INDIA in F1

Tag: Formula One

  • Incredible two years in India and a very nice trophy to boot: Vettel

    DRIVERS
    1 – Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing)
    2 – Fernando ALONSO (Ferrari)
    3 – Mark WEBBER (Red Bull Racing)

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS
    (Conducted by Martin Brundle)

    Sebastian, did you help design this race track or something? You seem so at home here, as  a driver and with your car.
    Sebastian VETTEL: I think it’s been an incredible two years for us, both times to come here and win the race, get the pole on Saturday and win the race on Sunday is fantastic. There’s always a very nice trophy so I’m very, very happy to pick up another nice one this year, so a very special grand prix. I don’t know what is it about this circuit but I really like the flow of it. Sector One is a bit slow with long straights but Sector Two and Three are really nice and I think we all enjoy it. Big thanks to the team, as I said on the radio, every single one is pushing very hard and I think there’s not one thing that stands out and makes the difference: not today’ not yesterday; not this weekend. I think it’s all of us working hand in hand together. If we’re here on the track or back in Milton Keynes, everyone is pushing hard and I think that’s what makes the difference. I’m very, very happy, I’m glad to be part of that and just enjoying the moment.

    You’ve led every race, every lap for three consecutive races now. The last man to do that was the great Ayrton Senna in 1989, you’re in great company and you’re clearly on great form.
    SV: Don’t say things like that! It’s very, very special. I think we all will remember Ayrton forever, not just because he was successful and he had these kinds of numbers speaking for him but he was a great person. So very, very happy.

    Fernando, do you ever, ever give up? You’re relentless.
    Fernando ALONSO. No, obviously, it’s not easy at the moment to fight with Red Bull but we will never give up. I think we are happy today, we have to congratulate them, they were fantastic this weekend so well done Red Bull, well done Sebastian – but yeah, we want to be happy and we want to enjoy Brazil, not only here so I’m sure we will do it.

    Bittersweet for you? You split the Red Bulls but you still lost points in the World Championship.
    FA: Yeah, we lost points but I think this was more or less the plan this weekend: we were not fast enough to compete against them, so we lost the minimum points, which is finishing second, so a s I said, better races will come.

    How fast was your car in a straight line. Take us down to Turn Four at the start, it was incredible.
    FA: Yeah, we were quite fast in a straight line but we are still missing a little bit of grip in the corners that hopefully will come in the next races. Today we have to thank the team for this fantastic straight-line speed that give us some good overtaking manoeuvres and some good action.

    Mark, you had to work hard to be up on this podium today.
    Mark WEBBER: Yes. First of all thanks to the crowd, they are fantastic today. I enjoyed the fight today; it was a difficult race, very difficult for me to get into a rhythm, we had a few issues we needed to manage on the car but fair play to the other guys it was a good, tough grand prix. Lewis and Fernando were very strong on the hard tyre and with our KERS it was very difficult. I was happy with how I drove and we’ll come back for Abu Dhabi.

    So when he breezed past you down the straight, you were missing your KERS at that time and just helpless? There’s nothing you could do?
    MW: Yes, that right. It was very difficult to defend there because you need the KERS to get you on that type of corner.

    Sebastian, we see some amazing names up here, champions including Fernando alongside you and you’re on there twice. Surely you must feel now that you’ve got one hand on that World Championship trophy for 2012.
    SV: The other one is probably Fernando and there are other ones as well. So I think if we speak about the World Championship, obviously this was another good step for us but still a long way to go and we have seen this year how quickly things can change. As I said earlier, it feels fantastic to be up here and have a race like that where everything works the way you want it to. Yeah, very, very proud, very, very happy and enjoying it. That was today. Now we are focusing on Abu Dhabi next week. There’s a lot more to come and we’ll try to take things step by step.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Sebastian well done, your fourth win in succession, which is amazing. And your thoughts on that.
    SV: As you said, it’s pretty amazing obviously. It’s very hard to target those kind of things. I think they either happen or they don’t happen. I think the secret, if there is any, is that we didn’t approach the first of those four races thinking we can win four. We focussed on the first one, then on the second one, then on the third one, then on the fourth one. So, really step by step. I think, as I said on the radio and earlier, I think the whole team is working together fantastically well. I don’t think there is one thing that stands out to make a difference. We can see that in every kind of area. We don’t have any problems on Friday, we get through our programme, we get more or less the answers we want, we are able to improve the car from Friday to Saturday with support here on the track but also in the factory. Guys helping us to improve the car. We get the most out of it in qualifying. We had a fantastic race today. Great pitstops as well, obviously those things are easy to forget and easy to remember when they go wrong but I think the pitstops were fantastic – at least the one I had. It takes a lot of discipline, focus in the right moment, to be there, to be sharp and I think we were in the moment. Not thinking about yesterday or last week or last race and not thinking about the end of the race or next week. So, really tried to focus on the moment, which I think is the best thing we can do to maximise the result today. As I said, I’m very happy, I enjoyed the race a lot. I think it was crucial to open a gap in the first stint to break the DRS early to Mark, who had a very good start I think, and it was quite close in Turn One. But I was able to brake a little bit late and have quite a good exit out of Turn Three, which was important for the remainder of the race, and then was able to open a gap, not just to Mark but also to the cars behind and obviously control the race from there. I think we were very competitive on the soft tyres; on the hard tyres I think McLarens and Ferrari were pretty competitive. Unfortunately Mark lost KERS but as I said, I think we were probably not as competitive on the primes as on the soft tyres but all in all a fantastic race. And again a fantastic trophy this year in India. Just very, very happy.

    A pretty amazing 33 laps on used soft tyres.
    SV: To be honest it’s difficult to know when you start the race how long you can go – but I think we felt after a couple of laps that the tyres were holding up reasonably well and then when you cross around 15/16 to 20 laps with still something in the tyres left, you obviously know it goes more to the direction of one stop. I think it was anyway always going to be one or two stops. On Friday the tyres seemed to last fairly well and again they did today. So yeah, it’s not always happening like that, sometimes we have a surprise on Sunday, so I think we prepared as much as we could but by that stage it was obviously clear to not split the 27 remaining laps in two bits: so to go with the prime stint and do the same as everyone else did. I think we all came the pits within five to ten laps.

    Were you actually being pushed in by Mark at the end there, back into the pits? Had you ran out of fuel?
    SV: Ah yes! I switched off the car. I was told to park the car under the podium but I didn’t know how far away it was. I didn’t remember that from last year. I think it’s the only big mistake that happened to us this weekend. But it didn’t really matter and Mark gave me a push. He’s quite popular for those sort of things. I think he gave Fernando a lift last year in Nürburgring when he had to stop on track. Yeah, gave me a little bit of a push to make it to Park Ferme to stop the car. Thank You.

    Fernando, as Martin was saying on the podium, we had a fairly good illustration of how good your DRS is on the straight. Two extraordinary overtaking manoeuvres, particularly at the start for example with the McLarens and then later with Mark.
    FA: The first lap we cannot use DRS anyway, it was just the slipstream and I was a nice run out of Turn Three and I could overtake both the McLarens. They were fighting but forgot I was there in Turn Four so they keep the fight by their own selves. We nearly touch each other but I was lucky to exit Turn Four without any damage and overtake one of them. Jenson was defending into Turn Six quite a lot so unfortunately we could overtake only one at the start. One after a few laps because I think we had a little bit more pace than Jenson and then with Mark it was a combination of KERS and DRS because I think Mark was running without KERS so that make a huge difference in terms of top speed and the overtaking was relatively easy.

    You must be pretty encouraged by this second place today. To be so close to Sebastian today.
    FA: Yes, I think it’s good news for us, seeing that we could fight Red Bull in the race. More or less we knew this. In qualifying we are not close enough to fight for pole position but in the race normally things improve for us. Today was another example but it was perfect for the strategy from the team: very good start, very good top speed and tyre management. Everything set up for the race, everything was fine and I push 120 per cent every lap so the combination was this second place.

    So when you look at Abu Dhabi, what are your hopes there?
    FA: I think we need to bring some new parts to Abu Dhabi, hopefully improve a little bit more then competitiveness of the car, try to be a little bit closer to Red Bulls on Saturday and hopefully on Sunday as well. Obviously three races remaining; championship is the main target so we need to recover some points and will be nice to finish in front of Sebastian in Abu Dhabi, whatever the position it is. And if we can win the race it will be even better – but for that we need to make a step forward. At the moment we are not able to win.

    Mark, a good start off the line.
    MW: It was good – just a shame it wasn’t a long Barcelona or Malaysia: it would have been a bit nicer but I had the run, obviously, but then the radius into Turn One on the inside… I mean we were together but it’s very, very tricky down in there and also I saw Fernando last year obviously if you brake on the limit it’s very easy to go a bit too far. So, Seb come across, which is fair enough and then I was worried about the other guys obviously having a very good exit on not just me but both of us. Turn Three: was very important to get to there in good shape. So, the start was good, exit at Turn Three wasn’t too bad. Obviously it’s tricky for all of use to get off there on the first lap. I got off there not too bad, got a little bit of a tow off Seb and then settled into the race from there.

    And then that first pitstop – you must have been longing to make that first pitstop and knowing you couldn’t – because you were losing time obviously just before the end of the stint.
    MW: No, I was pretty happy with where the stop is. It’s nice to go a little bit longer. We had to react to Fernando. We would have gone even longer. Obviously it wasn’t due to tyres, it was due to KERS that I started to lose the rhythm and the tempo: obviously when the KERS is coming on and off, we need to also screw around with the brake balance and lots of other things. The guys have got a huge amount of plate-spinning to try to feed that into the cockpit for me. The last thing you want in a one-stop strategy race is starting to have front locking. Because we need to do long, long stints. So obviously this is a pain in the arse and we had to manage it as best we can. The stop was really because of when Fernando pitted, so we had to react to that. Stop was alright and then the prime was a little bit more high-maintenance; a little bit trickier actually, I think for both Seb and I. I managed to break the DRS, managed to get away from Fernando. I then got myself together. KERS was there or there abouts, on and off, and then I caught… I mean the blue flags didn’t do nothing for the backmarkers, that’s the problem: the guys don’t know how much time they kill us in the fast corners. So, when you catch some of those guys in those corners, you lose a second and a half in one sector, or a second. Which happened twice. But, that’s the way it was. And those guys can’t do that when you’ve got guys… when you’re racing with Fernando, the three of us on the limit, Fernando’s going to be all over that stuff. So, it was back on again, and then when I had no KERS, I mean it’s not really a battle on the back straight. I went across to the inside but Fernando come past. They’ve got a very good top gear as well, big top speed. That was it. Then I pushed like… as strong as possible to get to the end of the race. So third, I’m pretty happy with how I drove, I think I drove a pretty good race but in the end it wasn’t enough. We could have got more points today for sure. Well done to Seb on the win.

    How much pressure from Lewis at the end?
    MW: Certainly needed to keep the focus and y’know, it’s so demoralising, that straight with no KERS. I think I was very lucky that Lewis made a mistake in Turn Three, I think on lap 57. I saw it in the mirrors, it was either 57 or 58. And that was important because I think he was starting to get a bit of momentum and I was very keen to keep him off the DRS as long as possible because once he got that I was toast. I think another two laps and he would have got me.

    When did you have the problem with KERS? When did you lose it first?
    MW: Around about lap 19, 20. Maybe a bit earlier. It was on and off and then completely off and then off. It was a moving target really.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Vinayak Pande – Hindustan Times) Fernando, yesterday you were quoted as saying that you were 100 percent certain that you will be this year’s World Champion. Do you still feel that way after this race?
    FA: Of course. We know that there were still 100 points yesterday and now 75 points (available). We are 13 behind. We know that we need to improve. We are not fast enough, especially on Saturdays, as I said, but hopefully we can improve the situation in Abu Dhabi or in USA. The races are long, and as we saw today with Mark, a KERS problem can happen to anyone, it can happen to Seb, it can happen to me and it can happen to all of us. Still many points on the table and I’m still very optimistic.

    Q: (Vinayak Pande – Hindustan Times) Of the three races that are left, is there any one in particular, do you think,  that will favour Ferrari?
    FA: I think Brazil will be quite good for us and hopefully it’s a happy Grand Prix.

    Q: (Sudhir Chandran – Chequered Flag) Now that you have been a part of two editions of the Indian Grand Prix, is there one unique feature about thi

    Vettel at the post-race FIA Press Conference. A photo by BIC
    Vettel at the post-race FIA Press Conference. A photo by BIC

    s track, destination or venue, which you find distinctly different from the others that you race at around the world, fans included?
    SV: I think every Grand Prix is special and has something special about it. Obviously it’s the second time that we’ve run here. So far, all the quotes from the drivers regarding this circuit have been very positive. It’s a lot of fun for us. It’s not so easy to manage the tyres in one lap for qualifying, but also over the race (distance) so it’s a big challenge and I think that’s what we like. There are some corners, like turn 15, where you always think that something went wrong and you will try and do it better next time. You get challenged to the limit which is obviously what we like. We don’t want to make mistakes but obviously we like those sort of places.

    On top of that, I think it’s an impressive country. Obviously last year I had a bit of time to have a look, and I think coming back is quite a big difference. Obviously, in here (the paddock) it’s something that we all know, the Formula One paddock but having a look at  Delhi or a little bit the life outside the circuit is very different to other places. I think there’s a couple of stations or a couple of stops on the calendar that are very impressive in that regard. India has a lot to offer. There are a lot of people here: 1.3 billion or more so quite incredible and just to see that, to see how people live here, to see the culture, I think is very very different.

    In life, I think a lot is always about expectations and in Europe expectations are very very high. Money plays a big role whereas here, I think, expectations are fairly low. Money is not that important. It doesn’t matter how old you are. I think it’s more important to have a healthy, happy life, to enjoy your life with your family, with your kids. Sometimes to compare the circumstances you live in, here in India compared to Europe – obviously I grew up in Germany – it’s black and white, it’s very different but it’s nice to see that the people are so happy, warm-hearted. I think it would definitely be nice to spend a little bit more time to travel around and get more of an idea. As I said, in here, everything is more or less the same. It will be the same next week when we go to Abu Dhabi, even though it’s a completely different place. As a country, this place has a lot to offer.

    MW: Good question and a good answer.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Moto und Sport) Sebastian, in the latter part of the race, the front end of your floor seemed to touch the ground. You could see sparks coming off it. Did it cost you time; it seemed to have repaired itself later on?
    SV: I noticed the problem. I think it was when I got the DRS of a backmarker, from Timo (Glock) actually, pretty close to the end of the race and obviously when you open DRS, you go much quicker down the straight and I saw some sparks. I think you’ve seen a couple of cars throwing out some sparks out of the back of the car this weekend. I don’t think it was really a problem. I didn’t feel anything regarding the balance (of the car). All the other laps it was no problem, but I saw it in the mirror, I saw Timo backing off and I think he was a bit afraid at the time. We obviously need to analyse what was the problem, but it didn’t cost us anything or slow us down.

    Q: (Shridhar Potdar – Sakal Media House) Sebastian, every time you make a point about the team members in the factory and those working behind the scenes. You seem to have a special bond with your pit crew which plays an important role in any driver’s success, whether he is a World Champion contender or not. Can you share what kind of relationship you have with your pit crew members and the main members of the team?
    SV: I think it’s the same for Mark and myself. Obviously we work very closely with the guys. I think we have 20 races a year, a couple of pre-season tests and obviously we spend a lot of time in the factory, we spend time here at the track, working with the members of the team, every single one: mechanics, engineers, all sorts of staff. Obviously you know who you’re talking to. If you’re new to the environment it takes a bit of time to get to know everyone and to get to know how everyone ticks. I think the special thing at the moment and the special thing at the beginning of the year at any stage is the atmosphere in the garage is fantastic, the guys are really incredible. I don’t know how they do it, they hardly sleep at night, only a couple of hours. They try to prepare the car as best as they can in order to give Mark and myself the best chance to have a solid race. Back in the factory, the people are pushing, obviously trying to improve the car. It’s obviously difficult to say thank you to each and every one because quite a lot of people work behind the scenes in our team, but everyone plays their role, it’s not a one man show. I think the result today or the result last week or whenever, the results in the last two years are not just thanks to me or thanks to Adrian (Newey), or thanks to any particular person in the team, I think it’s thanks to all of us. Everyone is pushing hard, there are lots of bright guys with good ideas. Obviously some guys are really important but all in all, that’s the spirit we share and it’s just nice to be a big part of it.

    Q: (L.P. Shahi – The Telegraph India) Sebastian, you say there is no one element that makes the difference. Are you under-estimating your own part in this?
    SV: No, that’s the way I see it. Obviously on a Sunday afternoon or a Saturday afternoon, whenever, in qualifying, in the race, when I’m out in the circuit in the car, then I know that there is a lot depending on me. If I get it wrong there’s no result, if I get it right it might be a good result. But I think there’s far more work behind that than just one lap in the race, or one lap in qualifying, one result in a year, in the season. That’s why I’m convinced of what I said and I think everyone is pushing very hard. Obviously it’s easier to measure if I make a mistake, I lose half a second in the last corner, it’s easy to say that instead of 1m 30.0s, I could have done 1m 29.5s but that’s why it’s difficult to measure the effort everyone brings in. The guys in the garage are working hard, preparing the car, preparing the pit stop etc. It’s obviously difficult to measure if you’re talking about performance or lap time, but then it becomes very easy to measure if you don’t finish the race, compared to a race where you do finish and you collect a lot of points. Sometimes it’s down to one guy who is obviously committed and does the right thing at the right moment, preventing a problem or sometimes his head is not right, he’s not fully committed then small mistakes add up to maybe a big mistake costing a certain result on a Sunday. I think that’s where it’s fair to say that we win together and we lose together.

    Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Fernando, looking at the performance that you had during the race, and the result that you had at the end, second place, may we say that this was the best race of your season, or the best performance in the car?
    FA: I think it’s difficult to say, I don’t know, it’s difficult to chose. I’m really proud and happy of the Valencia performance, or Malaysia or some other races where we fight all the race through, Monza etc, but definitely this one was one of the best, I think, pushing from lap one to the last lap, not risking or taking more risks that in previous races with overtakings etc, so quite happy .

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Honorary) Seb, there’s been all the stories on the internet about you and Ferrari. Could you set the record straight please: is there any arrangement, agreement, talk between you and your people and Ferrari?
    SV: This could be quite funny now, what I say… No, there’s nothing, nothing to tell you, nothing I’ve signed. Nothing has changed. It’s quite amusing. I don’t know where it came from but… I don’t read much, so it’s quite a surprise when you get to the circuit and get all these questions. Nothing to report. As I said, I can’t be  happier at the moment, I’m very happy with…

    Actually, there’s one thing I would like to say about this. As I said, there’s no reason to write anything or report anything but obviously, as I said earlier, you don’t know every single one in the team, and it’s hard to speak to every single one, so if there’s – sorry to say – some bullshit in the press, obviously there might be some concerns back in the factory, but I’m 100 percent behind them as I feel they’re 100 percent behind me and therefore I want to get this straight: there’s nothing to report and I’m very happy at Red Bull Racing.

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Sebastian, during the last ten laps when Fernando passed Mark, did you fear that Fernando would come back after you and may be successful?
    SV: You never feel too certain. Obviously it’s important, as I said earlier, I tried to open a gap to – you know – later on, and no matter what happened, to have a little bit of a cushion, to have time to react to be able to control the race in the end. Obviously I was told that Fernando got into P2, Mark had the problem, so I think, as Mark said, obviously with a completely smooth race he could stay ahead. As we also said, on the hard tyres, McLaren and Ferrari were quite competitive. I think I had the same gap when he started to be second as I had in the end, so I was able to keep the gap and control the race.

    Q: (Frank Schneider – Bild Zeitung) Question to Fernando and to Seb: Seb, first, is there anything you want from Fernando at the moment; and Fernando is there anything you want to have from Seb at the moment?
    SV: Could I…? Ah, no you have a cap. I was just about to say, his cap, but he hasn’t… Where did you get that from?
    FA: I can give it to you but… I didn’t understand the…
    SV: I think we are both happy with what we have.

    Ends

     

  • It’s a brilliant weekend; hope to make it big: Sebastian Vettel

    Greater Noida, 26 Oct 2013: After taking the pole position in India, the reigning world champion who is well-equipped to seal his fourth world championship driver’s title said that he hopes to make it big on Sunday

    Vettel and Hamilton in a jovial mood during the FIA Press Conference after qualies on Saturday. A BIC photo
    Vettel and Hamilton in a jovial mood during the FIA Press Conference after qualies on Saturday. A BIC photo

    DRIVERS

    1 – Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing)

    2 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

    3 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    Q: Sebastian, it seems to have just been a seamless weekend for you. It seems to have all gone perfectly so far.

    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah – so far it’s a brilliant weekend. The car has run basically very, very well since yesterday morning. We didn’t have to change a lot and through qualifying it just got better when the track ramped up. New tyres again, new tyres again and yeah, the car was amazing. It’s a great circuit, I really like the flow of the track, especially around the middle sector with all the high-speed corners – but for sure it’s not a secret if your car behaves the way you want to through there then for sure you’re going to enjoy that a lot. So, I think we did that today. Great result – also for the team. Obviously Mark is on a different strategy so we’ll see what the race brings tomorrow.

    Q: Your third pole position here, you’ve led every lap so far, you must start favourite to win the race tomorrow – and take the ultimate prize.

    SV: Yeah – I’m trying not to think about it. Obviously it’s difficult when every second person in the paddock asks you the same question.  But I think we’ve done pretty well in the past, focussing on every single step and I don’t see a reason why to change things for tomorrow or the next couple of races. So, yeah, we’re in a good position. I think we worked hard to be there and yeah, tomorrow is a long race, as I touched on, with strategy I think it will be tricky to always do the right thing – but there’s a lot of laps so I think we have a quick package and should be in good shape tomorrow.

    Q: Nico, you said yesterday it was a tough day. Obviously a lot of progress made.

    Nico ROSBERG: Yeah, and to be honest we’re – I’m – completely on a knife’s edge. Really pushing the limits this weekend, just trying to extract that little tenth more out of the car. Trying different things, new ways, new setups and until now it works. So I’m very pleased with that. Qualifying in second is better than I hoped for – because of Mark being on another strategy, so for the moment it’s looking OK. The race is still going to be tough because it’s very different circumstances here with the Option tyre really struggling at the beginning of the race tomorrow and then Prime will be OK but also the balance of the car is all very different. So, we’ll see.

    Q: The strategy really is what it’s down to. Is that preferable for you drivers? Is that something you enjoy?

    NR: Well, I’m very interested in it, yeah, but it’s so complex that you really rely on the pit wall to do their job – but of course I prepare for it well before the race and look into it and also discuss what my preference is and all of those things.

    Q: Lewis, third on the grid and obviously great that the two Mercedes are second and third – best of the rest as it were – behind Sebastian. What are your feelings?

    Lewis HAMILTON: It’s been a tough weekend. It’s been a tough weekend for us and incredible… congratulations to Sebastian, it’s obvious that that’s some serious pace that they have, especially with Webber on the Primes just behind us. But we’ve been pushing, as Nico said, as hard as we can. We really want to get a great result this weekend. Strategy is going to play a huge part but I was a little bit surprised to be where we are but generally, bit by bit, adjusting the set-up and everything, we got a reasonable balance and hopefully tomorrow we can push together to try and stay ahead of the rest.

    Q: Any traffic issues out there?

    LH: I did have through eight and nine. I did have someone in front of me – I’m not really sure who it was, I was so focussed on the road. It didn’t help (To Vettel: “It might have been you!”). I think it may have been one of the Red Bulls, but I probably didn’t lose too much time. Yeah, anyways, look forward to tomorrow.

    Q: Sebastian, did you consider the same strategy as Mark?

    SV: Well, I have to start on the different tyre so obviously the strategy is different. It’s all difficult now, as Nico touched on, obviously. It’s very interesting, surely not easy. I think in the end if everybody does his bit then it probably doesn’t matter too much. Surely the race will different in the beginning if you start on the opposite tyre. So for us three I think it’s the same thing but then obviously I think Mark is the first car on Primes – with a different strategy.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Sebastian: 43rd pole position, as I said, you’ve got an amazing record around here. What is it about this circuit?

    SV: I don’t know. I really like this circuit, especially the middle sector. I think it’s very challenging with all the fast, or high-speed corners. It really depends, obviously, if the car does what you want. I think that’s what all of us enjoy and in particular you get to enjoy that around these couple of corners. So, yeah, the car’s been strong since Friday morning, since yesterday morning. We didn’t have to adjust that much. Of course you always trim a little bit – in the right direction hopefully. But, yeah, we’ve been very strong on both compounds, so a good result, and also a good result for the team with Mark sitting in fourth, right behind those two guys.

    Q: Interesting with that strategy certainly. I wondered if you’d considered that or how much of a threat that strategy is?

    SV: Which one?

    Q: With the medium tyre.

    SV: Well, difficult to say now. Obviously we decided to go for what I did together, and Mark decided to go for the opposite. So, yeah, what turns out to be the right strategy, we’ll find out tomorrow. But I’m sure the race is long and you will have plenty of time to make up. In the end I think the strategies shouldn’t determine the result that much. We’re got very good pace, the car, as I said, behaves well around here, so we’ll see what we can do tomorrow.

    Q: Have you solved the problem – if there was a problem – about the start from Japan?

    SV: Well, we just got surprised by how low the grip was, I think. Yeah, obviously, both then, I think we’ve been a bit too aggressive, too much wheel-slip and the guys behind us had a better start. So, for sure, we’ll try to do better tomorrow – but quite confident. I think the starts we had before that were pretty good. Korea, I had a very good start, so I think we know how to do it, we just need to get it all right.

    Q: Nico, easily your best qualifying here, your previous best was seventh a couple of years ago – so you must be very pleased with that.

    NR: I am, yeah, definitely. Coming here I knew it was going to be trying to be best of the rest and managed to do that really well today with second place. And even getting Mark because he’s on a different strategy. So, yeah, I’m pleased with that. It’s really been a tough weekend because we really just pushed the limits, completely on everything, to try to extract that tenth or two more out of the car. I think up to now it’s been successful. It’s been very, very difficult, on a knife’s edge all the time but for now it’s worked, it seems. We’re a step forward from where we were in recent races and that’s good to see. But still a long race tomorrow.

    Q: Question for both you and Lewis really. Did you consider going the medium tyre route?

    NR: Well of course it’s always a consideration. It was a consideration for tomorrow but we decided that soft tyre was the best way to go.

    Q: Do you feel it was a bit of gamble to go that way?

    NR: No, not a gamble. It was the best thing to do from my point of view.

    Q: To go on the mediums would have been a gamble?

    NR: Not really a gamble either because that strategy is also a good one, yeah? But we just through our one was better.

    Q: Lewis, basically happy with third or do you think you could have pipped Nico?

    LH: It doesn’t really matter at the end of the day. Nico did a great job, he’s been strong all weekend and on my side, I’ve struggled a little bit through this weekend. I struggled a little bit with something different on the car this weekend which Nico had had experience of seeing maybe in the past. I came to grips with it really quite quickly at the end and I’m really happy with the result and the lap time that I was able to get. There’s always a little bit of time everywhere but we’ll try and push these guys as hard as we can in the race obviously. They’re in another world but we’ll try to stay ahead of the rest.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazetta dello Sport) Nico and Lewis, obviously, as you said, you are the best of the rest and probably Sebastian will do the race by himself and you’re going to control Ferrari more for second place in the Constructors’ championship. Do you think that Alonso’s strategy, starting with medium, could be a threat to you or do you feel confident that you have better pace than them here?

    NR: Well, we’ve been a little bit quicker, I feel, until now, the whole weekend, but of course that strategy is a threat, because there’s not that much difference between the two strategies so for sure we need to keep an eye on, them.

    Q: (Sudhir P. Chandran – Chequered Flag) Sebastian , I’m curious to know what kind of music or chant do you listen to on your headphones before qualifying and the race, every single time, to get on top, every time you’ve gone out?

    NR: Didn’t you say Justin Bieber last time? No?

    SV: No.

    NR: Ok, I must have misunderstood or misheard that one

    SV: It’s not really… it’s music, yes, but it’s more like melodies, no singing, so no Justin Bieber. I think that was on your iPod. In the end, it’s not a secret, it’s just music that gets me or tries to get me in the zone so that I hopefully get the best out of myself.

    Q: (Shridhar Potdar – Sakal Media) Sebastian, the second part of the season has always been fruitful for you, the last two seasons when you have delivered most and this year also you are delivering your best in the second part of the season. Is there anything special about the races, especially in Asia?

    SV: Not a lot, really. I’m trying hard in the first half as well. Obviously the last couple of years it was a benefit to do well in the second half. I think generally there’s no track in the calendar that I dislike. I think towards the end, we’ve got very good tracks such as here and the best one, I think,  Suzuka. For the last race, maybe there’s a little bit of that but I don’t think there’s a reason why we perform better in the second half than the first one. I think, as a team, we’ve been working very hard and very consciously on our fitness; it’s a long year for all the teams so that we make sure that we’re still on top of our game towards the end.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and National Speedsport News) Nico and Lewis answered this earlier, so just for Seb: in a few weeks we will be in Texas, what are your thoughts on the track and also the ambiance at the track and in the city of Austin?

    SV: Well, I think it was fantastic last year. To be honest, we were all very surprised. Obviously, up to that point, Formula One didn’t have the best record in the United States, so it was great to see that there were so many people. The whole city… I think that’s really the special thing that we enjoy, apart from the track itself, that the whole city was living the Grand Prix. You could feel that there was a special vibe and that everyone was looking forward to the event. I think it was generally very positive. We obviously look forward to going there again. I think the track is tricky, very challenging, mixed, with high speed and slow corners. It was nice to be on the podium last year, nice to get a different kind of hat. Yeah, we’ll try to do it again.

    Q: (Luis Fernando Ramos – Racing Magazine) Sebastian, it is known how much you admire the history of F1 so what is your top five drivers of all time?

    SV: I don’t think it’s fair to only name… that for sure there is more than five. There are different times in Formula One so if you look back recently, you’ve got a couple of drivers racing now but obviously if you don’t look too far back, drivers like Mika (Hakkinen), Michael (Schumacher), Ayrton (Senna), Nigel Mansell dominated their times in a way – Prost – so you cover quite a lot of the last couple  of years. After that, there’s guys like Lauda, Piquet. I don’t think it’s fair to highlight one-two-three because Formula One has changed.

    Q: (Shridhar Potdar – Sakal Media) Sebastian after the qualifying was over, you took an instrument from your teammate and checked the brakes. This shows 100 percent involvement, that you’re very serious about the set-up and the technical preparation of the car and 100 percent involvement is giving you 100 percent commitment and earning nearly 100 percent success. So how much involvement and what motivates you to be so into the game?

    SV: Well, I think first off, if you don’t give your 100 percent, then you would be disappointed because you didn’t give your 100 percent… No, I’m joking. It’s a team effort at the end of the day, you know. The team is pushing very hard and you also feel that you have to deliver as well, as I feel part of the team, so I feel that I’ve got to do my bit right as well and for sure you’re very conscious, so you try to find the right set-up. The team obviously tries to support you as much as possible, before the race, at the race weekend. I love what I do, it’s days like this when you get out and the car feels fantastic, it’s the greatest reward you can get so for sure you want to use all that 100 percent.

    Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, if you look at the previous three years when you won the championship, the day before, what is the difference? What is your approach, how are you going to approach tomorrow’s race?

    SV: To be honest, I think they’ve been very similar. Obviously two of the three years have been very different: 2011, you could say that it was more relaxed. Obviously 2010 and 2012 was a different situation but at the end of the day there’s no secret, no secret preparation. I think we all have a certain routine we go through before a race but also the night before. I don’t think I did anything special the last three times, not that I can remember and I wasn’t really looking forward to the race, saying that ‘yeah, tomorrow is the day, could be the day.’ I was basically trying to focus on the race and in a way, trying to ignore the fact that it could be the decisive race. At the end of the day, you also have so many races a year that on the last race of the season, if you do your best and it’s enough then it’s fine, if you do your best and it’s not enough, then it’s not the last race that’s to blame.

    Q: (Nirmal John – Fortune India Magazine) I just wanted to ask your views on Formula E which is the new electric car racing series which is in the works. How sustainable is that kind of racing series and what does that signify in terms of the future of Formula One meeting something like electric cars?

    SV: I don’t like it at all. I think it’s not the future, I think the people come here to feel Formula One and there’s not much to feel when a car goes by and you don’t even hear anything else but the wind. Maybe I’m very old fashioned, but I think Formula One needs to scream, needs to be loud, there needs to be the vibration. That’s what I remember from the first time I went to see Formula One in 1992 for free practice at Hockenheim, even though it was wet and the cars didn’t go out, but once they did their installation laps it was a great feeling just to be there and hear them coming through the forest and feel it through the ground. That’s why I’m not a big fan at all.

    NR: Well, it’s an interesting thing, for sure, something new and I know there’s a lot of interest and it’s planned to be in the cities so it’s bringing the race to the people, not the people to the race and of course it’s a bit of the future, so it will be interesting to see how it goes. We need to wait and see.

    LH: I agree with both of them.

    Q: (Lokendra Pratap Sahi – The Telegraph, Kolkata) Seb, what has made you the driver you are?

    SV: I don’t know. I think in the end there’s a little bit of influence on the guy you become but also you have your preference in life, you have a certain thing called taste so you do what in the end you’d like. Sometimes some people lead you to one thing or another but in the end you make the decision. On track, obviously, if you look at my career, I think there’s a lot of people that I had behind me supporting me from an early age but to be fair, when I started, all this was not even… we didn’t even really dream about it. I had a hobby and I started together with my father to go racing with the whole family as well. Obviously it became a little bit more serious, a little bit faster, a little bit more serious. I think you really go step by step. In the end, I think it’s passion that drives us all, the love that we have for the sport, the love we have to challenge ourselves, challenge the cars and nowadays instead of racing with go-karts we just end up in bigger cars on bigger tracks with more people watching. I think the core hasn’t changed.

    Ends

  • Vettel claims third pole in India

    Greater Noida, 26 Oct 2013: Sebastian Vettel claimed his third consecutive Indian Grand Prix pole position in emphatic style at the Buddh International Circuit, beating out Nico Rosberg by over seven tenths of a second, with Lewis Hamilton third.

    Vettel just needs to finish 5th or ahead to clinch his 4th Driver’s World Championship on Sunday.

    Pole sitter Sebastian Vettel (GER) of Red Bull Racing celebrates in parc ferme during the Indian Grand Prix at BIC on Saturday in Greater Noida. © Buddh International Circuit
    Pole sitter Sebastian Vettel (GER) of Red Bull Racing celebrates in parc ferme during the Indian Grand Prix at BIC on Saturday in Greater Noida. © Buddh International Circuit

    In a Q3 segment shaped by race strategy, the top three qualified on the soft tyre, the quicker of the two compounds on offer. However, a number of top-10 runners opted to complete their runs on the medium tyre, including Vettel’s team-mate Mark Webber, who settled for fourth place in the belief that a longer first stint in the race may well bGreae advantageous tomorrow. The others starting on the medium are Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, who qualified eighth, and the McLaren drivers Sergio Perez and Jenson Button, who qualified ninth and tenth respectively.

    At the sharp end of the action, however, Vettel was untouchable. In Q1, when Alonso put on the soft tyre and surged into P1 with a lap of 1:25.934, Vettel slotted into P2 with an identical time, to the thousandth of a second, on the slower medium compound. As the clock ran out on the session and Lotus’ Romain Grosjean, who had gambled on a medium-shod opening segment, was eliminated, Vettel sailed into Q2 as the only man not to use the option tyre.

    In Q2 he was equally unstoppable. Finally armed with the soft tyre, he blasted into P1 with his first flying lap, his time of 1:24.568 already seven tenths up on his 2012 pole position time. The lap was good enough to see him through to Q3 in P1, ahead of Alonso who was the only other driver in that segment to dip below the 1m25s mark.

    In Q3, Vettel simply drove away from the pack. His first run yielded a time of 1:24.119 and though Rosberg and Hamilton explored the limits of their Mercedes, neither could get remotely close to the Red Bull driver’s time.

    Vettel attempted to lower his benchmark with a second run but a small error midway through the lap put paid to that. It mattered little, he had claimed his 43rd career pole and put himself in the ideal position to challenge for a third Indian GP win, which if achieved will also garner the German his fourth championship title on the trot.

    “I’m trying not to think about it,” said Vettel of his title chances. “But I think we’ve done pretty well in the past, focusing on every single step and I don’t see a reason why we’d change things for tomorrow. We’re in a good position. Tomorrow is a long race and with strategy it will be tricky to always do the right thing – but there are a lot of laps so I think we have a quick package and should be in good shape tomorrow.”

    Rosberg, meanwhile, admitted that he had taken his Mercedes to the limit in pursuit of Vettel’s time.

    “To be honest I’m completely on a knife’s edge,” he said. “Really pushing the limits this weekend, just trying to extract that little tenth more out of the car. Trying different things, new ways, new set-ups and until now it works. So I’m very pleased with that.

    “Qualifying in second is better than I hoped for – because of Mark being on another strategy, so for the moment it’s looking OK,” he added. “The race is still going to be tough because it’s very different circumstances here, with the option tyre really struggling at the beginning of the race tomorrow and then prime will be OK but also the balance of the car is very different. So, we’ll see.”

    The result is a positive for Mercedes in the team’s bid to overtake Ferrari in the race for second place in the Constructors’ Championship, as Hamilton admitted.

    “We really want to get a great result this weekend,” he said. “Strategy is going to play a huge part but I was a little bit surprised to be where we are. But generally, bit by bit, adjusting the set-up and everything , we got a reasonable balance and hopefully tomorrow we can push together to try and stay ahead of the rest.”

    Behind the top three, Webber will be the first to start on the medium tyre, a choice he said puts him in a “good position to capitalise” in the race.

    “We thought it was worth trying something a little bit different with the strategy today, so that’s why we ran the primes in Q3,” he said. “We thought we would probably be a bit further back than the second row to be honest, so it turned out to be a good session for us.

    “It’s not easy to manage the primes when you just get a look at them in Q3, but I think we did a good job and we didn’t leave too much out there,” he added. “We’re in a good position to capitalise on a different approach tomorrow. The option tyre shouldn’t last too long and we’ll be on a different strategy. That said, I’ll still have to use the softer tyre in the race at some point, so let’s see.”

    The row behind the Australian will be occupied by soft-tyre starters Felipe Massa of Ferrari, who finished fifth, and Kimi Raikkonen, who will hoping to salvage something for Lotus after the team’s medium-tyre Q1 gamble with team-mate Grosjean backfired.

    Nico Hulkenberg will line up seventh on the grid, ahead of Alonso. Perez and Button will occupy row five.

    Grosjean’s elimination was the only major upset of Q1, in which the other fallers, from P18 back, were Pastor Maldonado, Jules Bianchi, Giedo van der Garde, Charles Pic and Max Chilton.

    In Q2, Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo missed out on a place in the final segment by less than a tenth of a second and had to settle for P11. He’ll be joined on row six by Force India’s Paul Di Resta. The Scot’s team-mate Adrian Sutil finished 13th with the second Toro Rosso of Jean-Eric Vergne 14th. The final two spots in Q2 were taken by Williams’ Valtteri Bottas and Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez.

    2013 Indian Grand Prix – Qualifying Result

    1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1:24.119
    2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:24.871
    3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:24.941
    4 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 1:25.047
    5 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:25.201
    6 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus 1:25.248
    7 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:25.334
    8 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:25.826
    9 Sergio Perez McLaren 1:26.153
    10 Jenson Button McLaren 1:26.487
    11 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:25.519
    12 Paul di Resta Force India 1:25.711
    13 Adrian Sutil Force India 1:25.740
    14 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:25.798
    15 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:26.134
    16 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:26.336
    17 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:26.577
    18 Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:26.842
    19 Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:26.970
    20 Giedo van der Garde Caterham 1:27.105
    21 Charles Pic Caterham 1:27.487
    22 Max Chilton Marussia 1:28.138

    ends

  • Vettel fastest in fog-delayed final practice

    Greater Noida, 26 Oct 2013: Sebastian Vettel continued to dominate preparations for the Indian Grand Prix, by topping the timesheet in a shortened final practice session at the Buddh International Circuit with a lap of 1:25.332, half a second clear of team-mate Mark Webber.

    Sebastian Vettel tops FP3 on Saturday at the Indian GP. A BIC photo
    Sebastian Vettel tops FP3 on Saturday at the Indian GP. A BIC photo

    Vettel’s closest non-Red Bull rival was Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso who finished 0.773 down. Fourth place in the session was taken by Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg, with Lotus’ Romain Grosjean fifth.

    The session had been due to start at 11am local time but was delayed by 15 minutes as smog reduced visibility across the circuit, conditions deemed unsuitable for the medical helicopter to take off should there be a serious incident.

    The delay was extended to half an hour before a revision from race control signaled that a 40-minute session w:ould begin at 20 minutes past the hour.

    The shortened timeframe led to a mixed programme with most teams still opting for altered run plans on the medium tyre before a late switch to the soft compound.

    Red Bull Racing chose differently, however. Webber began with a run on the prime medium tyre, but Vettel returned to the garage after an installation lap and after a short wait headed out on track on the option soft Pirellis with 26 minutes left on the clock.

    At that stage, with the rest of the field on medium tyres, McLaren’s Sergio Perez was in P1, with a time of 1:27.136. Vettel blasted past that benchmark with his first flying lap on the options – logging a time of 1:25.332, just under four tenths quicker than his best soft-tyre time from FP2. Webber then took on option tyres and slotted into P2, 0.560 behind his team-mate.

    As the bulk of the field retired to their respective garages to make the switch from prime tyres, Vettel headed out on track for another run on the options.

    This time, however, his stint was much longer. Given a target time by his pit wall, the defending champion set about testing the limits of the soft tyre with a long stint that abandoned pursuit of performance in favour of research for the race. It was a similar story behind him and unusually for FP3 the times did not change much during the final moments as the focus appeared to shift to exploring the durability, or not, of the soft tyre.

    With Grosjean fifth, sixth place in the session went to Ferrari’s Felipe Massa. He was followed by Force India’s Paul Di Resta and Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg. Ninth place went to McLaren’s Jenson Button with Lewis Hamilton tenth in the second Mercedes.

    2013 Indian Grand Prix Free Practice Three times

    1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1:25.332
    2 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 1:25.892 +0.560
    3 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:26.105 +0.773
    4 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber 1:26.306 +0.974
    5 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:26.350 +1.018
    6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:26.435 +1.103
    7 Paul di Resta Force India 1:26.438 +1.106
    8 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:26.441 +1.109
    9 Jenson Button McLaren 1:26.489 +1.157
    10 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:26.557 +1.225
    11 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus 1:26.635 +1.303
    12 Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:26.641 +1.309
    13 Sergio Pérez McLaren 1:26.737 +1.405

    14 Adrian Sutil Force India 1:26.847 +1.515
    15 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:26.876 +1.544
    16 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:26.883 +1.551
    17 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:27.259 +1.927
    18 Charles Pic Caterham 1:27.941 +2.609
    19 Esteban Gutiérrez Sauber 1:28.019 +2.687
    20 Giedo van der Garde Caterham 1:28.498 +3.166
    21 Max Chilton Marussia 1:29.094 +3.762
    22 Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:29.169 +3.837

    ends

  • Vettel tops time charts in FP2; looks set to clinch the 4th World title

    Greater Noida, 25 Oct 2013: Having finished FP1 with a clear advantage over his rivals, Sebastian Vettel maintained his advantage on Friday afternoon. The Red Bull Racing driver was the only driver to dip into the 1m25s bracket during FP2, finishing the 90-minute session with a best time of 1:25.722. As had been the case in the morning, his nearest challenger was teammate Mark Webber, the Australian finishing just under three-tenths of a second in arrears.Formula One World Championship, Rd16, Indian Grand Prix, Buddh International Circuit, Greater Noida, New Delhi, India, Practice, Friday 25 October 2013.

    Behind the Red Bulls, Romain Grosjean was best of the rest for Lotus, ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton. Fernando recovered from his morning gearbox issues to finish fifth quickest. Nico Rosberg was sixth in the second Mercedes, Felipe Massa seventh in the second Ferrari and Kimi Räikkönen eighth in the second Lotus. McLaren completed the top ten with Sergio Pérez ninth fastest and Jenson Button tenth.

    The session followed the usual FP2 pattern with cars resuming practice using the medium tyre, before switching to the soft tyre part-way through the session. In the early exchanges on the harder compound Vettel quickly moved into P1, albeit considerably down on his best time from the morning session. Radio conversations with his race engineer suggested Vettel had a non-functional KERS. He was soon superseded in the standings by Webber and then Rosberg.

    Having curtailed his first run, Vettel was an early-adopter of the soft tyre. Twenty-eight minutes into the session he dropped under the 1m26s barrier and set what would be the fastest time of the afternoon. Vettel’s improvement of over 1.5s on the soft rubber was exaggerated by his earlier KERS issue but even taking that into account it is clear the yellow-banded Pirelli have a pace advantage of around a second.

    As the session moved toward the halfway point, Vettel’s challengers made their own short runs on the soft rubber. None got close to vanquishing the world champion from the top of the order, however, and once the cars were fuelled for long rules, the timesheet was set.

    The second half of the session demonstrated the fragility of the soft compound on the sinuous, high-speed Buddh International track with several drivers returning to the pits with heavily worn tyres. The only major incident was a stoppage for Pastor Maldonado. His Williams shed a right-front wheel nut and he pulled off the circuit with a puncture.

    2013 Indian Grand Prix Free Practice Two times

    1  Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1:25.722
    2  Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 1:26.011  +0.289
    3  Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:26.220  +0.498
    4  Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:26.399  +0.677
    5  Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:26.430  +0.708
    6  Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:26.582  +0.860
    7  Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:26.601  +0.879
    8  Kimi Räikkönen Lotus 1:26.632  +0.910
    9  Sergio Pérez McLaren 1:26.857  +1.135
    10  Jenson Button McLaren 1:26.972  +1.250
    11  Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:27.304  +1.582
    12  Adrian Sutil Force India 1:27.375  +1.653
    13  Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:27.429  +1.707
    14  Nico Hülkenberg Sauber 1:27.491  +1.769
    15  Paul di Resta Force India 1:27.608  +1.886
    16  Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:27.720  +1.998
    17  Esteban Gutiérrez Sauber 1:27.949  +2.227
    18  Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:28.431  +2.709
    19  Giedo van der Garde Caterham 1:28.692  +2.970
    20  Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:28.799  +3.077
    21  Charles Pic Caterham 1:29.366  +3.644
    22  Max Chilton Marussia 1:30.164  +4.442

    eom

  • Sauber is coming too close to comfort; But we shall keep our place: Vijay Mallya

    Vijay Mallya (left, bottom row) at the Friday FIA Press Conference at BIC. Photo by Scorp News
    Vijay Mallya (left, bottom row) at the Friday FIA Press Conference at BIC. Photo by Scorp News

    TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Stefano DOMENICALI (Ferrari), Christian HORNER (Red Bull Racing), Ross BRAWN (Mercedes), Vijay MALLYA (Force India), Monisha KALTENBORN (Sauber), Eric BOULLIER (Lotus)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    I think as you have pride of place, front and centre, Monisha, I think we should start with you, in what I’m sure is a happier time at Sauber at the moment. The last few races have seen good points-scoring finishes. Has that been a relief to you, something you always thought was on the cars or has it caught you by surprise?

    Monisha KALTENBORN: It didn’t really catch us by surprise that we improved our performance. We did always believe in it and we had reason to believe in it. But it does make it a lot easier and credible for the team if you can really show that result in points. Because we could see that upward trend from Hungary on but the points were not coming in so it’s good if they can be shown like this to the outside.

    What’s been the change? What’s made the big difference?

    MK: Well the big difference has been the package, the aerodynamic package we brought in in Hungary. That was a big step for us and we could see that this was really going into the right direction. It counts for more than 50 per cent of this improvement. We then, of course, got a better understanding of the car, which allowed us to operate it differently, to use different set-ups we hadn’t been using before. And then, I think to be fair about it, the change in the tyres was – unlike last year – not against us this time, but we benefited maybe more than others from it. So all of this together, and of course a great performance by the team, the drivers, adds to it.

    Thank you for that. To your right, Dr Vijay Mallya, it’s Force India’s home grand prix and if Sauber have benefited from the tyres, has that been to Force India’s detriment, and a difficult period of the season since Silverstone for you?

    Vijay MALLYA: Absolutely. The change in the tyres for Silverstone has been more than just detrimental to us. Within the mechanical design of the car it’s proving very difficult for us to get optimum tyre performance. We’ve dedicated all our R&D tools to the 2014 car, so we are handicapped in a sense. But having said that I think we are understanding tyres and the constraints under which we are operating slightly better. We are pleased with today’s free practice performance. We’ve certainly fared better today than we did in Japan or Korea and I think we’ll attempt to even improve on this before the last remaining races. The lady on my left has certainly woken us up. We are now wide awake and hopefully we will hang on to our current sixth position in the Constructors’ Championship, though she is getting dangerously close. But having said that, the tyres have not been the best for us in the second half of the season but hopefully whatever we suffer this year will be a good investment for next year’s car.

    You mentioned the lady to your left getting dangerously close. Are you looking nervously over your shoulder or do you think that the performances can improve and you can hold on to that place?

    VM: As I said, I was quite pleased with the free practice performance today. It’s certainly a step ahead from Japan and Korea, so that gives me confidence we are heading in the right direction. I also realise the constraints under which we are operating, because the window available to us mechanically is quite a short one. But having said that, I think the results will speak for themselves going forward.

    Let me turn to Eric next. In terms of results, Lotus continue to go forward, involved in a three-way battle for second place in the Constructors’ Championship. What are your targets for the remaining four races of the season?

    Eric BOULLIER: Well the target is obviously to chase podium finishes and those kind of fights every race. I think this is the prize to chase, to get the chance to be in the second place, or on the podium of the Constructors’ Championship.

    Romain Grosjean has scored back-to-back podiums in the last two races for the first time in his career. Can you tell us a bit about his form at the moment? Is he a man that could lead your team for next season?

    EB: We are definitely pleased with his performance, since Germany actually. Clearly, something switched on and he is working better. I mean the same tyre story as well, the latest spec of tyres suit a little bit more his driving style than Kimi’s one. But yes, we are pleased that he is stepping up. We don’t have a policy of driver number one and number two but we needed him obviously to step up, yes.

    Enough to suggest to yourself that you’re looking for one more driver for next season or not?

    EB: Yes, definitely. Normally we compete with two cars!

    But Romain definitely in for next year?

    EB: Romain has a contract signed anyway for next year. It’s just, say, a matter of confirmation. We are being prudent after last obviously. But I think it’s on its way to be confirmed soon.

    Let me turn to Stefano next, if I can. This morning, for Fernando Alonso, not the best start to the weekend with a gearbox problem. Can you explain a bit more about what happened?

    Stefano DOMENICALI: Yeah, it’s true. Unfortunately we couldn’t do the programme we were expecting to do. We had a problem on a little spring inside the gearbox, so at the end of the day we were able change it and to keep the gearbox for the session.

    This was a race gearbox?

    SD: No.

    So it will be fine for the rest of the weekend?

    SD: I hope so.

    You’ll need it and you’ll need a good performance from Fernando and Felipe, because as Eric was touching on, that battle for second place in the Constructors’ Championship is mathematically out of your reach this weekend, could go right down to the wire?

    SD: For sure, the fight is very strong. We know that around us there is Mercedes and Lotus, who are very competitive and we cannot be complacent. We have second but if we want to beat the opposition we need to perform well with both drivers and with the team of course. It will be for us a very intense end of the season. We know that everyone wants to reach that; we are the same, with the others. It will not be easy because in the last couple of grand prix we saw that Mercedes and Lotus have increased their performance but we will fight up to the end, that’s for sure.

    Q: …and on the subject, Ross, of that intense battle between now and the end of the season, is that something you welcome at Mercedes, or causing you a headache you could do without with 2014 and the big regulation changes looming large?

    Ross BRAWN: No, I think this business is mostly about managing several programmes and obviously from a development perspective most, or all, of our efforts are in the 2014 programme. Couple of things we still want to learn with this car and in terms of racing, I think what’s crucial for these last four races boils down to who races most effectively – because I think the teams are all quite close. We’ve not raced very well the last few races. I don’t think we’ve scored the points that we could have done or should have done and it’s now up to us to make sure we race well in the last four races. Of course if we had something available to make the car go faster, we’d fit it but we don’t – and I don’t think the others do, so I think between the three teams it’s a question now of who races well: the team; the strategy; the drivers and that will determine who finishes second in the championship.

    Q: And there’s always that little matter of your future in the sport as well – something that might have been discussed on a few occasions in 2013. I think earlier this year you were quoted as saying there will be a soft hand-over to Paddy Lowe. You later denied that. Niki Lauda now says he wants you to stay. Lewis and Nico both want you to stay as well, so what conditions would keep you at Mercedes for the future?

    RB: Well there is a transition going on. We’re just determining what will be the best timing for that. I want the team to be in the best possible place for next year, so I think when the time is right we’ll let everyone know what we’re doing. But at the present time that’s all I want to say on the matter.

    Q: Christian, you’re quite a superstitious man and you will take nothing lightly for this weekend but there might be a stack of celebratory tee-shirts around the back of the Red Bull garage and the champagne might be on ice and it could be a double-championship winning celebration for you this weekend. What would it mean to you and to the Red Bull team to make it four double-championships in a row?

    Christian HORNER: Well firstly if there are tee-shirts I certainly haven’t seen any and they would be wise to keep them away from me. I think that should – should – we achieve a quadruple double-championship it would be an amazing feat for every single member of the team to achieve such results against such illustrious opposition. But those thoughts really aren’t in our minds at the moment. Our focus is very much on this event. The championship tables obviously look very healthy but it’s never done until it’s mathematically impossible for anybody else to win. So the whole team’s focus is very much on getting the most out of this weekend. And then the championship tables tend to take care of themselves. Should that happen here or in Abu Dhabi, the feeling of elation… you can’t pre-describe because y’know, we haven’t got there yet. But certainly everybody in the team is focussed on the here and now.

    Q: And whilst the celebrations are I’m sure welcome, a team that has achieved as much as Red Bull in the last few seasons attracts a lot of attention and teams up and down the pitlane and the paddock wanting to take staff from you to try and emulate that success. We’ve already seen Peter Prodromou moving to McLaren in the future. How difficult is it for you as team principal to keep the nucleus of this championship-winning team together for the future?

    CH: Well, we have a very strong team and we’ve had tremendous continuity in the team for a long time now and y’know we’ve got great strength in depth and that’s one of the key assets of the Red Bull team. Inevitably, from time to time, people will move. That’s the nature of the sport, it’s something that happens to all the team principals sitting here. Inevitably, when you’re winning, there’s a lot of attraction on members of your team – but people enjoy working for Red Bull, they enjoy the environment, they enjoy the way we operate. We have a very, very low turnover in personnel. I don’t expect any further dramatic changes certainly into next year or the foreseeable future.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Ubaid Parkar – F1 Pulse ) Question is for the back row: how much driver input has been required in the development of the 2014 car, considering the massive change in regulation? Has it been more or less or the same, considering a few seasons?

    RB: Well, I think that in common with most teams, we have regular reviews with our drivers and understand with the car we’re racing now what’s strong, what’s weak, what needs to be improved and that gets translated by the engineers into the designs that we have for next year. I think they are a pretty vital link. Obviously these days we have a lot of data, we have a lot analysis, we have a lot of simulation, a lot of modelling and that also contributes as well, but the driver is still a vital part of that process and we work closely with Nico and Lewis to understand where they see our strengths and weaknesses – perhaps more importantly, our weaknesses and that contributes and that’s part of the process in designing and developing a new car.

    Q: Is that the same at Maranello, Stefano?

    SD: Yes, yes, I can agree with that. For sure, in the next couple of months these kind of things will be more and more closed because also from the team perspective we are trying to learn more and more how the new racing will develop next year, with all the systems, with all the constraints that we have in terms of regulations and of course we need to work together with the drivers because at the end of the day they are the ones that have to perform in the car so for sure, from now onwards will be a crucial time before starting the practice at the end of January, where also, from this side, we need to understand what it is all about because there are a lot of things which will really be brand new.

    CH: Well, they’re pretty limited in what they can contribute at the moment because it’s a voyage of discovery for all of us. It’s going to be a very different type of racing next year with the introduction of these power units and new regulations. Obviously we’ve had to measure the drivers carefully, especially the width of theirderrieres so they can fit in to the car. We’ve got a new driver next year as well, so their contribution is limited at the moment but that will inevitably gear up over the coming weeks and months.

    Q: You’ve not had to stick either in a corset yet just to try and squeeze them down a bit?

    CH: If it was down to Adrian they would both need to lose about 15 kilos between now and Melbourne next year but I think that’s fairly unlikely.

    Q: (Shridhar Potdar – Sakal Media) Dr Mallya, this was voted as the most popular circuit by the F1 drivers in its debut year but next year BIC has no date and in 2015 nobody’s certain whether the race will happen or not. What’s your opinion about the approach of government?

    VM: Well, when I was walking in this morning I met Mr J. P Gaur, the owner of the circuit and the promoter of the race and obviously I asked him about the continuance of the Indian Grand Prix. I must say I was very very happy when he confidently and enthusiastically confirmed that the race will be back in 2015 onwards on a sustainable basis so I was delighted to hear that.

    Q: Did he give an indication as to what matters have been resolved, Dr Mallya, as to why it could  come back again?

    VM: Well, the official version given was that 2014 posed scheduling problems and therefore you couldn’t have a race now in October 2013 then in early 2014 so I wouldn’t like to comment or contradict that. All I’m interested in, as an Indian, and realising the vast potential that this country offers, and looking at the investment that has gone into creating this rightly voted number one facility, is that I want Formula One to be back in India and therefore I was delighted when the promoter confirmed that Formula One would be back from 2015 onwards.

    Q: (Shridhar Potdar – Sakal Media) This question is about Sachin Tendulkar; Force India is paying tribute by carrying the words ‘Master Blaster’ on the car. What are your thoughts on the greatest sporting hero India has produced, Sachin Tendulkar?

    VM: You know that cricket is a religion here in India and Sachin Tendulkar is arguably one of the best cricketers the world has ever produced. We are very very proud of his achievements, and as he signs off from test cricket after his 200 tests, we at Sahara Force India believe that it would only be a befitting tribute if we bid an appropriate farewell to the Master Blaster.

    Q: (Bharat Sharma – IndoAsian News Service) Dr Mallya, your thoughts on the absence of an Indian on the drivers’ grid; there will be no Indian driver this time around and a thought on Jehan Daruvala as well, he’s won the British karting championship and Force India has always predicted him as being the next Indian driver on the F1 grid, so how is that coming along?

    VM: I think that ever since I became involved as a team owner in Formula One I have consistently maintained that we will find an Indian driver who eventually will be in Formula One, and that’s why we started the Force India Formula One academy. Jehan Daruvala is a product of that academy and I’m absolutely delighted with the fact that he’s won the karting championship. Our efforts will continue, the programme will continue but producing a Formula One driver takes time and they have to be good enough and experienced enough to compete with the best in the world so I can only reinforce my commitment, I can’t quite predict when it will actually happen but one day hopefully it will.

    Q: (Sandeep Sikdar– IndoAsian News Service) Yesterday my colleague questioned Christian Horner regarding the issues and hassles while coming to India. I want to put the same question to Ross Brawn and Stefano. What exactly are the paperwork hassles involved with coming to India?

    SD: To be honest we didn’t have any problems at all, no issues with any kind of logistics or whatever it is on that respect. Honestly, for us it is important to see when we have such an important country like India hosting this Grand Prix, to make sure that the promotion  is done in a way that… we are here and we can have all the fans of India cheering and stay close with the teams because this is something that for sure is an important element of the show.

    RB: I think the same as Stefano. We’ve had a very smooth… the organisation behind it all has been very smooth, there’s been no problems at all, we’ve got everything here that we need to have here. We do enjoy the enthusiasm of the Indian fans and it’s a very important country for us to establish Formula One in so we support it completely and hope we’re going to be back here soon.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – RacingLines) If I have a look at the seating plan here, the three  gentlemen at the back sit on the strategy group by right and those three in the front don’t sit on the strategy group by right. I would like to ask the three at the back to please justify the group as it stands whereby you people formulate or do the primary formulation of the Formula One in the future and those three in the front, how you feel about being excluded from the process and in particular Dr Mallya who has invested an enormous amount of money in his own team, how you feel about the fact that as a team owner you are excluded, whereas the three gentlemen at the back are employees and they are included?

    CH: You can always rely on Dieter for a straightforward, easy question to answer. I don’t suppose I can talk about Dr Mallya’s haircut and avoid it that way. The strategic group obviously is a group of teams, the FIA and FOM and it’s part of a process that’s been introduced. It’s a group that previously didn’t exist and it’s to try and make more headway and a speedier way forwards for forming and creating regulations. All the teams still sit on the Formula One Commission that still very much exists, that has the right to reject or approve regulations to be introduced but the strategic group is made up of teams that have made a firm commitment to the sport for many years to come and it’s a way of hopefully effectively introducing changes with the consultation of others because other groups will still exist but it’s hopefully an efficient way of introducing changes to the sport in years to come and I think that it is a positive thing. Time will tell if it works or not.

    SD: Nothing to add to what Christian said. The thing that I can say is that I’m sure that everyone knew about it and by everyone I assume that because they’ve signed the agreement, they have accepted this way forward and for sure we have the big responsibility to make sure that all the systems of Formula One will go and take the right way for the future and for sure, we feel this responsibility. We don’t want to say ‘listen, we don’t care about the others’ because that’s not really the case. So, we take that on board and I’m sure that time will tell if we’re doing a good job or not.

    RB: Well, I think the responsibilities of that group are the general interests of Formula One. I think it’s vital that that group acts and takes decisions which are in the interests of everybody in Formula One. The structure of the group is something that I think was proposed by the FIA and the commercial rights holder and everyone in Formula One signed up to it. I think it’s just important that group does take the proper view on all the interests in Formula One.

    MK: Well, we in the front row, while asked about how we feel about it and clearly Sauber is not so comfortable with it because we are not on it. We have nothing, as such, against a group that looks at certain matters and can bring up ideas and also maybe say that this is the right way to go ahead but what matters is that all interests should be represented. Teams like Force India or Sauber are part of the competition and we cannot be happy by being excluded by this group because we do feel that we have to ensure that that’s where the danger lies that there’s a proper representation of interests in there.

    EB: We are not a permanent part of this group but we are lucky enough to be part of this group now so sitting between these two chairs, I think there are some positive and some negative points. I can understand being there and not participating. I understand the frustration of the teams not being there. It’s true that it was a  wish from the FIA and FOM to have another group, let’s say, before the F1 Commission to try to maybe go for decisions. For sure the proposal is to bring it to F1 and make it better and then bring these suggestions to the F1 Commission where they can be debated. We will see in the future if it works, as Christian said.

    VM: When this was first mooted, I definitely did question whether the intention was to restrict decision-making to the six teams, to the exclusion of the smaller teams but when I was assured that that was not going to be the case, that the strategy group was to advise on future strategy concerning Formula One, to be then debated or voted upon at the Formula One Commission where all teams are represented, that obviously was a source of comfort. I’ve spoken individually to many team principals who are part of the big six as I call them, and all of them have assured me, as indeed Stefano did now, that they will look after the interests of all, which includes the smaller teams and on the basis of that assurance, I actually voted to approve this new structure at the World Motor Sport Council, so so long as things work out the way they are intended to, only time will tell.

    Q: (Rachit Thukral – RachF1) Question to Eric Boullier: a lot of people have been discussing about the second seat at Lotus next season. Why is your test driver, Davide Valsecchi, not on that list of drivers?

    EB: It’s not true actually, Davide is on the list but to bring to the grid next year a driver with no experience is a huge step for them  – I’ve done it twice with them, first with Petrov and then with a semi-rookie Grosjean and I think I’ve had enough to be honest with you. Davide is on the list because we consider him as a good driver, as a GP2 champion but it’s true that if you favour a scenario for next year it will be a driver with experience. If we cannot find any driver with experience, fitting the strategy of the team, obviously we will go for a rookie driver and then Davide is obviously on the top of the list. It looks harsh, I’m sorry but it’s true.

    Q: How near are you to filling that second seat now, Eric?

    EB: Hopefully a few days.

    Q: (Amanpreet Singh- PTI) Dr Mallya, one of your drivers said that we have probably sacrificed fifth position this season, to be at least fifth next year. How do you see this season for your team considering that you may lose even the sixth spot now?

    VM: Well, I wouldn’t be as pessimistic as you sound. Yes, there was a time earlier this season when we were in fifth position ahead of McLaren. If we perform well over the next four races there’s no reason why we can’t regain fifth but as I said earlier, the lady on my left (MK) has certainly given us a wake-up call and so we will do everything we can to stay in sixth but having said that, yes, we’ve dedicated our resources to the development of the 2014 car.

    Q: (Kate Walker – GP Week) Monisha, at one of the recent press conferences, maybe Singapore, you spoke about the way in which Formula One teams have often shot themselves in the foot when it comes to looking after their own self interests rather than the collective interest. Given that history often tends to repeat itself, how much faith do you have in the larger teams looking after the smaller teams’ interests in the strategy commission?

    MK: Well, like Vijay actually said earlier, you have to have faith in the teams you’ve known for a long while and you work together with and I think it’s no secret to anyone in Formula One that we’ve had a very successful partnership for many years with Ferrari and they have said a lot of things where maybe we as a small team in the partnership benefited more than others in partnership. As an example, if you look at KERS, what we had decided Ferrari exactly said with us as towards the customer which we were. So I think you have to come in here with a certain amount of trust but at the end of the day we are competitive, but we are all in this together so that’s the perspective we take, that there will always be things where bigger teams have a different view to smaller ones but I’m confident that eventually decisions will be taken which have to be good for the sport because we are part of the sport, and in my view, Formula One needs more constructors than just the big teams.

    Q: (Shridhar Potdar – Sakal Media) One for everyone; you know previously there was a  third title – apart from drivers and constructors – counting for the World Championship. Nowadays the tyre championship has been stopped and everybody knows the problems that Pirelli have created this season. Michelin has showed willingness to come back and make F1 tyres. Do you think that a three way title race would make F1 more interesting and do you support the need for a tyre constructors title?

    RB: They were pretty exciting times but hugely expensive in terms of track development. I remember at the time when I was at Ferrari we had a car testing almost continuously doing tyre work for the manufacturer and in our case, we had Bridgestone fairly well devoted to our programme. It can be exciting but it’s a huge investment for a tyre company, huge investment for the teams. I don’t think the climate at the moment is right for there to be a tyre war and that’s what’s evolved in a lot of top class formulae. The cost of a tyre war is not sustainable. It’s happened in MotoGP, it’s happened in Formula One and however exciting it is, it’s very very costly in what are quite tough times at the moment.

    CH: You couldn’t probably have more conflicting tyres than have come to this race but I think, as Ross says, to reintroduce a tyre war would not only be massively expensive you would also end up with two classes of racing because there are then the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’ and what we have at the moment with a sole tyre supplier is that everybody has the same tyre, everybody has the same compound, everybody has the same opportunity. The testing obviously is heavily restricted now as well. So as an independent team, it offers a far more level playing field and obviously the challenges that all of the teams face now are the intricacies of the Pirelli tyres and how they perform from circuit to circuit and compound to compound, which is a different engineering challenge in itself and certainly will create some interesting strategies no doubt this weekend.

    Q: (Ajit Devadason – Syfi.com) To all team principals: a few engine manufacturers have previewed the engines of 2014 on the net and social media and it hasn’t been accepted well by most Formula One fans in discussion forums. Do you agree or disagree that engine sound is a strong USP of Formula One, especially when you’re going into new markets?

    SD: Well, for sure, the element of the engine sound is very important, no doubt about it, but on the other side we need to say that in the last couple of years we’ve moved from V12 that was a fantastic engine for Ferrari with fantastic high revs, high frequency, to V10, then to V8. Now we’re going to be V6 with turbo and then it’s just a matter of fine tuning the noise – I mean the sound, apologies for the wrong word – and then of course that is vital for the show, above all for the people who are coming to the track, because unfortunately you don’t feel it too much on television.

    Q: How do the new V6s sound to you, Eric?

    EB: Different, it’s true. I remember the V12 as well, the sound of music, but it’s part of the necessity to move ahead and bring new technology and to follow the technology that you use in your car every day, so I think it’s still going to be a pretty exciting sport.

    Q: Have you had a listen to the new V6s yet, Monisha?

    MK: I did actually, a while ago, when I visited our engine supplier so considering what Stefano said I have full trust that Ferrari will also sort out that issue.

    VM: All I can say is that I have participated in many meetings where Bernie (Ecclestone) has absolutely insisted that there can be no compromise on noise, so I guess there will be no compromise on noise – excuse me Stefano, music, not noise.

    Q: To use a Spinal Tap reference, Ross, can we turn the noise up to eleven?

    RB: Yes. I think we actually need to see the cars on the circuit because I don’t think a recording of a dyno cycle is actually that representative. If you listen to a V8 on the dyno it sounds nothing like it does in the car. I think we should all wait and see. It is what we have and we have to get behind it and it’s an exciting new period with these power trains. I think we needed to make a transition at some stage, we’re making it now, there’s no going back and I think it will be exciting for the fans but we’ll see how it sounds when we get out on the circuit. I remember the early turbo days and they seemed pretty exciting to me and we’ve had a whole range of different engines since then. I don’t think – to be honest –  that they’re been more  or less exciting than each other. Just different.

    CH: Well, I’ve heard it on the internet. That’s as much as I’ve heard. Noise of a Formula One car is part of the DNA of Formula One. When people come to a Grand Prix for the first time, the thing that really stands out more than anything is the noise. Noise translates into speed, into excitement and so on, and I think it’s absolutely crucial that we don’t lose that element. We have to reserve judgement until we hear the cars next year; hopefully, whilst it will be a different noise, it will be an exciting noise that conveys what the sport is all about. Only time will tell.

    Q: (Will Buxton – NBC Sports) One to you all if I may. To pick up on Dieter’s point earlier about the Strategy Group, the elephant in the room right now is that under cost saving initiatives, customer cars appear to be something that may be considered moving into the future. To the three gentlemen in the back, are customer cars something that you would like to push for moving into the future? And to the three guests on the front of the panel, are customer cars something ever something you would consider taking on? And furthermore to the point Vijay made about trust in the teams that are on the panel, can you ever truly trust the teams on the panel give that by your very nature you are competing entities?

    SD: I just can say that we had the first meeting of the Strategy Group on Monday and of course this status was on the table and we will discuss it at the appropriate level. No decision or action has been taken. It is a topic related to the cost of Formula One, so I cannot add more than that at the moment.

    CH: It’s an interesting debate, really, because if you look at costs and the cost drivers in Formula One, the necessity to have four or five hundred people in order to even compete is, in all reality, too high. Now if you’re just looking at it from a pure cost point of view, the most logical way to take out a huge amount of cost would be to sell a car or a year-old car in its entirety. Now whether that goes against the grain of what a constructor should be and is in current Formula One is a separate debate. But if you are absolutely transfixed on saving costs, it is, without a shadow of a doubt the most effective way to reduce costs. Whether it’s the right thing to do is obviously another questions. Inevitably there is going to be a lot of debate about it and it’s something that, as a sport, we need to be open-minded to.

    RB: I don’t think we, as a team, are particularly enamoured with the idea of customer cars. I think we are more keen on working towards reducing the base cost of the cars for all teams. And perhaps finding ways of sharing parts that are non-performance differentiators. I know the one that gets classically mentioned is the pedal system and a lot of the parts of the car that are not performance differentiators between the competitors but everybody makes their own pedals and makes their own steering racks, because we have to. I think there is some progress that can be made in those areas without damaging the DNA of the sport at all. We should work on that. I think one point I would make and I think Vijay made it, is the security of the F1 Commission, because whatever the Strategy Group decides, if the F1 Commission rejects it, then it doesn’t go any further, it has to go back into the Strategy Group to try to improve the proposal. In theory, there is no way that an unpopular or unsupported idea from the Strategy Group could make it into the regulations unless the F1 Commission was happy with it.

    Vijay, you’ve already touched on having full faith in the Strategy Working Group, do you have trust over the issue of customer cars as well?

    VM: As far as Sahara Force India is concerned we are completely opposed to the even the concept of customers cars. Let’s just go back to the days when FOTA functioned as a comprehensive, cohesive unit. One of the key elements of the FOTA discussions was how to reduce the costs in Formula One for everybody. But then some of the big teams refused to reduce their costs, and as a result of which the whole resource restriction element went out of the window. Now to try to address lowering of costs through a radical customer car concept is ridiculous in my view. What happens to the smaller teams that have factories, that employ hundreds of people and who are effecti8vely running companies. You can’t just discard everything and just buy a one-year old car from an established team and go motor racing. I think that affects the total DNA of Formula One from the day it was started.

    MK: I absolutely agree with that. Sauber’s been in motorsport now for more than 40 years and our core business is making race cars in different series, so we are absolutely against this concept of a customer car because we’re ruining our own business here. I think there are other ways to reduce costs, one way maybe is setting certain financial limits, the other one is also to look at the regulations. An effective way could be through this group and then the commission that you have stability and therefore ‘seeability’ and that you no longer have to do investment in one season where you exactly know that the next season that this device or whatever is going to be forbidden again. So there are many ways to get hold of the costs and reduce them, which is very important for Formula One. But when you introduce these kind of measures you’re changing so much. This will not lead to any cost reduction because you might have four teams in there that are capable of putting in that much money, but at some point in time – they are all in their to win – when they don’t do that and maybe just end up with a few points they leave the sport as well. So it’s a very dangerous route to go down.

    Final word to Eric.

    EB: I think that customer cars are against the DNA of Formula One personally. But I think obviously there is a cost restriction that needs to be in place in Formula One. We all agree with this. Actually even the teams on the back row agree there us some cost saving to be done. It’s maybe as Vijay said a wake-up call. If we just think about the concept of customer cars we maybe will sit down all together and agree on a cost saving, which is obviously a budget cap or something else, which is based on the RRA or the old RRA, because at the end we know you cannot cut solely the costs just by switching off the wind tunnel or something else in the company. We need to make it in a way where there is no intrusive manner into any team developments, which obviously will suit some of us here. Also another way is to leave people the choice what they want to do to save costs but we have to have some rules in place. At the end if we don’t do this it’s going to be more and more difficult obviously to survive. So if you want to avoid the customer car… we can maybe run three cars in the near future to keep a decent grid but still it’s more money and it’s against cost saving, so we need to think and think cleverly about it.

    ends

     

     

    Ends

  • Vettel’s domination continues in India

    Airtel grid girls pose with the new trophies at a presentation on Friday at the Buddh International Circuit. A BIC photo
    Airtel grid girls pose with the new trophies at a presentation on Friday at the Buddh International Circuit. A BIC photo

    Greater Noida, 25 Oct 2013: Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel finished FP1, the first Free Practice session on top of the timesheets at the Buddh International Circuit here on Friday morning. Outside the track, the Supreme Court deferred the hearing of a Public Interest Litigation which sought the cancellation of the Indian GP this year over tax issues. The apex court will hear the case next week and the buzz continues at the BIC.

    His time of 1:26.683 was just under two-tenths faster than that of his nearest challenger, team-mate Mark Webber. For Vettel it extends an extraordinary run of dominance at this event: At the inaugural Indian Grand Prix in 2011, he finished both FP1 and FP2 second fastest, since then he’s been top in every practice session, qualified on pole twice, won both races and led every lap. On the back of five consecutive victories in 2013, he didn’t give his opposition even the faintest cause for optimism this morning. Meanwhile, the new trophies for the Indian GP this year were displayed at a presentation today.

    Behind the Red Bulls, Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg finished the session third quickest, followed by the Lotus of Romain Grosjean and then Lewis Hamilton in the second Mercedes. The McLarens took sixth and seventh with Jenson Button in front of Sergio Pérez. Then came Felipe Massa for Ferrari, Nico Hülkenberg for Sauber and Valtteri Bottas completed the top ten for Williams.

    The session followed a familiar pattern: everyone ran an early installation before returning to the garage to wait out the first half-hour. Daniel Ricciardo was the exception: mechanical problems left him stranded into the garage, not to emerge until 35 minutes had elapsed.

    By that time Pérez was completing his first run, going out 24 minutes into the session and setting a benchmark time of 1:28.207, with the track entirely to himself. As he returned to the pits more car started to go out, and by the halfway mark Pérez led a field of ten cars with times on the board – though none of this season’s front-runners were among them.

    That changed as Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari and Lotus all got down to serious work.  Button briefly held the lead before Rosberg took over at the top and then, with 50 minutes elapsed, Vettel rose to the top with 1:27.196 on his second flying lap – a full seven-tenths quicker than the Mercedes. Rosberg snatched the place back briefly but Vettel was still getting up to speed and regained top spot as he came around again.

    Meanwhile, attention was focussed on Fernando Alonso, crawling around the Buddh International Circuit with his Ferrari seemingly stuck in second gear. The Spaniard limped back into the pits, his session over. His team later confirmed he had a gearbox issue.

    The final half-hour of FP1 saw cars pushing harder as the seldom-used circuit rubbered-in. It lead to a slew of off-track moments with drivers struggling for front-end grip. There were also spins for Williams’ Pastor Maldonado and the Force India of James Calado, the latter substituting for Paul di Resta. No-one looked like challenging Vettel but Webber did manage to get ahead of Rosberg to ensure Red Bull finished the session with a one-two on the timesheet.

    2013 Indian Grand Prix Free Practice One times

    1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1:26.683
    2 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 1:26.871 +0.188
    3 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:26.899 +0.216
    4 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:26.990 +0.307
    5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:27.227 +0.544
    6 Jenson Button McLaren 1:27.335 +0.652
    7 Sergio Pérez McLaren 1:27.416 +0.733
    8 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:27.692 +1.009
    9 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber 1:27.770 +1.087
    10 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:27.800 +1.117
    11 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:28.035 +1.352
    12 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:28.214 +1.531
    13 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:28.336 +1.653
    14 Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:28.342 +1.59
    15 Adrian Sutil Force India 1:28.468 +1.785
    16 Esteban Gutiérrez Sauber 1:28.538 +1.855
    17 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus 1:28.730 +2.047
    18 James Calado Force India 1:29.197 +2.514
    19 Giedo van der Garde Caterham 1:29.413 +2.730
    20 Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:29.560 +2.877
    21 Charles Pic Caterham 1:30.026 +3.343
    22 Max Chilton Marussia 1:30.471 +3.788

    ends

  • It is possible to beat Mark and Seb and that’s what I am here to do: Rosberg

    DRIVERS – Giedo VAN DER GARDE (Caterham), Max CHILTON (Marussia), Daniel RICCIARDO (Toro Rosso), Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes), Mark WEBBER (Red Bull Racing), Kimi RAIKKONEN (Lotus)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    I’m going to start with a question for Nico, Mark and Kimi, as, with all due respect to our back row, I think you three gentlemen are best placed to challenge Sebastian Vettel for victory this weekend. He’s won the last five races, he’s won both Indian Grand Prix from pole position and he’s led every lap as well. Simple question Nico: how do you beat a man in such form?
    Nico ROSBERG: Well, I’m here to do that, that’s for sure and the last couple of races have not really gone to plan, a lot of bad luck also. But, I have a very good car at the moment. I think the Red Bull is a bit quicker than us but you never know, you know. If we really get everything right on a weekend like here in India then it’s possible to beat Mark and Sebastian in that car. That’s what I’m here to do, so I’ll give it everything and we’ll see.

    What about you Kimi? What have you got up your sleeve?
    Kimi RAIKKONEN: I think I have to do a bit better in qualifying. That would help a lot. That would give ourselves a good chance then to try to beat them. It’s not just only them though, so we’ll see what happens here.

    It’s tricky Mark, you were on pole in Japan, it didn’t quite work out in the race, but what’s the secret? Can Sebastian be beaten?
    Mark WEBBER: He’s on a phenomenal run obviously and as you said his stats here in the last few years he’s been pretty strong. It needs a perfect weekend – pole, perfect race, perfect strategy, perfect everything to obviously put him off the top step, so that’s got to be the plan.

    I wish you all perfection this weekend. Back to you in a few moments. Max, if I can turn to you next. Japan, your fastest qualifying lap there beat both Caterhams and your team-mate Jules Bianchi. Was that your lap of the season?
    Max CHILTON: It was one of them. Obviously, it was a bit of a standout performance because we managed to out-qualify both Caterhams and Jules, but I’ve had good laps in the year and I’ve been very happy with certain laps but in Japan we just managed to get things right. It was a bit of a manic last lap and I managed to just get enough space and just got the most out of the car and the car performed well. As Nico said earlier, if you get everything right then you get good performances.

    I’ll ask Giedo about the perspective from the Caterham side of things but Marussia are still hanging on to 10th place in the Constructors’ Championship with four races to go. It’s vitally important, financially, for a team to finish in that 10th spot not 11th, so how are things? Nervy, tense, determined, excited?
    MC: It’s definitely tense but I believe that when you’re passionate and working on the best result possible, you get the best out of yourself and the team. At the moment we’re doing that. It’s definitely going to be tight but we’ve got 10th at the moment and we’re hoping to keep it that way until the end of the season.

    What about from the Caterham side, Giedo? Anything can happen I’m sure in the last four races but is there extra pressure given that you’re not the team in 10th at the moment?
    Giedo VAN DER GARDE: Yeah, a little bit. Of course for us it’s very important to get the 10th place back. I think the last few races we’ve seen that we’ve always been in front in the race compared with Marussia, so the one thing we need is a little luck and the only thing we can do is maximise ourselves, maximise the car, maximise the team and the rest is luck.

    Well, good luck with the luck if it comes your way. Daniel, it’s been a few weeks since you were announced as a Red Bull driver for next year and you’ve had time to come to terms with that announcement. How has life changed? Has the attention grown race by race?
    Daniel RICCIARDO: No, not really. I think around the time of the announcement it was pretty hectic with the media and everything but it’s nicely calmed down now. It’s good. I’m sure once I hop in the car next year it will probably rise again but it’s been a quiet few weeks. I had a bit of time to myself, which is good.

    Q: Have you started to focus on what you need to do next year against a man who is likely to be a four-time world champion, or is the focus still on this season? How do you cope with that?
    DR: Definitely still my main focus is on this year. Obviously aware of the competition I’ll be up against next year and slowly employing a few things to help me out for January and to settle in with the team but yeah, still very much focussed on the rest of the year with Toro Rosso. I guess once the season’s over after Brazil I’ll make the conversion, start getting in the simulator and trying to figure out what makes Seb so quick and try to learn quickly.

    Q: Nico, this morning, tell us about your bus journey into the track. Kind of a special bus ride with some under-privileged children, stepping out of the Formula One bubble for a moment.
    NR: Yeah, it’s nice. I’m involved in the Laureas Sport for Good programme, so this morning I took a bus journey to the track with a whole bunch of children from the local community. In the end just trying to be a little bit of an inspiration to them, to show how good sport is for personal development really, to learn about discipline and to learn to be with people and respect other people and things like that. Also, to show them the importance of education. That was the aim – but they also had a great time. We had a good time, we played a bit of soccer together, and showed them the racing car. So, that’s good, yeah, a very nice programme.

    Q: Brings you down to Earth a little bit, I suppose?
    NR: Yeah.

    Q: Kimi, this is your second year coming to race in India. Do you notice the popularity that you have? Does it spur you on when you get to the track? Does it give you extra motivation?
    KR: I think it’s very nice to have it but I mean I’ve only really seen the hotel this morning, from the airport to the hotel, and the circuit. So, especially today there were not many people when we came here – so I feel it less than at many other places but I’m happy that there are fans here. This circuit is nice and hopefully we can have a good weekend for all of them.

    Q: When you come to what is still a relatively new venue, would you like to take more time out to see a bit of India?
    KR: Yeah – but I think it’d be a little nicer if you come when it’s not a race weekend, so when you have proper time and not during the weekend. But for sure I’m sure there’s a lot of nice places to go and see.

    Q: And for Mark, your last time in India in Formula One, four races to go now. Do you relax more as the final race approaches or does the desire to get that one more win – at least – intensify race by race?
    MW: My mentality hasn’t really changed, mate, from the start of the year. Still enjoying driving the car to a degree and no exception to that. The last grand prix, obviously the best racing track in the world in Suzuka – unfortunately they can’t design them like that any more – but it’s a beautiful circuit. This is not bad and yeah, some good tracks to look forward to. That’s the bit that I still enjoy – to a degree. And… yeah, I think the last four is not really changing how I go about it. It would be nice to get a top result before the year’s out but…yeah… it’ll be four weeks and that’s it.

    Q: Would it change your view of Formula One and how you remember the sport if you didn’t get one more win?
    MW: No, wouldn’t change it.

    Q: Still look back fondly?
    MW: yeah, of course. I would never have thought when I left Australia the results and the career that I’ve had. So, another win or so, of course it would be nice but it’s not going to change my retirement too much.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Abhishek Takle – Richland F1) Mark, following the last race, you said you were surprised at the switch in strategy from a two stop to a three stopper. Having gone over all of the data, do you still feel the two stop was quicker, or are you satisfied with the strategy switch?
    MW: I haven’t gone over any data whatsoever from the last race. I still stand by what I said at the time but obviously a bit surprised that we elected to do that. Having a three stop, you’ve got to pass two cars to win the race instead of maybe sticking to a two where we just focused on trying to beat Romain. What I said at the time is still pretty accurate today.

    Q: (Sandeep Sikdar – IndoAsian News Service) Nico, Mark and Kimi, we’re quite uncertain about the future of Formula One here in India. I wanted to know what exactly is the feeling in the paddock regarding visiting India, coming to India for the Grand Prix?
    NR: The track is fantastic to drive, they’ve done a really good job with that. There’s a growing fan base and a lot of fans in India. It’s great to be here and it’s a pity that there’s no Indian Grand Prix next year and I hope that maybe some time in the future we can come back again.
    MW: Yeah, Nico’s right. Obviously the fan base is certainly growing very very fast. I know cricket is the number one sport here by a long way but they’ve certainly shown some incredible enthusiasm to try and understand and get some… attract some interest in the sport. They’re proud to have a very very high profile sport which Formula One is and the track layout is sensational. The enthusiasm.. they’re doing what they can to hold a very nice event here but it doesn’t seem to have been enough for next year. I hope that we can come back in the future.

    Q: (Bharat Sharma – IndoAsian News Service) For the front row, if you talk about the track, most drivers have praised the track, they like the layout but as far as overtaking is concerned, there’s only the first sector which has a real chance of overtaking, so how do you see the track in terms of overtaking opportunities?
    MW: That’s generally the case at a lot of circuits actually. There’s not any more than one or two chances these days. The second and third sector are quite quick, it’s not easy to get a move done there so yeah, most of the focus is on the first sector and the beginning of the sector. But that’s not against the circuit, that’s how a lot of tracks are and we like the rest of the rhythm and the layout because it’s quite challenging, it’s quite quick, a little bit of undulation so there’s a lot of good qualities inside this circuit. As you said, the racing maybe hasn’t been super exciting over the last few years, maybe it’s not going to be the same on Sunday but time will tell.

    Q: Is that right, Kimi, there’s really only  the first sector where you can get past?
    KR: In a normal situation, yes, but on some of the circuits there’s not even one place. You might get a chance in some other places – it depends – but it’s a good race circuit. Last year I got stuck behind (another car) but that can happen anywhere.

    Q: It rather drives the set-up, Nico, doesn’t it? It’s a compromise track anyway, but you need to give yourself that chance of getting some overtaking done?
    NR: Yeah, but it’s OK, the track has what it needs to be able to overtake well and for there to be exciting races. They’ve extended the DRS zone a bit to try and make it easier to overtake  – see how that goes, should be in the right direction.

    Q: (Ajay Devadason – Sify.com) Mark, is it a cause for concern that the series that you’re moving to recently had a fatality in their event?
    MW: At Le Mans? Look, we know motor racing can be dangerous. It was very very tragic, obviously, that they had a fatality this year and they’ve certainly learned from that accident, I believe. Every time we step into a racing car there’s obviously risk; I accept those risks as we all do and they are always going to try and find ways to improve motor sport to a degree which is finding the levels of safety and risk-taking to the right levels. I’m certainly very comfortable with my decision, what I’m doing in the future and looking forward to it.

    Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Kimi, in the last few races, Lotus seem to have been the second team after Red Bull. Do you think that you have the chance to try to grab second place in the Constructors’ championship in the last four races and that this could be a place to win?
    KR: That’s the aim for us but it’s hard to say if it’s going to happen. It seems that the last races have been strong for our team but I have to qualify better, to put myself up there and maybe try to win some races but it will not be easy.

    Q: (Kate Walker – GP Week) Max and Giedo, you are the only two men here whose futures aren’t yet set for next year, or not so that we know about. Could you both please rate your chances of staying both within Formula One next year and with wearing the same uniforms?
    GvdG: Of course I hope to stay in (F1) next year but the management is very busy, talking to some teams, also Caterham. At the moment, they told me to be focused for the last four races and I’m doing that, but hopefully we will have some news soon, but it’s still far away.
    MC: Yeah, I think my chances are looking good. Nothing’s set in stone yet. I’ve learned in GP2 how much continuity can help. I’d love to stay with Marussia again because you always get more out of yourself when you know the team, it’s a natural progression. We have been contacted by other teams but at the moment we know where we want to be and we’re not far away from it now.

    Q: Do you two both feel you’ve met your targets and your goals for this year?
    GvdG: Yeah, I think so. At the beginning, I struggled a little bit, then in the middle of the season everything fell into place and since then I’ve good speed, still have to improve the qualifying a little bit but race pace has been very good.
    MC: Yeah, I think to be honest it took me a little bit longer than I was expecting to kind of get up to speed. I think it’s hard without the testing, but from the August break, when you have a bit of time to go through everything with the team, we had a really good sit down and picked on key areas where you can really enhance your performance and since then, I think I’ve proved why I deserve to be here and I’m  hoping to keep that on until the end of the year.

    Q: (Vinayak Pande – AutoX) Kimi, given the way Lotus is performing towards the end of this season and how Fernando has been struggling recently, how do you feel about your decision going to Ferrari next year?
    KR: Good, otherwise I wouldn’t have made the decision if I didn’t think it was right for myself. It’s so competitive… and the rules, nobody really knows how it’s going to work out next year.

    Q: (Sandeep Sikdar – IndoAsian News Service) Nico and Mark, Pirelli have brought different tyre compounds this year unlike the last two years, how do you think they will affect the lap times?
    NR: I’m not sure. The cars are also so much quicker this year. It’s been very variable throughout the season. You’ve never been able to predict how we’re going to go, in terms of lap times from  one track to another. Sometimes we’re faster, sometimes the same, so it changes all the time and I don’t know yet for this weekend.
    MW: Yeah, very difficult to predict how the tyres will behave. We know how sensitive they are. Even when we had the slight change of construction during the year we see some teams coming forward, some teams going back, some drivers being happy, some drivers less happy. The tyres are super super sensitive. I think we will find out here whether it’s… last year was quite easy on the tyres, we had a pretty comfortable one stop. Whether that’s possible again, I’m not sure. We will find out on Friday with the long runs, maybe.

    Q: (Chetan Narula – Planet F1) Mark, your teammate is going to be a consecutive four time World Champion and obviously you’ve had your differences with him, you’re not the best of friends but as his teammate, and somebody who’s worked with him closely for quite a few years now, can you shed some light on Sebastian Vettel, the racer and the four time World Cham… or soon to be four time World Champion?
    MW: Yeah,  obviously he’s had an incredible run. Some of the championships have been tight, some less tight. Obviously ’11 and this year have been pretty much a non-event but 2010 and 2012 were up to the last race. I think he’s certainly done an incredible job. I think he’s been very strong on the Pirellis; obviously (on) the Bridgestones was probably a little bit tighter but on Pirellis he’s certainly been very strong and no real weaknesses on those tyres so it’s been strong for him. Just super consistent and that’s what’s made him strong, obviously, and also getting the most out of the package. Obviously the car’s been quick and he’s capitalised on a lot of venues. He’s won with a dominant car but also he’s won with a car which some races is probably not… certainly over those four years to win races he probably shouldn’t have won races. That’s also been a quality of his.

    Q: (Unnatee Gidithuri – Auto India Magazine) To you all, what are all of your opinions on the Indian Formula One fans?
    DR: I think that as the boys touched on earlier, it’s growing each year we come here, there seems to be getting more and more interest. It’s good, there are a lot of seats to fill here. Unfortunately they are not always full but they are filling up each year so that’s good. I don’t think a sport can grow overnight and it does take time. It’s definitely gone in the right direction.
    MC: It’s obviously got huge possibilities. I think there’s over a billion that live in India and that, from my calculations, is a seventh of the world, so it’s probably got one of the biggest potential markets anywhere in the world, so it’s a shame we’re not back here next year but there’s a lot of other countries that want a Grand Prix as well. It is a bit of a shame.
    GVDG: I think it’s good to be back here. It is a special place, especially when you see cows on the street, dogs! It’s different to Europe and I have to say I quite like it. It’s good to see different environments, the track is very nice. Of course, it’s my second time here. Last year I saw some friends in the grandstand and hopefully this year there are going to be more.

    Q: I think you tweeted a photo of a cow in the road, Nico.
    NR: We had a bit of a close call yesterday because the cow decided it was going to cross the motorway just in front of us but we managed to keep out of its way, let it cross over nicely and then we could continue.

    Q: Mark, Kimi’s touched on his love of India, what about yourself?
    MW: Yeah, you can see the enthusiasm. Again, I don’t want to talk about the cricket too much but you see how much they love their sport with the cricket, they are super passionate about it and the same here, they want to understand, they’re very willing to understand the sport as quick as they can. It’s been a very quick snapshot for them, in terms of coming to the circuit and seeing the cars and maybe having the drivers as heroes for them. What’s also been interesting for me in such a short period of time is also the journalists here and the people are making such a good effort. Their questions, even away from the track, and different things… they’re quite knowledgeable on our  sport, they want to understand which is a big advancement on some of the other fresh countries that we go to which are super super naive. A lot of good positives about it, so it’s a shame it’s not here again.

    Q: Did you watch the one day yesterday?
    MW: It was washed out, wasn’t it? Not lucky for us: 296 or 293.

    Q: (Rachit Thukral – RachF1) Daniel Ricciardo, two years ago you were racing for HRT. At that time, could you imagine that you could be racing for Red Bull one day?
    DR: Seemed like a fair way away at the time but I think that going back years before that, since I got Red Bull supporting me and knowing what opportunities I had with them, then I think anything was possible. A lot of it was up to me. With HRT, I knew there was a bit of a road to travel on, but yeah, it’s come along quite quickly, obviously to my delight and as I’ve said, I can’t wait but if you would have said, back in 2011, that I would be in a Red Bull seat in 2014 then I would have smiled and said ‘beauty.’ One other thing I found out, just touching on the cricket, apparently myself and Mark don’t come from Australia. We come from Ricky Ponting country! That’s what they all say. Nice.

    Q: (Vinayak Pande – AutoX) Mark, it’s your last season in F1. Do you think the sport is in good shape going into the future with the new regulations? Do you think that’s a good direction for F1 to be taking, or are you going to a technologically more sound series, in terms of sports car racing?
    MW: Again, pretty good question. To be fair, I think Formula One needed a bit of a facelift in terms of technology, which they’re going to get next year. Maybe it’s not what we all want in terms of all the electric stuff and those type of things but that’s the way all the manufacturing and all those types of things are going in terms of car production, so Formula One should be the benchmark in terms of rolling that stuff out. How it’s going to go in terms of a spectacle only time will tell. I’m sure it’s going to be good. The main thing with Formula One is the drivers, the drivers are the important thing. You can have what cars you want but if you’ve still got the best drivers out there then that’s the most important thing. But in terms of sports cars and Formula One, obviously the technology is going to be very similar. Sports cars now are super technical as well as Formula One will be next year. As long as the smaller teams can have a chance, I think that whenever you make a big regulation change  like we are going to do next year, the midfield and the smaller teams are really going to be stretched, so I think that the gap between Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren maybe is probably going to be bigger.

     

    Ends

  • PIRELLI nominates Medium and Soft P Zero Tyres unlike last year

    A view of the Buddh International Circuit. A photo by Pirelli Tyres
    A view of the Buddh International Circuit. A photo by Pirelli Tyres

    Milan, 24 Oct 2013 : India, a new addition to the Formula One calendar in 2011, features some sweeping elevation changes and a wide variety of corners, making it a truly spectacular venue that works the tyres hard, especially given the high ambient temperatures. After two years of nominating the hard and the soft compound at the Buddh circuit, this year Pirelli has opted to nominate the P Zero White medium tyre together with the P Zero Yellow soft tyre.

    Paul Hembery: “We’ve decided to go for the P Zero White medium and P Zero Yellow soft tyres in India this year, which we think will be the best combination for the Buddh circuit and lead to closer racing. For the last two years running we’ve actually gone for the hard and soft compounds, which might have been slightly on the conservative side, so this year we’ve gone for a softer and slightly more aggressive choice. As a result, just like the last race in Japan, we’re not expecting to see a particularly big variation in lap times between the two compounds. Consequently, the strategy made a very big difference in Japan and this should be the same in India. We only had one pit stop per car in India last year, but this year we would expect two – which also provides the drivers and teams with more opportunities to make up places. With varying elevations and a wide variety of corners India provides the tyres with quite a test, as there are forces coming from all directions, so tyre management will once again prove to be important. As usual, it should be very warm in India, which increases thermal degradation as well. This looks set to be a decisive race for the championship so we hope that our tyre choice will help to make it a memorable contest with high-quality racing.”

    Jean Alesi: “Before we talk about India, I’d just like to go back to the Japanese Grand Prix, which is a race that I very much enjoyed watching. I think it really showcased the difference that strategy can make, and the incredible thing is what a close result you can see even with completely different strategies being used. The tension and spectacle this creates for those of watching the race is fantastic. As for India, it’s not actually a circuit that I’ve ever raced on myself but I’ve heard some positive comments from the drivers. There is a bigger picture though: I think that having races in territories such as India is tremendously important because there is huge sporting and commercial potential. As well as driving the cars, the drivers have a real responsibility to be ambassadors for the sport: to awaken the public’s interest in Formula One and all the people who are involved in it. That ambassadorial role is so much more important in places like India than Monza, for example, which has hosted Formula One for many years already. You see tremendous enthusiasm for sport generally in India, particularly cricket, and it would be fantastic if Formula One could have the same sort of following.”

    The circuit from a tyre point of view:

    One of the most challenging areas of the circuit is the complex that makes up Turns 10 and 11: both of which are taken in quick succession almost as single corner. The tyres have to withstand a high-energy lateral force for around seven seconds. The front-left tyre is worked hardest here, and it has to withstand an acceleration force of up to 4g on the exit of the corner, where maximum grip is needed to hold the racing line.

    Turn 4 is another crucial area of the circuit. Here, the cars decelerate from 320kph to 90kph in just 140 metres. The tyres are subjected to a deceleration force of 3.6g, but still have to guarantee stability and precision throughout the braking area.

    India also has one of the longest straights of the year, which is more than a kilometre long. The tyre rotates around 50 times per second at full speed, and by the end of the straight the temperature on the tread can exceed 100 degrees centigrade.

    Technical tyre notes:

    The pit lane in India is one of the longest in Formula One at around 600 metres. This leads to a relatively significant time loss when changing tyres, which is an important factor when considering the race strategy.

    The track surface in India is generally not very abrasive. However, having made its debut only two years ago, the asphalt is still evolving. Over time, new asphalt tends to get rougher, as the bitumen on the surface is swept away, leaving the stones that make up the asphalt exposed. This increases abrasion, which has an effect on tyre wear.

    All the finishers at last year’s race – where the hard and the soft compound were used – stopped once only, at around lap 30. The most popular strategy by a long way was to start on the soft compound and finish on the hard compound, although one or two drivers further down the grid used the opposite strategy to their advantage.

    Meet the Pirelli F1 Team: Fabrizio Tanfani, Chef

    They say that an army marches on its stomach, and Pirelli is no exception. Not only that, but Pirelli’s guests are also able to experience the Italian firm’s catering, which has been popularly acclaimed as the best in the paddock. The man behind the magic is chef Fabrizio Tanfani: one of the most talented people in Formula One. He tells a fascinating story. “I started cooking when I was 16 years old: my passion for it came from my mother and my aunt and uncle, because food was like a religion in our house,” he says. “The real good fortune I had though was having friends and relatives who fished and hunted, so from a very young age I had access to the best and freshest ingredients and I found out how to get the best out of them.”

    It was inevitable that Fabrizio would go to catering school, which he describes as an exciting period in his life as he learned new techniques and worked with other young chefs. In 2005 he met Christian Staurenghi, who heads up Pirelli’s hospitality, and Christian tried him out in Formula One. “I was quite nervous to begin with as there were some famous drivers and personalities around, but as soon as I started cooking and began to smell the flavours of the food, I relaxed because I was doing what I loved,” recounts Fabrizio. “And here I’ve been ever since…”

    Fabrizio is in charge not only of cooking the food, but also of devising the menus and shopping for ingredients (supplemented by some uniquely Italian ingredients that are transported from Italy to the races). It’s very hard work as the catering team are the first to arrive each morning but the last to leave at night: “I’d like to thank my colleagues in the kitchen and the girls who work so hard in the hospitality,” adds Fabrizio. When he’s at home Fabrizio enjoys reading, running, music and – incredibly – cooking dinner for large groups of his friends…

    Other news from Pirelli:

    At the final round of the Italian Rally Championship, the Sanremo Rally, Pirelli clinched the manufacturers’ title with Peugeot Italia for the fifth time. The drivers’ title had already been wrapped up by Umberto Scandola, driving a Pirelli-equipped Skoda, on the previous round.

    Pirelli has sponsored a professorship at one of the most prestigious universities in the United States. Pirelli has established the “Pirelli Visiting Professorship in Italian Studies” for a five-year term at Princeton University in New Jersey. Its aim is to promote the study of Italian history and culture.

    Pirelli has launched a brand new bespoke P Zero road car tyre for the recently-revealed Alfa Romeo 4C, which lapped the Nurburgring in 8m04s on Pirelli P Zero Trofeo tyres. The new tyre has been specifically made to match the Alfa Romeo’s performance characteristics, with ‘AR’ branding on the sidewall.

    The final round of the Pirelli-backed British Rally Championship also took place last weekend. Citroen driver Osian Pryce won the rally on Pirelli tyres while former Pirelli UK Star Driver Jukka Korhonen clinched the title.

    ends

     

  • Chitra Subramanyam to report Indian GP

    Chitra at Monza. A File photo by Chitra
    Chitra at Monza. A File photo by Chitra

    Chitra ‘the Gladiator’ Subramanyam, would be reporting for INDIA in F1 dot com during the Indian GP. Chitra is an enthusiastic chirpy young thing, who writes from her heart and her conviction comes from her passion for the sport.

    Chitra spent 9 years working as a news reporter and helped launch a women’s magazine, before deciding to go back to her first love – Formula 1. For most of those years, she was with the `Big wild gang’ at the Indian Express. She moved to an international publishing house (where she now works as a deputy managing editor), and spent her time obsessing over motorsports. She was happy, until one rainy afternoon in August 2010 at the gloomy Cadwell Park. She watched superbikes fly over the ‘Mountain’ during the British Superbike championship, and it made her dream again.

    Today, Chitra runs an award-winning blog called www.ridingfastandflyinglow.com, which focuses on Formula 1, MotoGP, and WSBK. She can be spotted on race weekends, wearing her team colours (depending on what race it is), screaming at the television and writing like a woman possessed. She loves the growl of F1 cars, the roar of superbikes and believes that Ayrton Senna was the biggest rockstar of them all.

    Her proudest moment was in 2012, when she travelled to Valencia to receive the Eni – Energy for Success award for best article in the under-36 category. She has also won the 2012 Sportskeeda Blogger Awards for the Best Motorsports Blog and the 2012 Sportskeeda Writer Awards for the Motorsports Writer of the Year.

    Follow Chitra @Galadriel255