INDIA in F1

Tag: Nico Rosberg

  • Rosberg takes pole on rain-delayed quali on Sunday; Hamilton looks to seal the championship from P2

    Hamilton (left) takes P2 but looks to seal the Drivers' championship here in Austin later today at the US GP. An FIA image
    Hamilton (left) takes P2 but looks to seal the Drivers’ championship here in Austin later today at the US GP. An FIA image

    Nico Rosberg edged Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton by a tenth of a second to claim pole position for this afternoon’s United States Grand Prix. The German took his fourth pole of the season with his Q2 time as heavy rain once again disrupted running and led to the final part of the session was cancelled.

    Row two of this grid at the Circuit of the Americas will be an all-Red Bull affair with Daniel Ricciardo qualifying fourth ahead of Daniil Kvyat.

    Q1 began with steady rain falling across the track and with a queue of drivers lining up at the pit exit – all keen to put a lap on the board in the treacherous conditions.

    Lotus’ Romain Grosjean was quickly on the radio to tell his team that the track was on the limit in terms of driveability and within minutes Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz exceeded those limits, the Spaniard spinning off into the barriers at Turn Four after losing control when he took too much of a slippery kerb. The crash caused heavy damage to the front of his car, leaving his team with a race against time to get it repaired in time for the race.

    The session was red flagged, with Hamilton at the top of the order with a lap of 1:59.393. He was followed by Daniel Ricciardo with a lap of 2:00.288 and his Red Bull Racing team-mate Daniil Kvyat was third, just under two seconds further back.

    The session restarted 10 minutes later and Hamilton continued to set the pace. He soon lowered the benchmark to 1:58.025, though Ricciardo clung onto the Mercedes’ driver coat-tails, taking his Red Bull to 0.16 of Hamilton’s time.

    Both were eclipsed by Rosberg, however, who with four minutes left chopped more than half a second off Hamilton’s best with a lap of 1:57.469. Ricciardo then bettered that with a 1:57.163.

    Tenth-placed Sebastian Vettel, though, was back in the pits. The German lost control of his Ferrari at Turn 10 and slapped a guardrail with the rear left of his car.

    In the drop zone as the clock counted the final minute were Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson in P16, his team-mate Felipe Nasr, the Manors of Alexander Rossi and Will Stevens, who were outside the 107% mark at this point, and the unfortunate Sainz.

    As the final times came in Vettel tumbled to 15th place in the order but with the Sauber’s lapping almost two seconds off the Ferrari’s driver’s pace, Vettel’s Q2 berth was never in real danger and the first-segment cut saw the Saubers, Manors and Sainz eliminated.

    At the top Ricciardo was quickest with a time of 1:56.495, just under two tenths ahead of Rosberg, who was two tenths clear of Hamilton. Kvyat was fourth ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, with Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg sixth in front of the Toro Rosso of Max Verstappen, the second Force India of Sergio Perez, William’s Valtteri Bottas and McLaren’s Fernando Alonso. Through from P11 to P15 were Lotus’ Romain Grosjean, McLaren’s Jenson Button, Pastor Maldonado in the second Lotus, Williams’ Felipe Massa and Vettel.

    With heavier rain expected in Q2, there was again a rush to get in a time at the start of the session and the Mercedes driver quickly staked their claim to a Q3 spot with Rosberg leading from Hamilton. Ricciardo was third ahead of Kvyat, Vettel and Perez.

    The conditions were proving extremely tricky however and a number of drivers suffered spins, including Hulkenberg, Raikkonen and Hamilton, though all three drivers managed to keep their cars our of the barriers and continued.

    With a couple of minutes left on the clock a number of drivers began to report that the track conditions were becoming untenable with Kvyat telling his pit wall that the track was “very dangerous” and Vettel telling Ferrari that it was “red flag conditions”.

    At the end of the segment Rosberg still led from Hamilton, Ricciardo, Kvyat and Vettel, while Perez, Hulkenberg, Raikkonen, Massa and Verstappen also booked a Q3 slot. Out at this stage went 11th-placed Alonso, who was just 0.066 off Verstappen’s P10 time, Bottas, Grosjean, Button and Maldonado.

    The concerns about the state of the track led race control to dispatch the safety car on an exploratory lap before Q3 and the start of the final segment was then delayed by seven minutes in the hope of clearer weather.

    That hope failed to materialise, however, and three minutes before the planned resumption, race control announced the Q3 would not take place. This Nico Rosberg will start this afternoon’s race from pole position, his fourth of the season. Hamilton will join his team-mate on the front row, while row two will be an all-Red Bull affair with Ricciardo ahead of Kvyat. Vettel qualified fifth but will take a 10-place penalty for a power unit change, while Perez was sixth ahead of team-mate Hulkenberg. Raikkonen, who will also a 10-place power unit penalty, qualified eighth ahead of Massa and Verstappen.

  • With very little track time, we had to guess a bit and it worked: Nico Rosberg

    DRIVERS
    1 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)
    2 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
    3 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Willams)

    TV UNILATERAL

    Nico, you were fastest in Q1 and Q3, fastest after the first run in Q3, on pole by a decent margin. Are you pleased with that?
    Nico ROSBERG: Yeah, for sure, I’m very happy. It’s been a difficult weekend actually, because of the little running that we got; we didn’t get much practice. Qualifying worked out really well; found a good balance on my car, thanks to my engineers as well. We had to guess a bit where is it going to be and it all worked out well. I felt comfortable, so got some really good laps in and I’m very happy with that.

    Very well done. Lewis, obviously you were trailing your team-mate after the first part of Q3 and then you didn’t go for the extra lap at the end. Why not? And I saw you looking around the Ferrari afterwards, did you learn anything from it? 
    Lewis HAMILTON: No. I did go for my second lap; I just didn’t finish it. I made a mistake at Turn 13 I think it is. Yeah, a difficult weekend I think for everyone. Nico did a great job on his lap. I wasn’t quite perfectly happy with the balance that I had. But overall really happy. I think it’s great for the team and yeah, as you say last year this is not such a bad race for P2.

    OK, thank you for that. Valtteri, you matched your result of last year, do you feel you have the measure of Ferrari this weekend?
    Valtteri BOTTAS: Well, it seems like it, at least today. We were quite competitive. It’s good to be third; it’s a good place to start here. Obviously it has been a tricky weekend for everyone but I really think we managed to use Practice 3, well, part of it, what we had, pretty well. I managed to get some good laps in qualifying, consistently, and I pleased with the laps and what we did as a team.

    Well done. Coming back to you Nico, obviously you’re going for the Constructors’ Championship tomorrow, trying to clinch it here for the second year in a row, but have you personally got a plan for worked out for Turn One. Lewis referenced it in

    Nico Rosberg flanked by Hamilton (P2) on his right and Valtteri Bottas (P3) on Saturday after taking the pole. A Mercedes AMG Petronas image
    Nico Rosberg flanked by Hamilton (P2) on his right and Valtteri Bottas (P3) on Saturday after taking the pole. A Mercedes AMG Petronas image

    his answer, after what happened here last year.
    NR: No, not yet. I haven’t thought about that yet. At the moment just enjoying being on pole and I’ll dig into that this evening or tomorrow morning to work out a plan for that. Of course the Constructors’ Championship is a really important target for us this weekend – it would be amazing to clinch it for the second time so early on in the season – so we’re out to do that, but at the same time, of course, I’m out here to try to reduce the gap to Lewis in terms of points.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Nico, you mentioned in your first answer about the lack of running this weekend, the really unusual situation. We had it in Japan but even worse here because of the curtailed Free Practice 3 after Carlos Sainz’s accident. So what have you been able to find out in terms of long runs with this much softer tyres than last year here in Russia and how much guesswork is going to be involved in strategy and race performance tomorrow?
    NR: Well, we tried to prepare as best we could. So this morning we did do some high fuel running, everybody did. So we do have an idea of how it’s going to be tomorrow, so it’s not completely just guessing. No, we’re quite comfortable that we know what to expect and strategy-wise we think we have got a good strategy, so it should be fine.

    Lewis, I wonder if you could give us your view on what happened this morning – the accident of Sainz and going under the barriers? Your thoughts on that speaking on behalf of the drivers?
    LH: To be honest I don’t know anything about it, so I couldn’t really comment. I’m just glad he’s OK.

    Q: OK, well I’ll throw a question maybe you can answer. You obviously mentioned the fact you are quite happy to start in second place, based on what happened here last year. So, obviously today didn’t work out for you in the single laps but fro the little that you’ve been able to learn from the high-fuel running, do you think you’ll be able to challenge for the win tomorrow.
    LH: I wasn’t saying I was happy, I mean I have no choice of being second right now, obviously Nico did a better job in qualifying but I feel there’s still all to play for, as you’ve seen in many other races where I’ve started second. I think it’s exciting. It makes the race ever more exciting and, as I’ve said, Turn One, it’s a long, long way down to Turn One. Probably one of the longest ones of the whole year so it should create opportunities. But there are other opportunities throughout the race as well.

    Q: Coming to you Valtteri, obviously both these gentlemen managed to get through Q1 without using a set of Supersoft tyres, just showing the performance that they have. A lot of your competitors struggled, it seemed, to get temperature into the tyres today as the temperatures actually came down during the course of the qualifying session. Is that something you struggled with – and can you articulate what it was like to use these tyres here today?
    VB: Yeah. We already saw last year it’s quite tricky to get tyres to work in the first timed lap, and that’s why you could saw many people doing many laps and longer running in qualifying than normal. What we did in the practice and in Q1 also, we just tried to learn more about the tyres so we’re sure we’re making the right decision what we’re going to do in Q3 in terms of tyre temperatures, pressures and how many laps we do. So I think everyone struggled with it today – but we got it right. We got the max out of the car and the tyres.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi, La Gazzetta dello Sport) Question for all of you about the accident of this morning, car that went through the barrier. Would like to know if you’re worried about it: the dynamic of the accident. The car was inside of the barrier.

    We’ve already asked Lewis that question so we’ll start with Nico.
    NR: I haven’t seen it so difficult to comment. Of course we always need to push to improve things. Apparently it’s not good, not ideal, so let’s see if we can make progress on that.

    Valterri?
    VB: I haven’t seen it either, so can’t really say that much. Like Nico, we always need to keep pushing on the safety.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – Globoesporte.com) Nico, in the last race you were very conservative at the start and maybe that was one of the reasons you lost the victory. How do you plan your start tomorrow?
    NR: On the one side I don’t agree with your opinion – but that’s OK. On the second, just work on it tonight and tomorrow. Work on the start, get everything right there, look at last year’s start, learn from that. That’s it.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) To both of the Mercedes drivers: you were very aggressive – Hamilton was very aggressive – here last year and you were very aggressive also in Japan. I would like to continue on this matter, to know that if, as you have this goal tomorrow [the Constructors’ Championship] does it change you approach for the first corner?
    LH: You said I was aggressive here last year? Here? I don’t remember being aggressive. But whatever I did last year it worked so I plan to stay the same really.
    Q: I think the point of the question is that you have had a few starts where you have been quite close, not least the last one in Japan and as you’ve got the Constructors’ possibly tomorrow, is it going to change your thinking going into the first corner. For both of you.
    NR: No. Nothing changes anything. It’s one way and that’s it.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – Globoesporte.com) In Q1, only Lewis and Nico were on soft tyres, all the others were on supersoft tyres. Is this some kind of reference that we can expect in the race?
    NR: Looks like we were especially quick on the soft which is always a good thing of course in the race, because everybody has to use them once so that can only help us.

    Q: You’re expecting this to be a one-stop race tomorrow then?
    NR: I don’t know about the strategy yet. That’s look into that this evening.
    LH: Yeah, very strange coming into the weekend – people were making assumptions that we would have a repeat of Singapore. Obviously I had no idea what it’s going to be like and to think that now we have it the other way round it’s very, very strange. I don’t have answer for it but the car felt good otherwise on the tyres today. I don’t know how it will be for the race. I think from our short long run, the seven laps that we might have got, we have to take information from that, but it didn’t feel bad.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri you were a very consistent third in every session; was this your strongest qualifying hour of the season?
    VB: Well, I think compared to the number of laps I’ve got and everyone has yesterday and today it was not bad from my side. I felt very good. I could have been feeling very good in the car all weekend and managed to do multiple laps in a very consistent way without any mistakes. Yeah, I can be happy for the session but it’s difficult to say if it’s the best or one of the best.

    eom/FIA transcript of the Press Conference

  • Rosberg tops timesheets as Formula One action resumes at Spa

    Nico Rosberg went quickest at Belgium’s Spa-Francorchamps circuit as Formula One action got underway once again following the championships traditional summer break.

    Rosberg made a slow start to the weekend, heading out for just three untimed laps during the opening 30-minute phase when drivers have access to an extra set of prime tyres.

    He only set his first timed lap an hour into the session but with that lap he jumped straight into P1 with a time of 1:51.200.

    In his absence, proceedings were largely controlled by his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton slotted into top spot early with a time of 1:52.192, more than a second clear of the rest of the field. The champion then lowered the benchmark further, climbing to a best time of 1:51.340, which kep the gap to his rivals at over a second as the opening half-hour elapsed.

    Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkonen was closest to the Briton during the opening hour of the session, with the Finn lapping to within a tenth of a second of the Mercedes man.

    However, the action was halted 50 minutes into the session when Pastor Maldonado lost control of his Lotus on the exit of Malmedy, hitting the barriers and damaging his car.

    On the resumption Rosberg finally emerged to set a time and eventually eclipsed Hamilton by 0.242 seconds.

    The gap to their rivals was narrowing, however, and by the end of the session, Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo kept the Mercedes pair honest by getting to within three tenths of Rosberg’s best time.

    Räikkönen claimed the morning’s fourth fastest time, less than four tenths adrift of P1, while his teammate Sebastian Vettel was fifth, though the German was some eight tenths down on Rosberg’s session-best time. Daniil Kvyat, fresh from a career-best result of second place in Hungary, made a solid start to the Belgian Grand Prix weekend, taking sixth place.

    He was the last driver to get within a second of Rosberg’s time, with Verstappen seventh and 1.07s down on the Mercedes man and team-mate Carlos Sainz eighth, a further three tenths back.

    Sergio Perez in the Force India and Valtteri Bottas in the Williams completed the top 10.
    2015 Belgian Grand Prix – Free Practice 1
    1 N. Rosberg Mercedes 1:51.082 19
    2 L. Hamilton Mercedes 1:51.324 +0.242 24
    3 D. Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:51.373 +0.291 18
    4 K. Raikkonen Ferrari 1:51.478 +0.396 23
    5 S. Vettel Ferrari 1:51.866 +0.784 21
    6 D. Kvyat Red Bull Racing 1:51.960 +0.878 18
    7 M. Verstappen Toro Rosso 1:52.158 +1.076 27
    8 C. Sainz Toro Rosso 1:52.421 +1.339 26
    9 S. Perez Force India 1:52.423 +1.341 20
    10 V. Bottas Williams 1:52.511 +1.429 19
    11 P. Maldonado Lotus 1:52.539 +1.457 15
    12 N. Hulkenberg Force India 1:52.614 +1.532 20
    13 F. Nasr Sauber 1:52.640 +1.558 16
    14 F. Massa Williams 1:52.653 +1.571 22
    15 M. Ericsson Sauber 1:53.426 +2.344 16
    16 F. Alonso McLaren 1:53.502 +2.420 15
    17 J. Palmer Lotus 1:53.799 +2.717 23
    18 J. Button McLaren 1:54.225 +3.143 14
    19 W. Stevens Manor 1:55.501 +4.419 16
    20 R. Merhi Manor 1:56.086 +5.004 17

     

    eom/FIA release

    Roseberg in acdtion at Spa on Friday. An FIA image
    Roseberg in acdtion at Spa on Friday. An FIA image

  • Rosberg wins Monaco GP; Hamilton displays mature behaviour after team’s blunder costs him dearly

    Monaco, 24 May 2015: After dominating for most of the race, reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton suffered a severe jolt due to a blunder by his Mercedes team which wrongly called him into the pits towards the end, during the Safety Car period, thus handing over the Monaco GP win to teammate and championship rival, Nico Rosberg. Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari squeezed into the second position and Hamilton was stuck in the third place despite a faster pace, at the street circuit notorious for its lack of overtaking possibilities.

    Hamilton was deeply disappointed and was visibly dow

    Nico Rosberg celebrates after winning the Monaco GP on Sunday. A Mercedes AMG Petronas team image
    Nico Rosberg celebrates after winning the Monaco GP on Sunday. A Mercedes AMG Petronas team image

    n but showed a mature behaviour and refused to drag the team into controversy. He repeatedly held his cool and did not criticise the team and said that he would come back with a win. He shook hands with Rosberg and congratulated him on the podium and said “the team have done an amazing job. We win and lose together,” he said. With his cool handling of the situation despite the emotional blow, he won the hearts of thousands of fans, who reserved the best applause for him today.  Mercedes Head Toto Wolff apologised profusely:  “What a crazy day. I don’t think there has ever been a more bittersweet feeling than this one. We have won the Monaco Grand Prix and we have lost the Monaco Grand Prix all at the same time. First of all, we must apologise to Lewis. We win and we lose together and what I am proud of in this team is that we take collective responsibility. But this is a day when we simply have to say sorry to our driver, because our mistake cost him the victory here.”

    Rosberg has won the Monaco Grand Prix for the third successive time joining the elite club of Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost and Graham Hill. He used a one-stop strategy, starting on the P Zero Red supersoft tyre and then switched to the P Zero Yellow soft. The German now becomes only the fourth driver in history to win the Monaco Grand Prix for three consecutive years. He also claimed his second consecutive victory of the 2015 season to close up the fight for the championship to 10 points.

    The race was turned on its head by a safety car period close to the finish, during which Lewis Hamilton lost the lead that he had held from pole position, after making an extra pit stop to change to the supersoft.

    The majority of drivers stopped just once after starting on the supersoft tyre, although Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg, McLaren’s Fernando Alonso, Williams driver Valtteri Bottas and both Manors started on the soft tyre.

    Temperatures were generally cool throughout practice and qualifying but warmed up during race day, peaking at 42 degrees centigrade on track, which improved the grip from both compounds. As usual, wear and degradation was minimal on the least abrasive and slowest circuit of the year. This made maintaining tyre temperature crucial after five laps of the safety car.

    A particularly impressive drive came from the Toro Rosso of Carlos Sainz, which started from last place following a penalty post-qualifying. The Spaniard got up to a points-scoring 10th on his Monaco debut, using a one-stop strategy. Crucial to his strategy was a 66-lap stint on the soft tyre at the end of the race.

    Rosberg set his fastest lap of the race just two laps from the finish, when his final set of soft tyres were already 39 laps old.

    eom/with inputs from Mercedes and Pirelli Motorsports

  • Rosberg tops FP2 as Mercedes reasserts its authority: Bahrain Grand Prix

    Sakhir, 17 April 2015: After a low-key start to the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend with 15th and 16th place in the morning session, Mercedes reasserted their authority in the second free practice session, with Nico Rosberg taking top spot in the afternoon ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton. The Mercedes duo’s closest challenger was Kimi Raikkonen, the Ferrari driver finishing four tenths of a second behind Hamilton.

    The baking heat of the morning session, held in bright sunshine, led to unrepresentative conditions and the Mercerdes pairing spent the opening 90 minutes pursuing long runs that left them down the order, the duo were straight into the fray in the afternoon.

    Hamilton held away in the early stages of the session, run on medium tyres, the champion lapping four tenths faster than Rosberg and a tenth quicker than Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari.

    However, when the performance runs took place, on the soft tyre, Rosberg vaulted to the top of the timesheet with a lap of 1:34.647, just a tenth quicker than the champion.

    Rosbergt’s

    Behind them Kimi Raikkonen took third spot with a lap of 1:35.174, a tenth clear of Vettel.

    The German was later involved in a minor collision with Force India’s Sergio Perez. Vettel reported a braking issue and was coasting towards home when Perez, jostling for track position with a Sauber appeared to cut across Vettel with the result that the Ferrari shipped front wing damage. Following an investigation after the session the race stewards ruled that no further action was warranted.

    Fifth place in the session went to Williams’ Valtteri Bottas, one of the last drivers to attempt a performance run. His best time was six-tenths off the pace. Team-mate Felipe Massa finished in ninth place.

    Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo finished sixth ahead, while Pastor Maldonado gave Lotus hope of a good weekend with the day’s seventh fastest time, though team-mate Romain Grosjean was down in P13.

    Sauber once again look set for a solid weekend, with Felipe Nasr landing the eighth-fastest time ahead of Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat and Massa. Nasr’s ream-mate Marcus Ericsson was 11th fastest.

    After finishing seventh in the morning session, McLaren’s Fernando Alonso again showed improvement for the team by taking 12th place, four hundredths of a second behind Ericsson.

    In the morning session team Alonso’s -mate Jenson Button registered just two laps, his car stopping with an electrical issues and there was more frustration for the McLaren driver in the afternoon as he was ordered to stop his car after completing just three laps. He managed to rejoin later in the session but finished in 19thplace.

     

    2015 Bahrain Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
    1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:34.647   31
    2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:34.762 0.115 33
    3 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:35.174 0.527 30
    4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:35.277 0.630 26
    5 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:35.280 0.633 36
    6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:35.449 0.802 27
    7 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:35.474 0.827 34
    8 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:35.793 1.146 27
    9 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull Racing 1:35.883 1.236 23
    10 Felipe Massa Williams 1:35.884 1.237 35
    11 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:36.148 1.501 34
    12 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:36.191 1.544 22
    13 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:36.334 1.687 31
    14 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:36.471 1.824 32
    15 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:36.805 2.158 30
    16 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1:36.917 2.270 26
    17 Sergio Perez Force India 1:37.062 2.415 33
    18 Will Stevens Marussia 1:39.131 4.484 21
    19 Jenson Button McLaren 1:39.209 4.562 15
    20 Roberto Merhi Marussia 1:40.592 5.945 26

    eom/FIA release

  • Rosberg on pole for title decider in Abu Dhabi

    Nico Rosberg takes pole position from title contender Lewis Hamilton at Yas Marina on Saturday. A Mercedes AMG Petronas team image
    Nico Rosberg takes pole position from title contender Lewis Hamilton at Yas Marina on Saturday. A Mercedes AMG Petronas team image

    German finishes four tenths of a second ahead of rival Hamilton to take 11th pole of season. Bottas third for Williams.

    Yas Marina (Abu Dhabi), 22 Nov 2014: Nico Rosberg seized the initiative for tomorrow’s title-deciding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, claiming his 11th pole position of the season and beating championship rival Lewis Hamilton by four tenths of a second.

    Valtteri Bottas took his ninth top-three qualifying spot of the season with third place, the Finn putting in a superb final flyer to displace Williams team-mate Felipe Massa, who finished fourth.

    The first segment of qualifying had a predictable shape, with the Mercedes drivers occupying the top two slots, despite Rosberg’s car requiring a change of floor between final practice and Q1. Hamilton went quickest with a 1:41.207 to finish a tenth ahead of his team-mate. Massa took third spot with a time of 1:41.475.

    The order at the back also had a relatively familiar look. Caterham, returning to F1 action after missing the last two grands prix, were eliminated in P19 and P20, with regular race driver Kamui Kobayashi beating rookie Will Stevens, though the Englishman finished a respectable five tenths down on his far more experienced team-mate. Eliminated ahead of them were Lotus’ Pastor Maldonado in P18, the Venezuelan finishing just over 1.7s in front of the Caterhams but four hundredths of a second behind Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez. Romain Grosjean in the second Lotus could only manage 16th and with the Frenchman facing a 20-place grid penalty due to a series of power unit component changes he will also be hit with a drive-through penalty in the race as penalty places cannot be carried over past this season-ending race.

    Hamilton continued at the top of the timesheet in Q2. His first run yielded a time of 1:40.920 and with Rosberg’s running only yielding a best time of 1:41.459, the door was left open for the Williams drivers to close the gap to the championship leader. They duly obliged. Massa’s 1:41.144, just over a tenth down on Hamilton, was good enough for P2, while Bottas slotted into P3 just over two tenths further back. Rosberg, though, like Hamilton, chose not to make a final run in the segment, as did Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo.

    Eliminated from the top-10 shootout were McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen, Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne, Force India’s Sergio Perez and Nico Hullkenberg and 15th-placed Sauber driver Adrian Sutil.

    If Rosberg’s Q2 laps had featured a couple of small errors, his first outing in Q3 showed not signs that the pressure was getting to him. He powered straight to the top of the order with a first outing in 1:40.697 to shave a full two tenths off his title rivals Q2 best. Hamilton had no response in the opening run and a mistake on his flying lap saw him finish a tenth down on his Q2 benchmark.

    Behind them Massa and Bottas occupied third and fourth respectively, with the Williams duo followed by the Red Bull pairing of fifth-placed Ricciardo and Vettel in P6. They were followed by McLaren’s Jenson Button, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat and the second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen.

    And in the final laps Rosberg demonstrated why, at the last round in Brazil, he won Formula One’s 2014 pole position trophy. The German found more time again, putting in a lightning-quick, 42-second second sector to better his first run time by two more tenths.

    Again Hamilton had no response and the Briton appeared content to settle for second as he finished four almost four tenths behind Rosberg who sealed his 11th pole position of the season. Behind them Massa was pipped for third by a superb final lap from Bottas, who finished just 1500ths of a second behind Hamilton.

    With Massa fourth, fifth place went to Ricciardo, with team-mate Vettel sixth. Kvyat scored an excellent seventh for Toro Rosso ahead of Button, Raikkonen and Alonso.

    2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Qualifying
    1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:41.308 1:41.459 1:40.480 13
    2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:41.207 1:40.920 1:40.866 12
    3 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:42.346 1:41.376 1:41.025 18
    4 Felipe Massa Williams 1:41.475 1:41.144 1:41.119 20
    5 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:42.204 1:41.692 1:41.267 12
    6 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1:42.495 1:42.147 1:41.893 1
    7 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:42.302 1:42.082 1:41.908 18
    8 Jenson Button McLaren 1:42.137 1:41.875 1:41.964 18
    9 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:42.439 1:42.168 1:42.236 15
    10 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:42.467 1:41.940 1:42.866 19
    11 Kevin Magnussen McLaren 1:42.104 1:42.198 13
    12 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:42.413 1:42.207 12
    13 Sergio Perez Force India 1:42.654 1:42.239 15
    14 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:42.444 1:42.384 12
    15 Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 1:42.746 1:43.074 14
    16 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:42.768 8
    17 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:42.819 8
    18 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:42.860 8
    19 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham 1:44.540 7
    20 Will Stevens Caterham 1:45.095 8

    eom/FIA press release

  • Rosberg closes title gap with victory in Brazil

    File photo of Nico Roseberg after taking pole position in Austin 2014. An AMG Mercedes Petronas image
    File photo of Nico Roseberg after taking pole position in Austin 2014. An AMG Mercedes Petronas image

    Nico Rosberg kept his Formula One title hopes very much alive with a superbly controlled drive to Brazilian Grand Prix victory ahead of Lewis Hamilton to close the championship gap to his team-mate to 17 points as the season head towards its double points finale in two weeks’ time.

    Felipe Massa took a hugely popular third place for Williams, while Jenson Button finished fourth ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel.

    At the start, Rosberg held his advantage, making a good getaway to lead the field through the Senna S. Behind him, Hamilton slotted into second ahead of Massa and Bottas with Button fifth. Vettel lost out, however. After starting sixth, he was quickly put under pressure by McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso. The Red Bull man ran wide at Turn Four and was passed by both. That dropped Vettel to eighth, just in front of team-mate Daniel Ricciardo and 10th-placed Esteban Gutierrez, who had moved ahead of Kimi Raikkonen at the start.

    Massa was the first of the frontrunners to shed his starting soft tyres on lap six and rejoined in P16. It was a troubled visit to pit lane, however, as he was immediately handed a five-second stop and go penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

    His switch to medium tyres prompted a flurry of pit lane activity, with the bulk of the field pitting for the prime tyre.

    The exceptions were Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat, Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg, Lotus’ Romain Grosjean and Sauber’s Adrian Sutil.

    By the time all of the soft-tyre starters had pitted, the order on lap 11 saw Hulkenberg leading from Kvyat, with Rosberg third ahead of Hamilton. Grosjean was fifth ahead of Massa, who had yet to serve his penalty, while Bottas was seventh ahead of Sutil, Button and Magnussen.

    Robserg resumed the lead of the race as the field completed lap 13. Having already dismissed Kvyat, he swept past Hulkenberg. With Hamilton stuck behind the Force India in third place, Rosberg was quickly able to carve out a two-second gap over his title rival. Hamilton eventually got past the Force India at the start of lap 16 but was now 2.4s down on Rosberg.

    Hulkenberg was the first of the medium tyre starters to pit on lap 17 and two laps later Kvyat ventured into the pit lane. Sutil, still out on track on his mediums, was clearly struggling with his opening set. He was quickly passed by Alonso and Vettel to drop to 11thand then elected to pit. It wasn’t a smooth visit, with his crew struggling to replace his right rear tyre. He lost time and rejoined in last place, where would eventually finish. Grosjean was the last of the medium starters to pit, after a long 25-lap stint.

    Vettel also chose to pit at the end of the same tour and that sparked the second round of stops. Rosberg pitted for more mediums on lap 27, with Hamilton assuming the lead. The Briton attempted to push, to make up time during Rosberg’s stop, but he lost control at Turn Four and spun off into the run-off area. He continued on but after his own stop his found himself more than seven seconds adrift of his team-mate.

    Bottas, meanwhile, was in trouble in his pit stop. He appeared to have a problem with his belts and lost considerable time as his crew made adjustments. The delaye dropped him to 12th behind Ricciardo.

    Raikkonen, too, had trouble in his second stop, which came late, on lap 36. His crew dropped the car off the jacks before the front right wheel had been properly attached and the car had to be lifted again to remedy the problem. Whatever good work Raikkonen had put in during his long second stint was immediately undone.

    On track Vettel was marching forward. Having passed Alonso and Magnussen in his second stop, he quickly made his way past the out-of-sequence Kvyat to take P5 just after half distance.

    It was a less successful outing for his team-mate however. On lap 39 Ricciardo slowed and radioed through that he had a brake issue. He pitted on lap 40 and retired.

    Bottas’ woes continued too. He made a third pit stop on lap 43 but it was again a slow one as his team took time to make an adjustment to his front wing. He rejoined in 16th place.

    At the front, Hamilton was pushing hard and on lap 46 he was just 1.9 seconds behind Rosberg, with Massa third, Button fourth and Vettel still in P5 ahead of Alonso.

    Vettel was the first of the front runners to make a third stop, heading in for more mediums on lap 49. Rosberg was next in, on lap 51 for the same compound. He was quickly followed by Massa and Button on the same lap. Williams’ pit lane errors began to mount up as Massa pulled into the wrong box before having to trundle forward from the front of the McLaren garage to his team’s pit box.

    Hamilton made his third stop on lap 52, bolting on a final set of medium tyres and quickly began to close in on Rosberg. On lap 53 he was 0.7 seconds behind the race leader and within DRS range. Rosberg responded with a race fastest lap but the Briton pushed hard to better that and close to 0.6.

    Behind them Massa held third despite his pit lane issue, while Hulkenberg and Raikkonen were in fourth and fifth respectively, though question marks remained as to whether the Finn would try to race to the flag on his ageing medium tyres or have to pit again.

    Hulkenberg made his final stop on lap 61 and dropped back to eighth. Raikkonen, meanwhile, was in trouble. His tyres began to fall away and though he tried to defend he was soon passed by both Button and Vettel.

    The order then, with nine laps to go was Rosberg, six tenthsa of a second ahead of Hamilton, with Massa a further 31.7s behind. Button was now fourth ahead of Vettel, with Raikkonen clinging to sixth on his fading tyres. Alonso was 1.7s behind his team-mate, with Magnussen eighth ahead of Hulkenberg and Bottas.

    After a fascinating five-lap duel, Alonso finally passed Raikkon on the pit straight on lap 68 to take P6.

    Ahead, though, the order remained unchanged. Hamilton could find no way past the coolly, controlled Rosberg and after 71 laps the German took his fifth win of the season and his first since his home grand prix in July.

    To the delight of the Sao Paulo crowd, Massa took the final podium place for his first trophy since the Italian and Prix. Button was fourth ahead of Vettel, with Alonso sixth. Raikkonen, in seventh, was the only driver to stick to a two-stop strategy and make it work and might have been further up the order had his second stop not gone wrong. Hulkenberg scored four points with eighth, while the final points positions were taken by Magnussen and Bottas.

    2014 Brazilian Grand Prix – Race
    1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 71 Winner 1 25
    2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 71 +1.4 secs 2 18
    3 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 71 +41.0 secs 3 15
    4 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 71 +48.6 secs 5 12
    5 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 71 +51.4 secs 6 10
    6 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 71 +61.9 secs 8 8
    7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 71 +63.7 secs 10 6
    8 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 71 +63.9 secs 12 4
    9 Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 71 +70.0 secs 7 2
    10 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 70 +1 Lap 4 1
    11 Daniil Kvyat STR-Renault 70 +1 Lap 17
    12 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 70 +1 Lap 16
    13 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Renault 70 +1 Lap 15
    14 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 70 +1 Lap 11
    15 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 70 +1 Lap 18
    16 Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 70 +1 Lap 13
    17 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 63 +8 Laps 14
    Ret Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-Renault 39 Suspension 9

     

  • Rosberg takes pole position at Interlagos; Hamilton raring to go

    Mercedes driver wins pole position trophy after securing 10th front-of-grid start of season. Hamilton qualifies second ahead of Massa.

    Sao Pa

    Rosberg takes pole for the Brazilian GP. A Mercedes AMG Petronas image
    Rosberg takes pole for the Brazilian GP. A Mercedes AMG Petronas image

    ulo, 8 Nov 2014: Nico Rosberg won a thrilling Brazilian Grand Prix qualifying battle with championship rival Lewis Hamilton to take his 10th pole position of the season, and F1’s new trophy for most pole positions in a season. Felipe Massa took third position in front of his ecstatic home crowd.

    Quickest in every session of the race weekend up to qualifying Rosberg continued that form in the opening two segments of the hour-long session and held the advantage after the first runs in Q3.

    Hamilton, though, was determined to take the fight to the German and despite a lock up on his final flyer, a superb final sector earned him provisional pole position. Rosberg was midway through his own final lap, however, and running marginally quicker. His final sector was good too and he crossed the line three hundredths of a second ahead to claim his 10thpole and keep his championship hopes alive.

    With forecasters saying the session would run under a 40 per cent chance of rain, the opening 18-minute segment saw most drivers take to the track on soft tyres, though a few including the Williams and McLaren cars began on mediums.

    As expected the pace was set was by the Mercedes drivers, with Hamilton and Rosberg swapping fastest times. The championship leader took P1 with a triplet of purple sector times but then was dislodged as Rosberg went event faster with his next run.

    By the time the final runs were being plotted Rosberg led from Hamilton with Alonso, who had earlier complained of starting the session with low battery power, in third place ahead of Massa and Bottas.

    The quartet in the danger zone were Lotus’ Romain Grosjean, Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne, Pastor Maldonado in the second Lotus and Sebastian Vettel who had yet to set a time.

    The champion too complained of charging issues and his first timed lap left him rooted to the foot of the timesheet. His next lap was much better, the German jumping to safety in 12th place.

    There was no escape for the others in the drop zone, however. Vergne slide wide on a first flyer and that chance was gone. He attempted a second quick lap but he could find no improvement, as he pulled into pit lane he told his team the car was “undriveable”.

    Grosjean and Maldonado were also eliminated, while the man who dropped back to fill the hole left by Vettel was Force India’s Sergio Perez, who is also facing a seven-place grid Q2 saw penalty tomorrow.

    In Q2 the first runs saw Rosberg again head the table with a lap of 1:10.303, some four tenths of a second ahead of Hamilton. Bottas slotted into third, four hundredths of a second down on Hamilton, with Massa fourth ahead of McLaren’s Jenson Button.

    In the drop zone after the first runs were Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez and the trio of Adrian Sutil in the second Sauber, Daniil Kvyat in the remaining Toro Rosso and Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo yet to set a time.

    In the end Kvyat chose not to run and with part of an engine replacement penalty still to take he’ll drop seven places further back than his P14 qualifying slot.

    Ahead of him Gutierrez also missed the cut qualifying in 11th place, with the Mexican being knocked out by Ricciardo, who eventually finished eighth. Also ruled out were Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg in P12 and Sutil in P13.

    At the front Mercedes were confident enough of making the grade that neither Rosberg and Hamilton made a second run. Nobody could top Rosberg’s first-run time, however, though Massa closed to within five hundredths of a second of the German. Bottas went third ahead of Hamilton, Button and Vettel. Raikkonen was seventh ahead of Ricciardo, with the last two Q3 spots being taken by McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen and Alonso.

    In Q3 the first runs saw Rosberg improve yet again, the German shaving 1500ths of a second off his Q2 best to hold P1. Hamilton was second, just three hundredths down, ahead of Massa who got to within a tenth of Rosberg’s time to send the crowd wild at his home race.

    The final runs were incredibly close. Hamilton was the first to show his hand and despite a big lock-up into the Bico de Pato corner he claimed provisional pole position thanks to a superb final sector.

    Rosberg was out on track however and as he entered that final sector he was marginally inside Hamilton’s best. He managed to hold the advantage too to take his 10th pole position of the season by just three hundredths of a second.

    The result also earned him F1’s new pole position trophy as Hamilton, with eight poles to his credit, cannot now catch his team-mate.

    Behind them Massa took third ahead of Bottas with Button an excellent fifth for McLaren ahead of Vettel. Magnussen qualified in sixth position ahead of Alonso, Ricciardo and Raikkonen.

     

    2014 Brazilian Grand Prix – Qualifying
    1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:10.347 1:10.303 1:10.023 14
    2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:10.457 1:10.712 1:10.056 14
    3 Felipe Massa Williams 1:10.602 1:10.343 1:10.247 17
    4 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:10.832 1:10.421 1:10.305 17
    5 Jenson Button McLaren 1:11.097 1:11.127 1:10.930 16
    6 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1:11.880 1:11.129 1:10.938 19
    7 Kevin Magnussen McLaren 1:11.134 1:11.211 1:10.969 16
    8 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:11.558 1:11.215 1:10.977 18
    9 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:11.593 1:11.208 1:11.075 20
    10 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:11.193 1:11.188 1:11.099 18
    11 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:11.520 1:11.591 18
    12 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:11.848 1:11.976 14
    13 Adrian Sutil Sauber 1:11.943 1:12.099 17
    14 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:11.423  9
    15 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:12.037  8
    16 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:12.040  10
    17 Sergio Perez Force India 1:12.076  9
    18 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:12.233  7
    eom/FIA press release

  • Very emotional to be here in Brazil: Massa on P3

    DRIVERS

    1 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

    2 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    3 – Felipe MASSA (Williams)

    TV UNILATERAL

    Nico, fastest in all practice sessions, fastest in all qualifying sessions, I guess you would call that a perfect job? How are you feeling?

    Nico ROSBERG: Perfect job only if it works out tomorrow, you know, unfortunately. Up to now, of course, it’s been going well and it’s the best place to be in tomorrow but of course I need to make it happen in the race, unlike Austin for example.

    Well, very well done. Lewis, a very small margin in the end, a matter of a few hundredths of a second. It looks like you’ve been chasing Nico a little bit all weekend but it seemed to come together; a little mistake possibly in Turn 10 on that final run, but how important for you is it to win tomorrow’s race, how important to just collect points?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Just to comment on qualifying: it was great fun, Nico did a great lap and I lost a little bit of time in Turn 10 and perhaps a tiny bit in Turn One. But it was great – just having to keep on going out and fighting. That’s what qualifying is all about and it should always be that kind of gap, that close. So, really exciting and I hope people enjoyed that. And then, of course pole position is the best place to start here but it’s a long race tomorrow. It should be quite exciting with all the pit stops and the weather we don’t really know, so I’m here, I want to win, just as much as anyone else here, so I’m going to work as hard as I can tomorrow and hope we get have a race at least.

    Very well done and coming to you Felipe: third place for you and tremendously well received by the Brazilian crowd here. Emotional for you?

    Felipe MASSA: Yeah, very emotional. Very emotional to be here in Brazil and to have a competitive car, to start in the top three. I didn’t use everything I could from the car because I just got a lot of traffic, a lot of problems on my last set, that my car wasn’t… we couldn’t leave the engine on, so it was a lot of problems to leave the garage, so I left in the last moment with a lot of traffic around, with Magnussen. So I couldn’t improve my lap time and everybody was improving a little bit on the second set and I was not going to improve maybe enough to beat them but maybe to get very close. So it was very tight between the team-mates. It was very tight between them and very tight between me and Valtteri. But I think that’s a good thing. I’m so happy and I hope that it’s just the beginning and the start for tomorrow, a good result for us as well.

    Very well done. Back to you Nico: the points situation obviously means you need to win both the last two races…

    NR: Not true.

    Well, possibly, shall we say! You’ve been very calm all weekend. I wonder if the pressure is different now you’re in the position you’re in, compared with earlier in the season?

    NR: Pressure: it’s pretty much similar. The adrenaline is there, the tension, the excitement, it’s not been changing that much. I’m just here; I’m going for it. I’m pushing myself to stay optimistic all the time. Naturally I am optimistic also. Learn from Austin; I know what I need to do better. So, from that point of view, good to go for tomorrow.

    Q: Nico, as we said before, perfect run up to now. Tomorrow is what counts and, of course, this is a particularly tricky first corner, isn’t it? I guess it’s not ideal to have your team-mate alongside you because an awful lot can go wrong in that first Senna S, can’t it? Talk us through your thoughts.

    NR: I’m sure the start is going to be great to watch but being on the clean side of the grid, and it’s not such a long run down to Turn One, so that should definitely be helpful.

    Q: Lewis, your perspective on Turn One as an opportunity for you to get back on terms, and also whether what happened here six years ago, winning your title here, whether you’re going to be able to channel that into your performance tomorrow.

    LH: I’ve not really thought too much about the past here but, as I said, I’m here to win. Going to try to get off the line as quick as possible tomorrow and if I have a shot into Turn One tomorrow, I’ll take it. Otherwise, it’s a long race, 71 laps here so there’s lots of… should be several, two or three stops, so lots can go on during the race. So I’m generally excited and it’s not the only opportunity off the start. Yeah, we just, as I’ve said at all races, I just hope that we can race at least.

    Q: Felipe, obviously that’s your best qualifying since Germany – but particularly exciting for you, I guess, is the margin. How close you were to these Mercedes around this track. Your thought on that and also on what you can do in the race. Can you challenge them?

    FM: Yeah. Definitely good qualifying today, very tight between us in our team, me and Valtteri. Nico and Lewis as well. They were very, very close to each other so it was not an easy qualifying. I managed to do a good lap straight away but I just had a problem on the second set. Traffic, problem with the engine that it was not firing up. The car is good. I would say the car is competitive and we need to understand how the tyres will behave tomorrow in the race. The weather as well  – but I think… I will try everything I can for my best race. I really hope that it can be possible to have some opportunity, even with these two guys. I will try.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – Universo Online) Nico, this weekend looks a lot like the Austin weekend. But after your pit stop (in Austin) you suddenly lost performance and Lewis overtook you. What happened exactly and do you think the story will be different here?

    NR: You say this looks similar to Austin. I don’t know why. Just pole position. I understand what I needed to improve in Austin: I didn’t find my rhythm in the race and I understand that, we looked at it and so I’m confident that I can improve that for tomorrow. Anyways, it’s a different situation: different track, here we’ve done more long runs, we even did a long run this morning which will help, in exactly the same conditions as we expect tomorrow. So all those things should be very helpful.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – Universo Online) Lewis, would second place already be a good result for you here, even with Nico winning the race? Will you be more conservative or will you go for it, trying to get your sixth victory in a row?

    LH: I’m just repeating again: I’ve come here to win so the priority target as always to try and win the race. Of course, on top of that, I want the team to have another one-two which is going to be our target. We know the Williams are very close. Hopefully we’ll have a good battle tomorrow.

    Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Felipe, we have seen a Williams which is very very fast in the last sector. Do you think that tomorrow you could have the chance to beat Mercedes if you can manage to stay close to them at the beginning of the race?

    FM: I think we were very fast last sector but even also in the first sector. We were just losing in the second sector which is where you need more downforce, and it’s pretty cle

    Nico Rosberg takes Brazilian pole. Massa (left) takes P3 and Hamilton raring to go from P2. A Mercedes AMG Petronas image
    Nico Rosberg takes Brazilian pole. Massa (left) takes P3 and Hamilton raring to go from P2. A Mercedes AMG Petronas image

    ar what we’re missing a little bit during the championship but it’s also true that we have a good car. We have a competitive car and I don’t know if we will have the chance to be more competitive than Mercedes tomorrow but I hope we will have the chance to be in front of at least  one of these guys and I will do everything I can. We know that this race is very important for us and for me, as a Brazilian, and therefore these people as well who are watching and supporting me, so I will try everything I can.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Nico, you mentioned the wrong settings; did that happen by accident or didn’t you know or did you find out during driving that other settings would have been better?

    NR: No, it was not by accident. It’s a progression, from one run to the next and you learn, with every run. But then the decision is, OK, I know my settings are wrong but if I change them now, the car will be different and that can be quite risky because in qualifying I’m really going flat out on the absolute edge and when I’m on the edge and the car is different, it’s not necessarily going to be quicker and it’s more risky so I just took the decision to stay as it was and that was the right decision, so that worked out well.

    eom/FIA release of the transcript

  • Rosberg continues to set the pace at sweltering Interlagos

    Title hopeful again beats championship leader Hamilton by two tenths of a second as track temperatures hit 57 degrees.

    Sau Paulo, 7 Nov 2014 (IST Sat morn):

    Nico Rosberg tops both Free Practice 1 and 2 at the Interlagos in Sao Paulo on Friday. A Mercedes AMG Petronas image
    Nico Rosberg tops both Free Practice 1 and 2 at the Interlagos in Sao Paulo on Friday. A Mercedes AMG Petronas image

    Nico Rosberg continued at the top of the timesheets in Interlagos, beating team-mate Lewis Hamilton to top spot by the same two tenths of a second margin he had enjoyed in the morning session.

    Rosberg spent the early part of the session trailing Hamilton on the prime medium tyres but when the switch was made for option soft tyres, the German stretched his legs to take P1 with his first flying lap.

    Hamilton tried to respond but on his opening flyer he ran wide Mergulho corner and ended up six-tenths adrift of his title rival. Unlike many other drivers Hamilton managed to improve on his second quick lap but he could get no closer to Rosberg than 0.2s.

    Kimi Raikkonen was third fastest, half a second behind Rosberg, while Daniel Ricciardo, who had finished tenth in the morning session, improved to fourth fastest in the afternoon session, with the RB10 looking much more surefooted in the second practice period. Behind Ricciardo came the Williams cars of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa.

    While Raikkonen enjoyed a decent afternoon, despite a spin, team-mate Fernando Alonso had a more troubled outing, the Spaniard being forced to pull over at the side of the track with an engine fire. Ferrari later said that the power unit involved was a high mileage example and the incident was of no major concern, though Director odf Engineering Pat Fry said it had been a shame that Alonso was sidelined for the final 20 minutes of the session. Despite the setback Alonso still managed the afternoon’s seventh fastest time.

    Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat was ended up up eighth ahead of the second Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel, who, like his team-mate appeared more comfortable at the wheel of his RB10 than in the morning.

    Kevin Magnussen rounded out the top 10, beating the lead Lotus of Pastor Maldonado by just two hundredths of a second.

    Elsewhere, Esteban Gutierrez, who suffered electrical problems in the morning, also encountered problems in second session, the Mexican stopping with 13 minutes remaining and bringing out the red flag.

    Jean-Eric Vergne also hit trouble. The Frenchman missed the morning session due to Max Verstappen taking over his Toro Rosso and Vergne’s first taste of the new Interlagos surface lasted just five laps before he pulled over at the aside of the track with a power unit problem.

    Just 17 drivers ran during the session, with Sergio Perez unable to participate after Force India reserve Daniel Juncadella crashed his race car during the morning session.

    2014 Brazilian Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
    1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:12.123 36
    2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:12.336 0.213 36
    3 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:12.696 0.573 32
    4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:12.956 0.833 24
    5 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:13.035 0.912 31
    6 Felipe Massa Williams 1:13.099 0.976 27
    7 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:13.122 0.999 20
    8 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:13.254 1.131 35
    9 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1:13.333 1.210 28
    10 Kevin Magnussen McLaren 1:13.479 1.356 33
    11 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:13.497 1.374 33
    12 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:13.714 1.591 37
    13 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:13.882 1.759 32
    14 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:13.902 1.779 25
    15 Adrian Sutil Sauber 1:14.204 2.081 36
    16 Jenson Button McLaren 1:14.209 2.086
    17 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:17.171 5.048 31
    18 Sergio Perez Force India No time 5
    ends