INDIA in F1

Tag: formula 1

  • Hamilton wins to close gap with Rosberg; Great drive gets Bottas second consecutive podium

    Britain’s Lewis Hamilton won his home grand prix for the second time in his career as team-mate and championship rival Nico Rosberg exited the race with gearbox trouble. Williams’ Valtteri Bottas took his second podium finish in a row with second place.

    Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo finished third after switching to a one-stop strategy late in a race that was red-flagged for an hour due to an accident involving Kimi Raikkonen just after the start.

    Fourth place went to McLaren’s Jenson Button, the McLaren driver finishing ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari’s Fernando who provided thrilling entertainment in the final third of the race as they battled tooth and nail for position.

    When the lights went out for the start, pole position man Rosberg held his lead but second-placed Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing got away poorly. He dropped back to fifth place as McLaren’s Jenson Button moved to second and Kevin Magnussen, in the second McLaren charged through from fifth to third. Hamilton was on the move as well. He made a good start from sixth place on the grid and passed Vettel, the pair banging wheels as the Mercedes driver claimed fourth spot.

    Behind the leaders, though, the collisions were more serious. Kimi Raikkonen was forced wide at the start of the Wellington Straight and went off track. The Ferrari driver attempted to rejoin but hit a bump on the edge of the circuit. That sent him into a violent spin and he hit the barriers hard before being flung back on track. Felipe Massa tried to take avoiding action but he collided with the spinning Ferrari.

    Massa was able to crawl back to the pits but the damage was too severe for the Brazilian to continue – a disappointing end to the Brazilian’s 200th grand prix.

    Raikkonen, meanwhile, was helped from his car but limped away to the medical car. It was later reported by Ferrari that the Finn had suffered some bruising to his an ankle and knee but was otherwise unhurt.

    The incident naturally brought out the red flags and there was a one-hour delay until the action resumed again, behind the safety car.

    On the new grid, which mirrored the order at the last point available, Rosberg line up ahead of Button, Magnussen and Hamilton. Vettel was now fifth, ahead of Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg. Ricciardo would restart seventh, ahead of Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat. Bottas, in the second Williams, had climbed from 14th on the grid to ninth.

    When the safety car left the circuit at the restart, Rosberg made the perfect getaway, building a large gap to Button behind as the safety car headed for the pit lane. Hamilton, though, was determined not to be left behind and on lap three he forced an error from Magnussen at Copse and stole third place. He soon went one step further, muscling past Button at Brooklands on the following lap to take second place, five seconds behind his team-mate.

    Alonso was also on the move. Having switched to the medium tyre from his starting set of hard compound Pirellis during the red flag period, he was soon making his way through the pack from 13th place. In a startling spell of action he dismissed Esteban Gutierrez, Adrian Sutil, Jules Bianchi, Daniil Kvyat, Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg to climb to seventh.

    However, his race was somewhat compromised soon after when he received a five-second penalty for being out of position on the grid at the original start, the Ferrari driver having overshot his grid slot.

    Bottas was also on an incredible charge. The sole Williams took the restart in 14th place but by lap 17 he’d scythed his way through the pack to reach third position, powering past Button around the outside of high-speed Stowe corner.

    At the front Hamilton closed to within three seconds of leader Rosberg before the German made his first stop on lap 19, taking on used medium tyres. That let Hamilton through to the lead. Rosberg rejoined in second place, ahead of Bottas, Button, Alonso, Magnussen and Vettel.

    Hamilton chose to stay out, too, waiting until lap 25 to make his stop. He took on hard tyres but it was a slow stop and he lost time to his team-mate. Rosberg swept back into the lead, with the gap again up to five seconds.

    The gap was erased a few laps later, however. Just after his pit stop Rosberg complained of a problem downshifting. The issues seemed to subside but on lap 29 he was back on the radio, reporting a problem with upshifting. He slowed gradually and Hamilton flashed past into the lead. Rosberg attempted a reset but he ground to a halt at turn 13.

    Elsewhere, Alonso, made his first pit stop, taking on more medium tyres and serving his five-second penalty. He rejoined in ninth place.

    The top-five order, on lap 31 was Hamilton, Bottas, Vettel, Ricciardo and Button. Bottas made his sole pit stop on lap 32, and rejoined in third behind Vettel, who needed another stop.

    Vettel made that pit stop at the end of lap 34, rejoining behind Button in fifth place, ahead of Alonso. The Ferrari driver piled on the pressure and stole the position through Copse on lap 35.

    The pair would spend the rest of the race in a thrilling dogfight, Alonso defending with everything at his disposal as Vettel pushed hard to force an error. Much of the battle was fought on the radio, with both drivers complaining vociferously that the other had exceeded the track limits on numerous occasions. Vettel, though eventually won out, passing Alonso in a heart-in-the-mouth move along the pit straight and through Copse, just inches separating the combatants. Once past Vettel stretched away, taking fifth place ahead of the furious Spaniard.

    At the front Hamilton continued to open the gap to second-placed Bottas. Prior to his final stop on lap 41 the gap stood at 41 seconds, comfortable enough for the Mercedes driver to make his stop, take on a final set of hard tyres and rejoin in the lead, ahead of one-stopping Bottas.

    Third was Ricciardo. The Red Bull Racing driver was on a set of ageing medium tyres but in a good position and with 15 laps to go and 18 seconds in hand over Jenson Button, who was one fresher tyres, he opted to try to make it to the chequered flag.

    Inevitably, the gap began to come down as Button closed in. By lap 47 it was down to seven seconds and by the final lap it was down to 1.8s as Ricciardo struggled to keep his 36-lap old tyres alive. The Australian managed it, finishing just eight tenths ahead of the hard-charging Button.

    At the front though, Hamilton’s win was comfortable, the Briton taking the chequered flag for his second British Grand Prix win ahead of Bottas, who took his second podium finish in a row.

    With Button fourth and Vettel in fifth ahead of Alonso, the remaining points positions went to Magnussen in seventh, Hulkenberg, Kvyat and Vergne.

    eom

  • Nico Hulkenberg lines up on the 2nd row at Silverstone; Perez on P7

    Nico Hulkenberg will line up on the second row of the grid for the team’s local race at Silverstone with teammate Sergio Perez qualifying in seventh place.
     
    P4     Nico Hulkenberg        VJM07-04
    Q1: 1:41.271                 Q2: 1:37.112                 Q3: 1:38.329
     
    Nico: “That worked out really well for us and I’m very happy to come away with fourth place on the grid. On days like this you just need to be in the right place, with good timing and a little bit of luck. The track conditions were changing so much and at the end of Q3 I’ve never seen a track dry so quickly. There were a few spots of rain in the middle of the session, but on my final lap it was completely dry. Fourth place sets us up nicely for tomorrow, but it’s hard to know exactly where we stand in terms of race pace. We definitely made some progress with the car balance overnight with some tweaks and it was a lot less windy today, which worked in our favour. There is an interesting grid, which will hopefully make for an exciting race for the fans.”
    P7      Sergio Perez               VJM07-02
    Q1: 1:42.146                 Q2: 1:37.350                 Q3: 1:40.457
     
    Sergio: “Today leaves us with mixed feelings. It was very good to get both cars in Q3 and ahead of some of our most direct competitors. Had they offered us this result before the session, we would have been satisfied; however, it is also disappointing as we know we could have had an even better result. We were in P3 up to the last lap, but when the track improved and I went out for a last run I ran a bit wide in turn 12 and lost all the temperature from my tyres. I also had to let some cars through and that made it a big problem for me. Otherwise I am confident we would have improved enough to stay in the front two rows. It’s a shame because we were making the tyres work really well until that moment and we were making the most of the conditions. Still, it is a very positive result and we should have a good opportunity to convert it into a good race and a lot of points. Silverstone is a very difficult place to overtake and track position is very important, so I am confident in that respect.”
     
    Dr Vijay Mallya, Team Principal & Managing Director
    “Today we had a very good result, which is always very nice in our home race. We have placed both cars in Q3 in very difficult conditions, which is a great credit to both the team and our drivers: we were on the right tyre at the right time and we reaped the rewards of some good strategy calls. It is a shame Checo was not able to finish his second lap as we thought we could retain his good position, but fourth row is still a very positive place to start and he has shown us before that he can make up positions come race day. Nico was impressive as he pulled a great lap when it mattered on a drying track. Starting fourth and seventh gives us a very good chance to score points and continue our battle in the constructors’ championship. Race pace is one of our strongest assets so we can look forward totomorrow with confidence.”
    FIA release adds:

    Nico Rosberg took his fourth pole position of the season in dramatic style at Silverstone, the German snatching top spot in the session in the final corners of his final lap in a rain-hit session that saw championship rival Lewis Hamilton finish sixth after abandoning his final run.

    Behind Rosberg, Sebastian Vettel claimed his first front-row start since the Malaysian Grand Prix and Jenson Button grabbed a surprise third spot for McLaren at his and his team’s home race.

    The session opened in relatively dry conditions and after banker laps on intermediate tyres, which left Hamilton in charge, ahead of Ricciardo. Throughout the opening laps, however, drivers were reporting that the track was dry enough for slick tyres.

    Kobayashi was the first take on mediums but was soon back in the pits with a technical problem. The Japanese driver finished outside the 107 per cent cut-off, as did team-mate Marcus Ericsson.

    The switch to slick rubber sparked a chaotic final few minutes as the field desperately tried to exploit the improved conditions. In the scramble for lap tyime it was perhaps inevitable that some would be caught out, either by traffic or by the conditions, as rain began to fall again in the closing moments.

    The surprise was that it was Ferrari and Williams in trouble. Fernando Alonso spun on his final flyer and missed the cut, finish in 19th place, one ahead of Raikkonen, who had to abandon his runa due to yellow flags brought out by spins elsewhere. Williams’ Valtteri Bottas was 17th, ahead of team-mate Felipe Massa, both drivers having wild slides during their final laps.

    Elsewhere FP3’s quickest man, Sebastian Vettel scraped through in 16th, behind team-mate Daniel Ricciardo. Jenson Button was fortunate, too, making it through to Q2 in 14th place despite having his best lap deleted for exceeding track limits.

    Q2 offered more uncertainty. The start of the segment was run on intermediate tyres following the shower at the end of Q1 but halfway through the track dried sufficiently for slicks to be used and again there was a scramble to put in a good lap. This time though, no front-runners were caught out and eliminated were Romain Grosjean, Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton (who delivered an excellent performance for Marussia), Esteban Gutierrez, Pastor Maldonado and Adrian Sutil. It was a rough session for Sauber. Sutil did not take part in Q2 having spun out in Q1 and late in Q2 Gutierrez also spun off, the rear of his Sauber hitting the barriers hard.

    Top spot in Q2 was occupied by Hamilton, the Briton recording a lap of 1:34.870, three tenths clear of team-mate Rosberg but a huge 1.4s ahead of third-placed Vettel.

    The final session was as thrilling and surprising as the first. The timesheet after the first runs had a predictable look to it, with Hamilton on top ahead of Rosberg. But with five minutes to go the track conditions again became marginal. Button was told to pit and adopt a wait and see attitude.

    When the time came to gamble or stay put however, some were once again caught out. Lewis Hamilton was one of them. The Briton went out but seemed to decide there was no time to be gained so abandoned his lap. Rosberg, by contrast,  along with several others, felt differently.

    Sebastian Vettel claimed provisional pole but Rosberg had yet to cross the line. When he did so the gap was huge, with the German having almost 1.4s over Vettel. Button was a surprise third for McLaren, with Nico Hulkenberg fourth for Force India. Kevin Magnussen completed a good day for McLaren by taking fifth place and Hamilton qualified sixth. Seventh place went to Sergio Perez in the second Force India, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in the second Red Bull. The final top 10 positions were filled by the Toro Rossos of Daniil Kvyat and Jean-Eric Vergne respectively.
    2014 British Grand Prix – Qaulifying Result
    1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:40.380  1:35.179  1:35.766 21
    2 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1:45.086  1:36.410  1:37.386 19
    3 Jenson Button McLaren 1:44.425  1:36.579  1:38.200 24
    4 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:41.271  1:37.112  1:38.329 19
    5 Kevin Magnussen McLaren 1:42.507  1:37.370  1:38.417 23
    6 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:41.058  1:34.870  1:39.232 19
    7 Sergio Perez Force India 1:42.146  1:37.350  1:40.457 20
    8 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:44.710  1:38.166  1:40.606 18
    9 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:41.032  1:36.813  1:40.707 21
    10 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:43.040  1:37.800  1:40.855 21
    11 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:43.121  1:38.496  17
    12 Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:41.169  1:38.709  17
    13 Max Chilton Marussia 1:42.082  1:39.800  14
    14 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:43.285  1:40.912  16
    15 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:43.892  1:44.018  15
    16 Adrian Sutil Sauber 1:42.603  No time  8
    17 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:45.318   5
    18 Felipe Massa Williams 1:45.695   5
    19 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:45.935   6
    20 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:46.684   7
    21 Marcus Ericsson Caterham 1:49.421   7
    22 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham 1:49.625   8

    Hulkenberg who willstart on P4 with fans at a Silverstone autograph session. A Sahara Force India image
    Hulkenberg who willstart on P4 with fans at a Silverstone autograph session. A Sahara Force India image

    eom/Sahara Force India press release

  • Hamilton pushed to 6th in dramatic qualifying session; Rosberg takes pole

    DRIVERS

    1 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

    2 – Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing)

    3 – Jenson BUTTON (McLaren)

    TV UNILATERAL

    Nico, a very dramatic conclusion to that qualifying session. Right at the end you took pole position. Were you surprised by how much the track improved, particularly in the final sector, right at the end, after we’d had that rain?

    Nico ROSBERG: Yeah, I mean, a quite crazy qualifying, just changing all the time and that makes it very, very difficult. In the end last qualifying also. On t

    Nico Rosberg takes pole and is flanked by Jenson Button on his right and Sebastian Vettel at Silverstone on Saturday. An FIA image
    Nico Rosberg takes pole and is flanked by Jenson Button on his right and Sebastian Vettel at Silverstone on Saturday. An FIA image

    he first lap with the soft tyres it started to rain quite a lot, just in the last three corners, so lost a lot of time there and then everywhere else it was quite wet also on the in-lap, so I was sure, I told the guys already “that’s it”. And then we were sitting in the box and we just came to a general conclusion: “might as well go out and have a look at the track”. At least… because if you don’t have a look, there’s no chance but if you have a look there’s a tiny chance, so at least go out and have a look. It seemed like we should give it a go but even then I still didn’t believe that the track would be better. But what made it was the last sector, because everywhere on the track was just a little bit slower, because it was just damp here and there and a little bit wet. But I knew that I had lost four seconds on the previous lap, so even if I was slower than that lap, I still had the chance of going a lot quicker in those last three corners if it was halfways dry and that’s the way it turned out: I made the time in those last corners because it a lot drier and it just worked out perfectly. Even across the line, in Lewis’ gearbox – because I had to be there because otherwise it went red. I had to be as fast as possible in order to be able to do that last lap. So as I crossed the line it went red, like instantly, it was a very, very close call. I think all in all it was a very good team-mate effort; everybody working together, my engineers, together with me just made all the right calls and it worked out. It’s fantastic to have such a qualifying, where everything goes well in the end and a comfortable pole in the end. It’s awesome.

    Very well done. Well, if it was a bonus for Nico, you actually had to do a lap didn’t you Sebastian, because you didn’t have a time on the board when you went out at the end there, so you were down in 10th place. What was going through your mind as you were going round the circuit? Did you think your goose was cooked?

    Sebastian VETTEL: Well, to be honest at the start of Q3 we went out, I think one of the last cars. And on my out lap, just preparing the flying lap, it started to rain, so I got that wet last sector to start the lap and obviously then there was no point, we aborted the lap, because at that time it was impossible to set a decent time on slick tyres. Then we were back in the garage waiting and we said “OK, we might as well go out. If we go out on inters it will be difficult to beat the lap times that were set, so we go out on dry tyres.” We were one of the first to go out for one flying lap in the end. It was quite difficult to believe on the out lap that it would be dry enough but it’s a funny place. It was a very weird session. A lot of rain, no rain, drizzling, very fine rain, nearly like spray: I think England is the only country where you can get this sort of rain and conditions and changing so quickly. Incredibly difficult to know what was coming so on the flying lap you approach turn one and turn on is a pretty big balls corner, so it’s difficult to know how much risk you can take. Eventually you have to take some risk because, especially in my case, I wanted to set a lap. So obviously very happy that it turned out. Yeah, very positive and starting from the front row tomorrow.

    Very well done. And you Jenson? Changeable conditions as Sebastian was saying and you were there or thereabouts throughout the qualifying session as the lap times went up and down. How happy are you with the result you’ve achieved today?

    Jenson BUTTON: Like you cannot believe. I know it’s only a third in qualifying but for us at the moment, and for the last 18 months, this is… well, we had no chance of getting this result. Yeah, it’s nice in front of the home crowd to qualifying well and all the way through qualifying, as you said, the pace was there. No compared to the Mercedes, but with everyone else the pace was there. When I did my lap in Q1 on the option tyre in the dry I was about two seconds quicker than anyone when I did it. Made the mistake of losing the rear in the last corner, so it was disallowed. I thought I was going to be out, so to come through and be third in Q3 is a good result for today and I’m really happy that I could do it here in front of the home crowd.

    Coming back to you Nico, obviously you’re on pole with your team-mate and championship rival Lewis Hamilton down in sixth place going into the British Grand Prix tomorrow. Your thoughts on the race?

    NR: Yeah, of course, with regards to the championship, it’s good for me that Lewis is down in sixth. It will take him some time I think to fight through, though I expect him to come through quite quickly. And then I think very like we’ll be racing each other again. We seem to very quick here. This track really suits the car, more so than Austria, so I think it’s going to be a good battle again. Of course starting from pole is the best possible place and I’m very confident for the race.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Nico, clearly a day like today it’s very easy to get it wrong and there are plenty of examples of that up and down the field. The track was fluctuating by as much as eight seconds a lap with rain and drying out. What are the most important things to take care of on a day like today?

    NR: The way to go about it is to try to minimize the rise, especially with the car that we have y’know? We have such a fast package so really we just need to try to make sure we don’t have any big risks, even if then it doesn’t turn out to be the perfect qualifying and the perfect day. And that, I think, we did very well. Definitely tried to eliminate all the big downfalls and it all worked out well. It wasn’t perfect but it worked out really, really well. Everything came together so it was great to be on pole.

    Q: Sebastian, you’ve been on the wrong end of this once or twice in the past so you know how it works but how much does the driver contribute to the decision-making process and how much of it is the strategists, your engineers and even people back at the factory?

    SV: You would love that the pitwall was in a better place today, trying to predict the rain. I think it was impossible because it was very local. It could have rained every minute and could have stopped raining as we’ve seen. Difficult to predict and therefore it’s you inside the car obviously trying to get the best out of the tyres and the conditions when you’re on track and obviously together with your team trying to be calm on the radio and going for the right decisions. In the end there’s also the element of looking what the others are doing and trying to make sense of whether or not it makes sense to do the same. But it’s very tricky because, as I said, if you take our Q3, the first run, we went out just probably a minute later than everyone else and we didn’t get a lap at all. That’s how close the lap can be sometimes. You try obviously to go for a clear track but then you get caught out by rain. It’s tricky in these conditions to get everything right – so you need also to be a bit lucky.

    Q: Jenson, it’s also a question of risk versus reward isn’t it? You mentioned that you were one of the first to go onto the slick tyres earlier on in the qualifying. It was the right time for that. We saw Ferrari and Williams at the wrong time and they’re starting from the back of the grid but did today, the track limits ruling, make things a little bit more complicated given how slippery it was out there.

    JB: It did, yeah, because you could make a massive mistake and lose a second by going off the circuit and still put in a really good lap time to get through Q1, Q2. So, it made it really difficult. And obviously my Q1 lap quick enough by quite a long way but it was disallowed because I drove off the circuit in the last corner – but the whole of the qualifying session I felt that I could read the conditions pretty well. And then it came to Q3 and the last timed lap, which obviously meant everything. I said to the guys on the radio, “I’ve got wheelspin in fifth gear in a straight line.” I said: “this isn’t gonna happen,” and they said: “Just push, we’ve got nothing to lose.” We’re in a very different position to Nico. We have to take the risks to gain the positions at the moment. So, I pushed. Very aggressive lap but it worked. Big thanks to the team for their call. And being third here in front of the home crowd, on this weekend, this year, really means a lot. I’ll go to bed very happy tonight and look forward to the race tomorrow.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Alex Goldschmidt – Richland F1) Jenson, coming back to the discussion between yourself and Lewis on Thursday, you seemed to be the best hope for the British fans but obviously Lewis is going to come charging through the field. Depending on weather conditions, how do you see the outlook for tomorrow?

    JB: I’ve made the race easier than previously thought but still we have to be realistic. I want to be upbeat, I want to be positive about fighting for a podium. If it’s like today that’s obviously a possibility with mixed conditions. As long as we make the right calls and the right strategy it’s possible. But in a dry race. A standard dry race, it’s going to be very, very tricky but, believe this, we will give one hundred per cent and get the maximum out of what we have this weekend and hopefully have a great result in front of the British fans.

    Q: (Chris Medland – crash.net) Nico, you talk about the psychological edge you’re looking to get over Lewis and he’s starting to make quite a few errors in qualifying sessions which has always been a strong point for him. Do you feel that that’s part of the psychological edge you’re getting now?

    NR: I’ve never talked about trying to get a psychological edge over anything, not at all. What I’ve been saying is that at the moment the momentum seems to be on my side and I just need to make the most of it because it comes and goes and I have a period now when it’s going my way and I just need to make sure I get as many points as possible on Lewis and it’s working out at the moment. But anyway, today’s just qualifying, there’s no points for qualifying and with the car that we have, even from sixth place, everything’s still possible, but of course it’s a big advantage to start first.

    Q: (Haoran Zhou – Formula One Express) Nico and Sebastian, obviously 26.5s in the last sector for both of you, there’s only four corners in the last sector. When did you realise that there’s a lot of grip there?

    NR: Well, it was very wet on the previous run in Q3, where we lost like four seconds in the last sector so as long as it’s a little bit dry patches and a little bit drier already you can gain a lot of time and on the out lap there was a chance, and then once I got round to the fast timed lap, I could brake quite late into there and it was quite dry so it was quite quick through there and that made a massive difference.

    SV: Yeah, on the out lap it was quite slippery but then when I started the timed lap I could feel that most of the track was nearly completely dry, so arriving in the last sector after the long straight I just said, yeah, all or nothing and treated it as if it was dry. It wasn’t entirely (dry) in turn 15, I went a little bit wider than I thought but for the rest… for the last three corners it was quite completely fine.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Nico, you said you had to start the lap directly behind Lewis. First, how much time did it cost you in the first two sectors, where did you pass him and what did you think when you saw Lewis pulling into the pits?

    NR: Well of course I was disappointed, starting the lap behind Lewis because if I’m in his gearbox, that doesn’t allow me to do my pace so I was disappointed with that, but I didn’t have a choice with the situation, with the way it was and just managed to get over the line before the red light came. I actually saw the red light but it worked out. I wasn’t sure but then it worked out and then Lewis made a mistake in turn four and after that he then pulled over so as not to block me and I just kept on pushing.

    Q: (Chris Medland – crash.net) Jenson, you were asked about Ron’s comments on Thursday, asking for a bit more from you. Does that make this perfect timing in response, this  sort of result?

    JB: He’s watching this, I’m sure! One result doesn’t mean anything. We’ve obviously talked since and yeah, I think there’s mutual respect there but when we all want things to improve quicker than what they are, we maybe say things in the press that maybe we shouldn’t. We have a really good working relationship and I hope that that continues into the future.

    Q: (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas) You just said that this result doesn’t mean anything, but anyway, thinking about your father, so far it’s a nice position, and talking about fathers, Nico, your father got pole position in ’85 in similar conditions here in Silverstone, so what are your feelings about that?

    JB: For me it was obviously quite an emotional slowing down lap. As I’ve said before – as we always say – qualifying’s qualifying and the race is tomorrow, but when you do a lap that you’re happy with and it’s in front of your home crowd and I knew the Old Boy would have been very happy, it would have meant a lot. I’ve had so much support from the fans, it’s been overwhelming, a lot of guys wearing pink out there in respect to my Old Boy. Yeah, a good day today and he’s definitely smiling down today.

    NR: Yeah, of course I’ve also been watching how many supporters, how many people have  been wearing pink. Even in my camper van, my driver, he came with a pink shirt and I was like ‘what are you doing?’ He never wears pink and then he explained to me that everybody’s supporting John… in memory of John so that’s how I came across it this weekend. With respect to my Dad, yes, there was one of his great days here in qualifying in Silverstone, something that I’m proud of also. I like to look back at the history and what was happening back then but there’s not really too much to compare to nowadays.

  • Hamilton takes over at the top at Silverstonee

    Lewis Hamilton replaced team-mate Nico Rosberg at the top of the Silverstone time sheets before being sidelined by mechanical issues.

    Hamilton’s best time of 1:34.508 came early in the session while the teams were testing out Pirelli’s medium compound tyre. His time

    Hamilton after topping the time sheets at Silverstone on Friday. An FIA image
    Hamilton after topping the time sheets at Silverstone on Friday. An FIA image

    was 0.228 ahead of Rosberg’s best. The Briton’s session came to an end with 30 minutes left on the clock, however, when his Mercedes engine shut down, forcing him to pull over.

    Fernando Alonso was third fastest, just under three quarters of a second down on Hamilton’s best, with Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo fourth. The Australian’s best time was set on the hard compound, however, with the driver telling his team that he could not make any improvement on the medium tyre as he could not get the front tyres up to the right temperature.

    Sebastian Vettel was fifth quickest, just a tenth behind his Red Bull Bull team-mate, though the champion’s time was set on medium rubber.

    Valtteri Bottas was sixth for Williams, the Finn claiming his car back from Susie Wolff who made a brief appearance in the morning session before being sidelined by an oil pressure problem. Bottas’s session wasn’t without its problems, however, and he was forced to return to pits at one stage when his engine cover began to detach from his car.

    Jenson Button took seventh place, just seven hundredths of a second clear of team-mate Kevin Magnussen, while Kimi Raikkonen was ninth for Ferrari.

    The final top-10 place was taken by Jean-Eric Vergne, though the Toro Rosso did suffer a mid-session incident in which his left front wheel became loose and he had to stop in an escape road just before the wheel detached.

    2014 British Grand Prix – Free Practice 2 Times
    1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:34.508 14
    2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:34.736 0.228 35
    3 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:35.244 0.736 32
    4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:35.511 1.003 11
    5 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1:35.627 1.119 27
    6 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:36.016 1.508 33
    7 Jenson Button McLaren 1:36.228 1.720 34
    8 Kevin Magnussen McLaren 1:36.299 1.791 35
    9 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:36.554 2.046 29
    10 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:36.583 2.075 26
    11 Felipe Massa Williams 1:36.671 2.163 29
    12 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:36.778 2.270 31
    13 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:36.951 2.443 35
    14 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:37.064 2.556 35
    15 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:37.097 2.589 33
    16 Sergio Perez Force India 1:37.236 2.728 37
    17 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:37.449 2.941 27
    18 Adrian Sutil Sauber 1:37.520 3.012 25
    19 Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:38.658 4.150 11
    20 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham 1:39.068 4.560 31
    21 Max Chilton Marussia 1:39.224 4.716 28
    22 Marcus Ericsson Caterham 1:39.762 5.254 21

  • It’s business as usual but we are gunning for 10th place: Caterham’s Gerry Hughes

    TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Gerry HUGHES (Caterham), Rob WHITE (Renault Sport F1), James KEY (Toro Rosso), Pat SYMONDS (Williams), Adrian NEWEY (Red Bull Racing), Jonathan NEALE (McLaren)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Gerry, head of track operations at Caterham, could you fill us in on the details of the changes at Caterham in so far as it affects your department?

    Gerry HUGHES: Well, I think it’s fair to say that from a track operations perspective it’s business as usual. The new owners are here for the first time this weekend, to observe the trackside operation. We’ll show then what we do on a race weekend and as I said, it’s business as usual.

    So what are the objectives for the team for the rest of 2014 and looking ahead to 2015 in terms of resources and allocating them and that kind of thing?

    GH: Well, after a period of uncertainty with the new owners coming in, they’ve given us a direction and a remit and certainly our goal for the remainder of the season is to finish 10th in the championship. The design of the new car is going ahead and is on schedule, so we look forward to 2015, but certainly the remit from the new owners is to finish 10th in the championship.

    James, coming to you, obviously some good pace recently from Toro Rosso, but also some reliability concerns – retirements etc. And also of course the issue with Jean-Eric today.

    James KEY: If I could you tell you everything James I think we’d have our issues sorted. I think some of it to be honest is a little bit of bad luck we’ve had recently. I think the last three events for us have been problematic, before then it was OK towards the beginning of the season. We’ve had a couple of self-inflicted issues and we’ve had a couple of unexpected issues. Monaco, for example, was entirely unexpected, we traced the issues we had with the exhaust but they’d never happened before then or after. So that was a bit of a one-off and a great disappointment because we were strong there. Since then we’ve had a couple of niggles that have been self-inflicted – a bit of brake blanking which was maybe a bit too high and this sort of thing, little operational things occasionally. A bit of a surprise in Austria with the suspension issue, so it’s been a frustration for sure, because when you have a little bit of pace and can finish in the points you want to make the most of that. But we’re looking at everything very carefully. Clearly we want to make sure we can get through this rather rough patch of reliability and just get on with the rest of the season.

    Your drivers seem to be performing well and they’re well matched as well. How are you seeing their development?

    JK: I think it’s good actually. I think having both of them so close. Dan’s come in this year and has an old head on young shoulders. His learning curve is extremely steep. His feedback and so on has developed tremendously. He’s been really quite strong right from the outset, which we’ve been quote pleased with. And Jean-Eric is a great driver and he’s more focused this year than we’ve seen him this year. He recognises that there is a hot-shoe across the table, pushing him, so it’s a very healthy situation. They work well together and we’re enjoying the fact that we’ve got two guys who are pushing each other.

    Jonathan, there’s no escaping the fact, when you look at the championship table, that you’re the fourth-placed Mercedes-powered team. What’s the plan for turning it around and do you take some encouragement from what’s happened today in free practice?

    Jonathan NEALE: I don’t think we take much encouragement from free practice today. Just talking to colleagues here about how the track has been today, it’s been quite unpredictable out there, both this morning and this afternoon. We’ve got a lot of work to do internally to rebuild on the difficulties we have last year. It’s well known that we’re actively strengthening the team at the moment. Eric and I and Ron are working hard to make sure we return ourselves to the performance of where we should be as quickly as possible, but it’s a tough job. There’s no easy way through this. You have to remember that whichever end of the grid you’re at, each of us has 80 runs per week in the wind tunnel by regulation. That’s it; you’ve got to make the most of it. So you have to fight hard and that’s what we’re doing. But there’s a lot of culture change going on, there’s a bit of strengthening of the team, there are some tough things to do, but we’re coming back.

    This week Ron Dennis, your boss, gave Jenson Button a little bit of a hurry-up, as we say here in England, ahead of the British Grand Prix. What are your thoughts on that?

    JN: I think he did the same thing to Ayrton Senna. I’m pretty sure he did the same thing to Kevin. I think if you listen to my phone on a daily basis he’ll be doing the same thing to me. It’s chip paper.

    Thank you. Coming to you Pat. Can you tell us about this morning? It was not a trouble-free morning for the Williams team and also this afternoon, with Valtteri’s engine cover.

    Pat SYMONDS: Yeah, it’s been a difficult day. These are the sort of contrasts you get in motorsport. A great weekend in Austria and today we’ve been like a dog running after a rabbit, trying to chase down our problems. Engine problems this morning; power unit problems. We were running and engine right up past the end of its life and it was a risk we decided to take and it didn’t come off. Accident from Felipe, bodywork problems this afternoon. And then on top of that it’s not been an easy day anyway, as Jonathan said. The wind has been gusting, it’s been very difficult to get a read on the car, the tyres have been hard too. It brought us back down to earth today.

    It’s been quite a turnaround for the Williams team from last year to this year. At this stage of last year’s championship you had zero and now you have 85 in the Constructors’ Championship. It shows it can be done but what is still missing do you think?

    PS: It depends what your ultimate targets are and the ultimate target is to win the Constructors’ Championship, so there is still a long way to go there. The improvements that have been made in the team are quite dramatic and they continue to show improvements all the way through. I think we need a good, solid, ambitious, long-term plan and just keep improving from here.

    Adrian, it’s the first time we’ve had the chance to talk to you in an official session since it was announced that you are staying at Red Bull but in a revised role. Can you tell us how hands on you will be in Formula One cars in the future.

    Adrian NEWEY: Much less so than I am at the moment, obviously. I think I will really be stepping back to become an advisor and mentor for the team, the engineers that we have there. Some involvement, of course, in the design. But that’s really towards the end of the year. For the moment I’m still fully involved.

    Obviously there have been some changes at Renault. Can you give us your thoughts on that, in terms of the management changes?

    AN: I think it can only be a good thing. Cyril joining; he’s a very strong person. I think it will bolster Rob in terms of Rob then being able to concentrate on all the technical aspects without having to also be involved in other areas. It plays to his strengths without a doubt and hopefully we’ll see the fruits of that in the future.

    Rob, let’s throw that to you: what does it mean for you and your team of engineers?

    Rob WHITE: I think it’s good that Cyril comes back to us; has a change of colour of shirt. I’m looking forward to sharing with Cyril the way forwards. As we said previously, it’s important that we step up to deliver the improvements that we completely understand are required. I think we have some very clear messages from Red Bull that have been expressed all over the place. It’s not hard to see what’s required. We know, we understand, and my job and of the team at Viry is to deliver.

    So how close to the maximum performance from this power unit, in the current specification, are you?

    RW: I guess that’s a kind of moving target type question. At any point in time you’re always extremely close to the maximum performance of the specification on the day. But the maximum performance of the specification can move on. I think we’ve seen already during the course of this season that we’ve made significant headway without a substantial change to the thing that you probably want to call the specification of the hardware and there’s still scope to progress during the rest of this season and then during the winter period then the way the regulations are, the way the engineering programmes are structured, then there’s more scope.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Marc Surer – Sky Germany) I have a question for James Key. When you watch the top speeds, your car is always right at the top compared to the other Red Bull team – Adrian always builds the slowest Red Bull car on the straight. Was it your intention to always make the car so fast on the straight? And if so what was the plan behind that?

    JK: I think a lot of it is a car philosophy thing. For us, somehow, STR cars have always had a certain amount of efficiency about them: it was like it before these regulations as well. We tended to have cars that were relatively quick in a straight line. So, I think some of it is just natural from where we are. As a team, to be brutally honest, until recently we haven’t been able to extract more rear wing performance until now, so we probably just been a little bit low on rear wing capacity which has helped that. Equally I think that we did look at the competition in winter testing and recognise the only thing we could do to try to address some of the straight line speed capabilities of some of the cars, particularly the Mercedes cars, was to look at drag as well and, from a chassis perspective, try and tackle it that way. But I think it’s a track-by-track thing. Here we’re mid-table, so it’s not always the case.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Question for Jonathan. Jonathan, James said that currently you’re fourth of the Mercedes teams, however next year you’ll be first of the Honda teams. Obviously you’ve only got sixth months to go before the change. At what stage are you with this Honda development programme, who is responsible for what and how are the current testing regulations working against such a project?

    JN: There’s several questions in that Dieter. There’s a lot of work going on in Tochigi and Sakura at the moment with Honda on the power unit. They are responsible for the power unit including the ERS in its entirety. We are responsible for the chassis and the systems integration piece. Hardware is running, the clock is running and time is short and I think there is a lot of work to do before we’re ready for January of next year.

    In terms of how the regulations help or hinder, then I don’t think the current lack of track testing is an impediment because I don’t think we’re at that stage. We not ready for that at the moment to be quite honest with you. So, even if we could get out and run a car that’s not something we would consider right now. We’ve got our hands full with our current issues right now because regardless of what power unit is in the car, we don’t have the best chassis that’s out there and obviously given the performance of last year and this year our immediate focus is what’s going on inside McLaren. So, to some extent, we are doing what we’re responsible for and sorting that out. Of course, with an eye on the horizon. But yeah, we’ve got a lot to do. It’s exciting that the regulations have allowed, or attracted, another engine manufacturer in. I don’t think any of us are under any illusion as to how challenging that is going to be, to go through another iteration of the repackaging, and go through a winter of all of the heat-rejection stuff that we’ve done, the packaging, the ERS etc. We’ve been through it once, we’ll do it again.

    Q: (Keith Weir – Reuters) Question for Gerry. Can I just be clear, you say the new owners are here this weekend. Do you mean the new management or the people who put the money up – the investors about whom there is a little bit of uncertainly about who exactly they are? And have you been given any guarantees as to the level of funding, staffing, that kind of thing for next season, if you’re talking about 2015?

    GH: If I answer the first part of your question first, I suppose you probably know as much about the overall management structure and the investor as I do. Obviously clearly Christijan [Albers] is now going to be the team principal for Caterham going forwards and Colin acting as an advisor for the team. I think in terms of the short, medium and long term investment, that’s not something I’m going to make comment on here.

    Q: (Mike Doodson – GPweek) If there are to be any significant savings in F1 budgets the area in which it would seem logical to a dimwit like me to make them would be aerodynamics which contributes nothing to road car design and has no interest – or very little – to the spectator. What would your response be if someone were to suggest the introduction of spec-wings and aerodynamics generally?

    AN: I’m not sure I agree with the some of the points you made in your question, to be perfectly honest, in terms of there being no interest from spectators. I think if you make the cars of an increasingly fixed aerodynamic specification then it becomes GP1 as far as the chassis is concerned. And we’re already, in my opinion, in grave danger of getting close to that; that the regulations define a lot of the car. So increasingly the cars will look more and more similar. I would actually – and of course you could say I would, wouldn’t I? – but I would be arguing for an opening of the aerodynamic regulations. As far as the cost is concerned then I think the RRA, in terms of restriction in wind tunnel testing and CFD  goes a long way to reducing the aerodynamic cost because aerodynamic cost is two things: it’s the research – wind tunnel, CFD –  which is hugely expensive, then the manufacture of the parts that comes out of that. This year I think we’ve seen a slowing of the number of parts that people are introducing because, as I say, the regulations are quite restrictive by one point, and by another point we are now heavily into a set of regulations that had their roots in the 2009 change. So everybody’s becoming quite evolved in where they are. But I think, certain from what I hear and people I’ve spoken to, journalists, then they insist that the public does have a lot of interest in the changes to the cars, what happens and that’s what differentiates it from other sports. That you have got this combination of different factors. You’ve got the driver, the chassis – which is obviously not just aerodynamics but it’s heavily aerodynamic-driven – and the powertrain. And it’s that blend of features that makes it exciting and interesting. If you look at IndyCar, for instance, which went to one-make chassis some years ago, ever since it’s been one-make it’s viewing has fallen and fallen. That would be my opinion.

    Pat, do you have a view on this?

    PS: Yeah. I think Mike I’d probably take you up on your statement that it’s not relevant. I think it’s extremely relevant. Within Formula One we don’t just develop the components on the Formula One car, we develop techniques. I have, in the past, been asked to use those techniques for a major OEM on road car aerodynamics for drag reduction, very successfully. In CFD, I think Formula One teams push CFD – computational fluid dynamics – much harder than would be happening were we not involved. And particularly in the areas of turbulent flow. That is extremely relevant to things like wind turbines. When you have a whole field of wind turbines, the turbulent flow off one turbine affects those in the wave behind and CFD studies which have been pushed hard in these area by Formula One are used to develop those sort of techniques – so I think what we do is extremely relevant.

    Do you have a view on this Jonathan?

    JN: I fully support what Pat and Adrian have said. I also think that to some extent the genie is out of the bottle of aerodynamics and I don’t think we can roll the clock back and go to the glorious days of sliding bicycle tyres around Monaco. I don’t think that’s going to be quite the spectacle that Formula One is now, in terms of its relevance. I do think that it’s relevant to efficiency and to car production – I would say that because we do that in McLaren with our sports car business – but I also think that a great deal is made of the cost-base of Formula One and the contribution of aerodynamics specifically to it. And I think there are a lot of proxy wars going on there that probably have more to do with income models and how businesses are being run. Nobody’s being forced to spend that. I think there are a whole load of issues being mixed into one – but for aerodynamics specifically, I support totally what Pat and Adrian have said.

    Q: (Haoran Zhao – F1 Express) Adrian, are you going to change your office location because as we understand your office is quite close to Christian? What if Christian just came up and said ‘look, we totally messed up the twin exhaust, just sort this out for me?’ Would you do that, in the future, in the next season?

    AN: I doubt if Christian would come up and say that to me. No, I will maintain my existing office within Red Bull Technology which I will use occasionally. I will have a second office in the new Advanced Technology department.

    Q: That’s where you’re going to spend most of your time, is it?

    AN: It will be the majority there, yes, that’s correct.

    Q: (Bob Bull – BBC.co.uk/three counties) With the current regulations which don’t allow much change of the engines, once you’ve set them for the year, and the limits on what you can do with aerodynamics, do you think that the current situation is stifling innovation and possibly discouraging potential designers for the future?

    JK: I’m not so sure… I think with the engine side the homologation was an agreed regulation and if you’ve got a bit of a disparity in reliability or whatever then that first year could potentially be quite tough for some compared to others. I think it goes down two ways. You’ve got, in some cases, restriction be it chassis or engine which maybe is a little bit off-putting, as Adrian has said, on the aero side, for example. Equally, it does also encourage innovation because you’ve got less areas to look at and some clever ideas often pop out of that. I think it’s just as interesting. It may be slightly more painful but I think it’s just as interesting and if we look at what happened in 2009, I think, when the new regs came along which is similar to what we have now for aero, that’s when things like F-ducts, exhaust-blown diffusers and so-on all popped up. Before that, we weren’t seeing such levels of innovation and that was with something that was more restricted. So I think within restrictions it’s still very interesting from an engineering point of view.

    RW: I think there’s a number of elements in the reply. Firstly, as concerns the engine and the spec, I think it’s important not to get too hung-up about this aspect and certainly not without looking closely at the regulations and understanding them because the fact of the matter is that it’s a double-edged sword. The sporting regulations where the homologation restrictions are contained, are very explicit about what you may and may not do and it’s very simple: you may not do anything without the prior approval of the FIA. There’s a mechanism which is well-established, which works very well which deals with short-term matters. The fact is that it is potentially a restraint if you happen to have a silver bullet sat on the shelf that you want to deploy – well you probably can’t if its purpose is principally to make the power unit go quicker. On the other hand, it protects you if your competitor has a silver bullet on the shelf that he wants to deploy. Going forward, because this was a set of regulations built up over a period of time with some foresight and some knowledge of what happens when the power units are frozen or the engines – as they previously were – then the progressive freeze and the year-on-year permitted evolutions is a window of opportunity. It’s also a window of risk so I think that in the world of power units, to have in mind that there are mechanisms for the design and construction of the spec to change.

    In terms of stifling innovation of designers, which I think was at the end of the question, I think for the time being, at least in the world of power units, we’re not yet there because we have a very complicated set of constraints. There’s a small number of things that are explicitly determined for us in the regulations; there’s many thousands of things that are not and therefore the freedom of expression is substantial.

    And then an opinion that comes back to the previous question: I think we need to be extremely careful about unintended consequences because when stuff becomes really fixed and really standard, then you get into a fairly disreputable situation where in order to gain advantage, then you have to spend a massive amount of money and that becomes poor value for money and that’s an unintended consequence that we must be aware of as the future homologation requirements become more severe.

    GH: I think the regulations are a framework by which we must all work, however they’ve been formed. As James said, obviously the aero regulations span a number of years now so I think there will always be areas for innovation, there will always be areas – as Rob said –  where there’s going to be a greater level of restriction. I think that’s what makes Formula One Formula One, that there will always be innovation.

    PS: I think it’s remarkable that we’re accused of lack of innovation when we’ve just introduced the most innovative power unit we’ve seen in years and I’m not just talking about in racing. And each aspect of that power unit is incredible: even gasoline direct injection, GDI, to run it at the sort of speeds that we’re running has been a bit of a breakthrough. The energy recovery, also a breakthrough. Even on the chassis side, there are a lot of clever things in there: passive pitch and warp-link suspensions, inertia dampers – there are all sorts of things that are still there. I’d agree, we don’t have the freedom of regulation that we might have had twenty or thirty years ago, but we don’t have the money to be able to do those sort of things but we still have inquisitive minds and a lot of the innovation is in the attention to detail these days and it’s all very relevant.

    AN: I think it’s a very difficult one. Obviously, as engineers, I guess we would ideally like the sort of CanAm-type regulation of maximum length and width or whatever it was and do what you like within that, but realistically, that’s not practical nowadays, so I think it’s a very difficult one to strike that balance between something which allows the maximum amount of freedom whilst – as Pat hinted –  not having the budgets going completely out of control, where it becomes a complete spending war and without having a huge difference in the performance of the vehicles, because if we had too much freedom, the chances are that one team would strike it right each year and everybody would complain that the racing’s a bit dull. Unfortunately, that has happened a bit this year but that’s another matter. I think as far as the power train is concerned, the only slight concern that I would voice is that I think it is absolutely correct that these power units are an incredible piece of technology and – as Pat said – something of which we should be very proud of as an industry. What’s not clear is that as the freeze becomes more and more solid – if you like – if one power unit then has an advantage over another or one is clearly behind, how that is addressed, because if you are in that position you have no way of upgrading your power unit because you’re frozen, then you’re doomed to forever be behind but I think that’s something which hopefully can be discussed and should be resolvable, particularly because the engines do all now carry – or all cars carry – torque sensors. Those torque sensors do seem to be a little bit noisy but basically very reliable and give a good signal and so it’s entirely possible for the FIA to look at the outputs from those torque sensors and see where everybody is, not only across engine-matched factories but also of course the variable of fuel, so if a particular engine and petroleum company has the benefit over another, then it’s able to do so and within that, it has the means, if it wishes to, to allow some equalisation for anybody that finds themselves behind in a frozen area.

    JN: I think I need two points that I would add to that is that – Adrian mentioned it there – that there is still room and a lot of performance to be gained through the fuel and lube development which is open. Rob’s already mentioned – or Pat did – about what can be done around the energy recovery systems. But to the point about whether designers feel constrained, then I think it would be reasonable to assume that if the designers felt constraint and didn’t know where to go  then we would see a much closer grid that we see at the moment. Mercedes have clearly put a package together that’s effective in a number of areas and the rest of us are working very hard to catch up. If that were easy, we would have done it by now, so I think there’s plenty to go at.

    Q: (Haoran Zhao – F1 Express) Jonathan, the whole Formula One industry is crying out about the new power unit but yet at Le Mans this year we had 480bhp, six megajoul hybrid unit from Toyota and nobody from Le Mans is crying. Formula One being the peak of motor sport, what has happened and are you happy with the money that Honda is throwing in at the moment?

    JN: Yeah, I’m very happy with Honda coming back, thank you. I’m delighted about that. It was a very ambitious programme. Formula One had the option to stay with the V8 technology but the regulation makers and the teams consulted and the decision was taken to put a very advanced and efficient series together. In our first year, I think that that’s thrown up some interesting challenges, many of which have been spoken about here already but we should never under-estimate the cost of development of these things and over a period of time, with stability, I’m sure that if we looked at the marginal cost of production of an engine in three, four, five years time under this level of homologation, even if there is some equalisation as Adrian discovered, unit cost of production will be very effective. What price the engine manufacturers will want to charge the teams at that point is a moot point but development cost of these vast technology things are not easy to do. We’ve got what we designed.

    eom/FIA release of the transcript

  • With all the fans, I am excited to race again at my home GP: Hamilton

    DRIVERS – 

    Clockwise: Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso), Max CHILTON (Marussia), Valtteri BOTTAS (Williams), Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes), Felipe MASSA (Williams), Jenson BUTTON (McLaren) at the Press Conference ahead of British GP at Silverstone on Thursday. Image credit: FIA
    Clockwise: Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso), Max CHILTON (Marussia), Valtteri BOTTAS (Williams), Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes), Felipe MASSA (Williams), Jenson BUTTON (McLaren) at the Press Conference ahead of British GP at Silverstone on Thursday. Image credit: FIA

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Lewis, if I could start with you: obviously you were on pole here last year, a former winner of the event, I see you’ve got the Union flag on the underside of the peak on your cap. Your feelings on racing at home and coming home?

    Lewis HAMILTON: It’s always a special weekend or week for us British drivers. Coming here, seeing the fans, already having been at Goodwood and seeing how many people were there and the support that’s coming into this weekend. It’s very exciting for us and the feeling of being at home is really a great feeling. And the support, as I said, for me and Jenson and the guys here, it’s unlike any other place we experience. I’m really excited to see everyone and I hope that we can put on a good show and that the weather stays good.

    You spoke after the race in Austria about damage limitation, particularly after what happened in qualifying. Clearly, I guess this weekend you want to start on the front foot and stay there. So I wonder what lessons you’ve taken away from the setbacks lately?

    LH: There’s not really many lessons. There’s been these two races where we had a technical problem in Montreal and then in the last race I faced some difficulties on the driver side. Sometimes it goes well, sometimes it doesn’t, but you’re always going from strength to strength, so we’ve learned some things but nothing we can particularly point out.

    OK, thank you for that. Jenson coming to you. Similar question really to the first one to Lewis: the feelings on coming back to the British Grand Prix and racing in front of your home crowd. It’s a race you’ve not won, but you’ve always enjoyed being here.

    Jenson BUTTON: Yeah, it’s always very special coming home for this grand prix. I think for every driver Silverstone is a special race. It’s a great layout; always a full house, whether it’s sunny, hot, raining, windy. But it’s especially special for a British driver racing at home. Whether you’re doing well or not you get the support. It’s been very overwhelming actually the last few days since Goodwood leading into this home grand prix, I think for all of us. So I’m very much looking forward to driving on the circuit tomorrow and seeing the fans.

    It’s your fifth season with McLaren this year. How do you see things developing from here?

    JB: We will see. For me, right now, it’s about doing the best job I can. The whole team, us as a team are working every day to do a better job. We’re not where we want to be, we’re not where McLaren is used to being, and we know that, so we’re working very hard. In terms of the future that’s something I can’t discuss right now.

    OK, we’ll move on to Felipe: congratulations, I believe it’s your 200th grand prix this weekend you will be celebrating. So your thoughts on that and also on his rich run of form at the moment for you and the Williams team?

    Felipe MASSA: Yeah, I think it’s a fantastic race to celebrate [at]. I think it’s an important achievement. It’s already a long time, when I started in 2002. It’s really a great feeling to have 200 races, in a great team, Williams-Martini home grand prix as well, at a great track, fantastic fans. So I hope we can have a very strong race, like we had in Austria, so I hope we carry on fighting [and we are] competitive. So I’m realty happy and I’m really happy with the team I’m celebrating 200 grands prix [with] as well, so I hope we have many races in front. It’s a great placed as well. Everybody knows everything about Formula One, everything about racing cars here. Sometimes you just see pictures and you have no idea how fans have amazing pictures like that to sign, that are very close to us. It is a great feeling.

    You’re kind of unusual I guess to have got to 200 grands prix and it’s the first time you’ve come here racing for a British-base team – that doesn’t happen very often. Your thoughts on that, the Britishness of the team and what that represents to the country.

    FM: Yeah it’s a great team. It’s a very important race for me; it’s a very important race for Williams as well. For us, me and Valtteri, as well, for the championship. We are working very hard to improve and be better and better race by race and I think that’s what we are managing to do and it’s really a great feeling and I hope we have a good one.

    Valtteri, coming to you. As Felipe was saying obviously it’s a good run of form for the Williams team at the moment. You got your first podium a couple of weeks ago in Austria. Do you feel you can take on the Mercedes again this weekend.

    Valtteri BOTTAS: Well, I think overall Mercedes has been performing really, really strongly. It’s been difficult to keep up with them in most of the races – I think Austria was maybe a one-off, we will see. We know that we have been improving but you expect everyone else to do as well. It’s difficult to say. I think this season, we are going to see, the rest of the season, it’s going to vary quite a bit the performance between us and them, so we will see. We will do our best.

    After the race in Austria, you always have a debrief, all drivers do with the team, when you went through and looked at everything did you learn anything, were there any mistakes there or were you happy with the way it worked out.

    VB: Well, we’re definitely happy with the result we got – third and fourth, a lot of points for the team, that’s the main thing. I think it’s like every race, always if you look into the fine details you can always something, maybe, you could have done better. But the main feeling is very positive. It’s really good to continue from here. There have been many opportunities we could have done a lot better in previous races and now we’ve done a solid job, so that’s good to see. We know we can do it, so it’s good to continue from here.

    Max, coming to you, home race for you as well, of course. What experience did you have last year when it was your first time and what are you looking forward to this weekend?

    Max CHILTON: I’m just obviously looking forward to another home grand prix. Last year was pretty special. Your first ever home grand prix is something you won’t ever forget. I’m probably a little bit biased, but I’d like to think that it is, if not the biggest grand prix of the year, then certainly one of them. It’s just awesome to have so many spectators, a lot of them are camping, and waving the Union Jacks. I remember last year, free practice one was typical English, with lot of rain, but they were still there doing the Mexican waves and having amazing spirit, so I just hope we can put on a good show for them this year.

    You’ve out-qualified your team-mate for three of the last four grands prix. What’s been making the difference for you lately?

    MC: Just experience. Qualifying’s always been one my strong points but when I came to F1 I struggled initially. But with experience I’m working that out and I’m developing as a driver. There are techniques you can use as well. I find visualisation really helps. It’s a weird sport we’re in. You very rarely get to practice what we preach. Golfers, tennis players are out six hours a day; with us, yeah we have simulators but apart from that we’re not doing the sport that often. So the more you can practice, in any way possible, helps.

    Daniil, last three grands prix, you’ve qualified twice in the top 10, but you’ve had three straight retirements, so I guess the feeling at the moment is one of frustration, right.

    Daniil KVYAT: Well, yes, it’s true. We had quite good speed, which we couldn’t consolidate into some good result unfortunately. But last three races we couldn’t come to the end, but I think it’s been a good sign that we do have speed, we do have something to fight for and we’ll just keep on fighting.

    So overall then, half way through you first grand prix season, are you happy with the impression you’ve made in Formula One?

    DK: Yeah, looking back on it, I think we’ve been achieving maximum from ourselves, we’ve been taking maximum out from our package. I was always learning some new things, it’s been always a good improvement through the season. It’s been good but it doesn’t feel like half a season anyway. We’ll see what the next half of the season will bring us.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Huansho Zhao – Formula One Express) A question to Jenson and Lewis. Murray Walker asked you two this question back in 2010 when you were still team-mates, that we had a colossal fortnight of sport, England’s out of the World Cup, Andy Murray’s out of Wimbledon, Britain is looking at you two, perhaps three of you, how do you feel about Sunday, are you afraid of history repeating itself. Would you like to give your 2014 answer to this question?

    JB: I personally feel all the pressure is on Lewis!

    LH: I think it’s the other way around!

    JB: He’s in the best car, c’mon, make it happen! For us, for Max and I suppose a little bit for myself it’s going to be tricky to get on the top step of the podium and, yeah, it would be amazing to have a British victory. The crowd would go absolutely wild. So, I’d love to see that. For us, as I said, it will be difficult but Lewis has got a shot so hopefully that will be the case.

    Lewis, you feel a sense of responsibility?

    LH: I was going to say exactly the same thing about Jenson, I think we should hand the baton over. No, at the end of the day we’re both, all of us, are going to do our utmost to try to represent and perform for the country. You never know how the weekend’s going to go, you never know how people have developed, improved – but of course, us as a leading team, hopefully we’ll have a good shot this weekend and I’ll do everything I can to bring at least a little bit of joy and add to the great success that some of the top athletes have.

    Q: (Abhishek Takle – Midday) Questions to Felipe. Firstly, congratulations on 200 races but, if you look back to around 2012, you had I suppose a lowest point of your career in terms of competitiveness. Looking back at that time, with all the pressure and some people saying you shouldn’t be in Formula One, did you at that time think you would make it to 200 races?

    FM: Well, for sure, yes. I was thinking that everything is possible. Things change very quick in Formula One. All of us, we have good times and difficult time. You always need to pass through a difficult moment. You always learn, and definitely I learned. And I still believe I have many races in front and I still believe I can be competitive and I think when you don’t believe anymore, it’s the time to stop. But you need to feel, not what other people say. I really feel competitive and there’s still a lot more that I can do.

    Q: (Ian Parkes – PA) Question for Jenson. Ron Dennis came out with some rather intriguing comments recently urging you to ‘try harder’. Just wonder what your thoughts are on that: whether you agree with him even, or whether you are in fact giving your all in what is a relatively uncompetitive car again this season.

    JB: I think Ron’s practicing to be a motivational speaker maybe. I think when we’re in the position that we have been in for 18 months, it’s not easy. For anyone within the team. It’s very, very difficult. So, no, I think we all need to work harder as a team. I don’t think we should be pointing a finger at any individual within the team. I think we’ve got ourselves into this situation and we’ve got to fight our way out. I don’t do things in half-measures. I have the experience in Formula One to know that you need to give 100 per cent and I always do every time I’m in the paddock, at the factory, on the phone to my engineers. Everything is 100 per cent.

    Q: (Luke Murphy – Formula Spy): Question for all drivers. There’s been some minor criticism of Pirelli lately that their tyre choices have been too conservative. I just wanted to know what your opinions were on that.

    VB: I think the compound choices for the last two or three races haven’t been too bad. Obviously the compounds are a bit harder than last year. Those are the compounds and they choose the tyres we need to use in the race weekend and it’s our job to make the most out of them. So, that’s it.

    Max, anything to add?

    MC: No, not really, I’ll just copy what Valtteri said. The tyres are pretty conservative, they haven’t been too bad.

    Felipe?

    FM: Yeah, sometimes a little bit conservative. So, I like… I think in the last two races it was fine. When it’s one stop it’s a little bit boring, I prefer maybe two or three. Two is fine. I think, y’know, using the very hard tyres is not really great, I prefer it to be a little bit better than how it is.

    Lewis, I guess in a tight battle like yours, the strategy is an important part of the game – you want more options rather than less?

    LH: erm… no, I was just thinking this isn’t a bad thing. Pirelli have done quite a good job this year. We haven’t had any tyre blow-outs, which is a real positive for us, it’s what we wanted. You can’t always get it perfect, so whether or not they’ve gone a little bit too far in that direction, we can decide perhaps at the end of the year. I’m sure they’ll alter it again for next year. Of course we always want more grip, so every time they get softer, that’s a good thing for us.

    Jenson, anything to add?

    JB: Yeah, I think the last three races it’s been the right choice to have the supersoft and the soft. Barcelona  felt a bit too hard but I mean it’s pretty difficult being limited to only four compounds throughout the season. Here it’s the hard and the medium but you need a bit of stability for the high-speed corners, so, if the temperature’s alright, it should be fine.

    Final thought Daniil?

    DK: I have no problem with Pirelli, it’s all good for me.

    Q: (Sarah Holt – CNN) Tomorrow we’re due to see the first female on track for 22 years when Susie Wolff takes part in first practice for Williams. That’s got to be a good thing for the sport, especially in terms of being an inspiration for future females who want to take part in motor racing. I wonder if Valtteri could comment first as Susie’s teammate, and also if we could hear from Lewis and Jenson as well?

    VB: I think it’s great from Williams that they give the opportunity and she’s already been with Williams quite a bit doing development work in the simulator and did a test after Barcelona. I think it’s really nice to see her getting the opportunity to drive in the race weekend in FP1.

    Q: Lewis, I guess you raced against quite a lot of girls lower down in karts but they’re no longer competing when you get to this level. Your thoughts on whether this will be inspirational?

    LH: I didn’t race against many girls. Susie was one of the very few if not the only one that I raced against. I saw her in karting but she was always in the class above me and then we raced Formula Renault together. She was great. We shared a podium together a couple of times. I think she’s done remarkably well in her career. She’s very very talented, so happy. It’s going to be really cool, I think, to see her in a Formula One car tomorrow.

    JB: Yeah. First of all it’s good that it’s Silverstone as well. From what I’ve heard, she knows this circuit as well which is a positive thing. Jumping into a Formula One car, I’m sure she’ll feel a little bit of the pressure in front of the home crowd, but she’s been working with Williams for quite a while so I’m guessing she knows the ins and outs of the car and the team. She’s also driven already – hasn’t she? – in a test and went very well. So it will be good to see her on track tomorrow.

    Q: (Mike Doodson – Auto Action) This is for Max: I was very interested in you talking about visualisation. I think other drivers have done the same in the past. I wonder what is the procedure you take to sit down quietly and particularly have you ever timed your visualised lap and how close did it come to the real one?

    MC: Yeah, it’s something I’ve heard about a lot in the past. It’s all trial and error. You have to try things to work out if you like them or not. It’s just worked with me recently. I tend to start it the week before a Grand Prix and yeah, you just do it in some quiet space. As you know, it’s not deadly serious, you just kind of practise a lap and obviously the first few laps you’re miles out and then you just gradually get into it and you build from previous memories and you slowly get down to a time where everything is just there and ready to kind of be extracted into the car, so when you’re actually doing your first flying laps on a Friday, it’s kind of there ready to be used. It’s a simple technique which helps and – as I said earlier – our sport is very weird, we’re very rarely actually doing what we preach so the more practice we can get the better.

    Q: Is visualisation something you all do? Yes. No. No. No.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Lewis, how important is it for you to win here and turn the championship back to your momentum, because it seems – looking from the side – that until Monaco, your season was quite smooth and then it seems that you were a little bit surprised  about how hard is the fight. Is this the wrong impression?

    LH: I’m not surprised. I’ve known how close it’s been since the beginning of the year. Nico won the first race. As every race, it’s important to be out ahead. I had the advantage for a few races and Nico’s had that for at least the last couple. But now this is the British Grand Prix, I’m going to do everything that I can to be out in front and as I said, try and represent… when it’s your home Grand Prix, it’s one of the greatest experiences you can ever have as a sportsman and as a driver, so that’s what I’m working towards this weekend.

    Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Three guys in the front, there were some comments this week from Bernie about Monza, suggesting that it might not be on the calendar much longer. I wonder if you could just comment, as the guys who had been there the most of the six here, as to whether we should take that seriously and how much of a loss for Formula One if it were to go?

    FM: Yeah, I think we’re still carrying on racing in Monza. It’s a fantastic place, great fans, so for sure, if we are not racing in Monza any more it would not be good for Formula One. We need to go to places that people really love – Formula One racing, like Silverstone. If we lost Silverstone it would not be positive, it would be a negative for all of us so I hope we can keep going to Monza for many many years.

    JB: It’s an iconic racetrack, one of the old school tracks. There’s so much history. The fans absolutely love this sport, they will do anything for this sport and they’re not going to be there to support us, they’re there to support a certain team, but that’s great to see. It’s nice to see their passion, they’re very patriotic and the circuit’s fun to drive. It’s a very unique circuit, very different to any other circuit, very low downforce circuit, always throws up a good race so it would be a shame not to see it on the calendar.

    LH: Yeah, I agree with both what Felipe and Jenson said. I think it’s important not to forget that this sport would not exist if it wasn’t for the fans. Obviously there are certain business decisions people make but there’s tracks we’ve been to where there’s been no one in the grandstands and there’s a few, particularly, which are very very special like Monza where you have a full.. you know, the circuit’s just full of fans and it really does make the event. I think it’s important that we try and keep that in the sport.

    ends/FIA release of the transcript

  • World Council accepts re-starts after stoppages from 2015: F1 races

    Munich, 26 June 2014: A President praised co-hosts the Deutscher Motor Sport Bund E.V. (DMSB) and the Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil Club E.V. (ADAC) for their support of the week which welcomed representatives from over 109 ASNs to Munich, up from 74 in 2013.

    The following decisions were taken by the WMSC:

    FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

    Changes to the F1 Regulations for 2015 have been agreed by the WMSC.

    The last date at which the sporting and technical regulations can be changed without unanimous agreement has been changed from 30 June to 1 March each year, starting from 2015.FIA logo1

    Changes to 2015 Sporting Regulations

    Power units

    –       The number of engines permitted by each driver in a season will be four. However, if there are more than 20 races in a season, the number will increase to five.

    –       The penalty for a complete change of Power Unit will be starting from the back of the grid, not the pit lane.

    Aerodynamic testing

    –       The number of wind tunnel runs will be reduced from 80 hours per week to 65 hours per week.

    –       Wind-on hours are to be reduced from 30 hours per week to 25 hours.

    –       Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) usage is to be reduced from 30 Teraflops to 25 Teraflops.

    –       Two periods of tunnel occupancy will be allowed in one day (rather than only one).

    –       Teams will only be able to nominate one wind tunnel in one year.

    Testing

    –       There will be three pre-season tests of four days each in Europe in 2015 (currently teams are able to test outside Europe). This will be reduced to two tests of four days in 2016.

    –       There will be two in-season tests of two days each in Europe (instead of the current four). Two of these four days must be reserved for young drivers.

    Car specification at an Event

    The current restrictions to the parc fermé will now apply from the start of P3 instead of the start of qualifying.

    Wheels and tyres

    The ban on tyre blankets will be rescinded for 2015. This will be re-discussed if and when the wheel and tyre diameter increases in the future.

    Personnel Curfew

    The Friday night curfew will be extended from six to seven hours in 2015 and will increase to eight hours in 2016.

     

    Safety Car restarts

    Safety Car restarts will now be a standing start from the grid. Standing starts will not be carried out if the Safety Car is used within two laps of the start (or restart) of a race or if there are less than five laps of the race remaining.

    Changes to 2015 Technical Regulations

    A number of changes have been made, including:

    –     A number of new regulations for the noses to ensure improved safety and to provide more aesthetically pleasing structures.

    –     A number of new regulations concerning skid blocks to ensure that they are made from a lighter material (titanium) and are better contained.

    –     New regulations to ensure that the brake discs rotate at the same speed as the wheels.

    –     A two-stage wheel fastener retaining system is now compulsory.

    FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP

    From January 2015, Priority 1 and 2 drivers will be obliged to do a minimum of three passages through the shakedown stage in order to provide greater media and promotional opportunities. Accordingly, the number of tyres used during shakedown will not form part of the total allocation for the event.

    FORMULA E CHAMPIONSHIP

    A number of amendments have been made to the sporting regulations (available online).

    The 2014/15 Calendar of the FIA Formula E Championship will be as follows:

    Date Venue Country
    13.09.2014 Beijing CHN
    18.10.2014 Putrajaya MLY
    13.12.2014 Punta del Este URY
    10.01.2015 Buenos Aires ARG
    14.03.2015 Miami USA
    04.04.2015 Long Beach USA
    09.05.2015 Monaco MCO
    30.05.2015 Berlin DEU
    27.06.2015 London GBR

    A tenth race is to be confirmed for 14 February 2015.

    The ten teams entered for the FIA Formula E Championship are as follows:

    – Andretti Autosport Formula E Team

    – Audi Sport ABT Formula E Team

    – China Racing Formula E Team

    – Dragon Racing Formula E Team

    – e.dams Formula E Team

    – Mahindra Racing Formula E Team

    – Super Aguri Formula E Team

    – Trulli Formula E Team

    – Venturi Formula E Team

    – Virgin Racing Formula E Team

    SINGLE-SEATER COMMISSION

    It has been agreed to establish a 2015 FIA Formula 3 Middle East Cup which will take place in January 2015. The first edition will be held in Bahrain. A call of interest for promoters will be launched.

    Changes to the FIA F3 technical regulations have been made to reduce running and development costs. The homologation period of the current chassis has been extended until 31 December 2017.

     

    ENDURANCE COMMISSION

    The 2015 Le Mans 24 Hours will be held on 13-14 June (with a test day on 31 May).

    GT COMMISSION

    As from 2015, a new FIA Drivers Categorisation will replace the current FIA WEC and FIA GT3 lists with the aim of categorising drivers (Platinum, Gold, Silver or Bronze) in a standardised manner based on three criteria: age, record of achievement and performance.

    HISTORIC MOTOR SPORT COMMISSION

    It was agreed to set the cut-off year for recognition of cars considered as ‘historic’ at 1990, at least for the next 10 years. Furthermore, it has been decided to extend the period of validity for Historic Technical Passports from 5 to 10 years.

    A working group is to be established, chaired by President of the Historic Motor Sport Commission, Paolo Cantarella, to investigate the classification of cars dated 1990 on that are not historic but which no longer satisfy the latest safety criteria.

    OFF-ROAD COMMISSION

    Further to proposals by the new Rallycross Technical Working Group, made up of representatives of the FIA, the promoter and the teams entered in the World Championship, a revised set of Technical Regulations for Rallycross will be in place as of 1 January 2015. This includes the broadening of possible engine options, allowing the use of ‘custom’ engines.

    WOMEN IN MOTOR SPORT COMMISSION

    The FIA, represented by FIA Women in Motorsport Commission President Michèle Mouton, signed the Brighton Declaration on Women and Sport on 12 June, underlining the Federation’s commitment to encouraging and supporting the promotion of women in motor sport. The signing took place on the occasion of the 6th International Working Group World Conference on Women and Sport, hosted in Helsinki, Finland.

    FIA EUROPEAN DRAG RACING COMMISSION

    The race scheduled for Sweden on 15 June 2014 is cancelled.

    VOLUNTEERS AND OFFICIALS COMMISSION

    The creation of a new award “Best Team of the Season” was approved. This award aims to reward a group of officials nominated by the ASNs who have achieved excellence in their teamwork. The ASNs will be free to nominate this award to either: all (or a group of) the track or road marshals (or scrutineers, timekeepers, the medical team, etc.) of a given competition; or all the officials of a given competition.

    LAND SPEED RECORDS COMMISSION

    The only confirmed record attempts currently scheduled are at the ACCUS Annual Event at the Bonneville Salt Flats in the USA, on 11-16 September.

    CIRCUITS COMMISSION

    It was agreed to amend the marshal flag signal rules to reflect current practices and harmonise them with the Code of Driving Conduct. The light blue flag should normally be waved, as an indication to a driver that he is about to be overtaken. It has different meanings during practice and the race.

    During practice: A faster car is close behind you.

    During the race: The flag should normally be shown to a car about to be lapped, if the driver does not seem to be making full use of his rear-view mirrors. When shown, the driver concerned must allow the following car to pass at the earliest opportunity.

    Next WMSC

    The next meeting of the WMSC will be held in Beijing on 11 September 2014.

    eom/FIA release

  • Rosberg pips Hamilton to extend championship lead; Maiden podium for Bottas

    Spielberg, 22 June 2014: Mercedes AMG Petronas driver Nico Rosberg took his third win of the season at the Austrian Grand Prix ahead of Lewis Hamilton despite a determind charge by the Briton to second from ninth on the grid.

    The German’s win extends his World Drivers’ Championship leade over Hamilton to 29 points. Williams’ Valtteri Bottas claimed his first podium finish with third place ahead of pole winner Felipe Massa. Sahara Force India was once again in double points as Sergio Perez, who disappointed with an controversial last-lap clash in the last race, did a wonderful job finishing 6th after starting 16th while Nico Hulkenberg, lost a place to Daniel Ricciardo during the fag end, but managed to finish ninth.

    Hamilton *lef) had to be content with a second place as Rosberg extended his championship lead. A Mercedes AMG Petronas image
    Hamilton *lef) had to be content with a second place as Rosberg extended his championship lead. A Mercedes AMG Petronas image

    At the start, pole position man Felipe Massa made a solid getaway to hold the lead. Behind him Bottas lost P2 to Rosberg into Turn One but managed to wrestle back the advantage at the following corner. Behind them Hamilton made a storming start, climbing to fifth from ninth on the grid. He went one better in the final turn of lap one to pass Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and he then settled in behind team-mate Rosberg as the field crossed the line to begin lap two.

    Sebastian Vettel though was in trouble. At the start of lap two he slowed dramatically and reported that he had lost power. He pulled over and seemed set to stop but then mysteriously his RB10 seemed to right itself. He was told to ‘go racing’ by race engineer. The champion though was a lap down on the field and a significant recovery looked impossible. The Red Bull driver soldiered on at the back of the field, surviving a collision with Esteban Gutierrez along the way, until he was eventually told to retire his car midway through the race.

    Team-mate Daniel Ricciardo also had a rocky start. Pushed wide in turn two on the first lap he dropped from fifth on the grid to eighth. He was soon after informed that he should not use his overtake button for the whole race and hampered by power problems he was soon down to tenth.

    With the opening supersoft tyres being used by the bulk of the field graining badly, the first round of pit stops wasn’t long in coming. The main body of stops was triggered by Jean-Eric Vergne on lap eight, the Toro Rosso swapping the option tyres for prime softs. He was followed a lap later by Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg and on the following lap by Kevin Magnussen, Daniil Kvyat and Ricciardo.

    Rosberg pitted from third place on lap 11, allowing Hamilton to fly past. Hamilton couldn’t find the pace necessaryon his own in-laps and stop, however, and when he emerged after his own stop on lap 13 he found himself just behind Rosberg.

    Leader Massa, meanwhile, was readying himself for his tyre change on lap 14. His stop was far from perfect however and when the Brazilian emerged he found himself behind Rosberg and was then quickly passed by Hamilton.

    Bottas’s stop on lap 15 was much quicker, however, and the Finn was able to split the leading Mercedes after taking on soft tyres. The order on lap 16, then, was Sergio Perez, who had started on softs and had yet to pit, followed by Rosberg, Bottas, Hamilton, Massa and McLaren’s Jenson Button, who had also started on the soft tyre from 11th on the grid.

    On lap 27 Rosberg passed Perez for the lead, the Mexican ceding the position without much of a fight having been told by his pit wall that the race would come back him as his strategy played out later on. Bottas too sneaked through but Hamilton had to wait until the next tour before he could pass the Force India. The delay allowed Rosberg to pop in a fastest lap. Hamilton responded with his own but the gap had by now drifted to 2.4 seconds.

    Perez eventually made his first stop on lap 29, tajking on a second set of softs before rejoining in seventh position.

    At the front the battle was hotting up again as Bottas and Hamilton closed in on Rosberg, who made a small mistake. The Williams driver got to within a second of the leading Mercedes, with Hamilton in close attendance, but Rosberg soon responded and the gap widened to 1.1s.

    Hamilton made his second stop in lap 39, taking on a final set of softs and rejoining in fifth. Rosberg though kept going for another lap and following a three-second stop he retained his advantage over Bottas and Hamilton. When Bottas pitted on lap 41 his relatively tardy 3.4s stop allowed Hamilton to move ahead and claim second.

    Massa made his final stop on lap 43, switching to soft tyres in 3.4s. The Brazilian then unfortunately found himself behind Sergio Perez, who was set for a longer stint on his second set of soft tyres.

    On the road the leader was Alonso and the Ferrari driver continued until lap 47 when he took on his final set of soft tyres. He emerged in sixth place behind Massa. At the front, Rosberg led by 1.6s from Hamilton, with Bottas a further 5.7s behind.

    The question now was whether Perez in P4 and Button in P7 behind Alonso could make any impact once they made their final stop for supersoft tyres?

    Unfortunately for Force India, the answer was not much. Perez took on the option tyre on lap 55 and rejoined in eighth position, five seconds behind McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen. The Mexican had enough pace in hand to pass Magnussen for sixth place on lap 66 but with a 13-second deficit to Alonso and just laps left sixth was the best Perez could do. Button, meanwhile made his stop on lap 58 but lodged behind tenth-placed Raikkonen in the closing stages the McLaren driver failed to make a significant move.

    At the front the battle for the lead finally flared in the final three laps, with Hamilton attempting to get inside DRS range of his team-mate. With a lap left and with Hamilton just 1.1s behind his team-mate both drivers were told they could use all the tools at their disposal. As the pair went through turn three Rosberg lit up his brakes. Hamilton saw an opportunity but he too erred in the corner and the chance was gone. Rosberg hung on to claim his third win of the season. The win means he stretches his championship lead over Hamilton to 29 points.

    With Hamilton second, Bottas took his first podium finish with third ahead of Massa and Alonso. Perez held onto sixth ahead of Magnussen but Ricciardo made and exdellent last-lap pass on Hulkenberg to steal eighth. The final points position went to Raikkonen who easily kept Button at bay.

    2014 Austrian Grand Prix – Race Result
    1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 71 1:27:54.976 3 25
    2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 71 +1.9 secs 9 18
    3 Valtteri Bottas Williams 71 +8.1 secs 2 15
    4 Felipe Massa Williams 71 +17.3 secs 1 12
    5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 71 +18.5 secs 4 10
    6 Sergio Perez Force India 71 +28.5 secs 15 8
    7 Kevin Magnussen McLaren 71 +32.0 secs 6 6
    8 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 71 +43.5 secs 5 4
    9 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 71 +44.1 secs 10 2
    10 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 71 +47.7 secs 8 1
    11 Jenson Button McLaren 71 +50.9 secs 11
    12 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 70 +1 Lap 13
    13 Adrian Sutil Sauber 70 +1 Lap 16
    14 Romain Grosjean Lotus 70 +1 Lap 22
    15 Jules Bianchi Marussia 69 +2 Laps 18
    16 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham 69 +2 Laps 19
    17 Max Chilton Marussia 69 +2 Laps 21
    18 Marcus Ericsson Caterham 69 +2 Laps 20
    19 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 69 +2 Laps 17
    Ret Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 59 +12 Laps 14
    Ret 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 34 +37 Laps 12
    Ret 26 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 24 +47 Laps 7
    eom/FIA press release

  • Its great to get one more one-two result for Mercedes: Nico Rosberg

    Mercedes team members pat Nico rosber after he won the Austrian GP on Sunday. A Mercedes AMG Petronas team image
    Mercedes team members pat Nico rosber after he won the Austrian GP on Sunday. A Mercedes
    AMG Petronas team image

    DRIVERS

    1 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

    2 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    3 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Williams)

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by Mark Webber)

    Another dominant one-two victory for Mercedes, so Nico what a very, very special for you again. Three now in the season. You capitalised on a very, very good qualifying and now another victory. Run us through it. Lot of control on the brakes by the sound of it, managing issues at the end there?

    Nico ROSBERG: Yeah, it wasn’t the easiest of races – trying to manage certain things that were a bit on the limit on the car. But in the end I had a very, very fast car again, so it was fantastic to win today. It’s great also to get a one-two here in Austria and it’s great to come back here to Austria. I mean Austria for sure deserves a race. The fans have been amazing, the atmosphere has been spectacular this weekend, so thank you very much for that and yeah it’s been awesome.

    Lewis, over to you mate. Well done. A good recovery after a tough qualifying. In terms of… mega first lap, right on Nico at the start there after the first lap. In terms of pit stops, are you happy with your positioning because I’m a bit worried about how much time you’re losing in the pits. The guys… good stops for Nico but are you happy with the positioning on that? Also at the end of the race did you have to manage any issues and could you fight Nico?

    Lewis HAMILTON: I don’t know. I have to have a look at the feedback and just see what the team say about the stops. Maybe my positioning is not right, you know obviously in those situations you’re just pushing. But the guys have done a fantastic job. As Nico said, to get another one-two here is just incredible. This track has been fantastic and the fans have been insane this weekend, so thank you all for the support.

    Congratulations Valtteri – first podium. It’s an incredible feeling up here isn’t it? Run us through the race. Obviously starting on the front row. Obviously these guys have a lot of big experience on the big occasions to close a race out but you really drove a clean race. Run us through it, are you happy with it?

    Valtteri BOTTAS: Thanks Mark. Really, really happy. Difficult to put into words really. Just really thankful to the team for giving me this car. It’s been a long way for us since last year, I mean, and many, many years at Williams and now it’s so much better. The race was exactly what we needed at this point – clean, nice, everything went like planned really. The car was good for the podium this time and I’m just so happy.

    Well done, and big points for Williams, which is fantastic. Final one for you Nico. A 29-point lead, off to Silverstone, a track that you know well; a track that I tried to catch you on in the last few laps last year but you’ve had a couple of good wins there and you’re very strong at Silverstone, Lewis’ home track, so the battle continues. Looking forward to that race; home race obviously for Mercedes as well. So how’s the feeling for that one?

    NR: Yeah, for sure, looking forward to the next one; home race, so it would be awesome to do another one-two there, that would be great to give something back to all of our colleagues back in the factory. So I’m looking forward to that.

    Q: Nico, congratulations, Mercedes sixth one-two finish of this season, your third victory and you’ve now extended your championship lead, as we’ve heard, to 29 points. Clearly strategy was an important part of the story today – but did the race turn out as you had expected it to when you were sitting on the grid?

    NR: To be honest yes it did. Pretty much exactly like we were trying to make it work. OK, I thought I would get Valtteri at the start and I did – but then they’re quick on the straights and he just went flying straight by me again, which was not good. But I knew pre-race that even if I am third after the start, the chances are still very good to make it and win the race because we have just a little bit more pace and less tyre degradation than the Williams – we expected to have less at least – so we could go aggressive on the stops and that’s what we did and it really worked out well and so I’m, yeah, extremely happy with that result. Also, great to extend the championship lead, which was really my goal coming into Austria.

    Q: Lewis, obviously the platform for your result today was that stunning start, off the grid from ninth into fifth on that opening lap. Tell us about that and then also about how you made your way through the field. Clearly that second round of stops was important for getting in front of Valtteri.

    LH: Yep, it was a good start. We’ve been working very hard on our starts throughout the year and the team have done a great job to help out with that, and yeah, so I got one of the best starts I’ve ever had really and positioned the car in the correct places. It would have been great if I’d started where perhaps I should have started this weekend – but damage limitation. To get from ninth to second and be pressuring Nico at the end of the race really shows the pace that I had this weekend.

    Q: Valtteri, your best-ever grand prix finish to follow up your best-ever qualifying performance yesterday – you’re starting to really make your mark on the sport. I guess the decisive moment for you was the first round of stops with Felipe and getting ahead.

    VB: Yeah, I think overall the best-ever weekend. So, really happy. Really happy for us as a team. We were really strong the whole weekend and that’s down to all the hard work. Of course it was a good track for us. You never know what’s going to happen in the next race but overall we are making progress. Step-by-step we are getting there, getting closer to the positions where we belong. I’m really happy. The race today: it was really nice to have a really nice, clean race. Good points for the team. We’ve had some issues lately, been a lot of talk, not maximising car we had but I think today we showed what we can do.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Question for Nico and Lewis: can you tell us more about the final five laps, about the chance to overtake Nico for Lewis and the chance to finish first for Nico?

    NR: Well, I generally felt comfortable in the last few laps. I thought that I could keep a nice gap and just on the last lap my tyres dropped away a little bit but as soon as they got past the first couple of hairpins, I knew that I was going to be fine so it wasn’t as close as maybe some other races have been recently.

    LH: There wasn’t an opportunity to overtake.

    Q: (Livio Oricchi – Universo On-line) For Nico and Lewis: 29 points difference between both of you. It means that in one race, it is not possible to change the lead. It means that Nico would be the leader of the championship. What’s your analysis of this Nico and you also Lewis?

    NR: Well 29 points, yeah, for sure it’s a nice gap but it’s still so early in the season. I really like to concentrate on each weekend and keep on trying to make the most of them and enjoying the moment, also with the car that we have. It’s so great to come to the next race at Silverstone, our home race, with the best, knowing that if I do a good job I can do pole and win the race. So I’m more taking it step-by-step and every weekend my aim is to extend the championship lead which I managed to do this weekend.

    LH: Well, Nico’s done a great job. He’s finished every race and fortunately hasn’t had any car problems so it’s inevitable.

    Q: (Kate Walker – crash.net) Lewis, after one your stops – and I can’t remember which one – we actually saw some flames coming out of your front right. To what extent was the braking problems that you suffered hampering your ability to really take the fight to Nico in the final laps? I know he had issues too.

    LH: Yeah, I think it was probably the same for both of us, maybe, I don’t know. I need to check later but it was constantly an issue during the race. Obviously I was following people all the time so that’s not always the best but I was being told to back off quite a lot, unfortunately. The last couple of laps I tried to eke it up a little bit more but still I had to be cautious, but I’m just grateful I finished. I didn’t finish the last race, that’s really got to be goal for the next few races, trying to actually finish.

    Q: (Chris Medland – crash.net) Question for you, too, Lewis, about the pit stops. You lost 1.9s across the two stops to Nico, very evenly split in each stop. Is that frustrating, because for a long time you were running about 1.9s behind Nico at the end and did the team tell you the reasons for it?

    LH: They haven’t yet. I didn’t even know I lost that much time, they didn’t feel that fast. Could be my positioning. I don’t know. I’ll obviously investigate… obviously it is frustrating when you lose time because you’re constantly doing everything you can to gain a tenth here, a tenth there, so when you lose quite a chunk… two seconds over two pit stops it’s tough but the guys… at least we haven’t really made any mistakes. If we step back a little bit and look, we’ve had so many one-twos this is just incredible this year so I’m hoping in the future we won’t have those problems.

    Q: (Barna Zsoldos – Nemzeti Sport) Valtteri, do you think with a slightly different strategy the win could have been possible today because your pace was quite strong and you were simply undercut by first Nico and then Lewis at both pit stops?

    VB: Yeah, it’s a difficult one. We need to always – like we always do – we need to analyse if there’s anything we could have done better. It’s difficult to say. Today it was difficult to know the real difference between the option and prime because the prime tyre has been taking quite a long time to warm up so we really thought it would be really difficult to undercut because it takes many laps to warm up and get a good pace after the supersoft tyre. Yeah, we need to analyse, it’s difficult to say. Yeah, too early to say. For the moment, I’m really happy with what we’ve done as a team, third and fourth. Obviously we always aim for better.

    Q: (Peter Vamosi – Vas Nepe Kiadoi) Nico, if you will win the championship this year, will you let grow a moustache like your father?

    NR: Maybe. Yup.

    Q: (Istvan Janos Simon – Auto Magazine Hungary) Lewis, you seem to have a brake problem; this problem is coming back since Montreal or maybe even before. You’ve had this problem during this race. What can you do against these troubles, to get over it finally? What can you do together with the team?

    LH: I don’t know. Going into the race I wasn’t aware that we had a brake problem, so it was news to me when we started to… when they started to speak to me about it. We had the problem in the last race but the last race was the rears and in this race it was the fronts, a little bit different perhaps. I’ll be guessing what’s gone wrong but it didn’t look like it was the same as Nico; maybe it was, I don’t know. I think they said maybe it was. We just need to make improvements.

    Q: (Eli Shaouly – Automagazin Israel) Question to Valtteri and Nico: yesterday at Williams you looked in a way pretty sure you wouldn’t win the race and Nico, you were pretty sure that you would win the race in yesterday’s conference. What made you so confident in the result?

    NR: Because generally I still believe that we have the fastest car and we had very good long run pace on Friday, that’s the race practice. We were quick there and I didn’t get the best out of it in qualifying, so I was pretty confident that the chance would be very good. Of course, you never know how to overtake and things like that, but it all worked out well.

    VB: Yeah, I agree really. I think that from all the data that we had from practice we knew that in the race it’s going to be difficult and overall Mercedes have still got the quickest car but we really nailed it yesterday so we knew that maybe Sunday could be difficult but actually it was a bit better than I expected. We were really close to them on pace.

    Q: Was that because it was 14 degrees warmer today than it was on Friday, do you think?

    VB: Difficult to say that was the factor or not, I don’t know what Mercedes did just before qualifying with the car set-up. I don’t know. It’s difficult to say; we need to analyse.

    eom

  • Felipe Massa claims first pole in six years; Force India start P10 & P11

    Felipe Massa claimed his first pole position in six years at the Red Bull Ring, as team-mate Valtteri Bottas’ second place earned Williams its first front-row lockout since 2003.

    Mercedes’ qualifying, meanwhile, unravelled when Lewis Hamilton’s snapped out of control on the run up to turn two, sending the Briton into a spin. Having made a mistake on his opening run, which led to his lap being ruled out for exceeding the track limits, Hamilton failed to set a time in Q3 and will start ninth. Worse for Mercedes was that Hamilton’s final lap problem brought out the yellow flags, which meant Rosberg had to back off from his final flyer. The title leader will start third.

    Q1 followed a predictable path, with the bottom four positions split between Marussia and Caterham, with Jules Bianchi and Kamui Kobayashi ahead of Max Chilton and Marcus Ericsson.

    Sebastian Vettel’s banker time on soft tyres left him close to the drop zone, in 15th position, but the champion was never in any real danger, at least in this session. He eased through to Q2 two tenths of a second ahead of Pastor Maldonado. The Lotus driver was lucky to make it into the second phase, however, as Adrian Sutil’s last gasp lap came up short by just four thousandths of a second. Sutil’s time was, however, good enough to drop Sauber team-mate Esteban Gutierrez to 18th.

    Q2 was altogether more unpredictable and after the first runs both Kimi Raikkonen in 14th place and Sebastian Vettel in 12th found themselves in need to improvements if there were to make the top-10 shoot-out. But while Raikkonen found the time required, claiming tenth place in Q2 with a time of 1:09.657, Vettel was less fortunate. The champion ended up with a final lap of 1:09.801 to secure 13th place behind Jenson Button and 11th-placed Sergio Perez, who will have to take a five-place penalty in the race after the sanction imposed following his accident with Felipe Massa at the Canadian Grand Prix was upheld following a review in Austria on Friday. Also ruled out of Q3 were Maldonado, Jean-Eric Vergne and Romain Grosjean.

    Vettel’s team-mate Daniel Ricciardo once again delivered an excellent lap when the required, the Australian jumping to ninth from 11th to finish ahead of Raikkonen.

    Ricciardo wasn’t the only ‘junior’ member of a team to outpace his team-mate. McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen finished Q2 in fifth place and Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat went through in seventh place. Fastest were the Mercedes of Rosberg and Hamilton, ahead of the Williams cars of Bottas and Massa.

    Q3 was similarly surprising. After the first runs it was Bottas in provisional pole position, the Finn’s time of 1:08.846 giving him 0.1s advantage over Rosberg, with Massa a further tenth back. Hamilton, though, was in trouble. Like many others during the course of the weekend so far, he was caught out by the high-speed turn eight and ran wide. With all four wheels off track his time was deleted for exceeding the track limits.

    In the final runs it was Bottas who blinked, the Finn making a small error but one significant enough to give his pursuer a chance. And it was Massa who seized the opportunity, scoring his first pole since Brazil 2008 and Williams first front-of-grid starting position since the Spanish Grand Prix of 2012. Bottas had to settled for second, giving Williams its first front row lockout since Germany in 2003, when Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher occupied the top two spots.

    Wth Rosberg third, fourth place went to Fernando Alonso. Ricciardo rescued Red Bull’s Saturday by lifting his RB10 to fifth spot. Magnussen will start in sixth place for McLaren, ahead of the impressive Kvyat. Raikkonen will start eighth while Hamilton will start ninth, as Nico Hullkenberg’s final time was also deleted for exceeding the track limit.

    2014 Austrian Grand Prix – Qualifying Result
    1 Felipe Massa Williams 1:10.292 1:09.239 1:08.759 19
    2 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:10.356 1:09.096 1:08.846 19
    3 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:09.695 1:08.974 1:08.944 17
    4 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:10.405 1:09.479 1:09.285 25
    5 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:10.395 1:09.638 1:09.466 22
    6 Kevin Magnussen McLaren 1:10.081 1:09.473 1:09.515 29
    7 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:09.678 1:09.490 1:09.619 21
    8 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:10.285 1:09.657 1:10.795 23
    9 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:09.514 1:09.092 No time 15
    10 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:10.389 1:09.624 No time 23

    11 Sergio Perez Force India 1:10.124 1:09.754 18
    12 Jenson Button McLaren 1:10.252 1:09.780 22
    13 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1:10.630 1:09.801 15
    14 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:10.821 1:09.939 18
    15 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:10.161 1:10.073 19
    16 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:10.461 1:10.642 21

    17 Adrian Sutil Sauber 1:10.825 10
    18 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:11.349 10
    19 Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:11.412 9
    20 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham 1:11.673 10
    21 Max Chilton Marussia 1:11.775 10
    22 Marcus Ericsson Caterham 1:12.673 11

    eom/FIA press release

    Felipe Massa takes pole position for the Austrian GP. A Pirelli image
    Felipe Massa takes pole position for the Austrian GP. A Pirelli image