INDIA in F1

Tag: Ferrari

  • Pole is unbelievable! But the main job is coming tomorrow, says Vettal after taking pole at Singapore

    DRIVERS

    1 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

    2 – Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing)

    3 – Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (Ferrari)

    (From left) David Ricciardo, Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen at the FIA press conference on Saturday at Singapore after Vettel took pole position. An FIA image.
    (From left) David Ricciardo, Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen at the FIA press conference on Saturday at Singapore after Vettel took pole position. An FIA image.

    TV UNILATERAL

    Sebastian, pole and by quite a margin as well. Your first for Ferrari and Ferrari’s first for 61 races, going back quite a few years. Your feelings?

    Sebastian VETTEL: And a proper one I would say. Unbelievable. I know it’s only Saturday and the main job is coming tomorrow but I had to enjoy the moment when I heard that I made it. It was looking good right from the offset of quali and actually from this morning to be fair. The car was fantastic to drive; it just got better through qualifying. I think we got the maximum today. Surprised by the margin but I think it just came together. I really had a near-perfect lap at the end. I was very, very happy with the laps I had today, especially the last one. Around here it’s such a long, tricky lap; it’s so easy to go just a little in too deep or push a little bit too much but it just seemed to come in the end. I was very happy that I made it to the finish line because it felt like a good lap and it was a good lap in the end. Very happy, it puts us in a great place for tomorrow but, as I said, it’s only Saturday and the main job is coming tomorrow. I’m sure the Mercedes will be quick tomorrow – everything else would be a bit of surprise and it’s already a bit of a surprise. And the Red Bulls of course, so tough job ahead tomorrow.

    Coming to you Daniel: obviously it’s been close this weekend throughout between Red Bull Racing and Ferrari and you have the prospect of a battle with your old team-mate tomorrow,

    Daniel RICCIARDO: Yeah, firstly, it’s nice to be back up here. The front row as well… it’s been a while. It’s good. It’s a bit of a coincidence that it’s Seb and I but it should be a good race tomorrow. I think already qualifying was exciting. To have no Mercedes up here is a surprise to everyone, still a bit of a surprise. I thought they were playing a few card games here yesterday but it seems they are obviously not particularly comfortable here this weekend. It’s good to capitalise on that. Tomorrow it would be nice to be back here. I’m really happy. Really happy for the team as well. I think we’ve definitely made a lot of progress, since Silverstone but particularly for me since Budapest the car has really come alive. It’s nice we can show that here. We expected it to work well and it is, so pretty happy and we’ll just try to hang in there in the long runs tomorrow and make a race of it.

    Thank you for that. Coming to you Kimi: your second consecutive top three qualifying this season and how do you like Ferrari’s race pace tomorrow?

    Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: Well, we’ll set it tomorrow. Obviously we had some difficulties yesterday on my side. I think Seb has a good run yesterday. Obviously quite a good result for the team today. I was not very happy since this morning for whatever reason, so I’m a bit surprised to be in this position after how difficult it felt all day. But it was good and we have to try to do a good job tomorrow and hopefully get the two cars on the podium.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Sebastian, Ferrari’s first pole, in fact, since Germany 2012, I’m told. As Daniel was saying just a moment ago, it is against the run of form of the past 18 months really for no Mercedes driver to be up here. Can you put into words, explain why you think this is happening this weekend?

    SV: To be perfectly honest I think we don’t mind for a start; sorry! I don’t know, it’s a surprise. I thought yesterday they were sandbagging and also this morning, because there’s no doubt they have the strongest package this year. They have a very good car, sorry, a very good power unit, which we know. It usually puts them very high up and difficult to beat. I don’t know, they must have some issues not feeling comfortable at all; it’s the only explanation I think. But I wouldn’t rule them out for tomorrow. It’s not the easiest circuit to overtake but if you have the pace eventually you come through, so I expect them to be strong tomorrow.

    The other half of it of course is that you’ve obviously improved?

    SV: Well, obviously we always try to improve. Obviously we hope that we can show the exact same result… maybe a little bit better to have both of us in 1-2, without being too greedy, next Saturday. Then you can say we have improved. We generally feel OK on this track; obviously it’s about feeling confident. I think it was fairly close the whole weekend between Kimi and myself. I the quali the gap seemed to increase. He explained that he wasn’t that comfortable and I think that’s where a lot of lap time is – if you feel confident with the car then you can attack. There is no room for error here and it can easily make a big difference. But nevertheless it’s a great day and it puts us in a very good place for tomorrow so I don’t mid at all.

    Coming to you Daniel, obviously Ferrari have had some wins in 2015, Red Bull have not. You got three last year, you’ve been hanging out for a win in 2015, is tomorrow your best chance?

    DR: It’s definitely our best chance. Coming into the weekend we thought it would be our best chance to back on the podium and obviously today’s result has shown that we’ve backed up the confidence I had in the car and I think the team had coming here. Tomorrow is where… that’s where the points are the champagne is, so you know we put ourselves in the best position today. Obviously Seb was out of reach. I think he did two really good laps from what it looked like. Yeah, second best today but we’ll try to get one more up there tomorrow. It’s always a challenge here: it’s hot, it’s physical, it’s long. Not only is it can the car hold up, it’s a test for the driver and I think that’s fun. Pretty happy with how the weekend has gone. As Seb said as well, you need a lot of confidence in the car here and it’s felt good out of the box from yesterday, so really pleased.

    Well all three of your managed to save a set of supersoft tyres in Q1 but Kimi it was a little bit marginal for you, very brave. Were you sweating a little bit towards that end of that Q1 session with the decision to not go out on a supersoft set.

    KR: Not really, because obviously the lap, you know if it’s a good lap or not. I think even with that lap we probably could have gone through, just wanted to with the first set. So it was quite OK. There’s always a chance that people start guessing and it can get more hectic but it was fine and just for whatever reason it’s been a difficult day, just lacking in grip and struggling a bit on braking and turn-in, so not in an ideal position but in the end the result is OK for how difficult it’s been today, so I’m sure we found something for tomorrow so it should be OK. It’s good for the team. Obviously we’ll try to have a strong race to finish 1-2 tomorrow and we’ll see what happens.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, how much pressure there is after what happened in Monza in the start and is it better to start from the cleaner side of the street? How much that helps?

    KR: If it makes a difference we don’t know. There is no pressure from what happened. It doesn’t change for tomorrow.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / Speed Sport) Daniel, your team-mate was quicker than you in FP2 and FP3. What happened in qualifying? Did things maybe just click a little bit better for you?

    DR: Ask him [Vettel] why I was slower than Dany in FP2! Yeah, we encountered some traffic, otherwise I think, yeah, we would have been pretty quick in FP2. This morning, we made a few changes overnight and I wasn’t as comfortable with them. I think my lap wasn’t great, as well, from my side. We went back to what we know from yesterday and yeah, obviously qualifying is where you need to really make it happen so was… yeah, felt more comfortable in quali.

    Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) Sebastian, forgive this hypothetical question, bear with me. Beautiful pole lap. If you could go back 12 months and drive last year’s RB11 as you are now, do you think you’re a better, slightly faster, more experienced driver. Do you think you’d be quicker in the RB11 now, if you could get back into the car as it was.

    SV: It’s a very difficult question to answer because there’s no way I can do that. Look, it’s very simple: last year for sure I didn’t have a great year and all in all Daniel had a very good year and beat me fair and square, many times. Other times I was in front but overall it was not the best year for myself.  A lot of stuff that I learned… yeah, obviously didn’t have a good start to the season. Didn’t drive the car very often. I think I did about one day of testing, one proper day of testing, before the season, and then we had lots of issues – but still, I think I’m experienced enough to know what to do to go quick but yeah, simply wasn’t good enough. Daniel showed that he could go quicker with the car on occasions. So, to try and answer your question… I don’t know – but I think I’ve learned a couple of bits about this generation of cars, let’s say and yeah, probably the way the season went last year has helped me for this year.

    Q: (Lim Say Heng – The New Paper) This question is for Sebastian. You must be quite familiar, comfortable and confident here since you’ve won here three times. How much of that comfort and confidence helped you in getting pole today?

    SV: I think it’s crucial if you’re confident around the track. You need to be confident in your car. It is a street circuit and the better you feel, the closer you can get to the walls. It is a circuit where the driver can make a difference. If he feels comfortable… I don’t know, I’ve always loved this track since I came here. I had a very good result in 2008, I think 2009 was OK as well. It’s a tough one, a tough lap. It’s an extreme challenge but it’s the sort of race where you’re kind of excited. Not scared but nervous as well, before you start. There’s a lot of things happening, it’s intense, you need to keep your focus up. So, looking forwards to tomorrow.

    Q: (Daniel Johnson – The Telegraph) Seb, two things if I may. First of all, it’s been a while for you and the team since you started on pole, is there anything you have to refresh tonight? Any studying you need to do to remember all what you have to do. The second bit is, are you expecting this to be a blip with Mercedes so far behind or do you think this could be the pattern for the rest of the year?

    SV: Expect it to be a pattern. They’ve been way too comfortable and too strong for a long time so, I don’t know what happened today, probably we’ll here after quali what they have to say. As I’ve said, I think they will be quick tomorrow and then, the first part of your question, I don’t think so. I think it’s actually easier if you have nobody in front on the formation lap to look out for. You can do your own thing. It’s nice. Obviously hard work on Saturday but we succeeded and looking forward to have a clean run to Turn One.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Sebastian, last time Ferrari was having a front row was France 2008 when Kimi was in pole. Can you see that realistic this season to happen also? To get a front row for Ferrari?

    SV: I think yes. We are trying, both as hard as possible. I think obviously today could have been possible but in the end obviously I was a bit lucky that I felt really comfortable, Kimi wasn’t. It’s easy to lose some time there but for the rest of the season we go maximum attack. Anything can happen, it can rain on Saturday. There’s always the chance to do well – so we have to attack latest next Saturday if you talk about qualifying.

    Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) Question for Daniel. I think you were quickest in Sector Three. I wondered whether your tyre warm-up process was affected in any way by Bottas coming out just in front of you?

    DR: It’s not ideal. You always want to have a clean out-lap and obviously it’s not his fault at all. It’s just the pattern and the way we came out was close but yeah, it’s always nicer to have your own out-lap to do your own thing. Everyone’s got their own way of warming up the tyres. You never know how much the car in front is going to back up to try and do whatever they want to do, so yeah, it probably explains why my tyres were better at the end of the lap rather than the beginning. I haven’t seen the sectors but the third one felt pretty good. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise. Who knows? But yeah, it’s always nice having a clean out-lap and doing your thing. It was close. Wanted to push him in the pitlane! Yeah, it’s just part of it.

    eom/FIA transcript of the Press Conference on Saturday

  • Vettel wins Hungarian GP; Hamilton finishes 7th, Rosberg 8th

    Sebastian Vettel claimed his second win of the season in an incident-packed Hungarian Grand Prix that saw championship leader Lewis Hamilton finish seventh and title rival Nico Rosberg finish eight after both tangled with rivals during the race.

    After crossing the line to claim his 41st career win Vettel dedicated the victory to Jules Bianchi saying that the French driver would have one day been part of the Ferrari squad.

    It was a rewarding afternoon for Red Bull Racing, with Daniil Kvyat taking second place and Daniel Ricciardo claiming third. The Australian might have finished ahead of Kvyat but a late collision with Rosberg saw the pair places. Kvyat too dedicated his race to Bianchi and his family.

    After an aborted start and an extra formation lap due to Felipe Massa being out of position on the grid, the lights finally went out and for the second race in a row pole position man Hamilton made a poor getaway.

    The slow start was immediately seized upon by the fast-starting Ferraris and Vettel went around Hamilton through Turn One to take the lead, while Rosberg snuck past his team-mate. Rosberg was soon dropped to third, however, as Räikkönen hustled past the German in Turn 3.

    Hamilton’s woes were compounded when, in hot pursuit of Rosberg, he went off at the chicane, clattering through the gravel before re-joining in tenth place.

    Behind the front four Daniel Ricciardo also made a poor start from fourth place on the dirty side of the grid and was passed by Williams’ Valtteri Bottas. Ricciardo dropped to seventh. The second Red Bull of Daniil Kvyat went from seventh on the grid to fifth but he was quickly passed by Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg and then, with the Russian appearing to struggle in the early stages, the pit wall asked him to let team-mate Ricciardo past, which he did.

    Once clear of Kvyat the Australian began to push hard. On lap 10 he made his way past Hulkenberg at Turn One and then three laps later he muscled his way past Bottas to claim fourth place.

    Williams took the pass as the signal to bring Bottas in for a change of tyres and the Finn’s visit to pit lane triggered the first round of stops. As the major of the field took on fresh rubber Hamilton vaulted up the order, rising to fifth by lap 17. The Briton was setting fastest race laps and running up to four tenths of a second quicker than leader Vettel but the Mercedes man was still 30 seconds adrift of the lead.

    Hamilton made his first visit to the pit lane on lap 19, taking on more soft tyres in a four-second stop. He was followed a lap later by team-mate Rosberg who made a rapid 2.8-second stop for medium tyres. Leader Vettel responded on laps 21 and took on soft tyres on a 3.2s stop, while third on the road Ricciardo followed on the same lap but, like Rosberg, he opted for the medium tyre for his second stint. Vettel then resumed the lead when Räikkönen took on more soft tyres.

    With only medium-tyre starter Pastor Maldonado and Manor’s Will Stevens left to pit, the order on lap 24 was Vettel with six seconds in hand over second-placed Räikkönen and the Finn a further six seconds ahead of Rosberg. Ricciardo was fourth, 16s off the lead, but with the medium tyre on board he was struggling to resist attacks from Hamilton who was on the soft tyre. Hamilton was now 31.5s behind Vettel.

    Bottas was now sixth ahead of Hulkenberg, with the medium-shod Kvyat eighth ahead of Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso who had climbed from 15th on the grid to sit in a points-scoring position. Maldonado, meanwhile, had received a drive through penalty for colliding with Sergio Perez and was now languishing in 18thposition.

    At the front, Ricciardo lost the battle against Hamilton on lap 29, with the champion, aided by quicker tyres, a more powerful engine and DRS, sweeping past the Red Bull driver on the run to Turn One.

    After passing Ricciardo the middle stint saw Hamilton, on softs, begin to reel in the medium-tyre shod Rosberg and by lap 40 he was just six seconds behind his team-mate. Ricciardo also on the slower medium tyres began to drop back from Hamilton and was now nine seconds adrift of the Mercedes. Vettel and Räikkönen, meanwhile, were on a second soft-tyre stint and would need to complete the race on the slower medium tyre. Vettel’s lead over his team-mate was now 10 seconds and he was a further six clear of Rosberg.

    Ferrari’s hopes of a first one-two finish in five years (since the German GP of 2010) began to look shaky on lap 41 as Räikkönen’s times began to drop and he reported a loss if power, attributed to an MGU-K problem.

    The picture became even more bleak later in the lap when Nico Hulkenberg’s front wing collapsed on the main straight and the Force India driver straight-lined Turn One and went into the barriers.

    That triggered a Virtual Safety car and a flurry of pit stops saw the leaders pit for their final set of tyres, during which Rosberg opted to stay on mediums rather than the softs his team had earlier advised. Under the VSC the gaps were maintained, but with debris from Hulkenberg’s wing strewn across the track the VSC was rapidly replaced by the real thing, which led the field through the pit lane due to the debris on the track, and Vettel’s comfortable lead was almost erased.

    The Safety Car left the track at the end of lap 48 and while Vettel powered away to hold his lead and Raikkonen vainly battled to defend from Rosberg, who made it through to second, Ricciardo, on the soft tyre, mounted an attack on Hamilton on the slower medium. He went around the outside of the Mercedes through the opening corners but the pair tangled with the left side of Hamilton’s front wing being shredded on the right sight of Ricciardo’s Red Bull.

    The Australian came out of the collision in better shape and set off after Räikkönen. Hamilton though fell back to sixth and he was later penalised with a driver through penalty for causing the collision.

    Hamilton was passed by Kvyat and Bottas but in getting past the Mercedes, Bottas was tagged by the Toro Rosso of Max Verstappen and the Finn sustained a puncture.

    Räikkönen, meanwhile, was struggling badly and Ferrari’s hopes were finally dashed when he was brought to the pits where mechanics appeared to reset the car. He dropped back to 16th and eventually retired on lap 56.

    Vettel now led, with just 1.3s in hand over Rosberg, who was being harried by the hard-charging Ricciardo who was on the quicker soft tyre. Kvyat was fourth in the second Red Bull ahead of Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen but the major surprise, on lap, 59 was that Alonso had kept his nose clean and his McLaren in good shape to hold sixth position with a little over 10 laps to go. Romain Grosjean was seventh for Lotus, while Jenson Button was eighth in the second McLaren. Carlos Sainz was ninth in the second Toro Rosso and Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson occupied the final points position. Hamilton, who had taken his penalty, was down in 12th.

    The order looked set but at the start of lap 64, Ricciardo made a bold attempt to pass Rosberg into Turn One. He braked very late and ran wide and then as Rosberg passed him again Ricciardo collided with Rosberg, with the Australian’s front wing being destroyed and Rosberg sustaining a puncture.

    That vaulted Kvyat to second. The Russian had been handed a time penalty for exceeding the track limits but when Ricciardo re-joined after pitting for a new nose Kvyat still had enough of a gap to hold the place.

    Rosberg, meanwhile, was forced to limp all the way around the track before taking on new tyres and when he re-joined he found himself in ninth place.

    Vettel, though, sailed on serenely, and when the flag came out he crossed the line with five seconds in hand over Kvyat. Ricciardo took third, while Verstappen claimed his best ever F1 result with fourth place. Alonso claimed McLaren’s best result of the season with fifth, while Hamilton claimed seventh. Rosberg passed Button for eighth in the closing laps and Ericsson took the final point on offer.

    eom/

    Sebastian Vettel poses with the trophy along with a Ferrari engineer after winning the Hungarian GP on Sunday. A Shell Motorsport image
    Sebastian Vettel poses with the trophy along with a Ferrari engineer after winning the Hungarian GP on Sunday. A Shell Motorsport image

    FIA release

  • Hamilton claims fourth straight pole; Vettel beats Rosberg to take P2

    Sakhir, 18 April 2015: Lewis Hamilton claimed his fourth straight pole position of the season and his first ever Bahrain Grand Prix pole with a blistering final qualifying laps of the Sakhir Circuit, that saw him beat Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel by 0.411s and more than half a second in front of his Mercedes team-mate Nico RHami p1 Bahrain top3 pic FIA picosberg.

    Q1 got underway in slightly calmer conditions than blustery FP3 and Raikkonen was the first to take to the track, with Bottas joining the fray soon after. The Williams driver quickly took P1 but was then eclipsed by Rosberg, who set a time of 1: 35.657 on the medium tyres.

    The Mercedes man was soon joined in the top five by soft-tyre runners Nico Hulkenberg and Felipe Nasr. However, immediately prior to their runs, the session had its first retirement when Jenson Button pulled over at the side of the track for the third time in four sessions this weekend in Sakhir.

    In the closing stages of the session those in the danger zone were Max Verstappen, Pastor Maldonado and Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi.

    Verstappen found the required pace and scraped into Q2 with a time of 1:35.611. Maldonado, however, failed to make it through, his best lap of 1:35.677 only being good enough for P16.

    Verstappen’s leap to safety also pushed out Daniil Kvyat, with the Russian putting in a disappointing final lap that netted him P17 behind the Lotus driver. Hulkenberg was the last man through to Q2, the Force India driver’s 1:35.653 seeing him safely through with just two hundredths of a second in hand over Maldonado, who was told over team radio that something had “gone wrong with the engine and power delivery.” In FP3 Maldonado had taken a useful seventh with his quali sim, a repeat of the position he filled in the second practice session.

    At the top of the order, Hamilton was quickest, finishing a tenth in front of Bottas. Rosberg was third, though he finished the session close on half a second down on his team-mate.

    Felipe Massa was fourth for Williams, ahead of Raikkonen, Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel, who completed just three laps in the opening session. All drivers set their best times on the soft tyre.

    In the second session, Rosberg initially set the pace but Hamilton quickly worked his way back to the top of the order, his first run netting a time of 1:32.669. Rosberg was also again eclipsed by Massa who set a time three tenths of a second quicker than Rosberg’s.

    The last to set an opening time were the Ferraris of Raikkonen and Vettel, though both rapidly staked a claim on a Q3 berth with the Finn in P2 and the German in P4.

    Most of the front runners opted to rely on their first run to see them through and in the closing stages those in the drop zone were Hulkenberg, Force India team-mate Sergio Perez, Nasr, Sauber team-mate Ericsson and McLaren’s Fernando Alonso.

    Hulkenberg was the man to make the big move, claiming ninth place in Q2 with a time of 1:34.613. Behind him Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz scraped through in P10, six hundredths of a second clear of 11th-placed Sergio Perez. The Mexican was followed by Nasr and Ericsson. Alonso claimed P14, while 15th place went to the unfortunate Verstappen, who early in the session had reported that he was down on power.

    The first runs in Q3 saw Hamilton in charge again, with the champion setting a time of 1:33.552 on used softs to take P1 three tenths of a second ahead of Red Bull’s Ricciardo, who prior to Hamilton’s lap had claimed the fastest S3 time of the session using new soft tyres.

    Rosberg, also on used softs, was third, four thousandths of a second down on the Australian’s time. Hulkenberg, with just one new set of softs at his disposal, opted to sit out the first run.

    In the final runs, Vettel was the first of the likely front-row men across the line and with purple times in S1 and S2, the German set a provisional pole time of 1:32.982. It was a superb lap but Hamilton was already running faster, stealing the S1 purple time from the German.

    Ahead of the champion on track, Rosberg had similarly taken the best S2 time but he could not find more pace and when he crossed the line he slotted into third, four hundredths of a second behind Vettel.

    With Raikkonen already fourth and the Williams cars of Bottas and Massa in fifth and sixth the pole was Hamilton’s to take, and he did so in imperious style, blasting across the line 0.4s ahead of Vettel and, perhaps most significantly more than half a second clear of Rosberg.

    Behind the Williams pair, Ricciardo was seventh for Red Bull ahead of the excellent Hulkenberg. Sainz was similarly effective for Toro Rosso in claiming ninth, while Romain Grosjean took the final top 10 place for Lotus.

    Bahrain Grand Prix – Qualifying
    1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:33.928 1:32.669 1:32.571 16
    2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:34.919 1:33.623 1:32.982 12
    3 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:34.398 1:33.878 1:33.129 16
    4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:34.568 1:33.540 1:33.227 15
    5 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:34.161 1:33.897 1:33.381 16
    6 Felipe Massa Williams 1:34.488 1:33.551 1:33.744 16
    7 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:34.691 1:34.403 1:33.832 15
    8 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:35.653 1:34.613 1:34.450 15
    9 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:35.371 1:34.641 1:34.462 18
    10 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:35.007 1:34.123 1:34.484 20
    11 Sergio Perez Force India 1:35.451 1:34.704   12
    12 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:35.310 1:34.737   9
    13 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:35.438 1:35.034   9
    14 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:35.205 1:35.039   10
    15 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1:35.611 1:35.103   14
    16 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:35.677     7
    17 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull Racing 1:35.800     6
    18 Will Stevens Marussia 1:38.713     6
    19 Roberto Merhi Marussia 1:39.722     6
    – 22 Jenson Button McLaren No time     1

    eom/FIA press release

  • Raikkonen puts Ferrari back on top as Jerez test ends

    Jerez, 4 Feb 2015: Kimi Raikkonen put Ferrari back on top of the timsheets as Formula One’s first pre-season test of 2015 came to a close at the Circuito de Jerez in Spain.

    The Finn’s best time of 1:20.841 came late in the day, on a soft tyre run, after he had spent most of the day heading the field on medium and hard tyres. His late flourish was also the fastest time of the test, a tenth of a second quicker than that set by team-mate Sebastian Vettel on day two of the four-day outing.

    Yesterday, Sauber’s FelipTEST PRE-CAMPIONATO F1/2015e Nasr broke Ferrari’s grip on the top of the timesheets yesterday and today team-mate Marcus Ericsson kept the Swiss team at the top end of the order with a best time of 1:22.019, again set on soft tyres.

    Lewis Hamilton set the day’s third fastest time with a lap of 1:22.172, 1.3s down on Raikkonen’s best. Perhaps more importantly his 117 laps took Mercedes test total to an enormous 516. The defending champion’s total for the day was set despite a morning spin that left his W06 stranded at the chicane.

    An earlier stoppage was caused by Red Bull Racing Daniil Kvyat. Forty-five minutes into the session he stopped on track with the team later diagnosing an ERS problem that restricted the Russian to the garage for the rest of the morning.

    He eventually returned to the fray just before 1pm and ran faultlessly thereafter, racking up 64 laps for the team’s biggest single-day total of the test.

    “Once we’d sorted the issue the car ran perfectly all afternoon and we were able to get through the key elements of the programme we had mapped out,” said Head of race Engineering Guillaume Rocquelin. “This week has all been about establishing reliability and while we’ve had a few niggles the car is pretty much where we want it to be. We focused on medium and long runs all week and Dany was able to do more of that work this afternoon. We did lose track time over the four days and that’s always frustrating, as you inevitably have to scratch some things off the ‘to do’ list, but the major items were covered so I would say we’re leaving Jerez in pretty decent shape.”

    Despite the positive spin, it’s been a tricky week for the Milton Keynes outfit, with their day two running being disrupted by a broken front wing and day three being compromised by the need to change a power unit.

    McLaren also had a difficult final day. The team made early progress with the MP4-30, with Jenson Button posting 35 laps, but its running was cut short by a fuel pump issue. Button’s morning running had also been disrupted by an oil system problem.

    “Unfortunately, we’ve had a few issues this week – all of which have been pretty small – but cumulatively they meant we were stuck in the garage for quite some time,” said the team’s Engineering Director Matt Morris. “Still, our prime objective coming away from this test was to ascertain that the main car architecture worked, and we’ve done that.

    “Today, we had a couple of stoppages, but we were still able to get on with our aero progamme – obtaining correlation data for the guys back at the factory, just so we can check that everything’s working as we expected.”

    Honda’s Yasuhisa Arai added: “Of course, we’d anticipated there would be issues – this is a test, after all – but the difficulties we faced here were more than we’d expected, so we weren’t able to get the running time we’d ideally wanted. Nonetheless, Fernando and Jenson’s feedback has been positive and comprehensive – they’ve given us some very good information.”

    Elsewhere, Max Verstappen had a busy final outing of the week, putting 97 laps on Toro Rosso’s STR10.

    “It was good to run STR10 in anger and after overcoming some niggling problems on the first two days, we managed to do some really high mileage on the final two,” said Toro Rosso Technical Director James Key. “That was useful, because it meant both our drivers managed to complete a full and comprehensive programme. Our focus has been entirely on reliability, while allowing the drivers to experience every aspect of the job. We haven’t done any work on performance so far and we will not do that until the end of the month, therefore we are not looking at our lap times for now. The important topics are reliability, consistency and driver work, to tune the car to their requirements and give them as much preparation time as possible.”

    Romain Grosjean got a first taste of Lotus E23 but his running was cut short after 53 laps with a power unit problem.

    Jerez Test – Day Four
    1 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1: 20.841s 106
    2 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:22.019s 1.178s 112
    3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:22.172s 1.331s 117
    4 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1:22.553s 1.712s 97
    5 Felipe Massa Williams 1:23.116s 2.275s 73
    6 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:23.802s 2.961s 53
    7 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull 1:23.975s 3.134s 64
    8 Jenson Button McLaren 1:27.660s 6.819s 35\

    eom/FIA press release/david

  • Alonso quickest in final practice in Singapore

    Ferrari driver fastest at Marina Bay Street Circuit ahead of Red Bull’s Ricciardo and Mercedes’ Rosberg.

    Singapore, 20 Sept 2014: Fernando Alonso went quickest in the final practice session ahead of qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix, edging out Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo by just five hundredths of a second. Nico Rosberg was third for Mercedes, just under two tenths of a second behind Alonso.

    The session ran to the usual programme of prime tyre runs followed by a quick flurry on the option tyres at the end, and on the soft tyre at the beginning of the hour it was Red Bull Racing’s drivers who set the pace. Sebastian Vettel, seeking to make up the time lost in FP2 when he sat out most of the session due to a power unit failure in the first Friday outing, jumped to the top of the timesheets with a lap of 1:50.393. That was quickly beaten by team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, who became the first driver of the evening to dip into the 1min49s bracket.

    Mercedes, Ferrari and Williams had yet to show their hand however, with their drivers only having completed installs at the start of the session. Rosberg and Kimi Raikkonen were the first from those outfits to appear, both heading out for their first runs just after the 20-minute mark. And after Raikkonen had jumped to third place, Rosberg emphatically claimed P1 with a lap of 1:49.575, over a second quicker than Ricciardo’s best at the point. Hamilton soon joined his team-mate at the sharp end of the timesheet, slotting into second place, though he was seven tenths down on the German, with Ricciardo now third.

    Hamilton had a wild moment at the start of his first run, however, the Englishman losing control of his Mercedes at turn five and slewing sideways. He regained control and then reported that his engine had mysteriously stalled and then restarted, causing him to spin.

    Williams’ Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas soon also took to the track and they slotted into P4 and P5 respectively as the hour mark approached.

    Alonso was the last to set a time in the session, the Ferrari driver emerging with 30 minutes remaining and he was soon in the mix, the Spaniard ousting Bottas from P4 with a time of 1:49.614, still a second adrift of Rosberg’s benchmark.

    Ricciardo, though, was making gains and on his next run moved ahead of Hamilton to claim P2 and narrow the deficit to Rosberg to 0.6s. After admitting to his team over the radio that he had overdriven that lap, he close further to 0.543 behind Mercedes’ pacesetter.

    He was joined in the effort by Vettel, whose final run on the soft tyre yielded a fastest final sector. His time of 1:49.180 was good enough for P3, six tenths down on Rosberg, a tenth clear of Hamilton and four ahead of Alonso.

    With the move to option tyres in the offing, the top-10 order on the prime tyre was: Rosberg, Ricciardo, Vettel, Hamilton, Alonso, Bottas, Massa, Raikkonen, Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniil Kvyat.

    With just over 15 minutes to go, Rosberg became the first to make the switch to supersofts. His first flyer was more than a second quicker than his best soft tyre time, the German establishing a new benchmark of 1:47.488.

    Alonso, though, bounced the Mercedes man to P2 with his first flyer on the options, his 1:47.299, beating the German by almost two tenths. Ricciardo too eclipsed the Mercedes, taking P2 with a lap just five hundredths of a second slower than Alonso’s.

    And that was how the top three remained. Behind Alonso, Ricciardo and Rosberg, Vergne popped up with a good run on the options tyre to claim fourth sport with a time of 1:47.693, just under four tenths slower than Alonso’s P1 time. Vettel finished the session on fifth place, ahead of Hamilton, Massa, Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen. Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez completed the top 10 order.

    2014 Singapore Grand Prix – Free Practice 3 Times
    1 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:47.299
    2 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:47.350 0.051
    3 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:47.488 0.189
    4 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:47.693 0.394
    5 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1:47.711 0.412
    6 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:47.738 0.439
    7 Felipe Massa Williams 1:47.909 0.610
    8 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:48.205 0.906
    9 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:48.226 0.927
    10 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:48.422 1.123
    11 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:48.450 1.151
    12 Kevin Magnussen McLaren 1:48.577 1.278
    13 Jenson Button McLaren 1:48.599 1.300
    14 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:48.637 1.338
    15 Sergio Perez Force India 1:49.078 1.779
    16 Adrian Sutil Sauber 1:49.115 1.816
    17 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:49.485 2.186
    18 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:50.149 2.850
    19 Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:50.376 3.077
    20 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham 1:50.939 3.640
    21 Max Chilton Marussia 1:51.221 3.922
    22 Marcus Ericsson Caterham 1:51.598 4.299
    eom

  • Alonso leads the way in Singapore: Free Practice 1

    Fernando Alonso edged Lewis Hamilton to claim the fastest time of the first practice session of the Singapore Grand Prix weekend, with Nico Rosberg third.

    The Ferrari driver’s lap of 1m49.056s was good enough to beat Hamilton by 0.122 seconds, two hundredths of a second further back.

    Rosberg topped the times in the early parts of the opening P130 tyre phase but his time was soon beaten by Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel and Alonso. Once the extra set of primes had been handed back, Rosberg once more leapt to the top of the table, this time two seconds than his previous best.

    It wasn’t good enough to keep him there, however, and first he was beaten by his Mercedes team-mate, who remained the faster of the two Mercedes for the remainder of the session. Hamilton, too, was demoted when, with 30 minutes remaining in the session, Alonso found an extra reservoir of pace to jump ahead of the Mercedes.

    Behind the top three, Vettel took fourth spot, ahead of the team-mate Daniel Ricciardo. The Renault-powered team are expected to mount a challenge around the streets of Singapore thanks to the better downforce of the RB10, but Vettel ended the first session eight tenths of a second adrift of Alonso’s benchmark. Ricciardo was juts over a tenth of a second further back. Vettel also suffered a suspected power unit failure at the end of the session.

    The sixth fastest time was recorded by Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne, the Frenchman finishing over 0.2s ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, who hit trouble at the end of the session when his front brakes caught fire in pit lane.

    Jenson Button finished eight for McLaren ahead of the second Toro Rosso of Daniil Kvyat and 10th-placed Sergio Perez of Force India.

    2014 Singapore Grand Prix – Practice 1 Times
    1 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:49.056 16
    2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:49.178 0.122 23
    3 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:49.205 0.149 24
    4 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1:49.874 0.818 27
    5 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:50.122 1.066 21
    6 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:50.539 1.483 11
    7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:50.783 1.727 19
    8 Jenson Button McLaren 1:50.922 1.866 21
    9 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:50.990 1.934 26
    10 Sergio Perez Force India 1:51.131 2.075 23
    11 Kevin Magnussen McLaren 1:51.217 2.161 24
    12 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:51.604 2.548 23
    13 Felipe Massa Williams 1:51.953 2.897 20
    14 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:52.125 3.069 25
    15 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:52.146 3.090 19
    16 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:52.171 3.115 15
    17 Adrian Sutil Sauber 1:52.237 3.181 22
    18 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:52.906 3.850 26
    19 Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:54.113 5.057 15
    20 Marcus Ericsson Caterham 1:54.475 5.419 26
    21 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham 1:54.607 5.551 21
    22 Max Chilton Marussia 1:55.170 6.114 17

  • Statement from Ferrari Chairman Luca di Montezemolo

    “Ferrari will have an important role to play within the FCA Group in the upcoming
    flotation on Wall Street. This will open up a new and different phase which I feel
    should be spearheaded by the CEO of the Group.

    This is the end of an era and so I have decided to leave my position as Chairman after
    almost 23 marvellous and unforgettable years in addition to those spent at Enzo
    Ferrari’s side in the 1970s.

    My thanks, first and foremost, to the exceptional Ferrari women and men from the
    factory, the offices, the race tracks and the markets across the world. They were the
    real architects of the company’s spectacular growth, its many unforgettable victories
    and its transformation into one of the world’s strongest brands.

    A warm farewell and my thanks also to all of our technical and commercial partners,
    our dealers across the globe and, most particularly, the clients and collectors whose
    passion I so wholeheartedly share.

    But my thoughts go also to our fans who have always supported us with great
    enthusiasm especially through the Scuderia’s most difficult moments.
    Ferrari is the most wonderful company in the world. It has been a great privilege and
    honour to have been its leader. I devoted all of my enthusiasm and commitment to it
    over the years. Together with my family, it was, and continues to be, the most
    important thing in my life.

    I wish the shareholders, particularly Piero Ferrari who has always been by my side,
    and everyone in the Company the many more years of success that Ferrari deserves.”
    Maranello, 10th September 2014.

    eom/Ferrari Press Release

     

  • Ferrari win LMGTE pro class at an epic 24 Hours of Le Mans

    The 82nd 24 Hours of Le Mans is likely to be classed as an epic race, with multiple leaders, incidents and passes from the moment that Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso waved the French Tricoleur to when the chequered flag was shown at the finish. 

    Played out in mostly fine weather – apart from two short and sharp rain showers on Saturday afternoon, the results of which had a big effect on the outcome of certain competitors’ race – more than 263,000 spectators enjoyed this edition of the world’s most famous sports car race.

    Reigning World GTE Champion driver Gianmaria Bruni, his team mates Toni Vilander and Giancarlo Fisichella were in a class of their own in the LMGTE Pro class, bringing the No.51 Ferrari 458 Italia home for their second class win in three years.  The victory wasn’t achieved, however, without a huge battle for supremacy throughout the race, with the second-placed No.73 Corvette of Garcia-Magnussen-Taylor and the No.92 Porsche Team Manthey 911 RSR of Frédéric Makowiecki, Richard Lietz and Marco Holzer in third being among the contenders to push the Italian team hard.  The victory extends Bruni and Vilander’s lead at the top of classification for the World Endurance Cup for GT Drivers.

    The inter-class battles began right from the start of the race, and the Ferrari had to fight hard against the American muscle cars as well as Porsches at certain points and, primarily, the No.97 Aston Martin Vantage of Darren Turner, Stefan Mücke and Bruno Senna.  The British and Italian marques fought relentlessly for the lead in class, and everyone was as disappointed as Aston Martin when a power steering hose leak caused the battle to be curtailed.

    The Ferrari racing team has achieved another piece of Ferrari racing history this weekend at Le Mans 24 hours.

    Antonello Coletta Antonello Coletta (Head of Ferrari Racing Activity) (Head of Ferrari Racing Activity) (Head of Ferrari Racing Activity):“This is an incredible victory, a great success for Ferrari. The team did a fantastic job to see us take the win again in the LMGTE Pro class. Once again, we were able to demonstrate the excellent performance of our cars in such a demanding race and it’s particularly significant as the cars are closely based on road cars. Congratulations to all the guys in the Italian AF Corse team who took us to this amazing result, which also brings valuable points in the FIA WEC championship. This event also saw a record set in terms of the number of Prancing Horse cars and drivers taking part.”

    “I was delighted and very pleased,” was Giancarlo Fisichella’s first reaction after crossing the line. “Winning again at the Le Mans circuit, in the most prestigious endurance race in motor sport the 24 Hours, is amazing. All of this was made possible thanks to the incredible work of the guys at AF Corse. And of course, I also want to thank Ferrari for creating the basis of this win.”

    Gimmi Bruni shared the great feeling saying:“This was a great day for me. Winning a Gimmi Bruni gain with Ferrari and seeing so many people under the podium is always a unique experience. It was a long drawn out race and right up to a few hours before the finish, the battle for victory was still on, with some decidedly strong opponents. I would like to thank my two team-mates Giancarlo and Toni and all the guys in the AF Corse team with whom together we took this win.”

    Toni Vilander said: “I have to confess the pleasure of t Toni Vilander his great win has yet to sink in. It was a long race, hard fought from the start and so for the moment, I feel really tired. Our 458 Italia GT2 proved to be very quick and reliable. I want to thank Amato Ferrari and all the guys in his team for having given us what we needed to once again take the win in the most important GT race, the Le Mans 24 Hours.”

    Amato Ferrari (AF Corse team owner) said: “It is immensely satisfying to have once again secured this important win with Ferrari and I want to thank Antonello Coletta, the head of Ferrari Racing Activity for their vital contribution. I am doubly pleased because we also got a great third place in the LMGTE Am category with the crew of Perez-Companc, Cioci and Venturi.”

    eom/Ferrari press release with inputs from FIA

    Ferrari team wins at Le Mans 24 Hours on Sunday. An FIA WEC image
    Ferrari team wins at Le Mans 24 Hours on Sunday. An FIA WEC image

  • Fernando Alonso fastest in rain-hit second practice session

    Monaco, 22 May 2014: Fernando Alonso set the fastest time of a rain-hit second practice session, the Ferrari driver making the most of a small window of dry-tyre running in the final ten minutes of the session.

    Alonso delivered a best lap of 1:18.482 to beat Hamilton by 0.4. Sebastian Vettel was third for Red Bull Racing ahead of Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne who impressed in the changeable conditions.

    Prior to the start of the session heavy rain fell across the Principality and with heavy cloud cover over Monaco during the 90 minutes of practice a dry line didn’t form until late in the session and as such teams limited running.

    For the first half of the session Valtteri Bottas’ tentative lap remained the only one on the board. But when conditions began to improve late on, drivers began to contemplate taking to the circuit.

    And when a dry line appeared Vergne was the first to attempt a lap on dry tyres. Kimi Raikkonen too attempted a lap but the Finn’s progress was slow and he soon limped back to the pits with a problem that prevented any more running. He finished the session at the foot of the timesheet.

    In the final minutes, with Vergne settling into fourth, fifth place went to Bottas with the Force Indias of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg finished in sixth and seventh respectively. Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen were eighth and tenth respectively, the McLaren pair split by Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo.

    2014 Monaco Grand Prix – Free Practice 2 Times 
    1 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:18.482
    2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:18.901 0.419
    3 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1:19.017 0.535
    4 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:19.351 0.869
    5 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:19.421 0.939
    6 Sergio Perez Force India 1:19.668 1.186
    7 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:19.712 1.230
    8 Jenson Button McLaren 1:19.721 1.239
    9 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:19.779 1.297
    10 Kevin Magnussen McLaren 1:20.230 1.748
    11 Felipe Massa Williams 1:20.394 1.912
    12 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:20.622 2.140
    13 Adrian Sutil Sauber 1:20.811 2.329
    14 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:20.977 2.495
    15 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:21.467 2.985
    16 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:21.700 3.218
    17 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham 1:21.924 3.442
    18 Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:21.937 3.455
    19 Max Chilton Marussia 1:22.683 4.201
    20 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:22.862 4.380
    21 Marcus Ericsson Caterham 1:23.164 4.682
    22 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:45.509 27.027

  • Sydney turns red for the first edition of the Ferrari Festival

    Sydney, 13 April 2014: For three days Sydney has been awash with a sea of red as the first ever Ferrari Racing Days to be held in Australia commanded the attention of the city. Thousands of people travelled from across the country to experience the three-day festival, held at the iconic Sydney Motorsport Park, the home of motor sport in Sydney.

    Kicking off the festivities on Friday evening was the official ‘Welcome Party’ at one of the city’s most beautiful locations, the Sydney Opera House where local and international visitors where treated to a visual spectacular, as the marquee provided a back-lit glow of the famous Ferrari red onto the House, the colour du jour for the next 72 hours.

    Saturday morning however marked the true foray into the festivities, as a cavalcade of 150 Ferraris travelled en masse from Glebe Island, across the Sydney Harbour Bridge onto the Sydney Motorsport Park. Marking the official kick off to Australia’s first Ferrari Racing Days, the largest gathering of Ferraris in Australia ever, the cavalcade totaled an impressive $70 million worth of new and classic Ferraris.

    On-track, visitors saw Max Blancardi take the top podium spot on Saturday and Sunday for the Pirelli Pro classification, while Philippe Prette took the honours in the Pirelli classification for experienced drivers and David Tjiptobiantoro took first place in the Coppa Shell race for both races.

    While the first-ever leg of the Ferrari Asia Pacific Challenge was a key highlight of the weekend, one of the stand out moments was when the Ferrari F1 car took to the track with F1 test driver Marc Gene behind the wheel. Gene commanded the full attention of thousands when he reached over 300km/h on a flying lap.

    Throughout the weekend visitors on-site were treated to the full ‘Festival of Ferrari’ with five showroom spaces in full operation, with Ferrari fans taking in the Supercar Chronicles and Classiche displays, featuring the stunning LaFerrari and the $5 Million 166MM. The kids were buzzing as they experienced an array of Ferrari opportunities including the ‘Podium Finish’ picture stand in the F1 Kids Zone and a chance to get behind the virtual wheel, with the F1 simulators kept busy all weekend.

    Eom/Ferrari release