quite successful. The scores and the points back that up. But obviously there is still a long way to go. For us we definitely aim for and target that’s fourth place, but Sunday night in Abu Dhabi, that’s when we count everything and that’s when we have to be ahead. Now it’s a tight margin, they’re not going to give it to us for free. We have to work for it and yeah, make it work.

    Let’s throw that same question to Felipe. Is that scoring ratio causing concerns internally at Williams and how are you addressing it?

    Felipe MASSA: It’s definitely a big fight. So they are doing a very good championship. I think they improved the car a lot during the season. I believe we can fight them to the end and I believe maybe we can finish in front of them. But you don’t know. You will count race to race the amount of points we are doing compared to them, so I would say some of the tracks you have now are a bit better than some of the tracks we did, like maybe Singapore, the road tracks where they really have a very quick and competitive car. The circuits now are a little bit better for us, but the fight will be race by race and I hope we can do it.

    And back to Nico Hulkenberg: you’re both using the same engine, so what’s giving your side the added value?

    NH: The car hopefully. It is close and I think it will be a battle all the way to the end. I think good clean weekends, consistent from here is very important, maximise the opportunities we get, and yeah, that will determine at the end who will be fourth.

    We’ll move on to Dany Kvyat and come back to Felipe in a moment. You said after the Singapore Grand Prix performance that you had rediscovered your love for Formula One after a tough few months. Why? What was so special about that race for you?

    Daniil KVYAT: Well, it was an enjoyable race first of all, first time in a while, because we managed to have a good start. We were fighting all the race for quite high positions and it was a bit of a relief for the whole team to find ourselves fighting for the usual positions we used to fight for. Even though maybe the final result left us slightly disappointed, but the race itself was exciting. It was full of good fights. It was always promising pace. Our car was quite kind with the tyres and hopefully it’s a good confidence boost for the whole team, including myself.

    It’s no secret that Toro Rosso lost the way a little bit with an update introduced around the time of the German Grand Prix, which seems to have been rectified now, so how confidently do you approach the reaming races of the championship?

    DK: Well, like I said, Singapore gave us good indications. Obviously there were a lot of tests carried out by the people in the team and hopefully there was a few things discovered. Obviously we had a good Singapore but now we need a few more confirmations and hopefully they will arrive here in Sepang, even though the track layout is a bit different, maybe not as favourable as Singapore. Probably it won’t be an easy one for us but we will hope to have another confirmation that we are moving in the right direction from Singapore onwards.

    Q: You made the announcement in Monza about your retirement at the end of this season, it’ll be your 250thgrand prix in Abu Dhabi. Do you now arrive at these grands prix between now and the end of the season with a slightly different mindset? Are you determined to enjoy every experience, to take the most out of every grand prix?

    FM: Yes, definitely! I’ll just enjoy massively doing what I’m doing – since I always did in my life. In a way you can say I have less pressure now – but we do have a lot of pressure with this fight with Force India. I just want to give everything I can to finish well, to get the fourth place in the Championship and enjoy every race, enjoy every moment. I’m still really happy with my decisions so I’m sure there’s a lot to do in life for this second step so, as Jenson was saying before, it’s a really long career, so even if we are pretty young… y’know you stop pretty young, he’s 36, I’m 35 and you’re like, retired! That’s why there’s still a lot of things to do in life. I’m really ready for that and happy. I’ll have a little bit more time at home as well. So, yeah, just thinking… so many things for the future and enjoying every race, every moment in different countries, different places. Really it’s fantastic to see all the support from the fans. From everybody around the sport. Enjoying the moment.

    Q: Esteban, you’ve finished all of your grands prix so far. How do you assess your performance in qualifying and race compared with your team-mate?

    EO: Coming into the season with less experience, of course, it’s not an easy thing. We had some ups and downs I think. We are pretty happy with the first grand prix we did. I improved quite a lot during the weekend. Of course it was my first grand prix so the pace was not great but we were pretty happy with that. Then unfortunately in the second qualifying in Monza we had a problem so we couldn’t show our pace, but I think we could have done a great result there. And in Singapore it has been a bit more difficult. So, we have to put all the details together and come back stronger for this race.

    Q: If you look back through recent history, Alonso, Ricciardo, they all started out in a similar level team to the one you’re in at the moment, to learn the ropes in Formula One. Do you think another year at that level would be good for your development – especially, as you say, given that you came in, in a difficult situation quite late this year?

    EO: For sure. The more you drive, and more you take experience. Any year, any races would help me. For sure. Getting in, after three races, you start to discover everything and start to build up a strong relationship with the team and see how they work. It’s a lot of details that you have to put right and once they are right, you can start to see some performance.

    Q: Nico, Mercedes can wrap up its third consecutive Constructors’ Championship this weekend. How does this year compare from the team’s point of view to the two previous ones. What’s stood out for you about this year?

    NR: It’s been another incredible year really. Every time we think it can never repeat itself and be as good as that again, and yet we manage to do it again. And this year as well now, so early in the season we have the opportunity to clinch the Constructors’ Championship, which is phenomenal. Everybody’s done an unbelievable job. Very impressive.

    Q: It’s an open secret that the Mercedes team feel that your qualifying lap in Singapore is the best that you’ve driven since you’ve been with them – and Toto Wolff said it was the most complete, I think, performance he’d seen from you across the whole race weekend. What can you take out of that Singapore weekend that will make you a consistently strong competitor to the end of the season?

    NR: I don’t need to take anything from the Singapore weekend. It was a great result, great weekend and all, so I’m very happy about that, but now it’s in the past. Now I’m here in Sepang and ready to go. Of course I believe that I have a great chance to win here as well. Just going to try to go for that.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Nico, you are all the time insisting that you are not thinking about the championship. How can you avoid it when you are leading the championship?

    NR: It’s not that I don’t think about it – I’m aware of the situation, I’m aware of the points and whatever else – that’s fine but I try and focus on the race weekend I have in front of me because that’s been working really well for me to do that and not think about anything else. That’s it. I want to win here in Sepang and I’m going to go for that.

    Q: (Daniel Johnson – The Daily Telegraph) Another one for Nico. You guys leave no stone unturned in trying to beat each other – just out of interest, does that extend to things like the event you and Lewis were doing at the mall the other day? Are there silly little games that go on? Do you try and unsettle each other, nobble each other, anything like that?

    NR: It’s not quite that extreme, that we’d be doing stuff at the mall, no. It’s not. But yes, for sure, we’ll be pushing each other very hard on the race track and even off the race track in many different areas, yeah, definitely. It’s a great battle and everything counts.

    Q: (Chris Lyons- AP) Felipe, the calendar for next season came out with an asterisk next to Brazil saying it’s to be confirmed. Are you disappointed with the state of things in Brazil and how confident are you that it will stay on the calendar?

    FM: Well, to be honest, I think it’s very difficult to answer in a proper way. We are just racing and we don’t know what’s happened behind (the scenes) with the contracts. Sometimes you just see some pressures over a country because maybe something’s not working like Bernie –  or who decides – is thinking. We know that you always have pressures around. It’s not nice, definitely. Brazil is part of this sport, it’s part of Formula One since a very long time so it would be really disappointing to lose a race in Brazil even if I will not be there. But I will be supporting my country for new Brazilian drivers, so I know the situation in Brazil is not really easy for the moment economically, so this is maybe some fact around this. But you never know, maybe this is just some pressure but maybe this can happen as we saw it happened last year in Germany. I hope it will not happen to Sao Paulo, Interlagos. It’s also one of the most fun and great races to watch so I hope the best for them, for my country, for Brazil and I hope these guys will still enjoy their race in Brazil.

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) To all of you, how will the new tarmac affect your way of driving during the Grand Prix?

    Q: Let’s start with Jenson; have you done your track walk yet?

    JB: Er, no, but I’ve seen lots of pictures. It’s dark so that’s a major difference. I think it’s going to…  with the temperatures that we see here anyway are very high, so if it’s clear then the temperatures are going to be very high on track, which obviously has quite a big effect on the way the tyres work. It’s very smooth, from what I see. Obviously we’re going to try and watch every practice session that runs today. You get a better understanding. What else? And the last corner is obviously very different with the off-camber but yeah, I don’t know if it’s similar to Sochi or not but it seems like it, the bitumen, the way that the asphalt is. So it might be a completely different circuit, but we won’t know until tomorrow, probably get a bit of an understanding from watching GP2 and GP3.

    NR: It will be a big challenge because it will be very different and we all need to adapt to the new asphalt, which we don’t know how it’s going to handle here.

    EO: I have been around on a track walk but it will be my first time on this track so I come here as I don’t know how it was before.

    NH: Neutral, same for everyone but generally the smooth tarmac…  we’ve seen recently we perform quite well on that so hopefully again here.

    DK: I think I just copy and paste Jenson’s answer. It was perfect. It’s enough.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS.NL) For the five drivers who raced here before: what is your best Sepang memory?

    JB: I’m the oldest. Yeah, I won here which was a pretty good memory, back in ’09. It was also quite a strange race. The rain was so severe that we had to red flag the race and it wasn’t restarted. I won the race but I got half points which was a bit of a pain. It’s always been a great circuit to race on, it’s also the place where I scored my first podium in 2004. I was running in third place in 2002 as well. On the last lap my suspension failed and handed the third place to Michael Schumacher. So that would have been my first podium. So this place… I’ve got lots of memories from here.

    FM: Well, actually I always love this place, the circuit, the layout. I never won but I twice started on pole position, 2007, 2008. I will keep those memories but I was never on the podium here. Amazing. But I really love the circuit. I’ve had some great races, even if I wasn’t on the podium. Hope this one will be a better one.

    NR: Just the track which is a really cool track to drive on. That’s it.

    NH: I think my best or favourite memory would be qualifying 2010, coming here in my rookie year. I think it was only my second event, qualifying went  pretty well, like full wets. In the conditions it was going pretty well, I think I qualified fifth or something so that was good fun and probably my best memory here.

    DK: Yeah, actually quite a special track because I did my first ever race here in Formula BMW and won my first ever race in Formula BMW in single seaters, so it’s quite cool memories.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Esteban, you started in the Formula Three European championship when you were very young, you won the championship, you beat future Formula One star Max Verstappen. Then you moved to GP3, in your first season you won the championship. Now you’re in Formula One, the reality is very different. Can you make a comment on the main difficulties you are facing, the challenge is maybe higher than you expected or less?

    EO: No, I don’t think it’s harder than I was expecting. I was expecting it to be hard, coming after eleven Grands Prix or twelve Grands Prix. It’s never easy if you come in any championship at halfway through the season, all the drivers have had time to work on everything, on all the points and you arrive, you have to catch up everything again, so of course it’s tough. But at the end, you are working for the same thing and the important thing are the tracks. For sure there is much more things to do in F1 and you work with many more people. But at the end, it’s the same thing and the track is the important bit.

    eom/FIA transcript of the press conference

  • Rosberg wins Singapore GP to take championship lead; Hamilton takes third

    Rosberg wins Singapore GP to take championship lead; Hamilton takes third

    Singapore, 18 Sept. 2016: Nico Rosberg once again took control of the F1 Drivers’ Championship standings as he sealed his eighth win of the 2016 season just half a second clear of Red Bull’s Daniel Riccirado who almost overhauled the German in the final stages of the race. Lewis Hamilton was third.

    The race got off to a dramatic start as a hard charging Nico Hulkenberg powered forward from eighth on the grid. Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz was also trying to get ahead, however, and as the Spaniard moved across the pair collided. Hulkenberg was pitched into the pit wall. With his Force India heavily damaged and with debris strewn across the track the Safety Car was

    Nico Rosberg waves to the crowd after winning the night race at Singapore on Sunday. An FIA image
    Nico Rosberg waves to the crowd after winning the night race at Singapore on Sunday. An FIA image

    deployed, neutralizing the race.

    At the front, pole position man Rosberg had made a good start and held the lead ahead of Ricciardo who had also made a good getaway. Behind them, Lewis Hamilton held third place.

    However, fourth-on-the-grid Max Verstappen in the second Red Bull made a poor start and dropped back to eight place under the safety car. The Dutch teenager would spend the rest of the race toiling on the fringes of the top 10, mostly with Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat, before hauling himself up to P6 in the final third of the race.

    When the safety car left the track Rosberg began to cement himself into the lead and by the time of the first round of stops, the German was seven seconds ahead of the Australian, Hamilton a further four seconds back. At the rear of the field Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who had started in P22 due to a mechanical issue in qualifying, was already up to P10 as he passed slower cars and his soft tyres allowed him to stay out longer than rivals.

    For the drivers at the front the second stint saw Mercedes losed some ground as Ricciardo, on a second set of supersofts reduced Rosberg’s advantage to less than three seconds. Hamilton, struggling with brake issues, was chased down by Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and on lap 34 the Finn muscled his way past to claim P3 just before they made their second stop

    Vettel, meanwhile, was continuing to scythe through the order and by the time of his second stop he was sixth.

    As the final third of the race approached Hamilton made a last roll of the dice, making a third tyre stop on lap 45 for ultrasoft tyres.

    Fearing that Raikkonen might be overahauled in the final laps if he stayed out on old tyres, Ferrari reacted. The stop was not smooth, however, and the Finn emerged behind the champion, leading him to question the mechanics of the stop.

    At the front Rosberg was looking secure, but on lap 47 Red Bull too gambled. With the gap back to Hamilton now more than safe thanks to his stop, Ricciardo pitted for supersoft tyres.

    The Australian emerged some 27 seconds behind Rosberg and after briefly considering a reactive stop, Mercedes opted to leave Rosberg out on track.

    Across 14 intensely exciting laps Ricciardo almost succeeded. Within five laps he had taken more than 10 seconds out of Rosberg’s advantage and the seconds continued to fall away. He continued to press and by the final sector of the final lap he was inside DRS range as he and Rosberg hit traffic. The German held his nerve, however, and he kept Ricciardo at bay to cross the line just 0.488s ahead of the Red Bull.

    With Hamilton third ahead of Raikkonen, Vettel’s superb driver from P22 led to a deserved fifth place. Verstappen passed McLaren’s Fernando Alonso in the final third to take sixth place and behind the Spaniard Sergio Perez was eighth for Force India. The final points positions were taken by Kvyat and Renault’s Kevin Magnussen.

    eom/FIA press release

  • Hulkenberg to start in eighth place: Singapore GP

    Hulkenberg to start in eighth place: Singapore GP

    Singapore, 17 Sept 2016: Sahara Force India performed well in Saturday’s qualifying session for the Singapore Grand Prix with Nico Hulkenberg ending the day in eighth place ahead of Sergio Perez in tenth. However, Perez is expected to start the race from P18 following a grid penalty for yellow flag violations during a qualyfying session. The Mexican was also handed three penalty points on his licence for the two double yellow infringements and for overtaking under yellow. This is the first penalty on licence for him this season.
    Sahara Force India is currently placed in the fifth place in the Constructors Championship with 108 points, three points behind Williams. With Force India expected to be stronger in the fly-away Asian races, the fight for the fourth place assumes significance. Sergio Perez with 62 points is ahead of Nico Hulkenberg in the 8th place in the Driver’s Championship. Nico is once place behind with 46 points.
    The team had its best result in its nine years of Formula one, when it bagged 22 points with Nico and Sergio finishing fourth and fifth, just outside the podium in Belgium last month.
    The team is expecting to earn crucial points in the night race at Singapore.
    P8        Nico Hülkenberg       VJM09-03
    Q1: 1:46.081
    Q2: 1:44.737
    Q3: 1:44.479
    Nico: “I’m not entirely happy with eighth place. I believe there was more speed in the car – maybe two of three tenths – but it was quite a messy session and we couldn’t extract the maximum from it. We always felt that Q3 was a realistic target, but we faced some strong competition, especially from the Toro Rossos. It was quite hard to find my rhythm because I had a software issue in Q1 and then the yellow flags in Q2 meant I didn’t complete my second lap. Considering all the circumstances, eighth place is a reasonable result and I think we are in good shape for the race. The long run performance from yesterday looked solid and we’ve done the homework we need ahead of the race.”
    P10*     Sergio Perez              VJM09-02
    Q1: 1:45.204
    Q2: 1:44.703
    Q3: 1:44.582
    Sergio: “It was a very tricky session for me – pretty much like the rest of the weekend so far. We had a few technical issues yesterday and we had to make some compromises with the set-up to get a better feeling with the car, so to make Q3 was a good result. The final session was very tight and a couple of hundredths would have moved us up the grid. I’m disappointed to receive the grid penalty because I did significantly lift off for the yellow flags during Q2. Tomorrow’s race is going to be very long and the chance of a Safety Car is very high. It’s one of those races where just getting to the end gives you a chance of points: anything can happen and we need to make the most of every opportunity.”
    Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal
    “Even though we saw both our cars through to Q3, there was definitely a sense that we didn’t maximise our full potential this evening. Both drivers found it difficult to find their rhythm and there were various issues that disrupted the flow of qualifying on both sides of the garage. A few tenths here and there would have certainly moved us up the grid. Looking ahead to the race, I’m wary of making any bold predictions. It’s always a long race, close to the two-hour mark, and there will be plenty of opportunities to show our competitive race pace and hopefully collect some valuable points.”
    File photo of Nico Hulkenberg from Sahara Force India.
    File photo of Nico Hulkenberg from Sahara Force India.

    eom/Force India press release

     
  • Rosberg takes pole ahead of Ricciardo; Hamilton P3: Singapore GP

    Rosberg takes pole ahead of Ricciardo; Hamilton P3: Singapore GP

    Rosberg after taking Singapore pole on Sunday. An FIA image
    Rosberg after taking Singapore pole on Sunday. An FIA image

    Singapore, 17 Sept. 2016: Nico Rosberg set a blistering pace to claim pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix finishing half a second clear of Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo and seven tenths ahead of championship-leading team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

    FP1 got underway with Mercedes making the first move, both Hamilton and Rosberg taking to the track early on ultrasofts. Rosberg drew first blood with a time of 1:45. 316, but that was quickly bettered by Hamilton who went 1500ths of a second quicker.

    Kimi Raikkonen then took over at the top of the order with a lap of 1:44.964. Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen then slotted into P2, just seven hundredths of the a second behind the Finn.  As the team’s prepared for final runs Daniel Ricciardo hit the top of the timesheet with his first hot lap of 1:44.255.

    Sebastian Vettel was in trouble, however. “I think the front anti-roll bar broke,” said the German as he headed to the pit lane in P21, with six minutes to go.

    Ahead of the final runs the drop featured Renault’s Kevin Magnussen in P17, followed by Sauber’s Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson, the Manors of Pascal Wehrlein and the unfortunate Vettel in P22.

    And despite frantic work in the Ferrari garage, the team could not get Vettel out for a final run and the four-time Singapore Grand Prix winner exited qualifying in P22.

    Prior to the final runs it was Renault’s Jolyon Palmer who was the target man in P16 with a lap of 1:46.960 and in the final shake-up it was Sauber’s Ericsson who best beat the Briton’s benchmark to claim a Q2 berth. Out then went Magnussen in P17, followed by Nasr, Palmer, Wehrlein, Ocon and Vettel.

    Q2 again saw the Mercedes drivers take to the track early and Rosberg quickly hit the front, with a quick lap of 1:43.020, followed by Hamilton who was four tenths back.

    However, Red Bull Racing’s drivers took to the track with supersoft tyres and Ricciardo soon jumped to P3 with a time of 1:43.933, almost two tenths ahead of team-mate Max Verstappen in P4. That put them ahead of the ultrasoft–shod Ferrari of Raikkonen and Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz.

    Meanwhile, in the drop zone ahead of the final runs were: McLaren’s Jenson Button, Force India’s Sergio Perez, the Haas of Esteban Gutierrez, the second McLaren of Fernando Alonso, the second Haas of Romain Grosjean and Ericsson. The target man this time was Williams Felipe Massa in P10 with a time of 1:44.991.

    But the quest to beat him was only afforded to a few as Grosjean crashed his Haas to bring out the yellow flags. Alonso and Perez managed to get a time in, however, and their times meant that out went Williams’ Valtteri Bottas and Massa, Button, who also broke his steering in a scrape with the barriers on his final run, Gutierrez, Grosjean and Ericsson.

    Grosjean’s crash led to a 10-minute delay to the start of Q3 as repairs were done to the barriers at Turn 10.

    When the final session got underway it was Rosberg who took command, with the German setting a blistering lap of 1:42.584 to take P1 0.7s ahead of Hamilton in second. Raikkonen was third ahead of the Red Bulls of Ricciardo and Verstappen, with the Dutch driver saying poor grip had resulted in a “terrible lap”. Sainz was sixth ahead of Alonso, Hulkenberg, Perez and Kvyat.

    In the final runs the only drivers to make steps forward though were the Red Bulls. Ricciardo put in an excellent lap of 1:43.115 and when Hamilton failed to better his time from his first run the Australian took P2 to claim his second front-row start in a row in Singapore. Verstappen too improved, posting lap of 1:43.328 to take P4.

    Behind them, Raikkonen was fifth for Ferrari, ahead of the Toro Rossos of Sainz and Kvyat. Eighth place was taken by Hulkenberg, with Alonso ninth ahead of Perez.

    2016 Singapore Grand Prix – Qualifying
    1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:45.316 1:43.020 1:42.584
    2 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:44.255 1:43.933 1:43.115
    3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:45.167 1:43.471 1:43.288
    4 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:45.036 1:44.112 1:43.328
    5 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:44.964 1:44.159 1:43.540
    6 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:45.499 1:44.493 1:44.197
    7 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:45.291 1:44.475 1:44.469
    8 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:46.081 1:44.737 1:44.479
    9 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:45.373 1:44.653 1:44.553
    10 Sergio Perez Force India 1:45.204 1:44.703 1:44.582
    11 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:46.086 1:44.740
    12 Felipe Massa Williams 1:46.056 1:44.991
    13 Jenson Button McLaren 1:45.262 1:45.144
    14 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:45.465 1:45.593
    15 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:45.609 1:45.723
    16 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:46.427 1:47.827
    17 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:46.825
    18 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:46.860
    19 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:46.960
    20 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:47.667
    21 Esteban Ocon Manor 1:48.296
    22 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:49.116

     

    eom/FIA press release