INDIA in F1

Tag: Formula 1

  • At the moment, I am just focussed on winning (the title): Hamilton

    DRIVERS: 1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes); 2 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari);  3 – Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (Ferrari).

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS (Conducted by Usain Bolt)

    Lewis, so this right here, is your fifth win in Austin, how are you feeling about the championship? 

    Lewis HAMILTON: I feel amazing. Firstly, look at this crowd.

    It’s brilliant.

    LH: These guys have been amazing. Since 2012 this crowd has been growing year on year. We had a beautiful day today; I love this track. I think this track is now my favourite track to be honest. I just… Honestly, I loved the swing of the corners today. Because the wind is blowing that way, it gave us the best platform to work with. Big congratulations to the team. They have worked so hard, everyone back at the factory, the guys here, they really true deserve… they’ve been the best team this year.

    Going to Mexico now, you’re in pole position to win, so how you feeling? 

    LH: I feel great man. How are you feeling after our drive?

    I’m still a bit nervous.

    LH: Honestly, bro, I’m honoured that you’re here. It’s a humbling experience. It’s a dream job and I know that many of you perhaps would love to drive a Formula One car and all I can tell you is it’s the greatest experience and feeling in the world and I wouldn’t be here without my family. My brother’s down here, my mum’s all the way back up there – sending you guys love.

    Thank you Lewis. Sebastian, a pleasure. So, you kept the race alive until the end. It was a real exciting race. You really pushed yourself at the end?

    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, I did. At the start it was looking good, obviously we got past Lewis. But then fairly quickly we had to realise that we couldn’t go his pace today, so well done and congrats to him. Then I think we were a bit in no-man’s land, not quite sure. It was close after the first stop again, but then obviously stuck again and towards the end we decided to pit again and fit a fresh set of tyres, which was a bit more exciting, the last couple of laps especially but overall not the result we wanted.

    Did you feel like Mercedes came here with a good strategy today?

    SV: Well, I mean, there was no real secret other than that they were quicker than us. I think we have to admit that today in the race we couldn’t go their pace. So I don’t think it’s down to strategy, it’s just… You should know, whoever is fastest usually has a good chance of winning.

    Thank you very much. Kimi, congratulations. At the end it was a really dramatic race, but are you happy with the points?

    Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: Yeah, obviously I was pretty disappointed just after the race when I thought I’d finished fourth, but there was some issue with Max. It was a great race. My car was very good all the way, I just had to fuel save a bit in the end so I had to back off but apart from that the car was working very good.

    Your final thoughts on the race? It’s the 62nd win of your career.

    LH: Well, I’m trying to catch you up, dude. You led the way. It’s been an incredible year so far. Really enjoyed driving the car. I was not expecting to have the pace we had on Sebastian today. The car felt fantastic. We got the right balance at the start… Still three to go, so three more to win. Let’s go guys.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Lewis, you sixth win in the United States, your fifth at the Circuit of the Americas. You’ve only missed out once at the Circuit of the Americas in all the time we’ve been coming here. Mercedes clinch the Constructors’ Championship today. You made two very nice passes for the lead during the course of the race, which doesn’t happen every day, so maybe drill down into those and I think, fifth place in Mexico and you’re world champion.

    LH: First of all, I want to say a big congratulations to everyone in the team, all the partners, everyone back at the factory and everyone here. There has been an incredible push for this kind of performance this year. We’ve really pulled together more than I’ve experience or seen over the last five years this year to really pull together and create something quite special. So, really proud for everyone, especially in going from one era of car to another, which has not been done before, just shows strength and depth and I’m really proud to be part of it. The race was great. I have to say probably one of the most fun races that I’ve had for a while. I mean there’s been quite a few fun ones this year. Didn’t get away to a great start, not really sure why, but Sebastian got a great start. But I was kind of chilled about it, just knowing in the past that you can overtake here. Yeah, it was great just having those… I don’t know how many laps it was, but having that battle. Trying to get close; trying to get in the DRS. It was very reminiscent of 2012 here, seeing Sebastian up ahead and wanting to have a wheel-to-wheel battle. I had a lot of fun trying to get closer and obviously it came down to the overtake in Turn 12, which again was the same as 2012. That’s what I love for. That’s what I didn’t enjoy most. I was a little bit surprised Sebastian didn’t defend more, I would have, but still it was fair and then after that I think I had a little bit of a battle with Verstappen, which was like karting days, from one corner to the other. It was good fun. But overall I think today the wind changed around 180 degrees and it really made the track so special to drive being that through the high-speed section… Yesterday, coming out of Turn 1 you had massive wheelspin and today you had great traction and then going the ‘Esses’ with a headwind, it’s fire through there. It’s incredible. You’re throwing the car around and I guess the car is at its optimum performance through there, like it would be in the wind tunnel, so that’s where you get to enjoy it the most. Then you got to different corners and you have a tailwind, so you are having to push and pull. But just really grateful for all the support that I’ve had this weekend. My mum has been here, my brother and a bunch of friends. Usain has come out to support, with Puma, so that’s been great. Woody Harrelson came out in support. My close friend Gayle King, my best friend’s come, so a lot of support here and particularly in the crowd, a big thank you to everyone.

    Q: Sebastian, I guess your side of the story on the overtake. Great start, and also we have to ask you why you reacted when Verstappen made that extra stop, why you felt you had to do that, to react to cover it. And also, that insane move on Bottas through the middle with the lapped traffic, which was reminiscent of Mansell on Senna in Hungary back in the day. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen that but it was another one a bit like that anyway. A lot to digest.

    SV: Yeah. Started off well with a great start but then we were just not quick enough. Obviously, I felt the car and the tyres suffering quite a lot after three or four laps only, and Lewis was easily able to stay with us, close the gap and easily get into DRS, which usually is not easy after the fast section, so he was just quicker. And then, yeah, not so easy to see. I tried to block. Maybe I could have done a bit more – but on the other hand I think he was just so much quicker that it didn’t really matter. So, yeah, disappointing to lose the lead when you have it but I think with the difference in pace they had on us today, it wasn’t probably our race to win. After that, yeah, I struggled. Stopped quite early. It got close around the first stop with Lewis again and yeah, after that, managing the race, trying to get to the end – but I felt the tyres on the first stint were quite bad so I wasn’t sure on the second, and we talked about it by radio and decided then obviously to do something different, which at the time, was difficult to predict what was going to happen but I think if you look in terms of where we were three or four laps to the end, it’s probably the right choice. Obviously we had two cars racing for the podium today and we managed to both be up here. Trying to help Kimi in the end a little bit with a tow on the straight which worked but I think then the tyres… Max and my tyres I guess were just so much fresher it was quite easy to get past. The move on Valtteri was quite spontaneous. I wanted to go around the outside, I saw the lapped traffic, hesitated for a second, didn’t know where to go then I thought ‘OK, there’s a little bit of a gap, I just go for it.’ When I was in the middle of them I thought, ‘OK, just try to get out of here.’ It worked. It was very close. It also felt special. I think Valtteri was trying to wait and block the inside, so I had a bit of momentum and yeah, made it stick, so that was quite nice. Obviously overall not the result that I wanted today.

    Q: Coming to you Kimi, obviously, you decided to not cover Verstappen. So, what was the thinking there? Sebastian had, you didn’t. When he made his extra stop I mean. And then, can you give us your side of the story, because obviously it’s a quite a controversial end there with him losing the position on the podium with a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits and gaining an advantage. Can you give us your perspective on that please?

    KR: Well, I have no idea what happened with him. Apart from obviously he got past me in the third-last corner but, to be honest, my car has been all day very good. Not really any issues: the handling was good; the tyres lasted well and really the only thing was that I had to fuel-save in the end really quite heavily. So, I had to back off and, once Seb got behind me I let him past easily in Turn One and then tried to get some tow from him on the straights to try to save a bit more fuel – but that was really the only tricky point today, whey I had to slow down in the end. Apart from that, my car was good. But like I said, I have no idea what happened with Verstappen, why did he get a penalty, I don’t know.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Omar Alvarez – Graining.es) Question for Lewis Hamilton. Now you have the most wins in the US Grand Prix, ahead of Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher, what makes you different from both?

    LH: Apart from the obvious, I think… I don’t know. I think we all possess unique qualities in ourselves. Obviously I’m massively proud and honoured to be there amongst these incredible elite drivers that I grew up watching, and I would say we all have something very similar within us, in terms of pushing the limit, pushing the boundaries. What makes me a little bit different. I don’t know. As I said, I’m my own person, I’m a little bit outgoing. I guess I dress differently. I have different opinions – but it’s difficult to say how we would fare in a race all together, what differences you would see with us on track together. I wish we had the opportunity for that – but that’s all a dream.

    Q: (Did not declare his name) Lewis, you have 66 points more than Sebastian, the mathematics is totally in your favour. Can you please comment if you yourself maybe half-champion already or not? And to both Ferrari drivers, are you surprised by the fact that in this race Mercedes was more able to manage the tyres than Ferrari?

    LH: Not Mercedes. Lewis! I’m kidding. No, I don’t really let my mind get there. At the moment, I’m just focussed on winning, clearly, and I’m enjoying driving more than ever. I just really… the challenge, the pressure’s intense. Just always want to elevate yourself and shine brighter each time you get in the car. Today I had to make a couple of changes; adjustments with the temperature ramping up as it did. I just got it right on point. I guess all the experience of all the years really came into play because I got the balance just perfect. If I hadn’t made those changes I probably would have gone backwards. Yeah, so, there’s still three races to go. In my mind, I’ve still got three races to win. Still a lot of points available. So I don’t think until it’s ever properly done and sealed you can ever get ahead of yourself.

    And to the Ferrari drivers. Why was Mercedes able to look after the tyres better than Ferrari today?

    SV: Well, I don’t know the complete answer. I think, for my part, I wasn’t expecting to struggle that much, especially in the first stint. I think towards the end it was a bit more normal – but obviously by then the race was lost. I think coming here, looking at the track, it was probably more Mercedes ground but the last couple of races gave us a lot of hope and confidence and I think we’ve been OK. We were fairly close yesterday, closer than we expected. And unfortunately, today we were not gaining compared to normal where on Sunday we seem to be a bit closer – but not today.

    And Kimi? I think you were saying it was more about fuel saving than a problem with tyres.

    KR: I don’t think my tyres were at all in a bad shape. It all felt good and it wasn’t really any problem to push harder but, like I said, I had to fuel-save quite a bit in the end and that was the only limitation. For me, all race, the car was very good, so no complaints.

    Q: (Jorge Mendoza – La Prensa de San Antonio) Question for Sebastian. Sebastian, I know you had a lot of pressure on your shoulders this weekend. How was your approach for this coming race? I know you had to deliver, and you delivered a good second place with the car you had. Did you do something different from the previous races in regards to your mind and your attitude? What was the difference making you to deliver? Because you did a very great move this morning in the first turn. Did you risk at all? You weren’t able to pull it through. What was your approach for this race?

    SV: Thank you very much. Yeah, to be honest, I wanted to win, so not that different to other races, obviously the situation coming here is not what we wanted it to be, which the last couple of races not really on our side. To be honest it was fairly straightforward. I was confident we have the car, we have the speed and yeah, yesterday was important to get the front row. As we saw today, I was quite confident today would be better but it wasn’t the case. I probably realised a couple of laps in, and more or less a lap before the lap that Lewis passed, I was suffering more with the tyres than maybe he was or other people were in the race. So I need to understand why that was – but yeah, for sure it’s bitter. Nevertheless, we tried to fight and in that regard, at least it was a lot better than the other races where we didn’t have a chance to fight. Today we had. We got beaten fair and square so congrats to Lewis – but obviously yeah, there were a couple of things I think we could have done, should have done better. We were missing the Friday this weekend, which probably didn’t help – but the mindset was fairly straightforward. It was an easier weekend in that regard because we knew, and I knew we had to deliver – but I wanted to deliver as well. So yeah, that maybe made it a bit easier.

    Q: (Luis  Vasconcelos – Formula Press) Kimi, the reason Max was penalised was because he was judged to have completely cut the corner when he overtook you. At that moment, did you feel it was a fair moment? And also can you comment on the move that you did on Ocon and later in the race on Bottas?

    KR: Obviously I was half surprised… I saw him in the mirror and I tried to slow down the whole thing before the previous corners just to try to save enough fuel to be honest and then I thought I had enough cover on that corner, and I lifted because for the obvious reason that I said but suddenly I saw a bit of him in the mirror and I was a bit surprised. But obviously at that speed I was more looking forward than rearwards so I was pretty pissed off that he got past me but I didn’t have a chance and I slowed down but let’s say I was utterly surprised that I got to go on the podium but like I said, I haven’t seen it. It was part of the whole story but I don’t really know where he went. I think passing – was it Ocon? – was quite straightforward. I was expecting that it was going to be a lot harder but maybe he didn’t expect me to go inside but it was actually quite OK. I just had to make sure that I had enough speed there, that he was going to notice that I was there before he turned in. It was a bit more of a struggle with Bottas to get close enough and then finally I went and outbraked him and I managed to get past but that took a little bit of a while. I think they were a bit lacking… they were very fast on the back straight so it was very hard to… I was catching him but too late. I could follow him around the rest of the circuit but…

    Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday, Motorsport week.com) To all three drivers: the start of the race today with the pre-race ceremony was a little different to normal. Usually this is a time when you want to be yourself with your trainer and talking and quiet. This was anything but that. Could we have some comments? What did you think, pluses, minuses?

    LH: I think it was amazing. There was a little bit of waiting in the hallway, waiting for everyone to go out. That part felt a little bit long but I think they just made the SuperBowl here, they made the race, I think the entertainment was the best I think we’ve seen, with the drum line, the whole band. Yeah, I think the whole set-up. It was great to see something different. For many many years, the whole ten years, it’s been the same old boring thing on the grid except for now you have the national anthem but not really too exciting. I think this one was just much more like an NFL game which is exciting, with the fireworks and everything so I think they did a really great job and I think even from this they will learn and grow from that but we also had such a great turnout today. Not quite sure there’s such a great reception here in Austin but the fans, that big grandstand and up into turn one, they really make the atmosphere. When I’m driving down that straight, I can see them, also when you come down to turn 12, massive grandstand, that makes you feel like you’re in the most exciting arena. Then they let them all out on the track… immediately after this I’m going to see everyone.

    SV: I think for the people it might be nice if they like it and obviously it’s a nice idea. For me, yeah, I don’t really care to be honest. I like jumping in the car and racing. I’m not a big showman.

    KR: Yeah. I really don’t mind it as long as it’s done at the right time in the right place but it doesn’t make everything a big hassle because usually we have to run around quite a bit on Sunday and it’s far from ideal but I don’t mind these things as long as they are done well and actually if it works out it’s nice. I think it’s something different but everybody knows my option, what I would take.

    Q (Lennart Wernke – Bild) Follow up on the previous question, is that something you might see in Germany maybe next year? Did you like it that much that you maybe enjoy it at Hockenheim next season?

    SV; No, I don’t think so. I think Germans are very difficult to get excited so…

    LH: I don’t have a problem with it.

    SV: Yeah, I think Americans appreciate that sort of atmosphere and entertainment a lot more. I think Germans are maybe a little slower on that front.

    Q: (Priscilla Von Sorella – Huffington Post) Lewis, over the course of your lifetime or career or even a single race, how do you find it in yourself to overcome certain challenges and how do they make you a better driver?

    LH: Naturally, I’ve got good people around me, making sure you have… keep the family close is always an important thing. I’m very close to my faith. I rely a lot on God. I think my brother’s always been a kind of real inspiration. My brother was born with cerebral palsy and growing him, seeing him fall, he would always stumble and get back up. He would never even blink an eye or complain. And I know in my lifetime I’ve met a lot of other really inspirational individuals who have either suffered some kind of form of disability or certain setbacks in their lives and taken a lot of inspiration from that, so I think it’s really about… I love the battle against adversity. There are so many people in the world who obviously have that and to find a way within yourself to rise above it, rise above the negativity, remain positive, able to try and keep a positive frame of mind can overcome so much. And again, if you have good people around you, love really conquers all. I’ve got a lot of love this weekend within the close people who are around me, who really lift me up. And again, from the fans who I’ve met here that, from the moment I leave my hotel to the moment that I arrive at the track, they’re standing there with a banner at the gate, that kind of stuff just fills me up so… I’m only human, so there are days that I stumble and I struggle but I never give up, I just always get back up and there’s always a brighter day ahead.

    Q: (Alejandro Bulle – Graining.es) I want to ask the three of you if there’s anything special that you like about the Mexican Grand Prix, thinking that we are very close to it next weekend?

    SV: Usually there’s a lot of people – we haven’t been there too many times but… The track’s a bit so-so but there’s a lot of people, a huge city and yeah, hopefully we will have a lot of support again this year. It’s a fun place, so overall I’ve been enjoying the time there so looking forward to going back. Is there anything in particular? Not really. Tacos, maybe.

    KR: No, it’s a new place, not new this year but a few years back. It’s a different feeling but the people are very passionate about it and it’s not been very strong races for me there so hopefully this year a bit better, but it’s something different, for sure.

    LH: Hey man, I get a lot more excited than these two about it. Mexico, you’ve got sombreros, you’ve got great music, there’s real culture. The people, love their tequila. Every Mexican I’ve met they’re always smiling so it’s always a great time. I actually get to spend… I do a bit of my winter training in Mexico, beautiful place. The city… it’s quite breathtaking just how big the city is and how many people are there. Driving into that arena that has that huge grandstand and it’s always full, from the bottom to the top. And the food is great, tacos but on my plant-based diet, I don’t know how it’s going to go in Mexico. But what I can say is that I feel the best I’ve ever felt. Maybe some people can take that upon them too.

    eom/FIA transcript of the Press Conference

  • Hamilton moves closer to 4th world championship with a facile win: US GP

    Lewis Hamilton moved one step closer to a fourth Drivers’ Championship title with a convincing sixth career US Grand Prix win at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas. The win, ahead of the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen, allied to a fifth place for Valtteri Bottas also handed Mercedes their fourth Constructors’ Championship crown in a row.

    Hard-charging Vettel took the lead into Turn 1 at the start, but when Hamilton grabbed first place with a good overtake of the German on lap six and quickly opened a two-second gap there was little doubt that, barring mechanical issues, the Mercedes driver would cross the line in first place to open a 66-point lead over Vettel with a maximum of 75 points on the table from the remaining three rounds.

    There was more drama at the end of the race as Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen was denied a podium finish. The Dutchman was handed a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining and advantage when passing Räikkönen for P3 in the last sector of the last lap. Verstappen was demoted to fourth and the Ferrari man took the podium alongside Hamilton and Vettel.

    At the start, Vettel made the best getaway and despite Hamilton moving across to the inside to try to take first place, the Ferrari driver snuck past on the entry into Turn 1 to take the lead. By the end of the first lap, third-placed Valtteri Bottas was coming under heavy pressure from Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, though the Finn managed to hang on to third place.

    Ricciardo’s team-mate Max Verstappen was having more success in gaining places and by lap six the Dutchman had claimed the scalps of Williams’ Lance Stroll, Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson, Haas’ Romain Grosjean, Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat, Force India’s Sergio Perez and the second Williams of Felipe Massa to sit in ninth place.

    Ahead, Vettel’s lead didn’t last long. On lap six, Hamilton attacked and under DRS on the back straight he slipped past the German on the inside to re-take the lead. By lap nine he’d built a 1.8s lead over the Ferrari driver.

    Verstappen’s march continued and with the dismissal of Force India’s Esteban Ocon to take sixth place, the Dutchman had taken 10 places in 10 laps.

    Meanwhile, team-mate Ricciardo’s pursuit of Bottas was beginning to hurt. The Australian was struggling with worn starting ultrasoft tyres and by lap 11 he was being harried by Räikkönen. The solution was for the Red Bull man to pit, and on the next tour he made his first stop, for supersoft tyres.

    It would all end for the Australian on lap 16, however. Towards the end of the lap he slowed and then went off track at Turn 15 where he eventually pulled over, telling his engineer “engine’s gone, I think the engine’s gone”.

    At the front, Vettel, now 5.4s in arrears to Hamilton pitted on lap 17 and took on soft tyres. Mercedes then pitted Bottas and a lap later Hamilton, with both drivers taking on the same compound. Hamilton rejoined in third place behind leader Räikkönen and second-placed Verstappen, both of whom had yet to pit.

    Räikkönen’s lead was short-lived and at the end of lap 20 he dived toward the Ferrari pit box and bolted on a set of soft tyres. Verstappen was now the race leader, but again it was a brief stint, as on lap 23, Hamilton, armed with fresh tyres, muscled past the Red Bull driver.

    The order then began to settle and on lap 28 Hamilton led Vettel by four seconds. Bottas was still third, but with just 2.9s in hand over Räikkönen. Verstappen was now fifth, ahead of Massa, Ocon and Pérez. Carlos Sainz was ninth for Renault ahead of Kvyat.

    Sainz, though, was charging forward and when the now traditional battle between Perez and Ocon began to result in Perez asking to pass his team-mate and being denied, Sainz saw an opportunity. He closed hard on the Mexican and over the course of four corners in the final sector he built a move that he eventually made stick as the pair headed for the start/finish straight.

    Towards the front, Vettel, struggling for pace on his soft tyres, was asking Ferrari to consider strategic options as behind Bottas closed in and Raikkonen, much happier on the softs, closed on his fellow Finn.

    Behind them Verstappen began to close on the battle between Räikkönen and Bottas but with 50-seconds in hand over Ocon, Red Bull chose instead to pit the Dutchman, bolting on a set of supersofts for the final 19 laps.

    And that was the strategic option Vettel and Ferrari then also took, chiefly to cover the Red Bull. The German pitted at the end of lap 39 and he emerged just in front of Verstappen.

    Räikkönen, meanwhile, finally got some reward for his efforts. He dived down the inside of countryman Bottas at the end of the back straight, got past and then made his car wide through the next sequence of corners to secure second place.

    Vettel, meanwhile, was narrowing the gap to Bottas and on lap 51 he powered past the Mercedes driver to claim third place. It wasn’t long before he found Räikkönen and sensibly the Finn moved across to allow his title-hunting team-mate back to P2.

    Hamilton, though, was 14 seconds further up the road and there was no hope of Vettel using his better pace to close so large a gap and after 56 laps the Briton crossed the line to take his sixth career US GP win with 10 seconds in hand over the German.

    Behind the top two there was plenty of drama in the final laps. Soon after Vettel passed Bottas, Verstappen closed in on the second Mercedes and he quickly got past the Mercedes man who was visibly struggling on worn tyres.

    Verstappen then hunted down Räikkönen and as the last lap began he was told by his race engineer that he would likely have one chance to pass. Verstappen chose the long right-hander at the end of the lap. He elbowed his way past the Finn and seconds later was punching the air in celebration of a podium finish from 16th place on the grid.

    Within seconds though the Red Bull driver’s move was placed under investigation by the race stewards and he was quickly handed a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. “Car 33 did leave the track, with all four wheels clearly off the track by at least half a metre,” the stewards’ report said.

    Räikkönen, then, held his third place and took the podium with Hamilton and Vettel. Verstappen, who had four seconds in hand over Räkkönen at the end, managed to keep fourth place ahead of Bottas.

    Esteban Ocon was sixth ahead of Carlos Sainz, who put in an excellent performance in his first race for Renault. Sergio Pérez was eighth in the second Force India ahead of Williams’ Felipe Massa and Daniil Kvyat, on his racing return, took the final point for Toro Rosso.

    2017 United States Grand Prix – Race
    1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes –
    2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 10.143
    3 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 15.779
    4 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 11.768 *
    5 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 34.967
    6 Esteban Ocon Force India 90.980
    7 Carlos Sainz Renault 92.944
    8 Sergio Perez Force India 1 lap
    9 Felipe Massa Williams 1 lap
    10 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1 lap
    11 Lance Stroll Williams 1 lap
    12 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 1 lap
    13 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 1 lap
    14 Romain Grosjean Haas 1 lap
    15 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1 lap
    16 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1 lap
    Fernando Alonso McLaren
    Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull
    Pascal Wehrlein Sauber
    Nico Hulkenberg Renault
    * Five-second penalty.

    eom/FIA press release

  • Hamilton does a `Lightening Bolt’ celebration on the podium: 2 sporting legends meet

    Hamilton does a `Lightening Bolt’ celebration on the podium: 2 sporting legends meet

    Hamilton and Usain Bolt at Austin on Sunday 22oct2017 Photo by Wolfgang Wilhelm for Mercedes AMG Petronas

    Austin: Two sporting legends met on the podium as 8-time Olympic gold medallist Usain Bolt interviewed three-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who did a `Bolt’ on the top-step, after receiving the trophy from former American president Bill Clinton.

    Earlier, Hamilton let out his now familiar, `wohoo’ as he took the chequered flag and helped the Mercedes AMG Petronas team win their fourth World constructors’ title.

    Hamilton extended his lead at the top to 66 points over Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari and will clinch his fourth world title next Sunday in Mexico if he can finish at least fifth or above, irrespective of where Vettel would finish.

    Just before doing the famous `lightening bolt’ jig

    Usain Bolt teaches Hamilton how to do his famous jig on the Austin podium on Sunday. Photo Steve Etherington, Mercedes AMG Petronas

    together, Lewis was in playful mood, pouring champagne behind Bolt’s back while the latter was talking to third-placed Kimi Raikkonen, who found a last-minute podium after Max Verstappen was handed over a five-second penalty for taking undue advantage after going wide before overtaking Kimi in a splendid last-lap manouvre. Before the race started, Hamilton took Bolt for spin across the track in the green Mercedes (in photo). After the hot lap, Hamilton also entertained the crowd with some donuts and the spectators loved it.

    “A really humbling experience… it is the greatest feeling in the world,” was how Hamilton reacted after praising the Circuit of the Americas as his favourite. It is his fourth victory in a row at Austin and the ninth in the season as he moves closer towards his fourth F1 Drivers World  Championship. “I had a lot of fun trying to get closer (to Vettel) and overtaking. Today the wind changed 180 degrees and it made the track so special to drive; the car felt amazing going through the Esses. We have three more races left this season – and that’s three I want to win,” quipped Hamilton after the race.

    Meanwhile, all the three drivers on the podium wore pink caps in solidarity with breast cancer victims, supporting the Susan Komen charity.

    After Mexico next Sunday, the F1 bandwagon moves to Brazil and to the last GP in Abu Dhabi.

    eom/disclaimer: The commentary is based on telecast and team releases and the writer did not travel to Austin.

     

  • It is such a fantastic circuit to drive, I love it: Lewis Hamilton at CoTA, Austin

    DRIVERS: 1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes); 2 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari); 3 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)

    TRACK INTERVIEWS

    Cowboy Lewis, and you rode that car beautifully around there and you even left a couple of ‘11s’ on the lap coming down out of Turn 1. The first sector wasn’t perfect but the lap was good enough to beat everybody today?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah, the team have done a great job. The track was very difficult today, guys. With the wind picking up, you’ve got a headwind into Turn 1, a tailwind out of Turn1. Through the fast section, sector one, there’s tailwind and then you’ve got a headwind into Turn 9 and so it’s shifting the whole way through the lap, so you’re kind of gauging how hard you can push and how hard you have to let off. But that’s why I love this track, man. It’s such a fantastic circuit to drive, I love it, especially when you have a car you can really drive, it’s great.

    And the heat as well, on those open parts of the circuit, it is so intense.

    LH: I mean, it’s always hot in the car. I think it’s just the right temperature today. It’s not too hot, the sun’s out, we can at least enjoy it, I mean the guys out here are not getting a sun tan but still… It’s going to be a great race tomorrow, it’s going to be a tough one, because looking after the tyres in these conditions is still tough but I’m the best prepared I can be.

    Sebastian, you needed this front row, man, didn’t you, to take this championship fight, to keep the pressure on him, to keep the heat on him. How much did you have to draw out of yourself for that lap, because it was a brilliant lap?

    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, I was very happy in the end, but I was lacking a bit the rhythm, especially the transition of the first to second sector, it was quite tricky with the wind, so I struggled a bit there. But finally I got it right, in the last run, when it mattered. As you said, important obviously to get front row, because I believe our race pace is really good. I quali all year we’ve been just a little bit behind, so well done to Lewis, obviously, he did two great laps and yeah, looking forward to tomorrow now.

    All the talk this week has been about what Lewis needs to do to win the title this weekend. What you need to do is win this race, do you think you can?

    SV: Not just here, it would be good to win also the others. But we go day by day. We were lacking a bit of running yesterday. Today was a lot better. I was getting up to speed and it was there when it mattered, but the race is tomorrow. It’s a great track, a great place, a lot of people, so it should be a good day tomorrow.

    And a big run up to Turn 1 as well. Well done, many congratulations. Valtteri, not quite the front row today. I guess a little bit disappointed but the pace is there, the car looks great, how confident are you feeling for the race?

    Valtteri BOTTAS: Definitely disappointing, you know. It was looking good for us and quite close with Lewis as well at some points, so disappointing, but there is always tomorrow.

    Well done. Lewis, back to you. Nick is here this weekend, adoring fans in the grandstand, which is pretty much your second home here in the States. I know how much you love it, you wrapped up your third title here, is it going to be four tomorrow?

    LH: I think It’s highly unlikely that will be the case. Sebastian did a great job today to bring the Ferrari back up there. Ultimately all I can do is the best I can of my abilities and we have to work as hard as we can to get maximum points. Sebastian is right there, so unless he makes a silly mistake, which is unlikely, he’s a four-time world champion, then we’re going to be seeing it continue on to other races.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Lewis, how good was that opening lap [of Q3], the one that followed and generally how are you feeling?

    LH: I feel fantastic. I feel very fresh and happy and naturally always wish that qualifying would go longer because it’s the most fun session of the weekend. In general, very happy with all of qualifying. The last was not spectacular but up until then generally very, very strong. The team have done an exceptional job all weekend in filtering all of the data that we’ve got to really put the car in the right place and enable me, again, have the opportunity to exploit that. This is such a fantastic circuit, because just the layout and the way the wind comes and intertwines with the corners, it really makes it challenging, you know, so when you are going through the ‘Esses’ it’s not all the same through them, then you come out and you’ve got a headwind and then a crosswind and then you’ve got a headwind and a tailwind. So you’re constantly dancing with the wind. That I do love. On the last lap, I got caught out by a bit of a gust but that’s how it goes but yeah really happy to be up here, especially in front of such a great crowd.

    And you had a low 1m33s on that first run, when you went out for that final run did you think that with a perfect lap it might be possible to get a high 1m32s or was that too much to hope for?

    LH: It never even crossed my mind! I don’t even know what time I did if I’m really honest! What was it?

    I think it was a 33.2 or something like that.

    LH: I think I was up on that last one. I think on a perfect lap I could get down into the 32s but it’s very hard out there in those conditions.

    Very well done, great job. Sebastian from your point of view it’s a story of recovery really. We saw your old chassis being wheeled out yesterday, a new chassis being built up overnight. Tell us about that process, how you got back into it, and how you feel to be able to split the Mercedes?

    SV: I think we are very happy with the result. It was obviously crucial to get that final run. Bit of a slow start. We had a couple of problems, I didn’t feel comfortable yesterday with the car, and we did hardly any laps. Obviously I lost the car very early in FP2, which didn’t help and I thought that there’s something not right. Obviously a big job overnight. The team was fantastic, the mechanics now had a couple of weekends in a row with a lot of work, with last-minute engine changes, now a chassis change overnight and they didn’t break the curfew. You know you’re allowed to use a certain time before everybody has to leave the garages and if you do that big job there is always a threat but I think they did another re3cord time to change. Obviously it’s not what we want, but obviously today was a lot better, I was much happier with the car. I’m glad it worked out. And not finding the rhythm straight away in quali, I struggled a bit in a couple of corners but I knew if I get them right I should be able to make a big step in the final run, so I was very happy. I think in the end we were closer than probably we even expected so for today, but for tomorrow I think if the car behaves like today it should be good.

    Valtteri, conditions this weekend for this session the hottest of the weekend so far, how did the car feel and what are you expecting from the race?

    VB: Well, as Lewis said it was quite a tricky session with the wind and every lap was always a little bit different. We have been making quite big set-up changes in the weekend and definitely made the car quicker but quite tricky car for me to drive at least. I just struggled really with the pace and the laps they felt good, I just couldn’t go quicker. Lewis did a good job again.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Lewis, you are the fastest guy all weekend. Do you think in race conditions you can keep also. In Malaysia you said you had doubts in the race, is it the same case here. And to Valtteri, you did an incredible first sector, in the strongest points of Lewis in this circuit, but then the lap was not so fast as the first part, why?

    LH: We know we’re often good through practice and qualifying but then the races are always a tricky one for us in terms of balance. We’re not terrible but you would think that we’re generally stronger in qualifying than we are in race, that’s been the case all year. But I think we’re good. I think I’ve got a good set of tyres, I think I’ve got a good balance for tomorrow. I’m looking forward to a good race with Sebastian and Valtteri. This is a track where you can follow a lot closer and even overtake as that race me and Sebastian had back in 2012 here, which was great, but I don’t plan on him getting that close but we shall see. But I think we will be OK tomorrow.

    VB: I didn’t understand the question.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) I said you did a fantastic first part of the lap, you were the fastest guy at that moment, but then the rest of the lap was not so good.

    VB: In Q3. Yeah, I couldn’t improve in the second run. The first run felt OK, but Lewis managed to gain somehow more from Q2 to Q3 and I couldn’t really. I couldn’t find any track improvement. Like I said it was not easy sessions, every lap was a bit different but there were no big mistakes, just small things here and there as I feel for all the drivers but there was just this big gap.

    Q: (Christian Menath – Motorsport-Magazin.com) Question for Sebastian. Would you compare the situation you had today in Q3 in the last lap with the one you had in Japan where you saw the gap was quite to the front runners? Or was it completely the opposite – because you knew he had to be a bit more on the safe side to get these two corners right. And which two corners was it?

    SV: Well, I struggled a bit into Turn Eight, so Eight-Nine then it’s a succession up the hill. Obviously, the wind was quite tricky all day really. In the morning, I thought it was fine. In the afternoon, I just started on the wrong foot. It wasn’t really a question of stepping down, or calming down. It was more a question of getting it right. The shots that I had before, I obviously tried. Maybe I did take a little bit more risk but it never really worked – and then yeah, I knew what I had to get right, so I got it right. That was the most important but obviously in Japan I was fairly comfortable, let’s say, front row, no matter what Valtteri was going to do, so I decided to take a bit more risk but it was very different here, obviously. My lap was very poor in Q3 and I knew that I had to deliver otherwise I would have been, I don’t know, not even top six maybe. Therefor the timing was just right.

    Q: (Jeff Gluck – Jeffgluck.com) Lewis, how has your relationship with the American fans evolved over the years? It seems like you’ve soaked up the relationship with the American fans and the adoration that they have for you. How has that evolved for you over the years here?

    LH: Yeah, I think it’s been an interesting journey for me. I think it’s… my love of America started many, many years before I even came to the States, watching movies and seeing these great cities, like New York and all over. My Mum actually saved up to bring me to New York for my 17th birthday and we had an amazing few days. It kind of grew from then. And obviously coming here, racing here, my first… my second grand prix win but first race in the US was Indy and that was an amazing feeling. A great battle that I had with Fernando, and then obviously moving here. I don’t know why it’s always gone so well for me here but there definitely is a… I do feel a lot of positivity here. It is such a great country, it’s got so much to offer. Obviously, you’ve got great mountains, great countryside, great seaside, great food. There’s not really anything it doesn’t have. Plus you’ve got NASA here, which is pretty awesome. Rocket! I like that. So yeah, and I generally feel like, obviously… naturally I think people, Americans really do relate to… they’re crazy into their sports, they relate to winners, and obviously the fact I’ve had the success that I’ve had here I think comes hand-in-hand with that relationship but I really do appreciate the support that I have here and it does feel like a second home for me. It’s a place that I try to spend as much time as I can in my off-time ‘cos it’s where I’m generally happiest.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) A question to Sebastian. You obviously didn’t do many laps yesterday. How much could you recover in P3, in terms of race preparation?

    SV: Not much. Obviously, we had a touch of a small long run, I think two timed laps, so we’re missing a bit. As the season progresses everybody gets better in terms of reading the sessions, understanding the tyres so I don’t think we’re in any weaker position. Would have been nice to do more laps but the little laps that I had this morning were fine. I think we know what we need to do. Now we see what the conditions are like. It’s supposed to be a bit cooler, we’ll see what the wind does. We have to react to those. That’s far more important that maybe what we’ve missed, because that has an impact on how your balance is in the first stint and then how you are able to feel the car push or not and then put pressure on whoever’s in front or disappear if you’re ahead, or whatever.

    Q: (Luis Vasconcelos – Formula Press) Questions to Valtteri and Sebastian. For Valtteri, three-quarters of the time you’re losing to Lewis is all in the last sector, he was three-tenths quicker than you. Is there something not to your liking in the car in that kind of corner. And for Sebastian, even though it’s not as bad as in the first two years, there’s still a difference in grip on the two sides of the grid. Does that worry you for the start tomorrow?

    VB: Yes, definitely the last sector in the qualifying I did struggle more. It felt more tricky for some reason than, for example, in some of the practice sessions. There’s been things I’ve been struggling with, with this car, with the brake modulation and front-locking and transferring the weight between the four wheels. It’s fine details but just struggled to get it together. Many times 13 and 15, lost a bit of time. Sometimes I got it right but still I couldn’t match Lewis in terms of cornering speeds, etcetera – but yeah, those are the longest corners, slow speed corners and normally the bigger differences are there.

    And Sebastian, the grip differential.

    SV: I don’t know. We see tomorrow. I saw Formula 4 race but they start on the other side, so the polesitter starts left. Anyway, the guy who started left turned in first into the first corner, so I don’t know. I don’t think there’s a big difference. We just need to make sure the cheerleaders tomorrow stay away from that side and they can get all excited on Lewis’ side.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / Speed Sport) Lewis, you mentioned the rockets. F1 has a lot of high technology. A lot of it is kept hidden. What did you like about the high technology that you got to see at NASA?

    LH: Well, to be honest, a lot of the technology I saw quite pre-dated. The most impressive thing was the big rocket that was one of the first rockets to go up in the ‘70s, and the engine technology of the most power has not progressed since then, from what they told me. That was like the best they could do with it. I think the most impressive thing for it is that it had like 1.5million pounds of torque in those five engines, and the distance of the blast of the jet was like two or three hundred metres, which was awesome. I think it was just mind-blowing to see what they were able to do. How amazing the technology, and how great the scientists were back in the ‘60s, ‘70s when they were building those space rockets, and then obviously now they’re planning more missions to the Moon, and Mars, and the new space station, I guess they’re going to have to start designing and building the new space station sometime because the life of that thing’s about to run out. I think it was just great. There’s no other country that I’ve ever been… everyone around the world knows about the journey to space. You see the movies and it’s so fascinating, so to be there and actually speak to an astronaut who was the last one to go up to the space station and is going to be the one to pilot the next mission, I was like: “Can I join you? Or we can swap jobs, I don’t mind doing your job.” It’s just mind-blowing when you think of how many intelligent people there are there working. I think there’s something like 10,000 people working at NASA but I think there was a lot more in the earlier days and there are similarities to Formula One. Obviously on a much, much smaller scale but in terms of the science. Honestly, I’m a space geek. I was there and I was asking a million questions and I’d happily go and work at NASA if I had the brains to do so. I could definitely pilot one of those ships. No problem!

    Q: (Les Kaiser – Speed City) Lewis you half way joked when you responded “can I do with you?” How serious would you be if they approached you in another year or two to join them?

    LH: I would go immediately. I would go tomorrow. Generally, the trips are, like, two weeks, so I’d be back in time for the next trip. After the race, jump on the Shuttle, no problem. No, I really, really would love to go. I know someone that has gone up. It was quite expensive so I don’t know how that’s going to happen. If I win the lottery then definitely, I’m going to go.

    Q: (Peter Habicht – The Auto Channel) Question to each of the drivers: Formula One has often been described as a space race in motorsports in comparison to other forms of motorsport. Who or what about the hundreds of people that support your cars, your efforts, impresses you the most or strikes you the strongest?

    SV: Well, if you open the bonnet and you’re allowed to have a good look, which normally people unfortunately are not, they don’t get too close to the cars, then you’ll be impressed by how much stuff there is going on, especially with the new engines that we have, how complex they are. But still, we manage to get (them to be) more and more robust, run for longer with more power so obviously in the last couple of years that has been very crucial and there has been a big step in all areas on the power unit side. But I think really the most impressive bit is how everything comes together. You know you talk about the car in the end but it’s so much more. I know we’ve got the basic stuff: four tyres and yeah, for some people the cars look similar to how they looked ten, twenty, thirty years ago but how much has changed.  And seeing all that coming together, the planning of the project and how much work is going into the project and every year build a new car which is crazy but a completely new car. You try to improve, you try to come up with new ideas, solutions, better packaging, design, materials. You want to save weight. And then to see winter time, in that regard, is very very exciting to see it coming together and then firing up for the first time, driving out on the track for the first time. It’s really the work and brains of more than a thousand people. In the end, two drivers per team who have the chance to describe the feeling to drive the car so I think that’s really one of the most exciting bits. In my opinion, that also makes it a team sport because I can’t do it on my own, I’m not even close. You need every single one and you need to… I don’t know if you can compare it to an orchestra, you need to play in sync, perfect timing and then only then are you able to come up with a competitive package because the other teams that you’re up against are so good as well.

    VB: I have to say it’s how much every single person’s work actually makes a difference. Every single woman and man in a race team, whatever areas they work on, at the factory, in the race team, on the engine side, everyone’s work matters so much. All the credit goes to every single one in the team, there’s no one person who can make the big difference. It is, as a team, it’s really interesting to see, when a team works well, together, how big a difference you can make with the team spirit, and if everyone gives 100 percent instead of 99 percent and when there’s nearly a thousand people, it makes a massive difference and that’s nice to see.

    LH: I will try and keep it short but for me it’s the technology, it’s the design. I think the most impressive part is when you go back to the factory and you see what’s going on back then, a huge group of people with great creative minds coming together and really stretching the boundaries of the rules, legality-wise and advancing technology at a crazy rate. When you look at how they’re building these engines and the amount of test components you see they’ve failed and then they are able to dissect it and improve it for the next time, that for me is just mind-blowing when I go there, and I’ve been in the sport for a long time, obviously, but to see that every year, growing and improving and the process in which they do that, particularly quality control, has come so far forward which is probably why we are able to have the reliability, and that for me is the most mind-blowing thing.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) To Sebastian and Lewis: at this race we can have the world title decided and we haven’t mentioned it in this press conference. Does it come to your mind at any moment? When will you take it into consideration?

    LH: Well, I mean it’s a bit like a game of chess. Obviously right now it’s check but there’s still a long long way to go. There’s still a hundred points available. Sebastian and his team are going to be working as hard as they can as are we. Who knows? It’s going to go to the wire I still think. In the next four races, I think they are going to give it a great shot and I’m going to do my utmost to try and defend and not only defend but really maximise and win these races. I want to win these races, that’s what I’m working towards and naturally, in winning races, points come and championships are won so that’s what I’m here to do.

    SV: Well, it’s pretty straightforward. I think we have to win and then we see what happens. Obviously we are not in the position that we would like to be but still we have a chance so we go for that and it’s pretty straightforward. We have the car, we had the car to win the last three races, didn’t happen, so I don’t see why the next four races we shouldn’t have the package to win so we start tomorrow.

    LH: Buddy, do you have a question for us? Do you have a question for us? You sure?

    Q: (“Buddy”) Are you excited to race in Austin?

    LH: Am I excited to race in Austin? Well I’m excited to meet you and yeah, I love racing this track, it’s so much fun, I think you’d love it. If I had a two-seater would like to go with me?

    Q: (Christian Menath – Motorsport Magazin.com) Question for all three of you: it was pretty hot today, how much did you have to look at tyre temperatures, especially with ultrasoft in the fast flowing sector one or is the straight afterwards long enough to cool it down? How much was tyre temperature a concern for one lap today?

    LH: I think tyres are definitely… I mean there are a lot of high speed corners here, what’s really unfortunate is that TV’s not really able to show you the forces that are going through not only our bodies but the tyres, the car, how it’s flexing through these corners. I think here more than many of the other circuits through that first section you really can see the car shifting and turning. I don’t think people realise how tight those corners are and how ridiculously fast we’re going through them but it’s fantastic. With these tyres, they’re kind of like living tissue, you know? The temperature’s moving all the time so how you manage them on the out lap, whether you get a small slide or a bit of wheelspin affects the next corner and the corner after that. It’s kind of difficult to explain but it is really important to make sure you manage them in the best way possible to get the optimum performance for a lap and there is a knack to it for sure which obviously we are able to do.

    VB: Nothing to add really. We could actually push relatively hard. Obviously we needed to take care on the out lap but like the first sector, we could really go for it and the long straights, they definitely make it easier to cool them down a bit but like Lewis said, you still need to not go crazy with them.

    SV: Well first of all I don’t like the imagination of living tissue; that just sounds a bit… Yeah, I think we would like to push more but you obviously have to look after the tyres and manage them which to some degree is fine because it’s part of our skill set but still I prefer to be able to push more.

    Eom/FIA transcript of the press conference

  • Vettel to chase Lewis Hamilton from P2 at CoTA: US F1 Grand Prix

    Lewis Hamilton took one step closer to a fourth title with his 72nd career pole position at the Circuit of the Americas. The Briton’s path was shadowed by title rival Sebastian Vettel, however, with the Ferrari driver recovering from a tricky start to the weekend to claim a front-row berth just 0.2s behind the Mercedes driver.

    After handling problems on Friday, Ferrari opted to change Vettel’s chassis overnight and in the build-up to Q3 the German began to find the rhythm that had eluded him in practice.

    He couldn’t match Hamilton, whose time of 1:33.108 in Q3 confirmed him as the quickest in every session of the weekend so far, but Vettel managed to keep the title fight very much alive by carving out a half-second improvement on his opening Q3 lap to take P2 and a crucial front-row start that makes Hamilton’s quest to outscore the Ferrari man by 16 points a tall order should Vettel have an untroubled race. Third place in qualifying went to Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas.

    In a busy opening to Q1, which saw the bulk of the cars on track it was Force India’s Esteban Ocon who set the early pace with a lap of 1:41.980. He was soon bounced out of P1 by Valtteri Bottas on supersofts, the Finn setting a time of 1:35.309.

    The traffic upset the opening run of Max Verstappen who abandoned his lap saying “it’s a big mess out there”. His engineer’s response was to tell the Red Bull driver that he had to make the next one count. And Verstappen obliged jumping to P1. He was quickly demoted to P2 by Hamilton with a lap of 1:34.899 that he then improved by seven hundredths to hold top spot.

    Behind Verstappen, Valtteri Bottas was third ahead of Vettel, Renault’s Carlos Sainz, Williams’ Felipe Massa and the second Ferrari of Kimi Räikkönen. The Mercedes and Ferrari drivers all set the best Q1 times on the supersoft tyres.

    After the final runs a cluster of drivers battling to escape the drop zone fought their way into the 1m36.8s bracket. It was Haas’ Romain Grosjean who edged through to Q2 with a lap of 1:36.835. Seven thousands of a second behind and eliminated in P16 was Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson. It was a painful exit too for newcomer Brendon Hartley, with the New Zealander in 18th place, behind Lance Stroll, but just five hundredths of a second behind Grosjean. Also out were Sauber’s Pascal Wehrlein in P19 and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen in P20.

    Hamilton was again the pace in the second session, setting a first run benchmark of 1:33.560 and eventually shaving just over a tenth off that to finish ahead of team-mate Bottas with Räikkönen third ahead of Vettel and Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo. Verstappen, though, made the choice to set his Q2 time on supersoft tyres ahead of his 15-place grid penalty for the race.

    Hamilton maintained his grip on proceedings in the opening runs of Q3, laying a provisional claim on pole position with a time of 1:33.108. That left him 0.460 clear of second-placed team-mate Bottas, with Räikkönen third on 1:33.852. Vettel was in fourth, 0.759s behind his title rivals.

    And in the final runs there was no touching the championship leader’s opening lap, though Vettel pushed the Briton hard. The Ferrari driver found over half a second on his final run to seal a front row berth, but he still ended the session 0.239s down on Hamilton’s opener.

    There was a similar leap in the final runs from Ricciardo. The Red Bull Racing driver opened his Q3 account with a time of 1:34.130 to sit sixth, but in the final runs the Australian dug deep and found 0.553s to jump to the second row of the grid and fourth spot behind Bottas.

    There was no such improvement for Verstappen, however. The Dutchman made a small mistake in the penultimate corner and though he made a two tenths of a second improvement over his opening time, he had to settle for sixth place behind Räikkönen.

    Ocon took seventh for Force India ahead of Sainz, with McLaren’s Fernando Alonso ninth and Sergio Pérez 10th in the second Force India.

    eom/FIA press release

  • Lewis Hamilton sets the pace at Austin’s Circuit of Americas: F1 US Grand Prix

    Lewis Hamilton continued to set the pace at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas as he beat Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen top spot in second practice for the US Grand Prix.

    The Mercedes driver had registered the quickest time of the weekend’s opening session to beat Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel by more than half a second and in the afternoon Hamilton again went quickest, eclipsing Verstappen by 0.397s with a lap of 1: 34.668s.

    After an early phase on the soft Pirelli tyres, Hamilton made the switch to ultrasoft tyres, switched from traditional purple to pink in support of breast cancer charities this weekend, after some 35 minutes.

    He immediately shot to the top of the timesheeets ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas who had already deposed early pacesetter Daniel Ricciardo who has used supersofts early on. Verstappen then upped his pace on the pink-banded tyres to go second with a lap of 1:35.065.

    Vettel then stole into third place. The German, who had earlier suffered an off at the second last corner and recovered, put in his performance run as the session approached the half way mark. As in the morning session, Vettel’s time of 1:35.192 was again half a second off the pace of Hamilton. Vettel was unhappy with the feel of his car, however, and as Ferrari worked through cures he completed just 11 laps in the session.

    Bottas’ run netted a time of 1:35.279, good enough for fourth place but 0.6s behind his team-mate. After his early exploits on the supersoft tyre, Ricciardo’s ultrasoft run saw him finish 0.795s off the pace and 0.398s behind team-mate Verstappen. Kimi Räikkönen was sixth quickest for Ferrari.

    After putting in just four laps in the morning session after a hydraulic problem, Fernando Alonso recovered to seventh place in the afternoon, posting a time of 1:36.304 to finish 1.636s behind Hamilton. Felipe Massa was eighth for Williams ahead of the two Force Indias of Sergio Pérez and Esteban Ocon.

    2017 United States Grand Prix – Free Practice 2 
    1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:34.668 26
    2 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:35.065 0.397 30
    3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:35.192 0.524 11
    4 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:35.279 0.611 39
    5 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:35.463 0.795 24
    6 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:35.514 0.846 29
    7 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:36.304 1.636 28
    8 Felipe Massa Williams 1:36.460 1.792 30
    9 Sergio Perez Force India 1:36.481 1.813 28
    10 Esteban Ocon Force India 1:36.490 1.822 34
    11 Carlos Sainz Renault 1:36.529 1.861 30
    12 Nico Hülkenberg Renault 1:36.534 1.866 18
    13 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:36.761 2.093 40
    14 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:37.285 2.617 17
    15 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 1:37.463 2.795 31
    16 Lance Stroll Williams 1:37.788 3.120 27
    17 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 1:37.987 3.319 41
    18 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber 1:38.165 3.497 35
    19 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:38.262 3.594 22
    20 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:38.387 3.719 26.

    eom/FIA press release

  • Sahara Force India looks to consolidate fourth place: Austin GP

    Sahara Force India gets ready for this weekend’s United States Grand Prix in Austin.

    Vijay Mallya: “The last few races have seen us take some significant steps forward with the performance of the VJM10. In Malaysia and Japan, we were the fourth fastest team and I’m confident we can remain there for the upcoming races. In Japan, for example, we finished over 20 seconds clear of the eighth-placed car, which is a big statement on such a technical track. It’s thanks to all the hard work in the wind tunnel, the factory, and trackside that we are sitting in a very strong fourth place in the championship with 81 points advantage to fifth place. The next race in Austin will be another opportunity to score well and consolidate our position.”

    Sergio Perez: “The race in Austin is one of my favourite weekends of the year. There are so many Mexican fans in the grandstands and the support I feel is just amazing. My family and friends always come to spend time with me at the circuit, which is an added bonus.

    “It’s an interesting circuit with some very exciting corners. I think the esses in sector one will feel amazing with this year’s cars. I also enjoy turn one: it’s very hard to get your braking just right and you can easily miss the blind apex. You can’t really see where you are going until you are at the top of the hill and it’s easy to turn in late and run wide.

    “I’m feeling happy with how things have gone during the last few races. I’m proud of the job we have done and the results we have achieved. It’s great that we are still bringing new parts to the car and making progress. The car is working well and Austin should be another chance to score good points.”

    Esteban Ocon: “I was really pleased with our performance in Suzuka. It was definitely one of my best races this year and it’s always enjoyable when you come away on the Sunday night feeling that you achieved the maximum that was possible. The car was quick from the very start of practice and the same was true in Malaysia. It feels as though we’ve taken a big step forward recently and I believe we will be strong in all of the remaining races.

    “I think everybody enjoys visiting Austin. It’s a fun city and I enjoyed myself there last year. Even though we have to focus on the racing, you stay in the city and you get to soak up the atmosphere. There’s a lot of live music going on during the race week and some great restaurants in the city.

    “Austin is a satisfying track to drive because there are so many different types of corner. The high-speed section is similar to Silverstone; there are long straights like Monza, and there is the tight and twisty section at the end of the lap. The unusual turn one is also a special feature of the lap. Because it’s uphill, you can brake really late and there are a few different lines you can take through the corner. It’s not easy to overtake, but turn one can give you a decent opportunity.”

    Sahara Force India’s Chief Race Engineer, Tom McCullough, looks ahead to the race at the Circuit of the Americas.

    “The Circuit of the Americas is one of the few anti-clockwise circuits and is a real test for the car: with its mix of low, medium and high-speed corners, finding the perfect set-up is a challenge. There is a significant gradient in several parts of the circuit and especially in the steep uphill run-up to the braking zone in turn one. The first sector winds through multiple changes of direction at high speed, in a way that is reminiscent of Suzuka’s first sector: it’s a part of the track the drivers love and it will be particularly interesting to see this year’s cars on it. With each passing year, the track has become more of a challenge when it comes to ride, so it will be interesting to see how bumpy the track surface is going to be this year.”

    Make a difference with Sahara Force India this Breast Cancer Awareness Month
    This October, Sahara Force India is shining a light on the vital need to raise more money to support the 612,000 people currently living with breast cancer in the UK, by printing the names of two inspiring women, Emma Thompson and Elaine Fuller, on our VJM10 cars.  Both women have had a breast cancer diagnosis and we want to share their stories as a mark of strength, hope and unity for all those affected by breast cancer this Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

    Together with Memento Exclusives, Sahara Force India will also be running an online auction from 16th – 25th October to help raise vital funds for Breast Cancer Care, featuring unique experiences and items designed to inspire any Formula One fan.

    Take a look at the fantastic auction lots here or show your support this Breast Cancer Awareness Month by donating here.

    eom/Sahara Force India press release

  • Brendon Hartley to race with Scuderia Toro Rosso in Austin

    New Zealander Brendon Hartley will race for Scuderia Toro Rosso at the next round of the Formula 1 World Championship, the USA Grand Prix in Austin, as Pierre Gasly will be racing in Japan for the last race of the Super Formula Championship in Suzuka.

    Brendon last tested with the team back in 2009. Eight years later, he will be taking part in his first Formula 1 Grand Prix, at the Circuit of the Americas, alongside Daniil Kvyat.

    Since his last outing with Scuderia Toro Rosso, Brendon has gained experience in many different categories, including the Formula Renault 3.5 Series, GP2 Series and sports car Series. In the last three years he successfully raced the LMP1 Porsche in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

    In 2015 he was crowned WEC Champion alongside his teammates Mark Webber and Timo Bernhard. In June this year he won the prestigious 24h of Le Mans race and he’s currently leading the 2017 WEC Championship, with three rounds to go – the next one being the 6 Hours of Fuji, in Japan. After that, he’ll travel to Texas for his first F1 race weekend… A well-deserved reward that has been eight years in the making: never say never!

     Brendon Hartley
    “What an amazing feeling! This opportunity came as somewhat of a surprise, but I never did give up on my ambition and childhood dream to reach F1. I have grown and learnt so much since the days when I was the Red Bull and Toro Rosso reserve driver, and the tough years I went through made me stronger and even more determined. I want to say a huge thanks to Red Bull for making this a reality, and to Porsche for allowing me to do this alongside the World Endurance Championship. COTA is a track I really enjoy and one I have raced at recently. I’m trying not to put too many expectations on my F1 debut, but I feel ready for it.”

    Franz Tost
    “Scuderia Toro Rosso is very pleased to announce that Brendon Hartley, who has been part of the Red Bull family for a long time in different classes, as well as the test and reserve driver for Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso, will now be back racing for us in Austin. Brendon is coming as the reigning 24h Le Mans winner and he’s also leading the current FIA LMP1 World Endurance Championship, which he won in 2015 as well. We are really happy to have him back in our team. With all the racing experience accumulated over the years, we are convinced that he will do a fantastic job for us.”

    eom/Toro Rosso release

  • Incredible victory here but World champion in karting is still the best: Max Verstappen

    DRIVERS: 1 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing); 2 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes);  3 – Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing)

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS (Conducted by Mark Webber)

    Max, what a special day, buddy. Second victory; yesterday you turned 20. The previous win was not a gift, but this was… you had to work so hard for it, but what were the main points and how did you get the job done today.

    Max VERSTAPPEN: I think in the beginning, straight away the car felt good and I saw Lewis struggling a bit with traction and he was clipping a bit more than me, so I used my battery as much as I could and of course he has more to lose than me in the championship so I went for it in Turn 1 and from there I could do my own race. The car was unbelievable. I had pace. If I needed to speed up I sped up. Yeah, it’s amazing. It’s a very tough race but of course incredible to win.

    I saw the neck a little bit. How does it feel at the end there – a little bit tight?

    MV: Of course. You get a bit tired. I thought maybe let’s rest a bit, maybe I need it in the end of the race.

    Incredible victory. Lewis, no one has stood on this podium more than you. Six times up on this podium, you have such a great affinity with Malaysia. It’s the last time we’re going to race here, a 34-point lead now in the championship. This was a very important second place, right?

    LH: Yeah, absolutely. A big congratulations to Max and a happy birthday. He did a fantastic job today. And a big thank you to all the crowd here. This is the biggest crowd we’ve ever had here in Malaysia. We needed that. It’s been such a great for us for so many years, we appreciate you guys having us and all the support you give us. So, thank you so much. The race was a tough one. Obviously they just had the upper hand on us today. But we love driving this track. It is the most difficult circuit; you are the most depleted afterwards and that’s a great thing.

    Well done buddy. Obviously, Sebastian did get back into fourth place but championship-wise, where’s your head at now and how do you go to bed tonight?

    LH: I feel good, but I think we have some work to do with the car. Obviously we didn’t have the pace today, this weekend, so there’s still work to do, there are still races ahead and there are some we can for sure win but we just have to keep pushing.

    Well done. Over to Danny Ric – well done buddy. Fantastic podium. It was a pretty hot afternoon for you; pretty boring in a ways, but that’s sometimes how those races go. But when Sebastian arrived you fought him off really well. So run us through the race and tactically how you had to deal with Sebastian at the end of it?

    Daniel RICCIARDO: Yeah, at the start it looked like Mercedes were struggling, so I was behind Bottas for a few laps. Obviously tried to get him as soon as possible, but he defended well. Seb came so quick at the end. I thought I was going to have a handful, but he only really had one strong attack and then we were able to pull away. I guess pretty lonely, but it was hot, it was physical, so nice to get a podium. Congrats to Max. Second win, he drove well all weekend, so good race for the team. Thanks to all the Aussies, appreciate it.

    Beautiful double podium for Red Bull, good to see you guys back on form. Max, your dad is down here and when the national anthem was going I think your father’s bottom lip was on the edge, I could see a bit of emotion from Jos the Boss. Run us through your emotions, what this means to get these victories at this level is just phenomenal…

    MV: You know, especially after the season I’ve had, I think this victory came at a very good time, so I was very happy when I crossed the line and together with my dad I got this far and of course I got the great help from Red Bull.

    Q: Max, you said yesterday, right here, that you would love to win a grand prix on merit. You fought-off Bottas at the start, you overtook Lewis, and you won by 12 seconds. Is that what you would call ‘on merit’.

    MV: Yeah, I think the whole race went well. Once I got past Lewis I could basically just focus on my pace and look after the tyres and when I needed to speed up I had the pace to do it. So, that was, of course, very pleasing. I think the first time I’ve had that in my career so far and I’ve won. So, to do something like that was, of course, great. The car had a great balance in the second sector and, yeah, I just had to stay very focussed, of course, because with the backmarkers you could easily lose a lot of lap time so you had to be focussed on that. Almost got taken out in Turn One when I passed two backmarkers but from there onwards, yeah, I could control everything, so of course very happy with that.

    And the detail on the overtake on Lewis.

    MV: I had a good run out of the last corner and then yeah, I opted to go for the inside. Of course I know that Lewis has more to lose because he’s fighting for the championship, so maybe I look a bit of extra risk because of it – but it was my only chance, I think, because that was one of the laps I could see he was clipping a bit more than I was, so I used the battery I had. Of course, very happy I got past.

    Q: Lewis, second place and extending championship lead. The risk/reward profile from your side when Max came through. What was going through your head?

    LH: yeah, I didn’t really know how close Max was and, yeah, I was having some problems with de-rates at the beginning of the race so, yeah, just struggling with battery power. I went to defend but didn’t really want to risk it, so I left enough room, didn’t completely close the door and be too aggressive. At the end of the day Max had more pace than me and it would have been a struggle anyway, even if he hadn’t got past at that point. Perhaps it would have happened somewhere else. It was going to be a real struggle but I did everything I could after that just to maintain position and, yeah, good to still get second.

    Q: It was a little bit reminiscent of Bahrain, the Mercedes seemed to struggle particularly on the supersoft tyre. Would that be accurate?

    LH: Yes. To be honest I struggled on both sets, a little bit less on the soft. But yeah, the car’s… the car’s good obviously in some places and in some others the issues that we have with the car are magnified, so we do have some big problems with it. It wasn’t… we struggled with pace, as you can see but still, it was good enough to get second. There’s still work to do to try and fix it but I think it’s a fundamental issue with this year’s car, so we’ve just got to try and work on improving it for next year.

    Q: Daniel, thrills at either end of the race for you. Obviously, the pass on Bottas early on and then the defence from Vettel at the end. Extremely robust defence, it must be said, into Turn One. Give us the detail on that, and obviously you had the time to think about him coming through, you were kept informed of his progress, so did you have a plan, or was it pure instinct.

    DR: The plan was to keep him behind. My engineer kept telling me he was catching me, and I like, ‘right… thanks… I know’, so I didn’t get to a point where I told him to…  yeah, I wasn’t giving much feedback on the radio so I think he got the picture but yeah, I defended a bit and I saw Seb was still coming, so I closed the door a bit later towards the apex, I don’t know how it looked from the outside. I don’t know if he was unhappy about it, or whatever, but it didn’t seem over-aggressive from my side. It didn’t feel like I did a really late move or anything, so from there I expected him to attack to the end but I was going to do all I could to keep him behind but I expected him to keep coming, keep coming and I guess maybe he killed the tyres trying to chase me and then getting close to me. And then, yeah, with Bottas, off the start I chose to go to the inside, obviously in the end he had a better run on the outside, so that was not the best line, I guess, from me. I had a couple of goes at him, he defended pretty well initially and then finally got around him – but by then Max and Lewis had obviously taken off. I think towards the end of that first stint, the end of the supersoft, I was keeping pretty good times on them, finally bringing some laptime back – but then they all pitted before and pulled away again, and on the soft I wouldn’t say I was as strong as probably the end of that first stint. It was, for the most part, a lonely race but yeah, obviously congrats to Max. He was strong all weekend. I think it’s our first double podium of the year so it’s a good result.

    Q: Finally, when the rules came out to make these cars a lot faster in 2017, this would have been the race that you’d have thought about and thought how tough it was going to be. Just a quick snapshot from each of you. How do you feel now? How hard was it?

    DR: Better that we’ve had some fluids. Yeah, it’s quick. Already last year it was probably the most physical race. This and Singapore. Singapore, we got given an easier time this year with the wet conditions. It made the race less physical because of the pace. So yeah, this I’d say was the toughest race and, yeah, you feel it. I think having a battle, having Seb catch me and keeping me on my toes, actually made it a bit easier.

    And Max, how do you feel?

    MV: Yeah, of course it was a very tough race but the whole week already I was not feeling too well, so that also doesn’t help in the toughest race of the season but luckily I managed to hold on so that was all good.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriera della Sera) Lewis, you gained six more points on Sebastian; how do you rate the importance (of that)?

    LH: Of gaining six more points? How do I rate it? Any points are important, so I don’t really know how to answer that. It’s a step towards trying to win this World Championship so every point counts.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Max, was that a clear sign that the Red Bull can now be strong on any type of circuit which still follows in the calendar?

    MV: I hope so. I didn’t expect to win here and be faster than the Mercedes but I think the whole weekend we looked pretty decent. Of course in qualifying, I think it’s a bit more tricky for us to be in front of them but we know that in the race normally our car is a bit stronger and we can look after our tyres quite well, so hopefully that’s a benefit maybe for some upcoming races but we have to wait and see. Every single weekend you have to set up the car well. You can say, yeah, here we were really quick so now we should be quick on every track but you are never 100 percent sure.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and Speedsport) Lewis, you gained six points but Seb came from last to fourth; what concerns you about the Ferrari pace in the remaining races?

    LH: What concerns me? Yeah, when we went into the race we knew that they had something like eight tenths on us so it was no surprise. Going on towards the next races, I have no idea how it will work out but the others have generally picked up a bit more pace I would say than us. And as I said, circuits like this there are corners that really magnify the issues we have with the car, so that’s something which we struggled with here. Whether or not that will be the same at the next races we go to we will see.

    Q: (Heikku Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Max, congratulations. Did it make it any easier for you when Kimi was taken away before the start?

    MV: It’s always easier, yeah, it’s one competitor less. If you look at the performance of Sebastian, for sure they would have been really strong. It’s of course a bit of a gift in that way, that it’s one less competitor but we never know how quick he was in the race.

    Q : (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Lewis, you must be very happy because Friday you had a difficult car, just one hour on Saturday to test a new set-up. You were surprised by that as you said, and now in the race also, in spite of a difficult car, you finished second and your rival is in the back. If you can comment on that please?

    LH: Yeah, definitely, a much better weekend that we had anticipated after our Friday. Still, as I said, we’ve got a lot of work to do with this car so considering the issues we did have with the car, I think this is a good result. I think Valtteri obviously seemed to struggle a lot more and I was able to just pull a little bit more out of it, I guess, but these next races are going to be crucial in terms of finding out whether we can iron out some of the creases that we have with the car but yeah, who would have thought that the Ferraris would have had a problem? All we can do is try and capitalise as much on those. Naturally, I wanted to win the race and so Max did a fantastic job today, but obviously winning the race is still the goal so even if I get second it’s not that satisfying.

    Q : (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) And Max, you said that you enjoyed the car in the sector two here which is very similar to what we will find in Suzuka, no?

    MV: Yeah, but like I said before, it’s easy to say, yes now we will be good on every track. We just have to wait and see when we go to Suzuka. I think it’s a bit too early to say that we will be really competitive there. We were not too bad last year but we still have to find a good set-up.

    Q: (Arjan Schouten – AD Sportwereld) Max, could you compare this one to your first victory in Spain?

    MV: No, because there we definitely normally didn’t have the pace to win. Today we had and I had to really fight to overtake, and then look after the tyres so it was for me a bit different and it actually feels better.

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) Max, you got a podium in China and then I think twelve races until this one and then seven DNFs. How much of a relief is it that luck has finally turned your way, not that it was a lucky win but that luck has finally turned in your favour a bit?

    MV: Yeah, of course it’s been a dramatic season so far so of course I’m very happy then to win this race and hopefully from now onwards it will be OK. I’m not saying we’re going to win every race but at least score some good points. Up until now, it was really a season to forget.

    Q: (Lennart Bloemhof – De Volkskrant) Max, yesterday you said becoming World Champion in karting was the best victory you ever experienced in your career…

    MV: It still is.

    Q: (Lennart Bloemhof – De Volkskrant) It still is? This one doesn’t feel better?

    MV: No. Because it doesn’t feel like that.

     

    eom/FIA transcript of the press conference

  • Max Verstappen celebrates birthday week with a win; Hamilton 2nd; Vettel 4th: Malaysian GP

    Max Verstappen celebrates birthday week with a win; Hamilton 2nd; Vettel 4th: Malaysian GP

    Max Verstappen

    Sepang: The final Malaysian Grand Prix saw Max Verstappen celebrate his birthday in style by claiming a superb win at the Sepang International Circuit.

    After overtaking championship leader Lewis Hamilton in the opening laps to take the lead, Verstappen who turned 20 yesterday, delivered a faultless drive to march unchallenged to the chequered flag ahead of the Mercedes driver and Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.

    Hamilton’s second place now gives him a 34-point Drivers’ Championship lead over Sebastian Vettel after the Ferrari driver fought his way from last on the grid to fourth place at the flag.

    There was drama before the start as on his laps to grid, Kimi Räikkönen reported a loss of power. Ferrari attempted to resolve the problem on the grid but eventually the decision was taken to roll the Finn’s car back to the garage to fix the issue. In the end, however, no solution could be found and Räikkönen, who as set to start from second on the grid was forced to retire before the start.

    When the lights went out, pole position man Hamilton held his advantage and led from Verstappen. Bottas made a good start and managed to get past fourth-on-the-grid Daniel Ricciardo. Further back, Vettel quickly began to carve his way through the pack and by the end of lap one he was up to 13th place from 20th on the grid.

    Verstappen, though, was the man on the move and on the next tour he used DRS well to attack Hamilton in Turn 1 and the Red Bull driver assumed the race lead. Ricciardo also attacked Bottas but the Finn resisted the threat and held third place. Vettel, meanwhile, continued to press forward and by lap seven he was in 11th place behind Fernando Alonso’s McLaren, and by lap 10 the German has dismissed the McLaren driver and passed Haas’ Kevin Magnussen to take P9.

    Ricciardo also found a way to move ahead, launching an attack on Bottas into Turn 1. The Finn fought back and they tussled hard through the next three turns before Ricciardo at last drew ahead and firmly shut the door on any further resistance.

    Vettel’s march continued. By lap 14 Vettel was setting purple sector times and was running in sixth place, just under 30 seconds behind leader Verstappen, and 23s adrift of title rival Hamilton. On lap 21, Vettel made his next move, tucking in behind Force India’s Sergio Perez and passing the Mexican under DRS into Turn 1.

    The Ferrari driver then quickly closed on fourth-placed Bottas but before he could pass the Finn on the track, Hamilton triggered a round of pit stops for the frontrunners on lap 27 by moving to softs. Verstappen followed on lap 28 with Vettel also heading towards the pit lane. But while the Red Bull driver swapped starting supersofts for soft tyres, Vettel made the opposite switch. Bottas was the last of the top five to pit and when he did so he had lost fourth place to Vettel. At the front, Verstappen now led Hamilton by 6.5s, with Ricciardo a further 11.7s back.

    The race among the top three then settled as Verstappen held the gap to Hamilton at around nine seconds and Ricciardo edged towards to the Mercedes driver.

    Vettel, though, was continuing to push ahead and by lap 42 he was just 4.4s behind Ricciardo and on lap 46 the German slipped inside DRS range of the Australian’s Red Bull.

    Ricciardo’s defence was solid, however, as he bypassed traffic and dropped backmarkers into the space between himself and Vettel and then invited attacks in an effort to make the German burn his tyres. The tactic evidently worked as the final laps began Vettel drifted out to three seconds behind the Australian.

    Ahead, Verstappen was coasting and after 56 laps the Dutchman crossed the line to take his second career win in his 55th grand prix.

    Hamilton held a useful second to open out a 34-point lead over Vettel who finished fourth behind Ricciardo. Just as there had been drama before the race began for Ferrari, there was more after the flag as on the slow down lap Land Stroll collided with Vettel, destroying the rear of the German’s car.

    Behind Vettel, Bottas took fifth place, with Perez finishing a solid sixth after starting the race in ninth place. Stoffel Vandoorne took seventh ahead of Stroll, Williams team-mate Massa and the second Force India of Esteban Ocon.

    eom/FIA press release