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Tag: Mercedes
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It is a real surprise, says Hamilton about his pole: Malaysian GP
Hamilton after taking the pole in the Malaysian GP on Saturday. An FIA image DRIVERS: 1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes); 2 – Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (Ferrari); 3 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)
TRACK INTERVIEWS (conducted by Johnny Herbert)
Lewis, what a great result for you. You must be very happy. That looked like a pretty decent lap?
Lewis HAMILTON: Firstly, look at this crowd. I know it’s our last grand prix here but this is the best crowd I’ve ever seen. Thank you so much for all the support. We had no idea how it was going to go today. I’m sorry for whatever happened to Sebastian, because obviously he was very, very quick through practice. But somehow we turned it round. The engineers did such a great job yesterday, the car felt great, for both Valtteri and I, and so it’s a real surprise to be up here with these guys, so I’m very, very grateful.
Kimi come and join us. What a try that was! Happy with that? I’m sure you wanted just a little bit more. I would have thought you would have done one of the old karting moves – jumping up and down in the seat, leaning forward. Maybe you should do that next time.
Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: Yeah, it’s OK, but obviously when you get that close it’s disappointing. I made the most out of it. Yes, there are always places you can improve, but you are never going to get it 100% perfect anywhere. You always find some things you can improve, but I must say the car has been behaving nicely all weekend and it’s been a pleasure so far. We’ll try to get further than 100 metres tomorrow, and let’s see what we can do.
Tomorrow is going to be important, obviously you have been on the front row before but this is going to be an interesting little drive towards Turn One. Are you ready for this? This crowd is looking forward to a big race tomorrow, yeah?
KR: Yeah, obviously it’s a long way, so if you make a good start you will benefit quite a bit from it. It’s a pretty tight first two corners and a lot usually happens. We’ll try to make sure the first two corners go well and go from there. I think we’re going to have a very good race car, so let’s see.
Well here’s a man we’re going to get on – the birthday boy, that you got on very closely with in the last race. Hopefully that’s not going to be the case. Max, happy with that result? You seemed to get the best from the car.
Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, I think it’s good for us in qualifying to be in this position. I mean it’s always good to drive on this track, especially in qualifying – Turns 5 and 6 are flat out, so it’s a lot of fun. And also the crowd – it’s amazing how passionate they are. So on my birthday to be third here is perfect.
LH: I thought you were 19?
MV: Twenty now.
LH: Twenty now! Does he look much younger than me?
I’m sorry to say, yes. Lewis, tomorrow, the race is going to be so important. We know what happened the last time out, but this is a long run up to Turn 1, but you must be looking forward to it, because this is the perfect situation for you.
LH: It is. Obviously we are going to have a tough battle with these guys. Particularly the Red Bulls had really great long-run pace yesterday, and today I think. I’m hoping our car has moved in the right direction for the race run but we’ll see tomorrow. But there is a long, long run down to Turn 1, so lots can happen. But exciting to see all these guys coming out tomorrow and hopefully [it will be] the biggest crowd we’ve ever had.
You’re going to be after the perfect start, Kimi, Max, tomorrow you’re going to want to get in front of this guy, who is the man who is going to do that.
MV: I don’t want to be sandwiched – that’s the only thing.
Kimi?
KR: I don’t want to be hit.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Lewis, fifth Malaysian pole position, four years in a row here, and becomes the first man in Formula One history to get into the 70s of pole positions. What a turnaround from yesterday, and even from this morning. Seven tenths of a second ahead of your team-mate suggest that was a moment of inspiration. Tell us about it.
LH: We had such a difficult day yesterday; it was difficult to know where we stood. I didn’t sleep very well, just like all my engineers as well, because we didn’t know whether we would fix the issue or not. But today we arrived and the car was much better but still I think it looked like the Ferraris were a little bit ahead. We had some big calls to make going into qualifying and then those laps were, particularly the last one, the first Q3 lap, was very well put together, a very nice lap. I don’t really know where it came from, to be honest, so I’m a little bit surprised at myself. As I said, it’s a surprise to be up here. I’m very grateful. These guys have been driving exceptionally well all weekend. It’s always a special thing to be able to extract a little bit more out of the car than it’s particularly willing to go. That’s what I’ve always enjoyed, since my dad would say… my first go-kart was fifth-hand or something like that, and he’d say it was like a four-poster bed. Not that my car was a four-poster bed today but I was hoping I could extract a little bit more out of it.
You acknowledged in Singapore that you had a slice of luck with what happened at the start, and a slice of luck with your main title rival Vettel starting from the back of the grid. You’ve got to capitalise on it, so will Valtteri have a part to play in it as Vettel comes through the field?
LH: I haven’t really thought… I don’t know what happened to Sebastian. I mean, he would have been up there with us, he’d been driving well all weekend, very, very quick, between him and Kimi. Very unfortunate for him, but of course we just have to continue to focus on our job and try to maximise on every opportunity that we get collectively. Hopefully we are in a good position for tomorrow. Obviously we have put ourselves in the best position for tomorrow but we still have a tough race ahead of us, so we’ll just try and keep our heads down and hopefully those behind me and it will just unfold the way it unfolds.
Q: Kimi, it equals your best qualifying performance here in Sepang: 0.045 of a second off pole position. A lot of weight on your shoulders obviously in qualifying from the Ferrari team with Vettel in trouble. You were on target, it seemed, until the final corner – tell us about it.
KR: Well, I don’t know. Obviously, I only know how it was and I think overall, the whole weekend, it’s been pretty straightforward. The car’s been handling well. I think we were quite happy all day, also in qualifying but, y’know, you can always improve here and there. I don’t think you ever going to make an absolutely perfect lap and it’s a bit more painful when you get that close, for sure. There’s places that you improve a little bit and it’s just enough – but it wasn’t today. Obviously was a shame for the team, with Seb’s issue, whatever, not having him in the qualifying – but that’s how it goes sometimes. I think the car’s [inaudible] very well but to try to fix it and then obviously had some problem. It’s a shame for him. Sure he will be good tomorrow. I’m happy but I’d rather have qualified in first place but I think tomorrow is a long race, it’s going to be tough for tyres and I think we should have a very good car tomorrow. I have a good feeling about it.
Q: Max, happy 20th birthday. Going well so far…
MV: Thank you very much!
…strong weekend thus far. I think it’s the 11th time now this season you’ve out-qualified Daniel, so once again very strong qualifying performance. Four-tenths off today in qualifying but do you feel with what you saw yesterday in the long runs, quite low degradation, the car looked quick, obviously, the faint possibility of rain as well, that there’s room for optimism in the race tomorrow.
MV: Well, for sure, if it rains, then then I think we always have a good opportunity. I think in the dry today, I’m actually very happy that I’m here in third because this morning – afternoon, the last session – I was struggling a lot with the balance of the car. Actually, the whole weekend has been up and down in terms of happiness with the car but we managed to do a good qualifying again. Really happy with that, of course. The car, except maybe the final run in Q3, before that was really well balanced, so I can’t complain. I think we could have been a bit closer, definitely we couldn’t have beaten them today but for us, to be third here, on this track, is perfect. Also, in the long runs, it was all looking good. If it’s good enough, I don’t know. We’ll see tomorrow. From my side, I want to have a good Sunday finally. Because every time on Saturday it’s always going well, but on Sunday I haven’t scored a lot of points.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Lewis, in the long runs yesterday you didn’t show good performance and today you have very good performance in one lap. Do you have an indication with this new setup for the race?
LH: Yeah, in the P3 we did a long-ish short run, only five laps. I think the car was in a much better position but I think we were something like four- or five-tenths off the other guys. So we shall see tomorrow whether that is still the case – but I think we made some changes going into qualifying that should suit the car better for tomorrow, so I’m hopefully that we will be there or thereabouts.
Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) Question for Max, as you turn 20, you’re no longer a teen sensation so to speak. What is the highlights of your career. If you had to choose, for example, between Interlagos, coming through the rain and that victory on your debut, which would you choose?
MV: It’s difficult. To be honest, I think my best memory is still from go-karting, when I won the World Championship, because you always dream of it, to achieve something like that, and especially… I worked really hard with my Dad, to achieve something like that, because he was my engine tuner, he was my mechanic. We have travelled the world together since I was four years old. I think I was 15 at the time. You win the World Championship in the highest category in go-karting. That was very emotional. Then the victory in Spain was also very emotional at the time – but I want to win a race on merit and not with luck. So that hasn’t happened yet, so I think still that victory in go-karting is more satisfying.
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, in Monaco you won the pole with the same margin as you did lose it today. How big is the difference in your feeling compared to that Monaco?
KR: It makes no difference to compare what happened in Monaco with here. I don’t really care what’s the time difference, or position today. It’s what happened. We came second, I’m pretty happy because things have been running pretty smoothly all weekend and I think we’re going to have a good car tomorrow, at least so far that’s how it’s been. You always look for more and for sure there’s always things to improve, to go a bit faster and that little bit would have been enough today.
Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) Lewis, once again Beast-mode. You find a way to really turn it up when your back is against the wall like this, again we’re seeing this level that you can’t figure out where it’s coming from. What is it, the many fans out there that, the Union Jacks, all the Lewis Hamilton fans, team LH is out there, coming thousands of miles to watch you race at this last Malaysian Grand Prix?
LH: Well one thing for sure, the support is… I mean, we’ve been coming here for ten years and it’s known not to have a very attendance here but the crowd already from Thursday was pretty awesome and today, every time you leave the garage, every time you come in, I can see all these flags opposite my garage. It’s the most… in all the ten years put together, today was more than all of those. Incredibly grateful for that. Of course, I get a lot of energy from that, and from special people I met, I met this young kid, Brandon, the other day who just was the highlight of the week, and then I guess always digging deep. I’m very, very grateful that the laps have come at the right time, throughout qualifying, because you know you approach it and you hope that you’re able to execute at the right time – but it’s not always… you’re never always on point but so far this weekend and particularly, obviously, just now, that lap, the one that really counts was the one I need and the one that I got. So it’s a combination of a lot of things, but my team worked so hard last night to really try to… I think they were here until 2am, trying to understand the car and make sure we made the right steps with real good analysis, so I’m grateful for all that hard work.
Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Lewis, you took the old aero package today, your teammate the new one, was it your decision, was it a joint decision and why did you take the decision to go back to the old one?
LH: How do you know that? Hmm? Did Niki tell you that? We came with an upgrade that was supposed to be better but we were unsure yesterday because we were so far off. We went back to one car trying one, the other car trying the other. Before qualifying I was thinking of going back to the new package because Valtteri’s and my times were very similar and Valtteri seemed really happy with it and so I didn’t want to carry a penalty going into qualifying. You want every little millisecond you can get but there wasn’t really enough time so we ended up staying with it and also it was kind of a risk, changing the car again for qualifying and maybe getting something wrong and so we just… that was really why we ended up staying with it but fortunately I’d done P3 with it so I was quite comfortable with where I was and it provided a stepping stone in terms of making the set-up change. Ultimately it was down, it is down in performance but fortunately it didn’t make a difference.
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Lewis, did that experience of having a home Finnish sauna help you to beat this other Finnish guy because you seem to be sweating less than him?
LH: Did you say the home Finnish sauna? I haven’t been in it for a long time. I used the sauna here but it’s not as good as a Finnish sauna. I used the one in KL. Kimi, do you still use a sauna? You do? It doesn’t strike me as a usual Finnish guy, Kimi, but for me, coming from England, this is a sauna here. It’s bloody roasting.
Q: (Lennart Bloemhof – De Volksrant) Max, touching upon the extension of contracts for China and Singapore and the possibility of new races being added in the near future, how do you feel about a calendar with 24 races? I believe Fernando Alonso isn’t a fan of expanding the calendar and Lewis isn’t that fond of it as well, I heard.
MV: I think 21 is more than enough. I think it’s already quite a lot.
LH: Shit. Is it really 24? They’re talking about 24?
MV: Yeah. Yeah, I think it’s quite a lot. So I may…
LH: He’s young, he’s got…
MV: Several family and friends. Racing is one part but you also have your private life, away from racing, but you don’t really see them a lot, so I think if you’re going to do 24, 25, it’s not only for the drivers but also the mechanics. I think it’s better to get a divorce straight away.
Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS) Lewis, I guess we have got three top teams again after the start of the season where it was mainly Mercedes and Ferrari. Are you happy with more battles? Does it make it better?
LH: Absolutely, absolutely. I think we need even more than that. Red Bull have really stepped it up, stepped up their game in the last… through the last race and coming here and it’s great to see them performing so well. We obviously want them to be even closer so it really mixes things up. I was hopeful they were going to be even quicker today but I don’t know what happened, whether they lost a little bit of pace or not. But yesterday they were looking fantastic but again, their long run pace in the race here is often very very good so without doubt tomorrow they will be on our tails, I would imagine. In the past they’ve always been great here and looking after their tyres and keeping the temperatures low. I think it’s great, I think it’s more exciting for the fans. Wouldn’t it be great if we had Williams back there and McLaren back there and then there would be a real race.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Kimi, your teammate is in the back, he’s fighting for the championship. You on the first row, do you think you can believe also the team can ask you to change the strategy in order to take maximum possible points from Lewis, keeping that in mind?
KR: What do you mean exactly, because as a team, we want to get maximum points out of any race with two cars and obviously for Seb we hope he’s going to make a good recovery but it’s not going to change my race. We’re always going to try and make the fastest race and I don’t really know what else…
eom/FIA transcript of the press conference
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Hamilton takes pole as Vettel suffers mechanical issue, starts last: Malaysian GP
Hamilton after taking the pole at Sepang on Saturday. An FIA image Sepang: Lewis Hamilton claimed his fifth career Malaysian Grand Prix pole position, equalling Michael Schumacher’s Sepang record, as the qualifying hopes of title Sebastian Vettel wrecked by a mechanical issue that saw him dumped out of the session at the end of Q1.
Kimi Räkkönen was left to uphold Ferrari honour and the Finn almost claimed his second pole of the year as he got to within five hundredths of a second of Hamilton’s pole time. Third place on the grid will be taken by Max Verstappen with team-mate Daniel Ricciardo making it an all Red Bull second row.
The major story of Q1 surrounded Vettel. A problem late in final practice led to a change of ICE and MGU-H on the German’s Ferrari, but the team managed to get the title contender out on track at the beginning of Q1.
However, just a minute later Vettel was on the radio saying that he had lost drive. “It feels like I have no turbo,” he told his team as he limped back to the pitlane.
With about three minutes remaining in the session, his mechanics were replacing the engine cover on his Ferrari and it seemed like he would get one run in which to set a time. However, he was held in the garage as checks were done and eventually the window of time available to complete a warm-up lap and cross the line for a flyer before the chequered flag was waved ran out. Vettel was eliminated from the session having failed to set a time.
Also ruled out at this stage were 16th-placed Romain Grosjean of Haas, with the Frenchman finishing ahead of team-mate Kevin Magnussen and the Saubers of Pascal Wehrlein and Marcus Ericsson.
At the top of the order, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton was quickest, with Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen in second. Third place in the session went to Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes, with Kimi Räikkönen fourth in the sole Ferrari to set a time.
In Q2 it was Räikkönen who set the early pace, with the Finn taking P1 with a time of 1:30.926, just five thousandths of a second ahead of Verstappen. However, as the Finn and the Dutchman elected to stay put for the final runs, it was Bottas who ended the segment in P1, the Mercedes driver setting a time of 1:30.803.
Through to Q3 behind third-placed Verstappen were Hamilton, Ricciardo, Force India duo Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon, Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg and the McLarens of Stoffel Vandoorne and Fernando Alonso.
Eliminated at the end of the Q2 were Williams Felipe Massa in P11, with the Brazillian followed by Jolyon Palmer in the second Renault, Williams’ Lance Stroll and the Toro Rossos of Carlos Sainz and Pierre Gasly.
In Q3 Hamilton finally made his move, claiming provisional pole at the end of the first runs, with Räikkönen three tenths behind the Briton. Ricciardo was third ahead of team-mate Verstappen.
And the Mercedes man was not to be denied in the final runs, though it was a close-run thing. Ricciardo was first across the line but failed to improved having made small errors in the final two sectors. Verstappen then jumped ahead of his team-mate to claim P3.
It was then Hamilton’s turn to post a final time and surprisingly, the Mercedes driver made no improvement. That left the door open for Räikkönen, but though the Ferrari driver put in a superb effort to improve by almost two tenths, he ended up in P2, just 0.045s behind Hamilton.
With the Red Bulls locking out row two, fifth place went to Valtteri Bottas. He was followed by Force India’s Esteban Ocon, McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne, the Renault of Nico Hulkbenberg, the second Force India of Sergio Perez and the second McLaren of Fernando Alonso.
eom/FIA press release
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With new updates, Force India looking forward to stabilise its 4th place: Malaysian GP
Malaysian GP preview File photo from Sahara Force India Sepang, 26 Sept. 2017: Sahara Force India looks forward to the Formula One Malaysian GP at the Sepang F1 International Circuit which will be hosting its 19th and final F1 race this year. The Indian outfit has been punching about its weight and despite meagre financial resources has come fourth in the standings last year and the reward money for the slot in the top-four of the Constructors’ standings helped the team to continue its good running this year too.
Currently, the team is doing much better than last year and is firmly placed 4th at this stage in the team points with both the drivers confirmed for 2018. Force India has 124 points, 65 points ahead of fifth-placed Williams Mercedes with six races to go.
The Sepang circuit may not suit the Silverstone-based team, but with new upgrades coming up, the team management and drivers feel that they can get some more valuable points at the resurfaced circuit which is known not only for its hot and humid conditions but also abrupt and sudden bouts of rain which can change any equation on the track.
Speaking from England, Team Principal Vijay Mallya said in a release: “Leaving Singapore with 11 points to help consolidate our fourth place in the championship was a very satisfactory outcome from a tricky weekend. It reminds us that even after a tough qualifying session, there is always plenty to fight for on Sunday. We also took a lot of positives from the pace of the VJM10 during the race and it’s clear that we have the potential for some more strong performances in the final six events.
“This weekend is the last visit to Sepang for the foreseeable future and hopefully we can sign-off with some points. It probably won’t be our strongest circuit of the year, but we should be competitive, especially with the updates we continue to bring to the car. The drivers enjoy the quick corners and it’s always been a good track for overtaking and competitive racing. It’s sad to say goodbye to a circuit, but Malaysia can be proud of the events it has staged during the last 19 years and Formula One has always been given an extremely warm welcome by the fans.
Confirming the drivers early in the season has its advantages and the Indian liquor baron, who is facing charges and stuck with a travel ban, felt that: “We head to Sepang having recently confirmed Sergio will remain with the team alongside Esteban in 2018. I’m extremely happy with the job both drivers are doing and delighted that we have stability with our line-up. Getting this all finalised relatively early in the year is always helpful. We can simply focus on maximising the final six races and plan effectively for next year.”
The drivers too are confident that they can pull out one more successful round with a double points score. Recently, the two have clashed on the track which triggered a media trial and the management too has dropped its policy of allowing the drivers to race and warned them to be careful on track so that there will not be any such DNFs in the future. The team orders had their effect and both the drivers buried their hatchet and have promised to be more `professional’. Sergio Perez, who had his first podium here with a 2nd place in 2012, has good memories and is raring to go. He currently has 68 points and is in 7th place while Esteban Ocon is just behind with 56 points in 8th.
Sergio Perez: “Malaysia is a place that means a lot to me. It’s where I got my first ever podium in Formula One, in 2012. After Singapore, it’s another very hot race. I think last year’s was the hottest race I’ve ever experienced during my whole career, so I expect to sweat a lot on Sunday!
“The weather is so unpredictable, you can have a big storm all of a sudden and then it can dry up again in five minutes, because it’s so warm and humid.
“Every year, Malaysia has been a special race because of the heat and the characteristics of the track. I’ll be really sad to see Sepang disappear from the calendar. I hope to see all the Malaysian fans at some other race and I hope they keep following us online.”
Esteban Ocon: “Sepang is such a beautiful track. I really love it. I enjoy chicanes and there are quite a few in Malaysia, with some nice combinations of fast and medium-speed corners. When you have a good car in qualifying, you can just feel the grip; it’s very enjoyable. On the other hand, it’s a very tough race because of the heat and humidity. The rain can play a big part – at least I am told! Last year everyone kept telling me that, but it was just mega sunny and warm all weekend. It’s sad we will be racing here for the last time because it’s such a cool track. I am going to miss it.”
Sahara Force India’s Chief Race Engineer, Tom McCullough, looks ahead the challenge of Sepang: “Malaysia is another race where the weather will be very hot: last year, we had track temperatures up to 60C. The conditions can be very unpredictable and there’s always a chance of rain showers, in particular during the early evening qualifying session at 5pm. In this regard, the conditions are very similar to what we saw in Singapore, with extreme heat and humidity; the main difference being the start time of the race, with the lights going off in the heat of the day at 3pm. The Sepang track features a good mix of low, medium and very high-speed corners, so the set-up needs to accommodate a large speed range. The track was resurfaced prior to the race last year, which improved ride response and reduced tyre degradation. It will be interesting to see how the track surface has evolved since.”
eom/with inputs from SFI press release
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Bottas to stay at Silver Arrows in 2018
The Finnish driver will continue to race for the Silver Arrows in 2018
- Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport has agreed a new contract with Valtteri Bottas for the next season
- Toto Wolff: “His performances and his upward trajectory made it a no-brainer to continue for 2018.”
- Valtteri Bottas: “I am honoured and proud to continue to work with Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport in 2018. However, there’s always room for improvement and I still have not shown my full potential.”
Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport is pleased to announce that it has agreed a new deal with Valtteri Bottas for the 2018 Formula 1 season.
Valtteri joined the team in early 2017 and has started 13 races for the Silver Arrows so far. Having scored 197 points, the Finn currently holds third place in the drivers’ championship. Since joining Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, the 28-year old driver has claimed his first Formula 1 wins (Russia, Austria) as well as his first F1 pole positions (Bahrain, Austria). This season alone, Valtteri has so far secured nine podiums – equalling the number of podiums he scored in his Formula 1 career before this season.
Toto Wolff
“We gave Valtteri a big challenge this year: joining the team at the eleventh hour, stepping up to the forefront of F1 and pairing with the sport’s best driver as his team-mate. With that in mind, his results have been probably even more impressive.“There have been ups and downs – more ups, fewer downs – and some great highlights like his two race wins in Russian and Austria. Overall, the balance of his performances and his upward trajectory made it a no-brainer for us to continue with him into 2018.
“For our team, the bonus factors are the respect and sportsmanship that have grown between our two drivers. The chemistry and dynamic between Valtteri and Lewis work and are what we need to take the fight to our competitors.”
Valtteri Bottas
“I am honoured and proud to continue to work with Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport in 2018 and to remain part of the Mercedes family. Together, we continue to grow stronger day by day, and by keeping up our hard work I believe the sky is the limit,” said Valtteri.“Since joining the team in January, I’ve enjoyed every day working with them. The welcome and the support from every team member and all the fans has been invaluable. As a driver, I’ve been able to learn and grow massively, and we have already enjoyed some really good moments this season that I will never forget. I’ve been very impressed by the mentality, commitment and the team spirit this team holds. Partnering Lewis has also been really good, and I’m enjoying the respect we have and the will to push this team forward together.
“When the team hired me for the 2017 season, they took a leap of faith by putting their trust in my skills. This new contract for 2018 shows that I’ve earned that trust. I’m happy to have celebrated my first race wins in a Silver Arrow. However, there’s always room for improvement and I still have not shown my full potential. I will continue to work hard on and off the track, to further improve my driving, get even better results and show that putting their trust in me was the right decision. I want to thank all the board members, the people at the factories in Brackley and Brixworth as well as the race team and all the fans for their support and trust. It means a lot to me.”
eom/Mercedes AMG Petronas press release
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Mercedes AMG Petronas partners with Rubric to efficiently manage race data
Bangalore, 13 Sept. 2017: Vishal Krishna is a good friend and former colleague at the New Indian Express. Of late, we lost touch but I have been reading his stories after I encountered his story tweets and read this one when, the subject of our present story, BIPUL SINHA visited India last in July. This Business Editor’s piece will give you a fair background of the start-up that inked the deal with the top F1 team today.
“When four technocrats come together to start up, a technologically profound and disruptive company like Rubrik happens,” Vishal wrote. “Bipul Sinha, Arvind Jain, Soham Mazumdar and Arvind Nithrakashyap joined hands to put together a technology that can pull data of an organisation from public and private clouds in an instant, making a CTO’s life a lot easier,” he wrote in yourstory.com.
You can read the story here: https://yourstory.com/2017/07/startup-rubrik-data-storage-emc-hitachi/
Ok coming to the news, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, the top F1 team, on Wednesday confirmed a new team partnership with Rubrik, specialists in Cloud Data Management. Ribric, one of the fastest growing enterprise software companies in the Silicon Valley will work with the team to accelerate the protection of race data. Mercedes will use Rubrik’s data backup and recovery technology at their headquarters to improve data management, a press release said here today.
Mercedes are currently leading the Constructor’s World Championship in Formula 1 with lead driver Lewis Hamilton gunning for the F1 Driver’s Championship. Valtteri Bottas is the other driver who has become a strong teammate for Hamilton in his first year at the marque outfit.
With data volumes, backup and recovery requirements becoming ever more demanding in Formula One, the team is investing in class-leading technology in order to stay ahead. Specifically, the team will be using a multi-node Rubrik cluster at their Brackley headquarters to protect the team’s critical race data.
The team will also use Rubrik’s REST API (Application Programming Interface) to integrate with their current tools to analyse their data utilisation. With this information, the team expects to become even more efficient in how it manages and utilises the vast volumes of race data. Recognized by Forbes on the Cloud 100 and as a Next Billion Dollar Startup, Rubric is expected to efficiently manage the race data to yield high-performance results.
“We are delighted to welcome Rubrik to Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport,” commented Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport. “In the fast-moving world of information technology, it’s essential to be right at the forefront, particularly for us in the area of data management, and we look forward to working with Rubrik to maximise our potential in this area.”
“Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport is at the forefront of adopting new technologies within the racing world,” said Bipul Sinha, co-founder and CEO, Rubrik. “Rubrik’s cloud data management platform will enable the team to access and manage critical race information, providing them with a new competitive edge. We are excited to partner with Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport to turbocharge their innovative approach to data management and contribute to their continued success.”
eom/david/with inputs from Mercedes release
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Mercedes power is definitely better than Ferrari power, a tongue-in-cheek comment by Hamilton
Hamilton takes a selfie with the Monza crowd after the podium celebrations on Sunday. An FIA image DRIVERS: 1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes); 2 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes); 3 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari).
PODIUM INTERVIEWS (Conducted by Martin Brundle and Jean Alesi)
Martin BRUNDLE: Lewis, you’re now leading the world championship again.
Lewis HAMILTON: You know what…. You know what…
MB: You might just have to punch through this [noise]
LH: Yeah, you know what, I love it here in Italy and I love the passion of the fans, particularly the Ferrari fans, they’re fantastic. This energy is like nowhere else we ever really get to see, apart from maybe Silverstone, so I respect it, I appreciate it. But I’m happy. We did a great job. The team did an exceptional job this weekend and me and Valtteri – Valtteri also did a great job – I think we owe it all to them.
MB: I didn’t of too many problems, one lap you said you felt the power was going down a little bit, but you were coasting for much of it, saving the engine I guess.
LH: Yeah, firstly Mercedes power is definitely better than Ferrari power, so it worked well this weekend.
MB: Whoah, volcanic! You were up with Lance into the first corner and Esteban Ocon behind you. A little bit nervous of the new kids in town?
LH: The start was a little bit difficult for sure, because the grip was quite low, but it was a great day, a great result for us. We’ve got a lot of British supporters here as well, so I’m really grateful for that.
I’ll leave you with your friends and go and talk with Valtteri. Valtteri, a couple of great moves from you. You had to make up some ground early on.
Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, like with Lewis the start was tricky, but just needed to keep my head down, get the places step by step. The car was so strong today. Like I said on the team radio, it was amazing today how quick we were and it was pure joy to drive. The pace was good, I enjoyed it and a perfect result for us as a team.
MB: Any dramas at all?
VB: No drama.
MB: Very reminiscent of 2015 and 2016. Now, I’ll hand over to Jean to talk to Sebastian.
Jean ALESI: Sebastian, a few words in Italian for the Ferraristas.
Sebastian VETTEL: Allora, grazie a tutti. Tifosi, io sento di essere la megliore publico al mundo, davvero. Questa guerra é difficile – lo so que arriviamo, arriviamo! Forza Ferrari, grazie!
Sebastian it was quite difficult at the beginning to catch up straightaway, you had to make some overtaking. How it was at the beginning?
SV: It was entertaining. It was quite good fun. Obviously my start was not so good, I had a lot of wheelspin. It took a while before I could really trust the car and then I made some progress. We got some good overtaking there. Then we were a bit isolated. We didn’t have the pace of the leading two drivers today. Nevertheless, going round, seeing the people gives a lot of hop. Even if this race has been difficult I know that we have a very, very strong car and we will have a very, very strong end to the season, I’m sure of that.
MB: Congratulations Sebastian. Lewis, you beat Ferrari today by over half a minute. With Spa last weekend have we seen a key turning point in the season, and the championship?
LH: I think it’s all just to do with the team pulling together and trying to maximizing everything on the car and Valtteri and myself really trying to do the best job we can with the car. But today the car was fantastic and really a dream to drive. But a big thank you to all the fans who came out today, grazie a tutti, and I look forward to coming back next year.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Lewis, you’ve obviously taken the championship lead for the first time, one key talking point; the pace of the Mercedes compared with the Ferraris, on the supersofts particularly, I think you were 22 seconds ahead at the end of the first stint, another important talking point. And also interesting, this is the first time this season we have had a back-to-back race winner and I wondered about your thoughts on what that says about how open and competitive this championship is?
LH: Well, it’s obviously an incredibly exciting season and the last two races have been incredibly strong for us as a team. We’ve gone from strength from strength and really shown real strength and depth and I think it’s the way we have come together in this second half so far is exceptional. I’m not really sure why the pace of the Ferraris was not close as it usually is, particularly as it was in practice, but today the car felt fantastic, particularly in that first stint. I guess because we had a bit of breathing space behind us initially it was easier to extend the life of the tyre. I suppose if in the past we would have had a Ferrari behind we would have been pushed more to the limit. And Valtteri did a fantastic job just to get through and get a one-two here. I know it’s not easy for the Italian fans to accept but I think ultimately we did the better job this weekend, collectively, as a team. But it’s still close and there’s still a long, long way to go. We’re going to another track next that the Ferrari should be quite quick at, with the extra downforce they generally are able to add one, so the fight will continue. But it is amazing to come and have the back-to-back wins. It’s been a long, long time that Sebastian has been leading the championship, so with all the ups and down to now be just slightly ahead is a great feeling.
Valtteri, your ninth podium of 2017, you had two cars to pass in the opening stint and you did that in a straightforward way. But maybe you could talk about the margin with Ferrari and your thoughts on why this race evolved the way it did?
VB: Yeah, actually three cars to pass in the beginning. The start was quite poor for me, just a lot of wheelspin. One of the Ferraris got ahead and I had to get him first, which was normally going to be the difficult part and the most important part for us today. But also then pretty quickly got to P2, which was good, and the car was so well balanced today and so strong. For sure we were quick in a straight line, but this weekend also we were really quick in every corner of the track. I think we just found a different kind of stability this weekend that we haven’t found before. But this is a really unique track. We can’t rely on that ‘OK, now we are quickest’. That’s not the case. It’s going to be a completely different story in Singapore, next weekend. Yes, we were quickest here. We had a perfect result, Lewis won, so well done for that, me second is great for us, but now it’s whether we can learn from this weekend what we need to and be strong again in Singapore.
Sebastian you described it on the slow-down lap as a difficult day. I wonder if you could just drill down into that what aspects in particular were difficult for you and answer the question why you feel that the pace wasn’t closer, either on the supersoft or the soft?
SV: Well, to be honest, I’m still pretty overwhelmed from the lap back to the pits and the podium ceremony. I think it’s been amazing, the power of the people, to see so many fans for Ferrari is unbelievable. Yeah it was a difficult day, a difficult start. I didn’t straightaway feel the car; I couldn’t go with Kimi and Valtteri, so I had to wait to make progress. Then my race was fairly isolated. We tried to keep as close as possible but we simply didn’t have the pace. I’m sure there are plenty of reasons, but I don’t want to get too technical today. The last 20 laps I was struggling. I went off in Turn 1 and I think something broke in the car. The left-hand side of the steering was a bit down and I couldn’t trust the car, especially on braking and it’s a braking track. So the last laps I don’t think they showed the pace we could have gone. Overall you could say it was a bad day, but I know the team is on the right way and there is a lot of stuff that is going to improve. Overall, it has been amazing so far to see where we are but I know that we only get stronger, so I’m in a very, very positive mood, despite the number and all that. I am not worried about these… overall, it was a difficult weekend but I know that there is still a long way to go and we have got the people behind us so it is a great feeling.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Sebastian, how much of a role to you think it has played in your struggles that there was no dry P3 where you could have optimised the car setup after it was not really perfect on Friday. Is it a relief, in a way, that this is such a unique track and there will be no others like this until the end of the season?
SV: Well, Monza is specific. I’ve had races here… simply the fact how confident you feel in the car can make a big difference. I wouldn’t say I don’t trust my car or don’t trust our car but I think this weekend has been a bit up-and-down. Practice, for sure there were a couple of things on the list that we would like to try but didn’t get the chance but I’m sure that’s the same for everyone. I had a good feeling on Friday. The long run was a bit scrappy because of traffic but in terms of raw pace, the Mercedes looked very strong. They confirmed that. I think it got a bit closer with worn tyres towards the end, second stint, I think you cannot judge. We were running on our own, they were probably just cruising – because no pressure from behind. So you can’t read the whole race but overall you need to be fair and say that they did the better job and they deserved to win – no doubt about that – but I think considering the day yesterday and where we started from, I think it was the optimum result.
Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) Question for Lewis, Another Beast Mode performance, back to back wins, this moment you’ve been building up in the second half of the season, we’re now going to Singapore, it’s going to be more of a challenging race for you. Is this momentum now, and you going into Beast Mode like this, is that going to carry on for the next half of the season.
LH: That’s definitely the plan! Definitely the plan. Giving it absolutely everything we’ve got but, as I’ve said, Ferrari might be a little bit quicker, maybe, when we get to a couple of the tracks where it’s maximum downforce, where you can add a little bit more, I think there. They’ve generally been quite good, Hungary they were exceptionally quick on the qualifying laps so we might see that happen in the next races. I think nonetheless it’s going to continue to be really close between us all, but yeah, absolutely. Beast Mode all the way to the last chequered flag.
Q: (Nicolangelo Cioppi – La Voce degli Italiani del Canada e USA) For Lewis and Sebastian. How do you feel beating Michael Schumacher’s pole position yesterday, 68, now you have 69 pole position and how you feel to beat Ferrari in his house in Monza. Is different I think from any other race track. And for Sebastian. Is it possible to win again or the Mercedes is too strong for Ferrari – because it was 30s difference between first and third.
LH: As I was saying yesterday, it’s an unbelievable feeling. Having grown up playing computer games on the same day as the grand prix when Michael was racing and going through all the practice sessions on my computer while watching the grand prix and playing as Michael, and now I’m ahead in the qualifying standings, which feels crazy. I feel very grateful for all the great people that have helped me achieve that. To win here in Monza, it is such a historic grand prix. There are very, very few, if any like it. The track is so unique in its own way, in this beautiful park, beautiful part of the world and the fans… you could hear the roar. I would love to know how loud they are on the scale. The energy there is incredible. The passion that the Ferrari fans – or the Italian fans have around the world. When I go to LA, for example and go to an Italian restaurant and the fans are there for Ferrari. They’re all over the world and it’s great to see. There’s also some of those Ferrari fans that have, while maybe at heart perhaps are Ferrari fans, and being Italian, they’ve also spilled over to be Mercedes fans, which is much appreciated.
SV: Being technical you can say, I don’t know what it adds up, the gap, the amount of race laps. I think we probably lacked something like half a second per lap today but there’s not all the parts of the race you can judge. I’m not worried too much about the gap. As I said before, Monza is a specific place. If you have that extra bit and confidence then it makes a big difference. So, I’m not too stressed about that. We probably knew it would be a difficult race. Probably expected as well that we would be closer but all in all, it’s not nice to see them two winning but I think with the third position, at least we gave everything we had and that’s the most important. We gave everything for the people out there. The support has been amazing and, despite the numbers, the gap, you can name the negatives but I’m very, very positive right now, to be honest. I know that people are going into the office tomorrow more committed than before. The spirit is there, we just need to keep it up. It’s a journey, we see where it takes us. It’s been a long way that the team has come from three years ago but we are nowhere near satisfied despite maybe having had a good season so far, it’s not good enough. Ferrari needs to be at the front and Ferrari needs to be on top of everything. So that’s where we want to go. For sure, they are giving us a very, very hard time, especially at the moment, but we’ll see. It’s a long journey still and, as I said, I’m… yeah… still full of adrenaline from the podium, the atmosphere was amazing. You can ask whatever you want now, I don’t care! You will always get a positive answer.
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, you are the fourth Finnish driver who finished second here. In any stage of the race did you have in your mind a feeling that you could be the first one to win here?
VB: Yeah, it is true no Finn has ever won in Monza. I think it’s just unlucky. Obviously running all the race second not so far from Lewis you never know what can happen, so obviously you never give up on the dream of a possible win during the race – but I wasn’t thinking about it too much, honestly. Just was focussed on executing our plan and being on it on every single corner. It was not the day for the Finns today but maybe next year, who knows?
Q: (Leigh O’Gorman – Walker Watson) For Sebastian. Considering your position in the championship at the moment, at the start of the race, are you more or less conscious about having to get through relatively inexperienced drivers like Esteban and Lance – or do you just take them as if they’re any other competitors?
SV: I guess more the second part of your question. I mean, I think you judge when you follow, both of them did a good job. We were faster, that’s clear and y’know, I knew that I had to get past quickly because with the DRS you can build a sort of a train and then it’s quite difficult to get past. Plus they were very quick down the straights, both of them, but… no, I think Lance knew we had stronger pace, so he was quite fair. Esteban tried to cover a bit more but I had a very good run out of the last corner so for me it was clear I would get past and I just had to choose left or right and I just wanted to make sure, so that’s why I dived down the inside. But, no, to be honest, there might be the odd one standing out but overall drivers in Formula One have had a long history of racing and they know what to do.
Q: (Zsolt Godina – F1Vilag.hu) Lewis, congratulations. The next race is in Singapore; do you have any worries that the problems you had in the past could come back this year?
LH: Currently that’s not my mind-state, no, and I will do all the due diligence it’s possible to make sure that we arrive there best prepared. We have no idea until we get there what the picture’s going to look like but I think we learned a lot from the past but on a hot track, Ferrari are often better in hot places. I think we’ll be able to give them a good race. I think the car is continuing to improve and as I said, our understanding of the car is beginning to… it’s constantly improving. Perhaps if we went back to Hungary for example, maybe we would be in a better position today with the knowledge of being there already. I go and approach it with a real positive mind-set that we are going to be fighting for a win but if that’s not the case when we get there we’ll just take it at face value and try to get damage limitation, I guess.
Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Question for Lewis and one for Bottas. Bottas, do you think that now, with this second victory in a row for Hamilton, your chance has gone and you’re doing a job for him, you can do (indistinct) for the rest of the season? And for Lewis, how psychological was it… it’s important to come back leading the championship?
VB: Well, you know, it is up to me also really, if I perform well, if I manage to qualify well, have strong pace, for sure I can still fight for the wins, but if it is going to be the case that for some reason I’m missing pace, if Lewis is doing a better job, me running in P2, and clearly behind then it’s obviously better to help than try something silly. I’m always going to be a team player and it is up to the team to decide these kind of things, so we’ll see. We’ll go race by race and by every situation, but like I said it is also a lot up to me. I need to perform if I still want to fight for the title.
LH: Yeah, obviously I feel good, my mind feels exactly the same as it has the last two races and now coming here, I don’t feel like I’ve got one up today, just continue to solidify the preparations and the execution of the last two races. Of course that solidifies your confidence and in the car and in the direction you’re going but there’s still a long way to go and lots can happen still, so just try to remain in the same frame of mind as I have been.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Sebastian, do believe it can be hard for you to continue the fight in this final part of the championship because of the tracks: Sepang, Suzuka, Abu Dhabi, maybe Austin circuits that on paper look like they favour Mercedes?
SV: Well, I know how to read but I don’t really care what’s written on the paper. They’re all tracks that I like, to be honest, so I’m very much looking forward to them. I think we are here to race, so if it’s hard it’s good. Easy is boring. I think that’s what we all want and I’m definitely looking forward to it. At the moment you can say that Mercedes has an edge. Saturdays they’re very strong which obviously has its contribution to Sundays, it’s not a big secret but I think we are strong, we don’t need to hide and there’s plenty of positives. Things are coming, I’m sure they are developing their car. We are developing ours so I’m not so fussed about what they doing. I’m more focused on what’s going on inside us, inside Ferrari and it makes me quite positive, what’s coming, so we just need to see and then there’s always the extra element of racing that you can’t predict, that you can’t put down on paper and that’s usually the most exciting bit so I’m very much a fan of that and a fan of the moment and see what we can do.
Q: (Jussi Jäkälä – YLE) Valtteri, as this was your first visit on the Monza podium, could you describe it a bit? Did you feel more like a race driver or a rock star?
LH: There’s more than one Finn out there? There’s only Heikki here.
VB: Yeah, there’s one extra guy.
LH: Excellent. Welcome.
VB: So I’ve got two questions today. Two Finns, two questions.
SV: There will be nothing else in the papers tomorrow. Two questions, I mean…
VB: Yes, actually it’s my second time on the podium here. First time was in GP3 in 2011, it was a little bit different atmosphere. I have to say it is incredible, being so many people, obviously most of them shouting Sebastian’s name but I was still enjoying it.
SV: That’s because Valtteri is so difficult to say.
VB: That could be it! Thanks. Incredible, didn’t feel like a rock star, honestly, felt more like a race driver but I enjoyed it.
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Lewis…
LH: Hey! What’s going on?
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Do you feel you need more of these one-twos to beat Sebastian and win your campaign for the championship?
LH: More of these what? Ah, one-twos. Yeah, I think, definitely, having the one-two today has obviously helped bridge more of a gap and the more we can perform like this the more we can really concrete that Constructors’ title which the team are pushing… that’s the priority. Of course that helps bridge the gap between myself and Sebastian. He’s generally had a relatively comfortable lead most of the year, I think sometimes at 20-something points. I’d imagine that I’m.. what is it, three points ahead? I’d imagine that… I’ll take that and I’m happy with that. I guess the plan for the next races is to try and extend that. As Valtteri was saying, he’s done a fantastic job today and we’re going to continue to push together. Valtteri’s got the opportunity – if he does the job – to win more races as well this year so the battle is still strong between us all.
Q (Daria Panova – F1Only) First of all, I want to congratulate Sebastian for this fantastic podium in a special Grand Prix for Scuderia Ferrari. Question to you: in Spa, Mick Schumacher drove his father’s car, the Benetton. If you had a chance to drive an old Formula One Ferrari car, which car would it be and on which track?
SV: Funny you mentioned that because Ferrari has a programme where clients can run historic Formula One cars and if ever I get the opportunity, I will definitely pick 2004. I think that must have been a dream car to drive. Circuit? I would pick my favourite track, not that easy logistic-wise but Japan, Suzuka. I think the car had a lot of downforce, very light and extremely quick, so that would be a unique experience. Yeah, something that maybe one day, if I do well in the next couple of years, could be a nice thing to do.
Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Sebastian, do you think that the title could be won or lost with your teammate and Kimi not taking so many points from Lewis?
SV: No. I think, you look back, there’s always ways to look at points and stuff. I’m not so much interested. Above everything, you race for the team and then obviously you race for yourself, you try to do the best yourself and I think you saw the battle today. I don’t think he waved me past but I didn’t expect him to and it was tight. I was quick at that time and could make progress, so it was good to get past but he had a better start, he got past Valtteri so we’re both fighting for the best and the optimum result today. For sure the pace was a bit down so it’s always a bit more tricky but no, I mean, as I say, we’re both racing. If you are racing in the same car then naturally, in a way, you’re racing for the same bit of track. Look at those two, they were running very quickly and not a lot of gap between them. Also then, if you’re so close to each other it’s obviously crucial to be ahead in qualifying, opening laps, after that they will always be difficult. Rules are fairly clear that the teams have in terms of who gets priority and stuff like that so… Yeah, it’s the name of the game so I’m not… I think much more important than look at a championship with teammates, points, whatever is the chemistry inside the team and I think Kimi’s well known for the fact that he doesn’t talk so much. Inside the team he talks quite a lot and yeah, we get along well, his feedback is valuable and I think we get on with each other and there’s zero stress for the team which is a good thing.
eom/FIA transcript of the press conference
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Hamilton takes lead with a dominant back-to-back victory in a Mercedes 1-2: F1 Italian Grand Prix
Hamilton celebrates and enjoys the special Monza podium atmosphere on Sunday. An FIA image Monza, 3 Sept 2017: Lewis Hamilton regained the Drivers’ title lead in FIA Formula One World Championship after he headed a Mercedes one-two at the Italian Grand Prix.
The Silver Arrows were utterly dominant at Monza with Hamilton beating third-placed Sebastian Vettel by more than 36 seconds. The Briton’s sixth win of the season puts him three points clear of Ferrari driver Vettel at the top of the Drivers’ standings after 13 races.
While Mercedes’ progress to the top two places in the race was largely processional after Bottas had risen to P2 in the opening laps, the race was enlivened by the performance of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo who rose from 16th on the grid to claim fourth place at the flag.
Hamilton held his lead at the start, with Lance Stroll and Esteban Ocon tucking in behind the polesitter. Their hold on the podium positions was shortlived, however, and after dropping back at the start, Bottas powered through and by lap three was up into second place behind his team-mate.
Further back Max Verstappen had made a superb start and by the end of lap one the Red Bull driver was up to eighth place from 13th on the grid. However, in attempting to get past Felipe Massa, there was contact and the Dutch driver sustained a front-right puncture and wing damage. He made his way to the pits for a new nosecone and fresh tyres and rejoined in last place.
Vettel too was pushing forward and after passing team-mate Kimi Räikkönen, the Ferrari driver managed to put himself into a podium spot by bypassing Ocon for P3 on lap eight.
Hamilton, though, was setting phenomenal pace and by lap 12 the Mercedes driver was 3.1s clear of team-mate Bottas and a full eight seconds ahead of championship leader Vettel.
By lap 28 Hamilton had more than doubled his advantage over his title rival, the gap now 18.0s. Behind the top three, however, it was Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo who was on charge.
The Australian had qualified third but engine-related penalties had dropped him to 16th place on the grid. After the start he was quickly on the attack, however, and over the course of the first 10 laps he steadily picked off his rivals to sit in ninth place.
He executed a superb move on Perez at the second chicane to claim another spot and then as drivers ahead pitted for fresh tyres, he rose to fourth place behind Vettel.
The German was the first of the podium-placed drivers to pit, at the e3nd of lap 31. He took on soft tyres and rejoined in fourth place. Hamilton made the same switch a lap later and he was followed by Bottas at the end of lap 33.
Ricciardo, though, continued to push on and on lap 35 he was 10.8s behind Bottas and 8.7s ahead of Vettel and 20 seconds clear of fifth-placed Räikkönen.
The Red Bull driver was the last of the frontrunners to pit and after a swift 2.2s stop for soft tyres he emerged 2.6s behind Räikkönen.
Armed with fresher tyres Ricciardo began to take chunks out of the Finn and on lap 41 he pounced, blasting past the Ferrari driver into the first chicane in a clinical overtaking move. He then set off after third-placed Vettel, lapping a second quicker than the German was who 11s ahead with 11 laps remaining.
Ricciardo’s pursuit of a podium place was the most diverting element of what, at the front, had become something of a procession. On lap 45, Hamilton was a comfortable 3.7s ahead of Bottas, while the Finn was a whopping 28.6s ahead of Vettel who was now struggling somewhat.
On lap 45 Ricciardo set the quickest time of the race to that point, a lap of 1:23.748. That was again a second quicker than Vettel on the same tour and the gap between the former Red Bull team-mate shrank to 8.7s.
With Mercedes secure in the top two positions, it was all about Ricciardo and Vettel in the closing stages and the Australian set a sequence of purple laps to closed to within five seconds of the German with four laps remaining.
With two laps remaining, though, Vettel responded and a personal best widened the gap to a comfortable 4.8s as he made sure that the threat from the Red Bull driver was nullified.
Ricciardo, though, had done enough to enliven a race utterly dominated by Mercedes and as Hamilton secured his 59th career win, 4.4s ahead of Bottas and some 36s ahead of Vettel, Ricciardo took a brave, battling and superbly executed fourth place.
Behind him, Räikkönen finished in P5. Ocon took sixth place ahead of Stroll, with neither youngster undoing the good work they had completed in qualifying and only the limitations of their machinery forcing them backwards.
Felipe Massa was eighth in the second Williams, while Perez was ninth for Force India. After his initial woes, Verstappen recovered to the final point on offer with tenths place, though the Dutch drivers was placed under investigation in the closing stages after appearing to force Kevin Magnussen off track as they battled for P10.
2017 Italian Grand Prix – Race
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 53 1:15’32.310
2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 53 1:15’36.781 4.471
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 53 1:16’08.627 36.317
4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 53 1:16’12.645 40.335
5 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 53 1:16’32.392 1:00.082
6 Esteban Ocon Force India 53 1:16’43.838 1:11.528
7 Lance Stroll Williams 53 1:16’46.466 1:14.156
8 Felipe Massa Williams 53 1:16’47.144 1:14.834
9 Sergio Pérez Force India 53 1:16’47.586 1:15.276
10 Max Verstappen Red Bull 52 1 Lap
11 Kevin Magnussen Haas 52 1 Lap
12 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 52 1 Lap
13 Nico Hülkenberg Renault 52 1 Lap
14 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 52 1 Lap
15 Romain Grosjean Haas 52 1 Lap
16 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber 51 2 Laps
17 Fernando Alonso McLaren 50 3 Laps
18 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 49 4 Laps
2 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 33 Retired
30 Jolyon Palmer Renault 29 Retired.eom/FIA press release
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Hamilton praises youngsters, Ocon and Stroll: F1 post-quali press meet
DRIVERS
1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
2 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)
3 – Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing)
GRID INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Davide Valsecchi)
Lewis your lap was wonderful, 1.1 seconds in front of this guy. You were amazing.
Lewis HAMILTON: Thank you man, grazie. I appreciate your excitement. I’m just as exvited.
We’ll give him the chance to take the helmet off, and in this time, wonderful, first row. I’m sorry for you, you will not start from the front row but your lap was amazing and your performance in Q3 was just a step over.
Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, it was a tricky qualifying, but I think also in the beginning of Q3 also sliding around a lot. But then I tried to cool down the tyres and in my final run everything worked pretty well, so happy with second.
Very well done. Ricciardo, tell me how was your lap. You were struggling on this circuit but today, from the outside, it was just amazing looking at you champions driving so well.
Daniel RICCIARDO: It was fun. Q1 and Q2 were quite terrible actually. I was struggling a lot and then Q3 we just seemed to get a bit better rhythm, the tyre had more grip. At the end we were pushing a lot but it was close. I’m glad we could do qualifying for all the fans. It was important we did this today.
Thank you so much, very well done. Lewis, just half an hour ago you were playing your Playstation and now you broke the record and made the history of this sport?
LH: Yeah, firstly, Italy I love you. I’m so happy to be here. Even though we’re in Ferrari’s homeland we have such great support here, even for Mercedes, so I really appreciate all the love. To do this here at such a historic circuit, such a beautiful country… I’m going to have some pasta tonight to celebrate.
Please, tell me about tomorrow, how will it be, the race? One of your contenders is not there with you and so tell me, front row, first corner, not easy to manage, so how will it be, your race tomorrow?
LH: Obviously it depends on the weather. I heard it’s going to be dry tomorrow, so hopefully it’s a normal Italian beautiful day. It’s going to be tough potentially with the temperatures. It’s great to see that Red Bull are up there, they obviously did a fantastic job. I have not seen the list of where everyone is, but honestly, I came across the line and I didn’t know if I had it, but it felt like a good lap. But, I can’t believe it – 69. I can’t believe it; I’m so grateful. God bless you guys.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Lewis Hamilton, record breaking 69th Formula One pole position and less spoken about but also significant, all-time record polesitter here at the Italian Grand Prix? Congratulations Lewis, you punched the air as you crossed the line after a qualifying lap, so I guess it’s significant, it clearly means a lot to you for a lot of reasons. And I guess every record up to now is something where you have been chasing and from now on it’s up to the others to catch you.
LH: Yeah, it’s very hard to find the word to explain how I feel, I’m trying to figure it all out right this second. These guys definitely made me work for it today, which I’m grateful for. The weather has been incredibly tricky for us all. Yeah, I can’t believe that so much time has passed, so many great experiences, a lot of difficult times. But what a day. To come here in this beautiful country and with this usually English weather and to be massively challenged. It was very difficult to see out there; it was very difficult to see the lines and very easy to make mistakes, as always in the rain. The second to last lap was OK at the beginning and then I backed out of it, hoping I’d get one more lap and there’s a lot of pressure for that last lap. There could have been a red flag, a yellow flag or something like that, so a lot to risk, but I gave it everything. It probably won’t sink in for a long time. I’ve got to say a big thank you to my team for making it all possible, the guys back at the factory for continuing to support me and for Mercedes, we’ve got a lot of the sponsors here from Petronas and from Mercedes Benz, who have been sponsoring me for a long, long time and supporting me and being right behind. So I’m grateful for that. And to my family, hi! Thank you so much for all the support. I can’t believe it’s been 10 years but I’m really grateful for all the support. And also for the fans. I enjoyed chatting with them just before qualifying, or during the break, and I’m grateful to FOM for allowing us to do that because it’s usually not allowed. But yeah, an epic day and truly blessed.
Very well done. Max, great performance today, you had provisional pole right up until the last car crossed the line – Lewis. Your feelings on how you went today and where do you believe you’ll start the grand prix tomorrow and what do you think you can do from there?
MV: Yeah, I think start 15th. That’s what they told me, we’ll see tomorrow. It was quite a good qualifying I think. Everything was working well. Just in Q3 I was maybe not as happy as I was in Q1 and Q2, just sliding around a bit more and just couldn’t get the grip, especially in the last sector. But my final lap was pretty OK and I head I was on pole and my engineer was telling me all the sector times and I said “stop, stop, just tell me what Lewis is doing” because he was the one to beat. He said “he’s going purple” and I was like, well, to be second here with the car, the whole package we have I think we did a very good job and it was nice again to drive in the wet.
Daniel, it was intermediates in Q1 and Q2 but the order really changed about in Q3 moving onto the wet tyres. Ferrari fell away at that point. Can you put into words for us what was different about Q3 from Q1 and Q2 and thoughts about your own performance?
DR: Yeah, Q1 and Q2 were nowhere. If you heard, I don’t know, but on my radio I wasn’t too impressed, just with the level of grip. We were struggling with everything and we were just slow. It just felt like the tyres were… as if we didn’t have blankets on them or something. So it was just cold and slippery. We got into Q3 so we weren’t nowhere, but for normally our competitiveness in the wet, certainly struggling and then Q3 we went out on the extremes and to be honest already on the out lap I had a lot more grip than I had in Q1 or in Q2. I think there’s something there, whether we learnt it, or we’ll have a look, but it was a different car in Q3 so… I think we topped it early on in that session, in Q3, and then obviously Max came through Lewis and we had a charge at the end. It was close – not Lewis’ lap at the end, I mean not Lewis’ lap at the end, but close with Max behind, and I think with Lance behind, all within a few tenths. It was alright in the end, good recovery, nice to be up here on a Saturday. We’ll obviously fall away back a bit tomorrow. I think 18th is where I’ll start. If I didn’t put in a good Q3, I probably would start 19th, so we’re good, we’re alright. Yeah, Q3 was a saviour!
Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) Lewis, many, many congratulations on a historic pole position. They say it’s not the destination it’s the journey: what has this journey been like as you continue to light the stat-book up with all the milestones that you have had this year.
LH: Well, firstly, I just actually wanted to recognise and acknowledge these two here who’ve done a fantastic job today which really shows their ability and while they perhaps don’t have the right package currently, hopefully in the future they do, because we need to see these guys up here with us more, battling. They should be in the fight with us. With Ferrari and Mercedes. So, fingers crossed. They’ve clearly shown today the capabilities.
I’ve read that some people say it’s not about the journey or where you begin, it’s about the finish. I tend to think it’s tends to be more important about the beginning and the middle and not necessarily where you’re going, so yeah, about the journey. I think there’s been so much learnt over these years. So much growing, as there will continue to be growing to do. Today was a real challenge with the break. You’re in the zone for a second and then you get out of the car, you have 15 minutes to chill, then you get ready, get in the car, then you have to get back out, it was a real challenge to try to continuously try to keep your mind, not drained of energy while being in the zone but trying to step out of it and step back into. After playing the Playstation I was kind of a bit nervous whether or not I still was in the zone! But I was grateful when I got back out. Racing in the rain is… being in the wet in these cars is as great as its been in the other cars that we’ve had – but it’s such a challenge and this is such an epic circuit because unlike the new circuits the grip is often off-line – which is a normal characteristic of an older circuit, and so you get to utilise that. So, going out, finding where the grip is, as opposed to a new surface – like the straight for example – which a lot of the new tracks have, makes it a lot more fun. So, I really, really enjoyed it.
Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Gentleman, at some phases it seemed quite difficult to choose which tyre to be on. Could you explain what was the difference in behaviour and were you satisfied with the Intermediate and the Wet tyre – and which parts of the track were particularly critical?
MV: I think the whole year already, the Inter, compared to the years before when I was driving, I think it’s really difficult. Really hard to switch on. Last year, for example, all the time when we went to an Inter, you felt quite comfortable. The tyre was working, it was quite a soft tyre. And now it just feels very hard. Locking a lot, so you just can’t create any temperature in the tyres because you’re sliding around everywhere and that’s why it was very tricky. It was actually, for my feeling, dry enough for an Intermediate but still the Wets were faster: they were a bit softer, creating a bit better temperature so you can attack the brakes better. That was very difficult in Q1. Then in Q2 at one point the Inters became a bit better because it was quite dry. Then in Q3 it started raining again quite a bit, so straight away we said, let’s go back to the extremes, and that was definitely the right choice.
And Lewis, which were the trickiest parts of the circuit, in these conditions today? And also, the pit straight was a bit dicey at the very beginning.
LH: Yeah, the pit straight was always, being that it’s a new surface, the water really stays on it. It doesn’t disappear. So, the first part, definitely, picking up the braking zone into Turn One. And then probably out of Turn Two, traction’s terrible there. And then you get to the mid-section which is fun and it’s not too bad. I would say Ascari was challenging, particularly the exit. Definitely… probably the most challenging part.
DR: It should have been Inters, I felt, with the level of water. I don’t know if it was Q1 or Q2 – it’s a long day – but the point where we went off extremes to Inters, I was sure the Inter would just be a lot more grip, but it just felt like it never really switched on. Just a very cold feeling and really low grip. I think the problem is then, because you can’t get into the tyre, because you’re sliding around and can’t really attack it, then it’s not really gaining temperature – so, unless it was drying a lot it was hard to get the Inter to work. At least that’s what we found today. It was a surprise, for sure, I thought the Inter would have been stronger in those conditions.
Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / Speed Sport) Daniel, when you took the TV camera into the Mercedes garage, did you spot anything interesting on the car?
DR: Yeah, a lot. I drew up a few things. There’s this gap that’s about 5.6mm below the rear end plate and that’s key. So I definitely saw a lot. These guys were busy playing Playstation, I think! I was just playing around, trying to entertain the fans. I know Lewis touched on it, but, yeah, it was very nice of them to stay out in the rain today and I’m glad that we got it done. At least the wait was worthwhile.
Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) To questions for Lewis. One, did you have the same feeling about the Intermediates as the two guys either side of you, and secondly, can you talk a little bit more about the balance between it being fun to drive in the wet and all the challenges that come from driving in the wet and how much fun is that car of yours in those conditions – and how much of the character of the car comes through still in the wet?
LH: The Inters, definitely it was a problem for everyone. I think we went out of them and… yeah… people are probably wondering what it means when you’re in the window and everything like that but it’s all about temperature, obviously and basically, when you’re below the temperature they’re just rock solid and so when you turn in they’re just sliding and they’re not working with the asphalt. Then, if you’re lucky, and it’s a little bit drier… we were basically just on the crossover and then a lot more rain came down, I think for Q3, so we really had to come in, it made no sense being out on that tyre. We just couldn’t go fast enough to generate enough heat and it because very, very tricky. Easy to spin off. And when you got back on the extremes, massive difference, a lot more grip, a lot more traction, tyres were working, clearing the water better. But, y’know, in Formual One you generally set the car up for the dry. Unless you know it’s a wet weekend where you can then focus on a softer set-up, here in the dry it’s more a stiffer setup you would go for – so when you get to the wet, you’re driving a stiff car and there’s not a lot of give, the flexibility in the car is very little. It definitely makes it a little trickier. But then it means it’s more like a… I don’t want to say a bull, because of these guys, but yeah, it’s a lot harder to tame it, because it’s so much more pitchy, and snappy, and then finding the groove, finding the dry patches, how quickly you get on power, it’s easy to go too deep into a corner and then you’ve got these long straights and you don’t get the exit onto those long straights. It was an amazing challenge and one that I love. And I know these guys enjoy it too.
Q: (Inaudible) Lewis, congratulations, could you please describe what it means to you to have a record that has been held Michael for a very very long time?
LH: I wish I was better with words, to be honest. I wish I had something really… something iconic to say but… I heard that it’s only switched hands a couple of times in the fifty years or whatever it is – sixty years or whatever. It’s just, again, a bit like at the last race, just growing up, watching this sport as we all have and witnessing greatness in other individuals such as Michael and just dreaming of one day doing what he’s doing or they’re doing and then actually to be there many years later. We are… and I am living proof that dreams are something that can come true so I think it’s really cool for young kids to be watching today because it’s probably hard to imagine it but I was once going there, in their position and dreaming of doing what I’m doing today which they perhaps are and very proud for what we, as a family, have achieved and it’s crazy. If I stopped now… but you know Vettel’s not far behind so I’ve got to keep going, I’ve got to keep extending it otherwise he might catch it and so I’ll stick around for a while and try to make life hell for him.
Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) Gents, were you surprised that nothing was done for about two hours to clear the standing water from the track?
LH: What could they have done?
Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) The blower didn’t go out until two hours…
LH: It was still raining so it wouldn’t have made any… by the time the blower would have gone a hundred meters the water would have been back where it was. Maybe we could have gone out and if all us cars were out there maybe we could have cleaned a bit of a line. But we saw Grosjean go off so it was tricky.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) To all of you: I don’t want to throw water on your enthusiasm for this wonderful qualifying by projecting the race tomorrow. Probably dry conditions; what do you project for the race, all of you, considering the unusual grid; Stroll second, Ocon third, Ferrari in the back, Kimi fifth, Sebastian sixth?
LH: I think it’s… well we will see. Hopefully it’s dry but obviously today would have cleaned the track so tomorrow is going to be green and obviously depending on the temperatures it’s going to make a difference but yeah, I’ve only just remembered so unfortunate for these guys because they did such a great job, it would have been awesome to have kept them there and had them more of a buffer to the guys behind but it’s great to see the youngsters… did you say Ocon and Stroll? Wow, that’s awesome. All these young kids coming through, keep me on my toes. I think it’s great because I know Ocon and Lance have also been driving so well this year and to come into a series when the cars have changed, a lot more physical than they had before, much more of a challenge, really thrown in at the deep end, they’ve done a great job, so to come to this awesome circuit and be where they are shows great promise for their futures.
MV: We’ll see tomorrow. No but it’s not a great starting position but I think in terms of pace we can definitely get into the points but it’s a bit of a shame for me that Williams and Force India, they start that far up so that’s why I think they will gain quite a bit of time on us in the first three laps but we will try our best and we’ll see where it ends up.
DR: Aaaah, probably challenge Lewis for the win!
Q: (Frank Woestenburg – De Telegraaf) Max, after the red flag it took quite a long time before the session was restarted. Do you think it took too long and that maybe… and do you think the people who make the decisions are maybe too conservative?
MV: To be honest, we did qualifying so I’m happy that we did it today instead of tomorrow, otherwise we wouldn’t be sitting here, I think.
Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) Just a general question to all three: of course it’s only hypothetical but in a similar situation in future, would it be practical to allow everybody to go to wet set-up for qualifying, even if we knew the race was dry, just to get it out there? Would it make any difference anyway and could you do it that quickly, could you convert the cars?
DR: I think it would take quite a long time. Yeah, I don’t know. It would help with grip, I don’t know how much it would help with aquaplaning and stuff. Yeah, for the amount of time and effort it would take it’s probably not worth the actual reward in my opinion.
LH: I think it would be kind of neat to be able to change the set-up, as long as you get… on Sunday, you can’t change the set-up for Sunday if it’s going to be dry for example but it would be kind of neat, it would put in a little bit more of spice in the dynamics. Adding downforce would have also helped today, switched on the intermediate, for example maybe.
Q: (Natalya Panteleeva – Automotorgr.ru) Daniel, you said that you have finished with your tradition with shoey…
MV: He has a lot of tradition. You don’t know Dan yet.
Q: (Natalya Panteleeva – Automotorgr.ru) … but when you become World Champion, will you carry on the tradition to have a drink from your shoe or will be invent something new?
LH: Like eat your socks!
DR: I don’t know. We’ll see. Hopefully I’m not old by then. If I am old by then, maybe I’ll also think drinking out of my shoe is disgusting.
LH: How old are you now?
DR: 28.
LH: I thought you were at least 35.
DR: I don’t know. To be honest, it’s a good question but I haven’t thought about anything like that. Even when I did the shoey I didn’t expect it to become a bit of a thing.
LH: You did.
DR: I didn’t really, it wasn’t… You’ve still yet to do one so… We’ll see, hopefully I’ll get to cross that bridge one day, one day soon and maybe, maybe. Thanks for having faith.
eom/FIA transcript of the Press Conference
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It is a special day but it’s very surreal and humbling: Hamilton on Schumi record
Hamilton mixes with Vettel (right) and Bottas (left) after taking the pole on Saturday. An FIA image DRIVERS
1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes); 2 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari); 3 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)
GRID INTERVIEWS (Conducted by Will Buxton)
Q: Lewis, Ross Brawn just wants to have a couple of words with you to congratulate you on this achievement.
Ross BRAWN: I’m here to deliver a very special message from Corinna Schumacher and the Schumacher family, who want to congratulate you on equalling Michael’s record and as they said, Michael always said records are there to be beaten, so they want to send their very special thanks. Congratulations, Lewis, well done.
Q: So, Lewis, that was some lap. It was mighty. Tell all the fans, tell everyone at home, how good does it feel to hook one up like that around here?
Lewis HAMILTON: Well, first of all, I want to give a big shout out to all the fans here, they’re always amazing here every year we come here. There are a lot of Brits, a lot of people from the Netherlands, from all over, so thank you so much for coming out. I can’t believe it. First of all, a big thank you to my tea, Ross [Brawn] was a big part of me being here at this team, so the success we have had he is much a part of that as well. But the team have done an amazing job. Valtteri did a great job to be up here ahead of the Ferraris, an amazing feeling. This is one of my favourite circuits, so to come here and put a lap together like that, it’s a dream. I’ve got the best job in the world, so I’m just grateful to be here.
Q: And to equal Michael Schumacher’s record on the track where he made his debut, the track where he took his first grand prix victory is something special too.
LH: It is and to hear the message that Ross just gave, I just have to say a big thank you and pray for Michael and his family all the time. I’ve had the privilege of racing with him, from karting days in Kerpen to on the track and always admired him, and still do today, so I’m just honoured to be up there with him now in the poles, but he will still be one of the greatest of all time.
Q: Congratulations. Seb, that was some lap at the end to get on the front row, you needed that didn’t you?
Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, it was the right time. I had a very good feeling in Q1, the get go was really go but then I lost that feeling a little bit, I had a bit light front end, especially then through sector two with the medium-, high-speed corners. I was lacking a little bit of response. But the last lap the car was a little bit more alive, immediately I could feel it turning into Turn 1. And then I have to also admit that I was a bit lucky with Kimi, he had to abort his lap but he gave me a very, very nice tow, which I think made it a bit more comfortable with Valtteri. Obviously it’s very important. Good position today, great job from the team, very happy, so looking forward to the race.
Q: We know these guys are worries about your long-run pace. Are you confident in it?
SV: They should be! So far it has been looking pretty good, so I hope we can keep it up. The car, on one lap, I thought all weekend it was a bit trickier to get it together. Consecutive laps with high fuel I felt really good, so let’s see what we can do with the strategy tomorrow as well, but for sure Mercedes will be quick. But, we don’t have to hide. We are on the front row for a reason. We have the speed and we should have it in the race.
Q: Congratulations. Valtteri, are you annoyed that he just pipped you at the end there? As he said, he got a tow from Kimi coming up the back and without that it might have been an all-Mercedes front row.
Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, of course it would have been nice to be one-two tomorrow, but it’s not a bad starting place. I was aiming for pole today, but to be honest Lewis has been doing and absolutely perfect job all weekend and for some reason I’ve been struggling and I just haven’t been able to get close enough, so we’ll need to investigate why. That’s something we’ll need to understand but already my thoughts are for tomorrow.
Q: Everyone is focusing on those two guys for the title, bit you are in the hunt for the title as much as both of them. How much do you want the win tomorrow to prove to everybody, as much as to them, that you’re here, you’re fighting and it’s as much yours as it is theirs?
VB: Getting my first couple of wins this year you just want more, so of course that is going to be the mission for me tomorrow and main thing as a team is that we get a strong result. But I’ll do everything I can and I don’t mind if they are being looked at more than me, I’ll just keep doing my job and trying to get better and better.
Q: Can’t wait for tomorrow. Lewis, you’ve got the championship leader on the front row with you, you’ve got your team-mate inches behind you and he’s very much in the hunt for this title as well, really the second half of the season couldn’t be starting any better for Formula One could it?
LH: Well, we had a great holiday and we’ve come back feeling fresh and this is the perfect way to start the weekend. The second half is going to be tough for all of us, the team, the people back at the factory, but we’re geared up for the second half, so I hope that we can bring it.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Lewis, many congratulations, a day I’m sure you’ve been looking forward to for some time. The magic number – 68 – you’ve equalled the all-time record of Michael Schumacher. And what a place to do it – a track that is so synonymous with Schumacher, and with a record fastest ever lap of track. Your feelings?
LH: Yeah, it’s a special day, definitely. To be honest, I knew it was on the horizon and I knew at some stage I’d be getting that 68th pole but I really hadn’t thought about it very much. I didn’t apply pressure, I was like “it could come soon, it could take a long time”, but now being there, it’s an unusual place to be. I remember coming here in 1996, my first grand prix, and watching Michael come by out of Turn 1 and the engine just shook my rib cage – it was incredible. And that was when my love for the sport took another step. And to think that God knows how long later I’m now equal to him on poles, it’s very surreal and very much a humbling experience, particularly knowing that Michael is such a legend. It’s an incredible feat that he achieved and I feel very proud to be up there with him.
Q: It’s a special day generally in numbers – 4.2 seconds faster this year’s pole compared to last years. The average generally this year has been around 2-2.5s, can you break it down for us why this weekend is so far much faster around this track with these cars?
LH: It’s a medium-high downforce circuit so it’s to do this engine being more powerful than it was last year, for all of us. We’ve got a lot more downforce, so the speed that we are going through the corners, it’s so much faster than it was last year. It’s a longer circuit, there’s more time at full throttle, so DRS counts for more than it perhaps has done at other places. A combination of those I would assume. Yeah, it feels amazing around this track. It always does, but to have a car as we have here and the set-up I was able to work with my engineers, to achieve the balance was great, and to really be able to lean on the car around this circuit, I’ve never had such a feeling. Pouhon, Turn 10, was nearly flat, which is insane, I’ve definitely never experienced that in my time whilst in Formula One. We’re just like Ricky Bobby – we want to go faster, and it is a great feeling when you do.
Q: Congratulations, very special day. Sebastian, it was important for Mercedes today that they get two cars on the front row and it was very important for you that they didn’t. It took you a while to get there, so under the circumstances would you class that a very special lap on your behalf?
SV: Not just on my behalf. I think I had a little bit of help from a friend. Kimi had to abort his lap and he was very generous in giving me a tow in the last sector and that got me about two tenths so that helped and it made it a bit more comfortable with Valtteri looking at the result. Q1 I was really happy, the car was amazing. Q2 the main job was to get through, and then Q3 first lap I was missing a little bit the feel for the front. The second run in Q3 was better in that regard. So I was very happy with the last lap and as I said obviously with a little bit of a help it was quite nice. It was then tricky getting into the last corner, because knowing that you arrive so much faster with the tow and braking is never easy, it’s easy to miss it for the last corner. But I managed to get it right and to get it across the line so that was useful. The pace has been good this weekend. I think less for one lap, more so for long runs, so let’s see what we can do tomorrow.
Q: Your long-run pace yesterday looked very promising compared to the Mercedes so does that give you some hope for tomorrow. There is a strange start to this race as well, because you don’t necessarily always want to be the first car down the straight in the opening stages as there is an opportunity for P2 to get ahead?
SV: Yeah that’s right. Well, we’ll see when we get to that. I think the start is still very important and you try to do your best there and try to take it from there. I think the long run pace looked good yesterday, also this morning. Obviously we didn’t do a lot of laps overall this weekend, it’s a long lap, so the amount of laps you get is not that much compared to other tracks. But, as I said, the car was really good, especially for the race, so now we hope to confirm that. Tomorrow will be a tough day though, I mean start, first laps, as you said big straights, tows and in general strategy around here so we will see what happens.
Q: Coming to you Valtteri, you had second place, again it took you a while to get to that point, and then obviously Sebastian took it away from you. He’s explained that the tow had a part to play in it – but did you feel you were on your A-game today?
VB: Yeah, first of all congrats to Lewis for the pole and for the 69th [68th] it’s a mega-achievement. I’ve only got two so some way to go. This whole weekend for some reason I’ve been not really close enough to be able to challenge for that pole. For sure Lewis has been really on it but I’m slightly confused why I’ve not been able to get quite close enough. Still need to find some answers for me. The balance of the car has been feeling really good. Been just really lacking overall grip and that way, losing a lot of time in the high-speed corners in Sector Two. So, yeah, was always going to be a bit tricky to challenge for the pole, unfortunately. Would have been nice to at least be second but Sebastian got ahead. But still, second row and I’m sure as a team we can do good tomorrow.
Q: As we were just saying, the Ferrari, the long run pace on the ultrasoft yesterday and again the long run pace this morning looked pretty handy, but what was striking about you guys is that your soft tyre pace is pretty strong. Presumably, strategy-wise, you’re counting on that tomorrow to get in front of Sebastian before the chequered flag.
VB: Yeah, it is going to be a long race and here we know always anything can happen and you never know with the weather as well. It’s going to be a day full of opportunities for me as well, starting third. Probably going to see different behaviour with the different cars, with the different tyre compounds. So, should be interesting.
Q: (Angelique Belokopytov – Autodigest) First of all, congratulations Lewis for this special day, special record too, so question to all three of you, could you please share with us a special memorable moment shared with Michael please?
SV: It’s not fair to pick one moment. I think the fact we’re both from the same country makes it easier to in a way get closer to him. I know him for a very, very long time, the age of six or seven I met him for the very first time, he was handing over the trophies to the kids at the go-kart track in Kerpen, his home track, not far away from here. Yeah, it was massive. We were more than a hundred kids and he took the time to shake all our hands, hand over the trophies, so as a child I think that was indescribable. Obviously he was my hero. I had his posters everywhere in my room and he was pretty much the only guy I followed when I was young. So, yeah, big inspiration and we then I think we had a lot of good moments, a lot of fun moments. As a child it’s different, you’re star-struck in a way. It’s my hero, what do I say? I don’t know. And then later on I got to know him and yeah, we really got a long. He’s a great guy, good fun and I think the admiration for his skills is the same as day one. We shared a lot of good moments at the Race of Champions together and even if you can argue about the format and so on, still you have to drive different cars, adapt and the way he drives a go-kart is… I don’t know… it’s just so different to everybody else I’ve ever seen. So, I don’t know how I look from the outside but I guess I don’t look that, so yeah, many moments. Sober and not sober. It’s hard to pick one.
Lewis?
LH: I think I already mentioned earlier on my find and probably favourite memory of seeing Michael come by but just like Sebastian, I grew up watching him and I would play him, I would always be… particularly when he was in a Ferrari, when I was racing in computer games I was Michael a lot, the majority of the time. Having the privilege, I raced with him in Kerpen many, many years ago and yeah, just trying to think of the best moment. I’ve always had good, fond memories of him. Another really good one was Abu Dhabi, just before he left. I plucked up the courage to go ask if he would swap helmets with me. He was welcoming and did, so yeah, that’s definitely one of the coolest things in my house.
Valtteri?
VB: I remember watching on TV all the battles he used to have in the 1990s with Häkkinen. That was really good to watch and remember how excited I was every Sunday morning. Sunday afternoon, waking up and knowing it’s going to be another proper battle on track. And I also remember, it’s not even so far ago, 2012, when I did Friday practice for Williams and, for the first time I was the same time on track with Michael. For me, that was quite special.
Q: (Mike Doodson – Honorary) Sebastian, you mentioned Kimi’s generous gesture to you. We didn’t see it on TV and I was wondering if it happened spontaneously or if you had to position yourself on the track or did that just happen by good chance?
SV: As far as I understand, he had a mistake on his last flying lap, his last attempt, so it wasn’t planned; he wanted obviously to finish that lap but when he, I guess when he did the mistake and just because of where we were positions, he obviously cruised back to the pits. I guess the team didn’t even tell him anything. I think he just saw a red car in the mirror and thought ‘I’ll hand him a tow,” which was quite nice. It was obviously quite useful for me – but it wasn’t planned. I saw some other teams playing around with tows previously in qualifying – but usually it’s one of those things you can’t really plan so we tend to stay away from it. To answer your question, I think it was very spontaneous.
Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) First off, congratulations Lewis. You went into Beast Mode in Q3, you talked about that moment with Michael. How does it feel that now, you creating this moment and building this legacy of yours, that you’re inspiring that next generation, who will sit here say the same thing, that they were inspired by what you did here today?
LH: Well, thank you. I think it’s a good question. I’ve not really sat and thought too much about it because obviously I’m here right now – but it is the case, y’know. Many, many years from now they’ll be some kid, some grown-up sitting here… maybe it’s not many, many years from now – Sebastian’s not far behind on the poles, could catch-up, but yeah, I think it’s amazing, it’s a real privilege for all of us to be up here, knowing that even currently that there are kids, even adults that are looking up to us for inspiration in their daily lives but also setting goals. For me, I always try to put out positive energy. I think success comes a lot with a real positive frame of mind. It’s very easy for all of us to be negative on occasions – but the most important thing is to wake-up in the morning and try to find that positive energy, wherever you get it from, and apply that to whatever it is that you’re trying to work or achieve. I think we’re all born as stars with the opportunity to do something special. It’s all about finding and using that positive energy.
Q: (Livio Orrichio – globoesporte.com) Lewis, in your last set of tyres, you didn’t get the best in the T1, the first part of the track, but you did a wonderful T2. Did you change the car in the final part of the qualifying, the Q3?
LH: You mean the last lap? No. Well, you can’t change the car, the only thing I could do is wing but that doesn’t affect the first sector. I was up as far as I’m aware. My dashboard, it said I was up 0.8 of a tenth, or something like that, nearly a tenth in sector one, so I’m not really sure what you’re relating to. Maybe it was down but my delta said it was up. But I didn’t change anything. I did pretty much the same sector – but the second sector particularly and a little bit in the last sector was really where I made the gains. That middle sector, Turn Ten, it’s nearly flat, as I mentioned. That was pretty awesome.
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, how crucial is it tomorrow to beat at least one of these guys behind… I mean in front of you, for your championship hopes?
VB: Hopefully at least one behind, so I’m not last. Yeah, for sure we’re all fighting for the title. Obviously it is nine races to do so there are a massive amount of points still available. So this is only one race but every race counts. For sure try to gain any positions possible. For us as a team, we know that it is a strong circuit for us. So we really need to capitalise. We want, as a team, to be one-two. That’s going to be the mission.
Q: (Bas Holtkamp – Raceexpress.com) Question to Lewis. Now you’ve achieved this goal for the most pole positions ever – almost, you’ve equalled Michael – what is your next goal. Do you have a magic number in mind? Like, are you going for the 80 or 100 or whatever?
LH: No, I haven’t… I generally take my days one days at a time so I haven’t planned for anything further than for what I already have – but I plan on being here for some time so I will work towards whatever number it could possibly be. When I came across the line on that slow-down lap, it was a real moment to reflect on my team, who did such a great job, who have worked so hard through the year to enable me, to give me the car of my dreams. That’s the car that we all… that’s the car that us three up here have dreamed of racing. There’s so many people back at the factory, and people watching TV just don’t even have the even the faintest idea. There’s so much work that goes on back home, there’s so many people. Every day I go to the factory I find a new little workshop that’s underneath the stairs, and I’ve been walking past that for five years and didn’t even know it was there – and five people come out of that little space and they’d have been there for 20 years. So, yeah, I’ve been really fortunate to work with some really great people and I’m just really just a small link in the chain but I’m proud of my link in the chain and I plan to continue to propel this car and this team forward. I believe that we can get many more – so that’s the goal. Sky’s the limit really.
Q:(Flavio Vanetti – Corriera della Sera) Sebastian, we know that you signed a long term contract and I would like to know if in some way it’s the same trust that Michael had towards the team? And secondly, if you had any moment in which you had doubts about Ferrari and maybe you thought to quit the team?
SV: I don’t know what trust Michael had. I never actually spoke with him about that. Yeah, unfortunately, as you all know I didn’t have the opportunity. I think he would have been one of the first people to ask back in 2014 and probably have to consult also you know, now in terms of… I don’t know, through the course of this year for the future, whatever. I love this team, I love the people who are working for this brand. Obviously Lewis touched on the effort that is going into building a Formula One car. I think for most of the teams it’s probably the same but still I believe Ferrari has something unique, something that other teams don’t have. People talk about a legend, to me it appears that this legend is still alive because of the people who work for it, day in, day out. I’m sure you have been to Maranello, probably most of you haven’t but if you walk down the streets in Maranello, the presence of Ferrari is huge but if you see the people working at Ferrari and meet them, then it’s even bigger, what they carry inside them, the passion for the brand and that’s I think and I’m convinced, allowing every single one of them to go an extra step compared to other people, other teams. That’s my conviction and extremely grateful to be part of that family. In a way, it was a no-brainer to continue. We haven’t yet achieved what we what we wanted to achieve but things are looking pretty good and obviously we have a long road ahead of us.
Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) Lewis, if you take pole position at Monza, you’ll break Michael’s record. Would that be the ultimate tribute to him, the ultimate place to do it in front of all the Ferrari fans to pay tribute to his greatness?
LH: I’m not really sure whether that, how… my next step, how that applies to anyone else. If I dedicate it to him, yeah, could be the best tribute being that he had so much success at Ferrari and in Italy. Yeah, I’ve not really thought of it to be honest. Don’t have an answer for you there.
Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday, Motorsport Week.com) Sebastian, speculation before you signed was that you were going to possibly sign a one year deal with Ferrari. Now they’ve come out and announced that you’ve signed at least three years. Do you see yourself ending your career at Maranello?
SV: Well, I don’t know, since we learned last year that these things can happen fairly quickly and spontaneously you never know. But yeah, obviously now I don’t need to think and spend time about thinking about the future so that’s clear and then I think we cross that bridge when we get to it. It’s a long time, a lot of things can happen so we will see. Also then you can never say never. You retire and then, I don’t I know, might get bored, come back. We may see Nico back in a couple of years, who knows? Michael obviously decided to come back at some point because he loved racing but that’s all far far away so not really a topic.
Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) Sebastian, yesterday you said that there would be no news on your contract for two weeks. I just wanted to know what changed in 24 hours for you?
SV: Nothing personal, I don’t like the Sun. I saw a clip yesterday of a funny interview with Jurgen Klopp and he doesn’t like the Sun either so maybe I will jump on the bandwagon. Maybe I give you a last answer. Yeah, I didn’t think that it’s probably the right time so I didn’t rush or push but things were coming along together fairly quickly in the end and we decided to go for it and make the call. So yeah, I know it wasn’t the best in terms of one day and then the other but that’s how it was.
Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Perhaps you will like the BBC, Sebastian. Did you actually sign it this weekend? How did you decide to sign for three years? And did you have any talks with or thoughts about joining Mercedes?
SV: Well, I mean I have been around in the paddock for a while so I know people and it’s natural that you talk but it’s never been more than chatting, mostly about other stuff, to be honest but yeah, I’ve been talking for a while with Ferrari. As I said, my intention was to stay. We haven’t succeeded so the mission is still ongoing. I want to win in red. We talked about inspiration earlier about Michael, he was mostly dressed in red. He won most of his races in red and his championships. I don’t want to step in his footsteps. I think the whole generation of the Ferrari team today wants to leave their own footsteps but certainly there’s a huge inspiration so something for me is now the biggest challenge, the biggest dream that I have and what I want to achieve. I think, to answer your question at the beginning, since I like the BBC, is yes, I actually signed it this weekend.
Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS) Do you think tomorrow will be a Ferrari-Mercedes battle again or do you fear Red Bull might interfere?
LH: Yeah, he just said where are they? I don’t… where did they qualify?
SV: Five and six.
LH: I’ve not seen their pace, so as far as I’m aware they’ve been a bit down on power, they’ve tried different… lower and higher range of wings. I think they’ve been a little bit off the pace as far as I’m aware but you never know. Whatever conditions we’re faced with tomorrow, I think the pace of us at the moment, both Ferrari and Mercedes, is pretty strong so…
SV: Well, it wouldn’t be the first time that we see significant increase in race pace for Red Bull so obviously in qualifying, also round here, it might not be their strongest track but tomorrow, come race, lot of laps, looking after the tyres, I think they’ve proven in the past that they’re very strong so you should never under-estimate and forget about them.
Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) Valtteri, is it frustrating seeing everybody else signing new contracts?
VB: No. Good for them.
LH: Who’s everybody else, anyways? This one dude here.
Q: Kimi, Vandoorne.
LH: Not everyone else.
VB: No, I’m just really focusing on my own things. I know where we are with everything. I don’t need to worry if other people are doing contracts. I’m only interested in what I’m going to do and what the team is going to do and that’s what matters. Like I said, there’s no rush really because for this season I joined in January, so there’s still plenty of time.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) To both Mercedes drivers: no problems with tyre temperatures considering the ultrasoft tyres on the flying laps and also long runs, and Sebastian, Lauda said today that he stopped talking to you two months ago. What went wrong that the conversations didn’t go ahead?
LH: Can he answer first? I’m interested to hear his…
SV: Nothing. Nothing went wrong. I think I’m very happy. I think Niki is generally a happy guy so… nothing went wrong.
LH: For us, we didn’t have any problems with the tyres. I haven’t struggled with tyre temps so far this weekend and I think it wasn’t a problem throughout qualifying as well. It was very easy to get temperatures. The tyres have been giving quite a lot of grip. I think it feels like, particularly for qualifying, that the one step softer was a good direction but it will be interesting to see how it works out tomorrow.
VB: Yeah, definitely, I think right choices from Pirelli for this weekend, to go with the softest compounds. Even with the ultrasofts no big problems, little bit of overheating during the lap but it’s not massive, it’s pretty normal so it was good.
eom/FIA transcript of the Press Conference
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Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Feature: Fighting the Force
One of the major stories heading into the 2017 campaign was the increased G-Forces that drivers would have to withstand in the cockpit of these new generation Formula One cars. Bigger wings and tyres mean more downforce and grip, which puts more stress on the driver than ever before.
Take the season opener in Australia, for example. Melbourne is not typically one of the more physically demanding circuits on the calendar for the drivers. Yet, through the left-hand sweeper of Turn 11, forces were peaking at 5G – up 10% on 2016.
G, or G-Force, is a physical force equivalent to one unit of gravity that is multiplied during rapid changes of direction or velocity – such as during acceleration and braking. We live in a three-dimensional world, using three axes to describe the space around us. In F1 terms, the longitudinal X-axis lies along the car, the lateral Y-axis is across the car and the vertical Z-axis runs from top to bottom.
When looking at the stresses placed on a Grand Prix car and its driver, G-Force can be broken down into longitudinal acceleration – experienced when braking or accelerating – lateral acceleration – while cornering – and vertical acceleration – caused by bumps, kerbs or change of gradient in the circuit.
The highest longitudinal acceleration experienced in Formula One is actually a deceleration, achieved under braking at the end of a long straight – prime examples being Turn 1 in Baku and Turn 14 in Shanghai. In Monza, too, when the drivers blast out of Parabolica and along the famous start-finish straight before planting their foot on the brake into the Rettifilo chicane, they are expected to experience a peak deceleration exceeding -5G.
Since longitudinal G is also linked to downforce, peak deceleration is only achieved in that brief moment when the driver first hits the brakes, as they are forced forward towards the steering wheel. While the seat belts keep them in position in the car, their head is pushed forward. The car itself will pitch forward, as the vertical load on the four corners transfers from the rear to the front tyres. The front suspension and tyres are both squashed into the circuit by the G-Force as the rears unload.
Lateral acceleration is achieved through wide, fast corners. For example, through the flat-out Copse corner at Silverstone, drivers were hitting nearly 5G during this year’s British Grand Prix. Expect to see them experiencing similar values as we head to Spa and then Suzuka – both circuits like Silverstone with sweeping curves that favour strong aerodynamic efficiency and mechanical grip.
Lateral acceleration like this forces the driver into the side of their cockpit, putting stress on the ribs and thighs that meet the seat edge. They’ll also need those strong neck muscles to sustain the repeated force pushing their head towards the outside of the corner. It’s a rough ride. And the new cars also have to stand up to this increased G. Under lateral acceleration, cars will tend to roll to the outside of the corner. The vertical load on the four corners of the car will transfer from the inside to the outside tyres. Pouhon at Spa and Suzuka’s unforgettable Esses at the start of the lap will punish both the drivers and their cars in 2017.
When it comes to F1, vertical accelerations are recorded in relation to ride – when a car hits a kerb or ripple in the track. The bump before the right-hander at Mirabeau in Monaco is a good example. But these events are typically extremely short lived, lasting just a few milliseconds.
For any kind of sustained vertical lift, an extreme gradient change is needed. Turn 1 at both Spielberg and the Circuit of the Americas are good examples – but nowhere is the gradient change as sharp on the modern Grand Prix calendar than through the iconic Eau Rouge at Spa. As drivers hit the very the bottom, the car is compressed into the ground, with tyres and suspension squeezed as the vertical acceleration on the car hits 2.5G – right through the driver’s rear end!
The car climbs, before cresting the top of the hill, as the vertical accelerations hit upwards of 0.5G – with the driver experiencing weightlessness and actually able to feel the belts holding them down in the car for up to half a second. They have to be particularly careful on corner exit here, as the car can go light and quickly lose grip – see Kevin Magnussen’s monster shunt there in 2016 for evidence. It’s a unique experience – and will be even more of a challenge in this year’s cars, with drivers expected to be easily flat through the entire Eau Rouge section.
With its mix of fast, wide corners like Pouhon, a big braking zone into Les Combes plus the standout centrepiece that is the mighty Eau Rouge, the iconic Spa circuit offers a punishing ‘back-to-school’ experience for the F1 grid…
eom/Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport team release
