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Tag: Hamilton
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Hamilton sets the fastest time in FP2: Russian Grand Prix
Shanghai, 29 April 2016: Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time of the second practice for the Russian Grand Prix, as Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel’s afternoon was cut short due to electronics problems.
Vettel was one of the first drivers to take to the track at the start of the 90-minute afternoon session at the Sochi Autodrom and he quickly set an early benchmark with a time of 1:38.921 that was just five thousandths of a second quicker than the first flying lap of Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg.
Vettel’s time held until 17 minutes into the session when Hamilton, who had struggled over his early laps popped up with a time of 1:38.311, 0.610s faster than the Ferrari driver.
Rosberg then improved to briefly dislodge Vettel but the German quickly reclaimed top spot with a time 0.076s up on the Mercedes pair.
That was to be Vettel’s last action of the session, however. On his next tour the German slowed and eventually ground to a halt on the start-finish straight. He was quickly on the radio to tell his team that he had “lost electronics”. His car was recovered to the garage but he would play no further part in the session.
Forty minutes into the session Hamilton reclaimed P1 with a lap of 1:37.583 that was 0.652s faster than Vettel’s effort.
Rosberg, though had hit traffic and he contented himself with third on the timesheet two tenths of a second behind Vettel as he returned to the pit lane for a period before emerging with half an hour left on the clock on a set of used supersoft tyres. Hamilton, meanwhile, stayed in the garage as Mercedes worked on set-up changes on his car.
Behind Rosberg, Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen took fourth spot with a time just over three tenths of the Mercedes driver.
Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo set the afternoon’s fifth fastest time, 1.5s behind Hamilton’s benchmark and a tenth clear of Williams’ Valtteri Bottas. Daniil Kvyat was seventh in the second Red Bull.
eom/FIA press release
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Hamilton edges out Rosberg to take pole; Hulkenberg P8 for Force India
Sakhir, 2 April 2016: Lewis Hamilton set the fastest ever lap of the Bahrain International Circuit to take pole position for tomorrow’s Bahrain Grand Prix.
The champion was pushed hard by team-mate Nico Rosberg, however, and with the competition tight at the front of the grid, the second instalment of the sport’s elimination-style qualifying format saw the top drivers take to the circuit for a second run, which saw Hamilton post a blistering lap of 1:29.493 to beat his team-mate.
It was an impressive lap from the champion, as on the first run in Q3 he had run wide and found himself in fourth place as Rosberg put in a faultless sub-1:30s lap to seize the initiative. Hamilton dug deep, however, and as the clock counted out Ferrari’s fourth-placed Kimi Raikkonen, the three-time champion found enough pace to edge Rosberg by just under eight hundredths of a second.
“The car felt great. It’s quite incredible to think that we are quicker now to the V10 days. It just shows how far technology has come,” said Hamilton of the lap. “It’s obviously not been a smooth-sailing weekend in terms of pace. Nico’s been right on it all weekend and I was just generally struggling to put laps together,” he added. “Luckily the one lap I did put together was the last lap. That was actually the only lap probably the whole weekend so far. I hope that’s the first of many.”
Sebastian Vettel took third place for Ferrari, just under half a second off Rosberg’s pace.
Behind Raikkonen, Daniel Ricciardo took a solid fifth place for Red Bull Racing. His lap of 1:30.854 put him ahead of both Williams drivers and confirms that the Milton Keynes squad currently have the upper hand over the Grove outfit, at least with one car.
Ricciardo’s team-mate Daniil Kvyat scraped through to Q2 but couldn’t improve and was the first man out in second session that proved the most lacklustre of the three, with few drivers managing to get in ‘survival’ runs. Neither McLaren drove managed a second run, though Stoffel Vandoorne though, managed to edge McLaren team-mate Jenson Button, and Haas’ Esteban Gutierrez was also ruled out while sitting in the garage.
Nico Hulkenberg did manage to get in another hot lap, however, and with his team having timed his track time right, the German driver did his part by vaulting into P8 to secure the last place in Q3.
His success meant Romain Grosjean was ruled in P9 ahead of Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz.
In the opening phase of the session, the big casualty was Force India’s Sergio Perez, who qualified in 18thposition. The best performance of the opening segment came from Manor’s Pascal Wehrlein, who final hot lap in the session saw him climb from the bottom of the order to a very respectable P16. His time of 1:32.806 was 1.3s better than that of his 21st-placed team-mate Rio Haryanto.
Behind Wehrlein were Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson, the hapless Perez, Kevin Masgnussen of Renault – who completed just one run as a penalty means he will start from the pit lane tomorrow – team-mate Jolyon Palmer, Haryanto and Sauber’s Felipe Nasr.
2016 Bahrain Grand Prix – Qualifying
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:31.391 1:30.039 1.29.493
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:31.325 1:30.535 1:29.570
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:31.636 1:30.409 1:30.012
4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:31.685 1:30.559 1:30.244
5 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:31.403 1:31.122 1:30.854
6 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:31.672 1:30.931 1:31.153
7 Felipe Massa Williams 1:32.045 1:31.374 1:31.155
8 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:31.987 1:31.604 1:31.620
9 Romain Grosjean Haas Ferrari 1:32.005 1:31.756
10 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1:31.888 1:31.772
11 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:31.716 1:31.816
12 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 1:32.472 1:31.934
13 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:32.118 1:31.945
14 Jenson Button McLaren 1:31.976 1:31.998
15 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull Racing 1:32.559 1:32.241
16 Pascal Wehrlein Manor Racing 1:32.806
17 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:32.840
18 Sergio Perez Force India 1:32.911
19 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:33.181
20 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:33.438
21 Rio Haryanto Manor Racing 1:34.190
22 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:34.388eom/FIA press release
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Hamilton praises team after taking 50th pole at Australian GP
DRIVERS
1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
2 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)
3 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)TV UNILATERAL
Lewis, your 50th career pole, only Senna and Schumacher have gone beyond that mark, on top of it all weekend it would seem, through practice and qualifying, you must be delighted?
Lewis HAMILTON: Absolutely. First, I really have to… I’m not going to take my hat off, but really take my hat off to this team. What they’ve done to raise the bar once more in our third year to be fighting the rest, it’s just… truly for me, it inspires me, it motivates me and I really enjoyed driving the car today in qualifying. We got the set-up just right. There were some sexy laps. They felt so good. Just flowing and no real mistakes and that’s really all you can hope for as a driver is to always improved and that’s what we did today. Really happy.Nico, turning to you, the heat was on you, certainly towards the end. A couple of mistakes in Turn One, both on your first run in Q1 and also in Q3, just not your day today?
Nico ROSBERG: No, the last lap was good, just Lewis did a better job, that’s it. But mainly it’s impressive to see how the team in the third year running now, it seems, of course it’s very early days, so let’s be careful but for sure this weekend we seem to be the quickest out there by a good margin. It’s amazing to see that. Because the risk is always when you’re dominating that you start to become complacent and that’s a big risk always, everybody has experienced that, but it seems that we’re able to push through and so that’s really awesome. Of course, not happy with second place but still a lot of opportunities for tomorrow starting from second.So Sebastian, we now have a bit of a picture: it looked close in free practice three, you split the Mercedes after the first run in Q3 but ultimately the margin is still pretty large to Lewis. You used up your tyres earlier on than they did as well, so is your feeling sitting here now one of disappointment?
Sebastian VETTEL: Not really. I think I said many times that we have done a step forwards, which I think we have. I think especially tomorrow we should be quite a bit closer. We expected them to be strong in qualifying, which they were. I think we had a bit of a rougher start to find a bit the rhythm, certainly I had, and it was just getting better throughout qualifying. Very happy with the lap I had in the end, so we called it there and saved the set of tyres for tomorrow. Surely we’re not on the front row but we still have high hopes for the race and it’s going to be a long year, we know this car has a lot of potential, so I think as a starting out third and fourth, locking out the second row, is a good achievement. The team’s been pushing very hard and as I said we have a long year ahead of us.Back to you again Lewis. Obviously the race tomorrow, you’re looking for your third Australian Grand Prix victory. Do you do so with a bit of calmness this evening as you prepare?
LH: I’m generally, quite often, mostly calm, but there is a lot of work to do tonight. Obviously with these radio changes and less communication there’s a lot more studying that goes on for all of us in terms of remembering the sequence, things like we can’t be told if the strategy is changing throughout the race, so you kind of have to anticipate what happens. If they give us a different tyre we kind of have to guess it – could be a two, three, whatever stops we’re doing. I’m excited. I think it’s a new thing; we’re all in the same boat. I hope that it adds to the spectacle tomorrow, I highly doubt it, but we shall see.Q: Lewis, your fifth pole in Australia, you talked a moment ago about having done some sexy laps. What is the key to a really good lap here in qualifying and did the format with the elimination and particularly all the traffic there at the beginning, did any of that put any more pressure on you today?
LH: Not really, it was very much the same as usual. You have to go out and get your clear laps. Maybe there was a little bit more pressure on us as a team, and the way we operated but generally we just did the normal in terms of getting the laps. What I mean by sexy laps, they were just, when you finished… the car felt good, moved, it was like a beautiful rhythm. Felt like James Brown at the end of the lap.Q: Nico, coming to you, obviously we’ve got a bunch of new rule changes this year, Lewis just referred to the radio change in his previous answer. The third one of course is the option of more tyres going into the race. Now, clearly that’s a strategic thing, you’re the guy who needs an extra something to work with. Do you see it giving you an opportunity to do something on strategy tomorrow?
NR: For sure, because there are going to be more unknowns in the race tomorrow, definitely. If Lewis gets a start, after that, if they have to change his strategy because of traffic behind or something, that he’s going to drop out into, he won’t know about it. So, that’s for sure, there’s scenarios where you can lose out quite a lot. And, of course, starting second, I like that. It increases the chances, y’know?Q: Essentially the same question to you Sebastian. You mentioned earlier on about your tactic in terms of the tyres. You’ve got more variability, there is less information coming to you from the team, are you sitting there thinking you have a chance to get among these guys tomorrow?
SV: I do. Not because of the changes in rules but in general I think in the race you can always creating something. Tomorrow we try obviously to push very hard and create something. Everybody knows roughly what to do. It’s not the first race that we’re going to do. Bottom line is that the regulations haven’t changed so the cars are similar to drive compared to last year. Hope that we can put definitely more pressure than today on both of them in the race tomorrow.QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Ralf Bach – Auto Bild motorsport) Question to Matteo, how does it feel to drive a Mercedes car?
Matteo BONCIANI: Next questionQ: (Daniel Johnson – The Telegraph) To all three of you: so we had the new qualifying system today and for most of Q3, what we saw on the TV was guys sat in the car and then getting out without going and doing a lap. Nico and Lewis, the two of you went out and did some laps and then with three minutes left, came in the garage and nothing more happened and the chequered flag waved with no one out there. Christian Horner’s already said that he thinks F1 should apologise to the fans for the show it’s put on. Toto, your boss, said it’s rubbish. It’s difficult when you’re in it but I wondered what you thought of it, whether F1 should apologise and whether we should go back to the old system as soon as we can?
LH: Well, we’ve not seen it so we don’t really know how it worked for the others. We said at the beginning that it wasn’t the right way but it’s like you can’t knock it before you try it. We tried it and all the engineers were right. It doesn’t make no difference to me at the end of the day. I did what I had to do.
SV: I had time to get changed…
NR: It’s good that F1 tries but it’s the wrong way so we should go back to the other system, for the fans.
Q: For the whole three sessions or just the final part?
NR: For the last one especially, I’m not really able to judge for the previous two, but especially for Q3.
SV: Well, I think it’s very easy. I don’t see why everybody’s surprised now. We all said what’s going to happen, it happened so obviously we were told to wait and see but now we saw and I don’t think it was very exciting. It was a bit crazy in the beginning with all the cars pushing and trying to do a lap before they get potentially kicked out so managing traffic… it’s quite busy but for no reason because the time is there in the session to do it and in the end, also for the people in the grandstands, I don’t feel it’s the right way to go. There are no cars to watch. In the end they want to see Lewis, Nico, Kimi, whoever, pushing it to the limit at the end of the session when the track’s supposed to be at its best etc. I don’t know we need the criticism now, we had the criticism already but it’s surely the wrong way to go, that’s what we said.
LH: The good thing is that they tried something new and ultimately that is a good step, that we’re actually trying something new but it’s trial and error so maybe not just go back to the old way…
SV: There’s a certain responsibility as well. We can’t just try things that many of us criticise, us included.
LH: But why can’t you…
SV: You can’t just turn around and say it was the wrong thing, we need to be sensible and try to do the right changes.
LH: But that’s what they tried to do even though everyone told them it was the wrong one.
SV: Yes.
LH: Let’s leave it there.Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Sebastian, did you sit in the pits at the end because you didn’t have any more supersoft tyres or because you said you wanted to save a set of tyres? But when we went through the sessions I think you have already consumed three before.
SV: Yeah, it’s true, we had to go out again in Q2 so I think the fact that we called it off in Q3 was due to the fact that I had a good lap on the first try and we wanted then to save a set of tyres for tomorrow. Obviously, we would have liked to do it with only one run in Q2 but it wasn’t strong enough so I had to go out again, so that’s a fact, it was not due to the new format but I think in general, as I said earlier, it’s just wrong when the clock’s ticking and nobody’s on track.Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Nico, did it ever cross your mind that the chain of six pole positions was broken today and does it means anything to you?
NR: No, I hadn’t thought of that but yes, a pity but that’s not on my mind when I’m going out and qualifying for the first race of the season, for sure not.eom/FIA transcript
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Rosberg ends the season with a dominant win; Cool Hami takes second followed by Raikkonen
Nico Rosberg took a third consecutive win with a dominant drive at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, beating world championship-winning team-mate Lewis Hamilton by a comfortable eight seconds as Kimi Räikkönen took third place ahead of Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel, who rose from 15th on the grid to take fourth place.
Racing into the lead from pole position at the start, Rosberg was always in control and across his opening stint on used supersoft tyres he opened up a gap of almost five seconds to Hamilton in second place.
The Briton had to fend off challenges from Räikkönen and Force India’s fourth-on-the-grid Sergio Perez at the start but he soon settled into second place. Perez held his starting position ahead of team-mate Nico Hulkenberg and Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo.
Further back Vettel was already making up ground, rising from 15th to 12th by the end of lap one, despite making contact with Max Verstappen’s Toro Rosso. Having started on the soft prime tyre , the German then briefly rose to second place as the supersoft starters around him began to pit, with Rosberg stopping on lap nine and Hamilton following his team-mate a lap later.
At the start of the second stint Roberg began to stretch his legs, broadening the gap to 7s but Hamilton then began to push, chopping two seconds off the deficit by lap 22 and then reducing it by a further 2.5s over the next few laps.
With Rosberg in more trouble with tyres than his team-mate Hamilton elected to extend the stint, hoping to keep up the momentum and erase the deficit as Rosberg’s pace dropped and he worked through his pit stop, which came at the end of lap 31.
The German switched to soft tyres and began to close on Hamilton in a bid to cover any decision by Hamilton’s crew to put the Briton on the more fragile but significantly faster supersoft tyres for his final stint. He eventually brought matters under control with a 10s gap to his team-mate with 15 laps remaining.
The threat of Hamilton on supersofts never materialized, however, and when the Briton made his final visit to pit lane he took on soft tyres and emerged 12s adrift of his team-mate. Rosberg then controlled matters until the chequered flag to finish 8.2s in front to claim his sixth win of the year and his third in a row.
Behind them Räikkönen ploughed a lonely furrow in third place, having got past team-mate Vettel as the German’s tyres faded towards the end of his first soft-tyre stint.
Vettel pitted on lap 24 for another set of softs and then with 15 laps to go the German switched to the quicker supesofts. The injection of pace allowed him to haul himself up to an excellent fourth place, passing Ricciardo and Perez in the closing stages.
Perez clung onto fifth ahead of Ricciardo, with Nico Hulkenber finishing seventh, ahead of Williams’ Felipe Massa.
Romain Grosjean, in his final race for Lotus, worked a three-strategy well to surge through to the points positions in the final stages and he finished ninth ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Daniil Kvyat.
Carlos Sainz’s race was hampered by a slow first pit stop and he finished in 11th place ahead of team-mate Verstappen. Jenson Button was 13th for McLaren, aherad of Williams’ Valtteri Bottas who collided with Button in the pits and was forced to make an additional stop as a result.
Marcus Ericsson beat team-mate Felipe Nasr to take P15, while Fernando Alonso was 17th, the Spaniard having collided with Lotus’ Pastor Maldonado at the start. Will Stevens beat Manor team-mate Roberto Merhi by taking 18th place.
2015 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Race
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:38:30.175
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +8.271
3 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari +19.430
4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari +43.735
5 Sergio Perez Force India +63.952
6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing +65.010
7 Nico Hulkenberg Force India +93.618
8 Felipe Massa Williams +97.751
9 Romain Grosjean Lotus F1 Team +98.201
10 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull Racing +102.371
11 Carlos Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso +103.525
12 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso +1 lap
13 Jenson Button McLaren +1 lap
14 Valtteri Bottas Williams +1 lap
15 Marcus Ericsson Sauber +1 lap
16 Felipe Nasr Sauber +1 lap
17 Fernando Alonso McLaren +2 laps
18 Will Stevens Manor +2 laps
19 Roberto Merhi Manor +3 laps
R Pastor Maldonado Lotus Collisioneom/FIA press conference transcript
Rosberg takes the chequered flag at Abu Dhabi GP on Sunday. He won more races but a consistent Hamilton clinched the F1 title with many races to spare. FIA image -
Mercedes Benz is the best team in the world and I am proud to be part of it, says champ Hamilton
DRIVERS1 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)
2 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
3 – Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (Ferrari)
PODIUM INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by David Coulthard)
Q: Nico, that must taste good?
Nico ROSBERG: Delicious! The best ever!
Q: It’s been an incredible end to the season. This was, to me, your most dominant win of the season, so tell us a little bit about the race and the hunger you took into this final race of the season.
NR: No, I mean, yeah, Austin was sort of the low point of the season. It was a tough weekend and since then I’ve just come back a lot stronger and I’m very happy about that. I’m excited about how the end of the season went. Next year can come any moment. It could start tomorrow if it were for me, no problem, I don’t need any holidays! But, no, it’s great to end the season like this, go on holiday like this and thank you so much, you’ve been awesome again this weekend, for all your support and everything, thanks to my team, absolutely stunning car you’ve all given me again today – just unbelievable. Ecstatic.
Q: You mentioned Austin there. We could see the disappointment as the realisation the championship had slipped away at that race. Can you tell us a little bit, give the fans at home an insight. You’ve got the enemy within the team, you work together to develop this great product but your success is Lewis’ failure and his success is your failure. Can you give us an insight into how you manage that? Because you guys have known each other since you were kids.
NR: Yeah, it’s always tough to race Lewis, he’s doing an awesome job and he’s one of the best out there, so an even better feeling to win, definitely against such opposition. It’s a great battle internally all the time. That’s what I race for, such battles, and I look forwards to more next year.
Q: Does that mean you guys can go and have dinner together now and reflect on what was an amazing season for the team?
NR: Let’s skip that part – maybe we’ll catch up in the Amber Lounge later on.
Q: Lewis, an amazing season for you – your World Champion Ladies and Gentleman – it’s been a great season for you, I couldn’t help but notice it doesn’t seem to have finished quite as strong as it started. We heard you mention that there have been some changed to the car and it hasn’t quite suited you but is it as simple as that or is there something else we need to know now the season’s over?
Lewis HAMILTON: Well, firstly it’s been an amazing – an amazing – year, and happy 44th UAE National Day. So happy to be here and celebrating it with the UAE, they’ve done an amazing job for this show – and what a great crowd we’ve had today. No man, it’s been a good year. I’m happy. I’m happy it’s over, for sure. So now we can really enjoy. I really have to take my hat off to this team who once again did an amazing job in building this car. The pitstops today, the performance through the whole year, they’ve surpassed their own expectations, our expectations, and so we’ve truly shown that Mercedes-Benz is the best team in the world. I’m proud to be a part of it.
Q: Just to touch on strategy, we heard you again on the radio, asking the team “can I go the distance on these tyres?” We know the team have to deliver the one-two result. Nico earned the pole, he was leading the race – is that just the inner racer in you? Even though you probably know ahead of time that there’s nothing that can be done, that’s why you’re pushing your engineers, pushing the team.
LH: No, I think in hindsight once Nico pitted I would probably have backed off a little bit and I would have made those tyres go a lot longer. The tyres were still fine at the end so I honestly felt that I could potentially have taken them to the end. But as that didn’t work out, going too long was probably not the right thing to do – but y’know, we gave it a try and did the best job I could with it.
Q: I’ll just come around to Kimi Räikkönen. Ladies and Gentlemen, statistically this is the most popular man in Formula One. You probably say less than any of the other drivers, so welcome back to the podium. It’s not been a great season for you but that was a World Champion’s drive today – so why has it taken so long in the season to deliver this great performance?
Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: I think we started better this season but obviously not been ideal this year. That’s how it goes sometimes. And y’know, the speed has been there but mistakes and problems and stuff like that. So the end result hasn’t been great many times but today, or this weekend, was a bit better. Everything was working well and things were running smoothly, car handling well, so, it was good – but obviously not enough still to beat these two but, y’know we did our best.
Q: Nico, finally with yourself, the smile says it all. The World Championship is the one thing… this is your 14th victory. You can take pole positions, you can win grands prix – how are you going to attack the winter and come back next year and try and beat this man?
NR: Well I look forward to it as I’m sure it’s going to be another great season next year. I’m sure the team is going to give us an awesome car again. Of course we’re aware of the threat from the red guys and we don’t them to come too close and we’ll give it everything over the winter. I’ll try to keep it going, the current form, starting next year.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: You knew what Lewis was doing, obviously, in terms of strategy in the final part of the Grand Prix, the offset on the tyres etc, and you responded. Are you pleased with the way you drove today?
NR: Yeah, for sure, ecstatic with the way it went, because really master-managed… controlled the pace through the race and managed my tyres and used them optimally and pushed all the way through to the end, so had good pace there with tyres that’s for sure and had a lot more laps on them than Lewis’s so very pleased with that, definitely.
Q: I wonder which of the two of you goes into the winter feeling the happier?
NR: I’m feeling very happy.
Q: Lewis, you’re a three time World Champion, it’s been a record-breaking year, which of the two of you goes into the winter feeling the happier?
LH: I think being World Champion sounds a lot better than winning the race, so that’s good.
Q: Tell us a little bit about your race because we were let in on quite a lot of radio, partly, as David Coulthard just referred to there, your question whether or not there was an argument for staying out, but also in the final stages there to do with the engine modes and some quite firm instructions from your engineer, what they wanted you to do. Maybe you could just let us into that a little bit and also from a strategy point of view, you pitted after Vettel who went onto supersofts and you put softs on, so maybe you could just explain that?
LH: Well, I just did what I was told pretty much, most of the time and then yeah, I tried as hard as I could in the first stint, I tried to keep a relatively decent gap to Nico, looking after my tyres and then my right front… or both fronts went off quite early and Nico was able to… in the clean air, was able to look after them. In the second stint I was quicker and getting close and then… I could make the tyres last longer, yeah, of course, but after that it was really down to the team, whether or not we went to the option or the other tyre. I’m not sure which one was better but the prime tyre was quite good. I’m not sure whether or not I could have taken it to the end but some part of me just wishes I’d just given it a go. But no, the engine modes were going up and down throughout the race, not really sure they were like that because they had lots of life left in my engine but I’ll ask when I get back to the debrief.
Q: Kimi, your third podium of this championship, you finished eleven seconds behind Lewis which is about 0.2s per lap over the Grand Prix distance here. Do you take encouragement from the way that Ferrari’s finished the last couple of races going into the winter and next year?
KR: I think the whole year, as a team, has been quite good comparing last year and obviously not so good for myself but the speed has been there and it’s just not been able to produce the results and having some issues and mistakes but this weekend has been pretty OK, the car’s been handling well. I think in the race we could have been quite a bit closer but we had some issues at both pit stops so we lost some time and then I slowed down a bit. But I think we had a reasonably good speed, they didn’t really pull away a lot from us. At certain points, I think we were catching them and then they were pulling out but not an awful lot in it. It’s never nice to finish third but I’ll take it after previous races. I guess it always could have been a better finish but OK, I think it was more or less what we expected to get.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Lennart Bernke – Bild) Nico, Lewis, will you get each other a Christmas present?
NR: Hmm, maybe a Christmas card.
LH: I don’t think we’ve ever done either so there’s no reason to change.
Q: (Rami Akhawi – Car on Web) Nico, about next year, are we going to see you as a World Champion, because already you entered the season with great victories, so is it the same way to start 2016?
NR: Well, unfortunately 2016 is so far away. At the moment I’m just enjoying now, enjoying the wins. I’m going to party tonight, I’m enjoying the fun, enjoying that I progressed also a lot in the end of the season, too late for the championship of course, but so great now to have it and that’s it. I can’t tell you about next year unfortunately, but I’ll give it everything
Q: (Fadi Kallassina – Arab Shift) Lewis, what’s your feeling for not getting the first position with the 44 celebration national day?
LH: I’m really grateful to have been associated with the UAE with the 44th national day. Yeah, I’m still going for that 44th win. I’m quite happy with the amount of wins I’ve had in my career. Of course, I always want more but I have to be grateful for the ones I do have. Hopefully we’ve got another three years with this team so I’m looking forward to next year, to come back fit and healthy and let’s see what we can do next year.
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, does it now, afterwards, feel any better to finish the season fourth (in the Drivers’ championship) instead of being fifth and especially after being 12th last season?
KR: Not really. You guys have been asking between me and Valtteri for a long time and still it doesn’t make much difference to me. It’s not what you think, a Finnish championship, it’s a World Championship and there are winners it goes from there. If you don’t win, it doesn’t make an awful lot of difference if you’re second, wherever you finish. I’m happy to have had a kind of OK race in the last one but it doesn’t change anything really of how our season went, what to expect for next year. One of the better weekends but we’ll take it and go from here.
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Rosberg pips Hamilton, tops in FP2: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the last race of the season
Abu Dhabi, 27 Nov 2015: Nico Rosberg took over at the top of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend timesheet, running just over a tenth of a second quicker than team-mate Lewis Hamilton, the fastest man from the early afternoon opening session.
Rosberg’s best time, set in the period of running on this weekend’s options supersoft tyres, was a
Rosberg tops FP2 on Fri 27nov2015 Abu Dhabi FIA pic 1:41.983. Hamilton set off on his qualifying style run after the German but fell short by 0.138s.
Sergio Perez took a surprise third place for Force India, though he best lap was six tenths down on Rosberg’s P1 time. Fourth place in the session went to Daniel Ricciardo with the Red Bull Racing drivers’ lap of 1:42.647 being just under a tenth of a second better than that of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.
Daniil Kvyat was sixth-quickest in the second Red Bull Racing car, the Russian finishing ahead of Ferraris Kimi Räikkönen and the second Force India of Nico Hulkenberg.
Fernando Alonso managed to haul his McLaren-Honda into the top 10 with a lap of 1:42.955 that was inside a second of Rosberg. Tenth placein the session went to Lotus’ Pastor Maldonado.
Unlike the mostly smooth running of first practice the evening session saw Carlos Sainz hit trouble. With half an hour remaining, the Spaniard was forced to stop his car on circuit with an apparent engine issue.
The main incident of the session came with 30 minutes to go, when Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz was forced to stop his car due to an apparent engine problem.
Perez’s good evening also came to an early end with the Mexican bowing out with brake issues with 15 minutes left on the clock.
2015 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:41.983 39
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:42.121 +0.138 31
3 Sergio Perez Force India 1:42.610 +0.627 23
4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:42.647 +0.664 37
5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:42.717 +0.734 35
6 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull Racing 1:42.798 +0.815 34
7 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:42.849 +0.866 36
8 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:42.928 +0.945 35
9 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:42.955 +0.972 31
10 Pastor Maldonado Lotus F1 Team 1:43.431 +1.448 37
11 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:43.441 +1.458 32
12 Felipe Massa Williams 1:43.506 +1.523 33
13 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1:43.662 +1.679 40
14 Carlos Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso 1:43.854 +1.871 20
15 Romain Grosjean Lotus F1 Team 1:43.929 +1.946 27
16 Jenson Button McLaren 1:44.050 +2.067 32
17 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:44.116 +2.133 37
18 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:45.245 +3.262 28
19 Will Stevens Manor 1:46.450 +4.467 35
20 Roberto Merhi Manor 1:47.022 +5.039 27eom/FIA press release
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Hamilton edges out teammate Rosberg to top FP1 looking for his 44th GP
Abu Dhabi, 27 Nov 2015: Gunning for his 44th win,
Hamilton tops FP1 at Abu Dhabi on Friday An FIA image Lewis Hamilton edged Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg to go quickest by a tenth of a second in the first practice session for the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Hamilton posted his best time an hour into the 90-minute session, logging a lap of 1:43.754 to slot into P1 ahead of Rosberg whose best was 0.141 down on the champion elect.
Kimi Räikkönen was third quickest for Ferrari, though the Finn ended the session seven tenths of a second adrift of Hamilton’s time. Red Bull Racing’s Daniil Kvyat was fourth, almost a full second behind Hamilton, while fifth-placed Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari and Force India’s sixth-placed Nico Hulkenberg were the only other driver to get within a second of Hamilton’s benchmark.
Kvyat’s Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo finished in seventh place, ahead of Sergio Perez in the second Force India. Lotus’ Pastor Maldonado was the ninth quickest man and the top 10 order was completed by Williams’ Felipe Massa.
The session was incident-free but there was trouble for Lotus’ reserve Jolyon Palmer.
The Briton, who will race for the team in 2016, had been pencilled in for a full session in place of Romain Grosjean but with the team experiencing delays to its car build programme, Palmer was only able to take to track in the final 10 minutes of the session. He completed just eight laps for a best time of 1:46.501, more than two and half seconds off the P1 time.
2015 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Free Practice 1
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:43.754 27
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:43.895 +0.141 31
3 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:44.500 +0.746 26
4 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull Racing 1:44.702 +0.948 23
5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:44.742 +0.988 22
6 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:44.751 +0.997 22
7 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:44.893 +1.139 25
8 Sergio Perez Force India 1:44.934 +1.180 27
9 Pastor Maldonado Lotus F1 Team 1:45.314 +1.560 28
10 Felipe Massa Williams 1:45.433 +1.679 19
11 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:45.603 +1.849 22
12 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1:45.718 +1.964 32
13 Jenson Button McLaren 1:45.773 +2.019 15
14 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:45.865 +2.111 20
15 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:46.115 +2.361 20
16 Carlos Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso 1:46.220 +2.466 21
17 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:46.407 +2.653 28
18 Jolyon Palmer Lotus F1 Team 1:46.501 +2.747 8
19 Will Stevens Manor 1:48.836 +5.082 19
20 Roberto Merhi Manor 1:49.888 +6.134 20eom/FIA press release
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The best year of my career, says champion Hamilton
DRIVERS – Fernando ALONSO (McLaren), Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes), Romain GROSJEAN (Lotus), Daniil KVYAT (Red Bull Racing), Roberto MERHI (Manor), Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (Ferrari)
PRESS CONFERENCE
First of all then, a question to you all: how would you sum up your year and what was your favourite moment? Romain, why don’t you get us started.
Romain GROSJEAN: Well, I think the favourite moment is pretty easy – Spa Francorchamps, the podium. To summarise the year: it was a pretty good year I think in terms of driving. We had a good baseline to start the year with the car. We couldn’t really update it as much as we wanted but still fighting for sixth in the Constructors’ Championship, so pretty pleased with that and yeah, last year with Lotus.And Daniil?
Daniil KVYAT: Well, a very eventful year I would say, it went by very quickly. I think the start was quite painful but then I think I’m proud of how we managed to climb our way up through all the issues that we had to start with and then I think we kind of stabilised there. Some strong races and some good points, but obviously we are always looking for more in the future. The highlight I think was the podium, even though I wouldn’t say it was the best race. We had a couple of really strong races, I would say even the last couple of races I was quite pleased about them. Hoping to finish on high here, yeah.Kimi?
Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: Pretty average, I must say. Better than last year but still far away from what it should be. But there’s life and next year we’ll try again.Roberto?
Roberto MERHI: Yeah for sure we started in a very difficult way, with no testing and to be honest I never drove this car before. But I think through the year the thing improved quite a lot – I mean the team and also the car and also me, driving the car. I think the last races were quite good. And obviously the best moment of the year I would say were the last laps in Silverstone with the wet or maybe the qualifying in Spielberg was quite good.And Fernando, how would you sum up your year and can you pick out a favourite moment?
Fernando ALONSO: Well, tough year, obviously difficult and struggling with the pace all year and the reliability, so definitely a difficult season for us. But personally I think it was necessary. It was a step forward in my career after the two championships, after five fantastic seasons fighting for the world championship but arriving second, so I needed some new motivation, some new project that I could trust and I could believe is the only way to become champion again. After one difficult season, as I said, I learn so much. I enjoy working with McLaren, with Honda, with all the Japanese discipline and Japanese culture into the team. I still remain very positive. I’m very, very happy and looking forward to next year being a little bit easier than this one that, as I said, has been difficult in terms of results.And finally, Lewis, how would you sum up your year. So many favourite moments I’m sure, difficult to pick one?
Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah, what can I say? Obviously all different experiences but it has been the best year of my career and I’m in a very fortunate position, a lot of great work done by my team. Probably one of the best races for me was Austin obviously, the pinnacle of the year for me. Yeah, and excited to be here in Abu Dhabi, with the 44th UAE national day and I’m here to try to win that 44th race, which I still haven’t done, so it’s cool how it all kind of ties in.Did you see all the 44s around here did you think that was for you, rather for the day?
LH: Well it is my number, it’s associated with me, so….Fernando, you mentioned there it has been a tough season and it’s coming to an end here. Your 252nd grand prix start, it puts you fifth on the all-time most experienced drivers list. You talked a bit there about motivation and I just wondered what is your main motivation and goal for 2016.
FA: At the moment there’s a question mark, I guess, where McLaren-Honda can be next year. There are a lot of expectations in the team. I think we worked really all season, being united in some difficult moments and always moving forward, so I think for 2016 the main goal for the team is to come back to where we belong, we think, and being competitive, fighting for the top positions. I don’t know if that means fighting for the championship, I don’t know if that means fighting for victories of just being on the podium sometimes, that’s always difficult to know in a very complex sport like Formula One. There are definitely some big challenges ahead in this winter and I see all the things that the team has done in the last couple of months and these seem very logical, very positive and I’m confident that it’s going to be a completely different season next year and I’m happy with the progress.Thank you. Lewis, coming back to you, I know you are very aware of fans on social media and the discussions that take place. There’s been a lot of discussion for this final round about whether you and your team-mate Nico Rosberg should be allowed to go for it with whatever strategy you want to use on Sunday in a sort-of end-of-season free-for-all. What are your thoughts on that?
LH: I don’t really have any thoughts on it, to be honest. It doesn’t really make any difference what my thoughts are. We’re going to be racing… the strategists will give us the best… whoever’s up ahead will have the best strategy and the guy behind will have the second best strategy, so I don’t really have any thoughts on that.OK. Romain, coming back to you, your 83rd and final grand prix for the Enstone-based team, currently Lotus. You’ve scored 10 podiums for the team, so in what mood do you say goodbye this weekend?
RG: yeah, it’s the first time of my career that I have had to change teams in Formula One, so it’s something new. The first time I went to Enstone was September 2005, as one of the driver development and I learned everything from there. So yeah it’s going to be… switching off the car on Sunday, jumping out of the E23 and thinking that was the last race with the team is certainly going to be quite hard. On the other hand I really want to push hard all weekend long to score good points, do a good result, thank the guys for all the support, through tough times, better times as well and I think we did both learn from those years, so it was a nice experience. Very much looking forward to the next one as well, it’s going to be very exciting with Haas. It’ll be good to have a good weekend and say goodbye in a proper way.Thank you. Daniil, a season of two parts personally for you. From Monaco onwards it’s gone well. Your 10 points ahead of your team-mate with one race to go, so what aspect of your performance this year has given you the most satisfaction?
DK: Yeah, like you said, since Monaco we probably started to follow the right path more of less, a bit technically, a bit myself, but to be honest it didn’t change much. An up and down season but we scored some good points, we managed to start taking the maximum out of the package most of the weekends. These things kind of give satisfaction but of course we are looking for more performance and we are not yet where we want to be but for sure it doesn’t take one day to be there. So we will keep pushing. Like I said there were some good races in Spa, in Mexico and Brazil where I think we were taking the absolute maximum out of the car and we need to try to do this every weekend.Roberto, back in the cockpit for Manor this weekend. A lot of change going on in that team. Can you tell us about the team’s prospects and your own?
RM: Yeah obviously Manor wants to do a step for next year, to try to be fighting for points every race, every grand prix and they are putting a lot of effort on it and hopefully it goes well. The plan also for me next year is to try to stay in Formula One and trying to see what is the best options out there and yeah we will see. At the moment there is nothing clear yet but we will look in the next few weeks to see what is happening.Q: Finally, Kimi, both your team principal Maurizio Arrivabene and team-mate Sebastian Vettel have said the target for next season is to challenge Mercedes for the championship. How do you analyse the progress this year towards that – and do you think it’s achievable?
KR: Obviously this year has been a lot stronger year from the team than previous year and you can easily see it from whichever way you look at it and it all comes to next year. Obviously that’s the aim: the aim is always to try to be in the front and Mercedes has always been very strong last years and everybody else tries to beat them. Is it going to happen? Are we going to be in a position next year? We hope so at least. We have to wait until we put the cars on the circuit in a test and the first few races – then we really see where we are. Obviously there’s a lot of work being done at the factory, number and stuff but it’s never the same until we’re really on the circuit. Then we can see it pretty well, or feel it quite quickly, after a few laps, if it’s going to a good one or not so good one. I’m sure we’re going to have a strong package – but is it strong enough? Time will only tell.QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Khodr Rawi – motorsport.com) Question to Fernando. Fernando, how realistic is to be beat Sauber and finish ahead of them in Constructors’ Championship here in Abu Dhabi? Do you think it’s realistic?
FA: I don’t know really. I think it’s unlikely. I think they are nine points ahead, I think, and we score points three or four times this year only, so to score as many as ten in one race, in the final race is a little bit difficult but, you know, I think we will try to do our best. We will try to perform a good weekend but I think our minds are on next year’s project and probably half of the car is next year’s parts or next year’s philosophy as well so I think we are not too worried about beating Sauber this weekend or not.Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, Bahrain, P2 was your best result for two years. Has it been also been also the best weekend for you during this times at Ferrari lately?
KR: The end result was probably best but it doesn’t meant that we are somehow better than other weekends. The end result, it just looks good. But it’s not been the easiest few years but that’s how it goes, y’know? We improved a lot from last year but we’re still not happy and when I don’t finish five races it’s quite a big… many races out of how many we’ve done so far this year. You don’t expect to be very high up and fighting for a lot. So, we have to improve and I’m sure we can still improve it and next year is a new challenge. Let’s see. I’m sure we can do better.Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Question to Romain Grosjean. How much are you worried by the delay of the building of your cars?
RG: Something we have experienced in the past. We have always managed to put it on track on time. As long as it’s ready for FP2 then I’m happy. We’ll try to forget that, as we’ve shown in, I think it was Suzuka and Brazil when we were a little bit late. We did manage to put the car on track and go for it. It’s just harder work for the guys who don’t deserve this – but they are going to do the maximum and then from there we try to score some good points.Q: (Joy Chakavarty – Sport 360) My question is for Romain. Romain this is the first time that you’re joining a second new team. How different is the feeling when you were joining the F1 for the first time and now, after 83 races, joining another new team. Can you just give us an idea of the mix of emotions that you have right now? Sense of anticipation for next year? Kind of sadness or sorrow? Whatever for leaving the team behind now?
RG: Yeah, I think you summarise it pretty well. It’s sad to leave… more than a team it becomes a family through the years. It’s going to be hard to leave the guys but I know they won’t be far in the paddock so that’s good news. On the other hand there’s real excitement at joining a new team, a new adventure, an American Formula One team is going to be great. Looking forward to it and going to Haas is a very different thing. So I came the first time in Formula One as a rookie. Everything to learn. Right now I’m going in a new team and I’ve probably got the experience they were looking for. We try to be successful as soon as we can – but it’s quite different. It feels better now than it was the first time. Easier.Q: (Dan Knutson – Honorary) Lewis, after your visit to the NASCAR race last week, what did you see there that would be really cool for the fans or competitors in F1? Or perhaps something you saw that said no way should come to Formula One?
LH: I don’t know, I’d have to really think about that. There were definitely some things that for sure they do a lot better than us. Or, whether it’s a lot better… but there were for sure things that we could learn from them. It was a great show, a great spectacle, particularly for the fans. A bit like DTM, the fans get very, very close to the garages in the background and to the drivers and… what else? Otherwise it was a really cool event. I hope I get to do one one day.Q: (Wafa Suqqar – beinsports) Kimi, after the second round in Malaysia, Ferrari fans feeling better that maybe this year will be different. What Ferrari can promise the fans about 2016?
KR: Like I said before, we’re going to give our best and hopefully it’s enough to fight for championships. We keep improving, following our own way of doing the things that we’ve done from last year to this year and hopefully then it’s enough to be where we want to be as Ferrari. So, we can promise a lot of things. Is it going to happen? Who knows? I really hope for all the guys there in Ferrari that we will come back strong – or stronger next year than this year – but there’s no point to make big promises. We’re going to do our best and then we’ll see.Q: (Walter Koster – Saarbrucker Zeitung) Gentlemen, last year Sochi, this year Mexico, next year Baku in Azerbaijan; three new tracks in three years. Are you looking forward to new tracks or do you regret not returning to the eliminated tracks in the past like Imola, Magny Cours, Istanbul Park or Valencia? This is for the four drivers who know these tracks.
FA: At the end of the day it doesn’t change anything for us. Going to some of the circuits that we raced on for all our careers, like Imola, Magny Cours, Istanbul – they are nice tracks and there is nice tradition there so you enjoy racing at those circuits. When you go to new countries, you open the sport up to new people and to new generations so it’s also quite a good feeling. We are travelling a little bit more. When I started some years ago, there were 16 races; now, next year, they have planned 21 and most of them out of Europe, so it’s definitely more demanding in terms of travelling and preparing the championship but as I said, it’s the direction that the sport chooses and there is the advantage of opening up Formula One to new countries and this is also good news, I think.
LH: Not really much to add to what he said but Fernando’s right, it’s good to go to different countries and to spread the word of Formula One, give them the experience and gain new followers for the sport. Those tracks you mentioned, apart from Imola, were not particularly spectacular tracks anyway so for sure it would be kind of good to keep the balance of the real classic circuits rather than just a bunch of new circuits because the new circuits are generally not as good as the old circuits, they don’t carry the same history or heritage and I think it’s important that we keep really close to the heritage of Formula One which is those old, historic circuits.
KR: It’s always the new places that are quite similar, designed by the same guy, so I’m not saying that they’re not good but they are more the same. I enjoy the older, traditional circuits. You maybe didn’t like Magny Cours, I liked it, not many people, quiet, easy. It was one of the best places to go! I liked the older, they looked a bit nicer, a more normal feeling than when we come here and everything is put – in this case – in a more desert area. I prefer there, it’s easier for people to go to – for us. We go wherever the race is. The weekend itself doesn’t change. We have the same people as here, the timetable is more or less (the same) and the same things happen.
RG: I think it was really great this year to see Mexico was… a very warm welcome from all the fans, it was an awesome weekend. I would like to see Magny Cours back on the calendar, it would be the French Grand Prix, unique for me. Paris? The traffic is not so good. I would like a French Grand Prix. I think Fernando’s point is completely right: in an ideal world you would like to do all of them but it’s not possible so I think we follow the calendar, we like discovering new places but going to Silverstone or in Germany or Barcelona is always quite special.Q: (Christopher Joseph – Chicane) Romain, earlier Fernando spoke of his appreciation for the influence of the Japanese discipline on him and his team. What are you hoping to get from the influence of the Haas team and the American approach on yourself next season?
RG: Well, I think I have already been seduced by their approach and when I met Gene Haas, trying to pronounce the word properly – it’s very hard for a Frenchman – it was straightaway… the spirit was ‘let’s go racing’ and I liked that. I really liked their philosophy, discovering more and more about America. I didn’t yet get to a NASCAR race, I’m on the backfoot on that but I will probably go next year and I think there is this American spirit with the European base as the team is going to be in between Italy and Banbury in the UK and then all the management in the US. So it can be a great mix.Q: (Graham Cagill – The National) Lewis, you’ve won here twice before and you were well on your way to winning in 2012 as well before the car let you down and you’ve had two pole positions also, so I think it’s fair to say that you go well here. Just wondering if there’s any reason why you think you go so well here and what your expectations are for this weekend?
LH: I don’t know; I guess there are some tracks that suit some drivers’ styles more than others. Ideally you would like your style to suit everywhere exactly the same but there are some that you just happen to go better at. I know this is a bit like a karting track, there’s a lot of late braking and bouncing off kerbs and really having to throw the car around. It works for an aggressive driving style, I guess and yeah, I’ve had some great experiences here, even from the first race which I was leading but – (to Kimi) you won the first race didn’t you? – I’m thinking you might have won the first race maybe. Someone won the first race after my car failed but a great experience. It’s always a good finale here, you’ve got some good battles, the weather’s always fantastic, great fans and for me this weekend is… I’ve had an amazing year here last year and I’m here to try to do something similar.eom/FIA transcript of the Press Conference
Lewis Hamilton (bottom row – centre) at the Press Conference of the last race of the year in Abu Dhabi on Thursday. An FIA image -
To race in front of my home fans is a big dream; Sunday will be the most special day of my career: Sergio Perez
DRIVERS – Carlos SAINZ (Toro Rosso), Pastor MALDONADO (Lotus), Will STEVENS (Manor), Fernando ALONSO (McLaren), Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes), Sergio PEREZ (Force India)
PRESS CONFERENCE
Lewis, if we can start with you: you’ve had a few days for it to sink in and now you arrive here as a three-time world champion. How does it feel and how were the celebration?
Lewis HAMILTON: Well, hola everyone. Is it como estas.Sergio PEREZ: Como estas.
LH: Como estas? Really happy to be here in Mexico, it’s my first time and the last few days have been relaxed, not too hectic, a little bit of partying but obviously conscious that we have the race this weekend, so couldn’t do too much damage. So I plan for more the end of the year to really go in. I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet. I think every day I’m kind of pinching myself, thinking ‘I can’t believe it’s really happened’. And I guess probably, like, yesterday I was straight back into business, I hit race mode, so I’ve not really been thinking about it that much but still it’s a good feeling.
You haven’t won it before with three races to go, you’ve only ever won it at the last, so what’s the plan for the rest of the season, still maximum attack?
LH: For me it’s always maximum attack, so we’ve still got these three races. For example, we’ve got the Mexican Grand Prix here, the first time in 23 years. I think it’s exciting for the Mexican people; it’s exciting for me, and as all us driver [feel], you love to have your stamp on the first race back here, so that’s the target and yeah, we’ve still got big races to win.Thank you for that. Sergio, big week for you, busy week for you. Are you enjoying all the attention? Is it what you dreamed of?
SP: Yeah, it’s definitely a big dream for me to be able to race in my home country. It’s been more than 12 years since I raced in my country, so definitely it’s going to be the biggest day of my career on Sunday, because to race in front of my whole people, all my country, it’s something very special. You know how Mexicans are. So, it’s going to be the most special day of my career, no matter what result I get on Sunday. I really hope that we can have a great result and cheer all the fans that are doing the effort to come. But definitely it’s just going to be a dream come true on Sunday to race in front of my crowd.You’re on a bit of a roll right now in terms of performance, so you’ve got a lot of confidence coming into this race. It’s the perfect time to have it for you, isn’t it?
SP: Yeah, definitely, we’ve been having a very good couple of races; the last six have been really strong for us. I think there is a very good chance we can keep up the momentum. I’m looking forward to do that and try to score as many points as possible on the weekend for the team and for all the people who are coming to see me on Sunday.Thank you. Fernando, you drove a great race for little reward unfortunately in Austin, but you’re clearly not lacking motivation. Where do you think that inner steel, that inner strength from?
Fernando ALONSO: Well, I think the team is doing a good job and everyone is pushing to improve the situation. All the new parts that we bring to the races they seem to deliver what we expect from them. Definitely there is a very nice direction in the team this year. It has been tough; it has been frustrating at times. But we kept all united, we kept all moving in one direction, one team and for next year I think we are putting some of the problems we had this year in [their] place for next year. So you keep enjoying racing and when the circuit suits a little bit our car there is a little bit of extra motivation and we push a little bit harder. It was the case in Austin, where we felt more competitive in all sessions over the weekend. In the race as well, it has been probably the best race of the year for me, Austin. In the first 20 laps I think in nine of them was quicker than Lewis and this didn’t happen for the past two years and a half! So this was very good news and definitely I enjoyed the race and, as you said, zero points for an issue in the last 10 laps but it was definitely a different feeling compared to the rest of the year.You’ve said you think McLaren can find two and a half seconds over the winter. What makes you so confident, what have you seen?
FA: Well, I think the lack of performance we have in some areas of the car are quite fundamental issues that should have a not too difficult answer, let’s a say, or not too difficult a solution. It’s just we need to copy the direction everyone has apart from us. It’s some of the time that we feel we will recover with not much penalty, because for the others they already have it in their package. So some of the performance gain we expect will come for free but it’s true that all the competitors will work very hard over the winter and they will recover a couple of seconds also, so we need to make an extra, but we are feeling optimistic, we feel confident of next year being very competitive. We are realistic at the same time. We understand that in Formula One there are no magic things for being one year out of Q1 and the next year fighting for the championship – that’s a very, very optimistic target but we will try our best.Thank you. Pastor, what can you tell us about your race in Austin? You managed to avoid all chaos and end up in the points.
Pastor MALDONADO: Yeah, to be honest it was quite difficult from the set-up and balance point of view with the car during the entire race. We were not as quick as expected, as always, during the race. But yeah, when I saw the people fighting in the front, I was very cautious and trying to get the places from other car mistakes and yeah it was quite clean from my side and very consistent. At the end, P8. For sure we were expecting something but a few more points. It’s important for us at this stage of the season, so looking forward to continuing like this and going in the points.Your new team-mate was announced in Austin. You’ll essentially be team leader next year. How do you feel about that? Does it change your outlook; do you feel added responsibility?
PM: Yeah, I hope it will be a completely different year to this one, with more resources. We need to push harder than this year, especially on the car and you know, yeah, try to be more solid on the development.Carlos, coming to you. At this point in the season there is a lot of personal pride at stake. The battle between you and Max is really tight on track, even if the points don’t show it. Are you enjoying that battle and how do you come out on top with three races left?
Carlos SAINZ: Yeah, I think it’s been a great year for both of us. Apart from the results, apart from the show, I think we are both learning a lot. From my side, I am enjoying a lot every single race, especially these last two. Obviously I started from the back and had to make my way through and I enjoyed that a lot. Everything is very good. We just need to make sure we keep learning, I keep learning until the end of the season. We have three races. I think it’s important to finish on a high, so keep the momentum up from the last two races and yeah, finish the season on a high.It was your first time racing in Austin and conditions were difficult to say the least: schedules changing all the time, let alone the conditions. What did you learn from it and what confidence did you gain from that weekend?
CS: It was a much more difficult race than you may think for me, because my first lap in the dry in Austin was during the race. So I had no data, absolutely nothing, no information from the car, from the tyres. All of a sudden we had to go on slicks and I was learning every lap, lap by lap. I was enjoying it a lot. I knew I couldn’t do any mistakes. I couldn’t push so hard because I needed to learn the track and even though we had lots of problems during the race to come up with a P6 and finally a P7 with the penalty was a great achievement. So I was very pleased with that race, probably one of the best of the season for sure and I cannot wait for Mexico and to continue in that way.Thank you. Will, same question to you really: first time racing in Austin, although cut short. Changing conditions, first dry running in the race, just talk us through what you learned from that weekend?
Will STEVENS: Yeah, Austin was a pretty cool weekend. Clearly not as much running as we hoped but the track was actually really good fun to drive in the wet – we were really having a lot of fun out there. Clearly the race was cut short for me, which was disappointing because it looked like the race was the best opportunity to have a good race besides Silverstone. It was disappointing. Then race looked good fun and I hope that I was out there to enjoy it.
You’ve got three races to go now. Do you think you have had a successful season and what indications have you had about next year?
WS: Yeah, I think the year has been really good for me. My pace has always been really strong this year. I’ve only been out-qualified by team-mate four times this year so pace has never really been an issue. The last few races haven’t really gone our way. A few things have happened that have made it a little bit more difficult. But if I was to assess the year as a whole, I think it’s been really positive and for my options for next year, obviously we are pushing hard and everything is moving in the right direction.QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Dan Knutson – Honorary) Lewis, you’ve won three titles now, going back to when you won the first championship, what changed within you and what changed all around you after that first championship?
LH: I think quite a lot really. I think a lot of growth a lot of… there has been a lot of movement around me of course: different teams; different management team; different people around me. But I guess just grown a lot and through those experiences, it’s taken a long time, gone through the hard route. Before I got to Formula One I didn’t have any preparation for media and for press conferences like this stuff, so I felt like I was thrown in the deep end. It took a long, long time to really acclimatise, firstly to that side of Formula One, but also the fame. I think being able to feel comfortable within yourself, come out of your shell a little bit more and be comfortable and sure in who you are. It’s helped me drive better than ever today. Just over those years you learn more and more about racing so you hopefully improve. I definitely think as an all round driver I should be better today. Well, I am better.Q: (Livio Oricchio – Globoesporte.com) Lewis you won the championship, your team also won the Constructors’ Championship. What are you goals now? Do you go to the race maybe taking some more risks to fight for the win really – you don’t have anything to lose now.
LH: I think I generally have a really balanced approach. Balanced between risk and not-too-much-risk. I don’t think I need to change it really because it’s done me well this year with the ten wins. So I think keeping it the same and, of course, there’s not pressure this weekend but to enjoy, just enjoy the experience. And so that’s what I’m going to try and do.Q: (Ricardo Roga – US. News) This is for Fernando Alonso. One year ago you were here, near the track. How do you see all the complex of Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez right now?
FA: Yes, I was one year ago here. Obviously many things changed and now the circuit is ready for the grand prix. I didn’t walk around, I think I will do it this afternoon. On the simulator it looks interesting. Very different part of the circuit with a very long straight and then the second sector with medium speed corners and the third sector with very low speed corners. A challenge for the engineers to set up the car. I think the last sector with the stadium area, that will be quite enjoyable for us, for drivers, being so close to thousands of people. Hopefully we will put on a good show for everyone. I think the passion and the atmosphere we’ve felt from a few days in Mexico is quite special. How people live Formula One here. With Checo also having a good weekend hopefully, we will see a fantastic weekend.Q: (César Herrera – Diario Récord) Hi guys. For all the drivers, after seeing the track, what can you expect from the race on Sunday? Do you think it’s going to be a funny race? Do you think this track has opportunities to be the finest of the season?
PM: Yes. A lot of expectation from our side for this race. It’s maybe the most expected one for all of us. Very special for me. Very close to my country, Latin American, Spanish-speaking, a lot of friends here. I’ve been here in the past as well so, yes, very special. Of course, you make an amazing job on rebuilding the track. For sure it’s very difficult to predict something before we jump in the track and we test with the car. We just only can work and see from the outside but not from the car. I’m 100 per cent sure it’s going to be very spectacular for all of you.Carlos?
CS: From the outside I managed to do the track walk yesterday and I was surprised with the amount of grandstands, especially the last sector and the entry to the stadium. I think it was very special. It’s something that we don’t have yet in Formula One and it’s going to be very interesting. And new tarmac so new circumstances, new degradations, new strategies. It’s going to be interesting. And those couple of long straights are for sure going to create some movement in the race and maybe with the rain coming that’s a bit expected now, it could be even more interesting. Hopefully we can have as good a race as in Austin, as good a show as in Austin and people in Mexico enjoy it.Will?
WS: Similar to what Carlos said. I think the weather looks pretty unpredictable for the weekend. So we saw from Austin it can be a pretty exciting race and I think with the long straights for sure there’s going to be some overtaking. So, I only arrived here yesterday, it’s my first time in Mexico, so, looking to get used to the city a little bit. There’s always a really good atmosphere in places like this and I’m sure Checo’s doing a good job with helping promote it. Looking forwards to the weekend. It should be a good one.Checo, you probably know this place best…
SP: Yeah, it’s great to hear all of the drivers so happy to be here in my country. That makes me feel very proud of what we have done. I think, walking through the paddock, it looks like we have done a great job for the track and we can compare this track against any other around the world. And the track layout itself, the circuit, it’s a great circuit. It can really offer good racing. We have one of the longest straights, which generally always helps to have good racing. So, I would really expect to have great racing between all of us on Sunday, which will be great for the fans.Lewis?
LH: Well I just arrived so I haven’t seen the track as such. I haven’t walked around – but hopefully I’ll get the chance to walk around later. But from the simulator it looked pretty awesome, and from images I’ve seen. And knowing that… generally the crowd really is what makes the atmosphere and makes the weekend. I’ve heard this weekend is sold out and I know… I’ve got some Mexican friends that I spend Christmases with, so I know the spirit of the Mexicans. If they all come out in their thousands, I think it could be one of the most amazing weekends. So I’m looking forward to that.SP: They will, don’t worry!
Fernando?
FA: Yeah, the same. Nothing really to add. The atmosphere on the weekend is amazing. It’s one of the very first things that we need to enjoy and experience. The race itself, how it can be, it’s impossible to predict. We should not judge on Sunday afternoon on whatever race it was. In Russia we saw a very boring race the first year and very exciting race the second. The circuit was exactly the same. Sometimes in football you see 0-0, sometimes 5-4. It’s difficult to predict, this sport. First we need to enjoy this weekend and put on a good race for all the fans.Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) If I could ask all the drivers, just how physical and demanding is it going to be with that combination of altitude, the long straight. Is it going to be more demanding than other races this season?
FA: Again, we should wait until Sunday but yes, definitely there is a little bit different conditions here. So, we should be taking care of this race a little bit better than others in terms of physical preparation with altitude. With these cars we drive now, it should be OK. If we had this race ten years ago with cars eight seconds quicker, it would be very tough.Lewis, any concerns about the altitude?
LH: I think it’s going to… I really don’t know what to expect. Naturally by having higher altitude, I train in high altitude during the winter so I anticipate it’s going to be more physical for us – but it also depends on how much grip there is. On the simulator I had not much. So, I guess we’ll find out tomorrow. We’ll have a much better idea about it tomorrow.Checo?
SP: The same to what they’ve said. I think we have to wait until Sunday and see how we end up after the race. I don’t expect big issues as I think having those compounds it shouldn’t be such a big issue.LH: There should be champagne and tequila on the podium and sombreros.
SP: There will be…
Carlos, anything to add?
CS: No. I agree with them.Pastor?
PM: Yeah, I agree with them. We have to wait and see. It’s something new for all us.Will?
WS: No. Not much more to add.Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) To everyone, in view of the kind of weird situation we had in Austin where Nico seemed to pass Daniel Ricciardo at the end of the virtual safety car period, with Red Bull still thinking it was continuing, presumably it was all legal but it was odd. What are your collective views on virtual safety car and how difficult it is to restart from that, to keep the delta?
FA: I don’t think it’s a big issue. I know in Austin it was a little bit strange because we had many of them and we were always in a group of cars but we have to sit down with the race director and try to find little tweaks if necessary but it’s the same for everybody and it’s like all the rules: you need to be spot on, you need to be focussed, you need to be clever. I don’t think that whatever solution we find, it will be always a tweak that someone will spoil. I don’t see any big problem.
WS: I actually think it works pretty well to be honest. If there’s a scenario where it doesn’t need to be a safety car, it normally keeps everything as it was and normally they can clear it quicker. I think generally it works pretty well. I think sometimes… in Russia we had a situation at the start where the virtual safety car came out pretty quickly and all the cars at the back bunched up quite a lot. I think how you go into it sometimes can be better but overall I think the system works pretty well.
LH: Yeah, I don’t really have much more to add to it. I think it works well. It not the easiest to stay to the delta but it’s the same for everyone and we do our best.
PM: Yeah, happy with that. I guess what we saw in the last race was a bit extreme just because of the conditions and I was not happy. On the other hand what happened to have a spectacular race so quite good.
SP: Yeah, similar to all the others. I don’t have any issues. The race was very extreme. We had plenty of virtual safety cars and that didn’t help but I think at the same time you have to be on it because especially in Austin, by the time that my team advised me that it was going to end was a very short period, about three or four seconds, really short period whereas in the past it was a bit longer in that respect so something to look at with the race director.
CS: Yeah, I have no issues with it. I think it works pretty well. So obviously just like another restart of safety car, you just need to be on it. It’s not easy when the message comes because you have to do a lot of changes while you are trying to look out for the green panel but that’s all. As these guys have said, it’s the same for everyone and it’s just sometimes you will get it perfect, others not so much and you need to be on it.Q: (Daniel Johnson – The Telegraph) Lewis, since the race in Austin, have you discussed the turn one incident with the Nico or the team at all? And secondly, obviously Nico is in quite a close battle for second in the drivers’ championship and Mercedes would like him to finish second. Will you help him out at all in that respect?
LH: We haven’t spoken, not that I think we really need to. The team has not asked me to support him in that role as I’m here to win the race. The team has won the constructors’ championship so I think from here on there’s not really a huge benefit for the team for me to start helping. We’ll see what Toto wants me to do.Q: (Ian Parkes – Autosport) Lewis, just following on from that, Toto was quite clear after the race that he did feel the need for talks to take place, that he didn’t want any fall-out like that which occurred in Spa. Why would you suggest that you don’t think there’s a need for any talks? And secondly, as a supplementary question, what happened with the cap flinging incident? Are you and Nico going to have a chat about that at all going forward… with the cap flinging incident that happened in the green room?
LH: Ah, OK. The reason for me is just that I’m very easy going and so I never really have any problems. I think Toto feels that he needs to perhaps sit with Nico to see where his head’s at. Obviously we don’t want any tension in the team. Generally we do often come together and just keep it transparent. I don’t really have anything to say about it but of course I’m sure we will sit down and see what Nico’s feeling and whatever emotions he has and try and dilute them and then move on. In terms of the cap thing, I don’t know, it’s pretty funny so I don’t really have much else to say about it.Q: (Jorge Koechlin – AutoMundo) Checo, your dream, when we met when you were five years old and racing go-karts against your brother and you’ve come all this way with great talent. Do you feel responsible for this happening today in Mexico? And there’s a name that comes to mind, Carlos Slim. How has it been all this time and how do you feel together with him today that this is actually happening?
SP: Yeah, it’s been a great trip. As you say, Carlos has been a great supporter of my career, a great friend of mine and we’re so proud of what we have achieved in terms of the Mexican Grand Prix. It’s not only the both of us, there’s been a lot of people – the government… as I say, so many people involved to try to bring this race to make it happen and it just makes me feel so proud to actually arrive here, see all the drivers, see all the teams, all the worldwide media and it’s something that makes me feel extremely proud and I’m sure we will do a great event and I have no doubt that this event will become very popular for everyone, all amongst the F1 family.Q: (Jim Virtuno – Associated Press) Sergio, what did you hear, growing up, about the Mexican drivers who came before you in Formula One and with all the excitement around you and your home race, can it become a negative pressure sort of thing? You have to just sit back and focus on the racing rather than everything else that’s going on.
SP: What I’ve heard from the drivers… I mean it’s been a long time since we don’t have a driver and I even grew up with a Mexican driver in Formula One, so all what I’ve heard, what I heard from the people, from the Mexicans, obviously from the Rodriguez who are the most popular ones, yeah, I think they were great. Unfortunately they died at a very young age. I think they had a lot more to offer to the sport and to Formula One. In terms of Sunday, I think it’s very positive pressure Obviously there is a lot of pressure but I take it as a very positive one, there will be a lot of energy, people really supporting me and what I have to do is what I do every weekend, it’s focus on myself. Once I put the helmet on, it’s time to focus on what I’m doing, I have to do the normal procedure that I do throughout the races. There are a lot of things that we have to do before the race start, before qualifying and so on. Obviously there is a lot of pressure but a very positive type of pressure and I see that it will give me a very good motivation to do well this Sunday.Q: (Osvaldo Anaya – Estadio Newspaper) Lewis, yesterday you told us that you expect this main straight to be one of the fastest if not the fastest of the year. Could you elaborate on that?
LH: Just my engineers told me that it’s going to be the fastest, the fast straight, right?
SP: It’s a very fast straight, yes.
LH: Because it’s quite long, because we’ve got the high altitude, we’ve got the least amount of drag, probably of the whole year, so I think because we’ve got the turbo… I think in the past, it was the V8 and the normally aspirated engines, we would have lost power alongside with the downforce, but with this car we don’t, we lose downforce and drag but we don’t lose any power with the turbo so it should be pretty unbelievably fast this weekend.Q: (Thomas Goubin – AutoHebdo) Checo, you said that your last race in Mexico was twelve years ago, I just wanted to know what was this race and what memories you have of this race?
SP: Yeah, they’re not great memories because it’s a very long story and we don’t have all the time to go through it but basically on the Sunday they didn’t allow me to race because I have a special licence to race, I was twelve years old and I had a special permit to race against drivers of twenty, 25 years old. I was winning the championship and one race before I had a contact with another driver so the federation took the licence away and they were giving me the chance to race and not, so in the end they allowed me to qualify. I qualified second but then in the race they didn’t allow me to race so that was my last experience here in Mexico, so I hope on Sunday will be a lot better. -
Hamilton claims third World Championship with three rounds to spare at Austin; Perez 6th
Austin, 25 October 2015: Lewis Hamilton claimed his third Formula One World Championship title with victory in an incident-packed United States Grand Prix that saw the Briton’s Mercedes’ team-mate Nico Rosberg take second place ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.
The win, Hamilton’s 10th of the season, puts him on 327 points in the championship, 76 points ahead of nearest challenger Sebastian Vettel. With a maximum 75 points on offer from the final three rounds, Hamilton cannot be overtaken in the standings.
Hamilton joins a list of three-time champions that includes Jack Brabham, Sir Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda, Nelson Piquet and Aytron Senna.
At the start Hamilton made a better getaway than Rosberg ands the pair went into Turn One side by side. Hamilton held hard to his line and the pair banged wheels. The collision sent Rosberg wide and that allowed Kvyat to leap through past Ricciardo and Rosberg into second place. Ricciardo also stole through to demote Rosberg further.
Further back there was incident involving seventh on the grid Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso, who started ninth. The chaos saw several drivers profit, with Sebastian Vettel climbing to seventh by the end of lap one from 13th on the grid, Raikkonen rising to 10th from 18th and Carlos Sainz jumping to 11th after starting in last place. Elsewhere, the two Saubers clashed, with Nasr losing his front wing and scattering debris across the track at Turn One.
At the front Hamilton was being pressured by Kvyat but the Russian overcooked a move into Turn One and went wide, which gave the Mercedes man some breathing space.
It was Kvyat’s last attempt. With debris still on track the Virtual Safety Car was deployed on lap five. The order at this point was Hamilton, followed by Kvyat, Ricciardo, Rosberg, Force India’s Perez, Vettel, Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen, Raikkonen, Sainz and Nico Hulkenberg in the second Force India.
When the VSC was removed Rosberg was the most alert. Hamilton held his lead from Kvyat but Rosberg caught Ricciardo napping and powered past the Australian through the ‘Esses’ to take third. He was soon all over the back of Kvyat and used his Mercedes’ greater power to breeze past the Russian to resume the grid order.
On seasonal form that should have been that, but in the conditions the Mercedes were unable to pull away from the Red Bulls and Kvyat again attacked Rosberg at the end of lap 112. He again ran wide though and that allowed Ricciardo to sneak past. And with the aid of DRS the Australian then passed Rosberg through Turn One on lap 13.
Further back there were equally big battles developing. Perez and Vettel were stable in fourth and fifth but the battle for sixth was intense with Verstappen holding off Raikkonen and Sainz. Raikkonen eventually got past Sainz on lap 15 and began to pressure Verstappen.
At the front the order was changing again and when Hamilton couldn’t hold a tight line through long right hander towards the end of the lap, Ricciardo held his nerve and exercised impressive car control to take the inside line and the lead.
The Australian then began to build a lead and by lap 18 he was 3.9s ahead of the championship leader.
Hamilton’s times were flagging on his degrading tyres and he was running 1.3s slower than Ricciardo and the Briton was passed on lap 18 by Rosberg and as Kvyat clambered all over the back of his car, Mercedes opted to pit the title leader for soft tyres.
Ricciardo, Rosberg and third-placed Kvyat reacted and pitted on lap 19 for soft tyres, with Ricciardo resuming in the lead ahead of the German and the Russian. Hamilton was now fourth.
The rest of the field had also pitted by this point for slicks but the track was still proving difficult and Raikkonen went off at the left-hander at the bottom of the esses, He hit the barriers but managed to drive his way out from the tyre wall and rejoined in 15th.
At the front the positions were changing again and this time it was the Red Bulls being passed, with Rosberg stealing the lead from Ricciardo and Hamilton stealing third from Kvyat.
Rosberg was told to build a lead and armed with soft tyres on a drying track, the German obliged. By lap 24 Rosberg was 3.6s ahead of Ricciardo. Hamilton, meanwhile, was now three seconds adrift of the Australian. Kvyat though had dropped to fifth, the Russian running out of grip in turn one and allowing the hard-charging Vettel to brush past on the inside.
Mercedes’ pace in this phase of the race was simply too great for the Red Bulls and on lap 27 Hamilton breezed past Ricciardo to take second place. He was now 10.5s behind his team-mate.
Raikkonen, meanwhile, was forced to retire, his engineer informing him that brush with the wall had damaged the front right of his car and his brake temperatures on that side were “through the roof”.
Marcus Ericsson was also in trouble and later in lap 27 the Swede pulled over at the edge of the track with a loss of power.
The position of the Sauber led to the Safety Car being deployed. The top three, Rosberg, Hamilton and Ricciardo, stayed out, but fourth placed Vettel pitted for medium tyres, promoting Kvyat back up the order. Hulkenberg, Sainz, Perez and Button also pitted. The McLaren driver opted to stay on softs, while the others switched to medium tyres.
The order under the safety car was Rosberg ahead of Hamilton, with Ricciardo third ahead of Kvyat, who had all stopped once. Then came Vettel, Verstappen, Hulkenberg, Perez, Button and Sainz, all of whom had stopped twice.
The Safety Car left the track at the end of lap 32 with Rosberg having back the field right up. The German then strode away from Hamilton to keep his lead.
Vettel was the big profiteer on the restart. He forced Kvyat into an error and slipped past the Russian with ease and then a lap later mugged Ricciardo.
The Red Bulls, on older tyres, were now fair game and Verstappen and Hulkenberg forced his way past Kvyat, who dropped to seventh. Verstappen then passed Ricciardo for fourth place on lap 35.
Hulkenberg was now pressuring Ricciardo but it ended badly for the German. The Force India driver tried to pass the Australian on the inside at Turn 12 but he lost control and collided with the Red Bull. It ended Hulkenberg’s race but Ricciardo carried on, though with damage enough that Kvyat was able to pass him.
Hulkenberg’s car had come to rest at the edge of the track and the VSC was again briefly deployed. Rosberg took the opportunity to pit on lap 38, as did Kvyat and Ricciardo.
Hamilton, who had stopped just once, now led from Vettel and Verstappen, with Rosberg now fourth on soft tyres ahead of Button, Perez, Alonso, Sainz, Maldonado, Kvyat and Ricciardo.
Rosberg was soon up to third, passing Verstappen on lap 40, and he was soon in second, comfortably making his way past Vettel on lap 42. Hamilton was now just six seconds up the road.
The real Safety Car was soon in action again. Kvyat crashed out at the end of lap 43 at Turn 20 and that afforded Hamilton and Vettel a free pit stop, with both drivers taking on soft tyres. The order under the safety car was Rosberg, Hamilton, Verstappen, Vettel, Alonso, Perez, Ricciardo, Button, Maldonado and Sainz.
Rosaberg held his lead on the restart. The German’s tyres were five laps older than Hamilton. Behind them Vettel passed Vertsappen to take third place.
Hamilton began to close on his team-mate but on lap 48 Rosberg did the work for his team-mate. The German went off line on the exit of Turn 12 and Hamilton was through into a lead he would not let go of and eight laps later the Briton crossed the 2.8s ahead of his team-mate to claim the race win and his third world championship title, described by Hamilton over team radio as “the greatest moment of my life”.
Rosberg was second ahead of Vettel, with Verstappen fourth. Perez took fifth place ahead of Button and Sainz, with Maldonado eighth ahead of Nasr and Ricciardo.
2015 United States Grand Prix – Race
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:50:52.703
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes +2.850
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari +3.381
4 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso +22.359
5 Sergio Perez Force India +24.413
6 Carlos Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso +25.619
7 Jenson Button McLaren +28.058
8 Pastor Maldonado Team Lotus +32.273
9 Felipe Nasr Sauber +40.257
10 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing +53.371
11 Fernando Alonso McLaren +54.816
12 Alexander Rossi Manor +1:15.277
R Daniil Kvyat Red Bull Racing
R Nico Hulkenberg Force India
R Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari
R Marcus Ericsson Sauber
R Felipe Massa Williams
R Romain Grosjean Team Lotus
R Valtteri Bottas Williams
R Will Stevens ManorHamilton celebrates after winning the third World title with three rounds to spare at the USGP in Austin on Sunday. An FIA image
