INDIA in F1

Tag: Ferrari

  • Raikkonen redeems himself with a brilliant win after 5 years; Hamilton wait for title stretched

    Raikkonen redeems himself with a brilliant win after 5 years; Hamilton wait for title stretched

    Kimi Raikkonen after winning the US GP ahead of Max Verstappen at Austin on Sunday. An FIA image

    Austin, 21 Oct 2018: A stunning opening move catapulted Kimi Räikkönen to his brilliant first win in five years as he carefully managed his drive to the flag ahead of Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, as Sebastian Vettel clawed his way back from a first lap spin to take fourth place in the United State Grand Prix, the 18th round of the Formula One World Championship at the Circuit of The Americas (COTA) on Sunday. Defending champion who was well-placed to seal the championship here, became a victim of not only his mistake but a strategy that ended up inferior and had to wait for at least the next GP at Mexico next Sunday. He is now 69 points ahead of title rival Sebastian Vettal of Ferrari with 75 points available in the last three GP of the 2018 season.

    Starting from second on the grid Ferrari’s Räikkönen stole the lead from pole sitter Hamilton into Turn 1 at the start and thereafter balanced pace and race management over a one-stop strategy to hold a narrow lead over Verstappen and Hamilton on the final third of the race. Both attempted to pressurise the Finn but Räikkönen was faultless in the closing stages as he marched to his first victory since the 2013 Australian Grand Prix 113 races ago.

    At the start, Räikkönen got the jump on Hamilton and stole the lead as the field made its way through Turn 1. Behind them Daniel Ricciardo held P4 behind Valtteri Bottas but later in the lap was attacked by fifth-on-the-grid Sebastian Vettel. The German got a run on the Red Bull driver into Turn 12 and took the position, but his exit was poor and Ricciardo got a shot at reclaiming fourth as they went into Turn 13. Vettel took a wide line, pushing Ricciardo to the outside of the asphalt. The Australian tried to remain inside the track limits but they banged wheels and Vettel was sent into a spin. The Ferrari driver dropped to P15, but Ricciardo was able to hold fourth place.

    Further back, Verstappen was on a charge. After starting from P18 he was 14th by the end of the opening lap, and over the following eight laps rose to fifth place, just under seven seconds behind Red Bull team-mate Ricciardo.

    That would become fourth on lap nine. As Ricciardo exited Turn 1 at the start of the lap, he suddenly slowed. The Australian pulled over at the side of the track and stopped, a suspected battery issue ending his race.

    The stoppage, at the edge of the track, led to the Virtual Safety Car being deployed and Mercedes took the opportunity to pit Hamilton from P2 on lap 11. The Briton took on soft tyres and emerged just ahead of Verstappen. Hamilton then moved back into second place when Bottas let him past on lap 13.

    Vettel, meanwhile, had clawed his way back into contention and by lap 15 had made his way to fifth place, 21.5s behind his race-leading team-mate and 9.0s behind Verstappen.

    Ahead and armed with new soft tyres, Hamilton began to quickly close on Räikkönen and on lap 17 he was just 2.4s behind the Finn. However, over the next half dozen laps, Räikkönen defended brilliantly to keep Hamilton at bay, but more importantly he slowed Hamilton’s progress and allowed Vettel to close on the leading pack. When Räikkönen finally surrendered on lap 21 and dived for the pits to shed his starting ultrasofts, Vettel was 12s off new P1 man Hamilton, though he required a pit stop.

    Verstappen was next into the pits, taking on soft tyres on lap 22. That put Vettel into second place, but the German was beginning to struggle on his starting supersofts. As such, Räikkönen quickly moved past his team-mate to regain second place and a lap later Verstappen swept past Vettel as the Ferrari man was called to the pits for new tyres. The German took on soft tyres in his stop and rejoined in fifth place. Hamilton now led ahead of Räikkönen, Verstappen, Bottas and Vettel.

    Räikkönen’s race then switched to attack mode as he began to edge towards Hamilton and between lap 30 and 33 he turned a 16.3s deficit to the title leader into a 13.7s gap. Verstappen also began to close in on Räikkönen and on lap 35 he was just 3.9s behind the Finn.

    Hamilton’s times continued to drop and at the end of lap 37 he dived towards the pits and took on another set of soft tyres. Räikkönen now led again, with Verstappen now in P2 ahead of Bottas. Hamilton rejoined in fourth place ahead of Vettel.

    Hamilton was soon setting fastest laps and on lap 41 Bottas slowed and moved aside to allow the Briton to sweep past into third place. He was now just under nine seconds behind Verstappen, who was now just 2.3s behind Räikkönen.

    At the front Räikkönen was now attempting to control the gaps, saving tyres and fuel. With five laps remaining, though, the gaps were tight. The Finn was just 1.1s ahead of Verstappen, but the Dutchman was having to keep a close eye on his mirrors, as Hamilton was now inside DRS range. Behind them Vettel was still fifth and could not find a way past Bottas. Hamilton now knew that if he passed Verstappen to take P2 then he would be champion.

    He saw a chance to do that on the penultimate lap. Verstappen made a mistake  and went wide into Turn 12. Hamilton pounced and the pair battled furiously through the following corners. Verstappen held firm and when Hamilton ran out of grip in Turn 18 and went wide, Verstappen was assured of second. Behind them, on the same lap, Vettel made his move on Bottas, passing the Finn under DRS as the lap started.

    Räikkönen then duly took his first win in 113 races, ahead of Verstappen, hamilton and Vettel. Bottas finished fifth ahead of the Renaults of Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz. However, while eighth and ninth places were initially taken by Force India’s Esteban Ocon and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, both were later disqualified, Ocon for a fuel flow irregularity on the opening lap of the race and Magnussen for using more than the permitted 105kg of fuel across the duration of the race.

    The disqualifications meant that Sergio Pérez in the second Force India was promoted to P8, Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley moved to P9 and the final points position was inherited by Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson.

    Hamilton’s third place, allied to Vettel’s fourth, means that the title battle continues to the next round in Mexico, with Hamilton taking a 70-point lead to the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in a week’s time.

    2018 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix – Race
    1 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari –
    2 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1.281
    3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 2.342
    4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 18.222
    5 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 24.744
    6 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:27.210
    7 Carlos Sainz Renault 1:34.994
    8 Esteban Ocon Force India 1:39.288
    9 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:40.657
    10 Sergio Perez Force India 1:41.080
    11 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 1L
    12 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1L
    13 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 1L
    14 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 1L
    15 Sergey Sirotkin Williams 1L
    16 Lance Stroll Williams 2L
    Charles Leclerc Sauber
    Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing
    France Romain Grosjean Haas
    Spain Fernando Alonso McLaren

  • Vettel quickest in FP3 but hit by 3-place grid penalty for Sunday

    Vettel quickest in FP3 but hit by 3-place grid penalty for Sunday

    Vettel on way to the fastest time in FP 3 at Austin on Saturday afternoon (midnight India time). An FIA image

    Austin, 20 Oct 2018: Sebastian Vettel set the quickest time of the final practice session for the United States Grand Prix, outpacing Ferrari team-mate Kimi Räikkönen by less than a tenth of a second as championship leader Lewis Hamilton finished third in the FP3 of the US GP, the 18th round of the FIA Formula One World Championship.

    On Friday, Vettel’s hopes of maintaining a fragile title challenge were hit when he incurred a three-place grid penalty for failing to slow sufficiently during a red flag period, but he bounced back this morning as F1’s teams finally got some dry running at the Circuit of the Americas.

    Ferrari focused its attention on the ultrasoft tyre during the one-hour session and after the early pace was set by Räikkönen with a time of 1:34.419, Vettel took over at the top of the timesheet with a time of 1:33.797, displacing Räikkönen who dropped to P2 with a lap of 1:33.843.

    Of the likely front runners, Ferrari were alone in running the ultrasofts in the early part of the session, with both Mercedes and Red Bull concentrating on longer runs on the supersoft compound.

    It meant that Hamilton was a late adopter of the ultrasoft tyres and after a scruffy opening flyer on the purple-banded tyre, the Briton later jumped to third place with the best time of 1:33.870. The lap left him just 0.073 behind Vettel.

    Valtteri Bottas was fourth overall with a time of 1:34.556, some 0.759s off Vettel’s pace. The Finn avoided the ultrasofts throughout the session however and set his best time on the red-banded supersoft tyre.

    Behind Bottas were the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo. The pair both focused on supersoft running early in the session but moved to ultrasofts with a little over 20 minutes remaining. Verstappen’s best time on the compound was 1:34.703, 0.906 adrift of Vettel’s P1 time.

    Ricciardo might have eclipsed his team-mate’s time and the Australian was a couple of tenths up on his team-mate after the first two sectors of his run, but he was forced to back out of the lap when yellow flags were shown when Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley spun in Turn 19.

    Sauber’s Charles Leclerc finished as best-of-the-rest in P7 with a time of 1:35.365, 1.568s off Vettel, while Racing Point Force India’s Sergio Perez was eighth with a time of 1:35.411. Ninth place went to Renault’s Carlos Sainz, while Haas’ Romain Grosjean was tenth with a time of 1:35.468, 1.671 off the pace.

    2018 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix– Free Practice 3
    1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:33.797 20
    2 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:33.843 0.046 21
    3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:33.870 0.073 23
    4 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:34.556 0.759 21
    5 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:34.703 0.906 21
    6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:34.910 1.113 20
    7 Charles Leclerc Sauber 1:35.365 1.568 21
    8 Sergio Perez Racing Point Force India 1:35.411 1.614 21
    9 Carlos Sainz Renault 1:35.450 1.653 21
    10 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:35.468 1.671 19
    11 Esteban Ocon Racing Point Force India 1:35.562 1.765 22
    12 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso1:35.713 1.916 27
    13 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:35.770 1.973 19
    14 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:35.882 2.085 19
    15 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:36.000 2.203 21
    16 Lance Stroll Williams 1:36.188 2.391 21
    17 Sergey Sirotkin Williams 1:36.193 2.396 20
    18 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 1:36.302 2.505 23
    19 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 1:36.330 2.533 26
    20 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:36.332 2.535 20

  • Ferrari as a partner, we benefit clearly from the engine: Ben Agathangelour of Haas

    Monza 31 Aug 2018: The following team representatives attended the FIA Friday press conference during the Formula One World Championship weekend at Monza:  Ben Agathangelour (Haas), Mattia Binotto (Ferrari), Aldo Costa (Mercedes), Simone Resta (Sauber)

    Ben, if we could start with you, great to have you with us. Very rainy and wet this morning. We know you were running your new floor because Romain Grosjean told us yesterday. Were you able to get to grips with it?

    Ben Agathangelour: I think things were clear already by the end of Spa to be honest, so here in the wet we’re not going to gain that much more this morning, so we’re taking it as a given that things are behaving as we saw by the end of Spa on one car.

    Tell us too about the relationship you have with Ferrari. Big upgrades to the power unit this year and you really seem to have benefited in many ways from Ferrari?

    BA: Obviously it’s an enormous strength to have Ferrari as a partner and we benefit clearly from the engine. The engine has made a huge step this year and I think we have been able to use it, maybe not so much so in the past. We’ve done a fair amount of our own development, the company is growing, so we’ve managed to extract from all parts of the budget.

    Q: Thank you Ben. Mattia, moving on to you: great victory for you and the team at Spa last weekend. Where do you think your advantage over Mercedes lay?

    Mattia Binotto: Difficult to answer. I’m always more keen to look at the whole package and not try to split it into different factors. I think the difference to Mercedes overall was very small at the end. They have been on pole in quali, so they have been the fastest car, as a matter of fact, and I think that in the race our pace was very similar. So to try to distinguish if there is a little difference, where it’s coming from, is a very difficult exercise. Our package is working well as a whole, from the aero, from the chassis, mechanicals and the power unit and I think that as well in terms of development we are all focused on all the areas.

    Q: Now it was this stage last year that Mercedes started to stretch its legs in the championship fight. Is Ferrari in a better position now than it was 12 months ago?

    MB: Certainly we are in a better position compared to ourselves, to start with, and if I consider Spa last year, for example, we were not as competitive as we have been this year. I think that since the very start of this season, since the launch of the car, we mentioned and we said that we focused our development in terms of efficiency and to make sure that our car could compete on medium-fast circuit types and I think that somehow we have achieved it. On circuits where efficiency is important, like Silverstone, like Spa, we got good results and I think that is a good base for the rest of the season. So again, compared to last year, I think we can count on a car, which is certainly better in efficiency today. There are still eight races to go, so it’s still long and it will be a long and difficult battle.

    Q: Thank you Mattia and good luck this weekend. Aldo, we’ve heard about the Ferrari challenge, how do you and Mercedes assess what Ferrari have done this year? Do you feel they are much closer to you than in the past?

    Aldo Costa: As Mattia was saying, the two cars are very, very close. Yeah, we would say closer than in the past. You mentioned about the last part of the season last year, where we stretched our legs; obviously we hope to stretch our legs again. But we have to see if Ferrari will allow us to do that. It’s a very close fight. Development on development, each race, and we will carry on introducing new performance elements and we will carry on developing the performance of the car as much as we can up to the last race really.

    Q: You have announced that you are stepping down as engineering director from the team at the end of this season, but you are going to remain as an advisor. What does that role entail, and how involved will you be with the racing team going forward?

    AC: It was, as you can imagine, something that was discussed a long time ago. After having enjoyed an unbelievable amount the experience in Mercedes in the current role – seven years in the UK, really, really fantastic – I did ask the team to start being not in the same position, having a bit more time for myself, for the family, back to Italy and we found together, discussing together, again an opportunity for other people to grow up, to develop the team, so this is what I’m doing, as well as the current role – developing the organisation, developing people, team, mentoring, and by the end of the year my main new function will be, as you said, technical advisor of the team. I will work for James, I will work for my current direct report that will grow up in terms of responsibility and I will carry on mentoring and I will carry on collaborating with the team, developing capability, developing process, but a bit less involved from the timing point of view. In my opinion after 31 years of Formula 1 it is the best compromise for me to carry on being very fully engaged but as well, on the personal, finding better equilibrium.

    And more time, as well, to indulge in your passion for driving Formula 1 cars?

    AC: Yeah, yeah! That’s a growing passion. I’m part of the Mercedes senior driver programme! It’s important to have a group of driver for the third age of the future, because of the world population, the average age is growing. Joking apart, I’m enjoying a lot driving cars. Mercedes gave me a big opportunity and a friend of mine, who you know very well, Paolo Barilla, gave me another opportunity to test a lot of cars, so yeah, it’s a very nice moment, a nice experience.

    Q: You are never too old, Aldo, so good luck with all of that. Simone, so, technical director of Sauber since the beginning of July. How’s it going? How’s life in Hinwil?

    Simone Resta: Well, how’s it going? I think it’s going pretty well. I’m happy with this new journey that just started at the beginning of July. I apologise if I show a lot of emotion, but new job, technical director here in Monza, in our country, is just a lot! With a lot of friends, with Aldo, who was my first boss at Ferrari, with Mattia, who has been a great colleague and a boss recently and also with Ben. It’s a lot, but I feel very happy with that and I think my experience in the Sauber-Alfa Romeo team that started at the beginning of July, I find it very interesting, a new challenge in a different role, there is a lot to learn but it is a good step for me, for my career.

    Q: The team is making a lot of progress this season. How competitive do you think you are going to be in the upcoming races?

    SR: If I was able to read the future probably I would do something different. Joking apart, the trend so far has been good. I think it’s fair to say that we are slowing down our development rate for the time being, and we are concentrating mostly on next year’s car, which is a big challenge but also a big opportunity for us to close even further the gap to the big ones. I hope we will be progressing a little bit in the next races and that we will be closer and closer to Q3 with both cars.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Mattia, earlier this year we had the FIA’s side of things when they were going through the Ferrari engine checks, just to make sure everything was OK. They had all their understanding of the energy recovery system, that sort of thing. Could you just give us your explanation of how complicated it was to satisfy everything the FIA wanted – and are you happy that you have now ticked every box you need to and you’re OK for the rest of the season?

    MB: Obviously, the power unit is a complex element and it has been since 2014. FIA is fully aware of our components and it is our duty as well each time FIA is not fully, let me say, convinced that there is something right or wrong for them to inspect, to understand better. I think it’s simply what happens at the time there is some questions: we answer; we explain and I think that’s what happens. That’s it. FIA certainly is happy, declaring our car legal at every single race, and on our side, honestly, fully happy at seeing the point is completely closed by them.

    Q: (Edd Straw – Autosport) Another question for Mattia. When you took over your current role, Ferrari was having a difficult season in 2016 – but we’ve seen huge progress since then. Can you just explain, in brief, how Ferrari has managed to turn around from that difficult position into its current position. This upward trajectory. And just explain a bit of your philosophy of how you issue technical leadership to the team to get that result.

    MB: Initially, I think it’s fair to say that our team, in terms of individuals, is very strong. We’ve got very high skills; it’s a fantastic team in that respect, whatever are the areas. And from the power unit to the chassis and to the aero. I think what we’re benefitting the last seasons is certainly stability in terms of the organisation, which in F1 is very important, because through the stability somehow you may start to set down a way of working, improve your procedures, your internal process. I think, relative to myself, I’m certainly not an expert in all the areas. 25 years of experience in F1; great time with Ferrari at the race track in the time of Michael Schumacher but always as a power unit man. When I grew up in that final role I think what for me what was important for me was to set the objectives but to make sure that the people were comfortable in their role, understood the internal process and work better not only as individuals but as a team. And where we’ve focussed all the effort is, I think, to make sure that the team was working properly as a team, and forgetting about the individuals. And that’s why, again, I think we are thinking about the car as a fully package, and not try to split down in terms of different components or units because we are a team and what is running is not a power unit or a wing but a full car. So, again, all the effort was to build the team as a team and set the right objectives, deal with them, try to be ambitious. I think that’s somehow what happened in the last two years.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines, Racefans.net) Gentleman, this morning Michelin confirmed that they will not be tendering for the tyre supplier contract, and they gave as one of the reasons the fact that targeted deterioration goes against their objectives for a sustainable and well-engineers tyre. As engineers, how do you feel about that comment. All of you.

    BA: OK. I think we can see that the nature of the tyre that we currently run, everyone can see the nature in which racing is governed by the characteristics that we inherit. Obviously, it’s been a massive evolution in the sport over the last four or five years with respect to understanding and managing how we make use, and strategic use of the tyre behaviours that we find. I think ultimately I can’t speak for Michelin’s motivations: they’re a great company, I’ve certainly worked with them in the past and they were more than capable of delivering what their set objectives were – more than that I can’t speak on their behalf. Certainly, we’re just in the business of making best use of what we’re given.

    MB: Very difficult to judge and to comment. I know that the FIA is dealing with the tender; they are doing it by themselves and have started the process and are setting the targets. We have not been involved in the matter. So, without being involved, difficult to really to give a judgement, but I think as Ben meant. So, it was just mentioned that if Michelin does, somehow, make their choice, certainly they have gone, for them, what is the best choice.

    AC: My thought is that we are in front of this usual discussion between what is the best for the show and what is the best for the performance. Of course, for the performance, specifically of tyres, and the current situation is not the best, but for the show, according to the work that has been done, the discussions that we have done for many many years, this was the trend that the strategy group and the F1 community wanted to go. So then I think we need to define the objectives, the objectives need to be defined by the government or at the end by the people that are part of the strategy group and if for the good of the show, the good of the sport, we have to take a certain direction, the single tyre manufacturer has to follow. There are no other chances, really.

    SR: We just learn it now. All I can say is that we’ve got a lot of respect for Michelin history, for their story, for their technology and also for their decision. And if their strategy is not (inaudible) with the F1 business model, with the direction we’re trying to develop, I feel sorry for that but it’s one of the times that two roads cannot meet each other at some point.

    Q: (Sam Collins – RaceCar Engineering) There’s been talk in the media about the 2019 technical regulations having an even higher rear wing than was originally proposed in the draft regulations which have been amongst all of you so far. Is it a bit late to make changes like that and how would it affect the balance of your car?

    SR: I think it doesn’t look to be a dramatic change. Of course, having the rules defined as early as possible helps all of us to just lay down the (inaudible)  of the car and work developing it but ultimately I think everyone has got a big engineering group behind us and we can adapt to it and follow it. And especially in a case like that where it’s done for the purpose of safety, so to improve the safety of the driver.

    AC: Yeah, the changes that we are seeing for 2019, I think they were quite last minute changes but we are capable to develop a car in such a time frame so it’s not a big problem per se but the issue may come from the fact that if they will be effectively helping what is the aim, which means improving overtaking and improving the capability of the car to follow, we will have to see if the direction that we wanted to take is exactly what we will reach.

    MB: Relative to your question, is it too late or not for such a change, first we need to be honest: you cannot change the regulations if there is not unanimity from all the teams. Indeed the team have accepted it means that somehow we are able to manage and to (inaudible) the change so it’s not something that is imposed, it’s something that we are discussing through the technical working groups and we are all agreeing through our vote, so it has been accepted so whatever change, accepted or not, means we are accepting, we are able to (inaudible).

    BA: I think that particular example is just one of many in the way that exchanges happen between the teams and the FIA and actually, with respect to the rear wing in particular, although it was quite late, there was a fair amount of discussion that preceded it that indeed investigated alternative ways of increasing visibility, like reducing the rear wing box height. There was a general consensus that because development had been under way, we were dealing with a wing that fit a particular box and the fact that it shoots up by 50mm isn’t a game-changer, so the maturity, if you like, that precedes a decision is fair and we’re all familiar with that, we’re all party to that.

    Q: (Dominik Sharaf – Motorsport-Total.com) Mattia and Aldo: Liberty Media said that the 2021 engine regulations could be delayed because there is not enough interest by new manufacturers but we know that Porsche, for example, is waiting for a final decision and a final version of the regulations, to decide on their Formula One project. So who do you think should commit first: is it Formula One or new engine manufacturers?

    MB: Obviously having new manufacturers is always a good thing so if we are many and more manufacturers there’s more fighting in the championship which is something which is good. By 2020 the Concorde Agreement is finished and by 2021 we have the opportunity to have a new set of regulations on which we are working, together with the FIA and F1 Management. I think that obviously it’s not a matter of delaying or not, it’s a matter of setting something for 2021 which is necessary. Discussions are on-going, we’ve got regular meetings and I think that at the moment we are somehow close to define what we believe is the best compromise or the best solution for 2021.

    AC: So my thought: what we have got at the moment I think is a great power unit, it’s a very very efficient system, very modern in terms of layout, quite innovative. So really making something better, ruling something better is not that easy. There has been quite a lot of conversation about it and going in a direction and then coming back. It will take time to define something better for the sport and unfortunately if new manufacturers want to come, they are very very welcome but there is nothing else than competing with the current rules if the rules will stay the same or still waiting for more time for the new formula. There’s no other possibility.

    Q: (Christian Menath – Motorsport-Magazin.com) Aldo, it looked like Mercedes started with the stronger car at the beginning of the season but I think it’s fair to say that the last races, even for the results didn’t always show it, Ferrari had the better car. In which areas do you think Mercedes was out-developed by Ferrari?

    AC: Yeah, between race to race, there is always a variability of performance that is related to many many aspects: type of circuit, tyre management, key performance element of the car itself. So there is for sure… when two cars are very very close in terms of overall package, you will see anyway a variability. So we think we are very very close. We do not think we were particularly faster and we do not think we are particularly slower. As I said, it’s just a matter of variability of races. We see that Ferrari has done big progress in the power unit and we see that we have got two cars that are quite similar, both very competitive and as I said before, it will be a matter of introducing more development, solving more issues and being at the end the best car, not making mistakes, having good reliability will be key because not many results can we lose without impacting the final result, really.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines, Racefans.net) Aldo, talking about your decision about becoming an advisor to the team, I know that you’re wearing a white shirt but when you wore a red shirt, Rory Byrne did something very very similar where he moved out, became an advisor. Is that your blueprint for this, where you will effectively take on a Rory Byrne-type role for Mercedes?

    AC: In terms of formal arrangement, maybe yes, yeah, such a type of arrangement but myself and Rory have two different experiences, we’ve got different areas of influence so we are different but more or less something like that.

     

  • No time to rest, we have to come back strong after summer break, feels Hamilton

    Budapest, 29 July 2018: Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) who won the Hungarian GP, the 12th round of the Formula One World Championship, says he has no time to rest during the summer break at the post-event Press Conference he attended along with second-placed Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) and Kimi Raikkonen on Sunday.

    Interviews: (Conducted by Paul Di Resta)

    Q: Lewis, an absolutely spectacular job. Completely done today. Fifty per cent of the job done yesterday and the finishing touches into that. 

    Lewis HAMILTON: What a beautiful day. What a great crowd we’ve had and really an amazing job from the team. We came here knowing that the Ferraris would be real quick this weekend but to come out with these points we’ll definitely take as a bonus for us, so we deserve the holiday that’s coming.

    Q: I can see how drained you are. How physical was it out there under the sun?

    LH: I was sweating. You know. It was so hot. Physical but I was obviously able to manage the pace. I think it’s the last part here that really kills me, when I go and celebrate with my team, but a big thank you to everyone back at the factory.

    Q: How do you look back on the first part of the season as we go into the summer break and you get some time to lie on the beach on the back of these last five grands prix on six weekends.

    LH: I’m not really the lay down on the beach kind of type, I’ll be doing activities, training and getting ready for the second half, but really happy with how strong it’s come the last couple of races and as I said, so grateful for all the hard work and the continued efforts of the team, so they all deserve the break and I hope they keep pushing, we;’ve got to come strong in the next half.

    Q: Sebastian, I think that’s the best you could have hoped for today wasn’t it, getting up to P2. You almost jumped Bottas in the pit stop but I think Carlos Sainz held you up a little and a bit of a tricky pit stop?

    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, I don’t know, I think something was stuck at the rear but it was tough race. We were a little bit out of position for the speed that we had. I think we could go with Lewis today in terms of race pace. I had a good start on the harder tyre, which was good, and I was in third. Then I think we did well. I think then it was a bit tricky knowing when to come in. And then obviously we had a little bit of an issue at the pit stop, as you mentioned, and we came out behind Valtteri and then I realised right away I couldn’t get him because his tyres were still too fresh, so I was sitting back and waiting and trying to line everything up for the last 10 laps and it worked. His tyres were getting worse and worse and I knew obviously how long those yellow tyres last from the first stint that I had, so I was quite confident I could get him at the end. Obviously P2 is not what we really wanted this weekend but I think it’s the maximum we could get today.

    Q: Did you think you were clear after you had made that contact down at Turn 2 at the end?

    SV: I was surprised to be honest. I was already ahead and I was just trying to brake so that I covered the inside line and not running too deep. Then I got a hit from behind, so I wasn’t sure what was going on. Then I was looking in the mirrors and I saw that Valtteri was there with Kimi and obviously after that I was clear and I was lucky nothing was broken and we could carry on.

    Q: Kimi, a very strong end to that grand prix. I think you tried a different strategy and I guess you can be quite happy for Ferrari to get two cars on the podium?

    Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: Yeah, I think it was the best that we could hope today. Far from ideal start. I think we need to improve those a bit to give us a bit more easier. We catch up with Bottas after the first stop but there was not chance to overtake at that point, so our option was to stop again and try again and at least we got one place back. Far from ideal. I think we had pretty good speed today but what can you do? Sometimes it’s like that, but we take the points and go for the next one.

    Q: And great to have this little man standing behind you. He looks happy?

    KR: Yeah, he’s always happy, so that’s nice.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Péter Vámosi – Racingline.hu) A question for Lewis. Two years ago you mentioned Budapest as your top three cities that you like in the world – Tokyo and New York were maybe also there. What exactly is the order? And will you stay here a little bit and maybe doing another bicycle trip again in Budapest and check out some architecture and some buildings?

    LH: You want to know what the order of my favourite cities are? I think it was New York, Tokyo, here, London, I think that’s about really. I don’t plan on staying. The weather is great and the city just seems to get nicer and nicer every time I come. But now it’s holiday, I’m going to meet my mum and my sister and niece and nephew tonight and I’ll spend the next four or five days with them. It’s not too often I get to do family holidays so that’s something I’m looking forward to. But I’ll always have a chance to come back to Budapest. I’ve got some friends here. I spent some time already in the city away from the race. It’s very cool, because it’s still very young as well. They’ve got a lot of new buildings going up with the great old architecture they have there. It feels like it’s growing as well in terms of how young it is, so very cool.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – Globoesporte.com) A question for Lewis. You said that Friday is normally different to Sunday. But on Friday you didn’t use the blankets on your rear tyres. You get out from the pits very slowly, I believe not to heat the rear tyres…

    LH: I didn’t use what?

    The electrical blanket on your rear tyres.

    LH: When

    Friday. We saw it on the TV.

    LH: We always use blankets.

    Also leaving the pits very slow…

    LH: You can’t drive these tyres from stone cold. Just so you know. So they are always in the blankets but they might take them out earlier than..

    Where I want to arrive is that you have many problems with the ultrasoft tyres. The first stint you were on ultrasoft, the track was 59 degrees, 35 the air, and you had incredible performance, everything exactly the opposite to Friday. Can you make a comment; you changed the car, you understood what was going wrong?

    LH: Well, from Friday to Saturday I made a big car change. The balance that I steered towards, I made a big change in P1, because I was uncomfortable with the balance. It’s difficult to make change in P1 because you have to wait for the track to come to you rather than chase the set-up. I straight away made a big change and I tried to pursue that direction but by the time I got to the end of P2 I realised it wasn’t the right direction so I had to pull back and go another way. We had a bit of running in P3 but the car still wasn’t perfect. And then it rained. I didn’t make any changes but I knew that Valtteri had had good P2 running and we weren’t too far off in the direction that we ended. All the learning you do on a Friday, it wasn’t perfect, the way you drive, the way you use the tyres, then you come back on Sunday and you have to bring you’re ‘a-game’. Friday is not usually the day I bring my ‘a-game’. In terms of the tyres, the ultrasoft lasted a lot better than I thought today. I did struggle in P2 but, as I said, I was on a different set-up. The long run was quite good and then we went to the soft and I struggled, as where in P2 I was really good on the soft. So it was completely different. I struggled at the beginning and then we got through some traffic and then I moved a lot of switches around and eventually was able to balance the car and then it was OK. After that I was able to do some decent times and pull the gap. I knew that at some point I’d need to pull the gap to these while they were still behind Valtteri. I knew the strategy that Valtteri was on it was highly unlikely that he was going to make it last and when I pulled away from the grid I knew that Sebastian had been on the soft tyre. We knew that it would also make it very difficult to win, even for me, so that’s why the gap was really important. I definitely don’t think the team expected me to be able to eke out my first stint to lap 30 or whatever it was. I think they were a little bit too optimistic I would say on the other side to make those tyres go that far. Even for me towards the end of my stint my tyres were on the way out. I probably could have done another 10 laps or 15 laps on them before they were completely dead. Their pace was obviously good but fortunately I’d done enough by then.

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) For Lewis and Sebastian. At the beginning of the race on alternative tyre strategies, it looked like at one point the race might be swinging more towards Seb, especially when Valtteri pitted and Seb looked like he was going to jump him. So obviously the race went in a different direction. Could I get your comment on how the race changed and also how it impacts the momentum of your respective championship campaigns.

    LH: The tyres converge. If you draw a line of the tyre life you’ve got the ultrasoft which starts quickest and it drops off at a certain point and there’s a crossover between the soft and the ultrasoft and then there’s the medium which is way off, it’s a terrible tyre. So past, kind of like, I think somewhere around lap eight, the soft tyres going to be faster than the ultrasoft – but I was able to… I was taking it quite easy on my tyres at the beginning. I was able to get that gap to Valtteri. I think it was to something like eight seconds. By the time he had pitted, and Sebastian had got clean air, then I was able to react to the times that he was putting in. So we were matching times, which, as I said, the team and we definitely didn’t expect. Because, as I said, there’s usually that crossover – but I was able to match his times for a good period of time and that’s really what made the race. In terms of how it affects our championship, I mean, last year, I don’t know if we were leading at this point of last year, but last year I think we had… maybe we felt like we were a little bit stronger than we were compared to this year. This year we all know that Ferrari really do have the upper hand pace-wise but I think all around, performance-wise, in terms of strategy and… y’know, because to win a championship is not just about speed, it’s about how you manage things, the strategy calls you make, mistakes, all these different things all weigh up. I think, as a whole, we have hopefully done a slightly better job up until now. So, we’ve got work to do, we’ve got things to improve, we’ve got performance to bring moving forwards. We’ve got to try and catch them – but we’ve got to continue to keep rising with all the other elements, which allows us to beat the Ferraris when they don’t bring their A game.

    Sebastian?

    SV: Yeah. In the first stint, I had a good start, obviously. We knew we had to try to do something different today. I think, as it turned out, probably Valtteri was taking it too easy and obviously, Lewis was able to pull away comfortably. Then, I think, looking back, despite the hot temperatures and so on, I think the ultrasoft worked probably better than we all expected. Obviously we tried to do something different with the soft and yeah, the fact that the ultrasoft lasted very well in the beginning, like Lewis’ pace showed, and also at the end for me, the tyres felt like new once I was ahead of Valtteri, even though I spent so many laps in traffic, showed that I think the ultrasoft worked better. So, that didn’t help to close the gap but I think we did what we could. We effectively passed Valtteri for P2 but then I think I got a bit unlucky with the traffic and lost a couple of seconds, and then obviously we had that little issue at the pitstop, so we ended up coming out behind – and then it was a different race. For sure we knew from the start that qualifying, where we qualified, we tried to do something different, I was happy to do that and I think the pace showed today that we were good. I think if you compare the stint on the soft to the other cars, obviously we were different fuel loads and mirrored strategy but was very good. So, I don’t know. As we’ve seen this year the pendulum seems to swing once this side, once that side, obviously y’know if it’s like this, consistency is the key. Scoring points. I didn’t do myself a favour last week but I think it’s part of racing. Stuff happens. Compared to last year, we lost the championship I think because our car wasn’t quick enough to be a match in the final part of the season, despite what happened with the DNFs. So I hope that this year, and I think this year has shown so far that our car is more efficient, our car is stronger and still has a lot of potential to unleash – so I’m quite confident with what’s sitting in the pipeline that we can improve . So, we’ll see. Should be an exciting second part of the year.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, this is your ninth podium in Hungary. That’s more than you have anywhere else. Does that mean that you have more good races here than anywhere else?

    KR: I don’t know. It doesn’t really feel like a very good race here, being in third place. I think we had very good speed but obviously what happened yesterday and after the start, we never really were able to use our speed when we were on our own, catching-up. But, y’know, apart from that, you are kind of offset in the position and you know you are going to get stuck once you catch up with them. Obviously it worked out kind of OK because we were both… at the beginning I was giving a bit of a hard time for Valtteri and then Seb obviously, so they never had freedom to slow down and take care of their tyres. And there have been some issues and it paid off, so we both gained one place. But yeah, apart from that it was fun to push because the tyres, at least on my side because I stopped twice, they lasted well and I was able to go full speed. So that was fun. But the end result, doesn’t really feel like a happy finish but y’know, as a team we scored decent points and I think we have a few things to improve and I’m sure we have all the speed to be higher up – but we need to tidy up a few things. I think which way you look it depends if it’s good or bad. I don’t think it’s a disaster but it could be better, for sure.

    Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Sebastian, you had well over a pitstop’s advantage over Valtteri for the best part of ten laps – but you delayed the pitstop, presumably because you were worried about the ultras. Did you wait too long? Was that a mistake. And for Lewis, how to you feel about going into the gap with more than a win’s advantage?

    SV: Well, obviously something didn’t go as we planned. It was good that we were faster on an older tyre than Valtteri and pulled a gap. Then I think it’s a bit difficult to foresee the traffic and – knowing how well you go through traffic or not – and in that case I lost quite a lot. So that was one. Then the pitstop, as I explained, but yeah, I think looking back at the race, Lewis’ stint in the first part of the race with the ultrasofts, as I said, Lewis mentioned a crossover close to ten laps. I think the ultrasoft was a lot stronger in the race than it was on Friday, and then what we expected going on. You soft-of know but you don’t know. Obviously Lewis’ information, they don’t call us and say ‘our tyres still look good – you can come in earlier.’ That’s not how it works. And obviously the worst that can happen is that you come in earlier, you gain the position and then you fall apart at the end. You don’t want to do that. I think what we did was OK. But then, as it turned out, with the circumstances and so on, we obviously lost out and we came out behind. Surely, that didn’t help. I think without that it would have been a much more relaxed last part of the race, probably hunting down Lewis, but with the gap that he had, I think it would have been difficult to catch – and then it’s a completely different story, especially around here to overtake. So I think we could have done the catching bit but not really the overtake, so, in the end it doesn’t change much to the final result. Just that it was a bit more work than coming out ahead.

    LH: Well, as I said, I really could only have dreamed that we would be in the position that we are in right now, considering all factors and based on our pure performance, where we stand compared to the Ferraris. Really happy, going into the break, particularly with back-to-back wins. I think that boost will last a long time for our team and it’s encouraging for everyone so I’m excited for the break. I think everyone has worked so hard; even for you guys, travelling around the world, it’s tough on everyone so it’s probably going to be good to be able to spend time with family and friends and back off and then the second half is always exciting, it’s always intense, particularly when we go to the long long hauls. Second half is usually… it gets a bit better on our side so we will go and prepare and make sure we come back even stronger.

    Q: (Rebecca Clancy – The Times) What are your plans for the summer break? Will it be a break, will you be working, will it be holiday?

    KR: I go home with family, come back for Wednesday for testing, after that, go back home again so I pretty much spend the first week flying back and forwards between Hungary and Switzerland and then after that obviously we have some time to spend with the family so that’s nice. I don’t know. In the end, it’s not very long to be honest, it’s couple of weeks at most and unfortunately it doesn’t feel like a holiday when we have things coming up so it’s not like it’s just relaxing completely. It’s nice to have a break but I think also for the teams and for all the mechanics it’s been a pretty tough last month, month and half so it’s nice for them and important for them to get some free time and relax.

    SV: If you were a man, I would have said none of your business but you’re a lady so I will be polite.

    LH: Did you say an old lady?

    SV: No, I said if you were a man I would said it was none of your business but since you’re a lady I will answer your question. Not very spectacular, I will just be home to be honest. Obviously I think we do enough of travelling in planes so I can’t be arsed to go on a plane, I’m pretty much happy to sit in one place and just enjoy. I think we’ve had an amazing summer so far, I hope it doesn’t swing yet because now’s the time for us when we have a bit of time off. I think other than day trips on the bicycle or – I don’t know – doing something boring like fishing or.. I don’t know, it will be quite boring and I’m happy with that.

    LH: Same kind of thing as every year. Obviously my life’s a little bit different, I don’t have a wife and kids and that so I’m still in a fun period! I will spend time with my… I am an uncle so I will spend some time with my Mum, my sister and kids which is always great. Then my best friend’s got a stag so that’s going to be interesting and then yeah, I haven’t decided where I’m going for the last part of it. Then my cousin’s getting married so I’ve got a couple of people getting married and stuff so I’m sure there’ll be some partying, I’m sure there will be some relaxing but most importantly I think it’s about re-energizing yourself but the way I do that is activities so I will be trying to be active, training and just gathering a lot of energy. I probably will travel a bit because I like travelling, while I can, until I’m anchored down.

    Q: (Peter Varkas – Auto Motor) Sebastian, could you please give us your perspective of the crash with Valtteri? Did you think you have left him enough room, was he too aggressive in the braking and afterwards did you feel something wrong with the car because it seems you lost some parts?

    SV: Yeah, I wasn’t sure.  Obviously I felt all of a sudden that I got hit from behind. I think for him there wasn’t really anywhere to go, I was ahead and then when you are so close to another car, I think he… I don’t blame him, I think he had no grip, obviously when you’re so close it’s very difficult to stop the car and I think he locked up and we made contact. For me, I realised straight away that I had a much better run, my rears were in better shape, I got the inside track out of turn one and I had DRS so I was quite comfortable into turn two and knowing that I’d got him and I wanted to make sure that I don’t overshoot the braking but as I said, as soon as I hit the brakes and a little bit later, about when I turned in, I felt the contact from behind. I checked in the mirrors, I saw he was there and then obviously I was lucky that I could catch the car and also lucky with the contact that I didn’t get a puncture, so the team told me straight away that the tyres look fine. Then I had a feel but the car was fine until the end.

    Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Lewis, given that this is a Ferrari track and traditionally you’re pretty strong in the second half of the season, do you feel like you’ve got a couple of fingers on this World Championship?

    LH: Absolutely not. No, I think it’s far too early and you’ve seen the ups and downs we’ve had from this year, you’ve been ahead by some points and behind some points, ahead by a… But we have learned a lot. I don’t believe there’s ever a moment that you’ve got your hands on the title or the trophy. We’ve got a long long way still to go and there’s still nine or ten races… is it nine races? So a lot can happen moving forwards but what’s really important is that we continue to keep up the pressure and keep working as we have done until now. There’s nothing we really need to alter. I think our work ethic has been very strong and the  team morale is better than ever and the spirit is better than ever. We’ve just got to keep it up because as I said, we came here, we came to the last race, they kind of blew us away a little bit in qualifying, they would have done here had it been dry so we welcome the wet races, that’s for sure. But yeah, I’m not really certain what to expect. We’ve got Singapore coming up; Singapore’s another weak circuit for us so there are a few good ones and a few not so good ones ahead. It’s important to capitalise on those difficult weekends such as this and I think that’s really been a key strength of ours this year, we generally have come away with really good points at circuits which have generally been our weaker races but then we really need to capitalise on the races that we’re really strong at like Silverstone for example which we did.

    Q: (Heikki  Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, did it make it special for you that Robin was able to see the race and the podium from such a close range?

    KR: Obviously it was nice for him. You need to ask from him! Obviously we didn’t have the full family here, the little one, the smallest one is at home but we will go back there and he’s at an age that he will remember so it’s nice obviously for him, but let’s hope he doesn’t get too excited and wants to go go-karting. It’s not the best idea right now!

    Ends/db

  • Vettel takes pole at home race; Hamilton hits trouble

    Sebastian Vettel took his 55th career pole position in front of his home crowd at Germany’s Hockenheimring in a qualifying session that saw chief title rival Lewis Hamilton ruled out when he damaged his car running wide at the end of Q1.

    Vettel put in a superb performance in Q3 to set a new track record at Hockenheim with a time of 1:11.212. The German’s lap was more than three seconds faster than Nico Rosberg’s pole time of F1’s last visit to this track in 2016. Valtteri Bottas will line up on the front row beside Vettel tomorrow, with Kimi Räikkönen third in the second Ferrari.

    After the early pace in Q1 had been set by Sauber’s Charles Leclerc, with a time of 1:13.562, the Ferraris and Mercedes drivers took to the track. Vettel was soon on top with a time of 1:12.765.

    As the circuit improved, Räikkönen took over at the top of the order with a lap of 1:12.505 that left him ahead of Vettel, Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas, Haas’ Romain Grosjean and the second Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton.

    Hamilton’s session would end soon afterwards, though. As Q1 entered its final minutes, the Briton ran wide at Turn 1 and bounced hard over the kerbs as he rejoined the track. The impact clearly caused damage and within moments his team told him to stop his car due to a “PU risk”. Hamilton stopped at Turn 10 and pushed his car off track with aid of marshals. His session was over.

    Qualifying ended, too, for Force India’s Esteban Ocon. The Frenchman was an unlikely candidate to be eliminated in P16 but his best effort of 1:13.20 wasn’t good enough to beat Williams’ Sergey Sirotkin. Also eliminated at the end of Q1 were Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly in P17 followed by team-mate Brendon Hartley, Williams’ Lance Stroll and McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne.

    At the start of Q2, Bottas was quickly into P1 with a time of 1:12.152 ahead of Räikkönen and Vettel. However, eight minutes into the session the red flags were shown when Marcus Ericsson went off track at Turn 13. In re-joining, the Sauber driver dragged a load of gravel onto the circuit and the session was halted for nine minutes while a road sweeper cleared the mess.

    Max Verstappen, who had set his opening time on soft tyres to sit in P9, erred on the side of caution as the action resumed and the Dutchman took the track on ultrasoft tyres.

    With the purple tyres on board his final push lap of 1:12.188 vaulted him to P2 behind Q2’s fastest man Bottas and ahead of Räikkönen, Vettel and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen. Romain Grosjean took sixth in the second Haas, with Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg seventh ahead of Leclerc, the second Renault of Carlos Sainz and 10th placed Sergio Perez of Force India, who set a time of 1:13.072.

    Eliminated in P11, with a time of 1:13.657 was McLaren’s Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard finished in front of Sirotkin, Ericsson, Hamilton and Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, who faced with a barrage of PU-related penalties and a back-of-the-grid start elected to stay in the garage in Q2.

    It was Vettel to the fore early in Q3. Ferrari team-mate Räikkönen set the opening time of the final session with a lap of 1:11.880. However, powered past that to take provisional pole with a time of 1:11.539, bringing a huge roar from the German’s home crowd. Bottas then slotted into P2, 0.170s behind Vettel, leaving Räikkönen third ahead of Verstappen and Grosjean.

    In the final runs Bottas was the first to show what kind of improvement he could make and the Finn found a sizeable chunk of time to move into P1 with a time of 1:11.416.

    That left Vettel needing to find 0.123 over his opening time if he was to secure his 55th pole position. The German, boosted by his home crowd, was more than up to the task and he found a over three tenths of a second on his final run to claim pole position with a lap of 1:11.212.

    Behind P2 man Bottas, Räikkönen took third ahead of Verstappen, with Magnussen fifth and Haas team-mate Grosjean sixth. Hulkenberg took seventh place in qualifying for the fifth time this year ahead of team-mate Sainz, Leclerc and Perez.

     

    2018 German Grand Prix – Qualifying 
    1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:11.212
    2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:11.416 0.204
    3 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:11.547 0.335
    4 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:11.822 0.610
    5 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:12.200 0.988
    6 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:12.544 1.332
    7 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:12.560 1.348
    8 Carlos Sainz Renault 1:12.692 1.480
    9 Charles Leclerc Sauber 1:12.717 1.505
    10 Sergio Perez Force India 1:12.774 1.562
    11 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:13.657 2.445
    12 Sergey Sirotkin Williams 1:13.702 2.490
    13 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:13.736 2.524
    14 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
    15 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing
    16 Esteban Ocon Force India 1:13.720 2.508
    17 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 1:13.749 2.537
    18 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 1:14.045 2.833
    19 Lance Stroll Williams 1:14.206 2.994
    20 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 1:14.401 3.189

    eom/db

  • Sebastian Vettel wins; Hamilton recovers to finish second: British Grand Prix

    Sebastian Vettel wins; Hamilton recovers to finish second: British Grand Prix

    Vettel waves after winning the British GP on Sunday. An FIA image

    Silverstone, 8 July 2018: Sebastian Vettel capitalised on a Turn 1 collision between Kimi Räikkonen and Lrewis Hamilton that sent the Briton to the back of the field to claim his 51st career win at the British Grand Prix. Hamilton later staged a superb recover to finish second ahead of the second Ferrari of Kimi Räikkönen.

    At the start, Vettel got away superbly to take the lead ahead of pole position man Hamilton. The Briton’s team-mate Valtteri Bottas also swept past and Hamilton found himself third as the field went through Abbey.

    The situation was then made worse for Hamilton as Raikkonen braked too late and collided with the right rear of the Briton’s Mercedes. Hamilton spun off track and dropped to 17th place. Raikkonen later received a 10-second time penalty for causing the collision.

    At the front, Vettel was free to pull away and by lap eight the German had built a 5.7s lead over Bottas, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen a further four seconds behind. Raikkonen was now fourth ahead of the second Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo and the Renault of Nico Hulkenberg.

    However, Hamilton was powering through the pack, and on lap eight he had climbed back to eighth place behind Sauber’s Charles Leclerc. He was, however, now 25.7s behind Vettel. He made light work of passing the Monegasque and then breezed past Hulkenberg on lap 10 to sit 13.0 behind fifth-placed Ricciardo.

    Raikkonen pitted on lap 13 to serve his penalty and after the hold he took on medium tyres to emerge in 10th place.

    Verstappen was the next to pit, on lap 17, with the Dutchman also taking medium tyres. The Red Bull driver emerged in fifth place.

    Behind him, Raikkonen was now on a march and in short order he dismissed Carlos Sainz, Esteban Ocon, Leclerc and Nico Hulkenberg to sit in sixth place ahead of the next pit stop, on lap 18, for Ricciardo.

    Leclerc was the next to visit pit lane but immediately after his pit stop he reported a problem and he was told to stop his Sauber. He pulled off track at Turn 3 where his strong run of recent points finishes ended.

    Vettel then pitted on lap 20, taking on medium tyres. He rejoined in the lead and after Bottas made his stop the German led ahead of the Finn and Hamilton. Hamilton was now 5.8s behind the championship leader but he required a pit stop.

    That stop arrived on lap 25, with the Mercedes driver taking on mediums. He rejoined the action on sixth place, 11s behind Raikkonen and 28.2s behind race leader Vettel.

    The German was now 3.5s clear of Bottas, with Verstappen almost 10 seconds further back and with Ricciardo fourth ahead Raikkonen.

    Bottas then began to close up to Vettel and on lap 30 the gap was down to 2.8s. Hamilton too was picking up the pace and by lap 30 he was running quickest and closing in on Raikkonen.

    Red Bull then pitted Ricciardo for a second time on lap 30, with the Australian taking on a fresh set of soft tyres. He rejoined in sixth place, behind Hamilton, who was now just 4.9s behind Raikkonen.

    The complexion of the race changed completely on lap 32. Marcus Ericsson overcooked his entry to Turn 1 and he lost the front end of his car. He spun and careered off track and into the barriers.

    The safety car was immediately deployed and during the caution, Vettel, Verstappen and Raikkonen all pitted for fresh soft tyres as the field bunched up.

    Bottas now led the race behind the SC, with Vettel second ahead of Hamilton, Verstappen, Raikkonen and Ricciardo.

    On the restart Bottas held his advantage ahead of Vettel and Hamilton, bit behind them Raikkonen attacked Verstappen. He passed the Dutchman but the Red Bull driver returned the favour in the next corner and he held onto fourth place.

    The Safety Car was almost immediately deployed again as behind the leaders Carlos Sainz tried to pass Romain Grosjean in to Copse. It was tight, with Sainz leaving little room, and the result was that the Frenchman clipped the back of the Spaniard’s Renault and they both went off track and out of the race.

    The Safety Car left the track at the end of lap 41 and Bottas again held the lead ahead of Vettel and Hamilton, with Verstappen fourth ahead of Raikkonen and Ricciardo.

    Vettel than began to exert pressure on Bottas and after a long tussle the German managed to sneak past the Finn with a good move under braking into Brooklands.

    Behind them Verstappen spun and then retired from the race.

    Bottas, whose tyres were fading, was then passed by Hamilton and he quickly slipped into the clutches of Raikkonen who brushed past his compatriot to take P3.

    And that was the way it stayed with Vettel crossing the line ahead of Hamilton to take his 51stcareer win, putting him tied third with Alain Prost on the list of most wins in F1.

    Hamilton’s superb recovery from the back of the field was matched to some degree by Räikkönen’s march to the podium from 10th after serving his penalty. Bottas was fourth ahead of Ricciardo with Hulkenberg sixth for Renault. Esteban Ocon took seventh for Force India ahead of McLaren’s Fernando Alonso, Haas’ Kevin Magnussen and the Toro Rosso of Pierre Gasly.

    2018 Formula 1 British Grand Prix – Race 
    1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari –
    2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 2.264
    3 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 3.652
    4 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 8.883
    5 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 9.500
    6 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 28.220
    7 Esteban Ocon Force India 29.930
    8 Fernando Alonso McLaren 31.115
    9 Kevin Magnussen Haas 33.188
    10 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 34.129
    11 Sergio Perez Force India 34.708
    12 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 35.774
    13 Lance Stroll Williams 38.106
    14 Sergey Sirotkin Williams 48.113
    15 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 6 laps
    16 Romain Grosjean Haas 15 laps
    17 Carlos Sainz Renault 15 laps
    18 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 21 laps
    19 Charles Leclerc Sauber 34 laps
    20 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 51 laps.

    eom/db

  • These Ferraris pulled something out in Q3, says poleman Hamilton

    Silverstone, 7 July 2018:  Reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes who took the pole at the British Grand Prix, the 10th round of the Formula One World Championship attended the post-qualifying Press Conference along with Ferrari drivers Sebastian Vettel who took P2 and his teammate Kimi Raikkonen, who will start from P3 on Sunday.

    Track Interviews: (Conducted by Martin Brundle)

    Q: Lewis, congratulations, fantastic. Your fourth consecutive pole position here, a record sixth pole position at the British Grand Prix, your adoring fans looking on. That was a very special lap you had to find there?

    Lewis HAMILTON: These guys are the best.

    Q: You’re shaking with emotion, literally!

    LH: Oh man, I needed… I gave it everything I could. It was so close between these Ferraris. The Ferraris pulled something out when we got to Q3. I was just praying I could do it for you guys, and I’m so grateful for the support, because without you guys I wouldn’t have been able to do it.

    Q: Where do you think you made the difference on that last lap?

    LH: I don’t even remember it! I honestly don’t remember it, man. Maybe Turn 13… love you too guys!

    Q: Congratulations again. Let’s have a quick chat with Sebastian Vettel. Second place, Sebastian, you look like you’re walking wounded here, on your neck. 

    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, I had a bit of an issue in practice, but it was fine in Quali.

    Q: Did you think you could take that pole position?

    SV: To be honest, this morning, no. I wasn’t sure if I could do Quali. It was very close. I don’t know, the last lap I was very happy with it, but I seem to lose a lot of time in the straights, so I think I’m missing some… missing a bit of tow, but I think it was very close, so I’m happy with second and it gives us a good chance for tomorrow.

    Q: Well done. Kimi Räikkönen, it’s the seventh day of the seventh month and you put car number seven in third place. Are you satisfied with that?

    Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: Not really. I think I had all the tools today to be faster but I locked the front wheel into 16 a bit on the last lap and for sure gave away enough time to be in front but that’s how it goes.

    You told me two days ago that you’re driving as well as ever, do you still think you have a chance of victory tomorrow?

    KR: Yeah, I think I’ve got a good car and my car should be good tomorrow. Obviously it’s hot and it will not be an easy race with the tyres, so I think we might see a few different things happening there, but we’re aiming for the top for sure.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Lewis, it was an incredibly tight qualifying session and ended up with your fourth consecutive pole position here at Silverstone. How does it compare to the ones that came before?

    LH: It feels night and day different. These guys really pulled something special into Q3. I don’t know what they did yesterday, but they’ve come so strong today. I knew we were up against it but to really put together the laps was the hardest I can remember it being. It’s such a technical circuit and such a tricky circuit and to really position the car in the right place and get the maximum from the tyres it took everything from me to get it. But the fans were there and I could see them. And I knew they were here so I really, really wanted to do it, and if anything, with the pole, give a boost to England maybe. They won’t be watching obviously, because they’ll be playing, but you know what I mean – maybe start the wave and let them continue it. Huge amount of pressure on today, but so grateful for my team working so hard. Ferrari obviously have picked up a lot of pace this weekend, but we’re in the best position we can be and our long run pace was good yesterday, so I’m excited for a close race tomorrow.

    Q: Thank you, Lewis, well done. Sebastian, simply, what was the difference between you and Lewis today?

    SV: Half a tenth.

    Q: Four hundredths.

    SV: Less than half a tenth!

    Q: Can you just elaborate a bit more? How did that gap manifest itself on the racetrack today?

    SV: I don’t know. It’s so little time, it’s practically the same lap. I was pretty happy with the first run in Q3 and I knew had a little bit more in Sector 3, and bits around the track, which I think I got right on the second attempt, but I seemed to lose a little bit down the straights, I’m not sure why. But more or less I had two laps that were identical. Half a tenth you can always argue you find somewhere. I think he was just a little bit better in the final run, but for tomorrow I think we should be fine.

    Q: Kimi, you set the fastest first sector there in Q3. Can you just talk us through the rest of your lap, because you were less than one tenth of a second behind Lewis as well?

    KR: Yeah, I think we had first and last sector but in the middle obviously I think I had a small moment on the first try, the first set, into Turn 7, so I took it a bit easier. I was still gaining but I’m sure there were places to gain a tenth easily but obviously it didn’t happen today, so this is what we got. It was close but third is not too bad.

    Q: Sebastian, could you just explain the problem you had with your neck after FP3 and the problem it gave you going into qualifying.

    SV: It wasn’t the most enjoyable session but it’s not… nothing. I did the session, so I was fine. We had to call it a bit earlier this morning that I wanted but yeah, it was fine in quali.

    Q: Another question for Seb on the neck. How confident are you that tomorrow it’s going to be OK – and can you describe how it all started? Was it a bump the circuit or lateral forces? What was it?

    SV: No, I don’t know what happened but it went a little bit stiff. We loosened it up and for tomorrow I think the night will help. I’m not worried. Also, the speed tomorrow is less than in quali, because you have more fuel and you’ll be a bit slower so it’s going to be OK.

    Q: A question for Lewis. Lewis, can you tell us a little about your poll position lap please? Where are you flat out around this superfast Silverstone circuit now? What does it feel like? And also, the gap to your team-mate Valtteri is quite big today, and a very small gap to the two gentlemen either side of you. How much of this is down to the car and how much is down to the driver?

    LH: This is, as I was saying before, it’s such a technical circuit and it’s about car placement and you’ve got to have, obviously, the package. Our downforce level, I think, has been good but, I mean, you see how close it is between us. This has been a strong circuit for me for years, as you can see and my job is try to make… it is to make the difference. So, I think there was… I didn’t leave anything on the table today. The lap was… I mean it was just intense. I left the pit lane, I think the first lap was OK, it was pretty good, and then I saw that I’d dropped to second. Obviously, that naturally just adds a little bit more pressure. Because you know that he’s going to improve again, so I’ve got to improve the same and a bit more. So, to push over the limit just a little bit more, without losing it is one of the toughest positions to put the car. And this is the fastest track in the world, this is. We’re flat-out through Turn One, we’re flat-out through Copse, it’s insane, to turn in there at 300-and-whatever-it-is-kilometres we’re doing. It’s flat-out into Maggotts and Becketts, all the way to 11, 12…

    SV: The last one’s called Chapel…

    LH: I don’t know all the names but you’re flat-out all the way into it. You have a small lift, then you have a full lift, then you’re back on the gas again. Also, Stowe is just… with the headwind that we have there, it’s incredible how fast it is. I think on the TV it doesn’t look like we’re lifting – but we are. I got to the end of the lap, I think I was up 0.17s, and I came around that last corner and it started to diminish a little bit. I think I came across the line 0.90 better than my previous lap, and you’re just praying that’s enough – that little bit… because you’re gaining and losing throughout the lap. So, yeah, I can’t tell you how happy I am, happy for the fans, and I hope that I can deliver for them tomorrow.

    Q: Congratulations Lewis on your lap. You looked like you were on the ragged edge throughout the lap, and obviously when you got out of the car, you were pretty pumped. Where does it rank in terms for you, that pole lap?

    LH: I think it’s, for me, with the whole build up, with the whole intensity, with the whole spur-of-the-moment thing, knowing how close we were, for me it feels like one of the best laps that I’ve been able to produce. I would say it felt like the most pressurised lap that I’ve ever had. And then afterwards I was just… I can’t tell you how… I was shaking through the emotion, through the adrenaline rush was way above the limit that I had experienced before, which is kind of crazy for my 76th. But the 76th is so special. I’m so, so happy, and, as I said, the team have just been doing a great job and I’m really happy I have been able to deliver for them as well.

    Q: We have a bumpy track, hot weather, extra downforce this year; will this maybe be one of the toughest or the toughest British Grand Prix ever for you guys?

    KR: In which way? I don’t think it’s any different. Obviously there’s a big difference in the speed in the race, especially at the beginning of the race to qualifying. I think in the past the circuit layout was different but you could do qualifying laps every lap because you had refuelling and all these things. I think it’s less bumpy, it’s just smaller bumps; last year there were bigger bumps here and there.

    LH: I think it is, yes, with the heat the track is the hottest I think we’ve driven on for a long time. The speed that we’re going through the corners, it is up and even on the long runs yesterday, the G-force we’re pulling… the car is faster than last year. I definitely think it’s going to be physically tougher and more intense, being that we’re so close as well. It’s not going to be a case of either of us pulling a big gap, it’s going to be close all the way, so I personally think it’s going to be one of the toughest, yes.

    Q: Sebastian, do you side with your teammate or Lewis with this one?

    SV: In the middle. I hope it will be, not sure. I think those are the fastest cars we’ve ever had and I hope it will be because next year, I guess, the cars will be a bit slower. I think it depends largely on the tyres to be honest. If they are holding up well, and consistent enough then I think we can push. If not, then obviously it takes a lot of intensity out of it.

    Q: To both Ferrari drivers: you had a very impressive simulation race Friday, especially you Sebastian, on medium tyres. You said you were confident for tomorrow. Can you give more details, explain more? It really looks like you have a really fast car in the best conditions.

    SV: Yeah, it was yesterday, it was a good Friday for us and I’m confident we can be faster tomorrow. Usually… we  see today that we are able to pick up pace on Sunday as well. The race has always been better for us the last couple of races so I’m confident with everything that we have here this year, it seems we are stronger and I believe we can be faster.

    Q: Kimi, do you expect to be more competitive tomorrow?

    KR: Than today? Impossible to say, hopefully it’s a close fight, not easy to overtake as always but we will see what we can do and so far it’s been OK.

    Q: Kimi, in Austria you had the best start among the front runners, it’s quite a difficult track to overtake here. Are you prepared to take a bit more risk than you did in Zeltweg to try and get to the front at the start?

    KR: For me? If I didn’t take risks last time then maybe. I don’t plan to do anything different. Obviously we try to make a good start as well as we can but there are things that you will never be able to plan, you do it what you think the right outcome might be different that you expect but that’s how it goes sometimes. Try to make a good start and go from there, see what we can come up with.

    Q: Lewis, is it because it’s Silverstone that Mercedes and Lewis are in front of Ferrari? The circuit made the difference or what else? Was it because there is a superiority of driver and car or in your performance…

    LH: Both

    Q:  … or was Silverstone the secret?

    LH: All three, I hope. I think for sure, when you come to Silverstone it’s a home Grand Prix so just like when we go to Monza, Ferrari get a boost. It’s the same for us as a team. The team has all their families around, the support we have from the fans is there so we get lifted up from that. There’s obviously an extra push in effort above and beyond to try and make sure that we can pull everything out. Same for me as a driver. I think it’s all those as a whole come together for this race.

    eom/db

  • Sebastian Vettel tops FP2: British GP

    Sebastian Vettel tops FP2: British GP

    Vettel tops FP2 at the British GP on Friday. An FIA image

    Silverstone, 6 July 2018: Sebastian Vettel set the pace in the second practice for this weekend’s Formula One World Championship’s 10th round, the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, with the Ferrari driver edging Friday morning’s quickest man, Lewis Hamilton, by just under two tenths of a second. Sahara Force India’s drivers Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon remained in 8th and 9th in the second practices session too.

    There was more trouble for Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, however. The Dutch driver had stopped on track at the end of the morning session with a mechanical issue and his afternoon session ended early when he crashed out midway through his opening run.

    Verstappen lost control of his RB14 on the exit of Luffield corner and spun into the barriers, damaging the rear of his car. The impact to his car was severe enough that he would play no further part in the session.

    At the time the red flags were shown for the Red Bull driver’s crash, Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkonen sat at the top of the timesheet and when the session re-started, the Finn was one of the first to bolt on soft tyres for his qualifying simulation. His His best time of 1:28.045 gave him a solid margin at the top of the order but team-mate Vettel was preparing for his run and his time of 1m27.552s sent him to the top of the timesheet.

    Mercedes Valtteri Bottas then slotted into P2 behind the championship leader but then Hamilton crossed the line a time of 1:27.739 to secure second place – 0.187s behind Vettel.

    Raikkonen dropped to fourth ahead of the second Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo who ended up 0.856s off Vettel’s best.

    The Australian was the last man within a second of the German, with McLaren’s Fernando Alonso best-of-the-rest in sixth place a sizeable 1.754s behind Vettel. Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg was seventh ahead of the Force India pairing of Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez. Charles Leclerc rounded out the top 10, a full two seconds adrift of the P1 pace.

    Verstappen wasn’t the only driver to encounter problems during the session. Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly was also forced out of the session early on with a suspected power unit issue.

    2018 Formula 1 British Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
    1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 36 1: 27.552
    2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 32 1: 27.739 0.187
    3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 30 1: 27.909 0.357
    4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 34 1: 28.045 0.493
    5 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 31 1: 28.408 0.856
    6 Fernando Alonso McLaren 31 1: 29.306 1.754
    7 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 35 1: 29.354 1.802
    8 Esteban Ocon Force India 33 1: 29.467 1.915
    9 Sergio Perez Force India 32 1: 29.522 1.970
    10 Charles Leclerc Sauber 30 1: 29.557 2.005
    11 Carlos Sainz Renault 36 1: 29.563 2.011
    12 Kevin Magnussen Haas 33 1: 29.617 2.065
    13 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 16 1: 29.831 2.279
    14 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 32 1: 30.046 2.494
    15 Lance Stroll Williams 34 1: 30.069 2.517
    16 Sergey Sirotkin Williams 36 1: 30.103 2.551
    17 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 31 1: 30.121 2.569
    18 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 36 1: 30.404 2.852
    19 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 2
    20 Romain Grosjean Haas 0.

    eom/db

  • Canadian GP: Early sparks, but no fire as Vettel puts Ferrari ahead of Mercedes

     

    Seb Vettel….in a league of his own in Montreal. Photo: Nico Marchand

    Montreal, 11 June 2018: Formula 1 suffered a back to back embarrassment with the Canadian GP failing to produce an iota of excitement and followed in the footsteps of the Monaco chapter two weeks ago. The character of the circuits had nothing in common to cause this feeling of ennui.

    Team Scuderia Ferrari bulldozed it’s title contender Mercedes comprehensively with Vettel taking the lead authoritatively and never having to look in his mirrors all the way to the premature checkered flag at the 68th. That was about the only sense of excitement if at all.

    Other than a sporadic clash for positions 12th downward, there wasn’t much to excite the enthusiastic spectators who arrived in full strength to witness an epic battle amongst the likes of the three – Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull. The DRS system took the day off and wasn’t summoned since no driver came within striking distance to put it to use and it basked in the fabulous weather that made it worth the while to watch the F1 train go round and round the famous Giles Villeneuve circuit!

    The race had a promising start with Hartley and local hero Lance Stroll coming together spectacularly on lap 1 causing the safety car to control the proceedings for the initial 6 laps while the marshals and the wreckage retrieval crew cleaned up the mess . Once the SC exited the fans were buckling themselves for a ride of their lives that wasn’t to be sadly. Vettel’s domination was so emphatic that all Bottas could offer was a weak challenge whilst being threatened somewhat by Max Verstappen who thankfully decided to finish the event rather tamely for a change!

    Huge crowds at the Giles Villeneuve circuit in Montreal. Photo: Nico Marchand

    Lewis Hamilton had a bad day at work with his engine malfunctioning and also having to employ incorrect tires which was a consequence of a choice made earlier on in the championship. That cost Mercedes dearly since this wiped out their name from the leader board in one event while handing over their arch-rivals Ferrari a slender one point lead at the end of it all. Anyway, it’s great for F1 to have a see-saw battle to keep the excitement however contrived it may be! When the behemoths eventually get their act together as the F1 juggernaut moves to Europe, the two back-to-back blah events will be consigned to history hopefully.

    Sahara Force India didn’t have a great outing with Perez straying into the kitty litter thus pushing him down to 14th place from which he never recovered. Ocon was all set to put in another sterling drive until a messy pit stop put paid to his potentially top six finish but he yet picked up valuable points for his 9th place effort.

    Rumours were flying thick and fast about the potential sale of his team to Rich Energy. These were denied vehemently by the team boss Mallya, but vaguely confirmed by a few in the know. We know that there is never smoke without a fire. Currently, the team is fairly valuable and time to cash in would be now! But Mallya’s passion for F1 may delay or deny the process for a while. After all he did build it to be a team to reckon with from a rather scrappy outfit that he inherited a decade ago.

    Ricciardo should be content with his 4th place considering that his Renault engine was  not putting out its best. Kimi had another pedestrian day at work. How long will be able to hang on to his precious seat is anyone’s guess! Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz played it sensibly and earned themselves some valuable points for their attempt with their 7th and 8th finishes for Renault . Alonso 300th race was done with an exhaust med problem . He must easily the most frustrated man in the paddock. After the top 6 finishers, the rest of the best finished over a lap down. Something’s don’t change, do they ?!!!!

  • Free Practice 2: Daniel Ricciardo in charge again as Red Bull dominate in Monaco

    Free Practice 2: Daniel Ricciardo in charge again as Red Bull dominate in Monaco

    Daniel Ricciardo….blowing hot in Monaco. Photo: Red Bull Racing

    Monaco, 24 May 2018: Daniel Ricciardo is in the mood to impress in Monaco this weekend, with the Red Bull star setting a new track record to top the timesheet for the second time on Thursday. His team-mate Max Verstappen was two-tenths back, while the nearest challenger in a rival car, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, was over half a second off the pace.

    Lewis Hamilton, who was the leading Mercedes in fourth, spoke of Red Bull’s race-winning potential during Wednesday’s press conference, and they certainly demonstrated their pace in Monte Carlo by following up on their one-two in FP1 with another hugely confident-looking 90 minutes of running.

    Raikkonen came home fifth for Ferrari – 0.702s behind Ricciardo – closely followed by his fellow-Finn Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes. Renault were the fourth quickest team in the day’s first session and they repeated those exploits in FP2, although it was Nico Hulkenberg – and not Carlos Sainz – who came home seventh.

    Sainz had to settle for tenth, trailing the McLaren pair of Stoffel Vandoorne and ninth-placed Fernando Alonso, who was able to get in a healthy 42 laps after his MCL33 suffered a brake-by-wire issue in FP1 – restricting him to just 16 laps.

    As in FP1, there was a mixture of tactics on show in the early stages of this session. Mercedes split their strategy, sending Hamilton out on the supersoft tyres and Bottas on the purple-marked ultrasoft compound, which the two Ferraris also started on, while the Red Bull pair were on the hypersofts.

    Red Bull were in charge in the opening session, and they set out to stamp their authority on FP2 with the Prancing Horse of Vettel splitting early pace-setter Verstappen and Ricciardo. The drivers were looking to build momentum but were temporarily forced back to the pits when the red flag was brought out to allow for repair work to be carried out on a drain cover between Turn 4 and Turn 5.

    When the action resumed, traffic was proving to be a problem on this tight and twisty circuit. Ferrari’s Raikkonen was among the drivers to improve on his first two sectors, but a slow-moving rival stopped him in his path – with Williams’ Sergey Sirotkin not proving popular with the Finn.

    At this stage, Verstappen was keeping his nose clean. That was, however, until he slowed right down on his approach to the hairpin in order to let Grosjean past, and despite the best efforts of both drivers, they had a very minor coming together.

    Despite Verstappen’s wing making contact with Grosjean’s rear tyre, there was no damage to either car, and the Dutchman was able to jump back to the top of the leaderboard after Vettel, only fourth fastest in FP1, temporarily set the quickest time.

    With all the top three teams running on the new hypersoft tyres, could Mercedes or Ferrari better Red Bull’s pace? They were trying, but then Ricciardo popped up with a superb 1m 11.841s to move into the lead. And neither rival could get ahead of the charging Red Bull pair, with the Australian pipping his team mate for the second time on Thursday.

    This time it was Ferrari who were Red Bull’s closest challengers, but a 0.572s gap between Vettel and Ricciardo suggests they have some catching up to do in FP3, as do Mercedes.

    In the middle of the field, Renault had an impressive afternoon and McLaren enjoyed a better 90 minutes – but Haas endured an underwhelming session, with their drivers Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean coming home in 16th and 18th respectively.

    Where does it leave us heading into Saturday? Red Bull seem on track for their first pole position of the season – but expect Mercedes and Ferrari to have something to say…

    Verstappen escapes penalty after reversing to re-join

    Verstappen escapes penalty. Photo: Red Bull Racing

    It’s not often you see a Formula 1 driver reversing, but that’s what Verstappen resorted to after getting his braking wrong into Ste Devote during Monaco GP first practice. The Red Bull driver had a big front-left lock up on the approach to the first turn and opted to take to the escape road rather than attempting to make the corner.

    Rather than spin the car round, he engaged reverse and moved back on track, with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel cutting the corner to avoid Verstappen.

    The Stewards investigated whether Verstappen had returned to the track in an unsafe manner, but after speaking to the Dutchman and reviewing footage, they deemed no further action was necessary.

    They said yellow flags had been waved to warn other drivers Verstappen had run off track at the first corner and Verstappen had rejoined in a manner “that posed no danger to the other drivers”.

    Verstappen was second quickest in first practice, 0.154s slower than Ricciardo, as the duo lay down a marker on a weekend where they are expected to challenge for pole position and the victory.