INDIA in F1

Tag: Ferrari

  • Vettel takes pole ahead of Red Bulls

    Sebastian Vettel took pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix, beating Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo by over three tenths of a second. Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen was fourth as championship leader Lewis Hamilton finished fifth ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas.

    The early pace in Q1 was set by Red Bull Racing, with Max Verstappen blasting past the opening P1 time of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel by half a second. Daniel Ricciardo was following the Dutchman, however, and his time of 1:42.063 gave him top spot.

    Verstappen was not to be denied, however, and after being edged out of second place by Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, the Dutch driver posted a lap of 1:42.010 to take back first place. In the late stages Fernando Alonso put in an excellent lap of 1:42.086 to take third place ahead of Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz and the second McLaren of Stoffel Vandoorne. Hamilton took sixth place, while the Ferraris of Raikkonen and Vettel went through in 11th and 12th places respectively.

    There was trouble, though, for Felipe Massa. The Williams driver got out of shape on the entry to Turn20 and hit the wall hard with the right rear three-quarter. The immediate result was a puncture and he limped back to the pits. He managed to get back out on track in the final stages of the session, but though his lap was a decent 1:44.014 it was not good enough to save him and he slotted into 16th place, which eventually turned into 17th as the final times came through.

    It meant he was eliminated along with 16th-placed Kevin Magnussen of Haas, 18th-placed Williams team-mate Lance Stroll, who also clipped the wall on his final run and the Saubers of Pascal Wehrlein and Marcus Ericsson.

    The first runs in Q2 also saw Verstappen in control, with the Red Bull driver knocking Vettel off top spot with a lap of 1:40.379. Team-mate Ricciardo’s opening flier yielded a solid time of 1:40.776 to put the Australian driver third ahead of Räikkönen, Hamilton, Vandoorne, Bottas, Hulkenberg, Sainz and Palmer.

    In the drop zone as the final runs began were 11th-placed Alonso, followed by Force India’s Sergio Perez, Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat, the second Force India of Esteban Ocon and Haas’ Romain Grosjean.

    And Alonso was the only one to make a significant enough improvement to escape the drop. The Spaniard crossed the line in 1:41.442, which initially was good enough for eighth. As more lap times flowed in he dropped one place but the time was good enough for him to edge into the final session.

    Out though went Renault’s Jolyon Palmer. The Briton was unable to improve and he finished in P11 ahead of Perez, Kvyat, Ocon and Grosjean.

    At the top of the order, Verstappen found a marginal improvement to secure his hold on P1, the Dutch driver posting a time of 1:40.332 on his second run. Ricciardo improved too, to 1:40.385, to seal a Red Bull 1-2 in Q2 just over a tenth ahead of Räikkönen and with Vettel fourth. Hamilton was fifth ahead of the impressive Vandoorne, while Hulkenberg was seventh ahead of Bottas, Alonso and Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz.

    With Red Bull dominating, it might have been expected to see Verstappen to the fore again in the first runs in Q3. And the Red Bull man obliged with a P1 time of 1:39.814, with Ricciardo five hundredths of a second behind. Vettel, though, was pushing hard and the Ferrari driver stole past to take provisional pole by 0.145s.

    Those three were the only drivers inside the 1m40s mark Räikkönen fourth on 1:40.069, a tenth clear of Hamilton and seven tenths ahead of fifth-placed Bottas.

    And in the final runs, Vettel was inspired. The German found fractions of time right across the lap to cross the line in 1:39.491. Verstappen couldn’t compete and had to settle for second place with his first run time of 1:39.814. With Ricciardo heading into sector three and up on his team-mate it looked like Vettel’s time might be tested but the Australian lost time in sector three and finished third, the last man inside 1m40s, with a lap of 1:39.840, just 0.026s behind his team-mate.

    eom/FIA press release

  • Mercedes power is definitely better than Ferrari power, a tongue-in-cheek comment by Hamilton

    Mercedes power is definitely better than Ferrari power, a tongue-in-cheek comment by Hamilton

    Hamilton takes a selfie with the Monza crowd after the podium celebrations on Sunday. An FIA image

    DRIVERS: 1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes); 2 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes); 3 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari).

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS (Conducted by Martin Brundle and Jean Alesi)

    Martin BRUNDLE: Lewis, you’re now leading the world championship again.

    Lewis HAMILTON: You know what…. You know what…

    MB: You might just have to punch through this [noise]

    LH: Yeah, you know what, I love it here in Italy and I love the passion of the fans, particularly the Ferrari fans, they’re fantastic. This energy is like nowhere else we ever really get to see, apart from maybe Silverstone, so I respect it, I appreciate it. But I’m happy. We did a great job. The team did an exceptional job this weekend and me and Valtteri – Valtteri also did a great job – I think we owe it all to them.

    MB: I didn’t of too many problems, one lap you said you felt the power was going down a little bit, but you were coasting for much of it, saving the engine I guess.

    LH: Yeah, firstly Mercedes power is definitely better than Ferrari power, so it worked well this weekend.

    MB: Whoah, volcanic! You were up with Lance into the first corner and Esteban Ocon behind you. A little bit nervous of the new kids in town?

    LH: The start was a little bit difficult for sure, because the grip was quite low, but it was a great day, a great result for us. We’ve got a lot of British supporters here as well, so I’m really grateful for that.

    I’ll leave you with your friends and go and talk with Valtteri. Valtteri, a couple of great moves from you. You had to make up some ground early on.

    Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, like with Lewis the start was tricky, but just needed to keep my head down, get the places step by step. The car was so strong today. Like I said on the team radio, it was amazing today how quick we were and it was pure joy to drive. The pace was good, I enjoyed it and a perfect result for us as a team.

    MB: Any dramas at all?

    VB: No drama.

    MB: Very reminiscent of 2015 and 2016. Now, I’ll hand over to Jean to talk to Sebastian.

    Jean ALESI: Sebastian, a few words in Italian for the Ferraristas.

    Sebastian VETTEL: Allora, grazie a tutti. Tifosi, io sento di essere la megliore publico al mundo, davvero. Questa guerra é difficile – lo so que arriviamo, arriviamo! Forza Ferrari, grazie!

    Sebastian it was quite difficult at the beginning to catch up straightaway, you had to make some overtaking. How it was at the beginning?

    SV: It was entertaining. It was quite good fun. Obviously my start was not so good, I had a lot of wheelspin. It took a while before I could really trust the car and then I made some progress. We got some good overtaking there. Then we were a bit isolated. We didn’t have the pace of the leading two drivers today. Nevertheless, going round, seeing the people gives a lot of hop. Even if this race has been difficult I know that we have a very, very strong car and we will have a very, very strong end to the season, I’m sure of that.

    MB: Congratulations Sebastian. Lewis, you beat Ferrari today by over half a minute. With Spa last weekend have we seen a key turning point in the season, and the championship?

    LH: I think it’s all just to do with the team pulling together and trying to maximizing everything on the car and Valtteri and myself really trying to do the best job we can with the car. But today the car was fantastic and really a dream to drive. But a big thank you to all the fans who came out today, grazie a tutti, and I look forward to coming back next year.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Lewis, you’ve obviously taken the championship lead for the first time, one key talking point; the pace of the Mercedes compared with the Ferraris, on the supersofts particularly, I think you were 22 seconds ahead at the end of the first stint, another important talking point. And also interesting, this is the first time this season we have had a back-to-back race winner and I wondered about your thoughts on what that says about how open and competitive this championship is?

    LH: Well, it’s obviously an incredibly exciting season and the last two races have been incredibly strong for us as a team. We’ve gone from strength from strength and really shown real strength and depth and I think it’s the way we have come together in this second half so far is exceptional. I’m not really sure why the pace of the Ferraris was not close as it usually is, particularly as it was in practice, but today the car felt fantastic, particularly in that first stint. I guess because we had a bit of breathing space behind us initially it was easier to extend the life of the tyre. I suppose if in the past we would have had a Ferrari behind we would have been pushed more to the limit. And Valtteri did a fantastic job just to get through and get a one-two here. I know it’s not easy for the Italian fans to accept but I think ultimately we did the better job this weekend, collectively, as a team. But it’s still close and there’s still a long, long way to go. We’re going to another track next that the Ferrari should be quite quick at, with the extra downforce they generally are able to add one, so the fight will continue. But it is amazing to come and have the back-to-back wins. It’s been a long, long time that Sebastian has been leading the championship, so with all the ups and down to now be just slightly ahead is a great feeling.

    Valtteri, your ninth podium of 2017, you had two cars to pass in the opening stint and you did that in a straightforward way. But maybe you could talk about the margin with Ferrari and your thoughts on why this race evolved the way it did?

    VB: Yeah, actually three cars to pass in the beginning. The start was quite poor for me, just a lot of wheelspin. One of the Ferraris got ahead and I had to get him first, which was normally going to be the difficult part and the most important part for us today. But also then pretty quickly got to P2, which was good, and the car was so well balanced today and so strong. For sure we were quick in a straight line, but this weekend also we were really quick in every corner of the track. I think we just found a different kind of stability this weekend that we haven’t found before. But this is a really unique track. We can’t rely on that ‘OK, now we are quickest’. That’s not the case. It’s going to be a completely different story in Singapore, next weekend. Yes, we were quickest here. We had a perfect result, Lewis won, so well done for that, me second is great for us, but now it’s whether we can learn from this weekend what we need to and be strong again in Singapore.

    Sebastian you described it on the slow-down lap as a difficult day. I wonder if you could just drill down into that what aspects in particular were difficult for you and answer the question why you feel that the pace wasn’t closer, either on the supersoft or the soft?

    SV: Well, to be honest, I’m still pretty overwhelmed from the lap back to the pits and the podium ceremony. I think it’s been amazing, the power of the people, to see so many fans for Ferrari is unbelievable. Yeah it was a difficult day, a difficult start. I didn’t straightaway feel the car; I couldn’t go with Kimi and Valtteri, so I had to wait to make progress. Then my race was fairly isolated. We tried to keep as close as possible but we simply didn’t have the pace. I’m sure there are plenty of reasons, but I don’t want to get too technical today. The last 20 laps I was struggling. I went off in Turn 1 and I think something broke in the car. The left-hand side of the steering was a bit down and I couldn’t trust the car, especially on braking and it’s a braking track. So the last laps I don’t think they showed the pace we could have gone. Overall you could say it was a bad day, but I know the team is on the right way and there is a lot of stuff that is going to improve. Overall, it has been amazing so far to see where we are but I know that we only get stronger, so I’m in a very, very positive mood, despite the number and all that. I am not worried about these… overall, it was a difficult weekend but I know that there is still a long way to go and we have got the people behind us so it is a great feeling.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Sebastian, how much of a role to you think it has played in your struggles that there was no dry P3 where you could have optimised the car setup after it was not really perfect on Friday. Is it a relief, in a way, that this is such a unique track and there will be no others like this until the end of the season?

    SV: Well, Monza is specific. I’ve had races here… simply the fact how confident you feel in the car can make a big difference. I wouldn’t say I don’t trust my car or don’t trust our car but I think this weekend has been a bit up-and-down. Practice, for sure there were a couple of things on the list that we would like to try but didn’t get the chance but I’m sure that’s the same for everyone. I had a good feeling on Friday. The long run was a bit scrappy because of traffic but in terms of raw pace, the Mercedes looked very strong. They confirmed that. I think it got a bit closer with worn tyres towards the end, second stint, I think you cannot judge. We were running on our own, they were probably just cruising – because no pressure from behind. So you can’t read the whole race but overall you need to be fair and say that they did the better job and they deserved to win – no doubt about that – but I think considering the day yesterday and where we started from, I think it was the optimum result.

    Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) Question for Lewis, Another Beast Mode performance, back to back wins, this moment you’ve been building up in the second half of the season, we’re now going to Singapore, it’s going to be more of a challenging race for you. Is this momentum now, and you going into Beast Mode like this, is that going to carry on for the next half of the season.

    LH: That’s definitely the plan! Definitely the plan. Giving it absolutely everything we’ve got but, as I’ve said, Ferrari might be a little bit quicker, maybe, when we get to a couple of the tracks where it’s maximum downforce, where you can add a little bit more, I think there. They’ve generally been quite good, Hungary they were exceptionally quick on the qualifying laps so we might see that happen in the next races. I think nonetheless it’s going to continue to be really close between us all, but yeah, absolutely. Beast Mode all the way to the last chequered flag.

    Q: (Nicolangelo Cioppi – La Voce degli Italiani del Canada e USA) For Lewis and Sebastian. How do you feel beating Michael Schumacher’s pole position yesterday, 68, now you have 69 pole position and how you feel to beat Ferrari in his house in Monza. Is different I think from any other race track. And for Sebastian. Is it possible to win again or the Mercedes is too strong for Ferrari – because it was 30s difference between first and third.

    LH: As I was saying yesterday, it’s an unbelievable feeling. Having grown up playing computer games on the same day as the grand prix when Michael was racing and going through all the practice sessions on my computer while watching the grand prix and playing as Michael, and now I’m ahead in the qualifying standings, which feels crazy. I feel very grateful for all the great people that have helped me achieve that. To win here in Monza, it is such a historic grand prix. There are very, very few, if any like it. The track is so unique in its own way, in this beautiful park, beautiful part of the world and the fans… you could hear the roar. I would love to know how loud they are on the scale. The energy there is incredible. The passion that the Ferrari fans – or the Italian fans have around the world.  When I go to LA, for example and go to an Italian restaurant and the fans are there for Ferrari. They’re all over the world and it’s great to see. There’s also some of those Ferrari fans that have, while maybe at heart perhaps are Ferrari fans, and being Italian, they’ve also spilled over to be Mercedes fans, which is much appreciated.

    SV: Being technical you can say, I don’t know what it adds up, the gap, the amount of race laps. I think we probably lacked something like half a second per lap today but there’s not all the parts of the race you can judge. I’m not worried too much about the gap. As I said before, Monza is a specific place. If you have that extra bit and confidence then it makes a big difference. So, I’m not too stressed about that. We probably knew it would be a difficult race. Probably expected as well that we would be closer but all in all, it’s not nice to see them two winning but I think with the third position, at least we gave everything we had and that’s the most important. We gave everything for the people out there. The support has been amazing and, despite the numbers, the gap, you can name the negatives but I’m very, very positive right now, to be honest. I know that people are going into the office tomorrow more committed than before. The spirit is there, we just need to keep it up. It’s a journey, we see where it takes us. It’s been a long way that the team has come from three years ago but we are nowhere near satisfied despite maybe having had a good season so far, it’s not good enough. Ferrari needs to be at the front and Ferrari needs to be on top of everything. So that’s where we want to go. For sure, they are giving us a very, very hard time, especially at the moment, but we’ll see. It’s a long journey still and, as I said, I’m… yeah… still full of adrenaline from the podium, the atmosphere was amazing. You can ask whatever you want now, I don’t care! You will always get a positive answer.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, you are the fourth Finnish driver who finished second here. In any stage of the race did you have in your mind a feeling that you could be the first one to win here?

    VB: Yeah, it is true no Finn has ever won in Monza. I think it’s just unlucky. Obviously running all the race second not so far from Lewis you never know what can happen, so obviously you never give up on the dream of a possible win during the race – but I wasn’t thinking about it too much, honestly. Just was focussed on executing our plan and being on it on every single corner. It was not the day for the Finns today but maybe next year, who knows?

    Q: (Leigh O’Gorman – Walker Watson) For Sebastian. Considering your position in the championship at the moment, at the start of the race, are you more or less conscious about having to get through relatively inexperienced drivers like Esteban and Lance – or do you just take them as if they’re any other competitors?

    SV: I guess more the second part of your question. I mean, I think you judge when you follow, both of them did a good job. We were faster, that’s clear and y’know, I knew that I had to get past quickly because with the DRS you can build a sort of a train and then it’s quite difficult to get past. Plus they were very quick down the straights, both of them, but… no, I think Lance knew we had stronger pace, so he was quite fair. Esteban tried to cover a bit more but I had a very good run out of the last corner so for me it was clear I would get past and I just had to choose left or right and I just wanted to make sure, so that’s why I dived down the inside. But, no, to be honest, there might be the odd one standing out but overall drivers in Formula One have had a long history of racing and they know what to do.

    Q: (Zsolt Godina – F1Vilag.hu) Lewis, congratulations. The next race is in Singapore; do you have any worries that the problems you had in the past could come back this year?

    LH: Currently that’s not my mind-state, no, and I will do all the due diligence it’s possible to make sure that we arrive there best prepared. We have no idea until we get there what the picture’s going to look like but I think we learned a lot from the past but on a hot track, Ferrari are often better in hot places. I think we’ll be able to give them a good race. I think the car is continuing to improve and as I said, our understanding of the car is beginning to… it’s constantly improving. Perhaps if we went back to Hungary for example, maybe we would be in a better position today with the knowledge of being there already. I go and approach it with a real positive mind-set that we are going to be fighting for a win but if that’s not the case when we get there we’ll just take it at face value and try to get damage limitation, I guess.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Question for Lewis and one for Bottas. Bottas, do you think that now, with this second victory in a row for Hamilton, your chance has gone and you’re doing a job for him, you can do (indistinct) for the rest of the season? And for Lewis, how psychological was it… it’s important to come back leading the championship?

    VB: Well, you know, it is up to me also really, if I perform well, if I manage to qualify well, have strong pace, for sure I can still fight for the wins, but if it is going to be the case that for some reason I’m missing pace, if Lewis is doing a better job, me running in P2, and clearly behind then it’s obviously better to help than try something silly. I’m always going to be a team player and it is up to the team to decide these kind of things, so we’ll see. We’ll go race by race and by every situation, but like I said it is also a lot up to me. I need to perform if I still want to fight for the title.

    LH: Yeah, obviously I feel good, my mind feels exactly the same as it has the last two races and now coming here, I don’t feel like I’ve got one up today, just continue to solidify the preparations and the execution of the last two races. Of course that solidifies your confidence and in the car and in the direction you’re going but there’s still a long way to go and lots can happen still, so just try to remain in the same frame of mind as I have been.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Sebastian, do believe it can be hard for you to continue the fight in this final part of the championship because of the tracks: Sepang, Suzuka, Abu Dhabi, maybe Austin circuits that on paper look like they favour Mercedes?

    SV: Well, I know how to read but I don’t really care what’s written on the paper. They’re all tracks that I like, to be honest, so I’m very much looking forward to them. I think we are here to race, so if it’s hard it’s good. Easy is boring. I think that’s what we all want and I’m definitely looking forward to it. At the moment you can say that Mercedes has an edge. Saturdays they’re very strong which obviously has its contribution to Sundays, it’s not a big secret but I think we are strong, we don’t need to hide and there’s plenty of positives. Things are coming, I’m sure they are developing their car. We are developing ours so I’m not so fussed about what they doing. I’m more focused on what’s going on inside us, inside Ferrari and it makes me quite positive, what’s coming, so we just need to see and then there’s always the extra element of racing that you can’t predict, that you can’t put down on paper and that’s usually the most exciting bit so I’m very much a fan of that and a fan of the moment and see what we can do.

    Q: (Jussi Jäkälä – YLE) Valtteri, as this was your first visit on the Monza podium, could you describe it a bit? Did you feel more like a race driver or a rock star?

    LH: There’s more than one Finn out there? There’s only Heikki here.

    VB: Yeah, there’s one extra guy.

    LH: Excellent. Welcome.

    VB: So I’ve got two questions today. Two Finns, two questions.

    SV: There will be nothing else in the papers tomorrow. Two questions, I mean…

    VB: Yes, actually it’s my second time on the podium here. First time was in GP3 in 2011, it was a little bit different atmosphere. I have to say it is incredible, being so many people, obviously most of them shouting Sebastian’s name but I was still enjoying it.

    SV: That’s because Valtteri is so difficult to say.

    VB: That could be it! Thanks. Incredible, didn’t feel like a rock star, honestly, felt more like a race driver but I enjoyed it.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Lewis…

    LH: Hey! What’s going on?

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Do you feel you need more of these one-twos to beat Sebastian and win your campaign for the championship?

    LH: More of these what? Ah, one-twos. Yeah, I think, definitely, having the one-two today has obviously helped bridge more of a gap and the more we can perform like this the more we can really concrete that Constructors’ title which the team are pushing… that’s the priority. Of course that helps bridge the gap between myself and Sebastian. He’s generally had a relatively comfortable lead most of the year, I think sometimes at 20-something points. I’d imagine that I’m.. what is it, three points ahead? I’d imagine that… I’ll take that and I’m happy with that. I guess the plan for the next races is to try and extend that. As Valtteri was saying, he’s done a fantastic job today and we’re going to continue to push together. Valtteri’s got the opportunity – if he does the job – to win more races as well this year so the battle is still strong between us all.

    Q (Daria Panova – F1Only) First of all, I want to congratulate Sebastian for this fantastic podium in a special Grand Prix for Scuderia Ferrari. Question to you: in Spa, Mick Schumacher drove his father’s car, the Benetton. If you had a chance to drive an old Formula One Ferrari car, which car would it be and on which track?

    SV: Funny you mentioned that because Ferrari has a programme where clients can run historic Formula One cars and if ever I get the opportunity, I will definitely pick 2004. I think that must have been a dream car to drive. Circuit? I would pick my favourite track, not that easy logistic-wise but Japan, Suzuka. I think the car had a lot of downforce, very light and extremely quick, so that would be a unique experience. Yeah, something that maybe one day, if I do well in the next couple of years, could be a nice thing to do.

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Sebastian, do you think that the title could be won or lost with your teammate and Kimi not taking so many points from Lewis?

    SV: No. I think, you look back, there’s always ways to look at points and stuff. I’m not so much interested. Above everything, you race for the team and then obviously you race for yourself, you try to do the best yourself and I think you saw the battle today. I don’t think he waved me past but I didn’t expect him to and it was tight. I was quick at that time and could make progress, so it was good to get past but he had a better start, he got past Valtteri so we’re both fighting for the best and the optimum result today. For sure the pace was a bit down so it’s always a bit more tricky but no, I mean, as I say, we’re both racing. If you are racing in the same car then naturally, in a way, you’re racing for the same bit of track. Look at those two, they were running very quickly and not a lot of gap between them. Also then, if you’re so close to each other it’s obviously crucial to be ahead in qualifying, opening laps, after that they will always be difficult. Rules are fairly clear that the teams have in terms of who gets priority and stuff like that so… Yeah, it’s the name of the game so I’m not… I think much more important than look at a championship with teammates, points, whatever is the chemistry inside the team and I think Kimi’s well known for the fact that he doesn’t talk so much. Inside the team he talks quite a lot and yeah, we get along well, his feedback is valuable and I think we get on with each other and there’s zero stress for the team which is a good thing.

    eom/FIA transcript of the press conference

  • Hamilton takes lead with a dominant back-to-back victory in a Mercedes 1-2: F1 Italian Grand Prix

    Hamilton takes lead with a dominant back-to-back victory in a Mercedes 1-2: F1 Italian Grand Prix

    Hamilton celebrates and enjoys the special Monza podium atmosphere on Sunday. An FIA image

    Monza, 3 Sept 2017: Lewis Hamilton regained the Drivers’ title lead in FIA Formula One World Championship after he headed a Mercedes one-two at the Italian Grand Prix.

    The Silver Arrows were utterly dominant at Monza with Hamilton beating third-placed Sebastian Vettel by more than 36 seconds. The Briton’s sixth win of the season puts him three points clear of Ferrari driver Vettel at the top of the Drivers’ standings after 13 races.

    While Mercedes’ progress to the top two places in the race was largely processional after Bottas had risen to P2 in the opening laps, the race was enlivened by the performance of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo who rose from 16th on the grid to claim fourth place at the flag.

    Hamilton held his lead at the start, with Lance Stroll and Esteban Ocon tucking in behind the polesitter. Their hold on the podium positions was shortlived, however, and after dropping back at the start, Bottas powered through and by lap three was up into second place behind his team-mate.

    Further back Max Verstappen had made a superb start and by the end of lap one the Red Bull driver was up to eighth place from 13th on the grid. However, in attempting to get past Felipe Massa, there was contact and the Dutch driver sustained a front-right puncture and wing damage. He made his way to the pits for a new nosecone and fresh tyres and rejoined in last place.

    Vettel too was pushing forward and after passing team-mate Kimi Räikkönen, the Ferrari driver managed to put himself into a podium spot by bypassing Ocon for P3 on lap eight.

    Hamilton, though, was setting phenomenal pace and by lap 12 the Mercedes driver was 3.1s clear of team-mate Bottas and a full eight seconds ahead of championship leader Vettel.

    By lap 28 Hamilton had more than doubled his advantage over his title rival, the gap now 18.0s. Behind the top three, however, it was Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo who was on charge.

    The Australian had qualified third but engine-related penalties had dropped him to 16th place on the grid. After the start he was quickly on the attack, however, and over the course of the first 10 laps he steadily picked off his rivals to sit in ninth place.

    He executed a superb move on Perez at the second chicane to claim another spot and then as drivers ahead pitted for fresh tyres, he rose to fourth place behind Vettel.

    The German was the first of the podium-placed drivers to pit, at the e3nd of lap 31. He took on soft tyres and rejoined in fourth place. Hamilton made the same switch a lap later and he was followed by Bottas at the end of lap 33.

    Ricciardo, though, continued to push on and on lap 35 he was 10.8s behind Bottas and 8.7s ahead of Vettel and 20 seconds clear of fifth-placed Räikkönen.

    The Red Bull driver was the last of the frontrunners to pit and after a swift 2.2s stop for soft tyres he emerged 2.6s behind Räikkönen.

    Armed with fresher tyres Ricciardo began to take chunks out of the Finn and on lap 41 he pounced, blasting past the Ferrari driver into the first chicane in a clinical overtaking move. He then set off after third-placed Vettel, lapping a second quicker than the German was who 11s ahead with 11 laps remaining.

    Ricciardo’s pursuit of a podium place was the most diverting element of what, at the front, had become something of a procession. On lap 45, Hamilton was a comfortable 3.7s ahead of Bottas, while the Finn was a whopping 28.6s ahead of Vettel who was now struggling somewhat.

    On lap 45 Ricciardo set the quickest time of the race to that point, a lap of 1:23.748. That was again a second quicker than Vettel on the same tour and the gap between the former Red Bull team-mate shrank to 8.7s.

    With Mercedes secure in the top two positions, it was all about Ricciardo and Vettel in the closing stages and the Australian set a sequence of purple laps to closed to within five seconds of the German with four laps remaining.

    With two laps remaining, though, Vettel responded and a personal best widened the gap to a comfortable 4.8s as he made sure that the threat from the Red Bull driver was nullified.

    Ricciardo, though, had done enough to enliven a race utterly dominated by Mercedes and as Hamilton secured his 59th career win, 4.4s ahead of Bottas and some 36s ahead of Vettel, Ricciardo took a brave, battling and superbly executed fourth place.

    Behind him, Räikkönen finished in P5. Ocon took sixth place ahead of Stroll, with neither youngster undoing the good work they had completed in qualifying and only the limitations of their machinery forcing them backwards.

    Felipe Massa was eighth in the second Williams, while Perez was ninth for Force India. After his initial woes, Verstappen recovered to the final point on offer with tenths place, though the Dutch drivers was placed under investigation in the closing stages after appearing to force Kevin Magnussen off track as they battled for P10.

    2017 Italian Grand Prix – Race 
    1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 53 1:15’32.310
    2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 53 1:15’36.781 4.471
    3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 53 1:16’08.627 36.317
    4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 53 1:16’12.645 40.335
    5 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 53 1:16’32.392 1:00.082
    6 Esteban Ocon Force India 53 1:16’43.838 1:11.528
    7 Lance Stroll Williams 53 1:16’46.466 1:14.156
    8 Felipe Massa Williams 53 1:16’47.144 1:14.834
    9 Sergio Pérez Force India 53 1:16’47.586 1:15.276
    10 Max Verstappen Red Bull 52 1 Lap
    11 Kevin Magnussen Haas 52 1 Lap
    12 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 52 1 Lap
    13 Nico Hülkenberg Renault 52 1 Lap
    14 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 52 1 Lap
    15 Romain Grosjean Haas 52 1 Lap
    16 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber 51 2 Laps
    17 Fernando Alonso McLaren 50 3 Laps
    18 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 49 4 Laps
    2 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 33 Retired
    30 Jolyon Palmer Renault 29 Retired.

    eom/FIA press release

  • Raikkonen fastest in FP1: F1 Belgian Grand Prix

    Spa Francorchamps, 25 Aug 2017: Kimi Räikkönen set the quickest lap of opening practice for the Belgian Grand Prix, the Finn edging title contender Lewis Hamilton by five hundredths of a second.

    Räikkönen, who earlier this weekend was handed a new contract with Ferrari for the 2018 season, set a lap of 1:45.502  to beat Hamilton by 0.053s, though the Finn had to bolt on a set of ultrasoft Pirelli tyres to shade Hamilton, whose best time was set on the soft compound tyre on offer this weekend.

    Räikkönen’s championship-leading team-mate Sebastian Vettel was third quickest with a lap of 1:46.302 also set on ultrasofts.

    Force India’s Esteban Ocon set the pace in the opening minutes of the session, but after just 15 minutes the red flags appeared when Williams’ Felipe Massa crashed out at on the exit of the Malmedy corner.

    When the action resumed it was Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo who made the most significant move, using ultrasoft tyres to record a time of 1:46.656.

    Hamilton, though, was on a march and halfway through the session he used the third compound available this weekend, the supersoft to move into first place with a time of 1:46.439s. As the session moved into its final third he then went even quicker on soft tyres posting a best time of 1:45.555.

    Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas was having a less enjoyable time, however. The Finn ran wide and off track at before the Stavelot turn. He skittered across the gravel trap and collided with the barriers. He managed to limp his car back to the pits.

    Max Verstappen also employed the ultrasofts for his best time, a lap of 1:46.302 that put him five hundredths clear of Ricciardo with Bottas in sixth place 0.922 behind Räikkönen.

    Seventh place in the session went to Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz. The Spaniard was separated from team-mate Daniil Kvyat by Ocon, whose lap of 1:47.670 was just under two tenths better than Kvyat’s best. Tenth place wen to local hero Stoffel Vandoorne who set a time 1:47.865 for McLaren, 2.363 behind Räikkönen.

    Vandoorne, Hamilton and Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson also the latest itertations of the halo cockpit protection device at the start of FP1, with Vandoorne and Hamilton returning to the pits at the end of their out-lap while Ericsson continued onto a second.

    2017 Brazilian Grand Prix – Free Practice One
    1 Kimi Raikkonen  Ferrari 13 1:45.502
    2 Lewis Hamilton  Mercedes 19 1:45.555 0.053
    3 Sebastian Vettel  Ferrari 13 1:45.647 0.145
    4 Max Verstappen  Red Bull 18 1:46.302 0.800
    5 Daniel Ricciardo  Red Bull 22 1:46.352 0.850
    6 Valtteri Bottas  Mercedes 20 1:46.424 0.922
    7 Carlos Sainz Jr.  Toro Rosso 22 1:47.446 1.944
    8 Esteban Ocon  Force India 27 1:47.670 2.168
    9 Daniil Kvyat  Toro Rosso 20 1:47.851 2.349
    10 Stoffel Vandoorne  McLaren 18 1:47.865 2.363
    11 Jolyon Palmer  Renault 14 1:47.930 2.428
    12 Nico Hulkenberg  Renault 15 1:48.037 2.535
    13 Fernando Alonso  McLaren 18 1:48.252 2.750
    14 Sergio Perez  Force India 19 1:48.452 2.950
    15 Lance Stroll  Williams 24 1:48.541 3.039
    16 Kevin Magnussen  Haas 20 1:48.615 3.113
    17 Romain Grosjean  Haas 20 1:48.626 3.124
    18 Marcus Ericsson  Sauber 21 1:50.160 4.658
    19 Pascal Wehrlein  Sauber 13 1:51.263 5.761
    20 Felipe Massa  Williams 3.

    eom/FIA press release

  • Vettel wins; Hami fourth: F1 Hungary GP

    Hungaroring, 30 July 2017: Sebastian Vettel took his fourth victory of the season at the Hungarian Grand Prix ahead of team-mate Kimi Raikkonen to establish a 14-point lead over Lewis Hamilton as the Briton finished fourth, behind team-mate Valtteri Bottas.

    While the result reflected the quartet’s starting positions, the 70 laps were not without drama, however. Midway through, race leader Vettel began to report handling problems and his pace flagged. Raikkonen, in second, was forced to sit behind the slower Vettel and act as a bulwark to Mercedes as the Silver Arrows attacked during the second half of the race. Third-placed Bottas moved aside to allow Hamilton a chance to pass Raikkonen, but the Finn proved resolute and on the final lap Hamilton handed third back to Bottas as Ferrari’s pragmatic approach paid maximum dividends.

    Pol position man Vettel got away comfortably in the lead at the start, with Raikkonen slotting into second ahead of Valtteri Bottas.

    Hamilton though was under pressure from both Red Bulls. Max Verstappen got past the Briton as they exited Turn One, while Daniel Ricciardo snuck down the inside of the Mercedes to take P5 as the field streamed towards Turn 2. Ricciardo attacked his team-mate on the outside but Verstappen had a small lock-up and that caused him to momentarily lose control. He slid into the side of Ricciardo’s car and the Australian went off track.

    Ricciardo tried to rejoin but the side and rear right of his car were too damaged and he spun in the middle of the track, causing the following cars to take evasive action. The Safety Car was deployed.

    When racing resumed Vettel held his lead in front of Raikkonen and Bottas. The stewards though had placed Verstappen under investigation and as the racing began again he was handed a 10-second time penalty for causing the collision with his team-mate.

    At the front, Vettel began to carve out a gap and 15 laps into the 70-lap race he was 2.9s ahead of Raikkonen and just over six seconds clear of Bottas in third.

    The race then settled as the gaps at the front stabilised. That situation changed on lap 26 when Vettel began complain that his steering was “hanging to the left”. Raikkonen closed to within 1.3s of his team-mate as the pit stop window opened. Bottas was the first of the front runners to stop, at the end of lap 30, and he emerged in fifth after taking on soft tyres. Hamilton followed a lap later and then Vettel pitted from the lead to take on soft tyres.

    Raikkonen was the next in and he almost managed to pass his team-mate in the stop. The Finn rejoined just behind his team-mate and was quickly on the radio to lament the fact that he felt he had the pace to stay out and carve out time that might have put him in front of the German after his stop.

    The situation began to become pressing the race neared the lap 40 mark, with Raikkonen questioning Vettel’s pace and warning that Bottas was getting closer. He was told Vettel had a handling issue. Meanwhile, championship leader Vettel was told to avoid hitting kerbs.

    By lap 44, Bottas was 1.8s behind Raikkonen, with Hamilton also in hot pursuit, just 1.1s behind his team-mate. At the front Vettel was 1.5s clear of Raikkonen.

    On lap 46 Bottas pulled over in Turn 1 to allow Hamilton through to attack Raikkonen and on lap 51 he got to within DRS range of the Finn. Bottas, meanwhile, was told that if his team-mate could not pass the Ferrari that Hamilton would make way for him to retake third place.

    The Briton was given five laps to make a move and then, when Raikkonen proved difficult to follow, he was handed another five to pass the Finn. By lap 63 he was still trailing the Finn and awaiting “a mistake” from the Ferrari driver.

    It didn’t come, however, and as the final laps counted down Hamilton drifted out to more than two seconds behind Raikkonen.

    Further back Verstappen was closing in on Bottas and with a few laps remaining was right on the Finn’s tail. The threat from the Red Bull suggested that Hamilton might not be asked to cede third back to Bottas but on the final lap Hamilton pulled across and allowed Bottas to slip through to third. Verstappen almost pounced on the move but in the end Hamilton crossed the line in fourth place, just 0.3s behind the Mercedes man.

    Fernando Alonso took a superb sixth place for McLaren with Carlos Sainz a very solid seventh for Toro Rosso. Eighth place went to Force India’s Sergio Perez, who had climbed from 13th on the grid, while ninth place went to the Mexican’s team-mate Esteban Ocon. The final point was taken by Stoffel Vandoorne in the second McLaren.

    2017 Hungarian Grand Prix – Race
    1 Sebastian Vettel  Ferrari Ferrari  1:39’46.713
    2 Kimi Raikkonen  Ferrari Ferrari 0.908
    3 Valtteri Bottas  Mercedes Mercedes 12.462
    4 Lewis Hamilton  Mercedes Mercedes 12.885
    5 Max Verstappen  Red Bull TAG 13.276
    6 Fernando Alonso  McLaren Honda 1’11.223
    7 Carlos Sainz  Toro Rosso Renault 1 lap
    8 Sergio Perez  Force India Mercedes 1 lap
    9 Esteban Ocon  Force India Mercedes 1 lap
    10 Stoffel Vandoorne  McLaren Honda 1 lap
    11 Kevin Magnussen  Haas Ferrari 1 lap
    12 Daniil Kvyat  Toro Rosso Renault 1 lap
    13 Jolyon Palmer  Renault Renault 1 lap
    14 Lance Stroll  Williams Mercedes 1 lap
    15 Pascal Wehrlein  Sauber Ferrari 2 laps
    16 Marcus Ericsson  Sauber Ferrari 2 laps
    17 Nico Hulkenberg  Renault Renault
    Paul di Resta  Williams Mercedes
    Romain Grosjean  Haas Ferrari
    Daniel Ricciardo  Red Bull TAG

    eom/FIA press release

  • Queries on Ferrari strategy dominate press meet

    Monte Carlo, 28 May 2017: Transcript of the FIA press conference after the Formula One World Championship race at Monaco on Sunday. The following drivers who finished on the podium attended the Press Meet. 1 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari),

    2 – Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (Ferrari), 3 – Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing).

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS Conducted by Nico Rosberg:

    Q: Sebastian, great weekend, first Ferrari win in 16 years, how does it feel?

    Sebastian VETTEL: Unbelievable. I think it was a very intense race. I was hoping at the start to have a bit of a better launch but Kimi had a good start. I had nowhere to go, so I had to be patient. Then, there was a phase in the first stint that was really tricky, The tyres started to slide, I think you remember how that feels, it was quite uncomfortable. I think Valtteri and the pack was catching up a bit; we were facing some traffic. But then I had a… I don’t know, a second attempt, a second set of tyres. I had a couple of laps where the car was really, really good. I pushed, everything I had, because I knew if there is a chance to win then that’s it. So I was able to use that window and came out ahead, so at that point I could control the race. After the restart it was really tricky with the cold tyres. I think every one of us was really struggling, Daniel said he brushed the wall in Turn 1 first lap. So it was really difficult but after a couple of laps I was able again to control the gap to behind, so fantastic job, the team has done really well, so great thanks to them and a fantastic weekend for Ferrari.

    Q: Was that planned, that when Kimi comes in, you stay out a bit longer?

    SV: No, not really. I don’t think there… we couldn’t plan much. The plan was to try and pull away, which we did. Then, Valtteri had really good pace. I think we were struggling a little bit, both, with our rears and at that point the window opened. So as soon as Valtteri pitted, Kimi responded. For me, I think I still had a bit of a gap, nothing to lose in P2, so I tried to push as hard as possible and within two laps I was surprised myself to be able to pull a gap to be able to come out in front.

    Q: Congrats. Kimi, I think it’s fair to say the whole F1 community would have been very happy as well to see you get that win today. What are your thoughts? You lost it during the pit stops of course, what are you thoughts on that?

    Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: It’s hard to say really. Obviously it’s still second place, but it doesn’t feel awful good but this is how it goes sometimes and we go for the next race and try to do better but it’s one of those days that you wish you get a bit more.

    Q: I know how it feels. It is not a good feeling. But great result anyways. Daniel, a great recovery after a problem in qualifying. You’re pleased with that?

    Daniel RICCIARDO: Yeah, happier today, for sure.  Just yesterday I felt that we had so much more to offer and it was just a shame not to be able to really show our potential around here. I got my chance today when Max and Bottas pitted. I had the track to myself for a few laps and just managed to get some good times, good times in those tyres. I did some consistent laps and got in the overcut, so I was happy with that.

    Q: Turn 1 after the Safety Car looked like a bit of a hit, was it scary in the car?

    DR: Yeah! I didn’t enjoy that. I wasn’t sure if I damaged anything and then I saw Bottas trying to get inside me. These tyres, man, when you get a Safety Car they’re like driving on ice. It was hard. That was not a fun moment, but happy to hold it.

    Q: Sebastian, back to you, the Ferrari car is looking good at the moment, do you think you are going to be able to keep it up for Canada?

    SV: We hope so. Canada is a completely different track but to be honest, for now I am just going to enjoy the win here. You know yourself, it’s very, very special to win here. I think we’ll have a fun night and then we have enough time to prepare for Canada.

    Q: Where’s the party?

    SV: I don’t know, you tell me! You won more times than me here!

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Sebastian, there are wins and there are big wins. First Ferrari Monaco victory for 16 years, as Nico was saying, first Ferrari one-two since 2010 and more importantly perhaps a 25-point lead over Lewis Hamilton in the drivers’ championship, so what does today mean to you?

    SV: If you want the honest answer, I think it’s most important that we had a very, very good day, a win. A supreme day for Ferrari; it’s been a long time. Yeah, I think it means an awful lot to the team. I will not find the right words but for me it was a pretty special race. At some point I was thinking, “there must be a Safety Car” and then it came at the end when I didn’t really need it but fine. I dreamt all night about how to get ahead of the start because I knew that would probably be the only chance I would get. It didn’t work. Kimi had a good start, mine was OK, so I couldn’t really go anywhere. Then, I think in the first stint I was just trying to pace myself, trying to stay within range. At some point I was really uncomfortable with the rear tyres, they were sliding quite a bit. I think when the gap opened again that’s when Kimi pitted. I knew that if I have any chance that might be it until I get the call because Valtteri was on fresh tyres so it’s likely that he will go quicker, so I just tried to push as hard as I can and wait for the call to box. When it came and then when I came out ahead of Kimi even, I was surprised myself. But for sure I take it. It’s a great win. Those couple of laps were really crucial, I was pushing flat out. I had better laps than in quali today in the race. I was very happy with how the race went. The car was great. So to sum it up, it’s just been fantastic, a fantastic weekend for the team and a great reward. This team is working very hard. Obviously this year is very different to last year but the people are the same, the spirit is the same, so it’s important that we keep pushing, improving the car. We had again a couple of new bits for this race. Yeah, the next race will be completely different but I don’t really care now, just looking forward to tonight.

    Q: Kimi, coming to you, obviously you lost the race in the pit stops. The normal wisdom in Monaco is that when you’re leading you’re not the first one to make a move. But just before you made your stop we heard a radio message exchange with your engineer in which you were asking about pitting. So to be clear, were you asking for the stop or did they call it?

    KR: No, I was called in and that’s about it.

    Q: How do you feel about the first one to move?

    KR: I don’t know, obviously it didn’t work out very well for me. But apart from that, I have no idea. I mean… that’s about as much as I can say about it right now. I got the bad end of the story today. I mean it’s still second place but obviously it doesn’t count a lot in my books at least.

    Q: Thanks for that. Daniel, the story today was that the overcut was more effective: Hamilton gained six places, Sebastian got the win because of it, and you picked up two place spectacularly through that pit stop sequence. Extremely fast once you got some clean air. Tell us about your approach today?

    DR: Yeah I’m really pleased to be up here. You don’t often start fifth and get a podium here. It’s hard to make any positions. I was just frustrated yesterday because I knew we had so much more to offer here, so much more to give than what we showed. I felt like I didn’t really also get to show my pace around here. It was how the pit stops worked, the two cars pitting before me and that allowing me to show a bit more my pace. That was perfect and we got into a realty good rhythm, I think we were doing 16 dead, 16 dead and at the time I think that pace was really strong and I was able to do a good overcut. It was a good combination of obviously the lap times coming from me and the team leaving me out there and allowing me to run in clean air. That was fun. That definitely made my race. The Safety Car nearly ruined my race. At the restart I hit the wall in Turn 1. I hit it pretty hard, so I thought I had damage. I assumed I would have damage. And then I saw Valtteri. You don’t see much in these mirrors. I know Jenson has talked about it. Obviously he hasn’t been in the cars this year, but he has been vocal about it. You certainly see it here and I knew Valtteri was kind of there, in my blind spot but I just managed to hold on at the restart and then I was quite happy to see the chequered because the tyres after restarts are so tricky to get going.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Viktor Bognar – Magyarszo) Kimi, do you think it would have been possible to cover Sebastian if you are stopping later?

    KR: I don’t know. Obviously, this is what we got today. The end results. And obviously for the team it’s a great result. Who knows? This is really the end, we can say ‘if’ as much as we want but it doesn’t change anything.

    Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Kimi, when you pitted you came out behind some traffic and Bottas was also behind Sainz at the time. Have you had an explanation as to why they pitted you at that point?

    KR: I don’t know. Obviously, I have just finished the race. I have no idea. Obviously they have reasons for whatever we did do. It doesn’t matter here or any other race. It’s not up to me to answer that.

    Q: (Ben Anderson – Autosport) Kimi, in the first stint, you seemed to have really strong pace in the early part and then from about lap 20 your pace dropped off quite substantially. Was there an explanation for that? Were you struggling with something in the car?

    KR: Not really. I think the worst place was when we had lapped cars and got stuck behind them on quite a few laps but apart from that the car was behaving well. Not really having any issues. I think we had to take it a little bit easier here and there but nothing to complain really. The most lap time we lost behind the lapped traffic but that’s about it.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / Speed Sport) Daniel, yesterday you told us maybe you’d go for the overcut but was that a decision on the fly by the team – and how did the team decide whether to pit you first or Max first?

    DR: I’m not sure what position Max was in with the tyres at the time – I don’t know if he wanted to make the pitstop and try to undercut Valtteri. I assume that was probably the thinking behind it. Obviously I was at the tail of that pack and we had pretty good communication with my engineer. We were going back and forth and I think he had a pretty good idea of what my pace was and what I could do. Yeah, then once we got clear air, I think probably a couple of laps before that I closed in a bit on Max who I think was closing in on Valtteri, so we seemed to bunch-up. And it looked like they were struggling more, probably, with the tyres at that time, from what I could see, so yeah, I was happy certainly to stay out there. Then it was pretty evident that I could keep going quicker and quicker. So, it was nice to push. Especially… if you don’t start on pole here you’re normally in traffic for a lot of the race and you can’t really get a time to feel the car on the limit on Sunday – but it was good to get that block of laps in. Even though the tyres were sliding around a bit with the rear, it was still quite fun in that session of the race.

    Q: (Paul Johnson – Australian Associated Press) Daniel, obviously really encouraging performance with the pace you had today throughout the middle sector of the track. How encouraged are you moving forwards? Also, can you take us through exactly what happened coming out of the Safety Car into Turn One?

    DR: Yeah. Today I felt like, particularly that point of the race where we had clear track and were able to show our speed, I felt that was more representative of what we could of probably done yesterday. It was nice to at least show something this weekend and now at least get a podium for it. After the Safety Car… I knew getting behind the Safety Car, I could see Kimi in front of me trying to warm the tyres – well, keep them warm. I was trying to do the same: doing burnouts and trying to scrub the front tyres and get them going. They just turned to concrete blocks. They’re so slippery. So, I think we were all dreading the restart, to be honest. At one point you see it as an opportunity and I saw it as a potential opportunity to maybe jump Kimi but as the same time it’s… you see it as a potential risk. Coming into Turn One I didn’t feel like I came in hot at all – but as soon as I turned it, I just kept going straight and the wall got closer until I hit it. I think I hit it flush, which meant I avoided damage. Yeah, not fun.

    Q: (Mike Doodson – Honorary) A bit more about the same thing. There were several incidents at Turn One you may not have known about – several people, a couple of other people crashed there. The track was breaking up – did that contribute to your accident – or your smack of the wall?

    DR:  If I can use it as an excuse, sure! No, certainly not. It was in my control. The excuse I guess is just cold tyres. We can see the temperatures on our dash, so we’re aware when they’re cold. We can feel them, we don’t always need to see the numbers but I could see they were very cold. They just lose temperature really quick. We’re all aware of that but we’ll see. Maybe in years to come we can have a super, super, supersoft tyre for Monaco. I think will that be not only more fun in quali but avoid scary moments like that in the race. I guess it keeps it exciting for everyone at home.

    Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Question for Seb. Seb, you looked very emotional on the podium. What were you thinking about in those moments? And what does it mean to have 25 points ahead of Lewis Hamilton at this point in the season?

    SV: It’s a long way so I’m not really bothered about that. It was more the fact to stand up there and see the team. I think obviously, it’s a small part that we have here at the track but thinking of everyone else back in Maranello in the factory. We got a lot of hard times last year and this year everything seems to be upside down – but the team is the same, the people are the same so it’s really clear to them. I guess in these small moments you just realise that it’s a special group of people. If things go well, we’ll work hand in hand, we must make sure we keep the momentum up in the next couple of races – but I think we’re just having a great time. Obviously, we wanted today to have the one-two and we got it. So for the team obviously it means a lot. It’s been a long time – you know the numbers better than I do – since Ferrari won here and then to get a one-two is just fantastic. I think you can see when the guys are singing the Italian anthem. I think it’s impossible not to get goosebumps and feel very special standing up there representing them. For me, I think that’s what makes racing so special. I love driving, I loved driving today, I loved a couple of laps that I had where I could really, really push to the limit and I was so close to touch the wall, a couple of times I thought, ‘OK, I’ll lose the car’ and I just managed to get it back, so that’s obviously great fun. Big adrenaline around here because you don’t have any room for error – but then to have the rewards, standing on the podium, just send a message to base, to the factory, is what it’s made for.

    Q: (Beniamino Casadei Lucchi – Il Giornale) Question for Seb. It’s a fantastic victory. But now, if you were Kimi, what do you think?

    SV: Well, obviously I… we were right behind each other. In that case I think it’s normal that the lead car gets the priority because you go normally faster on the new set of tyres, and I when I got the lap times from Valtteri, he was doing 16.1, I think, and Daniel was a little bit faster with the old tyres with 16.0. I was, at that point, at 16.4, so I was a little bit slower, so I was assuming Kimi must do something like Valtteri. So I just… I knew that the team would call me as soon as we were really tight to Valtteri. We had a little bit of a cushion. I was just going flat-out, trying to go as fast as I can because for me it means that I’m staying ahead of Valtteri, first of all, and close to Kimi. I was surprised myself when I came out ahead. So, yeah, I think the warm-up on the supersoft was fine. Arguably you can say it worked for Daniel and for myself today, it worked well to stay out longer but I think if you were looking at it before the race then you couldn’t predict. We are racing, we get along well, I can understand that Kimi’s not entirely happy today. He drove well in the first stint and then obviously you get the message to go in. You do the pitstop and then you push. Obviously it’s a bad surprise when somebody comes out ahead. For me, I take it, there’s no reason to lie, obviously I’m very happy but I can understand obviously that he’s upset.

    Q: (Daniele Sparisci – Corriere della Sera) Seb, how do you feel to be the first Ferrari driver to win here after Michael Schumacher and compared to the other victories with Ferrari, does Monaco have something special?

    SV: Well, I think Monaco is always something special, it’s just the nature of the weekend: a lot of attention, a lot of people which is great, a lot of support. Definitely I felt that with the beginning of the season that we had, Ferrari fans and Ferrari flags are increasing so that’s nice. A lot of people screaming, from outside, Forza Ferrari. A lot of Italian lines which in the recent years maybe I didn’t get so much so that was great to see. It’s obviously a great day for the team. I’m just… I’m pretty exhausted now, to be honest, so I’m very happy and it’s great to get the points, it’s great to get the win so it’s been a fantastic day for all of us. To be the first one after Michael for Ferrari – I don’t know, I wasn’t aware (of that). I think the most important thing is that we won today. I’m sure there were occasions more recently where Ferrari could have won but the most important is what happens today.

    Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Seb, there’s nothing wrong with team orders, they’re not illegal and you are the leading driver in the championship and it wasn’t clear before the race whether the overcut or the undercut would be the best strategy. So was there a plan to give you a chance to get ahead of Kimi at some point?

    SV: Not really. We spoke about the race before. It was clear that, as I said, I think they had the same plan to be honest so the lead car normally gets priority so if I had a choice at that point, sitting behind Kimi, if I was going in the pits first, that’s maybe what you like to do because you are sooner on the fresher tyres so I think it’s probably one of the rare occasions where the overcut turned out to be positive, so I’m really glad I made that work. From the team point of view, there was no plan of any team orders or anything and as I said, I can understand that obviously Kimi’s not happy, I would feel exactly the same, one hundred per cent the same, but as I said myself, I was surprised that the overcut… I don’t think Daniel had priority over Max going into the race. I don’t know where they are in terms of points and so on so I don’t think they look into that but I think the rule of thumb… the rule is pretty clear when you qualify ahead and you are ahead in the first stint, you get priority on the first stop and that’s what happened. As it turned out, obviously today it worked in my favour which, as I said, I will take it but we are a team at the end of the day and I can see that Kimi’s not happy.

    Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) To Kimi and Sebastian, obviously now it seems that Mercedes is sometimes very quick but at other tracks they have serious problems. Of course it’s early in the championship but do you think this consistency of the Ferrari car can really win you the championship this year?

    SV: I don’t know.

    KR: It’s quite an early part of the year so we’ll see. It’s very hard to know what happens in the future but we will keep trying and try to make the best out of every weekend and just do what we can do. We cannot control what the others will do but no, I’m sure everybody will have some difficult weekends during the year. We will try to minimise those. When you have a hard time, try to make the best out of it.

    Q: (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas) Kimi, talking about lapping cars, do you think the blue flag for Button came out a little bit too… not at the right moment? The blue flag which signals to let you past immediately?

    KR:  I don’t know. There are obviously rules and I’m pretty sure I was – I don’t know if it was one second or one and a half seconds but I was pretty close in the hairpin and I was told that I have to be longer inside their time, so it was not enough to be once, it was something that I’d never hard before but anyhow that’s what happened and it cost a bit but that’s how it is.

    Q: (Stuart Codling – F1 Racing) Kimi, given that your team will have known that when you pitted you would emerge in the vicinity of traffic, with those two slower cars ahead, do you feel that you could have gone quicker in those laps, before your pit stop, had you known this?

    KR: I don’t know. We tried to figure out something that is impossible to know right now, at least from my side. No, obviously it wasn’t ideal to end up behind a lapped car and obviously it is something that definitely doesn’t help but the end result is what it is but we have to see. We just finished the race and I only know what happened and that’s it. Obviously I got second place but yeah, for the team good but not for myself, not so great.

    Q: (Marco Giachi – Paddock) Kimi, as a driver, could you reject the instructions? From a technical point of view, did you have enough information to decide by yourself or are you 100 percent in the hands of the engineers?

    KR: Obviously I can stop the car if I want! I’m driving it. We have a team, we work as a team and if you start… if you don’t believe what you’ve been told or how we work then it will get very complicated sometimes because we always try to work as best as we can and today, as a team, we won it one-two, that happened, but as for myself it could have been better, but like I said, we just finished the race  and who knows? We will talk about it and I guess there are some reasons for everything that happens in life but we will see. As a driver, I can obviously do what I want but that’s not how we work as a team. Simple as that.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Sebastian, did you expect that Kimi would stop on lap 33 before the first part of the race and then when you knew that, did you think this is my chance to overtake him? And were you informed of Lewis’s position during the race?

    SV: Well, I was told at some point where Lewis was but I didn’t really care so… You have to do your own race around here. Daniel clipped the wall at the restart, I brushed the wall on the laps to the grid so it’s really close. You try to go as close as possible to the walls and you must not allow yourself to drift away… your thoughts to drift away for even one corner so you need to stay at it. Small mistakes, like Ericsson had yesterday in qualifying, they have a big consequence and this can happen to all of us. We all try to chase the limits, we all try to go close. I wasn’t too keen to know what others were doing. Obviously we have a plan before the race. I didn’t look down and count and say OK, we are getting to the window but when I saw that Valtteri pitted, I saw it also on the screen, and then I was told that Bottas is in the pits at the same time, then I knew that he would try to undercut, otherwise what was the point for him to pit. If he believes that it’s faster then he will stay out and try to put us under pressure once we pit, so he was obviously waiting for his chance, went for it and then I was told in the same lap that Kimi’s obviously getting the pit stop and I know that I can’t pit at the same time, we were too close behind each other to come in on the same lap, so I knew that at least I get one lap, maybe I get two, I don’t know, depending on the gap to Bottas which increased again to three, four seconds before the stop. At that point I was just trying to go flat out, that was my race, obviously it made my race today which, looking at the final result, it’s easy to say but at that point it was impossible to predict.  When I heard the lap times of Bottas, the first lap, I think 16.1s, I was really… OK, I need to stretch myself. As I said, I was surprised that I could take so much pace from the car and I was going even below the 16s. At the same time, Daniel was lapping in 16.0s so there seemed to be a second tyre somehow, because the laps before I was struggling as much as Kimi was with the rears so yeah, I think there were a couple of laps where we weren’t comfortable at all, Valtteri was closing the gap, that was not the plan.

    Q: (Ben Anderson – Autosport) Kimi, when you look back at a race, do you feel that you were just unlucky with traffic and the way things fell or do you think Ferrari’s strategy just cost you the victory?

    KR: I don’t know. Like I said, I haven’t seen… I only know what happened when I was in the car but I haven’t seen the bigger picture. I only know that we came second, Seb won, the team got one-two, obviously great for the team, but the rest… Until we have our meeting then obviously you can see all the graphs, I don’t know.

    eom/FIA transcript of the press meet

  • Vettel gets Ferrari’s first Monaco win in 16 years

    Sebastian Vettel handed Ferrari it’s first Monaco victory in 16 years and his second in the principality with a win scored after passing team-mate and early leader Kimi Raikkonen during their one and only pit stop. Räikkönen managed to hold onto second place despite pressure from Daniel Ricciardo, with the Red Bull driver taking his third Monaco podium in four years following a fifth-placed start.

    When the lights went out to signal the start pole sitter Raikkonen made a clean getaway and led from Vettel, Bottas, Verstappen and Ricciardo. Sainz kept sixth ahead of Perez and Grosjean. Kevin Magnussen, however, jumped past Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg and Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat to take P9. Kvyat dropped to P11 just ahead of Lewis Hamilton who had passed McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne at the start. At the rear of the field McLaren’s Jenson Button, who had started from the pit lane, and Sauber’s Pascal Wehrlein pitted at the end of lap one, with the German swapping supersoft tyres for ultrasofts. The pair almost collided on the way out from their stops, however, and Wehrlein was subsequently handed a five-second time penalty for an unsafe release.

    With ten laps gone, Räikkönen had succeeded in eking out a 2.0s gap to Vettel, with the German enjoying a 3.6s advantage over Bottas. The opening stint then began to settle but as the race headed towards the 20-lap mark Vettel began to edge closer to Räikkönen and by lap 25 the German was just a second behind his team-mate as the Finn began to clear the first backmarkers, Button and Wehrlein. Once past the pair Räikkönen again eased ahead, extending his advantage again, this time to 1.5s by lap 32.

    Further back, Hamilton was now in 10th place following the earlier retirement of Hulkenberg with gearbox problems and an early stop for Force India’s Sergio Perez. The Briton was not enjoying the afternoon, however, and a third of the way through was on the radio saying that he could do little as his car was “all over the place”.

    Verstappen was the first of the leading pack to make a pit stop, attempting to undercut Bottas on lap 34 with a stop for supersofts. The Dutchman closed hard but when Bottas pitted the Finn emerged just in front to hold position.

    Vettel now led the race, 4.7s ahead of Ricciardo, with Räikkönen third. Vettel set the race fastest lap on his 37th tour, a 1:15.587, in the hope of overhauling his team-mate and the tactic played perfectly with the German emerging from his stop for supersofts marginally in front of Räikkönen.

    Ricciardo worked his stop for the red-banded Pirellis even better, jumping both team-mate Verstappen and Bottas during his brief halt in the pit lane.

    Behind the top five, Hamilton who was still on his starting ultrasofts, had now risen to sixth ahead of Vandoorne, who also needed to make a pit stop. Sainz was eighth ahead of Grosjean and Kvyat.

    By lap 45 Hamilton was the only driver still needing to pit, with Mercedes putting the Briton on a long first stint to see how many cars he could jump in the space vacated by those pitting around him. By lap 48 and his stop for supersofts that answer was delivered – six beyond his grid slot – and the three-time champion settled into seventh place, just under 10s behind Sainz.

    At the front, Vettel was forging ahead, blasting to a 9.7s gap over Räikkönen over the 10 laps following his stop. Räikkönen’s pace, which had dropped to the edge of the 1m17s bracket, settled into managing the 6.0s gap back to Ricciardo.

    Ricciardo was determined to make a fight of it however and on lap 51 the Australian ran 1.2s quicker than the Finn and closed the gap to 4.5s.

    Behind the top three, Bottas was not fourth but 13s behind Ricciardo, while Verstappen was a second behind the Mercedes and looking to attack. Sainz was now sixth but behind him Hamilton was closing, with the Briton now just 3.8s behind the Spaniard. Grosjean was now eighth ahead of Kvyat and Vandoorne.

    On lap 61 the gaps closed when Button collided with Wehrlein as the pair went through the Portier corners. The German’s Sauber was flipped onto its side and smacked into the barriers on its upper side. The Safety Car was immediately deployed and the medical car despatched, but it soon became clear that Wehrlein was unhurt and once he was freed from the wreck, the work of clearing his Sauber from the track began.

    In the meantime, team-mate Ericsson also exited the race. The Swede went to pass the SC to unlap himself, as allowed, but appeared to overcook the move and under braking he lost control and hit the barriers at Sainte Devote.

    Racing eventually resumed on lap 67 and Verstappen immediately tried to pressure Bottas. The Finn though could hardly have noticed, so intent was he on swarming over the back of Ricciardo’s Red Bull. All three held position, but the tussle allowed both Ferraris to get away and a lap later Vettel was 3.8s ahead of Ricciardo. Further back Vandoorne’s race ended at the re-start when he outbraked himself and hit the barriers at Sainte Devote.

    The final handful of laps settled thereafter. Vettel pulled away again at the front to take his second career Monaco win, the last coming with Red Bull in 2011, while Räikkönen managed to hold on to second place despite continued pressure from Ricciardo who chased the Finn all the way to the flag.

    Behind Ricciardo, Bottas also held position, finishing fourth ahead of Verstappen, Sainz, Hamilton and Grosjean. Kvyat should have finished ninth but the Russian was hit by Perez in Rascasse late in the race ending the Toro Rosso driver’s afternoon.

    It meant that Massa who had stopped during the safety car period for ultrasoft tyres claimed ninth place ahead of Haas’ Kevin Magnussen.

    Vettel’s victory means he now had 129 points and leads Hamilton by 25 points in the battle for the drivers’ title. Bottas is now third on 75 points, with Räikkönen fourth on 67 points. Ricciardo’s podium puts him fifth on 52 points, seven ahead of team-mate Verstappen.

    In the team’s battle Ferrari now have a 17-point over Mercedes, with 196 points to the Silver Arrows’ 179.

    eom/FIA press release

  • Kimi takes pole ahead of Vettel; Hami on P14

    Kimi takes pole ahead of Vettel; Hami on P14

    Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari takes pole at Monaco ahead of teammate Sebastian Vettel (right) and Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes on Saturday. An FIA image

    Monte Carlo, 27 May 2017: Kimi Räikkönen took his first pole position in nine years with super final lap in Monaco that saw him finish just four hundredths of a second ahead of championship leader Sebastian Vettel as Ferrari locked out the front row. Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas was third but team-mate Lewis Hamilton was eliminated in Q2 in 14thplace.

    Ferrari were quickest out of the blocks in Q1 with Raikkonen on track first, the Finn quickly followed by team-mate Vettel.

    It was the German who set the early pace and though he was briefly usurped by the Red Bulls, with Ricciardo claiming P1 with a lap of 1:13.219, Vettel jumped back to the top with a time of 1:13.090.

    Max Verstappen was running quickly, however and as the Ferrari driver retreated to the pits the Dutchman moved back into top spot, edging past Vettel by just over one hundredth of a second. With Verstappen ahead of the two Ferraris and Red Bull team-mate Ricciardo, fifth fastest in the session was Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas ahead of McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne, the Belgian showing what his car is capable of when power deficits are negated. Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, qualified for the second segment in P10.

    However, eliminated at the end of the Q1 were Force India’s Esteban Ocon in P16 ahead of Renault’s Jolyon Palmer, Williams’ Lance Stroll and the Saubers of Pascal Wehrlein and Marcus Ericsson.

    It was an unfortunate result for Ocon. The Frenchman crashed out in FP3, hitting the barriers at the Swimming Pool section, but his team managed to get him out in Q1. However, there was clearly something still amiss as team-mate Sergio Perez progressed in P8. Ericsson, meawhile, clipped a barrier late on and damaged his rear left suspension.

    Monaco has the habit of throwing up grid anomalies and it delivered in style in Q2. As Ferrari again led the way with Räikkönen in charge ahead of Vettel and with Verstappen third ahead of Bottas, Hamilton was struggling.

    Going into the final five minutes of the segment, the three-time champion was in 14th place and visibly struggling with the handling of his car. His first flying lap of his final run saw the Briton making corrections throughout and thus he could find no improvement.

    Whether a jump up the order would come on the following lap, with Hamilton crossing the line with 50 seconds in hand before the flag, would not be revealed as just ahead, Vandoorne lost control going through the Swimming Pool section and dumped his McLaren into the wall.

    The yellow flags were immediately shown and Hamilton’s lap was nullified. He was riuled out of the session in P14, just ahead of Williams’ Felipe Massa and behind 11th- placed Daniil Kvyat of Toro Rosso, Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen.

    If the second session produced the unexpected, the final session delivered a massive surpise in the shape of Räikkönen finding more pace than any of his rivals. The Finn led the way after the first runs but in the final laps he clawed even more performance out of his Ferrari and lowered the benchmark to 1:12.178. Vettel tried to respond but could only get to a time of 1:12.221, thus handing the Finn his first pole since the French Grand Prix of 2008, 128 races previously.

    Bottas finished just two thousandths of a second behind the championship leader, while the Red Bulls of Verstappen and Ricciardo were fourth and fifth respectively. Behind them Sainz will line up sixth ahead of Perez, while Romain Grosjean took eighth place for Haas. On his return to grand prix racing, Jenson Button will line up ninth on the grid for McLaren ahead of team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne.

    2017 Monaco Grand Prix
    1 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:13.117s 1:12.231s 1:12.178s
    2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:13.090s 1:12.449s 1:12.221s
    3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:13.325s 1:12.901s 1:12.223s
    4 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:13.078s 1:12.697s 1:12.496s
    5 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:13.219s 1:13.011s 1:12.998s
    6 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:13.526s 1:13.397s 1:13.162s
    7 Sergio Pérez Force India 1:13.530s 1:13.430s 1:13.329s
    8 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:13.786s 1:13.203s 1:13.349s
    9 Jenson Button McLaren 1:13.723s 1:13.453s 1:13.613s
    10 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 1:13.476s 1:13.249s
    11 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:13.899s 1:13.516s
    12 Nico Hülkenberg Renault 1:13.787s 1:13.628s
    13 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:13.531s 1:13.959s
    14 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:13.640s 1:14.106s
    15 Felipe Massa Williams 1:13.796s 1:20.529s
    16 Esteban Ocon Force India 1:14.101s
    17 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:14.696s
    18 Lance Stroll Williams 1:14.893s
    19 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber 1:15.159s
    20 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:15.276s

    eom/FIA press release

  • Ferrari dominates in Free Practice

    Sochi, 28 April 2017: Ferrari continued to set the pace at the Sochi Autodrom with Sebastian Vettel heading up a Maranello one-two ahead of team-mate Kimi Räikkönen in second practice ahead of Sunday’s Russian Grand Prix.

    The Finn had been quickest in the morning session beating Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas by four hundredths of a second on supersoft tyres. However, when the teams moved to the qualifying simulations and the ultrasoft compound in the afternoon, Vettel, who had finished in P5 in a scrappy opening session, made an emphatic step putting almost three tenths between himself and his team-mate and finishing almost seven tenths of a second clear of third place Bottas.

    The German’s qualifying run start with a momentary note of concern as he reported an “engine hesitation” but after an opening lap, Vettel’s second ‘push lap’ yielded a time of 1:34.120, 0.263s up on team-mate Räikkönen.

    Mercedes could find no response to Vettel’s pace and Bottas finished 0.670s off the pace, with tean-mate Lewis Hamilton three hundredths of a second further behind in fourth place.

    Fifth place in the session went to Max Verstappen whose qualifying run resulted in a three tenths of a second advantage over sixth-place team-mate Daniel Ricciardo. The session ended in disappointment for the Dutchman, though, as he was force to pull over at the side of the track 20 minutes before the end, reporting a power loss.

    Behind the top three teams the midfield battle again looks tight, with just three tenths of a second separating seventh-placed Felipe Massa of Williams from tenth-place Sergio Perez of Force India.

    Massa finished just six hundredth of a second clear of Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg, with Haas’ Kevin Magnussen just under two tenths further back in ninth place.

    Elsewhere, Fernando Alonso was a decent 12th for McLaren, finishing behind the second Force India of Esetban Ocon, but there were more problems for the team as it was forced to change Stoffel Vandoorne’s power unit.

    Lance Stroll was the only driver not to use ultrasoft tyres during the session, with the result that the second Williams driver finished in 19th place, 1.5s slower than team-mate Massa.

    2017 Russian Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
    1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 36 1:34.120
    2 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 36 1:34.383 0.263
    3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 36 1:34.790 0.670
    4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 34 1:34.829 0.709
    5 Max Verstappen Red Bull 15 1:35.540 1.420
    6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 26 1:35.910 1.790
    7 Felipe Massa Williams 39 1:36.261 2.141
    8 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 38 1:36.329 2.209
    9 Kevin Magnussen Haas 31 1:36.506 2.386
    10 Sergio Perez Force India 38 1:36.600 2.480
    11 Esteban Ocon Force India 39 1:36.654 2.534
    12 Fernando Alonso McLaren 27 1:36.765 2.645
    13 Jolyon Palmer Renault 22 1:36.771 2.651
    14 Romain Grosjean Haas 31 1:37.039 2.919
    15 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 36 1:37.083 2.963
    16 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 25 1:37.125 3.005
    17 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 35 1:37.300 3.180
    18 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber 30 1:37.441 3.321
    19 Lance Stroll Williams 36 1:37.747 3.627
    20 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 29 1:37.819 3.699

    eom/FIA press release

  • Vettel edges out Hamilton as Ferrari take Constructors lead: Bahrain GP

    Bahrain, 16 April 2017: Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel took his second victory of the season in Bahrain as Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton recovered from a poor start and a penalty to finish in second place ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas at the third round of the FIA Formula One (F1) World Championship here on Easter Sunday.

    Hamilton exerted intense pressure in the final stages, chopping deep into a 13-second deficit to Vettel but the German kept a cool head to thread through traffic and take the flag with 6.6 seconds in hand. Had Hamilton not earlier been penalised for holding up Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo during a pit stop, the battle might have been more nerve-wracking for Ferrari. Behind, Kimi Raikkonen was fourth in the second Ferrari ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo.

    At the race start, pole sitter Bottas led through Turn One. Hamilton, though, lost out and was passed by Vettel as the field streamed through the first corner. Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen made an excellent start to rise from sixth on the grid to fourth by the end of lap one, the Dutchman profiting from Hamilton’s poor start and the fact that the Briton backed up Daniel Ricciardo as they went into the first corner, with the result that the Australian was demoted to fifth ahead of Williams’ Felipe Massa. Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, meanwhile, dropped to seventh from fifth on the grid.

    Over the opening laps, Bottas was unable to carve out a significant lead and by the time the drivers were starting their 10th lap, just three seconds separated the top five drivers.

    With a Vettel was the first to take a strategic gamble, pitting on lap 11 to take on more supersofts. Verstappen noted it and request similar action but when he emerged from his first stop he almost immediately arrowed off track and into the barriers, reporting brake failure.

    Moments later Vettel’s early stop reaped dividends when the Safety Car was called into action when Carlos Sainz and Lance Stroll collided in Turn One, with the Williams’ driver’s car stranded on track.

    Bottas pitted and Vettel inherited the lead. Hamilton was brought into the pits at the same time as his team-mate and as he approached the pit entry the Briton slowed dramatically to minimise waiting time in the stacked stop. The result was that Ricciardo, also on his way to pit lane, was held up badly. The incident eventually led to a five-second penalty for Hamilton, who was punished for driving unnecessarily slowly in the pit lane.

    When they emerged supersoft-shod Vettel led from the similarly equipped Bottas, while Ricciardo and Hamilton, both now on softs, were in third and fourth respectively.

    When the safety car left the track, Ricciardo’s tyres appeared to be far from the right operating window and he was rapidly passed by Hamilton, Massa and Raikkonen.

    At the front, Vettel began to eke out a gap to Bottas and by lap 26 the German had 4.8s in hand over Bottas and a second more over Hamilton. On lap 27, though, Hamilton surged past Bottas to claim P2.

    Soon after, Ricciardo was also the move. Raikkonen had passed Massa and on lap 29 the Brazilian was passed by the Red Bull driver, under DRS and under braking through Turn One.

    On lap 31 Bottas pitted for the final time, taking on soft tyres. Ahead Hamilton was catching Vettel, whose supersoft tyres, by lap 32, were beginning to look spent. With the gap to Hamilton shrinking Ferrari opted to put the German on lap 34. Vettel took on a set of softs for his final stint and rejoined in P3 behind Raikkonen. He was soon past his team-mate, however, and then he began to chase down Hamilton, lapping a second quicker than the Briton as he ate into the 15.7s deficit.

    By lap 39 the gap was down to 12.1s and closing. Behind them, Bottas was now third ahead of Ricciardo who had inherited fourth when Raikkonen made his final stop for soft tyres. The Australian then made his final stop, for supersofts on lap 40 and prepared for a late-race blast from fifth place.

    Hamilton made his final stop on lap 42, serving his five-second penalty and taking on soft tyres. He dropped to third, 9.4s behind Bottas and 19s behind Vettel who was now looking comfortable in pursuit of his second win of the season.

    The race looked like it might open up again in the final stages after Hamilton passed Bottas and then began to scythe through a 13-second gap to Vettel, but the German held his nerve and applied the pace necessary to keep Hamilton at bay to take the 44th win of his career.

    With Hamilton second and Bottas third, fourth place went to Raikkonen who finished 16.8s ahead of Ricciardo. Massa was sixth for Williams, while Force India’s Sergio Perez enjoyed a great evening’s work to rise from P18 on the grid to seventh place at the flag. Romain Grosjean was eighth for Haas and the final points placings went to Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Ocon in the second Force India.

    eom/FIA press release