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We have got the best out of the first five races: Andrew Green
PART ONE: TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Andrew GREEN (Force India), Paul Monaghan (Red Bull Racing), Jörg Zander (Sauber).
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Andy, let’s start with you. Stunning start to the season: 53 points; clear fourth place and even breathing down Red Bull’s neck in the championship. With the resources that you have, how have you managed to do it?
Andy GREEN: It’s been, yeah, it’s been a good start to the season but as we proved last season, you can’t take anything for granted and our lead over fifth place is a lot smaller than where we were behind the Williams last year. So, reminding the guys that it’s a long season and we’re only a quarter of the way through it with a long way to go where a lot can happen. So, we need to keep pushing, keep developing, do what we’re doing – we’re on a good trajectory at the moment – and not to slack and see where we end up in the end. So far it’s gone better than expected and I think we’ve capitalised as much as we could of in those first five races. I don’t think you look back at those first five and think ‘what if?’ I think we’ve basically got the best out of it.
Q: In Spain only three cars finished on the lead lap, which is the fewest since 2008 so obviously, does that speak to the problem that the field in Formula One, with these new regulations, has become very spread out? Do you think that’s going to remain the case for the rest of the season?
AG: I hope not. It was another point I did make to the factory last week. I hate being lapped. It just shows the potential that there is in these regulations and how much there is to find. We look at it as an opportunity to make the car even faster, knowing that there’s that much performance left in it.
Q: Paul, coming to you, 75 seconds behind at the finish in Spain last time out but a clear and very promising looking P2 in practice today with last year’s pole-sitter. What’s your overview of today’s running and how competitive do you think you’re going to be this weekend?
Paul MONAGHAN: It’s nice to see us nearer the sharp end than we’ve arguably been at points this year. Our overall competitiveness… it’s still hard to tell. I’m not sure Mercedes showed their full hand today. I think it’s going to be pretty tight on Saturday and you need to have a reasonable qualifying around here to then capitalise for Sunday. So, I’m not going to count any chickens yet. We just knuckle down, do what’s within our control, get the most out of our car, and get the most out of it on Saturday and see where we end up.
Q: So where’s the shortfall been then in the first five races of this season – some way behind, as we said, in Spain. Is there still belief that you can catch them over the span of the season?
PM: There’s belief, yes, and a strong desire as well. I think if we lost belief it would be a fairly early end to our season. So, there’s a strong belief, a strong desire and a real determination to get more out of this car and close on the others – because they’re not standing still and as such our development rate has to exceed those guys. I think it can. It’s fair to say that we’ve not extracted as much as we can in terms of points-scoring from the first four and there’s a little bit of performance coming each race. We set out on a pathway to catch them, let’s see if we can.
Q: But where’s the shortfall? It’s fair to say you haven’t extracted the most from the regulations. You’d have expected, looking at the way they were framed, that this was going to play to Red Bull’s strengths, particularly on the aerodynamic side.
PM: Well it’s strange thing, isn’t it? In that, within our own control is our own destiny and what others do will always be judged against that. And yes, it’s fair to say we don’t have the leading car at the present time. I wouldn’t want to say that it’s one area. It’s going to be several areas and it’s up to us to identify the ones that have the greatest returns that we can alter, capitalise upon those and get the most out of our car. It’s only what lies within our control. Can’t do anything about what the others do. We will identify the shortfalls – I don’t think it’s going to be a singular – it will be a plural, and we will chip away at them as we have been for some time now.
Q: Jörg, welcome to you. Very valuable points, obviously, for your team in Spain that puts you ahead of McLaren in the Constructors’. How optimistic are you that you can stay there?
Jörg ZANDER: First of all there was obviously a massive boost for the morale and motivation of the team. We actually didn’t expect us to be there in Barcelona. The upgrade package which we planned for Barcelona, we moved to this event. So somehow things seem to have been turned upside down. We didn’t expect us to be on P19-20 today. It was a bit more of a difficult start for us, into the season and it was affected by various parameters. As you know, we didn’t have Pascal for the first two races, so we had to go with Giovinazzi and, of course, that introduced quite a bit of a change to the operational side. So we had a very young, new driver into the car, which we needed to get adapted – but obviously, let me say, from a development point of view, we do understand that the car is behind, compared to our, let me say, defined competition, which is the midfield, primarily because we started pretty early in the season to develop that car, so we have to try and catch-up. But the parameter we fight here, of course, is time and it’s difficult to gain time over the competition. They have a certain time available as we have, so there’s not any difference. The thing is, of course, about resources, and these resources, we’re just about to configure and to adapt. We have made plenty of recruitments but these are all new people so there is a human factor involved, with regards to getting more out of this operation – and these are the kind of difficulties that we are fighting at the moment, let me say.
Q: You mentioned today P19-20. It looked a bit of a struggle, lap time-wise. I was out on circuit. The car didn’t look too bad but the times were a long way off the next-slowest car. What’s going on?
JZ: There’s definitely something wrong. It’s a little bit more work ahead of us. At the moment we don’t seem to get the tyres to work, at all. So, as I said, it was a bit of a surprise. We came here with a new aero upgrade which works according to the data, actually quite fine. So, as expected. We thought we could draw some more potential from it. Of course, now while the tyre temperature management worked very well in Barcelona and panned out very well for us on both compounds, supersoft and the medium, yeah, we do seem to struggle at the moment. The same is true of both compounds: ultrasoft, supersoft. We don’t’ really seem to be able to put the energy into the tyres that it needs to develop the grip which is required.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Ralf Bach – Autobild Motorsport) A question to Paul. I read last week that Adrian Newey said that he was more or less not involved in the new cars. Not his car. Can you tell us how much involved he really was?
PM: In terms of hours, I can’t tell you how he’s split his time. He’s part of our team, has been for a long time and continues to be so. He was involved in the process of developing the car and continues to be so.
Q: (Jerome Pugmire – AP) Question for Andy. Esteban was saying yesterday that he’s confident that he can get a podium this season. How confident are you that he can do that and how impressed have you been with his start?
AG: Well, I can tell you how impressed I am: very, very impressed with the way that he’s come into the team, adapted, the speed at which he acclimatised himself to this track especially this morning, for me shows what a talent he is. Undoubtedly. I watched him for quite a long time in the simulator last week, pounding around the lap here, and his car control was incredible. He could put the front wheel through the barrier by an inch every time. He just needed to bring it back an inch! He’s an amazing talent. Can he get a podium? Well, we need to give him the car to do that – because ultimately on our current car pace and ranking, if everybody finished we would never get a podium so it would need a big slice of luck. But he has an uncanny ability to finish races. He races really well on a Sunday. He has a lot of mental capacity remaining, when he’s driving the car, which is a really, really good sign. If he’s given the opportunity, I’m sure he’ll take it.
Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) A question to Paul. I think if you look at qualifying in Barcelona, corner speeds of the new Red Bulls were quite encouraging. If that is so, how encouraging is that regarding the new upgrades. And also, has there been a change of philosophy towards more downforce versus less drag with the new update introduced in Barcelona.
PM: OK, the first part of your question then. The changes made to the car for Barcelona yielded improvements to it, undoubtedly. There’s always a simulation target and then what the real car delivers – and the testing of the real car is usually imperfect. So, as far as we can tell, they’ve done what we expected to do – I’m encouraged by that – we did pick up a bit of speed. I think it gave the drivers more confidence and that’s another little bonus that you can take. In terms of change of philosophy, no, not really. We have efficiency targets that determine do pieces go on the car or not. It’s perhaps easier to judge that than it is your expected lap time gain of an update package. We’re not changing our philosophy: you can see how the car is set up; we’ve been pursuing that for some time and that remains. I think a change of philosophy at this stage would be, for us, unwise. What we do longer term is entirely our choice and our business.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Jörg, if we look at your career, you’ve always worked with very, very well-funded teams: Toyota, Honda, in sportscars Audi, with BMW-Sauber when it was manufacturer-backed. How difficult is it to reset the engineering mind set to operate and work in a team with a more modest budget the way that Sauber is right now?
JZ: First of all, I think we have actually quite a good budget, so we have all opportunity that you can find in other midfield teams to do a decent development and dover those development processes. So, from that perspective I think we are not too badly adjusted at all. The other point is that, the way I see Sauber is actually, from the point of talent level, actually quite good. We have very experienced people, very, very… people have a good talent, they are very competent. They have been in the sport for a long time, so I think you may want to look into the economic side of things, which are really decent but you have to look from a human resource point of view as well: what kind of quality level of human resource do you have available for your developments. I think Sauber is actually placed very well in that regard.
Q: (Sam Collins – Racecar Engineering) There’s been a lot of talk about the frontal cockpit protection system being introduced for the 2018 season. What have you heard from the FIA and their research institute about what form it will take, in terms of technical regulations. Also, what’s the latest in terms of monocoque design and lead times in manufacturer to start working and introduce it into the car?
AG: Well, there has been a meeting a couple of weeks ago, the first meeting for the installation of the Shield. We weren’t part of that meeting but there is another meeting tomorrow that we are having with the FIA to discuss it further. We’ve seen some preliminary models. We’ve been looking at how we integrate those into the chassis next year. There are a lot, a lot of question marks over it. There’s a lot of work to do in the timeframe that we have been given. So we need to make some smart decisions going forward. Hopefully we’ll be discussing that tomorrow, with a view to how we answer all those questions in the time period we’ve got.
PM: To answer your question, ‘what’s the deadline?’ I think it depends which colour shirt you have on. We, as a team, can be amongst the later, but we are going to very, very tight to get this on to a car for ’18. I think the research into its functionality and protection, it’s got to happen almost in parallel with the installation, which makes it quite a tricky job, because whatever they change in terms of screen then has an implication to a chassis and if you have cut your patterns then you are in a fairly awkward situations. I think if it all happens in parallel then the cut-offs are going to be somewhat team dependent. As Andy said, there is a hell of a lot to get through to ensure that this is a thoroughly developed and sorted package to put on next year’s car.
JZ: With regard to the deadline, so usually we would by the end of July, beginning of August, define the monocoque. Of course the fundamental question here is about the integration of the shield and the attachment, so there is a question about structural integrity, but again, as my colleagues said, we are going to discuss this tomorrow, so we need those detailed informations of course. At the moment, as far as I know, we want to test this system at some point in September, which I think is good. I think the enhancement of safety, improving safety is a fundamental let me say job of ours and I think we should support that, we do support this. But of course we have to makes sure that these things are worked out sensibly and that they fit within the time schedule. But we are working together with the FIA in order to achieve this, don’t we Paul?
PM: Absolutely.
Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) I just wanted to follow up on what I was asking about Esteban before. Could you just talk about his capacity and desire to learn, because he has said that he does hours and hours of simulator work and, quote, “intense debriefs with engineers”, so that shows his application. Could you talk about his desire to learn and willingness to improve?
AG: He’s like a school child. He’s like a sponge and he just absorbs information as fast as you can give it to him. His want and his desire are unquestionable. He absolutely wants this and he has the talent to do great things but he is going about it the right way. He’s doing it a step at a time. He’s doing the learning at the pace he wants to and that we allow him to do and I have no doubts that he is going to get to where he wants to be in a few years’ time.
Q: (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas) A question for everybody. Did you need to change the jack support at the back of the car after Laurent Mekies’ document, and what do you think about it, will it really help in the case of accidents?
PM: To answer your first question: yes, we were requested to change, so we have changed. We’ve taken a bigger step than some of our competitors by the looks of it and we have done a new jack, we’ve modified the associated receptacle on the back of the rear impact structure. As for the note, well, it’s given to us, and it’s up to us to interpret it, deal with it, liaise with the FIA, achieve a design that design that satisfies them and equally that we could get here, and with a lot of hard work and dedication we’ve got a solution here.
JZ: It’s the same for us. It added a little bit of complexity to our operations as well, but that’s what we have done. Of course, we have a Ferrari gearbox, so there’s a rear impact structure that is homologated by Ferrari. So we had to work this out in co-operation with our colleagues in Italy. So there was immediate action required which we did and yes, of course, we have had extra support here to make sure that it all works nicely. But then again, as I said before, it’s a safety critical subject, so we do understand and if there is urgency because of that then we would support that. That’s what we did.
AG: We didn’t need to change our rear impact structure, we just changed our livery.
PART ONE: TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Andrew GREEN (Force India), Paul Monaghan (Red Bull Racing), Jörg Zander (Sauber).
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Andy, let’s start with you. Stunning start to the season: 53 points; clear fourth place and even breathing down Red Bull’s neck in the championship. With the resources that you have, how have you managed to do it?
Andy GREEN: It’s been, yeah, it’s been a good start to the season but as we proved last season, you can’t take anything for granted and our lead over fifth place is a lot smaller than where we were behind the Williams last year. So, reminding the guys that it’s a long season and we’re only a quarter of the way through it with a long way to go where a lot can happen. So, we need to keep pushing, keep developing, do what we’re doing – we’re on a good trajectory at the moment – and not to slack and see where we end up in the end. So far it’s gone better than expected and I think we’ve capitalised as much as we could of in those first five races. I don’t think you look back at those first five and think ‘what if?’ I think we’ve basically got the best out of it.
Q: In Spain only three cars finished on the lead lap, which is the fewest since 2008 so obviously, does that speak to the problem that the field in Formula One, with these new regulations, has become very spread out? Do you think that’s going to remain the case for the rest of the season?
AG: I hope not. It was another point I did make to the factory last week. I hate being lapped. It just shows the potential that there is in these regulations and how much there is to find. We look at it as an opportunity to make the car even faster, knowing that there’s that much performance left in it.
Q: Paul, coming to you, 75 seconds behind at the finish in Spain last time out but a clear and very promising looking P2 in practice today with last year’s pole-sitter. What’s your overview of today’s running and how competitive do you think you’re going to be this weekend?
Paul MONAGHAN: It’s nice to see us nearer the sharp end than we’ve arguably been at points this year. Our overall competitiveness… it’s still hard to tell. I’m not sure Mercedes showed their full hand today. I think it’s going to be pretty tight on Saturday and you need to have a reasonable qualifying around here to then capitalise for Sunday. So, I’m not going to count any chickens yet. We just knuckle down, do what’s within our control, get the most out of our car, and get the most out of it on Saturday and see where we end up.
Q: So where’s the shortfall been then in the first five races of this season – some way behind, as we said, in Spain. Is there still belief that you can catch them over the span of the season?
PM: There’s belief, yes, and a strong desire as well. I think if we lost belief it would be a fairly early end to our season. So, there’s a strong belief, a strong desire and a real determination to get more out of this car and close on the others – because they’re not standing still and as such our development rate has to exceed those guys. I think it can. It’s fair to say that we’ve not extracted as much as we can in terms of points-scoring from the first four and there’s a little bit of performance coming each race. We set out on a pathway to catch them, let’s see if we can.
Q: But where’s the shortfall? It’s fair to say you haven’t extracted the most from the regulations. You’d have expected, looking at the way they were framed, that this was going to play to Red Bull’s strengths, particularly on the aerodynamic side.
PM: Well it’s strange thing, isn’t it? In that, within our own control is our own destiny and what others do will always be judged against that. And yes, it’s fair to say we don’t have the leading car at the present time. I wouldn’t want to say that it’s one area. It’s going to be several areas and it’s up to us to identify the ones that have the greatest returns that we can alter, capitalise upon those and get the most out of our car. It’s only what lies within our control. Can’t do anything about what the others do. We will identify the shortfalls – I don’t think it’s going to be a singular – it will be a plural, and we will chip away at them as we have been for some time now.
Q: Jörg, welcome to you. Very valuable points, obviously, for your team in Spain that puts you ahead of McLaren in the Constructors’. How optimistic are you that you can stay there?
Jörg ZANDER: First of all there was obviously a massive boost for the morale and motivation of the team. We actually didn’t expect us to be there in Barcelona. The upgrade package which we planned for Barcelona, we moved to this event. So somehow things seem to have been turned upside down. We didn’t expect us to be on P19-20 today. It was a bit more of a difficult start for us, into the season and it was affected by various parameters. As you know, we didn’t have Pascal for the first two races, so we had to go with Giovinazzi and, of course, that introduced quite a bit of a change to the operational side. So we had a very young, new driver into the car, which we needed to get adapted – but obviously, let me say, from a development point of view, we do understand that the car is behind, compared to our, let me say, defined competition, which is the midfield, primarily because we started pretty early in the season to develop that car, so we have to try and catch-up. But the parameter we fight here, of course, is time and it’s difficult to gain time over the competition. They have a certain time available as we have, so there’s not any difference. The thing is, of course, about resources, and these resources, we’re just about to configure and to adapt. We have made plenty of recruitments but these are all new people so there is a human factor involved, with regards to getting more out of this operation – and these are the kind of difficulties that we are fighting at the moment, let me say.
Q: You mentioned today P19-20. It looked a bit of a struggle, lap time-wise. I was out on circuit. The car didn’t look too bad but the times were a long way off the next-slowest car. What’s going on?
JZ: There’s definitely something wrong. It’s a little bit more work ahead of us. At the moment we don’t seem to get the tyres to work, at all. So, as I said, it was a bit of a surprise. We came here with a new aero upgrade which works according to the data, actually quite fine. So, as expected. We thought we could draw some more potential from it. Of course, now while the tyre temperature management worked very well in Barcelona and panned out very well for us on both compounds, supersoft and the medium, yeah, we do seem to struggle at the moment. The same is true of both compounds: ultrasoft, supersoft. We don’t’ really seem to be able to put the energy into the tyres that it needs to develop the grip which is required.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Ralf Bach – Autobild Motorsport) A question to Paul. I read last week that Adrian Newey said that he was more or less not involved in the new cars. Not his car. Can you tell us how much involved he really was?
PM: In terms of hours, I can’t tell you how he’s split his time. He’s part of our team, has been for a long time and continues to be so. He was involved in the process of developing the car and continues to be so.
Q: (Jerome Pugmire – AP) Question for Andy. Esteban was saying yesterday that he’s confident that he can get a podium this season. How confident are you that he can do that and how impressed have you been with his start?
AG: Well, I can tell you how impressed I am: very, very impressed with the way that he’s come into the team, adapted, the speed at which he acclimatised himself to this track especially this morning, for me shows what a talent he is. Undoubtedly. I watched him for quite a long time in the simulator last week, pounding around the lap here, and his car control was incredible. He could put the front wheel through the barrier by an inch every time. He just needed to bring it back an inch! He’s an amazing talent. Can he get a podium? Well, we need to give him the car to do that – because ultimately on our current car pace and ranking, if everybody finished we would never get a podium so it would need a big slice of luck. But he has an uncanny ability to finish races. He races really well on a Sunday. He has a lot of mental capacity remaining, when he’s driving the car, which is a really, really good sign. If he’s given the opportunity, I’m sure he’ll take it.
Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) A question to Paul. I think if you look at qualifying in Barcelona, corner speeds of the new Red Bulls were quite encouraging. If that is so, how encouraging is that regarding the new upgrades. And also, has there been a change of philosophy towards more downforce versus less drag with the new update introduced in Barcelona.
PM: OK, the first part of your question then. The changes made to the car for Barcelona yielded improvements to it, undoubtedly. There’s always a simulation target and then what the real car delivers – and the testing of the real car is usually imperfect. So, as far as we can tell, they’ve done what we expected to do – I’m encouraged by that – we did pick up a bit of speed. I think it gave the drivers more confidence and that’s another little bonus that you can take. In terms of change of philosophy, no, not really. We have efficiency targets that determine do pieces go on the car or not. It’s perhaps easier to judge that than it is your expected lap time gain of an update package. We’re not changing our philosophy: you can see how the car is set up; we’ve been pursuing that for some time and that remains. I think a change of philosophy at this stage would be, for us, unwise. What we do longer term is entirely our choice and our business.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Jörg, if we look at your career, you’ve always worked with very, very well-funded teams: Toyota, Honda, in sportscars Audi, with BMW-Sauber when it was manufacturer-backed. How difficult is it to reset the engineering mind set to operate and work in a team with a more modest budget the way that Sauber is right now?
JZ: First of all, I think we have actually quite a good budget, so we have all opportunity that you can find in other midfield teams to do a decent development and dover those development processes. So, from that perspective I think we are not too badly adjusted at all. The other point is that, the way I see Sauber is actually, from the point of talent level, actually quite good. We have very experienced people, very, very… people have a good talent, they are very competent. They have been in the sport for a long time, so I think you may want to look into the economic side of things, which are really decent but you have to look from a human resource point of view as well: what kind of quality level of human resource do you have available for your developments. I think Sauber is actually placed very well in that regard.
Q: (Sam Collins – Racecar Engineering) There’s been a lot of talk about the frontal cockpit protection system being introduced for the 2018 season. What have you heard from the FIA and their research institute about what form it will take, in terms of technical regulations. Also, what’s the latest in terms of monocoque design and lead times in manufacturer to start working and introduce it into the car?
AG: Well, there has been a meeting a couple of weeks ago, the first meeting for the installation of the Shield. We weren’t part of that meeting but there is another meeting tomorrow that we are having with the FIA to discuss it further. We’ve seen some preliminary models. We’ve been looking at how we integrate those into the chassis next year. There are a lot, a lot of question marks over it. There’s a lot of work to do in the timeframe that we have been given. So we need to make some smart decisions going forward. Hopefully we’ll be discussing that tomorrow, with a view to how we answer all those questions in the time period we’ve got.
PM: To answer your question, ‘what’s the deadline?’ I think it depends which colour shirt you have on. We, as a team, can be amongst the later, but we are going to very, very tight to get this on to a car for ’18. I think the research into its functionality and protection, it’s got to happen almost in parallel with the installation, which makes it quite a tricky job, because whatever they change in terms of screen then has an implication to a chassis and if you have cut your patterns then you are in a fairly awkward situations. I think if it all happens in parallel then the cut-offs are going to be somewhat team dependent. As Andy said, there is a hell of a lot to get through to ensure that this is a thoroughly developed and sorted package to put on next year’s car.
JZ: With regard to the deadline, so usually we would by the end of July, beginning of August, define the monocoque. Of course the fundamental question here is about the integration of the shield and the attachment, so there is a question about structural integrity, but again, as my colleagues said, we are going to discuss this tomorrow, so we need those detailed informations of course. At the moment, as far as I know, we want to test this system at some point in September, which I think is good. I think the enhancement of safety, improving safety is a fundamental let me say job of ours and I think we should support that, we do support this. But of course we have to makes sure that these things are worked out sensibly and that they fit within the time schedule. But we are working together with the FIA in order to achieve this, don’t we Paul?
PM: Absolutely.
Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) I just wanted to follow up on what I was asking about Esteban before. Could you just talk about his capacity and desire to learn, because he has said that he does hours and hours of simulator work and, quote, “intense debriefs with engineers”, so that shows his application. Could you talk about his desire to learn and willingness to improve?
AG: He’s like a school child. He’s like a sponge and he just absorbs information as fast as you can give it to him. His want and his desire are unquestionable. He absolutely wants this and he has the talent to do great things but he is going about it the right way. He’s doing it a step at a time. He’s doing the learning at the pace he wants to and that we allow him to do and I have no doubts that he is going to get to where he wants to be in a few years’ time.
Q: (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas) A question for everybody. Did you need to change the jack support at the back of the car after Laurent Mekies’ document, and what do you think about it, will it really help in the case of accidents?
PM: To answer your first question: yes, we were requested to change, so we have changed. We’ve taken a bigger step than some of our competitors by the looks of it and we have done a new jack, we’ve modified the associated receptacle on the back of the rear impact structure. As for the note, well, it’s given to us, and it’s up to us to interpret it, deal with it, liaise with the FIA, achieve a design that design that satisfies them and equally that we could get here, and with a lot of hard work and dedication we’ve got a solution here.
JZ: It’s the same for us. It added a little bit of complexity to our operations as well, but that’s what we have done. Of course, we have a Ferrari gearbox, so there’s a rear impact structure that is homologated by Ferrari. So we had to work this out in co-operation with our colleagues in Italy. So there was immediate action required which we did and yes, of course, we have had extra support here to make sure that it all works nicely. But then again, as I said before, it’s a safety critical subject, so we do understand and if there is urgency because of that then we would support that. That’s what we did.
AG: We didn’t need to change our rear impact structure, we just changed our livery.
eom/FIA transcript of the press conference
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Hamilton sets the quickest time in FP1
Monte Carlo, 25 May 2017: Hamilton set the quickest time of opening practice in Monaco, beating Ferrar
Hamilton top timecharts in FP1. An FIA image i’s Sebastian Vettel by almost two tenths of a second. The Mercedes driver also eclipsed last year’s pole position time by a similar margin and beat his own lap record in the principality by 4.5s.
Hamilton recorded a time of 1:13.425 on Pirelli’s ultrasoft tyres to finish 0.196 seconds clear of Vettel, with Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen third, 0.15s adrift of the Drivers’ Championship-leading German.
The opening 90-minute session saw a number of drivers quickly try out the weekend’s softest available compound, the Pirelli ultrasoft, and Vettel set the early pace. However, the Ferrari man, who has a six-point title lead over Hamilton going into this weekend, was edged out of top spot when Mercedes swapped from supersoft tyre work to ultrasofts soon after the hour mark had passed.
Hamilton and team-mate Valtteri Bottas then traded fastest times before Hamilton set his best time of the session.
After slipping back as Red Bull, which was debuting a new T-wing, found pace and Daniel Ricciardo moved up the order but Vettel then jumped back to P2 with good lap that saw him finish 0.196 behind Hamilton.
Verstappen, meanwhile, stole into third place late in the session after he had spent a long time in the Red Bull garage after the team had detected a possible right rear puncture. Returning to the action late on Verstappen quickly found a groove and after initially slotting in behind tea-mate Ricciardo he chipped away at his lap time to eventually take third place with just over 10 minutes left in the session.
The Dutchman also set the quickest first sector of the session, but lost time in the following two to miss out on an even closer challenge to the top two drivers.
With Bottas fourth and Ricciardo fifth, sixth place in the session went to Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat, the Russian being the quickest man on supersoft tyres with the lap of 1:14.111, just under seven tenths of a second off Hamilton’s pace.
Kimi Räikkönen was seventh in the second Ferrari, though the Finn was more than half a second slower than Vettel over the 3.337km circuit. Force India’s Sergio Perez was eighth, ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr, who like Toro Rosso team-mate Kvyat was on the super-softs. Perez’s team-mate Esteban Ocon was 10th quickest.
Elsewhere, Jenson Button was 14th on his return to McLaren as stand-in for Fernando Alonso who is this weekend competing in the Indianapolis 500. Despite only having driven McLaren’s car on the team’s simulator, Button was soon finding a comfort zone with the car and completed 35 laps for a best time of 1:14.954, just 0.141 behind team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne.
There was trouble though for Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg and for Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson. Hulkenberg failed to complete a flying lap after a problem was discovered with his car’s energy store, while a geabox issue sidelined Ericcson.
2017 Monaco Grand Prix – Free Practice 1
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:13.425s – 40
2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:13.621s 0.196s 34
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:13.771s 0.346s 32
4 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:13.791s 0.366s 40
5 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:13.854s 0.429s 45
6 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:14.111s 0.686s 42
7 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:14.164s 0.739s 37
8 Sergio Perez Force India 1:14.201s 0.776s 32
9 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:14.333s 0.908s 39
10 Esteban Ocon Force India 1:14.425s 1.000s 39
11 Felipe Massa Williams 1:14.617s 1.192s 37
12 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 1:14.813s 1.388s 38
13 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:14.870s 1.445s 34
14 Jenson Button McLaren 1:14.954s 1.529s 35
15 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:15.321s 1.896s 33
16 Lance Stroll Williams 1:15.595s 2.170s 44
17 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:15.949s 2.524s 42
18 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber 1:16.258s 2.833s 33
19 Nico Hulkenberg Renault – – 3
20 Marcus Ericsson Sauber – – 3.eom/FIA press release
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It’s exciting, but I don’t feel the pressure: Button
PART ONE: DRIVERS – Jenson BUTTON (McLaren), Nico HULKENBERG (Renault), Esteban OCON (Force India)
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Jenson, 2009 Monaco GP winner and World Champion of course, welcome back. Unusual circumstances to say the least. What level of preparation have you done for this race and how well do you feel you know the 2017 McLaren F1 car?
Jenson BUTTON: First of all it’s great to be back, good to see so many faces I haven’t seen for six months, apart from TV obviously. The preparation has been good; apart from [the fact that] I haven’t obviously driven the car. These new regulations… so it’s not perfect. The option was to do half a day in Bahrain, which I though was absolutely useless for me to do, a completely different type of circuit. I said to the team, I think it’s best if I do a few days in the simulator. Obviously as drivers we love the simulator, so I was raring to go. I spent a lot of time in the simulator getting a feel for it. Yeah, it’s been interesting. You know, most of the stuff is the same, but there are a few things that are obviously different, with the difference in regulations, and there are always… it just changes year to year with new technology and what have you. A few things to learn but it’s still a racing car, just got to get used to it being a bit wider.
Q: The McLaren was competitive in Alonso’s hands in Spain in qualifying and this track is now McLaren’s best chance of scoring some points in the near future. And I guess you need them now after Sauber bagged some points last time out in Spain. So, although this substitute appearance was supposed to be fairly low pressure, do you actually feel there is a lot of pressure on you to score some points for the team?
JB: Definitely not. I’m very relaxed. Very excited, actually. It’s interesting coming back for one grand prix. It being Monaco it’s very special. I’ve won here before, I’ve lived here for 17 years, and I’ve had some really good experiences here. It’s exciting. But I don’t feel any pressure – none at all. I will obviously get in the car and I will do the best job I can, that’s what I’m here to do and everything I do in life is the same: you want to be competitive, you want to get the best out of yourself and you want to get the best out of the equipment and the team that you are working with. That hasn’t changed. The car seemed to be working well in Barcelona in qualifying. Fernando did a good job. I think it still proves that the car itself is working well. I drove it in the simulator and I drover the upgrade, which I was misquoted on by the way, but I drove the upgrade and it was a definite improvement and there are more improvements here as well. If it’s all straightforward this weekend, we should be reasonably… reasonably competitive.
Q: Well have a great weekend, thank you very much. Nico, three consecutive points finishes and you have three time qualified in the top eight this season, so does it feel like it’s all starting to come together with Renault?
Nico HULKENBERG: Yeah it does, especially Barcelona; Sunday was a good race for us, although we had quite a bit of help from some colleagues. But that’s racing sometimes. Overall the global situation is good, the team is very hungry and working pretty hard, little upgrades coming every weekend, which is very important in the season. I think we are putting ourselves in a position where we can just constantly battle for points which is the target and the ambition for this year. So as far as I can see looks all promising and good.
Q: Now you qualified fifth on the grid here last year in a Force India, so what’s the secret to punching above your weight around Monaco?
NH: It’s just nailing the lap when it counts. Obviously here it’s tough to push your personal limit higher and higher and it’s just building up that confidence over the weekend and then you peak really in that Q3 lap. Last year I remember it was a hell of a lap that I was very happy about and I’ll try to do more of the same this year.
Q: Esteban, five points finishes out of five and a career best fifth place in Spain, that’s some start to the year. You must be absolutely delighted. Now presumably the target is to be really troubling your team-mate Sergio Pérez every weekend and getting front of him?
Esteban OCON: Yeah, I’m pleased with the start of my season with Force India. The target was to be scoring points at every race, that’s what we are doing at the moment and the car is constantly improving as well. On my side we could have done a little bit better. For the first three races I was still learning and if we had put all the details together a bit more was possible. But I’m pleased with that, scoring points at every race, just keep improving all the time, keep getting closer to Sergio as well, and now we are having the same lap times and the same pace so we are fighting on the same step which is really good and that’s what I want to keep doing for the future.
Q: You’ve never raced at Monaco before, despite racing in some series that have been here but Force India has a strong record here, both cars finished in the top six here last season. How have they prepared you for this race and what’s your own research shown you about how the race unfolds?
EO: Yeah, unfortunately I’ve never been racing here, I’ve just been here to watch the race in the previous years when I was a reserve driver. I’ve been spending a lot of time in the simulator. It’s like I know the track already, because I have ben playing it on games since I was so young, I’ve been around as well. A lot of days in the simulator, a lot of research on the internet for me, watching just onboard laps from Jenson, from all the guys…
JB: The old guys.
EO: The old guys, yeah! No, it has been good and I think I can’t be more prepared to arrive.
Q: Before I pass it to the floor, one quick question to Nico and Jenson on driving these wider 2017 cars around these streets. They are quite a bit wider, so from the point of view of judging the barriers and overtaking, maybe a thought on that Nico?
NH: Obviously by now we have done a couple of races and spent quite a bit of time in these cars so I think we all adjusted to that. But yeah, first time tomorrow maybe we’ll have to readjust a little bit but I don’t think that will be too difficult or take too long.
JB: I haven’t driven the car, so I don’t know! To be fair, it’s probably not a bad thing stepping in it here. It’s going to be a shock to the system anyway driving the car so… I think it’s going to be a little bit unusual for everyone having the car wider, but you’re still sat in the middle, so you should be able to judge things pretty easily.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and Speed Sport) Jenson, when the idea was broached to you was it an instant yes, or did you have to think about it, even for a few seconds?
JB: I asked my dogs and they said “we can do without you for a week or so”. My girlfriend said “you gotta do what you do” and I said yes, and it was my decision. I could have said no if I wanted to, as we all can – no one wants a racing drive who doesn’t want to drive. Really excited but obviously the preparation could have been better if I had the opportunity to test the car in a proper test, but that’s not the way Formula One works. You’ve got to be ready. I think fitness-wise that’s not an issue. I’m sure the neck is going to be a bit sore after Thursday, even around Monaco. But we’ve got Friday off, so a little bit of rest. Mikey Muscles is back for a one-off race, my physio as well, so he’s going to be rubbing me once again. So it’s an exciting challenge and that’s what it’s all about isn’t it and that’s what we’re here for and I’m really looking forward to it.
Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Jenson, obviously you have driven cars with more downforce before, before 2009 actually. Wouldn’t you have done the Bahrain test even if you hadn’t driven those other cars or do you think it would have been help for you?
JB: Well, in hindsight it’s always easier to say “no, I wouldn’t have” because I would have only done 17 laps the day that I would have tested and I was only going to do half a day anyway. So, no, I think Bahrain is such a different circuit to here. I think as long as you understand the way the car is working and obviously I have every bit of information possible and I run through it for days in terms of set-up work and what helps the car in certain ways and how it reacts to certain things, those are the key things you need to understand and those things you can do in the simulator, which is what I have done. Obviously it’s wider, so that’s the bigger thing for me. In terms of the way the tyres work. You know they have been pretty tricky for the last few years. I know they work differently, but you work your way around it and I have a couple of days to do that. It’s also warm, which helps. Over the weekend there will be things where I’m sure it will be a little bit tricky but it’s about putting the time and the effort in working around those issues and hopefully coming out on top.
Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) A question for Nico and Esteban. Some of the drivers have described how much more physically tiring and demanding the race is this year. Can you give your feedback on that and how much more difficult you’re finding that, physically?
EO: I think it is a bit more difficult. To be honest I was expecting it to be more, much more than that. The main difference is you push harder in the race because the tyre lasts longer. But all in all it’s not that much more difficult.
NH: Yeah it is a bit more physical for sure, but I think the real test will be later in the year when we go to Singapore and the really tough tracks that every year are the most difficult ones. Then it will make even a bigger difference. So far it’s been OK. I think we all took it seriously in the winter and prepared for it, so that’s why I think we’re OK.
Q: (Barna Zsoldis – Nemzeti Sport) Jenson, according to the official announcement in Monza you are now a key member of a very innovative three-driver line-up. If it’s like that, why did you hesitate to say yes or no and what is your exact position in the team now?
JB: That hasn’t changed. I’m still an ambassador for the team, some might say a third driver and this weekend I’ve got the opportunity to race the car. I was going to be here anyway and instead of sitting around drinking champagne I can actually do what I’m supposed to do and that’s race cars for a living. Very lucky position and as I said it’s a very exciting position to be in – a challenge, but a good one.
Q: (Andrew Frankel – Forza) Nico, you’re already a champion at Le Mans and we have Fernando this weekend at Indy. Should he do as well as we would all like him to do, would you gentleman all consider having a go at Indianapolis?
NH: For me, personally, at the moment, no. There is nothing that strikes me about it or gets me excited. Le Mans was one thing, so I can see myself going back there. Indy, for the moment, no. Maybe in the future, in the next few years, that might change, I don’t know – but at the moment I’m happy where I am.
Jenson?
JB: Indy’s not really been something that I’ve thought about. Personally, I was surprised that Fernando was interested in doing it but we all like different things. We’re racing drivers, we’re not just F1 drivers and we like trying other sports. For me, I’d like to do Le Mans one day, I think it would be a great experience, great team atmosphere. Obviously it has to be the right opportunity, like Nico had . I would like to race in NASCAR, I think that’d be fun. Yeah, I went along to one of the races this year, Jimmie Johnson invited me and I had a great time and loved seeing ‘the show’ as it is. It’s very different to other motorsports but equally it’s a challenge. It’s a massive challenge. Who knows? And then there’s the other motorsports that I love like Rallycross as well. There are many things – but Indy hasn’t been up there for me, for many different reasons.
Esteban?
EO: No, from myself, I don’t think Indy or Le Mans actually now I want to do. I definitely want to focus on Formula One. Always been my goal to be here and I want to be successful here in Formula One. So maybe in the future but I’m even not sure I would want to do that in the future. I would be more a rally driver if I retire. I want to try that.
Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Jenson, are you following what Fernando is doing at Indy and will you watch the Indy 500 on Sunday?
JB: What time is it on? [6pm] Oh, yeah, I’m sure that I will. I watched when he drove the car for the first time, which is always interesting, seeing a driver’s reaction. Actually, probably it was more the reaction to the media being right next to him every second that he was out of the car. That’s the bit that I loved watching the most – because we all know how Fernando loves the media so seeing his reaction to that was even better than seeing his reaction to driving the car around the circuit. So yeah, it’s absolutely mad, isn’t it, Indy, in terms of the media and how much attention it’s getting – which is fantastic for the sport. I just want to see what Fernando says when he gets back. But of course I have an interest. I’ve been team-mates with Fernando for a couple of years and raced against Fernando for many more years than that. It’s interesting to see how he does. Very different type of motorsport. There’s a lot of talent out there, talented drivers that have been doing that for so many years, so it’ll be interesting to see how he gets on. Qualifying went pretty well and the race is obviously something very, very different. Wheel-to-wheel around there, it’s pretty mad. I wish him the best but the most important thing is that he stays safe, which we’ve already talked about.
Q: (Leigh Diffey – NBC Sports) Jenson, if you haven’t already noticed, as the weekend goes on you’ll see how much the paddock is enjoying you being back…
JB: Thank you Sweetie!
…but for you, what’s it like being away from the paddock?
JB: It’s been amazing! Nothing against the paddock because it is great to be back and it’s great to see you guys. This has been my world, it’s been my life for so many years. You’re never going to just walk away and forget about it. It’s a very special feeling for me being back here, seeing so many friends and colleagues and what have you. It’s nice – but my life away from Formula One has been pretty cool. So… very different. I’ve been spending a lot of time in one place rather than traveling around the world and flying three times a week and I’m in a very lucky position where I can do that. To be fair, I’ve been busier than ever because I’ve been training really hard for my passion, which is triathlons. I’m flat out with training, and picking up dog poop, so it’s been busy, yeah.
EO: It’s good training for the biceps…
JB: It is very good! And I’ve seen on social media all winter, these guys training so hard. I saw Daniel Ricciardo standing on a Swiss Ball with something in his hands. Don’t know what use that is to a Formula One driver – but it looked so cool. These guys flat out in the gym. Amazing. It’s really good to see. The only thing I’m worried about is my neck but apart from that it should be alright.
Q: (Joe Van Burik – De Telegraaf) Question to Nico. How would you rate the power unit development process is going at Renault at the moment?
NH: I think that’s OK. The power unit took a big step forwards last year to this year. I didn’t know it last year but that’s the feedback I have from Renault and from talking to some of the drivers.I think there is still more work to be done to close the gap to the Mercedes and Ferrari power units. We get an upgrade in the next few races, so I think it’s pretty much on target.
Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS) For all drivers. This special circuit, what’s your favourite corner – and Esteban, it can be a simulation corner.
JB: Favourite corner… it’s a tricky one around Monaco because it’s not just about one, it’s difficult to pick one corner out. Tabac is pretty crazy. Most of the corner here it’s easy-enough to pick out the apex and the exit but Tabac is quick: very difficult to pick the apex and the exit. It’s very tough with the barriers. If they were different colours maybe it would help. Yeah, that’s the toughest. Also, from what I’ve heard with the cars this year, Tabac and the Swimming Pool are the corners that are really going to be a step above last year – and the entry to Casino. Slow-speed, maybe not so much – but high speed is going to be pretty awesome.
NH: Yeah, Like Jenson says, it’s going to be difficult to name one corner. I think it’s more about a few sequences. I really like down from Mirabeau, through Loews corner and then the two right-handers into the tunnel. That’s cool. And then, yeah Tabac and the Swimming Pool because it’s so fast and it’s really… yeah pretty spectacular from inside the car. It’s always a challenge every lap, so that’s fun too.
Esteban, which one are you looking forwards to?
EO: I think they said it: Swimming Pool and then the other right to left just after that. I don’t know the names of the corners because I’m quite new – but those four in combination. I like chicanes and those look really demanding and challenging.
Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Jenson, could I just ask your thoughts on the terror attack in Manchester early this week and whether as a British driver you plan to run any sort of tribute on your helmet or car his weekend.
JB: Obviously, it’s horrific. It’s amazing how often it seems to be happening all around the world and more and more in Great Britain. So, yeah, there aren’t many words for it really apart from my thoughts are with everyone that’s been affected. The most heart-breaking thing… I mean every life is important but with mostly kids going to the concert that’s what I think hurts the most for everyone. I’m not a parent, but I know a lot of people who are and I think that’s what hits home the most, how heartless certain people can be. But it’s also been a pretty bad week for people we know and respect in motorsport as well, and the cycling world, well the triathlon world for me. So, it’s been tough with Nicky losing his fight over the last the last few days – it just shows you how precious it is. You’ve got to enjoy every moment. That’s it really.
Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Nico, you have scored points in Barcelona again but in terms of raw pace it wasn’t a really good weekend for Renault. Have you identified the problems and also, in the slower corners the car seemed to be a bit better than the fast ones. Does it bode well for Monaco for you?
NH: I thought it was the opposite: fast ones are better for us than slow. Anyway, I think it depends sometimes on the track, on the tyre. The pace on the medium wasn’t great but we had track position and when you have that you hang on to it. It’s just a matter of sometimes if you don’t hit the tyre in the sweet spot, in the right temperature window you lose out on performance. I think to some extent that’s what happened in Barcelona on the medium compound. And then, during the harder compounds we seemed to be suffering a bit more on those relative to softer compounds – so quite good that we have softer ones here this weekend.
Q: (Jerome Pugmire – AP) Question for Esteban, the start you’ve had this season, how does that make you feel about your potential in Formula One, do you think you can get a podium this season? What is your view following your start this season?
EO: Yeah, it is my personal target to get a podium at some point and I want to have it as soon as possible. It makes me confident to have a great start like this, this season, progressing all the time, feeling very well into the team. The team welcomed me so well, working with them a lot at the factory as well. I think we can achieve great things, y’know? All together. I look forward to many more successful races like this and hopefully we can get a podium this year.
Q: (inaudible) Jenson, you qualified for the triathlon World Championships. What are your expectations regarding your triathlon career?
JB: I’m old! I think that’s my comments on that. I will always be amateur, never a professional at a sport like that. There’s a lot of big talent that’s British, which is great. The Brownlee brothers, Holly Lawrence, which is great – but for me it is more about just pushing myself. I enjoy it a lot and obviously I’m going to the World Championship – and if you’re going you might as well aim to win it – and that’s my aim, as an age-grouper though, not as a professional. That’s what all the hard work’s for this year. Looking forward to that. It’s in Chattanooga, Tennessee, as well so it should be fun.
eom/FIA transcript of the press conference
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Monaco GP, a jewel in the F1 calendar: A Mercedes preview
Toto Talks Monaco
“It’s always good to come away from a race weekend with a points advantage, no matter how small. But the gap is just that: very small. We are in a massive fight with Ferrari. On one side, this is very exciting and challenging. But on the other side, it is going to stretch us to our limits. You cannot base your current assessment on the balance of power on just Barcelona.“It was painful to lose 15 valuable points with Valtteri retiring from P3. We’ve identified the root cause of the problem, which was the turbo. We haven’t seen that defect before, which shows you that you need to be double diligent. This is a technical sport and if you stretch your limits, you’ll encounter technical problems.
“If you look at the results, both Pascal and Esteban had a really good weekend. Pascal made the one-stop strategy work and could have been P7 – but P8 is still very good for him and very valuable points for Sauber. I’m happy to see how Pascal has fitted into the team. He speaks highly about the team and is on a great learning curve.
“As for Esteban, Force India have been very successful in scoring regular points. Esteban is making a good contribution to that. He will really need to stretch himself to beat Checo (Pérez), who is the benchmark for him, but I’m interested to see how that battle develops. They’re pushing each other to new levels and Force India will be the beneficiary.
“We expect Monaco to be a completely different ball game to Barcelona. The circumstances, working environment and driving challenges are completely different to anywhere else – and you need to get everything exactly right if you want to perform to your maximum around those streets. Not every factor is under your control, either, so you need to turn fortune in your favour at the right time if you want everything to come together.
“Monaco is also one of our busiest races. We welcome many guests, executives and partners, who all contribute to our success in different ways. It’s extra special to have this group cheering for us, so we look forward to their support at the track.
“Every weekend will push us to the limit; this is the new reality of Formula One in 2017. The last three years were extraordinary. But this season I have re-discovered why I love the sport. I love the intense competition. This competition means that you won’t be winning easily – but that you’ll have a fierce fight on your hands. Because of that, the feeling is even greater when you manage to come out on top, as we did in Spain.
“If we get the job done in Monaco, I’m pretty sure we’ll bring down the garage roof. We’re all properly fired up for this fight, so let’s see what we can do…”
Featured this Week: Monaco – One of a Kind
Monaco is a race like no other. You don’t need to be an F1 aficionado to know that much. The tight, twisting circuit that threads its way through the famous streets of Monte Carlo is a one-of-a-kind throwback to the eras of Fangio or Caracciola. And even now, decades later, this remains the crown jewel of the Formula One calendar.It’s the race every single driver on the grid wants to win – or win again, in Lewis Hamilton’s case. But victory in the Principality isn’t quite like winning anywhere else. The greatest Grand Prix of them all offers a unique challenge not only to the drivers but the teams as well.
Monaco is the ultimate drivers’ circuit – a track all about precision. Drivers spend hours at the factory ahead of the race studying and preparing for this one race. Some go even further…
“I’ve been doing this for a long time now,” says Lewis. “I spend a lot of time at the factory with the engineers to understand past races. Just the other night, I was driving around the track in my Smart car, visualising the circuit. It’s not so easy, though, when there are lots of cars around!”
As Lewis explains, racing at Monaco is all about peaking at exactly the right moment. A driver must feel his way into the weekend, building up confidence and momentum as the track develops. From the moment they turn left out of the garage on Thursday morning in FP1, this process begins. They’ll push that bit harder, flirt that fraction closer with the barriers and brake a touch later, as they find more time from within themselves.
“The most important thing is that you have to learn to walk before you run,” says Lewis. “You have to build up to the pace so that, by the time you work up to that second run in Q3, you’re at 100%.”
You’ll often see drivers who are quick in the earlier sessions crash out on Saturday morning in FP3 where they’ve pushed just that bit too much, too early. Monaco is not a circuit that forgives. If you misjudge your braking or your turn-in point even by a matter of millimetres, you’ll end up in the barriers. And if you lose a session in Monaco, you’ll struggle to recover from it.
“It’s one of those weekends when you really need to be on the top of your game,” explains Valtteri. “You need to be so focused on what is a mentally exhausting weekend. You need to be focused on every single car of every single lap, because one mistake will cost you.”
Then there’s the added challenge of 2017’s wider, heavier, faster cars. “We have new cars this weekend which are wider and faster, so that’s going to be a massive challenge,” says Lewis. “In trying to push the car as close as you can to the limit, it’ll be a real test of your awareness of where the car is. I’m sure there will be some brushing of the barriers…”
Monaco is the one race of the year when the Grand Prix can almost feel like a side show to the main event. Amongst the boat parties and the superstar celebs, having a distraction-free weekend is a huge part of the challenge for the drivers.
To combat this fatigue, the engineers spend a lot of time ensuring that their drivers are able to break up their time and switch off. It’s tough, with Monaco a busy weekend from a media and marketing perspective. But this is crucial in allowing the drivers to relax and get away from what is a very intense weekend, with immense pressure.
“It’s a circuit which is all about mental strength,” says Lewis. “You need to be sharp and clear. Experience counts here too – that helps massively in setting the car up.”
Ultimately, Monaco is a weekend all about compromise, from the engineering setup to the cars themselves. The pit wall, for example, sits one story above the compact garages rather than overlooking the start finish-line as it does at every other circuit.
While engineers don’t necessarily need to see the cars to engineer them these days, instead relying on bespoke software for strategy and live feeds for visual aids, they do like to be able to see the garage. In Monaco, the occupants of the pit wall have to rely on cameras to show them what is going on. It may seem simple – but good communication becomes even more important in that environment.
Logistically, too, Monaco is tricky to say the least. A distinct lack of garage space means the engineers share their office with front wings, floors and hydraulic systems. The frequent support races during the weekend mean they also have to deal with a near constant level of noise, as cars fly past while important debriefs are underway.
There’s not much space downstairs either. The tyre technicians, for example, have to work down in the harbour – carrying all of the tyre sets up to the pit lane as and when they’re needed because there is simply not enough space in the garage. These factors heap extra pressure on what is already a tough weekend for the team.
Track position takes on an even greater level of importance and must be considered in any strategy move here. When you’re in the lead of the Monaco Grand Prix, it’s all about protecting that position and managing the advantage. The last thing you want to do is offer the trailing car clean air and an opportunity to pass through strategy. .
In fact, you’ll often see the leader driving within their means through fear of storming into a lead, only to see their advantage wiped out when they’re left on worn tyres later in the stint. This year’s tyres offer a new challenge, as teams expect to be able to complete the entire race distance on either the UltraSoft or SuperSoft. That low degradation rate means a smaller delta between the tyres, which will only make it trickier to pass.
All these factors converge to make Monaco the stiffest test a driver can face in F1. Amid the yachts, glamorous guests and VIP events, it all comes down to mastering those 3.337 km of undulating tarmac. “Monaco is always a great challenge,” smiles Valtteri. “We live for these kinds of challenges.”
Stat Attack: Monaco and Beyond
2017 Monaco Grand Prix Timetable
Session Local Time (CEST) Brackley (BST) Stuttgart (CEST) Practice 1 (Thursday) 10:00 – 11:30 9:00 – 10:30 10:00 – 11:30 Practice 2 (Thursday) 14:00 – 15:30 13:00 – 14:30 14:00 – 15:30 Practice 3 (Saturday) 11:00 – 12:00 10:00 – 11:00 11:00 – 12:00 Qualifying (Saturday) 14:00 – 15:00 13:00 – 14:00 14:00 – 15:00 Race (Sunday) 14:00 – 16:00 13:00 – 15:00 14:00 – 16:00 Circuit Records – Silver Arrows at the Circuit de Monaco
Starts Wins Podiums Poles Front Row Fastest Laps Silver Arrows 8 4 7 4 9 2 L. Hamilton 10 2 5 1 4 1 V. Bottas 4 0 0 0 0 0 MB Power 24 11 22 10 20 8 Technical Stats – Season to Date (Barcelona Pre-Season Test 1 to Present)
Laps Completed Distance Covered (km) Gear Changes Petronas Fuel Injections Corners Taken Silver Arrows 2,681 13,570.77 132,493 107,240,000 42,963 L. Hamilton 1,247 6,328.32 61,789 49,880,000 20,006 V. Bottas 1,434 7,242.45 70,704 57,360,000 22,957 MB Power 7,341 37,331.93 365,391 293,640,000 117,840 All-Time Records – Silver Arrows in Formula One
Starts Wins Podiums Poles Front Row Fastest Laps 1-2 Finishes Silver Arrows 153 67 135 77 138 50 36 L. Hamilton 193 55 108 64 109 34 – V. Bottas 82 1 12 1 4 1 – MB Power 424 153 401 160 322 144 61 eom/AMG Petronas Mercedes release
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RIP Nicky Hayden 1981-2017
Nicky Hayden 1981-2017 A Red Bull pool image A statement from Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team
22 May 2017: It is with great sadness that Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team has to announce that Nicky Hayden has succumbed on Monday to injuries suffered during an incident while riding his bicycle last Wednesday.
Nicky passed away at 19:09 CEST this evening at Maurizio Bufalini Hospital in Cesena, Italy. His fiancée Jackie, mother Rose and brother Tommy were at his side.
Throughout his career Nicky’s professionalism and fighting spirit was greatly valued and carried him to numerous successes, including his childhood dream of being crowned MotoGP World Champion with Honda in 2006. As well as being a true champion on the track, Nicky was a fan favourite off it due to his kind nature, relaxed demeanour, and the huge smile he invariably carried everywhere.
Nothing says more about Nicky’s character than the overwhelming response expressed by fellow racers and his legions of fans over the past few days. Jackie and his family are truly grateful for the countless prayers and well wishes for Nicky.
The ‘Kentucky Kid’ will be sorely missed by all that ever had the pleasure of meeting him or the privilege to see him race a motorcycle around a track, be it dirt or asphalt.
The racing world says goodbye to one of its dearest sons. Rest in peace Nicholas ‘Nicky’ Patrick Hayden.
Tommy Hayden
“On behalf of the whole Hayden family and Nicky’s fiancée Jackie I would like to thank everyone for their messages of support – it has been a great comfort to us all knowing that Nicky has touched so many people’s lives in such a positive way.
“Although this is obviously a sad time, we would like everyone to remember Nicky at his happiest – riding a motorcycle. He dreamed as a kid of being a pro rider and not only achieved that but also managed to reach the pinnacle of his chosen sport in becoming World Champion. We are all so proud of that.
“Apart from these ‘public’ memories, we will also have many great and happy memories of Nicky at home in Kentucky, in the heart of the family. We will all miss him terribly.
“It is also important for us to thank all the hospital staff for their incredible support – they have been very kind. With the further support of the authorities in the coming days we hope to have Nicky home soon.”
eom/Red Bull Honda World Superbike team release
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Ogier-Ingrassia win Rally Portugal: WRC
FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP 2017 -WRC Portugal (POR) – WRC 18/05/2017 to 21/05/2017 – PHOTO : @World Defending FIA World Rally Champion Sébastien Ogier has won Rally Portugal, strengthening his grip on the first season of the new era of the sport.
The M-Sport Ford driver entered the final four stages today 16.8s ahead of Hyundai Motorsport’s Thierry Neuville. He would go on to win one more stage (SS17), before setting the fifth fastest time on the Power Stage to deliver his second victory for his new team, after taking out Rallye Monte-Carlo at the start of the season.
It was a comfortable final day for the Frenchman, who tied Markku Alén for most victories in Rally Portugal with five in the event’s 50th running.
He now leads the 2017 championship by 22 points over Neuville.
“It feels great for sure,” said the three-time champion. “It’s fantastic to be back on the top of the podium again.
“Thanks to the team – the new car was perfect… Amazing! A new car in Monte and we won – a new car here too!”
For Thierry Neuville, second place continued to show him as a force to be reckoned with in the championship. The Belgian closed on Ogier marginally on the final loop of the rally, but had too much work to do, eventually coming home comfortably ahead of his Hyundai team mate Dani Sordo.
“A good stage for me, I tried my best but it wasn’t enough. Ott was faster,” said Neuville after being pipped by Tanak for the Power Stage win by 0.4s.
“I struggled this weekend with the rear of the car. The Fiestas were quicker – we couldn’t catch them.”
In contrast to the first day of the rally, Sunday saw comparatively little change among the WRC crews, Dani Sordo finishing third ahead of Friday’s overnight leader Ott Tanak’s Ford Fiesta WRC. Citroën’s Craig Breen completed the top five with a solid performance ahead of Elfyn Evans, sixth in the third Fiesta and another one ruing something of a missed opportunity.
The only change among the top ten overall runners saw impressive WRC rookie Esapekka Lappi charge home to claim the final point, setting a series of eye-catching stage times in his Toyota Yaris WRC – including fourth in the Power Stage, just 0.2s behind Evans in third.
The Finn combined flashes of immense speed with some rookie mistakes over the course of the rally, but certainly showed something special for the future.
The other notable driver on the final day was New Zealand’s Hayden Paddon, who took two stage wins to give him a total of four for the event. It was a case of ‘what might have been’ for the Hyundai Motorsport driver, who showed excellent pace in between the electrical and power steering problems that cruelled his rally.
The drama of the day, however, was in WRC2 as Skoda Motorsport’s Andreas Mikkelsen started Sunday three minutes ahead of team mate Pontus Tidemand and Ford driver Teemu Suninen after dominating the class all event (both Tidemand and Suninen also suffered punctures in the final stage on Saturday).
The Norwegian entered the last stage, still with over three minutes in hand – until he sensationally rolled the Fabia R5 one kilometre in, gifting the win to Tidemand with Suninen closing on the Swede by almost 15 seconds in the last stage to ultimately fall 11.2s short. Simone Tempestini was third in the Citroën DS3 R5.
On the day’s first stage, Quentin Gilbert, who would have been in line to complete the WRC2 podium after the Mikkelsen incident, ended his rally in spectacular fashion at the famous Fafe jump. The French former WRC3 champion landed heavily on the nose of his Skoda Fabia R5, before flipping and coming to rest across the road. Both driver and co-driver were unhurt, however the stage was interrupted for all remaining drivers.
In WRC3, Mexican Francisco Name (Citroën DS3 R3T) prevailed over Spain’s Nil Solans (Ford Fiesta R2) and Italy’s Enrico Brazzoli (Peugeot 208 R2).
RALLY PORTUGAL – OVERALL
FINAL STANDINGS:
1. Sébastien Ogier / Julien Ingrassia Ford Fiesta WRC 3:24:55.7 2. Thierry Neuville / Nicolas Gilsoul Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC +17.5 3. Dani Sordo / Marc Marti Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC +1:00.1 4. Ott Tanak / Martin Järveoja Ford Fiesta WRC +1:32.5 5. Craig Breen / Scott Martin Citroën C3 WRC +1:54.7 6. Elfyn Evans / Daniel Barritt Ford Fiesta WRC +3:10.6 7. Juho Hänninen / Kaj Lindstrom Toyota Yaris WRC +3:48.9 8. Mads Ostberg / Ola Floene Ford Fiesta WRC +5:29.7 9. Jari-Matti Latvala / Miikka Anttila Toyota Yaris WRC +5:43.6 10. Esapekka Lappi / Janne Ferm Toyota Yaris WRC +8:13.4 FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP
DRIVERS’ STANDINGS – AFTER RALLY PORTUGAL:
1. Sébastien Ogier Ford Fiesta WRC 128 points 2. Thierry Neuville Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 106 3. Jari-Matti Latvala Toyota Yaris WRC 88 4. Ott Tanak Ford Fiesta WRC 83 5. Dani Sordo Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 66 6. Elfyn Evans Ford Fiesta WRC 53 7. Craig Breen Citroën C3 WRC 43 8. Hayden Paddon Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 33 9. Kris Meeke Citroën C3 WRC 27 10. Juho Hänninen Toyota Yaris WRC 21 MANUFACTURERS’ STANDINGS – AFTER RALLY PORTUGAL:
1. M-Sport World Rally Team 197 points 2. Hyundai Motorsport 173 3. Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT 107 4. Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT 81 eom/FIA press release
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Vinales wins; Heartbreak for Rossi fans
Le Mans, 21 May 2017: Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Maverick Viñales delivered a stunning performance at the Grand Prix de France, taking his third victory of the season and the 500th Grand Prix win for Yamaha. Teammate Valentino Rossi also rode a brilliant race at the Le Mans Bugatti Grand Prix race circuit and had the crowds on their feet as he stormed to the front, but an unfortunate crash on the last lap meant an end to his challenge.
Repsol Honda adds: Today Dani Pedrosa scored his third consecutive podium finish after starting the French GP fr
Maverick Vinales celebrates after winning at Le Mans on Sunday. A Movistar Yamaha image om the 13th spot on the grid and making a great comeback to finish third in front of over 104,000 spectators, a new record for the Le Mans event. The last time Dani was in the top three for three consecutive races was in 2014 (Catalunya, Assen, Sachsenring). He is now third on the list of most career podium finishes with 147, behind Agostini (159) and Rossi (224).
Movistar Yamaha MotoGP rider Maverick Viñales came out fighting, dominating the MotoGP field to take a sensational victory at the Grand Prix de France, sealing Yamaha‘s 500th Grand Prix win. Valentino Rossi also showed a blistering pace in the French sunshine at the Le Mans Bugatti Grand Prix race circuit. He was scrapping with his teammate in an epic podium battle for the win, but suffered an unlucky fall on the last lap.
Viñales was strong right from the beginning of the 28-lap French round. Starting from pole, he flew off the line to take the holeshot and slotted into second as he dived into turn 3, behind Johann Zarco. The Spaniard was on the case, shadowed by his teammate. With 22 laps Viñales made a textbook move on the satellite Yamaha rookie to take over the lead.
Now at the front, the Spaniard put the hammer down. He did everything in his power to escape from Zarco. He managed his pace to perfection and made sure he held on to his P1 position until he got in a fierce battle with a rapidly approaching Rossi, but the number 25 rider held firm. He was leading on the last lap, when the Doctor crashed out of the race, allowing him to bring his YZR-M1 over the finish line, 3.134s ahead of his closest rival.
Teammate Rossi had a good start from second on the grid and put his Yamaha in fourth position behind Marc Marquez after the first couple of corners, only to pass the Spaniard a few turns later. With Viñales in front of him, the Movistar Yamaha men rode in tandem as they chased the leader of the race.
Outbraking himself with 16 laps to go, the Italian lost some time, which left him within the grasp of Marquez. The Doctor responded quickly to the situation and upped his pace as the Spaniard crashed out of the race, allowing Rossi to focus on the battle in front. With five laps to go, he overtook Zarco for second place, making it a perfect Movistar Yamaha 1-2, but the nine-time World Champion was hungry for more.
He planned an attack on Viñales on lap 26 and had the fans cheer when he hit the front, but it wasn‘t to last. His teammate slipped back past him as the scrap continued and with the pace as hot as today‘s, a small mistake from Rossi on the last lap prohibited him from reaching the finish line after a hard-fought battle.
Viñales‘ first place earns him 25 points. This puts him on 85 points and in the lead in the championship standings, 23 points ahead of Rossi in third place. The 500th Grand Prix win also sees the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Teamhold the lead in the Team standings by 21 points, with a total of 147 points, whilst Yamaha remains the top manufacturer in the Constructor’s Championship by a 13 point margin, with 108 points.
The MotoGP paddock will next hit the Gran Premio d’Italia at the Autodromo del Mugello in two weeks‘ time.
Massimo Meregalli
Today it looked like we were going to have a dream scenario with a Yamaha 1-2-3, but unfortunately it wasn‘t to be. Still, we take great pride in this Grand Prix weekend’s performances. Yamaha has reached the 500th Grand Prix milestone, which is a very special occasion, and the manner in which it was done further underlines how successful Yamaha is in Grand Prix racing. Maverick‘s incredible focus, dedication and speed prevailed in a tension-filled race, leading to his third Grand Prix victory of the season. For sure it would be nice to have had Vale on the podium, but the tiny mistake on the last lap robbed him of that moment. Even so, it‘s been a proud day for the ’Yamaha family‘: the way Vale fought today made the French Grand Prix a great show and made it a race to remember. We hope many more exciting races like today‘s are in our future as we continue to strive for top results over the rest of the season.
Maverick Vinales
Keeping up with Johann in the early laps of the race was hard, he was really fast and with the full tank we were not so strong as him. He was exiting from the corners really good and really fast. Then his tyre started to drop a little bit and our tyre started to work good on the rear, and lap by lap I was feeling better. Until the end, in the last lap, I gave everything I had here in the French GP and, honestly, I’m so happy and so pleased. The team was working on an incredible level this weekend, I hope we can continue like that. For sure the tyres were working really good here, we hope we can work like this also in Mugello.
Valentino Rossi
It was a great shame, because for my team it was the best weekend of the season, where I was more competitive on the track, also in the wet, but especially in the race. For sure, for me this could have been the best result of the season. It was very difficult because the pace was always very high, but at the end I felt comfortable on the bike, I had a good feeling, so I tried to attack. Unfortunately, on the last lap I made a mistake in turn 6 and I fell back a little, so Maverick could overtake me. I knew I had another chance, because we were very close and I tried to remain there, because in sector 4 I was good. Sincerely, what happened during the crash, we don’t understand. Usually you have to pay attention to the front, but I lost the rear when I crashed. Anyway, I made a mistake, and it’s like this. It is a great shame to go back home with zero points. First of all, I’m very sorry for missing out on the probable victory and also for losing the lead in the championship, because I lost points. For me, it still has been a good weekend, I was strong. Now we have to start thinking about the next race track, I hope to ride there like I did this weekend. We hope to continue like this.
eom/Yamaha press release
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Ogier-Ingrassia take lead with a day to go: WRC
M-Sport’s Ecoboost-powered Ford Fiesta WRC continues to lead at Rally de Portugal, but it’s all change at the top with Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia taking over the reins.
The four-time World Championships hold a 16.8 second advantage over championship rivals Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul going into tomorrow’s final 42.93 kilometres.
A brush with the scenery for both Ott Tänak and Elfyn Evans may have dropped them down the order, but the Fiesta’s proven strength and performance ensures that all three crews remain inside the overall top-six.
Team Principal, Malcolm Wilson OBE, said:
“Sébastien has had a fantastic day. He and Julien have delivered a faultless drive and it’s great to see them challenging for another victory with the Fiesta – hopefully we can make it stick tomorrow.
“It was disappointing to lose Ott from the battle, but he was lucky to get away with what he did and he had a good fight back this afternoon to get up to fourth. If we can maintain those results we’ll be very happy tomorrow afternoon.
“We’ll certainly be keeping our fingers crossed, but there’s still a lot of pressure. Anything can happen and you just have to look at how many different leaders we’ve had to see just how close it is out there.
“It’s been an incredible rally and let’s hope that we deliver a great end to it for M-Sport.”
Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia lead the way at Rally de Portugal after delivering a faultless drive behind the wheel of the Ford Fiesta WRC.
Never out of the top-two on individual stage times, the Frenchmen posted the fastest time through three of the day’s six stages to establish a 16.8 seconds advantage at the head of the standings.
With just four stages remaining, Ogier and Ingrassia are now tantalisingly close to securing a fifth Rally de Portugal victory – and their first in the north.
Stage performances:
SS10: 1st
SS11: 2nd (+5.2)
SS12: 1st
SS13: 2nd (+1.0)
SS14: 1st
SS15: 2nd (+6.2)Sébastien Ogier (1st) said:
“I’m very happy with how my day went. It’s been a very long time since I‘ve been able to do this kind of performance – having always been first or second into the stages. I think I did the same kind of driving as yesterday but the road position is quite different and I’m very pleased with the gap that we have managed to build.
“For sure the rally is not over yet and we still need to finish the job. With 16 seconds you can never relax completely so we need to continue in the same way – keeping the same speed and staying clear of trouble.
“We have some beautiful stages still to drive tomorrow and I really love Fafe – it’s fantastic. For sure we still have to push because no one is going to back off. We still need to give it all we have and the Power Stage is always important for those extra points.
“I’m really looking forward to this last day and hoping to bring home another good result for the team and the championship.”
1. Sébastien Ogier / Julien Ingrassia (Ford Fiesta WRC) 3:15:24.6
2. Thierry Neuville / Nicolas Gilsoul (Hyundai 120 Coupe WRC) +16.8
3. Dani Sordo / Marc Marti (Hyundai 120 Coupe WRC) +51.3
4. Ott Tänak / Martin Järveoja (Ford Fiesta WRC) +1:29.6
5. Craig Breen / Scott Martin (Citroen C3 WRC) +1:32.4
6. Elfyn Evans / Daniel Barritt (Ford Fiesta WRC) +3:01.8
7. Juho Hänninen / Kaj Lindstrom (Toyota Yaris WRC) +3:29.8
8. Mads Østberg / Ola Fløene (Ford Fiesta WRC) +5:16.6
9. Jari-Matti Latvala / Mikka Anttila (Toyota Yaris WRC) +5:32.7
10. Andreas Mikkelsen / Anders Jaeger (Skoda Fabia R5) +7:06.6eom/M-Sport’s Ford Fiesta press release
Ogier and Ingrassia take lead on the penultimate day at the Rally of Portugal. An M-Sport’s Ford Fiesta image -
Buemi win Paris ePrix; Grassi crashes out
Sebastian Beumi wins at Paris ePrix as rival Grassi (not in picutre) crashes out on Saturday. An FIA image Swiss driver extends his points lead in the centre of Paris while title rival di Grassi crashes out
Paris, 20 May 2017:
The FIA Formula E Championship returned to Paris for a second ePrix around the iconic streets of Les Invalides today, 20 May, and it was points-leader Sebastien Buemi who secured a fifth victory of the season for the Renault e.dams squad.
Buemi had taken pole position earlier in the day, and fended off the challenge of Jean-Eric Vergne who drew alongside the pole-sitter on the run down to turn one. After this initial challenge, Vergne’s Techeetah car came under attack from DS Virgin Racing’s Jose Maria Lopez, giving Buemi just enough breathing space to manage the gap.
The opening stages of the race were high-pressure and close-quarters, with the top 14 drivers within just ten seconds of each other after five tours of Les Invalides. Behind the top three, Mahindra’s Nick Heidfeld repeated the rapid start he made a week ago during the Monaco ePrix, making up ground and challenging the front-runners.
Having qualified down in 14th place, ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport’s Lucas di Grassi had a lot work to do to try and score vital championship points. He didn’t make progress early on, however, and was battling for 15th with Andretti Formula E’s Antonio Felix da Costa. As the two were swapping places on the narrow city streets, contact was made at turn eight and both cars spun into the run-off area. While di Grassi was able to continue, it was the end of da Costa’s race, and as the marshals recovered his stricken car there was a Full Course Yellow period, prompting almost all the drivers to dive into the pits and make their mandatory stop and car change.
Brazilian driver di Grassi was then hit with a drive through penalty for not respecting the minimum pit stop time, which dropped him to last place on the circuit.
There was another disruption on lap 30 with a safety car deployment, as Vergne, who had been matching Buemi’s pace throughout the middle phase of the race, crashed into the barriers on the exit of turn 14 as he tried to close the gap.
The Frenchman’s retirement promoted Mahindra Racing’s Heidfeld to a podium position, and he crossed the line in third for the second consecutive race. It was also a strong race for Heidfeld’s stablemate Felix Rosenqvist, whose fourth-placed finish brought the team its strongest points haul to date.
Nico Prost was the highest-placed French driver in fifth, rounding out a strong showing for Renault e.dams who now lead the team standings by an impressive 75 points.
Andretti’s Robin Frijns enjoyed his best result of the season in sixth, while Nelson Piquet Jr was seventh having benefitted from last-lap heartache for Daniel Abt who was forced to retire with mechanical issues after having made up a lot of places from his starting position.
Tom Dillman gave the French fans more to cheers about with an impressive Formula E debut in eighth, with Mitch Evans and Stephane Sarrazin rounding out the top ten.
For the second year running, the ePrix ended behind the safety car, as an attempt at setting the fastest lap ended in the barriers for Lucas di Grassi, who after this weekend now has a 43-point deficit to Buemi.
Sebastien Buemi said: “The most important thing for me was to pull away after the grid positon we got. You know when the brakes are cold, the first few corners are a bit of a guess for everyone and Jean-Eric Vergne was very aggressive and tried to pass me, so I tried to delay the braking as late as I could, just to stay ahead. I consumed maybe a little bit more energy than I was expecting to use, just to make up a little gap. I lost a bit of time in the Full Course Yellow and obviously in the restart when he [JEV] crashed I was having a nice time as he was putting me under pressure. Then we had the Safety Car and Jose [Maria Lopez] had a great race today, he was really, really quick and I had to push quite hard at the end of the race just to make sure I could build up a bit of a gap.”
Jose Maria Lopez said: “You can see from the beginning of the year that we had a good car, but my experience was not enough to be competitive. But we worked hard in the race, it was a circuit I liked, the city and everything and I think that played a part as well.”
Nick Heidfeld said: “The start in Monaco was about taking the outside line and just braking late, but here the car off the line was just fantastic – it was like a rocket! It was a lot closer here than in Monaco where I couldn’t keep up with the top two guys, but here I could. There were a couple of backmarkers who got between us as the restart and that meant unfortunately I could not get near them, but we had the same pace and more energy.”
The FIA Formula E Championship will be racing again in three weeks’ time, with the double-header Berlin ePrix coming up on 10-11 June.
eom/Fia press release
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Yamaha takes the first row; Marquez P5
Maverick Vinales pole for French GP on Saturday. A Movistar Yamaha image Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Maverick Viñales and Valentino Rossi showed a competitive pace on the second day of the Grand Prix de France, taking a superb first and second place respectively in today‘s qualifying session.
Le Mans (France), 20 May 2017: Movistar Yamaha MotoGP riders Maverick Viñales and Valentino Rossi went all out in an intense 15-minute qualifying session at the Le Mans Bugatti Grand Prix race circuit today, that saw the teammates secure the first two slots on the front row for tomorrow’s Grand Prix de France.
Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa will start tomorrow’s French GP from the fifth and 13th places on the grid, respectively, despite both being quite fast during the course of the day.
Marc’s progression in his work to find the best setup has been affected by the limited dry track time and by two small crashes, in FP4 and in QP2, though both incidents were without consequence, adds Repsol Honda release.
According to a Movistar Yamaha Press Note, having topped FP4, Viñales stepped aboard his YZR-M1 with great confidence at the start of the qualifying session. As one of the last men to leave pit lane, he enjoyed some free track space and went directly on the attack. He took the top spot with his first flying lap, a 1’33.134s, before being pushed back to sixth place when the pace quickened.
With more than seven and a half minutes to go, he came into the pits for a fresh set of rubber. Two minutes later the Spaniard was back on track, now in seventh place in the timings, and had just enough time left for three more hot laps. He put his mind to it and produced a strong 1‘32.146s for provisional pole, but further underlined his incredible speed with a 1‘31.994s on his next lap, that earned him his second pole position of the season.
Rossi also flexed his muscles during the 15-minute shoot-out. He was quick to head out to make the most of the time available, but decided to let some chasing riders pass at the end of his first hot lap. He moved up to second place on his third attempt, before heading back to the box with six minutes remaining.
The Italian continued his efforts one and a half minute later, setting another personal best lap that moved him up from fourth to second, despite having to avoid a crash from Jack Miller that happened right in front of him. The Doctor still had some time left for a final push, and improved his time to a 1’32.100s, to keep a strong hold on second place, ahead of Johann Zarco, who made it a full Yamaha front row.
Valentino Rossi
“I am so happy, because today was the first practice in the dry, so you never know. We modified the setting a bit, and that, together with this track and this asphalt, makes our bike work well. In the end it was a really good qualifying, I think on the first flying lap I was fast, but I reached Jack a bit too early, so I lost a bit of time. It’s a shame for missing out on the pole position, but starting from second place is OK for the race.”
Maverick Vinales
It was a tricky qualifying, because the track was not at its best, but anyway our bike is really good here. We knew we could do it, so I just tried to concentrate and push to the best of my ability and bring home the pole position. We have to be really careful with the weather, we also have to pay a lot of attention if we have a flag to flag, a wet race or even on the dry, we still have to improve. We have to work tonight and try to improve for tomorrow.”
eom/Movistar Yamaha press release
