INDIA in F1

Tag: grand prix

  • Vettel on pole; Hamilton second

    8 June 2013 (IST Sat Morn) FIA Saturday Press Coference

    (DRIVERS

    1 – Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing)

    2 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    3 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Williams)

    TV UNILATERAL

    Q: Sebastian, you seemed to be on top of those extraordinary conditions all the way through qualifying. Was that the case?

    Sebastian VETTEL: Well it was very, very tricky, especially because you never knew what the conditions were like the next time you were out. So obviously it was intermediate tyres throughout but extremely tricky to adapt, especially in the last qualifying section. We decided to have two runs, we thought the second run will be quicker because we had a new set of tyres left but it started to drizzle, in the last sector in particular, in the last chicane. I went straight on one lap and then the second lap I had a mistake somewhere else, so it turned out that the conditions were best for the first run.  So that was a bit of a surprise because obviously you target on a set of new tyres to push a little bit harder. Very happy the first lap was good enough. It was very tight with Lewis. I think at the end everybody was improving in the first two sectors but then the last one was… yeah, those last two corners didn’t allow anyone to go quicker, which surely I didn’t mind but I think it was showing how difficult the whole qualifying session was for everyone. Congratulations to Valtteri, I think he did an extraordinary job putting the Williams on P3 but for us, extremely happy with the result and looking forward to the race tomorrow. I think we had strong pace yesterday so no matter the conditions, we should be in decent shape.

    Q: Lewis, is that what cost you right at the end? Was that the rain in the final sector?

    Lewis HAMILTON: I don’t know really… no, I was doing a pretty good lap, I think I was six or seven tenths up, even so I went wide. I don’t know whether I would have kept it but all I needed to keep was a tenth or so, a bit unfortunate – but I’m still happy to be here for the team.

    Q: Valtteri, congratulations. What does this mean, to be in the top three?

    Valtteri BOTTAS: Thank you. Of course it means a lot. It’s way more up in the grid than what we really could ever imagine. It’s been so difficult, the first six races for us and it will be a nice boost for the team. We really got everything quite right today.

    Q: Sebastian, as you say, no points today. What chances tomorrow? As you said, you don’t really fear any of the conditions. Are you worried about rain or not?

    SV: Well, I don’t know if there’s anybody who can give a precise forecast for every corner. As we saw today, it was really tricky in some places, then drier than expected in other places and the next lap was completely different. So, yeah, a bit difficult to foresee how the weather is behaving tomorrow – but the forecast, I think, looks a little bit friendlier than today. So at this stage – the last thing I heard at least – we expect dry conditions. But we’ll see. It doesn’t really matter. We have a couple of tyres left, surely lots of slick tyres but also in the rain we should be in decent shape. I think it could be an interesting race with mixed conditions tomorrow. So, a long one, 70 laps here and a lot of things that can happen in every single lap.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Sebastian, well done again. Another consideration is, have you got any Intermediates left? You were saying you might have a couple of tyres left. If it is wet tomorrow, have you got any Intermediates left?

    SV: No, we don’t have a new set left but obviously it was only a very short run in the last qualifying. I think the sets we used, one was completely new and the other just scrubbed, so yeah, I think it’s tricky. Everyone used up their intermediates to qualify as high up as possible but the bottom line is I think we’re in good shape regarding tyres for both dry – obviously, just like everyone else – and rain conditions.

    Q: It did seem to be an extraordinary session. You had mass starts in the pitlane. It was amazing!

    SV: Yeah. I wasn’t part of that group and actually I did a mistake there because I was too late getting out in Q2 after the red flag, after Felipe had the crash. Yeah, I didn’t want to join the train and get stuck but obviously we left a little bit too late and I didn’t get to do a timed lap at all. Fortunately I made it through to Q3. The time we set before was good enough – but we didn’t get a run in and we were supposed to, so yeah, I messed up the timing a little bit there but fortunately it didn’t cost us anything.

    Q: Lewis, did it all go according to plan? Maybe you felt you could have been on pole.

    LH: Pole was definitely there, so it’s a bit unfortunate but that’s the way it goes.

    Q: Did everything go according to plan?

    LH: No.

    Q: Is that what makes you a little unhappy then?

    LH: …

    Q: What are the chances tomorrow? What do you feel about the weather tomorrow?

    LH: I’ve not really seen what the weather’s going to be like tomorrow. I was told that it’s going to be dry – or maybe raining in the morning and drying out for the race. But, as Sebastian said, it’s changing and it’s going to be good fun. It should be interesting as it has been for the last few years. It’s been very tricky – but I hope it’s dry.

    Q: Valtteri, what do you want tomorrow? More rain?

    VB: Definitely! I think the fact is in the dry the car doesn’t belong to P3 at the moment, so yeah, of course some rain would help us like it did in the qualifying. Because I think we found, for the Inter tyres especially, a quite good way of how to really work the tyre, the right temperatures and everything – so I hope so.

    Q: You did a good job in Monaco keeping it out of the wall – a lot of rookies might have ended up in the wall. You’ve done the same thing here. You’ve been a pretty safe pair of hands as far as I can see. Do you feel that? Are you happy with your performances?

    VB: I think you can never be totally happy with the situation we are in. I still have zero points and there’s still a lot to learn. When I look back there’s so many things you always could have done better. It’s been OK but it could be always better.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valterri, congratulations. Would you have ever dreamed to be on the second row and also could you please describe your lap?

    VB: Thank you. I don’t think we expected to be on the first or second row. I think everyone in our team was hoping for rain because there’s always a chance if you get the timing right, get everything right, you can maybe finish a bit higher than where the car is sometimes. But yes, the race is tomorrow. If it’s dry, for sure it’s going to be difficult, it’s not going to be easy, so let’s see.

    Q: (Kate Walker – GP Week) Valterri, we’ve seen that you’re ten places ahead of your teammate. Is this because you like the track, you like the conditions? You’re both in the same car.

    VB: I think today was very tricky and it was a lot about the tyre getting a good lap, just at the right time, when the track is in the best condition, having good track position, everything, so it’s not as simple in this weather, so that’s why there can even be ten places between teammates.

    Q: (Stefan Barbé – L’Equipe) If it’s dry tomorrow, do you think you had enough time yesterday to evaluate the tyres for long run pace in the afternoon?

    LH: We did a long run like everyone else, so we have a good understanding what the tyres and the car feels like in the dry and obviously we’ve had the rain and the wet so we should be set for tomorrow.

    SV: I think it was good that practice two yesterday was dry so it allowed everyone to get a read on both soft tyre and the harder or the medium tyre, supersoft and medium.

    VB: I think everyone has plenty of dry tyres so we’ll see.

    Q: (Massimo lopes Pegna– La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, are you surprised to see Ferrari so far behind you?

    SV: I don’t know where they are but obviously I saw Felipe losing the car into turn three so I’m aware that he’s not very high up. He obviously didn’t take part in Q3. For Fernando, I don’t know where he starts but I think generally – as Valterri touched on – it was quite tricky today and when you were not on the circuit at the right time, then you can be faster than everybody else, for example, but it’s not happening. I think we’ve all experienced it to some extent today. Some, obviously… on average, I think us three up here, we got away with it and mostly used the track in the best condition but you can never really say that you have always been out when it was absolutely at its best, and that makes a big difference. We’re talking easily half a second, a second, two seconds per lap.

    Q: (Bill Beacon – Canadian Press) Lewis, you’ve won here three times, conditions are a lot stranger this time around; how confident are you that you can have a fourth victory here?

    LH: Well, it’s good to be on the front row, that makes it a little bit… brings up the chances a little bit but it’s going to be a tough race tomorrow. Obviously Sebastian’s very quick, even the Ferraris are very quick on the long runs so I guess it really depends on the conditions and at the end of the day I’ve got to do the job. As you know, I love it here so, there’s a great crowd even though the weather was not so great today. I’m sure there will be even more people tomorrow so let’s hope we can put on a good show for them.

    Ends

  • Team leaders on `Secret Testing’ at FIA Friday press meet

    TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Martin WHITMARSH (McLaren), Christian HORNER (Red Bull Racing), Stefano DOMENICALI (Ferrari), Monisha KALTENBORN (Sauber), Ross BRAWN (Mercedes)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Monisha, gentlemen, I’m sure most of my colleagues here would like to hear your views and opinions regarding the tyre test carried out at Barcelona last month. I’m afraid it’s ladies first, Monisha; can we start with you?

    Monisha KALTENBORN: First of all, to really have a proper opinion you need to really have all the facts, which clearly we all don’t, as a team, but from what we know, what we read in the media, it appears that it’s not been in line with the rules, what has happened. And from that, of course, we have to consider the possibility: could the team gain an advantage from that. Reasonably, you could imagine that but again, without the facts it’s difficult to completely assess that and there we also would have to look not only at what’s happened this year, or could happen for this year as a benefit, but also for the following year because this is a time when all of us are defining certain parts of our new car and I think it’s important to see if there any benefits could have arisen for the team because that’s something which you really can’t catch up later on as a competitor. But I’m glad it’s gone to the Tribunal and I’m sure they will assess all these aspects properly.

    Martin, your views?

    Martin WHITMARSH: I think so far we’ve chosen to keep our views to ourselves. As has just been reported it’s gone to the Tribunal and I think they are presumably gathering all the facts and they can take a view.

    Christian, your feelings?

    Christian HORNER: Well our feelings were fairly clear because we raised a protest about it in Monaco. So we believe that it is the responsibility of the entrant to comply with the regulations, so when it came to light that a test with a current car had taken place, our interpretation of the regulations is that that was in clear breach of them and therefore we raised a protest prior to the race for it to be dealt with as an issues by the FIA. It’s really an issue between the team and the FIA. Obviously Pirelli have asked several teams to test, ourselves included but we have declined to do so because we felt that it wasn’t in line with the regulations, certainly with a current car. That’s the situation. It’s gone to the Tribunal and we trust in the FIA to make the appropriate decisions regarding it. I think the important thing is that there needs to be absolute clarity moving forward in terms of what you can do and what you can’t do going forward, you know, what is testing and what isn’t testing. I think that’s more crucial than anything, it is to be fully resolved.

    Stefano?

    Stefano DOMENICALI: Not a lot to add. There is an enquiry; there is this international Tribunal that will handle the situation. They have all the elements for that. So honestly, nothing to add on what we already discussed and for me it’s important that there have been… we were involved in this because we received a lot of questions by the FIA, they have taken their position, so for us it’s pretty clear. Therefore, we wait and see.

    Ross?

    Ross BRAWN: I think, as has been mentioned, the matter has been passed on to the international Tribunal. They will meet presumably in the next few weeks to determine the facts of the case. My personal opinion is that when the facts of the case come out, then people can make a judgment. Obviously we felt we were in a position to be able to do the Pirelli test – it was a Pirelli test, it’s very important to note that – and so the Tribunal will be the time at which all the information will become available. A couple of points I would make: there has been an unfortunate branding of the ‘secret’ test. It was a private test. It wasn’t a secret test. I think anyone who believes you can got to Barcelona and do three days of testing, or 1000km of testing, and not have anyone become aware of it is naïve. It was a private test, not a secret test and sporting integrity is very, very important to us. Very important to Mercedes. And as I say I think when the facts become apparent then people can make a better judgment of the situation.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Ralf Bach – Der Spiegel) Question to Ross. Paul Hembery told us in Monaco, when he had informed the other teams this test had never taken place. Can you just make clear why for you the test is legal?

    RB: Well, it’s a little difficult for me because we’ve got this process going on now where it’s in the hands of the Tribunal. And as was mentioned by the other teams, we trust our process. It’s a new process that the FIA have introduced, an independent process and it’s the first time it’s being tested but I think it has a good structure. As I say, we trust in the Tribunal. So I can’t comment, and I don’t want to comment, I don’t want to anticipate the Tribunal. I think when we get to the Tribunal we’ll get the answers to your questions.

    Q: (Christian Nimmervoll – Motorsport-total.com) Question to everyone – probably – except Ross, who can of course add anything to it: how much of an advantage do you guys think such a test during the season – 1000km – is, and what is it in particular that you can learn from such a session?

    CH: I think that whenever you run the car… when you’re not allowed to test, when you have limited mileage, when the rules are written as they are, when you run a current car of course… for the way that Formula One is, with the way that the amount of technology and with the amount of data analysis there is, you’re always learning. Whether it be reliability, whether it be endurance, whether it be performance. So, of course… even if you’re testing a component for a supplier, you’re learning. I think Formula One has moved an awfully long way over the last few years to ensure fairness and equality to all of the entrants. I think that if a team does carry out 1000km of additional testing with a current car, you’re going to learn something.

    Martin, anything?

    MW: Nothing more to add.

    Q: (Ian Parkes – Press Association) Ross, part of the debate that’s been going on about this test is whether Mercedes gained permission from the FIA as to whether you could run the current car. Are you in a position to state whether you have cast-iron proof from the FIA that will help your case going forward at the Tribunal?

    RB: I think we wouldn’t have done the Pirelli test unless we believed we could do the Pirelli test and I think when we get to the Tribunal, you’ll have your answers.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / National Speedsport News) A question for all of you. If there is to be private testing in the future – I stress private, not secret – and even if it is with a two-year old car, would you like it to be announced so we all know about it beforehand?

    SD: So far, with out interpretation of the regulation, running with a 2011 car, or two years car, is not testing, as per the Sporting Regulations. So that is pretty clear from our point of view. On that respect, we believe, as you know, we are the ones that were pushing since the old ages, we believe that it is important to test. So therefore if, after this situation, we will be in a situation where we can test again, as we have discussed within the teams, as you know, it is, I think, fundamental and I think it’s the right decision.

    Christian?

    CH: I think the lack of transparency is disappointing. That you get to learn these things second hand. I think it is important that there is transparency, of course. If a supplier has issues then it needs to obviously deal with them but when all entrants are supposedly equal, it’s only right and proper that information is made transparently clear.

    Martin?

    MW: No, whatever testing happens there should be transparency and the rules should be clear to everyone.

    Monisha?

    MK: I agree with what’s been said. If you look back at the time the testing was permitted, nobody used to make any big deal out of it: everyone knew that there were test teams out there and you were somewhere in Europe testing.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – The Citizen) Obviously the entire situation arose because of the regulations banning testing. Two days before the protest was lodged, I believe the big four teams met in Monaco with Mr Ecclestone to discuss testing next year, eight or nine days, I believe. How do you people see this working and then for Monisha, specifically, how will this impact on the smaller teams, should it be introduced? And also will this alleviate the Pirelli tyre test situation that they have at the moment?

    SD: I think that there was this discussion between six teams in Monte Carlo, because as you know, basically, with nothing to hide, we were the ones that were promoting, in a way, to go back to testing because we feel it’s important. And I have to say that we were discussing, we find the right balance between, let’s say, the request from one side and the need to consider – what was on the table – considering also the issue that the small teams have always presented, and I believe that what was agreed and discussed was a fair, sensible balanced approach that now it’s important that we go through and ratify in the new regulations because that’s now the key point for the future. Now is the moment to ratify what we have discussed and what I believe is the right compromise for all the entrants in the championship now.

    RB: I think – as you say quite rightly – there’s been some discussions about testing for next year which will certainly be beneficial for whoever the tyre supplier is in the future but it’s structuring that testing to make sure there is a good commitment to the tyre supplier, to get a proportion of that testing and that is quite a difficult thing to do. If there’s eight days or ten days of testing, how much of that is available to a tyre supplier, because they need testing, they need to feed off something, so I think that’s a point that needs addressing.

    MK: Well, I think even as a smaller team per se we are not against testing because it does have a lot of benefits and looking at next year with a new engine coming up, if you look at young drivers, you can give them mileage there or for suppliers when they need to test, so as such it’s nothing we’re against but for us, it’s all linked with the cost, so our ideal would be that if you try to link this to overall cost saving, so you find some other areas where you can bring the cost down, which again brings up discussions about a cost cap or so, that you can do anything within that, that’s something we would be looking for but as such we wouldn’t really be against testing.

    Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Ross, should Mercedes be found guilty, do you think that your position would be weakened because there are rumours that you might be the sacrificial lamb of this situation and that in this case you might have to leave the team or have a different future?

    RB: I think there’s been some rumours before and nothing’s happened. I think we should say let’s wait and see what the Tribunal find and then we can go from there. It was my decision to do the test so that’s a fact and let’s see what occurs at Tribunal and we go from there.

    Q: (Kate Walker – GP Week) Ross, I have two questions for you: first, I was wondering if you could explain why you chose to use your race drivers rather than your test driver in the car, given that it was a test? And secondly, one of the rumours that we have heard going round is that you’re in position of an e-mail from Charlie Whiting confirming that you did have permission to do the test. Could you confirm whether or not that e-mail exists?

    RB: The e-mail, I don’t want to comment on any matters of that sort that relate to what’s going to come through in the Tribunal. In terms of running the race drivers, in any form of testing, apart from the young drivers’ test, there’s no control or limitation on the type of driver you have in the car, so it was natural for us to use the drivers we have. We wanted the most representative conditions we could for the Pirelli test, it was as simple as that.

    Q: (Daniel Ortelli – AFP) Ross, you said the test was your decision. Was it connected in any way to the fact that you were disappointed by the result of the race on the previous Sunday, or was it related to the fact you had a guarantee it was tyres for 2014, or both? Was that part of your decision-making?

    RB: I can certainly say that the decision was based in no way on the track performance that we had. I think everyone in Formula One is concerned about some of the delamination that we’ve seen, so I think that’s a worthy objective. Certainly nothing to do with the performance of the car, because nothing was aimed at addressing that.

    Q: (Ralf Bach – Der Spiegel) Ross, did you inform Niki Lauda and Toto Wolff before the test?

    RB: That’s not something I want to comment on. I’m sorry to keep repeating this, but you’ll get all the facts when we get to the Tribunal.

    Q: (Ian Parkes – Press Association) Ross, I just wanted to know how you’re feeling generally. You’ve been accused of being underhand, you’ve been accused of a lack of transparency. Do you feel saddened, frustrated – cornered, even – by all these accusations and by what’s happened?

    RB: I won’t pretend it’s very pleasant at the moment. Again, I’m confident that once we get to the Tribunal the facts will become apparent, and you’ll be able to make a better judgement. We’re trying to focus on the racing. We had a great result in Monaco; a little frustrated that we lost second place with Lewis, as it would have been an even better result, and we’ve got a race here to focus on. We’re going to try and stay aligned with the things we enjoy, like the racing, and we’ll try and keep that in the distance. It’s not very pleasant, but that’s motor racing. I’ve been in it a long time, and I’ve been through these periods before.

    Q: (JC Coté – TSN 9.90 in Montreal) Ross, has it been difficult keeping the team and everybody focused on this weekend and last weekend in Monaco given everything that’s going on around the circumstances of this test?

    RB: You try and bear the load as best you can for the team to make sure that they don’t become distracted. There are one or two people in the team – apart from myself – who are involved in this, in terms of preparing now for the Tribunal. But we’re making sure that everybody is else is left alone to get on and do the best job they can at the race weekend. You can’t deny that it’s a distraction, but we’ll manage it as best we can. Ninety-nine percent of our people are focused on trying to do the best job they can over the race weekend, and there’s one percent of people – including me – that’s got to deal with the after-effects of the Pirelli test.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – The Citizen) To the four excluding Ross, please: Formula One is entering virgin territory with this Tribunal, we’ve never been there before. I believe the process allows interested parties or affected parties to make representations. Will any of the four of you make a representation in the Tribunal at all? In other words, providing your own evidence or input?

    SD: As you know, at the beginning of this process we were involved; first they wanted to understand the situation so we presented our documentation. The case has been closed on our side, so we added already our comments.

    CH: Obviously it is a new process but again we’ve been asked questions by the FIA, as have others. I think it’s an information-gathering exercise so that the panel of judges can make an informed decision. I think that over the coming days obviously further information may possibly be required. It is a new process, so I think the most important thing is that it’s dealt with quickly and we achieve clarity in terms of what’s possible moving forward. Are we allowed to test out 2014 engine from our third-party supplier next week? There’s certain things that need clarification.

    MW: We’ve responded to the questions from the FIA, but we don’t intend to make separate representation in the hearing.

    Q: And Ross?

    RB: We’ll be there!

    Q: Of course, apologies. Monisha?

    MK: Like the other teams we received questions which we answered. At the moment we don’t plan to submit anything on our own to the judicial body, but if the judges want further information we’ll comply.

    Ends

  • Di Resta quickest in first practice in Canada

    Montreal, 7 June 2013: Late flying lap puts Sahara Force India driver Paul Di Resta at the top of the timesheet in rain-hit session on Friday at the Circuit Filles Villeneuve here.

    Force India’s Paul di Resta popped at the top of the leaderboard in the last few seconds of a rain-affected Free Practice (FP1).

    First practice at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve was dominated by the conditions, which saw rain fall steadily in the lead up to the session – but the rain held off during the session itself, and thus drivers went through the whole range of tyres as a dry line formed.

    The early laps were on the full wet tyre, followed by the bulk of the session being run on the intermediates. Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne appeared on Pirelli’s experimental slick tyre shortly after the hour mark but pronounced it too wet. Sebastian Vettel tried on the medium shortly afterwards on his Red Bull but struggled to match his time on the inters. Only in the last ten minutes did the majority of the field appear on dry tyres, by which point the track was sufficiently dry for them to be marginally quicker than the inters.

    That triggered big changes to the leaderboard. Jenson Button went into P1 with a lap of 1:21.551, the first runner to do so on slicks but several runners went under that mark in the last minute of the session, with Di Resta, anonymous to that point, being the man at the top when the chequered flag signalled the end of proceedings.

    Di Resta’s time of 1:21.020 was six seconds away from a good, dry practice time of 2012, indicating how marginal the surface was. Several drivers had spins and minor excursions during that last ten minutes, with Williams’ Pastor Maldonado hitting the wall and shattering his nosecone at Turn Four.

    Earlier in the session Jules Bianchi had been the only casualty, taking to the escape road at that same chicane, struggling to turn his Marussia around and being asked to switch off his engine by his pit crew. The intermediate running had seen Nico Rosberg for Mercedes continuing his strong form with a series of fastest laps, though as the session went on Vettel overhauled him and would finish FP1 with the fastest time on the inters.

    Canadian Grand Prix first practice times

    1 Paul di Resta Force India 1:21.020
    2 Jenson Button McLaren 1:21.108 0.088
    3 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:21.258 0.238
    4 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:21.308 0.288
    5 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus 1:21.608 0.588
    6 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:22.068 1.048
    7 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:22.402 1.382
    8 Sergio Pérez McLaren 1:22.587 1.567
    9 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1:23.047 2.027
    10 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 1:23.131 2.111
    11 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:23.341 2.321
    12 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:23.352 2.332
    13 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:23.386 2.366
    14 Adrian Sutil Force India 1:23.417 2.397
    15 Esteban Gutiérrez Sauber 1:23.957 2.937
    16 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:25.054 4.034
    17 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber 1:25.354 4.334
    18 Giedo van der Garde Caterham 1:25.753 4.733
    19 Max Chilton Marussia 1:25.821 4.801
    20 Alexander Rossi Caterham 1:27.143 6.123
    21 Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:27.522 6.502
    22 Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:29.306 8.286

    ends

  • Euphoria of Monaco is gone, focus is on Montreal: Rosberg

    DRIVERS – Charles PIC (Caterham), Jean-Eric VERGNE (Toro Rosso), Giedo VAN DER GARDE (Caterham), Pastor MALDONADO (Williams), Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes), Felipe MASSA (Ferrari)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Charles, your second Formula One season, now of course with Caterham. What are your feelings about that? Do you feel that you’re making progress yourself now that you are in your second season?

    Charles PIC: Yeah, of course. The first races were a bit difficult for us and then from China and Bahrain especially we made steps forwards and the car was working much better and I think we are still in this positive mood. We have to keep working like that. Monaco was not an easy one for us. I think the pace and performance was quite good, especially in the race, but then we had this issue with the gearbox. Overall I’m happy with the evolution we have had.

    To some extent you are the team leader, in that you have more experience than Giedo. Is the progress with the car being driven by you?

    CP: No, I think when you do progress it’s driven by everybody in the team. It’s a team effort and teamwork, driven by the two drivers and all the team.

    Jean-Eric, you’ve already had a busy morning. What have you been up to already today?

    Jean-Eric VERGNE: I was at the Polytechnic school, with the FIA for the Action for Road Safety campaign and we had a bit of a chat with the students about safety, the Golden Rules and it was nice. I drove a simulator, so yeah.

    Well, you obviously had a very good qualifying in Monaco and followed it up with a good race, it was the fourth time you’ve finished eighth in a grand prix. The question is whether the car is suited to here and can you carry over that performance to here?

    JEV: Yeah, hopefully. Everything can happen in Canada. Last year wasn’t really a good race for me but you know I think we can carry on the momentum. Definitely the car is getting better and better every race. We obviously don’t have anything new here but I think the whole package that we have is good enough to make a good race again here. I think the improvement on the car is going to continue for the whole season and I’m really pleased with that.

    And the improvement with you in qualifying, that’s important?

    JEV: Definitely. You know, you need to work really well during the whole weekend and to have a good qualifying, especially in Monaco, is really important. I think I’m just improving race by race, it’s as simple as that.

    Giedo, a good performance again in Monaco. Here we are at another temporary circuit, but a circuit you don’t know. Can you carry over that performance from Monaco to here?

    Giedo VAN DER GARDE: We’ll see by Saturday. I think so. The progress is going quite well. We knew that our first four races would be tough but the last few ones we made good progression. The relationship with the team is getting better, the work relationship is good, so I think we can do a good job here again.

    You said earlier on in the year that you’d need probably a third of the season to find your feet. Are you finding your feet now?

    GVDG: Yeah, as a rookie it’s not easy to come in and the first four races were just to learn as much as possible and now the progress is going really well, the relationship with the engineers is really well, with the whole team. So I’m a happy man at the moment.

    Again, this is a new circuit to you. Are you finding it difficult to learn circuits?

    GVDG: We did some practice on the simulator and I like more or less always a street circuit, so let’s see how it goes.

    Q: Pastor, a big accident in Monaco, any after-effects from that?

    Pastor MALDONADO: No, no, I’m OK. I was OK. It was a reset.

    Q: We’ve had a third of the season. Are you seeing progress at Williams?

    PM: Yes. I mean, it was quite difficult to understand the car since the beginning of the season. Especially from the first race. We’ve been fighting a lot to try to fix the problems. We fix the problems but they are not easy to show. We have been working very hard, 24hours a day in the factory, especially in the wind tunnel. The problems are coming from aerodynamic. We’ve been trying to make some progress. I think we understand now a bit more the car and hopefully this race should be much better for us.

    Q: What difference should a new chassis make?

    PM: The chassis is more-or-less the same. Just some new parts, aero parts. Hopefully we are going to solve… not all the problems… but have a step forward. We have been expecting that for some time.

    Q: Felipe, we saw you last in a [medical] collar. And you also have a new chassis here. Tell us a little more about that accident.

    Felipe MASSA: It was two accidents actually! It looks really similar, if you look from the television, but it was completely different accident. The first one, it was, I had… just locked the wheels, went over the bumps and then I went straight. I hit the guardrail first and then I went straight. And the second one, I had a failure in the suspension. It was two different accidents in the same place. It looks very similar but it was two different things. The good thing is that I’m fine. I just felt a little bit of pain on my neck after because two crashes on the same place, in the same direction, y’know? But it was just muscles and its fine. One hundred per cent fine.

    Q: And no dent in your confidence?

    FM: No. For sure no. One hundred per cent confident for here.

    Q: How important is a good result here for Ferrari? Because it wasn’t a very good result in Monaco.

    FM: Yeah, I think it’s very important. We didn’t have the weekend we expected in Monaco. Just looking forward to going back to a good weekend – for both: for me, for Fernando, for the team. I hope the car works well on this track and we can fight for another podium again?

    Q: Nico, has the euphoria of Monaco finally worn off?

    Nico ROSBERG: Unfortunately yes! It goes quite quick in this sport. Already a couple of days afterwards, the focus went completely to Montreal. I mean, first of all understanding what we did right and wrong in Monaco and then preparing for Montreal and trying to get the most out of this weekend.

    Q: But you seem to be on a roll with pole positions. What chances?

    NR: Yes, well, qualifying has been very good. Our car has been the quickest car in qualifying for quite some time now. So, as a speed, I think we just have a very, very fast car. So I’m confident I’ll be quite far up the grid again in qualifying here. It is a different situation a little bit here: it’s lower downforce so that could mix things up a little bit, different track and everything so we’ll have to wait and see – but qualifying should be good, yeah.

    Q: It is a very different circuit in terms of demands; high speed and low grip as opposed to low speed and high grip, so it should be interesting to see if the car works here as well.

    NR: Yes – and that’s why we need to be a little bit carefully coming here. It could be a little bit of a different situation. Some other teams might be stronger or whatever. But in general we’re going to be there or thereabouts.

     QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

     Q: (Kate Walker – GP Week) Nico, I understand you’re not allowed to comment on an awful lot of aspects of the recent tyre test, but one thing that we were wondering is because it was a Pirelli-specific test – you weren’t testing new components, anything like that –  why were you and Lewis doing the driving rather than (test driver) Sam (Bird)?

    NR: Don’t know. That was what the team decided. I think also for Pirelli it’s better if we are in the car, because it’s more representative because Sam doesn’t drive much, so for sure he won’t be able to go on our pace and bring the Pirellis through the laps exactly as we would, who had the experience of the Grand Prix that weekend. So definitely for Pirelli it’s an advantage to have us in the car, I would say.

    Q: (Alex Popov – RTR) Nico, there are a lot of completely useless statistics but one that is interesting about Canada is that you have qualified 6-0 here against your teammates and Lewis has qualified 5-0 against his teammates, so how important will it be on Saturday for you?

    NR: I didn’t know that. It’s a track I like, definitely. I enjoy this track. I’m confident coming here and qualifying is going to be exciting and important also, but a little bit less important at this track (than Monaco) maybe because you can overtake and tyre degradation is going to be an issue, so there’s going to be a lot happening in the race. But anyway, as in all tracks, even with this statistic or no statistics, it’s always a big challenge to try and be ahead of Lewis in qualifying because he’s obviously very very quick.

    Q: (Alex Popov – RTR) For everybody, would you comment on Sergio’s race in Monaco? Do you agree with Kimi’s views or not?

    J-EV: I’m not going to comment.

    CP: No.

    Looks like a non-starter I’m afraid.

    Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Felipe, why have you never got on the podium here, is there a special reason for that?

    FM: So, why I never made a podium here? I think my best result was fourth. I think last year was pretty much in the right direction as well, I just spun but I was pretty quick during the weekend. Why, I don’t know. But I will try, definitely, one hundred percent.

    Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Nico, if you say it was just a normal test, why were you and Lewis using anonymous helmets?

    NR: Don’t want to comment on that. Sorry.

    Q: (Luis Fernando Ramos – Racing Magazine) Nico and Felipe, the more experienced of the drivers; if it’s dry tomorrow you will try these new Pirelli tyres in free practice; is this a track too specific to draw any conclusions or will it be OK, you can draw conclusions from here and use them on other circuits in the season?

    NR: For sure you can draw conclusions, yeah. Hopefully we will get a few dry laps and it will be good to try them and understand a bit more of what is to come and what to expect in the next races.

    FM: I don’t think it will be so easy to have a conclusion. First of all, it’s maybe raining; you can forget about a conclusion and you need to see how many laps you can do on the tyres to understand (them), so it’s not also an easy track to understand. It’s a track that is getting better all the time, during practice, so it won’t be so easy to get a conclusion, I think.

    Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriere della Serra) Felipe, you had a tough moment after the accident in 2009 when you had to come back and drive. Is it easier now or is it almost the same from a psychological point of view?

    FM: It’s completely different because I don’t remember anything about my accident and now I remember everything (about my two in Monaco) but that wasn’t the problem. I was fine so I just got out of the car and it was no problem. I think when you are OK you don’t have any problem, you just jump in the car and you go out again. It’s completely different from 2009.

    Q: (Sean Gordon – The Globe and Mail) What are your favourite memories of Montreal, whether it’s on or off the track?

    FM: I hope it will be this weekend. Well, I think it was a very good race that I did for Sauber in 2004, I guess. I was fourth, so it was a very good race. I think that was the best.

    NR: Not sure, maybe the qualifying my first year; I’m not sure if I was fifth or sixth, but it was a great qualifying that year, so maybe that was a good memory.

    PM: I have no good memories of this track.

    GvdG: I think my best memory is in 2001 when I was here for the Kart World Championship. It was my first race in Formula Super A and I won the first race, so it was a good memory. Long way back.

    J-EV: I don’t really remember. Maybe my holidays here. That’s it.

    CP: Last year it was my first time here. Qualifying was a bit tough for us but we had a good race afterwards, so I think it was last year’s race.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Nico, last year after Monaco you were 17 points behind the leader; now you are 60 points behind. Do you think you could still be in a better position for the rest of the season, right now, compared to last year?

    NR: Last year, at the same point in time, I was quite confident for the rest of the season, because we were really in a good string of results. I think there were six races where I got the most points so at the same point in time I was quite confident, but looking back, of course, it didn’t go well. Now, again, I’m confident, yeah, because the car is very fast at the moment and it’s just a matter of getting a better grip on the tyres and trying to understand them better and better and we’re in that process at the moment. It’s really not easy but I think hopefully we’re making some progress. We will see again this weekend. This weekend is going to be a big challenge for that but if we can get a grip on that then it’s going to be a good next couple of races so I’m quite confident, yeah, maybe more confident now, then.

    Q: (Pierre Durocher – Journal de Montréal) Nico, how concerned are you about the tyre wear on this track?

    NR: It will definitely be one of the key aspects of the weekend. We have the supersofts again here, degradation is going to be an issue and possibly that’s going to be the decider as to who wins the race, who has the best control over that.

    Q: Which would you prefer: a dry or wet race, given the problems you have been having with the tyres?

    NR: I don’t know. Possibly even wet, yeah, because our car is really quick in the wet. I’ve been feeling very comfortable in the wet this year, maybe even wet, yeah.

    Q: (Ernesto Nigro – F1 Plus.com) In-season testing over the use of simulators; how much more effective would that be and would you welcome it back?

    FM: It would be welcomed, definitely. A simulator is always what we have, to try to understand something, but it’s always a simulator so when you are in the real situation on the track, you definitely understand a lot better so it would be welcome.

    NR: Just as Felipe said, it’s so difficult to get the simulator one hundred percent realistic so there are always several things that are better when you test the real car, more accurate.

    GvdG: I think it’s also good for a rookie to have more track time, of course. It’s how it is now.

    Q: (Olivier Arbour – Radio Canada) To all of you: what do you think about Sergio Perez’s driving; do you share Button’s view that he should maybe calm down, or are you more on Raikkonen’s side?

    GvdG: If nobody comments I will comment. I know Checco quite well, we were teammates together in 2010. I think he’s a real fighter, you know, and he’s a guy who wants to win – everybody likes to win – but of course how he raced in Monaco, sometimes he did well, sometimes going over (the top) but I think it’s a tough call.

    PM: No comment.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) This subject is old but it’s interesting to hear from all of you who never won the World Championship up to now, about the Wall of Champions here. Is there any particular reasons it attracts World Champions there, is there any technical challenge that explains all the incidents we have there?

    NR: It’s a nice little legend, it’s a difficult corner, yeah, because if you go in a little bit too fast you get that second kerb too much and you’re in the wall, so it’s a very very challenging corner, but there’s no reason to explain why a lot of World Champions have gone in there.

    FM: It’s two different things: it’s a different corner, it’s a corner that if you try to be a bit too aggressive you can hit the wall but it’s two different things.

    Ends

  • Force India will carry forward its form: Mallya

    Montreal, 3 June 2013: Team Principal of Sahara Force India,  Vijay Mallya, hopes the team can carry its form into the Canadian Grand Prix.
    “The emotions of Monaco are still fresh in our memory as our attention turns to Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix. Both our drivers and the team performed superbly on the streets of Monte Carlo and it is very satisfying to see us fifth in the Championship after a third of the season,” Mallya said.
    “The race in Monaco showed the sheer class of our two drivers, and probably helped silence some critics of the team. Adrian’s moves on two former World Champions will stay in our memories for a long time, and so will Paul’s determined performance as he went from 17th to ninth,” he added.
     
    “I think we are now knocking on the door of our first podium finish since 2009, and it’s time to do that all-important step. Montreal would be a great place to do so – it is a track that favours overtaking and our car has shown the race pace to finish among the leaders, so everything is possible,” the Force India principal said.
    “I am proud of everyone in the team because we have achieved good results – and claimed 44 points – despite some very unfortunate occurrences. With a bit more luck, we would be even further ahead of McLaren: but the focus is on the future. We know our rivals will be more competitive in the next few rounds, but we have shown we can mix with the big teams and we intend to do so for the coming races too.
    “The Canadian Grand Prix also marks the 100th Grand Prix for Sahara Force India. When we started back in 2008 we simply had the ambition to break out of Q1 and we dreamed of scoring points. Seeing where we stand today is therefore extremely rewarding and motivates us all to continue working just as hard for the next 100 races,” the team Principal and Managing Director concluded.
     
    Paul di Resta provided his thoughts on Canada
     
    Paul, Monaco was a mixture of emotions for you, but you picked up points in the end with an impressive recovery drive…
    I think it’s a sign of our competitiveness that we were a bit disappointed with ninth. I definitely felt we had the performance to be higher up the points, but the issues in qualifying put us on the back foot. That’s the thing with Monaco, it’s all about track position, but I did enjoy a few overtaking moves into turn one. Although more was possible I’m still happy to continue my run of points finishes.
    Canada will be the team’s 100th race – do you think you can give the team something to celebrate?
    We’ve been competitive on every track this year and that’s a credit to the team, so we expect to be at our usual level once again. It’s traditionally a track that has suited us, so we go there confident that we can fight towards the front once again. 100 races is a significant achievement and it’s great to see how much the team has grown during that time. It’s a credit to the commitment of the shareholders and hopefully we can give them something to smile about come Sunday evening.
    Tell us about the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve?
    It’s an unusual track but tends to produce exciting racing with some really good overtaking opportunities. It’s tight, because it’s a street course, so it’s another track where there is no margin for error. Straight-line speed is important, as is a car that’s stable under braking and capable of riding the curbs well.
     
    Adrian on Canada
    Adrian, how good did it feel to finish fifth in Monaco – your best result in the principality…
    It felt very nice. After four difficult races I was ready to get this result. We had several missed opportunities, but I tried my best to stay positive because I could see the potential of the car. So it felt very good to have a race where I could deliver a strong result. But it was not the easiest of weekends for me because I lost track time on Saturday and I damaged my front wing on the first lap of the race. So, all things considered, it was very satisfying to come away with fifth place.
    Some commentators named you driver of the day for your ‘cheeky’ overtaking moves at the hairpin…
    I had the feeling from the first lap onwards that there was a possibility to pass cars at this corner. After the restart, when all the cars were bunched up, I saw the gap and went for it. I got ahead of Jenson first and then Fernando as well. Overtaking always feels good, but in Monaco it’s extra special because you have to judge things perfectly.
    What about Montreal? Do you think you will go well there?
    It’s definitely one my favourite races on the calendar because it’s a great city. It’s also an interesting and unusual track, and it can be a long race with different scenarios and strategy options. I like the circuit, but for some reason I’ve never had good results there. Hopefully we can change that this year.
    ends

  • Mahindra Racing’s hard work pays off

    Mugello, 2 June 2013: Mahindra rider Miguel Oliveira claimed the only Indian motorcycle grand prix team’s best yet finish at Mugello on Sunday with a hard-fought fourth place, and added a new lap record to the books.

    But the Portuguese star was “a little disappointed”: after leading at the mid-point of the race he missed the top-three podium by less than half a second, a Mahindra Racing press release said.

    The podium is the next target, but the team had more than enough to celebrate in Italy. The exclusive and all-new Mahindra MGP3O is in only its fifth race after being designed and built in just six months. Already the aim to join the front runners has been achieved.

    The race was a thriller from the start, with the Moto3™ pack jostling for position on the fast and sweeping 5.245-km Mugello circuit. Oliveira started from the second row and was ninth into the first corner, but 7th and climbing by the end of the lap.

    He set a new lap record on the fourth lap, and next time round was third. From then on played a major role in a six-strong group that broke away for an enthralling battle to the end. They swapped positions constantly, with Miguel taking his turn up front on lap 15.

    The final shoot-out had the crowd holding its breath. Victory went to Luis Salom (KTM) by just 0.099 of a second, with the similarly mounted Alex Rins and Maverick Vinales in his wheeltracks, and Miguel inches behind. Alex Marquez and pole starter Jonas Folger (both KTM) were still close, the top five covered by eight tenths. Wild card and grand prix first-timer Andrea Locatelli was 22nd, in the thick of a tight pack  chasing 15th position, with ten riders crossing the line in just over two seconds.

    Team regular Efrén Vázquez, still recuperating from collarbone surgery less than two weeks  ago, withdrew from the race, but expects to return in better condition at Catalunya in a fortnight. Mahindra Racing CEO Mufaddal Choonia explained: “The team decided Efrén needed a bit more time to recover, and it was prudent not to start, and risk further injury.”

    Today’s result regained a clear third place in the Constructor’s Championship for the marque, while Oliveira gained significant ground, now lying seventh overall.

    MIGUEL OLIVEIRA – Fourth Place
    “It was a difficult race – on the limit every lap to stay with the front group. The slipstream is very important here, so I couldn’t risk losing contact. I’m a little bit upset not to reach the podium, but happy with the whole weekend: good qualifying and race. At the last race I fell while with the front group, and we were up front again here. It gives plenty of motivation to keep pushing for more.”Copyright © 2013 Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. All rights reserved.

    ANDREA LOCATELLI – 22nd Place
    “My first grand prix was quite an experience, fighting with a big group of more experienced  riders. The Mahindra was good all weekend, and helped me to keep my place. I am happy with this start.”

    MUFADDAL CHOONIA – CEO Mahindra Racing
    “Delighted with the result. We were running a little thirsty this weekend because we had no  points at the last race. For the moment, the thirst has been quenched. Hats off to Miguel with a  fantastic ride, and hats off to the technical team who put together a bike that could help him stay  with the leading group throughout the race, and fight for the podium. We know where we have  to work to improve, and we will be back to the drawing board to find what’s missing. The bike is  strong already, and it is always harder to find improvements when you are already at a high  level. We look forward to Catalunya, and hope Efrén will be back to full fitness and racing at this next round.”

    ends

  • Medium, Supersoft for Montreal; a Pirelli preview

    Milan, 3 June 2013:  The Gilles Villeneuve circuit in Montreal is an interesting circuit with a mixture of long, fast straights and slow corners. Pirelli will bring the P Zero White medium and P Zero Red supersoft tyres to Montreal: both tyres with a low working range, which makes them perfectly matched to the likely weather conditions at the semi-permanent Canadian track. Temperatures are usually quite cool and there have been a number of wet races in the past, which means that the Cinturato Green intermediates and Cinturato Blue wet tyres might also make an appearance. In addition, Pirelli will also bring two sets per car of a prototype medium tyre, which features a revised rear construction that is likely to be used for the rest of the season, for use on Friday only.

    Paul Hembery: “Canada is always one of the most unpredictable races of the year and this is partly because it is so challenging for tyres, mostly due to the heavy braking and traction demands of the circuit. Coupled with a high degree of track evolution over the weekend, effective tyre management has always been a key to success in Montreal, right from when the circuit was inaugurated in the late 1970s. We’d expect two to three pit stops per car, but we’ll only be able to make a precise forecast after Friday once we’ve seen some running out on track. It’s a circuit where weather conditions often play a key role: our very first Canadian Grand Prix in 2011 actually turned out to be the longest race in Formula One history because of heavy rain and a subsequent race stoppage. Last year was dry, but we witnessed a new record with the seventh winner from seven races. Because of the high degree of tyre wear and degradation, we would expect to see a number of different strategies at work, as was the case last year – with teams deciding whether to go for a ‘sprint’ strategy or to do fewer stops and put the accent on endurance. Last year the ‘sprint’ approach won the race, but with so many different parameters at work, the teams will have to analyse the data – not to mention the weather forecast – very carefully before committing to any particular tactics. Often a flexible approach works best in Canada, so we can also expect many teams to be leaving their options open, allowing the drivers to really make the difference when it counts.”

    Jean Alesi: “Canada will always be an incredibly special place for me, because of course it’s where I won the race in 1995, driving for Ferrari, with the number of Gilles Villeneuve: number 27. It’s hard to describe the emotion, but it was just an amazing feeling of joy and an incredible atmosphere, with the crowd running onto the track afterwards… Canada is always a place where the fans are absolutely fantastic; it’s a great feeling to go to a country where Formula One is embraced so enthusiastically. For a driver it is a really big challenge too: as so many of the grandstands are close to the track and the walls are very close as well, so it feels a bit like Monaco in some ways. But of course it’s a lot faster than Monaco and this is why it is challenging for the tyres as well. The main characteristic is acceleration and braking: you cover a really wide range of speeds from flat-out on the straight to very slow corners. It’s important to manage the tyres properly and have a good strategy to cope with these demands. I think we’re in for a fantastic race, this is a grand prix I always really look forward to.”

    The circuit from a tyre point of view:

    Along with Singapore, Korea and Monaco, Canada has a very high safety car probability. This is one of the reasons why a flexible strategy often pays dividends there. A safety car can change the complexion of a race entirely – and while this wasn’t the case in Monaco two weeks ago, in Canada there are many more opportunities for overtaking.

    The race winner last year (Lewis Hamilton) stopped twice, while the second and third placed finishers stopped only once. The strategies all the way down the top 10 were half and half: five out of the top 10 stopped twice and the other five stopped once. Last year was a different tyre nomination though: soft and supersoft.

    With a semi-permanent track that is not used extensively during the year, there’s a risk of graining. This occurs when a cold tyre that is not up to temperature slides excessively against the track surface instead of finding grip, and causing an unusual pattern of wear. This phenomenon is mostly seen at the start of the weekend when the track is at its most slippery, without any rubber laid down.

    Further information on Canada and the demands it places on the tyres, as well as more information about how graining occurs, can be found on a 3D animated video starring Pirelli’s Racing Manager Mario Isola. This is copyright-free for media use on Pirelli’s Formula One website: www.pirelli.com/f1pressarea

    Technical tyre notes:

    One of the reasons why Canada is so demanding for the tyres is that the cars tend to run low downforce to maximise their speed on the straights. This means that the tyres are doing all the work when it comes to getting the car round the corners, putting the emphasis on mechanical rather than aerodynamic grip.

    The rear tyres are particularly challenged at Montreal, due to the heavy traction demands out of slow corners and the hairpin. It’s very easy to produce wheelspin if drivers are too eager on the throttle, which accentuates rear tyre wear. The track is also quite bumpy, which also provokes wheelspin as the rear tyres break traction.

    Adding to the punishment for the tyres in Canada are the kerbs: a well-known feature of the track. The kerbs in Canada are high and aggressive, with the cars hitting them at approximately 130kph through the final corner, close to the famous ‘wall of champions’.

    The tyre choices so far:

    PZero Red PZero Yellow PZero White PZero Orange
    Australia Supersoft Medium
    Malaysia Medium Hard
    China Soft Medium
    Bahrain Medium Hard
    Spain Medium Hard
    Monaco Supersoft Soft
    Canada Supersoft Medium

    Meet the Pirelli F1 Team: Anna Playford – Formula One tyre engineer

    Anna, from Chichester in the United Kingdom, is one of Pirelli’s 15-strong squad of engineers that travel to every grand prix. This year, the team that she has been assigned to is Williams. During grand prix weekends she acts as the link between the team and Pirelli.

    Her job at the track predominately consists of looking after the Pirelli products and making sure that the tyres run within the parameters that have been set. As well as monitoring tyre performance and characteristics in real time, she analyses additional tyre-related data (such as pressures, temperatures and wear). All this information is put into a daily report presented to the team at their evening meetings. This report helps the team make further decisions regarding their race strategy and set-up for the following sessions.

    Away from races, Anna is based at Pirelli’s technical hub in the UK, known as the DTC (Didcot Technical Centre). While there, she continues to go through data from the race weekend, producing reports for Pirelli HQ in Milan as well as preparing for the upcoming events. Anna is also involved in some R&D projects there, as well as the development of tools which enables Pirelli to continuously upgrade the service that is provided to the teams.

    Currently Anna is the only female engineer in the line-up, having been inspired to get into Formula One through her father. She then studied motorsport engineering at college, joining Pirelli in 2011.

    Away from work, Anna enjoys spending time with family and friends – as well as fitting in some essential shopping opportunities…

    Other news from Pirelli:

    The second round of the Blancpain Endurance Series, which is exclusively equipped by Pirelli for race versions of roadgoing supercars, took place at Silverstone the weekend before the Canadian Grand Prix. Darren Turner, Frederic Makowiecki and Stefan Mucke dominated the race for Aston Martin and clinched the victory in a Aston Martin V12 vantage

    The second round of the British Rally Championship – another series exclusively supplied by Pirelli – also took place last weekend at the Jim Clark Rally in Scotland, named after the legendary Formula One World Champion. Last year’s Pirelli UK Star Driver Jukka Korhonen won the event with his co-driver Marko Salminen at the wheel of a Pirelli-equipped Citroen DS3.

    Pirelli recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of its close collaboration with the Politecnico di Milano, the largest technical university in Italy, by inviting a number of its students to a driver day at the Vizzola circuit in northern Italy. As well as recruiting several graduates from the university, Pirelli also undertakes some research projects jointly with the Politecnico each year.

    ends

  • Pirelli makes its argument

    Milan, 31 May 2013: Formula One Tyre supplier Pirelli addressed a Press Conference here at 1pm with facility for journalists to attend through conference calls and made a sincere effort to clear the doubts about the testing it did with Mercedes AMG Petronas before the Monaco Grand Prix.

    The Tyre major said in a Press Release later in the evening: “Pirelli, in development testing with teams carried out in 2013, has not favoured any teams and, as always, acted professionally, with transparency and in absolute good faith. The tyres used were not from the current championship but belonged to a range of products still being developed in view of an eventual renewal of the supply contract. Further, none of the tests were carried for the purpose of enhancing specific cars, but only to test tyre solutions for future championships. The use of the car utilized by Mercedes, in particular, was the result of direct communication between FIA and the team itself. Pirelli did not ask in any way that a 2013 car be used: not of Mercedes nor Fia nor the teams which, during the year, were offered the opportunity of participating in tests for the development of tyres for 2014. The tyres that will be tested by the teams in the free practice at the Montreal Grand Prix have never been used by the teams before.  With regard to the new tyres, the problem of delamination has been solved by Pirelli’s technicians exclusively through laboratory testing. Delamination, which only occurred on four occasions and always because of on-track detritus, has never put the drivers’ safety at risk, but does risk harming Pirelli’s image. This is why the company decided to intervene.  

    The release further said: “With regard to the rules which govern its conduct, the company has always respected the contractual limits which bind it to the FIA, teams and championship’s organizers, and has always respected the principles of sporting loyalty.”

    Pirelli, however, feels the need to reaffirm the indisputable need to carry out tests for the development of tyres which are adequate and regulated by rules which are clear and shared by all the interested parties. The company confirms its availability, as communicated to the teams many times in the past, to organize tests for the development of tyres for 2014 with all the teams in the championship.

    PIRELLI’S ANSWERS TO FIA

    With regard to requests for information received from FIA, Pirelli promptly provided the answers needed to clarify what happened at the tests, as far as its own responsibilities went, it adds.

     DEVELOPMENT TESTS FOR 2014 TYRES WERE OFFERED TO ALL:  NO FAVOURTISM

    Pirelli said: The tests were conducted in observance of the contract between Pirelli and FIA, which gives the supplier the possibility of carrying out tests for the development of tyres with each team of up to 1,000 kilometres, without specifying the type of car to be used, nor sanctioning the simultaneous presence of all the teams for the running of the tests. In this regard, Pirelli has since 2010 made it clear that it is neither possible nor useful to carry out this type of test with all the teams simultaneously.  In fact, this type of testing aimed at technological development and researching new solutions, involves many tyres of different types which must be tested with a single car at a time. Testing for championship specifications is different, as occurs in winter testing which require the participation of all the teams, so as to find the most satisfying solutions for all the cars in the competition. For this reason, Pirelli insists on the need for winter testing under conditions which are truly representative of the situations which will be met during the championship.

    Already in March 2012, Pirelli sent an email to all the teams, Fia and Fom, inviting the teams to indicate their availability for testing for the development of tyres for 2013. Further, the company explained that it was necessary to conduct the tests with the teams’ cars because it did not have a suitable one of its own (Pirelli has the use of an adapted 2010 Renault and, before that, a 2009 Toyota).

    The invitation was subsequently repeated in various official contexts and repeated to some teams last March for the development of tyres for 2014.

    For development of 2014 tyres:

    The company said: This test, as always, carried out with a single compound never used in a championship, regarded structures not in use in the current season and not destined to be used later during the 2013 season. The tyre tests were conducted “in the dark”, which means that the teams had no information on which specifications were being tested or about the goal of the testing; nor did they receive any type of information afterwards.

    Further, the tests did not regard delamination in any way, as that problem was dealt with and resolved by Pirelli’s technicians through laboratory tests, with the support of data gathered during the first races of the season.

    Pirelli always asked for representative cars, that is, with performances comparable to those of the cars being used in the championship underway, without ever referring to those effectively used in the 2013 races.

    The release further continued:

    The Barcelona test was conducted in cooperation with Mercedes between May 15 and May 17, 2013. The teams made available one car and two first tier drivers, who alternated at the wheel on different days.

    The trials were done with a base compound, not in use this year, and 12 different structures which had never been used in 2013, only one of which with kevlar.

    The team did not obtain any advantage with regard to knowledge of the behaviour of the tyres in use in the current championship.

    The type of car used during the tests was the subject of direct discussions between Mercedes and FIA, as shown in the exchange of emails between the team and Pirelli. In particular, Mercedes informed Pirelli that its 2011 car could not be used and that it had already contacted Fia regarding the use of the 2013 car. There is no doubt that the questions relating to the vehicle were the exclusive domain of the team and that Pirelli was excluded from these questions (notwithstanding Pirelli’s need, from a technical point of view, to have a representative car in terms of impact on the performance of the tyres).

    To confirm that this was an ordinary development test and not aimed at specific interventions, Pirelli made no specific requests about the drivers or about the tye of Mercedes staff that would be present during the tests and had fielded its normal team for development testing.

    EXPERIMENTAL TYRES FOR THE CANADA GP NEVER USED BEFORE

    The tyres with the new structures in kevlar which will be given to the teams during the free practice at the Montreal Grand Prix will for the first time be track tested, following laboratory development. The new tyres have overcome the problem of delamination. This phenomenon in no manner compromises the drivers’ safety but risks damaging the company’s image. At the Canada tests, the teams will have the opportunity to express their opinions and make observations.

    NO CHANGE TO THE “DURATION” OF THE TYRES

    Pirelli, ready as it is to make changes at any moment, has made no modifications that effect the duration of the tyres and, consequently, on the number of pit stops during the race because of a lack of unanimity of the part of the teams.

    ends

  • Pirelli to test new P Zero range during Canadian FP

    Milan, 29 May 2013: The Formula One teams will have an opportunity to test the new range of Pirelli P Zero tyres during free practice at the Canadian Grand Prix, while the tyres used for the actual race will remain in their original 2013 specification.

    In order to provide some testing time before any new range of tyres is introduced, the P Zero White medium and P Zero Red supersoft for Canada will be in exactly the same specification as that which the teams started the season, with no adjustments, a Pirelli release said.

    This new tyre will be brought to Canada as an experimental tyre for free practice, as allowed by the current regulations. Each driver will receive two sets of this new medium compound for use during Friday’s two sessions only.

    Following feedback from the teams and drivers, the new specification of tyre is then set to be introduced from the British Grand Prix at the end of June, and will remain in place until the end of the year.

    The aim of introducing the new tyre is to prevent any instances of the tread detaching itself from the structure. However, the performance and wear characteristics of the new tyre will not be significantly different, with the aim of keeping up the spectacle and retaining a strategic element to all the races.

    ends

    A Pirelli file photo of the current range of tyres.
    A Pirelli file photo of the current range of tyres.

  • To win at home is very special: Rosberg

    DRIVERS

     1 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

    2 – Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing)

    3 – Mark WEBBER (Red Bull Racing)

    TV UNILATERAL

    Q: Nico, you controlled the race from pole position but you had to deal with two safety cars, a red flag, a lot of mental resets no doubt, but describe your feelings right now, you’re a Monaco Grand Prix winner?

    Nico ROSBERG: Yeah, amazing! This is my home, I’ve grown up here lived all my life here, I’ve gone to school here. So now to win at home is very special; a very special day for me. The whole weekend really went perfectly, qualifying [everything]. The start was very close. I had a terrible start! I was close to Sebastian and then with Lewis also, but then that worked out well. After that I could control the pace. The car was really good, the tyres held on ok, so that was really the key to the victory. So massive thanks to the team for having improved from Barcelona and I’m just ecstatic

    Q: Sebastian, podium for you today, I guess you must be delighted that you’ve extended your championship lead?

    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, I think overall I’m very happy and pleased with the result. We know that it’s very difficult to overtake here. I think first of all congratulations to Nico, he did a very good job, a very controlled race. I think he had the pace and the tyres to respond whenever we tried to get a little bit closer, yeah. The start of the race… fantastic start but no room. I think I could have gone past both Mercedes but didn’t have the room, had to lift. Then Mark came and it was tight into the first corner. And after that I was a bit surprised by the slow pace in the opening laps. Usually you expect two silver arrows in front of you and there were two buses today going for a cruise – at least in the first couple of laps. But obviously the strategy was clear and they did a very good job. We were lucky on the strategy point of view. The team did a fantastic job to get past Lewis, so yeah. After that, with the restart: pretty difficult. Warm-up was very, very tricky. I saw Lewis was all over Mark behind me, so I think we can happy with the result. Great achievement from the team again. We seem to like this place the last couple of years so very happy. Congratulations, thank you, thanks to our partners as well. Thanks to Infinity, they are pushing an awful lot in the last couple of months to help us and I think it goes without saying, thanks to Renault as well, two cars out of three on the podium again powered by Renault – in ‘Little France’ in a way, so it’s sort of a home grand prix for them so congratulations as well.  Overall, as I said, pretty happy.

    Q: Mark, fourth in the opening stint but obviously the safety car at the first stop gave you and the team the opportunity to jump ahead of Hamilton. Important moment for you?

    Mark WEBBER: Yes. First of all, congratulations to Nico. It’s a very special place to win at so, yeah, he had a seamless weekend and that’s what you need to do here. It’s never easy when you’re leading, you still have to pull it off. So, well done to Nico and Mercedes. For us, we knew it was a little against us starting on the second row but got an absolutely incredible start – and sod’s law it’s the shortest run to the first corner so, I think Seb and I had nowhere to go really so we were lifting. It’s looking like Nico and Lewis had pretty tricky ones, so we’ll try to save some of those starts for future reference. And then after that it was just basically saving tyres and making the one-stop work. It was completely predictable that if the race was going to stack up then the two-stop was not really an option to come back into traffic. So we had to go very long, all the drivers were nursing the cars very aggressively and as you say, it was nice to get Lewis. Obviously it’s never nice to lose positions around the stop so I’m sure he’s not too pleased with it but in the end we’ll take that position. It was difficult to get the restarts going on the primes but in general just really driving around, saving the tyres and waiting for the chequered flag.

    Q: Nico, first son of a former Monaco Grand Prix winner to repeat the feat. Congratulations. 30 years on from your father Keke’s victory here at Monaco. Did that add a certain extra-special something to this win today.

    NR: It is special to hear that, yes but honestly that’s not what I was thinking about when I was crossing the finishing line, definitely not. Just extremely happy to win this race. Also, we’ve had again such a difficult time behind us. In the last couple of races pole position and dropping back so much. There was always that a little bit in the back of my mind today in the race: ‘I hope that it’s going to last and I’ll be able to pull it off today and not drop back again.’ Because it’s not nice when you’re starting in front and dropping back. And then today the team gave me a great car. It’s really fantastic to see how they’ve been able to improve in such a short space of time. Little improvement here and there but on this track – this track suited us anyway – and so it was enough to make it happen.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Nico, what was it like to be in control of a race but then have to mentally reset each time? There was nothing straightforward about the way that race unfolded for you today.

    NR: No, definitely not. It wasn’t very nice y’know? Because I was in a great rhythm on those prime tyres, trying to nurse them towards the end and then all of a sudden a race stoppage. It’s never nice to get out of that rhythm y’know? Because especially around Monaco it’s so easy to have a quick concentration error and then you’re in the tyre barrier and it’s the end of the race. So, it was really important today to remain concentrated and that didn’t make it easy, all those safety cars and the red flag and everything – but fortunately in the end it all worked out.

    Q: Did you think at any point about the school runs you used to do down these roads and the fact that you were actually going to be winning a race on the roads you used to go to school on?

    NR: No! There was a lot of thoughts going through my mind, definitely, but not about the roads to school. Various things. Even, to be honest, winning Monaco in a silver arrow. I was thinking about that and that’s very special to me.

    Q: Sebastian, you hinted in your answer in the unilateral that the Mercedes were slower in the opening stint than you expected them to be. You said it was fair play to them but you could tell they were driving to a tactic today.

    SV: Yes, definitely. I think we could see that the field didn’t spread out, so as I said, they did what worked best for them. Obviously Lewis lost a couple of positions with the safety car – I’m sure he’s not too pleased about that – but we took that, no question. Yeah, I think it was very marginal on one stop. I think the red flag helped all of us to put a fresh set of tyres on to save that ten, eleven laps, total race distance. It was clear what they were doing a couple of laps after the start. They were going quite slow and trying to obviously make the one stop happen. And fair play, they were in the lead, around here it’s very tricky to pass. Every time I tried to get a little bit closer with Lewis… in the beginning with Lewis it was quite close, yeah they reacted, they had the pace, so they could afford to go slow and then if they had to, they had the pace to pick it up again. In that regard, not the most exciting race because you just wait for the chequered flag. It’s still a lot of laps, looking after the tyres wasn’t straightforward for us today – so overall, happy with the result we got.

    Q: Obviously when the safety car came out that caught Lewis out, the Mercedes had just completed a lap. Where exactly were you when you got the message to come into the pits.

    SV: The safety car wasn’t out yet. Obviously it was a very, very good call from the team. Initially we wanted to pit a lap earlier but then we aborted that. Obviously there was a yellow and in the end I think we were just a little bit lucky. So we decided to pit and when I changed tyres and went back out, at the same moment the safety car came – which probably helped us a little bit. I don’t know if Lewis had a problem with the stop or if it was just down to the fact that the safety car came at the wrong time for him. But, yeah, it was nice. At some stage I was hoping that it might be enough to get Nico as well but he obviously was in the lead by quite a bit at that time, before we came in.

    Q: Mark, there were quite a lot of incidents today, obviously a couple of safety cars, red flags. Some drivers were making passes today but did it feel very touch-and-go, very marginal out there to you?

    MW: To make moves? Yeah, I think so. Especially when you’re with the guys I was with today, very experienced and they know what they need to do and where to put the car so, unless you had a big discrepancy in tyre performance, like I did after my pitstop – I had to clear Nico Hülkenberg pretty quick and try to make that undercut work a little bit – but in general after that, as the guys have touched upon, it was measured, controlled aggression, if you like, trying to nurse the tyres as best you can. It became very, very obvious early in the grand prix that the tyres were going pretty well. Obviously the pace wasn’t electric and, fair enough, that’s how… you can do that if you’re at the front of the race, as I did last year, so you can do that. And when the options were starting to go that far – the supersoft – the one-stop started to become viable for everybody and that’s why it probably wasn’t a super-exciting race today for the fans. But even if it was two-stops, it would probably have just been a bit more action around the pitstops and obviously not much on circuit because that’s the sort of track it is.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Ralf Bach –  Der Spiegel) Nico, the two secret test days that you had in Barcelona. How helpful were those days for you?

    NR: That you have to ask, you have to ask Pirelli about all this, about this issue. I’m not going to comment. I’m not going to comment on that. You have to ask Pirelli.

    Q: (Kate Walker – GP Week) Nico, we often hear drivers say that the most exciting race to win other than their home Grand Prix is Monaco. Obviously this is both for you. Could you please give us a bit of a sense of the elation and euphoria you must be feeling? What was it like doing that slowing down lap?

    NR: Unbelievable. If there’s maybe a childhood dream… when I was quite young, watching the race, always. First memories were of Ayrton Senna with his yellow helmet, red and white winning, a childhood dream to one day win the Grand Prix of Monaco, because it is my home and that’s the most special race for me to win, so the feeling was just incredible, it was unreal. That’s what’s so special about the sport:   these emotions that you then get and that makes up for all the difficult moments that have gone before, those great moments of joy and winning. Amazing.

    Q: (Vincent Marre – Sport Zeitung) Nico, now that everything is going well, I would like to rate the percentage of your chances of winning the title?

    NR: I haven’t thought about that at all yet, because just two weeks we ago were seventy seconds away in the race and even today, tyre degradation was still an issue. I think we were in a better position, much better definitely, but it’s also a different track, very different track, different circumstances. I had the possibility of taking it easy and dictating the pace initially to save tyres, so we shouldn’t get over-excited now, for the next couple of races. We still have a bit of an issue with our race pace and that’s still what we need to work on, and also the development race. Everybody’s pushing forward, flat out, and we need to make sure to keep up with that as we have been doing at the moment, which is great to see, because that was one of our weaknesses last year, we dropped away mid-season. For now it’s going really well, so thanks to everybody back in the factory, doing a really cool job. But we have to wait and see. I’m definitely not thinking about the championship, I’m just thinking about today, winning Monaco.

    Q: (Jussi Jakala – YLE) Nico, do you think this was maybe the final seal to get rid of the status of being Keke’s son, so that you have achieved everything by your own skills now?

    NR: Don’t know, that’s for you to judge. I don’t think about that in that sense so you need to judge that for yourself. I can’t comment on that.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action/National Speedsport News) Mark, before the red flag, Lewis got right up alongside you at Rascasse. What happened, did he maybe catch you by surprise there?

    MW: No, I was probably just saving my tyres a bit too much and yeah, he was going for a little bit of a surge also, I think. They were probably a little bit more comfortable on the primes in certain performance areas of the circuit and also the car characteristics, so, yeah, he was a little bit more comfortable on that section of the track. I was also just… we knew we had a long way to go in the race and also I had four or five laps less on my tyres, because I did the undercut on these guys. I had to give him room. I think experience helps in those scenarios. I thought he might tap me… I could just see him in the mirror. I thought ‘mmm, he’s in there somewhere’ but I had to give him the room and then thank God we got round Rascasse together somehow. I think that was probably not that straightforward. Not possible for GP2 drivers but us boys managed to pull it off which we should be able to so it was a rewarding little battle.

    Q: (Bob McKenzie – Daily Express) Nico, referring back to that previous question about your father; have you at times, when you were younger or when you came into Formula One, did you feel any pressure from the fact that your father was so well known, being a World Champion, that sort of thing?

    NR: I’ve always felt very fortunate to have had my father… what he achieved and everything… to have his support and extra pressure? It’s a normality for me you know, having my father World Champion. I grew up with that, started racing like that, so it’s not something where I feel any extra pressure because for me that’s normal.

    Q: (Jacqueline Magnay – News LTD Australia) Mark, I’m just wondering whether you have an opinion on this secret tyre testing, whether it had any impact, and whether you think there was any advantage to Mercedes having done the testing?

    MW: That’s a fair question. I think we were probably a little bit surprised that it happened. I don’t think it probably had a huge bearing on today’s result. I think their car was always going to perform pretty well round here, to be fair, but yeah, you can’t unlearn what went on at the test obviously, so we need to see how the test  came about and whether it’s within the rules or not. I’m sure Mercedes thought it was OK, so that’s why they did it, so time will tell. But I don’t think it affected today’s result.

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Nico, what was the most difficult thing for your victory today, getting the pole yesterday, starting after the safety car, or the last lap with the emotion?

    NR: Qualifying was difficult because of the conditions. The start was very difficult because I had a bad start. Those were the two keys. Once those two things were done, from then on it was OK. There were still some challenges with the safety car, because the tyres were very cold on those prime tyres, for example so there were other challenges but the main ones were qualifying and the start.

    Ends