Your basket is currently empty!
Tag: Nico Rosberg
-
Rosberg fastest in FP2 as Hamilton crashes
Nico Rosberg went quickest in second practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix after team-mate Lewis Hamilton crashed out early in the session.
Hamilton was on his fourth lap of the 90-minute session when he lost control as he headed into the 210km/h Turn 11. He spun across the run-off area and hit the barriers side-on. Surprisingly there was little outward damage done and Hamilton was able to get going again. He nursed his car back the pit lane but Mercedes quickly reported that it would need to be stripped back and that the3 champion would take no further part in the session.
It was left to Rosberg to carry the Mercedes standard during the session and the German obliged, using supersoft tyres on his quick run to set a session-best time of 1:20.435. That was almost a second quicker than Hamilton’s table –topper from FP1 and 1.8s quicker than Hamilton’s pole position time of last year.
However, while Mercedes had enjoyed a 1.6s advantage over closest challenger Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari in the morning session, the Silver Arrows’ advantage was cut in the afternoon by Red Bull Racing, with 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix winner Daniel Ricciardo getting to within six tenths of a second of Rosberg’s time. In the morning Red Bull opted to only run with soft compound tyres but in the afternoon the team bolted on supersofts to edge closer to Mercedes.
After finishing third in the morning session, Vettel repeated the placing in the afternoon, setting a best time of 1:21.348 31 to split the Red Bulls, with Max Verstappen fourth, four tenths of a second behind Vettel.
Hamilton was fifth fastest, his opening lap being good enough to second him a placing just under two tenths of a second behind Verstappen but ahead of the second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen.
McLaren, meanwhile, repeated its positions from the morning session, with Fernando Alonso seventh and Jenson Button eighth. The session wasn’t without issue for the team, however, with Alonso requiring a power unit change on his car in advance of the session after Honda noticed an “anomaly” on the data coming from it’s powerplant.
In the morning session P9 was taken by Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz ahead of Force India’s Sergio Perez. In the afternoon Perez again finished 10th, but this time Sainz was bounced out of ninth by Perez’s team-mate Nico Hulkenberg.
Sainz, meanwhile, dropped to P13 behind Haas’ Esteban Gutierrez and Williams’ Felipe Massa.
2016 Hungarian Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:20.435 45
2 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:21.030 36
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:21.348 31
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:21.770 35
5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:21.960 4
6 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:22.058 46
7 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:22.328 21
8 Jenson Button McLaren 1:22.387 34
9 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:22.449 41
10 Sergio Perez Force India 1:22.653 38
11 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:22.673 38
12 Felipe Massa Williams 1:22.681 39
13 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:22.689 24
14 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:22.773 38
15 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:22.864 28
16 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:22.948 43
17 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:23.347 41
18 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:23.437 36
19 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:23.528 12
20 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:23.986 31
21 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:23.992 22
22 Rio Haryanto Manor 1:24.265.36.eom/FIA press release
-
Rosberg takes pole to flag victory at Baku; Perez gets another podium for Force India
Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg cruised to a comprehensive Grand Prix of Europe win, finishing more than 16 seconds ahead of second-placed Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari, while Sergio Perez recovered from a grid penalty to take a deserved third place.
With plenty of incidents enlivening the support races at the inaugural race in Baku, similar unpredictability had been expected from the grand prix, but when Rosberg went through the first corner in the lead and quickly built up a solid gap to fellow front-row starter Daniel Ricciardo, the identity of the winner, at least, was never in doubt.
Racing in clear air, Rosberg set a blistering pace and by the mid point of the race, jst after his one and only stop to shed supersoft tyres in favour of a set of softs, he was more than 18 seconds clear of then second-placed man Kimi Raikkonen.
From there it was a simply a case of managing his pace, staying clear of the walls and bringing his car home. And after 51 laps, Rosberg did just that, taking his fifth of the season and his first career ‘grand chelem’ for pole position, victory, fastest lap and for leading every lap of the race.
“It’s been an amazing day really, an amazing weekend,” he said afterwards. It’s been spectacular; great track, really exciting racing. Of course, for me the weekend went perfectly: qualifying, race, everything to plan, so it was really awesome.”
The potential stumbling block in Rosberg’s path came from a technical glitch that affected both he and team-mate Lewis Hamilton. The Briton was badly affected by issue, which his race engineer explained was a problem with mode he was in. Rosberg, though, was able to solve the problem.
“I think I had the same [as Hamilton] but I’m not sure,” Rosberg said. “It was just a matter of getting out of it with the right combination of switches.”
Hamilton began the race in 10th position after a Q3 race but recovered well to rise to fifth before the technical problems began to affect him. He was unable to close on Perez and Raikkonen ahead and had to settle for salvaging 10 points from a troubled weekend.
Ahead, Perez had used his Force India’s Mercedes power unit and a one-stop strategy to great effect and in the closing laps he found himself chasing down Raikkonen.
The Finn has risen as high as second in the race, passing team-mate Vettel with an undercut, but he later ceded the position back to the quicker German and then found himself fending off Perez.
Raikkonen was also hit with a five-second penalty due to crossing the white line at the pit entry and while Perez was safe in the knowledge that with a 0.5s gap to Raikkonen he would take P3 in the classification, the Mexican was determined to take the position on the track. He managed it on the final lap to score his
“I knew that the podium was secure but when I saw the opportunity, that it was safe enough to do it and no risk at all, I went for it, because it obviously feel a lot nicer to finish the race P3,” said a delighted Perez who rose from seventh on the grid to take third place, after a gearbox change following an FP3 crash yesterday dropped him from P2 in qualifying.
With Hamilton fifth, Valtteri Bottas took a lonely sixth for Williams, ahead of the Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen.
Ricciardo started the race from P2 but while he held the position in the early stages he quickly went backwards following an early stop for soft tyres and then again when he took on medium tyres in a second stop.
Verstappen was on a similar strategy and while he dropped to as low as P18 after starting in P9, both Red Bull drivers eventually began to climb back through the pack as their more durable tyres gave them an advantage of those on soft tyres at the end of a two-stop race.
Nico Hulkenberg took ninth place for Force India, while Felipe Massa took a solitary point for Williams with tenth position.
Rosberg’s victory extends his championship lead over Hamilton to 24 points, while Vettel closes the gap to second place to 21 points. Raikkonen is 15 points further back in fourth.
2016 Grand Prix of Europe – Race
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 51 laps – 1h32m52.366s
2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari +16.696
3 Sergio Pérez Force India +25.241
4 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari +33.102
5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +56.335
6 Valtteri Bottas Williams +60.886
7 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull +69.229
8 Max Verstappen Red Bull +70.696
9 Nico Hülkenberg Force India +77.708
10 Felipe Massa Williams +85.375
11 Jenson Button McLaren +104.817
12 Felipe Nasr Sauber +1 lap
13 Romain Grosjean Haas +1 lap
14 Kevin Magnussen Renault +1 lap
15 Jolyon Palmer Renault +1 lap
16 Esteban Gutierrez Haas +1 lap
17 Marcus Ericsson Sauber +1 lap
18 Rio Haryanto Manor +2 laps
19 Fernando Alonso McLaren DNF
20 Pascal Wehrlein Manor DNF21. Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso DNF
22 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso DNFeom/FIA press release
-
Rosberg makes it 4 wins out of 4 in 2016 season; Hamilton powers to 2nd from P10
Rosberg on way to fourth straight win of the season at Sochi on Sunday. A Mercedes AMG Petronas image Sochi, 1 May 2016: Nico Rosberg scored a controlled fourth victory from four races at the Russian Grand Prix in front of a crowd of 60,000 at the Sochi Autodrom, as Sebastian Vettel was dumped out of the race at the start following a collision with local hero Daniil Kvyat.
Starting from pole the championship leader led into Turn 2 but behind him there was drama as Vettel, who had started seventh, was hit from behind by Kvyat who had been eighth on the grid. The collision bounced Vettel sideways where he collided with the second Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo, who had started from P5.
All three managed to continue but within moments Kvyat again ran into the back of Vettel as the pair went into Turn 3. This time Vettel was pitched into the barrier and Kvyat lost his front wing.
The Safety Car was deployed and while a furious Vettel was left to make his way back to the paddock at the controls of scooter, Red Bull pitted both its drivers, with Kvyat taking a new nose cone and with both being put on medium tyres.
The strategic gambit was in vain, however. Kvyat was handed a 10-second stop/go penalty for causing a collision and failed to recover. Ricciardo, meanwhile, struggled for pace and battled a damaged. He would eventually shed his medium tyres on lap 29, though the improved pace would only take him to P11 at the flag.
Afterwards Vettel was critical of the young Russian’s start.
“Today it’s fairly obvious, he did a mistake again. It doesn’t help me now because I’m not in the car,” Vettel said. “In the end we’re here to race. Massively pumped up. Had a super start, made progress into the second corner and got hit, then a second hit, which destroyed our race.”
The early chaos did benefit some, however. Lewis Hamilton, 10th on the grid after power unit trouble in qualifying, made a good start and avoided the incident to climb to fifth place behind by the time the Safety Car was deployed.
When racing resumed Hamilton went on a charge and passed Williams’ Felipe Massa and third-placed Kimi Raikkonen to take P3 behind Valtteri Bottas in the other Williams.
The Finn defended bravely, however, and as Hamilton and Raikkonen remained bottled up behind the Williams, Rosberg established a solid gap at the front and by lap 15 the German was 9.2 seconds ahead of Bottas.
Bittas pitted on the next lap, freeing up Hamilton and Raikkonen. Hamilton made his own stop for soft tyres on the next lap and though Bottas was able to keep the champion at bay when the Mercedes man emerged from pit lane alongside him, he could do nothing on lap 19 when Hamilton used his greater pace and DRS to muscle past down the inside of Turn 2.
Controlling matters at the front, Rosberg eked out a long stint of 21 laps on his starting supersofts before pitting for softs on lap 21.
He emerged with a healthy gap of 12 seconds back to second-placed Hamilton, but midway through the final stint Hamilton began to push, eventually narrowing the gap to 7.7s.
Any hopes Hamilton had of a late assault were undone, however, when his pit wall informed him that his car had a water pressure issue. The champion back off and from running up to six tenths of a second quicker than Rosberg, Hamilton suddenly dropped to a second off the German’s pace.
The race was over as a contest. Rosberg controlled matters as Hamilton nursed his Mercedes to the flag and Raikkonen cruised to a lonely third.
“I knew the gap to Lewis and it was just through the traffic,” said Rosberg afterwards. “I was feeling really comfortable today, especially at the end of the race, in the last 15 [laps] I opened the gas and pushed a little bit more because I knew it was safe to push and definitely get to the end of the race with that set of tyres. It was working really well. The whole weekend. Even in qualifying. Seldom had such an awesome car. So, special weekend.”
Behind the podium positions, Bottas finished fourth for Williams ahead of team-mate Massa, while Fernando Alonso took an excellent sixth place and eight points for McLaren.
Kevin Magnussen took Renault’s first points of the season with seventh place, ahead of Haas’ Romain Grosjena and Force India’s Sergio Perez. McLaren’s positive day was enhanced by Jenson Button taking the final point in tenth place.
2016 Russian Grand Prix – Race
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 53 laps – 1h32m41.997s 1
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +25.022 1
3 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari +31.998 1
4 Valtteri Bottas Williams +50.217 1
5 Felipe Massa Williams +74.427 2
6 Fernando Alonso McLaren +1 lap 1
7 Kevin Magnussen Renault +1 lap 1
8 Romain Grosjean Haas +1 lap 1
9 Sergio Perez Force India +1 lap 2
10 Jenson Button McLaren +1 lap 1
11 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing +1 lap 2
12 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso +1 lap 1
13 Jolyon Palmer Renault +1 lap 1
14 Marcus Ericsson Sauber +1 lap 2
15 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull Racing +1 lap 2
16 Felipe Nasr Sauber +1 lap 1
17 Esteban Gutierrez Haas +1 lap 2
18 Pascal Wehrlein Manor +2 laps 2
19 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso DNF 1
20 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari DNF 0
21 Nico Hulkenberg Force India DNF 0
22 Rio Haryanto Manor DNF 0eom/FIA press release
-
Rosberg takes pole in Sochi; Hamilton suffers power-unit issues, starts P10
Nico Rosberg took his second pole position of the 2016 Formula One season as Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton suffered power unit problems for the second consecutive weekend.
Two weeks ago in China Hamilton was hit with an Energy Recovery System issue and exited qualifying without setting a time. This time out the champion was at least able to make it though the opening two sessions of the qualifying hour, but as the rest of the Q3 qualifier prepared to begin the top 10 shootout, Hamilton was out of his car and the final session. Mercedes soon revealed that the Briton had been struck by the same issue that hamstrung him in China. He is set to start 10th depending on whether additional penalties are accrued if his car requires components to be changed.
Having opened a significant 1.3s gap to Sebastian Vettel in Q2, with the Ferrari driver third behind Hamilton in the segment, the Q3 field was left open to Rosberg and the German seized the opportunity with both hands.
Vettel managed to close the gap to seven tenths of a second but Rosberg’s Q3 lap of 1:35.417 was good enough to secure a second consecutive pole position and to leave him perfectly positioned to tomorrow claim a fourth successive win this season.
“I was quite confident that the lap was good enough out there, because in quali two Ferrari was quite far away and I knew that Lewis was not able to participate in the last part of qualifying, so I was very sure that it was going to be enough,” said Rosberg afterwards. “But you never know, your know, so there’s always still a remaining uncertainty and so I was glad eventually when Sebastian finally crossed the line that it was good enough.
Starting from pole position will be great,” he added. “It’s never easy but the way the grid is it does help me out a lot for sure to try and get that win tomorrow.”
Although Vettel qualified in second position the Ferrari driver will start from P7 on the grid, having incurred a five-place penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change on Friday.
The four-time champion remains optimistic of a good result, however, especially in the light of Hamilton’s difficulties.
“Obviously we benefit from what happened to Lewis, which I’m not sure exactly what it was, but it allowed us to go P2, which helps for tomorrow with the penalty,” he said. “We are a bit closer, starting on the clean side of the track. I think we can have a good race from there. It should be quite exciting. The car feels good and I think all weekend it has been quite strong.
“Obviously we know that on Saturdays we are probably a little bit still further back than we want and a bit further back than on Sundays, so high hopes for tomorrow.”
Third place in the session went to Williams Valtteri Bottas, with the Finn repeating his qualifying efforts of last year and at the inaugural event in Russia. Due to Vettel’s penalty he will, however, start from the front row.
“I’m really pleased with how it all went. This weekend has been very positive,” he said. “We have some new bits on the car and the car has been feeling better. It’s also a good track for us. I’m glad we could maximise the qualifying today. Pleased with that but it’s tomorrow that counts. So far my Sundays haven’t been so great but I’m sure tomorrow we have a good chance to have a good one.”
Behind them Kimi Raikkonen qualified in fourth for Ferrari ahead of Felipe Massa in the second Williams. Daniel Ricciardo was sixth for Red Bull Racing ahead of Sergio Perez of Force India. Daniil Kvyat was eighth in the second Red Bull Racing and the final top 10 spots were taken by Toro Rosso’s and the unfortunate Hamilton, who was also summoned to the stewards office for “failing to follow the race director’s Turn 2 instructions”.
Kvyat’s eighth place was notable as the local hero narrowly escaped elimination after Q2.
The Russian was in P11 as the chequered flag was waved at the end of Q2 but he had just begun a final flying lap. To the delight of his home crowd the Red Bull driver was able to find enough pace to climb to P10, at the expense of Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz.
Behind the Spaniard, Jenson Button came close to taking McLaren into Q3 for the first time this season but ended up just under 0.1s shy in P12. Nico Hulkenberg was 12th to split the two McLarens, with Fernando Alonso in P14. Romain Grosjean was 15th for Haas ahead of team-mate Esteban Gutierrez.
Q1 saw the elimination of Renault’s Kevin Magnussen in P17, followed by team-mate Jolyon Palmer, Sauber’s Felipe Nasr, Manor’s Pascal Wehrlein, team-mate Rio Haryanto and the second Sauber of Marcus Ericsson.
2016 Russian Grand Prix – Qualifying
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:36.119 1:35.337 1:35.417
2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:36.555 1:36.623 1:36.123
3 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:37.746 1:37.140 1:36.536
4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:36.976 1:36.741 1:36.663
5 Felipe Massa Williams 1:37.753 1:37.230 1:37.016
6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:38.091 1:37.569 1:37.125
7 Sergio Perez Force India 1:38.006 1:37.282 1:37.212
8 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull Racing 1:38.265 1:37.606 1:37.459
9 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1:38.123 1:37.510 1:37.583
10 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:36.006 1:35.820
11 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:37.784 1:37.652
12 Jenson Button McLaren 1:38.332 1:37.701
13 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:38.562 1:37.771
14 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:37.971 1:37.807
15 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:38.383 1:38.055
16 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:38.678 1:38.115
17 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:38.914
18 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:39.009
19 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:39.018
20 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:39.399
21 Rio Haryanto Manor 1:39.463 |
22 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:39.519eom/FIA press release
-
Rosberg’s dream-start continues at Bahrain; Hamilton recovers to 3rd behind Raikkonen
Rosberg celebrates after winning the Bahrain GP on 3rd April 2016. A Mercedes AMG Petronas image Nico Rosberg dream start to the 2016 season continued as the German took his second consecutive victory and his first in Bahrain and his first at the Gulf circuit. Kimi Raikkonen took his fifth second place with Lewis Hamilton recovering to third after a first-corner collision.
Before the start there was disappointment for Ferrari as Sebastian Vettel, set to start from third, slowed on the formation lap with smoke billowing from the back of his car.
His failure to start, the first of his career, meant a space opened on the grid beside Raikkonen and in front of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, starting from fifth.
The Australian couldn’t capitalise, however, and when the lights went out he made a poor start. That allowed Williams’ Valtteri Bottas to surge past.
Hamilton too had started badly and as Rosberg powered into the lead and Raikkonen stole second Hamilton fell back towards Bottas.
The Finn tried to push past the champion on the inside of Turn One but they clashed. Ricciardo got involved too, losing part of his front wing.
However, while Hamilton and Bottas, who would later be penalised for causing the collision, fell back, Ricciardo managed to hold position and he slotted into third.
At the front Rosberg began to pull away rapidly and he soon built up a sizeable lead over Raikkonen, with the Finn later commenting that the Mercedes driver was “a straight in front after a few laps”.
That set the pattern for the top two positions as Rosberg managed his pace and comfortably kept Raikkonen at bay for the whole race.
Behind them, Ricciardo dived for the pits on lap six, but while he did take on new tyres, he chose not to take a new wing and he rejoined still nursing the damage but with greater pace thanks to hi new tyres. Across his first stint he battled back to third.
Hamilton, though, was also recovering from his earlier travails and despite sustaining debilitating floor damage, the champion rapidly made his way through the order on medium tyres, which he took onboard on lap 13. He passed Ricciardo on lap 17 and that spelled the end of any hopes the Australian had of a podium finish.
He settled into fourth spot and though he relinquished it twice as the strategies played out, his final stint on medium tyres, saw him solidify the result and he took his second fourth place in a row to score 12 points and to take third in the Drivers’ standings from the unfortunate Vettel.
Although Hamilton got to within five seconds of Raikkonen at one stage, he could not match the Finn’s pace and in the final stint he dropped back as he save his tyres in the hope of a safety car period that never came.
With Ricciardo fourth, fifth place went to Romain Grosjean, as Haas again surprised. The Frenchman worked his way through three sets of supersofts as he rose from ninth on the grid and though he couldn’t find the pace to challenger Ricciardo he still managed to better his opening result in Australia by one position. The new team now sits fifth in the Constructors’ Standings, ahead of Toro Rosso, Force India, McLaren, Renault, Sauber and Manor.
Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen took another good result for the Italian squad with sixth place, though there was disappointment for the Faenza team as Carlos Sainz failed to finish.
Daniil Kvyat delivered an excellent performance. Starting 15th, the Russian ran two stints on soft tyres to avoid traffic and rise through the order before using two superbly aggressive stints on supersofts to claim seventh place. The run included a brave pass on Felipe Massa on the final lap.
Massa took eighth ahead of team-mate Bottas, while the final point went to McLaren rookie Stoffel Vandoorne who drove a faultless race to the points from 12th on the grid. It was a less successful day for team-mate Jenson Button, with the veteran racer exiting the race with power loss on lap six.
2016 Bahrain Grand Prix – Race
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 57 laps – 1h33m34.696s
2 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari +10.282
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +30.148
4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing +62.494
5 Romain Grosjean Haas +78.299
6 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso +80.929
7 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull Racing +1 lap
8 Felipe Massa Williams +1 lap
9 Valtteri Bottas Williams +1 lap
10 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren +1 lap
11 Kevin Magnussen Renault +1 lap
12 Marcus Ericsson Sauber +1 lap
13 Pascal Wehrlein Manor Racing +1 lap
14 Felipe Nasr Sauber +1 lap 3
15 Nico Hulkenberg Force India +1 lap 4
16 Sergio Perez Force India +1 lap 3
17 Rio Haryanto Manor Racing +1 lap 3
18 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso DNF 3
19 Esteban Gutierrez Haas DNF 2
20 Jenson Button McLaren DNF 0
21 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari DNS 0
22 Jolyon Palmier Renault DNS 0 -
Rosberg wins season opener; Alonso safe after heavy crash
Melbourne, 20 March 2016: Mercedes bounced back from a poor race start to open its 2016 Formula One championship account with a one-two finish with Nico Rosberg victorious ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton. Sebastian Vettel, who led for a long spell after the start was third for Ferrari.After an aborted start caused by Daniil Kvyat’s Red Bull Racing car failing on the grid as the cars lined up, both Mercedes drivers made a poor getaway from the lights. The slow starts from pole position man Hamilton and front-row starter Rosberg, allowed third-on-the-grid Vettel to power through between the Mercedes men to steal the lead.
The duo were also passed by the second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen and as Hamilton struggled to get back into contention he was also passed by Rosberg, Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen and Williams’ Felipe Massa. Behind Hamilton, Carlos Sainz was seventh in the second Toro Rosso ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo.
Sainz kickstarted the first round of pitstops, with the top 10 qualified gradually making their way towards pit lane to shed their used supersoft tyres.
That moved Ricciardo up to P7 and with clear air ahead he soon closed on Massa and passed the Brazilian for P6 on lap 10.
Hamilton, meanwhile, was struggling. He found himself stuck behind Verstappen and was soon on the radio telling his team to consider a strategic adjustment as he could find no way past the Dutchman.
Ahead, the leaders were pitting. Rosberg dived for the pits on lap 13 and took on soft tyre. Vettel followed soon after but stuck with the supersoft rubber. He emerged from his stop just in front of Rosberg but managed to fight off a determined assault from his fellow German to hold the lead.
The complexion of the race was about to change drastically, however. On lap 17, Fernando Alonso, pressuring Esteban Gutierrez in the battle for P12, looked to overtake the Mexican on the run towards Turn 3. The Mexican’s trajectory shifted slightly and he appeared to dramatically lose speed, causing the hard-charging Alonso to smash into the rear left of the Haas.
Alonso was bounced into the wall at the side of the track and them after digging into the grass his car flipped and became airborne, flying through the gravel trap and beaching once before coming to rest upside down against the barriers.
It was a massive accident, but within seconds Alonso was crawling out from the beneath the record, apparently unharmed. He then waved to the crowd as he and Gutierrez climbed into the medical car.
With debris scattered across the track the race was red flagged and the drivers made their way back to the pit lane.
A flurry of activity ensued as teams reviewed strategies and plotted the next phase of the grand prix.
When the race resumed on lap 20, after lap behind the safety car, both Mercedes cars, in second and seventh, were on medium tyres, while the Ferraris, in first and third were on supersofts. Ricciardo who had risen to fourth was also on supersofts, ahead of Verstappen and Sainz. Behind seventh-placed Hamilton and Felipe Massa, Haas’ Romain Grosjean was the biggest beneficiary of the red flag, the Frenchman gaining a free stop and climbing to ninth.
There was little time to see if third-placed Raikkonen could once again challenge for second, however. On lap 22 the Finn arrowed towardsa the pit lane telling his team “I broke something”. He parked in front of the team’s pit and with smoke billowing from the back of the car and flames spouting from the air box, his race was run.
The race was now a question of whether Vettel could pull out a big enough gap over the medium-shod Mercedes to hold his lead or use better pace in the closing stages to catch them, as their medium tyres indicated they would race to the flag, whereas Vettel needed another stop.
Try as he might Vettel could not shake off Rosberg and when the Ferrari man made his final pit stop on lap 35 he dropped to third.
Hamilton meanwhile had battled back to second and though Vettel pressed the champion hard in the final stages, getting to within a second as Hamilton’s tyres went off and he slid wide, the German’s challenge for P2 ended when he made a mistake himself, sliding wide late on the penultimate lap. He was forced to settle for P3.
Rosberg, then, crossed the line to take his 15th career win and his Australian Grand Prix victory.
With Hamilton second ahead of Vettel, fourth place went to Ricciardo, an excellent finish from eighth on the grid and a hiugely popular result with his home crowd. Massa was fifth for Williams, while Grosjean scored a remarkable sixth place for the US-based Haas team on its F1 debut.
Nico Hulkenberg was seventh for Force India ahead of Valterri Bottas, while the final points places went to the Toro Rosso pairing of ninth-placed Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen in P10. The duo provided a huge amount of entertainment as they conducted their own private battle for position throughout the race. Sainz succeeded in frustrating his team-mate at every turn to the extent that Verstappen’s temperature eventually boiled over and he launched a wild move late in the race which resulted in the pair colliding and Verstappen spinning. They continued on, however, to earn the team its first points of the season.
2016 Australian Grand Prix – Race
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 57 laps – 1h48m15.565s
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +8.060
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari +9.643
4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing +24.330
5 Felipe Massa Williams +58.989
6 Romain Grosjean Haas +72.081
7 Nico Hulkenberg Force India +74.199
8 Valtteri Bottas Williams +75.153
9 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso +75.680
10 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso +76.833
11 Jolyon Palmier Renault +83.399
12 Kevin Magnussen Renault +85.606
13 Sergio Perez Force India +91.699
14 Jenson Button McLaren +1 lap
15 Felipe Nasr Sauber +1 lap
16 Pascal Wehrlein Manor +1 lap
17 Marcus Ericsson Sauber DNF
18 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari DNF
19 Rio Haryanto Manor DNF
20 Esteban Gutierrez Haas DNF
21 Fernando Alonso McLaren DNF
22 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull Racing DNSeom/FIA press release
-
Rosberg ends the season with a dominant win; Cool Hami takes second followed by Raikkonen
Nico Rosberg took a third consecutive win with a dominant drive at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, beating world championship-winning team-mate Lewis Hamilton by a comfortable eight seconds as Kimi Räikkönen took third place ahead of Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel, who rose from 15th on the grid to take fourth place.
Racing into the lead from pole position at the start, Rosberg was always in control and across his opening stint on used supersoft tyres he opened up a gap of almost five seconds to Hamilton in second place.
The Briton had to fend off challenges from Räikkönen and Force India’s fourth-on-the-grid Sergio Perez at the start but he soon settled into second place. Perez held his starting position ahead of team-mate Nico Hulkenberg and Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo.
Further back Vettel was already making up ground, rising from 15th to 12th by the end of lap one, despite making contact with Max Verstappen’s Toro Rosso. Having started on the soft prime tyre , the German then briefly rose to second place as the supersoft starters around him began to pit, with Rosberg stopping on lap nine and Hamilton following his team-mate a lap later.
At the start of the second stint Roberg began to stretch his legs, broadening the gap to 7s but Hamilton then began to push, chopping two seconds off the deficit by lap 22 and then reducing it by a further 2.5s over the next few laps.
With Rosberg in more trouble with tyres than his team-mate Hamilton elected to extend the stint, hoping to keep up the momentum and erase the deficit as Rosberg’s pace dropped and he worked through his pit stop, which came at the end of lap 31.
The German switched to soft tyres and began to close on Hamilton in a bid to cover any decision by Hamilton’s crew to put the Briton on the more fragile but significantly faster supersoft tyres for his final stint. He eventually brought matters under control with a 10s gap to his team-mate with 15 laps remaining.
The threat of Hamilton on supersofts never materialized, however, and when the Briton made his final visit to pit lane he took on soft tyres and emerged 12s adrift of his team-mate. Rosberg then controlled matters until the chequered flag to finish 8.2s in front to claim his sixth win of the year and his third in a row.
Behind them Räikkönen ploughed a lonely furrow in third place, having got past team-mate Vettel as the German’s tyres faded towards the end of his first soft-tyre stint.
Vettel pitted on lap 24 for another set of softs and then with 15 laps to go the German switched to the quicker supesofts. The injection of pace allowed him to haul himself up to an excellent fourth place, passing Ricciardo and Perez in the closing stages.
Perez clung onto fifth ahead of Ricciardo, with Nico Hulkenber finishing seventh, ahead of Williams’ Felipe Massa.
Romain Grosjean, in his final race for Lotus, worked a three-strategy well to surge through to the points positions in the final stages and he finished ninth ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Daniil Kvyat.
Carlos Sainz’s race was hampered by a slow first pit stop and he finished in 11th place ahead of team-mate Verstappen. Jenson Button was 13th for McLaren, aherad of Williams’ Valtteri Bottas who collided with Button in the pits and was forced to make an additional stop as a result.
Marcus Ericsson beat team-mate Felipe Nasr to take P15, while Fernando Alonso was 17th, the Spaniard having collided with Lotus’ Pastor Maldonado at the start. Will Stevens beat Manor team-mate Roberto Merhi by taking 18th place.
2015 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Race
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:38:30.175
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +8.271
3 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari +19.430
4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari +43.735
5 Sergio Perez Force India +63.952
6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing +65.010
7 Nico Hulkenberg Force India +93.618
8 Felipe Massa Williams +97.751
9 Romain Grosjean Lotus F1 Team +98.201
10 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull Racing +102.371
11 Carlos Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso +103.525
12 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso +1 lap
13 Jenson Button McLaren +1 lap
14 Valtteri Bottas Williams +1 lap
15 Marcus Ericsson Sauber +1 lap
16 Felipe Nasr Sauber +1 lap
17 Fernando Alonso McLaren +2 laps
18 Will Stevens Manor +2 laps
19 Roberto Merhi Manor +3 laps
R Pastor Maldonado Lotus Collisioneom/FIA press conference transcript
Rosberg takes the chequered flag at Abu Dhabi GP on Sunday. He won more races but a consistent Hamilton clinched the F1 title with many races to spare. FIA image -
Rosberg takes his sixth consecutive pole for Mercedes; Hamilton secures front row; Raikkonen p3
Nico Rosberg takes pole at Abu Dhabi on Saturday. An FIA Image Nico Robserg took his sixth consecutive pole position and his seventh of the season as he beat team-mate Lewis Hamilton by almost four tenths of a second in qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Kimi Raikkonen was third for Ferrari as team-mate Sebastian Vettel was sensationally eliminated in Q1.
The opening segment began with both Mercedes driver taking to the circuit on option tyres. Hamilton and Rosberg immediately vaulted to the top of the order, with the champion elect putting in a lap of 1:40.974 that remained as the segment’s best, 0.137 ahead of Rosberg.
Perez finished the session third ahead of team-mate Nico Hulkenberg and Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo but as the session came to an end there was drama in the drop zone.
Fernando Alonso was on the cusp in P15 as the seconds ticked away but on his final flying lap he sustained a puncture and was forced back to the pits.
That gave team-mate Jenson Button an opportunity to claim a Q2 spot and the Briton seized it with both hand. He put in a superb lap of 1:42.570 to claim an eventual ninth in the segment.
Also preparing for a final attack was Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel. The German was down in 11th but with times improving all around he required a final run. However, midway through his lap he lost power in the second sector and as a result he plummeted to P16 in the final order and was eliminated in Q1 for the first time since this year’s Canadian Grand Prix when a power unit sidelined him.
With Vettel in P16 ahead of the unfortunate Alonso, the three other drivers eliminated, in order, were Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson and Manor’s Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi.
There were problems for other at the start of Q2. Lotus’ Romain Grosjean, who had finished Q1 in P10 was told to bring the car back to the garage. He managed to get back out for a last-ditch flying lap but as he made his way through his out lap he lost all power and was forced to pull over. He qualified in 15th place.
Joining Grosjean In the drop zone as the session came to an end were Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen, Button, Lotus’ Pastor Maldonado and Sauber’s Felipe Nasr.
Verstappen was chasing down 10th place team-mate Sainz but the Spaniard was not for dislodging. He improved in the final corners of his final flyer and beat Verstappen to Q3 by just four hundredths of a second. It also handed Sainz the upper hand in the tight qualifying battle between the two, with the Spaniard ending the season 10-9 up against his rival. Button was 12th ahead of Maldonado and Nasr.
At the top, Hamilton was again quickest, his time of 1:40.758 was two tenths clear of Rosberg in second. Perez was again third, this time ahead of Raikkonen, with Daniel Ricciardo fifth.
Perez set the first time of Q3 with a lap of 1:41.184s but he was quickly dislodged by the Mercedes and it was Rosberg who again seized the advantage, with the German setting a time of 1:40.738, 0.278 ahead of Hamilton. Perez was an excellent third, 0.446 down on Rosberg after the first flying lap. Raikkonen was fourth ahead of Ricciardo, Williams’ Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa, Hulkenberg, Red Bull Racing’s Kvyat and Sainz, who did not set a time.
On the final flying lap it looked like Hamilton had found enough pace to claim his first pole position since the Italian Grand Prix as he set a time of 1:40.614 to marginally better his team-mate’s opener. Rosberg, though, was still on track and flying. The German made significant gains through his third sector and crossed the line almost four tenths clear of Hamilton to take his sixth pole position in a row and his seventh of the season.
Perez’s hopes of taking his first top three place in qualifying were dashed in the final seconds as he was outpaced by Raikkonen, while Ricciardo was fifth ahead of Bottas. Hulkenberg qualified in seventh position ahead of Massa and the final row of the top 10 is set to be filled by Kvyat and Sainz.
-
Rosberg pips Hamilton, tops in FP2: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the last race of the season
Abu Dhabi, 27 Nov 2015: Nico Rosberg took over at the top of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend timesheet, running just over a tenth of a second quicker than team-mate Lewis Hamilton, the fastest man from the early afternoon opening session.
Rosberg’s best time, set in the period of running on this weekend’s options supersoft tyres, was a
Rosberg tops FP2 on Fri 27nov2015 Abu Dhabi FIA pic 1:41.983. Hamilton set off on his qualifying style run after the German but fell short by 0.138s.
Sergio Perez took a surprise third place for Force India, though he best lap was six tenths down on Rosberg’s P1 time. Fourth place in the session went to Daniel Ricciardo with the Red Bull Racing drivers’ lap of 1:42.647 being just under a tenth of a second better than that of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.
Daniil Kvyat was sixth-quickest in the second Red Bull Racing car, the Russian finishing ahead of Ferraris Kimi Räikkönen and the second Force India of Nico Hulkenberg.
Fernando Alonso managed to haul his McLaren-Honda into the top 10 with a lap of 1:42.955 that was inside a second of Rosberg. Tenth placein the session went to Lotus’ Pastor Maldonado.
Unlike the mostly smooth running of first practice the evening session saw Carlos Sainz hit trouble. With half an hour remaining, the Spaniard was forced to stop his car on circuit with an apparent engine issue.
The main incident of the session came with 30 minutes to go, when Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz was forced to stop his car due to an apparent engine problem.
Perez’s good evening also came to an early end with the Mexican bowing out with brake issues with 15 minutes left on the clock.
2015 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:41.983 39
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:42.121 +0.138 31
3 Sergio Perez Force India 1:42.610 +0.627 23
4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:42.647 +0.664 37
5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:42.717 +0.734 35
6 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull Racing 1:42.798 +0.815 34
7 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:42.849 +0.866 36
8 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:42.928 +0.945 35
9 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:42.955 +0.972 31
10 Pastor Maldonado Lotus F1 Team 1:43.431 +1.448 37
11 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:43.441 +1.458 32
12 Felipe Massa Williams 1:43.506 +1.523 33
13 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1:43.662 +1.679 40
14 Carlos Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso 1:43.854 +1.871 20
15 Romain Grosjean Lotus F1 Team 1:43.929 +1.946 27
16 Jenson Button McLaren 1:44.050 +2.067 32
17 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:44.116 +2.133 37
18 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:45.245 +3.262 28
19 Will Stevens Manor 1:46.450 +4.467 35
20 Roberto Merhi Manor 1:47.022 +5.039 27eom/FIA press release
-
Rosberg wins Brazilian GP; Hulkenberg takes 6th, seals 5th place for Force India
Nico Rosberg took a second consecutive Brazilian Grand Prix win with a controlled drive from pole position, beating Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton to the flag by 7.7 seconds. Sebastian Vettel took a relatively lonely third place, finishing 6.4s behind Hamilton and more than 30 seconds in front of team-mate Kimi Raikkonen.
Last year Rosberg had put in a flawless performance to keep his title hopes alive until the final race of the season and while there was only pride and second place to battle for this year in Interlagos, Rosberg was again similarly inspired as he comfortably held off Hamilton at the start and then controlled matters for the following 71 laps.
With Rosberg making a good getaway when the lights went out to hold of Hamilton, Vettel and Raikkonen maintained their starting positions of third and fourth.
Behind them, Williams’ Valtteri Bottas made an excellent start from seventh to slot into fifth ahead of Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat and Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg, who had dropped back from fifth on the grid. Felipe Massa was eighth ahead of Sergio Perez in the second Force India and Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen.
Further back, Carlos Sainz was in trouble. The Spaniard had been set to start from 10th place but on his way to the grid he suffered a mechanical issue and had to start from the pit lane. However, within seconds of him taking to the track he was pulling over to stop between Turns Four and Five, his all-too-brief race run.
Ricciardo was the first to shed his starting soft tyres, the Australian making a very early stop on lap four to take on medium tyres.
Hulkenberg was the next in and he used his stop well, utilising his laps on fresh tyres to make up time and when Kvyat pitted on lap 10, the German flashed past the Russian as the Red Bull made its way to the pit lane exit.
Leader Rosberg pitted on lap 13, with Vettel following his compatriot to the pit lane. Rosberg’s stop was slow though, 4.4s. Hamilton took his turn on the following lap. The Briton also took on medium tyres in a 3.6s stop.
The eight tenths of a second bonus wasn’t enough to get Hamilton past his team-mate. However, as the pair crossed the line on the following lap the champion was just 0.9s behind his team-mate and within DRS range.
Behind them, the order after the first round of stops saw Vettel in third place, 4.3s behind Hamilton, with Raikkonen fourth ahead of Bottas. Lotus’ Pastor Maldonado had climbed to sixth but the Venezuelan had started on medium tyres and had yet to make his first stop. Hulkenberg was now seventh ahead of Kvyat and Massa, while Perez was now 10th. Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen was now in P11 ahead of Lotus’ Romain Grosjean and Ricciardo who had climbed to P13 from P19 on the grid.
Maldonado was soon losing ground on his ageing medium tyres and by lap 23 he had been passed by Hulkenberg, Kvyat and Massa and was down in P9 and losing almost a second a lap to 10th-placed Perez. It was too much of a deficit and on lap 25 the Venezuelan duly pitted, taking on more mediums. He rejoined in P17.
At the front, Rosberg was under pressure. Hamilton closed to 0.6s behind the German in the laps after their stops but the German kept his cool and responded, breaking DRS on lap 25 and pushing the gap out to 1.1s. It widened further, to 1.6s, as Hamilton temporarily backed out of the fight to possibly save tyres in the hope of stretching the stint longer than Rosberg to have fresher tyres for another assault in the closing stages.
Ricciardo made his second stop, from P12, for another set of mediums, on lap 28. He was followed a lap later by Sebastian Vettel, who took on the soft tyre in a bid to put pressure on the Mercedes.
Rosberg then made his second stop for more mediums on lap 33 and as he did so Hamilton’s race engineer was swiftly on the radio, calmly telling the champion that is was now ‘hammer time’.
The Briton had a lap to do it but when he emerged after his stop Raikkonen, who had yet to make his second visit to the pit lane, was powering past and into his way. Hamilton took no prisoners, however, and swept past the Finn on the pit straight at the end of the lap to take second. He was now 3.1s behind Rosberg.
Vettel was setting fastest laps on his soft tyres, up to a second quicker than the Mercedes, but as the tyres quickly degraded his pace faded and his times against his rivals began to even out, with the Mercedes on fresher mediums.
After the second stops Rosberg led on lap 45 by 3.2s over Hamilton with Vettel a further six seconds back. Raikkonen was fourth, though the Finn had yet to make his second stop. He was almost 10 seconds adrift of Vettel and losing chunks of time but with almost 44 seconds in hand over fifth-placed Bottas, Raikkonen could afford to keep nursing his aged medium tyres in the hope of needing just two stops. Hulkenberg was now sixth but being pressured by Kvyat. Massa was now eighth ahead of Grosjean and Verstappen
The Finn finally stopped on lap 46, taking on another set of mediums, with which he hoped to reach the end of the race. He was soon followed by Vettel on lap 48, the German shedding his soft tyres for mediums for his final stint.
Rosberg made his third and final stop on lap 48 taking on medium tyres and Hamilton made his final stop on lap 49, the champion also bolting on the medium compound. His swift response to Rosberg’s stopped seemed to indicate that any plan to go long in the stint had been abandoned.
Hamilton attempted to again put pressure on Rosberg but in doing so he suffered a huge lock-up on lap 56. He quickly reported that he felt he had damaged the floor. His times didn’t reflect it but the gap to Rosberg now began to stabilise by the time the leaders were 120 laps from home, the Briton was 2.7s in arrears to his team-mate.
Vettel, meanwhile, was a lonely third, 12.3s behind Hamilton and 23.7s ahead of fourth-placed team-mate Raikkonen. The Finn too was isolated on track, with the Finn sitting 24 seconds ahead of compatriot Bottas. Hulkenberg was a steady sixth, 1.2s ahead of Kvyat, while Massa was eighth ahead of the Lotus cars of Grosjean and Maldonado.
Two-stopping Maldonado, was under pressure from Verstappen, however, and after harrying the Venezuelan for several laps the Dutch teenager closed on the Lotus in the middle sector of lap 67 and despite the Lotus’ Mercedes power, Verstappen was able to pass under DRS down the inside into Turn One of the following tour and take P10.
And that was how the order remained as three laps later Rosberg crossed the line to take his 13th career victory, 7.7s ahead of Hamilton, with Vettel third. Rosberg’s wins mean he takes an unassailable second position in the Drivers’ Championship, with the German now 31 points ahead of Vettel.
2015 Brazilian Grand Prix – Race
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:31:09.090
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +7.700
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari +14.200
4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari +47.500
5 Valtteri Bottas Williams +1 lap
6 Nico Hulkenberg Force India +1 lap
7 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull Racing +1 lap
8 Felipe Massa Williams +1 lap
9 Romain Grosjean Lotus F1 Team +1 lap
10 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso +1 lap
11 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing +1 lap
12 Pastor Maldonado Lotus F1 Team +1 lap
13 Sergio Perez Force India +1 lap
14 Felipe Nasr Sauber +1 lap
15 Jenson Button McLaren +1 lap
16 Fernando Alonso McLaren +1 lap
17 Marcus Ericsson Sauber +2 laps
18 Will Stevens Manor +4 laps
19 Alexander Rossi Manor +4 laps
R Carlos Sainz Jr. Toro Rossoeom/FIA press release
Nico Rosberg on way to victory in Brazil on Sunday. An FIA image
