INDIA in F1

Tag: F1

  • Being the first Dutch winner is always special: Verstappen

    DRIVERS – Jolyon PALMER (Renault), Romain GROSJEAN (Haas), Pascal WEHRLEIN (Manor), Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing), Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes), Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)
    PRESS CONFERENCE

    We’ll start without most recent race winner, the youngest ever Formula One race winner at 18, and Holland’s first grand prix winner. What’s the reaction been like and are we now going to see an army of Dutch fans coming to grands prix?
    Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, it was pretty crazy in Holland. Yeah, so the first Dutch winner I think it’s always very special, so I can call myself now the youngest and the oldest – something I’m the oldest in! Luckily, I didn’t go out too much in Holland on the streets, just enjoying my time a bit with family and friend but of course hopefully we’ll see more fans, that’s for sure.

    Renault has a new engine update, which their senior engineer has said should be worth somewhere up to half a second a lap. How did you find it in testing last week and what’s the plan for using that engine this weekend and in the coming grands prix?
    MV: I think it was a very positive step. I felt very comfortable with it. It was very positive that we gained so much, because it’s not so easy to find that out of a car. I’m looking forward to using it in Canada.

    So it’s Daniel here and you get it for the first time in Canada?
    MV: Yeah.

    Thank you. Nico, world championship leader, coming to you, you’ve owned this race track for the last three years. Does winning here mean more to you than any other venue?
    Nico ROSBERG: Yeah it does, because it’s my home race. I sleep in my apartment, get out the front door… I’ve lived here all my life, so it’s a very special place. Also, if there’s one race to win then it’s Monaco and the combination of all that makes it the most special race.

    Obviously in Spain was the first time in your three-year title battle sequence with your team-mate Lewis Hamilton that you’ve taken each other out and both scored no points. Are you in a position now though, personally, with more experience of these tense situations to just put it behind you and focus on winning this weekend?
    NR: I don’t know about experience playing into this, but for sure yeah it’s now a thing of the past, not thinking about it anymore. We’ve been through it and now looking forward. Just concentrating on Monaco and I want to try to win here and that’s that.

    Romain, coming to you: first race of a double header, if you like, of French-speaking race venues. How excited, though, is the American Haas team about racing in the Monaco Grand Prix?
    Romain GROSJEAN: Pretty much excited. It’s one of the races we wanted to do during the year. Of course having the first one… well, coming here for the first time is always a challenge, but on the other hand, it’s as well my home race – almost friends – so it’s great to be here. There’s a lot of support. Doing the track walk this morning was funny, we had cars stopping on the street asking for autographs and it made a mess. But yeah we had good fun and we’re looking forward to driving here.

    Well, you had three points scoring results from the first five races, but I understand you’ve got a new chassis after some handling issues. Could you tell us a little bit about that and how you’re feeling about the overall development of your car?
    RG: Yeah, to be honest we did a great job even though the results haven’t followed. We changed the chassis after the race in Barcelona because we have a big doubt about it and things felt better in the testing, so hopefully we can go back to a good car here and get the best of all the package.

    Thanks you for that. Jolyon, a two-time race winner here in GP2 in Monaco. You’ve been finding some consistency in the last couple of races but you’ve not appeared to be all that happy so far. Is that accurate and if so why?
    Jolyon PALMER: I’m pretty happy. I’m enjoying racing in Formula One. I’m happy to be back here as well, at a track that I love. I think I’ve just missed a little bit in qualifying in the last couple, but it’s been hundredths and a couple of tenths in Barcelona, but we had a lot of problems on Friday. Yeah, we had a very bad race in China and I didn’t race in Bahrain, but since then I think we are finding some consistency and it’s all coming together better.

    Obviously you’ve got updates on the engine as we were discussing with max a moment ago, but also updates on the chassis as well, based on last week’s test. It seemed to give you a few tenths; do you feel a move a little bit up the grid is imminent?
    JP: I think so. I think this track will suit us better already. I think the chassis is not too bad. We’re down on power but obviously Kevin has got the engine upgrade for this weekend, which will help already. The team are working really hard back in the factory to find a few tenths on the car and if we do that and a few tenths on engine then I think we’ll certainly moving up closer to the midfield and looking for points more regularly.

    Pascal, coming to you, only driver to do two days of testing last week in Spain, you drove the Mercedes as well as the Manor. Did you pick up anything from that experience that might help you and Manor to progress?
    Pascal WEHRLEIN: Of course I could see the differences between the cars. I mean, the day before I just drove the Manor and then the next day the Mercedes. But also last year I drove the Mercedes, so I know the differences between the cars, so that was nothing new for me.

    You’re in a battle with the Sauber team, which will have big financial consequences for the team that comes out ahead at the end of the season. How does that battle feel from the inside?
    PW: It’s cool. We are at the back at the moment and there is still a small gap to Sauber, but on some race tracks we manage to be quite close to them or even in front of them. That’s the target for this year, just to improve the care, to improve ourselves and manage to finish in front of them.

    Coming to you Sebastian, of course a former Monaco Grand Prix winner, but it’s hard to believe that Ferrari hasn’t won Monaco since 2001, 15 year ago. Do you feel a strong desire within the team to put that right?
    Sebastian VETTEL: Well, I think you could probably apply the statistics to many places. I think we all know that we want to bring Ferrari back to the top. Obviously the challenge is very difficult but the target is there, so then hopefully very, very soon you start having all these bad-sounding statistics and we rock up with a win from the year before.

    You were third in Spain but clearly Red Bull had the pace to match Ferrari in Barcelona, and they have a power unit upgrade as we’ve been hearing. So is Ferrari now in danger of being involved in a battle with Red Bull for second in the Constructors’ rather than the stated aim of challenging Mercedes for the title?
    SV: I think our aim is still looking forward and in that regard our aim is Mercedes. I think in Barcelona we had a bad Saturday, which explained the difficult race on Sunday, I terms of raw speed we should have been ahead but we weren’t. I said on the day well done to them and in particular to Max, but we move on. I think we have a strong package. We do have new bits here and there, so I think we obviously as I said want to make progress and want to make sure we close the gap to Mercedes rather than looking at what’s going on behind.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat)– Nico, how much would it mean to you to win here fourth time in a row, because only Senna has done it and especially after what happened in Barcelona?
    NR: I’m aware of the statistics of course, but it’s not something I’m concentrating on or even thinking about, because, as I’ve said even in the past couple of races, what I want to do this weekend is try and win this race, just because it’s Monaco and I love winning here and that’s it. That’s only what I’m thinking about. That’s it.

    Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Moto) Nico, has it become absolutely clear what happened with you at the start in Barcelona, so you simply made a mistake by no putting the switch in the right place, and could you tell us how easy it is to make a mistake in that mental state in which you all are at the start, which is obviously a very nervous moment, and how do you prepare yourself both mentally and technically before a racing start, during the formation lap?
    NR: What was the first part?

    Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Moto) Has it become clear that you made a mistake by not putting the switch into the ‘Strat 3’ setting, why were you not in the right engine mode?
    NR: Because it was in the wrong position. It’s my job to put it in the right position and that’s it. Pretty simple. Not much more to say with that. In terms of formation lap and start, it’s the same as always. Of course you need to think about what you’re doing. There’s a lot going on and that’s it. You need to come up with ways of making sure that everything is done properly. That’s it.

    Q: (Ralf Bach– Auto Bild) Nico, if you were the team principal of Mercedes, what would you tell both your drivers after the incident in Barcelona and before the Monaco race?
    NR: When am I going to answer that? I’m not the team principal. That’s not my job to even think about that. I have enough to think about myself to try to win this race, with all respect. I don’t know what I should answer to that. What is your opinion?

    MV: I would say keep going.

    NR: I’m sure you would! What would you say Ralf?

    (inaudible)

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – AP) Question for Max. From the outside you don’t seem to be feeling any pressure. You seem to take everything in your stride. Does the pressure get to you at all – especially now the spotlight’s on you because you’re the youngest winner of a race?
    MV: I think every driver has pressure but I turn it into positive pressure. As long as you’re enjoying it and you feel happy then, yeah, I think it’s the most important to have success. At the end I always try to do my best. I think that takes a lot of pressure away as well.

    Q: (Jonathan McEvoy – Daily Mail) To Nico. Have you a) spoken to Lewis since the race to discuss the events of Spain and b) when you get out to race this week will there be, from you, an obligation to race absolutely full out, not giving Lewis an inch – and if you need to shut the door on Lewis again, that you would do that?
    NR: So, if we’ve spoken or not, as always that needs to be kept internally. What I can say is that, between the two of us, it’s a thing of the past now, we’re moving on with everything and the relationship is the same as before. Now, going out on track, I’m not going to be thinking about Barcelona. I’ll take the same approach as always – flat out and do what’s necessary to try to win this grand prix, which is what I’ve come here to do.

    Q: (Leigh Diffey – NBC Sports) Sebastian, you rocked the motorsports world as a 21 year-old, could you share with us your thoughts on Max’s achievements as an 18 year-old.
    SV: I was in Formula Three so I can’t possibly share… but, yeah, in both cases probably the circumstances were very new. It wasn’t an expected win, probably little bit less for me at the time – still I think you’re first grand prix win is something… you’re over the moon. Something very difficult to grasp. I’m sure he felt now how it was and he wants to do it again. That’s how I felt back then. It’s up to all the rest of us to ensure it doesn’t happen too often.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – globoesporte.com) To Max. Max, you did a great performance in the last race, no question, but most impressive was the way you controlled the pressure from Kimi and all the pressure from the crowd, from the media also. Did you make a special preparation for that or is it something natural? It’s inside you?
    MV: To be honest I didn’t expect that so I didn’t do any special preparation I just put my helmet on, jumped in the car and suddenly I was leading the race. From there on you just try to do the best thing you can from the experiences you had before. The car was performing good as well, otherwise you can’t do those things. We had good traction out of the last chicane and I knew that was a strong point, so I was always trying to get a good exit and that gave me the race win.

    Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriere della Sera) To Sebastian, is this the toughest place where to show the improvements of Ferrari?
    SV: I think it’s one of the places where it’s difficult to read the strength of the car or weakness of the car. I think it’s a place where a driver can make more of a difference, a place where you need to have the confidence, as a driver in order to be able to make the difference, so of course it’s important which car you have, how confident you are but it’s probably more important here, the level of confidence, just going around, the trust in the circuit, because that allows you, compared to other tracks, let’s say, more normal race tracks, to extract a little bit more. So, I think the car is not as important maybe, as it is in Barcelona for example – or a normal race track.

    Q: (Daniel Johnson – The Telegraph) Question for Seb. If I can take you back to 2010. You’ve been in a position yourself where you and your team-mate have collided on track and it’s had difficult consequences. Can you give us a bit of an insight into what that was like in the immediate aftermath and any words of advice to Nico on how to deal with it going forwards?
    SV: I think everybody needs to decide himself what he wants to do – or not. I had a word with Mark back then, I always found that, yeah, if you collide none of the two is doing it on purpose because especially when your race stops. Yeah, I think it’s for everyone to handle and to decide how to handle. We had a very close fight until the end, we were talking about team orders during that year. Mostly for Mark because he was in a better place looking at the Championship. I was obviously not so keen to move over because I said I still have a chance to win – and then as it turned out obviously it was important – but all these things you never know in advance. I think it was also a different situation going into the last race with four drivers still being able to win the championship. Now it’s race [five]. They’re old and mature enough, Nico and Lewis. Whether they talked about it or not I don’t know, I don’t really care but it’s for them to manage.

    Q: (Byron Young – Daily Mirror) Nico, what’s the big secret about whether you and Lewis have even talked? I could understand data being secret or car settings or engine changes – but the fact you guys have talked, that’s open information isn’t it?
    NR: Because… of course I’ll try to give you as much information as I can because you’re writing for all of our supporters out there to have a good time and read some cool stuff – but there comes a point where at the same time we’re trying to keep a good spirit in the team and win lots of races. There’s a balance and some things are just better not to share.

    Q: inaudible – Byron Young – Daily Mirror???

    NR: I didn’t say it’s no comment. I just said it’s better to keep it internal, that part, and then I tried to elaborate on everything else.

    Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Question for Seb. Comparing this Ferrari to last year’s one, have you got the same level of confidence in the car? I mean the car speaks to you the same way as last year’s one?
    SV: Yeah, I think we’ve made a step forwards. It’s what we said from day one. It feels simply more grip, we have increase the downforce, we’ve worked a lot of the kinematics of the car. I think we’ve done a very big step forwards. It is a lot better than last year but equally you need to accept the challenge, that other people have improved their cars as well. I’m sure if we would race with this year’s car last year we could win the Championship by a country mile – but it’s not the case. Equally, everybody else in the pitlane is probably telling you probably the same story. You need to be there when it matters. At the moment we’re still a little bit behind. But, as I said, our target and all of focus, here at the track and back in Maranello, everyone is to make sure we improve our car and we close the gap. That’s it really. Does it suit my driving style? I think so, yes. Does it suit us? I think yes. Are we quick enough yet? Not yet.

    Q: (Jonathan McEvoy – Daily Mail) I actually had my hand up to ask before Byron made his remarks and I was going to ask something very similar. Maybe I can go about it another way. Given that it’s a media event – and I understand you normally answer everything very fully – but I don’t understand the reluctance to answer that. If we’re going to ask you things, that you could give us the answer when we’re not delving, I don’t think, into stuff that normally would be off limits. So I was wondering if you’re under instruction or whether you’ve had orders from above not to discuss that? That you’ve been briefed, in other words, not to do that?
    NR: As you know, I always try to answer your questions and yes, of course, we’ve spoken together, as a team also. How to we approach these happenings and everything. But actually now, with respect to this exact answer now, no there’s been no discussions at all. I just feel like not discussing that, and that’s it. It’s pretty simple.

    Q: (Ralf Bach – Sport Bild Motorsport) Pascal, last Tuesday evening, what did the Mercedes team tell you why you should test the car on Wednesday, what were the reasons?
    PW: Because they couldn’t finish their test programme on Tuesday.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS) Max, two wins a row, how realistic is that and can you even be happy finishing sixth on Sunday?
    MV: I will see. I’m going about it the same way as I did in Barcelona and we’ll see where that ends up. I think at the moment Mercedes still look very strong but we’ll try to find a really good set-up in the car and try to get very comfortable on this track because in the end that’s very important to go fast and we’ll see where it ends up.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) To all of you, for the first time we have the ultra-soft tyre for this race. What scenario do you predict for the weekend?
    RG: It looks nice! I like the colour. I tried them in Barcelona on a test day after the Spanish Grand Prix. They looked alright and I think it’s going to be interesting this year how they perform here. We know Pirelli has been going for harder compounds from the previous years when they came in so we will probably be closer to something we knew back in the past but here again, Monaco is a special track and we really have to see how they behave here and then I guess Canada is going to be a different story again.
    JP: We’ve never run them so it’s going to be the first chance for us but I think the supersoft was lasting  well here, it’s very easy on the tyres so I expect a good step in grip, more degradation, the usual thing from a softer tyre. Something new for us.
    PW: I’m looking forward to driving the ultrasoft here. We drove it in Barcelona in winter testing and I had a lot of degradation so it should be better here and of course, more grip, so I’m looking forward to it.
    SV: Well we found out about the tyre in general. I think it’s a bit like asking a rabbit how his first date went, if it went well? Probably he will tell you it was great but didn’t last very long. I think that’s a little bit how the tyre felt in Barcelona which is always great if you have more grip but we will see how long it lasts.
    NR: Just excited to have extra grip in qualifying. That’s it.
    MV: Yes, I think it’s good to go a bit more aggressive on the tyre choice, especially here for Monaco. I think last year the soft was just too hard so yeah, I’m looking forward to it. Bit more grip, I don’t think it will be as big between the soft and the supersoft but at least you gain a bit more grip. We will see in the race.

    Q: (Byron Young – Mirror) Nico, what did you and Lewis talk about? No, I know you can’t go there. Could you tell me the psychological value of a victory here in Monte Carlo because both you and Lewis like this race and you’re ahead in wins at the moment?
    NR: It’s a great race to win. That’s it. It always gives a positive boost to win this race, for sure, but like any other race but this is just a little bit extra. I love racing here and I would love to win on Sunday.

    Q: (Daniel Johnson – The Telegraph) Jolyon, you had your own teammate coming together in Barcelona. We didn’t really see much of it on the television. Can you talk us through what happened from your point of view and just secondly, are you fairly annoyed not to have been given the new engine here, because that’s going to hamper you quite a bit?
    JP: Firstly, the incident was just turn 13 in Barcelona before the chicane and Kevin was coming on fresh soft tyres and he came from a little bit back and lobbed up the inside. It was quite an aggressive move so I ended up being forced off the track, cut the corner and kept the place but we’re fine. He apologised straight afterwards and it’s fine. We went to the stewards but already there was no real need to do anything about it.
    And the engine? I would rather have the new engine of course but I didn’t test last week and I’m behind in the championship, so I think it’s normal that Kevin would get it for this one. I’ll get it for next time so I hope it’s good.

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) Nico, just want to ask you what impression Max has made on you as a driver, from your perspective, what you can see, what impression he’s made on you?
    NR: I congratulated him on the win of course, it was awesome and a great job, especially coming for the first time in the car. It’s not to be underestimated, with all the things you need to do, and different steering wheels and everything. For sure that wasn’t easy. And great for F1 also of course, lots of news about that.

    Q: (Peter Varkas – AutoMotor) Max, I don’t want to suggest that from here it can only get worse as you are 18, but after that spectacular win, what can be your realistic target for this season in particular? And how did you see the situation pace-wise between you and Daniel during the last weekend? In Q1 and Q2 you were quicker. In Q3 he has produced that surprisingly good lap but then in the first two stints you were quite on the same pace with him so how do you see it? Is he quicker than you thought, is he as quick or are you quicker than you thought?
    MV: What do you want me to say? I think as a driver you always feel that you are the faster one, no? Daniel is a great driver, you can clearly see that and from my side, I was still getting used to the car, even in the race I was still getting used to the car because it was the first time I was doing a race in the car. We’ll see. I was feeling good. In the test, after the race, I again learned some very important things about the car, how to get it better for me in qualifying terms. But that’s all a process and it will only start to get better. Even here I will learn again and it will take a few races before you are fully comfortable with all the systems. And yeah, about the race, I won the race, we’ll see what happens now in the next few races. I just stay calm, try to do the best I can and from there on we’ll see what position that is. Of course Mercedes is still very strong so it will be difficult to beat them at the moment but we’ll do our best.

    eom/FIA transcript of the Press Conference

  • Alfonso Celis completes 103 laps of testing for Force India

    Alfonso Celis completes 103 laps of testing for Force India

    Barcelona, 18 May 2016: 

    Sahara Force India completed the in-season Barcelona test with Alfonso Celis driving the VJM09 for a second day.
     
    Chassis: VJM09-02
    Laps: 103 laps
    Mileage: 479 km
    Best lap: 1:25.016 (P7)
     
    Alfonso Celis: “I am very pleased with the work I was able to do during these two days. It was quite a varied programme and I enjoyed it – especially feeling the car over the long runs. I am feeling much more comfortable in the car and I was able to help the team by bringing home a lot of data. I am getting much closer to the pace I want to show and I feel I can push the car harder with every run. ”
    Tom McCullough, Chief Race Engineer
    “We followed a similar programme to yesterday with the morning dedicated to aero work with various measuring instruments fitted to the car. The afternoon involved some high fuel running before a handful of performance runs at the end of the day. All in all it has been a successful test with the car covering202 laps, running reliably, and Alfonso getting further valuable experience in the car.”

    eom/Sahara Force India press release

    Alfonso Celis tests for Force India. A Sahara Force India image
    Alfonso Celis tests for Force India. A Sahara Force India image
  • Verstappen becomes youngest to win an F1 race at 18 years; Hamilton, Rosberg crash out after Lap 1

    Verstappen becomes youngest to win an F1 race at 18 years; Hamilton, Rosberg crash out after Lap 1

    Barcelone, 15 M

    Max Verstappen celebrates after winning the Spanish GP on Sunday. An FIA image
    Max Verstappen celebrates after winning the Spanish GP on Sunday. An FIA image

    ay 2016: Max Verstappen became Formula One’s youngest ever race winner with victory in an enthralling Spanish Grand Prix that saw Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg collide at the start.

    Making his debut for Red Bull Racing, Verstappen took the lead midway through the race and remained icy cool in the closing stage as he came under intense pressure from Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen. He crossed the line just 0.6s ahead of the Finn to win aged just 18 years and 227 days, breaking Sebastian Vettel’s seven-year-old record, set when the four-time champion was 21 years old.

    At the start pole position man Lewis Hamilton made a poor getaway and was passed by team-mate Nico Rosberg. Attempting fight back, Hamilton closed rapidly on his rival as they exited Turn 3 and went to dive down the inside of Rosberg’s car. However, the championship leader was already moving onto the racing line, with the result that Hamilton went onto the grass. He lost control and spun into the back of Rosberg’s car. Both Mercedes were pitched into into the Turn Four gravel trap and out of the race.

    The collision meant that third-on-the-grid Daniel Ricciardo seized the race lead ahead of Max Verstappen, making his Red Bull Racing  debut. Carlos Sainz, meanwhile, took third place, with the Toro Rosso driver surging through from P8 at the start as the Ferrari’s of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen slipped back.

    Behind Sainz, however, were the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen and by lap 10 both had cleared the Spaniard to begin a fascinating race-long battle with the Red Bulls.

    The first stint saw Riccirado hold his lead. The Australian eventually pitted on lap 11 to abandon his starting soft tyres for a set of medium tyres. Verstappen was then brought in a lap later for a set of medium tyres. The Dutch driver was joined in pit lane by Raikkonen, who would shadow the youngster throughout.

    Vettel though stayed on track, seeking to maintain pace in the hope of gaining an advantage in the next phase of the race. The Ferrari driver eventually headed for the pit lane on lap 15 and like those around him he also took on medium tyres.

    It was the second stint that shaped the race result. By lap 25 the gaps at the front were closing as Ricciardo encountered traffic and Vettel’s newer tyres began to give him an advantage.

    With the gaps between the main protagonists hovering around the one-second mark, Ricciardo pitted again on lap 28, taking on a set of soft compound tyres. Ferrari immediately responded, bringing Vettel in on the next lap for the same compound. Verstappen and Raikkonen continued to circulate, however, with Verstappen soon becoming the youngest driver to ever lead a grand prix.

    On soft tyres, Ricciardo and Vettel would need to make another pit stop, but as the laps counted down it become increasingly clear that Max and Raikkonen would attempt a two-stop race.

    Verstappen made his final stop on lap 34 for more mediums and Raikkonen pitted fro the same compound a lap later. It would be the last stop for the pair.

    Vettel then made his bid podium glory. Having not had the chance to undercut Ricciardo in the first stint, Ferrari went aggressive with the German’s third stop, pitting the four-time champion after just eight laps on his soft tyres. Ricciardo, meanwhile, nursed his tyres to lap 43, when he also took on another set of medium tyres.

    Verstappen now led from Raikkonen, with Vettel third and Ricciardo fourth. Raikkonen piled on the pressure, but Verstappen was flawless across his long final stint. The teenager managed his pace and tyre-life with aplomb and as the race entered its final laps he began to look ever more comfortbale.

    It was less so for Vettel. Ricciardo, with new tyres onboard, began to exert pressure and closed right up behind the German. The pressure ended on the penultimate when Ricciardo’s left-rear tyre suddenly deflated. The Australian had a enough time in hand, however, to make a stop for new tyres and hold the position to the flag.

    Ahead, however, Verstappen was making history, crossing the line ahead of Raikkone. Vettel was third ahead of Ricciardo, while Williams’ Valtteri Bottas was a lonely fifth. Carlos Sainz drove an excellent race to finish sixth in front of his home fans and the Spaniard finished ahead of Force India’s Sergio Perez, Williams Felipe Mass and McLaren’s Jenson Button. The final point on offer went to Daniil Kvyat on his return to Toro Rosso.

    2016 Spanish Grand Prix – Race
    1 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 66 laps – 1h41m40.017s
    2 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari +0.616
    3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari +5.581
    4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing +43.950
    5 Valtteri Bottas Williams +45.271
    6 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso +61.395
    7 Sergio Perez Force India +79.358
    8 Felipe Massa Williams +80.707
    9 Jenson Button McLaren +1 lap
    10 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso +1 lap
    11 Esteban Gutierrez Haas +1 lap
    12 Marcus Ericsson Sauber +1 lap
    13 Jolyon Palmer Renault +1 lap
    14 Kevin Magnussen Renault +1 lap
    15 Felipe Nasr Sauber +1 lap
    16 Pascal Wehrlein Manor +1 lap
    17 Rio Haryanto Manor DNF
    18 Romain Grosjean Haas DNF
    19 Fernando Alonso McLaren DNF
    20 Nico Hulkenberg Force India DNF
    21 Nico Rosberg Mercedes DNF
    22 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes DNF

    eom/FIA press release

  • Perez keeps Massa in check to finish P7: Spanish GP

    Perez keeps Massa in check to finish P7: Spanish GP

    Sahara Force India scored six points in today’s Spanish Grand Prix with Sergio Perez racing to seventh place. Teammate Nico Hulkenberg was an early retirement following an oil leak and fire. According to reports, team Principal Vijay Mallya did not visit Spain as was expected.

    Sergio Perez (MEX) Sahara Force India F1 VJM09 makes a pit stop. Spanish Grand Prix, Sunday 17th May 2016. Barcelona, Spain.
    Sergio Perez (MEX) Sahara Force India F1 VJM09 makes a pit stop.
    Spanish Grand Prix, Sunday 17th May 2016. Barcelona, Spain.
    P7        Sergio Perez              VJM09-02
    Strategy: Used Soft (9 laps), New Medium (26 laps), New Medium (31 laps)
    Sergio: “It was a very good race and I think we managed to get the maximum result we could hope to achieve today. We were able to keep some very fast cars behind us and we capitalised on the accident on the first lap [between Hamilton and Rosberg] to bring home a good amount of points. I had to fend off Felipe [Massa] in the last three laps: I was on very old tyres and he was closing in on me, but I managed to defend my position. This was pretty much the only action I had all afternoon; the rest of my race was quite lonely, which helped me look after the tyres and allowed me to defend in the final few laps. We had a good strategy that helped us leapfrog the Haas and brought us this good result on a track that has never been our strongest.”
    DNF     Nico Hülkenberg       VJM09-03
    Strategy: New Soft (10 laps), New Medium (10 laps, DNF)
    Nico: “It’s frustrating not to finish another race. I saw some smoke coming from the back of my car and then it developed into a fire so I had to park quickly at the side of the track. It’s a shame because I missed the chance to fight for points and we also missed out on learning more about the car in race conditions. Sometimes in racing you have periods when things don’t go your way, but you have to keep the faith and believe that sooner or later your luck will change. There are also some positives to take away from this weekend because we’ve made progress with the car and I think the performance will continue to improve. So we will keep working hard and come back stronger at the next one.”
    Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal
    “It’s been quite an eventful weekend for us, so it’s fairly satisfying to be leaving Barcelona with six points in our pocket. We made a good step with the car, allowing Sergio to run solidly inside the top ten all afternoon. It’s a track with limited strategy options and few overtaking opportunities so it was quite a lonely and straightforward race for him. On the other side of the garage, Nico was out of luck with an oil leak causing a fire and forcing an early retirement. Thankfully Nico was able to park up and helped the marshals extinguish the fire. So it’s been another mixed weekend, but I think our improved performance bodes well for the remainder of the season. As we learn more about this car we have the potential to continue scoring good points at the upcoming races.”
  • Hamilton on pole ahead of Rosberg; Red Bulls beat Ferrari to take 2nd row

    Hamilton on pole ahead of Rosberg; Red Bulls beat Ferrari to take 2nd row

    Hamilton after taking Spanish pole ahead of Rosberg on Saturday. An AMG Mercedes image
    Hamilton after taking Spanish pole ahead of Rosberg on Saturday. An AMG Mercedes image

    Barcelona, 14 May 2016: Lewis Hamilton claimed his third pole position of the season at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, finishing three tenths of a second ahead of championship leader Nico Rosberg as Red Bull Racing claimed row two on the grid ahead of Ferrari.

    Hamilton’s first flying lap of the final Q3 segment was marred by a big lock up into Turn 10 and the mistake left Hamilton with a time of 1:23. 277. Rosberg easily eclipsed that with his first lap, setting a clean-lap benchmark of 1:22.475.

    Hamilton’s early Q3 error also led to the Mercedes being split as new Red Bull Racing recruit, impressive all weekend, put in an excellent opening lap of 1:23.203.

    Behind Hamilton after the first runs were Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen in P4 and P5 respectively. However, Daniel Ricciardo in the second Red Bull had yet to show his hand.

    Australian had been forced to make take to the track late in Q2 for a cautionary tour in case his lap time was in danger of not getting him through and that left him with just single set of new soft tyres for the final segment.

    However, when the opportunity presented itself, Ricciardo delivered a superb lap of 1:22.680 to claim P3 behind the Mercedes. The Australian was the only non-work Mercedes to dip below the 1m23s barrier.

    Verstappen tried to react and the 18-year-old did make a small improvement but it wasn’t enough to beat his team-mate and Ricciardo’s lap was good enough to beat out his new team-mate by four tenths of a second. A strong message to the youngster at the start of what is sure to be a fascinating intra-team battle for the rest of this season.

    The good news for Red Bull is that neither Ferrari driver could dent the Milton Keynes team’s advantage. Raikkonen delivered the best lap for the Italian squad, but it was two hundredths of a second shy of Verstappen’s best and so the Finn is set to line up at the front of row three as he two tenths clear of team-mate Vettel.

    Behind them, Valtteri Bottas was seventh for Williams, while Carlos Sainz took eighth spot for Toro Rosso. It was a solid result for the Spaniard in front of his home crowd and on a weekend where he faced a new team-mate in the shape of former Red Bull Racing man Daniil Kvyat. The Russian has had a tricky weekend so far and he was elimimated in Q2 in P13.

    It was a much better day for Fernando Alonso. The two-time champion delivered an excellent Q2 lap in front of his home fans to claim P10 and take McLaren into the top-10 shootout for the first time this season.

    Alonso finished in P10 in the final segment behind Force India’s Sergio Perez, but the result will be huge result for McLaren and Honda.

    Behind Alonso, and eliminated at the end of Q2 were Nico Hulkenberg in the second Force India, P12 man Jenson Button in the second McLaren, Kvyat, Haas’ Romain Grosjean, Renault’s Kevin Magnussen and the second Haas of Esteban Gutierrez.

    The big casualty of the opening Q1 segment was Williams’ Felipe Massa. The Brazilian completed a single run but the time was not good enough and he was forced to watch from the garage as he was pushed down the order. He finished in P18 behind Renault’s Jolyon Palmer. Also eliminated in the opening segment were the Saubers of Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr and the Manors or Pascal Wehrlein and P22 man Rio Haryanto.

    2016 Spanish Grand Prix
    1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:23.214 1:22.159 1:22.000
    2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:23.002 1:22.759 1:22.280
    3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:23.749 1:23.585 1:22.680
    4 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:23.578 1:23.178 1:23.087
    5 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:23.796 1:23.504 1:23.113
    6 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:24.124 1:23.688 1:23.334
    7 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:24.251 1:24.023 1:23.522
    8 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:24.496 1:24.077 1:23.643
    9 Sergio Perez Force India 1:24.698 1:24.003 1:23.782
    10 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:24.578 1:24.192 1:23.981
    11 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:24.463 1:24.203
    12 Jenson Button McLaren 1:24.583 1:24.348
    13 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:24.696 1:24.445
    14 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:24.716 1:24.480
    15 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:24.669 1:24.625
    16 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:24.406 1:24.778
    17 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:24.903 
    18 Felipe Massa Williams 1:24.941 
    19 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:25.202 
    20 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:25.579
    21 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:25.745 
    22 Rio Haryanto Manor 1:25.939

    eom/FIA press release

  • Force India has done a great job technically and the upgrades are working: Bob Fernley

    Force India has done a great job technically and the upgrades are working: Bob Fernley

    Fri PC 13may2016 Spain FIA picTEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Cyril ABITEBOUL (Renault Sport), Yusuke HASEGAWA (Honda), Robert FERNLEY (Force India), Christian HORNER (Red Bull Racing), Toto WOLFF (Mercedes), Maurizio ARRIVABENE (Ferrari)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Let’s start with a question to you all. After much debate and discussion the FIA has now confirmed the revised engine regulations for 2017 to 2020. Are you pleased with the final agreement? Maybe we could start with Cyril.
    Cyril ABITEBOUL: Yeah, I mean, it’s an agreement, so we are pleased with this agreement in particular, but I think what’s good now is to have a clear understanding of what’s coming up for the next few years. We all know stability is important, so we have agreed for some stability up to 2020. We have also agreed for price reduction for customer teams, that’s clear, that’s agreed. There is also a clear target to get the performance to converge, because we all believe that it’s important for Formula One. We believe it is happening anyway, but there is this clear target. It cannot be a guarantee, because no one can guarantee performance. You can’t guarantee performance in the wind tunnel, same thing with engine. But we all know what we have to do. It’s good, it’s a relief, because we know what we have to do and we can make plans for the future.

    Maurizio?
    Maurizio ARRIVABENE: I’m very happy about that, because the most important news is that they talk and they move and that has opened the competitiveness for all of us and also the development. In terms of stability it’s absolutely fine, so I have no doubt that this decision is going to help the sport.

    Robert?
    Robert FERNLEY: I think we’ll reserve our position.

    Meaning?
    RF: We’ll reserve our position.

    Hasegawa-san, your thoughts?
    Yusuke HASEGAWA: Yes, not everything is good to the engine manufacturer, but it’s good to fix the rules and I believe the rules continue to 2020, so the rule stability is very good to us as a big company so it is good.

    Christian?
    Christian HORNER: I think what Bob was trying to say is that it is a little underwhelming. It’s a very soft agreement between the manufacturers and the FIA. It tickles the price, deals a little bit with convergence, the obligation to supply doesn’t really apply, so it’s a very weak agreement. Unfortunately it’s a shame more couldn’t be done, but I suppose if you look on the bright side it’s better than nothing.

    A weak agreement Toto?
    Toto WOLFF: I just want to digest what I just heard in the last five minutes. We achieved a major price reduction over two years. We have opened up development scope for others to catch up. We have designed an obligation to supply so no team runs out of an engine contract. We have found a mechanism how performance convergence could be trigged. Lots of good things, many months of hard work in trying to get everybody on the same page, I think it’s a good step forward.

    OK, a few individual questions then, starting with Cyril. We’re waiting to see what the engine upgrade brings. Can you tell us a little bit about the strategy behind the 2016 development programme and what you expect this upgrade to bring in terms of lap time?
    CA: Well, the strategy is fairly straightforward. Quite opposite to what’s happening in the chassis regulation with a major change between ’16 and ’17, nothing changed on the engine regulation between ’16 and ’17, so anything you can bring in ’16 is good for ’16 and ’17, so there is no question mark or debate about how do you… do I split my resources between this year and next year? That’s part of the development strategy, that’s part of the programme. It’s not all that we have in the pipeline; it’s a good chunk of it. It’s a good chunk for this year and we hope that it will be reducing some of the gap to the gentleman sitting in the front row to the benefit of Christian and Red Bull.

    Robert, coming back to you: tough start to the year, eight points on the board after four races. You’ve brought some updates this weekend, but can you sum up where you are in early 2016 and where you’re heading?
    RF: Well, from our point of view it’s disappointing that the results that we have don’t justify the car and it’s the exact opposite of where we were last year, where the results really flattered us to a certain degree. We’ve had two races where both cars got taken out in the first lap and the other two races, where a red flag and the safety car didn’t help out strategies at all. I think we just have to keep doing the right things all the time and it’ll come back to us. I’m very confident. The team is doing a great job technically. This upgrade appears to be working where we want it and we’ll climb our way back to where we want to be.

    Thank you for that. Hasegawa-san, going back to the discussion about engine regulations, obviously part of this new FIA agreement regards manufacturers supplying more than one team. Honda has always maintained it would welcome supplying multiple teams in Formula One, but have you actually begun any negotiations with anybody for 2017.
    YH: As a matter of fact, we don’t have concrete negotiations, although we have some conversations with some teams, but unfortunately we can’t make a conclusion with some teams. Currently our position is that we have to wait until the situation changes.

    But it’s true to say that you still welcome the opportunity to supply a different team?
    YH: Welcome is a different word. I think I have an obligation to contribute to Formula One society, so we are preparing our resource, but still we are not strong enough to provide multiple teams. We are preparing now.

    Toto, back to you. The team wrote and open letter to the fans after all the conspiracy theories circulating around Lewis Hamilton’s technical problems. How did that come about and what was achieved by it?
    Toto WOLFF: Well, since a while already we are trying to have a pretty transparent communication with all the stakeholders. We engage a lot through social media with our fans and this was one more exercise in that direction, which we felt was necessary to say where we are coming from.

    And how do you feel it worked out?
    TW: I don’t know. Clearly with Lewis and Nico in the car they polarise. There’s always going to be controversy around that, but I feel it worked out OK.

    OK, thanks for that. Christian, obviously the big talking point going into this weekend is the switch of Daniil Kvyat and Max Verstappen. What part did you play in that and how hard do you think it will be for Verstappen to adjust to your car mid-season, given how little Formula One experience he has?
    CH: I think Red Bull are in a unique situation where we’ve got four drivers contracted to the team. Two have always been loaned to Toro Rosso and within their contracts we have the ability to move drivers around and with the benefit of four relatively competitive cockpits we have the ability unlike other teams to move drivers from team to team. There’s been some discussion for a little while, because obviously we monitor and follow the performance of each of the drivers very carefully, not only in the car but outside the car, through the development programme and through the tools we have back at the factory as well and basically we reached a conclusion to say there’s never an ideal time to move things around but if we are going to move it why don’t we get on with it, do it in time for the European season. It puts our best foot forward in Red Bull Racing, it gives Dany Kvyat the chance to continue to develop in the Toro Rosso environment and that was the basis of the decision. In the meantime it also allows us to tidy up options and secure things for the future as well, so all very positive.

    Coming to you Maurizio: the cars are a lot faster this year than in 2015. I think Kimi was three seconds quicker in that FP2 session than he was 12 months ago. In terms of your performance as a team do you feel that until now you haven’t been able to show the real Ferrari performance due to the various issues that you’ve had at the races?
    MA: It’s true, but can you repeat… our car is faster, three seconds to last year?

    FP2 last year, yes.
    MA: Thank you, I like to hear that! The problem is they [Mercedes] are faster than us! No, I mean we have a programme of development. We try very, very hard, taking also a big risk at the start of the season. We have also a bit of bad luck, being honest. But I’ve said many, many times this Mercedes teams is the strongest of the last 10 years. So to beat them you need to take some risks and you need to work very, very hard. I’m talking about this with respect for them but with determination that sooner or later we can catch up.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Vladimir Rogovets – Sb Belarus) We see here representatives of different teams. My question is for all. In Formula One it’s very important to have good driver, good chassis and good engine – how many per cent can you give to the role of driver, the importance engine, of chassis?
    CA: I think you should ask Toto, because he has all of it!

    TW: One doesn’t go without the other. You cannot give percentages. The best driver in a weak chassis will not be competitive and, if he has a weak engine, it will not help either. So you need to align the stars, try to get the best possible driver in the best possible car with a very competitive engine.

    Anyone else like to have a stab at it? Christian, your thoughts.
    CH: Yeah, I think Formula One, the three elements should have equal weight: the driver, the chassis and the engine. So if one of those elements isn’t quite right, the other two can compensate. I think in today’s Formula One, with the recent engine changes I think we’ve offset that balance, and so you’ve probably got – I don’t know – 50 per cent engine, 25 per cent chassis, 25 per cent driver. I think the encouraging thing is the regulations that are in the pipeline for next year should rebalance that: it should make chassis a little bit more of a factor, which is going to challenge the driver more. So, hopefully for 2017 it should balance up a little.

    Do you agree with those ratios Robert?
    RF: I think there’s an old saying that a good driver can always make a poor car look good – but not the other way around. So I think both of them are important.

    Hasegawa-san, any thoughts on this?
    YH: It is a bit difficult to tell the number. To me, every element has a one-third importance I think – to me.

    Maurizio?
    MA: I’m not good with percentages but being logical and straightforward, how can you go there and run around without the driver? And then you need to also have a good driver. At the moment it’s a good balance in between the three. Maybe the engine is more important this year without doing percentages. Next year, I agree with Christian, you could have the chassis that is going to take up a bit more importance, making all the races a bit more interesting and also challenging the drivers’ ability. But I think, looking at this year, it’s very spread out between the driver, chassis and engine – and if I have to talk in percentages, with something more for the engine.

    Cyril, you tossed the question to Toto at the beginning. Do you want to say anything about it?
    CA: I think in theory we would like an equal breakdown between the three elements – but that never happens. The one thing that should not happen is that the engine is taking too much weight for the simple reason that you have fewer engine suppliers than you have teams. So, if suddenly the engine is taking more weight you are giving too much power to one single entity, which is exactly what happened in truth for Mercedes. Nothing wrong with that, just because they did a brilliant job – but it’s never too good for the sport.

    Q: (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas) Yesterday in this room Lewis Hamilton said something like “Ferrari is hungry to win, of course, but we still have potential to develop our engine.” I would like to ask Mr Arrivabene how optimistic you can be this year trying to beat Mercedes when the driver says something like that? And is Ferrari able to develop still the engine this year?
    MA: Looking at the first four races saying that I’m optimistic… it’s a bit too much. But of course because we know exactly what’s happened there. In Melbourne victory was absolutely possible. In Bahrain maybe yes, and then we have two different circumstances in the other two races. Of course I’m optimistic. If you’re asking me when, most probably we have to share the question in between me and him to understand precisely but I mean of course we are trying to do our best, and we are determined and optimistic.

    Q: (Rodrigo Franca – VIP Magazine) Question for all. If each one of you can make a single change to the regulations for next year, what would it be?
    CH: Mercedes engines for everybody free of charge.
    And in the real world?
    CH: Well, we have a chassis regulation change. I think anything that gives the driver more predominance… Formula One is about man and machine, or woman and machine at the absolute limit. I think at the moment the drivers have too much of an easy time. We don’t see or get to appreciate their skill levels – which are huge. I think anything that can be encouraged within the regulations that differentiates more between the drivers, so we get to appreciate more the real skill they have, I’d be all for.

    Toto?
    TW: I think if we leave everything as it is now, we have changed the regulations for a new aerodynamic concept for next year and that’s pretty exciting. I’m actually quite happy with the direction we are heading towards.

    Maurizio?
    MA: I’m quite happy too, being honest. Concerning the show, I think from my point of few, as Ferrari, we are building car, engine, gearbox and chassis and not growing driver, so for us it’s good what we have. If you are asking me what you really, really like to change, I threw up on the table maybe ban the simulator. In this way you can go testing to the track, you can promote Formula One, you are not going to spend millions to update the simulator. Why not? You have to think that keeping the exclusivity of Formula One, it doesn’t mean that Formula One has to be viewed only at the race time and disappearing in between the grand prix. I mean to promote Formula One you have to see the car running and to test the tyre you have to do testing. Now we have something that, in my opinion is quite artificial like the simulator. If you are asking me, OK, tell me what you want to change. It is not a proposal for FIA. It is my thought.

    Cyril
    CA: Well, as said, we know what we have now and it’s too late anyway to change but the one regret that we have is on fuel limitation, on fuel quantity. Because even though we support and appreciate the message that Formula One needs to be fuel efficient, the product is fuel-efficient first and foremost and secondly the fuel quantity limitation is going against the performance convergence which we all think is important. So if you are to ask me that, the one which I would waive, also because we want the driver to be constantly in a situation to attack and not to have to manage too carefully their fuel, so that would be the only one – but it’s a small detail.

    And how much fuel in a perfect world would you want to give them?
    CA: I would take away completely the quantity just for the message. Formula One is not endurance, it is not LMP1, it is a short race, it is about being able to attack constantly. So it’s joining a little bit the point made by Christian a bit earlier. If you ask me what is the fuel quantity that is needed in order to be fuel sustainable at all races, I think we are talking about three to five kilograms of fuel will make it. But again, just for the sake of the message and the simplicity of the message and not have negativity that Formula One is about precious drivers and so on and so forth, I would take away any limitation.

    Hasagawa-san?
    YH: This is also a personal opinion, so not a proposal for the FIA but if we could reduce the penalty of the number of the usage of the engine it would be nice. Of course I respect the longer mileage engine and the durability is a very important challenge for the engine people but the current penalties, I think are too big and complicated to introduce to the fans. I think we should be better to reduce the penalty to the engine change on usage on engines.

    Bob?
    RF: I think there’s a lot of work gone into producing the regulations for next year which I’m quite comfortable with as they are – but I think the underlying problems for Formula One are in what is a very inequitable distribution of income. I think we need to get that right to make sure its sustainable.
    Q: (Sergio Alvarez – One Magazine) Maurizio, this weekend this Spanish Grand Prix is the anniversary of Michael Schumacher’s first win for Ferrari; is there any special feeling inside the team and do you remember what you were doing that Sunday?
    MA: Yes, Michael is in our hearts every single day. He’s part of the history of Ferrari. I was here that day and I remember very well the hug that Michael gave to me later on after the race and what we were drinking in the cup. It was a very very good feeling. I think it was wine or something. I don’t like… being an Italian, I don’t drink wine! It was something that for me was very strange but good.
    TW: I don’t remember unfortunately. I remember those glorious Schumacher years, an era when Ferrari was dominant with Michael there and like he’s very very much part of Ferrari, he’s very much part of Mercedes as well but for that particular Sunday, no recollection.
    CH: Yes, I remember it very well. I was watching it on the TV. I remember being a Williams supporter at the time and David Coulthard and Damon Hill both managed to screw it up and Michael did a great job that day in the rain, in conditions that were pretty appalling. It’s a great equaliser and in a car that was nowhere near the level of a Williams performance, he was in a class of his own that day and it was a very very impressive drive.
    RF: This goes back to what I said before, that a great driver often makes an underperforming chassis look very very good, and that’s what Michael did. He was quite remarkable.
    YH: When was that? Sorry, I don’t remember. I wasn’t in Formula One.
    CA: I think I was working on my exams unfortunately.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Cyril, you said earlier on that performance convergence is a target. Fabrice Lom said earlier on that it will be monitored rather than regulated. Now are the four power units suppliers  represented here confident that convergence can actually be achieved within certain limits, two per cent or 0.3s? And that one or other team won’t possibly be fudging their performance for as long as this monitoring is carrying on and then just shooting off ahead on their own thereafter?
    CA: That’s one hell of a tactic. No I think that’s what we have to aim for, that’s the target, that’s our ambition and I think frankly that’s achievable. When I look at what we have on our dyno, what we have on simulation but also on dyno, so I’m talking about physical product, we really have a good good hope that we can do that, so obviously just looking at what we are doing. What I don’t know is what Mercedes, Ferrari, Honda are doing but there is naturally a law of diminishing returns, as we all know, which, after some time, is starting to kick in. Maybe we need to ask the gentlemen in front what is their plan, but I think it’s achievable and talking about the tactics that will be followed by any team in order to change, to create a reaction in change, frankly I think that’s a bit remote and I think there is an element of change that will not be controlled by such a team that would kick off the process so I don’t really believe that.
    MA: I think in our position we will continue to develop our engine and without stopping that for sure so then if, somehow, the convergence is achieved, it’s something that we need to discuss, but no discussion that the developing and looking for the performance is in the DNA of our team.
    TW: Yeah, I would agree. The regulation stays stable, the development scope is opened up a bit so it is pretty logical that the field is going to converge. We are going to try to do everything to not make this happen.
    YH: Even if we don’t have a rule, we have to catch up, otherwise we can’t be here, I think. Naturally we have to catch up, yes.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Toto, your company: although the team is based in the UK, the head office is based in Germany. Cyril, exactly the same with yours except that it’s France. Christian, yours is Austria and the UK. With this looming Brexit vote coming up, have you looked at the impact on a British organisation with a European head office and what could possibly happen operationally? I’m not asking  for political comment at all, but purely operationally, how you see it could affect your teams in future?
    CH: Well, we had George Osborne come round the other day but he never mentioned Brexit which was quite impressive. Look, we’re a sporting team, we’re based in the UK, we’re not going to get involved in politics. If it happens, it happens. If it stays it doesn’t make a great deal of difference to us, so we’ll deal with it as and when, if it should happen.
    TW: When I took the job in 2013 I was told by my boss, Dieter Zetsche, don’t comment on politics so I’m not commenting on politics. We’re sporting, as Christian says, and we just have to get on with our job.
    CA: Without talking about politics, the only thing we would have to look at carefully is the effect on the currency, because as an organisation we are exposed to a number of foreign exchange rates including dollars because the revenue of FOM is not euros, it’s dollars so we would have some impact there. But apart from that, I don’t see any other implications.

    Q: (Fabrizio Corgnati – diariodelweb.com) For Ferrari, Mercedes, Renault and Honda: as manufacturers, do you think that modern Formula One still gives a good return of investment to help improving the road car sales?
    YH: Technical side or promotion side? Marketing side. Of course it is very difficult to say, the current Honda position is not a very good effect to the mass production but definitely, the image of Formula One can still have a good image for the mass production side as well, yes.
    CA: Well, obviously I think we reply to that answer with the decision that we made at the end of last year and obviously, as you can imagine, we’ve done a lot of analysis in order to form that decision which was a joint decision within the Renault Group. Clearly Formula  One is relevant, is useful  as long as you win, so that’s the big ‘If’ and obviously since we look where we’re starting from that’s a big ‘If’ and obviously that’s a big ambition but if you are successful, the amount of exposure that you have, even against the cost which is high, is completely balanced so what you need is to do what’s necessary in order to be successful. The problem is really the entry ticket and the extra spend that you need to put in the initial years in order to get to the level of competitiveness that you want. That’s the difficulty of the whole business case of Formula One.
    MA: It’s a bit more simple, my analysis, starting from the past. Enzo Ferrari, when he started his activity, the production side of Ferrari was racing at the same time. Ferrari is not doing advertising and racing is the way of Ferrari to advertise the brand and this is one aspect. The other aspect is of course in racing you can transfer sooner or later certain technology that you are developing on the whole car. Take for example the gearbox on the steering wheel and all this novelty; some things are not applicable yet  because of course they are so high (technology) but as soon you are able to find the process to produce in big numbers and then acceptable quota of technology that you are developing Formula One, this is something that you apply to the car and that was part of the history of Ferrari and it continues to be like this.
    TW: Similar with Mercedes. The first ever Mercedes was a racing car and this is part of our DNA: we build racing cars and we build road cars. It is not a sponsorship platform so we will continue to do just that and in terms of the advertising value equivalent that you generate, it’s a global platform and a very good platform.

    eom/FIA transcript of the Press Conference

  • Vettel off to a flying start in FP1: Spanish GP

    Catalunya, 13 May 2016: Sebastian Vettel set the quickest time of opening practice at the Circuit Barcelona-Catalunya ahead of team-mate Kimi Raikkonen as Ferrari made a flying start to the Spanish Grand Prix weekend.

    Vettel and Raikkonen’s times were set on the soft Pirelli tyre, the softest of the three compounds on offer this weekend, with the Italian squad being the only ones to use that tyre during the 90-minute session.

    Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton set the pace in the early part of the session, using the medium compound tyre, but halfway through the session Raikkonen emerged on soft rubber to post a time three quarters of a second clear of the Merecedes. Vettel the posted a 1:23.951 to beat the Finn by 0.138s.

    Rosberg, still on the medium tyre, managed claw the deficit back to just under half a second later, while Hamilton ended the session just over the tenth down on the championship leader.

    Daniel Ricciardo took fifth place for Red Bull Racing, again on the medium tyre, with the Australian 0.8s down on Hamilton’s best time of the session. New Red Bull Racing recruit Max Verstappen was sixth and on his first outing in the RB12 finished just 0.2s behind three-time grand prix winner Ricciardo.

    Verstappen was involved in a swap with Daniil Kvyat and over at Toro Rosso the Russian had a more difficult time settling in as he finished in P12, half a second down on team-mate Carlos Sainz who took P8 just behind Williams’ Valtteri Bottas.

    The second Williams of Felipe Massa was ninth quickest despite a spin at Turn 5 while Fernando Alonso rounded out the top ten for McLaren.

    Elsewhere, Sergio Perez completed just nine laps for Force India after stopping with an oil leak, while Renault also encountered difficulty with the car of test driver Esteban Ocon. The young Frenchman’s first outing for the team this season was marred by a puncture early on and though he re-emerged later on it was brief and he managed just six laps in total.

    2016 Spanish Grand Prix – Free Practice 1
    1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:23.951 22
    2 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:24.089 18
    3 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:24.454 34
    4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:24.611 33
    5 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:25.416 25
    6 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:25.585 29
    7 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:25.672 36
    8 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:26.078 19
    9 Felipe Massa Williams 1:26.186 32
    10 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:26.243 18
    11 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:26.576 30
    12 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:26.583 21
    13 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:26.938 27
    14 Sergio Perez Force India 1:27.064 9
    15 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:27.253 27
    16 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:27.258 17
    17 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:27.283 18
    18 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:27.392 24
    19 Jenson Button McLaren 1:27.610 19
    20 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:28.084 29
    21 Rio Haryanto Manor 1:29.052 34
    22 Esteban Ocon Renault  6

     

    eom/FIA press release

  • Ferrari are improving fast: Hamilton at Thursday’s Press Meet

    DRIVERS – Fernando ALONSO (McLaren), Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes), Kevin Magnussen (Renault), Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso), Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso), Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Fernando, a good result last time out in Russia with sixth place. Do you believe you’re closing in on the Williams-Red Bull battle? What development steps can we expect from McLaren-Honda here this weekend?
    Fernando  ALONSO: Yeah, I think the car is improving and we are getting more and more competitive in the races. I think the next grand prix will be a good one for us, so here in Barcelona, Monaco, even Canada should be a little bit better than what we did in China and in Russia in terms of layout. Yeah, we have some high hopes for us at the moment to keep this momentum and keep growing together to more competitive positions and yeah, I think we have some updates for this race in terms of aerodynamics, most of them. We’ll see how the weekend goes but we are probably much more optimistic than one month ago.

    Q: How is the enthusiasm for Formula One here in Spain at the moment – with you and all that you’ve done and obviously now Carlos coming through?
    FA: I think it’s still OK. Definitely it’s a little bit lower than 2005-6-7 when we had a 45 minutes queue to come into the circuit. It’s still quite high and I think the people are still loving the sport – but definitely there is a little bit less enthusiasm about the races because with the television not being available for everyone, just with a pay channel etcetera, probably is a little bit less viewers, a little bit less media attention. But I think we have good days and it’s still quite popular.

    Q: Lewis, second at the moment in the Drivers’ Championship but in four starts in 2016 you’re yet to finish the opening lap in a front-running position. It’s hard to believe – so is this the weekend when we hit the reset button?
    Lewis HAMILTON: That’s the hope, of course! Who knows? We’ll wait and see.

    Q: There’s still a long way to go, obviously, in terms of your challenge for a fourth drivers’ title – but in the battle with Ferrari do you feel that, despite whatever upgrades they bring, you’re able to keep them at arms’ length. Is that the way it feels to you?
    LH: No, I think Ferrari are constantly improving their car. I think this weekend they’re obviously going to have some upgrades, as you would expect for Barcelona. I think they’ve been very, very close up until now. They’re going to continue to strive. They want to win; they’ve very, very hungry – as are we. I think we do have the power as a team to continue to develop, hopefully at a similar, if not the same rate as they are. So, of course we can always try to keep them at arms’ length but who knows how it’s going to go.

    Q: Kevin, breakthrough result in Sochi, 17th to seventh. What’s that done for morale – yours and the team’s?
    Kevin MAGNUSSEN: Yeah, for sure it’s made everyone happy to finally get some points on the scoreboard but we’re not fooling ourselves to think that’s our level. It was a little bit lucky with a lot of people having problems on the first laps and one of the Toro Rossos not finishing the race towards the end. So, as I said, we’re not fooling ourselves to think that’s our level. We need to improve quite a bit before that will be our level – but, as I said, it’s nice to get points on the board.

    Q: It’s clear to see where your challenge lies. Both Renault’s have been knocked out in Q1 at the last three races in a row. What have you got in the pipeline to address that?
    KM: It seems qualifying is our weak point. It looks like people can turn things up for qualifying that we can’t. So that’s one thing to work on. It’s not the only thing. We are behind on a lot of different areas and we just need to improve overall – because the situation we’re in at the moment is that we have a car that hasn’t been developed continuously all last year and we’re picking up on everything now. We need to be patient but at the same time need to work extremely hard because we need to catch up on people who are also improving. I think this last result shows that it is possible to score points and if anything happens like a first-lap incident, we need to be there and ready to take advantage.

    Q: Carlos, coming to you. Obviously, despite optimism that you’d have a reliable package this season with which to get consistent finishes and points, you’ve yet to really have a properly clean weekend. Tell us about the start to your season.
    Carlos SAINZ: Yeah, it’s been definitely a very tricky start where we definitely had the pace, we definitely had the speed but just because of one thing or another the final result hasn’t come together yet – but I am optimistic that, from now on, from Barcelona we can press also a bit the reset button and start getting the results we deserve because definitely the pace, the speed is there.

    Q: There have been some significant changes of personnel obviously on the driving and the engineering side at Toro Rosso. Can you give us your perspective on that?
    CS: Yeah, I think there have been many changes in the team but I don’t get to analyse them much because it’s not my job change engineers or to change drivers. I fully trust on what Toro Rosso and Red Bull have decided to do and I think it’s for the best of the team, for the best of the engineers, the personnel in there and already you can see some refreshment in the faces. I’m convinced it will just go on better. To have Daniil we can probably fight now for the P5 in the championship that was the main target since the beginning of the season.

    Q: Let’s get into that then. Daniil Kvyat, one of those changes obviously involves your return to Toro Rosso, moving from Red Bull. Daniil, we’ve all seen the statement from Red Bull about why this move was made – but what are you telling yourself about it and where you go from here?
    Daniil KVYAT: Well, I think obviously the decision in a way was a bit of a shock also for myself. It is what it is at the moment and I think I’ve always been giving my answers on the track and I think nothing will change. I will try to give as loud an answer as possible on the track. There are 17 races remaining, I’ve come back to Toro Rosso, the team for which I raced in 2104, a team I really like a lot, the team that I’ve felt over the last few days is giving me a very warm welcome, which I’m very grateful for already, now I can feel the atmosphere is very positive in the team. The goals are clear – for the team and for myself – and I’ll be pushing absolute limits on the track and I will be giving my answers there.

    Q: Looking back, do you feel you moved to Red Bull too soon?
    DK: I don’t think so, I really don’t think so. Like I said, if we look at what happened three weeks ago, or whatever, I was standing on the podium and then suddenly there were a few decisions made around – but like I said, the bosses make them and I have nothing else but to accept them and do my best job possible now in the team I am with – and it is Toro Rosso. It should be OK – but I think I have done everything correctly until now. And nothing will change from my side.

    Q: Let’s have the other side of the story. Max Verstappen, obviously you’re replacing Daniil at Red Bull. A racing driver is always going to accept a chance to race closer to the front – but how to you evaluate both the opportunity and the risks involved in this move so early in your career?
    Max VERSTAPPEN: To be honest I’m very happy with the chance they have given me. I’m racing for a top team now, so that was always the plan what I wanted to do. And yeah, with the risk, to be honest I think it was a bigger risk to be so young in Formula One but I’ve handled it pretty well. From now on it’s just getting used to a new car, which is not easy in the season, but already with the things I’ve done in the factory, already they’ve given me a lot of confidence. Of course, a lot of procedures to learn again but it will come race-by-race and I’m definitely going to enjoy it.

    Q: You now have your new team-mate Daniel Ricciardo as a benchmark – but you can also learn from him. How do you see that relationship evolving?
    MV: For sure he’s a great guy. He’s very fast on track and has a lot of experience in the team. I will try to learn a lot from him.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Mike Doodson – Auto Action) Max has been quoted as saying he couldn’t sleep for three nights after he got the news of his promotion. My questions for the two world champions here, can they remember races in their career about which they were particularly apprehensive in the days leading up to them?
    LH: It’s hard to remember back, it’s been a long time now, I’m a veteran. For sure the first race, the first race in a new team. Honestly, every season you’re a bit apprehensive: you’re a bit… you have that nervous buzz of a new car, a new beginning, a new opportunity, so for sure I can imagine how the feeling is for him.

    Fernando?
    FA: Not really. I don’t think that I ever had that kind of stress. Obviously there are some more or less important races and you feel the moment – but normally in my case it would be on Sunday when you do the drivers’ parade, when you jump in the car for the practice start – you know it’s an important race to deliver. But the week before… no big issues.

    Q: (Simon Lazenby – Sky Sports) Question for Max and for Dany. We’ve heard the statements as James is saying but what reasons were you given by management for the swap and did you both have prior indication that this might have been an option for 2016?
    MV: I think it was pretty clear in the comments they have given to you. From now on, I’m just very happy with the chance they have given to me and I’m going to enjoy this season and from there on we’ll see for the future.

    Dany?
    DK: There was no real explanation to be honest. I think if the bosses want something to happen, they just make it happen. Simple as that.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – globoesporte.com) Daniil, if you carry out very good work now in Toro Rosso, do you think it’s realistic to believe that Marko and Horner could take you back to Red Bull? And also, if you are putting your focus on developing very good work and thinking in other teams?
    DK: Well, obviously first things first. I think now it will be important to first make a good work. These remaining 17 races will be very important and I believe then, let’s just wait and see. To be honest there would be anyway a lot of thinking I think from anyone. First good work and then we see.

    Q: (Sacha Roos – Sky Deutschland) Question for Dany. How difficult is it for you now to look in the eyes of Dr Helmut Marko and Christian Horner – because they’re blocking your career.
    DK: You know, obviously, first hours after that of course you have been thinking a lot, and then the work started and then I fly to the factory, I see Toro Rosso people, which are very motivated and very hungry. And I’m now extremely hungry, and to be honest I don’t see it as blocking. You have to take the most positive moments now because actually there are a lot more positive moments now than anyone can imagine I think.  I take it as a golden opportunity with Toro Rosso. And, like I said, I really like the team, I really enjoyed working with them, most of the people are still the same and I believe we can do a really good job. And then once the good job is done, there are more good opportunities to come. I think you always have an opportunity. I think you always have something to fight for.

    Q: (Cristobal Rosaleny – Car & Driver) Carlos, after one year and almost a half with Max with more or less the same performance level, although points have not shown the same, what do you that they have put Max and not you in Red Bull?
    CS: I don’t get to evaluate the performance of each driver so easily. That is done by my bosses at Red Bull. Now my time… I appreciate what Red Bull is going quite a lot, that is to put young talent into a Formula One team. As soon as you do a good job they show you the confidence, they give you the chance and now it’s my time to fight more than ever for that. I have, as Dany said, 17 races ahead to give the maximum out of myself, to fight for my chance as much as I can. I’m sure that if I show the same speed I have now with a bit better results my chance can come.

    Q: (Jonathan McEvoy – Daily Mail) Daniil, I was wondering what you believe is the real reason why you were dropped? Do you feel they looked for an excuse to drop you or do you feel that there was genuine reason enough to do it? What is your understanding and what explanation was given to you as to the reasons why you were dropped?
    DK: First of all, I think the word ‘dropped’ still a bit heavy because I still get quite a good chance from Red Bull with Toro Rosso. So, I think it’s a positive thing. Secondly, like I said, I feel like I’ve done everything for the team. I feel like I’ve been bringing the points, I’ve been bringing all the development work. We’ve been working well together. So, to be honest, I don’t really think so. It’s a question for other people who made the decision. I think they can give a better answer to that. I really don’t see any reason. It’s for them. A question for them.

    Q: (Daniel Johnson – Daily Telegraph) Questions to Daniil and Max. Daniil, given what’s happened to you, do you think that Max deserves your old seat and Max, do you think Daniil deserved to lose his seat?
    MV: I think that’s not up to me to say who deserved it or not. I’m happy with the chance they’ve given to me and I will try to make the best of it. We’ll see where it ends up.

    DK: Well, there’s no point discussing this, especially from my side. I think now what’s ahead, in front of both of us, is a lot of hard work because we’ve both changed the team and I think the people around us will also be able to evaluate how good a job we are both capable of doing in these circumstances. It will be interesting to see who will be able to work better and harder to bring in the results to both teams we are now with. Let’s just wait and see. The season is very long.

    Q: (Giorgio Terruzzi – Il Corriere della Sera) Question for Lewis and Fernando. What do you think about the Red Bull decision to change the drivers?
    FA: They changed the drivers? [to Lewis] You knew it?
    LH: No!
    FA: I guess it’s up to them. It’s definitely a surprise after Race Four. They’ve been doing very good job promoting drivers and discovering new talents and giving the opportunity. So, it’s the way they do it, and they’ve been doing a very good job in the past, so we’ll see.

    LH: erm… yeah… I think obviously ultimately it’s a good opportunity for one and for the other very unfortunate. Red Bull has done well in bringing young talent forwards but I think they need to be aware that young drivers need time to progress. Mistakes do happen, there’s so much pressure on drivers, particularly at a young age. Especially when you’ve not done a lot of years in the lower classes, you’ve come quite early in, there’s so much to learn. A lot of pressure on the shoulders I think to take a driver out of a role with a team where he’s comfortable and move into another one. It’s a difficult position to be in. Do I agree with it? It doesn’t really matter – but it’s definitely not something I would particularly do.

    Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Carlos, one of the reasons Dr Marko gave for the switch between Max and Daniil  was that it also sorted out the relationship in Toro Rosso between you and Max. Could you perhaps give us more details about why that relationship between you and Max wasn’t working?
    CS: I think the personal relationship Max and I have is not a big issue honestly. I think we both always maintain the respect off the track and I think we showed it at every moment. I think it’s more a matter of a team perspective of how the team was working and that’s where Franz Tost and Helmut Marko take the decision. But from Max and myself there was always respect, there was always  good vibes with each other. Obviously we were fighting a lot on track, we were always very very close to each other and there were always some battles going on but they stayed at the track and out there it was just a matter of engineering, of just not being a comfortable team and that’s why they decided to take this decision internally.
    MV: I think we still need to plan when we’re going go-karting together.
    CS: We were just talking – before coming in here – about that we were going to go go-karting in one week together so that shows that it really stays on track.

    Q: (Sergio Alvarez – One Magazine) Next year’s rules will bring an extra bit of downforce, if it is to be believed. From a physical point of view, have you talked to your trainers about any changes in your respective regimes?
    KM: I haven’t spoken to my trainer about it. I don’t think it’s going to change a huge amount – I mean the training bit. I hope the cars will be faster. From my point of view, it will be great to drive a Formula One car three seconds faster so we will see what it does to overtaking and stuff but I’m looking forward to it.
    Q: Fernando, obviously you drove the cars plenty in the days when there was much more downforce and faster, so how do you feel this is going to equate next year compared to what you had in the past, physically?
    FA: I don’t think it’s going to change too much, probably a little bit more physical to drive the cars but nowhere near what it was in the past, probably, eight or ten seconds faster. I remember we could not even go onto the podium after some races and it was tough for everyone. Now I was ready to race with two broken ribs. You can even race… whatever. Even after winter testing, preparation is not needed normally.
    LH: It’s just interesting, listening to… It’s going to be more physical so you just have to train a little bit more. We’re all in the same boat and unfortunately it’s probably not going to make a big difference to the racing but hopefully it will, probably won’t.
    MV: I’ve never driven faster cars than I’ve driven now but for sure you always do a lot of work-outs. You just have to adapt to it but I don’t see big issues with that.

    Q: (Ralf Bach – Auto Bild Motorsport) Max is it right and the truth to say that after you moved to Red Bull now, you’re safe in the Red Bull family and other teams have to stop talking to you?
    MV: Well, I’ve always been very happy with Red Bull and now of course they’ve given me the chance to be in their top team. There is also no reason to change, is there? I’m very happy with them, I think they are very happy with me and we just try to continue like that.

    Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Daniil, one of the reasons Helmut Marko gave was that you were not handling the pressure from Ricciardo well enough. Do you think that’s fair?
    DK: Well, the pressure, talking about pressure. I think I’ve been part of the Red Bull family for seven years and I don’t see it as a big problem of course. I think other people around me also had pressure and I think, talking about myself, no, not really. I don’t think it can be the biggest explanation to be honest.

    Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Lewis, would it be fair to say you’re worried about the gap to Nico at the moment? And if not, what’s your mindset going forward?
    LH: It is what it is, so there’s no point in being concerned, I’ve just got to work hard to move forward. I have less engines than Nico, less than probably a few of the drivers, so I’ve just got to do what I can with what I have and for sure, it’s a steep mountain to climb but I love a challenge, so I’m kind of excited about it.

    Q: (Jon McEvoy – Daily Mail) To Max and Daniil: have you spoken much about the switch and if so, what sort of things did you say to each other?
    DK: Well, no, we’ve been… obviously we saw each other, I think that’s enough and I think… what can we say? We both have to work hard now, as I said before. I think there’s no point in wishing luck, luck never brought anything, only hard work and that’s all, I think.
    MV: Yeah, I think there is not much to say about that to be honest. Now it’s just up to us, we have to work hard, we have to deliver on the track. Not much more to add, to be honest. It’s all pretty clear.
    Q: (Jon McEvoy – Daily Mail) Did you speak to each other?
    MV: I saw him at lunch, yeah.
    DK: And I saw him now.
    MV: Sitting next to each other.

    Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) Daniil, who told you about the demotion, if you like? Who was it who actually broke the news and where were you when you found out?
    DK: I was in Moscow, I was lying on the sofa, I was watching a TV series and then the phone call comes. It was “hallo, well, we have some news for you” and I think there was a 20 minute talk about… I wanted and I think I deserved an explanation. I got to know many interesting details, I must say, which I think I will keep to myself for now.
    Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) Who made the phone call?
    DK: Dr Marko called, he made the phone call. We finished the talk and I went back to finish my TV series, that’s all.
    Q: (Jon McEvoy – Daily Mail) What was it?
    DK: TV series? Game of Thrones.

    Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) And Lewis, just to ask you about your engineers, new mechanics. Have you spoke to the team about getting the ones that worked on your car last year back on your car for this year?
    LH: No, I have no intention or any wish to move around, there’s nothing to do… the issues we’ve had have had nothing to do with the mechanics. They’ve been doing a fantastic job both for Nico and I over the last three and a half years. That is not a concern and that’s not something… I’ve got a hundred percent belief in this team and in those guys. This is really just hoping that I’ve had a bad share of luck, I guess, with the failures, but hoping that will move forward and you will get to see the results of their hard work, because they have worked so hard to integrate with me and vice versa on my side of the garage and we have a huge amount of respect for each other. I’m looking forward to trying to deliver something spectacular for them.

    Q: (Li Chun – LeTV) To the three gentlemen in the front row, if the three of you were to fight it out for the World Championship tomorrow, who do you think would have the better chance to come out on top?
    CS: Well, it’s a bit of a… It doesn’t make much sense. I think if you ask every driver on the Formula One grid or every professional sportsman, they think they are the best. I think I am the best and I’m sure if you ask these two gentlemen or these three behind me, they will say the same.
    DK: Well, I think tomorrow is a good day to start of course, but yeah, let’s see. It’s not going to happen this year, I think, so we will have to wait and see. Driver development is something that happens all the time and there are so many circumstances, so many details that first of all have to happen, that you get to Formula One and then to win the championship is another thing of course. Every person, like Carlos said, every driver is a very confident personality usually and has a strong self-belief and of course I know that to get everything right and the best out of it, I don’t have any doubts really.
    MV: One thing, we are not fighting for the World Championship now but the positive thing is that I’m still very young so I have a lot of years ahead of me.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Coming back to the subject that Lewis mentioned, that drivers need time to develop themselves, so many things to learn in a top team, do you think you will have time or will it be like Daniil that you don’t have this time properly?
    MV: Well, to be honest, I think so far that Red Bull has guided me in a very good way and I’ve felt very comfortable and I think that if you are very comfortable you can perform and if you are very happy you perform even better so a happy person and a comfortable person is always performing better and at the moment I’m like that and I hope to keep it that way. I think at the end, it’s not up to raw speed, it’s more the experience around it, but that’s just by doing every Grand Prix, step by step and that’s getting better all the time.

    Q: (Daniel Johnson – The Telegraph) Daniil, you suggested earlier that you didn’t really feel that you got much of an explanation for why the swap had been made with Max. I wonder what you inside think the real reasons are for why you and Max were swapped round?
    DK: Obviously, you know, it’s really hard to say, exactly. Like I said, it’s not really a question for me because it wasn’t my decision, first of all. To me I was working, I was giving my best ever race. Yeah, we had another very difficult start of the season. I didn’t even manage to start the Australian race again, two years in a row. There were strange things going on in Bahrain. Well, I believe that since China, really, I picked up a good pace, that it was coming, that it was a little bit similar to last year but it was getting better and better, race to race and qualifying in Sochi was already very competitive and the race pace was also getting better, so to be honest, we know that Formula One is a very general sport, sometimes hard work, sometimes what you do on track is also not enough, so let’s wait and see. Like I said, I learned quite a lot in the last few days, last few weeks and it’s made me very strong and I feel very strong now and I’m looking forward to showing with Toro Rosso now, with a team that supports me and with a team that I feel that we have a lot of unfinished business together and I think we should finish it together.

    Q: (Angelique Belokopytov – Autodigest) So Lewis, you were saying a few minutes ago that young drivers have to take time to have some practice. But you started in a big team, a few others started their careers in smaller teams. So I’m asking for your opinion, for a young driver, which is the best way to start? Small or big?
    LH: I don’t think there’s a clear answer to that. For me it worked perfectly to go into a big team but I did a lot more years in lower categories than some of the others have, I probably have a few more years than the two ahead of me have but I’m just meaning that it’s really important not to hold a young driver back. They’re going to grow in their own time and some take longer than others. Some are really quick at learning and some take longer, they need to make more mistakes. I remember my first days in the car and I crashed my first day of driving. It was really really difficult, those first processes but of course the team can make a big difference in how they help but I do really just hope for Daniil. We’ve got two fantastic drivers here, I just hope that in this manoeuvre it doesn’t hinder either of their… I hope it doesn’t hinder either of their careers because they’ve got bright futures ahead of them and too much pressure, too much stress, too much expectation too early on can lead the wrong way and that’s what I want to say.
    Q: It might be interesting to get a perspective from Fernando on this because obviously you did have that time, didn’t you, you started with a smaller team and then you had a development year with Renault before racing? What’s your thoughts on that?
    FA: I didn’t expect any questions. I probably agree with Lewis’s comments. It’s difficult, I don’t think there is a mathematical formula to know exactly what is the best way. You need to benefit from both scenarios. I think if you start in a small team, you can grow up a little bit in a more relaxed environment and try to learn a little bit with less stress and less pressure. If you start with a big opportunity, it’s also good for yourself because you can show your talent immediately and you can make a big impact on the sport and have a better future after that so… the important thing for both of them is today’s topic that both of them race many many years in Formula One because they have the potential talent to be Formula One World Champions one day and I really hope the best for both of them.

    Q: (Barna Zsoldos – Nemzeti Sport) Daniil, in Sochi, in the middle of the race, Sebastian went to Christian Horner complaining about you in front of all the TV cameras. What do you think about this spectacular gesture? Do you take it personally and would you act the same, vice versa?
    DK: What happened in Sochi has already happened. Of course it was a messy lap one. I spoke with all the people involved and we’ve all had our points of view on that. It’s left behind, between me and Sebastian, there are no problems at all, after that. To be honest, I don’t know how is their relationship so if he went to complain or whatever, I don’t know and to be honest, I’m not too interested in what he said and I think everyone has the right to go and say what he thinks, especially if you know someone quite well enough to talk about it, so I don’t have any strong opinions on that episode really.

    Q: (Valenti Fradera – El 9 Esportiu de Catalunya) Having seen the performance of the medium tyre at this track during private testing, do you think we will get to see the hard tyre at all on Sunday?
    KM: Don’t now, we will see. I don’t think it’s the most likely tyre to be raced on but we will see in P2 most likely.
    LH: As far as I know… I mean I don’t even know what tyres I have to be honest. I doubt it, it’s not the best tyre here, it’s going to be the mediums…
    Q: You’ve got one set of hards.
    LH: Yeah, it’s not the best tyre for this race. I don’t think anyone’s going to use it.
    MV: It’s a very nice colour, isn’t it, the orange, so probably maybe we will have a run on them. I like the colour.
    Q: Incidentally, you inherit each other’s tyres, right? That’s the way it works. So you (Max) inherit the tyres that he (Daniil) selected.
    MV: But that’s fine.
    DK: I think it’s the team’s choice, no? So the team is chosing the tyres, so I get now what he had and I have what he had, but I get to keep the points. I like to keep my points. And the podium.

    eom/FIA transcript of the Press Conference

  • Force India looks forward to upgrades; Mallya expected to attend Spanish GP

    Bangalore, 11 May 2016: Vijay Mallya, the beleaguered liquor baron of India and the team Principal of Sahara Force India is expected to attend the Spanish GP this week-end.

    He is currently battling against the Enforcement Directorate, a specialised financial investigation Agency under the Governmnet of India’s Ministry of Finance, which has succeeded in getting his diplomatic passport revoked by the External Affairs Ministry but the latter failed miserably to get him deported as England refused to toe the line. Mallya has a resident permit in UK from 1992 and is a non-resident Indian.

    Mallya is reported to be continuing negotiations with bankers and offered Rs.6,800 crore but the bankers did not respond. They claim that he owes them Rs.9000 crore. Many in sporting circles are divided in their loyalty; while some strongly believe that he should be booked a per the law of the land, other feel that he is being victimised by a media trial and quote that Air India, the state-run Airlines, owes more than Rs.30,000 crore to Indian banks.

    Undaunted, Mallya continues to give quotes to his Press team which puts out releases to the Sports Media around the world. Mallya, who has not attended an F1 race for many months now, is expected to grace the paddock at the Spanish GP next Sunday.

    The release put out by Sahara Force India team:

    Barcelone:
    2016 Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix – Preview
    Sahara Force India looks forward to the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.
     
    Q & A with Nico Hulkenberg on Barcelona
    Nico Hülkenberg looks forward to this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix.
     
    Nico: “When you get to Barcelona to start the European season, you start to realise just how quickly the year is passing. It’s a chance to get back into a normal routine because you don’t have so many long flights or time zone changes, so it’s a bit easier from that regard.
     
    “I love the city of Barcelona and the Spanish lifestyle in the sunshine. We’ve already spent a couple of weeks there for winter testing, but when you come back for the race everything is different: the cars have evolved, the temperatures are warmer, and you have to work hard to find the right set-up. That’s why it’s a tricky circuit because confidence counts for a lot and, if you’re not totally comfortable, your lap times really suffer.
     
    “I felt pretty disappointed about what happened in Sochi. In fact, things have gone against us for the last few races. We know we should have scored more points, but it’s impossible to plan for the bad luck we’ve experienced. I’m looking forward to a weekend where everything goes to plan so that we can show our true potential.”
     
    Sergio on Barcelona
    Sergio Perez gets ready for Barcelona and hopes to add to the points he scored in Sochi. 
     
    Sergio: “The atmosphere in Barcelona is always special and for me it’s one of the best tracks of the year. I enjoy the layout because it’s a true test of your car with a bit of everything, especially long, quick corners, which all the drivers enjoy. It’s a track where you feel the physical demands, especially on your neck, but overall it’s just a great place to experience a Formula One car. The only downside is that it’s difficult to overtake, but it’s still possible with DRS on the approach to turn one, especially if the car ahead is suffering with high tyre degradation.
     
    “It was important to get back into the points in Russia. The car performed very well all weekend and I can feel the progress we’ve made since the start of the year. It was not a smooth race, but we didn’t give up and scoring two points was a good recovery. It’s been a difficult start to the year, but it feels like the momentum is changing now and the performance in Sochi was a big boost for all of us.
     
    “Barcelona will be the first chance to run our updated car. It’s going to be a huge task to understand everything on Friday, but it’s always exciting to try new parts on the car.”
    Q&A with Vijay Mallya
    Team Principal, Vijay Mallya, hopes to see the VJM09 realise its true potential this weekend
    Vijay, Sergio scored points in Russia, but it was another eventful race for the team…
    VJM: “In Sochi we were the innocent victims of the first lap chaos – as was the case in Bahrain too. It’s frustrating because, even with the benefit of hindsight, it’s hard to see what we could have done differently. We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time with both cars, which caused a puncture for Sergio and ended Nico’s race. To see Sergio recover from the back of the pack and score points was a tremendous effort.”
    Surely the team’s fortunes will start to change soon…
    VJM: “I hope we’ve used up all of our bad luck already! We’ve yet to see how we perform in a clean, trouble-free race without safety cars, red flags or accidents. Despite not realising our potential in Sochi, we took encouragement from our qualifying and race pace: the car is improving and we’ve got a good base on which to build. There are 17 races to go and I’m confident the best is yet to come. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.”
    You’ve spoken before about the Barcelona update package – what’s the latest news?
    VJM: “It’s on schedule to be fitted to both cars ahead of Friday practice. It’s pretty comprehensive and the car will look quite different.”
    eom/Sahara Force India Press Release

  • Rosberg makes it 4 wins out of 4 in 2016 season; Hamilton powers to 2nd from P10

    Rosberg on way to fourth straight win of the season at Sochi on Sunday. A Mercedes AMG Petronas image
    Rosberg on way to fourth straight win of the season at Sochi on Sunday. A Mercedes AMG Petronas image

    Sochi, 1 May 2016: Nico Rosberg scored a controlled fourth victory from four races at the Russian Grand Prix in front of a crowd of 60,000 at the Sochi Autodrom, as Sebastian Vettel was dumped out of the race at the start following a collision with local hero Daniil Kvyat.

    Starting from pole the championship leader led into Turn 2 but behind him there was drama as Vettel, who had started seventh, was hit from behind by Kvyat who had been eighth on the grid. The collision bounced Vettel sideways where he collided with the second Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo, who had started from P5.

    All three managed to continue but within moments Kvyat again ran into the back of Vettel as the pair went into Turn 3. This time Vettel was pitched into the barrier and Kvyat lost his front wing.

    The Safety Car was deployed and while a furious Vettel was left to make his way back to the paddock at the controls of scooter, Red Bull pitted both its drivers, with Kvyat taking a new nose cone and with both being put on medium tyres.

    The strategic gambit was in vain, however. Kvyat was handed a 10-second stop/go penalty for causing a collision and failed to recover. Ricciardo, meanwhile, struggled for pace and battled a damaged. He would eventually shed his medium tyres on lap 29, though the improved pace would only take him to P11 at the flag.

    Afterwards Vettel was critical of the young Russian’s start.

    “Today it’s fairly obvious, he did a mistake again. It doesn’t help me now because I’m not in the car,” Vettel said. “In the end we’re here to race. Massively pumped up. Had a super start, made progress into the second corner and got hit, then a second hit, which destroyed our race.”

    The early chaos did benefit some, however. Lewis Hamilton, 10th on the grid after power unit trouble in qualifying, made a good start and avoided the incident to climb to fifth place behind by the time the Safety Car was deployed.

    When racing resumed Hamilton went on a charge and passed Williams’ Felipe Massa and third-placed Kimi Raikkonen to take P3 behind Valtteri Bottas in the other Williams.

    The Finn defended bravely, however, and as Hamilton and Raikkonen remained bottled up behind the Williams, Rosberg established a solid gap at the front and by lap 15 the German was 9.2 seconds ahead of Bottas.

    Bittas pitted on the next lap, freeing up Hamilton and Raikkonen. Hamilton made his own stop for soft tyres on the next lap and though Bottas was able to keep the champion at bay when the Mercedes man emerged from pit lane alongside him, he could do nothing on lap 19 when Hamilton used his greater pace and DRS to muscle past down the inside of Turn 2.

    Controlling matters at the front, Rosberg eked out a long stint of 21 laps on his starting supersofts before pitting for softs on lap 21.

    He emerged with a healthy gap of 12 seconds back to second-placed Hamilton, but midway through the final stint Hamilton began to push, eventually narrowing the gap to 7.7s.

    Any hopes Hamilton had of a late assault were undone, however, when his pit wall informed him that his car had a water pressure issue. The champion back off and from running up to six tenths of a second quicker than Rosberg, Hamilton suddenly dropped to a second off the German’s pace.

    The race was over as a contest. Rosberg controlled matters as Hamilton nursed his Mercedes to the flag and Raikkonen cruised to a lonely third.

    “I knew the gap to Lewis and it was just through the traffic,” said Rosberg afterwards. “I was feeling really comfortable today, especially at the end of the race, in the last 15 [laps] I opened the gas and pushed a little bit more because I knew it was safe to push and definitely get to the end of the race with that set of tyres. It was working really well. The whole weekend. Even in qualifying. Seldom had such an awesome car. So, special weekend.”

    Behind the podium positions, Bottas finished fourth for Williams ahead of team-mate Massa, while Fernando Alonso took an excellent sixth place and eight points for McLaren.

    Kevin Magnussen took Renault’s first points of the season with seventh place, ahead of Haas’ Romain Grosjena and Force India’s Sergio Perez. McLaren’s positive day was enhanced by Jenson Button taking the final point in tenth place.

    2016 Russian Grand Prix – Race
    1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 53 laps – 1h32m41.997s 1
    2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +25.022 1
    3 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari +31.998 1
    4 Valtteri Bottas Williams +50.217 1
    5 Felipe Massa Williams +74.427 2
    6 Fernando Alonso McLaren +1 lap 1
    7 Kevin Magnussen Renault +1 lap 1
    8 Romain Grosjean Haas +1 lap 1
    9 Sergio Perez Force India +1 lap 2
    10 Jenson Button McLaren +1 lap 1
    11 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing +1 lap 2
    12 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso +1 lap 1
    13 Jolyon Palmer Renault +1 lap 1
    14 Marcus Ericsson Sauber +1 lap 2
    15 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull Racing +1 lap 2
    16 Felipe Nasr Sauber +1 lap 1
    17 Esteban Gutierrez Haas +1 lap 2
    18 Pascal Wehrlein Manor +2 laps 2
    19 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso DNF 1
    20 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari DNF 0
    21 Nico Hulkenberg Force India DNF 0
    22 Rio Haryanto Manor DNF 0

     

    eom/FIA press release