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Tag: Red Bull
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P3 is a huge compliment to the team: Hamilton after qualifier in Japan
DRIVERS
1 – Mark WEBBER (Red Bull Racing)
2 – Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing)
3 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)TV UNILATERAL
Mark, congratulations. It’s been a long time this pole position this year. It’s your first time fastest in a qualifying session.
Mark WEBBER: Yeah, it’s a great track. We all enjoy driving here. The laps weren’t too bad to be honest. You always want a little bit more here and there but in general it was pretty good. Sebastian had a problem in qualifying, so a little bit of a hollow pole position if you like, because he still did a phenomenal lap, but I’m happy to be on pole. You’ve got to grab the opportunities when you can and still put the laps in. Bit of a mixed session, people were throwing options and primes all over the joint in Q2; people were on scrubbed and unscrubbed. So it was a bit of a mixed session in terms of trying to predict who was showing their hand. But in the end we did the laps when it counted and that’s what was important. Very, very nice farewell for me to have pole here on my last attempt at Suzuka on a really phenomenal circuit. I’ll never forget the first sector today. That’s what us guys strive for and yeah, our profession is all about that so it was a real highlight for a lot of us out there today.
You said yesterday you needed to find performance. You obviously found that performance. How did that come?
MW: To be honest we needed to check the car this morning with the different wind conditions. That’s important. I think you’ll see everyone today went a lot quicker. So we were factoring that in. The circuit had changed a lot. Also, it’s a very strange circuit, it’s a very out and back track, it’s a very narrow circuit, a lot of kilometres but in a small gully, so obviously that was something we have to take in mind in terms of our preparation today for the wind. I think we did what we could. We’ve still got some quick cars around but in general we’ve got a good car for the race. Head down tomorrow.
Well done. Sebastian how much do you think losing that time this morning hurt you?
Sebastian VETTEL: Well obviously we had a problem this morning but I don’t think that made a difference in terms of finding the rhythm, I think we’ve done plenty of laps around this track. First of all, congratulations to Mark, I think he did a very good lap. We did have an issue in qualifying but I’m not a big fan of ‘without this, with this, if this’. It’s always unknown. As a fact, we are P2. So, happy, obviously, with the result. Front row for the team, which is great. The car was phenomenal today, as Mark touched on. The first sector – I think you realise afterwards that the car was fantastic through there and you don’t get many days like that, where the car feels great and you can really push it to the limit. Enjoyed qualifying and happy with second place.
In fact, in the two laps you did in Q3 it looked as if you just went a little bit wide out of Spoon on one lap and I’m not certain what happened in the middle sector on the final lap.
SV: Nothing. I kept it on the track. Obviously I tried hard on the first attempt, a little bit too hard. Tried hard on the second attempt but managed to stay on track. Obviously you gain a little bit before you go off track in the first attempt and then you lose down the straight and obviously the second time around I was a bit more conservative but gained down the straight, so overall it was a net gain. But, yeah, I think we were all pushing to the limit today, as Mark touched on. Again, with the wind it was tricky, some gusts here and there but in the end we are pushing and mistakes happen.
Q: Lewis, I don’t know how happy you are with third place. You’ve been a major challenger all weekend.
Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah. No. I’m really happy. I think the team did a great job so far this weekend and realistically it was difficult, or almost impossible, to finish ahead of these guys. They’ve had a much better package generally for a long, long time but I think we’ve come a long way and to be as close as we are, I think is a huge compliment to the team. The car was feeling good. My car felt awesome so I can’t imagine how it felt for them – and congratulations to Mark. I’m looking forward to racing them tomorrow.
Q: What’s going to be the major factor tomorrow? A lot of people talking about tyre management and making sure you don’t lock-up – that it’s too easy to lock-up at this circuit.
LH: Well, there are not many big braking zones but locking is always an issue. Degradation is going to be really the key tomorrow. I hope we can get a good start, being on the cleaner side and be able to at least put up a little bit of a fight for these guys, don’t let them walk away with it too easily.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Mark, it’s usually you who makes a really good start away from the press conference but the important thing is can you make a good start away tomorrow?
MW: Yeah! Haven’t been too bad of late, I don’t think. We’re doing the prep we can, the clutch is in good shape and we should be able to get away well and head down after that for a good race.
Q: Who’s going to be the major threat do you think tomorrow?
MW: At the front of the grid in the grand prix there’s no-one ahead of you so it always has to come from behind if there’s a chance, so I’ll focus on myself and try and get some gaps if I can. Obviously Seb, Lewis, Lotus as well in the race. Who knows? You’ve just got to be mindful of the fact of tyre management, get the strategy right, execute a clean grand prix from driver, pitstops, everything together. It’s got to work. We’re more than capable of that. Obviously a super-experienced team, we know what we’ve got to do tomorrow. Looking forward to it.
Q: Sebastian. What was the problem this morning? What actually caused you to lose so much time this morning?
SV: We decided to change the batteries on the car because we had an issue with KERS. Unfortunately we had the same problem in qualifying – so I think we have a little bit more time after qualifying now to have a look and see whether there’s something else broken or damaged. The whole team was pushing very hard. Obviously my car crew but also Mark’s car crew helped out to fix the car in time and get it out for qualifying – so we tried everything. It worked sometimes and as I said I’m sure we’ll find the problem tonight and hopefully it works tomorrow.
Q: Lewis, Were there big changes in conditions today, what with the wind? And also drivers were reporting more grip as well.
LH: Yeah. The wind direction changed, I think 180°, so you had a tail wind down into Turn One but then massive headwind going through the Esses, so it changed the characteristics of the circuit massively. I guess every car will have gained a lot more downforce, so it got a lot quicker today.
Q: And how much has that changed for the race itself?
LH: I believe… I was told it’s going to be like FP3. I think it was a little windier this afternoon, potentially. Hopefully it should be the same tomorrow.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Mark, did you put the black cat on Seb’s car and do you think that this is the end of your bad luck curse this year?
MW: You just have to look forward. It’s tough enough as it is to see the results that you lose, the amount of points that we’ve lost, there’s a lot of things which are out of my hands which you can get frustrated by but at the end of the day you have to look forward because it takes energy if you look back, so looking forward. Yeah, we have a great opportunity tomorrow. When I started up the last lap, when I came out of the last chicane and I thought it’s my last lap in a Formula One car here at Suzuka – come on, let’s really enjoy it but also put the car on the limit. I did my best. I enjoyed today; tomorrow will be the same mentality. It’s a beautiful circuit in a Formula One car, the tyres are finishing the lap which is also brilliant for us to push for most of the lap so in general it’s a nice day, and as you say, let’s hope it continues for another 24 hours and in India and so on and so on, to finish off as nicely as we can.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Mark, there’s no way not to ask this question: your teammate needs a victory to maybe – maybe – become World Champion. Here you are in front of him on a difficult circuit to overtake. Would you consider to work for the team?
MW: I think it’s such a long year. Seb’s had a phenomenal year. He will do his race tomorrow, I will do my race. It’s not like it’s the last race of the championship, obviously, in terms of what can unfold or whatever. Sebastian has a big points lead because of the work that he’s put in up to now. He can’t qualify on pole for every race. Tomorrow is a new day and let’s see how it’s looking at the end of the race. Normally you talk about these things and they never happen but in general, yeah, we’ll be there for ourselves tomorrow.
Q: (Abhishek Takle – Midday) Mark, we saw some replays of you exiting the pits in front of a McLaren, Perez. Can you explain what happened? Were you aware… were you told he was on a flying lap?
MW: He backed off so the engineers told me that he had finished his lap so we could pull in front of him because he was going to pit. If he was on a quick lap obviously I would have got out of the way.
Q: (Trent Price – Richland F1) For all of you: we’ve seen a lot of drivers lose a lot of time in the chicane over the weekend; have you guys opted for a compromise set-up for that or is it just something in the characteristics of the cars?
MW: The chicane is a normal compromise problem for this circuit. It’s a very slow chicane, it’s from a big speed in terms of braking, there’s also a bit of rise in there if you want to use the kerbs, and things like that and then the traction is also very important. As usual, with every Grand Prix track we go to we try to compromise the car as best we can. We’re aware there’s a lot of lap time in the chicane but there’s also a lot of lap time in the first sector so we do what we can. The driver sometimes has to fill the pockets in terms of those compromises.
SV: Sorry, what was the question again? I have the results here. Sorry. I think Mark has… I think you lose a little bit of the tyre towards the end but I’m sure that’s what he said.
LH: Same.
Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and National Speedsport News). Mark, you said it’s a bit of a hollow pole because Seb had problems but out of the 12 (poles) how does this rate? Is it still quite sweet because it’s at this track?
MW: Yeah, you’re right Dan. You’ve got to take them when you can get them. It’s not like they hand them out. It was still a big lap. I’ve had a few laps in qualifying where I’ve had to attempt to qualify as best as I can without all the weapons as well and today we had the weapons sharp and we did a pretty good job on a phenomenal circuit. When you drive here… this is the links golf course of the golf world or the big wave stuff for the surfers or whatever. For us, it’s a really testing circuit. Unless anyone sees a Formula One car here live to see what happens in a sector, it’s very hard for them to understand how quickly we go through there.
Q: (Ian Parkes – Press Association) Seb and Mark: McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh has confirmed that Peter Prodromou has signed for the team, potentially for next season, certainly for 2015. Can you two guys give us an idea of what Peter has brought to Red Bull over the past few years, given the titles that you’ve won?
MW: Peter’s a great guy, obviously a huge amount of experience. Always enjoyed working with him. Obviously he’s an integral part of the team and did good job, been there a long time. It’s the first I’m aware of how formal you’re talking about it but these things happen in Formula One. There’s a lot of good guys moving around in teams. We’re open to that and that can happen. If that’s the case, I obviously wish him all the best. That’s the small industry that we work in.
SV: I only heard of it just now. As Mark touched on, he’s obviously been a very very strong character in the background responsible for a lot of good stuff that has happened to us over the last couple of years. Whether it’s more than just a rumour or not I’m not sure. Independently, he’s a very nice guy and whatever he decides to do, as Mark said, you wish him all the best. For sure I hope he stays with us but I don’t know. I only just heard, when I got out of the car.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Mark, you have been facing problems at the start of the race in many races and here, maybe, it’s one of the most difficult because it’s downhill. Do you have any special preparations for the start?
MW: Do my best, mate. Fingers crossed and go from there. We’ve had a few good ones. Obviously some pretty average ones: Seb in Singapore, it was not the best for him but Lewis has had some good and some poor ones as well. At Nurburgring we went straight round the outside of him so it can happen but I love taking the challenge on and tomorrow we will face it and do what we can to get into turn one first and then the race starts from there.
File photo of Lewis Hamilton (right) with team boss Ross Brawn. Photo by Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team. Ends
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Pat’s legacy to take Marussia forward: FIA Friday Press Conference
TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Dave GREENWOOD (Marussia), Tom McCULLOUGH (Sauber), James KEY (Toro Rosso), Jonathan NEALE (McLaren), Pat FRY (Ferrari), Paul MONAGHAN (Red Bull Racing)
PRESS CONFERENCE
Dave if I may start with you. You’ve got a new partnership starting… I guess it’s started already. In fact, that’s the question: how’s it going?
Dave GREENWOOD: Yes, it’s going extremely well at the minute. The partnership has been running since just around the time of the August break. Obviously a lot of data going back and forth, mainly on the design side at the minute – the big challenge of integrating the engine within the chassis is what we’ve been looking at, the cooling side, those kinds of issues. So, it’s going well. It’s progressing well. Everything’s on target at the minute so we’re very happy with what’s happening.
There have been quite a few changes to the team’s technical operation. How’s that coming along?
DG: Yeah, we were disappointed to see Pat leave, he was a big part of rebuilding our team. But really, it’s Pat’s legacy that’s left behind, which is carrying on. So it’s all the same designers, the same aerodynamicists, the same people leading those team so really we’re just getting on with the job in hand and just fully focused on the 2014 car.
When you say his legacy, was that an organisational legacy – putting up structures?
DG: Absolutely. Putting up structures, discipline, good engineering practices, all the good stuff engineers should do every day and just making sure everyone’s doing it and they’re all on the same sheet.
Tom, obviously a fantastic result last weekend with fourth and in fact you’ve also scored points in the last three races. What’s changed, what’s different?
Tom McCULLOUGH: To be honest we started the year uncompetitively, in position. The pace from the midfield wasn’t too far but we just weren’t scoring the points. We kept coming home from every race weekend, analysing the data, both in low-fuel qualifying and long-run race pace and thinking to ourselves ‘we’re not that far away, but we’re just the wrong side’. We decided to push on the development of the car. We introduced our biggest update package by far for Budapest – totally changed the concept of the rear of the car aerodynamically. Did a lot of work really from the front wing right the way through to the rear wing on the car – it’s a very different car to what was actually launched. And we’ve just addressed the main problems that were limiting us from a car balance and a lap time point of view. The change of tyres happened around the same time too, so lowering the front ride height on a Formula One car tend to help you as well. But, fundamentally, for us the biggest difference really started in Budapest. We didn’t score points but we saw how the car was working aerodynamically and we’ve just built on that from there really.
And now you’re locked in a battle in the Constructors’ Championship with your former colleague and now neighbour up there from Toro Rosso. So how’s the development? Is that still continuing?
TMcC: We brought forward our final update package from India to the previous race in Korea, so there are now no more new parts on our car between now and the end of the year. We’ve had to push the development of this year’s car a little bit more than we wanted to, just because we were on the back foot at the start of the year and we had a few problems to address. So, we’ve been developing both cars in parallel, this year’s and next year’s car. At the moment, level on points. We were a bit lucky with some circumstances last weekend but I think as Jean-Eric said yesterday, it’s sort of game on from here really. We’re starting with the same points, pretty similar car performance from track to track, there’s not a lot in it. So, there’s going to a good little fight between now and the end of the year.
Yes. James, as JEV said yesterday, it’s now a five-race championship for you. What are your thoughts on it?
James KEY: I think what Tom says reflects it well. It is going to be close, to the point where certain tracks and certain conditions suit the different cars slightly differently. It’s going to be tight. It’s exciting to be in a battle like that. But not where you want to be with five races to go with a massive regulation change next year. It’s another balancing act. I think it’s going to be interesting and it is a five-race championship. Starting from this point the rest is all information we can use in these next five races.
What’s Toro Rosso’s reaction going to be? Have you stopped you development or have you got more coming?
JK: On the aero side we have. We brought our last bits in Singapore. We’ve got a few small items to come. Mechanically, there’s sort of an ongoing development process a little bit with trying to adapt to the tyre change still because that had a negative effect on us we think. We kind of know why but there are still a few things to do. There’s a little bit of that going on but fundamentally the car is what it is now, there’s nothing major coming along at all at this stage. And clearly with next year’s car very much the focus of the team there’s not much resource to do that.
So, it’s really almost going to be track specific from now on?
JK: I think yeah it’s potentially going to be down to small detail.
Jonathan, obviously Honda is looming but quite a long way away still. What is the situation? Did you go and seen them, have you been to see them here. How closely are you now working with them?
Jonathan NEALE: We are seeing them here during the course of this weekend. It’s an exciting proposition for us to be back with them. We’ve been working very closely for 10 months or so since we dropped the flag, which is not long in Formula One terms but they’re a powerful organisation and moving heaven and earth at the moment and that’s an exciting prospect. But although that’s on the horizon we’re very much focused on the work we’re doing with Mercedes at the moment because, as the others have alluded to, the step change in regulations for next year means we’ve got to do the job twice in two years, so we’ve got our work cut out.
And in terms of drivers that still seems to be fairly fluid as well?
JN: Yeah, as Martin and Jenson said during the Korean Grand Prix weekend we’ve confirmed what we’re doing on that side but the other side if still open for discussion. But we’re under no immediate pressure. I know there’s a lot of media expectation, I understand that but there’s nothing in the regulations, no structural reason why we’d want to make that decision without careful consideration. So that’s what we’re doing.
Still very much watch this space then?
JN: Yeah, very much so.
Q: Pat, first of all, a big challenge from Mercedes in the Constructors’ Championship. How much is that actually hurting 2014?
Pat FRY: In terms of development, we’ve got some parts coming through for the next couple of races but that’s already in the pipeline, that’s not really affecting the 2014. Obviously it’s quite a close-fought battle with them. They’ve got outstanding qualifying pace and their race pace is sometimes good, sometimes bad. Again, I expect that’ll be another one of those five-race championships you were just talking about.
Q: Was Korea a bit of a blip? You’d actually finished second in the previous three races.
PF: Yeah. I think where we qualified in Korea is similar to what we’ve been able to do before really and there’s no point hiding behind our poor qualifying pace. The race, in reality, we were caught in traffic and couldn’t get past so credit to the people who were there holding us up a little.
Q: So is it looking better for this weekend?
PF: I hope so, yes. So far.
Q: Paul, obviously huge progress since the summer break. Things have completely changed, you’ve dominated every race since then. What changed?
Paul MONAGHAN: A few small items. It’s been remarkably subtle, the pieces that have gone onto the car but the collective effect has been enormously positive and it’s spread to many areas and that’s opened up a few little other paths of development which we’ve managed to exploit and yes, we’ve been very lucky – and enjoyed it.
Q: Obviously you had a huge amount of damage on Mark’s car last weekend. Can you give us some indication of what’s been required since then?
PM: It’s very easy to summarise. Pretty much everything behind the oil radiator was ruined. So it’s a whole new car from the cockpit backwards for him. New chassis, or a replacement chassis, and everything is new there behind it.
Q: Was that all built up here, did you have all the spares with you?
PM: The majority of them actually were with us, yes. A few parts have made their way out here but we’ve survived remarkably well.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and National Speedsport News) Paul, as Mark’s time in F1 winds down, give us an idea of how it has been to work with him over the years?
PM: I’ve known him since 2002, I think, when he was Renault test driver. He was committed then, he’s still very committed now, always professional, always gives good feedback. He complements Sebastian extremely well. They both contribute to car development and he’s continuing to do so. It’s been at outstanding career, hasn’t it? Very impressive.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – RacingLines) Gentlemen, there has been a lot of talk about Formula One possibly adopting customer cars. Now this concept could put some of you out of a job for obvious reasons and turn others into super salesmen. Where do you stand on this particular issue from an engineering or technical perspective?
JN: It’s a contentious subject which of course is why you asked the question. I think that on the one hand Formula One still has to be the pinnacle of motor sport and there is a certain sense of technical endeavour in that, providing that we moderate that from a financial point of view. Customer cars is a game-changer, certainly for the independent teams; it fundamentally changes that business model and I think before Formula One goes about that, I think it needs to look at the economic sustainability of the various business models that exist. Whether you’re premium brand, whether you’re independent or whether you’re an entrant into it, then in any market sense, you make sure that you’ve got something that works holistically. Technically, for us, it’s not as big a deal. I think commercially it’s a much bigger issue but I don’t think the technical guys will say it’s too much of a challenge. But it would fundamentally change for me what Formula One is and I think Formula One is about the pinnacle of motor sport and that technical element is very important to it, and I believe that the independent teams would say the same thing.
PF: Well, I suppose in reality it’s more a question for the team principals than engineers really. From an engineering point of view, I’m sure it would be relatively easy to put something in place but it’s more, as Jonathan was saying, about which way do we want to see the sport going.
PM: From a purely technical point of view, Formula One is the Constructors’ championship – there’s a Drivers’ championship and a Constructors’ championship and therefore, solely from that point of view, then we ought to compete against one another. However, we currently sell parts to other teams as we’re permitted to do so, so an amount of part-sharing, to ease the burden on other teams that wish to buy certain components from us, then I think it’s absolutely the right thing to do. If that expands a little bit and all the teams agree, then it’s probably a helpful thing for the sport.
DG: Personally, I think we’ve got the balance about right at the minute. What you can and can’t buy from someone else is probably about the right place and still gives us the ability to be engineers and go off and design things and not just take wholesale someone else’s parts. I think in effect it allows us to buy the really complicated bits – gearboxes, hydraulics etc – and then lets us go off and concentrate on the other parts.
TMcC: Yeah, I really can’t add too much more. For us, as performance-base engineers running a spec car or a customer car wouldn’t be as much fun. Like Dave was just saying, some of the more complicated expensive parts with a lot of tooling research and development, I think the balance is pretty good at the moment. Then we, as trackside engineers, can push hard on the performance side of the car and that’s a fantastic opportunity for people like myself working with great wind tunnels, great bunch of people, just developing performance.
Q: James, Toro Rosso have just invested quite a lot in their technical assets recently.
JK: Absolutely. It’s often maybe misunderstood but Toro Rosso’s very much a team in its own right. We work well with Red Bull where we can, for example the same engine for next year and so on but yes, we have invested. I think, certainly, there’s a commercial side which is not within the remit of technical directors to comment on but technically it’s not difficult but there’s a big emotional thing there because we are all competitive people who want to go and beat the other guy and a big part of that is making your own car so it’s quite a big topic on a number of levels, I think.
Q: Anything further to add, Jonathan, having heard from the technical directors?
JN: Only that I would echo that the balance of being able to trade parts to a team that maybe has a smaller budget or is a new entrant I think is a really important part of attracting investors in, because as in any business you want to invest what resource you have in what makes a difference and it takes time to put the capital footprint down and to put the competence in place. If you’re trying to do all that from day one, your chance of survival and then running properly into the series… I think the risk is induced and you make it less attractive as an investment proposition.
Q: (Sam Collins – RaceCar Engineering) Question for the guys in the back row: one of the things you guys are indulging in is a battle for Constructors’ positions but at the same time you’re trying to develop quite a complicated car for next year within the resource restriction agreement. How are you managing the cost of developing the car against the cost of trying to get those points to get the Constructors’ positions and the money it pays out, particularly in the case of Marussia as well?
DG: To a certain extent we have thrown most of our weight behind 2014 and quite a long time ago but that’s not to say we’ve not had small developments which have come recently and they’ve been extremely cost-effective developments which has helped as well and the financial burden of 2014 is big as well. Basically, by judging small mechanical upgrades that can maybe help optimise the aerodynamics of the car – by that, obviously, I mean suspension to allow you to run in the place and the track to get the best downforce from the map you’ve got – so we’ve worked a lot on those small parts which can give you gains for not very much money and also not very much lead time which is good. So we’re still doing a certain amount of filtering back ideas from the track back to design: is it easy to design, is it easy to make, can we do it for the next race? Yes, OK, let’s go for it, but the emphasis is very much on 2014.
TMcC: Yeah, for us it’s a little bit different due to the position we’ve found ourselves in at the start of the year, as I sort of mentioned earlier. Nowadays, as well as cfd, the wind tunnel, aerodynamics on the track, these are all things which we are monitoring all the time and trying to improve. The regulations next year are obviously quite different from our power train point of view, the influence of the exhaust on the downforce is obviously quite different but for us, fundamentally there are some flow mechanisms and understanding of this year’s car which we really had to get on top of and understand before we just abandoned it an early stage and got straight into the 2014 car, so we’ve had a bit of a different approach. Now, from a resource point of view we’ve had to be careful not to throw too much at this year’s car but it’s always that balance as an engineer: fundamentally understanding this year’s car was pivotal for us to design a good car next year so we’ve played that balance.
JK: I think similar thoughts really. There are certain things you can learn this year which will help you next year but a lot of the major bits are not carry-over at all so it really is a balancing act of trying to efficiently do what you can, let’s say in the latter half of this season primarily, for this year and make sure you’re not losing focus on next year. It’s always tricky because when these regulations come along so does an opportunity to take a step forward but there will be a risk of damaging your previous year if you do that, so it’s very much a balancing act. I think with the lack of the carry-over of a lot of the stuff that you do, you have to try and – as Tom says – tune a little bit of what you need to understand to make it relevant for next year as well.
Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and National Speedsport News) James, now that you’ve had a chance to look at the cars, what caused your drivers to retire in Korea?
JK: It was actually a brake duct issue which I’ve never seen before. It was very frustrating, we had the same problem on the same lap for both drivers and it obviously meant, unfortunately, that we had to retire them which was a real shame. I think points for Daniel were relatively clear and secure and in fact we were just about to tell him to push to try and catch the guy ahead at the end so it was very frustrating for all of us. It was actually a structural failure on brake ducts which shouldn’t cause any damage but they led to us having to retire the cars because of temperature problems.
Q: Did it have any overheating impact on the engines, is there any reduction in life in the engines?
JK: No, we think the engines are OK. It was a general effect around the car when you have something which moves and causes a flowfield issue. We think we’re OK there. It didn’t actually cause any more damage than the parts themselves that broke in the end but unfortunately it was enough to have to retire.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – RacingLines) Jonathan, you said earlier on that you’ve got to do the job twice, i.e. in 2014 and then again in 2015. A lot of teams have two separate design operations, one working on the next year and the other on the one thereafter. Is that the approach that you’ve adopted and does that fit into McLaren’s matrix system?
JN: No. There’s just so much to be done in the near term that it’s all hand on deck. We’re 12 weeks away from the end of the year, 16 weeks away from putting the car out for a test or something like that; I think a Formula One car is 13,500 parts with the engine as one part number. There’s a lot of work to do with almost no carry-over. Everybody will be focused on trying to get the learning out of this and I think there’s so much still to be discovered through those early two or three months of running these cars, both from a reliability and energy optimisation, aerodynamics, the new flow structures around the car. I’m not quite sure what you would start your next one on so we’ve got to learn and digest all that first.
Q: (Sam Collins – RaceCar Engineering) How do the five engineers here feel about going into the 2014 competition season with no running on the wet tyres with the new powertrain?
PF: I’m honestly not quite sure how to answer the question really. The wet tyre performance at the moment is a little bit of a challenge and how would you ever test a tyre and prove it I don’t know. It’s one of those impossible questions to answer but I’m sure we’re all going to be uneasy over that step into the unknown. I’m sure you can say that at the first test, when we run out on slick tyres, for instance, exactly how are the tyres going to behave with the new powertrain. The torque delivery of the power units are quite dramatically different and I suppose the stress that’s put on the tyres in qualifying compared to the race will also be dramatically different from this year. I think there’s a learning curve on both the slick and the wet tyres to be honest.
PM: It’s going to be interesting, isn’t it? We’ll see what happens. Like all of these things, once you’re faced with a wet track and the car’s got to go, then you will deal with the circumstances as they arise to you. It’s a challenge, we’ll all face it and we’ll all treat it in different ways and I’m sure we’ll all come out the other side thinking it wasn’t too bad.
DG: Yeah, I echo the two guys’ comments, honestly. You’ll deal with it as it happens and those who’ve made the best job of it will get something out of it. I guess that’s one way to look at it.
TMcC: Not really much more to add really. With the wet tyre you’ve got torque delivery to deal with and you will work with those parameters to get the most out of your package.
JK: Same.
Ends
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F1 Drivers heap praises on Japanese track: FIA press conference
DRIVERS – Charles PIC (Caterham), Pastor MALDONADO (Williams), Jean-Eric VERGNE (Toro Rosso), Nico HULKENBERG (Sauber), Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing), Jenson BUTTON (McLaren)
PRESS CONFERENCE
Sebastian, just a few days ago you described coming here as coming to the best track in the world. Can you explain why it is the best track in the world? I’ll ask everyone else the same question, so prepare your answers.
Sebastian VETTEL: I think generally we race on the best tracks in the world and, as I said, I think Suzuka is one of the best, if not the best, in my point of view. As a driver, just going through the first sector is fantastic, with the high-speed corners. It’s a track where we really get to challenge ourselves, get to push the cars to their limits and obviously it’s much more intense feeling the car at the limit in a high-speed corner rather than in medium or low-speed (corners). There are quite many around here. It’s a very tricky track, very challenging. Another great corner, I think, is Spoon, which is off-camber on the way out and therefore it’s quite tricky to keep the car on the right line. So, all in all, it’s a place where we love to race. On top of that there is a fantastic atmosphere, crazy Japanese fans. They are very passionate about us coming here and I think all the drivers we do get a lot of respect when we come here but equally a lot of support.
Jenson, an extraordinary record here – you’ve finished all 11 of your races here, plus the two in Fuji as well. Your thoughts on Suzuka?
Jenson BUTTON: Yeah, I’m not sure that’s really the best record to have around Suzuka but, yeah, it’s great to be back. I love this circuit. I think most of us do. It’s a very unforgiving circuit. Very fast and flowing, especially from one up until, well, actually, after the second Degner. It’s a really good section up there. So, very enjoyable. It’s a tricky circuit to overtake on, but I think the DRS zone is hopefully going to help a little bit with that. But it’s always a flat-out race, with hardly any rest. We’ve got the hard and the medium tyres here, so it’s going to be pushing all the way, which is what we love as racing drivers, especially around a circuit like Suzuka. So, hoping for a good weekend.
Charles, just one race here so far.
Charles PIC: Yeah, last year. It was my first time last year and it’s not the easiest track to learn, especially the first sector because it’s very fast. But definitely it’s one of my favourites. I think it’s one of the tracks, with Spa, where you get the most sensation out of the car. I like it very much.
Pastor, you finished eighth here last year?
Pastor MALDONADO: Yeah, this is my third time here. Very nice track. I agree with all of them – it’s one of the best of the season. I think all the drivers are very happy to be here. The fans’ community is very big. It’s a special weekend. I hope to do my best to be in the points again this year.
Jean-Eric, 13th last year, what are your thoughts on the circuit?
Jean-Eric VERGNE: It‘s a track that I love. Obviously all the drivers love it. It’s a great atmosphere. You can really feel the whole history here. Obviously, as Spa, it’s a track where you can, in a way, stretch the legs of the car, which is a really nice feeling.
And Nico, seventh last year, I think.
Nico HULKENBERG: Last year was a good race for us. Also one of my favourite circuits. I think everything else has been mentioned by these guys.
An individual question for you all. Sebastian, also you mentioned last weekend that the car was very much on the edge. We see these extraordinary performances from you, almost weekend after weekend. How easy or how difficult is it to drive?
SV: I think it’s never easy. Obviously I think the car, don’t get me wrong, it’s on another level when you compare for example with Charles’ car, there is a difference for sure. But no matter how quick the car, in the end, makes it around the track, you will always push the car to its edge and try to get the best out of the car. We obviously have been to Korea to a couple of times and we know the trend of the track, especially throughout the race – the front right is on the limit. So, therefore, you obviously try to set up your car to fight that sort of problem and, yeah, I think overall it’s never easy. We had to push a lot in the race. We were under pressure from behind with Lotus. Obviously we were strong enough to always have a little bit of a gap but yeah, you could not, unless maybe in the last two laps, I could not lean back and rest too much.
Q: Jenson, somebody very close to you a few years ago said you were becoming a Honda man through-and-through. That possibility emerges again in 2015 if you’re still with McLaren. What are the chances?
JB: There’s a chance, yes. There’s definitely a chance. I think first of all it’s great that Formula One has another engine manufacturer that’s interested in coming back in. I think that’s very good for the sport and hopefully it will bring others back into the sport. Japan… it feels that Japan needs either a driver or a manufacturer in the sport. Obviously it’s been a little while since they’ve had a manufacturer and with no Japanese drivers on the grid now. It’s a country that really does love it’s motorsport, has true racing fans. The guys said there were hundreds of people out on Wednesday, on set-up day – yesterday – when it was chucking it down with rain and they were watching them set-up. That’s a true racing fan – none of this Monaco stuff! So, it shows it’s in their culture and in their blood. I think it’s very special for Japan to have a manufacturer in the sport – but obviously that’s not for another year and a half. We’ve got a long time before that and hopefully a very good year next year with Mercedes-Benz.
Q: Charles, you so nearly led the team to regain tenth place in the Constructors’ Championship last weekend in Korea. Do you think that can happen before the end of the year?
CP: We hope so. It was very close in Korea. We need 13th place and finish 14th. So… yeah… we will keep pushing very hard to get this 13th place. It’s very important for us and also to prepare well next year. So we will do everything we can.
Q: Pastor, it hasn’t been a good season so far this year. What are your thoughts on staying with Williams? Your future with Williams?
PM: For sure it was a hard beginning of the season and quite hard times for us as a team. We’ve been working very, very hard, 24 hours per day, trying to improve our performance and trying to do something different to improve the car performance and at the moment, we find some way but maybe it’s not enough to catch the teams who are quite close to us. For sure, it’s nothing to do. We need to keep trying, we need to keep doing until the last race I think. There are still five races to go. We’ve been quite close, even last weekend, to being in the points. We had some problem in the last part of the race but yeah, I’ll keep trying to get some more points before the end of the season and then… we will see for the next year. At the moment I have a contract and it’s looking quite good.
Q: Jean-Eric, I think you thought things were going to be better last weekend than they were. What was the problem? What actually happened?
J-EV: First of all, we struggled the whole weekend to find a correct balance. In the end both cars retired because of brake-ducts being broken. It was probably the issue that we had in the weekend. So we changed many things for this weekend. Obviously Sauber has done a very good job to catch us back so now they are just in front in the championship with the same points. Now for us it is a five-race season. So, we’re pushing like crazy. I believe we’ve got a good car and if we put everything in together we will score some more points. That’s definitely our target.
Q: Nico, how come it’s coming good at this stage of the season? What’s changed – you or the car?
NH: I haven’t changed! I certainly haven’t changed. I think the car. Of course we’ve put on some updates: a big one in Budapest – which we now understand better and better – and then some small bits and bobs. I think the tyres did the rest. And what we did in Korea I think was outstanding. I’m really happy and proud about that but we probably punched above our weight there and out-performed a few cars which we shouldn’t do. But there was this opportunity and we grabbed it. So that was very good.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Sebastian, you had a very fast car since the beginning of the season. Then from Spa, you’ve had four poles, four victories; the gap increased even more to your competitors. How do you personally explain that?
SV: I wasn’t on pole in Spa. As you mentioned, I think it’s right to say that we had a very strong car from the beginning of the season, strong enough to always finish in a very very strong position on Sunday afternoon. Lately, I think we’ve been very strong in qualifying as well whereas at the beginning of the year Mercedes definitely seemed to have the upper hand. I think there’s no real explanation from our side, there’s not one part that went on the car and all of a sudden it was that much quicker. I think we were able to improve the car so that arriving at Spa the car was better than it was in Hungary. Since then, we’ve just tried again to improve, there’s new bits coming every race weekend, even though sometimes it’s a very small package, but even so, we’re pushing very hard, trying to improve the car. I’m sure the others do the same but it seems that we’ve had lots of good parts coming lately and making the car quicker. Also, I think there’s a factor of you understanding the car more than at the beginning of the season so you are able to react quicker, change the set-up in the right manner. Obviously there’s not so much time available. If you look on Friday, you have one chance overnight to make a change and I think we got better as a team in that regard to get closer to one hundred percent on Saturday morning already and then benefit throughout the weekend.
Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Sebastian, if I’m correct, in 2008 you climbed Mount Fuji; can you tell us more about that? And can you tell us more about your helmet, last year with the Japanese flag? Where is it now and does it mean something special for you?
SV: Yeah, climbed the… well, climbed is not really the… you don’t need a rope to go up there. We started very early, together with Alexander Wurz, it was a fun trip and we climbed or we walked up so we reached the summit as soon as the sun came up which was very special. There were a lot of people telling us off because it’s too cold and it’s too late in the year but actually it’s not a problem, so it was quite cold at night but not too bad. It was a very nice experience to be up there, it’s very high, close to 4000 meters above sea level, so it was a unique experience.
Regarding the helmet of last year, I’m not sure… I think it’s at home. Always in Japan, the last couple of years we came here with a special helmet design. I’m using an Arai helmet which is a Japanese manufacturer and obviously it’s their home Grand Prix, not just for my helmet but also for many other helmets. It’s nice to give a little bit back to them, but also to the fans, to come up with a special idea and I think also this year’s helmet looks very nice.
Q: (Abhishek Takle – Midday) Nico, you’ve given Lotus a deadline to agree a deal (for next year). Can you update us as to what’s going on there and if not Lotus, what are your other options?
NH: I’ve not set a deadline. I think that was a misunderstanding and someone not laying it out correctly. What I’ve basically said is that I would like to have clarification or certainty by the end of October.
Q: (Abhishek Takle – Midday) Nico, Eric Boullier said that weight would not be an issue if he chose to give you the drive. Does that reassure you after all the talk about heavier drivers being marginalised, that at some point you might not find a seat next year?
NH: To be honest, not, and there’s no one from the team who has personally told me that weight or height is an issue, but this whole discussion, for me, is not worth having because I am what I am and I can’t change it.
Q: (Ian Parkes – Press Association) Sebastian, I was wondering whether you have read or heard about Lewis Hamilton’s comments following the race in Korea?
SV: Yeah, I was told. Obviously it’s very nice to hear something like that. I think I can only give it back, I think. There is respect amongst the drivers, obviously there’s a lot of stuff that gets written and said but I think that the most important thing is when you go up to another driver, whether you feel respected or not and I think that is the case. I think Lewis is one of the best drivers currently in Formula One. I get along quite well with him lately so I can only say ‘thank you very much’ and give it back.
Q: (Ian Parkes – Press Association) Can I just follow up on that? You obviously read about Lewis’s Tweets but I was referring to his immediate post-race comments?
SV: Sorry, I didn’t hear (those).
Q: (Ian Parkes – Press Association) The post-race comments referred to the fact that your era now was as predictable as the Schumacher era, in that when you watched a race back then, you watched the start, fell asleep and then by the end of the race, you knew who had won.
SV: Well, that’s a compliment, first of all. I think it’s very different. I think there’s probably one race which was a bit of an exception. If you take Singapore, the gaps we had and were able to build up were incredible, to lap two seconds quicker than the cars behind us, but obviously it depends on who was behind us at the time and which tyres (they had) and so on, but anyways, what I want to say is that if you take Korea which I think is more similar to Spa, the gap was something between three and six seconds for the whole race. If you look at ten years ago, it was more like thirty to sixty seconds which is a big difference. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice cushion to have in the car, when you see that you’re three seconds down the road, but equally you know that if you make one stupid mistake – in Korea, for example, a lock-up which was very likely and three seconds is nothing compared to thirty or sixty.
File photo of Vettel on podium last Sunday after winning the Korean Grand Prix. Photo courtesy FIA gallery. Ends
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Vettel takes 8th victory of the year, moves closer to 4th driver’s title
Yeongam, 6 Oct 2013: Sebastian Vettel marched to his eighth victory of the year with a controlled drive at a Korean Grand Prix, the 14th round of the Formula One World Championship, in which all the action happened behind the Red Bull Racing driver. The F1 circus will now move to Japan for the back-to-back race on Sunday while the next stop would be India on October 27. Then to Abu Dhabi, United States and Brazil on Nov 4, 17 and 24 respectively to end the 19-round F1 World Championship.
2013 Korean Grand Prix start shot by Pirelli Starting from pole, Vettel made a good start to hold his advantage through the first few corners, as behind him Lewis Hamilton and Romain Grosjean tussled for second position, the Lotus driver eventually winning out.
While the championship leader did not build the sort of gap to his rivals he has enjoyed at other circuits, Vettel was able to forge a three-second gap to Grosjean in the first stint and even when two rapid-fire safety car periods occurred in the middle of the race, the Red Bull driver controlled matters expertly at the front to eventually finish 4.2 seconds ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and third-placed Grosjean.
“I’m extremely happy with the result, great job by the team, we had two very good stops,” said Vettel. “I think it was quite good to have the safety car coming out the first time, we were just a couple of corners before the pit entry.
“Then, fortunately, we had enough pace to always open up a little bit of a gap, even though I think Kimi and Romain were pretty competitive the longer the stint was. So I think they did maybe a better job with their tyres, looking after their tyres. But all in all, fantastic.”
It was behind the race leader that all the drama took place. After a first stint in which Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo, the only man to start on the medium tyres, had climbed into the top 10 and during which Red Bull Racing’s Mark Webber also worked his way into the points positions, the order began to settle somewhat. Vettel led Grosjean, Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, while behind them a train was forming behind Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg, with Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen and Webber all waiting to pounce.
That began to change in the run-up to the second pit stops. First, Hamilton began to lose pace, complaining that his front right tyre was “destroyed”. That allowed Rosberg to narrow a 12-second gap to less than two. But moments after passing his team-mate the German’s front wing failed and trailing sparks he was forced back to the pits for a nosecone change.
His slow stop kept Hamilton out on track and when the Mercedes man finally was brought in by his team, Webber vaulted to third, the Australian having passed Alonso, when the Spaniard made a mistake on lap 28.
Any joy the Red Bull driver was feeling at being in a position to battle for a high points finish was eradicated just after his second stop however.
Webber dived into the pit lane on lap 30 and made a clean stop for a second set of medium tyres. But when he rejoined it was behind McLaren’s Sergio Perez, who was struggling with a damaged front right tyre. The Pirelli tyre blew, taking bits of the McLaren with it and Webber was forced to take evasive action. The Safety Car was deployed.
That was the cue for Vettel and Grosjean to pit and both got away cleanly. Behind them was Kimi Raikkonen who had, almost unnoticed, climbed through the order from ninth on the grid.
Webber, meanwhile, was brought in again by Red Bull Racing, taking on a set of supersoft tyres. He was sent back out in P11 but when the safety car left the circuit, the Australian was broadsided by the Force India of Adrian Sutil on the re-start. Webber’s car was pitched off track where it burst into flames. The Safety Car was back out almost immediately.
Ahead of the incident, Hulkenberg passed Hamilton for fourth place, while in the podium positions, Raikkonen forced an error out of team-mate Grosjean and stole second.
“I got a good run, he made a mistake in I think the second-last corner and I got the good run,” said Raikkonen of the move. “I had heard that there will be yellow flags at the end of the straight, so I knew he’s not going to pass me back with the DRS because it’s not open with the yellow flags. So I thought I would try to overtake and it was not too difficult.”
The Finn admitted, however, that his race to his eighth podium finish of the year had not been easy.
“The car was just understeering too much, the whole weekend, even today, so I had to try to look after the front tyre and that was really the limitation on how much I could push,” he said. “We were stuck behind the traffic after the pit stops. We decided to stop earlier and it was a good move and obviously the safety car helped a little bit but we had the speed and we could run until the end. So even without the safety car we could have maybe run until the end and still have a podium position. So it was good – but not ideal.”
In the final stages after the second safety car, the race was all about Hulkenberg. While the front three maintained position, the Sauber driver in fourth, fought a mesmerising rearguard action as Hamilton, Alonso and eventually Button and Rosberg queued up behind to attack.
The German, though was faultless, delivering a superb drive to claim his best finish of the season.
The order behind the Sauber man remained Hamilton, Alonso, but Rosberg eventually muscled past Button to take seventh place. The McLaren driver held eighth place, while Felipe Massa, whose race was compromised by a Turn 3 collision with Alonso just after the start, recovered to finish ninth, ahead of Perez.
Vettel’s win means he extends his Drivers’ Championship lead over Alonso to 77 points, with five rounds left. The championship now moves on to the Japanese Grand Prix, a race the German says he is looking forward to.
“I think it’s the best track in the world,” he said. “The fans are crazy – completely crazy in a positive way so really looking forward to Japan.”
It could be for more than the fan worship. It is possible for Vettel to win the title at Suzuka should he win and Alonso not finish above ninth place. A long shot perhaps but it certainly brings into focus how close the 26-year-old is to a fourth consecutive crown.
2013 Korean Grand Prix – Race Result
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 55 25
2. Kimi Räikkönen Lotus 55 +4.2 secs 18
3. Romain Grosjean Lotus 55 +4.9 secs 15
4. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 55 +24.1 secs 12
5. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 55 +25.2 secs 10
6. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 55 +26.1 secs 8
7. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 55 +26.6 secs 6
8. Jenson Button McLaren 55 +32.2 secs 4
9. Felipe Massa 55 +34.3 secs 2
10. Sergio Perez McLaren 55 +35.1 secs 1
11. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 55 +35.9 secs
12. Valtteri Bottas Williams 55 +47.0 secs
13. Pastor Maldonado Williams 55 +50.0 secs
14. Charles Pic Caterham 55 +63.5 secs
15. Giedo van der Garde Caterham 55 +64.5 secs
16. Jules Bianchi Marussia 55 +67.9 secs
17. Max Chilton Marussia 55 +72.8 secs
18. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 53 Mechanical
19. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 52 Mechanical
20. Adrian Sutil Force India 50 +5 Laps
Ret 2 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 36 +19 Laps
Ret 14 Paul di Resta Force India 24 Accidentends
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The team is fantastic and I am just loving what I do: Vettel
DRIVERS
1 – Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing)
2 – Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (Lotus)
3 – Romain Grosjean (Lotus)
Podium Interview (conducted by Johnny Herbert)
Q: Sebastian, tell us how that race went for you. You had to deal with two pace cars at the same time during that race. How was it for you?
Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah! Not great getting stuck behind the safety car. Obviously we had a little bit of a gap. Extremely happy with the result, great job by the team, we had two very good stops. I think it was quite good to have the safety car coming out the first time, we were just a couple of corners before the pit entry. And then fortunately we had enough pace to always open up a little bit of a gap even though I think Kimi and Romain, to be fair, were pretty competitive the longer the stint was. So I think they did maybe a better job with their tyres, looking after their tyres. But, all in all, yeah, fantastic. I’m just loving what I do. The team is fantastic, I think we all have a good time and just enjoy the moment really.
Q: Kimi, finishing second, well done buddy. You had to start a little bit further back in ninth place. How was the drive to get yourself back into a chance of getting on the podium?
Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: It was OK. I mean from the beginning I lost I think one place on the first lap, no, on the first straight, but then there was an accident so get it back. The car was just understeering too much, the whole weekend, even today, so I have to try to look after the front tyre and that was really the limitation on how much I could push and obviously we were stuck behind the traffic after the pitstops and then we decided to stop earlier and it was a good move and obviously the safety car helped a little bit but we had the speed and we could run until the end. So even without the safety car we could have maybe run until the end and still have a podium position. So it was good – but not ideal.
Q: Tell us about the pass on Romain going into Turn One. It looked rather close.
KR: I think he moved a few times on the left. I got a good run, he made a mistake in I think the second-last corner and I got the good run and I heard that there will be yellow flags at the end of the straight so I knew he’s not going to pass me back with the DRS because it’s not open with the yellow flags. So I thought I would try to overtake and it was not too difficult.
Q: Romain, well done, you did such a cracking drive. Obviously getting yourself into second place, that lovely fight. Tell us the story of the fight with Lewis to start with.
Romain GROSJEAN: Well I think it was pretty good fun. We had a good start, good run for the back straight and then could go for the place with Lewis. Then I think he kept a little bit of KERS to go for Turn Five and I had to defend a little bit but it was pretty good at the start and then after the first pitstop again, same story, so yeah, it was a hard job. And then it was good to be very close to the Red Bull. They didn’t go too far away so I think we had a good chance to catch them back but unfortunately for me – and luckily for Kimi, that’s good for the team – the safety car came and we had to pit at the same time and the same tyre age. I think we wanted to get a little bit of an advantage. Then I made a small mistake, my fault and Kimi could pass me – and then yellow flags at Turn Four, Turn Three and I couldn’t use the DRS. Tried to push hard at the end, good to be back on the podium, good for the team and happy to be here.
Q: Seb, one thing we kept hearing about was a little bit of concern about the right-front tyre. What was the issue there?
SV: This track, it’s known that the limit is the front-right. We saw it the previous years, and basically it’s good to have the team on the radio warning you – because obviously you see what’s going on, the tyre grains immediately and then kind of stabilises. But when it stops graining basically there’s nothing left and that’s quite dangerous because it’s quite likely to have a big lock-up. You have a flat spot, which could end with pitting the stint earlier than you want or having a tyre puncture. So yeah, they were quite worried, similar to last year. I thought I had it more or less in control but obviously it’s good to communicate.
Q: And what about leaving here, we’ve got Japan coming up. Looking forward to that? Is that a place you enjoy? By the look on your face yes.
SV: I think it’s the best track in the world, to be honest. The fans are crazy – completely crazy in a positive way so really looking forward to Japan. I think all of us who get massive support there, big fans of motorsport, passionate about Formula One and I think they enjoy the whole weekend, so I’m very much looking forward to one of the highlights during the season.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Sebastian, how important was it right at the start of the race to get that cushion?
SV: Yeah, it’s always tricky here because the way to the first corner is quite short but then you have two big straight lines. To be the first car is the worse because you have no tow. I had a good start and could focus on the first corner. I had a very good exit and was able to get a couple of metres between myself and Lewis and then I think Lewis was in more trouble with Romain from behind into Turn Three and I obviously benefit from that and had a little bit of cushion and again for the next straight and then kept the lead – which I think was crucial. After that I tried to build a gap and keep it quite consistent. I knew that on the soft tyres it will be tricky and yeah, obviously with the safety car later on it got quite busy.
Q: And did you expect to do only around 11 laps on the soft tyre right at the start?
SV: Well, to be honest I think we came in last. I think we reacted to the other people behind. I think Lewis pitted lap nine, Romain lap 10. In that regard we had to react because obviously a ten, twelve lap-old supersoft tyre is slower than a new Prime, so we were responding to them. I think we could have stayed out another two or three laps but yeah, it didn’t really hurt our strategy. I think we estimated more or less to pit around that time.
Q: And given what was going to happen, with that last safety car, when you came in for a stop did you have new Primes and how hard were you pushing after that?
SV: The safety car came in. Fortunately we were… I think I was turning into Turn 15 and I saw the safety car coming out so we pitted immediately. So did Romain. I think Lewis… Kimi pitted a couple of laps before that so his tyres were a little bit older but obviously took quite a long time before the safety car came back in and then there was another safety. So I think in terms of tyre age it was no problem. Obviously the cars get lighter towards the end, so fortunately we didn’t have to challenge the absolute maximum out of the tyres because I think the Lotuses were probably a little bit better in terms of endurance. Yeah. So, I think the speed was there and in the end obviously I tried to build up a little bit of a gap to Kimi and keep it quite consistent.
Q: Kimi, eighth in the early stages, could you imagine being second at the end?
KR: We have done that before, so obviously… it’s not ideal to start so behind and not having maybe the best weekend. Bit similar to the last race really but the car was a bit better in the race. Still not ideal, a little bit too much understeer and I lost one place or two places at the start and then got them back in corner three. And then I was able to pass people and then sat behind them again after the pitstop. I had more speed but I couldn’t get past and then we decided to stop a bit earlier and when the safety car came for whatever it was, five laps or something, obviously it helped a little bit for us to close the gap in the front but we managed to pass all the cars apart from these two guys already, before the safety car. So it maybe helped a bit in the end because my front tyre was in quite a bad way, it kind of ran out of the rubber in the end. So I couldn’t go much longer any more – but obviously that’s the part of racing. Sometimes it helps you a bit.
Q: I’m sure you were pushing hard right at the end but just nothing you could do about Sebastian?
KR: No, I mean. Let’s put it this way: even it we would have started behind him, we still don’t have the speed of him. Not far off from him in the race with a little bit from all the tyres but I mean it’s so difficult to overtake if you’re not massively faster. So, I think that was pretty OK what we did today.
Q: And a pretty good result for the team.
KR: Yeah. I think that’s the more important. For them to get their… not the maximum points but not far off. I think we scored quite a bit more than the guys in front of us in the championship so it’s good for them.
Q: Romain, that chase in the early stages, were you absolutely on the limit there when you were trying to catch him?
RG: No, I think we played it pretty well. It was a good first lap and a good exit of the first pitstop fighting with Lewis who was very quick on two, three laps but I think then he had an issue with his tyres. I looked at the board at one stage and think from one lap to another one, I had the feeling he lost 0.8 seconds to me. And it seems that every time there will be a battle with Seb, there’s a safety car coming. Same as Germany unfortunately. We had the plan to pit quite early, just a few laps after the safety car came, trying to jump him and go for a very long last stint – but it didn’t work because of the safety car. But basically the car was very good. I mean at one stage we thought that we will switch to three stops because the front was going away – so I pushed a bit harder and then the team told me, “can you try to make it to two?” So I backed off a little bit but the car came back even better and I was looking consistently quick and so on. And then I think bad luck for me, a safety car came. I did a small mistake on the restart, Kimi could go into Turn One. I was going to use the DRS to get the place back and again, bad luck, Turn Three was yellow. It is what it is. It’s my fault, I went a bit wide in Turn 15, not the end of the world I think. What is good is that Seb has not been flying away today. We were always within four seconds of him and looking pretty well on the long stint. It’s not a track that is favouring us with the front-limitation. We all suffer with front-right tyre graining and that was the problem, the main problem. We know we take care more of our rear tyres. So, it’s good to be back on the podium, good to score a lot of points for Lotus and let’s go to Japan which is the most beautiful track of the world.
Q: We were talking about your confidence earlier on in the weekend. I guess it’s been given a boost. What’s it going to be like in Suzuka.
RG: Hopefully we go for P1! I don’t know. I think it was good to have a good start, to be able to fight at the front and it’s good to have a strong qualifying, a strong race. I don’t need any luck to be there. It just goes how it goes and it’s looking pretty good. The car is suiting me more and more and I think we can still learn a little bit but there we are.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Ian Parks – Press Association) Seb, at the start of the second safety car period, were you aware that between turns one and two the car ahead of you was not the official safety car? Did you have any thoughts about it at all? Was there anything on the team radio, did they say anything, because Bernd Maylander was actually at the back of the field?
SV: I saw… I think it was a BMW or… no sorry, it looked like a BMW. I think it was a Hyundai or Kia SUV. You want the number plate? It was not Bernd Maylander’s, so it was not the safety car. I saw that. Obviously then the team said ‘yellow flag’, it wasn’t quite clear that it was the safety car but then the safety car board was flashing and I lifted and obviously saw that there was another car on the track, took quite easy to make sure I got past. I didn’t know what the incident was until I saw the smoke and so on. Obviously they said there was a crash. So I knew it was not the safety car.
Q: (Ian Parks – Press Association) You now have a 77 point lead in the championship – I don’t know if you’re aware – but you can now win the title in Japan next week. What does it meant to you now to be standing on the brink of that fourth successive world title?
SV: Yeah. I’m trying not to think about it to be honest. I’m trying to focus more on the present I think we obviously had the incredible chance, I think two years ago, to do so. We did it but I think there are still a lot of points to get, even though it looks very good for us. There’s still a chance for Fernando, I think, so we have to stay on top of our game but to be honest, I think I said on the podium, we’re just having a good time. We enjoy the fact that the team is working very well. The car is working… it’s on the edge to be honest, more so than you would probably think from the outside but it’s obviously nice when you get the results like Singapore or this weekend. To be honest with you, I don’t really care. I look forward to Japan because it’s one of the nicest tracks of the whole season.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Romain, can you describe to us the conversation with the team when you were in the situation to fight with Kimi? We could hear some parts of the conversation but not all of it.
RG: Our radio is quite bad, I have to say. I don’t hear most of the conversations either. I just made a mistake, Kimi could go for it and the unfortunately there was a yellow flag at turn three so I couldn’t get my place back. I was quicker today but then we have rules not to fight. It’s a track where it is most impossible to overtake even though there are long straights. I mean in sector two and three there is so much issue with the front tyres so you cannot get close enough and then lose a lot of downforce, lose a lot of lap time. I should have avoided that astroturf in turn 15 and it would have been the end of the conversation.
Q: (Abhishek Takle – Midday) Sebastian, you spoke earlier on the podium about this circuit being a little bit difficult on the front right tyre and we heard radio transmission from Rocky(race engineer Guillaume Rocquelin) saying ‘it’s opening up, take it easy’ but then you set the fastest lap. Was it perhaps more of a concern on the pit wall than in the cockpit?
SV: No, I think they obviously have a lot of data that they go through and they could obviously follow pretty well what was happening on the track. Obviously I have my eye on the front right, it’s quite easy to see. It’s more tricky with the rear tyres in the mirrors, but we know that this track is pretty monster for the front tyres, especially front right, also from previous years. And then obviously – Romain described it pretty well – once the tyre does come back, inside the cockpit at least you have the feeling that the car is alive again, the car is alive but actually the tyre is dead, there is no more rubber to grain so the tyre is more or less worn, so it’s quite tricky, because if you have a big lock-up, that could mean that it’s the end of the race. You have to come into the pits because you have a massive flat spot so I was aware but I could see that there was still a lot of rubber left and that the tyre was still graining. I think I was aware of the risk but it was still OK.
Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) To Romain and Sebastian, do you think the Lotus had the pace to beat the Red Bull today without the safety cars?
RG: I don’t know how much Sebastian left in his pocket. I figured it was pretty close after the… well, while I was close to him, I didn’t want to close the gap too early, because you know that if follow a car by too much, we are all aware that the front tyre is the issue so you lose a lot of downforce from the fronts so you grain even more. So every time he was a little bit ahead I was giving a gap and then following the gap and I was surprised how our pace at one stage… I thought the front tyres were going away but I was surprised our lap time was still improving, so I was catching a little bit back and I think the last stints would have been pretty epic without the safety car, because that was basically the longest one on the tyres and we were going right to the end of their life so that could have been either the gamble to go for the lead… maybe both of us… I don’t know if we would have reacted but it would have been close and no more rubber on the tyres.
SV: Yeah, I think it would have been close. You never know whether the safety car helps you or not. I think Lotus probably had more range today. I think we had a little bit more pace initially but I think Romain could have afforded for the last stint to pit a little bit earlier than us. Maybe we could not react to that immediately because we know that it will be tight for our range, so I think it would have been close without the safety car, but in the end, I think Kimi was obviously quite consistent, doing lap times around 1m 42.0s and we just had two or three tenths in hand. Maybe at the very end, a little bit more. I think he was also controlling the gap to Romain behind but as I said, maybe in terms of raw pace we were a little bit quicker, but in terms of range, the Lotus was again very strong.
Q: (Trent Price – Richland F1) Question for both Lotus drivers: you said after the first initial graining phase that the times were improving but that safety car… was there anything on your Friday data to suggest that you might have actually made it to the end, without the safety car?
KR: We would probably have tried it, or looked at some point at how the tyres… without the safety car we gained a lot of time and lap places if we’d stopped earlier in the last pit stops, so who knows? In the end we didn’t stop again now. You can always say that if but it makes no difference. You have to react and do what you think is the right thing and sometimes certain things help you. My front tyre was pretty done in the end but we finished the race in a pretty good position. We would probably try to run until then anyhow.
RG: Well, I think we hold the long runs on Friday to see how it goes and we choose which tyre we preferred. I think everybody did, it was the medium tyres and now we know after one stage it would balance the car a little bit. The question is how much to push at the beginning because the first few laps are the most critical from the front tyres. Yeah, it more or less looked as it was on the plan and then once you fit the prime tyres and you do your second stint, you know how much you can extend the last one and they can try to calculate the degradation and so on to give you the best chance to have the longest stint possible.
Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Kimi, you had some action moments in this race, coming from the back, first with Fernando Alonso, then with Romain. From the start of the race to the finish of the race, can you describe it and did you enjoy it?
KR: Yeah, it was nice, I think we had pretty OK speed and then we made the most of it after yesterday. The car still wasn’t ideal today but we managed to be a bit faster on used tyres than some others. At the beginning I managed to overtake a few cars and then I got stuck on the second… after the pit stop I got stuck with the same cars again and then decided to stop earlier. I was pretty OK after the restart. Romain made a mistake and I managed to pass him and just didn’t have enough speed at the end and not enough tyres were left compared to them, because they stopped later. It was good fun but I would rather start in the front and finish in the front. It would have made our life a bit easier.
Q: (Abhishek Takle – Midday) Sebastian, the three world titles you’ve won so far have all come at different circuits. At which circuit would it be the most special for you to win your fourth World Championship?
SV: To be honest, I don’t think it really matters. I think it’s an exceptional situation anyway. Even though it looks very good, it’s still not over so we should no
Korean GP podium shota; From Left: Kimi Raikkonen, Lotus F1, 2nd position, Tim Maylon, Performance Engineer, Red Bull Racing, Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull Racing, 1st position, and Romain Grosjean, Lotus F1, 3rd position. Lotus F1 team photo by Charles Coates/LAT t feel too comfortable. Which track? It’s not really important. Sure, there are a couple of tracks that probably mean a little bit more to the drivers than others. I think generally there’s no track on the calendar that I dislike but there are a couple of highlights. I think I mentioned on the podium next week, Japan, is one of the highlights in the year, but regarding the championship I think our target is to win the championship and not to win it in one place in particular.
Ends
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Vettel takes sixth pole of the season; Hamilton to start on P2: Korean GP
Yeongam, 5 Oct 2013: Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel has taken his sixth pole position of the season: making him the driver who has now sealed pole position more often than anyone else this year. Vettel, who claims his second pole position in Korea, managed a 1m37.202s lap on the P Zero Red supersoft tyres, which are nominated with the P Zero White medium tyres for the weekend. After cruising through the first two segments of qualifying, Vettel appeared equally comfortable in Q3. He set the pace with his first run in the segment, a lap of 1:37.202 and as his close rivals failed to get near that time on their second runs, Vettel, who was last to leave the pit lane for his final lap, could relax in the knowledge that even a compromised warm-up lap on his last run wouldn’t deny him a 42nd career pole position.
Interestingly, for the three years that the Korean Grand Prix has been run, the polesitter has never won. Vettel and Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton share the front row for the fifth time this season.
All the drivers started Q2 on the supersoft tyre, with Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton setting the initial benchmark. He was topped by Vettel, who went quickest with three minutes to go after a single run on the supersoft. That time was good enough for the Red Bull driver to maintain the fastest time to the end.
“I had a very, very good lap in Q3, my first attempt,” said Vettel afterwards. “I knew it would be tricky to beat that time – for myself. I tried again but on the second run I caught, I think, Kimi on the warm-up lap and I was a little bit too close. We didn’t have that much time in hand to drop back further, so not ideal but fortunately the first lap was good enough.”
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton will line up on the grid beside the championship leader, finishing two tenths behind Vettel.
“I felt like I got the most out of the car and perhaps there’s always a little bit of room to improve,” said the Briton. “But in general it’s been a good weekend so far, so I really hope that tomorrow we’re able to fight with the [Red Bulls]. We’ll wait and see.”
Mark Webber qualified third for Red Bull Racing but will start 13th tomorrow due to the 10-place grid penalty he received after getting a third reprimand of the season from the FIA race stewards in Singapore.
After qualifying in Korea, the Australian admitted the team had compromised the outright pace of his car with an eye to setting up his car for racing from a lower grid position than normal.
“We had to take a bit of pace out of the car,” he said. “Not much but just looking at how we would compromise quali a little bit more for the race.
“I’m actually pretty happy with quali,” he added. “I could be two positions further up but that means I’d be 11th instead of 13th with the penalty. It was pretty tight, with two Mercs, Seb and myself. It was a good little battle. I think the race will be interesting. Obviously [I’m] well and truly out of position but we will fight and come back through.”
Fourth place went to Lotus’ Romain Grosjean, with Nico Rosberg fifth in the second Mercedes. The Ferrari’s of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa were sixth and seventh respectively. It was another good day for Sauber, with Nico Hulkenberg eighth and Esteban Gutierrez ninth, the first time since the Japanese Grand Prix of last year that the team has had both drivers in Q3. Tenth place in the session went to Kimi Raikkonen in the second Lotus.
All will move up a place on the grid thanks to Webber’s penalty, as will the McLarens of Sergio Perez (11th), Jenson Button (12th) and 13th-placed qualifier Daniel Ricciardo.
Elsewhere, the result was largely as expected, with the Marussias set to start on row 11, behind the Caterham and Williams cars. Jean Eric Vergne will then start 16th for Toro Rosso, behind the Force Indias of Adrian Sutil and Paul Di Resta, who finished 14th and 15th respectively.
At the front, though, Vettel continues to dominate and even the rain forecast for race day would not, he said, dampen his spirits.
“It’s not a disaster if it starts to rain,” he said. “I think tomorrow should be fine in terms of conditions – whether it is dry or wet. If we get some of the rain from the typhoon isn’t 100 per cent clear at the moment but, as I said, it doesn’t matter. Most important is that we did the job today and [I’m] looking forward to the race tomorrow.”
2013 Korean Grand Prix Qualifying times
1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1:37.202
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:37.420
3 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 1:37.464*
4 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:37.531
5 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:37.679
6 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:38.038
7 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:38.223
8 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber 1:38.237
9 Esteban Gutiérrez Sauber 1:38.405
10 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus 1:38.82211 Sergio Pérez McLaren 1:38.362
12 Jenson Button McLaren 1:38.365
13 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:38.417
14 Adrian Sutil Force India 1:38.431
15 Paul di Resta Force India 1:38.718
16 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:38.781
17 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:39.470
18 Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:39.987
19 Charles Pic Caterham 1:40.864
20 Giedo van der Garde Caterham 1:40.871
21 Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:41.169
22 Max Chilton Marussia 1:41.322(*Webber will start 13th after a grid penalty)
Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull takes his 6th pole of the season at the Korean GP on Saturday. A Pirelli photo ends
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I am going to push as hard as I can: Hamilton after taking P2 at Korean GP
DRIVERS
1 – Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing)
2 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
3 – Mark WEBBER (Red Bull Racing)Q: Sebastian, you seemed to take this pole position more seriously than ever. Were you really under threat from Mercedes?
Sebastian VETTEL: Well, I think it was fairly close, as we could see, obviously. I had a very, very good lap in Q3, my first attempt. I knew that it will be tricky to beat that time – for myself. I tried again but obviously the second run I caught, I think Kimi, on the warm-up lap and then I was a little bit too close. We didn’t have that much time in hand to drop back further, so not ideal but fortunately the first lap was good enough. I think, as expected, Mercedes was very strong. I think they feel pretty comfortable in the middle sector. So it’s a tight battle, bit of a surprise this year we’re pretty good in sector one, which is mostly straights, so the car is pretty good through those two corners that we have in the first sector and it seems that it’s competitive down the straights which is always helpful – also for the race. It’s the easiest part of the track to make up time. So in that regard I think we’ve got the balance right this weekend. Improved the car from yesterday. I wasn’t entirely happy after the final practice yesterday so all in all we can be very happy with what we have achieved. So, that’s why I was pretty happy after qualifying, to be honest.
Q: Lewis, yesterday you said you had the best Friday. Did you hope to be a little closer to Red Bull Racing, or even ahead of them?
Lewis HAMILTON: Well, we always hope – but we did as good a job as we could. I felt like I got the most out of the car and perhaps there’s always a little bit of room to improve but in general it’s been a good weekend so far, so I really hope that tomorrow we’re able to fight with them y’know? We’ll wait and see.
Hamilton (left) and teammate Nico Roseberg at the Korean GP on Saturday. An FIA photo Q: Is there a threat from behind? Do you think Ferrari could be the threat from behind?
LH: There are threats all around y’know? But I’m looking forward. So we’ll wait and see.
Q: Mark, what about you? A difficult qualifying for you in a way because you’re thinking of where you’re going to start. I noticed that your speed trap time was about 5km/h up on Sebastian’s.
Mark WEBBER: Yeah, we had to take a bit of pace out of the car for quali. Not much but just looking at how we would compromise quali a little bit more for the race. Actually pretty happy with quali. I could be two positions further up but that means I’d be 11th instead of 13th with the penalty. It was a pretty tight quali, as Seb touched on with two Mercs, Seb and myself. It was a good little battle. I think the race will be interesting. Obviously well and truly out of position but we will fight and come back through.
Q: You said you were looking for improvements in the setup of the car in both long- and short-run pace as well. Did you get that today?
MW: Yeah, I think we certainly improved the car in some areas we wanted to focus on, compared to yesterday. But conditions were a bit different today as well – so you’ve also got to keep an eye on that. They’re going to be even more different tomorrow, so the long run in P2 might not be too relevant in the race tomorrow but we’ve got all of our ducks lined up and worked out what we needed to work on for the race and we’ll see how it pays off tomorrow.
Q: Sebastian, there is the possibility of rain tomorrow. Presumably you prefer a dry race though?
SV: Well, I don’t really mind. It’s not a disaster if it starts to rain. Same as usual we have rain tyres in the garage but obviously they’re talking about heavy wind. To be honest I arrived on Wednesday and it was very, very windy on Wednesday. Since then the wind seems to have died down and I think the typhoon has changed direction. I think tomorrow should be fine in terms of conditions – whether it is dry or wet. If we get some of the rain from the typhoon isn’t 100 per cent clear at the moment but, as I said, it doesn’t matter. Most important is that we did the job today and, yeah, looking forward to the race tomorrow.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Sebastian, you seemed to have quite a lot to chat about in parc ferme at the end there…
SV: Yeah, just talking about the laps. I think it’s a difficult lap. You obviously start with a lot of straights and then you’ve got all the corners at the end, so it’s difficult to get the lap together, to get a clean lap in, many chances at the end to make small mistakes which lead into another and into another. Obviously Mark and I both aborted our last runs early so we were the first ones in parc ferme and had a bit of time in hand.
Q: Interesting DRS here in that you have two successive DRS zones; how much of a threat is that, do you feel?
SV: To be honest with you, it largely depends on tomorrow’s conditions, the wind. I think we had a race two years ago where there was a massive head wind. It’s a long straight from turn two down to the hairpin in turn three. Obviously it gives you flexibility to have the DRS zones right after each other, also on two quite long straights so we’ll see. I think you can pick your corner but there’s another straight after that where you could lose the position in case you gained it in the first place, so the same goes for turn one as it does for turn three.
Q: How pleased have you been with the car in the fast corners here, it is quite twisty?
SV: Yeah, pretty happy. Yesterday, I wasn’t entirely happy, the car was good but I think we managed to improve it today and we seem to be able to go with the track which is usually the most important thing. The track ramped up throughout qualifying and I think we picked up pace and just went quicker. As I said, I was very happy with my first attempt in Q3. Unfortunately in the second attempt I ran into the back of Kimi, I think, but it was very tight. When I crossed the line, there wasn’t that much time to drop back any further. That’s how it goes sometimes but when you get it right around here it feels very nice.
Q: Lewis, how much are you looking at the successive DRS zone? Is that going to work in your favour if you hold position after the start?
LH: I don’t know. Yeah, you’ve got the long straights; I really don’t know what to expect tomorrow. I’m just going to be pushing as hard as I can to get past Sebastian and to put myself in the best position to fight. Hopefully long run pace is not so bad so let’s hope that’s the case tomorrow.
Q: That two tenths of a second margin between yourself and Sebastian; is that roughly what you expected? Are you happy or unhappy with that?
LH: I’m happy, I’m happy to here for sure. I’m happy that the car is as competitive as it is. The guys have done such a good job to put us up this high. I’m happy with the performance so far this weekend and I think there’s more to come.
Q: And you’ve improved the car over the last couple of days?
LH: Yeah, fine tuning it. It’s very difficult sometimes, you get to the limit and it’s difficult to know what to do but just small tweaks here and there which have helped.
Q: Mark, we were talking about how you’ve taken pace off the car; is that pace in the corners and how does that affect the car?
MW: Well, we didn’t set the car up to be super slow in qualifying but we had to keep an eye on the race so it’s wing level, obviously (gear) ratios, a lot of little things which you try, to have a little bit more of a balanced view of the weekend because we know that I was going to be out of position. Irrespective of if I qualified on pole, I can’t qualify on pole by ten places further ahead than pole because it doesn’t exist, so I knew I was going to be out of position, and I had to factor some of that in so we have done. Yeah, you would like your cake and eat it obviously, have all the downforce on the car for sectors two and three and then have a super super top speed but that’s not possible, in a Formula One car you need to compromise which we have and we’ll come to it tomorrow.
Q: Has that changed the strategy as well?
MW: Yes.
Q: And just to clarify, does that give you a free choice of tyres, because you’re starting outside the top ten?
MW: No, it’s a nice penalty actually! You have to start on what you qualified on as well. We’ll do that and we’ll see what we do with the strategy from there, but it might not be too different to everyone else. There’s not many options here.
QUESTION FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Abhishek Takle – Midday) Lewis, how crucial do you think it will be for your chances of victory tomorrow for you to get past Sebastian at the start, because they look pretty strong in the first sector and down the straights?
LH: Just from past experience, it’s very difficult to overtake here so I anticipate it’s… I’m going to need to try.
Ends
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Vettel powers to a third Singapore victory in a row; Kimi third
Singapore, 22 Sept 2013: Sebastian Vettel powered to a comprehensive third Singapore Grand Prix victory in a row, finishing over 47 seconds ahead of second-place
Vettel kisses the trophy after the Singapore win. An FIA photo d Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen.
Vettel’s seventh win of the season was secured soon after the start. He made a good start from pole position, but front-row rival Nico Rosberg got away better and passed the Red Bull driver on the approach to the first corner, an FIA release said.
The Mercedes man carried too much speed in, however, and was forced to run wide on the exit.
The error allowed Vettel to retake the lead and from there the German simply drove away from the field. By lap 22, just after the drivers’ first stop for tyres, the championship leader had carved out a 9.5 second lead over Rosberg, with Alonso third and Mark Webber fourth.
Then, two laps later, Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo hit the wall at turn 18 and the safety car was deployed, maintaining a perfect record of safety car interventions at the circuit since the inaugural race in 2008.
At the front of the field, Vettel, Rosberg and Webber elected to stay out, as did Lewis Hamilton. A host of others dived for pit lane, however, including Alonso, Romain Grosjean and Raikkonen. It would prove a pivotal moment in the battle for the lower podium positions, if not the lead.
When the safety car left the track, Vettel found even greater pace than in his first stint and within a couple of laps he was 3.2 seconds clear of Rosberg. The Red Bull driver’s race engineer Guillaume Rocquelin got on the radio and gave Vettel permission to “use his tyres” to build a gap. The German needed no encouragement and in a stunning period of racing he was often lapping more than two seconds quicker than the Mercedes. Just five laps after the safety car had exited, Vettel was over 14 seconds up on Rosberg.
As far as victory was concerned that was it. There was plenty of drama behind Vettel in the second half of the race, but it was all very far distant from the German and he cruised to a win that now leaves him 60 points clear of Alonso at the top of the Drivers’ Championship standings.
“I didn’t get going initially and then had to keep the inside clear to [Nico] but fortunately he went in a little bit too deep and I could get him back, which was crucial because then we had some very good pace,” said Vettel of his 33rd career win. “With the safety car obviously it was difficult but then we seemed to come back. As soon as the safety car came in we had a very, very strong pace in the car. The car was incredible. I said to the team that this doesn’t just happen like that, by accident or by luck. There’s hard work behind it, which I appreciate, and it’s just a pleasure to drive it around this crazy track.”
Behind the winner, the order was changing. First Grosjean retired, a pneumatic problem forcing him out of the race. Then Rosberg and Webber made their second detours to pit lane. The Mercedes driver had a slow stop, and Webber stole in front.
It was only eighth place for Webber however, as ahead those who had chosen to pit during the safety car period rose up the order.
It was then that Alonso climbed to second. The Spaniard had already put in a stellar drive, rising from seventh on the grid to third as the field exited turn one and then cementing himself into podium contention. In deciding to race to the end on the tyres taken on during the safety car period, he was taking a risk but, typically, in his case the gamble paid off.
“It was a risky move but as I said, we are in a position in the championship where we have nothing to lose,” said the Spaniard. “To finish second in the race or to finish fifth: it doesn’t matter too much to be honest, so we push, we take care of the tyres. The car was performing really well in the race. And the fans pushed us a little bit to gain some extra tenths today.”
It worked, too, for Raikkonen. The Finn was able to keep his tyres alive and even passed Jenson Button for third late on, making a bold move stick around the outside at turn 14.
“I could see that his tyres were going off, so I just gave some pressure and then I have to get past him because obviously some people changed to new tyres and they were catching us quickly,” said Raikkonen. “I managed to pass him and pull away and luckily nobody managed to catch me in the end. So not too bad.”
It was a different story further back. The McLarens of Button and Sergio Perez and the Saubers of Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Gutierrez also tried to make the stratagem work, but closer to the chasing pack of Webber, Rosberg and Hamilton, they could not find adequate pace and the trio, on new tyres, soon closed in and got by.
Webber climbed to fourth and began to bear down on Raikkonen. In the closing laps, however, he was told to short shift and then a lap from home he reported that he had no power. With flames pouring from the back of his Red Bull he pulled over.
That meant Rosberg finished fourth, with Hamilton fifth in the second Mercedes. Felipe Massa finished sixth for Ferrari, with the McLarens of Button and Perez in seventh and eighth respectively. Ninth went to Hulkenberg and the final point of the day was taken by Adrian Sutil.
2013 Singapore Grand Prix – Race result
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 61 Winner 25
2. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 61 +32.6 secs 18
3. Kimi Räikkönen Lotus 61 +43.9 secs 15
4. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 61 +51.1 secs 12
5. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 61 +53.1 secs 10
6. Felipe Massa Ferrari 61 +63.8 secs 8
7. Jenson Button McLaren 61 +83.3 secs 6
8. Sergio Perez McLaren 61 +83.8 secs 4
9. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 61 +84.2 secs 2
10. Adrian Sutil Force India 61 +84.6 secs 1
11. Pastor Maldonado Williams 61 +88.4 secs
12. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 61 +97.8 secs
13. Valtteri Bottas Williams 61 105.161+ secs
14. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 61 + 113.512 secs
15. Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 60 +1 Lap
16. Giedo van der Garde Caterham 60 +1 Lap
17. Max Chilton Marussia 60 +1 Lap
18. Jules Bianchi Marussia 60 +1 Lap
19. Charles Pic Caterham 60 +1 Lap
20. Paul di Resta Force India 54 Accident
Ret Romain Grosjean Lotus 37 Pneumatics
Ret Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 23 Accident -
A different strategy worked as we did not have the pace: Alonso
DRIVERS
1 – Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Ra
Alonso (left), Vettel (2nd from right) and Raikkonen (right) on the podium after the Singapore GP on Sunday. An FIA photo cing)
2 – Fernando ALONSO (Ferrari)
3 – Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (Lotus)Podium Interview (conducted by Martin Brundle)
Q: Sebastian, it looked pretty easy from where we were sitting. How did it look from your carbon fibre seat?
Sebastian VETTEL: Obviously the start was quite hairy. Quite difficult with Nico having a good start, better than me. I didn’t get going initially and then had to keep the inside clear to him but fortunately he went in a little bit too deep and I could get him back which was crucial because then we had some very good pace, controlled the first stint, with the safety car obviously it was difficult but then we seemed to come back. As soon as the safety car came in we had a very, very strong pace in the car. The car was incredible. I said to the team, you know this doesn’t just happen like that, by accident or by luck. There’s hard work behind, which I appreciate and it’s just a pleasure to drive it around this crazy track.
Q: You could just take off at will, whenever you wanted to. It seemed to be the only man who could beat you today had the slowest car on the track, the safety car. It was the only thing that was going to stop you.
SV: Yeah, well I mean this is a long race, it seemed to go on forever, so there’s a lot of things that can go wrong, the walls sometimes get really, really close, sometimes closer than you think. So you can’t really afford to lean back. Obviously towards the end I was controlling the gap. It was helping that I was on fresh Options compared to these guys who were on very old Primes at the time, so we could control the gap to see the chequered flag.
Q: And physical? You’re looking pretty sweaty up here. Was it a tough race?
SV: I think we’re all sweating, not just the champagne men are wet, I think we all sweat a lot. As I said, it’s hard work out there. It’s quite hot but we like it. It’s one of the toughest challenges all year and it’s a very good feeling when you cross the line as a winner.
Q: Fernando, you’re there. As always, you’re right there. You made a lot of fans very happy again. Tell us about your start, it was electric.
Fernando ALONSO: Yeah, it was a fantastic start. We knew that we didn’t have the pace today so we have to invent something. The first possibility was the start, then different strategy compared to the others. We did both things: a very good start and a different strategy. I think it paid off at the end. A fantastic podium, a second place that tastes like a victory for us.
Q: You pitted on lap 25 and put on the tyres that you ran to the end of the grand prix. When was that decision made? And how do you keep your tyres in when we saw the McLarens and many other drivers struggling with hopeless grip by the end?
FA: Yeah, it was a risky move but as I said, we are in a position in the championship where we have nothing to lose. To finish second in the race or to finish fifth: it doesn’t matter too much to be honest so we push, we take care of the tyres, the car was performing really well in the race. And the fans pushed us a little bit to gain some extra tenths today.
Q: This man [Vettel] had some speed you just couldn’t live with though.
FA: Yeah, they were too fast all weekend and we have to congratulate them for a fantastic weekend and next time we will try to do better.
Q: Kimi, you had a back problem in qualifying. Has that affected you during the race?
Kimi Räikkönen: Luckily not too much but now afterwards it’s not 100 per cent but it doesn’t matter: we have two weeks’ time to rest and get it right. I think we did the best that we could and finished third, so I don’t think we could have achieved much more today.
Q: You had to be patient through that race. You really had to believe that you could still be there at the end and take the places when they were there and not make mistakes.
KR: Yeah, I think I had pretty OK speed and then I could overtake a few people and then in the end I was following Jenson and I could see that his tyres were going off so I just gave some pressure and then I have to get past him because obviously some people changed to new tyres and they were catching us quickly. I managed to pass him and pull away and luckily nobody managed to catch me in the end. So not too bad.
Q: You say very calmly “I managed to pass him” but it was around the outside at Turn 14. It was at tricky one.
KR: Yeah, maybe it looks more tricky. Obviously you have more grip when you brake on the line and you know more or less where you have to brake. Much easier than inside. So, not an easy one but we managed to get past and that’s the main thing.
Q: Sebastian, it’s looking pretty good isn’t it? But it’s always this man [Alonso] who seems to be chasing you, up here on the podium with you.
SV: Yeah, it’s incredible but to be honest with you I’m not really looking at the championship too much. Obviously we’re in a very good position, very strong position but I’m enjoying the moment. Days like today, like yesterday when you can feel the tension. I’m enjoying the moment. I love racing and the car’s fantastic and it doesn’t happen, as I said, by accident. Whilst there’s a lot of people hanging their balls in the pool very early on Fridays, we’re still here working very hard and pushing very hard so that we have a strong race. Days like this it’s just a pleasure to be in the car. The guys are completely committed, fully behind us, so it’s great.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Sebastian, as always, Singapore, a safety car features somewhere, it cut your lead early on, it obviously presented an opportunity in terms of strategy for others around you – but you used the word ‘control’ in your message to the team on the slow-down lap and I guess that’s really what today was really all about. An incredible demonstration – the whole weekend – of control.
SV: Yeah, well, I mean it doesn’t happen just like that. It was surely not easy to get everything right all weekend. Extremely happy though. I think the whole team can be extremely proud. I know how much work is going in. Here obviously we have a funny rhythm. When it’s nine o’clock the curfew kicks in. That’s when our mechanics leave the track on Saturday morning. They are flat out checking everything on the car they can. Same with the engineers, late hours in the office here but also in the factory. So there’s a lot of team effort going in. If we have results like today where we have the luxury to control the race at some stage, then it’s because of those late hours, because of the commitment that goes in from everybody. It’s just a privilege to be part of the team and be part of that. To enjoy the moment completely. It’s one of my favourite races here. I’ve won here three times in a row – which is incredible – so I’m just extremely happy with that and extremely happy to be with the team at this stage.
Q: Obviously the decisive moment of the race was the start. Rosberg initially got ahead of you but then you managed to come back around the back of him and get him into Turn Three. Can you give us that from your point of view in a little detail?
SV: The lights went off, I thought I reacted pretty well but was a bit lazy to get off the line. I thought that Nico might still be there. He was and we were side-by-side, kind of, so I had to give him room. But fortunately he was braking quite deep into Turn One and I was able to come back on the inside to get the position. Fortunately the next corner was a left-hander so I got in front and from there we had a very, very strong pace. Safety car didn’t help but also I think didn’t hurt us. In the very end obviously we had a new set of Supersoft, compared to those guys, they were obviously on very old Primes so by then we could control the race. Don’t forget there is 1.5s difference between the tyres.
Q: Fernando, another Alonso special. Seventh on the grid, second at the finish. Obviously your brilliant start contributed to that but also the strategy and a brave call to pit under the safety car and go to the finish on a set of mediums. What is that? 36 laps? How did that feel in the cockpit?
FA: It was not easy, obviously, to finish the race with those tyres but we commit to that strategy when we pit under the safety car and we were controlling the pace all through the last stint thanks to the gap that we managed to build. Yes, the start again was very good and I was lucky to choose the right line. On Turn One there is always people going on the left, people going on the right in every circuit. We’ve managed so far to choose the right one. And then we were third which was already a good result for us. But when we didn’t stop Rosberg pitting in the safety car, we decided to pit and to try something different. We were too slow this weekend. We were not in a level that we should be. We try a little bit different things and it pay off at the end with a fantastic second place. For us it tastes like a victory today.
Q: You say you were too slow. You bought updates this weekend hoping it would get you closer to the pace of the Red Bull. That hasn’t come through. You’re now 60 points behind with six races to go. Does it feel like kind of a water torture? Do you have a trick? Do you have any thoughts on how you can turn this around?
FA: Well obviously we have to be realistic. A few races to go already, the gap is still increasing every weekend and now it’s sixty points. So, as I said, we need to be honest with ourselves and knowing that we need a lot of luck. We don’t need luck in Korea; we need luck in Korea, in Japan, in India, in Abu Dhabi… we need luck every weekend if we are one second off the pace. We need a lot of luck. On the other hand, we are a very uncomfortable opponent, I think, because if we get that luck, we will be there.
Q: Kimi, when you put those tyres on, did you know you were going to try to go on the finish on them – and what in your mind did you think was possible at stage?
KR: We had a plan and we know that what moment, if the safety car comes, we try to go until the end, so I knew what will happen and luckily some other teams couldn’t do it and had to pit. I was kind of stuck behind Jenson for most of the race but then I tried to give him some pressure and keep him pushing so I noticed that he started running out of his tyres and I could start to get in closer and closer. In the end I decided to try to pass him and managed to get past – because there were people who stopped for the fresh tyres who were catching very quickly but luckily once I got past I could push a bit more and keep the gap big enough to end it in third place. After the weekend where we had some problems with myself and not the ideal setup with all those things and where we were yesterday, finishing third, I don’t think we could have asked much more.
Q: Can you describe the back problem you’ve been suffering from and how do you feel right now?
KR: I didn’t feel it too much during the race but obviously afterwards it’s not ideal and yesterday it was pretty bad. I almost didn’t drive, so between that and finishing third I think we have to be happy – and hopefully we can sort those problems for the next race. It’s not the first time. For a long time there have been some issues with my back. I know that I have some work to do at the end of the year so we have to see what we do.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: Abhishek Takle – Mid-Day) Fernando, another strong drive, another strong second place but Seb just keeps extending his lead. Is there some sense of inevitability or perhaps acceptance on your part that you have to wait yet another year for that first world title with Ferrari?
FA: Well, as I said, there’s nothing we can do. Obviously we try our maximum, we’re trying to improve the car for every race and we are doing it but obviously not enough compared to our opponents. They are doing a better job than us, they are fantastic every weekend. They are winning and they deserve those wins. This is a sport, someone always has to win and the best one wins and we are not the best ones at the moment but we will keep working.
Q: (Heikki Kulta –Turun Sanomat) Kimi, was this the most painful race weekend you have ever had?
KR: Yes, I had some pain yesterday but for sure there have maybe been some more painful ones where something goes wrong, it doesn’t always have to be physical pain, there can be something… you don’t finish the race which is more painful in a way. Other things sometimes happen like this weekend and you have to live with it.
Q: (Jacob Polychronis – F1Plus.com) Sebastian, very sadly the boos returned this year. This was perhaps expected at Monza because it was Ferrari’s home race and the fans are very passionate, but this is like the tourist Grand Prix, people are from all over the world, it’s no home Grand Prix.
SV: It’s called travelling, they are on a tour, they come to every race. Fortunately we keep winning so they’ve got a reason to boo.
Q: (Jacob Polychronis – F1Plus.com) Sadly perhaps they are going to stay on tour. Is this something that is very sad for you, are you concerned, is it mentally exhausting even?
SV: It’s not nice but I think you should look around the grandstands. Most of the fans are dressed in red, Ferrari has a very strong fan base for a reason: they have a lot of tradition in Formula One, they’ve been around longer and won, and they’ve been more successful than any other team. There’s more and more blue people – more and more people dressed in blue so we are doing a good job on that front but obviously they are quite emotional when they are not winning and if somebody else is winning, they don’t really like it and as it seems, as I said, they are on a tour and they come back to… they are wealthy enough to go to a lot of races, Monza or take the flight to come here to Singapore. As long as they keep booing, we are doing a very good job so that’s the way I see it. It’s not people from Singapore or from one country only. It’s normal in sports if some people support one driver then they don’t like another driver to win. Equally there were a lot of German flags around the track, there are a lot of Germans here in Singapore, it’s a very international city. The parade lap was quite nice and also the lap after the chequered flag there were a lot of people cheering. Obviously I didn’t give them the most exciting race but on days like this, I really don’t mind.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Fernando, you did 36 laps with the same set of tyres; did you have any reference that the tyre could support the race conditions or were you just playing the game?
FA: We didn’t know exactly how long the tyres would survive. We were maybe not expecting that long but… We are sixty points behind in the championship, if it works OK, if it doesn’t work maybe we don’t finish second, we finish fourth or fifth. It’s nothing really… what we can do. There was a small chance that if Rosberg, Webber and Hamilton were not that slow after the safety car, maybe Sebastian didn’t get the 28 seconds necessary to exit in front of me but Nico, I think, had a problem with the front wing, Webber was without tyres and Hamilton pitted very late, the last. So when I had a free track and Seb pitted and exited in front of me already so we had a small chance to maybe lead the race but obviously very difficult to keep Sebastian… probably in the last part of the race with new tyres and we with a very slow pace. But we tried, nothing to lose and I think that will be the strategy in the last part of the championship. We are not as fast as they are in qualifying or in the race so we will try something different.
Q: (Carlos Miguel – La Gaceta) Fernando, a lot of people are talking about how this championship is finished. What’s your mentality, no surrender? Do you think there are some tracks where you can try to win? What is the situation?
FA: Well, as I said before, it’s very difficult. Nothing changed too much over the last two or three Grands Prix. We need to be very lucky but not only in one weekend, we need to be lucky for the last six races if we want to win the championship. We have a points deficit which is a big gap and we have a performance deficit which is a big gap so we need to be very lucky. We saw today, again: Webber stopped on the last lap. If this happened to Sebastian one weekend, we have to be there, in second place. If we cannot win the race, we need to be right behind and try to take any opportunity but being realistic, we know that we need to be very very lucky.
Q: (Lim Say Heng – The New Paper/People Singapore) Sebastian, you said before that the race in Singapore is probably the toughest in the calendar. Now that you have won here, would you say that the toughest part of this year’s title race is now over?
SV: Well, the toughest race in terms of physical challenge, I think – at least, that’s the way I feel. A couple of years ago, Fernando asked for the race to be a bit shorter. It’s quite long, to be honest. Obviously it depends where you are in the race but I think from a physical point of view this is the most challenging, not because there are so many high speed corners but it’s a long lap, there are a lot of corners, no room for mistakes, very bumpy, it’s very humid, artificial lights – all this makes it a very tough combination. It’s then even sweeter to be successful here.
FA: I think it’s long, obviously the only race where we have two hours, every single year. We’re running 1m 55s and it’s 61 laps so it’s very easy to do the calculation that it will be two hours all the time. In Monaco, that is also a slower, street circuit, it’s not 300, it’s two hundred and something, it’s more or less a reasonable time. So it’s something that we may think for a year but they don’t, they don’t consider it’s OK. It’s five years that we race for two hours, last year was 59 laps, it was not 61 because we reached the two hours before the 61st lap and we need to check with the federation, but happy with any decision.
Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Fernando, whose call was it to try to stay out? Was it your call or was it from the team to try to stay out and to change the strategy?
FA: It was the team. I asked how may laps to go and they told me 36 and they said we will pit and then we will decide. At that moment, we lost only two positions with Webber and Hamilton so if we pit we will have new tyres for the restart and then looking at the safety car it was quite long etc, they were telling me ‘our aim is to go to the end’ so from the restart, taking care of the tyres for 32 laps.
Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) To all three of you: today we saw the Red Bull was good, the Lotus was good and there were two failures. Do you have an explanation as to why the failure often happens to the other car, not the leading driver?
KR: I have no idea what happened to Romain.
Q: He had a problem with the air system.
SV: The air system. And Mark?
Q: Gearbox, that’s what he told me.
KR: It sometimes happens. I’ve had some issues. It can happen to anybody and then it’s up to us, up to the team to try to make sure we don’t have any issues but although they do everything to 100 percent you can have a failure, even the cheapest part of the car can fail or the most expensive part. It’s just one of those things that happens, even though we do the best we can to make sure there are no failures.
SV: Yeah, I don’t think there’s a reason. We both had issues with the gearbox – if Mark had a gearbox issue – in Monza. When we came here, I think we understood it to some extent but not entirely. I had more issues on Friday with the gearbox than Mark had. Maybe he was in traffic the whole race. It’s quite hot, temperatures were maybe a bit higher but on the other hand his gearbox suffered already a little bit more in Monza because I think a radiator had an issue. So maybe it’s a consequence of that but I don’t think there’s a reason for that, between cars. We both get the same stuff from the same shelf.
Q: (Anthony Rowlinson – F1 Racing) Fernando, do you feel confident that Ferrari will be able to close the performance gap to Red Bull next season?
FA: Well, I think we start from zero next year, completely from zero. Big change in regulations so it’s our best opportunity to close the gap. This year was a continuation in a way. I think we started in a good way, we were competitive in Australia, maybe not in qualifying but in the race we were taking care of the tyres very very well, together with Lotus. We won in China, we won in Spain and then we seemed to lose a little bit of performance, especially when the 2012 Pirelli tyres came back so that was probably our point in the championship; when they changed the tyres, we said bye bye. For next year I think we start from zero. Really we will put all our effort and hopes into 2014, because starting from zero is our best opportunity to close the gap with all the top teams.
Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Fernando, we heard during the race a radio message from (Andrea) Stella (Fernando’s race engineer) when he said ‘take care of the tyres, we have to put on the car the supersofts, take care of Paul di Resta, he’s behind you.’ It was a tricky joke for everybody else, to push Mercedes to stop again?
FA: I think it was maybe not clear on TV because, at least, what they told me, was take care of Paul di Resta behind because he’s on supersoft, new supersoft and I was on medium, so there was a performance advantage, as Seb said before, of around one second in the first couple of laps, so I knew that maybe Paul was trying to attack me in those first laps with fresh supersoft. So that was the message: be careful with di Resta.
Q: (Trent Price – Richland F1) Sebastian, late in the race, Rocky (Guillaume Rocquelin, his race engineer) radioed in that he thought there was a brake vibration on the car. Was this something you could feel, was it affecting you under braking?
SV: Yeah, definitely, I could definitely feel it. It was building up towards the end of the race. Fortunately we were in the lead and we had a new set of supersofts which we saved yesterday, so I could afford to take it a bit easy. Surely, if we had been under a lot of pressure then… we’ve had those kind of issues before but it’s not the most comfortable… you use the brakes quite a lot to stop around here. Then we could control it but had we raced harder until the end I think it would have been tough.
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, do you think that you will be fully recovered for Korea and what do you target there?
KR: For sure, we will have to see. I think it should be OK and we try to do a better overall weekend there.
Ends
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Vettel takes 41st career pole as the Singapore night race beckons
Singapore, 21 Sept 2013: Sebastian Vettel will start the Singapore Grand Prix from the front of the grid after claiming his 41st career pole position at the Marina Bay street circuit. The Red Bull driver was forced to endure a nervous last minute as he watched the final unfold from his team’s garage.
Vettel’s first run in Q3 had netted him a time of 1:42.841, six tenths clear of second-placed Mercedes man Nico Rosberg. As cars streamed out of pit lane for a second tilt at pole, the Red Bull Racing pit wall decided to gamble on the gap being sufficient and Vettel’s session was halted, thus saving a new set of supersoft tyres for the race, an FIA release said.
But as team-mate Mark Webber lit up the timing screens with a session-best first sector and Rosberg and Lotus’ Romain Grosjean did the same in sector two, Vettel admitted that his nerves began to jangle.
“It’s a weird feeling,” he said. “You stand in the garage when there’s roughly two minutes to go in the session and you know it’s too late. But then it’s much worse when you see the others at the final attempt and you know there’s nothing you can do. I was watching the sector times very closely.”
And the result was close. Rosberg delivered an excellent final run to take five tenths out of his time from the first outing and he crossed the line just under a tenth of a second adrift of the Red Bull driver.
“It was very close in the end with Nico,” said Vettel. “That’s a great feeling, because it could go wrong but I’m very happy with the result. The car’s been phenomenal all weekend. Yesterday I think the gap was a bit of a surprise. Today’s been more what we expected – especially with Mercedes being very close behind.”
Rosberg, meanwhile, said he felt he could have found the tenth to steal pole.
“Sebastian has been really quick the whole weekend but it was very, very close in the end,” he said. “A pity, because one tenth more, with the way they gambled in the last qualifying, one tenth more would have been possible somehow. That would have been great but second place is still a good result, a great result. And it gives me a good position to start the race tomorrow. I’m also very confident about our race pace. It’s looking OK, so I think a great result is possible.”
The hour-long session began with a straightforward Q1 segment in which Paul Di Resta, Pastor Maldonado, Charles Pic, Giedo van der Garde, Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton were eliminated.
With the midfield closely packed the battle to make it through to Q3 was tight and in the end just under three tenths of a second separated Jenson Button in 10th and through to the final segment and team-mate Sergio Perez 14th and out. Also eliminated was Nico Hulkenberg, who qualified in 11th place. If that was a surprise, due to the German being highly competitive in the earlier final practice session, it was even more of a shock to see team-mate Esteban Gutierrez sail through to Q3 in P7, the result of a superb final lap in the second segment.
Elsewhere, Jean-Eric Vergne in 12th, Kimi Raikkonen, 13th, Adrian Sutil in 15th and Valtteri Bottas in 16th were all knocked out.
And so to Q3. At the front the battle was all about the Red Bulls, Mercedes and the sole remaining Lotus of Grosjean. Lewis Hamilton put the second Mercedes into fifth place and behind him Felipe Massa delivered a strong lap to qualify ahead of Ferrari team-mate Fernando Alonso for the fifth time this year. Alonso qualified seventh. Button is set to line up eighth for McLaren and the fifth row of the grid will be occupied by Daniel Ricciardo in ninth and Gutierrez in tenth place.
2013 Singapore Grand Prix – Qualifying result
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1:42.841
2. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:42.932
3. Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:43.058
4. Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 1:43.152
5. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:43.254
6. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:43.890
7. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:43.938
8. Jenson Button McLaren 1:44.282
9. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:44.439
10. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:44.24511. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:44.555
12. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:44.588
13. Kimi Räikkönen Lotus 1:44.658
14. Sergio Perez McLaren 1:44.752
15. Adrian Sutil Force India 1:45.185
16. Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:45.38817. Paul di Resta Force India 1:46.121
18. Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:46.619
19. Charles Pic Caterham 1:48.111
20. Giedo van der Garde Caterham 1:48.320
21. Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:48.830
22. Max Chilton Marussia 1:48.930
