INDIA in F1

Tag: Mercedes

  • Drivers pay tributes to Niki Lauda: Wednesday press meet in Monaco

    Monaco, 22 May 2019: Due to the Rest Day on Friday for F1, the official FIA press conference begins on Wednesday. However, there are other activities, including F2 and F1 Driver Autograph session on Friday.

    PART ONE: DRIVERS Present: Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes) Charles LECLERC (Ferrari), Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing), Robert KUBICA (Williams), Daniel RICCIARDO (Renault)

    Transcript:

    This week motorsport lost one of its greats when three-time Formula 1 World Champion Niki Lauda passed away. Valtteri, you worked with Niki at Mercedes over the last few years, what did he mean to you?

    Valtteri BOTTAS: Obviously really, really shocking news to start the week. For sure, he meant a lot to me but for every single team member of ours, in the race team and at the factory, and he was a big part of the Mercedes family. He was a massive motivation for everyone, for myself as well, for sure, as a driver because of everything he achieved and with the difficult career he had, and all the comebacks and everything. But also as a person, it’s been great, and never forget many, many good moments, and for sure it’s not nice in terms of mindset for the weekend but I’m sure as a team we can turn it into a strength and respect Niki by going flat out on track and bringing a good result.

    Q: Thank you. Robert, if I could ask you for your memories of Niki Lauda? You’ve been around Formula 1 for a long time.

    Robert KUBICA: As Valtteri said it’s shocking news. He wrote a big chunk of the story of this sport, not only as a driver but as a person. I never had the opportunity to work with him but definitely he was a big racer and all of us will miss him. At least my personal hopes were to meet him back in the paddock but unfortunately this will not happen. That’s unfortunately part of life.

    Q: Thanks. Max, we saw a message from you yesterday on social media. Any thoughts to share about Niki?

    Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, of course. Niki was a legend of the sport. He achieved a lot in his career, but also after his career he was also a very generous and funny guy as well. Of course, I’ve never really worked with him, but with the chats we had, he’s been a great guy and for sure it’s a big loss to Formula 1, so all thoughts go out to his family right now.

    Q: Thank you. Daniel, Niki was in and out of the Red Bull motorhome a lot when you were there. Any memories of Niki that you have?

    Daniel RICCIARDO: Only good ones, for sure. Any interaction I had with him, any brief chats, or just pleasantries, just a kind man. Most of the world that follows motorsport knows him as the racer, for sure, and everything he went through, which was astonishing to say the least. But my personal moments with him were always kind. For a few years we were competitors but, yeah, never a bad thing to say. As the guys just touched on, thinking of his family. The legacy he leaves is pretty amazing and for sure we remember these good things.

    Q: Thank you. Charles, two of Niki’s championships came with Ferrari, what does he mean to you?

    Charles LECLERC: Well, I didn’t have too many chances to speak to Niki, but the very few times I have been speaking with him he has been extremely nice to me and was always very disponible… is that the right word?

    Q: Available?

    CL: Available, yes, sorry. And also very humble for what he achieved. He’s a great example for the sport in general and he will be missed a lot.

    Q: Thank you. If we look ahead to this weekend now, Charles we’ll stay with you. This is your second time racing at home in Formula 1, but the first time racing here with Ferrari, so it must be a very special weekend for you?

    CL: Yeah, a home grand prix is always a special weekend and even more this weekend, obviously, coming here in full red with Ferrari and also with the chance to have a very good result, so we will push. Obviously we’ve had a difficult start to the season. The low-speed corners weren’t great in Barcelona, but normally Monaco is pretty different. We will try to turn things round. It’s not going to be easy but we will give it everything.

    Q: Valtteri, you’ve never actually been on the podium, but with the start to the season Mercedes have enjoyed there must be a big opportunity to change that this weekend?

    VB: Yeah, I’ve not had great races here, but targeting to change that. It’s been a very promising beginning of the year for us as a team. But we also have to remember that Monaco is a unique circuit and it needs different kinds of things from the car to be quick and in the past few years we have been struggling a little bit and we have not had the quickest car here, even though we have been quick on other tracks. So, for that we are a little bit cautious but also very motivated to change that and to be performing here as well. For me, for sure it’s maybe a tiny bit similar feeling to Charles, you know, living here, it’s really unique, and it would be an amazing weekend to do well.

    Q: Max, Red Bull traditionally have gone well in Monaco. Are you able to threaten both Mercedes and Ferrari this weekend, do you think?

    MV: I think we get into this weekend seeing Mercedes clearly as the favourite. I don’t think we are as good as we were last year. But we will find out. I’m confident that we can fight for a podium, but we have to find out what step of the podium.

    Q: Daniel, Max mentioned last year. You won that race and you obviously have great memories of that but what is realistic for you to target this season?

    DR: I don’t know yet. I’m certainly still coming as excited as I always do. When I say coming here, I also live here, but it’s still different coming here for the race or being here for the race. The circuit transforms and there’s a different feeling in the air. I don’t know, the whole atmosphere is pretty unreal. So yeah, I’ll see where we’re at tomorrow… Yeah, tomorrow’s practice. It’s Thursday here; that’s a bit different as well. But yeah, obviously quietly confident and excited and optimistic that we can do something good.

    Q: Thank you. Robert, Williams has had quite a tricky car so far this season, but is Monaco still a race you look forward to as a driver?

    Robert KUBICA: Oh yeah. Monaco has always been very special and approaching… coming back here after a long break the feeling in the past was that the track was pretty narrow but with current F1 cars it will be even more narrow than it was in the past, because the cars are much bigger, much wider. So looking forward, it’s always a special feeling going through those streets and driving an F1 car. But definitely our car is struggling and normally here whenever you struggle, you struggle even more. But there’s always something; this track is different; it’s unique, so hopefully it will suit better our car.

    Q: Thank you. Just a final topic before we open this to the floor. This weekend is the third FIA Volunteers Weekend, celebrating those who give up their time to support motorsport events. Just wondered if I could get a message from each of you about the importance of volunteers in motorsport. Robert if we can start with you?

    RK: Yeah, definitely. I think most us don’t realize how many people are involved to organize this show, in every single aspect, not only on track but off track to help. Definitely we need those people and I would like to thank them. They are normally very passionate people and we need those people more than anyone else.

    Q: Max?

    MV: Yeah, it’s great to see that there are so many people out there who are so passionate about the sport and actually willing to risk their lives as well for us. I think it’s great and I just hope that we all have a great and safe weekend.

    Q: And Charles?

    CL: Yeah, as Max said, it’s great to see so many people that are passionate about the sport and what they are doing for the sport. I came to see them, especially the marshals training for this grand prix, which was very impressive. They are putting a lot of time into it and they are doing these things extremely seriously, so it was a great experience to see them preparing the grand prix and hopefully we’ll have a safe and good weekend.

    Q: Thank you. And Valtteri?

    VB: Yeah, for sure, without them the event would not be possible. I’m lucky to know a couple of them and they have explained to me what it includes and how much actually they work for it and all the training and everything and they are so passionate about racing, so from my side, hat’s off to them.

    Q: Thank you. And finally, Daniel?

    DR: This is a race where I feel they always stand out – how quick they are able to collect a car or move on, so that our session can be as little or less disrupted as possible, if that’s the right English, I don’t know. They’re pretty awesome. They do have pretty good here seats as well, probably the best seats in the house! But all jokes aside, it’s good that they get the recognition as well, because it’s easily dismissed at times, so hat’s off the them and we appreciate it.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / Speed Sport) Charles, the drivers that live here say when it’s not the race week, they can walk around, nobody stops them. Now you’re a famous Ferrari driver, I see your photo and poster all over time. How is it now, going around town, not on the race weekend?

    CL: To be honest, I think there are drivers more famous than me living in Monaco. For sure, I’m Monegasque, so it’s a little bit different. Also, in Monaco, they are quite used to it, so all year around, they don’t stop you that much in the city. When it comes to grand prix time, it’s a bit harder to go around Monaco because there’s a lot of strangers coming here for the grand prix and obviously they want to have pictures, etc., During the year it’s quite OK. But yeah, it’s great to have a weekend at home. It’s a city that I’ve been growing up in and yeah, it’s a huge honour for me to be driving in these streets. It’s actually pretty weird because these are the same streets – I’ve said this story quite a lot of times – but it’s the same streets I’ve taken on the bus going to school when I was five or six years old. To take them in a Formula One car feels special.

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Charles, after five races, Bahrain stands out as the obvious highlight for Ferrari in terms of performance. Now that you’ve had a couple of tests to dig into what’s holding you back at other races, does Bahrain feels like a one-off, or do you have a better understanding of what’s stopping you from hitting those peaks at other tracks as well?

    CL: I think during testing we understood a few things. Not enough, obviously, to be at the level of these guys, or Mercedes – but we understand a few things. I think we gained a little bit of time. Not enough: we need to keep working, we need to try and understand what was the main issue but the engineers are working on that.

    Q: (George Boulton – The Sun) Question for Valtteri. We’ve heard how much of a great character Niki was. Could you reveal your funniest story of having worked with him so closely?

    VB: He was always funny. Full of a good sense of humour and so direct. He always said whatever he thinks, how things are. He didn’t take different routes, he always said things directly. So that made for some funny situations sometimes in meetings and stuff – but I will say the best thing that will stand in my mind is that he was always there when I had a good result, to congratulation, and you could always see he was truly happy. But the main thing was, when I had some bad races, and difficult times, he was still always available to speak about anything, and really supportive – because he has the experience himself, as a racer, in life and racing that there will be setbacks and you can really improve from those. In that sense, that’s been massive motivation for me and will stay in my mind.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – globoesporte.com) To Max. You’ve taken part in four editions of this grand prix and your best result is fifth in 2017. Now, with many people saying you are in the best moment as a driver, does it disturb you, to think to enjoy your moment, to change your history in this grand prix?

    MV: I’ve done four, hopefully I’ll do another 20, so I have a lot of chances to do a good result.

    Q: (Andrew Frankel – Forza) Max, some of us are old enough to have been to Zandvoort many, many years ago and obviously we’re terribly excited we’re going back to Zandvoort. Will the new track be very different from the existing one?

    MV: I think in general the layout will be pretty similar but some corners might be a bit banked, a bit shorter, a bit more space. The track itself won’t be changed a lot. It’s good to see that the track is coming back on the calendar after so many years. It’s very close to the beach, so you can also chill at the beach after the races if you would like – but as a driver it’s a really cool track to drive. I just hope we can also have a really good fight instead of just following each other throughout the race – but we’ll find out.

    Q: (inaudible) Question to Robert. You’re coming here in a difficult situation but you’ve been here many times before – you won the Monaco Kart Cup twice, you’ve been on the podium in Formula One twice, you’ve been leading the Monte Carlo Rally. You won some super stages – so what are your best memories from Monte Carlo?

    RK: As you say, Monaco has been always pretty good for me from a very young ago, so yeah. Actually probably the first time I have been racing here was 1998, in karting, and probably this was one of the great days. But definitely finishing on the podium in an F1 car in the F1 race also stands up. I would say those two – but at the same time, also Rally is something special – but we shouldn’t be speaking about rally here, I think. There are more F1 fans and more F1 journalists than rally.

    Q: (Lennart Boemhof – Volksrant) Question to all drivers. Last year Daniel set a lap record here. With the cars getting faster each year, is it getting harder to race here in Monaco? Is the circuit getting harder?

    DR: Last year was pretty easy!

    But is it getting harder?

    DR: For some! Ah, it’s all good. We also grow with the cars. I think any car, if you’re pushing any car on the limit, it feels fast, whether it’s a 1m10 or a 1m20s. So, I look back at the onboard lap of last year and I see places where I think ‘ah, could be quicker here’ – so it’s never fast enough.

    VB: Yeah, every year with the cars getting faster, it gets even more intense – but like Daniel said, we get used to the cars, and the speed and, in the end, we would prefer to go still a lot quicker – but for sure it’s quick, and it’s going to be fun.

    CL: I’ve only driven once here in Formula One, so from Formula 2 it was a huge step up and it really felt extremely quick. To be honest, in no other places do I have a similar feeling that I have here in qualifying. I think to be so close to the walls and also, it’s a bit like a karting track, you have no rest, and this just feels amazing. Then in the race, of course it’s quite difficult to overtake. Overall, the quali lap is just the best moment of the weekend for me, as a driver.

    Max, has it got more difficult as the cars have got quicker?

    MV: I would say easier – because you have more grip, compared to 2015-16 where the car was just sliding around a lot more. The only thing is, if you want to overtake with these wide cars, it’s almost impossible – because if the guy just stays in the middle, you can’t really do a lot – but I guess that’s why you have to make sure you do well in quali.

    Robert, are you expecting a very different challenge this weekend?

    RK: I’m expecting a unique experience. Definitely it will not be easy but it is never easy when you are trying to bring whatever car you drive to the limit. As everybody mentioned, the more grip you have, the faster you go – but also it makes things more simple in some ways. But still, it’s always a very challenge track.

    Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Valtteri, you’re obviously replacing Lewis today for this press conference. How is he, have you had a chance to have a chat with him today?

    VB: Yeah, I saw him today. Everything was normal. I just got a request from our marketing team to be in the press conference. So that’s all I know really. He seemed OK.

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Daniel, when you were here last year, obviously it was a pretty strong performance from you all weekend. You made your mark and I guess this is a slightly different situation coming here twelve months later. Renault’s been very honest about the performance so far. When you joined the team, you were very realistic and said that you weren’t expecting to fight for wins this year but five races in, how would you assess… or your feelings with the move so far and what are the changes in the background to try and improve the team’s fortunes?

    DR: Yeah, it’s been a… there’s still certainly a process. I wouldn’t say I’m surprised by anything. Obviously we would have hoped for better results than what we’ve currently got and we all want that and we’re all honest enough to admit that but as you’ve said, I didn’t really… it would have been nice to get a few more seventh places as opposed to struggling for the top tens. Yeah, we didn’t expect to be in podium contention or anything, certainly not at this stage, but I still see what I saw when I signed as far as the input that everyone’s having and the infrastructure is still going up. Motivation certainly hasn’t dipped, by any means. It’s going to take a bit more time but I’m certainly trying as well and doing everything I can. I feel that also, everything that I’ve put in has really been taken on board and the team is certainly willing to grow and learn. I’m not saying it’s all me but at least my input has been quite positive, I think. I’m enjoying it, I really am. Obviously I would love to get better results but as an environment I am enjoying it so hopefully a special weekend here and that will kick things off nicely.

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) A couple of years ago, when Alonso made his Indy debut, F1 was extremely impressed with how well he did. Obviously you will know that he failed to qualify for this year. How much of a surprise is that to you and perhaps it shows that the difficulty was a bit underestimated? Two or three drivers? Perhaps Daniel, Valtteri and Robert?

    DR: Personally, because I’ve never done it – driven an IndyCar or been on an oval – I never really had an expectation for Alonso. I didn’t know how easy or difficult it would be. Obviously I had confidence that he would be able to hop in and be relatively competitive, because I think he’s obviously a very very good driver and very capable and still very motivated and driven, so I think that showed in 2017, was it? But I guess, as well, this year it looks like obviously you need… you’ve got to be a good driver but set-up and all those things at those margins is so important. I don’t know the ins and outs but everything needs to work right and that’s the thing with race cars, it’s a love-hate relationship. Obviously this year for him was more of a hate one. It’s sad to see; obviously, as part of the F1 family, we want to see him do well but yeah, for reasons I honestly couldn’t understand or explain… I’m not in that world.

    VB: I can’t say that much because I didn’t really follow… for sure I heard that they didn’t qualify and there was some issue with some of the test days and stuff like this but to be honest, before that I didn’t even know it was happening.

    RK: Not a lot to add, I would say. I would never comment on something that I don’t know enough information. Looking at the classification it’s too easy to arrive at the wrong assumptions or conclusions. Fernando, we know what a great driver he is and he showed two years ago that he was fighting there and even winning on debut. This year it didn’t work but there is not a lot to say.

    Q: (Maximilian Werdl – Mannheimer Morgen) Mr Leclerc, after the hard start for Ferrari, how would you describe the atmosphere in the team?

    CL: Quite calm, I think. We are all working extremely hard. Obviously the engineers are trying to understand and trying to push the team forward but overall I think we are all quite calm which is needed. We obviously want to improve so everyone is pushing very hard, as I’ve said but I think the most important thing is that the serenity in the team doesn’t change which it doesn’t for now.

    Q: (Pierre van Vliet – F1i) Charles, do you think that rain can maybe help you in fighting Mercedes and Red Bull this weekend and if so, how big are your chances to win your very first Grand Prix at home?

    CL: Obviously Monaco is already quite a lottery in the dry so I think in the rain it will add a little bit more of that so it can go in either way but it should be exciting if it rains. Whether it will help us or not I don’t really know but yeah, I would like it to rain, actually, for qualifying to change things a little bit. In Monaco we don’t see rain very often, so it would be nice.

    Q: (Daniel Ortelli – F1 Only) Max, how surprised are you by the level of performance of your Honda engine since the beginning of the season, and do you think it’s a good engine for this track – although it’s not an engine track?

    MV: I’m not really surprised, because it was all just targeted and they delivered what they promised so just a continuous process which is going really well and I really enjoy working with them. They really take it all very seriously and they are very professional so I’m always working with a big smile on my face and of course, we know that we still have to improve but from both sides, not just the engine side. We are working very closely together to try and do that and of course this track is normally a little bit more competitive for us.

    Q: (George Boulton – The Sun) Charles, growing up in these streets, what were your memories of watching it with your friends and probably being the most popular man in Monaco this weekend? How are your feelings and pressures coming into this?

    CL: My first memory of the Grand Prix – I was probably about four, something like this. I always kept this image in my head: I was at a friend’s apartment, out of turn one, playing with the small cars, watching the Grand Prix at the same time – I think Michael was at Ferrari – obviously watching the red cars more than the others and yeah, just enjoying and dreaming of being there one day. Yeah, as I’ve said before, it feels great to be at home.

    Q: (Arjan Schouten – AD Sportswereld) Max, a year ago, here in Monaco, I think it was the location – and correct me if I’m wrong – of your last personal mistake. With everybody speaking about you, they always say ‘after that, he became more mature.’ How do you see that yourself?

    MV: Well, I think not only after that, I think in general, it’s life. I’m getting older, general life experience but yes, sometimes you have to make mistakes to become a better driver and so this was one of them.

    Q: (Luis Vasconcelos – Formula Press) Valtteri, you lost, at the start, the last two pole positions and here it’s clearly a place where nobody wants to a lose a place at the start. Have you got to the bottom of what went wrong in Barcelona and well, and what has been done to prevent a repetition of that?

    VB: Yeah, for sure, we went through all the details and things to improve from my side and the team’s side as usual and yeah, we can see the cause of it. For sure, that clutch physically is out from the pool but also there were things on the control side in that unfortunate moment which being on the grip limit allowed some hesitation and variation on the clutch torque. We’ve done changes to prevent that. Hopefully it will not happen again and we move on.

  • Bottas edges ahead of Vettel; Hamilton in 4th behind Verstappen: FP2

    Bottas edges ahead of Vettel; Hamilton in 4th behind Verstappen: FP2

    Valtteri tops FP2 on Friday. An FIA image

    Shanghai, 12 April 2019: FIA Formula One World Championship title leader Valtteri Bottas took top spot in second practice, narrowly beating Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel in the Chinese Grand Prix, the third round of the Formula One World Championship.

    Vettel topped the morning session in Shanghai using medium compound Pirelli tyres, with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton second and Bottas fifth on soft rubber, but in the FP2 performance runs the Silver Arrows improved, with Bottas eventually edging Vettel by a little under three hundredths of a second and with Hamilton fourth behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

    After the teams’ early runs, which focused on hard and medium tyres, Vettel was the first to bolt on a set of soft tyres and test his Ferrari’s raw pace. The German set a time of 1m33.357s, but Bottas soon moved past that benchmark, a quick middle sector giving him a 0.027s advantage over the Ferrari driver.

    Verstappen slotted into third in an encouraging session for Red Bull. In the morning session the Dutch driver had finished almost half a second off Vettel’s P1 pace but in the afternoon, and on a softer tyre, but in the afternoon he ended the session just 0.221s behind Bottas and almost half-a-second faster than Hamilton, who failed to stitch together a convincing hot lap on softs.

    Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg took fifth place just under 0.6s behind Hamilton, while McLaren’s Carlos Sainz was sixth fastest, 0.045s behind the works Renault, and 0.017s ahead of the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc whose session was ended after 13 laps due to a technical problem.

    Lando Norris gave McLaren hope of a strong weekend with eighth place, with the rookie finish just over a tenth off Leclerc.

    Daniel Ricciardo, in the second Renault, was ninth and a second off the pace, while Red Bull Racing’s Pierre Gasly finished in 10th place.

    Elsewhere, Daniil Kvyat missed much of the session as his team replaced the Honda power unit in his Toro Rosso while Haas’ Romain Grosjean was forced back to the garage briefly when his front wing broke.

    2019 Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
    1 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 37 1:33.330
    2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 33 1:33.357 0.027 0.027
    3 Max Verstappen Red Bull 29 1:33.551 0.221 0.194
    4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 32 1:34.037 0.707 0.486
    5 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 31 1:34.096 0.766 0.059
    6 Carlos Sainz Jr. McLaren 36 1:34.141 0.811 0.045
    7 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 13 1:34.158 0.828 0.017
    8 Lando Norris McLaren 38 1:34.296 0.966 0.138
    9 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 32 1:34.336 1.006 0.040
    10 Pierre Gasly Red Bull 32 1:34.455 1.125 0.119
    11 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo 33 1:34.551 1.221 0.096
    12 Alex Albon Toro Rosso 37 1:34.634 1.304 0.083
    13 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 20 1:34.694 1.364 0.060
    14 Lance Stroll Racing Point 37 1:34.779 1.449 0.085
    15 Sergio Perez Racing Point 35 1:34.784 1.454 0.005
    16 Kevin Magnussen Haas 34 1:34.788 1.458 0.004
    17 Romain Grosjean Haas 32 1:35.704 2.374 0.916
    18 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo 40 1:35.914 2.584 0.210
    19 Robert Kubica Williams 38 1:36.121 2.791 0.207
    20 George Russell Williams 35 1:36.229 2.899 0.108

  • The competition is incredibly tight in the midfield this year, says Racing Point’s Andrew Green

    Shanghai, 12 April 2019: Team representatives who attended the FIA Friday Press Conference ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix, the third round of the FIA Formula One World Championship: – Mattia BINOTTO (Ferrari), Toto WOLFF (Mercedes), Toyoharu TANABE (Honda), Andrew GREEN (Racing Point)

    Transcript:

    Gentlemen, welcome. I’d like to start by taking a moment to reflect on this being the 1000th world championship race for Formula 1, and to ask each of you why you got involved in Formula 1? What triggered your passion for this great sport? Andrew, perhaps we could start with you.

    Andrew GREEN: So, this is my, not quite 500th, but close… 1991 I think was my first race and I was not quite out of college, maybe two years out of college and for me it was the Sunday afternoons sitting down watching those guys racing wheel-to-wheel that really gave me the buzz. That’s why I went to college to study engineering; that’s where I wanted to be. At the time my passion was also cricket. One of the guys I used to play cricket with was Rory Byrne. He was the one who inspired me to write off to all the chiefs and offer my services for free. And that’s how I got into F1 and motorsport all those years ago.

    Q: Thank you. Toto?

    Toto WOLFF: Less holistic. I was interested in racing cars when I made my driving licence actually but didn’t follow Formula 1 at all, although Austria had a great history of Formula 1 racing drivers. But I somehow got into the sport by the finance side. The passion for racing cars in general and then the business side of Formula 1, that encapsulates everything that the business covers around motor racing that somehow attracted me, a few years ago only.

    Q: Thank you, Toto. Mattia?

    Mattia BINOTTO: On my side, since I was a child I was watching the races with my grandfather. He was a fantastic, passionate [supporter] of motorsport, but especially of Ferrari. When, as myself, living in Switzerland, you were looking at the red cars, they are something special for Italy, so it was something important for me. So it was since I was a child really a dream, of being part of F1 but even more being part of Ferrari. And to this it might feel even like a mission – try to preserve what is the heritage of this sport and Ferrari.

    Q: Thanks, and Tanabe-san?

    Toyoharu TANABE: Since I was a child I’m very interested in the car. Then, in Japan, we actually didn’t have a lot of racing in that era. But then Honda started Formula 1 as their second era. Then I joined Honda and then after joining Honda I asked my boss: ‘I want to work in Formula 1’. And now I’m working for Formula 1.

    Q: Mission accomplished. Thank you all. A few more questions. Tanabe-san, if we can stay with you: it’s been a very solid start for Honda so far in 2019. How satisfied are you and can you close the gap to Ferrari and Mercedes?

    TT: So far, we have started this season with a reasonable performance and reasonable results. But reasonable means not fantastic yet and you see clearly you see there is still a big gap between the top runners and us. So we really need to push to improve our performance, to compete with our competitors here. But we understand it is not to improve our performance immediately but we’ll keep pushing through the year.

    Q: What do you think is the performance gap between yourselves and Ferrari and Mercedes?

    TT: I don’t tell you specific number but you see the gap at the track.

    Q: Thank you. Andrew if I could come to you, please. How do you assess Racing Point’s start to the season and what sort of progress are you making with the car?

    AG: It’s been a difficult start. I think the competition is incredibly tight in the midfield this year – tighter than I’ve known it for a long time. I think we’re just slightly behind. We’re not a long way behind but I think our weaknesses were probably exposed in the first couple of races. We’ve got a plan to obviously bring us back to our target level of performance, it’s going to take some time, but I think we have to remember that the car was originally conceived in the mid to late part of last year, when the team was in serious trouble. We were really struggling at that point. We had to make quite a few decisions about the car and the architecture of the car back then, not really knowing what was going to happen with the team, whether there was even going to be a team. We are still getting out of that. It will still take some time. We’re in a much better place now, but improvements take time. It takes time to build the infrastructure up to where we need it to be. It’s easy now to say that we have the bills paid at the end of each month, which we never used to be able to say, so it’s one less thing to worry about. But there are more things to think about, as far as the performance of the car, where we’re going in the future, which is something we’re thinking about a lot, where the regulations are going and where we’re going to go in the future. There’s a lot to think about now.

    Q: And a quick word on Lance Stroll as well. It’s his first season with the team. How is he bedding in, what are your first impressions?

    AG: First impressions are really good. We saw it at the end of last year when he tested for us post-Abu Dhabi. We could see the talent was there; he’s got some raw talent. We saw it in the simulator as well. He’s done a huge amount of work off-season with us. His dedication is incredible. His enthusiasm is incredible. He’s fitted into the team I think really well, really well, and I think he’s got a bright future ahead of him.

    Q: Mattia, losing the Bahrain Grand Prix must have been very tough on everybody in the team but particularly Charles Leclerc. What did you say to him? How could you comfort him after the race?

    Mattia BINOTTO: Losing was tough but even more probably frustrating but giving us even more boost for the following races and for here in China. To Charles, what I told him, I think he did a great race, he did a great quali a great race but more than that, I think he has been fantastic on the post-race comments, showing that he’s really a mature driver. So, simply telling him good job but we’re more happy with what you did after the race and during the entire weekend. And that’s enough. Because then I think all of us are simply looking ahead at the next challenge.

    Q: Was there any reoccurrence of the problem during the test session in Bahrain after the race?

    MB: No, not during the testing, so that’s a problem that occurs only once during the race. Never at the bench, never during testing, never in practices. Ten laps or 12 laps to the end of the race, whatever it was. I think on reliability, you need to be strong, on quality, you need to be strong, but it may always happen and I think it was really unlucky the way it happened. We changed all our units here in China for precaution, even on the other car, so even on Seb’s. Not because the one of Seb got the issues so far, but I think at the moment it’s the best way to protect ourselves with the issue we have. And then we try somehow to understand and verify the quality of all the units we have installed.

    Q: And just a quick word if we may on Mick Schumacher who was testing one of your cars in that Bahrain test. How do you assess his performance?

    MB: To assess the performance, I think it is very difficult because first, the weather conditions were very bad on that day and because at the end I think that the objective was not really to assess the performance. It was his very first day on an F1 car; more important for him still in the learning phase, day-by-day, is facing a completely new challenge in his F2 season. I think what was certainly positive was the way he approached the exercise, the approach to the day of testing, never pushing to the limit, trying to improve run-by-run, learning the car, learning the team, and I think in that respect he did a very good job: very well focussed, concentrated and tried to do the proper job and learn. I think that’s the most you may expect on such a day.

    Q: Did you see any similar character traits with his father?

    MB: The very first time I saw him after many years in Maranello, when he came back. If you looked at him, I don’t think he’s looking very similar to Michael but the way he’s behaving is very similar, and the way he’s approaches the exercise and the way he’s interested in the car, discussing it with the technicians. So even in Maranello, you are looking after him, but he’s always in the workshop looking at the car, speaking with the mechanics, and I think that’s very similar to his father.

    Q: Toto, you’re leading both of the World Championships but what do you feel is the reality in terms of performance at the moment?

    Toto WOLFF: It’s nice to lead the two championships, obviously you’d rather lead than not lead, but we have seen two very different grands prix. We had a very high level of performance in Melbourne, compared to Ferrari, and not a great level in the second level in Bahrain – but it was not only compared to Ferrari, also you benchmark yourself to the other teams and I think that was a race where we didn’t perform as we should have done – but we’ve always said there was one race that was the race over the winter: who comes out of the blocks best; and then there will be the development race throughout the season, and this is certainly a challenging situation for us, as it will be for all the other teams and good for the sport, I think, that you can’t really predict who’s going to win the race on Sunday.

    Q: And a quick word on Valtteri Bottas. He’s leading the World Championship. Are you seeing anything different from him this season, compared to previous?

    TW: It’s this mania depression of Formula One that people are being written up and written down and after Melbourne he was the reinvented superstar and World Championship contender and after the next race again it was not the case. I think we just need to let them go on with the Championship. He has started the weekend well today. I think it’s the same Valtteri we have seen in the last years. He has all that he needs to compete on a high level, to fight for race victories and eventually championships. I see the same guy.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Stuart Codling – Autosport) Question for Toto. Lewis said yesterday that, if Ferrari have established an advantage on the engine side, it will be much more difficult to catch up than if they’d established an advantage on the aero side. Could you elucidate a little bit on that? Is it a factor of the tightness of the regulatory box or the inherent risks of pushing engine development?

    TW: First of all, what needs to be said – because when I read articles it’s always not accurately reflected – if somebody does a good job, he does a good job, and that’s fact. And whether he has a good engine and out-performs all the others, or he has a decent amount of downforce and goes quicker around the corners, that is irrelevant. It is always about the performance of the package. As we have seen, Ferrari operating in Bahrain, they were superior to all the other teams and there was massive engine power on the straight – but it’s not always engine power. Obviously, drag levels are playing an important role in the calculation. This is something we need to evaluate. This morning there was a frightening lap of Sebastian again, in straight line speed – but it is what it is, we have to stretch ourselves and fight and extract performance out of the chassis and extract performance out of the power unit and certainly see. Having a benchmark like that helps and motivates.

    Q: (Julien Billotte – AutoHebdo) Question to Mattia. At the beginning of the season you said that Sebastian will be given priority status in some situations in the early part of the season. Could that philosophy shirt and change towards Charles if he were to repeat the sort of races we saw from him in Bahrain?

    MB: Certainly as a team we need to give the priority to the team and try to maximise the team’s points at the end of the race. As I said at the start of the season, if there is any 50-50 situation where we need to take a decision, the advantage would have been given to Sebastian simply because Sebastian has got most of the experience with the team in F1. He won four championships and certainly for us he’s the driver who has most probability to challenge for the title. Something we agreed with both drivers is, in a few races’ time, things may change for whatever reason – bad luck or whatever could be the situation – we may change our position, no doubt. But on the track, they’re free to fight, on the track I think if there is one driver who is certainly faster, he will get the advantage. I think that Charles, as a matter of fact, he had an opportunity to be in pole in Bahrain, he had the opportunity to fight for the win and he had position in Bahrain.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines / racefans.net) Andrew and Toto, your two companies have recently signed an agreement for Racing Point to use the Mercedes wind tunnel. When does this become effective? What are you trying to achieve through it, Andrew? And then finally, why should we not see this as a precursor to a Haas-Ferrari-type deal?

    AG: Later this year we’ll be moving into the Mercedes tunnel in Brackley for purely efficiency reasons. Our aero department happens to be located in Brackley; Mercedes wind tunnel happens to be located in Brackley. It’s a lot easier to go testing in Brackley than it is in Cologne. So, when it was offered as an opportunity for us to go testing there, it was an obvious choice.

    And Toto, a closer affiliation between the two teams?

    TW: Well, first of all, we are not doing a Haas-Ferrari model because Haas was a new entry, a team created from scratch. These guys exist for a long time. I don’t see what’s so bad in a Haas-Ferrari model actually. We have enabled somebody that was keen to enter Formula One in setting up a team, with the cooperation with Ferrari it got out of the blocks really well, and fights solidly in the midfield. I think that’s good for Formula One. Our model is very different. For the reasons stated before, Andy and his team know pretty well what they want to achieve with the car, they have a solid technical group of people and will go in that direction. They will be using some of our infrastructure and we will see where that moves for the 2021 regulations. Once these are carved out, we will decide which of the areas we want to collaborate and where it is possible, regulatory-wise.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action, Speedsport) Tanabe-san, one year ago you had one team, now you have two teams. How much faster, how much improved is your rate of development?

    TT: Yes, so we can get double data compared to the one team (with) two teams and then there are some differences in the team philosophies or ways of working and we learned a lot. Then, not only twice but also more than twice we can receive information and then we had a different driver – four drivers with different characteristics and driving, slightly. It’s very hard how much in some things but two teams appear to supply and accelerate our development definitely.

    Q: (Alessandra Retico – La Repubblica) Mattia, Montezemolo said in an interview with my newspaper that you are at risk, in his opinion, to be alone inside the Scuderia, because there is no one to talk with because the president, John Elkan is not so experienced in Formula One and CEO Camilleri is a great manager of course but his job is on the financial side of the company. And like it was Ross Brawn with Jean Todt and Montezemolo himself. Do you have any comment on that?

    MB: I didn’t read the article, first, but I think that that’s completely wrong. I got the full support from my chairman and my CEO. I think that both John and Louis are great men, certainly very supportive to the team and I think that I have got plenty of people in Maranello to speak with so I’m well supported by my colleagues and I think that somehow we are quite a big and hungry team with plenty of competence and skills so I think I feel fully supported and hopefully I will have a long life in the team.

    Q: (David Coath – Motorlat.com) Toto, we are celebrating the launch of the esports series China championship this weekend. I’m wondering if you are able to see much of the e-sports work, considering you have the reigning championship yourself?

    TW: Yes, the virtual world was something I needed to get used to but interestingly, when you watch an esports F1 race there is almost no difference in how you perceive it than on a real on-board so it’s crazy to see how technology develops and the graphics have matured. We obviously enjoy very much. We have set up this programme where we are trying to give young kids a framework around their capabilities, it’s not only the driving and the coaching around but we are giving them a 360 degree support programme. They are little Mercedes works drivers and winning the championship last year was the icing on the cake. You can say somehow that we’ve done it in the real world and we’ve done it in the virtual world and again, as I’ve said before, you’d rather win that one than not. Yeah, I’m happy to see how that develops.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines, Racefans.net) Toto and Matteo, following the Liberty meeting, now that you’ve had time to reflect on what they presented, do your two teams have any red lines about what was presented, particularly with reference to the revenue, the governance and the cost-caps?

    TW: (To MB: He is wearing red, he has many red lines). That is a work in progress. I think the meeting was good because in the meeting we… most of Liberty’s thoughts and proposals were made clear to the teams on the cost-cap, on technical regulations and sporting regulations going forward and that was important for us to really open up a thought process around it and this is still very much happening. And in each of those areas, we seem to have an alignment on what we want to achieve. Formula One needs regulations, Formula One needs to stay high tec but on the other side we recognise that if there are areas where we can save costs because these things are not visible to the fans, then we really need to look at them. On the cost-cap, for the big teams, I think it’s an intelligent step to contain the escalation of costs. We are fighting each other with more and more resource and if we are able to stop that and reduce it, it will be for the benefit of all of us, of our bottom lines and eventually it will decrease the funding gap between the smaller teams and the big teams and I think if we were to achieve that in the first step, that’s already a good step going forward. And because of the nature of things, in terms of the prize fund redistribution, nobody’s ever going to be happy. You would want to obviously maximise and optimise on your situation that everybody’s going to have pretty decent arguments why they should have more and this is a discussion which really has just started in my opinion, but obviously, I would say, a good first step.

    MB: I think that Toto’s answered well. But I think yes, I think this is the start of the discussion and we’ve got some more clarity. I think it’s important to collaborate, be open with each other. As Toto said, we’ve got common objectives, us and F1. Pretty sure that we will find the right compromise if only through discussions, that we may find it, as we did for the power unit. I think we adopted a change, we considered that we were very back, finally we decided for a common good result which everybody was almost happy with the compromise. I think that’s the same for the revenues, we did the same for the governance, the budget cap, all the technical matters; it’s a discussion on-going but collaboration and discussions are all positive so even if there are some distances at the moment, I’m pretty sure we will find the right compromise at the end.

    Q: (Stuart Codling – Autosport) Andrew, just to follow up on Dieter’s question from earlier about the wind tunnel: you take a Mercedes complete power train and now will be using the wind tunnel.  Do you think this is as far as anyone should be allowed to go in terms of team affiliation?

    AG: I hope not, because we take their gearbox and hydraulics as well. I’d like that to stay. I think that’s everything that is being discussed for 2021, I think that’s all on the agenda that Toto was referencing earlier and it is what I was referencing earlier as well. It’s where we go forward as a team, thinking ahead for 2021. We want to build our team to be the most efficient team based around those regulations and when those regulations are finalised we will have a clear idea of what we need to do.

  • Leclerc’s late-race engine problem allows Hamilton to win Bahrain GP

    Leclerc’s late-race engine problem allows Hamilton to win Bahrain GP

    Hami consoles Leclerc after winning the Bahrain GP. An FIA image

    Sakhir, 31 March 2019: Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was denied a first Formula One victory by a late-race engine problem that allowed Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton to sweep past and claim his first win of 2019 in the Bahrain Grand Prix, the second round of the Formula One World Championship here on Sunday.

    Leclerc had led for the bulk of the race, but in the closing stages began to slow and reported an engine problem that was quickly diagnosed as an issue with the turbo. His pace flagged dramatically and at the end of the 48thlap of the 57 scheduled, Hamilton powered past to claim the lead. He was followed by Mercedes’ team-mate Valtteri Bottas, and Leclerc might have lost out on his first podium finish had a late Safety Car period denied Red Bull’s Max Verstappen the opportunity to also pass the Monegasque driver.

    When the lights went out at the start, Sebastian Vettel got the jump on polesitter Leclerc and seized the lead. Bottas, too, exploited the situation and muscled past the young Ferrari driver to take P2.

    Hamilton then tried to pressure Leclerc and as they tussled, Verstappen, who had started fifth, tried to slip down the inside of both in the final corner. He couldn’t make the move stick, however, and settled into fifth place.

    After his first lap difficulties, Leclerc quickly recovered and went on the assault. He pushed past Bottas at the start of lap two and then powered past Vettel under DRS into turn one at the start of the next lap to reclaim the lead.

    Leclerc maintained his lead through the first stops, but Hamilton managed to get past Vettel to take P2. The German was now third ahead of Bottas and Max, who took on medium tyres during a superb 2.1s pit stop.

    On lap 23 Vettel closed in on Hamilton and powered past the defending champion around the outside through Turn 4. Leclerc though was now 7.5s ahead of his team-mate. Behind Hamilton, Bottas was fourth, four seconds ahead of Verstappen.

    Now third, Hamilton pitted soon after the halfway mark and shed his soft tyres for a set of medium Pirellis, a move that was repeated on the following tour by Vettel.

    Vettel emerged ahead but the gap was narrow and the Mercedes driver was soon on the attack. He tried to pass in Turn 4 but was rebuffed by Vettel who held his line well. Hamilton was not to be denied, however, and on the following lap he made the move stick. Vettel spun following the pass and recovered but soon afterward his front wing mysteriously collapsed and he was forced to pit for repairs, dropping to P9. That bumped Verstappen to fourth place behind Bottas, with five seconds separating the Red Bull from the Mercedes.

    With a dozen laps to go the shape of the race changed. Leclerc began to complain of engine issues and as his lap times increased dramatically he was told that he had “no H recover”, signalling a turbo issue.

    At the end of lap 48 Hamilton swept past to claim the lead and with third-placed Bottas lapping five seconds quicker than the Monegasque the prospect of a Mercedes one-two came into view.

    By lap 51 Leclerc’s advantage over Bottas was just 15.9s and Max was a further 6.6s behind. After Bottas powered past Leclerc, Max closed in fast, but then with just four laps remaining the works Renaults of Nico Hulkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo expired. With Ricciardo’s car close to the trackside, the Safety Car was deployed and Max’s chance of a podium frustratingly evaporated and he was forced to settle for fourth place.

    With Max fourth behind race winner Hamilton, Bottas and Leclerc, fifth place went to Vettel. Lando Norris took sixth for McLaren, with Kimi Räikkönen seventh ahead of Gasly. The final points positions were taken by Toro Rosso’s Alex Albon and Racing Point’s Sergio Perez.

    2019 FIA Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix – Race
    1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes –
    2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 2.980
    3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 6.131
    4 Max Verstappen Red Bull 6.408
    5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 36.068
    6 Lando Norris McLaren 45.754
    7 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo 47.470
    8 Pierre Gasly Red Bull 58.094
    9 Alex Albon Toro Rosso 1’02.697
    10 Sergio Perez Racing Point 1’03.696
    11 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo 1’04.599
    12 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1 lap
    13 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1 lap
    14 Lance Stroll Racing Point 1 lap
    15 George Russell Williams 1 lap
    16 Robert Kubica Williams 2 laps
    17 Nico Hulkenberg Renault
    18 Daniel Ricciardo Renault
    19 Carlos Sainz Jr. McLaren
    Romain Grosjean Haas

  • It is my best race ever, I need to enjoy today says, Valtteri Bottas

    It is my best race ever, I need to enjoy today says, Valtteri Bottas

    Valtteri Bootas (centre) and Lewis Hamilton (left) at the Press Conference along with Max Verstappen on Sunday. An FIA image

    Melbourne, 17 March 2019: Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes AMG Petronas team who won the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday along with teammate Lewis Hamilton who finished second ahead of Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing attended the FIA post-race Press Conference.

    The track interviews are done by former F1 driver Martin Brundle. Transcript:

    Q: Valtteri, the race of your life?

    Valtteri BOTTAS: I think so! I don’t know what just happened.

    Q: What a perfect start, to get away.

    VB: I don’t know what to say. It was definitely my best race ever. I don’t know what happened. I felt so good and everything was under control. The car was so good today. So truly enjoyable. I need to enjoy today.

    Q: You made it a one-horse race. Twenty-six world championship points with the fastest lap. You were determined to have that fastest lap.

    VB: Yeah, definitely. It’s a new rule for this year. As I had really strong pace I wanted to go for that in the end and it’s always a bit risky with worn tyres but it was worth it. I’m just so happy and I can’t wait for the next race.

    Q: A one-two for the team, congratulations Lewis, second place, but maybe a bit of a frustrating day for you?

    Lewis HAMILTON: No it’s been a good weekend for the team, so I have to be happy for everyone and a really fantastic job from everyone. Valtteri drove an incredible race today, so he truly deserved it. We’ve just got some work to do. Still, it’s a great, great start to the year, more than we could have hoped as a team.

    Q: Max launched an attack on you at the end. Did you have it covered?

    LH: Yeah, no problem at all.

    Q: Any idea where the pace may have gone to?

    LH: I do have some ideas, but I’ll wait until I sit with my engineers to go over it. Naturally, position at the start was a little bit frustrating, especially when you have a good weekend up to that point but that’s how the game goes and I’ll just train and work hard to try and improve the next time.

    Podium place for Max Verstappen. You had an interesting afternoon.

    Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, I had to overtake Seb to get onto the podium, which is not easy around here, so I was happy to pull that move off, and also challenging Lewis for second, so, yeah, pretty pleased with that.

    You had the Ferraris covered. You had a little trip across the grass, probably took you back from behind Lewis. But you were still coming at him.

    MV: Yeah, it was unfortunate but I don’t think it would have changed the end result.

    So, reasonably happy with today?

    MV: Of course. To start the season on the podium, challenging the Mercedes car ahead, I think that’s a very positive start for us. Also a big well done to the team, after the difficult Friday we had. And also big thanks to Honda, also their first podium in the V6 era, so very happy for them.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Well Valtteri you said on the podium that you had porridge for breakfast but was there any indication in practice that you were going to be able to unlock that sort of performance from the car? 

    VB: Well, first of all, as a team, in practice we saw that we were strong, both in short runs and long runs, but obviously it’s impossible to draw a proper conclusion but we saw the raw pace yesterday in qualifying, as a team, with a good margin to Ferrari, and today race pace was strong – much stronger than we expected coming into this weekend. That’s obviously good news. It shows that we have definitely done all the right things between the testing in terms of direction with the car. Also, for myself, it was definitely the best race I’ve had in my life. Obviously, the key thing for me was the race start, to get to the lead and then being at the front I could show strong pace and I could pull a gap. I think in the first stop I could also…. I stopped a bit later so I was a good tyre in the end. Just the car was feeling so good today, it was truly enjoyable.

    Q: Well, many congratulations. Lewis, it all seemed to slip away from you at the start. Tell us about that moment?

    LH: I don’t really remember much of it, honestly, it was quite a long time ago really. I don’t know, maybe I got wheelspin. It doesn’t really matter, Valtteri got a better start. Once we got to the first corner, we held position, we had the front row still. And Valtteri did an exceptional job throughout the race, so congratulations to him and after that it was just about bringing the car home.

    Q: You talked on the radio about maybe some tyres issues. Did that play out?

    LH: No, not really. I wasn’t entirely happy with the balance I had but it wasn’t the end of the world. It wasn’t a problem for me to finish second.

    Q: Thanks. Coming to you Max: If we had said to you before this race that you would finish 35 seconds ahead of the lead Ferrari, what would you have said?

    MV: I would tell you ‘we will find out on Sunday’. Winter testing doesn’t really show the true picture, as you can see this weekend. We had a good car. In the start, stayed out of trouble. It was just very hard to stay close to Seb, as my tyres were overheating very quickly. I just did my own pace, a manageable pace, and we could extend our stint a little bit and then when we did the pit stop afterwards we had a bit fresher tyres than Lewis and Seb ahead. I managed to get by Seb, which is not easy around this track, because it’s just so hard to follow. But very happy to get to third. Trying to challenge for second was a very positive feeling, especially after my Friday. At the end we couldn’t pull it off, but in general I’m juts very happy to be on the podium. I think we managed to turn it around in a very positive way after Friday and for Honda to have their first podium in the V6 era is a great start, so big congrats to them.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: Question for Max. How did you find the Honda engine after your first race with it – and do you think you’ll be capable enough to compete for top spot?

    MV: Well, I think in terms of speed we had throughout the race, it was again a very good step forward to last year. If I just compare top speeds against the other two top teams, so I’m very pleased for that. Also, in general, the engine has been performing really well, without any issues. So, that is also very important. I guess time will tell if we can fight for top spot.

    Q: Max, obviously the performance of the Red Bull Honda package, evidenced by the fact you finished third – but how encouraging was it that you were not only able to finish third on the road but were able to push Lewis and show performance all the way to the end. It didn’t look like you were having to manage the package at all towards the end.

    MV: No, we didn’t. Well… you always have to manage the tyres because as soon as you get close to the car ahead they overheat, the tyres. In general, just very pleased, because I could at least have a go at it, in terms of top speed. Good progress, and there are a lot of positive things coming as well, and so far we have been working really well together. Very pleased with that. I think Valtteri was very far ahead still. It was a good result today, but we have to work hard to, of course, improve.

    Q: Congratulations Valtteri. For the first time in six years, a Finnish driver is leading the championship. How does it feel to be first time there as a leader?

    VB: Congrats to you as well! Thank you. Obviously, I don’t think I was ever leading a championship. Obviously I know it’s only the first race of the year. I’m not so good with the numbers of the days and statistics but all I can say is that I’m really pleased with the way the season has started. First of all for us as a team, we have such a strong package going forwards and then, for myself, after quite a tricky last year, to have started the season like this. It’s very good and I look forward to the next race.

    Q:  For everyone, how was it with the new aero package, following cars this weekend? In a race you find out more…

    MV: Ask Valtteri how it was following!

    LH: No different.

    No different to previous seasons?

    LH: No.

    You were pretty close to Lewis at the end there Max…

    MV: Yeah, I had no chance to get by. It is still very hard. The only positive thing what we improved is the DRS effect. So, as soon as it opens, it’s a lot more powerful than last year but following is still a lot of turbulence.

    Anything to add Valtteri, when you were coming through traffic…

    VB: It was quite… I didn’t get close enough to traffic ahead to really see a difference.

    Q: Valtteri, you drove the perfect race and your pitcrew was perfect as well. How does that make you feel when you know how much everyone in the team is giving?

    VB: It means a lot. It is teamwork and nothing comes for free. Or by one person’s efforts. We’ve all worked for this result we’ve got now as a team together, over the past years and over the winter, and over the weekend. I’m very proud of every single person here in the team at this race weekend but also at the factory. There’s many hidden heroes in Brackley and in Brixworth. Just want to say a massive thanks to them and I really know how much they work and how much it means.

    Q: Valtteri, was there any moment during the race that you had a flashback to Russia last year and you thought maybe someone might come on the radio and say ‘slow down’?

    VB: No, I didn’t think of that, actually, and there would be no reason to think about that. We are all starting a new season with zero points, we are here to fight, both me and Lewis will want to fight this season, for sure, against each other and against everyone and we are still one team so no point in thinking about those kind of things.

    Q: Valtteri, you said yesterday that you approached the weekend differently, started from zero. Can you explain how your preparation was different from last year, for instance?

    VB: Yeah, for sure every year you learn as a person, you learn about yourself, what works for you, what doesn’t work for you in terms of preparation and what preparation includes: how you rest, how you spend your free time, how you do the training, how much training, what kind, all those kind of things, travel plans, all sorts. So just trying to optimise everything for this year, try to maximise every single thing that is possible. I don’t know, it’s quite difficult to explain what’s been going on here last winter, inside of my head and definitely something changed in terms of the way I feel about things in life in general and in racing, but that’s all in my thoughts. I felt good in the car today and yesterday. That’s all that matters.

    Q: Max, I want to ask about your mindset and the first race without Daniel. Does it change not having to look sidewards and being able to focus on yourself and not focus as much on internals and have a weekend purely about your performance? Did it feel different today without Daniel?

    MV: Well, I always focused on myself so it’s not like something changes, from my side. No.

    Q: Lewis, can you tell us something about (how much) wheelspin you had, wheelspin at the start?

    LH: Yeah, probably too engaged with the clutch, probably, but I don’t really know because I won’t know ‘til I go back, but ultimately I didn’t do a good enough job.

    Q: Lewis, the build-up to this race has been very much about your team versus Ferrari, and many people in the room have written about that. Did we have it wrong? And you just fought off a Red Bull; is this now a three way fight for the championship between those three teams?

    LH: I don’t know if you wrote it wrong. It was supposed to be a three-way fight… I thought it was going to be a three-way fight so maybe you did write it wrong.

    Q: You really seemed to care about the fastest lap point at the end of the race. Would you say it will be a big deal during the season and will you be ready to take a lot of risks to get it?

    VB: Yeah, obviously it’s a point and if you get three of those or more it’s going to make a big difference at the end of the year. You never know. One point can make a difference in the end. For sure we’re willing to risk but still knowing that if you’re about to get 20 or 18 points or 15, whatever, they are still more important than getting one extra so you need to calculate the risk but today was worth it, within a stop for an extra set of tyres for it, but with the worn tyres I went for a quick lap and it was worth it.

    I just want to say, again, thank-you Charlie and I want to say that this win is for Charlie and all his work for Formula One. He’s done a massive amount and it means a lot to all of us drivers.

    LH: It’s 21 points so we’re going to fight for them.

    MV: There are 21 possible points you can get so it can help but like Valtteri said, at the end of the day it’s most important to score 25 or 18, 15, 10. Try to go for one more and then it goes wrong, it can happen sometimes but anyway, I think in some situations like today, I was pushing anyway to try and get Lewis so it happened that I was doing, at that time, the fastest lap. It’s nice if it happens.

  • Valtteri Bottas takes a dominant victory in season opener at Melbourne; Hami 2nd: F1

    Valtteri Bottas takes a dominant victory in season opener at Melbourne; Hami 2nd: F1

    Valtteri Bottas wins at Albert Park on Sunday. An FIA image

    Melbourne, 17 March 2019: Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas took a dominant Australian Grand Prix victory, finishing 20 seconds ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton and claiming the bonus point on offer for fastest at Melbourne’s Albert Park circuit in the season opener of the Formula One World Championship here on Sunday. Max Verstappen, meanwhile, got Red Bull Racing’s Honda-powered era off to a good start by handing the Japanese manufacturer its first podium finish since 2008 as he claimed third place beind the Mercedes duo.

    At the start, Bottas made a good start from the front row and managed to get past pole position man Hamilton in Turn 1 to take the lead. Max, meanwhile, held fourth place behind Vettel as the field streamed through the opening sector.

    There was trouble though for Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo. The Aussie took an inside line from P12 on the grid but was squeezed by Racing Point’s Sergio Perez. Ricciardo went on the grass, hit a hummock and dislodged his front wing. He pitted for a new nose and wing. The Australian later retired on lap 29.

    After taking the lead, Bottas then began to consolidate it, opening up a 3.5s gap to Hamilton by lap 12 of the 58 and a 7.2s lead to Vettel.

    The German Ferrari driver was the first of the leaders to pit at the end of lap 14, taking on medium tyres. He was followed on the next lap by Hamilton who made the same compound choice. Bottas, Verstappen and Leclerc continued to stayed out, however, and by lap 21 Bottas held a 14s advantage over Verstappen who was 10.3s clear of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

    Bottas eventually made his stop for medium tyres on lap 23. That handed the lead to Verstappen, with the Mercedes driver rejoining seven seconds behind the Red Bull and three seconds ahead of Leclerc.

    Verstappen was next in, at the end of lap 25, and a good stop of 2.3s saw him take on mediums and rejoin in P5 behind Vettel. Leclerc, though, still needed to make his stop for new tyres.

    The Monegasque drivers finally stopped for hard tyres on lap 28, leaving Bottas to lead Hamilton by 15s with Vettel third ahead of Verstappen.

    That order wouldn’t last long, however. After the stops, Verstappen found himself just half a second behind Vettel and on lap 30 he attacked. The Red Bull driver couldn’t make the move stick into Turn 1 but he then pulled alongside the German on the next straight and, thanks to fresher tyres, rounded the Ferrari through Turn 3 to slot into a podium position.

    Verstappen then tries to close on Hamilton but the Briton was able to respond and with Bottas in control at the front, the leading order settled.

    There was a flurry of action in the closing laps as Verstappen tried to steal fastest lap and the point on offer for the marker from Bottas. The Finn wasn’t to be denied however, and on lap 57 he punched in a 1:25.580 to take the bonus point.

    At the end of the next tour he took the fourth win of his career ahead of Hamilton and Verstappen. Fourth place went to Vettel, with Leclerc settling for fifthKevin Magnussen took sixth place for Haas ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen and Stroll held onto ninth ahead of the final points score, Kvyat.

    2019 Formula One Australian Grand Prix – Race
    1 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes –
    2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 20.886
    3 Max Verstappen Red Bull 22.520
    4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 57.109
    5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 58.230
    6 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1’27.156
    7 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1 lap
    8 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo 1 lap
    9 Lance Stroll Racing Point Mercedes 1 lap
    10 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1 lap
    11 Pierre Gasly Red Bull 1 lap
    12 Lando Norris McLaren 1 lap
    13 Sergio Perez Racing Point 1 lap
    14 Alex Albon Toro Rosso 1 lap
    15 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo 1 lap
    16 George Russell Williams 2 laps
    17 Robert Kubica Williams 3 laps
    Romain Grosjean Haas
    Daniel Ricciardo Renault
    Carlos Sainz McLaren

  • Hamilton fastest in FP2: Australian Grand Prix

    Hamilton fastest in FP2: Australian Grand Prix

    Hamilton leads FP2 on Friday in Melbourne. An FIA image

    Melbourne, 15 March 2019: Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time of second practice for the Australian Grand Prix, beating Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas with the defending champion team followed by the drivers of Red Bull and Ferrari.

    Hamilton claimed the top spot on the yellow-banded C2 medium compound on offer from Pirelli this weekend. The lap arrived midway through the 90-minute session and eventually left the five-time champion 0.048s clear of Bottas.

    Behind the Mercedes duo, Max Verstappen was third fastest for Honda-powered Red Bull, though the Dutchman was 0.8s slower than Hamilton, after delaying his performance run until the late stages of the session.

    Verstappen’s time of 1:23.400 put him four hundredths of a second clear of new team-mate Pierre Gasly.

    Ferrari, who saw Sebastian Vettel take P2 in the morning with a deficit of less than four hundredths of a second to Hamilton, had a more difficult second session both drivers complaining of handling issues.

    Vettel bolted on a set of red banded C3 Pirellis, the softest on offer at Albert Park later in the session and clawed his way to fifth place 0.873s off Hamilton. Team-mate Charles Leclerc finished the session in ninth place 0.281s behind Vettel. The Monegasque driver also had a spin during the session, losing control at the exit of Turn 4. The incident was a minor one, however, and he was able to continue on his way.

    As in the morning session, Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen was best-of-the-rest in sixth place, 0.972 behind Hamilton and just two thousands of a second clear of Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg. The German driver ended the session 0.070s ahead of his new team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.

    The top 10 order was completed by Haas’ Romain Grosjean who finished 1.214 off the P1 pace.

    2019 Formula One Australian Grand Prix – Free Practice 2 
    1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 33 1:22.600
    2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 33 1:22.648 0.048
    3 Max Verstappen Red Bull 33 1:23.400 0.800
    4 Pierre Gasly Red Bull 31 1:23.442 0.842
    5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 35 1:23.473 0.873
    6 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo 40 1:23.572 0.972
    7 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 37 1:23.574 0.974
    8 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 31 1:23.644 1.044
    9 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 35 1:23.754 1.154
    10 Romain Grosjean Haas 37 1:23.814 1.214
    11 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 36 1:23.933 1.333
    12 Kevin Magnussen Haas 27 1:23.988 1.388
    13 Lance Stroll Racing Point 38 1:24.011 1.411
    14 Carlos Sainz McLaren 26 1:24.133 1.533
    15 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo 37 1:24.293 1.693
    16 Sergio Perez Racing Point 34 1:24.401 1.801
    17 Alex Albon Toro Rosso 40 1:24.675 2.075
    18 Lando Norris McLaren 26 1:24.733 2.133
    19 George Russell Williams 32 1:26.453 3.853
    20 Robert Kubica Williams 33 1:26.655 4.055

  • Top drivers pay tributes to Charlie Whiting at the first press conference of the season: F1

    Melbourne, 14 March 2019: The first press conference of the season took place in Melbourne ahead of the season opener, the Australian Grand Prix Formula One World championship with drivers Lewis Hamilton, (Mercedes), Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari), Daniel Ricciardo (Renault), Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing), Robert Kubica (Williams) in attendance.

    Press Conference transcript: 

    We’re gathered under very sad circumstances, following the news that Charlie Whiting, the FIA’s Director of Formula One died during the early hours of this morning. I’d like to start this press conference by asking each of the drivers present for their thoughts and memories of Charlie. Lewis, could we start with you, please?

    Lewis HAMILTON: I’ve known Charlie since I started in 2007. I made some comments this morning on my Instagram. It may have not worked, as I think it’s down but obviously incredibly shocked this morning to hear the sad news and my thoughts and prayers are with him and his family. What he did for this sport, I mean, his commitment… he really was a pillar, as Toto said, such an iconic figure in the sporting world and he contributed so much for us, so may he rest in peace.

    Q: Sebastian?

    Sebastian VETTEL: Well I guess I was as shocked as we all are still now, when I head the news this morning, especially because I spoke to him yesterday and walked the track for the first couple of corners together with him. Difficult to grasp when somebody is just not there anymore. To add to what Lewis said. I’ve known him for a long time and he’s sort of been our man, the driver’s man. Obviously there are regulations and all that and then there is us and he was the middleman. He was someone you could ask anything of, anytime. He was open to everyone at any time. His door was always open. He was a racer. He was just a very nice guy. Shocked. I don’t think there’s that much to add. I think all our thoughts, the whole paddock, the whole circus, the whole family of Formula One; all our thoughts are with him and especially with his family in these difficult circumstances.

    Q: And Robert?

    Robert KUBICA: Well, as Seb says, and Lewis, it’s a hard moment. I saw Sebastian walking with Charlie yesterday and I thought I would not interrupt them because I would see him on Friday at the Drivers’ Briefing. Unfortunately this will not be the case. It’s very sad. He was kind of an icon of Formula One. He was, as Sebastian said, a racer, but also keeping up everything in the regulations. He was really the kind of a person you could always trust and commit. A very sad moment. My thoughts are with his family, but that’s how it is unfortunately.

    Q: And Max, please?

    Max Verstappen: I think as everybody said, I think it was a big shock, also because I spent the day with him in Geneva a few weeks ago and we had a good chat, just about a lot of things. When I left at the time, I was like “see you in Australia for another season of racing” and when you hear this news it‘s just unbelievable – just 66 years old. I guess we just have to appreciate every day and every morning you wake up and that you enjoy life, and that it’s not only about Formula One but there are a lot of other things in life and this is just one part of it. And yeah, I think at the moment what is most important is that the thoughts are going to his family and friend and close ones.

    Q: And Daniel?

    Daniel RICCIARDO: I echo everything. Not the nicest news to walk into. Taken aback by it, for sure. I’ll try to make it slightly more positive. As Seb said, he was there for us, and we gave him a hard time. We would really press him and push him and make him work, but he was always really receptive and you always felt like he was on our side. I guess we were like a broken record with a lot of the things we would complain about but he never really shut it down. He was always ears open. I think he did a lot for the sport. We’ll have some very nice and positive memories of him. I remember my first Aussie GP, in 2012, going up. I remember we were with Franz and he goes “go and introduce yourself to Charlie; it’s the start of a new season” and start the relationship on a good news. Time goes fast, but as Max touched on, it’s important just to appreciate it, each moment. You do take it for granted. I’m sure we’ll all race with a lot of passion this weekend and it’s just a reminder as well that we are all very lucky to be in this position.

    Q: Thank you all five of you. A couple more questions now to each of you, and Daniel, we’ll stay with you. Your home race, it’s always a busy build-up but how have the last few days been for you?

    DR: Busy! But it’s alright; I’m actually used to it now. It’s expected. But, you know, busy is good; it means people car and that they’re excited about the start of the season. A lot of things have changed. I’ve changed team and that’s created a lot of other change within the F1 paddock and other drivers moving teams. It’s been a pretty cool and pretty busy off-season for sure. Done some activities – drove a V8 Supercar yesterday; Max was saying he was a passenger today in one, so just chatting a little bit about that. It’s fun. It’s fun when you can balance some of the not so fun media commitments with a little bit of enjoyment. But now we’re getting close. We’re within 24 hours of driving the car, so excited to get on track, but also excited to see the pecking order. I think we could draw some conclusions from testing but not much, so we’ll see where we stands.

    Q: I was going to ask you about the conclusions from testing. How close are Renault to the top three teams now?

    DR: Not sure… Not sure, so we’ll see how we go. The second week, the last couple of days, we had a few new parts on the car and they seem more promising for our development, so that was encouraging. I think we left the test more encouraged. We’ll see. Judging the top three cars, I don’t even know where they stand at the moment, but yeah, a few more days and you’ll know.

    Q: Thank you, Daniel. Robert, coming to you: it’s your first race since 2010, can you describe your emotions heading into this weekend?

    RK: Yeah, it has been a long time, a long time away from the sport. Emotions… to be honest there is not really a lot of time to think about them, you are focused on the job, focused on the things to do. Try to learn as much as you can about new F1. Things have changed quite a lot since I was racing here last time. Just trying to prepare; trying to be ready. We didn’t have a the perfect start to winter testing, so there are a lot of things to be checked, to see how they will be and yeah, let’s see.

    Q: As you said, it was a difficult period for the team in winter testing – the car arrived late in Barcelona. What’s a realistic goal for you and the team?

    RK: Unfortunately we were late for the winter testing and it’s not like you recover this delay in one week, so there are still things being sorted out. The guys are pushing really hard, especially on track but also in factory. It is a difficult period but we have to make sure we are doing everything we can in the current situation. We cannot change it, so we have to make we concentrate on what we have. There is no point in wasting energy or time and then thinking of a difficult job. We just need to do our job and this is the approach of each member of the team we are having. We have to make sure we maximize our opportunities from what we have.

    Q: Max, coming to you, the management at Red Bull Racing has been very bullish about the new package, what are your thoughts?

    MV: I guess we’ll find out, won’t we? I think so far, we had a good winter test, not too many issues, and I was just very happy about how everybody was working together, which I think is very important, and a good start. Of course, integrating the new engine into the chassis but it didn’t seem like it was giving us problems, so very happy about that. I could do most of my running, so that was very positive but in terms of performance, I think it’s a bit difficult to judge at the moment where we exactly are. I didn’t have any time to do performance runs, or whatever but yeah, we’re happy with what we did. Of course, I think it can always be better, I think everybody has that thoughts. I guess here – but not only here in Melbourne – we’ll find out throughout the beginning of the season where we will stand.

    Q: What’s the atmosphere like in the team at the moment, with the new partnership with Honda. Do you feel it’s a bit more bullish that it was in the recent past?

    MV: I think everybody’s just very motivated, very positive and very focused on the job as well.

    Q: Sebastian, coming to you, fastest in winter testing. Do you feel you’re in a better position now than you were at this time last year?

    SV: Yeah. Quite frankly because I think last year’s winter testing didn’t go well for us and we actually had some issues with the car to fix and obviously we got a bit lucky during the race weekend with the safety car to grab the win – but yeah, I think in this regard we are more prepared. Our car seems to work fine: no problems at this stage. Having said that, obviously we can’t do better than last year’s result. So, it’s a tough weekend ahead of us. Always the start, you’re a bit nervous, you don’t know exactly where you are. You don’t know what’s going to happen but yeah, I think we are… y’know… the spirit is good, the atmosphere is good, we’re happy to be here and start racing.

    Q: And just a quick word on the technical regulation changes that have happened over the winter. Do you feel that it’ll be possible to follow another car closer this year than last year?

    SV: Well, testing isn’t about following other cars and overtaking. So I didn’t get much of that – but it didn’t seem to make a difference. Hopefully it turns out to be better and easier this year. We will see. Obviously the DRS is a bit different. It’s a bit bigger delta – so let’s see. I didn’t have that much experience in testing to make a full conclusion.

    Q: Lewis, difficult to read Mercedes’ testing form. What’s your take on it?

    LH: I don’t think there’s much to… it’s not difficult to read it. I think it was quite clear, however it’s difficult to know what everyone’s doing, so naturally we won’t fully know until we get out in the car tomorrow and, come qualifying you get a better picture, and usually, over the first few races is when you really start to get an idea of where everyone stands – but we said that we have work to do and we weren’t talking BS. We have work to do.

    Q: From an internal point of view, how important has continuity been – both stability on the driving front and the technical front?

    LH: On the driving front, continuity is what works. We have a great pairing and I think the contribution Valtteri and I together, it’s worked well for years and there’s no reason to change it. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. In terms of the team, we’ve got so many incredible people within the team, and the energy… it’s inspiring to see so many people so pumped, pulling together. The communication is better than ever. Just after the test I went back, and Toto rallied the troops and we all sat together and it’s really impressive to see so many people so passionate about their jobs and so passionate about racing and wanting to do a better job and always wanting to improve. And knowing where they can improve – it’s really, really cool to see. Really encouraging. I just know they’re the soldiers. They’re the real, true fighters within the team, and I know they’re going to be giving absolutely everything to make sure that we continue to progress.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Lewis, you talked about the need to improve after testing. Valtteri said he’s already seen improvements from you guys. Do you share that confidence, do you think that they’ve already found gains? And for Seb, you talked about being more prepared this year. Does it feel different coming here, arguably as the hunted rather than the hunter?

    LH: Well, naturally after a test, you always improve the next day as the car gets older and older throughout the test. It wears and then you go away, you analyse where you’ve been. New information gets put in the wind tunnel, the engineers have new information and they work upon it. So, everyone takes a step after testing. The car will be fresher here, we’ll have a much better understanding of it – but I think it’s the same for everyone. We didn’t bring upgrades. It will be interesting to see how the Red Bull upgrade works, and I know some other people, Ferrari usually bring an upgrade for the first race, so it’ll be interesting to see.

    SV: Well, at this point, I think we are all hunters and all hunted. We have zero points. At this point I don’t feel like either. But hopefully going away from here we’ll be in the position of the hunted. That’s the target.

    Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Sebastian. Your team boss has said that, in particular situations, you’ll be favoured. What do those particular situations mean? In what way will you be favoured at the start of the season?

    SV: I don’t think there’s much point in going into certain situations. I think it’s very clear, and I think Mattia also made it very clear, we are free to race, free to race each other. I think Charles will do his best to help himself  and help the team and that’s the same for me. I will do my best to help myself and to help the team. So, in the end we’re racing for Ferrari and that means we try to get Ferrari back to where we’ve been trying to get it back to for the last couple of years. That’s the main priority and the rest, it’s a long, long season and I think it’s a bit pointless at this point to start pointing out certain scenarios.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / Speed Sport) If I could ask all of your briefly, what do you think of the new rule of a point for fastest lap?

    MV: I don’t know. I think it can be nice but it can also work against you maybe when you’re fighting for a title – but I guess time will tell how it’s all going to work out – but for sure you can play a bit with it, as a team.

    LH: It’s 21 extra points, so I think it’ll be interesting to see how people try to get those points, so it should be interesting.

    DR: Yeah. At first, when I just heard, I thought it was the whole… it’s good that they’ve restricted it to the top ten. So you do have something potentially to lose if you go in to pit for a fresh set of tyres to get the fastest lap. Yeah, we’ll see. Haven’t really thought that much about it. See how it plays out. I don’t think it will decide a championship – could do, but I don’t think it will.

    SV: I don’t know. I don’t expect much change. We’ll see after a couple of races if there is actually a change.

    RK: I think unfortunately it doesn’t affect us a lot. At least for now. But yeah, extra point. It can unlock some strange scenarios at the end of the race with some cars pitting and it will open up. We’ll see three, four cars suddenly coming in. It will depend. It will be a kind of domino. But as I said, I was not really interested about it.

    Q: (Alessandro Sala – tercerequipo.com) Talking about the hunter equation for Mr Crocodile Daniel. 1980, Alan Jones, the last Aussie to win in Australia. After 40 years, it’s time to try, with the permission of some of the other guys, to win. We hope to see a good dive in the Albert Park lake. Do you?

    DR: With myself, not with my car right? I might need some help from some others, probably, this early in the season – but yeah, there’s a chance of some overtakes. I think early on there won’t be too many front row starts. So they’ll certainly be some cars in front. The win might be optimistic in a few days’ time but yeah, being the hunter, that’s still going to be a lot of fun this year. Try to keep that up. More than ever with, I guess, probably the midfield battles we’ll be in initially. That’ll be cool. Does that answer your question? I’ll try to win, of course.

    They’re already kind of crazy, Australians but yeah, if we could pull that off, lock your doors.

    Q: (Joost Nederpelt – NU.NL) Max, you said some things could have been better. What could have been better?

    MV: Some things. I cannot go into detail, can I? No, I can’t.

    SV: Otherwise what? Daniel comes after you with his knife!

    Q: (Giles Richards – Guardian) Lewis and Sebastian, how important to each of you is it to stamp your authority for the championship early on this season, in these opening four races?

    LH: It’s a long season, so I don’t particularly feel it’s the most important thing. I think it’s really about finishing races and analysing and making sure you are getting as many points as you can, of course, but I’m not really one for needing to stamp authority.

    SV: Yeah, pretty much the same. I don’t think we will win it here, I don’t think we will lose it here. It’s a long way. Hopefully we have a strong package, a strong team that carries us into a position at the end of the year to fight for it.

    Q: (Stylianos Alepidis – F1fan.gr) Sebastian, the last couple of championships you did not reach your target. You had the weight on your shoulders from the Italian media about the expectations of the tifosi. Now under the new leadership of Mr Binotto, do you think that with the new attitude of the communications department towards the media that the more intense later stages of the championship will pan out somehow differently?

    SV: I’m not sure the media is going to make a big difference unless you can somehow transfer points to my account. I think it’s a new year, obviously (there have been) some changes. Of course we will be focused trying to do our job as good as we can. I think there’s a lot of passion inside this team that’s willing to get out and expressing ourselves, I think, through winning, is the best we can do so that’s the target but as I said, there’s so many races, such a long way, so many things we are depending on but as much as we can control things we try to take them in our hand and get our job done. As I said, so far the atmosphere is good, the spirit is right inside the team and yeah, we try to carry that into the season. In terms of expectations, I think it’s normal when you finished second the year before that the way to look at it is that it is a disaster because you finished second so in that way, finishing second, third or fourth is all the same disaster. The winner takes it all, so in that case Lewis has been in that position the last years and we try to turn it around.

    Q: (Rene Oudman – Racing News 365) The first Grand Prix of the season means the end of the winter break, a time in which you have more spare time. What was the nicest, funniest or weirdest thing you’ve done in the winter of 2018/2019?

    RK: Complicated.

    SV: You had a longer winter break though.

    RK: Yeah, I did have a bit longer than the others. Actually this winter was quite busy so… I think starting working with the team, knowing that you will be a race driver definitely makes a big difference to the past seven winters. The nicest one, probably, was a week of cycling, which was nice, combining a bit of hobby training with pleasure.

    SV: I don’t know. I guess just spending time at home, making my own breakfast which I quite enjoy. Yeah, pretty boring maybe but I enjoyed it. Went skiing a couple of times, the weather was good, the snow was good.

    DR: Similar, just being home and it’s summer for me so… yeah, Australia. Actually what was really nice as well was I didn’t go to an airport for six weeks and that was… I think that was the longest in ten years that I’ve been off a plane, so that was actually really pleasant. I enjoyed being outdoors. I got the bikes and mountains bikes. I feel like doing things that move fast, just that sort of stuff, hanging out with friends, maybe snapping the neck off a couple of beers but that’s about it. Makes more sense when you drink it… But yeah, just literally switching off especially after last year, that was important for me to wind down.

    Can I just lighten things up as well? Robert mentioned that he’s had a pretty long winter break. I don’t think we all know to the extent of what he’s been through to get back here, so I just think it’s awesome to see him back. I’ve known him from when I moved to Europe back in 2007 which feels like a long time but yeah, just a testament to his character and I won’t ask for everyone to applaud but I really think it’s awesome for him to be here. We can applaud, yeah.

    LH: I don’t really remember a lot of it. I mean the winter break finished quite a while ago, since we got… February, once you’re back in the factory and working with the team, focused on making sure that you’re fit and ready for the first race ended a while ago so it feels like a long long time ago but there’s skydiving. Done some surfing. I wanted to do it here but I couldn’t find a netted area to go to. I just can’t go where there are sharks, man, and every Australian I meet they’re like ‘nah, nah, you’ll be alright. If a shark comes up to you, punch it in the face.’ Australians are really kind of crazy, huh?

    DR: I’d like to say I’d do the same but no, they scare me too.

    LH: But yeah, otherwise pretty much the same as everyone else. The break is a really precious time you get to spend with family and friends and it’s the time you don’t get to think about racing and then once the season starts you’re on tour the whole year and you never really lose sight of your targets.

    MV: I guess I like mid- to end-of December is a bit of time off and you can spend time with family and friends but from like January onwards it’s just training so I don’t feel like it’s a break any more because you’re just busy. Some more exciting things happened, some less exciting things happened but should I share them? I don’t think so.

    Q: (Rebecca Clancy – The Times) Lewis, as has been mentioned, Ferrari have said they will favour Sebastian at certain times. Have there been any similar conversations at Mercedes or are you guys just free to race?

    LH: We’re free to race like every single year so that was even said at the beginning of… back at the factory and it’s repeated today and that’s how I like it. It means we both have a fair shot but it’s been the same every single year and it’s only to a point where one driver doesn’t have the chance to win the champion any more if we’re lucky enough to be in that position and things shift but generally we’re always free to race so I think that’s great

     

  • Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport wishes Michael Schumacher all the very best

    Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport wishes Michael Schumacher all the very best

    File photo of Michael Schumacher courtesy Mercedes AMG Petronas

    On 3 January 1969, a boy named Michael Schumacher was born in the small town of Hürth, Germany – a boy, who would go on to become the most successful Formula One driver of all times. For his 50th birthday, the entire team of Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport tips their hat to Michael Schumacher and wishes him all the very best! 

    Very few names are so synonymous with Formula One as that of Michael Schumacher. With 91 race wins and seven FIA Formula One Drivers’ World Championships, he is an absolute icon of the sport who has dominated the series like no one else.

    “Michael has had a tremendous impact on Formula One,” said Toto Wolff. “Not only did he set an incredible record – a record that is yet to be beaten – but he also shaped and changed the sport forever. As a driver, Michael took Formula One to a whole new level with his attention to detail and his technical knowledge. He did everything with great determination, from his engineering debriefs to his physical training, and was always searching for new ways to improve his on-track performance.”

    Michael took some of his first steps as a professional racing driver with Mercedes when he joined the brand’s junior programme in 1990, racing in Group C sports cars and DTM. Together with Karl Wendlinger, he won the last race of the season in sports car racing- Michael’s first and only victory with Mercedes. He moved to Formula One in the following year, racing for Jordan before joining Benetton with whom he went on to win the Drivers’ World Championship in 1994 and 1995. One year later, Michael switched to Ferrari, where he laid the foundations for one of the most successful eras in Formula One. He stayed with the team from Maranello for a decade and won five consecutive Drivers’ (2000-2004) and six consecutive Constructors’ (1999-2004) Championships with the Scuderia.

    Michael retired from Formula One after the 2006 campaign; however, when Mercedes re-joined Formula One as a works team in 2010, he made his return to the series as a driver. Working with the team in Brackley, Brixworth and Stuttgart, Michael played an important role in developing the long-term capabilities of the team that were the foundation of our future success in F1.

    “I remember when I first met Michael back in 2012, it was on a flight from Zürich to Singapore,” said Toto. “He was sitting next to me and asked me if I was up for a game of backgammon. I think that I’m a decent backgammon player, but he absolutely crushed me in the first two rounds because I was so star-struck. Once I was over that, my game improved, and we ended up playing and talking for the entire flight. We had a really good and honest conversation and when we landed it felt like I had known him for much longer than I actually did.”

    At that point, Michael only had a handful of races with Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport left before he retired from Formula One at the end of 2012. He never won an F1 race in a Mercedes, but he played an important role in the success the team would enjoy in subsequent years.

    “Michael is one of the founding fathers of the success we have had in the last five years,” said Toto. “There is no other driver like him and his vast experience contributed tremendously in the development of our team. He played a crucial role when we re-joined F1 and was one of the people who laid the foundation for our future success. We’re extremely grateful for everything he did for us. Today, we all tip our hats to you – happy birthday, Michael!”

  • Hamilton signs off Formula 1 2018 season with 11 wins; Alonso retires; Hulkenberg unhurt

    Hamilton signs off Formula 1 2018 season with 11 wins; Alonso retires; Hulkenberg unhurt

    Hamilton celebrates after winning the Abu Dhabi GP on Sunday. An FIA image

    Abu Dhabi, 25 Nov 2018: Lewis Hamilton signed off on his title-winning 2018 FIA Formula 1 campaign in style by taking a controlled and composed 11th win of the season in the 21st and final race of the FIA Formula One World Championship, ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen at Yas Marina here on Sunday.

    The final race of the season ended with Hamilton and Vettel joining McLaren’s Fernando Alonso for a series of tyre-smoking donuts on the start-finish straight to celebrate the Spanish two-time champion’s final race as a Formula 1 driver.

    Earlier, at the start, Hamilton got away well from pole position to claim the lead advantage ahead of fellow front row starter and team-mate Valtteri Bottas, Vettel and Räikkönen.

    The race was soon neutralised, however. As Nico Hulkenberg and Romain Grosjean tussled into the chicane, the pair collided and the Renault man’s car was flipped into a series of frightening rolls. He came to rest upside down on the barriers. The Renault driver soon emerged unscathed but the Safety Car was swiftly deployed.

    When the SC left the track Hamilton held his advantage and was soon building a lead over Bottas and Vettel. Further back, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was making moves and he attacked the Force India of Esteban Ocon soon after racing resumed. He got past but then seemed to struggle for power and Ocon swept past to reclaim the position. The Red Bull man was told to try a reset and with that in place and effective, he muscled his way past the Force Indian driver in the second chicane to claim eighth place after dropping back from sixth at the start.

    Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen then ground to a halt on the start-finish straight with a total loss of power, bringing out the Virtual Safety Car.

    That was the cue for Hamilton to pit on lap 7 and that vaulted Ricciardo up to P3 behind Bottas and Vettel. The Australian was now just four seconds behind Vettel, with Max two second behind his team-mate in P4.

    Vettel was the next of the frontrunners to pit, the Ferrari driver taking on supersofts on lap 15. He emerged in P6 behind Ocon and then Bottas made the same move on the next lap. The moves meant that Ricciardo now led the race.

    Verstappen’s opening hypersoft tyres were now beginning to fade and the Dutchman was the next to pit, taking on supersoft tyres and rejoining in P5 behind Vettel.

    Race leader Ricciardo was now the only one of the top six to require a pit stop, but the Red Bull driver insisted his starting ultrasofts were in good shape. He proved it by managing a steady gap to Hamilton as he extended his opening stint.

    Ricciardo finally made his sole stop on lap 33, taking on supersofts and rejoining in P5 behind Verstappen. He quickly began to make the most of his new tyres, closing a seven-second gap to Max to just 1.5s by lap 36.

    Verstappen was also gaining ground, putting heavy pressure on Bottas, who twice locked up and went off track. Max continued to probe and on lap 39 he took a wide line through Turn 11 and then tucked in on the inside to pass in the next corner. The pair banged wheels but Verstappen claimed third place.

    Ricciardo, juts behind, also got a run on the Mercedes man and on the next lap, under DRS into Turn 8, he breezed past to take P4.

    The order at the front then settled, with Hamilton holding an advantage over Vettel of between four and five seconds while the Ferrari man managed a three-second gap back to the Red Bulls.

    And, after 55 laps, Hamilton crossed the line to take his 11th win of the season ahead of Vettel. Max claimed his 11th podium of the season, and fourth place in the Drivers’ championship, ahead of Daniel who ended his final race of his five seasons with the team with fourth place.

    Behind the Bulls, Bottas finished in fifth place ahead of Renault’s Carlos Sainz, Sauber’s Charles Leclerc, the Force India of Sergio Perez and the Haas cars of Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen. Fernando Alonso ended his 311-start grand prix career with 11th place.

    2018 Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Race 
    1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes –
    2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 2.581
    3 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 12.706
    4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 15.379
    5 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 47.957
    6 Carlos Sainz Jr. Renault 1:12.548
    7 Charles Leclerc Sauber 1:30.789
    8 Sergio Perez Racing Point Force India 1:31.275
    9 Romain Grosjean Haas 1 L
    10 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1 L
    11 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1 L
    12 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 1 L
    13 Lance Stroll Williams 1 L
    14 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 1 L
    15 Sergey Sirotkin Williams 1 L
    16 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso
    17 Esteban Ocon Racing Point Force India
    18 Marcus Ericsson Sauber
    19 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari
    20 Nico Hulkenberg Renault.