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Tag: Mercedes
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Brackley and Brixworth Celebrate #TheTriple!
Brackley, 11 Oct 2016: Drivers and Senior Management return from Japan to a winner’s welcome, with a day of celebration alongside colleagues at both Mercedes-Benz Formula One factories
Seventeen races, hundreds of hotel rooms, thousands of air miles, countless man hours and one incredible achievement at the end of it all. The 2016 season has been a spectacular journey for the Silver Arrows – and another chapter proudly etched into the Mercedes-Benz motorsport story.
A third consecutive FIA Formula One World Constructors’ Championship moves the three-pointed star into uncharted territory – building on the back-to-back successes of the 1954 and 1955 seasons to complete an incredible triple in the Hybrid Formula One era.
With 15 wins, 28 podium finishes, 16 pole positions and 10 fastest laps from 17 races, the Mercedes-Benz PU106C Hybrid Power Unit has taken 50% of all available World Championship points thus far in 2016, leading 81% of racing laps in the process. Meanwhile, the Mercedes-Benz F1 W07 Hybrid has taken 35% of points available, while also leading 81% of racing laps.
To mark another phenomenal year for the Silver Arrows, race drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg joined the team’s Senior Management at Brixworth and Brackley for a day of celebration across both sites:
Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport
Standing here with the Constructors’ trophy, with the two stars that will become three in December, is such a proud moment. It’s really a great achievement what we have done in the last three years. I met Ross Brawn a few weeks ago. We had a coffee and he told me that what makes him so proud of this organisation is that we could easily have dropped the ball. But all of us, together, have kept that ball up for three years in a row now – and that’s quite an achievement. It’s a great honour to work with all of these guys and girls. From Paddy and Andy, who push us all so hard intellectually, to our great drivers, who have been a massive part of this success, to the hundreds of people who work their fingers to the bone day in, day out to create the tools and the resources we need to succeed. I’ve said before and I believe it more all the time that we have the best driver pairing in Formula One – and the best team of people behind them all the time. All of them are pushing each other to new levels. Just when we think the car can’t go any faster, somehow we find another tenth of a second and it blows us away every time. It’s only when you put all of that together that you get to where we are today. I was asked the question at the weekend: “What is the silver bullet for this team? Is there one particular reason why we are where we are?” The only thing that came to my mind is that there are 1,500 reasons. It’s all of these 1,500 people here at Brackley and Brixworth who made this dream a reality and I thank each and every one of them for their part in this story.Paddy Lowe, Executive Director (Technical), Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team
We came away from 2014 with some phenomenal results that we never expected were possible in this modern era of Formula One. In the aftermath, we suspected it would be a one-off and it’s been truly extraordinary to see the team maintain that level of dominance across three seasons. It’s testament to the extraordinary work of everyone at Brackley and Brixworth. It’s not just about working hard, as everyone certainly has, but working smart, too. A huge congratulations to everyone involved for their contribution to this success.Andy Cowell, Managing Director, Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains (HPP)
It’s a real pleasure to stand in front of everyone at both factories and see so many faces that have contributed to this extraordinary success. It’s an incredible team of people, spread across two sites but with one common objective – to keep adding the Mercedes name to that list of Constructors’ World Champions. It’s been an amazing journey since these two teams came together as one in 2010 to make these achievements possible.Lewis Hamilton
I tell you what, it never gets old being up here, seeing all of these faces. What a joy it’s been, being part of this team. I’m incredibly proud to drive the cars that all of these guys and girls have built. Each of the past three years, Nico and I have without doubt had not just the best cars on the grid but the best cars we’ve ever driven. We owe all of them so much. As drivers, we’re just one small link in the chain. All the hard work everyone has put in to get us where we are is just remarkable. As a racing driver, this is what we dream of having – the beasts that they’ve built. Knowing that, every time you get behind the wheel during a race weekend, you’ve got a car capable of taking the fight to teams like Ferrari and Red Bull. And, more than that, knowing that everything this team has created gives you the chance to extract the maximum from your own abilities… there’s no greater feeling. I’m so proud of each and every one of them and proud to be a part of this incredible journey with them. It’s humbling to represent them all out there on track and I’m excited about going for a fourth together next year and hopefully many more beyond that. But, for now, it’s important that we all cherish this moment because together we have created history. In decades to come, we’ll all look back on these days and remember how incredible they were. A big thank you to everyone once again. We’re going to continue to push on track as I’m sure everyone will back here at the factories too.Nico Rosberg
I’ve been here since day one of this project in 2010 and it’s really phenomenal the journey we’ve taken together towards being the best team in Formula One, making history along the way and re-writing the record books. What we’ve achieved together is mind-blowing and I’m really, really proud to have played my small part in that. Thanks to all of these people, our job as drivers is even more enjoyable out there, which is saying something! Every weekend I arrive at the track mega excited knowing I have the car to take pole and win the race. It’s an unreal feeling. I can’t wait for the final four races to go out there and give it my all in this awesome Silver Arrow. It’s going to be an intense battle between Lewis and myself and I hope everyone at Brackley and Brixworth can enjoy it a bit more now from the edge of their seats! Today, though, we have to say a massive thank you to each and every one of these incredible people here today and celebrate the achievements that they have earned and deserve so much. Hopefully there will be many more to come.
eom/Mercedes AMG Petronas release -
Easy win for Rosberg after Hamilton’s bad start; extends lead to 33 points
Suzuka, 9 Oct 2016: Nico Rosberg took a comfortable Japanese Grand Prix victory to extend his championship lead over arch-rival Lewis Hamilton, after the defending champion’s race was compromised by a poor start that left him eighth at the end of the first lap.
The Briton recovered to finish third behind Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen but Rosberg now leads his Mercedes team-mate by 33 points with four races to go. Rosberg’s win and Hamilton’s third-place finish means that Mercedes now have an unassailable lead in the Constructors’ Championship.
At the start of the race Rosberg made a clean getaway, but Hamilton’s start was dreadful. He bogged down badly and was immediately overrun by rivals. Verstappen moved to second, Force India’s Sergio Perez flew past into third and Daniel Ricciardo held fourth. Hamilton dropped to eighth place.
Vettel, who had started sixth due to the grid penalty had had incurred after the previous race in Malaysia, was soon on the march, however. He muscled his way past Ricciardo on lap one and on the following tour breezed past Perez to take third place.
Hamilton, too, was attempting to make his way forward and on lap seven he overtook Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg to claim sixth place. He now had two seconds to make up to P6 man Kimi Raikkonen.
Verstappen and Ricciardo were the first of the top-10 starters to shed their opening stint soft tyres, with Red Bull Racing pitting their drivers at the same time at the end of lap 11. Both took on hard compound Pirelli tyres.
Their halt for tyres triggered a steady stream of pit stops as the main contenders all filed towards pit lane over the following few laps. All took hard tyres.
After 23 laps Rosberg was comfortably in the lead, holding a four-second advantage over Verstappen. Vettel was 2.7s further back in third place, while Hamilton had worked his way back up to fourth ahead of Ricciardo and Raikkonen.
That order was maintained through the second stint but while Rosberg maintained control ahead of Verstappen, Hamilton managed to pass Vettel in the next and final round of pit stops.
Perhaps anticipating the move, Vettel took on soft tyres in his second stop and set off in close pursuit of Hamilton in the opening laps of his final stint. The Briton, though, defended resolutely in the opening laps of the stint and then began to pull away from the Ferrari as the German’s tyres began to drift from their optimum performance level.
After the second stops and behind the front four, Raikkonen was now looking comfortable in fifth, six seconds behind Vettel but 14 seconds clear of Ricciardo. Perez was now seventh ahead of Hulkenberg, Massa and Bottas.
The biggest battle in the closing stages was between Verstappen and Hamilton. The Mercedes man closed to within DRS range of the Red Bull Racing driver and at the end of the penultimate lap he launched an assault around the outside of the Dutch driver. Verstappen was not for moving, however, and Hamilton was forced to overshoot the chicane and he lost ground to the Red Bull driver.
Ahead, Rosberg was comfortable and after 53 laps he crossed the line to take his ninth win of the season with almost five seconds in hand over Verstappen.
Hamilton’s third place, meanwhile, was enough to give Mercedes an unassailable lead in the battle for the Constructors’ title and they are now set to pick up their third crown in a row at the final round in Abu Dhabi.
Ferrari secured fourth and fifth, with Vettel ahead of Raikkonen, but Verstappen’s second place and sixth for Ricciardo means that Red Bull Racing extend their advantage over the Scuderiato 50 points in the battle for second place.
Perez and Hulkenberg sealed seventh and eighth places respectively and with Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas only managing ninth and tenth, Force India extend their lead over Williams to 25 points in the battle for fourth place.
2016 Japanese Grand Prix – Race
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 53 laps – 1h26m43.333s 2
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing +4.978 2
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +5.776 2
4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari +20.269 2
5 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari +28.370 2
6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing +33.941 2
7 Sergio Perez Force India +57.495 2
8 Nico Hulkenberg Force India +59.177 2
9 Felipe Massa Williams +97.763 1
10 Valtteri Bottas Williams +98.323 1
11 Romain Grosjean Haas +99.254 2
12 Jolyon Palmer Renault +1 lap 1
13 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso +1 lap 2
14 Kevin Magnussen Renault +1 lap 1
15 Marcus Ericsson Sauber +1 lap 1
16 Fernando Alonso McLaren +1 lap 2
17 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso +1 lap 2
18 Jenson Button McLaren +1 lap 2
19 Felipe Nasr Sauber +1 lap 1
20 Esteban Gutierrez Haas +1 lap 2
21 Esteban Ocon Manor +1 lap 2
22 Pascal Wehrlein Manor +1 lap 2eom/FIA press release
Rosberg after winning the Suzuka GP on Sunday. An FIA image -
Rosberg wins Singapore GP to take championship lead; Hamilton takes third
Singapore, 18 Sept. 2016: Nico Rosberg once again took control of the F1 Drivers’ Championship standings as he sealed his eighth win of the 2016 season just half a second clear of Red Bull’s Daniel Riccirado who almost overhauled the German in the final stages of the race. Lewis Hamilton was third.
The race got off to a dramatic start as a hard charging Nico Hulkenberg powered forward from eighth on the grid. Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz was also trying to get ahead, however, and as the Spaniard moved across the pair collided. Hulkenberg was pitched into the pit wall. With his Force India heavily damaged and with debris strewn across the track the Safety Car was
Nico Rosberg waves to the crowd after winning the night race at Singapore on Sunday. An FIA image deployed, neutralizing the race.
At the front, pole position man Rosberg had made a good start and held the lead ahead of Ricciardo who had also made a good getaway. Behind them, Lewis Hamilton held third place.
However, fourth-on-the-grid Max Verstappen in the second Red Bull made a poor start and dropped back to eight place under the safety car. The Dutch teenager would spend the rest of the race toiling on the fringes of the top 10, mostly with Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat, before hauling himself up to P6 in the final third of the race.
When the safety car left the track Rosberg began to cement himself into the lead and by the time of the first round of stops, the German was seven seconds ahead of the Australian, Hamilton a further four seconds back. At the rear of the field Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who had started in P22 due to a mechanical issue in qualifying, was already up to P10 as he passed slower cars and his soft tyres allowed him to stay out longer than rivals.
For the drivers at the front the second stint saw Mercedes losed some ground as Ricciardo, on a second set of supersofts reduced Rosberg’s advantage to less than three seconds. Hamilton, struggling with brake issues, was chased down by Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and on lap 34 the Finn muscled his way past to claim P3 just before they made their second stop
Vettel, meanwhile, was continuing to scythe through the order and by the time of his second stop he was sixth.
As the final third of the race approached Hamilton made a last roll of the dice, making a third tyre stop on lap 45 for ultrasoft tyres.
Fearing that Raikkonen might be overahauled in the final laps if he stayed out on old tyres, Ferrari reacted. The stop was not smooth, however, and the Finn emerged behind the champion, leading him to question the mechanics of the stop.
At the front Rosberg was looking secure, but on lap 47 Red Bull too gambled. With the gap back to Hamilton now more than safe thanks to his stop, Ricciardo pitted for supersoft tyres.
The Australian emerged some 27 seconds behind Rosberg and after briefly considering a reactive stop, Mercedes opted to leave Rosberg out on track.
Across 14 intensely exciting laps Ricciardo almost succeeded. Within five laps he had taken more than 10 seconds out of Rosberg’s advantage and the seconds continued to fall away. He continued to press and by the final sector of the final lap he was inside DRS range as he and Rosberg hit traffic. The German held his nerve, however, and he kept Ricciardo at bay to cross the line just 0.488s ahead of the Red Bull.
With Hamilton third ahead of Raikkonen, Vettel’s superb driver from P22 led to a deserved fifth place. Verstappen passed McLaren’s Fernando Alonso in the final third to take sixth place and behind the Spaniard Sergio Perez was eighth for Force India. The final points positions were taken by Kvyat and Renault’s Kevin Magnussen.
eom/FIA press release
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Rosberg takes pole ahead of Ricciardo; Hamilton P3: Singapore GP
Rosberg after taking Singapore pole on Sunday. An FIA image Singapore, 17 Sept. 2016: Nico Rosberg set a blistering pace to claim pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix finishing half a second clear of Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo and seven tenths ahead of championship-leading team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
FP1 got underway with Mercedes making the first move, both Hamilton and Rosberg taking to the track early on ultrasofts. Rosberg drew first blood with a time of 1:45. 316, but that was quickly bettered by Hamilton who went 1500ths of a second quicker.
Kimi Raikkonen then took over at the top of the order with a lap of 1:44.964. Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen then slotted into P2, just seven hundredths of the a second behind the Finn. As the team’s prepared for final runs Daniel Ricciardo hit the top of the timesheet with his first hot lap of 1:44.255.
Sebastian Vettel was in trouble, however. “I think the front anti-roll bar broke,” said the German as he headed to the pit lane in P21, with six minutes to go.
Ahead of the final runs the drop featured Renault’s Kevin Magnussen in P17, followed by Sauber’s Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson, the Manors of Pascal Wehrlein and the unfortunate Vettel in P22.
And despite frantic work in the Ferrari garage, the team could not get Vettel out for a final run and the four-time Singapore Grand Prix winner exited qualifying in P22.
Prior to the final runs it was Renault’s Jolyon Palmer who was the target man in P16 with a lap of 1:46.960 and in the final shake-up it was Sauber’s Ericsson who best beat the Briton’s benchmark to claim a Q2 berth. Out then went Magnussen in P17, followed by Nasr, Palmer, Wehrlein, Ocon and Vettel.
Q2 again saw the Mercedes drivers take to the track early and Rosberg quickly hit the front, with a quick lap of 1:43.020, followed by Hamilton who was four tenths back.
However, Red Bull Racing’s drivers took to the track with supersoft tyres and Ricciardo soon jumped to P3 with a time of 1:43.933, almost two tenths ahead of team-mate Max Verstappen in P4. That put them ahead of the ultrasoft–shod Ferrari of Raikkonen and Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz.
Meanwhile, in the drop zone ahead of the final runs were: McLaren’s Jenson Button, Force India’s Sergio Perez, the Haas of Esteban Gutierrez, the second McLaren of Fernando Alonso, the second Haas of Romain Grosjean and Ericsson. The target man this time was Williams Felipe Massa in P10 with a time of 1:44.991.
But the quest to beat him was only afforded to a few as Grosjean crashed his Haas to bring out the yellow flags. Alonso and Perez managed to get a time in, however, and their times meant that out went Williams’ Valtteri Bottas and Massa, Button, who also broke his steering in a scrape with the barriers on his final run, Gutierrez, Grosjean and Ericsson.
Grosjean’s crash led to a 10-minute delay to the start of Q3 as repairs were done to the barriers at Turn 10.
When the final session got underway it was Rosberg who took command, with the German setting a blistering lap of 1:42.584 to take P1 0.7s ahead of Hamilton in second. Raikkonen was third ahead of the Red Bulls of Ricciardo and Verstappen, with the Dutch driver saying poor grip had resulted in a “terrible lap”. Sainz was sixth ahead of Alonso, Hulkenberg, Perez and Kvyat.
In the final runs the only drivers to make steps forward though were the Red Bulls. Ricciardo put in an excellent lap of 1:43.115 and when Hamilton failed to better his time from his first run the Australian took P2 to claim his second front-row start in a row in Singapore. Verstappen too improved, posting lap of 1:43.328 to take P4.
Behind them, Raikkonen was fifth for Ferrari, ahead of the Toro Rossos of Sainz and Kvyat. Eighth place was taken by Hulkenberg, with Alonso ninth ahead of Perez.
2016 Singapore Grand Prix – Qualifying
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:45.316 1:43.020 1:42.584
2 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:44.255 1:43.933 1:43.115
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:45.167 1:43.471 1:43.288
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:45.036 1:44.112 1:43.328
5 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:44.964 1:44.159 1:43.540
6 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:45.499 1:44.493 1:44.197
7 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:45.291 1:44.475 1:44.469
8 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:46.081 1:44.737 1:44.479
9 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:45.373 1:44.653 1:44.553
10 Sergio Perez Force India 1:45.204 1:44.703 1:44.582
11 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:46.086 1:44.740
12 Felipe Massa Williams 1:46.056 1:44.991
13 Jenson Button McLaren 1:45.262 1:45.144
14 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:45.465 1:45.593
15 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:45.609 1:45.723
16 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:46.427 1:47.827
17 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:46.825
18 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:46.860
19 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:46.960
20 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:47.667
21 Esteban Ocon Manor 1:48.296
22 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:49.116eom/FIA press release
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Rosberg overcomes technical woes to claim pole
Nico Rosberg bounced back from an early Q3 electronics problem to claim pole position for his home race, the German Grand Prix, ahead of Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo.
After breezing through the first two sessions (the Mercedes drivers were the only drivers to qualify from Q1 having used only soft tyres), Rosberg set off on his first run in Q3 only to have to abandon the run at the end of his first lap when his Mercedes suffered an electronics issue.
“It just suddenly lost the throttle,” he said. “It just cut completely the engine, just at the end of the lap. That was disappointing but I’m sure we’ll fix it for tomorrow. It’s never happened before, so I’m sure it will be OK.”
Rosberg dived towards the pit lane for repairs and out on track team-mate Lewis Hamilton set the early Q3 pace with a lap of 1:14.486 with Ricciardo slotting in P2 with a time of 1:14.724 to sit 0.240 off Hamilton.
As the rest of the field returned to the pit lane to plot their final runs, Rosberg headed out again and with an almost clear track he posted a superb lap of 1:14.363 to take provisional pole. And as Hamilton made a small mistake in Sector 2 and went slower in Sector 3, Rosberg took his 27th career pole position and his fifth of the season.
“Just a great lap,” said the German. “Not only was it just one lap that I had, but I also had extra fuel to make sure that I would have an extra shot if a mistake or something happened. So I had fuel for three laps. That was some more time in the bag there, so I was really satisfied with that one. That was really cool.”
Ricciardo took P3 behind Hamilton and admitted that though he had got close, he did not feel he had to pace to compete for pole.
“My first lap in Q3 was really good and I knew there probably wasn’t that much more on the table in the second run and in the end a couple of mistakes in that run,” he said. “There was maybe a tenth or so in it with the perfect lap, but not enough to challenge the pole. We’re close enough. I said yesterday that if we could be within half a second that’s not a bad day in qualifying, so hopefully it means something tomorrow. From what I understand we might have different tyres available for us for the race, so hopefully that makes it interesting.”
Ricciardo will be joined on row two of the grid by team-mate Max Verstappen, while row three will be filled by Ferrari’s fifth-placed Kimi Raikkonen and P6 man Sebastian Vettel.
Behind them, Nico Hulkenberg will line-up in seventh place alongside Williams Valtteri Bottas, with Sergio Perez ninth in the second Force India ahead of the second Williams of Felipe Massa.
The earlier sessions had progressed largely as expected. Q1’s only somewhat unforeseen elimination was that of Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat. The Russian driver qualified in P19 behind 17th-placed Renault driver Kevin Magnussen and Manor’s Pascal Wehrlein and ahead of Manor’s Rio Haryanto and the Saubers of Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson. P19 was all the more frustrating for Kvyat after he was informed that team-mate Carlos Sainz had made it through to Q2 in P12.
That was as far as Saing got however and in Q2 the Spaniard took P13, though he was also placed under investigation for allegedly impeding Massa during the session.
Haas’ Esteban Gutierrez almost made it through to Q3 for the first time since the Korean Grand Prix of 2013. The Mexican was in P9 after his final run of Q2 but Massa eventually beat him to the final Q3 slot by 0.184s.
Behind Gutierrez, Jenson Button was 12th for McLaren ahead of Sainz, Fernando Alonso in the second McLaren, Romain Grosjean in the second Haas and Renault’s Jolyon Palmer. Grosjean is set to take a five-place penalty for tomorrow’s race after he had to switch gearboxes following problems in FP3.
2016 German Grand Prix – Qualifying
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:15.485 1:14.839 1:14.363
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:15.243 1:14.748 1:14.470
3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:15.591 1:15.545 1:14.726
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:15.875 1:15.124 1:14.834
5 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:15.752 1:15.242 1:15.142
6 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:15.927 1:15.630 1:15.315
7 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:16.301 1:15.623 1:15.510
8 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:15.952 1:15.490 1:15.530
9 Sergio Perez Force India 1:16.169 1:15.500 1:15.537
10 Felipe Massa Williams 1:13.503 1:15.699 1:15.615
11 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:15.987 1:15.883
12 Jenson Button McLaren 1:16.172 1:15.909
13 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:16.317 1:15.989
14 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:16.338 1:16.041
15 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:16.328 1:16.086
16 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:16.636 1:16.665
17 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:16.716
18 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:16.717
19 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:16.876
20 Rio Haryanto Manor 1:16.977
21 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:17.123
22 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:17.238.eom/FIA press release
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Rosberg fastest in FP2 as Hamilton crashes
Nico Rosberg went quickest in second practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix after team-mate Lewis Hamilton crashed out early in the session.
Hamilton was on his fourth lap of the 90-minute session when he lost control as he headed into the 210km/h Turn 11. He spun across the run-off area and hit the barriers side-on. Surprisingly there was little outward damage done and Hamilton was able to get going again. He nursed his car back the pit lane but Mercedes quickly reported that it would need to be stripped back and that the3 champion would take no further part in the session.
It was left to Rosberg to carry the Mercedes standard during the session and the German obliged, using supersoft tyres on his quick run to set a session-best time of 1:20.435. That was almost a second quicker than Hamilton’s table –topper from FP1 and 1.8s quicker than Hamilton’s pole position time of last year.
However, while Mercedes had enjoyed a 1.6s advantage over closest challenger Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari in the morning session, the Silver Arrows’ advantage was cut in the afternoon by Red Bull Racing, with 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix winner Daniel Ricciardo getting to within six tenths of a second of Rosberg’s time. In the morning Red Bull opted to only run with soft compound tyres but in the afternoon the team bolted on supersofts to edge closer to Mercedes.
After finishing third in the morning session, Vettel repeated the placing in the afternoon, setting a best time of 1:21.348 31 to split the Red Bulls, with Max Verstappen fourth, four tenths of a second behind Vettel.
Hamilton was fifth fastest, his opening lap being good enough to second him a placing just under two tenths of a second behind Verstappen but ahead of the second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen.
McLaren, meanwhile, repeated its positions from the morning session, with Fernando Alonso seventh and Jenson Button eighth. The session wasn’t without issue for the team, however, with Alonso requiring a power unit change on his car in advance of the session after Honda noticed an “anomaly” on the data coming from it’s powerplant.
In the morning session P9 was taken by Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz ahead of Force India’s Sergio Perez. In the afternoon Perez again finished 10th, but this time Sainz was bounced out of ninth by Perez’s team-mate Nico Hulkenberg.
Sainz, meanwhile, dropped to P13 behind Haas’ Esteban Gutierrez and Williams’ Felipe Massa.
2016 Hungarian Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:20.435 45
2 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:21.030 36
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:21.348 31
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:21.770 35
5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:21.960 4
6 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:22.058 46
7 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:22.328 21
8 Jenson Button McLaren 1:22.387 34
9 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:22.449 41
10 Sergio Perez Force India 1:22.653 38
11 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:22.673 38
12 Felipe Massa Williams 1:22.681 39
13 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:22.689 24
14 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:22.773 38
15 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:22.864 28
16 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:22.948 43
17 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:23.347 41
18 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:23.437 36
19 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:23.528 12
20 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:23.986 31
21 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:23.992 22
22 Rio Haryanto Manor 1:24.265.36.eom/FIA press release
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Penalty for Rosberg; Hamilton, just a point behind leader
After the 10-second penalty awarded by the FIA stewards for the Radio communication from the team to Nico Rosberg, Max Verstappen moved to the second place. The German had to settle for a third and it helped Hamilton move within a point to the championship leadership table.
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Hamilton tops times in both the FP
Hamilton during second FP. An FIA image Silverstone, 8 July 2016: After edging team-mate Nico Rosberg by just three hundredths of a second in opening practice for the British Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton made lighter work of the second session, taking top spot by almost four tenths of a second ahead of Daniel Ricciardo after Rosberg failed to take to the track due to car issues.
Rosberg pushed his chief championship rival hard in the morning session but his second 90 minutes of track was halted before it had begun, with Mercedes detecting a water leak in his car. The German did climb into his car again an hour into the session but when the engine was fired up another issue was found and he sat out the remainder of the session.
By contrast Hamilton’s session was smooth, with the defending champion setting his best time of 1:31.660 after 35 minutes, using the Soft compound Pirelli tyres. The time was marginally slower than his morning best of 1:31.654, set on the Medium tyre.
With Rosberg ruled out of the session, Ricciardo took second place 0.4s behind Hamilton, running the Briton closer than in the morning when Ricciardo was fifth and 1.1s behind the Mercedes driver.
The Australian’s team-mate Max Verstappen also made progress, finishing third after taking P7 in the FP1. The Dutch teenager’s time was almost a second quicker better than his best lap of the morning.
The Red Bull driver took third almost three tenths of a second clear of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel who repeated his FP1 slot of fourth, nine tenths off Hamilton’s pace. The four-time champion’s team-mate, Kimi Raikkonen, ended the session in fifth, 0.166s ahead of the lead McLaren-Honda of Fernando Alonso.
After a quiet start to the weekend for Williams, with 12th and 13th positions respectively for Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa in FP1, the team improved in the afternoon with Bottas seventh and Massa 10th. Behind Bottas in eighth was Haas’ Romain Grosjean’s Haas with Jenson Button in the second McLaren ninth, though the Briton was seventh tenths of a second down on team-mate Alonso.
2016 British Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:31.660 36
2 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:32.051 30
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:32.286 36
4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:32.570 40
5 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:32.736 38
6 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:33.040 31
7 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:33.493 38
8 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:33.614 32
9 Jenson Button McLaren 1:33.763 20
10 Felipe Massa Williams 1:33.801 29
11 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:33.840 27
12 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:34.000 32
13 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:34.139 35
14 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:34.154 25
15 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:34.321 35
16 Sergio Perez Force India 1:34.356 37
17 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:34.549 40
18 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:34.610 41
19 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:34.722 36
20 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:34.959 41
21 Rio Haryanto Manor 1:35.841 36
22 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 0eom/FIA press release
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Hamilton wins dramatic Austrian GP; Rosberg 4th
Spielberg, 3 July 2016: Lewis Hamilton grabbed a dramatic Austrian Grand Prix victory after colliding with Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg on the final lap.
Rosberg was leading the race but after the German made a small mistake at Turn One on the final tour, Hamilton was able to close on his team-mate and attempt an overtaking move in Turn Two. Later Rosberg was penalised with a 10-second penalty by the stewards and was reprimanded for not stopping over…
Rosberg cover the middle of the circuit, forcing Hamilton to make a move around the outside. With Rosberg’s car wide across the track the Briton ran wide and as he returned to the track, Rosberg left little room and he ran into the side of Hamilton’s car. The collision severely damaged Rosberg’s front wing and that allowed Hamilton to easily pass the German on the run to Turn Three.
With Rosberg slowing as his front wing disintegrated, Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen flew past to claim second place, with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen also passing the stricken Mercedes to take the final spot on the podium. Rosberg crossed the line in fourth place, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo.
Starting from pole, Hamilton led in the early stage of the race as Rosberg made his way up from sixth on the grid.
Then German climbed to third behind Raikkonen before his first pit stop on lap 10, when he changed from opening used ultrasoft tyres to soft tyres. Behind him at that stage were Verstappen, Sebastian Vettel in the second Ferrari and Daniel Ricciardo in the second Red Bull.
Hamilton, though, stayed out, trying to eke a long stint out of his starting ultrasofts and the Briton continued in the lead until lap 21 when he too pitted for softs. It was a poor stop, however, and problems with the rear left wheel saw him emerge behind Rosberg.
Vettel now led and he too was trying to get the most out of his starting supersoft tyres. It wasn’t to be, however, and after 26 laps his rear-left tyre exploded on the pit straight. He careened into the wall and the safety car was deployed.
When the action resumed Rosberg now led ahead of Hamilton, Verstappen, Ricciardo and Raikkonen.
A long second stint followed for the Mercedes driving during which Rosberg and Hamilton traded blows, one lapping fastest followed by an immediate response from the other.
The pace-setting led to the duo pulling away from the Red Bulls who were in turn slowly being reeled in by Raikkonen who had been disadvantaged by the stops and the safety car.
Raikkonen eventually passed Ricciardo on lap 57 and set off in pursuit of Verstappen. That was Ricciardo’s cue to make a final stop to take on ultrasofts for a final charge. He rejoined behind McLaren’s Jenson Button but soon passed the Briton to reclaim P5. With 24 seconds between him and Raikkonen, though, there was no hope of further progress and he settled for fifth and 10 points.
Ahead, Hamilton was closing on Rosberg and eventually the German erred. Hamilton, seeing his chance pushed hard and attempted a move around the outside into Turn Two. As Hamilton was forced wide and Rosberg took a hard line, collision and controversy were inevitable.
Hamilton powered on to take his third win of the season and the 46th of his career while Rosberg was left to finish fourth and to face a post-race stewards’ investigation for ‘causing a collision and failing to stop with a seriously damaged car’.
Verstappen took the second podium finish of his young career, while Raikkonen salvaged Ferrari pride with third.
With Rosberg fourth and Ricciardo fifth, sixth place went to Button, McLaren’s best result since the US GP of last year. Romain Grosjean took Haas back into the points with seventh place, while Carlos Sainz was eighth for Toro Rosso. Ninth place went to Williams’ Valtteri Bottas and Pascal Wehrlein scored Manor’s first point of the season with 10th place.
2016 Austrian Grand Prix – Race
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 71 laps – 1h27m38.107s 4
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing +5.719 3
3 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari +6.024 3
4 Nico Rosberg Mercedes +16.710 4
5 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing +30.981 4
6 Jenson Button McLaren +37.706 4
7 Romain Grosjean Haas +44.668 3
8 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso +47.400 3
9 Valtteri Bottas Williams +1 lap 4
10 Pascal Wehrlein Manor +1 lap 4
11 Esteban Gutierrez Haas +1 lap 4
12 Jolyon Palmer Renault +1 lap 4
13 Felipe Nasr Sauber +1 lap 3
14 Kevin Magnussen Renault +1 lap 4
15 Marcus Ericsson Sauber +1 lap 4
16 Rio Haryanto Manor +1 lap 4
17 Sergio Perez Force India +1 lap 4
18 Fernando Alonso McLaren DNF 5
19 Nico Hulkenberg Force India DNF 6
20 Felipe Massa Williams DNF 5
21 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari DNF 0
22 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso DNF 0eom/FIA press release
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I took a risk and fortunately it paid off: Hamilton
DRIVERS
1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
2 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)
3 – Nico HULKENBERG (Force India)TV UNILATERAL
Lewis, it was one of those days when I guess it was all about the timing of the switch onto the slick tyre and then actually coming across the line it must have been extremely exciting, the final few minutes of that session?
Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah, it was a really fun session. It was one of those sessions that it starts off dry, goes wet, and quite incredibly here it dries up so quickly, it’s like driving through fog at some stages. I think it just added to the excitement of the while thing. I’d never driven here in the rain before and being a new surface as well it was very, very slippery. It was drying up corner by corner and at the end it was about getting that last lap. The previous lap was a good lap as well but if I had finished that lap I would have been right behind Daniel Ricciardo, so I backed off, which was a big risk really. If I didn’t finish my lap or there had been a yellow flag I wouldn’t have been able to get pole, but it was the risk I took and fortunately it paid off, so very happy with it.Well done. Turning to you, Nico, you’re second but it’s a bittersweet feeling I imagine, knowing that you’ve got to go back five places on the grid after the accident this morning and the subsequent gearbox penalty. A shame really, because your preparations for the race up to that point had been pretty ideal. Tell us about your day and your prospects from here?
Nico ROSBERG: First of all, a really unbelievable job from everybody, even Lewis’ mechanics came on to my car to try to get it out in time, so that was a huge team effort. We got it out 11 minutes to go in Q1, so it was really tight and awesome, so that was great. And then a very exciting qualifying, going dry-wet-dry and it was unbelievable how quickly it dried in the end then to get back on to slick tyres. I think Lewis just did a good job there in the very end, so that’s it. Second not first, but it’s OK. The five places will be quite costly… well, very costly of course for tomorrow, unfortunately. I’ll make the best of it anyways and try to get a good race from there.OK, thank you for that. Nico Hulkenberg, welcome back. Reminiscent, conditions-wise and the way you drove, of Brazil a few years ago, in the Williams days. You must be absolutely ecstatic and set yourself up now, moving up to the front row of the grid with Nico Rosberg’s penalty, for a great day?
Nico HULKENBERG: Yeah, no, absolutely, it reminded me a lot about Brazil and I was feeling really good in the car and it was just a flashback to back then. I was feeling really good and to be honest, I was expecting a little bit better, so when he said third… I wasn’t disappointed. A great effort from the team. Not an easy session to be out there at the right time, it’s all about timings. The car performed well, we put it together, so a very solid job and a very good starting position for tomorrow.Very well done. Lewis, coming back to you, on a serious note we saw a couple more suspension failures during that qualifying session with Kvyat and Pérez. What’s the feeling among the drivers, what’s the conversation going to be this evening and what’s the concern there?
LH: I can’t speak on behalf of all the drivers, but for me those yellow kerbs are quite dangerous. We’ve now seen a couple of incidents already. I don’t know how many more of those it’s going to take before a car ends up in the wall and perhaps someone gets hurt. I’m sure Charlie and the FIA are looking at it but that’s definitely an area we can improve. The idea is good, because they definitely don’t want us running wide and using the outside of the circuit but perhaps another solution is going to be needed.PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Lewis, one of the interesting talking points arising out of the second part of qualifying was the decision by Ferrari and Red Bull to go out and set their time on the supersoft tyre. You and Nico had both used the ultrasoft but then right at the end you went out and had a bit of a look on the supersoft just as some rain began to fall. So, your thoughts on why you went the way that you did in the first instance and what happened at the end there.
LH: I just did what I was told! I think our strategists understand that that ultrasoft was the better tyre. We had the supersoft available I think they perhaps saw – I’m guessing – I’m assuming they saw that the Ferraris had gone out and they thought we might try to go out and see if we could do a time on it, even though we think there is a time delta between the two. Naturally a hard tyre often goes further so that doesn’t seem like such a bad option. They have qualified on supersofts?Yes – they’ll start on the supersofts and so will Red Bull
LH: OK, that’s not a bad thing. I think the ultrasoft is not a good tyre for the race. It’s going to be a struggle to get a lot of laps out of it so the strategy will be interesting tomorrow. Obviously those guys are starting behind me so I’m hoping I have a bit of an advantage at the start just from being on the softer tyre but… yeah, in practice my tyre lasted for four laps, so I think for Nico it lasted maybe eight? He says five. So it’ll definitely be tricky but we’ll do the best we can with it.Q: OK, the same question to you Nico. Your race, the first stint is going to be much more complicated because of where you’re starting. So your thoughts on this situation going into the race tomorrow. And also, picking up on what I was asking Lewis before about the kerbs, is it just a case now of, for the rest of the weekend, staying off them – or is there more to it than that?
NR: For sure yeah, need to stay off them. I even stayed off them in qualifying now most of the time, except for when it really counted. Tyres is going to be tough tomorrow but the thing is we don’t really know because the temperature is going to drop so much so who knows how the tyres are going to be? For sure in the hot it was really tough but maybe in the cold it’s going to be better.Q: Nico, coming to you, obviously your team is going through a bit of a purple patch at the moment with podiums in Monaco and Baku recently. You’re still looking for your first Formula One podium personally. You must be feeling that tomorrow may well just be your day. Are you very optimistic and excited going into tomorrow’s grand prix?
NH: Yes. First of all I’m happy and excited about today. Special circumstances obviously with the rain in Q3 and then the drying-up track but for sure starting second is a very good starting position. Tomorrow we’ll do what we can. I’m not thinking too hard about that now. We’ll do that in the next couple of hours and tonight and tomorrow but our car has made huge steps forwards since Barcelona really and ever-since we’ve scored a lot of points and a few podiums so yeah, we’re on a good slope, we have good momentum and just try to carry it into tomorrow and make it into another good Sunday.QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Angélique Belokopytov – AutoDigest) Lewis, yesterday you considered that you were not at your top level. So what did change? Did you improve since yesterday? Was it work more on your mental, or the car or maybe both?
LH: A little bit the car but mostly I just had to find time today. Nico had been performing well all weekend and it was just chipping away at improvements, constantly looking at my data, trying to figure out where I was losing the time and how I could improve. Bit by bit, corner by corner… at one point there’s five corners where I’m down, then it’s four corners I was down, then two, then just one corner where I was down. That’s something that… then it rained and I was thinking ‘Jeez, I’ve finally got into this position where I can perhaps battle for pole with Nico’ and then it rained – but fortunately those are conditions I like as well, so it made it a little bit easier, I have to say, when it got into those conditions ‘cos it’s then a bit more about who takes the most risk, I guess.Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Hulkenberg, we received indication on the screens that you were under investigation because of the yellow flags in Q2. Are you aware of this?
NH: No, I wasn’t aware that I’m under investigation. I think it was the incident where Sainz’s car’s engine blew up and he was parked on the right on the main straight. I did lift, I did lose time there but still with new tyres, track improvement I might have gone faster, I don’t know but we will see. I’m not too concerned.Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Lewis, when you came in here, you stopped to watch your lap – all the lap – what was your view of it, what was your analysis of your own lap?
LH: I could have been faster! I was looking at some places where… you know, when you do a lap like that it’s really difficult to… you know, the previous lap maybe I had an oversteer moment in one corner, you don’t know if it’s dried up and what… it probably has dried up on that next lap so you don’t know just how much you can push on each corner. In hindsight… hindsight’s always a great thing – there were drier patch and more grip and more potential in some corners that I did, but it doesn’t matter because I’m where I need to be. That’s what happens when I watch it. I’m just thinking could be a little bit more there, a little bit more there.Q: (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas) Nico, I would like to know – maybe you said it before but I don’t know – but when this accident happened, was it because you touched the kerb or is it because there was a mechanical problem in the car and the suspension was broken?
NR: The suspension broke. On the kerb, on the normal exit kerb, the first one, the thin one.Q: (Peter Vamosi – Vas Nepe) To all of you: there’s a possibility that next year maybe we will have a bigger version of the Austrian Grand Prix, a new track layout but of course the old one, the Osterreichring. Are you satisfied with this information? Would you like to compete with Formula One cars on this or is it OK now?
LH: Me personally? That’s the best news I’ve probably heard in Formula One for a long time. They’re going to take a track back to what it should be or what it was previously. The track is nice as it is now but I’ve not seen the old track but I can imagine going up into the mountains and into the woods it’s going to be epic so I really hope they do that personally.
Q: Nico, your Dad raced here on the old one, any thoughts on that?
NR: I just watched the video from 1982, one of the closest finishes with my Dad finishing second and definitely it looks very exciting so yeah, if they do that, cool.
NH: I wasn’t even aware. Don’t know what the layout was but yeah, whatever. fine.eom/FIA transcript of the Press Conference
