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Tag: Hamilton
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Vettel crashes out; Hamilton wins, a big boost to the F1 title chase;
Suzuka: Lewis Hamilton edged closer to a fourth Formula One world championship title as he kept Red Bull’s Max Verstappen at bay to take a third career Japanese Grand Prix win. It was a disastrous day for Sebastian Vettel, however, as a spark plug problem forced Hamilton’s only real title contender to retire from the race on lap five. Hamilton now has a 59-point lead over Vettel with four races remaining.
At the start Hamilton got away well to hold his lead. Initially Vettel too looked to be in good shape but early in the lap he was pounced upon by a hard charging Verstappen. The Dutchman has made an excellent start from P4 to pass team-mate Daniel Ricciardo and then at the hairpin he powered past Vettel.
It was the beginning of a swift slide for the Ferrari man. At the beginning of lap two the German was passed by Force India’s Esteban Ocon, who had passed Ricciardo on the previous lap, as well as the Red Bull man.
There followed a brief safety car period as Carlos Sainz’s Toro Rosso remained beached in the gravel trap at Turn 7 after a lap one off and when the action resumed again Vettel was again under attack sliding to eighth place behind the second Force India of Sergio Perez and the Williams of Felipe Massa.
The was clearly something wrong with Vettel’s Ferrari and within moments the German’s race engineer was on the radio saying “box, Sebastian, box, we retire the car”.
At the front Hamilton was beginning to build a lead over Verstappen and by the time the Virtual Safety Car was deployed when Marcus Ericsson crashed out at Degner 2 on lap 8 the Mercedes driver was more than four seconds clear of the Red Bull man.
Ocon’s grip on third place only lasted until lap 10, when the VSC was removed. Ricciardo closed on the pit straight under DRS and powered past the Force India on the left-hand side on the approach to Turn 1. Valtteri Bottas, too, managed to get past the Frenchman and by lap 13 Hamilton lead from the Red Bulls, Bottas, the Force Indias of Ocon and Perez and seventh-placed Massa. Kimi Räikkönen was in P8 in the remaining Ferrari, ahead of Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen.
Verstappen was the first of the frontrunners to pit, with the Red Bull driver taking on soft tyres at the lap of lap 21. Mercedes reacted and brought Hamilton in at the end of the next tour. When they both crossed the line the next time around, the gap between them had shrunk to just 1.8s and Verstappen was setting purple lap times.
Ricciardo then made his stop at the end of lap 25, though his stop for soft tyres looked a little slow. He rejoined behind Raikkonen who, like new leader Bottas, was still circulating on his starting soft tyres.
Bottas, however, was now running slowly, in the 1m37s bracket, and as a consequence he began to back Hamilton towards Verstappen and on lap 28 the deficit was just 1.1s. Hamilton was quickly on the radio to voice his concern and a few corners later Bottas allowed the Briton to sweep past.
The Finn then dropped back to frustrate Verstappen for the next few laps until Mercedes called him to the pits at the end of lap 30. Bottas emerged from his pit stop with fresh supersofts, in fourth place and 10s behind Ricciardo. At the front Hamilton was now three seconds clear of Verstappen but already the Mercedes driver was saying he was struggling with rear tyre grip.
Verstappen closed to within 2.5s and there the race for the lead stalled with Hamilton apparently able to control the gap comfortably.
Behind the top two Ricciardo’s pace began to flag and slightly and Bottas, on supersoft tyres compared with Ricciardo’s softs, began to close on the Australian.
On lap 48 the Finn had shortened a 10 second gap to just 2.8s, but then Lance Stroll suffered what looked like a front-right suspension failure. The Virtual Safety Car was again deployed and the speed limit in force bought Ricciardo valuable time.
However when the action resumed Bottas applied the pressure with a race fastest lap to almost get within DRS range of the Red Bull driver.
Further ahead Hamilton was hitting traffic and that allowed Bottas to close in on the lead. However, the Dutchman was denied any opportunity to attack the Briton as McLaren’s Fernando Alonso came between the leaders on the penultimate lap. The Spaniard was put under investigation for ignoring blue flags, but Verstappen’s chance was gone and he had to settle for a second consecutive P2 in Japan.
Behind them Ricciardo managed to hold third ahead of Bottas, while fifth place when to Räikkönen in the sole remaining Ferrari. Esteban Ocon was sixth for Force India ahead of team-mate Sergio Perez, while Haas enjoyed a double points finish, with Kevin Magnussen eighth ahead of team-mate Romain Grosjean. The final point on offer went to Williams’ Felipe Massa.
2017 Japanese Grand Prix – Race
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 53 1hr27:31.193
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull 53 1.211
3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 53 9.679
4 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 53 10.580
5 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 53 32.622
6 Esteban Ocon Force India 53 1:07.788
7 Sergio Perez Force India 53 1:11.424
8 Kevin Magnussen Haas 53 1:28.953
9 Romain Grosjean Haas 53 1:29.883
10 Felipe Massa Williams 52 1 lap
11 Fernando Alonso McLaren 52 1 lap
12 Jolyon Palmer Renault 52 1 lap
13 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 52 1 lap
14 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 52 1 lap
15 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber 51 2 laps
Ret Lance Stroll Williams 45
Ret Nico Hulkenberg Renault 40
Ret Marcus Ericsson Sauber 7
Ret Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 4
Ret Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 0.eom/FIA press release
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Hamilton takes 71st career pole: Japanese GP
Lewis Hamilton took his 71st career pole position and his first at Japan’s Suzuka Circuit as he beat Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas by three tenths of a second with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel third. However, title contender Vettel will start alongside championship leader Hamilton on the front row as Bottas is set for a grid penalty due to an unscheduled gearbox change.
Hamilton set the pace in Q1, rising to the top of the timesheet around 10 minutes into the session with a lap of 1:29.047 on soft tyres. He was followed by Kimi Räikkönen, the Finn recovering from an FP3 crash to post a time of 1:29.163. Raikkonen’s earlier crash had, however, necessitated a change of gearbox so he will face a five-place drop down the grid for tomorrow’s race. Max Verstappen took third place in Q1 ahead of Bottas, Vettel and sixth-placed Daniel Ricciardo in the other Red Bull.
The opening session was brought to an early end after just under 17 minutes when Haas’ Romain Grosjean crashed heavily at the end of the Esses section of the track. The red flags were immediately shown.
With just 1m18s left on the clock there was not enough time available for any drivers to complete a warm-up lap and cross the start/finish line before the chequered flag fell, so the decision was taken to not restart the session. Thus, eliminated at the end of Q1 were 16th-placed Grosjean, Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly, Williams’ Lance Stroll and the Saubers of Marcus Ericsson and Pascal Wehrlein.
Stroll was somewhat unfortunate as he claimed to have been blocked by Force India’s Sergio Perez earlier in the session, a complaint that resulted in stewards investigating the incident. However, after viewing footage from multiple angles, the stewards ruled that no further action was necessary.
Hamilton seized an early advantage in Q2, claiming P1 with a time of 1:27.819. He was followed by Vettel, though the German was over six tenths adrift of his title rival. Bottas took third place on his opening run with a lap of 1:28.543 set on soft tyres, with Verstappen fourth ahead of Ricciardo. Sixth place went to Raikkonen, who opted to complete his first run on soft tyres and he will start on that set.
The Red Bull drivers elected to stay in their garage for the final runs and though Hamilton took to the track, he eventually abandoned his run despite being quickest through the first two sectors. Vettel improved to a time of 1:28.225, while Bottas took third on soft tyres, which means that like Räikkönen, he will start on the soft compound.
In the drop zone ahead of the final runs was 11th-placed Fernando Alonso who had been edged out of the top 10 by just five hundredths of a second by McLaren team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne. Also in danger ahead of the final runs were P12 man Nico Hulkenberg of Renault, followed by team-mate Jolyon Palmer, Haas’ Kevin Magnussen and Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz.
Alonso was the only driver to escape the danger zone, with the Spaniard displacing Vandoorne to take 10th place, but it was something of a Pyrrhic victory as Alonso is set to take a 35-place grid penalty for changed engine elements. Vandoorne will therefore get a choice of starting tyre but will move up into the top 10.
At the end of the first runs of Q3, Hamilton sat in provisional pole position with a time of 1:27.345. That put him a comfortable 0.452s ahead of second-placed Vettel, with Bottas third ahead of the Red Bulls of Ricciardo and Verstappen.
And the Briton proved to be untouchable in the final runs. He made a marginal improvement to 1:27.319 but it wasn’t necessary. Vettel could only find six thousandths of a second over his opening time and that allowed Bottas to claim P2 with a lap of 1:27.651.
Bottas, though, will drop five places and Vettel will therefore start on the front row ahead of Ricciardo and Verstappen who qualified fourth and fifth respectively.
Raikkonen was sixth in qualifying ahead of Force India’s Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez. Felipe Massa was ninth for Williams while Fernando Alonso was tenth.
eom/FIA press conference
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Max Verstappen celebrates birthday week with a win; Hamilton 2nd; Vettel 4th: Malaysian GP
Max Verstappen Sepang: The final Malaysian Grand Prix saw Max Verstappen celebrate his birthday in style by claiming a superb win at the Sepang International Circuit.
After overtaking championship leader Lewis Hamilton in the opening laps to take the lead, Verstappen who turned 20 yesterday, delivered a faultless drive to march unchallenged to the chequered flag ahead of the Mercedes driver and Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.
Hamilton’s second place now gives him a 34-point Drivers’ Championship lead over Sebastian Vettel after the Ferrari driver fought his way from last on the grid to fourth place at the flag.
There was drama before the start as on his laps to grid, Kimi Räikkönen reported a loss of power. Ferrari attempted to resolve the problem on the grid but eventually the decision was taken to roll the Finn’s car back to the garage to fix the issue. In the end, however, no solution could be found and Räikkönen, who as set to start from second on the grid was forced to retire before the start.
When the lights went out, pole position man Hamilton held his advantage and led from Verstappen. Bottas made a good start and managed to get past fourth-on-the-grid Daniel Ricciardo. Further back, Vettel quickly began to carve his way through the pack and by the end of lap one he was up to 13th place from 20th on the grid.
Verstappen, though, was the man on the move and on the next tour he used DRS well to attack Hamilton in Turn 1 and the Red Bull driver assumed the race lead. Ricciardo also attacked Bottas but the Finn resisted the threat and held third place. Vettel, meanwhile, continued to press forward and by lap seven he was in 11th place behind Fernando Alonso’s McLaren, and by lap 10 the German has dismissed the McLaren driver and passed Haas’ Kevin Magnussen to take P9.
Ricciardo also found a way to move ahead, launching an attack on Bottas into Turn 1. The Finn fought back and they tussled hard through the next three turns before Ricciardo at last drew ahead and firmly shut the door on any further resistance.
Vettel’s march continued. By lap 14 Vettel was setting purple sector times and was running in sixth place, just under 30 seconds behind leader Verstappen, and 23s adrift of title rival Hamilton. On lap 21, Vettel made his next move, tucking in behind Force India’s Sergio Perez and passing the Mexican under DRS into Turn 1.
The Ferrari driver then quickly closed on fourth-placed Bottas but before he could pass the Finn on the track, Hamilton triggered a round of pit stops for the frontrunners on lap 27 by moving to softs. Verstappen followed on lap 28 with Vettel also heading towards the pit lane. But while the Red Bull driver swapped starting supersofts for soft tyres, Vettel made the opposite switch. Bottas was the last of the top five to pit and when he did so he had lost fourth place to Vettel. At the front, Verstappen now led Hamilton by 6.5s, with Ricciardo a further 11.7s back.
The race among the top three then settled as Verstappen held the gap to Hamilton at around nine seconds and Ricciardo edged towards to the Mercedes driver.
Vettel, though, was continuing to push ahead and by lap 42 he was just 4.4s behind Ricciardo and on lap 46 the German slipped inside DRS range of the Australian’s Red Bull.
Ricciardo’s defence was solid, however, as he bypassed traffic and dropped backmarkers into the space between himself and Vettel and then invited attacks in an effort to make the German burn his tyres. The tactic evidently worked as the final laps began Vettel drifted out to three seconds behind the Australian.
Ahead, Verstappen was coasting and after 56 laps the Dutchman crossed the line to take his second career win in his 55th grand prix.
Hamilton held a useful second to open out a 34-point lead over Vettel who finished fourth behind Ricciardo. Just as there had been drama before the race began for Ferrari, there was more after the flag as on the slow down lap Land Stroll collided with Vettel, destroying the rear of the German’s car.
Behind Vettel, Bottas took fifth place, with Perez finishing a solid sixth after starting the race in ninth place. Stoffel Vandoorne took seventh ahead of Stroll, Williams team-mate Massa and the second Force India of Esteban Ocon.
eom/FIA press release
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It is a real surprise, says Hamilton about his pole: Malaysian GP
Hamilton after taking the pole in the Malaysian GP on Saturday. An FIA image DRIVERS: 1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes); 2 – Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (Ferrari); 3 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)
TRACK INTERVIEWS (conducted by Johnny Herbert)
Lewis, what a great result for you. You must be very happy. That looked like a pretty decent lap?
Lewis HAMILTON: Firstly, look at this crowd. I know it’s our last grand prix here but this is the best crowd I’ve ever seen. Thank you so much for all the support. We had no idea how it was going to go today. I’m sorry for whatever happened to Sebastian, because obviously he was very, very quick through practice. But somehow we turned it round. The engineers did such a great job yesterday, the car felt great, for both Valtteri and I, and so it’s a real surprise to be up here with these guys, so I’m very, very grateful.
Kimi come and join us. What a try that was! Happy with that? I’m sure you wanted just a little bit more. I would have thought you would have done one of the old karting moves – jumping up and down in the seat, leaning forward. Maybe you should do that next time.
Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: Yeah, it’s OK, but obviously when you get that close it’s disappointing. I made the most out of it. Yes, there are always places you can improve, but you are never going to get it 100% perfect anywhere. You always find some things you can improve, but I must say the car has been behaving nicely all weekend and it’s been a pleasure so far. We’ll try to get further than 100 metres tomorrow, and let’s see what we can do.
Tomorrow is going to be important, obviously you have been on the front row before but this is going to be an interesting little drive towards Turn One. Are you ready for this? This crowd is looking forward to a big race tomorrow, yeah?
KR: Yeah, obviously it’s a long way, so if you make a good start you will benefit quite a bit from it. It’s a pretty tight first two corners and a lot usually happens. We’ll try to make sure the first two corners go well and go from there. I think we’re going to have a very good race car, so let’s see.
Well here’s a man we’re going to get on – the birthday boy, that you got on very closely with in the last race. Hopefully that’s not going to be the case. Max, happy with that result? You seemed to get the best from the car.
Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, I think it’s good for us in qualifying to be in this position. I mean it’s always good to drive on this track, especially in qualifying – Turns 5 and 6 are flat out, so it’s a lot of fun. And also the crowd – it’s amazing how passionate they are. So on my birthday to be third here is perfect.
LH: I thought you were 19?
MV: Twenty now.
LH: Twenty now! Does he look much younger than me?
I’m sorry to say, yes. Lewis, tomorrow, the race is going to be so important. We know what happened the last time out, but this is a long run up to Turn 1, but you must be looking forward to it, because this is the perfect situation for you.
LH: It is. Obviously we are going to have a tough battle with these guys. Particularly the Red Bulls had really great long-run pace yesterday, and today I think. I’m hoping our car has moved in the right direction for the race run but we’ll see tomorrow. But there is a long, long run down to Turn 1, so lots can happen. But exciting to see all these guys coming out tomorrow and hopefully [it will be] the biggest crowd we’ve ever had.
You’re going to be after the perfect start, Kimi, Max, tomorrow you’re going to want to get in front of this guy, who is the man who is going to do that.
MV: I don’t want to be sandwiched – that’s the only thing.
Kimi?
KR: I don’t want to be hit.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Lewis, fifth Malaysian pole position, four years in a row here, and becomes the first man in Formula One history to get into the 70s of pole positions. What a turnaround from yesterday, and even from this morning. Seven tenths of a second ahead of your team-mate suggest that was a moment of inspiration. Tell us about it.
LH: We had such a difficult day yesterday; it was difficult to know where we stood. I didn’t sleep very well, just like all my engineers as well, because we didn’t know whether we would fix the issue or not. But today we arrived and the car was much better but still I think it looked like the Ferraris were a little bit ahead. We had some big calls to make going into qualifying and then those laps were, particularly the last one, the first Q3 lap, was very well put together, a very nice lap. I don’t really know where it came from, to be honest, so I’m a little bit surprised at myself. As I said, it’s a surprise to be up here. I’m very grateful. These guys have been driving exceptionally well all weekend. It’s always a special thing to be able to extract a little bit more out of the car than it’s particularly willing to go. That’s what I’ve always enjoyed, since my dad would say… my first go-kart was fifth-hand or something like that, and he’d say it was like a four-poster bed. Not that my car was a four-poster bed today but I was hoping I could extract a little bit more out of it.
You acknowledged in Singapore that you had a slice of luck with what happened at the start, and a slice of luck with your main title rival Vettel starting from the back of the grid. You’ve got to capitalise on it, so will Valtteri have a part to play in it as Vettel comes through the field?
LH: I haven’t really thought… I don’t know what happened to Sebastian. I mean, he would have been up there with us, he’d been driving well all weekend, very, very quick, between him and Kimi. Very unfortunate for him, but of course we just have to continue to focus on our job and try to maximise on every opportunity that we get collectively. Hopefully we are in a good position for tomorrow. Obviously we have put ourselves in the best position for tomorrow but we still have a tough race ahead of us, so we’ll just try and keep our heads down and hopefully those behind me and it will just unfold the way it unfolds.
Q: Kimi, it equals your best qualifying performance here in Sepang: 0.045 of a second off pole position. A lot of weight on your shoulders obviously in qualifying from the Ferrari team with Vettel in trouble. You were on target, it seemed, until the final corner – tell us about it.
KR: Well, I don’t know. Obviously, I only know how it was and I think overall, the whole weekend, it’s been pretty straightforward. The car’s been handling well. I think we were quite happy all day, also in qualifying but, y’know, you can always improve here and there. I don’t think you ever going to make an absolutely perfect lap and it’s a bit more painful when you get that close, for sure. There’s places that you improve a little bit and it’s just enough – but it wasn’t today. Obviously was a shame for the team, with Seb’s issue, whatever, not having him in the qualifying – but that’s how it goes sometimes. I think the car’s [inaudible] very well but to try to fix it and then obviously had some problem. It’s a shame for him. Sure he will be good tomorrow. I’m happy but I’d rather have qualified in first place but I think tomorrow is a long race, it’s going to be tough for tyres and I think we should have a very good car tomorrow. I have a good feeling about it.
Q: Max, happy 20th birthday. Going well so far…
MV: Thank you very much!
…strong weekend thus far. I think it’s the 11th time now this season you’ve out-qualified Daniel, so once again very strong qualifying performance. Four-tenths off today in qualifying but do you feel with what you saw yesterday in the long runs, quite low degradation, the car looked quick, obviously, the faint possibility of rain as well, that there’s room for optimism in the race tomorrow.
MV: Well, for sure, if it rains, then then I think we always have a good opportunity. I think in the dry today, I’m actually very happy that I’m here in third because this morning – afternoon, the last session – I was struggling a lot with the balance of the car. Actually, the whole weekend has been up and down in terms of happiness with the car but we managed to do a good qualifying again. Really happy with that, of course. The car, except maybe the final run in Q3, before that was really well balanced, so I can’t complain. I think we could have been a bit closer, definitely we couldn’t have beaten them today but for us, to be third here, on this track, is perfect. Also, in the long runs, it was all looking good. If it’s good enough, I don’t know. We’ll see tomorrow. From my side, I want to have a good Sunday finally. Because every time on Saturday it’s always going well, but on Sunday I haven’t scored a lot of points.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Lewis, in the long runs yesterday you didn’t show good performance and today you have very good performance in one lap. Do you have an indication with this new setup for the race?
LH: Yeah, in the P3 we did a long-ish short run, only five laps. I think the car was in a much better position but I think we were something like four- or five-tenths off the other guys. So we shall see tomorrow whether that is still the case – but I think we made some changes going into qualifying that should suit the car better for tomorrow, so I’m hopefully that we will be there or thereabouts.
Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) Question for Max, as you turn 20, you’re no longer a teen sensation so to speak. What is the highlights of your career. If you had to choose, for example, between Interlagos, coming through the rain and that victory on your debut, which would you choose?
MV: It’s difficult. To be honest, I think my best memory is still from go-karting, when I won the World Championship, because you always dream of it, to achieve something like that, and especially… I worked really hard with my Dad, to achieve something like that, because he was my engine tuner, he was my mechanic. We have travelled the world together since I was four years old. I think I was 15 at the time. You win the World Championship in the highest category in go-karting. That was very emotional. Then the victory in Spain was also very emotional at the time – but I want to win a race on merit and not with luck. So that hasn’t happened yet, so I think still that victory in go-karting is more satisfying.
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, in Monaco you won the pole with the same margin as you did lose it today. How big is the difference in your feeling compared to that Monaco?
KR: It makes no difference to compare what happened in Monaco with here. I don’t really care what’s the time difference, or position today. It’s what happened. We came second, I’m pretty happy because things have been running pretty smoothly all weekend and I think we’re going to have a good car tomorrow, at least so far that’s how it’s been. You always look for more and for sure there’s always things to improve, to go a bit faster and that little bit would have been enough today.
Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) Lewis, once again Beast-mode. You find a way to really turn it up when your back is against the wall like this, again we’re seeing this level that you can’t figure out where it’s coming from. What is it, the many fans out there that, the Union Jacks, all the Lewis Hamilton fans, team LH is out there, coming thousands of miles to watch you race at this last Malaysian Grand Prix?
LH: Well one thing for sure, the support is… I mean, we’ve been coming here for ten years and it’s known not to have a very attendance here but the crowd already from Thursday was pretty awesome and today, every time you leave the garage, every time you come in, I can see all these flags opposite my garage. It’s the most… in all the ten years put together, today was more than all of those. Incredibly grateful for that. Of course, I get a lot of energy from that, and from special people I met, I met this young kid, Brandon, the other day who just was the highlight of the week, and then I guess always digging deep. I’m very, very grateful that the laps have come at the right time, throughout qualifying, because you know you approach it and you hope that you’re able to execute at the right time – but it’s not always… you’re never always on point but so far this weekend and particularly, obviously, just now, that lap, the one that really counts was the one I need and the one that I got. So it’s a combination of a lot of things, but my team worked so hard last night to really try to… I think they were here until 2am, trying to understand the car and make sure we made the right steps with real good analysis, so I’m grateful for all that hard work.
Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Lewis, you took the old aero package today, your teammate the new one, was it your decision, was it a joint decision and why did you take the decision to go back to the old one?
LH: How do you know that? Hmm? Did Niki tell you that? We came with an upgrade that was supposed to be better but we were unsure yesterday because we were so far off. We went back to one car trying one, the other car trying the other. Before qualifying I was thinking of going back to the new package because Valtteri’s and my times were very similar and Valtteri seemed really happy with it and so I didn’t want to carry a penalty going into qualifying. You want every little millisecond you can get but there wasn’t really enough time so we ended up staying with it and also it was kind of a risk, changing the car again for qualifying and maybe getting something wrong and so we just… that was really why we ended up staying with it but fortunately I’d done P3 with it so I was quite comfortable with where I was and it provided a stepping stone in terms of making the set-up change. Ultimately it was down, it is down in performance but fortunately it didn’t make a difference.
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Lewis, did that experience of having a home Finnish sauna help you to beat this other Finnish guy because you seem to be sweating less than him?
LH: Did you say the home Finnish sauna? I haven’t been in it for a long time. I used the sauna here but it’s not as good as a Finnish sauna. I used the one in KL. Kimi, do you still use a sauna? You do? It doesn’t strike me as a usual Finnish guy, Kimi, but for me, coming from England, this is a sauna here. It’s bloody roasting.
Q: (Lennart Bloemhof – De Volksrant) Max, touching upon the extension of contracts for China and Singapore and the possibility of new races being added in the near future, how do you feel about a calendar with 24 races? I believe Fernando Alonso isn’t a fan of expanding the calendar and Lewis isn’t that fond of it as well, I heard.
MV: I think 21 is more than enough. I think it’s already quite a lot.
LH: Shit. Is it really 24? They’re talking about 24?
MV: Yeah. Yeah, I think it’s quite a lot. So I may…
LH: He’s young, he’s got…
MV: Several family and friends. Racing is one part but you also have your private life, away from racing, but you don’t really see them a lot, so I think if you’re going to do 24, 25, it’s not only for the drivers but also the mechanics. I think it’s better to get a divorce straight away.
Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS) Lewis, I guess we have got three top teams again after the start of the season where it was mainly Mercedes and Ferrari. Are you happy with more battles? Does it make it better?
LH: Absolutely, absolutely. I think we need even more than that. Red Bull have really stepped it up, stepped up their game in the last… through the last race and coming here and it’s great to see them performing so well. We obviously want them to be even closer so it really mixes things up. I was hopeful they were going to be even quicker today but I don’t know what happened, whether they lost a little bit of pace or not. But yesterday they were looking fantastic but again, their long run pace in the race here is often very very good so without doubt tomorrow they will be on our tails, I would imagine. In the past they’ve always been great here and looking after their tyres and keeping the temperatures low. I think it’s great, I think it’s more exciting for the fans. Wouldn’t it be great if we had Williams back there and McLaren back there and then there would be a real race.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Kimi, your teammate is in the back, he’s fighting for the championship. You on the first row, do you think you can believe also the team can ask you to change the strategy in order to take maximum possible points from Lewis, keeping that in mind?
KR: What do you mean exactly, because as a team, we want to get maximum points out of any race with two cars and obviously for Seb we hope he’s going to make a good recovery but it’s not going to change my race. We’re always going to try and make the fastest race and I don’t really know what else…
eom/FIA transcript of the press conference
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Hamilton takes pole as Vettel suffers mechanical issue, starts last: Malaysian GP
Hamilton after taking the pole at Sepang on Saturday. An FIA image Sepang: Lewis Hamilton claimed his fifth career Malaysian Grand Prix pole position, equalling Michael Schumacher’s Sepang record, as the qualifying hopes of title Sebastian Vettel wrecked by a mechanical issue that saw him dumped out of the session at the end of Q1.
Kimi Räkkönen was left to uphold Ferrari honour and the Finn almost claimed his second pole of the year as he got to within five hundredths of a second of Hamilton’s pole time. Third place on the grid will be taken by Max Verstappen with team-mate Daniel Ricciardo making it an all Red Bull second row.
The major story of Q1 surrounded Vettel. A problem late in final practice led to a change of ICE and MGU-H on the German’s Ferrari, but the team managed to get the title contender out on track at the beginning of Q1.
However, just a minute later Vettel was on the radio saying that he had lost drive. “It feels like I have no turbo,” he told his team as he limped back to the pitlane.
With about three minutes remaining in the session, his mechanics were replacing the engine cover on his Ferrari and it seemed like he would get one run in which to set a time. However, he was held in the garage as checks were done and eventually the window of time available to complete a warm-up lap and cross the line for a flyer before the chequered flag was waved ran out. Vettel was eliminated from the session having failed to set a time.
Also ruled out at this stage were 16th-placed Romain Grosjean of Haas, with the Frenchman finishing ahead of team-mate Kevin Magnussen and the Saubers of Pascal Wehrlein and Marcus Ericsson.
At the top of the order, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton was quickest, with Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen in second. Third place in the session went to Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes, with Kimi Räikkönen fourth in the sole Ferrari to set a time.
In Q2 it was Räikkönen who set the early pace, with the Finn taking P1 with a time of 1:30.926, just five thousandths of a second ahead of Verstappen. However, as the Finn and the Dutchman elected to stay put for the final runs, it was Bottas who ended the segment in P1, the Mercedes driver setting a time of 1:30.803.
Through to Q3 behind third-placed Verstappen were Hamilton, Ricciardo, Force India duo Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon, Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg and the McLarens of Stoffel Vandoorne and Fernando Alonso.
Eliminated at the end of the Q2 were Williams Felipe Massa in P11, with the Brazillian followed by Jolyon Palmer in the second Renault, Williams’ Lance Stroll and the Toro Rossos of Carlos Sainz and Pierre Gasly.
In Q3 Hamilton finally made his move, claiming provisional pole at the end of the first runs, with Räikkönen three tenths behind the Briton. Ricciardo was third ahead of team-mate Verstappen.
And the Mercedes man was not to be denied in the final runs, though it was a close-run thing. Ricciardo was first across the line but failed to improved having made small errors in the final two sectors. Verstappen then jumped ahead of his team-mate to claim P3.
It was then Hamilton’s turn to post a final time and surprisingly, the Mercedes driver made no improvement. That left the door open for Räikkönen, but though the Ferrari driver put in a superb effort to improve by almost two tenths, he ended up in P2, just 0.045s behind Hamilton.
With the Red Bulls locking out row two, fifth place went to Valtteri Bottas. He was followed by Force India’s Esteban Ocon, McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne, the Renault of Nico Hulkbenberg, the second Force India of Sergio Perez and the second McLaren of Fernando Alonso.
eom/FIA press release
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I love to drive in rain, we had good pace in trickier and cooler conditions: Hamilton
DRIVERS: 1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes); 2 – Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing); 3 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)
PODIUM INTERVIEWS (Conducted by Eddie Jordan)
Singapore, what an unbelievable race, particularly after the rain started. We were served up a titanic. Ladies and gentlemen, he looks exhausted…
Lewis HAMILTON: I’m not exhausted.
He’s not exhausted. That doesn’t look like champagne to me, Obviously, you’ve made a bit of history here, you really like coming to Singapore, it’s the tenth anniversary, your third win here, come on, tell me about it.
LH: Well, firstly, as always I want to really congratulate my team, this is a great result. Valtteri did a fantastic to get a one and a three up here – amazing points for the team. Obviously, yesterday we struggled. We had no idea what was going to happen today but the thing is we just tried to stay focused and tried to get ahead. Obviously it was very fortunate with the Ferraris at the beginning, so yeah, I couldn’t be happier. I’m really grateful.
I’ve got to ask you this, because we interviewed him yesterday and he said that he needed a miracle today. Well, I think he had Santa Claus, the reindeer and he had the miracle. Come on, tell me, this was just out of heaven!
LH: Yeah, God blessed me today for sure. I capitalised on the incident… I mean who would have known that would happen. Really unfortunate for the Ferraris but it was, as I said, a really great result for the team. Daniel put up a really good fight today, I enjoyed racing him. I was hoping I would get to race with Sebastian at the beginning…
Come on, you don’t mean that. You were just seeing what was going on in front of you. It was classic for your 60th win.
LH: It was, but when I got round to Turn 2 or Turn 3, I had Sebastian in front and I thought ‘I’m going to have a real race here’. Obviously it’s better the way it is, but I’m just glad I brought it home.
We’ll come back to you, but just enjoy the 28-point lead you have in the championship at the moment. Daniel Ricciardo: he’s made a bit of a habit of this. This is his fourth time, out of 10 years, his fourth time on the podium. What is it about Singapore?
Daniel RICCIARDO: I can’t win the bloody thing! I’m trying; I’m trying. I like it around here. Today, we probably didn’t show that Friday pace we showed in practice to have the pace on the Mercedes. A little bit disappointed to miss out on a win but I’ve still got to be pretty grateful and happy with another podium and I think there are more Aussies here than last year and there was more then than the year before, so it’s getting better. Thanks a lot.
We’ve got to ask you because it was one of the key factors of the entire race. What was your take on it – without blaming anybody?
DR: I just kind of watched the chaos unfold in front of me. It was probably a good thing I had a bad start, otherwise I would probably have got caught up in it. It just looked like three were trying to go into one. I don’t know whose fault it was but it was just too close.
We know that Lewis won driver of the day but you’ve got the fans here on your side, man, and many congratulations. Fantastic. Where’s Valtteri? Valtteri, you had a Sunday evening cruise. You were just sitting back in your armchair watching what was going to happen?
Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, of course it was, for us, very good damage limitation today. We definitely got lucky, but I have to say the car was working better than expected today. I was really waiting for the opportunities. Personally, I struggled in the wet with the pace, but in the dry it was pretty good and from time to time I could put pressure on Daniel but that was about it.
I’ve got to talk about your own championship. You’re closing that gap now to Sebastian. That must be in the back of your mind, with all these races to come?
VB: Definitely. There are plenty of races to come and plenty of opportunities, so yeah, definitely Sebastian is the next target.
Were you aware, in all the 10 years here, we have yet to have a team 1-2 here and we thought today you might be the first to break that duck. You fought very hard but it didn’t happen. Did you have that in the back of your mind or did you know about it?
VB: No I didn’t really think about it. I was just trying to get the most out of it. I think we take it, although it’s not a 1-2, but on a difficult circuit for us a 1-3 is nearly perfect.
Lewis I’ve got to say to you, when you saw what was unfolding in front of you, what was going through your mind?
LH: You’re just focused on winning so I was just trying to get to the front…
Yeah, but you said yesterday that you needed a miracle…
LH: I needed it to rain. As soon as it rained I knew where I was going to finish. I knew I had the pace when it rains. Unfortunately we just didn’t have the car in the dry. But today, with it raining, those are my conditions, so…
PRESS CONFERENCE
Lewis, many congratulations. Third win here in Singapore, seventh of the season, perhaps an even more satisfying number, 60th career win, only the second man to reach that number, third win in a row and obviously lots of fun going on to your side? Great win against the odds. I think the real thing is that you seemed to have an answer for everything. Whatever the conditions, whether it was used inters, new inters on Daniel’s car, ultrasofts, you just always seemed to have answer. Just give us a window into your state of mind when he was on the new inters and you were on the used and it was looking as though you might not have the right equipment on the car.
LH: I feel like we distracted you. Have we distracted you? That was a very long-winded question. For those of you watching – we’re all a bit gassy up here. That’s why we are in tears. Yeah, what a day. What can I say? When it start raining when I woke up this morning, I was thinking, ‘fantastic’, because it’s a very difficult circuit on which to overtake. Being fifth, knowing that the Red Bulls and the Ferraris were so quick, on a grippy circuit, being dry, I knew it would be very, very difficult to progress from fifth place. But I did know there is a start, a strategy, and the potential for a safety car, that often happens here every year. It dried up and it started to rain just as I started, which was really a real blessing. Those are my conditions, that I love to drive in. Once we got going… I felt like I had a good start, but I think Kimi had an incredible launch and then I saw this commotion happening, I was alongside Daniel. I had a great Turn 1 and came out behind Sebastian. I couldn’t really see what had happened behind. And then I came out of Turn 3 and I was just excited to race Sebastian. I was like: ‘it’s on; I’m ready.’ But then he had a problem with the car or whatever it was and he lost control. Then I was in the lead and the safety car came out. After that it was about managing the tyres. Daniel had that stop, which was a bit of a surprise to me that you could have a free stop and be behind me on brand new tyres. But I think… if you remember back in 2008 in Monaco, I just nursed the tyres. We often shred our intermediate tyres and the Red Bulls are usually very, very good on them, so today was just about making sure we managed them to the maximum. I was able to keep them cool and not have any degradation. Even at the end when I pitted I still had life left in the tyres, which is very, very rare. After that we had a great battle. It was quite tricky conditions when we went back out but it was really just about managing the gap. I had a good amount of pace in the car today, it seemed to work in those trickier, cooler, slippier conditions, so a real blessing and just grateful for the team, grateful for all of the effort that went in, strategy. I’m happy with the performance from myself and Valtteri did a fantastic job as well to really solidify some really great points from the team.
And just a thought on the big 6-0? Only the second man to reach 60 grands prix wins and what a way to do it.
LH: Oh jeez, I hadn’t even realised. And I didn’t hear you say that before. Wow. I guess I need some time to digest it. These kind of wins are a lot more satisfying than pole to win or… these wins when it is those tricky conditions. It is the toughest race for us. There are so many white line that are painted white and also painted black, it’s so tricky. Any little mistake. Plus, all I needed to was bring it home, but I’ve got Daniel behind me, I can’t make any mistakes today, so it was a real challenge today but one I thoroughly enjoyed.
Very well done – great win. Daniel, all OK?
DR: Better now. I feel our battle here was bigger than the battle on track. We’re doing our own version of beatboxing.
Another Singapore podium, but not the victory. You rolled the dice and went for those new intermediates and did you think it was going to gibe you more. Basically, where did the pace go? It didn’t seem that in any situation today you had the pace to give this guy a hard time.
DR: Yeah, that was probably the most frustrating thing. I mean frustrating not to get that first win here. I think it’s three years in a row with second now. Normally I’m happy with a podium, obviously it’s great. It’s more that we didn’t have the pace that we showed on Friday in the long run. We just struggled to look after the tyres. Just felt like when I was able to punch out a good lap time, I couldn’t really maintain it, where Lewis could answer and then answer again. So it felt like every time we matched his pace we were taking more out of the tyre. We had a couple of little issues as well. I had to manage the car in some situations with the gearbox and that, but ultimately I don’t think it changed the shape of the race. I don’t think that was the reason we were second and not first. I have an idea, if we were to do the race again, how to set up the car differently. I feel something we did on the car it would have helped if we went the other way for how the track conditions were, but it was fun nonetheless, you know the beginning, never going around here really in the wet. As Lewis touched on, the lines are so slippery. Even the painted lines that are black, they don’t seem like they are line but they are underneath the dark paint and the car kind of slides, grips, slides, grips and just really tricky, Just I guess still happy to come away with a podium. It’s not a win but I’ll be grateful and still happy with second.
You mentioned the start on the podium, but what about the secondary impact, the one that took the Ferrari and your team-mate off the track and hit Alonso as well? How did you get around that?
DR: In hindsight it was a good thing I had a pretty average start. It gave me some time to basically see what was going to happen. I saw there was contact with Kimi. I knew there was a bit going on there. I could see Max had sparks, so I wasn’t sure which way Max’s car was going to go, so I had already backed off in case Max let’s say turned into because I was on his outside and then I could see Kimi coming and I knew he had damage. If it was Fernando I don’t think he saw probably as much. It looked like he just braked late and tried to make the move stick, but then those cars were obviously going up the track. I was just trying to play it cautious and look ahead and fortunately that was the right thing to do. It was pretty chaotic. The spray was really bad, so just even the spray along with that meant it was a pretty chaotic first few corners.
Q: Valtteri, your 10th podium of 2017. Mercedes take a 102-point lead in the Constructors’ over Ferrari. Your view of the start as well, and also it was clearly a very tricky Friday for you, single lap pace and long run pace. Tell us about the improvement today.
VB: Yeah, the start was definitely quite special and it came to me and Lewis in the end. I got a bad start personally, so I had plenty of time to observe what was happening at the front and just try to avoid any debris and impacts. So, yeah, from my side it was all clean. Was struggling in the beginning of the race in the wet, just purely with the pace. Have been struggling with the pace all weekend but as the track started to dry up everything was feeling actually not too bad and could keep up with the guys ahead and sometimes get really close to Daniel – but for us, the starting point we had for this weekend after such a tricky Friday and Saturday, it’s a really good result for us as a team. Our approach today, it was all about damage-limitation. I think this was pretty good damage limitation today, so we can be quite happy about that.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) Lewis, way to get the job done, congratulations. The deck was stacked against you and it seems in situations like this you really seem to thrive and you found pace in the car where nobody thought there was pace in the car – and you showed that will and determination of a Green Lantern. What is it about these situations that just makes you come alive like that?
LH: Thank you. I’m not sure. Yeah, I’m not playing any games, and preparing in the best way I can. Obviously super-focused. Obviously today really came to me. As I said, I would have given everything, obviously, if it was dry – would have been a much, much harder race. For some reason the Ferraris and also the Red Bulls are much stronger in those conditions, when it’s warmer and grippier but, it was a nice reset with the rain that came in today, which dropped the grip level, I think. And then obviously being Intermediates to start with, still even in that scenario, I thought they would be a lot closer pace-wise but… yeah, these conditions, as I said, I love, and it’s very much an opportunity to really make a difference with your driving in those conditions, and today I was really able to. It was the first time for all of us driving here in the rain, so it was a massive, massive challenge, which I love. I love that. When you have to rise to the toughest of challenges, that’s the most exciting part for me. For me it was just about staying focussed and not making any mistakes. Something I’m very set on this year. That’s kind of, for me, coming from last year, for example, where there were lots of mistakes, this is a year I try to make sure that, if I’m going to grow anywhere, in any space, that’s going to be it. And focus on not making any mistakes seems to be working.
Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action & Speed Sport) For Valtteri and Daniel, first time we’ve had a race here in the rain. Daniel said the spray was bad. Had it continued raining, and had their not been a Safety Car, with that spray under the lights, could you have gone on? Would it have been driveable?
DR: I think we would have persisted. The spray was probably more than I thought – but yeah, we would have continued because the Aquaplaning and stuff wasn’t an issue. So, OK, visibility is bad but as long as the car is obviously not skating around, out of control, I think we can just hold on. But yeah, I mean I was… even the warm-up lap, I was third, so not many cars in front and there was still quite a lot, so I think back in the pack would have been pretty tough – but yeah, I don’t think they’ll have to plan for that in the future, it doesn’t seem to rain here often – but yeah, I don’t know. Maybe Valtteri’s got other comments.
VB: Yeah, the spray was the main thing. I think we all would have been happy – at least I would have been happy to get racing even with some race. And like Daniel said, it is all about aquaplaning. If we have that then it’s so unpredictable, and you never know, if you don’t see on the straight, it’s fine if you know there’s no-one sideways on track, and if there’s aquaplaning then it’s possible. So, yeah, I think it was OK.
Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Question for everybody about the start. For a long time I don’t think we have seen a conventional start under the rain, Would like to know if it was OK for you and if it had some affect on the accident, the wet track at the start?
LH: I think it was great. It wasn’t that wet really on the grid, so I think it’s always worse when it’s a rolling start and being that there is so much spray it would have just been a lot more dangerous, I potentially think. So, I think it was the right decision.
Did it contribute to the accident?
LH: I don’t think so. It looks like Kimi got a great launch. Sebastian not as good and for some reason… really I’ve not seen it all… but Kimi got a great launch and I think it was just an unfortunate racing incident.
Daniel?
DR: I think yeah, they were right to start it as a standing start because, as Lewis said, the grid was not too bad. I would say if it was a rolling start, probably nothing would have happened in Turn One. Because normally it just goes off in order and yeah, probably would have been clean and less exciting for the fans. But yeah, regardless, I think the grid was fine. So, obviously unfortunate for the guys involved in the crash but I don’t think they can blame the decision of the stewards or Charlie for starting the race. I think that was perfectly fair and fine.
Anything to add, Valtteri?
VB: Nope.
Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Question to Lewis. What are your thoughts on a 28 point lead and will it change something in the last six races for you dealing with the grand prix?
LH: Definitely won’t change anything. Because it’s working. Whatever it is with the approach that I have, there’s no reason to change it. It’s a perfect balance of being aggressive and cautious at the same time. So, the formula works at the moment, so I’ll just continue with it. Right to the last race. I’ve not really thought about it, it’s still soaking up really. It’s hard to believe. Firstly it’s my 60th grand prix win. I don’t know why but it’s not sinking in just yet, and also the gap, it’s kind of hard to believe. It’s a long, long race and I definitely went into today thinking it was about damage limitation, it was trying to minimise the loss somehow. If I’d got stuck behind Kimi it could have been just finishing fifth. It could have come out a lot worse. So, to come out the complete other direction, for sure it’s a shock. But, I’ll take it and I’m grateful. I’m grateful for it. As I said, we’ve worked so hard as a team, I think today was just fortunate conditions, really just fell into our direction and we capitalised on it.
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, tenth podium for the season. After the qualifying, was this the podium that you least expected?
VB: I think yeah. After such a difficult Friday we had, and then such a difficult qualifying, like I said yesterday, when we had the press in the motorhome, I said I’m not too confident, if it’s going to be a normal race, that we have the pace to be on the podium – but I said ‘you never know’. And I will never, ever give up. Today, waking up to the day as normal, I feel positive. I know anything is possible, there’s no point giving up beforehand, so yeah, we went for it and really, really pleased we had both drivers on the podium and Lewis managed to win. Of course it’s been a tricky weekend for me all around – but it’s nice to have at least third place and a trophy to take home – but the main thing, like I said before, is to learn from this weekend – but yeah, we have to be happy as a team to get such a good amount of points against Ferrari. So good weekend for us in the end.
Q: (Joe Saward – Auto Week) Lewis, on about lap 44 you lost a lot of time and there was a radio exchange with the team, can you explain what was going on there – they were asking you to back something up?
LH: Lap 44?
You lost around 2.5s and the team said something about backing the field up.
LH: Was that after the Safety Car? Yeah. I had a lot of pace at the time and I was pulling a decent chunk per lap and I think the team didn’t want me to continue to pull, and for us to all open up and a potential Safety Car window open up for Daniel. If a Safety Car window opened up and a Safety Car came out, he could have stopped and potentially jumped us or had better performance with the next set of tyres, so it was really about not extending the pace there, so backed off and then it was too slow, so I had to pick up – because at the same time he was picking up pace, so that was really why.
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Lewis, how surprised are you that you have a hat-trick of wins after the summer break?
LH: Oh shoot, it is, isn’t it? I didn’t really realise that. Going into the break, Ferrari were incredibly strong in Hungary. We had the great British Grand Prix and then I didn’t really know what to expect coming back. You come into these races and you don’t… obviously we came here, we anticipated that Red Bull would be particularly quick, we thought Ferrari would be quick but we were hopeful that we might still be within the battle and obviously in the dry conditions we were nowhere. So to come to our weak… probably our weakest circuit, perhaps second or first to Monaco, and to win is obviously a great result. The goal has been to – since the break – has been to come and win every race, that’s always the goal, is to win every race but I’m very very happy with the tally right this second and I want to continue it, I want to keep it up. As I said, Red Bull have been putting in some great performances and Daniel is always very very consistent in his races so we’ve just got to stay on our toes and keep trying to extract everything out of this car. I think this weekend, and particularly this race showing the conditions really shows the strengths and weaknesses of our car and the characteristics and we understand what we can do, potentially for the future, to make it better. It won’t happen with this car, potentially for the next one. We’ve just got to make sure we do it, that it doesn’t make it worse because it’s actually pretty good elsewhere.
Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Lewis, what are the races you think Ferrari could be better than you or Red Bull?
LH: What do we have coming up? We have Malaysia… we should be, I think we should be OK. Then we have Japan, high downforce circuit; could be close, Red Bulls are very very strong at that circuit but I think we might be… it won’t definitely be our strongest circuit and then we’ve got Mexico, I think we’ll be… Austin, I think we’ll be fine. I think Brazil would be a place where these guys will be particularly strong. Ferrari will be particularly strong. Honestly, I think it’s going to be very close in the next races. It’s hard to predict, as I said, but I think that one particularly… and maybe when you go to Mexico, for example, you’ve put your maximum downforce on but because it’s so high there’s little drag and maybe the cars that have a little bit more downforce might just have the edge on us but it’s all hearsay. We’ll find out when we get there.
Q: (Jens Nagler – Bild) Lewis, have you been surprised by Sebastian at the start, that he pulled to the left that far because it opened up some space for you?
LH: He didn’t open space for me because I was behind Daniel. At that time, once I got to turn one I realised I was kind of alongside Sebastian but as I pulled away, I was only focused on trying to get away faster than Daniel. I saw Kimi so I was just keeping an eye on what’s happening on my left side and if some drama was going to happen I was just going to have to go straight at turn one and not get collected which I was conscious of. I think Sebastian… often – when you look at my last start at Monza – when you pull away, you can’t actually see the guy who’s in second place, they’re generally in your blind spot if they get as good a start as you and it’s difficult to know where they are so all you’ve got to do, you’ve got to start, your immediate thought is to cover your ground, get to the inside and cover and turn them down, so I assume that’s what he did. At least, when you do that, then all of a sudden they appear in your mirror so you can understand where they are or in your peripheral view. But sometimes you do it and you realise you’re ahead so you actually didn’t need to. I don’t if Sebastian felt that way or not.
Q: (Joe Saward – Auto Week) Lewis, would you describe from a championship point of view, today being the perfect result for you?
LH: Of course. That answer is pretty obvious. Today was… it couldn’t be a more perfect scenario really for us, as I said, being that we are at a circuit where they were in another world in hotter, drier conditions and we really had not a lot of hope, we really had to just bank on potentially a good start and maybe a bit of strategy, just to get us one or two places… it was going to be one place maybe or hope for reliability for another car but for the rain to fall, I was so happy, you can’t imagine how happy I was. Normally when it rains, you’re kind of a little bit apprehensive, it’s a little bit nerve wracking, isn’t it, because it makes it so much trickier for us and here we’ve never even driven in the rain so… but for me, I’m kind of like… yes. I think there’s a couple of us that particularly love those conditions more than maybe others. I just know that… when those conditions happen it’s more of a lottery, there’s more opportunity, it levels the playing field and then there’s a real race and that’s what I was excited to have. A bunch of cars went missing and then I was like I still have to try to enjoy it and it was still a massive challenge, I could have easily just binned it. I think just generally, through the whole race, I kept… every now and then, Senna pops into my mind… his Monaco Grand Prix where he was obviously in the lead and hit the wall and that always comes in and reminds me not to do that. I’ve had experiences like that but I learnt that lesson, that always just comes in and reminds me in the back of my mind, it’s almost like he talks to me, just stay focused, keep it together.
Q: (Bharat Sharma – Press Trust of India) Lewis, would you end up re-assessing your future if you end up winning a fourth World title and have you ever thought about getting close to Michael’s tally?
LH: Honestly, I’m working just step by step, trying to… it’s hard enough to get these championships won one at a time, it’s hard enough just to get this fourth one. My goal is just to… I’m loving driving more than ever. I feel like I’m driving better than ever. Often, I guess, it’s easy to say that but I really feel that I’m… I feel the most whole as a driver that I’ve ever been which is a great feeling. And as I said, I’m enjoying it more than ever, I’m enjoying the challenge, the fact that we don’t… we have a balanced car alongside a Ferrari and sometimes a Red Bull so it’s great to be able to be challenged by another team and really have to play on your qualities and work on your weaknesses. But at the end of every season, you always have a think about your future, you’re always assessing… you set a five year plan… for me personally I set a good five year plan but it gets altered every year as you add another year onto it. Currently it’s quite clear for me. Who knows if we’re going to get anywhere near Michael? I mean that was… his records are so… seven championships, I personally don’t have a desire to chase that. I don’t know how the other drivers feel about that but the wins feel more exciting to try and chase. Records are there to be broken so at some stage someone will break them, whether it’s me, I can’t tell you.
Q: (Andreas Haupt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Daniel, you mentioned some problems with your car, especially with the gearbox, you had to manage. Could you give us some more details about it please?
DR: Yeah, I’m actually not too sure what the issue was but I was just advised to do some short shifts from fairly early in the race and I was then reminded to continue to do that up to the end. Yeah, obviously there were probably some issues going on and that was a way of managing it. I think that was the main thing. But I’m not sure the reason, but that’s what I was told to do.
Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday, Motorsport Week.com) Daniel, you came into this race very stoked, you wanted to win it, you said you were going to win it and obviously things panned out a little differently. You have six races left, do you feel the same way about any of those six, are you aiming for one or two of them?
DR: Because people from the outside are probably thinking well, doesn’t every driver feel they can win when they rock up. That’s obviously the mindset that coming here, I really felt the package we were coming with was a realistic goal of ours that we thought we could achieve. That was kind of where I was coming off with that. Malaysia, obviously there were a few incidents last year but I think our general pace wasn’t too bad so we might be stronger than we think there. Malaysia, Japan and then we’ll see. I think we can be podium cars, probably Malaysia, Japan, Austin. But yeah, we might need some alternate conditions to really give us raw pace to fight for a win. Yeah, I’m not going to sit here and say we’re not going to win one. I believe we’ll get at least one chance somewhere.
eom/FIA press release of the transcript
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Mercedes power is definitely better than Ferrari power, a tongue-in-cheek comment by Hamilton
Hamilton takes a selfie with the Monza crowd after the podium celebrations on Sunday. An FIA image DRIVERS: 1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes); 2 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes); 3 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari).
PODIUM INTERVIEWS (Conducted by Martin Brundle and Jean Alesi)
Martin BRUNDLE: Lewis, you’re now leading the world championship again.
Lewis HAMILTON: You know what…. You know what…
MB: You might just have to punch through this [noise]
LH: Yeah, you know what, I love it here in Italy and I love the passion of the fans, particularly the Ferrari fans, they’re fantastic. This energy is like nowhere else we ever really get to see, apart from maybe Silverstone, so I respect it, I appreciate it. But I’m happy. We did a great job. The team did an exceptional job this weekend and me and Valtteri – Valtteri also did a great job – I think we owe it all to them.
MB: I didn’t of too many problems, one lap you said you felt the power was going down a little bit, but you were coasting for much of it, saving the engine I guess.
LH: Yeah, firstly Mercedes power is definitely better than Ferrari power, so it worked well this weekend.
MB: Whoah, volcanic! You were up with Lance into the first corner and Esteban Ocon behind you. A little bit nervous of the new kids in town?
LH: The start was a little bit difficult for sure, because the grip was quite low, but it was a great day, a great result for us. We’ve got a lot of British supporters here as well, so I’m really grateful for that.
I’ll leave you with your friends and go and talk with Valtteri. Valtteri, a couple of great moves from you. You had to make up some ground early on.
Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, like with Lewis the start was tricky, but just needed to keep my head down, get the places step by step. The car was so strong today. Like I said on the team radio, it was amazing today how quick we were and it was pure joy to drive. The pace was good, I enjoyed it and a perfect result for us as a team.
MB: Any dramas at all?
VB: No drama.
MB: Very reminiscent of 2015 and 2016. Now, I’ll hand over to Jean to talk to Sebastian.
Jean ALESI: Sebastian, a few words in Italian for the Ferraristas.
Sebastian VETTEL: Allora, grazie a tutti. Tifosi, io sento di essere la megliore publico al mundo, davvero. Questa guerra é difficile – lo so que arriviamo, arriviamo! Forza Ferrari, grazie!
Sebastian it was quite difficult at the beginning to catch up straightaway, you had to make some overtaking. How it was at the beginning?
SV: It was entertaining. It was quite good fun. Obviously my start was not so good, I had a lot of wheelspin. It took a while before I could really trust the car and then I made some progress. We got some good overtaking there. Then we were a bit isolated. We didn’t have the pace of the leading two drivers today. Nevertheless, going round, seeing the people gives a lot of hop. Even if this race has been difficult I know that we have a very, very strong car and we will have a very, very strong end to the season, I’m sure of that.
MB: Congratulations Sebastian. Lewis, you beat Ferrari today by over half a minute. With Spa last weekend have we seen a key turning point in the season, and the championship?
LH: I think it’s all just to do with the team pulling together and trying to maximizing everything on the car and Valtteri and myself really trying to do the best job we can with the car. But today the car was fantastic and really a dream to drive. But a big thank you to all the fans who came out today, grazie a tutti, and I look forward to coming back next year.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Lewis, you’ve obviously taken the championship lead for the first time, one key talking point; the pace of the Mercedes compared with the Ferraris, on the supersofts particularly, I think you were 22 seconds ahead at the end of the first stint, another important talking point. And also interesting, this is the first time this season we have had a back-to-back race winner and I wondered about your thoughts on what that says about how open and competitive this championship is?
LH: Well, it’s obviously an incredibly exciting season and the last two races have been incredibly strong for us as a team. We’ve gone from strength from strength and really shown real strength and depth and I think it’s the way we have come together in this second half so far is exceptional. I’m not really sure why the pace of the Ferraris was not close as it usually is, particularly as it was in practice, but today the car felt fantastic, particularly in that first stint. I guess because we had a bit of breathing space behind us initially it was easier to extend the life of the tyre. I suppose if in the past we would have had a Ferrari behind we would have been pushed more to the limit. And Valtteri did a fantastic job just to get through and get a one-two here. I know it’s not easy for the Italian fans to accept but I think ultimately we did the better job this weekend, collectively, as a team. But it’s still close and there’s still a long, long way to go. We’re going to another track next that the Ferrari should be quite quick at, with the extra downforce they generally are able to add one, so the fight will continue. But it is amazing to come and have the back-to-back wins. It’s been a long, long time that Sebastian has been leading the championship, so with all the ups and down to now be just slightly ahead is a great feeling.
Valtteri, your ninth podium of 2017, you had two cars to pass in the opening stint and you did that in a straightforward way. But maybe you could talk about the margin with Ferrari and your thoughts on why this race evolved the way it did?
VB: Yeah, actually three cars to pass in the beginning. The start was quite poor for me, just a lot of wheelspin. One of the Ferraris got ahead and I had to get him first, which was normally going to be the difficult part and the most important part for us today. But also then pretty quickly got to P2, which was good, and the car was so well balanced today and so strong. For sure we were quick in a straight line, but this weekend also we were really quick in every corner of the track. I think we just found a different kind of stability this weekend that we haven’t found before. But this is a really unique track. We can’t rely on that ‘OK, now we are quickest’. That’s not the case. It’s going to be a completely different story in Singapore, next weekend. Yes, we were quickest here. We had a perfect result, Lewis won, so well done for that, me second is great for us, but now it’s whether we can learn from this weekend what we need to and be strong again in Singapore.
Sebastian you described it on the slow-down lap as a difficult day. I wonder if you could just drill down into that what aspects in particular were difficult for you and answer the question why you feel that the pace wasn’t closer, either on the supersoft or the soft?
SV: Well, to be honest, I’m still pretty overwhelmed from the lap back to the pits and the podium ceremony. I think it’s been amazing, the power of the people, to see so many fans for Ferrari is unbelievable. Yeah it was a difficult day, a difficult start. I didn’t straightaway feel the car; I couldn’t go with Kimi and Valtteri, so I had to wait to make progress. Then my race was fairly isolated. We tried to keep as close as possible but we simply didn’t have the pace. I’m sure there are plenty of reasons, but I don’t want to get too technical today. The last 20 laps I was struggling. I went off in Turn 1 and I think something broke in the car. The left-hand side of the steering was a bit down and I couldn’t trust the car, especially on braking and it’s a braking track. So the last laps I don’t think they showed the pace we could have gone. Overall you could say it was a bad day, but I know the team is on the right way and there is a lot of stuff that is going to improve. Overall, it has been amazing so far to see where we are but I know that we only get stronger, so I’m in a very, very positive mood, despite the number and all that. I am not worried about these… overall, it was a difficult weekend but I know that there is still a long way to go and we have got the people behind us so it is a great feeling.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Sebastian, how much of a role to you think it has played in your struggles that there was no dry P3 where you could have optimised the car setup after it was not really perfect on Friday. Is it a relief, in a way, that this is such a unique track and there will be no others like this until the end of the season?
SV: Well, Monza is specific. I’ve had races here… simply the fact how confident you feel in the car can make a big difference. I wouldn’t say I don’t trust my car or don’t trust our car but I think this weekend has been a bit up-and-down. Practice, for sure there were a couple of things on the list that we would like to try but didn’t get the chance but I’m sure that’s the same for everyone. I had a good feeling on Friday. The long run was a bit scrappy because of traffic but in terms of raw pace, the Mercedes looked very strong. They confirmed that. I think it got a bit closer with worn tyres towards the end, second stint, I think you cannot judge. We were running on our own, they were probably just cruising – because no pressure from behind. So you can’t read the whole race but overall you need to be fair and say that they did the better job and they deserved to win – no doubt about that – but I think considering the day yesterday and where we started from, I think it was the optimum result.
Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) Question for Lewis, Another Beast Mode performance, back to back wins, this moment you’ve been building up in the second half of the season, we’re now going to Singapore, it’s going to be more of a challenging race for you. Is this momentum now, and you going into Beast Mode like this, is that going to carry on for the next half of the season.
LH: That’s definitely the plan! Definitely the plan. Giving it absolutely everything we’ve got but, as I’ve said, Ferrari might be a little bit quicker, maybe, when we get to a couple of the tracks where it’s maximum downforce, where you can add a little bit more, I think there. They’ve generally been quite good, Hungary they were exceptionally quick on the qualifying laps so we might see that happen in the next races. I think nonetheless it’s going to continue to be really close between us all, but yeah, absolutely. Beast Mode all the way to the last chequered flag.
Q: (Nicolangelo Cioppi – La Voce degli Italiani del Canada e USA) For Lewis and Sebastian. How do you feel beating Michael Schumacher’s pole position yesterday, 68, now you have 69 pole position and how you feel to beat Ferrari in his house in Monza. Is different I think from any other race track. And for Sebastian. Is it possible to win again or the Mercedes is too strong for Ferrari – because it was 30s difference between first and third.
LH: As I was saying yesterday, it’s an unbelievable feeling. Having grown up playing computer games on the same day as the grand prix when Michael was racing and going through all the practice sessions on my computer while watching the grand prix and playing as Michael, and now I’m ahead in the qualifying standings, which feels crazy. I feel very grateful for all the great people that have helped me achieve that. To win here in Monza, it is such a historic grand prix. There are very, very few, if any like it. The track is so unique in its own way, in this beautiful park, beautiful part of the world and the fans… you could hear the roar. I would love to know how loud they are on the scale. The energy there is incredible. The passion that the Ferrari fans – or the Italian fans have around the world. When I go to LA, for example and go to an Italian restaurant and the fans are there for Ferrari. They’re all over the world and it’s great to see. There’s also some of those Ferrari fans that have, while maybe at heart perhaps are Ferrari fans, and being Italian, they’ve also spilled over to be Mercedes fans, which is much appreciated.
SV: Being technical you can say, I don’t know what it adds up, the gap, the amount of race laps. I think we probably lacked something like half a second per lap today but there’s not all the parts of the race you can judge. I’m not worried too much about the gap. As I said before, Monza is a specific place. If you have that extra bit and confidence then it makes a big difference. So, I’m not too stressed about that. We probably knew it would be a difficult race. Probably expected as well that we would be closer but all in all, it’s not nice to see them two winning but I think with the third position, at least we gave everything we had and that’s the most important. We gave everything for the people out there. The support has been amazing and, despite the numbers, the gap, you can name the negatives but I’m very, very positive right now, to be honest. I know that people are going into the office tomorrow more committed than before. The spirit is there, we just need to keep it up. It’s a journey, we see where it takes us. It’s been a long way that the team has come from three years ago but we are nowhere near satisfied despite maybe having had a good season so far, it’s not good enough. Ferrari needs to be at the front and Ferrari needs to be on top of everything. So that’s where we want to go. For sure, they are giving us a very, very hard time, especially at the moment, but we’ll see. It’s a long journey still and, as I said, I’m… yeah… still full of adrenaline from the podium, the atmosphere was amazing. You can ask whatever you want now, I don’t care! You will always get a positive answer.
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, you are the fourth Finnish driver who finished second here. In any stage of the race did you have in your mind a feeling that you could be the first one to win here?
VB: Yeah, it is true no Finn has ever won in Monza. I think it’s just unlucky. Obviously running all the race second not so far from Lewis you never know what can happen, so obviously you never give up on the dream of a possible win during the race – but I wasn’t thinking about it too much, honestly. Just was focussed on executing our plan and being on it on every single corner. It was not the day for the Finns today but maybe next year, who knows?
Q: (Leigh O’Gorman – Walker Watson) For Sebastian. Considering your position in the championship at the moment, at the start of the race, are you more or less conscious about having to get through relatively inexperienced drivers like Esteban and Lance – or do you just take them as if they’re any other competitors?
SV: I guess more the second part of your question. I mean, I think you judge when you follow, both of them did a good job. We were faster, that’s clear and y’know, I knew that I had to get past quickly because with the DRS you can build a sort of a train and then it’s quite difficult to get past. Plus they were very quick down the straights, both of them, but… no, I think Lance knew we had stronger pace, so he was quite fair. Esteban tried to cover a bit more but I had a very good run out of the last corner so for me it was clear I would get past and I just had to choose left or right and I just wanted to make sure, so that’s why I dived down the inside. But, no, to be honest, there might be the odd one standing out but overall drivers in Formula One have had a long history of racing and they know what to do.
Q: (Zsolt Godina – F1Vilag.hu) Lewis, congratulations. The next race is in Singapore; do you have any worries that the problems you had in the past could come back this year?
LH: Currently that’s not my mind-state, no, and I will do all the due diligence it’s possible to make sure that we arrive there best prepared. We have no idea until we get there what the picture’s going to look like but I think we learned a lot from the past but on a hot track, Ferrari are often better in hot places. I think we’ll be able to give them a good race. I think the car is continuing to improve and as I said, our understanding of the car is beginning to… it’s constantly improving. Perhaps if we went back to Hungary for example, maybe we would be in a better position today with the knowledge of being there already. I go and approach it with a real positive mind-set that we are going to be fighting for a win but if that’s not the case when we get there we’ll just take it at face value and try to get damage limitation, I guess.
Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Question for Lewis and one for Bottas. Bottas, do you think that now, with this second victory in a row for Hamilton, your chance has gone and you’re doing a job for him, you can do (indistinct) for the rest of the season? And for Lewis, how psychological was it… it’s important to come back leading the championship?
VB: Well, you know, it is up to me also really, if I perform well, if I manage to qualify well, have strong pace, for sure I can still fight for the wins, but if it is going to be the case that for some reason I’m missing pace, if Lewis is doing a better job, me running in P2, and clearly behind then it’s obviously better to help than try something silly. I’m always going to be a team player and it is up to the team to decide these kind of things, so we’ll see. We’ll go race by race and by every situation, but like I said it is also a lot up to me. I need to perform if I still want to fight for the title.
LH: Yeah, obviously I feel good, my mind feels exactly the same as it has the last two races and now coming here, I don’t feel like I’ve got one up today, just continue to solidify the preparations and the execution of the last two races. Of course that solidifies your confidence and in the car and in the direction you’re going but there’s still a long way to go and lots can happen still, so just try to remain in the same frame of mind as I have been.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Sebastian, do believe it can be hard for you to continue the fight in this final part of the championship because of the tracks: Sepang, Suzuka, Abu Dhabi, maybe Austin circuits that on paper look like they favour Mercedes?
SV: Well, I know how to read but I don’t really care what’s written on the paper. They’re all tracks that I like, to be honest, so I’m very much looking forward to them. I think we are here to race, so if it’s hard it’s good. Easy is boring. I think that’s what we all want and I’m definitely looking forward to it. At the moment you can say that Mercedes has an edge. Saturdays they’re very strong which obviously has its contribution to Sundays, it’s not a big secret but I think we are strong, we don’t need to hide and there’s plenty of positives. Things are coming, I’m sure they are developing their car. We are developing ours so I’m not so fussed about what they doing. I’m more focused on what’s going on inside us, inside Ferrari and it makes me quite positive, what’s coming, so we just need to see and then there’s always the extra element of racing that you can’t predict, that you can’t put down on paper and that’s usually the most exciting bit so I’m very much a fan of that and a fan of the moment and see what we can do.
Q: (Jussi Jäkälä – YLE) Valtteri, as this was your first visit on the Monza podium, could you describe it a bit? Did you feel more like a race driver or a rock star?
LH: There’s more than one Finn out there? There’s only Heikki here.
VB: Yeah, there’s one extra guy.
LH: Excellent. Welcome.
VB: So I’ve got two questions today. Two Finns, two questions.
SV: There will be nothing else in the papers tomorrow. Two questions, I mean…
VB: Yes, actually it’s my second time on the podium here. First time was in GP3 in 2011, it was a little bit different atmosphere. I have to say it is incredible, being so many people, obviously most of them shouting Sebastian’s name but I was still enjoying it.
SV: That’s because Valtteri is so difficult to say.
VB: That could be it! Thanks. Incredible, didn’t feel like a rock star, honestly, felt more like a race driver but I enjoyed it.
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Lewis…
LH: Hey! What’s going on?
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Do you feel you need more of these one-twos to beat Sebastian and win your campaign for the championship?
LH: More of these what? Ah, one-twos. Yeah, I think, definitely, having the one-two today has obviously helped bridge more of a gap and the more we can perform like this the more we can really concrete that Constructors’ title which the team are pushing… that’s the priority. Of course that helps bridge the gap between myself and Sebastian. He’s generally had a relatively comfortable lead most of the year, I think sometimes at 20-something points. I’d imagine that I’m.. what is it, three points ahead? I’d imagine that… I’ll take that and I’m happy with that. I guess the plan for the next races is to try and extend that. As Valtteri was saying, he’s done a fantastic job today and we’re going to continue to push together. Valtteri’s got the opportunity – if he does the job – to win more races as well this year so the battle is still strong between us all.
Q (Daria Panova – F1Only) First of all, I want to congratulate Sebastian for this fantastic podium in a special Grand Prix for Scuderia Ferrari. Question to you: in Spa, Mick Schumacher drove his father’s car, the Benetton. If you had a chance to drive an old Formula One Ferrari car, which car would it be and on which track?
SV: Funny you mentioned that because Ferrari has a programme where clients can run historic Formula One cars and if ever I get the opportunity, I will definitely pick 2004. I think that must have been a dream car to drive. Circuit? I would pick my favourite track, not that easy logistic-wise but Japan, Suzuka. I think the car had a lot of downforce, very light and extremely quick, so that would be a unique experience. Yeah, something that maybe one day, if I do well in the next couple of years, could be a nice thing to do.
Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Sebastian, do you think that the title could be won or lost with your teammate and Kimi not taking so many points from Lewis?
SV: No. I think, you look back, there’s always ways to look at points and stuff. I’m not so much interested. Above everything, you race for the team and then obviously you race for yourself, you try to do the best yourself and I think you saw the battle today. I don’t think he waved me past but I didn’t expect him to and it was tight. I was quick at that time and could make progress, so it was good to get past but he had a better start, he got past Valtteri so we’re both fighting for the best and the optimum result today. For sure the pace was a bit down so it’s always a bit more tricky but no, I mean, as I say, we’re both racing. If you are racing in the same car then naturally, in a way, you’re racing for the same bit of track. Look at those two, they were running very quickly and not a lot of gap between them. Also then, if you’re so close to each other it’s obviously crucial to be ahead in qualifying, opening laps, after that they will always be difficult. Rules are fairly clear that the teams have in terms of who gets priority and stuff like that so… Yeah, it’s the name of the game so I’m not… I think much more important than look at a championship with teammates, points, whatever is the chemistry inside the team and I think Kimi’s well known for the fact that he doesn’t talk so much. Inside the team he talks quite a lot and yeah, we get along well, his feedback is valuable and I think we get on with each other and there’s zero stress for the team which is a good thing.
eom/FIA transcript of the press conference
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Hamilton takes lead with a dominant back-to-back victory in a Mercedes 1-2: F1 Italian Grand Prix
Hamilton celebrates and enjoys the special Monza podium atmosphere on Sunday. An FIA image Monza, 3 Sept 2017: Lewis Hamilton regained the Drivers’ title lead in FIA Formula One World Championship after he headed a Mercedes one-two at the Italian Grand Prix.
The Silver Arrows were utterly dominant at Monza with Hamilton beating third-placed Sebastian Vettel by more than 36 seconds. The Briton’s sixth win of the season puts him three points clear of Ferrari driver Vettel at the top of the Drivers’ standings after 13 races.
While Mercedes’ progress to the top two places in the race was largely processional after Bottas had risen to P2 in the opening laps, the race was enlivened by the performance of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo who rose from 16th on the grid to claim fourth place at the flag.
Hamilton held his lead at the start, with Lance Stroll and Esteban Ocon tucking in behind the polesitter. Their hold on the podium positions was shortlived, however, and after dropping back at the start, Bottas powered through and by lap three was up into second place behind his team-mate.
Further back Max Verstappen had made a superb start and by the end of lap one the Red Bull driver was up to eighth place from 13th on the grid. However, in attempting to get past Felipe Massa, there was contact and the Dutch driver sustained a front-right puncture and wing damage. He made his way to the pits for a new nosecone and fresh tyres and rejoined in last place.
Vettel too was pushing forward and after passing team-mate Kimi Räikkönen, the Ferrari driver managed to put himself into a podium spot by bypassing Ocon for P3 on lap eight.
Hamilton, though, was setting phenomenal pace and by lap 12 the Mercedes driver was 3.1s clear of team-mate Bottas and a full eight seconds ahead of championship leader Vettel.
By lap 28 Hamilton had more than doubled his advantage over his title rival, the gap now 18.0s. Behind the top three, however, it was Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo who was on charge.
The Australian had qualified third but engine-related penalties had dropped him to 16th place on the grid. After the start he was quickly on the attack, however, and over the course of the first 10 laps he steadily picked off his rivals to sit in ninth place.
He executed a superb move on Perez at the second chicane to claim another spot and then as drivers ahead pitted for fresh tyres, he rose to fourth place behind Vettel.
The German was the first of the podium-placed drivers to pit, at the e3nd of lap 31. He took on soft tyres and rejoined in fourth place. Hamilton made the same switch a lap later and he was followed by Bottas at the end of lap 33.
Ricciardo, though, continued to push on and on lap 35 he was 10.8s behind Bottas and 8.7s ahead of Vettel and 20 seconds clear of fifth-placed Räikkönen.
The Red Bull driver was the last of the frontrunners to pit and after a swift 2.2s stop for soft tyres he emerged 2.6s behind Räikkönen.
Armed with fresher tyres Ricciardo began to take chunks out of the Finn and on lap 41 he pounced, blasting past the Ferrari driver into the first chicane in a clinical overtaking move. He then set off after third-placed Vettel, lapping a second quicker than the German was who 11s ahead with 11 laps remaining.
Ricciardo’s pursuit of a podium place was the most diverting element of what, at the front, had become something of a procession. On lap 45, Hamilton was a comfortable 3.7s ahead of Bottas, while the Finn was a whopping 28.6s ahead of Vettel who was now struggling somewhat.
On lap 45 Ricciardo set the quickest time of the race to that point, a lap of 1:23.748. That was again a second quicker than Vettel on the same tour and the gap between the former Red Bull team-mate shrank to 8.7s.
With Mercedes secure in the top two positions, it was all about Ricciardo and Vettel in the closing stages and the Australian set a sequence of purple laps to closed to within five seconds of the German with four laps remaining.
With two laps remaining, though, Vettel responded and a personal best widened the gap to a comfortable 4.8s as he made sure that the threat from the Red Bull driver was nullified.
Ricciardo, though, had done enough to enliven a race utterly dominated by Mercedes and as Hamilton secured his 59th career win, 4.4s ahead of Bottas and some 36s ahead of Vettel, Ricciardo took a brave, battling and superbly executed fourth place.
Behind him, Räikkönen finished in P5. Ocon took sixth place ahead of Stroll, with neither youngster undoing the good work they had completed in qualifying and only the limitations of their machinery forcing them backwards.
Felipe Massa was eighth in the second Williams, while Perez was ninth for Force India. After his initial woes, Verstappen recovered to the final point on offer with tenths place, though the Dutch drivers was placed under investigation in the closing stages after appearing to force Kevin Magnussen off track as they battled for P10.
2017 Italian Grand Prix – Race
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 53 1:15’32.310
2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 53 1:15’36.781 4.471
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 53 1:16’08.627 36.317
4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 53 1:16’12.645 40.335
5 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 53 1:16’32.392 1:00.082
6 Esteban Ocon Force India 53 1:16’43.838 1:11.528
7 Lance Stroll Williams 53 1:16’46.466 1:14.156
8 Felipe Massa Williams 53 1:16’47.144 1:14.834
9 Sergio Pérez Force India 53 1:16’47.586 1:15.276
10 Max Verstappen Red Bull 52 1 Lap
11 Kevin Magnussen Haas 52 1 Lap
12 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 52 1 Lap
13 Nico Hülkenberg Renault 52 1 Lap
14 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 52 1 Lap
15 Romain Grosjean Haas 52 1 Lap
16 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber 51 2 Laps
17 Fernando Alonso McLaren 50 3 Laps
18 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 49 4 Laps
2 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 33 Retired
30 Jolyon Palmer Renault 29 Retired.eom/FIA press release
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Hamilton praises youngsters, Ocon and Stroll: F1 post-quali press meet
DRIVERS
1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
2 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)
3 – Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing)
GRID INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Davide Valsecchi)
Lewis your lap was wonderful, 1.1 seconds in front of this guy. You were amazing.
Lewis HAMILTON: Thank you man, grazie. I appreciate your excitement. I’m just as exvited.
We’ll give him the chance to take the helmet off, and in this time, wonderful, first row. I’m sorry for you, you will not start from the front row but your lap was amazing and your performance in Q3 was just a step over.
Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, it was a tricky qualifying, but I think also in the beginning of Q3 also sliding around a lot. But then I tried to cool down the tyres and in my final run everything worked pretty well, so happy with second.
Very well done. Ricciardo, tell me how was your lap. You were struggling on this circuit but today, from the outside, it was just amazing looking at you champions driving so well.
Daniel RICCIARDO: It was fun. Q1 and Q2 were quite terrible actually. I was struggling a lot and then Q3 we just seemed to get a bit better rhythm, the tyre had more grip. At the end we were pushing a lot but it was close. I’m glad we could do qualifying for all the fans. It was important we did this today.
Thank you so much, very well done. Lewis, just half an hour ago you were playing your Playstation and now you broke the record and made the history of this sport?
LH: Yeah, firstly, Italy I love you. I’m so happy to be here. Even though we’re in Ferrari’s homeland we have such great support here, even for Mercedes, so I really appreciate all the love. To do this here at such a historic circuit, such a beautiful country… I’m going to have some pasta tonight to celebrate.
Please, tell me about tomorrow, how will it be, the race? One of your contenders is not there with you and so tell me, front row, first corner, not easy to manage, so how will it be, your race tomorrow?
LH: Obviously it depends on the weather. I heard it’s going to be dry tomorrow, so hopefully it’s a normal Italian beautiful day. It’s going to be tough potentially with the temperatures. It’s great to see that Red Bull are up there, they obviously did a fantastic job. I have not seen the list of where everyone is, but honestly, I came across the line and I didn’t know if I had it, but it felt like a good lap. But, I can’t believe it – 69. I can’t believe it; I’m so grateful. God bless you guys.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Lewis Hamilton, record breaking 69th Formula One pole position and less spoken about but also significant, all-time record polesitter here at the Italian Grand Prix? Congratulations Lewis, you punched the air as you crossed the line after a qualifying lap, so I guess it’s significant, it clearly means a lot to you for a lot of reasons. And I guess every record up to now is something where you have been chasing and from now on it’s up to the others to catch you.
LH: Yeah, it’s very hard to find the word to explain how I feel, I’m trying to figure it all out right this second. These guys definitely made me work for it today, which I’m grateful for. The weather has been incredibly tricky for us all. Yeah, I can’t believe that so much time has passed, so many great experiences, a lot of difficult times. But what a day. To come here in this beautiful country and with this usually English weather and to be massively challenged. It was very difficult to see out there; it was very difficult to see the lines and very easy to make mistakes, as always in the rain. The second to last lap was OK at the beginning and then I backed out of it, hoping I’d get one more lap and there’s a lot of pressure for that last lap. There could have been a red flag, a yellow flag or something like that, so a lot to risk, but I gave it everything. It probably won’t sink in for a long time. I’ve got to say a big thank you to my team for making it all possible, the guys back at the factory for continuing to support me and for Mercedes, we’ve got a lot of the sponsors here from Petronas and from Mercedes Benz, who have been sponsoring me for a long, long time and supporting me and being right behind. So I’m grateful for that. And to my family, hi! Thank you so much for all the support. I can’t believe it’s been 10 years but I’m really grateful for all the support. And also for the fans. I enjoyed chatting with them just before qualifying, or during the break, and I’m grateful to FOM for allowing us to do that because it’s usually not allowed. But yeah, an epic day and truly blessed.
Very well done. Max, great performance today, you had provisional pole right up until the last car crossed the line – Lewis. Your feelings on how you went today and where do you believe you’ll start the grand prix tomorrow and what do you think you can do from there?
MV: Yeah, I think start 15th. That’s what they told me, we’ll see tomorrow. It was quite a good qualifying I think. Everything was working well. Just in Q3 I was maybe not as happy as I was in Q1 and Q2, just sliding around a bit more and just couldn’t get the grip, especially in the last sector. But my final lap was pretty OK and I head I was on pole and my engineer was telling me all the sector times and I said “stop, stop, just tell me what Lewis is doing” because he was the one to beat. He said “he’s going purple” and I was like, well, to be second here with the car, the whole package we have I think we did a very good job and it was nice again to drive in the wet.
Daniel, it was intermediates in Q1 and Q2 but the order really changed about in Q3 moving onto the wet tyres. Ferrari fell away at that point. Can you put into words for us what was different about Q3 from Q1 and Q2 and thoughts about your own performance?
DR: Yeah, Q1 and Q2 were nowhere. If you heard, I don’t know, but on my radio I wasn’t too impressed, just with the level of grip. We were struggling with everything and we were just slow. It just felt like the tyres were… as if we didn’t have blankets on them or something. So it was just cold and slippery. We got into Q3 so we weren’t nowhere, but for normally our competitiveness in the wet, certainly struggling and then Q3 we went out on the extremes and to be honest already on the out lap I had a lot more grip than I had in Q1 or in Q2. I think there’s something there, whether we learnt it, or we’ll have a look, but it was a different car in Q3 so… I think we topped it early on in that session, in Q3, and then obviously Max came through Lewis and we had a charge at the end. It was close – not Lewis’ lap at the end, I mean not Lewis’ lap at the end, but close with Max behind, and I think with Lance behind, all within a few tenths. It was alright in the end, good recovery, nice to be up here on a Saturday. We’ll obviously fall away back a bit tomorrow. I think 18th is where I’ll start. If I didn’t put in a good Q3, I probably would start 19th, so we’re good, we’re alright. Yeah, Q3 was a saviour!
Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) Lewis, many, many congratulations on a historic pole position. They say it’s not the destination it’s the journey: what has this journey been like as you continue to light the stat-book up with all the milestones that you have had this year.
LH: Well, firstly, I just actually wanted to recognise and acknowledge these two here who’ve done a fantastic job today which really shows their ability and while they perhaps don’t have the right package currently, hopefully in the future they do, because we need to see these guys up here with us more, battling. They should be in the fight with us. With Ferrari and Mercedes. So, fingers crossed. They’ve clearly shown today the capabilities.
I’ve read that some people say it’s not about the journey or where you begin, it’s about the finish. I tend to think it’s tends to be more important about the beginning and the middle and not necessarily where you’re going, so yeah, about the journey. I think there’s been so much learnt over these years. So much growing, as there will continue to be growing to do. Today was a real challenge with the break. You’re in the zone for a second and then you get out of the car, you have 15 minutes to chill, then you get ready, get in the car, then you have to get back out, it was a real challenge to try to continuously try to keep your mind, not drained of energy while being in the zone but trying to step out of it and step back into. After playing the Playstation I was kind of a bit nervous whether or not I still was in the zone! But I was grateful when I got back out. Racing in the rain is… being in the wet in these cars is as great as its been in the other cars that we’ve had – but it’s such a challenge and this is such an epic circuit because unlike the new circuits the grip is often off-line – which is a normal characteristic of an older circuit, and so you get to utilise that. So, going out, finding where the grip is, as opposed to a new surface – like the straight for example – which a lot of the new tracks have, makes it a lot more fun. So, I really, really enjoyed it.
Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Gentleman, at some phases it seemed quite difficult to choose which tyre to be on. Could you explain what was the difference in behaviour and were you satisfied with the Intermediate and the Wet tyre – and which parts of the track were particularly critical?
MV: I think the whole year already, the Inter, compared to the years before when I was driving, I think it’s really difficult. Really hard to switch on. Last year, for example, all the time when we went to an Inter, you felt quite comfortable. The tyre was working, it was quite a soft tyre. And now it just feels very hard. Locking a lot, so you just can’t create any temperature in the tyres because you’re sliding around everywhere and that’s why it was very tricky. It was actually, for my feeling, dry enough for an Intermediate but still the Wets were faster: they were a bit softer, creating a bit better temperature so you can attack the brakes better. That was very difficult in Q1. Then in Q2 at one point the Inters became a bit better because it was quite dry. Then in Q3 it started raining again quite a bit, so straight away we said, let’s go back to the extremes, and that was definitely the right choice.
And Lewis, which were the trickiest parts of the circuit, in these conditions today? And also, the pit straight was a bit dicey at the very beginning.
LH: Yeah, the pit straight was always, being that it’s a new surface, the water really stays on it. It doesn’t disappear. So, the first part, definitely, picking up the braking zone into Turn One. And then probably out of Turn Two, traction’s terrible there. And then you get to the mid-section which is fun and it’s not too bad. I would say Ascari was challenging, particularly the exit. Definitely… probably the most challenging part.
DR: It should have been Inters, I felt, with the level of water. I don’t know if it was Q1 or Q2 – it’s a long day – but the point where we went off extremes to Inters, I was sure the Inter would just be a lot more grip, but it just felt like it never really switched on. Just a very cold feeling and really low grip. I think the problem is then, because you can’t get into the tyre, because you’re sliding around and can’t really attack it, then it’s not really gaining temperature – so, unless it was drying a lot it was hard to get the Inter to work. At least that’s what we found today. It was a surprise, for sure, I thought the Inter would have been stronger in those conditions.
Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / Speed Sport) Daniel, when you took the TV camera into the Mercedes garage, did you spot anything interesting on the car?
DR: Yeah, a lot. I drew up a few things. There’s this gap that’s about 5.6mm below the rear end plate and that’s key. So I definitely saw a lot. These guys were busy playing Playstation, I think! I was just playing around, trying to entertain the fans. I know Lewis touched on it, but, yeah, it was very nice of them to stay out in the rain today and I’m glad that we got it done. At least the wait was worthwhile.
Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) To questions for Lewis. One, did you have the same feeling about the Intermediates as the two guys either side of you, and secondly, can you talk a little bit more about the balance between it being fun to drive in the wet and all the challenges that come from driving in the wet and how much fun is that car of yours in those conditions – and how much of the character of the car comes through still in the wet?
LH: The Inters, definitely it was a problem for everyone. I think we went out of them and… yeah… people are probably wondering what it means when you’re in the window and everything like that but it’s all about temperature, obviously and basically, when you’re below the temperature they’re just rock solid and so when you turn in they’re just sliding and they’re not working with the asphalt. Then, if you’re lucky, and it’s a little bit drier… we were basically just on the crossover and then a lot more rain came down, I think for Q3, so we really had to come in, it made no sense being out on that tyre. We just couldn’t go fast enough to generate enough heat and it because very, very tricky. Easy to spin off. And when you got back on the extremes, massive difference, a lot more grip, a lot more traction, tyres were working, clearing the water better. But, y’know, in Formual One you generally set the car up for the dry. Unless you know it’s a wet weekend where you can then focus on a softer set-up, here in the dry it’s more a stiffer setup you would go for – so when you get to the wet, you’re driving a stiff car and there’s not a lot of give, the flexibility in the car is very little. It definitely makes it a little trickier. But then it means it’s more like a… I don’t want to say a bull, because of these guys, but yeah, it’s a lot harder to tame it, because it’s so much more pitchy, and snappy, and then finding the groove, finding the dry patches, how quickly you get on power, it’s easy to go too deep into a corner and then you’ve got these long straights and you don’t get the exit onto those long straights. It was an amazing challenge and one that I love. And I know these guys enjoy it too.
Q: (Inaudible) Lewis, congratulations, could you please describe what it means to you to have a record that has been held Michael for a very very long time?
LH: I wish I was better with words, to be honest. I wish I had something really… something iconic to say but… I heard that it’s only switched hands a couple of times in the fifty years or whatever it is – sixty years or whatever. It’s just, again, a bit like at the last race, just growing up, watching this sport as we all have and witnessing greatness in other individuals such as Michael and just dreaming of one day doing what he’s doing or they’re doing and then actually to be there many years later. We are… and I am living proof that dreams are something that can come true so I think it’s really cool for young kids to be watching today because it’s probably hard to imagine it but I was once going there, in their position and dreaming of doing what I’m doing today which they perhaps are and very proud for what we, as a family, have achieved and it’s crazy. If I stopped now… but you know Vettel’s not far behind so I’ve got to keep going, I’ve got to keep extending it otherwise he might catch it and so I’ll stick around for a while and try to make life hell for him.
Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) Gents, were you surprised that nothing was done for about two hours to clear the standing water from the track?
LH: What could they have done?
Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) The blower didn’t go out until two hours…
LH: It was still raining so it wouldn’t have made any… by the time the blower would have gone a hundred meters the water would have been back where it was. Maybe we could have gone out and if all us cars were out there maybe we could have cleaned a bit of a line. But we saw Grosjean go off so it was tricky.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) To all of you: I don’t want to throw water on your enthusiasm for this wonderful qualifying by projecting the race tomorrow. Probably dry conditions; what do you project for the race, all of you, considering the unusual grid; Stroll second, Ocon third, Ferrari in the back, Kimi fifth, Sebastian sixth?
LH: I think it’s… well we will see. Hopefully it’s dry but obviously today would have cleaned the track so tomorrow is going to be green and obviously depending on the temperatures it’s going to make a difference but yeah, I’ve only just remembered so unfortunate for these guys because they did such a great job, it would have been awesome to have kept them there and had them more of a buffer to the guys behind but it’s great to see the youngsters… did you say Ocon and Stroll? Wow, that’s awesome. All these young kids coming through, keep me on my toes. I think it’s great because I know Ocon and Lance have also been driving so well this year and to come into a series when the cars have changed, a lot more physical than they had before, much more of a challenge, really thrown in at the deep end, they’ve done a great job, so to come to this awesome circuit and be where they are shows great promise for their futures.
MV: We’ll see tomorrow. No but it’s not a great starting position but I think in terms of pace we can definitely get into the points but it’s a bit of a shame for me that Williams and Force India, they start that far up so that’s why I think they will gain quite a bit of time on us in the first three laps but we will try our best and we’ll see where it ends up.
DR: Aaaah, probably challenge Lewis for the win!
Q: (Frank Woestenburg – De Telegraaf) Max, after the red flag it took quite a long time before the session was restarted. Do you think it took too long and that maybe… and do you think the people who make the decisions are maybe too conservative?
MV: To be honest, we did qualifying so I’m happy that we did it today instead of tomorrow, otherwise we wouldn’t be sitting here, I think.
Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) Just a general question to all three: of course it’s only hypothetical but in a similar situation in future, would it be practical to allow everybody to go to wet set-up for qualifying, even if we knew the race was dry, just to get it out there? Would it make any difference anyway and could you do it that quickly, could you convert the cars?
DR: I think it would take quite a long time. Yeah, I don’t know. It would help with grip, I don’t know how much it would help with aquaplaning and stuff. Yeah, for the amount of time and effort it would take it’s probably not worth the actual reward in my opinion.
LH: I think it would be kind of neat to be able to change the set-up, as long as you get… on Sunday, you can’t change the set-up for Sunday if it’s going to be dry for example but it would be kind of neat, it would put in a little bit more of spice in the dynamics. Adding downforce would have also helped today, switched on the intermediate, for example maybe.
Q: (Natalya Panteleeva – Automotorgr.ru) Daniel, you said that you have finished with your tradition with shoey…
MV: He has a lot of tradition. You don’t know Dan yet.
Q: (Natalya Panteleeva – Automotorgr.ru) … but when you become World Champion, will you carry on the tradition to have a drink from your shoe or will be invent something new?
LH: Like eat your socks!
DR: I don’t know. We’ll see. Hopefully I’m not old by then. If I am old by then, maybe I’ll also think drinking out of my shoe is disgusting.
LH: How old are you now?
DR: 28.
LH: I thought you were at least 35.
DR: I don’t know. To be honest, it’s a good question but I haven’t thought about anything like that. Even when I did the shoey I didn’t expect it to become a bit of a thing.
LH: You did.
DR: I didn’t really, it wasn’t… You’ve still yet to do one so… We’ll see, hopefully I’ll get to cross that bridge one day, one day soon and maybe, maybe. Thanks for having faith.
eom/FIA transcript of the Press Conference
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Hamilton takes pole, breaks Schumi’s record for all-time pole positions: F1 Italian Grand Prix
Hamilton greets with Indian style namaskar after taking pole to break the highest-pole record of legend Michael Schumacher in a rain-delayed qualifying on Saturday. An FIA image Lewis Hamilton became Formula One’s new all-time pole position record holder and claimed the record for most Italian Grand Prix poles after he took top spot in a marathon qualifying session at Monza that was interrupted by heavy rain for more than two and half hours.
In Q3 Max Verstappen had claimed provisional pole with an impressive lap of 1:36.702 as the conditions once again worsened at the Italian circuit. The Red Bull driver’s team-mate Daniel Ricciardo slotted into P2, just over a tenth of a second behind the Dutchman. Hamilton, though, was still on track and improving. The Briton eventually crossed the line in a blistering time of 1:35.554, 1.148s ahead of Verstappen, to claim his 69th career pole position and eclipse Michael Schumacher’s previous benchmark.
Verstappen held second place ahead of Ricciardo, while Williams’ Lance Stroll and Force India’s Esteban Ocon impressed with fourth and fifth places respectively. Stroll is set to start from the front row tomorrow, as both Red Bull drivers will take engine-related grid penalties ahead of the start.
Ferrari, meanwhile, endured a difficult qualifying, with Kimi Räikkönen finishing seventh and Sebastian Vettel in eighth.
After final practice was disrupted by the weather, Qualifying got underway in improved though still wet conditions. And with the rain intensifying as the pit exit opened, a queue of cars formed up, the intention being to put in a ‘banker’ lap before the weather worsened.
Hamilton quickly rose to the top of the order with a time of 1:40.128, followed by Vettel, more than two seconds behind. Romain Grosjean was third of the seven cars to have posted a time when five minutes into Q1 the Frenchman hit trouble. Grosjean’s Haas aquaplaned on the start/finish straight and slide into the barrier at Turn 1. The incident, along with the worsening conditions, immediately brought out the red flags.
As the rain continued to fall heavily, Race Control was forced into a long series of 15-minute delays, but eventually, almost two hours and a half hours after the scheduled start of Q1, conditions improved and at 1640 local time the session got underway again.
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton set the pace for much of Q1, with a time of 1:36.009 set on full wets. However, as the session unfolded most drivers moved to intermediates and in the last moments Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes stole top spot with a lap of 1:35.716.
At the bottom of the order Haas’ Kevin Magnussen was in eliminated in P16 ahead of Renault’s Jolyon Palmer, the Saubers of Marcus Ericsson and Pascal Wehrlein and Grosjean, who did not take part in the re-started session following his crash.
Verstappen was first on track in Q2, the Dutchman reverting to full wet Pirelli tyres. That appeared to be the right choice early on as Hamilton, on inters, slotted into second place, four tenths of a second adrift. The advantage of the extreme wets didn’t last long however, and drivers quickly began to find a sweet sport with the green Pirelli and after a brief spell in which Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel held sway, Hamilton took top spot. The Briton then made steady improvements to eventually led the segment with a time of 1:34.660.
In the drop zone with two minutes left on the clock were Esteban Ocon, Daniil Kvyat, Carlos Sainz, Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso. Of that quintet only Ocon escaped, the Frenchman jumping to P10 with his final lap. Behind him team-mate Perez was eliminated in P11 ahead of Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg, Alonso. Kvyat and Sainz.
Q3 saw steady improvements across the board, despite the rain arriving again. It was the Red Bulls who made the biggest initial impression with Verstappen and Ricciardo trading P1 times as Ferrari, in particular, seemed to struggle in the conditions. Force India’s Esteban Ocon too was putting in an impressive performance and as the final moments arrived the Frenchman set the quickest first sector to threaten an upset. His bid fizzled in the final two sectors, however, while Verstappen’s chances improved.
The Ductman set an impressive time of 1:36.702 to claim provisional pole and Red Bull looked to be in with a chance of a front-row lockout when Daniel slotted into P2 a tenth behind.
Hamilton had a record in his sights though and his pace was phenomenal. The Briton blasted to his 69th pole in a time of 1:35.554 to finish 1.1s ahead of Verstappen and to moved him ahead of Michael Schumacher’s all-time record of 68. The lap also means that Hamilton now has six Italian GP poles, moving him one clear of Juan Manuel Fangio and Jim Clark.
Red Bull’s performance was bitter sweet, however. Both its drivers are set to take grid penalties for tomorrow’s race and thus it will be Williams’ teenage driver Lance Stroll who lines up on the front row beside Hamiton after the Canadian rookie put in an exceptional performance to claim P4 in qualifying with a time of 1:37.032, almost seven tenths clear of Ocon who will start at the front of row two alongside Bottas.
eom/FIA press release
