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Tag: formula 1
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We have fond memories at Spa and we look forward to Sunday: Andrew Green of Sahara Force India
TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – John ILEY (Caterham), Andrew GREEN (Force India), Dave GREENWOOD (Marussia), Robert SMEDLEY (Williams), Adrian NEWEY (Red Bull Racing), James ALLISON (Ferrari)PRESS CONFERENCE
John, can I start with you? Obviously, a new driver today, tell us how did he go and where do you go from here?
John ILEY: I think Andre’s been… possibly he should have been in Formula One 10 years ago. I think he subsequently proved in world sportscars and Japanese single-seaters that he would have been more than vindicated in being Formula One. He’s well known to the owners and the management of the team. They rely on good feedback and we’re basically getting his experience and feedback on the car during this weekend and he’s done a very solid job for us so far. It’s important to stress though that Kamui remains part of the Caterham team and they both worked together in the simulator in the week prior to Spa and gave us good assistance for this weekend.
Obviously there have been a lot of changes and restructuring, what’s it been like for you on the shop floor as it were, on the technical side of the team? Do you know, for example, what resources you have to work with going forward, that kind of thing?
JI: It has been a very, very challenging time. The last six weeks, if you include shutdown, has been a transitional period for us. We were struggling a lot prior to that period. We were non stop; we were unable to do what we wanted to do. Fundamentally, the new owners have come in and it’s been difficult on the human side – restructuring and various things – but you can see this weekend we’re starting to add performance and do upgrades to the car that frankly we’ve not been able to do for a long time. We’ve been wanting to do them, we know what we need to do, but we haven’t been able to do them. So whether it’s aero, mechanical, car characteristics, even some powertrain things, you’re starting to see this weekend the beginning of that process.
Thanks very much. Dave, sort of same first question to you as to John really. You had Alex Rossi in the car for FP1, Max Chilton back in the car for FP2. How did you as an operations group of engineers deal with that and what happens next in your situation?
Dave GREENWOOD: Well, clearly we had quite a lot going on yesterday as a team and I’m quite proud of the way we handled it and the guys in the garage have ultimately been very professional and got on with everything thrown at them during the course of yesterday and today. They’ve done a fantastic job. In terms of the drivers, all three have done a good job today. Alex’s first run out in FP1 went quite well for him. We subsequently had a few issues on the car in between the two sessions, which probably hampered him a little bit in terms of his overall performance. But he got right in touch with where the problems were and gave good feedback. From that point, overall it’s been a good day and credit to all three drivers and the team for dealing with what we’ve been thrown at.
Jules Bianchi said here yesterday in the drivers’ press conference that the target isn’t to try to catch Sauber as far as he’s concerned, it’s to stay ahead of Caterham, but what’s your objective?
DG: Well, catching Sauber obviously, but that’s going to be a little bit more tricky. I prefer to look forwards at all times. That’s not to say that we don’t respect Caterham. They occasionally get closer and we need to keep watching what they are doing as well. They’ve clearly got some upgrades on the car this weekend, but so have we. We’ve managed to come here with a few mechanical parts that actually have paid massive dividends to us today.
Thank you very much. Coming to you Rob: one of the notable features as far as Williams is concerned is that most, if not all, of the developments you’ve brought to the car have worked. Can you tell us a bit about what’s gone on to create that situation and your part in it?
Robert SMEDLEY: I think that we’ve had changes in process if you like, where we’ve looked at correlation between wind tunnel and track, how we improve the accuracy of the measurements that we take here at the track and the process of that whole thing. I think that being able to have accurate feedback from the start of the year from the track back to the tunnel, not only as to what the parts are doing in terms of correlation but also in terms of what we want from a car – not only from total downforce but from car characteristics as well, in high, medium and low speed – has ultimately paid dividends. That correlation has thankfully been very good, because even when you do all your homework you can’t take it for granted that it will be. But I think that the work that has been done by the people back in Grove in the wind tunnel, by the operations group in terms of the accuracy of the aero measurements. It’s an ongoing process. We’re still improving it and we’ve still got a way to go with it, but at the minute it’s working well and I think we’re quite pleased with it.
A few points have gone begging along the way, but on the other side pit stop times have improved a lot. Looking at the whole picture then, how far off being at the level you want to be are you operationally?
RS: Miles away! It’s an ongoing process. I’ve said before it’s an ongoing process. The team is on a bit of a journey. We’ve already made inroads as to where we need to get to but if the team wants to make good on its ambitions of eventually winning races and then going on to win world championships again, as it has done in the past, then we still have a way to go. But the good thing is, the encouraging thing is that there has been progress made already and the team, as a group of people, there’s great synergy there. Everybody’s on board with it and everybody is pushing forward with it and every new target that we set, however big or small, the team gets on with it and gets it done and that’s really encouraging.
Thanks for that. Coming to Andrew Green. Your team has always been a strong performer around this Spa-Francorchamps circuit, what do your prospects look like after today do you think?
Andrew GREEN: Yeah, we’ve always had fond memories of Spa, we’ve had some good results in the past. I think as a general rule we always look forward to Sunday more than we do Saturday. I think we’ve got a good race car and I think it will be the same here. I think come Sunday afternoon, regardless of where we are on the grid, we can score some good points and keep the pressure on the people around us. That will be the aim for this weekend.
We talked to Rob there about development steps. With your team it’s not quite so clear to read as the season’s gone on. What’s been happening behind the scene and in your mind are we reaching an important point in that Constructors’ battle with McLaren – only one point in it?
AG: Yeah, it’s going to be a tough with the likes of McLaren; they’ve got a huge amount of resource compared to us. We’ve obviously got next year’s car to think about, which is looming. But yeah, we’ll keep the fight with them as long as we can. It only needs a couple of good results and we can stay ahead of them. Like I said before, I think definitely on a Sunday afternoon we can race well. I think it’s going to be difficult, no doubt about it, but we’ll see what we can do.
Thank you. James, can you spell out for us what you and Marco Mattiacci have identified as the things that need to be done to make Ferrari win again?
James ALLISON: I don’t think Ferrari’s ever lacked for resource, it’s never lacked for quality of people, quality of drivers, so we have many of the key parts of being a successful team. What all of us are trying to do, and Marco is spearheading that, is to identify the areas where we are not championship-leading material and to put them right. Most of those weaknesses are organisational and a tendency to have worked a bit short-term in the past. That’s the main area where we are trying to make sure that we bring out the best from all the manifest good things that are there at Maranello.
You’ve worked with both the drivers that you’re with at the moment quite a lot through your career. Obviously what Fernando is doing this season is fairly clear but can you spell out or put your finger on what’s characterised Kimi’s season so far?
JA: Well, I would say that we have had a car that is not especially easy to drive – that’s certainly true. Particularly in Kimi’s case he doesn’t much like the front end of the car and Kimi’s a driver who likes to have a very strong and predictable front end to the car and then he’s able to make the most of the skill he had. That isn’t something he’s found yet in Ferrari and we haven’t yet provided for him. That’s, I think, what we’re looking at.
Thanks for that. And finally, Adrian: where are we now on the evolution of your new role with Red Bull Racing? For example, have you been involved in the early laying out of the 2015 car?
Adrian NEWEY: Very much so. At the moment I’m still full time at Red Bull Racing and will be certainly over the coming months as we finalise the general layout of the car, so it won’t be until Christmas that I start to really get into new roles let’s say. So at the moment it’s full concentrated.
Obviously two wins so far this season, the only team to break Mercedes’ stranglehold as far as that is concerned. What do you think are the chances of adding to that tally in the remaining races? Which ones do you target as being possibilities?
AN: Possibly Singapore we have a chance. Difficult to forecast. I think it goes without saying that the circuits that have the shorter straights are the ones that suit us best.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) James, as Fernando and Kimi, they have different kinds of driving style. Is it possible to build a car that suits both of them next year?
JA: Yeah, I think so. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t, put it that way. Any driver responds to more downforce, any driver responds to more horsepower, any driver responds to more mechanical grip. We’re putting all of those things into next year’s car and I hope that both the drivers will be satisfied with the outcome.
Q: (Ted Kravitz – Sky Sports) Adrian, are you looking outside for somebody to take on your sort day-to-day chief technical officer responsibilities at the track – a sort of de facto technical director – or do you think you’ve got that talent within the team, that you can bring someone in to take over your responsibilities in terms of making those big technical calls at the track?
AN: I think that at the track in Paul Monaghan, ‘Rocky’ [Guillaume Roquelin] and Simon [Rennie] we have three very able technical people and I see no reason why they shouldn’t be able to take those decisions, no.
Q: (Edd Straw – Autosport) Question for James and Adrian please. Formula One cars aren’t as quick as they once were, not just looking at the very short term past but ten years ago. Is that right for Formula One? Should grand prix racing always be about ever-faster cars or is it OK that it’s about the fastest car within set regulatory parameters?
JA: I have to say I don’t spend a lot of time worrying about where they sit in the grand scheme of things. I’m mainly concerned with how fast mine is relative to these guys’. I think it’s important that Formula One cars are fast, it’s important that they look dramatic on the track, that the best drivers in the world find them exciting and challenging to drive. I think all those things are true. It’s easy to design a set of regulations that would allow them to be massively faster – but I think what we have at the moment is fast. I think it looks dramatic, I think it requires skill from the drivers and I think it’s producing fairly good races. So I don’t really see any big problems in that regard.
Adrian, do you share that view?
AN: I think lap time per se is not necessarily the be-all and end-all. I think, as James says, the critical thing is the cars should look fast and, if you’re sitting their watching television that it should be “wow, those guys are superheroes, I couldn’t do that.” If I’m honest I don’t think the current cars really do that. I think If you watch MotoGP then you certainly have that feeling, that those guys are superheroes, whereas the current crop of cars, their power-to-weight is not fantastic. Going back to the 1300hp in qualifying Formula One cars that were quite a bit lighter than they are now. Then those things, you had to bolt on some fairly special appendages to drive them in qualifying. I think the fact that young drivers – no disrespect to them at all – that they can jump in and instantly be at the front, or competitive certainly, is an interesting one. I don’t think there’s an easy answer but I think it would be good to make the cars a bit more difficult to drive in truth. I think the extra torque of the new engines is good in that respect – although there’s obviously lots of ways of producing more torque. I think the way the old regulations had gone was very much with a small capacity, high-revving normally aspirated is bound to be low on torque. That’s my personal opinion.
Q: (Rodrigo Franca – VIP Magazine) Question for James, Adrian and Rob please. Formula One technology is being used to improve performance and product innovations, not only in our road cars but also in our lifestyle and day-by-day. How important is this work in your teams? I know McLaren, for example, has McLaren Applied Technologies. I would like to know if Ferrari, Red Bull and Williams have this kind of work.
RS: Obviously with Williams we have the Advanced Engineering arm of the business. There are some crossovers to electrical hybrid power there. The vision of Williams at least is that, although you’ve got two standalone businesses, there should be cross-pollination of that knowledge between the two and there’s absolutely no reason why we shouldn’t do that. As to the wider range of a car manufacturer as Ferrari are, I’ll leave that up to James to answer – but certainly the vision of our business is that we grow both the Formula One team and the Advanced Engineering group together and we’re able to exploit both of those businesses from a knowledge point of view.
Adrian, is that important to Red Bull, and is that what you’ll be heading on to after this?
AN: I think to use the technology that’s developed in Formula One in other avenues, other applications is without doubt an interesting one and one which other teams have demonstrated the value of in all sorts of diverse areas. So, yes, it’s something that Red Bull are certainly looking at.
James, from a Ferrari perspective.
JA: From a Ferrari perspective, I’m fortunate that the F1 part of Ferrari is right next door to the road car part of Ferrari and that we have the opportunity to mix our ideas and we benefit a reasonable amount from some of the work they’ve done over the last few years and they certainly continue to benefit form some of our know how. It’s just a relationship that works both ways and long may it continue.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) There’s a possibility that by 2016 Formula One will be racing on low profile tyres – be that 18, 19 or 20-inch. From your own teams’ perspectives and also given the relatively short timeframe, is it the right move that F1 should be making? Possibly from 2016 onwards?
JI: I think from my point of view, the aero aspects, as it’s close to my heart, is one of the key areas. The simulation of tyres in the wind tunnel and CFD environments has come on an awful long way and I think that’s a key aspect for us to adjust or adapt the F1 platform to that. It also begs the question, the legality areas around the much greater space within that rim and how that is managed going forwards. Going back quite a way now, it was brake duct area but it is now very much more aero performance area. So, how those regulations are drawn up and how quickly that’s implemented, and how soon we know enough information to come up with a good, solid platform around that format I think would be key.
Andrew?
AG: I think the key for us is just making sure we have enough time to adapt to the new regulation. It’s not something that we can move forward with over a short term. It needs quite a lot of development, a lot of work. Like John said, windtunnel; mechanical systems. It’s reasonable change, more than happy to go in that direction, to be honest it would suit the way that we’re set up, so yeah, more than happy.
Dave?
DG: Yeah, I think as engineers we’ll be very interested in it from the point of view of it being the next challenge, and everybody likes to be involved in changes like that in terms of just the engineering challenge, if you like and definitely as a team, so long as it’s properly managed when it’s introduced and not rushed in, then I’m sure with the right timescales and delivery of certain parts of the product from the supplier – whoever that is – at the right times then I’m sure we’ll all get used to it and it’ll be another step forward for Formula One.
James, your thoughts, and any thoughts on appropriate timescales?
JA: Well, we’re halfway through 2014, we’re talking about something to be introduced in 2017, so there’s certainly adequate time. The tender process for deciding on the new tyre supply is something the FIA looks after and have been taking the trouble to consult among the teams for what type of consideration should be built into the timing of that so that we can manage the engineering of it. So I think there is enough time and as long as the various inputs from the teams are heeded, it will all be fine – and it will be exciting and fun for us to have a change in the geometry.
Adrian?
AN: I agree with all those points. The only thing I’d add though is that I think, and maybe I’m ignorant of what’s been going on, but as far as I understand, then the only reason for proposing this is to suit… to make it look more like the road tyres that that particular tyre manufacturer makes. So it’s not being done for technical reasons, it’s not being done for performance reasons, it’s being done purely for styling and commercial reasons and I think that to me does not seem the right reason to make a technical change.
Rob?
RS: I think I’d probably second what Adrian just said to be honest. We have to really question the reasons for doing that, and what does it actually bring to the sport? As an engineering exercise then all the teams are big enough to be able to just get on with it. It’s not a great engineering challenge, it is an engineering challenge as most things in Formula One are – the question that Formula One has to ask itself is: what are the reasons that we’re doing it for, and are they the right reasons, does it bring anything to the sport?
Q: (Sven Heidinger – Sport Woche) Question for James. You had huge problems with the wind tunnel in the past, you revamped it. Are you happy with how it works and are you using the one in Cologne any more?
JA: No, we’ve not been using the one in Cologne for really quite some time and all the development work we’ve done on this year’s car, the in-season development has been done in our facility at Maranello. We’ve been pretty happy with the output from that. The stuff that we’ve been saying should be an improvement has been an improvement and that’s the main thing you want from a wind tunnel.
Q: (Nicolas Carpentiers – F1i.com) We are at the stage of the season where there is a balance to find between development and preparation of next year’s car. I would like to know if the reduction of the time you are allowed to spend in the wind tunnel, and CFD –so the 30:30 rule – will force you to switch on the preparation of next year’s cars sooner than previous years.
AN: No, I don’t think so. It means you’ve got to be more careful in the way that you use your runs, be it CFD or wind tunnel, but I think in terms of timing, that’s much more led by the manufacturing and design deadlines than it is by the aerodynamic research.
Rob, is it in any way a leveller between the bigger teams and the smaller teams?
RS: I’m not sure. Possibly is the answer but I couldn’t give you a definitive response. Possibly it helps the smaller and midfield teams with slightly less resource. And I think that’s the whole point of it, isn’t it? How effective it is, I think you’ve got to look at the spread of the grid over the last years with the old ratio and look at it with this one and see whether or not there’s been a change.
Q: (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas) To all of you: I would like to know how difficult you find it – or not – to explain this Formula One to a teenager of 16 or 17 years old?
DG: Well, most 16- or 17-year-old teenagers I’ve met are pretty bright so I’m sure they know plenty about technologies and they know the resource of the internet to go and look where you can find out about it. I think definitely as a sport, what we’ve done this year with the power trains is complicated for sure but that’s the way the future of hybrid road cars is going to go so clearly this is the technology of the future so from that point of view, then yes, we do need to make sure we explain to them but I’m not so sure we do as slightly older people. I’m sure they’ve already worked it out for themselves and they use the internet to find out exactly what it means.
Q: James, you have teenage children. Do you have trouble explaining it to them?
JA: I think probably the only 16-year-old people I talk to are my children so I don’t have a very broad span of experience there and they’ve had to put up with me all their lives so they’re probably better equipped than many to cope with any explanation I might give. But it’s not that complicated. We fill the things up with fuel and then we race them as hard as we can and then someone finishes in front and hopefully it’s fun along the way.
AG: I don’t tend to have an issue explaining to anybody to be honest. I explained it to my parents and they understand it and I think that’s harder than explaining to a 16-year-old who can probably Google most of it and understand it in a few seconds. So no, I don’t think so.
JI: I think there might be an opportunity to look at how Formula One’s portrayed maybe in your areas more, going forward, whether we’re attracting the youth market as much as we could be in an ever increasing market place for attention and opportunity for them to be looking at other things but so long as I think we provide a good show and something really interesting and exciting for them to watch, and I think that’s something going back to an earlier point, I think Formula One in any format needs to be exciting as well as being fast. MotoGP was mentioned and I think the racing and overtaking in MotoGP is probably one of the big attractions so I think giving entertainment and something that they want to watch in the right places where they want to watch it is probably key.
AN: I think that in terms of complication then I think it’s not a problem, in fact I think it makes it more interesting for the people who start to get into it. If you look at something like American football then despite having lived in America for a few years, I still have no clue how that works but a lot of people take the trouble to learn that and to become very involved in it and I think it’s a similar thing that very often the sports that are most rewarding to spectate are the ones where you take the trouble to understand the complications of how it works.
RS: Yeah, I personally don’t see the technology that we have at the minute with the power units as being particularly complicated to understand anyway, and especially not for 16/17-year-olds. I think that they are more apt and more equipped than anyone to understand that level of technology. Again, what you have to question is what does it bring to Formula One? What does it bring to the man who’s sat at home, not the 16/17-year-old but all age ranges, when they sit at home on a Sunday afternoon and they watch it, does it make it more exciting, does it bring a bigger audience, does it create a bigger interest? And if it does all of that then it’s good for the sport, because that’s what we have to do because they are, at the end of the day, the people who keep the sport alive.
AN: Just to interrupt, I think possibly we’re all talking in slightly different ways because in truth, when you watch it, then you’ve got all sorts of aspects: you’ve got the tyres, DRS, how the power units are used, etc, etc and if you really want to get into it, you’ve got break down which bits do you think are involving to understand and which bits, as Rob said, are probably actually in truth not relevant to the satisfaction of watching the show and I think clearly the tyres are working well this year, in terms of the degradation and the opportunities that offers with different strategies and so forth. So many other bits – how the K is used around a lap, is that really important or not? – I think that’s more debatable.
Q: (Angelique Belokopytov – AutoDigest) Adrian, as far as I know, you will leave Red Bull but in doing so, will you accept that Mercedes is stronger?
AN: Well, I’m not leaving Red Bull the family. I will be spending much less time – much less involvement in the Formula One team. I think our cars have been competitive in certain aspects this year, as we showed in Hungary. But to chose when you step away from something, based purely on where you are at the time, is a dangerous game. I made this decision some time ago. Yes, of course it would be nice if we were about to win the championship this year but that’s not going to happen but that’s the nature of timing. I’m looking forward to what I’m going to be doing next, not worrying about even where I am at the moment, if you like. It’s the future that’s the exciting bit.
Q: (Oana Popiou – F1 Zone) Adrian, will this weekend just be an exercise in damage limitation for Red Bull?
AN: Unfortunately, probably yes is the answer. I think it’s unlikely that it will be… certainly unless weather plays a part in the race and we manage to get that right or unless we are plain lucky, then given a sort of normal dry race, it seems very unlikely that we will be battling for the win, so as you put it, at that point it becomes damage limitation.
Q: (Ziv Knoll – F1i.com) Adrian, we’ve been talking about 16-year-olds; what are your thoughts about having a 16-year-old in the Red Bull stable?
AN: I don’t think age per se is particularly important. Over the years we’ve seen a huge spread in driver ages: Fernando is still one of the very top drivers but has been in it for many seasons. I think Nigel Mansell was 40 years old when he won. So Formula One as a sport – where actually drivers, providing their motivation, if you like, remains, can have a very long career so you could argue that when they enter is not that important. I think what is a much more concerning question personally is the effect on education that happens for these drivers to get there at that age. A lot of the drivers in karting and in junior formulas frankly just aren’t going to school. They don’t go to school at all. The parents then hide behind that by saying that they have private tutors but I think in many cases – not all, I’m sure, but in many cases – that’s actually a complete sham and I think if you asked a lot of those kids to sit their baccalaureat or GCSEs or whatever it might be that the results would tell a fairly depressing story which means that the few kids that do get through, fantastic. Being at a motor race and so forth, the kids do learn in a different way – not an academic way but they learn in other ways – but I think for many of those children that don’t quite make the grade, they have spent all that time not going to school, not having a proper tuition and then what happens to them afterwards is altogether another question. It’s something which motor racing as an industry urgently needs to look at, because personally I think we’re being irresponsible allowing that.
Q: (Alberto Antonini – Autosprint) James, as you’re probably aware, there were some remarks in the press from a former member of the team, saying that the power unit had to be compromised to accommodate the taper of the rear end and there is no adequate tail-off in terms of aero downforce. What is your comment on this?
JA: Well, I wasn’t actually at Ferrari during any of that period and I would prefer not to comment on that. What I would rather do is to look forward to what we’re trying to do at the moment which is to make sure that we’re getting absolutely the best possible result out of our vehicle, taking our power unit and our chassis development and trying to bind the two together in a way that gives us a good result. There are any number of compromises that need to be made when you’re making these cars and my focus is on trying to make the right ones together with our team for 2015.
Q: (Craig Scarborough – Scarbs F1) Adrian and James: looking at the development path between now and going into next year, you’ve got relatively stable aero regulations but you’ve all got the potential to reappraise your power unit layout. What opportunities have you got in apportioning your resource development between this year and looking into next year?
AN: Well in our case, well obviously we have an engine partner in Renault and therefore the division is very clear. We make requests in terms of what we’d like from the engine architecture point of view and how that would best install in the chassis. Renault are able to accommodate some of those requests – some of them. Others they say no they can’t do that in the time available or they don’t believe it’s the right thing to do anyway.
JA: Well, the aero regs are stable but they are also still young, relatively young. I would guess that there’s as much to be had out of – in the time between the ’14 and ’15 cars – there’s as much to be had out of making the aero better as there is out of making the power unit better and we’re throwing as much weight as we can behind both those things.
eom/uploaded from FIA transcript by Christina
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Hamilton takes over at the top in FP2: Belgian GP
Hamilton tops FP2 at the Belgian GP on Friday. A Mercedes AMG Petronas team image Briton quickest on option tyres ahead of team-mate Rosberg. Alonso repeats third place from morning session.
Lewis Hamilton took over at the top of the Belgian Grand Prix timesheets, outpacing Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg by more than half a second as the German failed to deliver a clean run on Pirelli’s soft compound tyre.
Hamilton set the pace on the medium Pirelli tyre during the long run phase of the session before and then posted a 1:49.189 when he made the switch to the quicker soft tyre.
Rosberg couldn’t match his team-mate’s pace, with his own run on the option tyre hampered by a couple of small errors. He ended the session 0.604 down on his team-mate.
As in the morning, Fernando Alonso finished closest to the Mercedes pair, the Ferrari driver finishing 0.741s off the pace set by Hamilton.
After finishing 15th in the morning session, Williams’ Felipe Massa improved dramatically in the afternoon, climbing to fourth by the end of the session with a time of 1:50.327. 1.1s down on Hamilton’s time.
Valterri Bottas was sixth in the sister Williams car, the Finn finishing just under two tenths adrift of McLaren’s Jenson Button.
Daniil Kvyat was seventh for Toro Rosso, ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo, who along with Kvyat and Alonso were the only non-Mercedes-powered men in the top 10. Ricciardo ended the session 1.788s off the pace. Kevin Magnussen in the second McLaren was ninth, ahead of Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg.
Ricciardo’s team-mate Sebastian Vettel did not take any part in the session, having been sidelined in FP1 by an exhaust issue which necessitated a change of power unit.
Also failing to set a time in the afternoon session was Pastor Maldonado. The Lotus driver’s session ended on his second lap out when, on the run down to Pouhon, he lost control of his car and hit the barriers. With debris strewn across the track the red flags came out.
The red flags came out again later in the session – this time for Esteban Gutierrez. The Sauber driver completed just seven laps in the afternoon before spinning at Blanchimont and then stopping out on circuit. The Mexican reported that the stop had been caused by a gearbox issue.
2014 Belgian Grand Prix – Free Practice 2 Times
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:49.189 26
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:49.793 0.604 28
3 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:49.930 0.741 19
4 Felipe Massa Williams 1:50.327 1.138 24
5 Jenson Button McLaren 1:50.659 1.470 31
6 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:50.677 1.488 26
7 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:50.725 1.536 25
8 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:50.977 1.788 16
9 Kevin Magnussen McLaren 1:51.074 1.885 31
10 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:51.077 1.888 26
11 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:51.383 2.194 26
12 Adrian Sutil Sauber 1:51.450 2.261 29
13 Sergio Perez Force India 1:51.573 2.384 28
14 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:52.196 3.007 25
15 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:52.234 3.045 18
16 Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:52.776 3.587 23
17 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:53.955 4.766 7
18 Max Chilton Marussia 1:54.040 4.851 18
19 Marcus Ericsson Caterham 1:54.050 4.861 30
20 Andre Lotterer Caterham 1:54.093 4.904 24
21 Pastor Maldonado Lotus No time 2
22 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing No time 0 -
Pure talent can also make one an F1 driver, not just money, feel top F1 drivers at Belgian GP press meet
DRIVERS – Jules BIANCHI (Marussia), Daniil KVYAT (Toro Rosso), Romain GROSJEAN (Lotus), Felipe MASSA (Williams), Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes), Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing)
PRESS CONFERENCE
Can I start with a question to all of you? We had news this week that next season there will be a 17-year-old driver on the grid. Can I have your reaction from a driver’s point of view? And maybe we’ll start with Felipe.
Felipe MASSA: Definitely, he’s a very quick driver. He shows talent in a go-kart, in Formula 3, winning many races; I think he’s second in the championship. It’s his opportunity. First of all, I think it’s great that teams are still interested in the talent of the driver and not the money and I think that’s really positive, it’s good for the sport in general. I’m happy for that. Seventeen is a little bit young! For sure, we need to wait and see how he’s going to perform in his first year. I think the most important thing is that he has the talent; I mean he’s quick. I hope he can be clever as well, to learn everything from Formula One. There’s a lot that be will learn and I hope he’s quick enough to learn and to be consistent in Formula One and that he can stay, not just staying for one or two years and not doing what he’s supposed to do. Until now he shows great talent and I hope he can show the same in Formula One, so I’m happy.
Nico, your thoughts?
Nico ROSBERG: The same as Felipe said. All the journalists are always asking ‘is it only with money that you can get to the sport?’ and things like that. It’s great to see that if you have the talent and you really deserve it… there have been many examples recently that have made it into F1. That’s important, that’s good. Of course, it’s very young but I think we’ll be OK.
Daniel, your thoughts on this?
Daniel RICCIARDO: Not much more to add. It makes me feel a bit old! Definitely the Red Bull Junior Team and the programme for me worked a treat; helped me get to where I am. Obviously it’s good they’re now helping out Max. Obviously the age is the question mark but the talent, as Felipe said, is there. It’s going to be interesting but, yeah, it’s good.
Romain, what about you? Like the three guys before you, you all started in your 20s, what about starting so young in Formula One?
Romain GROSJEAN: It’s a wonderful opportunity that he has and it’s something quite special to come to Formula One. As everyone says, he has shown great talent early in his career but he will have a lot of homework to do to learn everything about racing in higher categories – tyre deg, speed, a lot of things. But it’s good to see fresh blood, but a bit sad for JEV.
Jules?
Jules BIANCHI: Obviously as everyone says it’s a great opportunity for him and it’s great that some teams still invest in young drivers like that. I’m sure he will be doing well. He’s really quick; we saw that in Formula 3. He won everything in go-karts. I’m also sad for JEV, I hope he will find something else but this is how it is now.
And Daniil, you’ll be driving alongside him next year, you started at 19 this year, what are your thoughts?
Daniil KVYAT: Yeah well, I think we will see how it is going to be. I think we’re going to be team-mates. I think it’s not as complicated as it looks to all of you. For the rest you just come and see what you can achieve. For every driver it’s the same. It’s not my job to analyse all the things deeply and so we will just wait and see.
What’s not as complicated as it looks?
DK: I think any driver can come to Formula One, can adapt, can get up to speed. I think everybody is coming to Formula One for some reason – because he has talent, because he has been successful somewhere; there is always a reason why someone comes to Formula One but then there are many different things that make the difference, so it’s as simple as that.
Jules coming to you. Two classic tracks coming up: Spa and Monza the next two races. One of your relatives is in a photograph over here, driving a Ferrari from the past. But what are your feelings on racing here and the prospects for you and the team and are they pushing hard do you feel?
JB: It’s special for me to be in Belgium and here in Spa because of my family; my great uncle won here in GT cars and I feel a bit like being at home again, so I’m good here, I’m happy. We’re trying to push hard with the team, trying to stay ahead of Caterham. This is still our target, so we’ll try to achieve that. For sure, it won’t be easy because they are pushing hard as well. They are not giving up. That’s why we will keep fighting. We will have to see how it will be in Spa. Monza will be another challenge but at the moment I’m focused on this race.
Romain, you said you’re reviewing you options for 2015. Obviously Lotus have secured Mercedes engines for next year. What are the next steps for you and the team?
RG: I think we still have to understand and analyse a bit more this difficult season. There were many reasons why we started on the back foot but I’m sure we can still learn a lot. The idea is to prepare the future as good as it can be for Lotus. They have been designing wonderful cars in the last two to four years and I don’t see reason that it’s not the case again in the future. Hopefully things get better but so far we still need to do our job, understand things and what we can learn from that difficult season.
Daniil, coming to you. As this Daniel was saying, just picking up on his points from earlier on, you know with the Toro Rosso programme you’ve got around about two years to prove yourself and obviously in Jean-Eric’s he moves on. Tell us, when you’re in that situation, does it feel reassuring to know that you’ve got those two years, you’ve got that time to prove yourself or does it add to the pressure?
DK: It all depends on how you take it. Obviously you can take it from two sides. Obviously you have to think that you’ve been given the chance and you just try to use it as good as you can. You cannot really be thinking too much about there is some limited time about it, but yeah, so I’ve been given a chance and I’m just doing my best all of the time, trying to make the best out of it. There’s no special trick.
Felipe, on paper this race and the next one should be two of your strongest tracks this season. What are you and Williams hoping to take out of these two races, particularly coming off the back of the strong result you had last time out? What’s your minimum expectation?
FM: Well, I hope it can be more than just on the paper. I hope we can show good performance on the track in this race and in Monza. But I would say maybe most of the races we can be competitive. Maybe Singapore will be the most difficult one but I would say that at most of the tracks we can be there, we can be competitive. I hope that we can show that and I hope that we can be… still growing, still improving, like we did from the first race until now. It would be great to have a very competitive car and very good race here and Monza but also in the second part of the season. We’re still fighting. We know how important is the points. We’re going to fight; we’re going to do everything we can to be competitive.
Daniel coming to you. The first win obviously is always special. The second one, four races later, suggests it’s becoming something of a habit. Tell us about your confidence level at the moment and how you see the second half of the season for yourself and Red Bull in terms of opportunities and objectives?
DR: Yeah, just keep building on the first half of the year we had. It was really nice to get a couple of wins in the first 11 races, so yeah, for confidence, for motivation, for myself and the team it’s obviously really high. Spa and Monza are circuits which on paper aren’t circuits that are going to suit us the most but we’re coming in with a bit of momentum so we’ll try to pull off a good result here and in Monza and then we’ve got a few tracks that will really come to us after that. So not much changes, just to keep building as always, keep learning and keep enjoying it. That’s important: that’s what I’m doing this year, I really am loving it, and just let that continue.
Q: Nico, a number of talking points coming after the Hungary race, going into this one, one of them the team saying they’re not going to bother giving calls to either driver to let the other one through, even if there are strategy considerations. What were your own learnings from Hungary and what were you taking on from here?
NR: I gather it was a bit of a mess afterwards, after Hungary, so it’s best I don’t add too much I think and I continue to not give too many details. In general of course we discussed it after the race – just because it’s important to review a situation like that and know how to move forward. Now we’re moving forward but of course, I have also learned various things from that race which I will try to adapt for the future.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Mike Doodson – GPWeek) To follow up the first question you were asked today. All six of you were racing as teenagers – one of you actually in Formula One – but a couple of you had to take a holiday from Formula One for a while. My question is, to all six of you, do you think each of you would have been ready for Formula One at the age of 17?
Nico – didn’t you test an F1 car at 17 or 18?
NR: Yeah, I tested an F1 car at 17. Driving-wise I would have been ready, I feel, but the limitation at the time was physically. That was a big limitation because at the time it was still V10, big downforce – I’m not sure if more downforce than now but the tyre grip was higher, y’know? That was the big limitation at the time for me as, a 17-year-old. But nowadays it is a little bit easier physically, definitely, so that will help.
Dan, I think you were 21 when you came in – would you have been ready at 17?
DR: Let’s say… no. I think I was still racing karts at 16 and then, yeah, I hadn’t driven many formula cars when I was 17, I think it was maybe my first season, so then I didn’t feel ready, no. Obviously my path was probably a bit different as well. I grew up a bit later.
Romain, similar story for you?
RG: 17 I was competing in my first races in single-seater. It was a Formula Renault 1.6l and no, I wasn’t ready.
Daniil?
DK: It’s an interesting question. I think I was racing in [FR] 2.0 at 17 and, if I have to come back again and do some pole laps that I did that year, maybe I couldn’t even do them again. In terms of pure performance, pure driving it’s a very similar driver: me now and me back at 17. But, many factors, of course form mental side and physical side. But, like I said, everybody’s different, so we just have to wait and see.
Jules, you have a similar kart background to Max but you put a few years in, in the junior categories. What do you think, where would you have been at 17?
JB: I was not ready at 17. It was my first year in Formula Renault 2.0, so I cannot say I was ready, for sure. I was doing mistakes there. So, if you still do mistakes in the previous categories, you cannot be ready for Formula One.
Felipe, you were 20, I think, when you made your Formula One debut.
FM: Yeah, I think when I started, when I drove first time the race car, I was 15. It was a Formula Chevrolet in Brazil. I think it was never a problem to be quick, it was a problem to understand – especially in Formula One. I was 20, I think it was a little bit too early for me. I really agree with what Nico says. Physically, at that time, it was a lot more difficult than now. Now I would say the race if very easy from the physical point of view, which is easier for a young driver to learn and understand – but at that time it was a lot more difficult from the physical point of view.
Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Coming to what Felipe and Nico just said, also Lewis said in last few days that he feels this F1 is too easy for him, he would like to come out of the car exhausted, pushed to the limits. With these new cars it’s not the same any more. Would you also like it to be more difficult, more challenging, this Formula One?
NR: In the first instance we’re here for the fans, yeah? So we need to do great racing. At the moment we’re seeing great racing, so that’s a big positive. That’s the first and most important thing – and then we need to work on the sound, which seems to be quite important to the fans, which I can understand. So those are the sort of things that are important. Then, from a driver’s point of view, yes, in an ideal world… I mean it’s great as it is, that’s a fact, but maybe it was a little bit better if I could do quali laps every lap with the tyres lasting forever, just proper qualifying every single lap in the race and harder physically. All of that would make it slightly better, yes, but I don’t really think about that because it is the way it is now, and that’s great, the way it is now.
Daniel, do you agree with Lewis’ point of view?
DR: Yeah, I think not much more to say. The racing is the first thing that needs to be good and it is. And maybe we should sweat a little bit more than we are. We’ll see.
Felipe, you come from an era when you did sweat quite a lot. What are your thoughts?
FM: I agree 100 per cent with what Nico said but the physical, to be harder or easier is related first of all to the refuelling. This is the first point. And on that time we had a lot more grip on the tyres as well. I think that’s the two things that make it more difficult to drive the car. To have more grip, and when we had the refuelling to have maximum 60kg in the car, 55kg all the time. It was a lot quicker, most of the laps. That’s why it was a lot more difficult from a physical point of view.
Jules, this is the only F1 you’ve known. What are your thoughts? Would you like it to be a little bit more physically challenging?
JB: Yeah, it would be good. I have no problem with that, for sure we are not like completely dead at the end of a race. We still have energy. So maybe it would be better for the people outside to see that when we get out of the car, we fall down, I don’t know what they like but, for sure, it’s not like this at the moment, so if we can improve this, yeah, let’s do it.
Your perspective, Daniil?
DK: Well, I testing last year’s car so I can rely on that a little bit. For me it wouldn’t be a problem, to be honest, to drive last year’s car in terms of the physical point and speed-wise as well. But in the end I don’t think the cars of this year are easier to drive than last year’s cars in terms of just driving because we lost some downforce, we have to fight. I’m pretty sure this Eau Rouge corner here is going to be quite interesting and challenging again. It’s been so easy flat the last few years. I don’t think it’s going to be so easy now. It’s always some negative and some positive sides everywhere. Everybody has a different opinion in the end, so it’s hard to make everyone happy.
Romain, your view.
RG: Yeah, well I think the first point is that the last few races have been really cool. I could watch, unfortunately, a bit of these grands prix. But on the other hand, don’t get us wrong, the cars are not easy to drive. They’re still performing very well. And yes, physically they are easy, but there are other challenges. I think it’s still a tough job. I remember my time in 2009, and already then the cars were physically harder to drive. I would like more: the quicker it goes the more we enjoy it. We are racing drivers. If you give us 200 more horsepower and more grip, we will take it – but what we want is to really have good races.
Q: (Ian Parkes – Press Association) Nico, you mentioned earlier about the talks that followed the Hungarian Grand Prix regarding the team orders situation. First of all, were those talks resolved to your satisfaction? Secondly, you also mentioned about learning things but you didn’t really expand. Are you able to expand at all on what you did learn, going forward now for the rest of the season in your battle with Lewis?
NR: Yeah, sorry, I don’t really want to go into much more detail than that. As I said, we sat down, discussed it all. That is important after such an occasion, such a situation, and then review, if we need to change something for the future and that’s what we’ve done.
Q: (Thomas Bastin – La Derniere Heure) To the most experienced – probably Felipe and Nico – we are now in the second part of the season with the new cars. Do you think that for the fans they are more spectacular to see and are they also more difficult to drive?
FM: Well, I think it is definitely very nice for the fans. They see a lot of overtaking but maybe it’s the noise. The noise is really something that makes it more spectacular, like we had in the past. But the fights, they can see. Every race there are always big fights between the cars. I think it’s really interesting for the people. The noise is definitely something that we’re missing.
Q: And your thoughts, Nico, particularly picking up on the point that Daniil made a moment ago, that with much less rear end downforce this year, corners like Eau Rouge can be much more of a challenge, right?
NR: No, it’s that we have a little bit less grip in some places, but it’s not really… It depends on which car, of course. I think to watch from the outside it’s still awesome to watch these cars. They’re still the fastest cars that there are in terms of corner speed and things like that and just the sound… I understand that we need to keep on working on that and hopefully we can find a solution. Maybe we just put some big loudspeakers on the car. That’s the direction of electric cars in the future anyways.
Q: (Paulo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Nico, I’ve see that you’ve been pretty active the last few weeks, hunting for pizza in Napoli, having parties in Ischia or Capri. How badly did you need this break for you in such a hard and tense season, fighting every second weekend for victory?
NR: Needed, not really. After Hungary I wanted the next race to be the next day and just continue like that so it’s not like I needed a holiday but of course it was there and it was great. We had a great time with friends and family. I find it quite good that there’s the two weeks where everything is shut down because otherwise, even on a day off, there’s still e-mails with the team and this and that coming through and like that there is nothing. In those two weeks there’s really nothing happening and it’s quite a good thing for everybody.
Q: (Angelique Belokopytov – AutoDigest) To all of you: you know every driver has his beliefs to have luck during a race, someone wears white shirts, another doesn’t shave, so what about you? What will you do or not do before a race?
JB: Well, there’s one that I won’t tell you, there’s one that I can tell you: that I always get into the car from the right side. That’s it.
DK: There’s no luck, I think.
RG: I used to have superstitions when I was younger and once I forgot things that I used as superstitions and I won the race, so I thought that was useless but there are certainly routines: I always put on my suit the same way, I always jump in the car from the right hand side and with the seatbelts always the same way. It’s just the fact that you get ready to race.
DR: It’s an excuse for something to go wrong! It’s nonsense.
NR: I keep my underwear from qualifying if I’m on pole for the race! And they’re not allowed to be washed either.
FM: Yeah, me too! Not to be on pole, you know, because otherwise I have just one this time. If I start the weekend in a good way and I use the same on Saturday and Sunday. I also go inside the car from the left side, to put my right foot first in the car. So many things that don’t change anything but you just feel well.
Q: (Oana Popoiu – F1 Zone) Daniil, your team will have the youngest line-up next season; could that be a bit of a disadvantage when it comes to developing the car?
DK: To be honest, this season is still going on for me and there are eight races to go and I’m still not thinking about that. I think, as I said, getting up to speed is not such a big problem so then there are many many different details and factors that decide what’s going to happen for the future of the driver, whoever he is, so I think obviously it’s good, getting as young as possible to Formula One because then you have plenty of time but it’s all up to how you can develop. At the moment, I really don’t know how to say. I don’t think it’s going to be a big problem. We will develop OK.
Q: (Daniel Johnson – The Daily Telegraph) Nico, you said at the beginning, when James asked you, that there was a bit of a mess after the last race, given what happened with the team orders. Is that why you seem fairly reluctant to elaborate – which is fair enough – but is that why you’re reluctant to explain more about it?
NR: No, sorry, let me make that more precise. I gathered that there was a bit of a mess in the media and so it wouldn’t be useful for me to give another extra bit to that at the moment, it’s better to let it all calm down. That’s what I meant.
FM: You fight, after the race, with…?
Q: (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas) For Jules Bianchi: there are a lot of people saying that you deserve a better car than the Marussia. What are your expectations for next year? Do you feel the same?
JB: Well, I’m trying to do my best now while I’m with Marussia because it’s the same I’m with at the moment and I’m happy to be with Marussia, for sure. They gave me the chance to get a Formula One drive so I can’t complain. Obviously my manager and Ferrari has to work out what I will do next year, it’s still not sure yet so we’ll have to wait and see but for me, at the moment, I just want to finish the championship well. I will try to do as we started, stay in front of Caterham and then we will see.
eom/FIA transcript
FIA press conference on Thursday ahead of the Belgian GP on Sunday. An FIA image -
The McLaren story for the Spa-Francorchamps after summer break!
2014 Belgian Grand Prix – A preview from the McLaren team:
#BelgianGP
#McLarenLIVE
Formula 1 returns to action this weekend at one of the world’s most challenging circuits. Spa-Francorchamps, situated deep in Belgium’s Ardennes forest, is the ultimate high-speed test of man and machine; it’s one of the highlights of the season.
Spa-Francorchamps facts & stats
Spa-Francorchamps has been synonymous with Formula 1 for more than 60 years. The track featured in the inaugural Formula 1 World Championship in 1950, but its current design bears little resemblance to the original 14km layout. The modern track is much shorter (7.004km) and safer, but it’s still breathtakingly quick: the average speed is 230km/h.
The track is the longest on the calendar – more than twice the length of F1’s shortest circuit in Monte-Carlo – and it’s littered with challenging corners and undulations. The pre-requisites to success are threefold: commitment by the driver, an aerodynamically efficient car, and a powerful engine – more than 70 per cent of the lap is spent at full throttle.
Races at Spa are rarely straightforward owing to the fickle climate in the Ardennes. Heavy rain prior to the start of the 1997 race resulted in F1’s first ever Safety Car start and it can often be raining on one part of the track and dry on another.
Should this year’s race be dry, the teams will use Pirelli’s Soft and Medium slick tyre compounds, as they did in Hungary last time out. The Medium (Prime) rubber is likely to be the most effective over a race stint because its composition and construction are made for the high cornering loads experienced at Spa, while the Soft (Option) compound will be better-suited to one-lap performance during qualifying.
McLaren has an enviable record at the Belgian Grand Prix. In 1968, the team won its first world championship grand prix at Spa-Francorchamps, and it now has a total of 14 wins and 11 poles on Belgian soil. Jenson Button is a previous winner at Spa and his rookie team-mate Kevin Magnussen is hoping for a repeat of his previous successes at the track in Formula 3 and Renault World Series 3.5.
Spa-Francorchamps – the stats you need
Race distance 44 laps (308.052km/191.415 miles)
Start time
14:00 (local)/12:00 (GMT) Circuit length 7.004km/4.352 miles
2013 winner
Sebastian Vettel 2013 pole
Lewis Hamilton Lap record
Kimi Raikkonen (McLaren MP4-19) 1m45.108s (238.931km/h) First championship race 1950
What makes it special The fast and flowing nature of the track, plus the numerous overtaking opportunities around the lap
Wins from pole position 15
Track abrasiveness Low/medium
Pirelli tyre choice Soft (Option)/Medium (Prime)
2013 winning strategy Two stops
Fuel consumption High – 72% of the lap is spent at full throttle
Brakewear Low. There are eight braking events around the lap, of which only two are heavy braking areas
Weather
Unpredictable. It can be raining on one section of the circuit and sunny on another DRS zones Two – one on the start-finish straight, the other on the approach to Turn Five, at the end of the Kemmel Straight
Turbo effect Low, due to few hard accelerations from low-speed
Safety Car likelihood Historically high. There’s an 80 per cent chance of a Safety Car
Grid advantage If you start on the racing line, you have an advantage, but it’s a very short run to the first corner
Pitlane time It takes 21s to complete a stop, which is close to average for the season
McLaren at the Belgian Grand Prix
Wins
14 (1968, 1974, 1982, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1999, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2010, 2012) Poles
11 (1968, 1974, 1982, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1999, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2010, 2012) Fastest laps 8 (1974, 1982, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1999, 2004, 2010)
2014 drivers’ championship
1 Nico Rosberg 202
2 Lewis Hamilton 191
3 Daniel Ricciardo 131
4 Fernando Alonso 115
5 Valtteri Bottas 95
6 Sebastian Vettel 88
7 Nico Hulkenberg 69
8 Jenson Button 60
9 Felipe Massa 40
10 Kevin Magnussen 37
11 Sergio Perez 29
12 Kimi Raikkonen 27
13 Jean-Eric Vergne 11
14 Romain Grosjean 8
15 Daniil Kvyat 6
16 Jules Bianchi 2
2014 constructors’ championship
1 Mercedes 393
2 Red Bull Racing 219
3 Ferrari
142 4 Williams 135
5 Force India 98
6 McLaren-Mercedes 97
7 Toro Rosso 17
8 Lotus
8 9 Marussia 2
Jenson Button
Age
34 (January 19 1980) GPs
258 Wins
15 Poles
8 FLs
8 “I go into the second half of the season feeling incredibly refreshed and positive.
“There’s no better place to resume the season than at Spa-Francorchamps. It’s one of the best circuits in the world, and it’s a place where driving a Formula 1 car always feels incredible. As ever, I’m really looking forward to driving out of the pits for the first time on Friday morning, and just throwing the car into some of the greatest corners in motorsport.
“I had one of my best weekends of the year at Spa last year, qualifying and finishing sixth after running closely with a bunch of cars through the whole race. It wasn’t my best finish of the year, but it was positive because I got the maximum out of the package we had, and was able to fight closely with a number of other drivers, which felt satisfying.
“Hopefully, there will be positives to take out of this weekend as well.”
Kevin Magnussen
Age 21 (October 5 1992)
GPs
11 Wins 0
Poles 0
FLs 0
“It’s felt like an incredibly long four weeks, and I really can’t wait to get back into the cockpit, particularly as we’re headed to Spa, one of the best drivers’ tracks in the world.
“I love Spa: I won there in British Formula 3 in 2011, and in Formula Renault 3.5 in both 2012 and ’13, and I just love the fast, flowing nature of the circuit. Hooking up a quick lap there during qualifying is just fantastic, because the track just flows from one corner to the next, and the car is so fast and assured that it almost feels effortless. It’s fantastic.
“I think the second half of this season will be incredibly important for us. We need to use these next eight races to assert ourselves, pushing our development strategy to the fore in order to first consolidate and then improve our positions in both the drivers’ and constructors’ championships.
“As a team, I know we are up for the challenge.”
Eric Boullier
Racing director, McLaren Mercedes
“We had a disappointing race in Hungary to send us into the summer break, but we’ve analysed the issues we encountered, and we believe we now understand what went wrong. More important, we all head to Belgium feeling positive and refreshed, and incredibly keen to get back to work.
“The first half of the season has shown signs of both promise and disappointment, but, through it all, Jenson and Kevin have each driven some particularly inspired races, made very few mistakes and always extracted the maximum from the package. Equally, the team has worked hard at both the factory and the racetrack to improve performance – and we’re now starting to see those returns.
“Spa and Monza are tracks where every team runs a unique downforce package, so it won’t be until Singapore – where we resume with a more conventional set-up – that we’ll get a clearer read on our progress, but I think we have reasons to be optimistic. The operational changes we’ve implemented over the course of the season have taken time to bed-in, but I think we’ll certainly see a more pronounced upswing in performance over these final eight races of the year.”
eom/McLaren release
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Sahara Force India is up for a big fight: Nico Hulkenberg
Budapest, 18 Aug 2014: Nico Hülkenberg, the Sahara Force India Driver, looks forward to the challenge of Spa-Francorchamps at the Belgian Grand Prix as the F1 bandwagon moves to the second half of the F1 season after the summer break.Here are some excerpts from an interview:Nico, are you feeling refreshed after your holidays?“The summer break was a good opportunity to stay at home in Switzerland and relax. I’m feeling refreshed and ready to get back in the car because three weeks is a long time away from racing.”How are you approaching the second part of the season?“I’m feeling upbeat. There’s a lot at stake, but the team is up for the fight. We made the most of our opportunities in the first part of the season and we need to do the same in the final eight races. I expect a close battle in the championship until the end of the season so we need to be consistently picking up good points.”The Belgian Grand Prix is the next race – how much do you enjoy driving at Spa-Francorchamps?“It’s an amazing track and one of my favourites – as it probably is for everybody on the grid. There are so many iconic corners, such as Eau Rouge and Pouhon, which feel very special in a Formula One car. For the high and medium speed corners you obviously need downforce, but it’s a trade-off with top speed on the long straights so you need good efficiency.”eom -
I’ve worked hard for this podium, so it feels better than a win, gliding from the lead: Hamilton
DRIVERS Present at the FIA Post-race Press Conference at the Hungarian GP Formula One World Championship won by Red Bull Racing Daniel Ricciardo were:
1 – Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing); 2 – Fernando ALONSO (Ferrari); 3 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes).
PODIUM INTERVIEWS (Conducted by Martin Brundle)
Daniel, what brilliant drive, congratulations. How on earth does that feel?
Daniel RICCIARDO: It feels as good as the first, it really does. I don’t know, I mean the safety car at the beginning played to our advantage and then I thought when the second one came out it didn’t really help us but we managed to pull it off at the end, had to pass our way through and that was a lot of fun in the last few laps.
You rehearsed that big outbraking move on Fernando last weekend in Germany didn’t you? That was from a long way back.
DR: Yeah it was. I knew we had to make a move quick, the DRS was there and I know it could have been my only chance, so I took it and it paid off. Had to be done.
Fernando, you hung onto the tyres, you took a risk and you pushed like crazy. It’s your birthday on Tuesday and you nearly had the perfect birthday present. But second place, is it painful or are you satisfied anyway?
Fernando ALONSO: No, extremely satisfied. I think it has been a tough weekend – a tough season in general – so to get a podium is always a nice surprise let’s say. We took a gamble. We risked today just trying to get the victory. We went close but as I said, extremely proud of the team, extremely proud of the job we did today and very, very happy.
Rain for the start, safety cars, traffic, tyres degrading, you needed all your experience today. You needed everything.
FA: Well, today we have a combination of things that made the race difficult to execute, difficult to understand and we took our opportunities, our experience… we need some crazy races to get some podiums and today we took the opportunity.
Congratulations. Moving over to Lewis Hamilton: pit lane to podium! Lewis, that was also via the barriers of the second corner at the start. What a crazy afternoon you’ve had.
Lewis HAMILTON: It’s been a pretty crazy weekend.
When you got out of the car yesterday, you were disappointed you had that failure and you had mentally put yourself over 30 points behind Nico. You were convinced he would win and you would struggle to get into the top five and here you are on the podium.
LH: Absolutely. Big thank you to the team, they did a great job with the pit stops and with the strategy and I just tried my best. The car’s been fantastic – when it’s going. Obviously a lot of points lost, because we could have had a much better weekend but we have a lot of strengths to look forward to in future races.
You were really struggling in the beginning. You were talking about the diff, you were talking about a vibration, we heard you were getting very hot in your seat, you were clearly nursing a few issues as well?
LH: Yeah, to be honesty at the beginning obviously a mistake by myself, but the brakes were very, very cold and locked up and I was gone. Fortunately I got going again, thank the Lord I didn’t damage the car and you know damage limitation again.
One of your finest ever drives?
LH: I don’t think so.
Well, it look pretty damned good from where we were sitting and standing in the grandstands. So Daniel, we go into the summer break, although Spa will be with us soon enough, and you have a great victory. What are you going to do and what does it mean for you in the second half of the season?
DR: Well, definitely going to celebrate tonight and party for a few days I think, enjoy a bit of time off. Then just keep building on what I’ve done in the first six months and then look forward to Spa. Just firstly I want to thank the team, they’ve really let me settle in so well the first six months of the year and to grab two victories it’s honestly phenomenal, so really pleased. Got a few mates here this weekend, so we’ll party hard tonight.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Well done Daniel, that was an amazing victory, very exciting for all of us. You led early one and then obviously came back at the end. When did you think you had it won?
DR: I wasn’t sure. I knew that the first safety car played into our hands, we inherited the lead there, pitting for slicks and then, yeah, we were looking alright. Then we got the second safety car and obviously we pitted again for another set of tyres but we obviously lost the lead. I wasn’t really sure what was going to happen. We were stayed out pretty long that stint and we were leading a fair chunk of the mid-race but then I knew we weren’t going to get to the end on that set of tyres. So we had to pit again and that put me back out of position. Then we knew we had to overtake to win the race. Obviously we had the fresher tyres at our disposal but I knew it was going to be an exciting finish. I honestly had a scare in the middle of the race, for a few laps we had some issues. Basically, we were down on power and had to get a bit crazy on the switches, so I thought the race could have potentially ended early but we got through that and yeah, very happy.
What about overtaking these two, the overtaking manoeuvres in the last few laps?
DR: Yeah, obviously there was only one way to win it and that was to get around them. Obviously I had the advantage of the fresher tyres, but I knew they wouldn’t make it easy. I attempted Lewis into Turn Two, I think the previous lap or maybe two before I eventually got him, but just locked up and went too wide. I had a second crack at it and I still locked up but I managed to just hang on and just had a bit more grip around the outside there, so that was that. And then, once I got close enough to Fernando, I knew I just had to go for it. Being in that sandwich there, Lewis was still I think in the DRS zone, basically I couldn’t waste too much time and that’s what I did and then once I got the lead I knew it was just a couple of laps to go. Yeah, it feels good.
Well done. Fernando, coming to you. What does this mean to you? What does it mean to Ferrari, coming just before the break?
FA: It means a lot. Obviously we had some tough races recently and to see one Ferrari again on the podium is the best news. We took the opportunity after a difficult race, with a wet start and then some difficult decisions to make around the safety cars – if pitted or not. Unfortunately first safety car we went a little bit out of position, because the safety car went out and we were in the last corners so we missed the opportunity to stop. We stopped the lap afterwards and we lost a couple of places. We have to attack, we have to overtake a couple of people and just 10 laps to the end we were discussing if we stop and secure the fourth place that we really needed, those points, so just try to defend the position as much as you can and maybe finish in fourth, so at the end it’s the same result but at least you have the chance to fight for the podium positions. So we were in that position 10 laps to the end and at the end we chose the right thing – stay out, defend the position as best we could and secure this second place that, for sure, it tastes like a victory for us at the moment.
Yes, it’s interesting what Ferrari will take from this. Presumably you’ll still be telling them to push on other types of circuit, this was a very tight circuit obviously?
FA: We’ll see. This circuit didn’t change much our performance, our position but today we had a little bit of a chaotic race and we took every opportunity we had in front of us. I think cars from behind also had some issues, with Rosberg, with Hamilton yesterday, with the issues in qualifying, we get this position for free. We had Vettel, had a problem in the last corner today, the Force India. We had some cars out of the way let’s say and we took benefit from this and we secured some very strong points for the team.
And Lewis… I think a lot of people may be extremely surprised to see you here but it was a fantastic race for you. Did you ever think it was possible? You had some great wheel-to-wheel racing as well out there.
LH: I don’t know, I was just pushing as hard as I could to see if I could get as high as I could and yeah, I mean, a great result obviously.
What does this third place mean to you or are you still regretting yesterday?
LH: No, obviously this is damage limitation. On one hand I’m very grateful to have been able to get through with all the difficulties I’ve had this weekend, obviously yesterday and the first lap. I can’t believe how things have gone but to be able to come back through… the safety cars obviously helped quite a lot but naturally I look at the fact that I had the pace this weekend I lost quite a lot of opportunistic points. Still, we’re there in the fight, fortunately I stayed of my team-mate, which means I’m still there or thereabouts.
Q: How hard did he come back at you?
LH: Well, he was catching me at three seconds a lap, so it was very, very tough at the end. Fernando, and big congratulations to Daniel, drove fantastically well, both of them. It was very difficult to keep him behind, and also with Nico, and impossible to get past Fernando.
Q: Quite tricky, the last few laps?
LH: Yeah, definitely.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Ian Parkes – PA) Lewis, we heard on the radio the messages from the team asking you to pull over and let Nico by, around about lap 50-51. We can now see why you didn’t do it, otherwise you wouldn’t be on the podium. Can you just explain your thoughts at that particular time: what was going through your head? Why you didn’t let him by? And secondly, how do you feel the dynamic of your relationship will again maybe now change, following the summer break, with Nico?
LH: Well obviously I’m aware that when you’re… y’know I was in the same race as him. Just because he had one more stop than me doesn’t mean I wasn’t in the same race as him. And naturally if I’d have let him past, he would have had the opportunity to pull away and when he does pit, he’s going to come back and overtake me, so I was very, very shocked that the team would ask me to do that, to be able to better his position. But to be honest, he didn’t get close enough to overtake but I was never going to lift off and lost ground to Fernando or Daniel to enable him to have a better race. So that was a bit strange. But we’ve got a long way to go, moving forwards still and, as I said, thankfully I’m still in that battle, so, I hope we can come away stronger.
Q: (Kate Walker – Crash.net) I’ve got a question for you Lewis. Going into the summer break, psychologically, what does it mean for you, the fact that you started in the pitlane, your team-mate started on pole, and you’re here and he isn’t?
LH: Well that in itself is huge for me. I can’t express to you the pain that you feel when you have issues such as the issues that I’ve had in the last couple of races. It’s very, very difficult to swallow, and, to come back the next day and get the right balance between not attacking too much, and not making mistakes, all these different things. So many things that… obviously when you’re at the back you’re having to push way past the limit than perhaps you would off pole position or in the top five. So the fact that I’m managed to come back through obviously is a showing of just how great this car is and how great this team is – but ultimately we’ve worked,
It feels definitely much more satisfying when you come back through. And, as I said, to be ahead and to win the fight is really encouraging.Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / National Speedsport News) Two questions, one for Daniel: how does this compare to Canada? And for the other two guys, you’ve battled wheel to wheel with Daniel. Has he now established himself as a front-runner?
DR: It honestly does compare to Canada. Obviously the first victory is special but it definitely leaves you wanting more. I was just as hungry for this second one and it feels just as good – I won’t say better but you realise it a bit more so if feels like you can enjoy it a bit more. And when I crossed the line, everything felt a bit more real, so I guess I took in a bit more of this one today. So, yeah, it feels awesome. And I just want of obviously quickly thank the team as well. To have two victories in the first half of the season with them, obviously I owe a lot of that to them as well, for letting me just settle in, establish myself with them. They never put too much pressure on me, they let me roll into it as I liked – and I think that’s been the best balance for all of us. The results are showing and I’ll enjoy this one as much as Canada.
Fernando, your thoughts about Daniel – has he established himself?
FA: Yeah, definitely. I think he’s leading the champion team. That says all. He’s doing a fantastic job this year and now he had a few bottles. In Hockenheim I had a very fresh tyre which probably allowed me to pass with some advantage but even with that it was not easy. Today, I really didn’t have the tools to fight but I tried to do my best – but definitely, congratulations to him for today, for the whole championship and it’s going to be an interesting fight in the next couple of years.
Lewis?
LH: Yeah, as Fernando said, he’s been driving fantastically well from the beginning of the year. So, it’s not only now, it’s through the whole year he’s shown his capability and is going from strength to strength. Not only one of the nicest guys in the paddock but also one of the best drivers here, for sure.
Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriere della Sera) To Fernando, a couple of questions, first one: does this result show that something can still be taken from the car, and the second one, your birthday is approaching: we know what you wished last year – what about this year? What is the gift you would like for your birthday?
FA: hmmm… I think from this year’s car there are obviously some positive things and some negative things. Now, together with the team try to analyse what to carry on and what to change. Philosophy of the car probably is not perfectly right because we are not as competitive as wish, so there are things that we need to change but also there are things that are probably working OK. Well last year it was a very big understanding of what was my wish. Especially in Italy. So, this year, I will not wish anything about the car and I will wish a happy day to everyone in Italy.
Q: (Carlos Miquel Gomez – La Gaceta) Two questions for Fernando. Do you think that this race is one of the best races of your career? And the other thing, to hear the people cheering “Alonso, Alonso” is one of the reasons that you are following Formula One.
FA: I don’t think that is one of the best in my career. It has been a good and a complex race, let’s say, to execute and perform – because there were some difficulties around the race that make the 70 laps not straight forward. You just need to make decisions during the race and all of them were, together with the team, and I think we did the best we could. And then in the podiums, the support from the people has been amazing. Especially this two or three last seasons – which is a little bit strange when you think that I won the World Championship the last time in 2006, I suppose that my career should be going down and it’s going up. So that’s definitely something that keeps my motivation very high. I would like to give them something back in terms of trophy and in terms of titles. It’s what we’re working on.
Q: (Peter Vamosi – Vas Nepe Kiadoi) Daniel, when do you think your next victory will come? This year you are the only Mercedes destroyer. And do you still continue to develop this year’s car or will you focus on next year after Spa?
DR: I think – answering your second question quickly – I think we’re definitely going to keep trying to push for this year. There’s still a lot to play for. In any case, what we learn this year we can still take forward for next year so the team will keep pushing and I’m sure that now this second victory will keep the motivation strong within the team so that’s good. Sorry, what was the first question?
Q: (Peter Vamosi – Vas Nepe Kiadoi) This year you are the only Mercedes destroyer.
DR: Good. Someone’s got to do it.
Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Lewis, during this crazy race, what was the main difficulty for you, trying to find your way on the wet track at the beginning or resisting your teammate at the end?
LH: The beginning. The strange thing about starting from the pit lane is that you don’t get ready to go out. Your brakes are cold as you start, your tyres are brand new and obviously I experienced that into turn two. It was an interesting beginning to the race but I’m very very very grateful that I got through.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – UOL) To all of you: three different drivers, three different teams, three different power trains in the last race of this part of the season. Does it mean that in the second part of the season we will maybe see some more competition or did the circumstances of the race create this situation?
DR: I think today obviously the mixed conditions and the safety cars maybe helped out this order in terms of having three different manufacturers up here but I would like to think that it can create something for the second half. I think that in pure dry conditions, Mercedes still have a pretty significant edge on everyone else. Spa, it’s a pretty good place to start the second half of the year. Maybe the weather and the changes they have there could create something exciting but forgetting all the stats, obviously this is a great thing to see today: three teams, three manufacturers all up here. It’s refreshing, for sure.
FA: I agree with everything. Let’s hope so. I think the circumstances and the weather played a big factor today. The circuit characteristics also probably helped some of the power units that we are not on top of the game still, so let’s see at Spa. Monza is quite a tough challenge for us and that will give us some answers for the final part.
LH: I think it’s great for the fans to see. I’m sure today – people say it was a great race – that’s really what the fans want to see so I hope that continues for the future.
Q: (Istvan Simon – Auto Magazin) Lewis, the last time that things didn’t go according to plan was at Silverstone – apart from Hockenheim but that was a technical issue – when something messed up your qualifying, you said that you spent the night or I heard you spend the night with your mother, with your father, with your family, with your loved ones. What helped you through this time, in this dip? What did you do yesterday to prepare yourself for the race day?
LH: I had a pizza last night! I did, some pizza and some chocolate and watched a movie. Went to dinner with Niki yesterday and played a prank on him as it was his birthday and just tried to have some fun. We really have some of the greatest fans here and I think really some of my really close fans that I have here really got me through this weekend. I didn’t have my family here with me and it’s great to be able to turn to them and to be able to receive positive energy from them. I got a letter from one of my fans this morning and just the comments it had in it were really uplifting and really helped kick my mind into gear so I’m grateful for that.
Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Lewis, yesterday you were quoted as saying that what happened starts to go beyond bad luck. Could you please explain what exactly you meant by that and are you maybe starting to lose confidence in the team, because of the technical problems and now they asked you to move over for Nico who was on a different strategy?
LH: I don’t really remember… I mean yesterday after what was quite a difficult time, I came straight out and spoke to the media so I think fortunately I controlled myself quite well and I don’t really remember what kind of frame of mind I was in at that point but it’s the same as saying ‘it’s beyond a joke.’ Sometimes there’s one joke, there’s another joke and sometimes it gets a little bit past that and obviously with the faults that we’ve had on my car, it’s made it very difficult for this championship but as I said, fortunately I got some points today which means that I’m still there or thereabouts but the telling thing would be how my car performs through the rest of the year.
Q: (Carlos Jalife – Fastmag) Daniel, who do you side with: Fernando said a few races ago that the championship was basically over? It was for one of the guys from Mercedes. And Sebastian said that mathematically it was still on, so what’s your opinion on that? Is it over or is it not?
DR: I think there’s obviously a couple of opinions. When maybe some of us say it’s over, I think it’s just purely looking at the performance of Mercedes. On a normal weekend with normal conditions on pretty much all circuits, they’ve been dominant. I think days like today, with some changing conditions, some safety cars, it helps us keep our nose in the fight. I think Seb’s right in saying that until it’s mathematically over it isn’t. If you look at today, I closed in on the championship but realistically we’re still a long way off. It doesn’t really change the approach in any case. If we’re in it or not, we still race for the highest position possible and obviously as we saw today, the win was there for grabs and we took it. In any case, I don’t think it changes the approach for Sundays. I think with the Abu Dhabi system they’ve applied this year, it’s still going to be pretty open until late on in the season. We’ll just keep doing what we can.
Q: (Cristobal Rosaleny – Car and Driver) Fernando, how impressive or how surprising for you and for the team was having such an amazing pace with the soft tyres for such a long time with the degradation of the tyres. Was it really a surprise, a question of weather?
FA: Yeah, it was definitely a surprise. We found ourselves leading the race when Ricciardo and Massa pitted so we thought OK, let’s give the maximum for three or four laps just to open up a gap and stop see whether we are in the final part and then we realised that it was not so many laps to the end and it was a difficult call: stopping and keep pushing and finishing fourth or keep going and risking the cliff with the tyres and finishing fourth or fifth or whatever. So it was surprisingly good, it was surprisingly fast, the car in the race. I think the weather helped us with cooler temperatures and the track a little bit damp in the first part. Obviously you don’t stress the tyres as much as a completely hot track. I felt the car was good and it was definitely a surprise.
Q: (Oliver Barstow – Crash.net) Lewis, yourself and Nico have had the odd technical issue over the course of the year. Given the performance between you two is so close, how concerned are you that the title could be decided between you by who has the least technical issues?
LH: Ultimately it is a concern because I’ve stopped more than him. But as I said, there’s still quite a few races to go and it will be telling, dependent on how… Obviously I’ve got the pace, got the ability, just really whether or not the car holds up.
eom/FIA transcript
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Hamilton had to be content with a 3rd as Ricciardo wins thrilling race
Hungaroring, 27 July 2014: Daniel Ricciardo took a thrilling second win of the season at the Hungarian Grand Prix as Fernando Alonso clung on to a second despite worn tyres and Lewis Hamilton battled from a pit lane-start to the final podium position. Nico Rosberg, meanwhile finished fourth after starting from pole position.
Ricciardo’s
Daniel Ricciardo brings his Red Bull home for his 2nd win of the season and career at the Hungary GP. A Pirelli image victory was sealed in the final handful of laps as equipped with fresh tyres he closed in on then leader Fernando, who was bravely trying to stretch a set of soft tyres through a 32-lap stint to the chequered flag, and Hamilton, who had muscled his way through the pack after starting from the pit lane and suffering a spin in a wet start to the race.
Ricciardo eventually muscled his way past Hamilton on lap 67 with a brave move aournd the outside of Turn Two of the tight and twisting Hungaroring. At the start of the following lap he passed Alonso into Turn One and the victory was sealed.
“There was only one way to win it and that was to get around them,” he said afterwards. “Obviously I had the advantage of the fresher tyres, but I knew they wouldn’t make it easy. I attempted Lewis into Turn Two, I think the previous lap or maybe two before I eventually got him, but just locked up and went too wide. I had a second crack at it and I still locked up but I managed to just hang on and just had a bit more grip around the outside there, so that was that.
“Then, once I got close enough to Fernando, I knew I just had to go for it. Being in that sandwich there, Lewis was still I think in the DRS zone, basically I couldn’t waste too much time and that’s what I did and then once I got the lead I knew it was just a couple of laps to go. Yeah, it feels good.”
Due a rain shower in the hour before the start, the race began in damp conditions with the field on intermediate tyres. When the lights went out Rosberg got away well and maintained his lead as the field cautiously approached Turn One.
Sebastian Vettel, starting from the front row, lost out, though, being passed by third-on-the-grid Valtteri Bottas on the exit of the first corner and then by Alonso as they swept through Turn Two. The Red Bull driver was soon back up to third place, however, making his way past the Ferrari in Turn Five.
At the back Hamilton was spinning. He started from pitlane due to the first he suffered during qualifying on Saturday and as he set off after the pack lost control of the rear end of the car in Turn Two. He slid towards the barriers and was lucky not to sustain any damage. He rejoined and despite complaining of poor brake response and diff problems he began to make his way through the order, rising to 13th by lap eight, by which time Rosberg was nine seconds clear of Bottas at the front.
Rosberg’s lead wouldn’t last much longer, however. On the next lap Caterham’s Marcus Ericsson lost control in Turn Three and hit the barriers hard. The safety car was deployed and the field from P5 back came into the pits, with the majority taking on slick tyres.
On the following lap the front runners, who has passed the pit lane entrance when Ericsson crashed, made their visit to pit lane and by the time the order had settled behind the safety car, Ricciardo was leading on soft tyres, ahead of McLaren’s Jenson Button, who was on intermediate tyres. Behind them were Felipe Massa, Rosberg, Kevin Magnussen (who did not pit and was on his starting intermediate tyres), Jean-Eric Vergne, Vettel, Alonso, Nico Hulkenberg and in P10 Sergio Perez. Bottas, meanwhile, had dropped to 11th.
While the safety car was deployed, Lotus’ Romain Grosjean also crashed out at Turn 3, forcing a longer stay on track for the pace car.
The safety car came in at the end of lap 13 and Button, told to push as the rain would not be reappearing, immediately used the better grip he had in the greasy conditions to take the lead. He soon came into the pits, however, to discard the intermediate tyres that were quickly degrading.
Behind them the order was changing. Rosberg was going backwards. He was passed by Vergne and Alonso and by lap 17 was down in fifth place, with only Vettel between him and team-mate Hamilton in P7.
Ricciardo, meanwhile, was picking up his pace in the improving conditions. By lap 20 he was setting fastest laps and was five seconds clear of Massa. Alonso was inside DRS range of second-placed Massa and pressuring his former team-mate hard, while Vergne was three seconds down on the Ferrari. The major battle though was between Vettel and Hamilton. On lap 21, the gap was just 0.3s and Vettel was in defensive mode. Rosberg, though, wasn’t able to use the fight to his advantage, with the gap to Vettel continuing to hover around the one second mark.
Then on lap 23 the safety car made its second appearance as Sergio Perez lost control on the exit of the final turn and spun into the wall on the pit straight.
Leader Ricciardo pitted on lap 24 behind the safety car, the Red Bull driver taking on more soft tyres. Second-placed Massa and Bottas (P8) also pitted on the same lap, with both taking on medium tyres.
Massa rejoined in seventh behind Ricciardo, with Bottas in P13. The stops left Alonso in the lead from Vergne, with Rosberg third ahead of Vettel and fourth-placed Hamilton.
The safety car left the track at the end of lap 26 and Alonso held his lead. He soon began to pull Away from Vergne, with the Frenchman becoming something of a cork in a bottle. By lap 31 he was 3.3s down on Alonso and was holding Rosberg up.
Rosberg tried to change that on lap 33, pitting for soft tyres. On track Vettel almost replicated Perez’s crash, losing control on the kerb at the exit of the final corner. He narrowly missed the wall but dropped back to seventh. Ther German was then told to nurse his ageing tyres through to the end of the race.
Ahead, Hamilton managed to squeeze past Vergne at Turn Four around the outside, causing the Frenchman to pit soon after for new tyres. As those ahead of him began to pit, Ricciardo rose up the order and started to push, setting another fastest lap on lap 35 while in P3.
Rosberg, after his second stop, was now in P10 and 27 seconds down on second-placed Hamilton. The German was told that his title rival now had time to make his second stop and emerge in front, so Rosberg attempted to push.
He got past Bottas on lap 38 but his times were still slower than Hamilton’s and the Briton was quickly on the radio to tell his time he could remain on track at the same pace for a further couple of laps.
Hamilton finally pitted on lap 40m, taking on medium tyres. He emerged in P5 behind Alonso (who had made his second stop), but crucially, he was ahead of Rosberg.
At the front, Ricciardo led once more, from Massa and Kimi Raikkonen, who had only made one stop. The Finn was soon in for more soft tyres.
Massa made a third stop on lap 46 taking more mediums. That promoted to Alonso to second, 15.8s behind Ricciardo and 2.4s ahead of Hamilton.
The Mercedes driver was being pressured by his team-mate, however. Rosberg was just a second behind and the Briton was soon told not to hold the German up as they worked through different strategies.
After five laps of Rosberg not being to close enough in the turbulent air, Hamilton was asked to allow Rosberg past on the main straight on the next lap. The Briton refused, reasoning that to do so would cost him too much time.
Ricciardo, meanwhile, was concerned about the state of his rear tyres and though the team wanted the Australian to race the set until the end of the race, the Red Bull driver was unable to do and was forced to pit for soft tyres on lap 55. He rejoined in fourth place but armed with much greater pace than his riavls.
Mercedes then decided to shift things, bringing Rosberg in on lap 57 to take on used soft tyres. He emerged in P7 ahead Verttel and was told he needed to put in “a quali lap, every lap”.
The order, then, with 13 laps to go was Alonso, three seconds clear of Hamilton, with Ricciardo, on fresh tyres, a further 3.7s back. Bottas had risen to fourth ahead of Massa, Raikkonen and Rosberg, who was just half a second behind the Finn.
As Bottas pitted, Rosberg made his way past Raikkonen down the inside into Turn One on lap 60 take fifth place. He cleared Massa on the following lap but 22 seconds down on Ricciardo and with the front three determined to hang on to their fading tyres, could the German make up the ground.
The answer was yes. By lap 66 the German was just 11 seconds adrift of Ricciardo and lapping three seconds faster than the Red Bull.
The Australian was determined to make a bid for victory, however. After several failed attempts to pass the hyper-defensive Hamilton, Ricciardo eventually made a great move around the outside of Turn Two stick and then on lap 68 muscled past Alonso to claim the lead and his second grand prix win of the season.
Behind, Hamilton was pushing Alonso just as hard, attempting to claw a gap to the hard-charging Rosberg.
With two laps to go Rosberg was just 1.5s behind his team-mate. Robserg almost got past with a move around the outside on the final lap, but Hamilton moved very wide through the corner to deny his team-mate, who had to settle for fourth place.
Behind the top four, Massa took fifth for Williams ahead of Raikonen, Vettel, Bottas, Vergne and in P10 Jenson Button.
2014 Hungarian Grand Prix – Race Result
1 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 70 Winner 4 25
2 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 70 +5.2 secs 5 18
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 70 +5.8 secs 22 15
4 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 70 +6.3 secs 1 12
5 Felipe Massa Williams 70 +29.8 secs 6 10
6 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 70 +31.4 secs 16 8
7 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 70 +40.9 secs 2 6
8 Valtteri Bottas Williams 70 +41.3 secs 3 4
9 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso70 +58.5 secs 8 2
10 Jenson Button McLaren 70 +67.2 secs 7 1
11 Adrian Sutil Sauber 70 +68.1 secs 11
12 Kevin Magnussen McLaren 70 +78.4 secs 21
13 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 70 +84.0 secs 20
14 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 69 +1 Lap 10
15 Jules Bianchi Marussia 69 +1 Lap 15
16 Max Chilton Marussia 69 +1 Lap 18
Ret Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 32 +38 Laps 13
Ret Kamui Kobayashi Caterham 24 +46 Laps 17
Ret Sergio Perez Force India 22 +48 Laps 12
Ret Nico Hulkenberg Force India 14 +56 Laps 9
Ret Romain Grosjean Lotus 10 +60 Laps 14
Ret Marcus Ericsson Caterham 7 +63 Laps 19eom/FIA release
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Double retirement for the first time in the season for Sahara Force India
Flash:
Hungaroring, 27 July2014: Sahara Force India suffered their first double retirement of the F1 season this year at the Hungarian Grand Prix Formula One World Championship with both the cars crashing out of the race by lap 23 when Sergio Perez crashed into the concrete wall with Team Principal Vijay Mallya watching from the Pits on Sunday.Earlier, Nico Hulkenberg, who was one of the only two drivers who scored at every race this season along with Fernando Alonso of Ferrari, stopped at Turn 14 in his 16th lap. Replays showed that he actually made contact with his teammate Sergio Perez.
Force India are currently 5th in the Constructors’ Championship after 10 races.
ends
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Nico Rosberg grabs sixth pole of the season; Engine fire ends Hamilton’s qualifying hopes
Briton will start at the back of the field after fuel leak ends qualifying hopes. Vettel on front row ahead of Bottas.
Nico Rosberg took pole position during qualifying at the Hungaroring this afternoon, while a fuel leak saw Lewis eliminated in the Q1 phase without setting a time.
- Nico took his sixth pole position of the 2014 Formula One season – his third in a row after Great Britain and Germany
- MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS has now taken 10 pole positions from 11 races so far in 2014
- A fuel leak and subsequent fire for Lewis during his warm-up lap in Q1 prevented him from setting a time
- The team has yet to determine the extent of damage incurred by chassis F1 W05 Hybrid/05 and its component parts
- A full investigation will be conducted into the cause of the problem in parc ferme
Hungaroring, 26 July 2014: Nico Rosberg grabbed his sixth pole position of the season at the Hungaroring as an engine fire ended Lewis Hamilton’s qualifying hopes on his first out lap at the start of the session. Hamilton will start the race from the back of the grid.
Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel will line up alongside Hamilton on the front row, with Williams’ Valtteri Bottas this ahead of Daniel Ricciardo.
Just five minutes in Q1 Hamilt
Nico Roseberg on way to pole at the Hungarian GP on Saturday. A Mercedes AMG Petronas image on, who was nearing the end of his first out lap, contacted his pit wall to inform them that he had a fire on board his W05. He eventually pulled over at the edge of the pit lane entrance where his car was surrounded by marshals who quickly extinguished the blaze. Mercedes later reported that the engine fire had been caused by a fuel leak.
Hamilton will be joined there by Pastor Maldonado. The Venezuelan driver also failed to set a time during the session after his Lotus ground to a halt at turn 13 on his first out lap.
At the end of Q1 Jules Bianchi put in a great lap to demote Kimi Raikkonen to 17th place. Ferrari had been trying to get the Finn through the Q2 without resorting to the soft Pirelli tyres but the Finn’s medium-tyre best lap of 1:26.792 was not good enough to make it through as Bianchi beat him by six hundredths of a second
Also eliminated in the session, in order behind Raikkonen, Kamui Kobayashi, Max Chilton and Marcus Ericsson.
At the top of the Q1 order was Jean-Eric Vergne who set an impressive 1:24.941 on the soft tyre to finish ahead of Rosberg and Vergne’s Toro Rosso team-mate Daniil Kvyat.
Q2 was less incident-packed, with Rosberg easing through to Q3 in P1 ahead of Vettel, Ricciardo and Bottas.
In danger of being eliminated, however, was Nico Hulkenberg, the only remaining Force India following Sergio Perez’s early exit from the session with a hydraulic problem. With Daniil Kvyat in 10th place and three tenths ahead as the final runs began, Hulkenberg looked to be in trouble.
The German delivered a lap of 1:24.647 to dislodge the young Russian but the Force India driver still did not look secure as Kvyat set personal best times through the first two sectors. However the Russian made a mistake in the final sector, losing control under braking into Turn 12 and sliding off circuit.
The spin left him in 11th, ahead of Adrian Sutil, Perez, Esteban Gutierrez, Romain Grosjean and Bianchi.
Just a Q3 was about to begin, light rain began to fall in the pitlane. Teams rushed to get in a banker on slick tyres but the result was that Rosberg went wide at Turn One on his first run as he ran out of grip and moments later Magnussen lost control in the same spot. The Dane went straight on at the corner and slammed into the tyre barriers at high speed. He was unharmed and soon out of the wrecked car but the session had to be red-flagged as the tyre barrier was rebuilt.
When the session re-started Rosberg seized control, setting a benchmark of 1:23.236 ahead of Vettel and Bottas. The gap to the champion was only two tenths, however. Bottas improved with his final run, jumping into second place with a final lap of 1m23.354s, just 0.118s shy of Rosberg’s time.
Vettel, though, went one better, claiming provisional pole with a time 0.035s ahead of Rosberg’s.
There was no hint of celebration, however, as Rosberg was flying on his final lap. He was 0.2s up after the first sector and he continued to find time across the lap, eventually claiming his sixth pole of the year with a lap of 1:22.715, just under half a second clear of Vettel.
With Bottas third, four hundredths ahead of Ricciardo, fifth place went to Fernando Alonso. Felipe Massa was sixth in the second Williams, ahead of Button and Vergne. The final top-10 places went to Hulkenberg and the unfortunate Magnussen.
Nico Rosberg said: “That was a very tough Qualifying session today – especially with the rain at the beginning of Q3. It’s difficult to judge which braking point is best in changing conditions so I was a bit over the limit at times – especially into Turn One. I was lucky there, but in the end I nailed the last lap so I’m quite happy to be starting from pole. On the other side, it’s a real shame for Lewis and the team. I know how much it hurts to have technical failure where there is nothing you can do as a driver. We need to sort out the reliability issues but I know that tonight there will be great team effort to fix his car – just like in Hockenheim where the whole garage pitched in to help rebuild it. It takes away a bit of the excitement when there is no gloves-off battle because that’s what we are here for. But tomorrow is a long race and I’m sure that Lewis can get another good result.”
Lewis Hamilton was done in again by a break-down of the car due to a fuel leak. A disappointed Briton said: “I can’t really believe it today, there was just nothing I could do. There was an issue with the car as I was coming out of the second to last corner and then the engine just cut out. I thought we could get it back to the garage but then I looked in my mirrors and saw the whole rear end was on fire and that was it. Now we need to see what damage has been done to the car tonight and see whether the gearbox or engine needs to be changed. It’s getting to the point where it’s beyond bad luck now – as a team, we need to do better. Tonight, I need to somehow find the way to turn this into a positive fortomorrow, then build on that going into the race. It will be a very difficult afternoon as it’s one of the hardest circuits to overtake on. But these things are sent to try us and how I come out of it is going to be the most important thing.”
Hungarian Grand Prix – Qualifying
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:25.227 1:23.310 1:22.715 20
2 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1:25.662 1:23.606 1:23.201 16
3 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:25.690 1:23.776 1:23.354 19
4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:25.495 1:23.676 1:23.391 18
5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:26.087 1:24.249 1:23.909 17
6 Felipe Massa Williams 1:26.592 1:24.030 1:24.223 19
7 Jenson Button McLaren 1:26.612 1:24.502 1:24.294 21
8 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:24.941 1:24.637 1:24.720 19
9 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:26.149 1:24.647 1:24.775 22
10 Kevin Magnussen McLaren 1:26.578 1:24.585 13
11 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:25.361 1:24.706 14
12 Adrian Sutil Sauber 1:26.027 1:25.136 12
13 Sergio Perez Force India 1:25.910 1:25.211 11
14 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:25.709 1:25.260 10
15 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:26.136 1:25.337 16
16 Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:26.728 1:27.419 14
17 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:26.792 5
18 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham 1:27.139 10
19 Max Chilton Marussia 1:27.819 7
20 Marcus Ericsson Caterham 1:28.643 10
21 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes No time 2
22 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault No time 1eom/FIA press release
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I keep nagging Bernie and trying to persuade him that F1 must come back to India: Vijay Mallya
TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Monisha KALTENBORN (Sauber), Vijay MALLYA (Force India), Claire WILLIAMS (Williams), Eric BOULLIER (McLaren), Christian HORNER (Red Bull Racing), Marco MATTIACCI (Ferrari)
PRESS CONFERENCE
Claire, ladies first, if I can start with you. Phenomenal performances recently, everyone is asking can you take a win somewhere? Will it be on the fast circuits coming up after the break?
Claire WILLIAMS: I hope so. That’s why we’re here, to win grands prix. The team has done a great job this year to turn everything around. We’re building towards that. I think we’ve still got a lot of work to do. The Mercedes are quite far ahead at the moment. I think we closed that gap a little bit in Germany, so it will be exciting to see what we can do here this weekend and then obviously moving to Spa and Monza.
Do you think the faster circuits, the longer straights are going to be to your advantage? You’re quick in a straight line.
CW: Yeah, I’d like to think so. Obviously the Mercedes power unit has helped to drive our competitiveness this year, so it’s absolutely a factor.
Now, Susie Wolff made history history with, admittedly, a brief appearance at Silverstone. She did well at Hockenheim as well. Has that represented a step forward for women in motorsport do you think?
CW: I’d like to think so. Obviously Susie’s appearance at Silverstone was short-lived but she was the first female to take to the cockpit on a grand prix weekend in 22 years. I think she has set the standard in Formula One. It would be great to see more women coming into the sport in a racing driver capacity and I think she does act as a role model in that sense. She did a great job for the team and at the end of the day, for us, that was the most important thing.
Thank you. Vijay, welcome. The results keep coming for Sahara Force India but McLaren have made a little bit of progress, the gap is now just two points. Have you slipped a little bit, what’s happened there?
Vijay MALLYA: I don’t think we’ve slipped. We continue to do our best, we’ve scored points in every race. Williams have done an outstanding job. I think that was pretty clear in pre-season testing. The results are showing. But I think between Williams, McLaren, Sahara Force India, Ferrari, the gap is small and can be closed even in one race. Of course, the double points in the last race may change the equation completely and one never knows in whose favour. We feel quite confident that we can fight to stay where we are or maybe even get a little ahead. I think it’s realistic to be optimistic as well. As long as you have confidence in what you’re doing and the car is performing, no hard luck stories, there’s a lot to look forward to and many races to go.
Do you think you can keep up the development, stay ahead of let’s face it a bigger team, in many ways, McLaren?
VM: I don’t want to only set the benchmark as McLaren – they are a world championship-winning team. We obviously are ahead on merit. They have the propensity to catch up but equally we have the propensity to improve even further. As I said, it’s quite competitive between three or four teams and I think the final race will be the final result.
I’ll come to Eric on that question in a moment, but you must be very happy with your two drivers, they’re doing a great job. Do you want to keep them, can you keep them?
VM: We have options on both. I’m very happy with both of them and I see no reason why we should be looking at any change.
Eric, catching Force India, what’s made the difference?
Eric BOULLIER: It’s obviously, first, hard work back in Woking. Everybody is working definitely hard to get to the way we want them to go and the work is paying off in the end and you can see on track we are bringing upgrades every race and we start to be able to work a little bit in a higher position.
Will you carry on developing this car? When do you actually move over to working on next years, with particular reference to the challenge of a new power unit?
EB: I think it’s all in one if you want. We will keep developing this year’s car as far as possible and as long as possible and as long as we can carry over all the development in the next year’s car. Obviously we are preparing already for the arrival of our new engine partner for next year, yes.
Thank you. Christian, coming to you next. This time last year you made a massive step forward, through the summer break as it were, to win all the races after the remaining races thereafter. Can you compensate for the problem you perhaps have with your powertrain and make a big aero jump this year?
Christian HORNER: In all honesty it’s probably unlikely. If you look at the gap, it’s a significant gap. Last year was more of a level playing field on the power unit side. But obviously with the big regulation change it’s reshuffled things, Mercedes are doing a super job and they deserve to be in the position they are, they are in a position of real dominance, dominance we haven’t seen for a long, long time, where they keep scoring these one-two or one-three finishes and it’s a significant amount of performance to close down. But we’re keeping pushing, we’re keeping the hammer down and hopefully after the summer break we’ll have some circuits coming up that we will be able to get even closer to [them]. But I don’t think you’ll see a situation like we had last year.
Q: We’ve heard some speculation about Sebastian Vettel’s future. Is there any substance to it or is it silly-season nonsense?
CH: Well usually it’s the start of the silly season where he’s either going to Ferrari or Eric’s made him a big offer or maybe going to Mercedes. So, we just wait to see which team it’s going to be. But no, Sebastian’s absolutely committed to the team, there’s no doubt at all that he’ll be with Red Bull next year and he’s enjoyed so much success with the team, he’s happy in the team and the team are very happy with him. We know we’ve got a lot to do. None of us are comfortable or happy with the situation that we’re currently in – but, y’know, we’re in it together and we’ll work our way through it.
Q: Monisha, similarly, you made big advances in the second half of the season last year and you must be hoping that you can do the same. What are the chances?
Monisha KALTENBORN: Well you really can’t compare actually, last season to this one. We know the reasons why we are like this, this year. Of course it has to do with all the rule changes that came in. Last year we took a certain risk. We were well aware of it but if you allocate the resources you have more to last year’s car, this will have an effect on the new car. It’s good that we know the reasons but we clearly have to stop making the mistakes we have been making in the last races. So I do hope that we’ll make a step ahead but to be realistic I don’t expect we’ll take that kind of a jump.
Q: Yesterday there was confirmation of a future Mexican Grand Prix. What does that mean to you – and also the fact that Azerbaijan seems to be coming onto the calendar in a couple of years’ time as well. The calendar is expanding: what does that mean to a team principal?
MK: Well looking at Mexico, of course it’s very good news for us because we know that our partner Telmex and Carlos Slim particularly has had this long-term vision to establish motorsport in Mexico. He’s been pursuing this for many years and this has many elements to it, like the Escuderia Telmex, with the drivers, they then got their driver – Sergio – into Formula One and they’ve been working on this grand prix. And we also know how important that is for the other partners we have. So, such a race, which has so much heritage, returning now is fantastic for the sport and I’ll sure we’ll see how many fans we have. We were there a couple of years ago doing a show run and we couldn’t believe that 200,000 people came out to see that. That tells you what a strong fan base it is – and that’s a very positive sign.
Now, if you’re taking the races beyond 20, I think we’ve had that discussion as well, that I think we should be careful of not saturating the year with too many races. We know what it means on our personnel. We might have to restructure things again, so I think we should be careful before we take these kinds of steps, and also where we go to – because we want to establish Formula One in these countries, not lose heritage races. So it’s a difficult.
Q: Marco, we’ve seen Fernando Alonso drive some phenomenal races, the last couple of races. Real classic Formula One, wheel-to-wheel stuff. How does that reflect on the team? What’s the mood with the team when they see races like that?
Marco MATTIACCI: It’s very motivating.
Just motivating, or more than that?
MM: I think when you see your driver that is driving like that, that is very motivating for the team.
And do they want Kimi to be doing the same thing?
MM: Indeed.
Q: There’s been some harsh criticism of the car recently. What’s your response to that criticism?
MM: Which one are you referring to? Internal criticism or outside?
Outside.
MM: Everybody is free to make comments. I’m happy that they have time to think about our cars because I don’t have enough time to think about other teams’ cars. I know what you are referring to. I think it’s a statement taken out of context. He has a big title and, as I said, I have the utmost respect for Niki Lauda. For me he is an iconic figure of my childhood and in particular for Ferrari. Today he came to our pit to apologise and honestly I feel very uncomfortable for Marco Mattiacci or Ferrari in this case receiving an excuse from such a champion that I think has been put in middle of something. But I think it’s clear he is a friend of Ferrari and I have utmost respect for Niki. So chapter closed.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Péter Farkas – Autó-Motor) Question to all of you. Obviously it is very surprising to learn that the FIA has allowed a change of brake material in parc ferme. Have you got a clear explanation from the FIA yet, why did they let them do it and, do you think it’s acceptable? And do you think there is a danger that things you start to ask to change brake materials and even something else in parc ferme before the race after that.
CH: Look, from our perspective it was very interesting to see the way the FIA dealt with it. Theoretically it is a change in car specification and the interesting thing for us to observe was how the FIA dealt with it, the precedent it sets going forward. So should that circumstance occur again, the precedent is now extremely clear and I’m sure there will be further discussion on it and where does that stop? Obviously we’d like to change the engine in parc ferme but that’s not quite allowed. I’m sure there’ll be further discussion. It was intriguing to see the decisions that were made.
Eric?
EB: Well our position is quite similar to Christian’s one. It was a little bit of a surprise to see they could change their brakes obviously. And even if some specs were similar, the rule on parc ferme are very strict. So, as Christian says, it is a serious precedent and we’ll see how it develops in the future.
Marco?
MM: From me it’s a different perspective from my colleagues – even though I understand where they’re coming from. I think in Formula One where everybody is debating about the show, to see a driver from the 20 spot arrive to the podium, for me is a great thing to sell to people and honestly, to pull the trigger, because changing the brakes that are the same spec, probably they don’t have a great impact on the performance, honestly to go to ruin the day for Hamilton was not my principle about racing, so I don’t see the need. It is clear we need consistency in the approach of the FIA but I think we have seen a great race from a guy and we didn’t feel it was the case to ruin that show.
Claire?
CW: I don’t think I have anything to add to that.
Vijay?
VM: My concern is the precedent that it sets. The FIA rules basically say that if a component is similar in mass, inertia and function, I guess that’s the definition under which the change of brakes was allowed. Going forward, under parc ferme conditions, one could also argue that the rear wing settings could be changed because the same mass, inertia and function are retained. So long as this is not used as an unhealthy precedent going forward for changes under parc ferme conditions, that is the way I would look at it.
Monisha?
MK: Well, the FIA took probably a surprising decision here but I think more important is to see that they realise that they need to clarify the matter. I’m a bit less concerned about the precedent being set here because if you look at the cases that have gone through the FIA, different courts or tribunals, you very rarely see a certain consistency there because you can’t bring up cases from the past but every case is looked at individually, so I’m not that concerned. I tend to agree with Marco, that it just shows you no matter what would have happened, have you also given a penalty, still a driver can come up, right in front, and I think that’s the remarkable part about it and shows the dominance of the team.
Q: (Pablo Gorondi – AP) Two parts, the first part is concerning the upcoming race in Russia. Do you have concerns about it considering the fact that the conflict in Ukraine seems to be growing every day. My second question is about… we just heard about the new races in Mexico and Azerbaijan and the one thing that’s common to them is that they will both be street races, not on permanent circuits – does this pose a special kind of challenge to you?
Dealing with the first one first, Russia: does anyone want to comment on that? Claire?
CW: Obviously what’s going on in Russia and that part of the world at the moment is of huge concern to everybody – but we’ve always said as a support we try to disengage from taking a political angle on these things. Here the FIA is the governing body of our sport, they issue a calendar and we have to take our direction from them and at the moment, the race is still on the calendar.
Vijay?
VM: Well something similar occurred in Bahrain and we followed the FIA’s directive, or recommendation. I think I agree with Claire. It’s up to the FIA to guide us and we all follow what the FIA guidance is.
Monisha?
MK: I absolutely agree with that. We have to rely on the governing body and commercial rights holder. They’re the ones who have the responsibility and we will do as they say, like we’ve done in the past.
If we come to the business of… I think Mexico is going to be a permanent circuit, but Azerbaijan could well be a street circuit – what are the thoughts on those two new races? Marco, would you start?
MM: I think it is a great opportunity, first of all Mexico is one of the countries with the greatest tradition about racing. We have had amazing drivers in the history of Formula One. Is one of the upcoming economies in the Americas, probably the third largest economy after Canada, but it’s good that we keep promoting the brand. It is clear that, as Monisha was saying this week, there are big effort to be done to establish the culture of racing, particularly in upcoming country. So, but it’s good. Definitely a big effort but Formula One needs to reach new audiences so is going to be a another big effort. Let’s see what is the profile of the race we are going to have – but I think I would see this in a positive way. It is clear that stretching the championship to many races, it means more investment on our side so it opens another discussion – but I’m positive.
Christian?
CH: It’s great to be going back to Mexico. Certainly my memories of Mexico were Nigel Mansell’s move on the outside of Gerhard Berger into the last turn. I just hope that corner is left intact. I think it’s fantastic for Formula One to be going back to Mexico. Azerbaijan is an exciting new venue, new country to be visiting. Of course there’s only so many races that we can accommodate in a year and I think it’s very healthy for Formula One to have such competition for these places on the calendar. For new markets coming along like this, I think it’s great news for the teams, for the sport and will be of great interest.
Does it make a big difference Eric that it is potentially a street circuit?
EB: Yes it does in one way obviously but GT went to race in Baku already so they have a little bit of experience, at least how to judge the foundation of a track in the city. I know Tilke is in charge so we know he will do a very good job of it. I think it can be very exciting. Street racing obviously we know is a great show, there is more risk of a car breaking, crashing, anything like this, but today the safety is good enough and obviously we rely on everybody involved today to make a very, very good racing show there.
Vijay, your thoughts on that.
VM: We need to race under all conditions and on all surfaces and on all tracks. That’s part of the fun of Formula One, I guess, and part of the competitive spirit. Street races have their own unique character, as we’ve seen in Monaco and Singapore and other places and I’m sure none of us would object to a street race. As far as new countries are concerned, like Mexico and Azerbaijan, fantastic news. The more the Formula One canvas expands across the world, the better it is for the sport and the teams and the sponsors. And that’s why I keep nagging Bernie and trying to persuade him that India must come back.
Claire?
CW: I think everyone’s said it all. I think to have two new races on the calendar is really exciting for everybody.
Monisha, any more to add?
MK: I think just the aspect of the street race is probably a better approach to take in a country where there is not that much history of motorsport. You can probably attract more people, can be supported even by tourism activities as we’ve seen in Singapore, the Government backing. I think it’s a good idea.
Q: (Kate Walker – crash.net) I’ve got a question for Vijay. Looking ahead to 2015 it seems almost certain now that you’re going to inherit Lotus’ place on the Strategy Group. Now I was wondering, first, you’ve had a year’s experience of being out in the cold, and to what extent is that going to inform your input on the Strategy Group, and secondly, to what extent is your role in the WMSC going to inform your contributions to the Strategy Group?
VM: First of all, we’ve been out in the cold for more than one year. As part of the Strategy Group, if all goes well, yes, we have a best chance to be there, I think the fundamentals of our views will not change. We will represent our views and concerns within the Strategy Group but then the Strategy Group ultimately decides by majority the direction in which we all go. So, I will rest my case there and not speculate more about the Strategy Group or our potential role in it.
Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Question for Mattiacci. Considering the gap from Mercedes at this point of the season and the big changes, technical changes, going on in your team, it will be possible to see a Ferrari fighting for a title in 2015 – or it is more realistic to consider 2016 as a goal?
MM: I think the more realistic thing is don’t take such kind of commitment at the moment. We need to work every race, definitely we are working for a medium/long-term plan to come back and be at the top, to be extremely competitive but at this stage I really don’t have any element to make commitment on when we’ll be back at the top.
Q: (Fredrik af Petersens – Honorary) You talked about Azerbaijan, fantastic to go to a new place, a new venue. Is it worth going to a new place with no tradition whatsoever of motorsport and lose, for example, a classical race like the Italian Grand Prix at Monza?
CH: I think it’s all about balance. It’s about keeping the historical events and also bringing new events. Of course, Monza is a very popular race on the calendar – hopefully it’ll be there for many years to come – but it’s finding that balance. I think Formula One has done a good job of that over the past few years. If there isn’t any interest in Formula One, like we saw last weekend, then why not go to a new market that is crying out for Formula One.
Vijay?
VM: I’ve always said that expansion of the canvas is good. If there’s no history of motorsport in Azerbaijan, well, one can always hope to create interest in Formula One with its attendant benefits but I would agree it would be sad if it were at the cost of a long-established historic race. But, yeah, the wider the canvas, the better for all of us.
Marco, anything on that?
MM: I agree with Christian and Vijay, we need to find the right balance. Formula One has a DNA and a race like Monza, I guess they’re extremely important. At the same time, we need to move forward, to look at the future, to bring the culture of racing and Formula One where it’s possible to do it. So, we need to have the right balance but definitely we need to move forward.
Q: (Dominik Scharef – Motorsport-Total.com) Last week in Hockenheim, only 50,000 fans came to the race track. Today we saw relatively empty grandstands again. How concerned are you about that?
EB: Good question. We can’t draw any conclusions obviously or be scared about what’s happening in a couple of venues. You also need to remember Silverstone, for example, was very crowded, having, the same weekend, three major sporting events in the world. There were some other venues – Austria was obviously a great success. I thought that Germany was maybe not as big as before. There are many reasons and to be honest, I’m not an expert, a specialist on that, so I will not comment on this. You were right. As we mentioned before about the new venues, it’s true that we need to make a balance so we need maybe more venues because there is a shift of interest on sport, about F1 in particular, in that case, to some other countries. I don’t have the answer and I don’t think it’s a concern now when you see some other venues getting crowds and being successful.
MK: It is, of course a concern because Germany has a strong history in motor sport and we have and have had some great drivers from there, so it’s an important market by all means and I think that that just shows that we really need to look at our product, our sport – which is a fantastic product, comparable to any big, global platform, comparable even to football or the Olympic Games – and see how we can connect better to the people outside. It’s not about the product itself. We’ve had some fantastic races and we’ve had some bad races and that you have in every sport. You can have a fantastic tennis match or a bad tennis match, but it’s how you connect to the fans out there or to the consumers and I think that’s where we need to improve.
VM: I don’t know whether one should be judgemental enough to say that just because attendance was a little lower than before, that it’s cause for alarm. As Eric rightly pointed out, Silverstone was a major success despite Wimbledon being on. To the English, these are really two very significant events but so long as the overall viewership and the interest in the sport and the sponsors are happy, we should preserve, as I said before, those races that have more than just a spectator value. Monisha referred to the fact that Germany has produced top class World Champion drivers. We have excellent German drivers in Formula One as I speak so I’m sure that the interest level in Germany hasn’t fallen to the extent of any alarm.
CW: I would agree with everything that’s been said and that maybe Germany was a slight anomaly but I do think that as a sport we need to look at what we are doing, look at our product and to make sure that it is the best that we can offer our fans. I think we have a great fan base and we have a significant fan base globally but I think we need to look at what we can do to engage a new generation of fans to watch our sport, a younger generation. This is a wonderful sport, it’s a great sport, people do want to come and watch us but I think that what we could potentially offer the people who pay a lot of money to come and watch us race every weekend, I think that if we could provide a better show and work together as a group of teams to do that, I think that it would stand us in really good stead for the future.
MM: This is the most frequently-asked question so I think that we still believe that Formula One is one of the most phenomenal platforms of sport. Definitely there are warning signs. I think now after that – I think I have been asked this question probably several times – what we are trying to do in a positive way, to bring all the stakeholders to converge within the right institution and at the right table, to discuss, to make concrete steps in order to have a clear view of where we want to go. I don’t think it’s positive that every time we have a press conference, we discuss about the issues of Formula One. We are all here to promote the sport. I think we need to do it in a smart way. Definitely, as I said, there are warning signs but I think that we need to move to the next step: that is to discuss, debate and find solutions.
CH: I think it’s obvious: that the Germans were obviously so hung over from the result they’d had the previous weekend that none of them could make it down to Hockenheim. If you look at the previous three races, they were all sell-outs: Montreal, sell-out; Austria, sell-out; Silverstone, sell-out. Massive crowds, great racing. So something’s got be wrong at Hockenheim for only 50-odd thousand people to turn up. But if you look at the ticket price, if you look at the way it was promoted or wasn’t promoted – that race. If we take a car to Sebastian’s home town which is 45 kilometers up the road and get 150,000 turn out for it, then it’s rather surprising that only half a crowd is in Hockenheim at a race that is Mercedes’ home race, Mercedes winning the World Championship – you would have expected a capacity crowd. So then you’ve got to ask the question ‘what’s wrong?’ Sebastian has been highlighted as one of the reasons to blame that people aren’t going there by the promoter of that race, which is rubbish. When the ticket price that they’re demanding is so high, you’ve got to get realistic and there are obviously issues around that race that need to be addressed and it’s worrying for all us to see so few people in Hockenheim when there’s so much German success in the sport at the moment.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) At exactly the same time as you’re lamenting empty grandstand seats in Hockenheim, it became public knowledge that CVC, the owners of Formula One’s commercial rights, are planning to load the sport with a billion dollars’ worth of debt. Is this not concerning to all of you, collectively, as team owners and businessmen, particularly as it affects hosting fees, revenues etc going forward?
VM: CVC and other shareholders of Formula One, currently, have every reason to be delighted with the profits that they’re making and the returns that their investment is providing and of course, as a relatively small team, we have been representing to the commercial rights holder and to CVC that the distribution of income should be more equitable so that all teams are financially able to survive. But that is notwithstanding that they make huge profits. If those huge profits can service huge debt, it’s CVC’s business, not our business. I don’t think we as participants in Formula One should really be concerned about the financials of the commercial rights holder because it’s not going to get us anywhere. The fact that the commercial rights holder are now extremely well off doesn’t get us anywhere. That fact that debt may be loaded on, so long as it’s serviced, does not get us anywhere either. So it’s nice to know that somebody’s willing to provide a billion dollars of debt to Formula One. It only reinforces the financial success of the sport.
CW: I agree with Vijay. I don’t want to be dragged into comment around CVC and its business operations necessarily. Williams are here to go racing and love going racing and I would much rather sit here talking about that.
MM: I already answered before, so I don’t think this is the venue to discuss and I’m not going to answer about CVC issues of investment strategy.
CH: I fully support Williams’s position.
EB: Nothing to add.
MK: Nothing to say.
Q: (Ralf Bach – Sport Bild) So we learn now that we are going to Azerbaijan. We drove in Bahrain, everybody knows that Bahrain is killing their own people. We go to Russia and no comment. We drove in China, China is not very famous for democracy I heard. So my question is: all you guys say that you have a Formula One and drivers and everybody has to make a good example for young people. Do you think it’s a good example to follow Mr Ecclestone everywhere he wants? Next question is when he would go to North Korea, would you follow him?
VM: I think we’re racing people, more popularly known as petrolheads. We come here to race and to win and to enjoy it. The governance is an international organisation called the FIA. It is up to the FIA to decide where the sport is conducted. I don’t think that the teams, individual participants in the sport, should be holding their individual positions to determine social political issues that you have raised. The FIA is perfectly competent to determine where Formula One should be staged and not be staged.
Q: Anything more to add? Do you all agree with that? No more to add? So the question is you would follow Ecclestone to North Korea or you wouldn’t?
VM: You know, it’s a not question of following Bernie. I think the question has been wrongly framed. It’s the commercial rights holder, it’s the FIA. We race where they stage the events. It’s as simple as that.
Q: (Christoph Becker – Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) Let’s put the question in a different way: do you think that as you’re talking about promoting the best possible product, do you think it does your product a lot of good going to Baku, given their human rights record, given the fact that they rank – I think – 160th on the list of Reporters Without Borders?
CH: This is becoming a very depressing press conference as we’re only focusing on the negativities. Look, there’s a calendar that comes out in October or November. We all have a choice whether we enter the World Championship or not. All the people sitting here are racers and they’re here because they’re passionate about the sport and they want to compete. When we sign up for that championship, we put our faith and trust in the promoter and the FIA and we will attend those races unless they deem it unnecessary for us to be there. All of you will be at those races, or the vast majority of you will be at those races and why, because you’re either passionate about the sport or because you earn a living out of covering the sport and I think it’s wrong to make Formula One a political statement or subject when we are a sport. We should be talking about the drivers in these conferences, we should be talking about the spectacular racing that happened between our drivers and his (MM’s) driver at the last Grand Prix. We should be talking about what a great race it was for Lewis Hamilton to come through the grid, yet all we do is focus on the negatives and it has to be said, it gets pretty boring for us to sit up here and field these questions. So how about asking some questions about what’s going to happen in the race on Sunday, what’s going to happen in qualifying tomorrow, because if you’ve got these questions, please point them at Mr Todt or Mr Ecclestone rather than the teams.
Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday) Talking about tomorrow’s race; Pirelli are very optimistic about the tyres, they’re not degrading, is it going to be one stop or two stops?
CH: I think it’s going to be a challenge, it’s going to be interesting whether it’s going to be a two stop or even a three stop and I think that was the interesting thing about last weekend’s race. The tyres were on the edge, some people ran two stops, some people ran three in it. It created some interested racing. I think the tyres that Pirelli are actually bringing to the races are producing good events, like we’ve seen at the last few Grands Prix.
EB: Well, the question is a bit early in the weekend, because I don’t know if it’s going to be one, two or three stops, even though here, obviously, it’s very difficult to overtake. So I don’t know, I don’t yet, to be honest.
Q: And the possibility of rain, Monisha, what about that?
MK: Well, we certainly wouldn’t mind that but we cannot rely on that. It is indeed a bit early so we will wait and see.
VM: Well, Monisha has the rain specialist in Sutil but no, it’s really too early to comment on tyre strategy on race day. It depends on so many things. I think we were caught out with the temperatures on Sunday in Hockenheim. You really cannot plan in advance. It’s a split second decision you have to take on the day.
CW: Yeah, I agree. We don’t know yet what strategy we’ll go for but our strategy this year has always been verging on the conservative in order to score the maximum amount of Constructors’ points and we took Ferrari’s very nice P3 in the championship in Germany and we want to just strengthen our position and go into the summer break in a strong position to finish the season off.
MM: I think that the Pirelli tyres have been better than expected today. We have some interesting elements but it’s too premature to define what is going to be the strategy but it’s going to be an interesting race again.
File photo of Vijay Mallya courtesy Sahara Force India F1 team.
