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Tag: India
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Arjun Balu, Leela win ITC races
Chennai, 23 June 2013: Japanese driver Yudai Jinkawa won Race 2 of the MRF 1600 race in Round 2 of the MMSC-FMSCI National Racing Championship ahead of Sudarshan Rao and championship leader Ashwin Sundar. The Indian Touring Car races were closely contested with championship contenders N. Leelakrishnan and Arjun Balu winning races 1 & 2 respectively. In other action S. Narendran capped off a strong weekend by winning both races of the Formula LGB4 & Swift. Earlier in the day Gokul Krishna won his first race in the India Junior Touring Car championship ahead of Charen Chandran and race 1 winner Mihir Dharkar, a press release said.
Race 1 of the day saw the Indian Touring Cars in action with Arjun Narendran on pole ahead of local favourite Arjun Balu. Both got off the line really well and had a great battle in the first half of the race with Leelakrishnan right behind them. The leaders then collided sending both drivers backwards and Leelakrishnan getting past both of them. Leelakrishnan went on to win the race with Ramnarayan in second and Arjun Balu fighting back to finish in third place.
Race 2 of the day was the Formula LGB4 & Swift with S. Narendran on pole. Narendran won from start to finish with Jigar Muni in second place and Sudanand D in third place. There was no difference in the second race of the Formula LGB4 & Swift with the drivers finishing in the same order and making it two out of two for Narendran.
The Indian Junior Touring Cars were next up with Gokul Krishna and Charen Chandran starting on the front row. The main battle was behind them with wheel banging between Mihir Dharkar and Feroze Khan. Feroze got past Mihir to finish in 3rd place but was given a 20 second penalty for an incident and finally ended up in 11th place. Gokul withstood pressure from both Charen and Feroze to win his first race in the IJTC.
In race 2 of the ITC championship, Arjun Narendran started on pole ahead of Arjun Balu. Arjun Balu had a great start and went into the lead with Arjun Narendran passing Ramnarayan on lap 3. From there on it was a close battle between the two Arjun’s. It was as close as it could get on the last lap with Arjun Balu just winning by 0.048secs ahead of Arjun Narendran to record one of the closest ever finishes in the ITC history.
The main attraction of the day were the MRF 1600 and it was another exciting race. Ashwin Sundar, starting last fought his way up to 3rd place after a last lap move on Goutam Parekh. In front Yudai Jinkawa had a brilliant start and cruised to victory with second place finisher Sudarshan Rao not getting close enough to challenge him. Vikash Anand drove well to finish in 4th place with 15yr old Tarun Reddy finishing in 5th place after damaging his front wing with a crash with Ashwin Sundar. Ashwin Sundar continues to lead the championship.
The next round of the MMSC-FMSCI National Racing Championship will take place in Chennai on July 27-28.
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Karun qualifies in seventh at Le Mans for Murphy
Le Mans (France), 21 June 2013: : Indian racing driver Karun Chandhok and his team Murphy Prototypes qualified in an impressive 7th position at the La Sarthe circuit in the LMP2 category in the Le Mans 24 hours. Chandhok’s team Murphy Prototypes set a time of 3:41.569 and will start in 15th place overall, and 7th in their category. The trio of Brendon Hartley, Mark Patterson and Karun Chandhok will drive the iconic Le Mans 24 hours race in the LMP2 Nissan V8-powered Oreca 03 with Murphy Prototypes. The second qualifying session was wet which resulted in Murphy Prototypes not venturing out at all.
The third and final qualifying session started on a damp but drying track. There were as many as 9 red flags which disrupted running for all drivers. This resulted in the track coming alive in the last 30 minutes with all cars looking to improve their time. Hartley ran in the qualifying session as he had not got any meaningful running the entire week. He finally managed to get a new set of tyres to run in qualifying.
Chandhok, who is supported by JK Tyre and Tag Heuer, is looking forward to a one-day break before the race starts on Saturday evening. He commented, “The morning session was a complete washout and it made no sense to do any laps. With the weather and so many red flags I could not get any running today but will be back in the car for warm-up tomorrow. We are starting in a reasonably good position and will have to push very hard to get a good result. The atmosphere here is unbelievable and I can’t wait to get going on Saturday. I am a little more experienced after racing last year but conditions are a lot more unpredictable this year so should be an interesting race. ”
Brendon Hartley was happy to get a run finally even though there were some problems to iron out before the race. He said, “We could have been much better, but it’s qualifying for a 24-hour race. We had some kind of issue with the steering rack – Karun commented on it yesterday and that made it very tricky in the beginning. We are in P7 so it’s not a big deal but with such a long race tomorrow we have little issue to fix, but we’re in good shape.”Team Principal Greg Murphy felt the LMP2 category will be one of the most closely contested this weekend and felt the team could have got more running time. He commented, “We were pretty disappointed to be honest, every time we went for a lap we got traffic, we got red flags… I’m sure it’s a common story up and down the pitlane, but yeah, we really struggled. We had a lot more pace in the car, than we showed today. But seventh position, I think Starworks when they won it last year started in 11th, so we’re reasonable happy, 24 hours to go, we’re here to fight and we’re here to win so I think we have some good speed in the car. We had a problem with all the red flags and stuff, we didn’t get a rhythm, and I feel a little bit for Karun he had very little running, but he’s such a good driver it’s not going to be a problem.”
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Gaurav Gill, Sanjay Takale set Indian record in APRC
New Caledonia, 16 June 2013: Celebrated Indian speedmaster Gaurav Gill was totally dominating at Rally New Caledonia delivering an impressive 19-minute win for his MRF Tyres Rally Team. The victory in the second round of the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) helped Gill take the overall lead in the championship as he pushed his teammate to second place in the standings. Another Indian driver Sanjay Takale from Pune, co-driven by Sean Gregory of Malaysia came second to make an Indian one-two for the first time in the history of APRC.
With his MRF team mate Esapekki Lappi unable to start today, the rally was his to lose. Gill and co-driver Glenn Macneall were masterful on Sunday on the very slippery roads soaked by overnight rain, an MRF press release said.
Gill, who was also the winner on the South Pacific island last season, reached the finish in the capital Noumea on Sunday afternoon with a comfortable margin over countryman Sanjay Takale. Australia’s Simon Knowles finished third following a close battle between the pair.
The rain forced the cancellation of 5 of Sunday’s high speed tests when the roads were deemed to be unsafe for driving. This left just one road/stage to be used 3 times with just 51km to contest. This presented a challenge for Gill not to take it too easy and lose concentration but for now the results speak for themselves.
Meanwhile, Esapekka Lappi, who led the APRC standings on the back of his first place on the season-opening International Rally of Whangarei last month, crashed out on the fourth stage and loses the title initiative to Gill, his Team MRF ŠKODA team-mate, as a result.
Lappi wasn’t the only APRC contender to suffer in the slippery conditions on day one: Matt van Tuinen retired after being injured in a heavy landing over a large jump on stage two. He will have surgery on his back this week and will be out of action for at least two months. Fellow Australian Bruce Fullerton also faltered over the jump with the damage to his Mitsubishi Lancer’s engine forcing him out close to the completion of the first leg.
Co-driven by Glenn Macneall, Gill registered his intent with the fastest time through stage one. He repeated the feat on the following test only for an off-road moment on stage three to cost him vital time as he attempted to select reverse gear in his Fabia Super 2000. That turned an advantage of 14s into a deficit to Lappi of 15s starting stage four.
But Lappi’s lead wasn’t too last. In a fifth-gear downhill section, the 22-year-old’s car pitched sideways into a large rock and the damage was too great for him to continue.
However, there were no such problems for the impressive Gill, who started the final day with a comfortable margin, which he preserved until the finish as heavy rain forced organisers to axe five of the day’s planned eight stages.
Behind Gill, APRC Production Cup winner Takale’s second place for India is understood to be the first time that two drivers from that country have climbed the podium on an FIA international event. For Knowles, an APRC Pacific Cup entrant, the result puts him second place in the category points, 27.5 adrift of Gill. Pacific Cup contender Claude Clavel’s challenge ended on stage two when he tore a wheel off his Lancer striking a tree stump.
“It was a perfect weekend for me” said Gill “the technical problems we had with the car in New Zealand resurfaced on shakedown but fortunately Lane Heenan, (Race Torque Engineering), and his mechanic’s found the problem so I was able to drive with confidence.”
Gill also commented “The Skoda and MRF rally tyres were spot on all weekend. The MRF Tyres Rally Team run a Factory backed Skoda Fabia S2000) and this makes a difference because you can concentrate on your driving. Apart from my one small spin yesterday I can say again everything was perfect,” he added.
Unfortunately for Team MRF the young Finnish driver, Esapekki Lappi, was unable to restart day 2 because of chassis damage sustained on day one. An off road excursion ripped the right rear suspension from the car. To be sure the very quick Finnish driver will be back full of determination at the next round.
For the first time ever in APRC history drivers from India made up the first 2 places. Sanjay Takale co-driven by Sean Gregory brought their Subaru Impreza WRX STI home in second place. This is Sanjay’s second event in a four wheel drive rally car and the improvement in speed was evident as the weekend progressed “I cannot believe this result! I know I was getting better and the tight twisty roads suit my style of driving, amazing!” said a very smiley Sanjay.
Once again the unforgiving roads of New Caledonia took their toll with 5 APRC championship drivers failing to finish. Gaurav Gill said at the beginning of the rally that it was an event where you had to drive at your own pace and “not push”. Certainly his experience and maturity as a driver delivered a good result for the MRF Tyres Rally Team.
Gaurav Gill (India), first position: “The final day was obviously a short day but it was still good miles although the heavy overnight rain meant it was slippery in the morning. It was hard to underdrive, which is what I was doing to get to the finish but it’s been a good weekend for us. We were quick from the shakedown having come here with good confidence from New Zealand. Now we have some good points for the championship.”
Sanjay Takale (India), second position: “I am very proud to stand next to Gaurav on the podium. I love these roads and I am well used to slippery conditions from rallying in Malaysia. I am very happy because it’s only my second event in four-wheel drive.”
RESULTS (after 17 special stages, 236.59 kilometres):
1 Gaurav Gill (IND)/Glenn Macneall (NZL) ŠKODA Fabia Super 2000 1h57m12.3s
2 Sanjay Takale (IND)/Sean Gregory (MYS) Subaru Impreza WRX STI +19m36.0s
3 Simon Knowles (AUS)/Margot Knowles (AUS) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX +22m10.7sFIA APRC Production Cup: Sanjay Takale (IND)/Sean Gregory (MYS) Subaru Impreza WRX STI
FIA APRC Team Trophy: Team MRF ŠKODA
FIA Pacific Cup winner: Gaurav Gill (IND)/Glenn Macneall (NZL)
FIA APRC Junior Cup: This event not part of the FIA APRC Junior CupCHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS (full standings at www.fiaaprc.com):
Overall drivers: 1 Gill 65.5pts; 2 Takale 46; 3 Esapekka Lappi 39; 4 Michael Young 24; 5 Hiroshi Asakura 5; Overall co-drivers: 1 Macneall 65.5; 2 Gregory 46; 3 Janne Ferm 39; 5 Daniel Wilson 24; 5 Takumi Takahashi 5. Manufacturers: 1 ŠKODA 74.5; 2 Subaru 52; 3 Mitsubishi 42.5; 4 Toyota 11. Subject to results being confirmed by the event stewardsEVENT DATA:
Stage winners:
Leg one, Saturday June 15, 123.42 kilometres:
SS1: Gadji-Almameto 1 (16.78kms): Gaurav Gill (IND)/Glenn Macneall (NZL)
SS2: Magnin-Karenga 1 (13.51kms): Gaurav Gill (IND)/Glenn Macneall (NZL)
SS3: Max Foucher 1 (10.85kms): Esapekka Lappi (FIN)/Janne Ferm (FIN)
SS4: Gadji-Almameto 2 (16.78kms): Gaurav Gill (IND)/Glenn Macneall (NZL)
SS5: Magnin-Karenga 2 (13.51kms): Gaurav Gill (IND)/Glenn Macneall (NZL)
SS6: Max Foucher 2 (10.85kms): Gaurav Gill (IND)/Glenn Macneall (NZL)
SS7: Gadji-Almameto 3 (16.78kms): Gaurav Gill (IND)/Glenn Macneall (NZL)
SS8: Magnin-Karenga 3 (13.51kms): Gaurav Gill (IND)/Glenn Macneall (NZL)
SS9: Max Foucher 3 (10.85kms): Cancelled for safety reasonsLeg two, Sunday June 16, 113.17 kilometres:
SS10: ESQ/Tontouta 1 (13.37kms): Cancelled for safety reasons
SS11: Tomo-Vallee 1 (10.88kms): Cancelled for safety reasons
SS12: Shell-Païta 1 (17.10kms): Gaurav Gill (IND)/Glenn Macneall (NZL)
SS13: ESQ/Tontouta 2 (13.37kms): Cancelled for safety reasons
SS14: Tomo-Vallee 2 (10.88kms): Cancelled for safety reasons
SS15: Shell-Païta 2 (17.10kms): Gaurav Gill (IND)/Glenn Macneall (NZL)
SS16: ESQ/Tontouta 3 (13.37kms): Cancelled for safety reasons
SS17: Shell-Païta 3 (17.10kms): Gaurav Gill (IND)/Glenn Macneall (NZL)Rally leaders:
SS1-2: Gaurav Gill (IND)/Glenn Macneall (NZL) ŠKODA Fabia Super 2000
SS3: Esapekka Lappi (FIN)/Janne Ferm (FIN) ŠKODA Fabia Super 2000
SS4-17: Gaurav Gill (IND)/Glenn Macneall (NZL) ŠKODA Fabia Super 2000NEXT ROUND: International Rally of Queensland, July 12-14
MORE INFORMATION: Visit the official FIA APRC website at www.fiaaprc.com or www.aprc.tv
For Video: http://live.ralliheart.com/2013/06/rally-new-caledonia-leg-1-aprc-2013.html?
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Gaurav Gill and co driver MacNeall of MRF (centre) came first followed by another Indian driver Sanjay Takale (in blue) to create a record of Indian 1-2 in APRC. MRF Tyres Rally team photo -
Di Resta quickest in first practice in Canada
Montreal, 7 June 2013: Late flying lap puts Sahara Force India driver Paul Di Resta at the top of the timesheet in rain-hit session on Friday at the Circuit Filles Villeneuve here.
Force India’s Paul di Resta popped at the top of the leaderboard in the last few seconds of a rain-affected Free Practice (FP1).
First practice at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve was dominated by the conditions, which saw rain fall steadily in the lead up to the session – but the rain held off during the session itself, and thus drivers went through the whole range of tyres as a dry line formed.
The early laps were on the full wet tyre, followed by the bulk of the session being run on the intermediates. Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne appeared on Pirelli’s experimental slick tyre shortly after the hour mark but pronounced it too wet. Sebastian Vettel tried on the medium shortly afterwards on his Red Bull but struggled to match his time on the inters. Only in the last ten minutes did the majority of the field appear on dry tyres, by which point the track was sufficiently dry for them to be marginally quicker than the inters.
That triggered big changes to the leaderboard. Jenson Button went into P1 with a lap of 1:21.551, the first runner to do so on slicks but several runners went under that mark in the last minute of the session, with Di Resta, anonymous to that point, being the man at the top when the chequered flag signalled the end of proceedings.
Di Resta’s time of 1:21.020 was six seconds away from a good, dry practice time of 2012, indicating how marginal the surface was. Several drivers had spins and minor excursions during that last ten minutes, with Williams’ Pastor Maldonado hitting the wall and shattering his nosecone at Turn Four.
Earlier in the session Jules Bianchi had been the only casualty, taking to the escape road at that same chicane, struggling to turn his Marussia around and being asked to switch off his engine by his pit crew. The intermediate running had seen Nico Rosberg for Mercedes continuing his strong form with a series of fastest laps, though as the session went on Vettel overhauled him and would finish FP1 with the fastest time on the inters.
Canadian Grand Prix first practice times
1 Paul di Resta Force India 1:21.020
2 Jenson Button McLaren 1:21.108 0.088
3 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:21.258 0.238
4 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:21.308 0.288
5 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus 1:21.608 0.588
6 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:22.068 1.048
7 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:22.402 1.382
8 Sergio Pérez McLaren 1:22.587 1.567
9 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1:23.047 2.027
10 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 1:23.131 2.111
11 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:23.341 2.321
12 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:23.352 2.332
13 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:23.386 2.366
14 Adrian Sutil Force India 1:23.417 2.397
15 Esteban Gutiérrez Sauber 1:23.957 2.937
16 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:25.054 4.034
17 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber 1:25.354 4.334
18 Giedo van der Garde Caterham 1:25.753 4.733
19 Max Chilton Marussia 1:25.821 4.801
20 Alexander Rossi Caterham 1:27.143 6.123
21 Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:27.522 6.502
22 Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:29.306 8.286ends
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Force India will carry forward its form: Mallya
Montreal, 3 June 2013: Team Principal of Sahara Force India, Vijay Mallya, hopes the team can carry its form into the Canadian Grand Prix.“The emotions of Monaco are still fresh in our memory as our attention turns to Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix. Both our drivers and the team performed superbly on the streets of Monte Carlo and it is very satisfying to see us fifth in the Championship after a third of the season,” Mallya said.“The race in Monaco showed the sheer class of our two drivers, and probably helped silence some critics of the team. Adrian’s moves on two former World Champions will stay in our memories for a long time, and so will Paul’s determined performance as he went from 17th to ninth,” he added.“I think we are now knocking on the door of our first podium finish since 2009, and it’s time to do that all-important step. Montreal would be a great place to do so – it is a track that favours overtaking and our car has shown the race pace to finish among the leaders, so everything is possible,” the Force India principal said.“I am proud of everyone in the team because we have achieved good results – and claimed 44 points – despite some very unfortunate occurrences. With a bit more luck, we would be even further ahead of McLaren: but the focus is on the future. We know our rivals will be more competitive in the next few rounds, but we have shown we can mix with the big teams and we intend to do so for the coming races too.“The Canadian Grand Prix also marks the 100th Grand Prix for Sahara Force India. When we started back in 2008 we simply had the ambition to break out of Q1 and we dreamed of scoring points. Seeing where we stand today is therefore extremely rewarding and motivates us all to continue working just as hard for the next 100 races,” the team Principal and Managing Director concluded.Paul di Resta provided his thoughts on CanadaPaul, Monaco was a mixture of emotions for you, but you picked up points in the end with an impressive recovery drive…I think it’s a sign of our competitiveness that we were a bit disappointed with ninth. I definitely felt we had the performance to be higher up the points, but the issues in qualifying put us on the back foot. That’s the thing with Monaco, it’s all about track position, but I did enjoy a few overtaking moves into turn one. Although more was possible I’m still happy to continue my run of points finishes.Canada will be the team’s 100th race – do you think you can give the team something to celebrate?We’ve been competitive on every track this year and that’s a credit to the team, so we expect to be at our usual level once again. It’s traditionally a track that has suited us, so we go there confident that we can fight towards the front once again. 100 races is a significant achievement and it’s great to see how much the team has grown during that time. It’s a credit to the commitment of the shareholders and hopefully we can give them something to smile about come Sunday evening.Tell us about the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve?It’s an unusual track but tends to produce exciting racing with some really good overtaking opportunities. It’s tight, because it’s a street course, so it’s another track where there is no margin for error. Straight-line speed is important, as is a car that’s stable under braking and capable of riding the curbs well.Adrian on CanadaAdrian, how good did it feel to finish fifth in Monaco – your best result in the principality…It felt very nice. After four difficult races I was ready to get this result. We had several missed opportunities, but I tried my best to stay positive because I could see the potential of the car. So it felt very good to have a race where I could deliver a strong result. But it was not the easiest of weekends for me because I lost track time on Saturday and I damaged my front wing on the first lap of the race. So, all things considered, it was very satisfying to come away with fifth place.Some commentators named you driver of the day for your ‘cheeky’ overtaking moves at the hairpin…I had the feeling from the first lap onwards that there was a possibility to pass cars at this corner. After the restart, when all the cars were bunched up, I saw the gap and went for it. I got ahead of Jenson first and then Fernando as well. Overtaking always feels good, but in Monaco it’s extra special because you have to judge things perfectly.What about Montreal? Do you think you will go well there?It’s definitely one my favourite races on the calendar because it’s a great city. It’s also an interesting and unusual track, and it can be a long race with different scenarios and strategy options. I like the circuit, but for some reason I’ve never had good results there. Hopefully we can change that this year.ends -
Raj Bharath wins at Shanghai Circuit: Formula Masters
· Posts first win of the season under mixed conditions.
· Rounds off the weekend with a solid haul of points with a fourth place in race one, second place in race two and finally a win in race three.Shanghai (China), 26 May 2013
Podium photo from an earlier race when Raj finished second. : After getting on the podium with a second place yesterday, Indian youngster Raj Bharath went one better and posted his first win of the 2013 Formula Masters championship in the final race at Shanghai International Circuit here today.
Backed by Bangalore-based real estate developer Embassy Group and driving for Meco Motorsport, Raj had started fifth on the grid with an inspired strategy in mixed weather conditions which paid off. Afiq Yazid and Akash Nandy finished second and third respectively.
In the minutes leading up to the race, there was a faint drizzle but the entire field with exception of Raj decided to stay on slick tyres as the rain was expected to ease off in a couple of laps.
However, the team decided to put Raj on wet tyres, hoping that Raj’s pace advantage in the opening laps would help him get in the lead and build up a big gap by the time the rain eased off and drivers on slicks would be quicker once again.
The start didn’t turn out as planned though, since the race direction decided to go for a safety car start at the last minute – something which Raj wasn’t aware of as he didn’t have a radio in the car.
“I was thinking it was the formation lap when I suddenly saw everyone take off at the penultimate corner. Only after I came into the final corner that I realised it was a rolling start but I had already lost a place by then”, said Raj.
Having gone backwards already, Raj began to charge hard trying to get back in the pack and was passing cars by the end of the first lap.
Three laps later, he was firmly in the lead and pushing further to build up a gap before the rain subsided, which happened soon after and the track dried up quickly, rendering his wet tyres gripless.
“The wet tyres wear out pretty quickly on a dry track as their tread is meant to displace water, so all of a sudden I had no grip but only oversteer and understeer”, chuckledRaj.
Lady luck seemed to be in his favour though, as another faint drizzle came down two laps from the finish, cooling the tyres and disrupting the rhythm of his opponents behind as they had to be cautious on slicks.
“That shower gave me some much needed some room to breathe and we were only two laps from the finish, but I knew it was going to be tight”, he added.
The track dried out soon once again and his opponents began to gain hand over fist on Raj and the Indian’s advantage began to erode at a rapid rate.
Raj had to defend heavily on the final lap as his opponents were significantly quicker as their slick tyres offered far better grip than Raj’s worn out wet weather tyres.
“I could see two cars filling up my mirrors, but I kept focussed and made sure that I didn’t make any mistakes, as that would’ve put paid to all the hard work till then.
In the end, Raj crossed the line 1.1 seconds ahead of second placed Afiq Yazid and 1.2 seconds ahead of third placed Akash Nandy.
Surmising his thoughts for the weekend, Raj said, “I got my first win here in Shanghai last year so we were hoping to repeat that coming into this weekend.
“But understanding the new tyres and engine package took a little more time than expected, but I am happy we finally sealed that elusive win and scored a solid haul of points which helps the championship.
“I’ve been in China for almost a month so now I’m just looking forward to get back home and come back for round three at Ordos in another month’s time”, he concluded.
ABOUT RAJ BHARATH:
Born November 20, 1994 in Bangalore, Raj took his first steps in motorsport with karting in 2008 – like all aspiring F1 drivers. Then aged 14, he immediately showed glimpses of his potential in his debut year, winning the trophy for the ‘Most promising rookie of the year’ in the National Karting championship.
He eventually won the title in 2010 and progressed to Formula BMW Asia in 2011 followed by the Ferrari Academy supported Formula Pilota in 2012.
For 2013, Raj aims to participate in the Formula Masters China and win the championship before moving to Europe in 2014, and getting closer to his aim of making it to Formula 1.
Career highlights:
2008 Most promising rookie in the JK Rotax Karting championship.
2009 Second runner-up in JK Rotax Max Karting championship.
2010 Rotax Max Karting NATIONAL CHAMPION.
2011 Debut in Formula BMW Asia Pacific – five top ten finishes.
2012 Formula Pilota China – 10 podium finishes and three wins.Formula Masters China car specifications
Chassis: Tatuus FA010, FIA F3 homologated
Engine: Volkswagen Formula EVO 2.0
Gearbox: Six-speed sequential with LSD
Power: 180 PS
Torque: 200Nm
Suspension: Double-wishbone with pushrod activation
Brakes: Four-pot Dixcel calipers
Tyres: Front – 180/550 R13
Rear – 240/570 R13
Weight: 540kg with driverFormula Masters China calendar
Zhuhai (China) 10-12 May
Shanghai (China) 24-26 May
Ordos (China) 28-30 June
Inje (Korea) 2-4 August
Sepang (Malaysia) 13-15 Sep
Shanghai (China) 25-27 Oct
Macau Grand Prix 8-10 Nov -
Raj Bharath finishes 2nd in Formula Masters at Shanghai circuit
Shanghai (China), 25 May 2013: After completing a solid debut weekend at Zhuhai, Indian youngster Raj Bharath continued his charge in the Formula Masters championship as he clinched second place at round two of the series at Shanghai International Circuit.
Backed by Bangalore-based real estate developer Embassy Group and driving for Meco Motorsport, Raj had qualified fourth on the grid and finished race one in the same position before following it up with a second place in race two, according to a Meco Motorsports press release from Shanghai.
The weekend had started on a difficult note the team worked to find the right setup to suit the 4.6-kilometre layout.
The venue, which also hosts the F1 Chinese Grand Prix is a unique challenge on the setup front, as sectors 1 and 2 consist of high-speed corners, while sector 3 has long straights – the longest being over 1.1-kilometre long.
This makes the setup choice difficult since balance between drag and downforce become critical. High downforce offers an advantage in the first two sectors with high cornering speeds, but due to excess drag, top speed will suffer.
A low-downforce setup will make the car twitchy and difficult to drive in the first two sectors, but will benefit top-speed in a straight line so getting the balance right was crucial for a good lap time.
“Even though the chassis is same as last year, the car feels completely different right now”, said Raj, comparing his last year’s outing at the same venue where he scored his first international victory.
“The new tyres and engine package makes it a new car altogether, so we spent a lot of time chasing a good setup in the practice sessions. We knew that low-downforce was the way to go, even though it makes the car slightly more on the limit”, he elaborated.
Although Raj was able to muscle his way to the sharp-end of the grid in qualifying, he was unable to get close to pole position – a feat that he had achieved in Zhuhai two weeks back. As a result he had to settle for fourth on the grid but there were other contributing factors as well.
“It was quite weird out there. It felt like the track was changing every few minutes – sometimes we would just come in and go out, without changing anything on the car and it would behave differently.
“I’m not sure what the issue was, but it wasn’t just weather where we had a drizzle one day and hot sun the other. There are a lot of other types of race cars running on the weekend as well so I think the track kept getting rubbered in and out continuously with all different compounds and as a result there was a lot of dirty rubber on the track.”, he explained.
Race one turned out to be uneventful as Raj tried his best to gain positions from the second row but after losing out in the opening sectors, he was unable to claw back the difference through the long straights of the final sector.
After a brief dice with Akash Nandy who went on to finish third, Raj decided to focus on lap times which would enable him to study how he could get himself in a better position for race two.
“We made some small setup changes before race two but we stuck to the low-downforce philosophy while everyone else went with high-downforce for cornering advantage”, he revealed.
As lights went out for race two, Raj immediately managed to jump Akash Nandy to slot himself in third at the start, while his front-running rivals Aidan Wright and Afiq Yazid got away.
Slowly though, he began to haul in Aidan, who was running second and managed to get a good slipstream on the back straight before diving down the inside at the hairpin to relieve the Australian of second place.
After that Raj didn’t look back and put his head down to chase Afiq for the top spot, but it wasn’t to be as he fell short by two seconds at the finish line.
“Second race gave us confidence as the low-downforce approach finally paid off”, said Raj
“Rain is expected for tomorrow’s race so anything can happen, but I’m hoping for another podium which would help me stay in the top-three in the championship. Scoring consistent points is what we need but we’ll hopefully be able to seal that win soon”, he concluded.
ABOUT RAJ BHARATH:
Born November 20, 1994 in Bangalore, Raj took his first steps in motorsport with karting in 2008 – like all aspiring F1 drivers. Then aged 14, he immediately showed glimpses of his potential in his debut year, winning the trophy for the ‘Most promising rookie of the year’ in the National Karting championship.
He eventually won the title in 2010 and progressed to Formula BMW Asia in 2011 followed by the Ferrari Academy supported Formula Pilota in 2012.
For 2013, Raj aims to participate in the Formula Masters China and win the championship before moving to Europe in 2014, and getting closer to his aim of making it to Formula 1.
Career highlights:
2008 Most promising rookie in the JK Rotax Karting championship.
2009 Second runner-up in JK Rotax Max Karting championship.
2010 Rotax Max Karting NATIONAL CHAMPION.
2011 Debut in Formula BMW Asia Pacific – five top ten finishes.
2012 Formula Pilota China – 10 podium finishes and three wins.Formula Masters China car specifications
Chassis: Tatuus FA010, FIA F3 homologated
Engine: Volkswagen Formula EVO 2.0
Gearbox: Six-speed sequential with LSD
Power: 180 PS
Torque: 200Nm
Suspension: Double-wishbone with pushrod activation
Brakes: Four-pot Dixcel calipers
Tyres: Front – 180/550 R13
Rear – 240/570 R13
Weight: 540kg with driverFormula Masters China calendar
Zhuhai (China) 10-12 May
Shanghai (China) 24-26 May
Ordos (China) 28-30 June
Inje (Korea) 2-4 August
Sepang (Malaysia) 13-15 Sep
Shanghai (China) 25-27 Oct
Macau Grand Prix 8-10 Nov -
It does not matter how much else you do, you ‘ve to make the tyres work: Bob
TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Christian HORNER (Red Bull Racing), Paul HEMBERY (Pirelli), Gerard LOPEZ (Lotus), Robert FEARNLEY (Force India), Franz TOST (Toro Rosso), Alain PROST (Renault Sport)
PRESS CONFERENCE
Alain, it’s been a while since we last saw you in an FIA press conference, welcome. Explain a little bit about your role with Renault Sport?
Alain PROST: Well, my role is mainly is an ambassador for Renault, the brand Renault, since last year. Even if I have done many things with Renault in the last few years, for different things. Also this year I’m advisor for the strategy, being part of the executive committee.
In terms of 2014, how far advanced is Renault’s programme?
AP: Everything goes well. The engine should run in June on the dyno, the final version. But everything is belonging to the programme.
And when do you think that Renault Sport will be finalising its teams for 2014?
AP: I’m not myself negotiating with the teams but we all know that it’s going to be accelerating during this weekend. I don’t know. I cannot say all the dates for all the teams but I hope very quickly.
Paul, if I could turn to you next. An awful lot of debate and opinion in Formula One at the moment regarding the Pirelli tyres this year, some pro, some anti. What is your opinion on the way that the Pirelli tyres are influencing the racing, and also what changes will we see to the tyres from Canada onwards?
Paul HEMBERY: Well, obviously there’s a lot of different opinion, quite divided, among fans, commentators, teams and you’re never going to please everyone. That’s one of the challenges you have but from our point of view it’s the same for everybody, they have exactly the same tyres to work with and somebody’s going to end up winning on a Sunday. From Canada? Well, we’re still finalising the ultimate details for Canada. We’re trying to minimise the changes, for sporting equity reasons of course. We want to resolve the delaminations that we’ve seen, that have occurred when we’ve picked up debris. That, from a tyre maker of course is something that we’ve wanted to solve. It doesn’t look good. The tyres have stayed inflated but it still doesn’t look good from an image point of view. So that’s where we’re at. We’re trying to finalise that, working with the teams. We’ve had good collaboration. Of course, some people might want something different and again you’re not going to please everybody but we have to do what’s correct for the sport and what’s correct for Pirelli.
While we’re talking tyres I think it would be nice to get the reaction of the team principals and chairmen here on the panel. Christian, can I start with you. What’s your opinion on the Pirelli tyres and the racing this year?
Christian HORNER: I think we’ve been pretty consistent throughout the year really. The tyres, on occasion, have been a bit too marginal. That includes races we’ve won at in Malaysia and Bahrain. I think it’s good that Pirelli are looking at it. I think the most important and most fundamental thing is from a safety perspective, if you do have a delamination, if you have a big chunk of rubber, you don’t want that to hit a car component or worst case a driver. So, there are safety issues that I know some of the drivers are concerned about. Hopefully, Pirelli are a very capable company. I think they know what they need to do and hopefully that can be resolved very quickly.
Gerard, is that an opinion your share – that the tyres have been too marginal this year?
Gerard LOPEZ: Yeah, we’ve echoed the safety issues and said that whatever needs to be done on safety grounds is obviously fine with us, we’re not going to go against that. As far as the tyres being marginal goes, we’ve found them to be quite consistent. But then again – different cars, different drivers, different styles… they work for us. So we’re actually quite happy with the way they are.
Franz, what about you and Toro Rosso?
Franz TOST: I think the problems started in testing, because in February it was very cold when we were out the first time this year and if I remember only Jerez was an acceptable test but otherwise in Barcelona it was quite cold. There we couldn’t do a proper test for the tyres. I think if we had tested in a warmer country some of the problems we observe now could have been sorted out. Therefore, I hope that in future we will do these tests under other conditions, under conditions under which we are racing and then I think Pirelli immediately will react and will come up with a proper solution. So far we at Toro Rosso haven’t faced bigger problems.
Finally to you Bob. From a deputy team principal’s perspective: safety, racing, what’s your opinion:
Bob FEARNLEY: I think Pirelli have done a good job. Fundamentally we’re looking to try to average out at two to three stops per race and I think if you take the extremes in any 20-race series you’re going to have some that might do four and some that might do one. But overall were going to achieve the objective. I agree with Paul, it’s the same for everybody. I think some of the teams will have put in resource perhaps this time year to start looking at how they’re going to develop their car, what suspension programme they’re going to put in to optimise the tyres, other teams will continued to work on aero. That’s the choice of the teams at the end of the day and you’ve got to deliver what you think is the most competitive package. But there are four points of contact on a track, it doesn’t matter how much else you do, you’ve got to make the tyres work.
Alain, I’m sure you’ve been watching the racing quite intently. Has the sport got the right balance at the moment between exciting racing or tyres dominating too much?
AP: I think in the past and very recently it’s been very [much] criticised for not having a show or indecision. We should [feel] very lucky that we have these kind of races. In the last few years, we have the decision only in the last grand prix. Obviously, also think about next year when we have the new engine coming we will talk maybe a little bit more about the engine, the technology, about being much closer to the product of the automotive industry. But we still need to keep the show also. We need to keep the indecision so it’s going to be even better balanced but at the moment I wouldn’t criticize what we have today.
If I could move on and turn to you, Franz. Both of your drivers in their second year with Toro Rosso this season. What improvements are you seeing from Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo and as drivers who have been part of the Red Bull driver programme, do you see something in either of them that suggests that they could move up to the senior team?
FT: Yeah I must say that both of the drivers have increased their performance and their understanding of the car of the technik, of everything, much during the last two years and they are still learning a lot. But I must say that so far they have done a reasonably good job and if we provide them with a good car, a good package, they are always able to score points. Of course, Daniel Ricciardo has a little bit more experience as he did already 11 races with HRT and you can see this. Jean-Eric Vergne is coming up with good technical feedback. He is learning also a lot. I expect from both of the drivers a very competitive second half of the season, once more if we provide them with a good car and then we will see how the future will be.
Christian, I’m sure as Red Bull team principal you keep an eye on all the young drivers in the young development programme?
CH: Yeah, absolutely. Both youngsters have been members of the Red Bull Junior team for quite a few years now and or course we watch their progress with great interest. They’re both young, talented drivers, both developing very well. It’s good to see. They’re both racing here on merit. For sure they’re two guys we have a watchful eye over.
Q: We’re getting to that stage of the season where traditionally you sit down, Red Bull, with Mark Webber and negotiate a new contract for next year, it’s normally towards the early part of the summer. Has anything been the case or has happened this season that might influence those negotiations? Will you be sitting down with Mark soon? What’s your thinking for the future?
CH: Well, we’re sitting here at race six, so y’know there’s still quite a few to go. But at the relevant time we’ll sit down with Mark and see what he wants to do, what his plans are for the future. Our interest is quite simple: we want the best two drivers in our cars going forward. Mark and Sebastian has been a tremendously successful partnership. It’s won three consecutive Constructors’ World Championships for us and obviously Mark’s made a significant contribution to that. At the relevant time – which isn’t now – we will sit down and talk about the future.
Q: Gerard, can we talk drivers with yourself too? Kimi Räikkönen has hinted recently that there are maybe a couple of options open to him for next season. He’s certainly being asked an awful lot about his future. I assume Lotus would like to keep him but realistically how likely is that?
GL: Well I think Kimi’s quite happy where he is right now. Knowing Kimi well, outside of the track too, he could just as well announce that he’s stopping altogether. So, I wouldn’t take any bets whatsoever. I think we’re looking pretty good in terms of keeping him, as long as he gets what he wants, including a performing car, which is what he really wants. For the rest, we’ll see. He for sure will tell you there’s no such thing as a pre-contract, only real contract, and we’ll sit down at some point in time and discuss the future with him. But everything is wide open on the one hand but on the other hand everything is looking pretty good for us to stay with us. So we’ll see.
Q: Do you feel external and internal pressure then? A) to develop a car that Kimi – and Romain – can perform in and b) is there external pressure from other teams who would be interested?
GL: I don’t think we need to put on any additional pressure, I think I put enough pressure on them to perform – but I think it’s good if you have a driver that really wants to have the best possible package and actually can make use of it – and Kimi certainly can. The other thing with Kimi is that he needs an environment in which he can function, and he certainly has that with us.
Q: Bob, turning to you, it’s been a very positive start for Force India this season. I wonder if the start changes the target and your goals for this year? Is fifth place in the Constructors’ Championship a realistic target given what’s happened so far?
BF: I think it’s one that we certainly should aspire to. It would be very, very hard to continuously compete with McLaren through the year but they’re also going to have some issues in terms of when they switch over to the 2014 car and, like all of us, when do we move those resources? I think a lot will depend on how far they’ve got with this car when they actually do that. But for sure, we’ve already amended our programs and our team principal is very keen for us to ensure we stay fifth.
Q: Finally on the subject of drivers, Alain, for French drivers in Formula One this season, we’re here in the South of France for the Monaco Grand Prix, do you see anything in those drivers that might indicate to you that one day they could be the next French World Champion?
AP: Difficult question! Because the last 20 years there have been announced many, many times a new French champion. Just let them work, y’know? There are four, we are very lucky to have four, different competitiveness in teams. Romain for sure is in the best position to win at least maybe the first race very soon. And just wait and see. Don’t put them under too much pressure, they have enough.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Kate Walker – GP Week) Question for everyone except Monsieur Prost. Going on the subject of the tyres, one of the things, one of the theories that we’ve had in the press room is that the part of the difficulty has been the lack of a more modern test car. You know we haven’t got the DRS, the KERS, the… everything’s a bit different. Have the teams considered investing in a Dallara machine – or similar – that Pirelli might be able to use that you can all agree on? Then that way no one team would have an advantage.
Christian?
CH: I guess the fundamental thing is we can never agree. Everybody agreed for Lotus to do the testing when they weren’t so competitive. Now they’re competitive and probably there’s a few teams that aren’t so happy that they’re not doing the testing. So, it’s a difficult one. It’s a difficult one for Pirelli, it’s a difficult one for the teams but at the end of the day we don’t need to make it too complicated. I think the way things are at the moment is too complicated for the fans. It’s too difficult to follow races where you’ve got four stops, going on. It’s hard enough when you’re in the race. I think we need to just wind that back a little bit and more than anything make sure we eliminate any safety issues.
Q: (Kate Walker – GP Week) That isn’t really what I asked. I was wondering what sort of things you guys as a group could do going forward to try and make sure the y’know, the focus of the… wasn’t necessary criticisms of the tyres but how you could actually improve them as a group so that everybody was happy with what they were running on?
CH: Well, I don’t think you’re ever going to get everybody happy. Y’know, that’s the fundamental issue and unless you open testing up again, where everybody tests, it’s probably very difficult because people’s cars behave in different ways. So I can’t see a situation where the teams will say ‘yes, we’ll jointly fund and run a car for a tyre supplier.’ I’d be surprised.
Franz?
FT: No, we should use Friday morning, the first session or the first half-hour for testing new tyres – not sitting around like today, doing nothing. People in the grandstands, no cars out there. We just could use this – it was half an hour or 35 minutes as usually – to test new tyres. This is what I suggest since two years.
Gerard, your thoughts?
GL: My thoughts are… I would agree with Christian on the fact that it’s really difficult to get everybody to agree on anything in Formula One – be it tyres or be it anything else. And I think it’s going to stay that way just because it’s competitive both on and off the track and so on. I remember when, indeed, when we were asked to propose a car – and by the way, that car has nothing in common with what we’re running now – everybody agreed and now suddenly everybody thinks that’s the mystery to knowing how to use those tyres. And as I said, both cars are completely unrelated. So it’s very difficult to get anything done that everybody accepts. Maybe a solution like running Friday tests, I don’t know – but even that requires everybody to agree and some will and some won’t. And so I think that’s always going to be part of Formula One: The fact that this is agreement and disagreement and that’s the way forward I guess.
Bob?
BF: I think Franz’s idea’s got a certain amount of merit. I’d love to endorse that with the element of having young drivers in there as well, just so that it ticks two boxes. But I think that Pirelli have a great deal of resource, as we all do outside of actually track testing. And for instance, even with the incidents that we’ve had with the delamination, a lot of it can be done on rigs and everything else – and I think that’s where most of it will be done in the long term.
So Paul, how difficult is the job that Pirelli have without the facilities to test in the way that was traditional in Formula One?
PH: Well, it’s one of those cases where you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t. You’re clearly not going to get everyone to agree, and with a tyre, certainly if you design it around a certain application you can make a certain vehicle go quicker – and that’s clearly why we’re wanting to make changes now. Some people want more changes, some people don’t want any changes for example. The Friday is useful where you’re coming to a point of wanting to actually introduce a change – but you can’t go testing with 11 teams on a Friday with various specifications because it simply doesn’t work that way. I think a good step forward would be winter testing actually in hot conditions. Y’know, if we were able to get to Abu Dhabi or Bahrain before we get to Australia, at least you’d have an advanced indication. You’ve also got to remember, if we do find surprises, and I’m quite sure next season there could be – assuming we have a contract which we don’t have at the moment – but assuming we’re going forward, you could get to a situation with the new powertrain, which from the indications of the teams will have a lot of torque, and will increase wheelspin, tyre wear, overheating, you could end up in a situation with a surprise again. So there needs to be a balance. Teams have clearly got restrictions on resources. The test teams were got rid of for good reasons from their point of view – but some sort of mid-range solution would be useful to us, even if it means staying on after a few events during the season, then that would be extremely valuable from our point of view.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – The Citizen) Alain, as Renault Sport brand ambassador, how do you feel about the fact that the public perception is that in fact Infiniti won the championship last year as the engine supplier because if one looks at the team principal’s shirt, there are five Infiniti badges and two Renault badges, yet Renault seems to be paying it all. How do you feel about that?
AP: I know it’s very difficult… it’s always difficult to answer this kind of question for me. The perception you can have here is obviously the right one, could be the right one. The involvement of Renault in Formula One, is very clear over the last few years. As you can see, the market in Europe is not very good and they’re already aiming for having a new image, new visibility in new markets: Russia, Brazil, India and a little bit less in China, those are the big markets for Renault. Obviously everybody would like to maybe have a different situation for Renault inside Formula One, for example, again, a new team, a Renault team, but the strategy of the president and of Renault is very clear. They want to stay the way they are at the moment and I must say that in this country they were talking about how it’s working very well and they’re increasing the image of the brand and they’re selling more and more cars and they want to continue like this. As I said, the perception you can have here maybe is a bit different to what they achieve instead of having a proper team, more aggravation. Again, talking about strategy, if you see what Renault has done in the last 37 years, they went from the French national team to being a partner with Williams and Benetton and then another team and then now they are supporting a team with whom we have won the World Champion for the last three years. So they could change, they could maybe change in the future, but at the moment we need to keep to this strategy decided by the president.
Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action/National Speedsport News) A question for Alain: there’s a lot of talk these days that the drivers cannot drive 100 percent flat out for the whole race Let’s take a year when you had a good car, say 1985. How much of the race could you drive 100 percent flat out? When you weren’t driving one hundred percent, what percent were you at and what parts of the car did you have to conserve, to make sure they lasted the race?
AP: I think it’s difficult to compare, obviously, because today the cars are so advanced; normally the driver can push 100 percent in normal conditions. The tyres this year are very soft which makes it a little bit different. In our time, if you want to compare, we had to take care of the brakes and gearbox and fuel consumption and obviously also tyres because sometimes we had to be careful of the tyres, but the regulations were also very different and at one stage we had three types of rubber and we could make changes and I very often ran hard tyres on the left and soft tyres on the front. I even raced in Las Vegas in ’81 with qualifying tyres on the front, but that means we cannot compare, but that also proves that you need to adapt yourself, as a driver, as an engineer, to the regulations and obviously we’re experiencing complaints this year… in fact it’s not that different compared to last year, except that you maybe don’t want to see some rubber on the track and having accidents. But apart from that, you just have to adapt to the situation, drivers or engineers. It’s typically Formula One.
Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Christian, I may have misconstrued your comment earlier but do you seriously believe that Lotus have somehow benefitted from the fact that Pirelli are using a 2010 Renault for testing, and maybe Paul could answer whether privileged information has somehow been given to one team?
CH: No, I don’t think privileged information or anything in any way has been done underhand. At the end of the day, Pirelli needed a car to test, they originally came to Red Bull. At that time, it was almost unanimously agreed that Red Bull shouldn’t provide a car and then it was a matter of finding who could provide a car. Lotus was an obvious choice. Running had to be done by Pirelli with drivers that weren’t current race drivers. You can understand that that work has had to be done. I wasn’t trying to point out that there was any specific advantage from that, I was trying to point out that you’re always going to struggle to achieve compromise and agreement.
Q: Given the changes between 2010 and now, Paul, how different is your test car to what we would see on the track?
PH: They’re probably, in terms of performance, closer to the 2011 cars with the blown diffusers. They’re going, certainly, a little bit harder than we anticipated this season. We’re probably lapping our 2010 car three to four seconds slower, for example. That gives you an indication that we’re not stressing the tyres during our testing as much as the cars are today. But there’s not a perfect solution to that. We’re not going to get unanimous agreement from everybody. Next year, the cars are so different that there’s really nothing available today, even including today’s cars, that would allow us to simulate the effect of the new powertrain. I think if we just take a sensible approach, in terms as I’ve already mentioned, of the winter testing and the potential to make adjustments during the season, but bear in mind you need agreement, you need eleven teams to agree to adjustments so if we’ve something that’s affecting eleven teams, then that’s really often easy to do. If you’re making something that might affect some teams and not all teams or perceived benefit to others then you can imagine that’s difficult. So that’s a very strange balancing act that we’re trying to do. We agree, we set out this year for two to three pit stops over the season, we probably will average that still, we will get some races like Barcelona which was won this time with four stops. It was won two years ago by Red Bull with four stops so it’s not exceptional but I guess as commentators it’s harder to follow, it keeps you awake, you don’t have your afternoon snooze any more, and that’s one of the difficulties. It will be easier here for you.
Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) Alain Prost, it’s not been since Olivier Panis in 1996 for a French driver. What advice would you give Romain Grosjean, for example or the other French drivers… the frustration about that long spell, what advice would you give to them?
AP: I don’t think you can give advice to the drivers to be honest. They know what they do, I’m out of Formula One as a driver for the last 20 years exactly and why should I give advice to… we all see what is happening, we see that Romain, for example, has a very good car, he should be able to win a race very soon as I said. But no advice from myself. If they want to have advice they can ask a question and I’m happy to answer but not giving advice like this, no. Mental is a very strong thing for sure, but also we give them a lot of pressure very often, but this is a cycle. As soon as one is going to be winning, it could snowball and I hope it works like this.
Q: (Bob McKenzie – Daily Express) Alain, every year someone says that Monaco is too dangerous. This week’s hero was Ralf Schumacher. I wonder, it hasn’t really changed much since your day. Do you think it is too dangerous? Do you think it’s still a relevant place for a Formula One to be held?
AP: I wouldn’t say that. It’s as dangerous as another race track can be dangerous. It’s different, for sure. You have to be a little bit careful, especially in the traffic with all the cars. Being alone is not being more dangerous than with another car. I must also say that the passive safety, what they do with the marshals and all the work they have done in the last thirty/forty years, is exceptional and yeah, there are some conditions… when it’s wet in some places where it could be a bit tough but it’s such a fantastic race for everybody, especially for the drivers obviously. That is part of the tradition and you should accept it, even if it was a little bit dangerous, obviously. You should accept that.
Q: On the pit wall, is that a bit of a worry when you send the cars out?
BF: I think that Monaco represents the ultimate of the man and machine around a very difficult circuit and if I was a driver, I would relish the thought of it and I’m sure most drivers do. From a team point of view, it’s wonderful to see the cars on the limit so close to the barriers. It’s what we should be doing.
GL: Yeah, Romain came close to the barriers too. On another race track we would have gotten away with it, just overbraked and instead of trying to go straight on, decided he could take the corner and just took off a little bit of the left front of the car. I think the drivers love it. It’s a different track, they love it for the atmosphere, they love it for the excitement. If you talk to the drivers it’s quite an amazing experience. I’ve driven it myself actually, it’s quite an amazing experience if you get really close. I remember one of Robert’s laps, he probably thought it was one of the best laps he ever did and it was here in Monaco, so I think drivers love it.
Q: (Rodrigo Franca – VIP Magazine) Speaking of 2014, what do you think about the improvement of the Formula One show and also, what is the biggest challenge for the teams and Pirelli for the new regulations of the V6?
FT: First of all, the new regulation is a big challenge from the technical side, because it’s a new engine, new air system, the complete car will be new and then it’s a challenge also from the financial side because everything is much more expensive. Whether the show will be improved or not I can’t say yet because it depends how good the different engine manufacturers work. If there’s one of them finding a special solution then we will not have such interesting races as we have now because these cars will be in front. If they are all nearly equal as is the case in the current races then I’m sure we will also have very interesting races in the future. Nevertheless, this is a new regulation and we have to get the best out of it.
Q: Challenge for Pirelli?
PH: A contract? A contract is probably the first one. If you follow the regulations, on the first of September we’re meant to define the specification for next year but as yet we don’t really have a full picture of what the cars are going to be like, so you can imagine there’s a certain element of shooting in the dark. Having said that, it’s a probably a year where we will probably step back, be cautious. There’s going to be enough going on for the teams next year as you just heard from Franz, all those changes. So I think it’s a year where we’ll be stepping back: zero degradation, no pit stops and they can do all the talking.
CH: It’s difficult to say. It’s a massive change, probably the biggest change Formula One’s seen for probably the last 25 years, I would have thought. It’s hellishly expensive, especially with trying to develop a car this year and design and produce a car for next year with the changes that have been introduced, the timing of which probably isn’t ideal for some of the teams further down the grid. It’s a big regulation change. I think you’ll probably see significant differences between the teams early on but that will then converge and engineers will undoubtedly be very creative with the solutions that they come up with. It’s going to represent a different challenge, a different type of racing as fuel economy will suddenly become a premium point. We’re yet to see what affect that will have on the racing. At the moment, we’ve very much got an open mind.
GL: I would agree, the timing is… I don’t know if it’s well chosen. It’s certainly odd. We can understand the engine manufacturers who are trying to have a product that is closer to what people are buying out on the streets. At the same time, there comes a point where Formula One was doing really well in terms of excitement, in terms of cars being matched, in terms of races being open, so let’s hope that it doesn’t reshuffle the cards in a way that is… unexpected would be good but unexpected with huge gaps would be really bad. I don’t think any of us can really say today what the effect is going to be, so that’s it, a little bit of an unknown for everybody.
BF: Yeah, I think that we won’t be having discussions about tyres next year, it will be a completely different programme.
Q: (Ian Parkes – Press Association) Paul, you’ve talked about changing or tweaking the tyres from a safety perspective yet when we discussed the matter in Barcelona, you said that there had been no more failures this year than in previous seasons, so are you genuinely changing the tyres for safety aspects or are external pressures being brought to bear from other more powerful teams?
PH: No, I think the team pressure is something that is really in the media rather than a reality. I think that if you’re a tyre maker and the mode of failure this year is more dramatic because the tyres aren’t deflating they’re actually cutting into what we have now is a high tensile steel belt, that creates an opening that overheats and then creates what you’ve seen with the delamination. That’s something that’s not very good from a tyre maker’s point of view and we wish to get rid of so we need to do it for good reason. I think every team would agree with that. So you’ve got to try and do it though with a minimum amount of change because there’s a number of teams that have taken an approach this year that’s different. They decided early on what the challenges of the tyres would be this year and quite rightly they’re saying OK, change but don’t make it so dramatic, so that’s the situation we’re in and we’re closer to finalising the changes for Canada and that should be the end of it.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – The Citizen) Alain, when we spoke a year ago here you said that what ultimately pushed your team, Prost Grand Prix, out of business was the engine costs. We’ve heard quite a few people here talk about engine costs next year. Renault, in particular has come out and said that their price will be between 20 and 25 million which is a 250 percent increase over the current price. What do you say to that? Is there a chance, do you think that teams could go out of business because of engine prices next year?
AP: It is a problem, it’s first of all part of negotiation and the price you’ve said is much higher than it is in reality, but again, I’m not the one negotiating. Your reference with my team is obviously a good reference. I was paying 28 million dollars for the Ferrari engine in the first year and I was supposed to give 32 million the year after. I had to pay this money but I had to give a guarantee and pay almost cash before. That was in September, October or November, I don’t know. Why I say that because it’s always a way of trying to get the best for the general interest and we will see what is going to happen in negotiation but also you need to know that the budget of Renault Sport F1 is 150 million euros per year, and you can imagine… if you just make a very quick calculation about the price you can imagine divided by four teams, for example, and you will realise that Renault is paying a big contribution.
Ends
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Monaco holds a special place in our hearts: Mallya
Sahara Force India looks forward to round six of the season, the Monaco Grand Prix.Team Principal, Vijay Mallya, looks forward to the Monaco Grand Prix.“Monaco holds a special place in the heart of every Formula One fan. Its history, the unforgiving circuit and the unique atmosphere of the place make it a highlight of the season. As a venue, it’s one of my favourites and a track where our car has always worked well. We’ve scored points there for the last three seasons and will be aiming to do the same this year,” said Vijay Mallya.“In our first European race, two weeks ago in Barcelona, the team once again showed its form. A strong points finish by Paul Di Resta ensured we held on to fifth position in the World Championship, and we look capable of fighting at this level in the races to come. With a little help from Lady Luck, who hasn’t been much on Adrian Sutil’s side lately, we will be able to score points with both cars and firmly establish our position in the championship. So far our weakness has been failing to get both cars home in the points and it’s something we need to remedy,” he added.“As for Adrian’s race in Spain, he would have been on course for scoring some big points had it not been for the pit stop problem. His race pace was superb, but things are not going his way at the moment. The good news is that Adrian is mentally very strong and he will deal with it. In the cockpit he’s doing exactly what we expect and that’s why we put him in the car. With 14 races remaining there is plenty of opportunity for Adrian to get the results he deserves,” he concluded.Paul on MonacoMore points for you in Barcelona, and it is now time for Monaco. What do you expect from this race?
We are fairly happy with the end result in Spain: with the limited time we had in the car and the DRS problems later in the race, seventh was a good position to come away with. As for the next race, having more time to optimise the car with the upgrades should allow us to extract even more performance from it. Monaco was a rewarding race for us last year and we will try to go there and continue our run of points finishes.You live in Monaco, so this is a home race for you. How does it make it different?
It’s really interesting to see how busy the place gets when the race is in town and the atmosphere builds up throughout the week. Racing close to home is really nice because I can go back to my place every night. I sleep in my bed and enjoy my own space. It’s also a chance for my family and friends to come and stay with me, and when the weather is nice, there’s nowhere better.Both you and the team had a very strong start of the season. Is fifth place in the Constructors’ a realistic target?
McLaren is a strong team and they will keep improving, but in the races so far we have been fighting them and we’ve often been quicker. Realistically, though, we are doing a great job regularly beating our direct rivals – Sauber, Williams and Toro Rosso. Our strength has been our consistency – we have been performing well in each of the races so far, and we are now looking forward to the Sundays with confidence.Adrian on MonacoAdrian, you’ve been one of the quickest drivers of 2013, but also one of the unluckiest. How are you feeling after five races?Despite everything that has happened during the last four races, I remain positive. Most of the things that happened were out of my control, but still I believe we can improve certain things to avoid mistakes in the future. We as a team have to stay confident and work on solving these small problems. The car is fast and if we have a perfect weekend, which is our aim all the time, I’m sure the podium will come soon.Is the VJM06 the best car you’ve ever driven?I think so, yes. Wherever we have gone so far the car has looked competitive – and that includes some very different tracks. It’s a good sign for the rest of the season. Of course, Monaco will be the first real street circuit, but I think we will be quick there. The car is very strong in the front with a very neutral balance so it’s very driveable.Tell us what Monaco means to you…It’s a special place for sure. I’ve always liked street races and Monaco is the best street circuit of them all. There’s no room for even the smallest mistake and that’s why it’s different to other tracks. You have to give the walls so much respect and build up your speed. More than anything it’s a test of your mental strength because you keep your concentration for nearly two hours during the race.ends -
This car has the potential to win races: Andrew Green
TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Dave GREENWOOD (Marussia), Mike COUGHLAN (Williams), Mark SMITH (Caterham), Andrew GREEN (Force India), Nikolas TOMBAZIS (Ferrari), Adrian NEWEY (Red Bull Racing)
PRESS CONFERENCE
Mike Coughlan, if we can start with you. You won here last year but what conclusions are we to draw from your performances so far this season?
Mike COUGHLAN: Well, we’re disappointed. It’s a fast-moving sport, everybody’s progressing and we haven’t made enough progress. We’re making steps in the right direction. We’re making steps in the right direction but there’s a long way… there’s at least a second to catch up.
And what did you learn from today?
MC: We learned that the prototype tyres didn’t work on our car and we found that… we had an aero test last week, some things we learned have worked on the circuit here, but we’ve still got a lot of work to do.
Thanks very much. If we can move to Nikolas Tombazis. Obviously, a lot of discussions at the moment about the re-introduction of testing in Formula One. The vote this week didn’t necessarily go in favour of it, but do you feel that’s the end of the story or do you think there is a chance that will be revisited?
Nikolas TOMBAZIS: To be honest I think it’s something more for the team principals to be discussing with each other. I guess there will be more discussion about it but I don’t think it will be at our level of engineer to be honest that we discuss it.
And today? Obviously very close between yourselves and Red Bull. What conclusions do you draw from the running we saw this afternoon?
NT: I think it’s very difficult to draw any conclusions properly from a Friday. I think we are in reasonable shape but it’s impossible to know exactly what fuel levels each team is running. So, I think we’re cautiously optimistic but I couldn’t say more than that. In the morning obviously it was raining so it was not easy to test some of the components we were planning to test. So that’s an ongoing process that will go on for the next race to try and establish whether the new bits are actually faster or not, so it’s not possible to answer all the questions in one single session.
Obviously your old colleague James Allison is back on the market, do you fancy a reunion with him in Maranello?
NT: I’m very good friends with James, I think he’s a super bloke both technically and ‘humanly’. I think that any team having him would be making a good buy. Whether he is coming to us or not is a story to ask the team principals.
Okay, thank you for that. Adrian, your thoughts on today? Obviously, you and Ferrari look very quick but as Nik was saying it’s not always easy to draw conclusions from Friday. However, do you see it being a scrap between the two of you this weekend?
Adrian NEWEY: Well, If Nik would be kind us enough to tell us what his fuel load was this afternoon we’d have a better idea, but he probably won’t do that so, no, as Nik says then it’s certainly tight with Ferrari. Lotus I’m sure will be good, we’ve seen they have very good tyre degradation, and Mercedes are the outsiders I guess, so it’s the usual story of the last few races.
Obviously Red Bull was one of the teams calling for a change to the tyre specifications. Pirelli has made one change, to the hard tyre that we have here this weekend. That was the preferred tyre here in the race last season. Can you give us your take on the changes that have been made? Did it go far enough as far as you’re concerned?
AN: The changes to the tyre relative to last year are two-fold, one has been construction and the other has been compound. As you say they’ve gone back to the compound that we used in some of the races last year but that still leaves a very significant construction change, so it’s still a very different tyre to what we had last year.
Moving on to Dave Greenwood from Marussia. Obviously Marussia have taken a clear step forward this year in performance. Can you quantify it for us and tell us where the major gains have come from?
Dave GREENWOOD: Well, it’s difficult to put exact numbers on it but definitely we’re a per cent or so closer to the front. We no longer worry about anything like 107 per cent, those days are long gone, so it’s much more looking towards the midfield, where we want to go. Obviously, as anyone else would say, the main advantage has come in aerodynamics – better correlation in the wind tunnel – and perhaps slightly more creativity in that area. That’s where really most of the lap time has come, coupled with improvements in the mechanical installation of course.
We spoke earlier about the possibility of in-season testing returning. As one of the teams with a smaller budget how would feel about that?
DG: It’s a tricky one isn’t it? As an engineer you’d want to go testing but obviously there’s a resource issue there to consider as well. I think as Nikolas said, it’s probably one more for the team principals. But I think for us it would be as long as it was in a measured, controlled way and not an absolute free-for-all then maybe it would be something that would enable us to slightly catch up by having a little bit more testing.
Moving on to Andrew. Obviously, first of all, we have to start by asking about Paul Di Resta’s left-rear tyre failure. What can you tell us about that from second practice this afternoon?
Andrew GREEN: Well, completely unexpected, in the middle of a high-fuel run, it was on about lap six or seven. That’s all we know at the moment. It’s currently under investigation by Pirelli and I’m sure they’ll release something as soon as they know but it’s early days yet.
What’s the protocol when something like this happens, in terms of how you as a team interact with them, in terms of moving forward from here?
AG: We’re completely with them. We’ll give them everything they need to understand what happened with the tyres. It’s one of the reasons why we stopped the car straight away – to not damage the tyre and give them as big an opportunity as possible to understand what happened.
Obviously it’s been a competitive start to the season fro Force India; you’re beating teams with larger budgets. How is that done?
AG: How’s it done?
Yes.
AG: We’ve got our own programme. We’ve been on a stepped improvement every year for the last three or four years. We do our own thing. We try to understand the car as much as we can and move forward in areas where we see the performance gains. We are massively resource limited in our team. We haven’t got the big budgets, we’ve got to pick and choose where we develop the car and make sure we develop it in areas that give good rewards and we’ll continue to do that. One of the key things for this year, which we identified last year was race performance on Sunday, tyres life. Understanding the tyres was a big part of this car and has given us a big opportunity to set the car up for all different conditions, all different tyre types. So that’s helped us on the Sunday for sure. But it’s everywhere; it’s a little bit of everything. The wind tunnel guys are busy trying to add performance from their side, and on the tyre side we’re trying to manage the tyres mechanically.
Moving on to Mark Smith from Caterham. We’ve seen in the past Caterham talking a lot about upgrade packages when they come along, but there seems to have been hardly any talk about this one at all. Can you tell us what you’ve done and why you’ve decided to keep quiet about it this time?
Mark SMITH: The strategy that we had, for a number of reasons, was to introduce a car for the first four races that was probably 30 per cent of what would ordinarily be the new season’s car. So, yes, it’s an upgrade but in actual fact it takes us to the point that ordinarily this would have been our roll-out car. And that has to do with understanding the way we model things and not committing to things. We felt that had we have done the car in the normal timescale we would have been taking parts to production and to the car that we weren’t particularly ready with in terms of our understanding and modeling and so on. So it’s more a case that this is the new car.
Can you tell us what the impact the return of Heikki Kovalainen in a development role has had on you in the past month or so?
MS: It has been very useful. Obviously, Heikki worked with the team previously. We lost driver continuity. So that in itself, when Heikki ran in FP1 in Bahrain, was a positive. There were some minor set-up directions that we were considering and in fact Heikki endorse those independently, so that was useful. So in terms of having some continuity, having some connection to the previous car, which actually the car he drove in Bahrain was only a minor development of, has been useful.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOORQ: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and National Speedsport News) All of you have upgrades here; could you tell us what the new parts are on your car and please be specific?
MC: New front wing, some forward floor changes, but that’s it.
DG: New front wing, new floor, new suspension parts on the front suspension, so not just aerodynamic. Reasonably comprehensive I would say.
MS: Front and rear wing, floor, some bodywork parts.
NT: Sorry, but I think I will be a spoilsport and won’t specify. You can look at the photos.
AN: I think it’s a bit of an unreasonable question really. It’s all part of the sport isn’t it, to find out what we’ve done?
Q: But presumably there have been plenty of boxes arriving overnight from England.
AN: Well, we’ve got to keep the boys in sandwiches.
AG: Bit of everything, really: aerodynamic and mechanical.
Q: Is it as significant an update package here at Barcelona as it has been in the past?
Is it one of the most important milestones?
AG: Not as big as it has been, but it’s still significant, yeah.
Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Tombazis, the upgrades that you brought here, are they working reasonably well and do you think they are going to help you to try to catch pole position tomorrow?
NT: As I said before, because it was raining in the morning, we haven’t had the opportunity to do all the back to backs as we would have liked. It’s quite difficult to get good answers on a Friday even if it’s not raining because of the tyres and the various other things one has to do on a Friday. So we were are still analysing and it’s an on-going process. I would say that some things are working, some things are not but we will have to also re-test some things at the next race, before we decide properly.
Q: Fernando was saying that qualifying pace was something that he wanted more of from the Ferrari. Did you set that as a first order priority for this upgrade?
NT: Yes, I think it’s quite clear we want to improve there, but obviously if we improve there we don’t want to give away some of our race pace so the race pace is still more important in some ways for the end result but sometimes when we start further back it makes things a lot more difficult, so yes, qualifying is a priority.
Q: (Mike Doodson – Auto Action) From time to time, the idea of having a point for pole position comes up. I understand the idea has been discussed recently and rejected. Without putting all of you to any trouble, could I ask perhaps Nick and Adrian if they are first in favour of that or why was the idea rejected?
AN: To be perfectly honest, I wasn’t aware that it had been discussed again lately. Certainly, when I was in IndyCars, and that was the standard procedure it always seemed to me to be a good thing. It gives a little bit more emphasis to qualifying, bit more to the show if you like and qualifying’s all part of the TV spectacle. It seemed like a little extra bonus at the end and seemed sensible. That’s my personal opinion.
NT: Yeah, I must say that I don’t think it’s a bad idea provided it’s clear from the start what the rule is then one can make one’s assessment between performances in qualifying and the race. I’m not against it, personally. I also wasn’t aware of it being discussed. It’s possibly a good thing.
Q: (Alex Oller – Associated Press) Mr Coughlan, regarding Pastor Maldonado’s struggles this season: do you think you might be pressing a little bit, due to a lack of confidence in the car and also, might there be an adjustment due to the change with the personal engineer?
MC: No, I don’t think so. It’s a fast-moving sport, there’s lots of little things. This time last year we had a good balance here and the driver was very confident on the Saturday but not so good on the Friday, so there’s a lot of work to do. We have a good team, Pastor’s very focused, working hard. It’s just going to come down to hard work and small steps.
Q: (Sam Collins – RaceCar Engineering) Looking at this car and next year’s car, some of you guys have got a bit of a challenge of resources, some from the RRA and some from your own team’s resources. At what point are you going to switch off development of the 2013 car and switch on to the 2014 fully, and what’s going to be the thing that makes that decision happen?
MS: I don’t know that there will be an absolute switch off. I think these things… obviously 2014 represents a big change so in terms of resource, everybody’s resource-limited, you’re just given the level that you work at, so to a greater or lesser extent, I think every team will have been looking at 2014 for a while now. The time at which you switch the majority of resources will be different for all teams because all teams will be facing different challenges in the championship. For us, 2014 is a very significant thing and I suspect that the majority of our resources will have moved over after Barcelona.
DG: Well, in terms of resources, yeah, obviously we are one of the resource-limited teams but that’s not to say we don’t have big ambitions for 2014, so we’ve done quite a big change-over to that already, in terms of specifics of wind tunnel times, detailing and even design time, there’s a lot going on for 2014 already. It’s a tricky one because we still keep where we are in 2013 with one eye on it, more from the point of view of ensuring that if the opportunities are there to move up, then we’ve still got to keep a development going, so probably similar to what Mark says, it’s about that point now where it’s all or nothing basically.
AN: It’s a hugely difficult problem. In an ideal world, you kind of try briefly to increase your work force to deal with the resources needed for this and then shrink back down but that’s neither feasible not practical really. I think that certainly for us, we have to put effort into the ’14 car, we can’t just ignore it. We are putting effort into it at the moment. This is actually about how that percentage varies throughout the year. Well, to some extent it depends on how our championship programme is.. Clearly, if you’re in a tight battle for a championship, you don’t want to turn your back on that. Equally… it’s a juggling act, there’s no magic formula to it.
Q: (Matt Youson – RaceTech) Nick, how does the 2014 power unit dictate the aero of next year’s car?
NT: It’s a hugely complicated project from a mechanical point of view, the installation of the turbo with all the energy recovery and the completely different looms and also all the other issues my colleagues spoke about – in terms of resource allocation make it very difficult to focus on this project as much as one would like. So one of the challenges is to make sure that apart from the work that the engine people need to do to make sure that they get the most efficiency/power/fuel efficiency etc, is to also make sure that one doesn’t take any wrong turnings in terms of the packaging of this new power unit into the car. It would be a big shame if one discovers, from the start of the next season, that one has missed some trick and has to live with a sub-optimally packaged power unit. So a lot of the early aerodynamic work has to do with answering basic fundamental questions about that installation and obviously the engine being so different, there’s also a lot of other things that are… one loses points of reference compared to the previous year. For example, the cooling could be one of them, or gearbox or whatever. So there’ s a lot of importance in being good at your simulations at this stage so as to be able to not over-design or under-design some particular aspect.
Q: (Luis Vasconcelos – Formula Press) For all six of you: we’re coming to the end of this set of regulations after five years. For all of you, which was the most satisfying car you had in this period and why, and what was the car which you felt you could have done a better job with, and again, why?
AG: This car is going to be the most satisfying car, to be honest. It’s got all the potential to be and we’re really looking forward to this season. I think there are some really strong races ahead. I would say this car, for sure. And the one we could have done more with? Every other one, for sure.
AN: I think to pick out one car is difficult. I think overall I’ve certainly enjoyed the challenge of the regulation change from 2009. I think we didn’t win the championship in 2009 but in some ways I’m most proud of that, as a team, not me personally, but I think as a team we did a good job with that car. We didn’t have a double diffuser which is still a matter of contention about the legality of that, which is obviously all history and that, without doubt, to some extent, cost us the championship together with the fact that as a team we just weren’t mature enough at the time to know how to operate the car to a championship-winning level really. But I think it’s the catalyst that gave everybody in Milton Keynes the confidence to step forwards and out of the ex-Jaguar ‘always seventh in the championship’ –type position that people felt a bit beaten into and put a spring in their step and launched us into the following cars.
NT: Well, obviously for Ferrari, this set of the regulations, the last five years have been quite difficult. We’ve had some years that we were very disappointed with and I’m hoping that at the end of the season I will say that this year is one that we are most happy with but clearly we have to wait and see for that.
MS: I think for a number of reasons which generally revolve around the way we’re working as a team and the way we are going about our business, I would say that it’s the current car.
MC: Obviously last year’s car returned Williams to winning ways and we perhaps didn’t make as much use of it as we could have done but certainly here last year and that car.
DG: Obviously this year’s car for the reasons we’ve come a long way since we entered in 2010 but I would say this is the biggest step we’ve made year on year and the most significant one.
Q: (Kate Walker – GP Week) We’ve recently had quite a bit of discussion that’s since fallen by the wayside about integrating young driver tests into the race weekend. How do you guys feel about that? Do think it’s good for bringing on talent or are you wary about these young guns damaging your precious new parts?
NT: It’s not exactly the sort of topic I normally think about much. I think the way of testing makes it very difficult for young drivers to really get started so to find a solution to that would be a good idea. Whether that would work at a race weekend I’m not sure, unless it’s the Monday after a race or something like that.
AN: I think the first problem actually comes from the lower formulas inasmuch as we seem to be in a situation where now in GP2, for instance, experience counts hugely and quite often it will be drivers in their third or fourth season that win the championship, which seems to me quite an unhealthy way to be. I think also now, with the way the tyres are behaving, then to have junior formulas where the tyres are lasting three or four laps before they’ve gone off heavily, young drivers need mileage, they need seat time and it concerns me that the way the lower formulae are going they’re just not getting that.
AG: Well, from Force India’s point of view, we’ve got a track record of bringing young drivers through and it’s something that we’re very proud of, something we’d like to have the ability to do more of so we definitely look towards a change in regulations so we can bring young drivers through without compromising the race weekend. We put forward a motion in the meeting yesterday but I’m sure there will be further discussions on it. Hopefully we can come to some agreement because I think it’s probably a little bit short-sighted of the sport not to recognise that these young guys do need time in the car.
Q: Do you have a Friday driver in the pipeline?
AG: Yes, there’s one coming through. Hopefully we will announce something shortly.
DG: This is something we actively participate in, in using young drivers in an FP1 session but I think tyres is key at the moment. Perhaps one set of tyres in FP1 is not quite enough for these guys and maybe we need to look to giving them a few more sets of tyres.
Mike, Williams is another team that has run Friday-morning drivers, you’re not doing it at the moment, are there plans to do that this year?
MC: Not at the moment, no. I think our experience, although it’s improved Valtteri tremendously last year, Bruno [Senna] would argue he probably suffered a little bit from it. So it’s a difficult call. I don’t really have an answer.
…and Mark?
MS: It’s a general philosophy. When we have the opportunity we’ve given young drivers a chance in FP1. It’s not something… going beyond that in the way you describe is not something I’ve given a lot of thought to – but in principle, as Adrian says, there’s a shortfall in terms of opportunity for guys new to Formula One to get to grips with it. So there could be something positive there, yeah.
Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / National Speedsport News) Nik, a question for you: when you’re designing and developing a car, how do you take into account and balance the fact that your drivers might have different driving styles and might want different things from the car?
NT: The differences are not that massive. The both want more downforce and less drag and so on. So the basic parameters are not too different. But they do have some slightly different characteristics: what they feel makes it more difficult under braking for example, or mid-corner or whatever. But we try to establish an average condition so as to have an overall car that’s best – and then what the drivers prefer is dealt with in car setup.
Q: (Ted Kravitz – Sky Sports) Question for Mike: Mike, this is the first year you’ve been back in Formula One full time, even though you did do some races last year, first year I should say since the events of 2007. Has it been like a fresh start with Williams?
MC: I’ve enjoyed it tremendously. I did work all last year doing it too. I’ve enjoyed it. It’s a great engineering challenge. If you’re an engineer, Formula One is a great engineering challenge, so I’ve enjoyed every moment of it. Even though we’re struggling a little bit now, the challenge is to get back.
Q: (Nicolas Carpentier – F1i) Back to 2014. Mark Smith talks about the big change, will these cars look very different from this year’s cars in their shape? I guess you already have an idea: a shorter engine cover or something like that…
DG: The initial rules framing the regulations of where bodywork exists etcetera have been out now and published and a lot of discussions have taken place in the technical working group meetings and I think everyone has now got the confidence to start laying cars out and initial wind tunnel tests and CFD etcetera. The version I’ve seen looks very much like… the cars won’t look immensely different once you get used to them. The first time you see then, you’ll decide they’re a lot different and then by three races in you’ll think they always looked like that. There are some areas that have gone. Like the beam wing, which is probably the most significant but the rest of them, you’ll still think it looks like a current Formula One car.
Adrian, your thoughts.
AN: So much of the shape of the car is dictated by the regulations, and that kind of hems you in. Visually, as was said the lack of the beam wing, the low nose which is again forced by regulations and a slightly narrower overall front wing – 75mm a side narrower. Those are the other things you’ll notice. The other thing, depending on how good a job everybody manages to do, is probably slightly bigger sidepods to accommodate the significantly increased cooling requirements.
Are these regulations that excite you?
AN: They’re different and I think it’s always good to have something different. I think the whole philosophy of the engine and the KERS unit and energy storage is altogether another matter – but that’s more for the engine group.
Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Mike, talking on the technical side about Williams. Since Mark Gillan left, how much has the team suffered from that and are there any plans for you to bring in another heavy-hitter to help you out and bounce ideas off?
MC: No, I don’t think so. As soon as somebody moves on there’s always somebody younger and fresher who wants to take that place. Obviously change is something we try to avoid – especially with somebody of Mark’s calibre – but at the moment, no, we don’t plan to bring anybody else in.
Ends
