INDIA in F1

Tag: Hamilton

  • Hamilton dominates wet opening practice session

    Hamilton dominates wet opening practice session

    Hamilton in action in the wet opening session in Austin on Friday. An FIA image

    Austin, 19 Oct 2018: On a United States Grand Prix weekend on which he can seal his fifth Formula 1 world championship title, Lewis Hamilton began his preparations in style, dominating a wet opening practice session at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas to finish 1.3 seconds clear of Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas in the First Practice session of the 18th round of the FIA Formula One World Championship here on Friday.

    Behind the Mercedes pair, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo were the Silver Arrows’ closest challengers, while Hamilton’s only real title rival, Sebastian Vettel ended the session in fifth place, almost two seconds off the championship leader’s pace.

    Heavy rain in the morning led to a cautious start to the session, with most drivers restricting themselves to reconnaissance laps to test the conditions and thus an absence of lap times in the opening third of the session.

    Track conditions eventually improved to the point that intermediate tyres became an option and in those circumstances Red Bull initially led the way, with Ricciardo leading Verstappen with a lap of 1:50.642s.

    Ricciardo improved on that but then Mercedes driver Bottas took to the track and he swiftly took over at the top of the timesheet when he posted a time of 1:48.806.

    Soon after the action ground to a halt when Sauber’s Charles Leclerc brought out the red flag.

    The Monegasque driver went off track at Turn 9 but in rejoining from the gravel trap he spread inadvertently spread a large number of stones on the track, and with the debris requiring removal the session was stopped for 10 minutes.

    When the green lights were once again shown, Hamilton vaulted to the top of the timesheet with his eventual session-best lap of 1:47.502. That put him 1.3s clear of Bottas and Verstappen and 1.8s ahead of fourth-placed Ricciardo.

    Ferrari, meanwhile, appeared to target long runs, with both Vettel and team-mate Kimi Räikkönen posting more than double the amount of laps turned by the Mercedes and Red Bull driver. As such neither Ferrari driver made any real impact at the top of the timesheet. Vettel finished with a best lap of 1:49.489 that put him just over four tenths of a second clear of Räikkönen.

    Best of the rest status in the opening session was claimed by Renault’s Carlos Sainz, with Haas’s Romain Grosjean in eighth place ahead of the Saubers of Leclerc, who recovered from his early spin, and Marcus Ericsson.

    McLaren’s Fernando Alonso ended the session in 11th place, just under two tenths of a second clear of his 2019 replacement, Lando Norris. Both drivers were more than 3.5s off the pace.

    2018 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix – Free Practice 1 
    1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 6 1:47.502
    2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 7 1:48.806 1.304
    3 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 9 1:48.847 1.345
    4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 9 1:49.326 1.824
    5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 18 1:49.489 1.987
    6 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 20 1:49.928 2.426
    7 Carlos Sainz Renault 8 1:50.665 3.163
    8 Romain Grosjean Haas 10 1:50.821 3.319
    9 Charles Leclerc Sauber 14 1:50.961 3.459
    10 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 14 1:51.016 3.514
    11 Fernando Alonso McLaren 9 1:51.036 3.534
    12 Lando Norris McLaren 9 1:51.232 3.730
    13 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 19 1:51.234 3.732
    14 Sergio Perez Force India 18 1:51.459 3.957
    15 Sergey Sirotkin Williams 14 1:51.589 4.087
    16 Kevin Magnussen Haas 15 1:51.614 4.112
    17 Esteban Ocon Force India 17 1:51.655 4.153
    18 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 7 1:51.717 4.215
    19 Lance Stroll Williams 14 1:51.896 4.394
    20 Sean Gelael Toro Rosso 21 1:52.625 5.123

  • Hamilton takes pole; Vettel to start on P9: Japanese GP

    Hamilton takes pole; Vettel to start on P9: Japanese GP

    Hamilton (centre) takes pole at Suzuka on Saturday. An FIA image

    Suzuka, 6 Oct 2018: Mercedes Lewis Hamilton took his eighth pole position of the season at Suzuka and the 80th of his career, while title rival Sebastian Vettel faces a ninth-place race start after a troubled final segment of qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix, the 17th round of the FIA Formula One World Championship here on Sunday.

    Valtteri Bottas will start alongside Hamilton in the second Mercedes, while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen with start at the front of row three, alongside the second Ferrari of Kimi Räikkönen.

    Vettel established an early benchmark in Q1 with a lap of 1:29.049, more than half a second clear of Ferrari team-mate Kimi Räikkönen. Hamilton soon bypassed Vettel to take P1, however, with a lap of 1:28.702 that left him 0.347 ahead of the Ferrari man.

    Vettel then had a spin at the hairpin, but there was worse to come for Marcus Ericsson who lost control of his Sauber in Turn 7 and hit the barriers hard. Ericsson was soon out of his car but the red flags were immediately shown.

    In the final runs of Q1, Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly made the biggest jump, climbing from P15 to P10 at the end of the session. It was a necessary improvement, as Williams’ Lance Stroll put in a good final lap to jump to 15th place with a time well clear of Gasly’s best time from before the final laps.

    Stroll’s escape from the drop zone meant that Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg was eliminated in P16 ahead of Williams’ Sergey Sirotkin, the McLarens of Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne and the unfortunate Ericsson.

    In Q2, Mercedes both Hamilton and Bottas out on soft tyres, and this time it was Bottas who set the pace, the Finn topping the timesheet at the end of the session with a lap of 1:27.987, three hundredths of a second ahead of Hamilton.

    Further back there was trouble for Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo. The Australian began his opening run but experienced a power loss and quickly returned to the pits.

    With the covers going back on his car in the final minutes of the session, it looked like his team had solved the issue, but rain was already falling on track and as conditions worsened Ricciardo’s hopes of getting in a lap dwindled. He was ruled out in P15 with no time on the board in Q2.

    Also ruled out at the end of Q2 were 11th-placed Leclerc, Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, Renault’s Carlos Sainz and Stroll.

    In Q3 it was Ferrari’s turn to encounter trouble. Rain was expected, but it didn’t arrive soon enough for the Italian and they sent Räikkönen and Vettel out on intermediate tyres at the start of the session. Both were forced to lap and pit for slick tyres, putting them out of sequence to the other front runners.

    Hamilton staked a claim to pole position with a time of 1:27.760, more than two tenths ahead of Bottas, while Verstappen slotted into third place on the timesheet. Räikkönen managed to sneak in a lap to take fourth place, but Vettel made a mistake on his opening lap and was forced to try again. By the time he was ready for a hot lap rain was falling and his chance was gone. He ended the session in P9 between the Force Indias of Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez.

    With the conditions growing steadily worse, the session was effectively over and after the clock had counted down to the flag, Hamilton duly took his 80th career pole position ahead of Bottas, Verstappen and Räikkönen. Grosjean was fifth for Haas, while Brendon Hartley scored his best ever qualifying result with sixth place, just ahead of Toro Rosso team-mate Gasly.

    2018 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix – Qualifying
    1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:27.760
    2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:28.059 0.299
    3 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:29.057 1.297
    4 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:29.521 1.761
    5 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:29.761 2.001
    6 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 1:30.023 2.263
    7 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 1:30.093 2.333
    8 Esteban Ocon Racing Point Force India 1:30.126 2.366
    9 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:32.192 4.432
    10 Sergio Perez Racing Point Force India 1:37.229 9.469
    11 Charles Leclerc Sauber 1:29.864 2.104
    12 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:30.226 2.466
    13 Carlos Sainz Renault 1:30.490 2.730
    14 Lance Stroll Williams 1:30.714 2.954
    15 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing
    16 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:30.361 2.601
    17 Sergey Sirotkin Williams 1:30.372 2.612
    18 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:30.573 2.813
    19 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 1:31.041 3.281
    20 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:31.213 3.453.

     

  • It’s a victory on my list of wins that I am least proud of: Hamilton

    Sochi, 30 Sept. 2018: It was a team decision that Valtteri Bottas should allow Hamilton to pass him and win and realising that maximising team’s interests is of utmost importance and with no chance of a championship title, Bottas bowed to the decision. But the celebrations were low key and somewhere it feels something is wrong. Here are the team quotes from Mercedes team;

    Lewis Hamilton 
    Valtteri was an incredible gentleman today. Honestly, it’s the strangest day I can remember having in the sport in my career. I remember, we have crossed this situation and discussion before. It’s always felt super uncomfortable, I was like ‘Look, I want to win the right way’, that’s always how it is for me. I would say ‘Look, as racing drivers we exist to win, and if you tell us we can’t win, it’s like you are taking our air away, our life away’. It’s that deep. I would never wish it upon anyone else and would never ask for it, ever. I made sure when we were in a meeting before, I was like ‘Just so you know, I’ve never gone to Toto and those guys, this is not how I want to win’. Obviously, the team took the decision when they saw that my tyres were blistered and Vettel was charging from behind. There are stronger heads in the team who are like ‘We have to win, it’s all about the win. We have got to win both Championships, we don’t care who finishes ahead’. I think ultimately, it’s really important right this second to first acknowledge Valtteri, because as I said he was just the ultimate gentleman. It is very weird to feel down but we’ve also got to feel grateful to the guys back at the factory. So many people are working flat-out to make sure we have a 1-2 like this, the team have just done an incredible job this weekend. We have to really embrace the moment still, but it’s definitely a victory on my list of wins that I am least proud of.

    Valtteri Bottas 
    It’s been a tough day. We got a good result for us as a team with maximum points, but for me personally it was a difficult race. Although I already understand the situation. If you put yourself in the team leader’s shoes, for them it doesn’t matter if it is me or Lewis winning, as long as we are 1-2 we get the maximum points. For the end of the year, it’s only Lewis fighting for the Championship, I am not. So, for the team, it is always better that Lewis wins – that’s how it goes. It is not ideal for me as an athlete and a person, but that is a fact. We are playing as a team and I am prepared to play as a team. I took one for the team today, I will take one for the team tomorrow. That’s how it goes, but I am also looking forward to next year, starting a new season. I know that today I was supposed to win and I could’ve won the race on equal terms. I know myself I am the winner of this weekend. I don’t have the trophy but it doesn’t matter. That’s how it is and I move on.

    Toto Wolff 
    We are all racers at heart and what we want to see is out and out racing and may the quickest man win. But then we are a bunch of rational guys – we discuss things in the morning and then everything is different in the race. This is what happened today. We should be over the moon with a 1-2 and fundamentally we are. But we also feel that it went against Valtteri – it would have been a race win for him and we changed it. Valtteri is such a tremendous team player, but it’s deflating for a driver and deflating for a team. We discussed who to pit first and then we did it with Vatteri because that would protect his win. It was one lap too late with Lewis and he lost the position to Sebastian. This triggered this mess because Lewis came out behind Sebastian and then needed to attack. That caused the blister and we needed to protect when Sebastian was all over Lewis on damaged tyres. Lewis was far back, but when we told Valtteri to switch position at Turn 13, he did it immediately. This is who you want to have within the team because you need to rely on these guys in the same way they rely on us. This is what makes it feel even worse. But there is a harsh reality also that on such a day you can extend the lead by several points more in a Championship that has been very tough and very difficult at times. Sometimes you have to take it and this is what we did today. We finished 1-2, we have a 50 point advantage and that feels good on a day that has otherwise been very difficult.

    James Allison 
    After the margin of yesterday’s Qualifying that was a really, really tough race. The pace of the Ferrari put us under pressure all the way through the first stint and we rather fumbled things as a consequence, allowing us to lose the place to Sebastian at the first stop. Lewis spared our blushes with a beautiful overtaking move and put thing back on an even keel for us. But a little later in the race we got into a degree of difficulty once again when Lewis followed Valtteri quite closely from behind, damaging his rear tyres. At that point we were fearful of losing a position to a hard-charging Vettel. With Valtteri in front and on rubber that was working well, we took the very difficult decision to allow Lewis to go in front and have a car with good rubber protecting the 1-2 that would come our way if we would just look after the tyres to the finish. And that’s what happened in the end, we managed to get the 1-2, but it was a desperately difficult day for Valtteri. He took this disappointment like a Trojan, but I could see standing net to him on the podium looking into his eyes that it was hurting him. Valtteri is a brilliant teammate and a racer of real quality who had the pace to win today and who will have much better days ahead – and here’s to that!

  • Bottas takes pole ahead of Hamilton and Vettel

    Bottas takes pole ahead of Hamilton and Vettel

    Valtteri Bottas, centre, takes pole on Saturday. An FIA image

    Sochi, 29 Sept. 2018: Valtteri Bottas claimed the sixth pole position of his career and his first since the Austrian Grand Prix in July beating Mercedes team-mate and championship leader Lewis Hamilton to the front of the grid by 0.145s in the Russian Grand Prix, the16th round of the FIA Formula One World  Championship here on Saturday.

    Title contender Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari, was forced to settle for third place and the second row of the Sochi Autodrom grid, where he will be joined by team-mate Kimi Räikkönen. Both Ferraris were more than half a second off the pace of Bottas.

    “It feels good,” said Bottas, who took his maiden F1 win in Sochi in 2017. “I’ve only once on pole, earlier this year in Austria, so it’s been a bit long since last time, so it is a good feeling.

    “Coming into this weekend I knew that normally this has been a pretty good track for me and again managed to get some good laps in qualifying and the car just felt really, really strong.”

    The session was dominated by Mercedes from the start. In Q1, Hamilton ran half a second ahead of Bottas and almost a second ahead of Vettel and Raikkonen as the segment entered its final minutes.

    The Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo then appeared and both quickly made their way to the sharp end of the order, with Verstappen eventually claiming P3 just ahead of Ricciardo. Vettel and Raikkonen finished fourth and fifth.

    In the drop zone and eliminated at the end of the session were Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley in 16th place, followed by McLaren’s Fernando Alonso, Williams’ Sergey Sirotkin, who spun on his final lap, the second McLaren of Stoffel Vandoorne and second Williams driver Lance Stroll.

    Hamilton was again to the fore in the second segement, a time of 1:32.595, once more putting him ahead of his team-mate. Vettel again slotted into third place ahead of Räikkönen, with both Ferrari drivers four tenths of a second off the pace of Mercedes’ quickest man.

    Further down the order, five drivers elected to sit out the session, with Red Bull’s Verstappen and Ricciardo, Renault’s Carlos Sainz and Nico Hulkenberg, and Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly all remaining garage bound throughout. Red Bull, Toro Rosso and McLaren are facing heavy grid penalties for tomorrow’s race.

    Their inactivity led to the strange situation that the top 10 on the timesheet after the opening runs were assured of progression to Q3 and would not need to run. Nevertheless a number of teams took to the track in the closing stages of Q2, including Mercedes and Ferrari. However, the Mercedes and Ferrari drivers backed out of final runs on hypersofts and so will start on the ultrasoft tyres used in their opening Q2 runs.

    In Q3, Hamilton’s dominance of the session came to an end. Bottas seized the initiative, setting an opening time of 1:31.528. The lap left him 0.004s up on Hamilton. Ferrari were again some way back, with Vettel 0.639s off Bottas in third and Räikkönen another tenth back in fourth. Force India’s Esteban Ocon was fifth, just 0.006s of a second ahead of Sauber’s Charles Leclerc.

    And in the final runs Bottas held his nerve to claim a sixth career pole position. First across the line, the Finn improved to a time of 1:31.387. Behind him on track, Hamilton was quicker through the first sector, but he then made a mistake, running wide in Turn 7. With too much time lost, Hamilton abandoned his lap and handed top spot to his team-mate.

    Vettel took third, half a second adrift of Bottas, while Räikkönen is set to line up in fourth place.

    Haas’ Kevin Magnussen put in an impressive final lap to claim best-of-the-rest status at the front of row three, with Ocon sixth ahead of Leclerc, Sergio Perez of Force India, the second Haas of Romain Grosjean and the Sauber of Marcus Ericsson.

    2018 Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix – Qualifying 
    1 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:31.387
    2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:31.532
    3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:31.943
    4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:32.237
    5 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1m33.181
    6 Esteban Ocon Racing Point Force India 1:33.413
    7 Charles Leclerc Sauber 1:33.419
    8 Sergio Perez Racing Point Force India 1:33.563
    9 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:33.704
    11 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing  –
    12 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing  –
    13 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso  –
    14 Carlos Sainz Renault –
    15 Nico Hulkenberg Renault –
    16 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 1:35.037
    17 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:35.504
    18 Sergey Sirotkin McLaren 1:35.612
    19 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 1:35.977
    20 Lance Stroll Williams 1:36.437

  • Hamilton tops FP2: Russian Grand Prix

    Sochi, 28 Sept 2018: Lewis Hamilton headed a Mercedes one-two in second practice for the Russian Grand Prix, the 16th round of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship here on Friday. The Drivers’ title leader beat teammate Valtteri Bottas by just under two-tenths of a second.

    Hamilton, who comes into this weekend carrying a 40-point championship lead over chief rival Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari, posted a time of 1:33.584 a third of the way through the session after bolting on a set of hypersoft compound tyres as the field set about qualifying simulations. The Briton’s time saw him finish 0.199s ahead of Bottas.

    Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was third fastest at the Sochi Autodrom, with the Dutch driver recording the best time of 1:33.827. That left him just under two-hundredths of a second clear of fourth-placed team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, with both driver just over four-tenths of a second off Hamilton’s pace.

    After opening his Sochi account with the fastest time of the morning session, Vettel slipped to fourth in the afternoon, his time of 1:33.928 leaving him 0.543s adrift of Hamilton on a circuit where Mercedes have never been beaten in the race. The German’s Ferrari team-mate Kimi Räikkönen took sixth place in the session, though the Finn ended up almost half a second behind Vettel and 1.003s down on the P1 pace.

    Best of the rest status went to Racing Point Force India’s Sergio Perez, whose seventh-place time was over 1.7s off Hamilton table-topping time. The Mexican driver was separated from ninth-placed team-mate Esteban Ocon by Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly who edged his French compatriot by just one-hundredth of a second.

    Marcus Ericsson, who had made way for his 2019 Sauber replacement Antonio Giovinazzi in the morning session rounded out the top 10 with a good time of 1:35.295, 0.137s ahead of 13th-placed team-mate Charles Leclerc.

    Kevin Magnussen finished in 11th place, four spots ahead of Haas team-mate Romain Grosjean. Carlos Sainz, who had given up his Renault to Russian tester Artem Markelov in the morning, ended his first session of the weekend in 12th place. Team-mate Nico Hulkenberg was 14th behind Leclerc and Grosjean, with Brendon Hartley 16th in the second Toro Rosso.

    The final places were taken by the McLarens of 17th-placed Fernando Alonso and team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne, and then the Williams cars of local hero Sergey Sirotkin and Canada’s Lance Stroll, with the pairing more than three seconds off the pace.

    2018 Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix – Free Practice 2 
    1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 35 1:33.385
    2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 33 1:33.584 0.199
    3 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 32 1:33.827 0.442
    4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 37 1:33.844 0.459
    5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 33 1:33.928 0.543
    6 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 31 1:34.388 1.003
    7 Sergio Perez Racing Point Force India 30 1:35.122 1.737
    8 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 28 1:35.137 1.752
    9 Esteban Ocon Racing Point Force India 33 1:35.147 1.762
    10 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 35 1:35.295 1.910
    11 Kevin Magnussen Haas 33 1:35.331 1.946
    12 Carlos Sainz Renault 37 1:35.341 1.956
    13 Charles Leclerc Sauber 32 1:35.432 2.047
    14 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 35 1:35.568 2.183
    15 Romain Grosjean Haas 35 1:35.911 2.526
    16 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 29 1:36.024 2.639
    17 Fernando Alonso McLaren 34 1:36.074 2.689
    18 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 31 1:36.617 3.232
    19 Sergey Sirotkin Williams 39 1:36.861 3.476
    20 Lance Stroll Williams 35 1:37.001 3.616

  • I felt like the longest race in my life… I am glad it’s over: Hamilton

    Singapore, 16 Sept. 2018: Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes who won the Singapore Grand Prix, the 15th round of the Formula One World Championship, attended the post-race mandatory FIA press conference along with Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing and Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari, who finished in that order, here on Sunday.

    Track Interview (Conducted by David Coulthard)

    Q: Congratulations Lewis, you are a serial winner. That’s your 69th victory.

    Lewis HAMILTON: I’m spent. That was a tough race. But I have such great support here. We had a great start. The team have just never given up faith and belief in me and in Valtteri and in our ability, and it is a blessing. It was a long race. That felt like the longest race of my life, so I’m glad it’s over. Max put up a good fight as well, but what a day, what a weekend. I feel super blessed.

    Q: My knees can’t take this, can we stand? A man of a certain age. It got interesting around lap 38, there was a little bit of traffic there and they were in their own battle. You had to go defensive with Max, tell us about that moment?

    LH: Yeah, I was a little bit unlucky with the traffic. These guys were moving around, it was quite difficult to follow. I think Max was a little bit luckier getting by some of the guys in terms of what point on the track and the guys weren’t letting me by. Jeez, it was definitely close and my heart was definitely in my mouth for a minute but once I got clear of them I was able to put the pedal down and pull away.

    Q: This has been an incredible September in your life, in all of the Septembers you’ve lived. You’ve won the Italian Grand Prix, you’ve been off launching fashion lines, you’ve come here and you’ve now taken the lead to 40 points over Sebastian Vettel. It doesn’t get much better.

    LH: Definitely not. I mean they put up a good fight this weekend and I’m not really quite sure where their pace disappeared to, but as I said, I’m just grateful for everyone’s hard work, and the fans here. A lot of British flags come out Singapore, so thank you guys, love you, team LH all the way.

    Q: Enjoy the moment, congratulations, fantastic moment. Max, come and join me up here. A brilliant result.

    Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, it was not bad. A shame from the first lap, but you can clearly see we miss top speed. But from there on the team had a great strategy so we could get back into second. Basically we did our own race, tried to follow Lewis a little bit and at the end we knew second was going to be result so you just bring it home.

    Q: We saw you have a little stumble as you were coming out of the pit box, it looked like you were between gears, you were in second and then you went down to first. Even with that you still managed to get out in front of Seb.

    MV: It was not a perfect getaway, but also behind the safety car it was almost bogging down, false neutrals, so a lot of problems but still, very happy with second.

    Q: Well done, Max, great result. Seb, congratulations, but I’m a little bit confused. You were quick all through free practice on a track you’ve been exceptional on in the past, it just didn’t seem that you were in the fight today. Any ideas?

    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, it’s true. I think overall we were not fast enough. We didn’t have the pace in the race. But also I think we tried to be aggressive in the beginning and obviously it didn’t work out. After that I think I had a different race from the other guys, on a different tyre, and I wasn’t very convinced that we could make it to the end, but pitting wasn’t an option because you lose too much time in the pit stop. So we just focused on making it home.

    Q: The hopes of the tifosi rest with you. Have you got some light at the end of the tunnel? Lewis has started to open that gap up and time’s running out. How optimistic are you for the future races?

    SV: It doesn’t help. Obviously I’m mostly thinking about today’s race. I think today with the way we raced we didn’t have a chance. There might be something extra in the fact that maybe we were not quick enough but I think I said before the weekend we can only beat ourselves and we didn’t get everything out of the package.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Christian Menath – Motorsport-Magazin.com) Seb, you said it was pretty obvious what you have tried with the ultrasoft. But could you explain that a little bit, because even if you had jumped Lewis with the ultrasoft you would probably have been on the worse tyre for the rest of the race?

    SV: Well, I mean, obviously the first stint was a cruise for most of it, and then Lewis was picking up the pace. Overall, if you see the gap in the end it is clear that we were not fast enough today in the race. We need to understand why. Obviously it’s largely due to how we decided to race, on which tyres, for how many laps etc. With what we did we tried to get to first position but Lewis was too quick and then… once you are ahead you can control the pace around here but we never got ahead, so it’s a bit pointless to answer.

    Q: (Edd Straw – Autosport) Sebastian, you said you and the team didn’t get everything out of the car this weekend. Can you just talk through the progression over the weekend, where you went in the wrong direction? And just in general, do you think the team is not necessarily making the right calls and doing the right things with the way they play the weekend to maximise your chances?

    SV: No, I will always defend the team. I think the decision we took in the race, the decisions to try to be aggressive, if it works it’s great, today it didn’t work. Obviously it didn’t work by quite a bit and we need to look into that. But I believe we saw something and that’s why we go for it. Obviously inside the car it’s difficult to be on top of everything because you cannot see where you come out etc. We were aggressive in trying to get ahead, taking into account that we have to go through traffic, which in the end bit us also, to lose the second place. If it doesn’t work it is always easy to criticise but I will always defend what we did. Overall, we had a very strong package, both Kimi and myself, I think we looked very competitive throughout practice but in the end if you look at the race result we finished third and fifth. Like yesterday, probably not where the speed of our car belongs so that’s what I mean by saying we didn’t get everything out of ourselves.

    Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Lewis, you said earlier that you didn’t expect to leave here adding ten extra points to your championship lead – so how big a boost is it to your title chances, winning here again, given that we always seem to think this is a Ferrari circuit?

    LH: Well, we’re really just taking it one race at a time, knowing that Ferrari have had quite good pace for the last few races. Generally, whilst we’ve finished on front foot, we start on the back foot, kinda thing, each weekend – but with a mentality that, if we do a good enough job, maybe we’ll come out ahead. Right this second it definitely feels… it was a tough race. It was a hardcore race. The cars are much quicker than usual, and obviously that moment we had with the backmarkers and the crazy day we had yesterday, with the crazy week that I’ve had… the last two weeks have just been intense. So, I’m looking forward to a couple of days off, these following days – but, of course it feels great but I’ve been here a long, long time so I don’t let… I know I can’t get ahead of myself; we can’t get ahead of ourselves. We have to continue to remain humble and just keep working as hard as we can. So, right now, I just feel, job done. I’m really happy with it. Still lots of points available but with this performance, and this focus that we have as a team, I truly believe that we can deliver impactful weekends like this for the rest of the season. So that’s the goal.

    Q: (Laurence Edmondson – ESPN) Question for Seb. Looking at the weekend as a whole, how costly were those lost laps in FP2, in understanding the tyres and putting together the race strategy?

    SV: Not at all. I mean, I’ve done enough laps around here. Obviously, it’s never great if you miss out but I think Friday and Saturday morning we were first in practice, so I don’t think that made a big difference. And also, late on in the season, you know enough about tyres and you can read from other people, so I think we got all the information and the fact that I think today we made it until the end with the most laps on the tyre you probably least expect to go that far, shows that we didn’t have any problems with the tyres. But obviously, you know we had to manage our race differently than the other guys.

    Q: (Julien Billotte – AutoHebdo) Question for Seb again. Did you guys pit earlier than expected because you misheard what Lewis reported on his tyre at the start of the race, in the early phase of the race?

    SV: What did he report?

    He said “I’ve got a lot left in my tyres,” and your engineer reported the opposite – which you didn’t believe actually. So did you pit earlier than expected?

    SV: I did not believe it, I said it’s not true – because we were going quite slowly in the beginning, and I think a couple of laps after that, Lewis decided to push, so obviously, when your tyres are fresh you can choose the pace a little bit here and not be under threat because the corners that matter, you still have very good exits and it’s difficult to get close. So yeah, in the end I think we were fine in the first stint. We probably dropped back a little bit too much, so I think, overall, we did not have exactly the pace that we wanted – but also, if you are the first car it is always easier because you have nobody in front, you manage your tyres and then, at some point, you decide to go. Whereas if you are behind, you always need to be sort-of ready. If you drop back too much then you’re too far away, so it’s natural that, being behind, you lose quite a lot. Even if you go slower, being behind, you damage your tyres more than being in front, going slower. So, it was not a big surprise but that’s how the game is played here, and he did it very well, and they executed well. For us, we tried to do something, it didn’t work full stop and from their obviously we were more on the back foot and defence. So, we had a different race after that point.

    Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) Question to Sebastian. After starting the season so well, still got the fastest car, is there a sense now that you might be losing your grip on this championship?

    SV: Well, Lewis said he didn’t expect to come here gaining ten points, we probably didn’t come here expecting to lose ten points – but, having had the race that we had, I think there’s a full justification for losing those ten points and we take it. Obviously, there is still a long way to go and a lot of points to score. I never believed that we had the fastest car by a big margin, as people said. I know that we have a very good car. I think we started the season well and then we were about half a second behind in qualifying and it was crucial to get back, which we manage to – and then we had a bit of a rough time but overall I think the speed is there but I think it’s a match in qualifying as much as in the race. Today, if anything, I think we were a little bit slower, which we need to have a look and understand – but also it’s difficult to draw the conclusion because our race, my race was very different. I was on the oldest tyres and probably on the tyre that was not supposed to last that long. You would probably like to go out and do the same stint on the same tyres, just to be able to compare – but that’s not the race that we had today. So, you know, that’s what it was this weekend. Russia, I think, has been getting better the last years for us, so it should suit our car as well. I don’t think we have any tracks to fear that are coming. I think our car is working pretty much everywhere and that’s a strength of our car, so no need to be afraid of what’s coming.

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) Sebastian, earlier you said you need to look as to why you were third and fifth and yesterday you had some questions about what happened in qualifying. Why is it that you can’t put your finger on what’s going wrong at the moment for Ferrari?

    SV: I think first of all we’re not playing a silly game, we’re quite serious and it’s quite tough competition, so the level of competition is very high and if you have the slightest mistake obviously there are people there who are usually there to benefit from it. I think today, you know the race that we had showed that Max was there straightaway to benefit. Maybe sometimes you are lucky and it’s not showing as crucial but today it caught us and what we tried didn’t work and also caught us out so it didn’t help but I’m happy to try, I’m happy to try being aggressive to try and win. That was the ambition and especially on a track where it’s difficult to pass you need to try and figure something out. Yeah, but overall I think it’s not the result that we wanted and it’s a disappointment because we came here thinking that we are very strong. I think we were but not strong enough, not as strong as we probably wanted to be in terms of raw race pace. Yesterday, I still believe we could have had a better day but it’s history so – same as today – we need to look forward. There are a couple of differences that are standing out about yesterday, about today, things that we can learn from the others, because they simply did a better job if they finish ahead of us by half a minute, so clearly they did some things better than us.

    Q: (Daan de Geus – Formula 1 Magazine NL) Max…

    MV: They are like the Finnish, you know…

    Q: (Daan de Geus – Formula 1 Magazine NL) Max, you and Red Bull earmarked this as the best opportunity of the second half of the season. How important is it to deliver with a good result, and does it change your expectations heading into these last six races?

    MV: No. I mean. Yeah. Well, it’s quite straightforward. This race was better for us than Monza, for example, so I think we maximised the result with the problems we had with the engine which was a shame, because I was very happy the safety car was gone because I was almost stalling on the track so even my pit stop was not great. Yeah, looking forward to now… I don’t know which track will come up as maybe good again. Maybe Mexico a little bit but we lose a lot on the straight, so I’m not expecting it to be like last year but you never know. You always have to be positive I guess and try to be there if something happens.

    Q: (Joost Nederpelt – NU.NL) Max, was there any point in this race – pace-wise – where you thought you could win this race?

    MV: Laps to the grid, I think. No, you can’t pass, it’s impossible. You could see that once in the first stint when we were all going quite slowly, even if you wanted to push a bit more you can’t get close so you’re just following a train. Yeah, you just have to do your own race, try to look after the tyres and that’s what we did, that’s why we could do the overcut which of course was great and once I was in second again, I know I would just try to follow Lewis to the end and bring it home.

    Q: (Edd Straw – Autosport) Sebastian and Max, you had two battles, one on the first lap…

    LH: Do you have a question for me?

    Q: (Edd Straw – Autosport) You were just too good.

    MV: Oh thanks, mate!

    Q: (Edd Straw – Autosport) Sebastian and Max, you had two battles, one on the first lap and one after the pit stop. Could you just talk through those battles and if you could have done anything differently to reverse them? Could you have stayed there first time Max and Seb could you have got ahead second time?

    MV: They were fine. I was a disappointed the first one and I guess Seb was a bit disappointed the second one.

    SV: That’s a good summary. I had a very good start, I tried in turn one but Max was covering the inside and from there I tried to line things up for the next corner which was successful and I got a bit of a tow from Lewis down the straight so that worked well. The pits it was tight so I lost it again, it was a pity, obviously.

    Q: (Kate Walker – New York Times) Lewis, the perceived wisdom for most of this season is that you’ve got the second best car on the grid but you have also got the biggest advantage in the championship. Where are you finding these performances where you are able to outstrip both your car and your competitors’ equipment?

    LH: Good question, thank you, I appreciate it. It’s hard up here because it’s like an anti-climax. Naturally it was a hard race but we need to keep the energy up because this is a special moment for me and for the team. Was it an exciting race, or not really for you guys? That’s probably why. I definitely heard a couple of people snoring here. Honestly, it’s just great teamwork, very very diligent engineering. The guys obviously back at the car, we’re constantly learning about the car and refining it but we’re bring out upgrades every now and then but it’s pretty much the same times as they (Ferrari) bring theirs. But it’s more understanding the tyres, it’s more getting more comfortable with hitting the nail on the head with the balance of the car and really just eking out each little bit and each weekend we’re got incredible communications. The debriefs are really really solid, there’s a lot of direction that comes from the debriefs. I give quite long debriefs nowadays and we work to the point that we leave no stone unturned, there’s not a single stone unturned each weekend that we arrive and so it’s a real collective, it’s just the strongest the team has ever been in terms of how we communicate. We’ve got great people in the team, both at the factory and here and it’s a real privilege to work with everyone and also we’re all so comfortable with each other and there’s a huge confidence within the organisation. And in terms of my driving, as I said, I have these others things that I do outside which are stimulating. I know there were questions at the beginning of the week whether it is distracting and naturally you come here and if I put one foot wrong, people are going to point to the things that I do outside as a result of it. You can see, it doesn’t affect my performance and if anything those things they add to the performance really. Healthwise, I’m super healthy. As I said, I went on a plant-based diet last year – here, actually, I started here last year – and it’s been the best year of my life physically.

    Ends

  • Hamilton takes pole with a blistering lap: Singapore GP

    Hamilton takes pole with a blistering lap: Singapore GP

    Hamilton takes Singapore pole on Saturday. An FIA image

    Singapore, 14 Sept. 2018: Lewis Hamilton took pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix with a blistering lap of the Marina Bay Street Circuit that left him three-tenths of a second clear of Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen. Hamilton’s title rival Sebastian Vettel could only manage third place in the qualifying session of the night race, the 15th round of the Formula One World Championship here on Saturday.

    In Q1, after Kimi Räikkönen set the early pace with a time of 1:38.534, red Bull’s bypassed the Finn with a time of the 1:38.153. Verstappen then slotted into P3 with his opening lap of 1:38.715.

    Vettel, who seemed to back out of his opening lap, then found clear air to post a time of 1:38.218. The was good enough for P2 behind Ricciardo. Haas’ Romain Grosjean then arrived with a time of 1:38.685 to shuffle Verstappen down to fifth, as the clock counted down towards the final runs.

    In the drop zone as those runs began were McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne, Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson, Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley and Williams drivers Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin.

    It was Ericsson who made the jump to safety in the dying seconds. The Swede vaulted to P13 and that dropped Haas’ Kevin Magnussen to P16 and out of the session. Eliminated behind Magnussen were Hartley, Vandoorne, Sirotkin and Stroll.

    The end of the session was nervous too for championship leader Lewis Hamilton. Mercedes elected to run the first session on ultrasoft tyres and as better times came in from rivals in the closing stages Hamilton plummeted down the order. Fortunately for the Briton, he dropped only as far as P14 and he was through to Q2.

    In the second session, Ferrari sent Räikkönen and Vettel being out on ultrasoft tyres looking to perhaps set a time good enough to be able to start on the set. Hamilton took top spot with a time of 1:37.344, with Ricciardo slotting into P2. Verstappen then bypassed both with a lap of 1:37.214. Vettel, meanwhile, was lodged in 10th, while Räikkönen was all the way down in P15 and telling his team the ultrasoft was “just too slow”.

    In the final runs, both Ferrari drivers moved to hypersofts and Räikkönen jumped to the top of the order with a time of 1:37.194. Vettel caught traffic on his run and when Bottas improved to P3 after the flag, the Ferrari driver dropped to P6 behind Ricciardo.

    Eliminated at the end of Q3 were McLaren’s Fernando Alonso in 11th place, followed by Renault’s Carlos Sainz, Sauber’s Charles Leclerc, his team-mate Ericsson and Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly.

    In the first runs of Q3 Hamilton staked an early claim to pole position with a superb lap of 1:36.015. Verstappen kept the championship leader in his sights by taking P2 with a time of 1:36.344 and Vettel slotted into P3, although the German was almost six tenths of a second behind title rival Hamilton.

    And that was how the top six order stayed. Verstappen went quickest in the second sector on his final run but he later said he was forced to back off in the final sector as he experienced an engine issue.

    Vettel, too, began well, running quickest in the first sector but the lap slipped away from the German and he had to settle for third place ahead of Bottas, Räikkönen and Ricciardo.

    Seventh place went to Force India’s Sergio Pérez, with the Mexican finishing ahead of Haas’ Romain Grosjean, Force India team-mate Esteban Ocon and Renault’s NIco Hulkenberg.
    2018 Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix – Qualifying
    1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:36.015
    2 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:36.334 0.319
    3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:36.628 0.613
    4 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:36.702 0.687
    5 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:36.794 0.779
    6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:36.996 0.981
    7 Sergio Perez Force India 1:37.985 1.970
    8 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:38.320 2.305
    9 Esteban Ocon Force India 1:38.365 2.350
    10 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:38.588 2.573
    11 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:38.641 2.626
    12 Carlos Sainz Renault 1:38.716 2.701
    13 Charles Leclerc Sauber 1:38.747 2.732
    14 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:39.453 3.438
    15 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 1:39.691 3.676
    16 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:39.644 3.629
    17 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 1:39.809 3.794
    18 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 1:39.864 3.849
    19 Sergey Sirotkin Williams 1:41.263 5.248
    20 Lance Stroll Williams 1:41.334 5.319

  • Kimi Raikkonen, 100th of a second faster than Hamilton: FP2

    Singapore, 14 Sept. 2018: Kimi Räikkönen went quickest in the second practice session ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix, though the Ferrari driver was just one-hundredth of a second clear of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.

    Räikkönen, who will move from Maranello squad to Sauber in 2019, set the pace in the early exchanges on ultrasoft Pirelli tyres, setting the best time of 1:40.510 to edge Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen.

    When the field moved to hypersoft compound tyres for their qualifying simulations, Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas jumped to the top of the order before Hamilton bypassed him with a time of 1:38.710.

    The Ferrari pairing of Räikkönen and Vettel had yet to complete their runs, however, and when they did it was Monza pole-position man Räikkönen who took top spot, 0.011s ahead of Hamilton.

    Vettel might have deposed his team-mate but an error on his lap saw him hit the wall as he exited Turn 21. The impact damaged the right-hand side of the German’s car but he was able to drive back to the pits. He did not return to the action, however, and without a quali sim to his name, Vettel finished the session in ninth place.

    In the earlier session Red Bull Racing had annexed the top two spots, running on hypersofts, but in the second session their qualifying simulations saw both drivers finish more than half a second off the pace, with Max Verstappen to the fore in third place with a time of 1:39.22 and Daniel Ricciardo a tenth further back in fourth place.

    Verstappen’s session was also hampered by a mechanical problem, with the Dutch reporting an engine issues on the exit of the Turn 7. He later told the team that the problem was persistent.

    Behind Ricciardo, Bottas finished in sixth place, just under six-hundredths of a second off the pace of the Australian.

    Renault’s Carlos Sainz was next, though his seventh place was secured with a lap nine tenths of a second off the pace of Bottas and almost 1.6s behind Räikkönen. Eighth place in the session went to McLaren’s Fernando Alonso, just under two tenths faster than Vettel, while Nico Hulkenberg rounded out the top 10 in the second Renault.
    2018 Singapore Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
    1 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 35 1:38.699
    2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 20 1:38.710 0.011
    3 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 28 1:39.221 0.522
    4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 33 1:39.309 0.610
    5 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 33 1:39.368 0.669
    6 Carlos Sainz Renault 36 1:40.274 1.575
    7 Romain Grosjean Haas 33 1:40.384 1.685
    8 Fernando Alonso McLaren 31 1:40.459 1.760
    9 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 12 1:40.633 1.934
    10 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 35 1:40.668 1.969
    11 Sergio Perez Racing Point Force India 30 1:40.774 2.075
    12 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 37 1:40.812 2.113
    13 Esteban Ocon Racing Point Force India 33 1:40.870 2.171
    14 Charles Leclerc Sauber 37 1:41.062 2.363
    15 Kevin Magnussen Haas 32 1:41.154 2.455
    16 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 32 1:41.164 2.465
    17 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 38 1:41.542 2.843
    18 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 36 1:41.615 2.916
    19 Lance Stroll Williams 17 1:42.141 3.442
    20 Sergey Sirotkin Williams 36 1:42.181 3.482

  • Championship is still going to be tough: Hamilton

    Championship is still going to be tough: Hamilton

    Thursday Press Conference in progress at Singapore. An FIA image

    Singapore, 13 Sept. 2018: The FIA Thursday Press Conference ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix of the Formula One World Championship was attended by Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari), Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), Kevin Magnussen (Haas), Brendon Hartley (Toro Rosso).

    Transcript of the Press Conference:

    Q: Kimi, if we could start with you please. You’ve been generating a few column inches this past week. Can you just talk us through what happened and why you’re on the move next year?

    Kimi Raikkonen: I guess you know what happened. I don’t know what else you want to know. This is what happened. As we’ve said many times before, it’s not up to me, it’s not my decision in the end. Anything after that is obviously my decision but this is the outcome. At least we have an outcome.

    Q: You say it wasn’t your decision to leave Ferrari, but it was your decision to go back to Sauber, so just talk us through why you’re doing that?

    KR: Why not.

    Q: What is it about the team? On current form there is quite a performance differential between Ferrari and Sauber, so what have you been told…

    KR: Yeah, but then there’s a lot of differences between all the cars, you know. If you take other teams, there are not many cars, if you take this year, that are on the same level. That’s how it has always been. I mean, see what happens in the future so…

    Q: But, Kimi, what have you been told about the performance? Tell us why you want to go back to Sauber?

    KR: Because I want to. Why do you try to make it so complicated? I don’t know anything more than you guys, purely where they have been finishing. Obviously I don’t know what will happen next year, nobody knows what will happen next year when it comes to the speeds of the cars and the teams and obviously, we can always guess but we will see what we can do. Obviously, I have my reasons and that’s enough for me. I don’t really care what others think and as long as I’m happy with my own reasons, it’s enough for me.

    Q: And you’re still passionate about racing? The fire…

    KR: No, I’m not actually. Just by pure head games for you guys, I happened to sign and I’m going to spend two years there just not being happy.

    Well, Kimi, thanks for the insight.

    KR: No worries.

    Q: Let’s move on. Kevin coming to you now: this weekend is your 75th grand prix, a bit of a milestone for you. Do you feel you’re part of the F1 establishment now?

    Kevin Magnussen: I don’t know really. I haven’t thought of it like that. I didn’t even know it was my 75th race, so I’m just enjoying… it’s the best time I’ve had in Formula 1, at the moment. It’s great fun and I’ll see how it goes this weekend and will hopefully have a good race.

    Q: Have you had any further thoughts about what happened between you and Fernando Alonso at Monza and will it affect your approach to qualifying here in Singapore?

    KM: I’ll try to stay away from Fernando as much as I can! I think it was a pretty extraordinary thing that happened and it’s not something that will happen too often I think.

    Q: Thank you. Brendon, coming to you, it’s your first time here in Formula 1, so can you just talk us through the preparations you’ve done for this grand prix. It’s hot, it’s a long race, just talk us through what you’ve done?

    Brendon Hartley: Yeah, so everyone has told me that it’s the most physical race of the year, not only because of the heat but also the focus and stamina it requires is a long race and not many breaks on the tracks. In terms of training, not many changes. I think all of us drivers are very race fit. We’ve had a long season already and many races to warm up to a tough one like this. I’d say most of us drivers did a bit of heat training over the last week or so and for me, it was just adding a couple of extra layers on when I was training on my bike. I came out a couple of days early as well, just to get used to being here. Actually, it doesn’t feel as hot as I expected. I think in previous years it’s been hotter, but nevertheless, it’s going to be a tough old race. On top of that, I spent some time in the simulator, learning the track as best I can before hitting FP1 tomorrow.

    Q: Expecting a few Kiwis in the crowd I guess?

    BH: Yeah I actually me a few already on the streets of Singapore. It’s reasonably close for us, it’s halfway, so I’m kind of halfway home. There should be a few expats around and the Aussies always seem to give me a few cheers, so I think they try to adopt me as their own as well.

    Q: We’ve heard from Kimi about his move to Sauber next year. What can you tell us about your plans for 2019? Have your talks progressed with the team?

    BH: Not really chatting at the moment. I have a contract going forward. Obviously, there are always options and whatnot. I’ve been saying it for a while that the best thing I can do is focus on one race at a time and doing the best job I can. I know, and I’m confident about the job I’ve been doing behind the scenes with the team. I know I’ve got stronger every race during the season. The results don’t exactly show that, but I know that I am strong and I have been strong in the last five races and there have been a few circumstances which meant I wasn’t able to score points. I seem to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time a lot of the time but I’m also looking at myself, and what I can do better there. Honestly, I’m just focusing on doing the best I can one race at a time, and I hope that I’m on the grid next year, which is my goal.

    Thank you, Brendon, good luck this weekend. Lewis, on paper this is meant to be a bit of a bogey track for the team, but you keep winning. You’ve had two victories here with the team. What are your expectations ahead of this weekend?

    Lewis Hamilton: Honestly, I never even have expectations every time I come to a race, I must just tell you that. I guess ultimately our expectation is for us to give it our all and try to perform as well, if not better, than in the past races. Collectively, as a team, we have done a tremendous job in the past races and we want to try and keep that quality of performance.

    Q: Your championship lead is now 10 times greater than it was at this stage last year – 30 points as opposed to three points in 2017. Talk us through that buffer. Is that a factor in your head and how you approach the race weekend?

    LH: Honestly not. It might be subconscious but I’ve not really thought about it. I don’t change the way… at the moment there’s no reason to change. There are a lot of points still available so the approach is exactly the same as it has been all year long. It seems to be working, so we’ll just keep that up for as long as we can. But we do expect there are going to be some difficult races ahead. Obviously, Ferrari have been ahead of us for the past few races, so keeping up with them, if not passing them, is going to be tough.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Abishek Takle – Mid-day) A question for Kimi. At what point did you know that you wouldn’t be driving for Ferrari next season and when did the Sauber talks actually start?

    KR: In Monza I knew, Obviously I know people from there [Sauber] from the past and basically, it started after that.

    Q: (Edd Straw – Autosport) Kimi, you said you still know people at Sauber and you’ve obviously kept ties with the team. Has it always been a bit of a thing in the back of your mind that it might be a nice thing to do later in your career, to go there, back to where it started?

    KR: No. I don’t think it’s always been there. Obviously, you never know in the end what will happen. This is just how it ends up to be going actually, and yeah, I wouldn’t say there have been plans for a long time that this is going to happen, so…

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, you have said that you are only interested in winning. Do you have to find a new target for next year when racing with Sauber?

    KR: I don’t know. I don’t think… I mean, obviously, the aim is always that. I mean, is it realistic? Who knows? You can only aim for the best, best positions and see what comes up.

    Q: (Rebecca Clancy – The Times) Lewis, since we last saw you in Italy, McLaren have announced that Lando Norris will be driving for them next season. Just want to get your views on having a fellow Brit on the grid – and also, as a youngster, would you seek him out to give him advice at all?

    LH: I wouldn’t give him advice. Obviously, if he asked for it, he could get it if he wanted. If I’m really honest, I don’t really look at nationalities. I don’t look down the order and think; ‘there’s another Brit’, or ‘there’s another German,’ or anything like that. I just… that’s not something that really appeals to me. England’s always producing good drivers. They have them; there’s quite  a lot of them. It’s not like Formula One’s never going to have a British driver, so… yeah, wish him all the best.

    Q: (Beatrice Zamuner – Motorlat.com) Question to all four drivers. What are your thoughts on the idea of fielding a third car to the grid.

    KM: I think it’s kind of… it sounds quite exciting. I think it would be great to see three Mercedes and three Ferraris, but then from there, I don’t know whether it would be good to have 30 cars on the grid. I think the pitlane would be quite tight as well. It could be good, it could be bad. I don’t really know.

    LH: I quite like the idea of more cars. More teams maybe, rather than three drivers in a team – would be a handful.

    KR: I think if would be nice to have a lot of cars but then, I don’t know. So many things that it will change. It’s pretty difficult to work it out.

    BH: From a drivers’ point of view I think it would be great to have more cars. From a team’s point of view and all the other logistics that would entail, I don’t really know, it’s not my place. It would probably make 2019 contract negotiations a bit easier! But yeah, actually, from a drivers’ point of view it would be cool. I’m also used to having a few more teammates than maybe some of the other drivers on the grid.

    Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) Question to Lewis. Obviously, you went to Shanghai for your fashion launch, you went back to New York, you’re now back here in Singapore. The other drivers talking about preparing and getting in shape. Is your ability now to step off the plane and switch from fashion business to F1 business? Do you find the ability to do that easier now in your career? And is that what keeps you fresh, coming into this week?

    LH: It’s not that I find it easy. As soon as I leave the races I’m able to switch off. I’ve got, obviously other things that I’m doing, and in between, trying to fit in the training, for example, in the last week, has not been easy. But that’s not really how every single week goes for me – it’s just a hectic time for me with a lot going on in the outside world for me. But yeah, I mean, I’ve travelled a lot more than I have all year long in these two weeks. But I think yeah, from experience I’ve been able to move around even more than I have these past two weeks and still arrive and be able to switch into race mode. So, there’s not a single moment during those two weeks, whilst I have those other things going on, there’s not a single moment that I’m not thinking about racing, not thinking about the championship, how I want to arrive. Make sure, knowing that we’re coming to a difficult race, that you need to see if you can bring more to. So, there’s not a moment that I don’t think about it.

    Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Just on that Lewis, do you think it’s a bit of a gamble tying the two together? The fashion and the travelling and the Formula One and winning the Championship.

    LH: Not at all. Just referring to the question before, I get a lot of energy from these different things that I do. I find it stimulating and I think you’ll see that my results have shown that for the past several years. As I’ve said, I’ve travelled a lot more than I have this year. This has actually been the year I’ve travelled the least, at least in the last five years, so…

    Q: (Masahiro Owari – Formula Owari Masahiro) Lewis, I’d like to ask about the Japanese Grand Prix, a couple of weeks later. Last year you broke the course record in Suzuka. Are you confident to break it again this year? And how important is winning at Suzuka for you, and for the Championship.

    LH: Naturally, it’s very difficult to say how important that race is going to be from now, because we’ve got this race to go – but every race is obviously as important as the other – but we will, no doubt, if it’s dry, break the record again this year. Our car is two to three seconds faster, whatever it is, than it was last year, so someone will break the record for sure, continuously throughout the weekend. And it’s such a great race, as we all know. It’s such a great circuit that everyone loves driving. It’s going to be pretty crazy through that first sector with the amount of downforce that we do have on our car. So, I think everyone can be excited for that.

    Q: (Ralf Bach – Sport Bild) Lewis, what do you think about the current Ferrari philosophy to let their drivers fight each other? It makes your life a little bit less difficult in the races. What do you think about it?
    LH:     Ferrari’s philosophy to let their drivers race? I honestly hadn’t even noticed it, if I’m really honest. They’re racing – it’s nothing to do with me. I don’t see how it makes my life… how does it make it less difficult? I still have to fight this guy (Raikkonen). How does it make it less difficult? If you watch the races, it’s more likely the position that they’ve put themselves in as opposed to the position we’ve put ourselves in. Valtteri’s been in the position to help in different scenarios. I don’t think you’ve seen many races where it’s been the same for them.

    Q: (Candra Kurnia Harinanto – Jawa Pos) Kimi, have you already thought that you will end your career at Sauber?

    KR: There’s a big chance, for sure! I’m not interested in any numbers or records, purely what I feel is right for me and that’s it. We’ll see what happens in the future.

    LH: How many seasons will it be?

    KR: No idea. I was two years doing holidays.

    LH: Yeah, but with two more years, how many seasons will that be in Formula One? Sixteen seasons.

    KR: Yeah. Not a lot.

    LH: Still a lot. I think it has to be admired.

    KR: We’ll see. Hopefully I’ll stay healthy and all those things.

    Q: (Julien Billiotte – AutoHebdo) Kimi, there have been some reports that you could be interested in taking up a management role at Sauber, once you’re done racing, whenever that is. Is this something you have on your mind for the future?

    KR: There’s zero discussion on that. Obviously I’ve signed my contract as a driver and I hope I stay there as a driver. Who knows what happens in the future, in two years or whatever.  When it’s all said and done, I’ve no idea. I don’t know myself. There’s always speculation and everything but I don’t have any contract about that.

    Q: (Don Kennedy – Hawkes Bay Today NZ) Brendon, there’s been a bit in the media about what Dr Marko has said about possibly ten drivers looking for a seat at Toro Rosso. Obviously, you’re one of those and that you need to improve. Have you been given any idea by him what he means by improvement or by the team, what they mean by improvement?

    BH: Actually I’ve been improving all year and I haven’t really had a direct discussion about an exact result but it’s clear I haven’t finished in the points enough times, when you compare with my teammate. Some of that was out of my control, some of it part in my control but honestly, like I said before, I’m just focused – one race at a time – on doing my job and I’m very confident of the job I do behind the scenes and also I know that I’ve been improving the whole season. Yeah, just focused on Singapore this weekend. It’s a big opportunity actually for us at Toro Rosso. Historically the team’s done very well here. Last year they took fourth place with Carlos in some tricky conditions but if we take the last two races, we think this would be a strong opportunity for us. Everyone can see that I’ve been strong in certain scenarios but haven’t been able to capitalise so I think if what you’re referring to what he’s saying –  I haven’t been following the press – but probably I need some more results in the points.

    Q: (Don Kennedy – Hawkes Bay Today NZ) Some more luck, maybe?

    BH: There’s a bit of that too but I need to try and create as much luck for myself.

    Q: (Stefano Mancini – La Stampa) Kimi, will you help Vettel to win his championship this year?

    KR: I can only drive one car, obviously. There’s always a lot of talk, a lot of things which can be helpful, can not be. It’s always easy to say that this and this will happen but in theory, it’s so difficult to get it right in many ways so we will see what happens in the racing, if we’re close to each other and this and that. Obviously, we know our rules; it’s pretty simple.

    Q: (Jake Michaels – ESPN) Lewis, you’re obviously in a tight battle with Ferrari this season but how wary are you of Red Bull this weekend and do you expect to see them fighting for the win?

    LH: Not really sure… I’ve not spoken to the team as to… they’ll let us know in the meeting we have coming up, whether or not Red Bull will play a role in this weekend’s race but they’ve been there or thereabouts in quite a lot of the races, so you have to assume this is usually a good race for them. I think they’ve stopped developing their car quite a long time ago to focus on next year’s car, from what I’ve heard, so they’re just driving with what they have, that’s what I heard. I think this weekend, it’s a downforce circuit, they’re always good on their rear tyres as well so this should undoubtedly be a strong weekend for them, as it was last year.

    Q: (Edd Straw – Autosport) Kimi, you’ve made it very clear that you’re racing for Sauber and carrying on racing because you want to but, as was talked about earlier, you’re carrying on to an age where a lot of drivers will have stopped, so what is it that Formula One gives you personally that makes you want to keep going?

    KR: Racing, that’s about it.

    LH: Talking to you guys.

    KR: Yeah. Best time of the weekend, for sure! No, but honestly, I always said that I will stop when I feel it’s right for me. I don’t need to comment on how I feel. Obviously, the racing is the part that I enjoy most and that’s why we are here. Obviously, it’s always been a big part of the race weekend, all the other stuff which is normal for us, but it’s not the reason to come here. The reason is to drive and race. It’s not the big part of the weekend any more as it used to be because obviously everything changes a bit but that’s the only reason, really. The other stuff that comes with it, it’s very normal, it’s always been there. It comes with the package. It’s not often that you get a package where you only have the good things. It’s OK. We all know each other. It’s the same answers, same questions every time so it’s not too difficult.

  • Hamilton stuns Vettel with a fantastic drive in Ferrari’s home race: Italian GP

    Monza, 2 Sept 2018: Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton took a sensational 68th career win at Monza, beating Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen after starting third in the Heinekan Italian GP of the Formula One World Championship on Sunday.

    Räikkönen was forced to settle for second place ahead of the second Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas after being passed by Hamilton nine laps from the flag. Vettel finished fourth after dropping to the back of the field following a coming together with title rival Hamilton on the opening lap of the race.

    At the start, pole position man Kimi Räikkonen held his advantage to take the lead through the opening two turns. Behind him, though, Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel, who started from P2, was being pressured by title rival Lewis Hamilton and there was brief contact in Turn 1.

    Hamilton continued to press and launched an attack around the outside of Vettel’s Ferrari into the second chicane. There was minimal room for manoeuvre and the pair collided, with Vettel being sent into a spin.

    Hamilton was able to continue in second place ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who had muscled his way past the second Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas as the start, but Vettel dropped to the back of the field.

    At the back of the order there was also a collision at the start between Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson and Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley. The New Zealander suffered a blown tyres and he was forced to pull over at the side of the track.

    That brought out the safety car and under the caution Vettel pitted for soft tyres.

    Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo also pitted, taking on supersofts, and the pair were soon making their way through the field, with Ricciardo initially to the fore.

    When the Safety Car left the track, Hamilton made the most of the re-start and passed Räikkönen into Turn 1. The Mercedes’ driver’s hold on the lead was brief, however, as Räikkönen fought back in the second chicane and muscled his way back to the front.

    In the midfield, Vettel passed Ricciardo at the start of lap nine and by lap 17 he had hauled himself up to ninth place, but he was now 27.3s behind leading team-mate Räikkönen

    Räikkönen made his sole stop, for soft tyres, on lap 20. Mercedes feinted a stop on the following lap but with his pace good Hamilton was told to stay out.

    Behind them, Ricciardo’s race came to an end on lap 24 when smoke began to pour from the rear of his Red Bull. The Australian quickly pulled over and retired, his latest spec Renault engine appearing to let him down.

    Ahead, Hamilton made his stop on lap 28, taking on soft tyres, but he emerged behind Räikkönen. Bottas was yet to pit, however, and as Hamilton rejoined over two seconds behind Räikkönen, Bottas was told to keep his fellow Finn behind him.

    Bottas finally made his pit stop at the end of lap 35. He took on soft tyres and emerged some 3.5s behind Verstappen. Räikkönen now led again but with worn tyres that were beginning to cause the Finn problems. Hamilton, just half a second behind the Ferrari driver, was on much fresher rubber and began to exert heavy pressure.

    Vettel, meanwhile, was busy making his way back towards the leaders after a second pit stop, for supersoft tyres, and on lap 39 he claimed fifth place. He was now 13.4s behind Bottas with 14 laps to go and lapping much quicker than the Mercedes man who was battling to get past Verstappen.

    At the front, Hamilton made the decisive move on lap 45. He tucked in behind the Finn on the pit straight and then darted around the outside of the Finn’s Ferrari into Turn 1 to take a lead he would not relinquish.

    Behind Räikkönen, third-placed Verstappen Max was now coming under pressure from Bottas. The Finn went to pass in Turn 1 but Verstappen took a very wide line and there was contact, with Bottas being forced to cut the chicane.

    The incident was placed under investigation and Max was subsequently handed a five-second time penalty for causing the collision.

    After Hamilton took his 68th career win ahead of Räikkönen, Verstappen crossed the line in third, but with Bottas and Vettel within five seconds of the Dutchman, the Red Bull man was classified in fifth place, from where he started the race.

    Romain Grosjean took sixth place for Haas, while Racing Point Force India took their second double points finish in a row, with Esteban Ocon seventh and Sergio Pérez eighth. Ninth place was taken by Renault’s Carlos Sainz and the final point on offer went to Williams’ Lance Stroll.

    2018 Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix – Race 
    1 Lewis Hamilton  Mercedes –
    2 Kimi Raikkonen  Ferrari 8.705
    3 Valtteri Bottas  Mercedes 14.066
    4 Sebastian Vettel  Ferrari 16.151
    5 Max Verstappen  Red Bull Racing 18.208
    6 Romain Grosjean  Haas 56.320
    7 Esteban Ocon  Force India 57.761
    8 Sergio Perez  Force India 58.678
    9 Carlos Sainz Renault 1:18.140
    10 Lance Stroll  Williams 1 lap
    11 Sergey Sirotkin  Williams 1 lap
    12 Charles Leclerc  Sauber 1 lap
    13 Stoffel Vandoorne  McLaren 1 lap
    14 Nico Hulkenberg  Renault 1 lap
    15 Pierre Gasly  Toro Rosso 1 lap
    16 Marcus Ericsson  Sauber 1 lap
    17 Kevin Magnussen  Haas 1 lap
    Daniel Ricciardo  Red Bull Racing 30 laps
    Fernando Alonso  McLaren 44 laps
    Brendon Hartley  Toro Rosso