INDIA in F1

Tag: Formula 1

  • Charles Leclerc takes pole as Ferrari lock out front row: Belgian GP

    Charles Leclerc beat team-mate Sebastian Vettel by seven tenths of a second to claim pole position for tomorrow’s Belgian Grand Prix as Ferrari locked out the front row ahead of Mercedes at Spa-Francorchamps.

    Quickest across the first two qualifying segments, Leclerc stretched the gap back to his rivals in the final top-10 shoot-out to claim his third career pole with a lap of 1:42.519, a massive 0.748s ahead of Vettel who chiefly lost out to his young team-mate in the middle sector of the 7km circuit.

    Mercedes’s Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, recovered from a crash in FP3 to claim third place on the grid ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas and Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen.

    Q1 was red-flagged after five minutes as Robert Kubica’s Williams suffered a smoke PU failure that left him stranded at the side of the track. The session was immediately halted.

    After a 10-minute delay the action resumed and at the end of the opening session it was Leclerc who sat in top spot with a time of 1:43.587, half a second clear of Vettel.

    Verstappen took third place in the segment but it was touch and go for the Dutchman, who prior to the final runs was outside the 107% margin after struggling with his car’s handling in the early stages of the session.

    In the final run he was quick over the first sector, but then spent the rest of what was a crucial run threading his way through a stream of traffic. The trickle of slower cars became a river at the end of the lap, but Verstappen eventually crossed the line in 1:44.622 to take P3.

    The session was then red-flagged for a second time when smoke jetted from the back of Antonio Giovinazzi’s Alfa Romeo and he pulled over on the run down to Eau Rouge.

    With just 43 seconds left on the clock, Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly was eliminated in P16 ahead of McLaren’s Carlos Sainz, the second Toro Rosso of Daniil Kvyat and the Williams cars of George Russell and Robert Kubica.

    Leclerc again set the pace in Q2, taking P1 with a first run of 1:43.376 that left him a little over a tenth of a second clear of Vettel. Mercedes rose to third and fourth, with Valtteri Bottas ahead of Hamilton and that left fifth place for Max, who set an opening Q2 time of 1:44.132.

    Leclerc then lowered the benchmark to1:42.938 to seal P1 with a tenth of a second in hand over Vettel. The German meanwhile was half a second clear of Hamilton with Bottas a further four tenths back.

    Eliminated at the end of Q2 were 11thplaced Romain Grosjean of Haas followed by McLaren’s Lando Norris, Racing Point’s Lance Stroll, Red Bull’s Alex Albon and Giovinazzi.

    There was no denying Leclerc in the final session either. The Ferrari driver went quickest in the first runs with a time of 1:42.644 as Max posted an opening time of 1:44.239 to slot into P5 behind Hamilton, Vettel and Bottas.

    The Dutchman improved by a whopping half a second on the final run, but as they have been all weekend Ferrari were untouchable, and Leclerc claimed pole position with a small improvement to 1:42.519. Vettel completed the Ferrari front-row lock-out, seven tenths of a second further back while Mercedes annexed the second row ahead with Hamilton third ahead of Bottas.

    That left Max as the session’s fifth fastest man and he’ll start from the front of row three tomorrow, ahead of the Renaults of Ricciardo and Hulkenberg, the Alfa Romeo of Kimi Räikkönen, Racing Point’s Sergio Pérez and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen.

    2019 FIA Formula One Belgian Grand Prix – Qualifying 
    1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:42.519
    2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:43.267 0.748
    3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:43.282 0.763
    4 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:43.415 0.896
    5 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 1:43.690 1.171
    6 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1:44.257 1.738
    7 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:44.542 2.023
    8 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:44.557 2.038
    9 Sergio Perez Racing Point/Mercedes 1:44.706 2.187
    10 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1:45.086 2.567
    11 Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 1:44.797 2.278
    12 Lando Norris McLaren/Renault 1:44.847 2.328
    13 Lance Stroll Racing Point/Mercedes 1:45.047 2.528
    14 Alexander Albon Red Bull/Honda 1:45.799 3.280
    15 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari –
    16 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso/Honda 1:46.435 3.916
    17 Carlos Sainz McLaren/Renault 1:46.507 3.988
    18 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso/Honda 1:46.518 3.999
    19 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 1:47.548 5.029
    20 Robert Kubica Williams/Mercedes –

  • Charles Leclerc tops FP2 ahead of Vettel

    Charles Leclerc topped the timesheet in the second free practice session for the Belgian Grand Prix, eclipsing Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel by more than six tenths of a second and running more than eight tenths quicker than the third placed Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas.

    After being edged out of P1 by Vettel in the morning session Leclerc quickly moved to the top of the order in the afternoon, going quickest in the early phases run on medium-tyres.

    Vettel was the first to move to soft tyres and attempt a performance run and while the German’s time of 1:44.753 briefly gave him P1, Leclerc soon bypassed that benchmark with an impressive lap of 1:44.123 that put him 0.630 clear of his team-mate.

    Vettel went for another attempt but a flawed first sector put paid to his chance of overhauling his younger team-mate.

    Bottas got closest to the pacesetting Ferraris and the Finn’s best time of 1:44.969 saw him finish a little over two tenths of a second behind Vettel, but 0.846s off Leclerc. Championship leader Lewis Hamilton ended up in fourth sport a little under five hundredths of a second behind his team-mate.

    Sergio Pérez looked like continuing Racing Point’s positive start to the weekend as he rose from P9 in the morning session to P5 in the second session, posting a good time of 1:45.117 to finish as the last man within a second of Leclerc. However, after 25 laps of the circuit in total Pérez’s session ended in smokey fashion as he suffered what looked like a power unit issue.

    Sixth place went to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. After finishing third in the morning, the Dutchman was strangely off the pace in the second session and ended up 1.271s behind Leclerc as he complained of power delivery issues.

    Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen took seventh place with a time of 1:45.708, though the Finn was just over two hundredths of a second quicker than Lance Stroll in the second Racing Point.

    Daniel Ricciardo finished ninth for Renault and 10thplace in the session went to new Red Bull Racing recruit Alex Albon who finished 1.648 off Leclerc’s pace and four tenths adrift of Red Bull team-mate Verstappen.

    2019 FIA Formula One Belgian Grand Prix – Free Practice 2 
    1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 28 1:44.123
    2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 30 1:44.753 0.630
    3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 28 1:44.969 0.846
    4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 26 1:45.015 0.892
    5 Sergio Perez Racing Point 25 1:45.117 0.994
    6 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 20 1:45.394 1.271
    7 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo 25 1:45.708 1.585
    8 Lance Stroll Racing Point 21 1:45.732 1.609
    9 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 26 1:45.735 1.612
    10 Alex Albon Red Bull Racing 21 1:45.771 1.648
    11 Carlos Sainz McLaren 28 1:45.999 1.876
    12 Romain Grosjean Haas 21 1:46.120 1.997
    13 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 26 1:46.209 2.086
    14 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 24 1:46.214 2.091
    15 Lando Norris McLaren 29 1:46.258 2.135
    16 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo 24 1:46.328 2.205
    17 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 28 1:46.374 2.251
    18 Kevin Magnussen Haas 21 1:46.399 2.276
    19 George Russell Williams 30 1:47.887 3.764
    20 Robert Kubica Williams 32 1:48.331 4.208

  • Team principals talk about driver movement and new power units: Friday press meet

    Spa Francorchamps, 30 August 2019: The following team representatives attended the customary Friday Press Conference, as the teams gather at the Spa after summer break: Cyril Abiteboul (Renault), Franz Tost (Toro Rosso), Otmar Szafnauer (Racing Point), Guenther Steiner (Haas), Toyoharu Tanabe (Honda).

    Transcript of the Press Meet:

    Q: Cyril, big change on the driver front for you for 2020 with Esteban Ocon joining the team. First, can you tell us why you made that call?

    Cyril Abiteboul: First, I’d like to say it’s been a difficult call to make. Obviously Nico’s contract coming to an end at the end of this season, a decision had to be made as to whether we wanted to stay put with our driver line-up, or include a bit of a change. It’s been difficult because we all love Nico in the team. He’s been instrumental to the progress that we’ve made. We have struggled this season but last year he’s been instrumental in securing P4 in the Championship. He had a good seventh place in the Drivers’ Championship, which is clearly the best that we can targets but, you know, frankly, when you make a decision like that, you don’t just look at pure pace, you also need to look at the collective dynamic. And there is a dynamic we need to restart, reset into the team. And probably, we need to project ourselves into the medium to long-term future. So not just 2020 but also 2021, and what’s happening to his team-mate and so on and so forth. So that’s all of that but in particular the collective dynamic and what Esteban can probably bring to the team. Probably starving for racing, being super-happy to come back into racing, by nature, by construction because also he’s been out of a seat for a year. It’s all of these elements that we factored into the equation. Plus, also it’s important to say that we have, not a certainty because you can’t be certain of anything, but very high chances that Nico will be able to continue his racing career. So, just like it counted for us with Carlos last year, it’s also counted for us this year with Nico.

    Q: And will Ocon retain any ties with Mercedes from 2020?

    CA: No. He’s a Renault driver, that’s very clear. Mercedes will have absolutely no right on him for the duration of his contract. So, small difference is that his management company happens to be a racing team, and that’s Mercedes – but it’s a slightly different set-up from the set-up we had with Carlos last year, where that was on loan and not under contract with Red Bull – but he will be a fully-fledged Renault driver.

    Q: Guenther, Cyril mentioned there that he’s hopeful that Nico Hülkenberg will stay in Formula One next year. Is he a driver that you would be interested in hiring?

    Guenther Steiner: I mean sure. As Cyril said, and I think he’s right, sometimes you have to look at the whole dynamic of a team. It’s not all about the speed of a driver and if people like Nico’s on the market, for sure we need to look at that. We haven’t taken a decision as you all know. This is a thing you need to do as a team. To look what is around, how you can bring the team forward. I mean, we are not at our best this year, we were better last year, so we need to see where we can make improvements. If good people are on the market – in every area of the team, not only drivers, we look around and see if we can better the team and with that, can we better the performance of the team?

    Q: You say you haven’t taken a decision yet – when can we expect a decision from you?

    GS: I hope, honestly, in two to three weeks – because it’s good for everybody; it’s good for the team; it’s good for the drivers. It Romain stays, it’s good for him to know so he doesn’t have to worry. If Nico comes, it’s also good to give people a chance to make other decisions or to look around, so our aim is to decide in the next weeks.

    Q: Franz, Alex Albon has switched to Red Bull for the remainder of the season. What is your reaction to that change? Do you feel he’s ready for it?

    Franz Tost: The future will show. Don’t know yet. Alex did 12 really good races with us, he’s got 16 points and I must say, from the very first test onwards, I was surprised by his performance. If you remember right, I said after the first test that maybe he could become the surprise of the year. He is on a good way and I think that Red Bull will provide him with a fantastic car and therefore I expect good results from his side.

    Q: And it’s difficult for Pierre Gasly who’s coming back to Toro Rosso. You’ve been there before with Daniil Kvyat, who took a similar route. How long will it be, do you think, until Pierre gets over the disappointment of returning to Toro Rosso?

    FT: I don’t hope it’s a disappointment to return to Toro Rosso, he is welcome with us. It was only a short time he was not with us. He came to my office, I said to him: “ah, it looks like you were here yesterday.” No, he is really welcome and we have a really good relationship together, also between the engineers and if we provide him with a good car, Pierre will be back soon, I am convinced about this.

    Q: He spoke yesterday about being disappointed. Do you think there will be any problems with his motivation?

    FT: No, I don’t hope so. A Formula 1 driver must always be motivated and must always push the car to the limit and he knows that’s his chance, and therefore the motivation will be on a very high level.

    Q: Otmar, we’re talking drivers, Checo said yesterday that he hopes to make an announcement about his future soon. Is there anything that you can say on the matter?

    Otmar Szafnauer: Yeah, soon might be today!

    Q: Well, how about now…?

    OS: Well, I think we have a formal process of announcing, and yeah, he’s right, we will announce soon.

    Q: Can you describe the role that Checo has played in the team and how integral he is to the team going forwards?

    OS: I think both Cyril and Guenther mentioned it. There’s more than just speed and what you do on Sunday. It’s also developing the car and knowing the team, being able to compare your previous developments to the developments that you’re bringing and, because of Checo’s history with the team, of six years, he brings all that to the table. Lance, having great potential and a great talent, doesn’t have that history with the team, so you need a good mix. I think we’ve got that in Sergio and Lance.

    Q: And this race marks the anniversary of Laurence Stroll’s takeover of the team. Can you compare where it is now, compared to before the takeover?

    OS: There are many things that are different. The one significant thing is that we don’t suffer with the financial instability that we used to have, at all. That means we can plan our developments on the car, we can plan when we bring upgrades and they actually happen. We can plan our salary payments, which is helpful for everybody in the team. Apart from that, we have plans going into the future. There’s a new factory coming; we should get planning permission for that in October, probably start, have ground-breaking in the first quarter of next year. The plan is to actually move into the new factory in the break of 2021. So, although that won’t come to fruition for another 18 months, or so, those plans are happening today. We’ve added about 40 employees: we were at 405 a year ago; we’re at 445. And, like Guenther mentioned, if there are good people on the market, we’re interested for good people. We’re adding, we’re growing and we want to be more competitive. So, those are our plans going forwards – but it takes time. It doesn’t happen overnight.

    Q: Tanabe-san, you’re running your spec-4 power unit here at Spa this weekend. What advantages is it bringing?

    Toyoharu Tanabe: We bring performance improvement with the spec-4 PU. The purpose of the spec-4 is a performance gain. Because as always, as I’ve mentioned, we’re still catching up pace to make the gap between the top runners and then our teams. Honda should improve PU performance.

    Q: Only Daniil Kvyat and Alex Albon are using it this weekend. What’s the reason for that?

    TT: We discussed with our teams about the PU usage and then we considered the current position, and then usage for the rest of the season. So, then we decided this strategic application.

    Questions from the floor

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines/Racefans.net) A question to the four team principals. Next year’s calendar… according to the draft calendar announced yesterday will have 22 races, which you all had to agree to. Did any of you attach any specific conditions to agreeing to 22 races? And Cyril, more particularly, could you comment on suggestions that you requested an increase in the number of power unit components if the calendar went up top 22 races, please?

    CA: I can confirm that we did. We asked for the principle that is already agreed for 2021 to apply for 2020. The draft regulations, which are just draft regulations for 2021, there is a concept that if you go above 21 races there is extra component allocation. So that’s simply what we asked on the simple basis that it’s very late to change the duty cycle of any component for next year. There was a bit of a discussion, as always in Formula One, but eventually, we reached a compromise in Budapest that everyone managed to stick to, for once in Formula One, and eventually it was good to confirm the 22 races. We are happy to have specifically the same number of MGU-Ks as internal combustion engines. That’s going to make the lives of the technicians, the mechanics in the garage, an awful lot of simpler. Sometimes we don’t really think about these type of things but they do make a difference, in addition to the prospect of penalty. That was the condition that from the outset we mentioned. Otherwise we are very supportive of an extension of the calendar.

    FT: As long as we get more money, if you have more races, I’m fine with it. On the technical side, from the power unit, has just been explained by Cyril, there’s nothing to add.

    GS: We kept a low profile and didn’t ask for anything.

    FT: Also not for money?

    OS: I think we also agreed to shorten the amount of test days we have because we’re increasing the calendar, which kind of makes sense and goes to wellbeing of the mechanics and all those that travel. One of the conditions we all agreed to, if I remember right, was a shortened winter test.

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) To the four team principals, please. Ross Brawn has talked about using the stable regulations next year to maybe trial some different race formats ahead of 2021. Would you be in favour of that and what sort of slightly different formats might we see?

    OS: I think last time we got together we did discuss about some formats on Saturday to maybe mix up the grids for Sunday. We’ve got further discussions I think between Monza and September (sic). If we are to improve the show there is nothing wrong with trying and seeing how it goes, get some fan feedback, and if people like it and it improves the show, I’m all for it.

    Q: Guenther?

    GS: Otmar said a lot there. What we are a little bit, I wouldn’t say concerned, but what we need to look at is that by changing the format the costs don’t go up – that we do more and don’t get more out of it. We need to carefully think about. There were a lot of things around but we didn’t get around to discuss the detail about it. So when we get to the detail there will be the difficulty because if we change format and it costs a lot more because we do everything differently, there is a point where it is not sustainable.

    Q: So, for example, what would you say to having qualifying races on a Saturday?

    GS: That costs more money, because you need more spare parts because you have two races a weekend, you know. You need more MGU-Ks, because they can break. So we need to consider all this stuff.

    Q: Franz, your thoughts?

    FT: You know, to change the race weekend format, maybe there are some good points in there. We will discuss it in two weeks, I think in Geneva we have another meeting. But the most important thing is that the teams and the cars are on an equal level on the performance side. You can have whatever format but if there are some cars far ahead of the others – one second or even more – then it doesn’t change anything. What we have to provide the fans is a good show and for this the performance of the different teams and of the cars has to be on a level within a few tenths of a second, like it is in the midfield. If you look currently there are three teams far ahead, but the midfield is fighting very close to each other with a difference of a couple of hundredths of a second and there are good fights in between the cars and they show good races and this is what the fans want to see and I don’t think this is so much to do with the format.

    Q: Cyril do you think the format needs changing in any area?

    CA: I think we could be a bit more progressive on the weekend format. I think we need to probably adapt slightly the format to the new audience, to the way that sport is being consumed. People are not really interested in sitting for two hours in front of the TV at two o’clock on Sundays, or three o’clock on Sundays. I think that’s something to take into account. Friday running in particular, with very empty grandstands, is for me a bit of a loss of an opportunity. So there is probably some improvement to be made. I think we need to be very careful about all detail associated with having some tests into next year, as again next year is tomorrow. The plans are made already; the engines are almost being built as we speak. So if you look at the amount of discussion we had to get to the 22 races, when we start talking about the detail of the consequence of changing the format even on a couple of races, I’m a bit afraid that we see that it is a bit difficult at this late stage of the season. So in my opinion we need to do that. But I think it needs to be done properly but with a global commitment, not just testing and maybe it’s a bit late already for next year, but clearly doing that for 2021.

    Q: (Luke Smith – crash.net) – A question for Franz. You said there were no concerns about Pierre’s motivation in returning to Toro Rosso, but we saw when Daniil when returning to the team initially in 2016 how difficult it was for him to adjust back and how long it took it him to get over the demotion. Are there any concerns about that with Pierre and are Red Bull and Toro Rosso doing anything extra to help give him the support he may need?

    FT: If we see any deficiencies then of course we will support him in any way. He knows our team very well. Therefore, I think it’s a very short period to adapt to this situation and once more if the car works well and if he had a good race result and he has some success then his self-confidence is coming back and then Pierre will have the form he had before. Don’t forget that last year in Bahrain he finished in the fourth position. He scored many points in the 2018 season and I’m quite sure we will see Pierre Gasly showing a good performance very soon.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and Speedsport) Cyril, the team is not where you want it to be in the Constructors’ Championship. What do you need to change to get back up there?

    CA: Well, I think first you are right. The team is not where we wanted it to be. It’s a very clear regression against last year. Less points, Constructors’ Championship – it’s clear. But at the same time what’s clear is the areas of the team that need to be improved. In my opinion we have made a good step on engine power, as demonstrated by top speed on a number of tracks that are sensitive to that. Driver line-up, apart from the comments made previously, is a strong one. Mechanically the car is good. We know what’s missing and that’s simply downforce and aerodynamics and that’s clearly the current focus right now. We are looking at improving that and we will draw an assessment pretty soon and we will move from there.

    Q: (Jon McEvoy – Daily Mail) To Cyril, how near did you get last year to signing Esteban. Were there discussions with him, were there discussions with Mercedes? Did you almost get it over the line?

    CA: You’re talking about last year?

    Q: Yes.

    CA: I think it has been publicly reported that it has been discussed. It’s been discussed to a certain level of detail. The old story is publicly reported also. We had the opportunity of signing Daniel, which was an opportunity also, which was an opportunity that was discussed but never really certain. When it became certain we had to make a quick decision. An opportunity like Daniel is not an opportunity that happens on many occasions for a team like us in construction and it’s an opportunity we decided to take. But frankly I’m very happy that we managed all together – Esteban, Renault, Mercedes, Toto, myself – we managed to put that behind and decide what was best for everyone this year.

    Q: (Julien Billotte – Auto Hebdo) Cyril, Nico mentioned nationality as one of the factors behind Renault’s decision to sign Esteban. How important is it for Renault to have a French driver and also how tricky can it become for you and him if the performance does not improve enough next year?

    CA: Each time we sign a driver we create an expectation and by creating an expectation it becomes tricky. Just look at the situation of the team this year. I think a lot of the critics we have this year are also due to the fact that we created a lot of expectation by signing Daniel. It’s the same. Each time you make a decision you need to accept the consequence. On the nationality, frankly, I would not put too much down to that. It’s a plus, it’s a bonus, but it’s not an element into the decision. Saying that it is an element into the decision would mean that we have sort of changed our factors or parameters when we evaluated Esteban and that would not be fair to Esteban, just like it would not be fair to Nico or Renault’s management. It’s a plus but what matters is that he ends up in a good car also.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines/Racefans.net) There are suggestions that one or two teams could be coming in in 2021. Certainly there are some plans behind the scenes for these teams to try and enter. How do you feel about it? Should Formula One grow beyond the current ten teams?

    CA: Frankly and quickly – if it’s good teams, strong teams with good backing then it’s a sustainable project in my opinion, yes.

    FT: I agree. Twelve teams, it’s a good number and you never know what’s going on with any other team. That means we need as many cars as possible on the starting grid. I think 24 is also acceptable from the safety side and from the race track and also from the space on the tracks. I would welcome them, yes.

    GS: I think it would be a good thing to have more teams, as long as they are – as Cyril and Franz said – as long as they are well funded and high profile. But also what FOM needs to look after is the teams that are here. We shouldn’t go and just try to get new teams because new is better. It needs to be looked after, the teams that are here who are doing a good job, who made a big investment and just thinking more is better, that will not work as well.

    OS: Well, I think in the future with the cost cap being introduced and implemented then there might be room for 12 teams but we do have to be careful about getting the money distribution to be a little bit more equitable so that you can have 12 sustainable teams.

    Q: (Matthieu Mastalerz – FranceRacing.Fr) Cyril, you have said Renault underestimated the investments of top teams like Mercedes, which has increased more than expected. So is Renault, as a constructor, able or willing to increase its investment in order to reach its goal?

    CA: The problem with that is a question of timing, because even if you make the decision now, you are not going to be able to spend really more before a few years, because spending more means more people, more designers, more manufacturers, more people in production and so on and so forth. And if you compound that to the fact that there will be a budget cap introduced by 2021, it’s already too late. So no, I think in reality we have no choice but to a certain degree continue with our plan, carry on with our plan. Accept the change, accept the difficulty, not use that as an excuse but be extremely determined on what it takes to be more competitive in 2021. Some people will have to manage a reduction of their operation. We will be able to stay exactly where we are or increase slightly, because the budget cap is still a chunk higher than what we are operating right now. That’s the reason why we would have liked it to be a bit lower but we understand that it’s a good compromise and a compromise that should make us more competitive than where we are right now.

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Over the summer break, we had an update from F1 and the FIA on the progress of the 2021 car and the regulations. There’s obviously still a lot to sort before 2021 gets finalised on track and all of the off track stuff behind the scenes. How happy are you with how things are progressing? Is there any concern that the three big teams are going to veto or block the extent of changes that you want to make the field closer?

    OS: I think we’ve got from now until the end of October to review, understand and come to a final decision. There are a lot of opinions in the room as to what should happen for the future. I believe we all want closer racing, that’s for sure. We all want F1 to keep its DNA of development and differentiation, that’s for sure. And most of us want a bit of cost-savings as well. So I think those are the considerations and we’ll all get together and hash it out and hopefully come up with a set of regulations towards the end of October that meets everyone’s needs.

    GS: I would agree with what Otmar said. I think we just need to sit down, all the teams, and see where we can take it and hopefully have a regulation soon, because there are different opinions and to discuss them all here… we could sit here a long time. There will have to be compromises found to get this regulation over the finish line and I think one way or another it will happen. If the big teams try to change everything it’s difficult for us but it’s the FIA, the governing body and the promoters which have an opinion as well, so let’s see what we can come up with until the end of October. But I think it will be… we will come to a solution but for sure not everyone will be happy, 100 per cent, and that’s normally when you reach compromises.

    FT: Yeah, there are a couple of sporting working group and technical working group meetings where all these new technical regulations are being discussed. So far I must say that the FIA and the FOM is going in the right direction. We know that we can come down with the costs which is covered by the cost cap and the money distribution should be much fairer than… We’ll come up with a different governance which is covered from the sporting and technical regulations side. We are going in the right direction. FIA and FOM should make the decisions. The date is clear, it’s the end of October and then we go for it. Up to now, I think we’re going in the right direction.

    CA: As far as we’re concerned frankly we need to focus on three important aspects. The budget cap, all the refinements, even though the principle is agreed but we need to get that done and really put in stone. Money distribution, like Franz said, we need something that is more equitable otherwise we will end up with the same disparity that we have now. And governance. We are less concerned about the details of the technical and sporting regulations because these things will happen anyway and we are prepared to increase more power to Formula One and FIA that has gone up their team in order to think what’s right for the sport. They’ve done a lot of research; they know what’s good for the sport but we want these three elements to be fixed and agreed as quickly as possible.

    Q: (Luke Smith – Crash.net) Franz, another question for you: picking up… you were talking about Max in 2015. Would you be able to reflect on what it was like working with Max through his first season in Formula One, how exciting was it playing that formative role in his future and was it immediately clear you had such a star on your hands?

    FT: You know Max was coming from Formula 3 and in those days there were a lot of people who said it’s too early for him to come into Formula One but then we gave him some possibilities to do FP1 sessions and he showed that he can do it. He had fantastic car control and he, from the very beginning onwards, had everything from the technical side under control also and therefore we signed him, or Red Bull signed him and we had a fantastic season together and his learning gradient was quite steep and then we know in the second season, 2016, after five (sic) races he went to Red Bull Racing, won the first race in Barcelona and from then onwards he is there as a driver and he made really big, big steps forward, big progress and for me, Max, now, is the driver who is able – as I mentioned, just before – to win races and to win the championship. He has all the ingredients together, which you need for doing this.

     

  • I am very happy and I believe the team will be strong: Valtteri Bottas

    DRIVERS – Alex ALBON (Red Bull Racing), Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing), George RUSSELL (Williams), Sergio PÉREZ (Racing Point), Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Alex, many congratulations, new colours for you this weekend. How much of a surprise was it for you to get the call up for this weekend?

    Alex ALBON: Yeah, definitely. Starting the summer break, I came into it expecting a relaxing time and then the first day of the summer break I got told the news. I had a lot of time to think about it. Obviously in F1 with the summer break you can’t really speak to anyone, so there was a lot of time there where I was like: “OK, who do I speak to? What can I do?” The first time really speaking to everyone was really on Monday. I’m kind of catching up right now, trying to know all the team and that’s about it.

    Q: So what are the objectives for this weekend at Spa?

    AA: Just see how the weekend goes. We’re starting at the back anyway. Just take it step-by-step. Obviously it’s a new environment around, so just trying to understand really how the team works, how the car works and just to listen to Max as well, just to see how he interacts with the team and kind of learn from that. Yeah, we’ll take it step-by-step.

    Q: And on a scale of 1-10 how excited are you?

    AA: I’d say it’s a 10 for excitement, but then the numbers for nerves are quite high as well!

    Q: Good luck, thank you Alex. Max, what was your reaction when you heard Alex was going to be your team-mate?

    Max VERSTAPPEN: Well I knew before. They told me when I was on the simulator before the holidays so for me it was not a surprise. I mean, yeah, I’ve been there before myself.

    Q: And are you looking forward to having him as a team-mate? What do you think you can achieve together?

    MV: I guess time will tell isn’t it. It’s a bit difficult for me to answer that. Alex is a great guy. I know him already for a long time. A bit like Pierre, we raced against each other, all together in 2010. Yeah, he’s a fast guy and as you can hear he’s very excited and that’s always good.

    Q: Max, the car was very competitive before the summer break. What are your expectations here at Spa?

    MV: I don’t know. I think in general it will be a bit tougher for us because of the long straights, but even in Silverstone, for example, we were still competitive, so we just need to find a good balance in the car. Of course, around here Sectors 1 and 3 are pretty much flat out and in Sector 2 there are a lot of corners, so you have to find the right compromise there.

    Q: OK, good luck with that. Thank you, Max. Checo, a lot of talk about contracts coming into this weekend. What news about your whereabouts for 2020?

    Sergio PÉREZ: Yeah, I’ve seen the news. It was a busy day in that regard. I am confident and I hope that soon we can announce it and just can get on with it.

    Q: Announce with Racing Point?

    SP: Well, what my plans are. I think I am very close to finding out what I am going to do for next year, so it shouldn’t be long before I know.

    Q: OK. Turning to this weekend, the car wasn’t so competitive last time out, can we expect more from you here because the team certainly has a good record at Spa-Francorchamps?

    SP: Yeah. No, definitely. It’s a good place for us. We’ve been strong in the past so I see no reason why we cannot be strong this weekend. The margins in the midfield are very small, so a little improvement it can put us back in contention to be the fourth fastest here. We are aiming to finish the season on a high. It has been a struggle all the way up to now but margins are small, we are improving, so hopefully we can finish the season with the fourth fastest car.

    Q: OK, good luck with that. Thanks Checo. George, I’ve asked almost everybody else about 2020, so I’m going to ask you. What are you plans?

    George RUSSELL: Hopefully in Formula One, I guess. No, I’ll be racing with Williams next year. When I signed the deal it was a multi-year deal with Williams, so I guess it’s just waiting to formally announce everything.

    Q: OK. It was a very solid performance from you in Hungary last time out. What can we expect from you here? Do you think you can maintain that momentum?

    GR: I think in Hungary we optimized everything to the absolute maximum. I think a few drivers didn’t – there was obviously the incident with Daniel and Sergio in qualifying, which probably helped us a little bit. I think this circuit, and also Monza next week, will really not suit our car. Unfortunately we don’t have much downforce but we also have a hell of a lot of drag, so we’re going to struggle on these long straights. But the season has been full of surprises and we’ll see what we can do.

    Q: OK, thanks for that. Valtteri, some very positive news for you this morning. You’re staying with Mercedes for another year. When were you told and please give us your reaction?

    Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, thank you, for sure that’s always good news when you get things confirmed for next year and it’s definitely all that I wanted because I believe the team will be strong for sure for the rest of the year but also next year. I see no reasons why it wouldn’t. So obviously that made me very happy to hear it and to get it all done finally. I think it was last weekend that we signed and the paperwork was done. So we had to wait a bit until then, but I still had a good break and lots of fun and everything, but I’m happy now.

    Q: Looking ahead to this weekend. Ferrari won at Spa last year. Who are favourites coming into this weekend?

    VB: I think Ferrari can be really good here, as we’ve seen with the straight-line performance. There are super long straights here. And Red Bull have been improving at all kind of tracks. It’s not going to be an easy weekend for us, for sure. We are not standing still. We have some new parts on the car. I think also power unit. So it should be quite interesting to see how the car feels again here and how is the engine.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – liviooricchio.com) Max, all drivers says the first competition is on your side, your team-mate. Do you believe it will be more difficult for you, the next of the season, with Albon?

    MV: It’s a bit difficult to say at the moment. I rate Alex very high, but I also rated Pierre very high, so we’ll find out.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, how was your birthday party and was it like a double celebration because of your new contract as well?

    VB: Thanks, yeah, I turned 30 yesterday actually. I didn’t have a party yesterday but the day before I had. It was a good one, with some good people around. Obviously, 30 it happens only once in a lifetime, so… There is always a good excuse to throw a party, but that’s a good excuse. It was good. I enjoyed it. Was there another part to the question?

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Was it a double celebration because of the contract?

    VB: Well, yeah, for sure. I knew by then. Everything was done by then, so it was actually nice to celebrate with the closest people. Another good excuse.

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) Question for Valtteri. After the last two races, what happened in Hockenheim and then in Budapest, did that add to the stress of waiting for the decision – or were you still confident you would get another contract?

    VB: To be honest, going to the summer break, and in this sport you know once you’ve not signed, anything can happen in this sport and obviously always what comes, the driver decisions by the teams, there’s many different things that the teams look at and what kind of things make the difference between the choices, and obviously it was very openly spoken, the whole situation between me and Esteban and yeah, so I had to wait until last weekend. For sure it was… thinking about it and other options just in case, because obviously you never, in this sport, want to be left between two chairs. So for sure I was trying to make a plan for something else but then things started to go the right way and I saw that it’s just better to commit to this as it is, and it makes me, like I said, very happy to know about the future and don’t need to worry about that now. I can just really focus on the job. Unlike the last couple of races I really want to have a strong result here and a really strong end of the year.

    Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Alex, can you just explain a little about how you found out that you were going to be driving for Red Bull for this part of the season? And also, do you think that you’ve got the tools to be able to take the challenge to Max at Red Bull?

    AA: Yeah, sure. So, it was just a normal thing, a daily catch-up with Dr Marko in his office in Austria. Pretty much that’s how the conversation went. I think it was the Monday at the beginning of the summer break. That conversation went through and it was one of those things: “oh, by the way, this is what’s going on.” And that was pretty much it. I think you guys knew only an hour after I did, so it was quite close, in that sense. But yeah, it was all OK. Regarding Max, yes, on my side it’s really just focusing on myself. I’m not looking too much at Max at the minute. I’m know I’m coming in quite inexperienced. I know that; I think the team know that as well. So, it will just be about step-by-step; start from the beginning, know my team, know how everyone works and understand the car and then we’ll see. Treat every weekend race-by-race really and if we start picking up results towards the end, that’s obviously great – but that’s not really the focus at the minute.

    Q: Alex, team-mates now but when did you first race Max?

    AA: 2010, wasn’t it? We did the European and World Championships together. We had a few crashes together, do you remember?

    MV: A few touches, yeah!

    AA: We had a good rivalry going. Max was the young guy, I was the experienced one – which is a bit weird. I mean, I’m older than Max but he’s a bit more experienced than me in F1. So, yeah, we started like that. We had some good races.

    Q: (Pierre Van Vliet – Fi) To Alex again – sorry Alex – just to understand, how difficult is it going to be to adapt to a new team in the middle of the season – and do you fear encountering the same difficulties as Pierre Gasly versus Max?

    AA: I can’t really tell what it’s like from experience to start with a new team midway through. We did some sim this weekend, just to try to get the first initial feeling and, of course, the cars are different but in the end they still have four wheels and yeah, we’ll get used to it. In terms of the whole feeling of not being ready. Let’s say, the beginning of the year, in February when I didn’t drive the car, I felt more in this situation than I do now. That kind of anxiety and stress about ‘what’s it going to be like?’ I went through that already in January. Coming into the summer break I was a lot more relaxed about it – and again, yeah, we’ll see? I wasn’t looking too much at Pierre, I was just focused on myself. Of course, I think Max is on top of his game right now, so it would never be easy but with Pierre, I wasn’t really involved in all of that and I didn’t really look too much on where he was struggling – but it’s still trying to do my own thing and trying to get on top of the car.

    Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Alex, a couple for you wrapped into one. First of all, I’m sure you’re caught in the whirlwind at the moment but ten months ago you thought your Formula One career was over, so can you take a step back and tell us how you feel about that huge turnaround in your career and, secondly, does the engine penalty take the pressure off a bit for this weekend?

    AA: Yes, it is quite laughable really, when I look back at it. Even just now, having the announcement and everything. I called my Mum and Dad, it was the first thing I did and they were… it’s kind of a journey that we’ve all took from… even as early as 2012, I don’t think my career has been very fluid, let’s say. I’ve had a few ups and downs and just to be in this position is incredible. I think there are a lot of drivers who have done an amazing job in F1 who have never been given an opportunity to be in a race winning, championship winning team. So, it’s a big opportunity for me and I really know that. Engine penalty, you could say that, yes. I think we just go into the weekend more towards the race pace, more focused on race pace – which also means more laps as well. So, that will be the target – and yes, of course, I think that kind of feeling, straight away into qualifying, it will be a different atmosphere but I still would have liked to have given it a go and see how I would have done in qualifying and started further up than I will be.

    Q: (Jonathan McEvoy – Daily Mail) To Max, how much do you think you can really have a go at Lewis now over these last nine races? How high have you set your ambitions and realities?

    MV: I always try to do the best I can. I think it’s just going to be a bit track dependent for us. Where are we going to be a bit more competitive? I’m expecting this to be a bit more tricky, and especially Monza but from there onwards, and especially with upgrades coming to the car. Of course, everybody is doing that but I think, in recent years we’ve always been quite strong in developing the car throughout the year. Yeah, there are a few tracks where I think we can have a good go but for the Championship, I don’t think so. But, as I said, I always try to get the best out of it every single race weekend and we’ll find out where we end up at the end.

    Q: (Phil Duncan – Press Association) Alex, you said you called your Mum and Dad when you found out that you’d got the drive with Red Bull; can you just say how they reacted?

    AA: Sure. Mum was just being a Mum, kind of that ‘ah, I don’t know what to say’ kind of thing. OK, thanks. And then my Dad was just laughing actually. Yeah, just kind of surreal. I felt like they were a bit more excited than I was actually.

    Q: (Vladimir Rogovets – Sb Belarus) I have a question for Max: we know you for five seasons already and every time we are writing ‘Max is a very good young driver’. What do you think? How long can you be a young driver?

    MV: Until I’m old. Is it 30 that you get old? Thirty. OK. Well, I guess there’s eight and a half more years.

    Q: (Joost Nederfelt – NU.NL) Max, can you imagine other drivers being a bit nervous being your team-mate, as it can damage their careers?

    MV: Well. I don’t know. I think everybody always tries to do the best they can, don’t they? I don’t know what to answer. It’s a bit shitty – to answer.

    Q: Do you feel on top of your game like never before at the moment?

    MV: I think it’s quite natural. You just get older and more experienced so for me it’s not a big surprise what is happening at the moment. Just a natural process that you go through, that you become better. I think it would be bad if you were already declining at 21.

    Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Max, you drive into Spa from the Burnenville direction and all you can see on your left hand side is big Max Verstappen banners and motorhomes and all the rest of it, and driving over there’s caravanners and everything coming in from the Netherlands. You’ve got a following for a single driver that hasn’t been seen for a while. How do you feel about that? What kind of reaction do you have and what kind of interaction do you have with the fans? Do you know any of them, do you meet them? How does that all work?

    MV: Well, I think over the year I get to meet quite a few but of course it’s amazing to see that, to have such a big following. Of course, I think also the colour helps quite a bit. It’s quite easy to spot a Dutch fan around the track. I would say it’s a positive motivation for the weekend because I don’t experience any more pressure through it because at the end of the day, you always try to do the best you can so it’s not changing for this weekend. The more the better, of course. They get quite crazy with flares and stuff so I remember once going up the Kemmel straight, it was almost turning orange but yeah, it’s great to see and of course, I’m happy to have such a big following. I hope over the years that it will only become bigger.

    Q: Do you find it motivational to have that many people supporting you?

    MV: Absolutely. It brings a big smile to my face and of course if you then… like here, we created our own grandstand as well so when you see them all jumping up like during the drivers’ parade or there’s any music going on they’re going completely crazy already when there’s not even a race going on then it’s quite special.

    Q: (Arjan Schouten – AD) Alex, to follow up on the question from my neighbour here, in a process, did you get a chance at Red Bull, is there any room for doubt in your first year or is doubt not even in the question and you just go on it?

    AA: Yeah. The way I see it is that it’s an opportunity. Doubt in myself, not really, no. You have to go into it as confident as you can. I can have no… I’ve only done six months in a Formula One car so there is definitely room for improvement and I know that. When I look back at how I was in Melbourne and how I am now, I have definitely improved as a driver so I know that kind of progress is only going to continue and of course jumping into a car this early I do feel like in a way you would wish it would happen a bit later but no, I’m still very excited and I can’t wait to get started.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – liviooricchio.com) Valtteri, you started the season at a very high level, you won in Australia and Azerbaijan and then you were unlucky in some situations and also did some mistakes in Hockenheim. In this period of vacation, did you analyse your own performance in the first part of the season and if you can come back in the same level as you started the championship?

    VB: Yeah, for sure you’re always analysing. You look back to things to learn from those and for sure with the team before we all went for holidays we had a good catch-up on everything and as always, trying to improve and learn from every single mistake and every single situation. I feel that I could have been better or we could have been better as a team, so there’s nothing new in that and definitely I feel overall the level at the beginning of the year was very good but I believe my performance since then has not been dropping, it’s just been a few odd races and some mistakes for sure, that has been my bad which were not there at the beginning of the year. But those happen and you learn from that and my goal, definitely, for the second half is to be as strong as I can, try to be on my best level and I know what I can do if I get there but how to get there, that’s the tricky part in this sport but obviously the goal is to – and I have the belief that I can be strong for the rest of the year.

    Q: And Valtteri, has Lewis Hamilton said anything to you about your contract renewal?

    VB: Yeah, he sent me a message actually when it was all confirmed, when he heard about it. I think so far we’ve made a good team and I believe we’re going to make a good team in the future as well.

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) Just to follow up on that, Valtteri, you said that you needed to keep your options open in case you didn’t get the seat. I think you said that in Hungary as well before the mid-season break. Were there any talks with specific teams, any verbal agreements that you could then go back to Mercedes with and say ‘well, if you don’t keep me, I can go here’? How far did some discussions go if there were any?

    VB: Yeah, unfortunately I can’t really say much. That kind of question is very private, obviously, all the conversations. I would never say the name of the team or person I’ve been talking to because I want to keep the trust and people can trust me so can’t say much but basically, like I said, I was waiting first for Mercedes to decide and still knowing that other things could be possible if we wouldn’t continue but everything turned out good and I’m happy and the team is happy.

    Ends

  • How the FIA and F1 will break the rules: The next steps

    Wind tunnel testing of car models for 2021 has proved encouraging so far, with the results suggesting the next generation of F1 cars should be able to follow each other more closely. Now attention is turning to refining the rules – and more specifically breaking the rules…

    A large part of the focus of the FIA and Formula 1 up to now has been on trying to reduce the effects the wake generated by a leading car has on a chasing car’s ability to follow, in order to provide closer racing and improved overtaking opportunities. This, of course, runs counter to the aims of a Formula 1 team, where there only desire is to beat their rivals. And if part of the victory is obtained by disrupting the stability of a competitor then that’s a target to be chased.

    It’s why FIA Head of Single Seater Technical Matters Nikolas Tombazis, Formula 1 Chief Technical Officer Pat Symonds and their respective teams have started trying to break their own rules.

    “We are trying to see where the rules we have written are robust and where they might be a little weaker,” says Symonds. “I’m sure ultimately the wake characteristics of a fully developed 2021 car are not going to be quite as good as we have got running at the moment, but I think they will still be very good, and it will be massively better than a 2019 or a 2020 car. I’m absolutely certain of that.

    “There are certain areas we know already where you can add performance but in doing so you damage the wake, so we have been quite prescriptive in those areas, because we’ve been trying to break the rules. There are other areas where we feel the design is robust so we’ve been less prescriptive in those areas.

    “We’re trying to look for the loopholes, look for the unintended consequences. That’s actually a difficult thing to do when you have written the rules. That was my experience when we were working on the 2009 cars. Because I had been involved in writing the rules, I found it difficult to think of the loopholes as I knew what was intended. That was a lesson learned, we have taken it on-board.

    “We’re trying to forget what the intention was and looking at what we have actually written down and see if we can put our team hats on.”

    Tombazis adds: “We are trying to find things that make the car go faster. If a team makes their car faster but the wake doesn’t get any worse, we don’t have any problem with that. But if a team makes the car faster and also hurts the wake, then clearly they will do it if the rule permits it. We can’t ask them to be benevolent. But we want to know about it so we can see if there are any fundamental weaknesses in the rules, any loopholes.

    The process also aims to identify areas where the FIA and Formula 1 see scope for performance gain by teams, ‘playgrounds’ where innovative thinking by teams can provide a competitive advantage without impacting on the goals set by the governing body and F1’s promoter for improved racing.

    “We want to safeguard the wake performance but we don’t want all cars to look the same or to be exactly the same,” says Tombazis. “There are some areas of the car where performance can be found and not worsen the key parameters of the following car and we want to encourage those areas to be a bit freer.”tion, as seen in the wind tunnel video, is very close to what we can expect the 2021 cars to look like, there will still be changes, particularly concerning the front wing.

    “There’s a lot of work going on the front wing at the moment to improve some of its characteristics and also to make it look a bit less square,” says Tombazis.

    As part of their attempts to break the rules, there will be two further wind tunnel sessions. The first will take place in October with a further test planned for December following the publication of the regulations, a timeline Tombazis says provides for adjustments to be made in line with the governance of the sport.

    “As with any set of regulations it is a constantly evolving process,” says Tombazis. “In October we will publish a full set of technical and sporting regulations which will come into force in 2021 and will not fundamentally be changed. If we do find an area where we feel some updates are necessary to maintain our goals for better raceability, then this is something that we will be able to do working with the teams within certain time constraints.”

    Finally, Symonds adds that beyond the tests aimed at the drafting of the 2021 regulations work will continue in order to monitor the exploitation of the ruleset.

    “It’s not our intention to just stop at that point [December]. We will continue to investigate, continue to develop, continue to try and exploit the regulations, in the same way, the teams will and from time to time next year, we’ll go back in the wind tunnel to check out results.”

  • Mexico signs agreement to host F1 for another three years

    Mexico City, 8 August 2019: Mexican Grand Prix will continue to be held in Mexico City until at least the end of 2022. The agreement between Formula 1, the Corporación Interamericana de Entretenimiento (CIE), the promoter of the event, and the Government of Mexico City was formally signed at a press conference held in the Antiguo Palacio del Ayuntamiento in Mexico City on Thursday.

    The agreement means the city will carry on staging a round of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, which first hosted the race in 1963. There is an incredible enthusiasm for Formula 1 in Mexico demonstrated by the fact that over 1.3 million fans have attended the race since 2015, the global cumulative television audience from 2015 to 2018 was 380 million and there is an F1 fan base of 45 million across the country. The Grand Prix is one of the most spectacular of the year, loved by the drivers and the fans. This year, the race, which has seen the Drivers’ title decided five times in the past, celebrates its 20th edition. From 2020 the official event title will change to Mexico City Grand Prix to emphasise the support given by the Government of city.

    Mexico City is one of the most buzzing and vibrant cities in the world, and the renewal of the contract for a further three years, represents a new opportunity to continue to position itself as a world class tourist destination, whilst continuing to support the development of the local economy. With the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez located just to the east of the city, with a metro station ready to whip you downtown at the end of each day’s racing action, the Mexican Grand Prix is a fantastic chance to mix sport, entertainment and culture.

    Chase Carey, Chairman and CEO, Formula 1, said: “We are pleased to have renewed our partnership with Mexico City, which will now host the Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix until at least 2022. Ever since it returned to the championship calendar in 2015, this event has always proved to be amazingly popular with the public and fans, not just in Mexico, but also around the world. Proof of this is the fact that the race promoter has won the FIA award for the best event no fewer than four years in a row and, in those four years, over 1,3 million spectators have attended the Grand Prix. The Grand Prix has also been an important economic driver for the city, reinforcing its credentials as a centre for tourism. I would like to thank the Mayor, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo and the entire government of Mexico City for all their efforts in ensuring that Formula 1 continues in Mexico and I look forward to seeing another big crowd of fans at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez from October 25 to 27 for the Formula 1 Gran Premio de Mexico 2019.”

    Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, Mayor of Mexico City, said: “The presence of Formula 1 in the city for further three more years, was achieved for the first time through a new financing model in which public resources are not used. Previously the Federal Government collaborated with the paymentfor the event. The Mexico City government will be an intermediary, creating a trust that will raise the private investment required to deliver this international event. The price of the tickets will remain the same as in previous years.”

    Alejandro Soberon, President and CEO of CIE, said: “I want to deeply thank Dr. Claudia Sheinbaum and the Government of Mexico City for the vote of confidence they have entrusted in us. At CIE, we remain committed to promoting and operating the highest quality events in the world. Through this international platform, we have the opportunity to showcase the diverse cultural wealth of this fantastic city. We look forward to welcoming the thousands of tourists, both domestic and foreign to this award-winning event. In addition, I want to thank the Formula 1 fans both in Mexico and abroad – without a doubt, your energy and passion has made our Grand Prix a very unique and special experience.”

  • Lewis Hamilton wins 7th Hungarian GP pipping Max Verstappen in a thrilling strategic battle

    Lewis Hamilton wins 7th Hungarian GP pipping Max Verstappen in a thrilling strategic battle

    Hamilton wins in Hungary for the 7th time after beating Max Verstappen in a strategic battle on Sunday. An FIA image

    Budapest, 4 August 2019: Lewis Hamilton took his seventh Hungarian Grand Prix victory at the Hungaroring, in the 12th round of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship here on Sunday. He edged out the Red Bull star Max Verstappen in a nail-biting strategic battle that saw the Mercedes driver make up a 19-second gap to the Dutchman and claim the lead four laps from home after gambling on a second pit stop.

    Starting from pole, Verstappen led for 59 of the 70 laps, only ceding top spot to Hamilton during the first round of pit stops. However, on lap 48, Mercedes opted to pit Hamilton for a second time and fitted his Mercedes with new medium compound tyres.

    Verstappen though stayed on track, on the hard tyres fitted during his sole stop on lap 25. Hamilton rejoined 19s behind the Red Bull but as Verstappen’s tyres faded Hamilton closed. And on lap 67 Hamilton powered past the Red Bull driver to claim his 81stcareer win.

    At the start, Verstappen held his pole position advantage, getting away well to brush off pressure from both Mercedes drivers on the long run to Turn 1. Second-on-the grid Valtteri Bottas, though, had the poorest getaway of the three and in Turn 3 Hamilton muscled past his team-mate to claim P2.

    As Bottas struggled to recover he was passed by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, with brief contact being made, and then, at the start of lap two, by the second Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel.

    Having suffered front wing damage in his battle with Leclerc, Bottas pitted for a new wing and hard tyres, a move that dropped him to the back of the field.

    Verstappen began to build a slender lead over Hamilton and by lap 10 the Dutchman had 2.3s in hand over the Briton. By lap 13, the top four of Verstappen, Hamilton, Leclerc and Vettel were well clear of the chasing pack, with fifth placed Sainz 18 seconds behind Vettel and holding up a train that included team-mate Lando Norris in P6, Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen and the second Red Bull of Pierre Gasly.

    Verstappen made his first pit stop on lap 25 and with hard tyres onboard for the final stint, he rejoined in P2 behind Hamilton, and with the Briton reporting that his tyres were in good shape, Mercedes elected to leave the championship leader on track.

    When Hamilton eventually pitted on lap 31, a four-second stop by Mercedes saw the Briton emerge over six seconds behind Verstappen, who once more took the lead.

    The gap wouldn’t last, however. Armed with fresh hard tyres, Hamilton reduced the gap and on lap 39 Hamilton attacked. He went around the outside of the Dutchman into Turn 1 and though Verstappen defended well the Mercedes driver was able to pull alongside on the run to Turn 2. Verstappen held his line though and as they entered Turn 4, Hamilton was forced wide into the run-off area. He retreated to regroup and to plot another assault.

    Behind them Leclerc still held third place ahead of Vettel, who made a late stop on lap 39 for soft tyres. Sainz was now fifth, while Gasly had jumped Räikkönen and Norris (who had a pit stop issue) and was back up to his starting position of sixth.

    On lap 48 Mercedes gambled and Hamilton pitted for a set of medium tyres. The move left him 19s behind Verstappen and the race now came down to whether the Mercedes could close the gap over remaining laps.

    With five laps to go Verstappen’s hard tyres were finished and as the pair crossed the line Hamilton edged into DRS range. It was only a matter of time and under DRS at the start of lap 67 the Mercedes driver powered past the Red Bull to claim the lead.

    Verstappen immediately pitted for soft tyres and soon after posted the fastest lap of the race and he crossed the line in P2 17.7s behind Hamilton and almost 44s ahead of Vettel.

    Fourth place went to the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, while Carlos Sainz took a well-worked fifth place for McLaren. Pierre having recovered from his start, settled into sixth in his final stint and earned a solid eight points for the Team. Räikkönen was seventh for Alfa Romeo ahead of Bottas and the final two points places were taken by Lando Norris in the second McLaren and Toro Rosso’s Alex Albon.

    2019 FIA Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix – Race
    1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes –
    2 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 17.796
    3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:01.433
    4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:05.250
    5 Carlos Sainz McLaren 1 lap
    6 Pierre Gasly Red Bull Racing 1 lap
    7 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo Racing 1 lap
    8 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1 lap
    9 Lando Norris McLaren 1 lap
    10 Alex Albon Toro Rosso 1 lap
    11 Sergio Perez Racing Point 1 lap
    12 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1 lap
    13 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1 lap
    14 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1 lap
    15 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 2 laps
    16 George Russell Williams 2 laps
    17 Lance Stroll Racing Point 2 laps
    18 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing 2 laps
    19 Robert Kubica Williams 3 laps
    France Romain Grosjean Haas.

  • We were just not fast enough, says Max Verstappen

    Budapest, 4 August 2019: The following top -3 drivers attended the mandatory post-race FIA press conference on Sunday: Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing and Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari).

    Track Interviews were conducted by former Force India F1 driver Paul Di Resta:

    Q: Lewis, I can see how much that one means to you. From a driving point of view that was exactly what you had to do to go out there and win it. You fought all the way till the very end to get that one done. How do you feel?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Tired, which is how it should be, but I feel really grateful for the day and for the team for continuing to believe in me and continuing to push to the limits and to take a risk and a chance on me. We’ve been together for seven years and it never gets old, it always feels brand new. It feels like a new win for us. If it wasn’t for these boys here and all the guys back at the factory this wouldn’t be even possible and I’m just grateful to be a part of it. Yeah, for a race to be able to push like that, I’m telling you now it was on the limit all the way.

    Q: The gap was there to take that chance, to roll the dice and try something on strategy, but you had a bit of management in there with brakes, because you had nearly got Max before. Was it always going to be on edge to get that pass done?

    LH: Honestly, we’ve had brake problems all weekend, having like separation of the front temperatures and glazing, and I was a bit worried. We made some changes and it still didn’t make a difference and naturally, we get into the race and we have this problem, so I was doing a lot of lift and coast and not even touching the brake for half the lap. Now of course in the big stops you had to lose it. I was just trying to save as much as I could for that time when I do get a chance. It was very, very difficult to get by, defence was great, they were quite quick on the straights. But honestly I didn’t know if I could catch that 19-second gap because there is a big… my tyres were going to drop off and all these different things are going through your mind, but like the team said, you just keep your head down, so I did and kept pushing and pushing and the gap closed and closed and closed. The laps were like qualifying laps every lap. So my hat off to the team and I think if Niki was here today he’d take his hat off.

    Q: I think everybody would. That’s seven wins in Hungary and a nice way to sign off for the summer break. Enjoy your rest. Max, I know you’re not going to be very happy with what happened but they had the chance to do what they did. You were not fortunately in that position (sic) but I guess you’ve got to be satisfied and Driver of the Day to say that.

    Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, we were just not fast enough. I tried everything I could on that hard tyre to stay alive but unfortunately, it was just not enough. But still, second and fastest lap, I think a good weekend overall for us. Of course congrats to Lewis for the win. He was pushing me very hard, so I like that. Today we didn’t win but again, like I said, it was a good day, a good weekend for us.

    Q: What was missing today? That’s four very good races but the one we all thought you would get the job done, these guys came out very strong.

    MV: Just lacking a bit of grip I guess. We tried the one stop, of course they had the opportunity to do a two and today that worked out well.

    Q: Sebastian, right at the very end of the grand prix. I know these guys had a lonely race at the front but always satisfying to pass your team-mate, you did something different on strategy, and to sign off what is going to be a difficult break for you guys to bounce back?

    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, I mean obviously I was sitting in P4 and had nothing to lose so we stayed out very long in the first stint and then just hoped that the soft would last until the end, and it did. I think it was the fastest tyre at the end so we were able to close the gap. We had one opportunity, which I took, so happy to get some champagne now and to cool down. Yeah, we couldn’t go the pace with these two; that was quite clear the whole weekend, so lots of work ahead of us. I think it’s good now for everyone to get a break, the guys have been working very, very hard. We need maybe to charge our batteries and then the battle continues. There will be tracks that we will be better for us but still, overall we need to get stronger.

    Q: With Spa and Monza coming up after the summer break you guys have got to be favourites for that with your straight-line speed.

    SV: Yeah, I don’t know what other people will do in terms of updates on power unit and the engine side, so we’ll see. Obviously on paper they look better of for us. But yeah, still we know we have margin with the car. As you said it will be a busy break for us. I don’t think anyone’s mind can rest in the two weeks, so maybe we come up with some good ideas for the second half.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Max coming to you, great performance by you all weekend and so much rested on that strategic call. Were you tempted to pit as well?

    MV: It wouldn’t have made sense because I would have been behind then so then you know the race is lost anyway. So the only option was for me to continue and that’s what we did. Of course at one point I started to run out of tyres, I think trying to keep up with Lewis’ pace on those medium tyres, trying to keep it within a second was almost impossible. And of course you can see it coming, so for me it was not a big disappointment once he passed me, it was just a normal thing to happen. Anyway, we have to be realistic and he was just clearly faster today. Always I was struggling a little bit more for grip than him. He could keep the pressure on. Of course when you are in second you can gamble to do a two-stop. For me it was always about trying to cover him or stay ahead. With the two-stop, worst case scenario is you stay second and best case you overtake me and that’s what they did today. Yeah, then we pitted at the end as well. Of course happy to then do that fastest lap. It’s still one point and hopefully at the end of the year it will matter. Let’s see.

    Q: And when you were on the same tyres compound how much did you relish that battle with Lewis?

    MV: So, I think on the first tyre he never really had a shot. We were still competitive in the last sector and then when we got on the hard tyre… also with the traffic, because of that he had a few goes at me because I couldn’t do my normal lines in the last few corners and he caught up with that. And then with the defending, I tried to do it as good as I could. Luckily I could stay ahead and then he had to manage his brakes and engine a bit but you could see clearly once that was sorted he closed the gap again. If he had stayed on that one stop I think I could have kept him behind. But once he was on the medium you know it’s going to be really hard.

    Q: Sebastian, strategy played a significant part in your race as well. How tough was it to get the distance on that first set of medium tyres?

    SV: Very tough. I think they were in very poor condition at the end. I was happy we tried. Obviously we tried to hang in there. I think we stayed out another 10 or 15 laps after Charles pitted, just to try to do something different, maybe hope for a safety car, but to be honest by then obviously the top two were sort of gone anyways. It was really for the sake of trying something different, which looked very distant to ideal when we had the stop and I came out but then I just tried everything I had and got one chance in the end. In the end it’s not a big deal, third or fourth for the team, it’s still the same. The big picture for today is that we were not quick enough and not able to follow them right from two laps into the race.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Christian Menath – motorsport-magazin.com) Max, usually Red Bull is quite good on race pace and not so good on qualifying pace. Do you have an explanation why it was the other way round this weekend? Was it becauswe of the Friday, which was a little bit weird?

    MV: No, I think then you can see how much margin they have when they really need to push. I think Lewis today was on fire as well, but then you see, once he really has to go for it you can see that that car is still the dominant car, it’s as simple as that. Whereas in some races it’s not as necessary. Of course they had their issues in Austria with overheating so you can’t push. Of course in Hockenheim it was tricky conditions as well so you can’t really drive to the limit of the car. But here today I think he had to go for it flat out, because I was also pushing flat out and then you can see what they are capable of as a team.

    Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriera della Sera) Sebastian, given the hotter temperature did you expect from your car. Is it now a step back in the performances?

    SV: No, I think the temperatures were fine. It was quite warm, the track was near 50 degrees as well so I don’t think so. I think we saw our limits yesterday. We got a confirmation today, so I don’t think it’s a step back, we had some bits, it was a small step forward but what it shows is that it’s not enough. It’s important that the mood inside the team remains positive, which is the case. I think everybody knows what we are lacking. Obviously we are very competitive on the straights – yesterday 6 or 7kph faster at the end of the straight compared to Red Bull and also Mercedes – but obviously we are losing quite a lot in the corners. There were some tracks where efficiency is more important, this is a track where inefficiency pays off, so whatever you have in terms of downforce is positive. That’s where we are lacking performance and in the race I think it shows even more because you are sliding and then I think we are going through the tyres faster. So not to our advantage. We have seen that as well in recent weeks, so in a way not a surprise but as I said we need to keep our head down and do the work.

    Q: Thank you Sebastian. Lewis, thank you for joining us. Can you just give us your thoughts when you were 19 seconds behind with 20 laps to go?

    LH: Well, firstly, Max really drove a sensational race today, as he has done particularly the last few races. When I was behind him on the hard tyre it didn’t look like he had particularly good pace – maybe he was managing to get to the end – but I had a lot of grip and I was thinking ‘I can definitely make this tyre go to the end’, because the first one I got to go quite far. But the team said we were going to a two-stop and I was thinking ‘how is this going to work out, I’m going to come out quite far behind’. But you have to put complete faith in your team because they have different viewpoint to you, so we did the stop and I came out on the mediums and I thought ‘Jeez, I don’t know if these are going to go the distance at the speed I am going to have to go’. Also Max turned up the engine mode and they started doing mid-19s. I started thinking ‘I don’t know if I’m close this gap’. I think the trajectory, they said I was going to catch him with nine laps to go and then that changed super quickly and went to last lap. So after that I had to put all doubt and all question marks out of my mind and go for the best laps I could do every single lap and consistency and not drop any time whatsoever. I had one of the most consistent period of laps that I’d had. I don’t know if he had traffic or mistakes or whatever but the gap started to chop down quite quickly. I think with four or five laps to go I had him four seconds ahead and I could see him in my sights, so maybe he’s struggling with his tyres. So after that I was like ‘OK, we’ve got a serious race on here’. It felt like the steepest wall to climb when you come out that far behind but the team had relaxed faith that we would do it and I’m grateful for their hard work and the decision.

    Q: (Stuart Codling – F1 Racing) Question for Max. You said just now that we saw how much margin Mercedes have. That notwithstanding, you had a brilliant race today. How much confidence does that give you, that you can come back after the summer break and take the fight to Mercedes?

    MV: I think there are a few tracks coming up that are maybe not as ideal for us – but of course we know we have some updates coming soon to the car and the engine, so hopefully that will again bring us closer. We’ll find out then.

    Q: (Giles Richards – The Guardian) Congratulations Lewis, after what happened in Germany, does this feel like a redemptive special win for you and for Mercedes, to come back so strongly?

    LH: I generally don’t like to look at redemption, if that’s the right word. Naturally, you know I don’t really make a lot of mistakes and I think the last one was definitely a massive off-weekend for me, and so this weekend, these two weeks, the team have been really great and supportive and taking off the workload, allowing me to recover and really just giving me the best support group possible to take any extra pressure off. Coming to this weekend, I felt I was back on it. Qualifying didn’t go the way I’d planned and I’d hoped. Then today, once I got into second, I was like ‘OK, game on’. And I could keep up with Max, no problems. So I was like, ‘we’ve got an actual real race on here. How is it going to play out? I don’t know. We’re going to have to figure it out as we go along.’ And obviously we both know where we’re going to strategy-wise. Yeah. I truly believed I could get by him at some stage but we’re also fighting at different points in the Championship. I think if we were level on points today would have been an even more aggressive battle, I would say, in the wheel-to-wheels that we did have but obviously we didn’t need to take extra risks today. So, I think Max was really fair and great with where he positioned his car. I just always made sure I gave extra space, just in case. But, of course, going into the break, this is a great, great uplift for the team, particularly after a difficult weekend for us all in the last one. So all the guys back at the factory, a big, big thank you, and the guys here with the strategy. They’re very, very calm when they talk about the strategy like that today. “No, no, truly believed you could do it.” For sure they were nervous as hell that it wasn’t going to work. I think collectively we made it happen, so it’s good.

    Q: (Luke Smith – crash.net) Lewis, congratulations. We saw that battle you had with Max through the middle of the race. Could you talk us through that? How much do you enjoy these wheel-to-wheel fights with Max? And how nice is it that he’s stepped up and Red Bull have stepped up this year, so you’re fighting with him on a regular basis?

    LH: Yeah. It’s really fantastic to see Red Bull’s progress. Obviously we’re in a period of time, particularly this track has been a track that they’ve always been particularly fast in, in previous years and it’s really awesome for Honda as well, to see their progression. They’ve got a lot of power in that engine. So, don’t for one second think when get the…  I think we all get it… the timings where we all layout… the Red Bull were quicker than us on a single lap this weekend and we thought we were relatively level in the race but we were just able to keep up with them and match their times. I think it’s going to continue for the races to come. Even the faster circuits, the engine’s going to be great in Monza, so hopefully we’ll see this battle continue for the rest of the season. And, fingers crossed, Ferrari also will take a step back towards us at some point over the next races. But going into the break, this is awesome.

    Q: (Vladimir Rogovets – Sb Belarus) Thank you very much guys for a very good job, for very nice race. I am really happy to be here. My question to Max. How do you feel close with nine championship titles.

    MV: I don’t know what to say! I have none! I don’t know what to comment on this! I still have a few years, hopefully in F1, so hopefully one day I can add one. Yeah. That’s it, I think.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – F1.com) Max, at the beginning you were only two-tenths on average slower than Lewis. Then from lap 61, 62, 63 more than 2s. So the tyre disappeared completely? And Sebastian, in spite of what you said to us, that you didn’t expect much from the team here, before coming – did you expect more than sixty seconds the difference between you and the winner?

    MV: Yeah. I think it’s quite normal. Lewis was on a medium tyre, pushing flat out of course to catch up, and I was on a hard tyre trying to go flat out but trying to keep the gap but yeah, I was always trying to keep it within a second because then I knew, OK, we can get to the end but at one point the tyres were gone. I started losing one and a half second a lap and then at one point two seconds, and it was just sliding and you feel the rubber is gone, so there isn’t much you can do. It’s quite normal when you have to push that hard on the tyre quite late in the race, where you normally don’t want to push as hard on the tyre. So I guess it’s a normal progression of the tyre drop off.

    Sebastian?

    SV: I think some tracks you know maybe suit you, some maybe less. Despite that I think I was fairly open-minded and you know, you don’t want to accept that. So I tried everything to prove the opposite. But looking now, after yesterday, we simply didn’t have the pace of those two in particular. So there’s obviously work for us to be done. We have room to improve, in the corners is where we’re lacking. With that obviously comes the advantage on the straight, one goes with the other. But, for sure, if we could make a trade, then we would go for it. We’ve been adding small bits to the car this weekend. They were working but obviously not big enough to really get close on a track like this. There might be tracks coming up next, especially with Spa and Monza that might be better for us – but in the end our ambition is to really force things to happen, be in control of the race. Where we are now, we’re quite far away from that. So, yeah, I think the spirit is good though. The team is willing to give everything they have, continue to give everything they have. And that’s all we can do right now.

    Q: (Tom Jackson – City Press) Question for all three of you. The lack of meaningful running we saw on Friday afternoon went some way to us seeing the variation in strategy that we did today that allowed you to put on fresh tyres and go for the win and things like that. Would you, in the future, be happy to have less running earlier in the weekend, as drivers getting less track time, if it meant we got more unpredictability later on Sunday?

    LH: I never really thought of it. I mean, if it can help with racing, sure. I think this weekend, not many people… I don’t think the Red Bulls did a long run, we did a long run in P1. I think one of few that did. I don’t know how much difference that made. It’s just that we did have an understanding of how far we thought we could take the tyres but somehow the other teams are able to do something similar with their strategies. But yeah… do you think it would make a difference.

    SV: No, I actually like driving, so it would be quite bad to get rid of some. I don’t think it’s a lot of driving anyway. We do a lot of races but overall I don’t think we drive very much. So, it would be a pity, I think. If you want to address the racing then there’s other things to focus on other than adding or taking away a practice session.

    LH: It definitely does help when you go into a race and you don’t know how far the tyre’s going to go. That is quite… I think that is not a bad thing and I think that can add to the spectacle. If you put on a medium tyre or a hard tyre and don’t know how far it’s going to go, none of us do, it definitely makes it more questionable, the strategy. So, I understand what you’re saying but we’ve got more, bigger problems, fish to fry, the way the car’s designed and things like that for the future.

    Max, your thoughts.

    MV: I think anyway, this year already quite often you go into the race on a tyre you haven’t driven on in practice – because you only select one. I think it’s not bad. I like also sometimes the challenge of not knowing what’s happening. I mean, the problem is most of the time, you put that tyre on, if the balance is bad it’s hard to pass, for the guy behind. So it’s more about the following where we need to work on. If the guy behind is faster, he should be able to get by. So that’s all in relation to the tyres as well. Sometimes, of course, on purpose we don’t select the hardest compound more than once because that’s mandatory. Because you know if you stick it on, even without any knowledge, you can stay ahead and just get to the end.

    Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Lewis, lots will be made of the strategy decisions today and obviously while you say it was a great call but Max earlier said that you were on fire today so how highly do you rate your individual performance over those last 20 laps or so?

    LH: Well, it was definitely a really good day today. I think today was clearly… once we got up to second I knew that me and Max were going to have a good race. Did I know I was going to get by? Honestly I was able to keep up with him, I was able to hold on to him within the two second gap and I was just trying to see whether I could make my tyres go longer than him and just kind of really studying him, I guess, really from behind, seeing how that was going. And then he started to drop off a cliff a little bit at the end and it’s really all about trying to make sure you’re in the right place at the right time. It’s not easy to follow, two seconds behind and obviously I had the brake problem as well, so I had to change my driving style quite a bit to enable this brake to go down in temperature so it meant doing a lot less braking and I had much much shorter bursts of braking and then in a lot of other places, half the lap I wasn’t really touching the brakes. So it really changes the balance of the car as well. I’m really glad of how I was able to delegate and work through that and collectively with the team, they did a really exceptional job. It will be interesting when we go back and talk about the two stop because today, this morning, we talked about the strategy and they said two stop was not going to happen and even when we called to do a two stop, I was like Jeez, I don’t know how this is going to work. A gamble’s always a good thing, it felt like a big gamble for us but at the time I felt like I had the pace on Max, I think, as I said, because I don’t know if he was backing off, or he was just controlling the pace but I felt like OK, I’m going to have a few attempts at trying to pass him but at some stage the tyres are going to go off, so I don’t know how many attempts that will be. I really don’t know how long I made those mediums go but I think it was just a collectively… a really bold, risky strategy call and then just doing the job. At the end of the day, I had to do those laps to chew out the gap that he had on me so I think collectively, as a team, we did a really exceptional job.

    Q: (Péter Vámosi – Racing Line) Sebastian, you will become a father again, and with maximum respect to your personal life, can you tell us if you’re waiting (inaudible) girl and if a boy, will you be happy if he would chose your job as a racing car driver?

    SV: Well, I don’t like to talk about my private life so thank you, but I think we will leave it there.

    Q: (Dániel Májer – GP Hirek.hu) Now the summer break has started, the first part of the season is over so could you please rate your own performance from one to ten, one is the worst, ten is the best and explain briefly why you give yourself that mark?

    SV: Five, not happy with the first half. I think I struggled here and there to really get on top of the car. I think we’ve been trying a lot of things so fair enough. Obviously we wanted to squeeze out more so you’re always looking for more but I feel I can do a better job in the second half. And five is my number, so take five.

    LH: So that’s the first half of the season, yeah? I’d say like 8.9, 8.8.

    SV: Go ten, man. Go for it, who cares?

    LH: If it wasn’t for the last one, the last race, it would be a little bit higher. I think the good thing is always to score yourself a little bit lower so you’ve more to work on. For sure, it’s been the best start of the season that I think we’ve ever had as a team and I think it’s one of the best seasons that I’ve had personally to start off, but there are areas that we can continue to work on. That’s the great thing about this sport, you know, no matter how many years and days you race there are always areas you can improve on. So let’s see if we can try and up that into the nines or try to get to the tens in the second half of the season.

    MV: I don’t rate myself in numbers.

    SV: What do you do instead? Letters? Or…

    MV: No, I hate putting a number on it because it reminds me of school as well, which is not that long ago. I’m always quite critical and I think it always can be better. I’ll never be satisfied. I think it’s been very positive and I’ve had good results but there are always things to work on.

    SV: … a number man!

    MV: No I don’t.

    SV: We did it.

    MV: Yeah, I know but… I don’t know, I think it’s… First of all, I cannot rate myself like that.

    LH: Why not, you’ve done a good job man?

    MV: I know, but… I don’t know. I find it a bit weird to say an eight or…

    Q: Lewis, how would you rate Max if you gave him a number?

    LH: I don’t remember all the races that you’ve done other than the last three or four. You could say he’s in the high nines over the last few races but I can’t remember how it went before.

    MV: I’ve had a lot of fourths, P3 and then three times fourth. P5, P3… too many P3, P4.

    LH: It’s easier to rate yourself because you often remember how many mistakes you’ve made, when you’ve done good, when you’ve kind of been under par and he’ll know whether he’s been on par or below par. I think today he drove exceptionally as he has particularly in the past three or four races so if that continues he’s going to continue to operate in the high nines towards tens.

    MV: Nobody’s perfect. No, it’s never perfect…

    LH: It’s like an impossible number to get.

    MV: 9.9?

    LH: It’s a hard one to get to.

    Q: (Dániel Horváth – The Paddock Magazine) Lewis and Max, Fernando Alonso praised your performance on social media. It seems he enjoyed the battle as well. Would you like to see him back in Formula One and race against him again?

    LH: Well, firstly that’s really awesome that he’s supportive… I was just actually watching some of the restarts, the starts of previous years and watching him from his Renault days and I remember just before I even got to Formula One watching how amazing their starts were. I don’t know how old Fernando is now but he’s always going to be a great driver. If he can get a good seat, he’s always welcome here to battle with us. It doesn’t make a difference, really, necessarily for me. I’m here to fight whoever’s here.

    MV: Yeah, I think it was a bit of a shame that I never had an opportunity to fight against him in F1 so yeah…

    LH: Could be a good team-mate for you.

    MV: Fernando? Well, you have experience with it, I don’t know. Well…

    SV: He could be your father!

    MV: Yeah, it’s close! Yeah, I know. As a young father. How old is he? 36? 38! OK, well 17 is possible to be a father.

    SV: Talking with experience?

    MV: I don’t know. At least I don’t know.

    LH: How old are you now?

    MV: 21. Many years, plenty of years…

    LH: Jeez. I like being in this room because I’m not the oldest!

    MV: 34?

    LH: I’m 34, yeah, nearly 35.

    SV: I’ll tell you, the day we get beat by somebody who’s born in 2000 and upwards. We will know it’s time…

    MV: I’m not that young!

    Q: Sebastian, final thoughts on Fernando? Would you like to see him back?

    SV: I don’t mind. I don’t know why… I don’t think he never really liked me. I don’t think we really had a… I don’t mind him. I respect him for what he achieved and for what he can do on track. I don’t know. I guess he’s bored if he has time to write these things. So bring him back, I don’t mind.

    MV: Maybe as a social media manager. To me, he’s always been very nice and good. I like that he is also now looking into other opportunities for racing. He just loves racing and he wants to win, he wants to be competitive. It’s good to see.

    LH: The sport needs the best drivers in the best seats and there is still at least a seat available that’s good enough for winning and he’s good enough for winning so it wouldn’t be such a bad…

    MV: Maybe he could speak to Toto.

    LH: Valtteri’s great; Valtteri’s been winning. You’re the one with the extra seat, I would say.

    MV: I didn’t say that.

    SV: I’m not sure…

    Ends

  • Max Verstappen scores career’s first pole position: Hungarian GP

    Max Verstappen scores career’s first pole position: Hungarian GP

    Max Verstappen (centre) takes pole on Saturday. An FIA image

    Budapest, 3 August 2019: Max Verstappen scored the first first pole position of his career as he beat Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas to the front of the Hungarian Grand Prix grid by just under two hundredths of a second. Championship leader Lewis Hamilton with start from third place for the 12th round of the FIA World Formula 1 Championship on Sunday.

    As soon as the lights went green at the end of the pit lane to signal the start of Q1, Red Bull driver Verstappen made a strong statement, with the Dutchman posting a lap of 1:15.917 to top the timesheeet. It was a time none of his rivals could match in this first segment, though Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton got close with a lap of 1:16.068 to finish second ahead of Bootas and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen.

    Fifth and sixth places went to Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel. Leclerc hit trouble in this opening phase, however. The Monegasque lost control of his car on entry to the final turn during a flying lap and spun backwards into the barriers. He was able to limp back to the pits where his crew began repairs ahead of Q2.

    At the lower end of the order George Russell was the first man eliminated in P16. The Williams driver exited ahead of Racing Point’s Sergio Pérez, Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo, the second Racing Point of Lance Stroll and P20 man Robert Kubica of Williams.

    For the top three teams the yellow-banded medium tyre was the compound of choice for the first runs of Q2. Hamilton took top spot with a time of 1:15.548, but Verstappen shadowed him closely with a lap 0.025s off the Mercedes drive’s pace. Bottas was a tenth further back in third place ahead of the Ferraris of Leclerc and Vettel.

    In ther final runs of the segment, the drivers at the top of the order went out again on soft tyres, but after posting purple times in the first two sectors Verstappen, Hamilton and Bottas backed out their laps.

    With Ferrari running medium tyres throughout Q2, and with Pierre Gasly matching that tactic in the second Red Bull on his way to P9 in Q2, all drivers from the top three teams in the championship with start on the yellow-banded Pirelli compound.

    Eliminated at the end of the second segment were 11th-place Nico Hulkenberg of Renault followed by the Toro Rossos of Alex Albon and Daniil Kvyat, Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen.

    The final segment saw Max become the first man to dip below 1m15s and the Dutchman claimed provisional pole with a super lap of 1:14.958. That left him 0.178s ahead of Bottas and a hundredth further ahead of Hamilton. And there was no denying Verstappen Max in the final run. Bottas pushed the Dutchman hard, but with a smattering of purple micro-sectors across his lap Max pulled clear of the Finn to beat him to the front of the grid by just under two hundredths of a second.

    Hamilton too found a substantial improvement on his final lap but it wasn’t enough to lift him higher than third place, almost two tenths of a second off pole. Fourth place on the grid went to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, almost half a second behind Max, with Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel fifth.

    Pierre held onto sixth place at the end of qualifying, finishing just over three tenths of a second behind Vettel and improving to a time of 1:15.450.

    Seventh place went to McLaren’s Lando Norris, with team-mate Carlos Sainz eighth. The final two top-10 places went to Haas’ Romain Grosjean and Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen.

     

    2019 FIA Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix – Qualifying
    1 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:14.572
    2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:14.590 0.018
    3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:14.769 0.197
    4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:15.043 0.471
    5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:15.071 0.499
    6 Pierre Gasly Red Bull Racing 1:15.450 0.878
    7 Lando Norris McLaren 1:15.800 1.228
    8 Carlos Sainz McLaren 1:15.852 1.280
    9 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:16.013 1.441
    10 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo Racing 1:16.041 1.469
    11 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:16.565 1.993
    12 Alex Albon Toro Rosso 1:16.687 2.115
    13 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:16.692 2.120
    14 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing 1:16.804 2.232
    15 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:17.081 2.509
    16 George Russell Williams 1:17.031 2.459
    17 Sergio Perez Racing Point 1:17.109 2.537
    18 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1:17.257 2.685
    19 Lance Stroll Racing Point 1:17.542 2.970
    20 Robert Kubica Williams 1:18.324 3.752.

  • Red Bull’s Pierre Gasly tops rain-affected FP2

    Red Bull’s Pierre Gasly tops rain-affected FP2

    Pierre Gasly tops FP2 on Friday. An FIA image

    Budapest, 2 August 2019: Red Bull Racing’s Pierre Gasly topped the timesheet in a rain-affected seconds practice session for the Hungarian Grand Prix, the 12th round of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship. Toro Rosso’s Alexander Albon crashed out in the rain on Friday.

    The session was held under grey skies and the threat of rain and as such there was a flurry of activity soon after the green lights went on at the end of the pit lane with 17 drivers taking to the track in the opening minutes.

    One of those was Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas. The Finn missed the morning session owing to a change of engine on his car and after the switch he was quickly into gear in the afternoon, taking top spot with a time midway into the 1m19s bracket.

    The track wouldn’t remain busy for long though. Within moments of Bottas taking P1, Alex Albon put a wheel on the grass on entry into the final Turn and his Toro Rosso was immediately sent into a spin. The Thai driver went side-on into the barriers on the outside of the corner with his car sustaining significant damage to its left side.

    The Toro Rosso driver was unhurt but the incident brought out the red flags and there was a six-minute delay as his car recovered.

    When the action resumed, Bottas improved again took P1 with a lap of 1:18.289 set on mediums but that time was quickly beaten by team-mate Lewis Hamilton who posted a lap of 1:18.110s on hard compound Pirelli tyres. The championship leader then went better again, setting a new benchmark of 1:17.995.

    Red Bull driver Max Verstappen then eclipses that with his best lap of 1:17.909 set on medium tyres. Gasly, though, opted for soft compound tyres and he rose to the top of the leaderboard with a session-best time of 1:18.854.

    Rain then began to steadily fall and the conditions, which are not forecast to effect either qualifying or the race, effectively brought the session to an end. Over the remaining hour most drivers took to the circuit on intermediate tyres but by and large it was for brief exploratory runs before returning to the pit lane.

    It meant that Gasly held on to top spot ahead of Verstappen, Hamilton and Bottas. Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo finished fifth 0.743 behind Gasly having snuck in a lap before the rain brought meaningful running to an end.

    Kimi Raikkonen was sixth for Alfa Romeo, while Charles Leclerc was the highest placed Ferrari almost a second adrift of Gasly. Leclerc’s team-mate Sebastian Vettel used hard tyres ahead of the rain and finished in P13, 1.4s off the pace.

    Nico Hulkenberg was eighth in the second Renault ahead of Alfa’s Antonio Giovinazzi and the top 10 order was rounded out by Hockenheim podium-finisher Daniil Kvyat of Toro Rosso.

    2019 FIA Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
    1 Pierre Gasly Red Bull Racing 16 1:17.854
    2 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 12 1:17.909 0.055
    3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 15 1:17.995 0.141
    4 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 18 1:18.184 0.330
    5 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 13 1:18.597 0.743
    6 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo 25 1:18.682 0.828
    7 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 21 1:18.852 0.998
    8 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 14 1:18.892 1.038
    9 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo 25 1:18.909 1.055
    10 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 22 1:18.957 1.103
    11 Romain Grosjean Haas 19 1:19.149 1.295
    12 Kevin Magnussen Haas 21 1:19.178 1.324
    13 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 24 1:19.254 1.400
    14 Carlos Sainz McLaren 22 1:19.398 1.544
    15 Sergio Perez Racing Point 13 1:19.721 1.867
    16 Lance Stroll Racing Point 14 1:19.774 1.920
    17 George Russell Williams 14 1:19.889 2.035
    18 Lando Norris McLaren 6 1:20.401 2.547
    19 Robert Kubica Williams 15 1:20.439 2.585
    20 Alex Albon Toro Rosso 2