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Tag: formula 1
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Räikkönen: Podium will be the only place to see my hair
He’s never won in Germany, whether in the European or German Grand Prix; the latter of which has seen
Kimi Räikkönen retire six times. After a top three placing with Lotus F1 Team last season, can this finally be
the year for Kimi at the Nürburgring?What is it about Germany that hasn’t been kind to you in the past?
I don’t know, maybe I did something bad in a former life? I have always enjoyed driving in Germany, but the
problem is that luck has never been on my side there and something has always happened to stop me
winning. I’ve got four poles to show my speed on German soil, but six retirements at this race haven’t been
what I wanted.Does it set you more of a challenge to have raced in Formula 1 in Germany 16 times, but never
won?
Not really. A race is just a race and you always try to do your best. Obviously in the past both circuits – the
Nürburgring and Hockenheim – have not been very kind to me, but I like them both and I have always been
very competitive; in terms of pace if not maybe results. I’ve gone very well at the Nürburgring before, just
never won. A couple of times I’ve had to stop while leading the race which always sends you home with a
bad feeling. Hopefully I can finally get everything right this time. Last year we made the top three in
Hockenheim, so let’s wait and see how it goes at the Nürburgring for the first time with this team.Things looked so promising in Silverstone until right at the end; give us your view
It was a disappointing end to the weekend for sure. Things were going pretty well in the race, but it was a
mistake not to switch to new tyres when the safety car came out. I tried to hold on, but with tyres that were
maybe twenty laps older than the others it was impossible to keep them behind at the end. It’s a shame as
we had good pace and looked set for a pretty easy P2, but this is racing sometimes.On the plus side you finally broke Michael Schumacher’s record for points finishes…
It makes no difference to the Championship, so I’m really not interested in that.
You had a pretty intense moment behind Jean-Eric Vergne; were you nervous at all?
It wasn’t ideal having bits of rubber thrown at your helmet for sure, but risk is all part of the game. It wasn’t
his or the tyres’ fault; if you have sharp edges on a kerb as seemed to be the case there last weekend then
these things can happen no matter what tyres you have. It didn’t change our race anyway.It’s not been an easy run of late; does that affect your mindset?
No. It’s three races now where we haven’t had the result we maybe expect, but hopefully if we can have a
bit more luck and also get rid of some of the mistakes we’ll be able to get back to the front.What’s the Nürburgring like to race?
It’s pretty good, but probably not as much fun as the old one. It should suit us, but the fact is you need a
really good car to be competitive there. Most of all you need good traction out of the corners and a stable
car under braking. We’re pretty reasonable in both these areas. We have had our issues with cooler
weather and unfortunately it’s not usually that warm at the Nürburgring, but we’ll just see what we get and
get on with it.What’s the target for this weekend?
We never promise anything beforehand. A podium would be a positive result and a step in the right
direction. We missed that at Silverstone, and it would be good to get back to the top positions. The season
is still long and the leaders of the championship are ahead of us. Realistically, all I can do is to do my very
best in each race.Will you tell us the story about your hair?
No. But if I get on the podium in Germany you will see it.Romain Grosjean: “The Nürburgring certainly keeps you busy!”Romain Grosjean
After a frustrating British Grand Prix, Romain Grosjean has his sights set on the Nürburgring; the scene of two podium finishes – including a win – when he last visited the track
How do you like the Nürburgring?
It’s quite a nice track with a quite a lot to it. There’s a really interesting mix of corners which means you
have plenty to think about over the course of a lap; you’re certainly kept busy! The first section relies on
mechanical grip and Turn 1 can be interesting at the start of the race if people go too deep into the corner.
It can also be a good overtaking opportunity during the race too. After that there are some higher speed
corners down to the hairpin – which is another good place you can overtake – then nice high speed stuff for
the rest of the lap. You need a well-balanced car so I think we should go pretty well.What’s your past form at the circuit?
This will be my first time racing there in Formula 1, but I’ve raced at the track previously in F3 and the GP2
Series. Last time I raced there – 2011 in the GP2 Series – I scored a podium and a win so my most recent
memories of the circuit are certainly good.Would you like to have raced on the old Nürburgring?
It’s quite some circuit and it must have been amazing to have raced there. I can’t imagine what it would be
like if we raced the current Formula 1 cars there. For starters can you imagine how long the set-up
meetings would be with all those corners to talk about?! The Thursday morning track walk would be pretty
epic too!How was your British Grand Prix?
It wasn’t the best of races; quite a frustrating one in fact. We had a problem with the front wing which got
worse over the course of the race, and ultimately we lost a big part of it. There was a lot of vibration and it
became really difficult to drive, so in the end it was best to retire because of safety considerations. Before
that, things weren’t going quite to plan and we were suffering with tyre performance issues related to the
front wing. The safety cars didn’t really go our way either so it’s a race I’d rather forget.Was it good to out-qualify Kimi for the first time this season?
Of course, you always want to be faster than your team-mate so it was good to be in front of him on the
grid. We both had different upgrade packages on our cars, so it was good to see we were able to get
similar speeds out of them. Of course, we want some more speed too, but there are still more parts to
come and we’re still learning about the latest upgrades so there’s potential yet.What do you think can be achieved from the next few races?
We’ve got new parts on the car and we certainly have the pace for some strong results. The last few races
have been frustrating for various reasons, so if we can get a few solid weekends we should be able to get
some decent results and score good points.What are your thoughts on the current tyre situation?
Well it looks like I could be busy at the Young Driver Test in a few weeks’ time if race drivers are allowed to
take part. Certainly, Silverstone was a very unusual situation and I know that myself and Kimi were being
asked to stay off the kerbs as it was thought that using them on certain corners wasn’t helping the situation.
No-one wants tyre failures and I know all the teams and the sport are working with Pirelli to put this right.
I’m sure there will be a satisfactory solution soon.ends
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Pirelli brings Kevlar-belted rear tyres to Nurburgring
Milan, July 3, 2013:
Alexandra, Head of F1 Communications of Pirelli. A Pirelli photo Just one week after the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, Pirelli heads to another legendary venue in motorsport: the Nurburgring in Germany. The tyre nomination is the P Zero White medium and P Zero Yellow soft: a combination not seen since the Chinese Grand Prix in April. However, Pirelli will bring Kevlar-belted rear tyres for both the medium and soft compound to Germany, which have already been tested at the Friday practice sessions in Canada. This moves comes after a series of tyre failures at last week’s British Grand Prix which, as Pirelli has now been able to establish, were caused by a combination of factors like the rear tyres mounted the wrong way around, low tyre pressures, extreme cambers and high kerbs. Even though the 2013 specification of the Pirelli Formula One tyres are completely safe when used in the correct way, the company prefers to bring Kevlar-belted rear tyres to the Nurburgring, as it is a tyre easier to manage.
Paul Hembery: “Surprisingly, the Nurburgring is one of the circuits that we have the least experience of, having only raced there once before in Formula One, but we’re certain that we have chosen the correct compromise between performance and durability by bringing the medium and soft compounds. These were actually the same compounds that we chose for this track in 2011, but since then the tyres have got softer and faster, so we would expect a quicker race time with an average of three pit stops for most drivers. The Nurburgring is not on the whole an especially demanding circuit for tyres but there are still some distinctive aspects to look out for when it comes to tyre management, such as the kerbing on the chicanes. We are expecting a performance gap of 0.8-1.0 second between the two nominated compounds, which should make the strategy options versatile. For this race only, we will bring Kevlar-belted rear tyres, following the incidents at the British Grand Prix. Even though the 2013 high-performance steel-belted version is completely safe when used correctly, the Kevlar-belted version is easier to manage and as long as there is no system in place which allows us to enforce tyre related specifications, like tyre pressures or camber, the incorrect use of which were contributing factors of the tyre failures in Silverstone, we prefer to bring a less sophisticated tyre. From the Hungarian Grand Prix onwards there will be a completely new range of tyres, combining the characteristics of our 2012 tyres with the increased performance of the 2013 specification.”
Jean Alesi: “The Nurburgring is a legendary name but personally I never found the modern circuit particularly involving, although it has changed a lot during the years. It’s a circuit that tends to be quite kind to tyres, so the question of tyre management isn’t a big one: you just drive as hard as you like. There’s always been a good atmosphere though as the fans are very enthusiastic, and I am sure that is just the same now. You have quite a variety of different corners in the lap so it’s mostly a question of finding a good rhythm and stringing them together in the most efficient way. I always thought of Nurburgring as a reasonably straightforward race: it’s not so much a big challenge but more a test of precision and not making any mistakes. If you start in a good grid position and have a clean race you should come away with a good result: you don’t often see big surprises. That’s unless it rains of course: then anything can happen…”
The circuit from a tyre point of view:
Built next door to the legendary Nordschleife, the modern Nurburgring is a fast and flowing circuit that is mostly made up of medium speed corners, with a technical infield section as well. One of the big variables in the region will once more be the weather, so a versatile tyre selection is essential in order to cope with a potential wide range of temperatures.
There are a number of reasonably fast direction changes at the Nurburgring. This increases the amount of lateral energy going through the tyres and therefore heat build-up. That is the biggest reason for wear and degradation on the tyres at the Nurburgring rather traction and braking events, which are on the whole limited.
Frequent rain in the area means that the track is often more ‘green’ than other circuits, particularly at the start of the weekend, as the moisture washes away any rubber that has been deposited on the track. With more rubber laid down, grip increases and wear decreases.
With no tyre data from last year on this circuit, the work of the teams during free practice will be particularly important when it comes to assessing how the latest 2013 tyres react in different temperatures and with different fuel loads. The information gathered on Friday, which is confirmed in the final free practice sessionon Saturday morning, essentially decides the strategy for qualifying and the race.
Further information about the Nurburgring and the demands it places on tyres, as well as more information about how circuits rubber in at each race, can be found on a 3D animated video starring Pirelli’s Racing Manager Mario Isola. This is copyright-free for media use on Pirelli’s Formula One website: www.pirelli.com/f1pressarea
Technical tyre notes:
The first corner is particularly challenging at the Nurburgring, particularly after the start where it is often the scene of accidents. Under acceleration out of it, the back of the car can step out, placing heavy demands on the rear tyres – as they need to guarantee a combination of grip and traction on one of the most technical parts of the circuit that is key to a fast lap time.
Turn seven is also particularly tricky: there is a deceleration of 5g heading into it and the front-left tyre has to do a lot of work here to compensate for the unusual camber of the circuit.
One of the keys to a quick lap is negotiating the kerbing correctly at the NGK Chicane. The drivers hit the kerbs hard, which puts a force equivalent to 800 kilogrammes through the tyre.
The tyre choices so far:
PZero Red PZero Yellow PZero White PZero Orange Australia Supersoft Medium Malaysia Medium Hard China Soft Medium Bahrain Medium Hard Spain Medium Hard Monaco Supersoft Soft Canada Supersoft Medium Great Britain Medium Hard Germany Soft Medium Meet the Pirelli F1 Team: Alexandra Schieren, Head of F1 Communications
Alexandra was born and raised in a small town 25 kilometres from Cologne in Western Germany. She studied languages and gained a diploma in translation, but her first job with a connection to motorsport was as an assistant in the media and PR department of Toyota Team Europe in Cologne: which at the time was a major force in the World Rally Championship. Her role came to an abrupt end when Toyota was disqualified from the series for cheating (she had nothing to do with that) and she then moved to London with a job in a communications agency where she tasted a wide variety of motorsport, from International Touring Cars to GT to Formula One. After a few years in London she moved to Paris and was later recruited by the FIA – world motorsport’s governing body – as Media Delegate for Formula One. When Pirelli returned to Formula One in 2011, Alexandra was asked to look after all Formula One-related communication. This involves answering general media requests, organising interviews and media events, overseeing external communications, and working with other departments within Pirelli and the various Pirelli markets. Alexandra lives in the countryside just outside Paris – a pleasant contrast to the often hectic lifestyle of Formula One – and enjoys reading books in different languages to expand her knowledge, with Italian being top of the list at the moment. She loves being in different places, just hates flying to have to get there…
Other news from Pirelli:
Pirelli chairman Marco Tronchetti Provera picked up the ‘2013 Social Responsibility Award’ on behalf of Pirelli from the Foreign Policy Association in New York last week. The award reflects Pirelli’s consistent leadership of the Dow Jones sustainability index in the auto parts and tyre sector.
Pirelli hosted its home round of the Superbike World Championship at Imola last weekend, round seven of the series that is exclusively supplied by the Italian firm. Tom Sykes won both races, catapulting the British driver to the top of the standings.
The latest round of the Pirelli-equipped British Rally Championship, the all-gravel Scottish Rally, took place last weekend. Alastair Fisher won in a Citroen DS3 R3T: a car that he also drives on the Pirelli-backed Citroen Top Driver Series on the World Rally Championship.
The third round of the Pirelli-backed Blancpain Endurance Series took place at Paul Ricard in France. Marc VDS Racing Team’s Maxime Martin, Bas Leinders and Yelmer Buurman took their first win of the season in a Pirelli-supported BMW Z4.
Pirelli also competed in the world’s highest race: the famed Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in Colorado (USA) that finishes at an altitude of 4,300 metres. The Pirelli-shod Porsche 911 of Californian Jeff Zwart finished third in its class and 10thoverall.
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FIA seeks urgent solution to Tyre failures
Paris, 1 July 2013: In light of a number of significant tyre failures at last weekend’s British Grand Prix, Jean Todt today said that the FIA is determined to seek an urgent solution to the problem and as such the FIA will change the format of this month’s Formula One Young Driver Test, said a Press Release.
File photo of Pirelli 2013 tyres. Photo by Pirelli “Our priority is to ensure safety for all in Formula One and we believe the incidents at Silverstone represent a genuine safety concern for the drivers,” said President Todt. “We have thus taken the decision to alter the Young Driver Test to allow teams to use drivers they deem fit to carry out tyre development work in a bid to solve the problems we saw at the British Grand Prix. I believe it is fitting to carry out this work at the circuit upon which the issues were manifested.”
The test, scheduled for July 17-19 at Silverstone, will now allow teams to field drivers who have competed in more than two F1 World Championship events provided it is clear that the purpose of them doing this is to test tyres for Pirelli. The test may also be extended by one day.
To provide for this, the FIA today informed Formula One’s teams that the approval of the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) will be immediately sought for a change to article 22.4h (i)* of the 2013 Formula One Sporting Regulations.
Approval will also be sought for a change to the wording of article 12.6.3 of the 2013 Formula One Technical Regulations** to allow for a modification of the specification of the tyres during the Championship season without the unanimous agreement of all competing teams.
This will allow the FIA to take all necessary actions to ensure safety.
Notwithstanding the revised conditions as set out above, in the interests of the sport the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team has accepted to not participate in this test, as per the recent decision of the International Tribunal.
In the meantime, the FIA has asked Pirelli for an assurance that there will be no repetition of the tyre problems at this weekend’s German Grand Prix or at subsequent grand prix.
*Formula One Sporting Regulations 2013, Article 22.4h (i) states: No track testing may take place between the start of a ten-day period which precedes the start of the first Event of the Championship and 31 December of the same year with the following exceptions: i) One three day young driver training test carried out on a date and site approved by the FIA following consultation with all teams. No driver who has competed in more than two F1 World Championship races may take part in this test and all drivers must be in possession of an International A Licence.
** Formula One Technical Regulations 2013 Article 12.6.3 states: Tyre specifications will be determined by the FIA no later than 1 September of the previous season. Once determined in this way, the specification of the tyres will not be changed during the Championship season without the agreement of all competing teams.
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Nico Rosberg takes second win of the season
Silverstone, 30 June 2013: Nico Rosberg took his second win of the season at a British Grand Prix defined by a catalogue of tyre failures, a late-race gearbox problem that dumped championship leader Sebastian Vettel off the race while leading comfortably.Sahara Force India was in sight of a podium with Sutil in third place with a few laps to go but the rivals with fresh tyres made good pushing the Force India to 7th place. Paul di Resta who made it to 9th from the last row made it a double finish for Force India who are in the fifth place in the championship placings for Constructors’ title.
At the start Rosberg, who had qualified on the front row behind team-mate Lewis Hamilton, lost position to Vettel and dropped to third place.
The order at the front remained that way until lap seven when leader Hamilton’s rear left tyre suddenly exploded, leaving the home favourite limping back to the pits. It looked like an unfortunate accident but three laps later Ferrari’s Felipe Massa suffered an identical problem at Turn 5. He too crawled back to pit lane for repairs.
The race then settled down as the drivers worked their way through their first stops. On lap 24, however, the drama began again as another rear left failure struck, with Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Verge the victim, this time on the straight after Stowe. The Safety Car was deployed to clear debris and engineers up and down the pit lane radioed through to their drivers warning them to stay off the kerbs in turns four and five.
The Safety Car period was a huge boost for Mark Webber. The Red Bull Racing driver made a poor start from fourth on the grid and then collided with Lotus’ Romain Grosjean in Turn One. The incidents dropped the Aussie back to 14th.
From there he began to stage a typically pugnacious fight back and by the time of Vergne’s puncture he was ninth. And when the intervention of the Safety Car erased the gaps to rivals ahead, Webber could begin to contemplate an assault on the higher positions.
The Safety Car left the track at the end of lap 21 and at the front Vettel resumed his lead of the race, with Rosberg chasing. Vettel stretched the gap to three seconds but Rosberg managed to halt the damage there and soon the margin began to stabilise.
Then, after Vettel’s second pit stop, the gap suddenly disappeared. Vettel’s RB9 cruised to a halt on the pit straight on lap 42, with the title leader telling his pit wall there was “no drive”. Rosberg swept through to take the lead.
Webber, meanwhile, was surging through the field. Having battled past Grosjean and then stolen P6 from compatriot Daniel Ricciardo, he skipped ahead in the second stops and by the time of Vettel’s retirement the Australian was up to fourth behind Kimi Raikkonen.
With Vettel’s car stopped on the pit straight the Safety Car was again deployed and the Red Bull pit wall reacted by pitting Webber for new medium tyres. Rosberg stopped for fresh hard tyres.
Rosberg maintained his lead but Webber dropped to fifth. However, when the safety car left the track, Webber, armed with new tyres, made a charge. Ricciardo, Sutil and Raikkonen, all on worn tyres, were dismissed in short order and he set about reeling in Rosberg.
Webber got to within a second of the German on the final lap but Rosberg was able to keep the Red Bull driver at bay to take his second win of the season.
“It’s a very, very special day and I think what makes it more special is that our factory is so close, and our team has done such a fantastic job to come through during the season,” said Rosberg on the podium. “We have such momentum going at the moment, [we’re] progressing all the time. We were massively quick in qualifying [and we’re] also getting faster and faster in the race. I think today we had equally the fastest race car as well. So, it’s a very special day for me.”
Webber meanwhile, admitted that his start had been a disaster, though he could fathom non reason for his poor getaway.
“I didn’t have a clue what happened off the line,” he said. “We’ve had two or three good starts in the last few races and then the lights went out and we’re back to our normal tactics. We need to have a look at why they pop up every now and again. That was frustrating.
“Then I had, I think it was Grosjean take the front wing in the first corner, so the first stint was compromised by that,” he added. “The boys did a great job to put a fresh front wing on at the stop and then we started to get the race underway from there. Obviously there were a lot of people with issues with the tyres, which helped a bit, but we were lucky not to have any issues. It was a clean race, good strategy. I think that, yeah I would have liked a few more laps at Nico but he deserved the win. He was quick all day.”
Fernando Alonso’s race was a similar tale of recovery to Webber’s. The Spaniard’s Ferrari driver had been off the pace all weekend and on Saturday he qualified a desultory 10th.
With Ferrari’s race pace better than it’s qualifying form, there was hope of progress through the pack in the race but at the start the team would have hardly dared dream of the third place Alonso eventually secured.
“It was a good race for us,” said Alonso. “With the last safety car we lost six positions because of the safety car. But overall I think it has been a very lucky race for us. Looking at the problems with the tyres of some of the drivers, we fact we didn’t any problem we have to consider lucky. And then with Sebastian’s problem, as Nico touched on before, we’ve been also lucky to recover some points.”
Behind Alonso, Hamilton also staged a superb recovery to take fourth place for Mercedes, while Kimi Raikkonen was fifth for Lotus. Felipe Massa also profited from good race pace and a late run on new tyres to climb to sixth after finding himself 22nd after his puncture. Adrian Sutil was seventh for Force India, while Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo finished eighth. The final points positions were occupied by Force India’s Paul Di Resta and Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg.
As for the championship leader himself, Vettel was philosophical about his failure. “We had a gearbox issue, lost fifth, and when I shifted up to sixth, fifth said goodbye and damaged the rest of the gearbox,” Vettel said. “These things unfortunately happen but fortunately we’ve got the next race coming up next week so we can try again.”
British Grand Prix Race Result
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 52
2 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing-Renault 52 +0.7 secs
3 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 52 +7.1 secs
4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 52 +7.7 secs
5 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus-Renault 52 +11.2 secs
6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 52 +14.5 secs
7 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 52 +16.3 secs
8 Daniel Ricciardo STR-Ferrari 52 +16.5 secs
9 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 52 +17.9 secs
10 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 52 +19.7 secs
11 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 52 +21.1 secs
12 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 52 +25.0 secs
13 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 52 +25.9 secs
14 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 52 +26.2 secs
15 Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 52 +31.6 secs
16 Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 52 +36.0 secs
17 Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 52 +67.6 secs
18 Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 52 +67.7 secs
19 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 51 +1 Lap
20 Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 46 +6 Laps
Ret Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 41 +11 Laps
Ret Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Ferrari 35 +17 Laps -
Its a very special day: Rosberg
DRIVERS
1 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)
2 – Mark WEBBER (Red Bull Racing)
3 – Fernando ALONSO (Ferrari)PODIUM INTERVIEW (Conducted by Damon Hill)
Q: Nico, you’ve kept your cool when all around you were losing theirs. There were tyres going off, there were cars breaking down. Tell me, how do you feel to have won the British Grand Prix?
Nico ROSBERG: Fantastic! It’s a very, very special day and I think what makes it more special is that our factory is so close, and our team has done such a fantastic job to come through during the season. We have such momentum going at the moment, progressing all the time. Really, really massively quick in qualifying, also getting faster and faster in the race. I think today we had equally the fastest race car as well. So, it’s a very special day for me. And this goes out… this is for all of my team colleagues working in the factory. I hope many of them have been in the grandstands watching. This one is for all of you out there. Thank you very much.
Q: It was a dramatic race. You had two guys in the front who you had to beat. We lost Lewis Hamilton early in the race, that was a big disappointment to the British fans and then you were charging, you were chasing after Sebastian and then the leader of the World Championship, his car failed right here. What did you feel when that happened?
NR: With Lewis, definitely I feel sorry for all the British fans. It would have been a great race for Lewis here in front of his home crowd – that’s always a massive disappointment, but that’s racing sometimes. When Sebastian stopped, to be honest, I won’t lie, I wasn’t disappointed by that one. And then from then it was a great race to win.
Q: Mark, what a storming drive. You must have thought it was all over, the start didn’t go so well, tell us about it.
Mark WEBBER: I didn’t have a clue what happened off the line. We’ve had two or three good starts in the last few races and then the lights went out and we’re back to our normal tactics. So, I’m not sure. We need to have a look at why they pop up every now and again. That was frustrating. Then I had, I think it was Grosjean, take the front wing in the first corner, so the first stint was compromised by that. The boys did a great job to put a fresh front wing on at the stop and then we started to get the race underway from there. Obviously there was a lot of people with issues with the tyres which helped a bit but we were lucky not to have any issues. It was a clean race, good strategy. I think that, yeah I would have liked a few more laps at Nico but he deserved the win. He was quick all day, obviously. Little bit of fortune but anyway you’ve got to be there to capitalise. I’m very happy with second, team have done a good job and thanks – last time here in Formula One in front of the British fans – thank you very much.
Fernando, you again drove a storming race. You really got caught out by the second safety car – you were down and had to charge back up through the field. Fantastic drive back into the podium.
Fernando ALONSO: Yeah, it was a good race for us. With the last safety car we lost six positions because of the safety car. But overall I think it has been a very lucky race for us. Looking at the problems with the tyres of some of the drivers, we fact we didn’t any problem we have to consider lucky. And then with Sebastian’s problem, as Nico touched on before, we’ve been also lucky to recover some points. At the end it was a very good Sunday and hopefully we put on a good show for the great, great fans. They’ve been here from Thursday to today, supporting all the teams, respecting all the teams. Thank you very much.
Q: The championship, is it blown open now? Here you have a points gain on Sebastian.
FA: Mixed feelings to be honest. Happy for the points, we’ve reduced the gap a little bit in this race but the pace we saw this weekend is not good enough. There were some other Sundays that we lost some points and maybe I was more optimistic. Today we recovered some points but we know there is a lot of work to do. But I trust the team, we are united, we have a difficult weekend, we put the cross and now we think of the next one.
Q: What did you think before Sergio Pérez when his tyre blew? What was going through your mind there?
FA: I’ve had two moments, that one with Sergio I was so scared and so lucky because I missed the contact by one centimetre. And also at the start into turn one. I locked the tyres and nearly lost the front wheel. As I said, some risky moments. All of them were fine for me today, so I just need to enjoy the result but from tomorrow working in Germany race because we need to raise our game.
Q: Nico, now you’re heading to Germany. Second grand prix victory this season and you have a German manufacturer in Mercedes. It’s going to be a fantastic event in Germany isn’t it, next week?
NR: Yeah, for sure. Going from the team’s home grand prix here to my second home grand prix – I already had one – fortunately for me I have two home grands prix, I managed to win that in Monaco. Second one coming up at Nürburgring. And it’s very special. I’m very proud to be German, driving a Silver Arrow, going to the Nürburgring, the history there, and having that great car that I have at the moment, really looking forward to that.
Q: The tide’s going to change a little bit, isn’t it? You seem to have a car that’s competitive during the race. The tyre degradation wasn’t nearly as bad. Is there any chance, do you think, that this championship could be turning a tide here against Red Bull?
NR: Well, I wouldn’t talk about that just yet but definitely the team has done such a good job during the season. Already in the winter, to come up with such a quick car, which we’ve had all year in qualifying, and now also progressing with tyre management and getting that better and better to allow us to win races now, that’s fantastic to see and really gives me… yeah, just very exciting.
Q: Where you happy to continue racing when you were told about the tyre issue?
NR: It’s definitely something that needs to be looked into, yeah? Because too much of that today, that’s for sure. I had one too – but got a bit lucky there with the safety car so that worked out great.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Nico, congratulations, great win for Mercedes, based just a few kilometres down the road from this Silverstone circuit. What does this win mean to you, and to them?
NR: Yeah, fantastic day definitely, and it’s very special because it’s the home grand prix of the team and the factory is ten minutes away. A lot of people, a lot of my fellow team members and colleagues are in the grandstands, watching today and it’s very, very nice that I was able to give them such a great race and such a great result. They really deserve it – you really deserve it because you’ve worked so well all season. It’s great to see the momentum we have in the team at the moment.
Q: There was obviously some brilliant driving, some brilliant overtaking but no doubt the big story coming out of this obviously is the situation with the tyres. Your thoughts on what we’ve seen today.
NR: Definitely that’s a problem. Too many tyre failures and they must look into that and see what can be done.
Q: Mark, you almost got him at the end. 0.7 seconds as you crossed the finish line of a race you’ve won twice – you obviously enjoy it very much here. Great recovery though, after a poor start. Just listening to the tone of your radio messages, is it tempting to say that you feel a win got away from you today?
MW: Oh yes, it’s easy to say that. With ten laps to go when you can see the win in sight. It is mixed feelings when you finish seven-tenths behind Nico for the win. But he’s also out there doing his things, so he deserved the win. We did recover. I think we had a bit of luck after that but we’ve got to be there to capitalise on it. We had a good strategy, obviously I pushed very hard on the laps I had to do the business. The start… I don’t know. I have no idea how we can get so good some weekends and then not at others. That was a big negative for us. And then Grosjean – someone, I think it was him – touched my front wing at turn one. I had to get that changes at the first stop. And then the race really reset from there. The safety cars obviously helped – although I didn’t want them because of the reasons why they were happening. Obviously it’s very nervous for all the drivers to see that happening. In the end, very, very good result for myself, for the team, still go something out of it, what was… looked like a pretty random weekend for everyone on race day. I want to thank all the English and British fans for the support that I’ve had over the years racing here – it’s been a real highlight for me to race at this circuit. So, very much looking forward to the next race and hoping to challenge again. I was happy with my performance today.
Q: You mentioned it’s a nervous time for the drivers. Four left-rear tyre failures, one front-left tyre failure. Your thoughts on that – and what it feels like to know you’ve got to carry on and press in that situation.
RB: Well the team are trying to keep us up to date as best they can. Obviously it’s a little bit of a moving target for them as well. They are doing their job to inform us as much as they can. It’s not a slow circuit, it’s very quick, we’re committed to the high-speed stuff here, 100 per cent most of the time. It’s not December yet, so I’ll stay quiet.
Q: Fernando, a very quick call when Vettel retired there, to come in and make a stop. Dropped you down to eighth. I was wondering whether the team had made a mistake there but you managed to fight your way through some amazing overtakes. Did you think you might have blown it at that point? And your thoughts on the race.
FA: No, obviously it was an unlucky situation. They called me in around Turn Five. So, Vettel was not having the problem yet at that point they call me. We were in this lap and we try to pass Webber and Kimi, they were slowing down a little bit in front of us, so we committed to stop before Sebastian’s problem. And then yes, I go out of the pits and I see ‘Safety Car Deployed.’ Obviously it was the worst time possible to have a safety car, when you have just pitted, and we lost an extra five positions. I don’t know how many overtakings I did all the whole race. The start was probably the worst start of years. Probably. I was fighting with Hülkenberg in Turn Three, Turn Four, and I remember he was not in the first positions on the grid so I realised I was quite far down there. After the start we recovered some positions, some safety car moments as we touch on, and then the last big push at the end as we try to get a podium. We did it, it’s a fantastic result for our very difficult weekend. Sometimes we have very good pace, we have a car that is able to fight for the wins and we are out of the podium. This weekend everything went a little bit on the wrong side for us, we get the podium and Sebastian doesn’t finish the race. It’s one of these weekends where the result is very good but the feeling is that we must improve for next weekend.
Q: Obviously on the day when your main title rival retires, you want to try to take 25 points and not 15 but the qualifying situation really wouldn’t allow you to do that today. What do you go away from this weekend and back to Maranello telling the team?
FA: Well it was not the qualifying, it was the weekend in general. We were normally very fast on Fridays, on the long run pace. It was not the case here. We were not fast on qualifying and not fast on the race – so definitely was the overall weekend we didn’t manage to make the tyres work. We’ve been very lucky – unlucky with the safety car moment that came out but very lucky with the first corner, that it was very close with Mark and Grosjean I think. In the first stop, lap nine, I had a tyre problem also. My tyre was finished and disintegrate in the last corner. For me it was the right rear that I think was new compared to all the other failures and if this happened like Felipe – that I think was in Turn Five when it happened – then I lose the race. For me it happened in the last corner and I pit. At the end it was a very lucky race and I just need to be very thankful for the team, for the luck and try to improve for next weekend.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Graham Keilloh – F1 Plus) Early in the race, after the first three rear tyre failures, there was some radio contact on the television advising drivers to stay off the kerbs, but it seems subsequently that wasn’t really heeded; just talk us through the thought process of that, why you subsequently decided to take the risk?
NR: Are you saying we were still taking the risks of going on the kerbs? Well, for myself I wasn’t, I was staying off the kerbs and I got a tyre problem myself, but it worked out well, I was able to pit before it broke apart because the safety car came out. I was a bit lucky there. And then after that, when Mark was chasing me, it was a compromise between how fast is he coming at me and how much am I going to take out of the tyres, so I was staying off the kerbs, taking it easy in the high speed where the most damage is done. Then I had to pick up the pace a little bit towards the end as he was getting quite close so that was really difficult to judge.
Q: Mark, they broadcast at least four or five messages from Rocky (Guillaume Rocquelin) to Sebastian telling him to stay off the kerbs; were you getting a similar amount of that kind of message?
MW: Yeah, Simon was keeping me up to date with the… That’s all they could give us was staying off the kerbs because they were saying that they probably didn’t really know why the tyres were failing at the rate they were. So yeah, I did what I could in all the right hand corners to have… turn one, exit of seven, also Copse and Becketts and Stowe, all the fast corners, trying to stay away from there. It’s not always easy but in general I tried to adhere to the advice, because yes, you want to gain a little bit here and there, but as Nico touched on, it’s not much fun driving a Formula One car on three tyres so you have to make sure that you do what you can to listen to the team; they’re on the pit wall with the most information so you have to do what they say.
FA: Same, always the same. They kept telling me to avoid the kerbs but obviously if you’re in position twelve you need to attack, you need to change the racing line, you need to use the DRS. This is a circuit where we’ve been racing for 12 years in my case and I’ve never had these problems. I think the kerbs were perfectly OK.
Q: (Mike Doodson – Auto Action) Mark, you’re not the kind of guy who normally blames his equipment, less so perhaps than other people, but this story of your starts goes back a long way. No doubt you’ve analysed it over and over again. Looking back today, was it possibly a human failure on your side or was it an equipment shortcoming of some kind?
MW: I need to look. We know it’s not the strength of our situation up until Monaco. I think Monaco and Canada, same procedure and we’re running into the back of these guys. Same in Canada, I went round Bottas and we were very very strong off the line. Today, reverse was in gear. I was obviously ready for the start, everything was set, but I didn’t go anywhere, obviously. I think it was quite slippery off the line but we had a lot of issues getting away. It is frustrating, mate, but I need to go through it and we’re working on things to make it more consistent in the future, but it’s just such an important part of the weekend and it’s a no-brainer that you have to get it right, all the effort that goes in. There’s no question about it, it’s cost a lot of good points over the time but yeah, it shouldn’t be that difficult but it turns out that we’ve got to improve on that area and I’m happy to be part of that.
Q: (Jaime Rodriguez – El Mundo) Fernando, in the last races, every Sunday you seem to have to overtake five, six positions from the start to the end; I wonder if you would explain what you feel, both physically and psychologically?
FA: I’ve been doing this for the last five years, unfortunately. It would be nice to start on the front row of the grid but we are not good enough on Saturdays and it’s something we try to work on as a team: the package, car performance, tyre preparations, driver maximising the lap. Whatever we are missing on Saturdays, we haven’t been on pole position for a long time but we fight, we gain some good experiences in my career, especially in 2008 and 2009 were maybe not so bad seasons in the end, with no good results but very good experience and you try to play safe, obviously when you are fighting very hard with some rookie drivers etc it requires a little bit of extra care but we managed today to do some good moves and some good points, but as I said, it’s something that we don’t like to do and we would like to improve Saturday’s situation.
Q: (Christobal Rosaleny – Car and Driver) To all of you: I know Nurburgring is not like Silverstone in terms of fast corners and all of that, but if somebody tells you that the same thing is going to happen, that the tyres could explode there, would you race or would you tell the people that’s enough?
NR: Well, we shouldn’t get into that situation. We need to do what needs to be done to sort it out and make the tyres last.
MW: I think we’ve been trying to have input for the last three years and it’s deaf ears. Anyway, we’re part of the package, part of the show. The show goes on by the looks of it.
FA: Yes. Same. Theoretically the cars are the same all year. They were OK on most circuits so it should be OK, but for sure it’s something that what we saw today is not good but we drive the cars so we understand nothing about what is the real problem or what it is the real solution so it’s a question for them, for sure.
Q: (Luke Smith – NBC Sports) Nico, before Sebastian’s stoppage, the gap between Sebastian and you had remained quite constant. Do you think you would have been able to catch him if he hadn’t have had the retirement?
NR: I was trying, I was pushing hard trying to stay with him but it wouldn’t have been possible. No, I would have been close all race but to catch him and pass, I didn’t have enough speed unfortunately. But I think pace-wise, possibly I was a little bit quicker, yeah, because very often I was able to come back to him once I started pushing again before the pit stops and when you’re in the dirty air from the guy in front, your tyres wear a little bit more and you lose out. I think I had good pace in the race today.
Q: (Stewart Bell – Herald Sun) Mark, you were on fire from that last safety car period to the end; what was that like for you, that last stint, especially given it was your last British Grand Prix?
MW: Yeah, it felt pretty good mate, I knew that I was going to make pretty light work of the guys ahead of me because they were on old tyres. I wanted information on Nico, I wanted to know what compound he was on and how his pace was before the safety car because I hadn’t seen him before in the race at any stage. They said that he was pretty quick so I was pretty keen to get past those guys early and then go from there, but both of us managed to get to the end of course on the limit but also managing the scenario with the tyres. So yeah, it was a nice finish to race. It would have been about a hundred cherries on top if I’d managed to get past him but I didn’t. He deserved the win and we made him work for it which was good and rewarding, but we could have got much more out of the car in the race today to be honest.
Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) I think all of you were asked by your race engineers after the tyre failures to stay off the kerbs; how much did it affect your racing, in particular Mark and Fernando who had been in fights or battles with other drivers?
MW: Well, it’s a compromise. You want to still push as hard as possible but you have to check your line a bit, change your trajectory, the radius is tighter, obviously, in certain corners, i.e. the quick stuff, Copse, Stowe, turn one, staying away from there. It turns out maybe it wasn’t really the kerbs, who knows but it’s just better to factor in everything that you possibly can. Some laps, when you’re in disturbed air and you get behind a car and you get a little bit wide then that’s life, you’ve got to… you can’t be super accurate when you’re tucked up behind the guy in the quick stuff so that’s just the decisions you have to make and yeah, we managed that as best we could.
FA: I didn’t change, I didn’t change lines. I didn’t change lines. I was fighting with twelve cars all the race through so you go in the dirty air, let’s say, and you lose downforce and you go straight out over the exit kerb. As I said, it’s hard to believe that the kerbs were the problem because we’ve been racing here for 12 years with those kerbs.
Q: (Jaime Rodriguez – El Mundo) Nico, do you think that without the Montmelo test Mercedes could be winning races like now?
NR: For sure, yeah. Definitely.
Ends
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Hamilton thrilled to see huge crowd; Paul penalised
Silverstone, 29 June 2013: In a late-day decision after scrutiny, Sahara Force India driver Paul Di Resta who qualified in P5 was forced to start at the back of the grid after stewards penalised the team for the Force India car failed to maintain the weight of its car to the required standard and fell short by 1.5 kg. Sutil will start on P6.
Saturday FIA Press Conference:
Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes AMG Petronas flanked by teammate Nico Rosberg (to his left) and Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull after taking the Silverstone pole on Saturday. An FIA photo DRIVERS
1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
2 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)
3 – Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing)
TV UNILATERAL
Q: Lewis, a great lap there at the end to take pole position at your home grand prix. How does that feel?
Lewis HAMILTON: It’s incredible! It feels just like it did in 2007. Just to see the crowd here today is fantastic – such a great turnout from everyone. So that was a lap for them. I hope that tomorrow we can do something special for them but this is really down to the team. They’ve been doing a phenomenal job, improving the car constantly. I haven’t been feeling 100 per cent comfortable all weekend – so I was really happy to finally get a lap.
Q: Nico, your thoughts on qualifying. That’s the fifth time in six races that Mercedes has been on pole position – and disputing it between you two as well. So, your thoughts on today.
Nico ROSBERG: It’s definitely a really, really great feeling, to go into qualifying and having such a car. To definitely have the fastest car… it’s really, really cool. It’s a great job that the team has done to get us to where we are now. And we’re also improving on Sundays – hopefully. I’m confident we have improved so tomorrow should be a bit better. I’m sure that still there are going to be other teams that are a little bit stronger than us but maybe starting on front for sure is going to help and maybe it’s going to still be possible to get a great result.
Q: Sebastian, there seemed to be some different tactics at play with regard to tomorrow’s race in terms of your saving one tyre of tyre, Mercedes saving another type of tyre. You see this as a very tactical type of weekend clearly.
Sebastian VETTEL: We’ll obvious see what happens tomorrow. It’s a long race but honestly very happy today. I don’t know, either Lewis found a short cut or he has something special around here. A phenomenal lap. I think it wasn’t in reach today. I was very happy with the lap I had at the end. And I think it was very close with Mark as well. I think we did what we could for the team and, yeah, it’s always nice to position well in qualifying. Especially around here qualifying is good fun, enjoying the high-speed corners and looking forward to tomorrow, for the race. We’ll see how well we are with tyres, looking after them. But as I said, for now very happy for the team. Hard to put the car in third place, Mark right behind, so I think it’s a good position to start from. Obviously our factory is very close to this track. Milton Keynes is not far away and yeah, I’m looking forward to tomorrow.
Q: Lewis, we’ve seen obviously this year quite a few times that qualifying is one thing but the race is another. What about tomorrow? How do you feel Mercedes will fare against the Red Bulls in the British Grand Prix?
LH: I think undoubtedly it’s going to be tough for us to keep Sebastian behind but our long run pace wasn’t as bad as we’ve seen in the past, so I’m hoping with the temperatures and a bit of care, we can nurture the tyres to get a good result. I’m going to be pushing, giving it my all tomorrow, as I’m sure Nico will as well, to finish up ahead.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Lewis, difficult day for you yesterday, as you were saying in your comments after the free practice. You weren’t happy with the balance of the car. It’s quite a turn around from you and the team. Can you talk a little bit about that – and also the crowd power aspect of things: did you feel that today?
LH: The car is… obviously as Nico was saying, we’ve got a great car and to fine-tune it seems to be a little bit harder than what I’ve been experiencing in the past. So really trying to get the car underneath me and feeling comfortable and having an equal balance. With a Formula One car you’re always trying to balance it on a knife-edge. Just for some reason with this car I’m struggling to do that. In the past I would aim do that all the time. But got closer. We made the right steps, made a change going into qualifying which helped – still not perfect but it helped. And then the crowd to make a huge difference. After seeing them turn up in their thousands and seeing all the flags waving. Of course this weekend I come here with an extra boost of energy and just want to pay them back. Every year I come… this is the first time since 2008 that I’ve had a car that I’ve really been able to compete with so I’m really, really proud of what the team have done and I hope the fans can have a good evening and bring us some good luck tomorrow.
Q: Nico, we mentioned earlier on that the last six races have really been all about this, particularly in qualifying, between the two of you. You’ve had the upper hand a few times, Lewis has had the upper hand a few times. Can you talk a little bit about how you’re enjoying this in-house battle with someone you’ve known and raced against for such a long time?
NR: Yeah, it’s a big battle we have, and usually it’s very close – not today – Lewis did a great lap in the end. It’s also a really, really big push, also for the whole team, that we’re pushing each other all the time, and that’s really good. We’re really lucky because we have a great atmosphere at the moment in the team, everybody’s going in the same direction and sticking together, so it’s fantastic momentum that we have at the moment.
Q: Sebastian, do you feel that you’ve got the most complete package for this weekend? Obviously you’ve given a bit away in qualifying but you’re here, some of your rivals for the championship are behind you tomorrow, how’s your approach?
SV: Well, certainly we’re not giving away anything consciously or on purpose. They are bloody quick in qualifying, I think that’s what it is. I think we are not too bad but obviously they seem to be in a different world on Saturday afternoons. I think something, yeah, they manage pretty well around the tyres which allows them to get a very, very strong lap in. Plus Nico and Lewis are doing a great job. Doesn’t help if you want to qualify on pole. But points are scored on Sunday and the last couple of races have been pretty good for us. I think, to sum it up in both – in qualifying and in race – so for sure today I think P3 was our maximum but for tomorrow y’know, who knows? They are also getting better. It helps the more time we spend on the tyres – let’s leave it there – and yeah, I think we all try to understand more and more and as the season goes on we do get better and there’s less and less room for improvement. For the moment it seems that we have a strong car in the race, maybe a little bit better than the Mercedes. Whether it will be like that tomorrow? Well, we’ll find out. But that’s the fun part. I’m looking forward to finding out.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Kate Walker – GP Week) Lewis, obviously none of us experience putting together a pole lap like the one we just watched and it really was a phenomenal performance. Could you explain what it’s like actually sitting in the cockpit; do you sit there completing your sectors going ‘ wow, I’m really on it’ or is it only afterwards that you realise how well you’ve done?
LH: No. You have a delta time on your dashboard so you can tell as soon as you cross the line into turn one and when you start the lap whether you’re up or not and so you kind of keep checking it, halfway through, after each corner, after each sector so already by turn nine I could see that I was two and a half tenths up and you just don’t want to lose that, so you have to take extra care after that, but also you want to improve. But yeah, you also feel that it’s a feeling having the tyres up to temperature, the brakes up to temperature and the car just beneath you and not trying to get away from you. Sometimes it is like a wild bull, you’re trying to tame it which is very very difficult to do. But when you do, and you pull out a lap like that, it really felt like 2007. I couldn’t hear anyone still, because the car’s too loud, hopefully I got a good roar today.
Q: It looked like the track improved a lot, two or three tenths improvement from session to session this afternoon.
LH: Yeah, each time we go out we seemed to… which is kind of normal but it’s quite a good surface here at Silverstone so the grip does continue to go down (on the circuit) and hopefully that will be good for us tomorrow.
Q: (Julian Harris – City AM) My question is for Lewis as well: are you still learning this car, are you still finding out more each week and do you think you’re getting better in each race, or do you think you’ve pretty much got it sussed now?
LH: I definitely haven’t got it sussed. This weekend’s been a tough weekend. Every weekend is tough, even if you are used to a car it’s tough but I really have been struggling with the car, trying to tune it, trying to get it to behave the way I want it to, and then drive it and extract what I want from it. Out of all the cars I’ve driven, it’s one of the hardest cars to drive. So when you pull it together, it’s a great car and obviously very quick. Each weekend I’m working as hard as I can, each weekend it does feel like it’s improving a little bit. We made another improvement on the brakes this weekend which is another step in the right direction so I hope we can continue going forwards.
Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto-Motor, Hungary) Lewis, obviously Paddy Lowe is now at Mercedes and he is here, working with you. Is it a boost for you personally to have him in the team since you have known him for a long time, and did you influence the decision that he would join the team in any way?
LH: I don’t believe I had any influence on him coming here. I think that was a decision of his and Ross and Toto. Is it a boost? It’s a boost to the team. We already have some incredibly talented people in the team, doing fantastic things and coming up with great designs but the stronger the package, the better it is for everyone. He’s a good addition to the team and hopefully he will only help us moving forwards.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Sebastian, you started Q2 with hard tyres. It looks like you are very comfortable with tyre wear… No?
SV: You said I started Q2 on the hard tyres?
Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Yes.
SV: No. I did only one run in Q2 with the soft tyres, well, medium.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Well, it looks like you are very comfortable with tyre wear for the race. Is that correct?
SV: Well, it depends. I think comfortable or not depends on where the others are. I think we were happy with the runs that we had yesterday. I had another one this morning, so I think we are pretty happy with that but it’s difficult to judge, because you don’t know what fuel loads other people are running, the usual stuff, so we will find out tomorrow plus in the race it’s always a little bit different. Tomorrow is supposed to be hotter which is nice for the crowd after the last couple of years, I think it was always quite miserable on Friday, so now we’ve had a good Saturday and tomorrow, as I said, again a little bit warmer so it could change the balance of the car and how the tyres work. I think we’ve saved as many tyres as we could and the ones that we liked so let’s see what we can do tomorrow.
Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, Alonso is only tenth today. It’s good news, thinking about the championship?
SV: Well, I didn’t really think about that. I think it’s not good news for him. For sure he wanted to be a little bit higher up as well as Ferrari. It’s a bit of a surprise. I think they’ve been very competitive here the last couple of years but this is also a circuit – let’s not forget – where the balance is very important so even if you have a good car, if it’s not coming together it can make a big difference, especially over one lap. And the other thing, that’s why I’m not too interested to look at the results today. In the race we’ve seen that a lot of things can happen and people starting from further back can still score a lot of points and come through the field, so I think in terms of race pace and tyre wear they will be strong tomorrow and surely, should everything go as per plan for them, they will finish higher up than tenth. Everything else, I think, would be a surprise.
Q: (Sarah Holt – CNN.com) Lewis, before you got in the car before qualifying, we saw you wave to the crowd. Did you feel, having lost pole to Nico over the last few races, that you needed to psyche yourself up and find something extra today?
LH: Not really. It’s not about psyching myself up because I’m always mad for it, I’m always on the limit, I’m always on the edge. I always have the determination and the will but it’s just trying to get my car to where I want it to be so when I went out there, I was hoping that my car was where I wanted it to be and it’s also… The fans sit there for a long long time during the day and don’t really get to see our faces so it’s the one opportunity that I do get to see them and try to extract what I can from them, because the support means a lot.
Q: (Derek Bish – Anglia Newspapers) Lewis, you’ve obviously been here in junior formulas as well; what sets apart the Lewis Hamilton that puts together a lap like that today from the one who was here in GP2 and before that?
LH: Yeah, my age, getting older, older and wiser, I think. I’m still very much like the GP2 driver I was. I just have more knowledge now. Of course, we all change over time but yeah, I think I’m a little bit more sensible and a little bit better at making decisions than I was back then. And hopefully that approach helps me win in the car.
Q: (Phil Agius – Racing Post) Sebastian, Toro Rosso have been going well this weekend and I think Daniel Ricciardo is sixth on the grid. Would you be comfortable with another Australian teammate next season?
SV: I think first you should see the individual rather than the country where he comes from but surely I haven’t got a problem with Australia. I like going there, it’s a nice track, we go every year too, so I’m looking forward to going back next year. Congratulations to Daniel. It seems that both of them, the whole weekend… I don’t know what happened to Jean-Eric in qualifying but both of them had a car that was good enough to show their potential so happy for them and hopefully they can keep it up throughout the race and score some good points for the team. In a way, obviously, we’re all fighting for ourselves; secondly we are fighting for our team but obviously we have more connection to Toro Rosso than Mercedes for example so not a surprise is it? So yeah, all the best to Daniel and Jean-Eric tomorrow.
Ends
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Hamilton takes pole; Paul to start on P5, Sutil P7
Silverstone, 29 June 2013: Mercedes AMG Petronas’ Lewis Hamilton took pole position for the British Grand Prix with a stunning lap at Silverstone this afternoon to push his teammate Nico Rosberg to second place as Mercedes locked the front row again here on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Sahara Force India came up with a stunning show with Paul Di Resta taking the fifth place and Adrian Sutil starting on P 7 with Daniel Ricciardo in between. Red Bulls were right behind the leaders with Sebastian Vettel beating Mark Webber for P3. Romain Grosjean of Lotus was ahead of his teammate in P8 and Ferrari completed the top 10 with Fernando Alonso on P10.
- Lewis achieved the team’s fifth pole position in six races and the 28th pole of his career today
- Nico’s second place secured the team’s third front-row lockout in the past four races
- Both drivers used three sets of option tyres in qualifying, saving new hard tyres fortomorrow’s race.
Quotes: Lewis Hamilton
It feels incredible to be on pole, just like it did back in 2007. We have the greatest Formula One fans in the world here in Britain and there was a great turnout today, which makes the atmosphere so special. My lap in Q3 was a lap for the fans out there around the circuit. I haven’t been feeling comfortable in the car all weekend, so I was really happy to find a good lap and this feels fantastic. The team has done a phenomenal job and it’s a great reward for the guys here at the track but also back at base, especially as our two factories are so close to the track. But we know that tomorrow is another day and our Sunday performance isn’t quite as strong right now. Our long run pace looked ok yesterday and we were able to manage the tyres quite well. It’s going to be tough to keep Seb behind but we will give it everything we’ve got.Nico Rosberg
A fantastic team result today and it’s great to see how much progress we have made together since last year. The feeling of confidence that our car will be quick in qualifying is fantastic and I love going to a race knowing that we have a shot of a strong grid position. The team are doing a great job and we are keeping up the development so a big thank you to everyone at the factories, many of whom are here today watching. My lap was good and starting from the front row is great but Lewis did a fantastic job today. I hope we have improved our race pace; it will be all about tyre management tomorrow and keeping the others behind us. I’m confident that we can get a good result.
Ross Brawn
The team has worked incredibly well over the past few months to achieve a result like today’s. We have been chipping away at the performance, quietly bringing new updates and continuing to push, while also focusing our efforts on how we could improve our tyre management issues, and it seems to be paying off. The engineers and drivers got the cars into the perfect place for qualifying and, as the wind dropped towards the end of the session, both Lewis and Nico were able to deliver strong performances. Lewis put in a stunning lap at the end of the session and it’s great to see him and Nico pushing each other so hard in every session. It will be more of a challenge to remain as competitive in the race but we gathered good information yesterday and hope to be able to build on that tomorrow.
Toto Wolff
A fantastic result for the entire team to take our third front row lockout this year. Fair, sporting competition is what Mercedes stands for and, while a lot has been said and written this weekend, the only thing that really matters is what happens out on track. The focus this afternoon should be on our drivers, Lewis and Nico, and on this fantastic team who have pushed so hard to keep developing the car in tough times and solve our problems. Lewis put in a mega lap: I don’t know if it’s the Silverstone factor or something else, but that was an incredible performance. Nico has been strong all weekend and second position gives us a great platform for the race tomorrow. Tomorrow should be warmer and we have struggled with race pace at some circuits so far this year. But the trend is going in the right direction, and I hope we can continue that tomorrow.Sahara Force India delivered a strong showing at its local track as Paul Di Resta qualified in fifth place for the British Grand Prix with Adrian Sutil in seventh.P5 Paul Di Resta VJM06-04Q1: 1:32.062Q2: 1:31.291Q3: 1:30.736Paul: “I’m over the moon with the qualifying result and I think the whole team can feel very satisfied with fifth on the grid. The morning practice session was quite difficult so it feels great to come through and end up just behind two Mercedes and two Red Bulls. This track takes a lot of commitment and you need to build up your speed, but I think we saved our best till last – and that’s when it mattered. For tomorrow our tyre wear looks healthy and we’ve given ourselves a good opportunity to get in some clean air during the race. I will sleep well tonight and hope that we can have a straightforward race, and come away with lots of points.”P7 Adrian Sutil VJM06-03Q1: 1:32.002Q2: 1:31.079Q3: 1:30.908Adrian: “Seventh place is a great result today. The car was not easy to drive this morning, but we made some improvements before qualifying and found more speed with each session. If we can do our homework tonight then we have the potential to have a great race. There are still some unknowns with the tyres over long runs because I haven’t really done more than ten laps on a set of tyres, but I feel comfortable on both compounds. So we can be happy with the result, but we need to concentrate on tomorrow because that’s what counts. In terms of strategy we need to keep an open mind and have several options going into the race so that we can react as the race develops.”Vijay Mallya, Team Principal & Managing Director“I am delighted with today’s qualifying result. The sun was shining, the grandstands were full, and we put on a fantastic show. Fifth place for Paul at his home Grand Prix is a tremendous effort, especially on this high-speed track, which has not been our strongest race in previous years. Adrian’s seventh place confirms just how competitive we are this weekend and we know that we have good race pace. For tomorrow it’s important that we maximise these starting positions and hopefully give our supporters and partners something to celebrate at our local race.”ends
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Team leaders agree Tribunal process as fair: Friday press meet
TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Graeme LOWDON (Marussia), Eric BOULLIER (Lotus), Christian HORNER (Red Bull Racing), Ross BRAWN (Mercedes), Martin WHITMARSH (McLaren)
PRESS CONFERENCE
Gentlemen, a general question about the International Tribunal. It’s the first time it’s been used in Formula One. What did you think about it and what about the outcome? First of all, Eric.
Eric BOULLIER: I think the system went quite well I think. All the judges and the way it was working went quite smoothly and as far as I understand the process was fine.
Graham?
Graeme LOWDON: As Eric says, the process itself, it’s the first time we’ve seen it in action and from what we could see it was a pretty fair and transparent process. We were happy to see the outcome in terms of how the Tribunal saw it. I can’t really comment on the penalty that they suggested as I think that is entirely down to the Tribunal but the thing we could probably do with a bit more clarity on, is that the Tribunal referred to the mitigating circumstances in choosing the penalty and we couldn’t really see very many. The mitigating circumstances didn’t look terribly mitigating. Perhaps that’s something that will come over time with the process.
Martin?
Martin WHITMARSH: I haven’t got much to add really. We didn’t take an active role. I know some of my colleagues here were there, they saw it. I think it’s clearly an independent process and that’s a good thing. In regards to this particular case I think others are better equipped to comment on it.
Ross, obviously you were involved – your thoughts?
Ross BRAWN: Very involved yes. I think rightly or wrongly there has been criticism in the past of the process and I think what the FIA has done, particularly with the president of the FIA, is put in place a process which I don’t believe there can be any criticism of it in that respect. It’s an independent tribunal. People may always have their opinions about the opinions of the Tribunal but I think the process itself can’t be criticised. This is the first time we’ve seen it in action and I think we can have confidence in the future that at least it will be independent. My understanding was that the selection of the judges was completely independent, coming from a potential panel of 12, people who obviously have some knowledge of sport, particularly motor sport and they judged the case on the facts and did what they felt was appropriate. We can have opinions about the outcome of the case but I think the process is very encouraging for the future and one that should give teams in Formula One or teams in motor sport confidence.
Christian, your thoughts on the process and the outcome?
Christian HORNER: I think the process was fine. It was the first time it happened. I think that the relevant parties made their case and that the judges did a good in running the Tribunal and had all the facts placed in front of them. The verdict they reached was, I think, the right one. The penalty they applied? I have to be a bit careful because he’s bigger than I am, sitting next to me! Possibly it was a bit soft but, you know, it was a fair process and it was certainly interesting to see how it panned out. I think the biggest thing to come out of it is clarity. We need to know what the rules are – whether you can test a 2011 car for more than a 1000km or whether you can test a 2013 car etc, etc. The big thing for us moving on from the Tribunal is to get absolute clarity for the remainder of this year and moving forward as to what constitutes testing and what does not.
Ross, I’ll give you the chance to come back on that. Christian says it was a bit soft. It was the penalty your QC suggested at the end of the proceedings, so do you see it that way.
RB: No, I’m bound to disagree with Christian.
I’m sure there’ll be more on this later. Returning to Eric then, a new consortium since we were last all together has come in and bought a shareholding in your team, a 35 percent shareholding. Why this moment and why are they the right investor?
EB: Why this moment? I think it’s just because the opportunity came up. As Genii Capital said a long time ago they are picking the right partner to join the team. We were the only team in terms of structuring only one owner. They were thinking for the right partner and once they found it I guessed they signed it and I guess this is the timing.
Obviously with Mark Webber announcing his retirement there’s been a lot of speculation suggesting Kimi Raikkonen your lead driver is a target for Red Bull. He says he’s out of contract at the end of this season, what do you say?
EB: I say the same, he’s out of contract, yes! It’s going to be his decision, obviously. I think yes, Red Bull is chasing Kimi and we want to Kimi. Kimi will decided what he wants to do. He will decide what’s best for him. He knows what he has with us. He gets what he could get. It’s attractive to go to Red Bull as well, but he knows what he has. Now we are just talking with him and seeking some let’s say understanding of where we go and what we are building because in terms of ownership we are new, just four years existence. I think so far he is happy with what he has.
Christian, I’ll give you a chance to come back on that. Obviously you are believed to have said this morning that Raikkonen and the two Toro Rosso drivers are the likely candidates. Can you share your thoughts on Mark Webber’s announcement, the timing of it and where you go from here?
CH: Firstly, Mark has obviously chosen to announce his retirement. I think we need to recognise everything Mark has done for the team. Since joining in 2007 he’s grown with the team and all his nine victories so far and his 30-odd podiums have come in Red Bull racing cars and he’s made a significant contribution to the three Constructors’ World Championships we’ve managed to achieve and how the team has performed over the last few years. Obviously a big decision for any driver to draw a close to their career. He’s decided to do that early and therefore he’s removed himself from any speculation about next year and that puts us in a situation where we want to pick the best candidate for that role. We’re fortunate that we have the pool of talented young drivers at Toro Rosso to draw upon and we will also gauge what else is available in the marketplace. Kimi Raikkonen is a driver you would be foolish to ignore. We’re going to take our time, it’s important that we make the right decision; we don’t need to be in a rush. We’ll evaluate the options available to us and try to make the best decision we can.
Going back to you Ross. It looked like the race tyre management was better, particularly on Hamilton’s car, in Canada. Montreal obviously doesn’t treat the tyres quite as roughly as this place. You were quick this afternoon in free practice but how do you feel you’re fixed for this grand prix?
RB: It’s a little bit difficult to judge at the moment. The tyres are still not where we expect them to be on Sunday, they look a little but dry, they look a little bit cool. So we’ve got to try to anticipate what we we’re going to face on Sunday but it didn’t look too bad. Graining was the thing that was slowly creeping up on a number of cars. You could see it on the TV and we weren’t unique in that respect. It may be a slightly different issue we’ll have here than at some other races. I think the thing I would comment on is that we know there is a cliff that we tend to fall over and if we don’t get to the edge we’re fine. Maybe take a race like Malaysia, we weren’t on the edge of the cliff, we had a good strong race the whole race. It depending on how close we get to that edge before it becomes a problem. Clearly there was a problem in Barcelona but it may no be an issue here. We’ll have to wait and see.
OK, going to Graeme. We’ve heard you speaking out recently about not having a commercial deal in place. Why now and is there any progress on that?
GL: Well why now, it’s not just now actually, we say it pretty much any time. I find myself as part of our management team in a different situation to the other gentlemen in this press conference in that our team doesn’t have an agreement with the commercial rights holder. We are fully part of the process for negotiating a new Concorde Agreement – we play our part in that process like all the other teams. But like everybody else here I have an obligation, together with our management team, to our employees and their families. These are people who are earning their livelihoods in Formula One and I have an obligation to them. We find ourselves in a situation where, at present, there is no Concorde Agreement, so there is a gap of some period of time and who knows how long that time could be. Certainly the Concorde Agreement is not going to be signed next week and in theory it could go on for years. There is no finite time limit on that. Now all the other teams on the grid including those in front and behind us have a bi-lateral agreement with the commercial rights holder and for whatever reason we don’t and I think that’s an unusual situation. There’s a very clear structure to this sport and certain companies play a very dominant position in that structure and we have to operate within that structure and it is quite difficult, in the situation that we currently find ourselves in. Why that should be the case I really don’t know. It would certainly be nice. I think everybody here would agree, whether it’s a sporting matter or a financial matter or commercial, all you ask for is a level playing field and for all teams to be treated equally. I think it’s a reasonably straightforward thing that we’re looking for.
Thank you for that. Coming to you Martin. Obviously today the World Motor Sport Council has issued quite a lot of changes for next year, among them the new penalty points system for drivers. I wonder if you would like to comment on that and any other things in here that you find of interest?
MW: Well, I hope you don’t test me on it, because there’s quite a bit tome there and it came out whilst we were on the pit wall. On the penalty points, it’s been discussed for a long time. It’s clear; it’s written down. Potentially you can imagine being in a situation as a driver or as a team with a driver who is close to being prohibited. I think that could be uncomfortable but we’ll have to see how that develops. The other very significant decisions that have been announced are the introduction of four in-season tests next year. That introduction, not everyone is comfortable to have more testing but I think that it replaces quite a lot of other extraneous testing is probably a beneficial things, given that it’s being arranged in Europe at circuits after we’ve raced there. I think they are fairly sensible proposals on testing and certainly it’s good for young drivers and people who are trying to develop young drivers. I think it’s a good initiative. The other is obviously a further restriction on aerodynamic testing, both wind tunnel testing and CFD capacity. I think that’s prudent and sensible and something that we have to do to try and develop more sustainable business models across the whole grid. I think there are no great surprises. Obviously a lot of work, manoeuvring and voting has gone on to arrive at some of those decisions but generally nothing surprising. I think most of them are pretty sensible and the right thing for the sport.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Ian Parkes – PA) Question to Christian and Eric: if you two guys are squaring up to a tussle over Kimi Räikkönen, with the exception of money – bearing in mind he’s already quite a wealthy guy – what do you think will be the attraction to either a) bring him to your team, Christian? or b) keep him at your team, Eric?
CH: At the end of the day I guess it’s going to be the equipment at their disposal. They’re going to want to drive – any driver, any competitive driver – is going to want to be in the most competitive environment that he can be in. I guess that’s the same for Kimi as it would be for any driver. But let’s just be clear here, we’re not just looking at Kimi Räikkönen, we have Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne who are true contenders for that seat. We just need to take a bit of time to look at all of the options available to us.
Eric?
EB: I think the environment he has with us obviously suits him. I think he told this many times. As Christian says, he’s a driver, a competitor, so he can see every year we keep improving the team performance and obviously we expect to keep going in this way and match at least Christian’s team’s performance as soon as possible. So, being part of the environment you can like and build around yourself is one of the nicest challenges for a driver.
Q: (Luc Domenjoz – Le Matin) For Christian Horner. We heard what you say about Kimi Räikkönen and the two Toro Rosso drivers but what about Sébastien Buemi? We understand he makes a valuable job as a third driver but would you consider him for next year and if so what are his chances?
CH: Sébastien has made a great contribution this year as third driver and doing development work in the simulator. He had a great run at Le Mans last weekend which was super to see – but he’s not a contender for a race seat at Red Bull Racing. He’s an important member of the team but our choice is more focussed on the current, active Formula One drivers.
Q: (Luke Smith – NBC Sports) Question for Christian: are you looking for a driver to simply accommodate Sebastian Vettel or someone who can actively challenge and rival him?
CH: We want the best driver that we can possibly get. Sebastian wants to be challenged, wants to be pushed and from our perspective there are two championships. There’s a Drivers’ World Championship and a Constructors’ World Championship and you don’t win a Constructors’ Championship with one driver. So, from our perspective, we want to field the most competitive line-up that we can and do our very best to support both drivers as we always have done.
Q: (Bob McKenzie – Daily Express) Sorry, this question comes up occasionally so you’ve probably got the stock answers but what do you think it does for the image of Formula One – particularly here, at the biggest Friday crowd anywhere in the world – to have them sitting around for ninety minutes watching virtually nothing? It just doesn’t look good, does it?
GL: Well, it doesn’t look great but equally I think it’s not the easiest thing to solve. I think Formula One is getting much closer to the fans and I think that’s a really good thing and there’s a lot of initiatives that are being done through the sport, through the teams and to help in other ways, to try and get ourselves nearer and try and give the fans more to engage with. I don’t know what the solution is, Bob, as far as livening up a session like that. It was quite difficult circumstances. It does just seem to happen at Silverstone a little bit more often so I really don’t know what that solution is but I do think that in other areas teams really are doing quite a lot to engage the fans and make being a Formula One fan more interesting, more exciting and more rewarding.
EB: I can understand the question, the frustration for the fans but I do tend to… in other ways, the debate is coming back all the time, because if you look at Wimbledon it’s the same, they stop the game when it’s raining. Any other sport is the same at least, so if we don’t run or the car does run there’s a safety issue but there are many other issues and we are the first ones to ask our drivers for the cars to be on track when we can. We try to do our best to engage with the fans and to do whatever we can but we obviously can’t be blamed if the car is not on the track when it’s raining and there’s too much water on the track.
MW: Well, it’s not good, clearly, and I think we’ve got to be conscious of that. It has been announced today, as some of you may know from the World Motor Sport Council that there’s an extra set of dry tyres available which have to be consumed in the first half hour of the first practice session, so that’s a clear step in dry conditions, where we’ve had circuits which have high levels of evolution and people have been reluctant to go out even in a dry session. In the wet, we’ve got to be very conscious. We’re here at Silverstone, we have a finite number of tyres, so we have three set of wets and four of intermediate tyres and it’s always possible that you need to use those and that being the case, you can’t damage them or use them early in the weekend. So it’s to do with the number of tyres and there’s got to be a balance. You’ve got to be sensible about the number of tyres we can consume during the course of a race weekend. We’ve done something today in the sport about this sort of thing happening in a dry session. It will always be difficult when we have a wet first practice session.
RB: I think we’ve been proactive with the extra set of tyres that Martin mentioned. They’ve got to be used in the first part of first practice, so you will get cars running. So I think that’s a good initiative. I think the difficulty is, quite frankly, that there’s a fairly high risk in those conditions and if there’s nothing to be gained, the teams tend to be conservative. If we think the race is going to be wet, we think qualifying is going to be wet, then we run. If we don’t – and that’s the forecast we have this weekend – then the objective is not as strong to run in those conditions. It does make it very difficult but we have to acknowledge that it’s not the greatest show when that happens. Luckily the second session was pretty full and there was lots of running thereafter, but if it had been wet all day, then there wouldn’t have been a lot of running.
CH: I think it’s a great shame for the fans that all the cars are sitting in the garage and they’re sitting in the grandstands getting wet to see their drivers and teams that they want to see out there. From a team perspective, we want to be out there because you want to learn and we’re limited on track testing as it is but unfortunately you can’t fully predict the British summer. And it was a bit marginal, actually. We sent Sebastian out early on to have a look and he said it was right on the edge in terms of aquaplaning and with the limitation on parts and so on, we had to make a decision to say OK, we need to wait a bit later until the circuit conditions improve. It’s not great. What the answer is I don’t know. Wimbledon have got a roof; maybe Silverstone needs to invest in a roof. It might be a good way forward.
Q: (Mike Casey – Associated Press) We heard from Martin on the rule changes; maybe we could hear from some of the other teams about the penalty system and in-season testing.
RB: I think the good thing about a penalty system is hopefully we will know exactly what we’re dealing with. It will take away, to some degree some of the subjectivity that’s crept into some of the penalties in the past. Obviously being given the reprimand of a penalty in the first place is still going to be a judgement call so I think that’s something which will be helpful. Other rule changes are really mostly about tidying up the regulations on the technical side and the sporting side for next year. It’s quite a different technical package next year, so there’s been some tidying up of that. In terms of testing itself, I think it’s quite an overhead for the teams to undertake that testing on a regular basis and we have to find a way of making it as cost-effective as we can, because what we don’t want to go back to is having test cars and test teams and all the things that we got rid of a few years ago, because it does then bring a step change in costs. Obviously if we can carry out those tests with the crews that we have already and the cars we have already then it helps a great deal but we’re already hearing of 21 races next year and 21 races along with four tests is going to be quite a strain on the system. I think the teams have to sit down and work out how to organise those tests to have the minimum financial impact.
EB: To be honest, I haven’t got much to say because both Martin and Ross clearly… I have the same position more or less.
CH: By and large I think they’re good. I think that the aero restrictions make sense. I think the testing changes make sense. We’ve gone to eight days or four two day tests so we’ve got rid of promotional days and straight line running and so on to now create proper testing, arguably maybe slightly more expensive but it gives the opportunity for young drivers and test drivers to actually run at those events as well as your race drivers. I must admit I’m not a massive fan of the points system, I don’t like the thought of points carrying from one season into the next and that sort of lingering over the driver. In our position, we would have preferred penalties within a season to be dealt with within a year but that’s the way it is. But I think by and large the changes are good and positive. Certainly on the technical side and from a sporting side with the testing, they do make sense.
Q: (Mike Doodson – Auto Action) Gentlemen, the sport is in a state of limbo at the moment because there’s no Concorde Agreement as Graeme mentioned earlier. And it must be quite embarrassing that this situation is continuing. In any large commercial organisation, when a senior official manager was under threat of legal action, it would be normal for him to step down until that was settled, if only to allow the normal commercial conditions to continue. I wonder if you could comment on whether our commercial leader should step down from his position to allow you to have the serenity you need to continue your business?
MW: Thank you! I think there’s a certain degree of uncertainty created by not having Concorde Agreements but I think if at the moment the sport does rely upon Bernie to bring these things together, I think we probably have quite a lot of greater levels of uncertainty if Bernie were to step down so I think at the moment, if we’re told again today that the FIA and the commercial rights holder are close – I think the word is imminent that they will sign a Concorde Agreement, it’s an odd arrangement because at the moment, clearly, as Graeme has reflected, there are ten sets of bi-lateral agreements out there and they’ve got to be stitched together with a broader Concorde Agreement into which the teams haven’t had that much input and that’s probably going to be some uncomfortable pushing together, but hopefully we can do that but I strongly suspect that if we didn’t have Bernie in the mix, that that would take a much longer time and it would be a more difficult process.
CH: To be quite frank, Formula One is what it is because of Bernie Ecclestone, the way he’s built the sport over the last 35 years, everything we see here is based on what he’s done and achieved and I think that without him we’d be in a lot of trouble. I think that the deals he’s still doing, the circuits and countries that he’s still taking Formula One to is quite outstanding, and while he has the passion and enthusiasm to keep doing his job, I think it’s in our interests he does it for as long as absolutely possible, because I think the day after he isn’t there the sport is going to be a lot worse off. So whatever his situation is, I think it’s entirely right that he does continue because I can’t see there being a better person to do the role – that none of us fully understand what that role fully constitutes – than Bernie.
RB: I agree with what a lot of what Christian said, it is a fairly unique situation and the way the sport has evolved. We do have the bi-lateral agreements, commercial agreements with all teams apart from Graeme’s which gives us the financial stability that we need. I think that the grey area is that with no Concorde Agreement there’s no well-defined structure for agreeing new regulations and what’s happening at the moment is the FIA is defaulting to the old system, but given it’s not defined properly and it’s not part of an agreement, it could be challenged. The World Motor Sport Council decisions have gone ahead today based on good faith and good spirit within the teams and I hope that continues, but of course we really do need a firmer and stronger structure around future regulations and how they are decided upon. There is a framework which has been broadly agreed but it’s not strictly in place at the moment and I think that’s something that we do need to work towards as soon as we can.
Q: (Gary Meenaghan – The National) Christian, going back to the vacant seat you will soon have, if you chose to go for a driver that isn’t currently racing with Toro Rosso, what does that say about your sister team and the success of your sister team, given its purpose is to blood stars of the future?
CH: Well, the whole purpose of that team is obviously to give young drivers within the Red Bull Junior programme the opportunity, but there’s no prerequisite that they have to end up in a Red Bull Racing seat. They have to earn that on merit. They have the opportunity, they’re both there in the Toro Rosso on merit, through what they’ve achieved in the lower categories. They’ve both had excellent junior careers and they’re both in a learning phase, as they’ve come into Formula One and both are exciting prospects for the future. The fundamental question is is one of them ready? That’s something that we will have to look at and contemplate quite carefully but they certainly both merit their place in Formula One and Toro Rosso does an excellent job in developing those young drivers. Sebastian Vettel is obviously the most successful graduate from Toro Rosso and the current two drivers are both exciting prospects.
Q: Final thought on that: what’s your time frame?
CH: Some time before Melbourne, I would have thought. No, I would have thought later in the summer. We’re not going to let it drag on forever but we can take a bit of time to make sure we make the most informed decision that we can.
Ends
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Concorde agreement not in sight; Drivers’ penalty system approved
London, 28 June 2013: The Goodwood Motor Circuit, part of the 12,000 acre Goodwood Estate, originally opened its gates to the public in September 1948 to host Britain’s first post-war motor race meeting at a permanent venue, said an FIA press release.
The second World Motor Sport Council meeting of 2013 concluded the inaugural FIA Sport Conference Week, a new event on the Federation’s calendar developed to provide a global platform of networking and business exchange for the motor sport community.
Jean Todt thanked Lord March and the staff at Goodwood for their hospitality in the magnificent surroundings of the Goodwood Estate, which provided an excellent venue for the first Sport Conference Week. With Delegates from more than 70 countries in attendance, the event was universally hailed by the motor sport community as a huge success.
The following decisions were taken by the World Motor Sport Council:
FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
The FIA President and the Commercial Rights Holder advised that negotiations regarding the Concorde Agreement were close to conclusion with the intention the contract between the FIA and FOM will be signed in the near future.
The following summarises the changes made to the 2014 Sporting Regulations:
Further to a request from Mercedes, it will be permitted to supply engines to a maximum of four Formula One teams in 2014.
A penalty point system for drivers will be introduced. If a driver accumulates more than 12 points he will be banned from the next race. Points will stay on the driver’s licence for 12 months. The amount of points a driver may be given for infringements will vary from one to three depending upon the severity of the offence.
The procedure for a driver to be given the chance to give back any advantage he may have gained by leaving the track has been adopted.
A significant reduction in the amount of wind tunnel testing and CFD work has been imposed to help reduce costs and potentially allow two teams to share one wind tunnel.
Four two-day track tests will be allowed in season in place of the current eight one-day promotional days and the three-day young driver test. These will take place at tracks in Europe on the Tuesday and Wednesday after a race in order to ensure minimal additional resources are necessary.
Track testing will now also be permitted in January 2014 in order to allow earlier testing of the new power units.
For safety reasons all team personnel working on a car in a race pit stop will be required to wear head protection.
Each driver will be provided with one extra set of tyres for use only during the first 30 minutes of the first practice session on Friday, to encourage teams to take to the track at that time without having to worry about using valuable tyre wear.
A number of new regulations have been confirmed to govern the new, far more complex power units. It is agreed that only five power units may be used by each driver for the whole season. Any use of an additional complete power unit will result in that driver having to start the race from the pit lane. Any changes of individual elements above the permitted five, such as turbocharger, MGU or Energy Store, will result in a 10 grid place penalty.
No manufacturer will be allowed to homologate more than one power unit during the homologation period from 2014-2020. Changes to the homologated unit will continue to be permitted for installation, reliability or cost saving reasons.
Drivers must now use a gearbox for six consecutive events, an increase from the current five.
No car may use more than 100kg of fuel for the race, from the time the lights go out at the start of the race to the chequered flag. This will be monitored by the use of an FIA approved fuel flow meter.
The pit lane speed limit, which is currently set at 60km/h for the free practice sessions and 100km/h for the qualifying practice and race (60km/h for the whole event in Melbourne, Monaco and Singapore), has been amended so it is set at 80km/h for the whole event (except the three races mentioned which would stay at 60km/h for the whole event). This is for safety reasons, as most accidents happen during the race when the speed limit is higher; drivers also have very little chance to practice stopping from 100km/h until the race.
The following summarises the changes made to the 2014 Technical Regulations:
Measures have been put in place to ensure that the cars do not incorporate a step in the chassis behind the nose. These changes will also ensure that a genuine low nose, introduced for safety reasons, is always used.
The minimum weight limit has been raised by 5kg, as the power unit is now likely to weigh more than originally expected. The weight distribution has also been changed accordingly.
Electronic control of the rear brake circuit is permitted in order to ensure consistent braking whilst energy is being recovered.
In order to ensure that side impact structures are more useful in an oblique impact and more consistent, they will become standard items made to a strictly laid out manufacturing process and fitted to the cars identically. The impact tests currently carried out will be replaced by static load push-off tests and squeeze tests. This will also help reduce costs as no team will need to develop their own structures.
In order to ensure that the cockpit rims either side of the driver’s head are stronger, the amount of deflection during the static load tests has been reduced from 20mm to 5mm.
FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP AND RALLYING
With immediate effect and for budget reasons, WRC Team and WRC 2 entrants are not obliged to use the latest ‘joker’ parts when competing in WRC events.
In order to promote the entry of R-GT cars in FIA rallies, with immediate effect tuners will be permitted to develop cars, in accordance with the criteria defining eligible cars. The FIA will issue a technical passport, allowing the car to be eligible for events accepting R-GT cars.
With effect from 1 January 2014:
As a general rule, organisers of WRC events must ensure a minimum of 25% competitive special stage distance in relation to the overall distance of the event.
Manufacturer and WRC Team cars from the same entrant will be permitted to enter Flexi-Service at the same time, having their service times counted independently.
In order to give more flexibility, WRC Teams will no longer be obliged to nominate a tyre manufacturer for the season.
In order to extend the life of World Rally Cars, manufacturers will be permitted to re-homologate 2011, 2012 and 2013 cars without any modification, except one single chassis and engine joker for 2014. In order to facilitate the replacement of S2000 Rally cars with Group R5, S2000 regulations will not be continued after 2013 and will be replaced by new R5 homologation regulations. Existing S2000 homologations will be frozen and may no longer receive an extension for the rest of their homologation period, except for one single engine and chassis joker.
The minimum weight of R5 cars has been increased from 1200 to 1230 kg to avoid the use of expensive options and keep the cost of the complete car within the stated limit.
From 2015, classes R1, R2 and R3 will be permitted to use super-charged engines, in line with the evolution of series engines.
With immediate effect, the number of permitted tyres for events in the FIA European Rally Championship has been set at 20, plus an additional four if shakedown is included in the itinerary, for cars in Classes 2 and 3. In addition, hand cutting will not be permitted, unless authorised in very special circumstances by the Stewards for safety reasons.
From 2014, the number of coefficients allocated to the events in the European Rally Cup has been reduced to three, namely 20, 15 and 10.
FIA WORLD ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP
In order to preserve the historic date of the Le Mans 24 Hours, which this year celebrated its 90th edition, the date of 14/15 June 2014 has been retained to ensure that a Formula One Grand Prix is not hosted the same weekend.
FIA WORLD TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP
Following the cancellation of a race on 28 July, it is confirmed another race will take place on 4 August at Termas de Rio Hondo in Argentina (subject to the confirmation of the circuit homologation).
The technical regulations for the Super 2000 cars for 2014 were confirmed. The new cars will look more spectacular with bigger aerodynamic devices and will have greater performance through the power to weight ratio. In order to ease the introduction of the new cars, the homologation procedure will be similar to the 2014 FIA World Rally Championship, but with an additional two jokers. 2013 cars will also be accepted in 2014.
FIA FORMULA 3 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP
The event scheduled for 25-27 October at Paul Ricard has been cancelled and replaced by an event on 11-13 October at Vallelunga, Italy.
The Technical Regulations for the 2014 FIA Formula 3 European Championship have been updated and amended, specifically in relation to engines and chassis, in order to further reduce costs for the teams and drivers.
The Sporting Regulations relating to the 2013 FIA Formula 3 Intercontinental Cup in Macau (13-17 November) allow for the use of engines according to the 2012 specification only.
A FORMULA 4
A registration process has been established for engine and chassis manufacturers in order to supply the ASNs with a potential list of suppliers in the championships. Approved manufacturers will be permitted to have cars participating in a championship from 1 January of the following year.
The FIA has committed strong support to ASNs launching national championships, in order to provide for a standard technical and sporting framework for single-seater championships in each territory. Subject to compliance with a policy based on four main pillars – securing organisational consistency, technical fairness, sporting relevance and the stability of the championship – an “FIA Certified” label will be granted to the ASN for its national Formula 4 Championship.
FIA FORMULA E CHAMPIONSHIP
Technical and Sporting Regulations for the FIA Formula E Championship were agreed in principle, and it was confirmed that the Championship season will run from September 2014 to June 2015. The regulations, along with the calendar comprising a maximum of 12 races, will be presented to the WMSC at its September meeting.
A new registration period for car manufacturers applying for the 2015-2016 Championship season will be open from 1 July 2014 to 1 February 2015.
HISTORIC MOTOR SPORT
A number of Sporting Regulations for the FIA Masters Historic Formula One Championship and the FIA Masters Historic Sports Car Championship have been clarified for application with immediate effect.
FIA WORLD AND EUROPEAN RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIPS
The WMSC has taken note of the intention of the promoter of the FIA European Rallycross Championship to develop the competition to World Championship level from 2014. Subject to the promoter’s proposals, the final decision on the project submitted will be decided at the September meeting of the WMSC.
With immediate effect, the starting grid composition for the first two races of the series of Qualifying Heats has been amended in order to aid spectators’ understanding of the progression of the event. In addition, a strict limit on tyre quantities per driver per event has been clarified for cost-saving reasons.
An invitation to tender for a three-year single tyre and fuel supplier to the Championship has been launched by the FIA.
FIA HILL-CLIMB MASTERS
As part of the strategy to develop the hill-climb discipline, a new FIA Hill-Climb Masters event has been ratified by the WMSC. This annual one-off event, commencing in 2014, is intended to close and celebrate the hill-climb season. The Masters event will be a high-profile tournament for the national and FIA hill-climb Champions, many of whom do not normally compete against each other. There will be a Nations Cup awarded, as well as medals for individual drivers.
KARTING
In order to enhance the electric kart class and to provide a perfect entry point for young drivers wishing to progress to the FIA Formula E Championship, the technical regulations for this class have been updated to take into account the latest standards set by the CIK.
FIA DRIVERS’ COMMISSION
The first meeting of the FIA Drivers’ Commission took place in June under the Presidency of Emerson Fittipaldi and Vice Presidency of Sébastien Loeb. On this historic occasion, which represents the first time drivers have had their own forum within the FIA, a number of recommendations in the areas of communication, safety, anti-doping, standard driving procedures and stewarding were discussed and proposals will be submitted to the WMSC in September.
FIA EUROPEAN DRAG RACING CHAMPIONSHIP
A selection process will be considered to source a promoter for the FIA European Drag Racing Championship.
FIA ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGY
Following the initial work undertaken by a dedicated Working Group mandated to develop a Sustainability Programme, the WMSC approved in principle the implementation of the FIA’s ‘Action for Environment’ programme. The FIA’s goal, within a decade, is that motor sport will be recognised as an exemplar of best practice in environmental sustainability and a world leader for environmental innovation creating a positive impact on both the track and road. Its strategy will focus on measuring and improving innovation and promotion.
MOTOR SPORT DEVELOPMENT TASK FORCE
The first action concluding the Sport Conference Week has been the creation of the Motor Sport Development Task Force under the Chairmanship of Mohamed Ben Sulayem. The Task Force will be presented at the next WMSC in Dubrovnik on 27 September.
SPORTACCORD
Following its provisional recognition by the International Olympic Committee, the FIA is pleased to announce it has now been elected as a Member of SportAccord in St Petersburg, Russia, in May.
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Mark Webber to retire from F1 this season
Silverstone, 27 June 2013: F1 personnel arrived at Silverstone on Thursday morning to be greeted with the news that Mark Webber is to retire from the sport at the end of the season. Webber, winner of nine grand prix, will race for Porsche in 2014 as the German manufacture embarks on a new LMP1 programme in the World Endurance Championship.
“I’m very excited about my new chapter and the new challenge ahead,” said Webber, speaking to a packed audience in the FIA Thursday press conference at Silverstone. “[Porsche is] one of the most famous and well-respected brands in automotive and motor racing, so that’s something which personally I’m very satisfied about taking on.”
The departure of Webber has been mooted for some time with rumours of a move back into sports cars first suggested at the beginning of the year. The Australian today confirmed he made his decision some time ago – though the announcement took most at Red Bull by surprise.
Webber explained that, rather than it being his decision to make announce his retirement at the circuit where he has enjoyed the most success, the timing of the statement was chosen by his future employers. “It was a Porsche announcement,” he confirmed. “I informed Christian [Horner, Red Bull Racing team principal] before the announcement, which contractually I should do.
“Obviously I will talk the [Red Bull Racing] factory at some stage. They’ve been superb for me on the floor there but Porsche were very keen to make the announcement. It was about Porsche and Mark Webber today.”
Coming back to the 2013 season, Webber vowed that his level of commitment remains unaffected. “It doesn’t change a huge amount to be honest,” he said. “I’ve known for quite a while, I’ve had a plan and I’ve stuck to it but in the meantime I’m focused on achieving very, very strong results in my last season in Formula One. I’m fully respectful of the effort that goes in to get the car out there, so I need to keep pushing, for myself and for the team.”
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