INDIA in F1

Tag: Formula 1

  • Sebastian Vettel grabs 53rd career pole ahead of Lewis Hamilton: Azerbaijan GP

    Baku, 28 April 2018: Sebastian Vettel grabbed his 53rd career pole position at the Baku Circuit Circuit, edging Lewis Hamilton by just under two tenths of a second in an enthralling qualifying session for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the fourth round of the Formula One World Championship here on Saturday.

    Vettel’s party might have been spoiled by team-mate Kimi Räikkönen, who was on course to beat the German’s time on his final flying lap, but a mistake in Turn 16 mean the Finn lost all the time gained in his first two sectors and he finished sixth behind third-placed Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes and the Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen.

    In Q1, Ricciardo set the early pace with a lap of 1:43.259 that put him three tenths of a second ahead of team-mate Max Verstappen. But the Red Bulls’ hold on the top two spots was brief as Räikkönen and Vettel stole the places, with the Finn topping the order with a lap of 1:42.985. He eventually improved that to a time of 1:42.538 as Hamilton worked his way to a time of 1:42.693 to sit in second place. That wouldn’t last, however, as Verstappen went for another attempt and stole into second place ahead of the Briton with a lap of 1:42.642. Vettel was third ahead of Ricciardo and Force India’s Esteban Ocon and Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas.

    In the drop zone as the clock counted down to three minutes left, were Sergio Perez, whose opening flyer has been wrecked when he locked up at Turn 15 and was forced to take an escape road, Williams’ Lance Stroll, Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson, Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley and Haas’ Romain Grosjean who had driven off track at Turn 3 early in the session with a gearbox problem.

    Perez quickly hauled himself out of danger, rising to 10th before dropping back to 12th place at the end of the session. That dropped McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne into the danger area, and as the final runs played out the Belgian was unable to drag himself out of the mire and was eliminated in P16.

    There was drama in the final moments as Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly was forced to take evasive action when he came across team-mate Brendon Hartley going slowly. The Frenchman was justifiably furious when his team-mate moved across on track, but he was told that Hartley had a puncture and had no choice but to drive slowly and the New Zealander apologised over team radio for his lapse. Both Toro drivers were eliminated, with Gasly in P17 ahead of Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson and with Hartley behind the Swede. Haas’ Romain Grosjean also exited the session, driving off track early in the session with a gearbox issue.

    In Q2, Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull opted to start the session on supersofts, looking to set their quickest lap on the compound and start on the red-banded Pirelli tyres. Räikkönen though struggled on the tyres, locking up twice and ruining flying laps as he tried to find a comfort zone. In P15 in the final minutes, he was forced to switch to the ultrasoft and his final run vaulted him to top spot ahead of Hamilton.

    There were nervous moments for Ricciardo as he abandoned a final run on ultrasofts. His supersoft lap left him 10th and he snuck through to Q3 just a tenth ahead of William’s Lances Stroll who was eliminated ahead of team-mate Sergey Sirotkin, McLaren’s Fernando Alonso, Sauber’s Charles Leclerc and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen.

    Vettel led the way in the first runs of Q3 with a time of 1:41.498 that put him 0.342s ahead of Hamilton, with Bottas third ahead of Verstappen and Ricciardo, who reported that he’d brushed the wall in Turn 15 on his first flyer.

    In the final runs, as Vettel failed to improve and Hamilton made an improvement, but not enough to threaten the German’s opening time, it was Räikkönen who threatened to make the biggest move and spoil his team-mate’s party. The Finn was two tenths up on Vettel after the first two sectors of his final flying lap but a huge slide in Turn 16 wrecked his lap and he remained sixth.

    Vettel, therefore, took his 53rd career pole ahead of Hamilton and Bottas. Ricciardo made a good step on this final run to claim fourth place ahead of Verstappen and Räikkönen. Force India’s good preparation was rewarded with seventh place for Esteban Ocon and eighth for Sergio Perez. Nico Hulkenberg was ninth with Renault team-mate Carlos Sainz tenth.

    2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Qualifying
    1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:41.498
    2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:41.677 0.179
    3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:41.837 0.339
    4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:41.911 0.413
    5 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:41.994 0.496
    6 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:42.490 0.992
    7 Esteban Ocon Force India 1:42.523 1.025
    8 Sergio Perez Force India 1:42.547 1.049
    9 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:43.066 1.568
    10 Carlos Sainz Renault 1:43.351 1.853
    11 Lance Stroll Williams 1:43.585 2.087
    12 Sergey Sirotkin Williams 1:43.886 2.388
    13 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:44.019 2.521
    14 Charles Leclerc Sauber 1:44.074 2.576
    15 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:44.759 3.261
    16 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 1:44.489 2.991
    17 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 1:44.496 2.998
    18 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:45.541 4.043
    19 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 1:57.354 15.856
    20 Romain Grosjean Haas .

     

  • Ferrari got a phenomenal car this year: Lewis Hamilton in Saturday Press Meet

    Ferrari got a phenomenal car this year: Lewis Hamilton in Saturday Press Meet

    Vettel takes pole on Saturday. An Fia image

    Baku, 28 April 2018: The Press Conference after qualification on Saturday at Baku, was attended by the three fastest qualifiers: Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari), Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) and Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes).

    TRACK INTERVIEWS

    Q: Sebastian Vettel is in pit lane and will be out here to speak to us soon, but let’s go and talk to the Mercedes guys who had such a quick car today but maybe not quite enough. Lewis, that first sector was phenomenal, just seemed to lose something in the second, but are you happy with your job today?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah, well firstly you’ve got a great crowd here – hi, everyone. That was close! We did the best job we could. Jeez, I think I was up three tenths until Turn 15 and then I came across the line two tenths up, so I lost a little bit in the last sector. But regardless, Sebastian did a good job. They were quickest all weekend. They’ve obviously got a phenomenal car this year. But really happy with the job the team did to get us from where we were yesterday to where we are today. Valtteri did also a great job. We’re in the mix. This is the fifth-best track to overtake, I think. It doesn’t mean it’s impossible but I’ll try to give Sebastian a hard time tomorrow.

    Q: As we saw from even the place markers being pushed away by the wind when you got here, how windy is it out there? How hard is it?

    LH: Down the straight particularly it’s hard to keep the car straight. You’re getting crosswinds in between buildings, so you’re constantly correcting the car, but the track has been great today, so I appreciate everyone in Azerbaijan for having us.

    Q: Great job, Lewis, and what about this guy? Seb, unbelievable job, three poles in a row, looked phenomenal out there. I know on your second run you were going for faster but a bit of a lock-up stopped you from doing that but you were phenomenal today.

    Sebastian VETTEL: Thank you. I felt the car was good in Q2 and Q2 and then in the last segment of qualifying I knew I have it, I have the car that does what I want. Not have it as in pole position, but that I could get a good lap together. The first lap I was really happy, there were maybe two tiny bits where it wasn’t exactly perfect, but I knew on the second run that the track would ramp up and that I would have to go out and get it again. I was a little bit down on the time, a little bit faster and then I locked up. It caught me by surprise for Turn 3 and then I wasn’t sure, do I go straight or do I try to hang on to it. I tried to hang on to it but, yeah, fortunately it was enough. I really had a good lap on the first attempt, so really happy.

    Q: Beautiful job. Don’t go anywhere. Hey Valterri, great car, quick car, can you take the fight to Ferrari tomorrow?

    Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, for sure we can. We are there with both cars now. It’s been really happening this season so we are starting very close. The race here can be really crazy, so we are up for the fight.

    Q: Right until the last lap, to the last inches it can be crazy, you know that better than anyone from last year?

    VB: Yeah, sure. Last year I was one lap down after lap one and I ended up second, so anything can happen but at least now we have a good starting point.

    Q: Seb, we come back to you. It’s been a great day, but this is only the start. Mercedes are in the mix, Red Bull are in the mix. How hard is it going to be tomorrow? Even just that run down to Turn 1, how tough is it going to be tomorrow?

    SV: It’s not that long. That way is a lot longer! I think it will be an intense race. Here, anything can happen, safety cars are very likely. The good point is that our car was really good this afternoon, so we should be in a good place tomorrow. Yesterday I struggled a bit with confidence, with trust in the car, and just rhythm, which is important around here, but today, when it clicks it just keeps coming and it was really enjoyable. I’m a bit upset with my final run because I thought I had a little bit more but we got pole so we can’t be much happier with how the day went.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Sebastian, how happy are you after this one, particularly after yesterday when you said you were lacking confidence in the car?

    SV: Well, lack of confidence in the car, leading into lack of confidence around the track. I think around this place you need to have the trust, otherwise you don’t dare go as quick as you might be able to. At the end of the session I was quite confident and today I was able to carry that into the day and the car was amazing. It just kept getting better. The track picked up quite a bit through qualifying. Q3 run one I was really happy. There was maybe a tiny bit in the middle sector – in Turn 6, Turn 11 – where I was a bit greedy and went a bit wider than I should, but the rest of the lap was really good. Also, I ha da good exit from the last corner, which was incredibly difficult today, with the wind playing tricks on all of is I guess, and even a little bit of a two with the car five, six, seven seconds ahead, so I was really happy how that lap came together. And then for the second run I knew there was a little bit more in those places that I mentioned and the car was on fire straight away but then I think I got a bit too excited for Turn 3 and tried to brake later, quite a bit later, than the laps before. I must have hit the bump as well and locked the front. From then onwards the front left was flat-spotted. I was quite upset at the time in the car, because I burnt my shot at an improvement and I didn’t know what was going around me. So when I then aborted the lap and I was told pole position then obviously I was really happy. I think the team has done well. We’ve changed the car again overnight and found even more performance.

    Lewis, we haven’t had you in the qualifying press conference for the last couple of races, so what news from Mercedes? Is the car much more to your liking?

    LH: It’s good to be back. I hope you haven’t missed me too much. Sebastian did a great job today, congratulations to him. Ferrari have been so dominant in the last couple of races and pace-wise we knew that they would be very quick here. Which they have been all weekend. I think Red Bull also looked really promising, not sure what happened to them. And we were struggling yesterday, but we came into today and the engineers did some really great work last night to understand where we were and how we could progress forwards, so a big thank you to them for all their hard work. Today was much more reasonable car. There were still areas where we were lacking but it’s a work in progress I would say and to be that close to the Ferraris is definitely a positive and to have me and Valtteri up there is a good booster for the team, to be right there in up in the mix. Excited for the race. It’s very hard to overtake here as it is anywhere around the world, but we’ll give it everything we’ve got.

    Q: Valtteri, how was the session from your point of view, and can we also have a word from you about the conditions. The wind seemed to be changing direction the whole time.

    VB: I think, like Lewis said, we made some good progress since yesterday. The end result today was a lot better than what we saw and thought it could be today. We believed we can fix the issues, just like we did here last year here actually, from Friday to Saturday and, yeah, we were still finding out way with the setup in Practice Three and made it even better for qualifying. Definitely the best car I had this weekend, so far. I think the session was pretty straightforward. At the beginning lots of yellow flags and difficult to put the lap together but after that Q2, Q3, really straightforward. I felt that I could never quite get the perfect lap. It is extremely difficult here – and, especially the second run I was still missing something. I feel maybe still Ferrari was too quick for us but yeah, as a team reasonable result now. We have both cars in pretty good position to fight for the win.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: A question for the two Mercedes drivers. What exactly did you have to change after yesterday’s session and how much of a difference did it actually make in the car? What was different about the cars’ handling today?

    LH: Just setup. Yesterday we were sliding around a lot, so setup wing level, ride heights. Pretty much everything on the car. Did a lot of changes.

    Valtteri, anything to add from your point of view?

    VB: No, no I think we had similar direction where we were heading since yesterday with both cars and definitely it was better.

    Q: Also for the two Mercedes drivers. You seemed to be able to match the Ferrari’s pace in Sector One, almost in Sector Three but Sector Two as the most difficult for you guys. What’s not happening in your car in the Old City section?

    VB: Yeah, I think we have seen that all weekend really. Especially the sessions earlier to qualifying. Sector Two is the twisty section and I think we’ve been struggling a little bit more than other cars, riding over the kerbs in some places, which might cause a bit of lap time loss for us. I think the main issue has been getting the tyres to work, and that can be made through the setup of the car. I think we’ve made it better. Obviously, they are still doing something better in Sector Two and getting the tyres to work, and being able to ride over the kerbs.

    Lewis, anything to add?

    LH: The middle sector, I can’t really explain it. I think they have a little bit more downforce than us.

    Q: Lewis, Bernie Ecclestone had some complimentary things to say about you yesterday. Said you’re super quick, super talented and a super nice guy – but he also said that he didn’t think you’re the racer you once were and that you appear fed up with things. Do you have any response or comment about that?

    LH: Not really, no.

    Q: Are you as good as you’ve ever been, do you think?

    LH: We’ll see at the end of the year.

    Q: Question for Sebastian. Sebastian, were you being made aware by your team how close Kimi had come to nicking pole from you. He was two-tenths up on you after the first couple of sectors. A second point to that, how much are you feeling from Kimi’s side of the garage this year. Are you noticing a renewed level of performance from him?

    SV: I think one thing is always to look at the result and the other one, if you look a little bit deeper… I think it’s been incredibly close this year so far. He’s obviously… to be honest, most of the Fridays I think he had the upper hand so far. Yeah, here and there was struggling to understand the car and feel the car so I think knowing him, knowing his strength, he’s incredibly talented and able to drive around problems. So, as I said, it’s been quite close this year. The last lap, I wasn’t aware, obviously I was out because I took myself out but if you look also the previous years the image is a bit distorting. It wasn’t as one-sided as you might think if you look at the results. I think we’re… I don’t know where you’re going or why you’re asking but I think we’re a good pair, a good match. We just said recently there’s so little problem… there’s no problem at all between us ever and there were races where I messed up, crashed into him, took him out and yeah, life goes on. I think that’s a really big bonus for the team and for us to just enjoy our job.

    Q:  Lewis and Valtteri, you said that the Ferrari probably has more downforce and here also the power unit is also very very important. Can you make a comment about it? It looks, from the outside that they have a little step in front of Mercedes, which is a great surprise in Formula One.

    LH: Well, I don’t know if that’s a surprise because they’ve had the same power units for all the races this season, so they’ve shown they’ve been very quick on the straights. They’ve got a very strong DRS in particular, quite efficient DRS as far as I’m aware. Yeah, but honestly I’ve not looked at the data so I don’t know where they are faster than us and where we’re faster than them but obviously they’ve made a big step forward this year and they are the number one team to beat at the moment.

    VB: I think that was everything, really.

    Q:  To Seb: you’ve been involved in Formula One now for a great number of years. How hard is it to sustain it at that level? I say that slightly… bearing in mind Bernie’s remarks about Lewis. How demanding and draining is it for a high level driver?

    SV: It’s certainly different… going into the season certainly feels different than it did ten years ago. I think that’s what ten years do to you. Don’t get me wrong, not in a bad way but I think as you grow up you change your views on some things, you hopefully get a bit wiser so you change… your horizon changes and also your motivation is different. Maybe you are looking at things a bit differently. It always depends on how you are as a person, which targets you have and what you’re ultimately trying to achieve. For me, I’m enjoying what I do, I love what I do, I love racing. Obviously there’s a lot of people that have an opinion on every single day that I’m in the car and sometimes they are right, sometimes they are not. I think the most important thing is that you know who you are and you’re true to yourself. Then, I think you can afford to listen less to what’s going on around, not be distracted and simply enjoy your racing. Whether you are at your prime or not, I think then – once you retire – you have enough time to analyse and look back and say… Of course, the level is high, if you want to fight at the front, you cannot afford to do many mistakes and for whoever is at the top and was at the top in the past for many years, usually has a high level and there’s a lot of effort going into it, not just putting everything together at the track but also away from the track. Yeah, without making it longer than it already is, it is a lot of work and sometimes it gets appreciated, other times less but ultimately it’s about yourself.

    Q:  The first two editions of this Grand Prix were very different. One was very tame, almost dull, and last year we had a crashfest, so what can we expect from tomorrow’s race, especially with the weather conditions getting even worse with more wind?

    SV: I don’t have a crystal ball so I don’t know. The thing nowadays, that I don’t like, is that people tend to judge our sport straightaway based on one race. After Australia we had ‘catastrophe, these cars blah blah blah.’ I mean yes, it might have been a boring race but also it’s down to many things: the track, the race, whatever. Then we had, I think, an entertaining race in Bahrain and in China. Maybe tomorrow’s boring, maybe it’s exciting. I don’t know. Maybe it rains. Who knows? In the end, that’s why we go racing so that we will find out, I guess.

    LH: Yeah, hopefully it will be fun and hopefully challenging. If you look at the GP2 (F2) race, there were lots of safety cars as there were last year. I really have no idea what’s in store for us but I know it’s going to be exciting and I just hope that we’re there in the mix, fighting with them.

    VB: Yeah, I think it’s going to be a good race, because we have such a tight field this year and on a track like this, where we have a massive long straight and there’s the possibility for overtaking so at least we try to make it exciting with Lewis and battling for the win.

    Q:  Seb, it’s obvious that the guys next to you want to make the next undercut tomorrow. Will you be prepared for it?

    SV: Well, I think certainly what happened in China, we didn’t like it but I think we have a good team looking after this sort of stuff. I think we will see how the start goes, how the first stint goes but certainly we are aware that this is a long lap here and the undercut power is probably there. Equally it’s tough, I guess, to make the tyres work straight away for everyone. I think what there was to learn from China we learned and we should be fine tomorrow.

    Ends

  • This year we are more aggressive (with tyres) says, Mario Isola of Pirelli: Friday Press Meet

    Baku, 27 April 2018: The traditional FIA Friday press conference with team representatives saw Paul Monaghan of Red Bull, James Allison of Mercedes and Mario Isola of Pirelli take part in the interaction with the media at the Round 6 of the Formula One World Championship here on today.

    Transcript of the interview:

    Q: Paul, if we could start with you and deal with the here and now, Max Verstappen had a crash in that FP1 session. What can you tell us about the state of your car?
    Paul Monaghan: It’s not survived unscathed, so we’ve got a front-left corner to change, we’re underway with that. There’s a little bit of bodywork repair to do on the left-hand side, change the floor, rear wing, that sort of thing. It’s time-consuming but recoverable. So, with a following wind we’ll get him out in P2.

    Q: Have you spoken to Max, do you know what caused the accident? 
    PM: It’s difficult to know what caused it to swap ends under braking. Nothing’s broken, nothing’s gone wrong. I think he’s braked pretty much in the same point so we’re having a hunt through to see what may lie underneath that but I don’t think there’s anything sinister in it and he’ll be out in P2 – and he’ll be quick, don’t worry.

    Q: Max’s problems aside, the team has hit the ground running this year with RB14, fastest lap in two of the opening three races and, of course, that terrific victory last time out in China. Just how much can you achieve with that car this year?
    PM: We ought to have that chat in Abu Dhabi really, and then we can put facts to it. It really comes down to what the gentleman to my left does and what other competitors do. We will develop at the best pace we can, we’ll try to operate the car in the most competitive way we can and, actually, we’re judged by our opposition, aren’t we? We’ll do what’s in our control, get to the end of the year, be as quick as we can and if we’re in the hunt, we’re in the hung.

    Q: And what can you tell us about updates? Have you got stuff coming in Barcelona? Is there a big chassis upgrade there?
    PM: I don’t think there’s a race where we don’t have any updates. The magnitude of the updates varies race to race, as I’m sure it does for other people as well. There might be a few more changes in Spain – you’ll have to wait and see.

    Q: Mario, if we could come to you now. You gapped the tyre compounds in China, leap-frogging the supersoft tyre. How successful was that approach? What feedback have you had from the teams?
    Mario Isola: I feel it was successful but obviously, the Safety Car changed a little bit the situation. So, we had a two-stop race but mainly due to the Safety Car – but it’s interesting to see that the top teams – Ferrari, Mercedes – decided to qualify in Q2 with a soft compound in order to have this opportunity to start the race with a different tyre. So, we created a bit of difference in strategies also at the beginning of the race. It was the same in Bahrain where all the three compounds were suitable for the race and all the teams used different combinations, different strategies. This is the target we can achieve.

    Q: The desire pre-season was for two pitstops in each grand prix – but one stop has been possible at all of the races. What have you got to do to achieve those two stops?
    MI: If I look at the target that we have, it’s to have different strategies with different numbers of pitstops possible. Obviously if a team is able to control degradation, they always try to maximise the one-stop strategy – or to use the one-stop strategy. So, what we do when we select the compounds is to try to have a two-stop strategy that is the quickest – but obviously, we have a three-stop and a one-stop that is close to the two-stop but with a delta lap time, a total race time, that is sometimes a few seconds. So, depending on team choice and how they manage the pace, they can change and go towards the one-stop strategy that is always, let’s say, less risky, because you don’t go back in traffic – and we know how difficult sometimes it is to overtake another car – you don’t take the risk to have another pitstop, so to make a mistake in that pitstop, and so on. That’s why when you have strategies that are all very close, all the teams are trying to go in the one-stop direction. But, if we have different cars with different strategies, I think we had a couple of good races with a good show. So, we should continue in this direction.

    Q: You announced yesterday your compound choices up to and including the Austrian Grand Prix. Is there a little bit of evidence of a more aggressive compound choice from Pirelli going forwards?
    MI: In general, this year we are more aggressive with at least one step. Here in Baku we are two steps softer than last year. This is the direction. To make the right decisions, we need to collect more data. We started the season, for example, the nomination for Baku was 15 weeks ago and had available only the numbers coming from the Abu Dhabi test, end of last season, so we are collecting new numbers, we put the new numbers in our system to generate strategies, and, if it is possible, – we don’t just consider the numbers but also other elements – but if it is possible, we want to move on the softer side in order to have more interesting races.

    Q: James, Mercedes are leading the Constructors’ Championship but this is the first time in the hybrid era that you’ve got three races without a victory – so what is the mood in the camp at the moment?
    James Allison: Well, hungry to get that first victory, obviously! And hungry to follow it up with more. We’d had our chances. We’ve squandered some of them and we would like, dearly, to have a race weekend where we do everything right and get a race win.

    Q: Is there any evidence that Lewis is struggling with this car more than Valtteri?
    JA: No, I wouldn’t say so. No, I don’t think so. If you look at pre-season, Melbourne and Bahrain as well where he was hampered by a gearbox penalty, but he’s been going well.

    Q: How do you assess the pecking order so far this year?
    JA: It’s tough to do, honestly. We were clearly quickest in Melbourne; it was really close between us and Ferrari in Bahrain and all three teams had a fair shout in China. Probably Ferrari had the edge overall but we looked like we were going to rob them with a bit of a burglary job in an undercut and then Paul had us over at the Safety Car. So it’s terribly tight – which makes for a great spectacle, gives us a real challenge and is anxiety-inducing and exhilarating in equal measure for us and the teams.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: A question for both Paul and James. From next season we will have an increase in the fuel limit in Formula 1. I just wanted to get your thoughts on the potential this has to change the competitive order. Do you think there is enough of a difference in the fuel efficiency of the different engine manufacturers to make a bit of a difference?
    PM: Honestly, I can’t answer your question, because I can’t tell you how fuel efficient the Ferrari or the Mercedes is, not from their measured sheets, we can make an estimate. Will it change the competitive order, I don’t believe it will, no. What you’ll find is… let’s take the ideal scenario, by which the Red Bull is the quickest car next year. We’ll get first and second on the grid, other people will be behind us and then in the race you’ll have 110kg of fuel to burn. If we all need to lift off a certain amount at the beginning of the race then you’re not going to change the order very much. What will happen is, let’s say if our engine is less fuel efficient, then we won’t be lifting off but we will go off the line slightly heavier. If anything, what we will avoid is all the people lifting off the straights to try and save the fuel, which I think will be better for the overall spectacle.

    James, anything to add?
    JA: No, very similar. I don’t think it will change the order one iota, but people don’t really like the lift-and-coast spectacle and it will reduce that somewhat at the very heavily fuel-limited tracks. However, not all the tracks are heavily fuel-limited and there it will make no difference at all.

    Q:  To Paul and James: after the Ferrari report of their incident in Bahrain was shared with the teams, have you in way changed your pit stop procedures and operations?
    JA: No, is the answer.
    PM: We’re the same; we’ve not changed anything

    Q:  To Paul and James: just a quick question about the rule change on the ability to fit mirrors on the Halo. I just wondered if teams had looked into that at all yet and if it’s something we will see in the future?
    PM: Now there is some clarity, I guess we know that we can now put mirrors on Halos, so if someone wants to go down that route and try to fulfill the other requirements in the TD, which are not trivial to observe, then yes, we will see it in a few races’ time. Whether or not you actually can make it work I think is more tricky.
    JA: Yeah, it’s not a rule change, it’s a clarification of the existing rules and it is tough. It is tough to attach to attach a mirror and not make it wobble around and satisfy all the criteria of the TD that clarifies what you can and can’t do.

    Q:  Again to the two technical delegates on the stage. If we look at the post-2020 regulations, where they’re talking about doing away with some of the heat energy recovery systems and increasing rev limits and fuel flow and whatever. Could we see a return to pit stops with refueling or are we just going to go to the line with cars weighing 50 or 60 kilos more than they do at the moment?
    JA: Well, there would need to be a change that would allow refueling back into the sport for that to happen. If refueling was allowed it’s quicker to do a race that way, but I’m not sure that’s part of the package of things that is currently on offer for 2021. Does that answer your question?

    Q: Then the weight is going to go up drastically?
    JA: Well, the weight will be whatever the fuel allowance is, won’t it?

    Paul?
    PM: It’s difficult to answer your question Dieter, because we haven’t been presented with a set of technical regulation proposals for 2021. You could up the fuel flow rate to the engine and not give us any more fuel flow for the race, in which case your off-the-line weight doesn’t actually change but will never attain the qualifying fuel flow rate. So, as James had said, we don’t have refueling at the moment, we could, but if that’s not in then you are correct in that the potential is for the car weight to go up off the line.

    Would you like to see a return of refueling? 
    PM: No idea, actually. We looked at it a while ago and from memory of the simulation work done within Red Bull, I suspect all the teams’ strategies would converge on the same thing, because you no longer have an ever-decreasing car weight, you reset every time. You‘ll pick the quickest way to do the race, the pit stops get a little bit longer, and if we all sit there doing the same thing then what we have done is to put a big valve in the side of the car.
    JA: It’s to be assessed carefully but the refueling strategies are more predictable and allow less variation in the race and less surprise in the race than non-refuelling strategies, because once you put a chunk of fuel in your car, you have to stop on the lap where you run out, or a lap or two before and everyone knows when that is going and it just stops the surprise undercut or the chance overcut that comes with the current regs.

    Q: James, last season Mercedes faced a sustained challenger from Ferrari, which mean that you were having to react to having an extra car or two in the competitive picture from the beginning. This year it looks like Red Bull is in the mix too. Apart from simply adding two more cars to the equation, how much more difficult has that made Mercedes’ life and how have you responded to that challenge.
    JA: Well, time will how we respond to it. Hopefully we respond to it by being nicely competitive and at the front of the pack. But that will be very difficult, because these are two very strong competitors. Having six cars that can have a claim on the top step of the podium makes it a headache for all six that are doing that. All we can do is try to make our car as quick as it can be, with the developments we bring in the factory and then have a weekend, every time we come out here, where we make no mistakes, and hopefully other blink, and others maybe don’t develop quite so strongly. But these are three very strong teams, so it makes for an exciting prospect.

    Q:  Question for Mario: have you had any feedback on the ultrasoft performance from the first session, because we heard Seb’s radio message where he said these tyres are toast and we know that Kimi’s only got one set of supers? Has there been any feedback?
    MI: I think we have a lot of track evolution, which is typical of street circuits like this one. The circuit was with a lot of dust and so we need to wait for FP2 to understand the real performance of the three compounds. It’s not a surprise that the level of grip in general is very low so we will see. There is also the wind that sometimes affects the performance or changes the braking points and so on, so let’s wait and see what happens in FP2.

    Q:  Mario, several teams including Mercedes have found it harder to find the sweet spot with the 2018 Pirelli tyres. Have you been surprised by that? And to Paul and James, how has been the tyres’ measurement from your own perspective? 
    MI: No, I’m not surprised because when we have a working range, we give an interval of temperature where the tyres are working but there is always a peak and when you have three teams with the cars so close, they are looking for any hundredth of a second to find the best performance in the tyre. That means that it’s very difficult to find the sweet spot, even if you have a working range that is wider. To develop new compounds, especially the softer compounds we started from the soft from last year – that was the one with the wider working range, so the approach was this one, trying to increase the working range but as I said, it’s not flat performance from eighty to 110 degrees, you always have a peak and if a car is able to stay in that position, they have a performance advantage.
    JA: Well, we have generally got it right in the race, so we’ve generally had the tyre working very nicely in the races, pre-season and in these opening rounds but we have not always got it right in qualifying, to make the tyre wake up and play on the single lap and that’s our job to do. It’s eminently do-able and it’s going to be fun when we get it right every time.
    PM: To answer your question, I don’t think it’s any more difficult than it’s been the past few years. Once you’ve identified what you want to try and do with it, if the drivers and teams get it right then we can find it. I think it’s an evolution of what we’ve learned for the last few years.

    Q: To the two technical delegates: there’s been this talk about the $150m budget cap which applies predominantly to technical issues and race operation issues because marketing etc are excluded. James, specifically your team, which is one of the biggest budgets on the grid and also to Paul, is it actually realistic to expect a team to cut back to $150m in two years’ time? 
    JA: Well, I think the answer to that is probably a little above my pay grade. You want to probably pitch that towards Toto but what I would know is that this is the opening point of what will be a fair amount of discussion between the teams and Liberty over the coming weeks and months, and I’m sure that a position will eventually be agreed that works for all parties.
    PM: I would agree with what James has said. We will see where the discussion goes and we’ll set the team up to suit the rules as they evolve and become clearer.

    Q: Another question for James and Paul: over the last few months, there’s been plenty of discussion over FIA personnel leaving and joining different teams on the grid; in fact one of those is starting his first Grand Prix weekend here with Renault. One of the suggestions has been that that could lead to a bit of mistrust from teams about what they can and can’t present to the FIA for fear of it eventually being taken elsewhere. Has there been any evidence of that so far and do you think that is a serious issue going forward? 
    PM: It is a serious issue. It has been discussed in other forums, shall we say. I believe that there is now a non-disclosure agreement between the FIA, F1 and all the teams, so our data is at least protected. People move between the teams, so knowledge is transferred in that respect. I suppose someone in a governing body with access to all the teams’ areas could be a prize catch and I believe that there are changes afoot to limit how… what a gardening period and after that it’s a process that we are all at risk to, I guess.
    JA: I think your question was whether there had been any evidence of that? No, the FIA have always treated our data with unimpeachable fairness and discretion and there’s no evidence at all that there’s been anything other than that, even with a couple of people leaving so no.

  • The highs and lows of sport can bring you a lot of emotions, happy emotions too: Ricciardo

    Baku, 26 April 2018: The following drivers took part in the FIA Thursday press conference of the Formula One World Championship here: Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull), Nico Hulkenberg (Renault), Kevin Magnussen (Haas)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Daniel, if we could start with you, last time you were in the press conference room you were very emotional after winning in China. Having had two weeks to reflect on it, why did that win mean so much to you?

    Daniel RICCIARDO: I haven’t had many, I guess, so they still feel very special. The wins. I guess it had been a fairly long time since Baku. A pretty long time between drinks, the last win and the whole race, I guess the weekend in Bahrain, the kind of… I just feel that the biggest disappointment in racing is being out of the race at the beginning, y’know, before it’s really started. You’re out of the race on the first lap or something, it’s tough – because you’ve worked all weekend to get to the Sunday and then it’s over like that. After Bahrain, I was obviously relieved to have a race the weekend after and have a chance to back it up. Well, to try again. And then yeah, the whole weekend, Saturday, FP3, another kinda head-down moment, but then to get out for qualifying and how the race turned out. It was cool. I guess just a lot emotion, happy emotions for sure. Yeah. The highs and lows of the sport can do that to you.

    Q: Have you seen enough from Red Bull Racing to think about the Championship this year?

    DR: Probably haven’t seen enough from everyone yet! So, I’m not thinking about the Championship in that sense. Obviously, I want to think about being there. But yeah, naturally because we won everyone’s asking can we fight for the championship now? It’s still early – but I think we’ve proved, if we’re there, we can do a lot with it. That’s the plan: to continue to be there for the next few races.

    Q: Nico, coming on to you, you’ve qualifying seventh at every race since Mexico last year. You’ve only been out-qualified by a team-mate once in the last 27 races. It’s an impressive stat, so let’s start by talking about qualifying. Have you made a step in this area?

    Nico HÜLKENBERG: I think I’ve just managed to… yeah… to hit it on the head each time. I quite enjoy qualifying, I like getting out there where it counts and putting a lap together. I feel also the last 20 or so races I also had a car that allows me to do that and gives me the support that a driver needs also. Since last year, with this generation of cars, when you have the downforce, you’ve got more grip to work with. It’s just been a bit more fun and probably helps the way I drive also, a little bit.

    Q: Let’s talk about where Renault are battling in the Championship. It looks, at the minute, a tight fight between yourselves, Haas and McLaren for fourth. Is this where you see yourself destined this year – or do you think you can start to challenge the guy on your left?

    NH: No, I think for now it’s more, like you say, about Haas and McLaren, these kind of teams, to try to keep them at bay but it’s very tight. Each weekend will be a bit different depending on the tyre compounds, different tracks and layouts. What favours one car more than another one. But for sure it’s a big development race in the midfield also. But yeah, we’re trying to get ahead but still got a lot of areas to work on to catch all the three guys ahead.

    Q: Kevin, coming on to you. While we’re talking about this battle for fourth place, perhaps we could ask you about Haas. Do you think they can maintain their current level of competitiveness, going forwards?

    Kevin MAGNUSSEN: It’s not going to be easy for sure. We’ve started with a good car and done a good job over the winter. I think we’re in this situation and we haven’t had a perfect start to the year so I think there’s more in it if we can get through the races and clear out any mistakes. Then I think we’re in good shape. Whether it will stay like that for the whole year, I think it depends a lot on how the other teams do: obviously, Renault and McLaren. Last year, consistency wasn’t our biggest strength, so I think that’s an area we have improved, it seems. Our car this year is a little easier to work with and seems like it has a broader window for its performance. I’m hoping that we can at least be much more competitive thought the whole season than last year – but whether we can keep up to those big guys, it’s not going to be easy but we’ll do our best.

    Q: You mentioned consistency, and one area where you have been very consistent is qualifying. You appear to have made a big step since last year. Can you explain how that’s come about?

    KM: It’s only been three races but I think the car is obviously better than last year. It’s performing, as I said, it has a broader window for its performance and it’s easier. You can set it up for what you prefer as a driver, in your driving style and it will still work. It’s just a little easier to drive. A little more forgiving, more predictable and it obviously has more grip. In terms of aero it’s more consistent. I prefer a consistent car, especially on the rear, a rear that I can trust and depend on and predict. This car has a good consistency in that regard. I think that helps – but generally just being more competitive makes things easier.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: Question for Daniel. You won in China from sixth place. Only one of the previous 72 races, there has been a driver starting outside the top five who also won. That was you, here in Baku. What is your secret? Is it patience? Can you tell me something about it?

    DR: I’d like to qualify on the front row. It’s not always the case. I don’t know. Obviously the race is the race and qualifying is super-important in the sport but you can also have a different car on Sunday. You can take more opportunities and more opportunities can present themselves in the race – and that’s ultimately what we get to the weekend for, is the Sunday. The race obviously had the mid-race safety car in China and bunched everyone up and gave me a second chance to attack. I sensed an opportunity and made sure I capitalised on that. I think that’s something I really demand from myself and, I guess, expect from myself. A bit like Baku last year. Mid-race we were at the back but it was kinda just… you see a car in front and you try to pass them, you see the next car, you try to pass them, you see the next car and try to pass them. Obviously, I knew Seb was going to have the penalty, Lewis had the headrest thing. It was crazy – but again I sensed an opportunity and knew the restart was super-important to try to pass the Williams in front and in the end, for me that was the race-winning move, so I think yeah, just being aware of what’s available. Because we’re not winning every weekend, when you have a sniff of a victory, that’s all the motivation and the hunger I need. It’s enjoyable when you can see it in front of you.

    Q: Question for you Daniel, you have a big decision to make at some point over what you do for next season, which team you’ll be driving for. Red Bull is an environment you know extremely well, it will be a big change of scenery if you did go to another team. Lewis was in a similar situation a few years ago, left McLaren for Mercedes. How curious are you to find out if the grass is greener somewhere else?

    DR: It’s a good way of putting it. I don’t know. The curiosity will not overcome the facts, I guess, in terms of what options I will have, I guess and then which car is ultimately the fastest I can be with. Obviously that’s really top of my list. So yeah, I wouldn’t just… to answer that differently, I wouldn’t just go somewhere else just for a change. If I did move on obviously I’d want to make sure it was something I feel would potentially be better. That’s all really.

    Q: As a follow-up to that, do you feel a loyalty to Red Bull?

    DR: There will always be a bit of that, for sure. It’s kind of like, the start of it, 2008, it’s ten years since I was in the Red Bull Junior Team. So it’s a long time and they really set it up for me, to make all this happen. There will always be that. At some point you’ve got to weigh-up what does what but regardless, there will always be something and I’d always show love, I think, nonetheless.

    Q: Daniel, you said you can go to one place potentially better. After watching the last race, we saw Kimi competing for Sebastian, not for himself, and he was faster than Sebastian all the weekend, except in qualifying. Aren’t you worried that eventually, if you consider the possibility of Ferrari, that people you ask the same function as Kimi, to work just for another driver and not for himself, being a world champion like him?

    DR: These are certainly things that I would… wherever I may be, or go, I would always make sure that there was some clarity. I wouldn’t want to go somewhere where I didn’t feel I had a chance. At the moment that’s what I’m chasing is to try and be world champion. That’s my goal, my dream, something I really believe I’m capable of, so yeah, if someone said ‘we’ll let here but you can’t do this’, that’s not an attraction option to me. Is that the case somewhere? I don’t know. I honestly don’t know what’s going on with other teams. At Red Bull there’s always been really good clarity and I would say fairness, since 2014, since I’ve been there. That’s been certainly a nice environment and I would expect that environment everywhere.

    Q: A question for Nico, Kevin and Daniel. How surprised are you that Mercedes didn’t win yet and do you think it might change this weekend? Is it good for the sport?

    NH: I think there have always been some circumstances that stopped them from winning. In Melbourne it was a safety car, in Shanghai as well, in Bahrain I don’t remember. I tend not to look at their race so much. I think they will get a shot at it pretty soon. Again, I think they have one of the best packages, so it’s just a matter of time.

    Kevin?

    KM: Nothing to add to that.

    Are you surprised?

    KM: Oh yeah, very surprised.

    Daniel?

    DR: They’re still very competitive and probably for circumstances and maybe not executing the perfect race yet are perhaps why. I think it is a matter of time. It is good for the sport, I think, to have that little bit of a change for now, but I don’t think it’s going to be necessarily a trend. As Nico said, I think it is a matter of time. They do have a fast car. They do have certainly a good package. We’ll try to keep holding them out as long as we can. But for sure, I expect them to be strong every weekend.

    Q: Daniel, to what extent have you had any talks with Ferrari or Mercedes or Red Bull about next year, and how would you feel going side by side with Lewis?

    DR: So, I’ve only had talks with Red Bull. Even already last year, we’ve been pretty open with each other, and through the media as well, I think everyone is aware they’re interested in keeping me. We’ve had some talks regarding that obviously. I’m aware of other reports, but there hasn’t been anything else. They’re not true, at least up until now certainly not. Lewis: I would love to be challenged against the best and Lewis is arguably up there, so for sure that would be a good challenge. I’ve got a good challenge now obviously with Max and I had Seb, so I don’t want to say it’s just Lewis I’m looking for, but that would be a good challenge.

    Q: Daniel, to date Red Bull have managed your career, so you’ve driven for them and they’ve also been your managers. Now at the end of this year you’re on your own. What sort of infrastructure do you have? Do you honestly believe you could negotiate a crucial contract for your future and concentrate on delivering your best on track this year? Do you have a manager? Do you have some advisers? What do you have?

    DR: Yeah, I’ve got a small little group, a network, around me and as far as the real negotiations go. I’ve got a guy doing that for me. Look, I’m obviously super aware and invested in what I want and where I see myself I guess, but as far as the real in-depth talks and all that, I think it’s best for me not to really focus on that too much. I’ve been getting asked the same questions since Austin, since Max re-signed. I think it was in Austin. So, it’s been probably been more than six months now, and it hasn’t got me. I don’t overcomplicate it. I guess with the people around me I keep it pretty small and I’m happy with that.

    Q: Daniel, as a follow-up to the earlier question. Could you specifically rule out that you have any kind of pre-arrangement with Ferrari, because that’s what the reports have been in Italy?

    DR: No, that’s not true. Yeah, I can say that.

    Q:  The question goes to Daniel…

    DR: I’m going to buy these guys a drink… Jeez!

    Q:  You’re brave driver, I expect now a brave answer. Do you think you would have won the race in Bahrain with the Mercedes in this situation?

    DR: Oh, I answered this question in Shanghai. I know you weren’t in Shanghai. All I said is that I would have tried. I don’t want to say tried like… I would have had a look in Turn 1. If it worked, I don’t know, I don’t want to say it, because I wasn’t in the race and it’s probably not fair, and it’s probably a bit disrespectful when I wasn’t in Seb or Valtteri’s shoes. But I would see myself having a lunge for sure, so that’s the way I would answer it.

    Q: Daniel, Baku was the only race you won last year, and how do you feel now when you are again here and does it give you more confidence before the current race?

    DR: Well done, Baku. I’ve been waiting to say that. Felt good! Obviously some good memories. I think when you come back to a track that you’ve had success on, I don’t think it necessarily changes your confidence. I think every race you go to you come prepared and that gives you confidence. So I’m not coming here thinking I’m going to be better than I was last week or anything like that, but there is a good feeling. There’s a nice feeling coming back, some good memories, so there are happy thoughts, I guess, and that’s nice. But the approach to the on-track stuff and the way I’ll approach the weekend, that doesn’t change.

    Daniel, you’ve had fastest lap in two of the opening three races. Are you favourite this weekend?

    DR: I wouldn’t go that far! Maybe a fan favourite, is that what you’re saying? I hope we’re close, but I think it’s too early to say we’re favourites. I think we have a good race car for sure. I think one-lap pace we’ve still got to show a bit more. At least for Saturday I think we’ll probably not be there but Sunday, who knows, that can turn around.

    Q: I was going to ask you Daniel, but the question fits all three drivers: the three of you have had a better start to the season than last year and I know the season is still long but does this give an amount of confidence, a boost?

    KM: Yeah, definitely, it’s a much better season, getting off better at the start of the season so yeah, I would say the answer is yes, it’s a nice feeling and it’s more and enjoyable and easier to look forward to the races when you know you’ve got a good car and can fight for points.

    NH: Yeah, for sure. It’s definitely fun if you have a good couple of races and straightaway you get a couple of points and good results on the board. For sure that helps yourself, you know, but also the whole team, all the people are working hard; back in the factory, it puts a spring in their step and helps to create a good atmosphere and motivation inside the team.

    Q: And Nico, how are you enjoying the intra-team battle with Carlos Sainz this year?

    NH: I enjoy it, it’s good so far.

    DR: Yeah, I think the team one’s a big one. For sure it’s getting a good start like that it’s… there’s a lot of people back at the factory and for them to have that kind of motivation and that drive, it’s a long season and to get that kick-started early with some results is really important. I definitely feel that and believe that so that’s cool and I think from a personal point of view I think it’s just nice to get the season started well, because there’s a long break, obviously, between the… the off-season, then you do your training and you obviously prepare as well as you can so when that then corelates to good results on track that’s also a little bit rewarding.

    Q: Bahrain was only two races ago for you guys, are you worried about reliability?

    DR: I don’t want to use the word worried because, at least from my point of view, I’ve just got to drive the car. In a way it’s out of my control so I’m not going to drive around worried. You’re going too fast and too focused to be worried, but yeah, right now I’m not really in the short term. Maybe once we get later in the season it’s likely we’ll come across some penalties or whatever but right now… baseline chill.

    Q: We know now that next season Formula One is going to raise the fuel limit slightly. From your perspective, do you feel a bit too forced to manage your races at the moment and do you think this is going to make a significant difference in terms of flat-out racing next year?

    NH: Yeah, it will definitely help the fuel saving situation and not really having to worry about that too much, on that front, definitely allows you to push to the limit. Obviously it’s not always just about fuel sometimes, it’s linked in with what the tyres are doing, how they behave. Weekend for weekend that’s quite different. There might be some of that left still but for sure it’s a positive thing I think and in the right direction.

    DR: Yup, I don’t see any real loss for the… Like races like Melbourne, that’s quite a high fuel demand circuit – there’s probably a better word but you know what I mean. So there’s a lot of lifting during the race, a lot of fuel management I guess. We all do it, part of us, like now, we’re all used to doing it but for sure it’s going to be better if we can race with real intentions for every lap.

    KM: Yeah, I think it’s good that it’s been raised. There are some races during the year that can be really really tricky like Russia for example, it can be almost ridiculous there. So it’s nice to see that going up so you can push a bit more. I don’t mind a little bit of fuel saving…  sometimes even before you had these limitations, like five years ago they were doing some management because they would start the race with an anticipation of safety cars or whatever. A little bit is fine but sometimes it’s too much. I think it’s a good change.

    Q: Daniel, what exactly are you looking for in your next contract? You’ve been reported as saying you don’t want anything longer than two years because Formula One’s going to be changing post-2020. The other top teams have all got somebody established in there already. What are you actually looking for? You’ve said you’ve got key requirements that you want, what are they, please?

    DR: Did I say key requirements, Dieter Rencken? I don’t really know how to answer any more contract questions. I don’t know if I’m getting bored of it but no, look, the real requirement obviously is to try and put myself in a position to win a World title. As I said, it doesn’t mean where I am currently is not that place but I think that’s why I’m trying to take my time with it because it’s still too early. Obviously we won the last race, that was great but realistically we need to win more than just once in the season to fight for a title so that’s why I’m going to take my time, but that’s the priority for sure and I guess the financials and all that are definitely behind that.

    Q: Daniel, how concerned are you about the regulations post-2020?

    DR: I guess I haven’t thought about it too much. We’re aware of it but I don’t know if I’m concerned about it. I don’t know. I feel like every year something changes, as in like life changes, things change, so looking beyond, like two years after this, seems like a long way away so that’s more for that but for the sport itself, I think all us drivers will do what we can to make it – any change – to make it for the better, we will, for the racing, for the atmosphere, for all of that. We are, let’s say, investing some time in those discussions, amongst us drivers, but I’m not necessarily concerned about the sport or where it’s going. But yeah, for me personally, I think just thinking about 2021 now seems like a long time away.

    Q:  Daniel, my last question about your future, for the moment: you said you didn’t speak with Ferrari or Mercedes at the moment, only with Red Bull. But are you patient enough to wait, that people come to you or do you have a deadline maybe in summertime and nobody, apart from Red Bull, was talking to you? Would you then go to the people from Mercedes or Ferrari, to ask what’s going on? Or would you just wait until they come to you?

    DR: I guess it’s not a bad question. For sure, like the summer seems fine. I guess I don’t really fear not having a seat next year so I don’t feel that I need to sign something tomorrow or I will have nothing, so I guess for that reason I feel like I can see until the summer what’s happening. If nothing has happened since then, then yeah, I guess I think of Plan B or whatever that is and if it’s only then Red Bull, then that’s where I am at so yeah, but I don’t really feel that I need to push anything until then.

    Q: All of you drive cars with power units that have won races this year: Ferrari and Renault. Mercedes out of first place until now. Can you comment what improvements your partner took for Renault to win the races and also Ferrari?

    Q: Your thoughts on the Ferrari power unit this year, Kevin, compared to last year?

    KM: Yeah, it’s a step forward, not only in power – a little step in power but in reliability. We need to see a little further to be sure that the reliability is there completely but it seems like it is. No complaints about the power unit. It’s not the power unit’s fault that we’re not winning, for sure.

    NH: Yeah, I think for us at Renault it’s the step in reliability that we’ve managed to fix. Obviously the second half of last year we had a lot of problems, lost a lot of points and results and I think they’ve managed to cure and fix a lot of the issues there. On top of that, also worked on a lot of the installation things. Powerwise, I think we’ve made a step too so they’ve done a very good job on the Renault power unit over the winter. Doesn’t mean that there’s not more work to do but I think we’ve done some good improvements.

    DR: I think, in race trim, I think on Sundays… I guess it’s no secret we don’t have as much power available on a Saturday as Ferrari and Merc power units but I think on Sunday, when everything kind of settles down and you run a race mode-type of engine, I think we’ve closed the gap on Sundays so yeah, following the quicker cars in China, for example, even Kimi in Melbourne, from what I remember last year, it felt like we were certainly losing out a lot less in those conditions so that was nice, that was positive, for sure.

     

  • Alonso and McLaren hoping for another points-scoring race in Baku

    Alonso and McLaren hoping for another points-scoring race in Baku

    Baku (Azerbaijan), 24 April 2018: Having finished among points in all three rounds so far this season, former double World champion Fernando Alonso (McLaren) was positive that he would continue his consistent performance in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix here this weekend.

    The Spanish ace also hoped that he would replicate his last year’s performance at this circuit when the team earned its first points of the 2017 season.

    “Last year’s race in Baku was certainly a memorable one for us. It was a crazy Grand Prix and we scored our first points of the season there, so we’ll naturally be looking to repeat that this weekend.

    “Even though it’s only been on the calendar for a short time, this circuit is already known among the drivers as a great racer’s track. It’s the fastest street track of the year and also one of the longest, so it’s pretty tough on the car and the driver, but that’s definitely part of the appeal.

    “We know our limitations and where we need to improve our package, and, although we bring parts to test to every race weekend, we aren’t anticipating a radical change in our performance in Baku. However, we’re learning more and more about the behaviour of our car each time we step into the cockpit, and in Azerbaijan we’ll be maximising everything we have as usual to score as many points as possible,” said Alonso.

    Team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne said: “Baku City Circuit is a pretty tough, but also enjoyable track, and it’s quite challenging for the drivers. You literally drive through the historic centre of the old town which was a really cool experience last year, and overtaking is tricky on the narrow streets.

    “Saying that, we saw anything but a processional race last year and hopefully we can take advantage of any drama that this track throws at us next weekend. Last year was tough as the only real overtaking opportunity is at the end of the long straight, and it’ll be tricky for us again, but we’ll see what’s possible with the MCL33.

    “As well as making sure we set ourselves up on the right strategy, for me the start will be crucial on Sunday. I’ve not had the best starts over the last couple of races and with overtaking tough here we need to try to maximise our starting position. In China, we fought hard but I picked up some floor damage which made pushing ahead very difficult, so I’m looking forward to a tight battle in the midfield and progressing as much as we can in the race.”

    Eric Boullier, Racing Director, said: “On a track where drama and action seem to have become almost par for the course in Baku given last year’s events, strategy will be a key factor in next weekend’s race. We know our package tends to deliver more on Sundays, so the important thing will be to react quickly to anything that happens.

    “We must keep our heads down, push hard and take any and every opportunity that comes our way. Both of our drivers have raced brilliantly in the first grands prix of the season and I know they’ll be relishing the opportunity to maximise what they have underneath them in Baku.

    “This fast, challenging street circuit has already become a welcome and exciting location on the calendar and we’ve witnessed some great battles. Overtaking is at a premium, so, while we don’t underestimate the importance of our starting grid slots for Sunday’s race, we’re also looking forward to the challenge that racing through these historic city streets brings.”

    Focus points 

    Straight-line speed and slow-corner grip: Downforce levels are the second-lowest of the year, after Monza, in an attempt to maximise top speeds along the pit-straight, where the cars are on full-throttle for 24s. The focus for the engineers is to shave off as much downforce as possible, while still working the tyres hard enough to keep them in their operating window.

    Most demanding section: Turns Eight to 12. This series of left-right flicks alongside the medieval wall of Baku’s Old Town is also the narrowest section of the track – just 7.6m at its narrowest point. The drivers have to be very precise with their steering inputs and throttle application, which is made all the more difficult by incessant camber changes and a sharp incline in the road.

    Unique difficulty: The 2.1km/1.305-mile pit-straight produces the highest top speeds of the year. In 2016, Valtteri Bottas clocked 378kmph / 235mph here, although speeds were slightly slower last year due to the wider-format cars. At these speeds, the brakes cool dramatically, making braking for Turn One particularly difficult.

    Braking: There are six significant braking events around the lap, the hardest being into Turn One, where the cars slow from very high speed. The rest of the lap is relatively slow (there are nine third-gear corners) and it’s a delicate balance to optimise brake cooling.

    Power: The cars use 2kg of fuel per lap, which is high, and without a Safety Car period, the cars are unable to complete the race without a degree of fuel saving. It’s also a demanding race for the ERS because there are long periods of full deployment.

    Aero: Despite being a street track, Baku is a low-downforce circuit. In terms of aero package, it’s the second lowest downforce package of the season, after Monza.

    McLaren Press Release

  • Miracle in the garage and strategic pit-stop contributed to my victory: Dainel Ricciardo

    Miracle in the garage and strategic pit-stop contributed to my victory: Dainel Ricciardo

    Daniel Ricciardo exults after winning the trophy. Photo: FIA

    Shanghai, 15 April 2018: Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo was obviously over the moon following his spectacular victory in the China Grand Prix here today, and first up, thanked his team for performing a miracle of sorts that helped him start the qualifying session after a blown engine in the third Free Practice earlier in the day.

    The Aussie, speaking at the post-race podium interview, also acknowledged that the pit-stop during the Safety Car period paid rich dividends as also his brilliant overtaking moves that put him ahead of the chasing pack in the latter part of the race.

    Excerpts from the Podium interviews conducted by Martin Brundle:

    Martin Brundle: Daniel, what an absolute star. What a race! Your sixth victory, but is that the sweetest one?

    Daniel RICCIARDO: I don’t know what it is, I don’t seem to win boring races, they’re all pretty fun. That was unexpected. Put ourselves 24 hours ago and I thought we’d maybe be starting at the back of the grid. Firstly, thanks to the boys yesterday. I thanked them after qualifying but today is the real reward for that work. So thank you to everyone at Aston Martin Red Bull Racing, the mechanics worked their butts off, so…

    MB: And the team had their brain in gear didn’t they, under the safety car, getting you in the pit lane. Double stacked the car twice, so the pit crew was on it as well?

    DR: It was hectic. I heard ‘safety car’ in Turn 14, and they said ‘we’re going to double stop, come, come, in the box’. It happened very quickly but very decisive moves, winning moves also from the team, so thanks a lot. Yeah, fat lip and all I got the win.

    MB: Just take us through one of the great overtakes – maybe on Lewis? That came out of nowhere down to the Turn 14 hairpin.

    DR: Yeah, sometimes you’ve just got to lick the stamp and send it. So, there we go. I enjoyed it very much.

    MB: You still made the apex somehow, extraordinary?

    DR: Yeah, obviously we had the soft tyre, so I knew I could get a little bit more out of the braking than them. A lot of the time you get one chance to try, so I made the most of every opportunity.

    MB: You were a little closer to Valtteri when you passed him than you are now, but Valtteri, kind of bittersweet. Your 100th start but the safety car didn’t play into your hands and left you on some slightly older tyres and struggling a little bit.

    Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, you know, the race was going pretty well for us and we were looking strong all the way, until the guys, during the safety car, stopped and we were in trouble then with Daniel and nearly with Kimi in the end. It is disappointing. We were giving everything we had and it kind of felt like we deserved victory… but not today.

    MB: Without the safety car, do you think you had enough grip and pace to keep Sebastian behind you and take victory?

    VB: It felt like everything was under control so far. I had no major drop-off in the end, so I think we could have done it, but this is racing, these things happen.

    MB: Kimi, wow, it looked like you were a bit out of position. It looked like you were struggling a bit. They kept you out a long time before the pit stop. Then the safety car played into your hands and you had great speed and you got yourself back onto the podium.

    Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: Yeah, I think we made a good start and then got, unfortunately, blocked a bit and passed in the first corners. I struggled a little bit following people in the beginning. On my own I wasn’t too bad, but far from ideal at the start of the race and then obviously we stayed very long out. A little bit of luck with the safety car. I had good speed on the mediums but in the end we would have needed the soft tyres to really go for it. But I think I was kind of OK in the end, but once I got close I had much more speed than Valtteri but once you get close it’s so difficult to follow people, to get a good run you need much better tyres to get that proper run and you can kind of offset yourself. But I’ll take what I got, because at one point it didn’t look good at all.

    MB: Daniel, I just want to go through the other overtake, when you passed Valtteri into Turn 6, because that looked a little bit touch and go.

    DR: It was close. I think it was hard but fair. I saw him defend, so I wanted to go shallower, but then he came a bit more… I thought about pulling out. No, I’m just kidding! I knew there would always be enough room and the tyres had pretty good grip, so worst case I went wide and I’d have another crack somewhere else.

    POST-RACE FIA PRESS CONFERENCE:

    Q: Daniel, many congratulations. In winter testing, if someone had said to you “Red Bull will win a race this year before Mercedes,” what would have been your reaction?

    DR: Good job. Yeah, pretty cool. Holy Testicle Tuesday! I don’t know. I’m sitting here, reciting everything in my head what just happened. Yeah, awesome. Even after yesterday. I’ve only got six, it’s not a whole lot but the wins seem to come under always some circumstances. Baku, and this one now where we really thought we were going to start the race at the back. We didn’t think we were going to get out in qualifying and, just over 24 hours later, now to be here, it’s… this sport’s crazy. A week ago I was with my head down after two laps on Sunday. Yeah, frustrated at the sport, frustrated at all the variables that are involved in the sport. Sometimes I question why I chose this sport because there’s so many other things out of your control and it does get you down a lot – but then when you have a day like this it’s worth fifty of those bad ones.

    Q: Valtteri, coming on to you. A lot was made yesterday after qualifying about the team having set the cars up for the warmer temperatures that we had today in the grand prix. How was the balance of the car?

    VB: I think the balance was OK. Like actually it felt OK yesterday, we were just not quite quick enough with the ultrasoft, so yeah, today we only used soft and medium and I think on the soft it was next to nothing, the difference to Ferrari. We were as competitive as them. I think with the medium it was pretty much the same case. So, for sure, starting the race from the second row makes it more difficult. It’s a shame what happened in the end because we really took the opportunities in the beginning of the race start, during the pitstop. After the pitstop everything was going fine. And then with the Safety Car we just got a little bit unlucky – but that happens sometimes. It’s difficult to accept that quickly, after the race – but that’s F1.

    Q: Talk us through the undercut. Were you surprised to come out ahead of Vettel?

    VB: No. We knew that it is possible with this kind of gap, if you get everything perfect, coming in, in the box, into the pitlane and all that. If you can switch on the tyres quickly, it’s possible. That’s why we stopped at this point. It was perfect timing from the team. I think it felt it was my quickest stop I’ve had with the team. So, everything just went really well. Good out-lap. So, we knew it was possible.

    Q: Kimi, can we get your thoughts on the pecking order now. Because Ferrari were so quick in qualifying yesterday, yet here you are in third place.

    KR: It’s very hard to say. I think if you ask anybody, it’s a bit tricky to give you an answer. I think today a lot of the end results depended on whether you had better tyres than others, when you could offset yourself to the others. Obviously, it’s part of the game. A big part of the game. And here it made a big difference. And the safety car playing in there. So, like pure speed, with everybody on the same tyres… it’s difficult, very difficult to say in a race. I think it’s nice like that, for everybody to watch, because nobody really knows, everybody would love to know, nobody really has because it changes from race to race. And such a small difference makes a big difference in the end results. I think you just have to wait and see. I think it might change from race to race and who runs what tyres.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: Daniel, you’ve pulled off a lot of spectacular overtakes already in your Formula One career, not just to win races. Where does the overtake on Valtteri today rank and can you just talk us through what was going on in the car and going on in your head at the beginning of that process, through the overtake and afterwards?

    DR: Yeah. Opportunity be knocking! That’s what I would say. I could tell that obviously we had the advantage coming in at the safety car and having those softs. Yeah, I sensed the opportunity. Initially it was ‘OK, maybe now we can fight for the podium’ and at the rate that we were going through the field, and I could feel the tyres were holding on well, then it was obviously fully set on the win. Yeah, I don’t know. Obviously I had pace over all the guys that I got ahead of but you still don’t want to sit behind for too long. I saw Valtteri defend but I was kind of committed already from turn three that I was going to try. It was cool, it was close but I would say close but fair and it’s cool when you go wheel-to-wheel and I think it’s fun for drivers and it’s good TV so I enjoyed it. It makes it a bit sweeter than just maybe cruising past on the straight so that was a lot of fun.

    Q: And Valtteri can we just have your take on that overtaking manoeuvre?

    VB: Well, yeah. I was defending, obviously I saw him very close in turns one, two, three. He got a decent exit as well. He was closing lap after lap with pretty big gains. Yeah, from my side there was not much to do. I tried to defend but ultimately, with the better tyres, he could really brake quite a lot later and got inside. Like he said, it was all fair and like this. I think it was just a matter of time, with the pace he was going.

    Q: Daniel, why didn’t you share your shoey with Valtteri and Kimi?

    DR: To be honest, actually I don’t know if I’ve ever offered it to Kimi but to be honest I sprayed most of the champagne so I didn’t have that much more and obviously I saw my number one mechanic Genty (Chris Gent) and he was the priority at the time. There wasn’t enough to go round today unfortunately. Hopefully there’s plenty more opportunities.

     

    Q: Daniel, you kept your cool throughout the race. What was in your mind when you saw that Max had made a mistake and you overtook him?

    DR: I could see it coming a few corners before. Obviously I saw he was close to Lewis out of ‘three’. I wasn’t close enough to be involved at that moment so yeah, I was just watching, I guess and obviously if there is some contact, I’ve got to then position myself and try and be prepared. Yeah, then I saw he was trying on the outside of ‘seven’ and I could see them both drift wide and I could see that one car was probably not going to make it, so the difficult thing was then when Max went off track I wasn’t sure if he was going to slide back across, hold the line, so that was quite tricky initially, but then I could see he was coming on with quite a bit of speed so then it was quite easy in my mind to cut across the inside to let him go. But yeah, even those things, they happen so fast and you’re still in the heat of the battle so it’s quite hard to always pick the right move. Fortunately I didn’t really lose any time with that and yeah, it was pretty close, so I don’t know what the viewers thought but it seemed like it was a pretty close battle.

  • Mixed result for McLaren as Alonso finishes seventh and Vandoorne 13th

    Mixed result for McLaren as Alonso finishes seventh and Vandoorne 13th

    Mixed fortune for McLaren in Shanghai. Photo: McLaren F1 Team

    Shanghai, April 15: McLaren came away from the China Grand Prix with a mixed bag as Fernando Alonso finished among points in seventh while team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne came home in 13th on Sunday.

    Starting in 13th and 14th, respectively, Alonso gained two and Vandoorne lost two places at the start which set the tone for much of the remainder of the race.

    Both drivers managed their tyres well and the team executed a strong one-stop strategy, although the advantage of this was negated somewhat by a Safety Car period in an ideal pit window for the two-stopping cars around them.

    Both Alonso and Vandoorne put in strong drives and made bold overtaking manoeuvres to make up places ahead of them, and a late final push from Alonso saw him sneak into seventh place on the penultimate lap of the race.

    Conversely, Vandoorne suffered strong vibrations in the car in the closing laps, making handling difficult and hindering any further progress, and he finished 13th.

    Alonso said: “Again, on Sundays, we seem to deliver better than any other day, which is good as this is when points are given out.

    “It was a well-executed race from our side – P13 at the start and P11 after the first lap. The Safety Car didn’t play into our hands as we were on a one-stop strategy and we’d just pitted onto good, fresh tyres which were going to take us to the end, but the Safety Car gave everyone else the opportunity to pit.

    “We had good battles with Haas and Ferrari, even though the latter wasn’t really a fair fight as Sebastian [Vettel] apparently had damage on his car and was struggling in the corners. We caught up with him, saw that the door was open in one corner, so we went for it.

    “P7 is a great result for the team after a difficult weekend, but there’s no doubt that we have to improve. Our pace wasn’t there all weekend and we were still not fast enough in the race. It was great to see more people here in the grandstands than in previous years, thanks to the Chinese fans!”

    Vandoorne said: “I didn’t have a great start today and lost a few places on the opening lap. I managed to make three solid overtakes to make a few positions back before the pit-stop. The question for us was whether to make one or two stops when racing the other cars around us, and unfortunately our one-stop strategy didn’t really pay off in the end because the others around us benefitted from pitting under the Safety Car.

    “We thought there might be more opportunities at the end, but we didn’t have the pace and I felt a strong vibration in the car which made the last few laps difficult.

    “It wasn’t the day we were hoping for, but despite this, we still showed that our race pace today was stronger than our qualifying pace. We’re working hard to improve this and our performance on Saturdays, and hopefully we can have a stronger weekend in Baku.”

    Eric Boullier, Racing Director, said: “While today was the tough race we expected, we were still able to show our fighting spirit and bring home some more valuable points.

    “Fernando made a good start, and was up to P11 by the end of the third lap. He managed to maintain strong pace compared to those around him despite the Safety Car period, executed a good strategy, and made a couple of stunning overtakes in the final stages of the race to cross the line in seventh.

    “On the other side of the garage, Stoffel wasn’t as lucky today. He had a slow start off the line and found himself with an uphill struggle after losing a couple of places. He responded strongly though, making some solid overtakes and managing his tyres well.

    “In the latter stages, when his competitors were on fresher rubber, he battled hard in the midfield despite suffering from a strong vibration which made the final laps tricky to manage. He gave it everything to finish in 13th but it was a tough day for him, and we hope for better fortunes in Baku.

    “We opted to run a one-stop strategy today with both drivers, knowing that our tyre management showed good potential. Unfortunately, we were a little bit unlucky with the Safety Car as many of the cars around us took advantage of the window to pit.

    “Still, we fought hard, proved to be opportunistic and used the strengths of our package to our advantage to come home with six more points. Now, we head back to the factory after a long stint away, to regroup and work on preparing ourselves for the next race in Baku.”

  • Vettel and Ferrari burn competition with a hot lap; tough task ahead for Hammy!

    Vettel….continues his charge. Photo: FIA

    By Harish Samtani

    Shanghai, 14 April 2018: The fans of Mercedes and those who believed that Ferrari couldn’t possibly sustain its superiority over the German outfit, are currently busy consuming big portions of humble pie after Saturday’s qualifying session in the Chinese Grand Prix here.

    The Scuderia steamrolled Mercedes with over a half second advantage in qualifying in a relatively cooler environment and circuit than in Bahrain that had Hamilton incredulous and questioning Ferraris’ back-to-back superior performances in qualifying.

    Vettel, the eventual pole-sitter, is on song and his last minute record breaking lap had even his team-mate stunned and Mercedes humbled. His car is not only reliable and quick, but seems to be running on rails with nary a twitch.

    The Renault-powered Red Bulls were not exactly slackers, but were made to appear so by the Maranello outfit’s duo. Even Kimi was stunned by Vettel’s last second gasp which dethroned him from his almost certain pole.

    At this rate, Hammy’s quest for title No. 5 has to wait patiently. In hindsight, the five championship title holders of the past have to be acknowledged with greater respect. There will be ifs and buts, but every year and era has its own set of challenges. No one has it easy.

    The top six cars qualified within a 0.853 seconds of each other. Grosjean rounded up the 10th position 1.760 seconds adrift in his Ferrari-powered Haas! That’s quite a bit as it is. So, it would be safe to assume that around 12-14 cars will be lapped in the 56-lap race.

    Force India had a decent outing with Perez eighth on the starter board. I suspect that they have taken a step back to go two steps forward. So, the aero package or something else has not delivered as expected, but the good thing is that once they get sorted, they are going be in the thick of action and will leapfrog over a few of the pretenders such as Haas etc. Their fourth overall in 2017 will gain even more legitimacy.

    While it is early days, the die is cast and some serious action is on the anvil on and off the track!!!

  • P13 and P14 for Alonso and Vandoorne, but McLaren hopeful of scoring points on Sunday

    P13 and P14 for Alonso and Vandoorne, but McLaren hopeful of scoring points on Sunday

    Photo: McLaren F1 Team

    Shanghai, 14 April 2018: McLaren’s former double World champion Fernando Alonso and team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne on Saturday qualified 13th and 14th for Sunday’s China Grand Prix while admitting that they lacked the pace to make it to Q3 and also straight-line speed.

    Alonso, however, opined that by finishing outside of top 10 in the qualifying, they had free choice of tyre option and not having to start on the ultrasoft that is susceptible to degradation given the degradation due to track temperatures which are expected to be high going by the sunny weather forecast for Sunday’s race.

    Alonso said: “We didn’t have the pace to make it into Q3 today. After we were P9 in Q1, we were a little bit more optimistic and thought we could make it into the top 10, but then in Q2, we weren’t quick enough.

    “We were P11 in Australia, P13 in Bahrain and here, and that’s where we are at the moment for qualifying. Not enough, we know, as we seem to be slow on the straights, but we have the potential to improve that.

    “Anyway, making it into Q3 would’ve meant starting the race tomorrow on Ultrasoft tyres, which I believe will degrade quite quickly on a hotter track due to the sunny weather forecast for tomorrow. So, in the end, I’m happy with P13 and a free choice of tyres.

    “Our race pace is a little bit better than our quali pace, so by taking good care of the tyres, and with a good start and a good strategy, points are still very possible for us.”

    Vandoorne said: “Today’s result is obviously a little bit disappointing, but we’re more or less in the positions we were expecting to be in. Since the start of the season, we’ve been around these places in qualifying, so this is how it is at the moment. There’s some work ahead of us to improve our performance.

    “On the positive side, our long run pace from Friday practice looks very promising, so we have something to play for tomorrow. We’ll also have free tyre choice, which looks to be something pretty crucial again here and will make a difference.

    “The higher temperatures expected for tomorrow will play to our advantage in terms of tyre degradation, as most people ahead of us will be on the Ultrasofts. We’re looking to be ambitious again, take any opportunities, make no mistakes and have a strong race.”

    Eric Boullier, Racing Director, said: “Given that the Bahrain and Chinese Grands Prix take place on consecutive weekends, we knew we wouldn’t be expecting a significant change in performance from one to the next.

    “Of course, since Bahrain, we’ve taken steps to adapt our approach to qualifying, but any direct improvement is part of a longer-term development plan that is in the pipeline for the coming races.

    “Nevertheless, the team has been meticulous in our preparation for every session this weekend using our learning from Bahrain and the data we’ve been gathering here. Although we’re not expecting overnight miracles, we believe our race pace will continue to be more representative of our true performance.

    “As we know, the all-important result from any Grand Prix weekend comes in the race, and that’s where our focus firmly lies. Tyre strategy will be key and having a free choice is a certain advantage over the cars further ahead of us. Our aim is to continue our momentum from the past two race days and bring home some more valuable points tomorrow afternoon.”

    The final practice session of the weekend provided the team with a good indication of conditions and track evolution in preparation for Sunday’s race. Both drivers reported strong wind at key sections of the track, but neither was particularly troubled by it. Both cars completed their programmes, the data from which is used to inform the direction for set-up for the following sessions and most importantly, the race.

    In Q1 both cars completed two runs each and were never threatened by the chasing pack, comfortably progressing through to Q2.

    The next session was always going to prove to be more challenging in the tight midfield pack. Both drivers completed one run each and qualified next to each other on the grid – Fernando in 13th and Stoffel 14th.

    Source: McLaren Press Release

  • Sebastian Vettel heads Ferrari 1-2 in qualifying; Lewis Hamilton takes P3

    Sebastian Vettel heads Ferrari 1-2 in qualifying; Lewis Hamilton takes P3

    Ferrari qualify 1-2 for Chinese GP in Shanghai on Saturday. Photo: FIA

    Shanghai, 14 April 2018: Sebastian Vettel led a Ferrari one-two and set a new track record in qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix, the third round of the Formula One World Championship here on Saturday. The German edged out teammate Kimi Räikkönen by just 0.087s while Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas finished third ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

    Raikkonen set the early pace in Q1 with a lap of 1:32.474, with the Mercedes cars of Bottas and Hamilton slotting in behind. However, seven minutes into the 18-minute session Vettel jumped to the top of the order with a lap of 1:32.171.

    Vettel’s time was good enough to keep him on top for the remainder of the session, with Raikkonen eventually finishing in second, three tenths of a second behind his team-mate. Bottas was third and Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen fourth ahead of Haas’ Roman Grosjean and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.

    There was a race against time for Verstappen’s team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, however. The Australian suffered an engine failure midway through the final practice and as the 18 minutes of Q1 counted down Ricciardo’s side of the garage was a hive of activity as his crew raced to complete an engine change.

    Ricciardo eventually made into the track with a little over two minutes to spare and his only flying lap of the session saw him clamber up to P13.

    That became 14th place as Renault’s Carlos Sainz powered through to seventh place but the drop stopped there for Ricciardo and he repaid his mechanics’ hard work with qualification for the second session.

    He would be joined by Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley who edged out of the drop zone and into P15 with his final flying lap.

    The margin was fine, though, with the New Zealander finishing just five-hundredths of a second clear of Williams’ Sergey Sirotkin and 0.88s ahead of his Toro Rosso team-mate Pierre Gasly who finished ahead of Williams’ Lance Stroll and the Saubers of Charles Leclerc and Marcus Ericsson.

    Raikkonen set the pace in Q2, with the Finn posting a lap of 1:32.286 as Ferrari and Mercedes looked to qualify on soft tyres and thus start on those sets. The Finn sat 0.099s ahead of Vettel, with a more comfortable Ricciardo, on ultrasofts, a further three tenths back. Bottas was fourth ahead of Verstappen and then came Hamilton.

    The Briton went for a second run on softs, however, and duly took top spot with a lap of 1:31.914 that put him just over a tenth ahead of Bottas, with Raikkonen third in front of Vettel, both of whom abandoned final runs on ultrasofts. Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg was fifth ahead of, Grosjean, Ricciardo, Verstappen, Force India’s Sergio Pérez and Renault’s Carlos Sainz.

    Out went 11th –placed Haas’ driver Kevin Magnussen followed by Force India’s Esteban Ocon, McLaren’s Fernando Alonso, and Stoffel Vandoorne, while Hartley stayed in the 15th place he’d occupied at the end of Q1.

    Raikkonen set the pace in the first runs of Q3, with the Finn finishing 0.161s ahead of Vettel. Bottas was third, 0.425 behind his fellow Finn, while Hamilton was fourth, five-hundredths of a second behind his team-mate. Verstappen and Ricciardo were fifth and sixth respectively.

    But it was Vettel who made the biggest step in the final runs. As Bottas failed to improve and small errors led to Hamilton abandoning his lap and settling for fourth, a lap of 1:31.182 looked to have sealed an 18th career pole for Raikkonen, but Vettel edged ahead, principally in the final sector, and the German claimed his 52nd pole and a new track record with his lap of 1:31.095.

    With Mercedes in third and fourth, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took fourth place ahead of team-mate Daniel Ricciardo. Hulkenberg was best of the rest in seventh place, ahead of Perez, Sainz, and Grosjean.

    2018 Chinese Grand Prix – Qualifying
    1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:31.095
    2 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:31.182 0.087
    3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:31.625 0.530
    4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:31.675 0.580
    5 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:31.796 0.701
    6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:31.948 0.853
    7 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:32.532 1.437
    8 Sergio Perez Force India 1:32.758 1.663
    9 Carlos Sainz Jr. Renault 1:32.819 1.724
    10 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:32.855 1.760
    11 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:32.986 1.891
    12 Esteban Ocon Force India 1:33.057 1.962
    13 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:33.232 2.137
    14 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 1:33.505 2.410
    15 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 1:33.795 2.700
    16 Sergey Sirotkin Williams 1:34.062 2.967
    17 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 1:34.101 3.006
    18 Lance Stroll Williams 1:34.285 3.190
    19 Charles Leclerc Sauber 1:34.454 3.359
    20 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:34.914 3.819.