Tag: Valtteri Bottas

Sochi, 27 Sept 2020: Valtteri Bottas had a brilliant start from P3 and challenged poleman Lewis Hamilton but settled into P2 at the second corner but the six-time champion was penalised with two 5-second penalties and thus Bottas clinched his second win of the season and ninth of his career in the Russian Grand Prix, the 10th round of the Formula 1 World Championship here on Sunday.

The Finn took 26 points, with an additional point coming for the fastest lap and Hamilton who finished third behind Max Verstappen of Red Bull, had to be content in garnering 15 valuable points. Max Verstappen split the Mercedes taking second place for Red Bull F1 team.

Hamilton, recovered from receiving two five-second time penalties for a practice start violation, which he served at his pit stop, to complete the podium in what was his 150 start for Mercedes AMG Petronas team. Now Hamilton (205 points) leads the Drivers’ Championship by 44 points from Bottas (161 points).

As it happened

Valtteri Bottas claimed his first win since the opening race of the season with a controlled drive to the chequered flag at the FIA Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix after championship leader and early race leader Lewis Hamilton dropped down the order following two penalties for pre-race practice start infringements. 

On two occasions in the build up to the race Hamilton performed practice starts outside of the designated area. The incidents were place under investigation ahead prior to the start and a brace of five-second penalties were served during the opening phase of the race. 

Hamilton served the penalties during his sole pit stop and dropped from the top of the order to 11^th place. He eventually rose to third place behind fellow front-row starter Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing.

When the lights went out Verstappen made a solid start but behind him Valtteri Bottas made a better getaway and he passed the Dutchman as they powered towards Turn 2. Verstappen tried to attack Bottas around the outside but had to back out and went across the run-off area. That lost him another place to Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo in Turn 4 but the Red Bull driver immediately fought back reclaimed third place in the following corner.

Further back Carlos Sainz was also forced to use the run-off at Turn 2 but the McLaren driver lost control as he did so and he hit the barrier, breaking his front left suspension and scattering debris as he slid back onto the track. 

Moments later, in Turn 4, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc made contact with Racing Point’s Lance Stroll with the result that the Canadian was bounced out of the race. 

Racing resumed at the start of lap six and Hamilton held his advantage over Bottas and Verstappen, with the Renaults of Ocon and Ricciardo in fourth and fifth place respectively. Hamilton was then handed his sanctions and Mercedes elected to pit the race leader on lap 17 where he served the penalties before taking on hard tyres. When he rejoined it was in 11^th place, behind the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel. 

Meanwhile, at the back of the field Alex Albon was involved in a thrilling battle with old Formula 2 rivals Lando Norris and George Russell. Albon first used the slipstream and DRS to pass Norris and then on lap 13 he forced Russell into an error and after the Williams driver locked up Albon powered through to P16. Albon then profited from pit stops from cars ahead to rise to 11^th place behind Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen who had started on hard tyres. However, the Thai driver’s march towards the points would be shortlived and he later slipped back again after pitting again at half distance for a set of medium tyres. 

Verstappen made his sole pit stop on lap 26, taking on hard tyres in an excellent 1.9s stop. Bottas followed suit at the end of the next lap and resumed in the lead with Leclerc in second ahead of Verstappen. The Ferrari driver was next to pit and after hard tyre starter Daniil Kvyat finally pitted on lap 31, Hamilton rose to third place, eight seconds behind Verstappen and 20 behind Bottas. 

As the race entered its final third, Albon again began to move up the order and he returned to the points when a Virtual Safety Car for damaged bollards in Turn 2 prompted AlphaTauri to pit Pierre Gasly for a second time. 

The caution was short, however, and when it ended Albon was able power past Gasly as the Frenchman trundled towards the pit exit. However, with fresh medium tyres on board Gasly was soon fighting his way back and when Albon tussled with Lando Norris, the AlphaTauri driver closed in and passed Albon under DRS to take P10.

Norris hard tyres were shot, however, and within a handful of laps Albon forced an error from the McLaren driver. Norris locked up heavily on lap 48 and Albon power past to finally edge into the points positions. 

With just five laps remaining the order settled and Bottas duly took his ninth career victory ahead of Verstappen who claimed his 38^th podium finish and team’s 178^th. 

Behind third-placed Hamilton, Perez took a well-deserved fourth place ahead of Ricciardo while Leclerc also put in a strong performance to take sixth place for Ferrari. Ocon took seventh place and there was a double points finish for AlphaTauri with Kvyat taking eighth ahead of team-mate Gasly. 

2020 FIA Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix – Race
1 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 53 1:34’00.364 
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 53 1:34’08.093 7.729
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 53 1:34’23.093 22.729
4 Sergio Pérez Racing Point/Mercedes 53 1:34’30.922 30.558
5 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 53 1:34’52.429 52.065
6 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 53 1:35’02.550 1’02.186
7 Esteban Ocon Renault 53 1:35’08.370 1’08.006
8 Daniil Kvyat AlphaTauri/Honda 53 1:35’09.104 1’08.740
9 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 53 1:35’30.130 1’29.766
10 Alexander Albon Red Bull/Honda 53 1:35’38.224 1’37.860
11 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 52 1:34’12.509 1 Lap
12 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 52 1:34’14.419 1 Lap
13 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 52 1:34’15.467 1 Lap
14 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 52 1:34’16.339 1 Lap
15 Lando Norris McLaren/Renault 52 1:34’26.176 1 Lap
16 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 52 1:34’53.867 1 Lap
17 Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 52 1:34’54.908 1 Lap
18 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 52 1:35’22.195 1 Lap
     Carlos Sainz McLaren/Renault 0 Collision
     Lance Stroll Racing Point/Mercedes 0 Collision
 

Valtteri Bottas
What a feeling! It’s been a little while since my last win, but I knew there would be opportunities heading into the race and luckily things went my way this time. It was a bit tricky at the start because an insect hit my visor just as I was entering the braking zone, which meant I couldn’t really see where to brake and so I went deep. But I knew it was going to be a long race and with the Medium tyre, there would be chances later on. Lewis then had his penalty, and once I was in clean air, the pace was really strong, and I was able to control everything without any real concerns. Now I need to keep this momentum up. There are quite a few races to go and you just never know, so I’ll keep pushing, I won’t give up and we’ll see how it turns out in the end.
 
Lewis Hamilton
Firstly, I want to say a big thank you to all the fans who came out this weekend, I hope you enjoyed the race. It wasn’t a great day for me, but it is what it is. We need to go through everything and understand exactly what went on to get those two penalties. That obviously dropped me back and the first stint on the Soft was also challenging, as I was trying to go as far as I could on that tyre. I think I did pretty well on the Soft and from then, it was about trying to recover as much as possible. It was just one of those days, but I’m grateful that I still managed to get a podium, bag some points and didn’t lose as much as I could have done. Congratulations to Valtteri on the win, and I’ll take the points and move forward.

DRIVERS at the Sunday press conference: 1 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes); 2 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing) and 3 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

TRACK INTERVIEWS (Conducted by Johnny Herbert) 

Q: Max, second place. Interesting battle going down to Turn 1. You seemed to get off the line well but then Valtteri got in front of you. But of course then you had Daniel Ricciardo at your side and you decided to go through that penalty chicane. What was it like for you?

Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, just very low grip on the inside, so that cost us a bit but at the end it was quite interesting the first few corners. Of course I had to take that other chicane and luckily got through there without any issues. After that, after the re-start I was a little bit slower on the medium, I was having a bit of problems with the balance. But once we went on that hard tyre I think we were a little bit more competitive so pretty happy about that. At the end to be able to split the Mercedes cars again, I think we can be pleased with that.

Q: Were there any worries at some point once you saw Lewis getting to third place. Did you think “now I’ve got a fight on my hands”?

MV: No, I was trying to do my own race there. If they are faster they will anyway pass you. I think we managed it well and I did everything I could.

Q: You’ve got to be happy though, second place going into the Nurburgring next time out?

MV: Yeah, I’m very happy with second, especially after two DNFs. Again a good amount of points.

Q: Well done. Lewis, what a frustrating day for you. What happened with the practice starts and of course then that 10-second penalty you got? What happened there?  

Lewis HAMILTON: First, I want to say a big thanks to all the fans that came this weekend. A big thank you. Spasiba. Yeah, just not the greatest day, but it is what it is.

Q: How did that go wrong? I know there were some notes that had come out from the FIA; Michael Masi had mentioned about where you can and cannot start? Why is it you ended up so far down the end of the pit lane?

LH: It doesn’t matter. It’s done now. I’ll take the points that I got and move on.

Q: The race itself, though, great little comeback from you.

LH: Not particularly. I didn’t really do much. I just held my position so congratulations to Valtteri.

Q: Valtteri, race win but it was very tricky going down to Turn 2 where you tried to go round the outside of Lewis but you got stuck on that kerb. Just talk us through that?

Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, obviously I tried. I knew the start would be the start would be the first opportunity but actually it was a bit compromised because there was like a massive bee or something that hit my visor just before braking, so I couldn’t really see when I should brake, so that’s why I went too deep. I knew it was going to be a long race after that and with the medium tyre I had there would be opportunities but obviously Lewis had the penalty so once I was in clean air I felt the pace was pretty awesome and I could control everything.

Q: What about Max? He was obviously there a little bit earlier on and he was pushing you very hard. Were you a bit concerned in those early laps that he might challenge you?

VB: I wasn’t concerned at any point, because looking at the [inaudible] for today I knew how many opportunities there would be and yeah, never give up, it’s a good day.

Q: Well, it’s your ninth win and your second here in Russia, so going towards the Nurburgring you must have a lot of confidence to take there?

VB: For sure. It’s nice to get a win again. It’s been a while. Definitely good. I need to try and keep the momentum. Again I managed to squeeze a few good points against Lewis. There are still quite a few races to go. You just never know. I’ll keep pushing and won’t give up and we’ll see how it ends up.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Man congratulations Valtteri. Your win in Austria seems a while ago. How good did it feel to hear the Finnish national anthem on the podium?

VB: Definitely. It’s been a while ago but it’s been so close many times and I feel my race pace, especially this season, has been quite a bit better than any season before so I can’t say it’s been frustrating but you know it’s been a bit annoying that it’s been close but nearly there. But things definitely did go my way today, as I have been saying that things can’t go against you forever. So, definitely really satisfying today to get the win. It felt like it was well earned. Obviously I consider myself lucky as well with Lewis’ penalty. But otherwise it was a strong race and really I feel that it can give me a confidence boost and good momentum for the next races.

Q: Can you just talk us through the race a bit? Good start, you overtook Max and you didn’t really look back from there from what it looked like?

VB: Yeah, it was a good start. I think Lewis has a good start as well. But obviously I had the tow. I went outside, braked, perhaps slightly too late so went a bit deep into Turn 2, so Lewis maintained the lead. But then I was just trying to be there because I knew that with the medium tyre I knew would have the advantage once Lewis had to stop. When I was in clean air it really felt pretty good and the pace was strong. Same with the hard tyre. I could really feel that I could control the race. I was actually pretty happy there were no red flags or safety cars this time around towards the end of the race.

Q: Do you think you could have beaten Lewis today if there had been no penalties for him?

VB: Going to today I knew that there would be opportunities. I knew that one of the best ones would be the race start but I knew that even if I can’t make it there it’s now over, because obviously with the medium tyre it’s quite an advantage in race time and in terms of strategy, so yes, of course I believed I could do it. But who knows. He got that penalty and that’s it.

Max, after two difficult races in Italy, how satisfying is it to have a clean race and to come home on the podium?

MV: Yeah, I mean that’s how it should be every single weekend. So, of course it was not good, the last two weekends and I think now, to be back on the podium and in second, I think for us is a great result on a track where normally we are not that competitive and we never scored a podium before as well. So, I’m very happy with that. The race itself, the start was pretty bad but it was just so low grip on the inside, the righthand side, it seemed like everybody had a really poor start, so just felt like… Even then during the race, the first lap I had a bit of a battle with Daniel to get back into third and I had a nice off-road experience through the bollards so… nice. And then for there onwards, on the Medium tyre it was just not really having a great balance. A bit like I had in Q1 and Q2 yesterday where I just couldn’t push the entries of the corners and I couldn’t’ keep up with them. So, just tried to not lose too much time. Then once we pitted, put the hard tyres on, everything was a bit more stable and a bit better balanced. I was pleased with that. The second stint was pretty OK. Very happy with second.

Q: You say the second stint was good but did you ever think you could challenge Valtteri for the win?

MV: No, because he was already too far ahead anyway. I think. Once we pitted it was 12 seconds or something. That’s very hard to close – and anyway, following around here on the same tyre, more or less the same pace, I think it’s very difficult.

Q: Lewis, like yesterday, it was another eventful day for you. How do you sum it all up?

LH: Uneventful. It wasn’t that eventful, to be honest. I started first, was in first, I came out third, so, not the most eventful day.

Q: Well it looked eventful from the outside, particularly before the start. That’s when it started to unravel, when you were doing your practice starts on your way to the grid. Can you just talk us through your communication with the team, and why you elected to do the starts where you did?

LH: Generally, if you look at probably every race that I’ve done this year, at least, I always start further down. Never, ever had a problem, done it for years. Here I haven’t done that before, I would say, but it says you have to be on the right after the lights, it doesn’t say how far, and so often… I don’t like to be on the rubber, that’s where everyone has done all their starts so it’s not representative of what it’s like on the grid, so I try to get onto the surface that doesn’t have any rubber.

Q: Did you communicate with the team, ask if it was OK to do it where you did it?

LH: I did, and as far as we were aware, it was OK. It’s no different to Brazil. You drive to the end of the pit lane and you do your start. It’s actually probably safer where I was, compared to Brazil, because there was a lot more space on the left… so interesting decision.

VIDEO CONFERENCE

Q: (Scott Mitchell – The Race) Question for Lewis. Because you got the penalties for the practice start, race penalties like that come with penalty points on your licence, so you’re now up to ten penalty points on your licence in a 12-month period, which means you’re only two points from a race ban until, I think, after four races from now. Just wanted to know what you think of that and if it’s the sort of thing that means you change your approach, take more care in the coming grands prix?

LH: It’s ridiculous the points that have been given people this year in general. Penalty points usually are for – I don’t want to speak on my behalf – from a drivers’ point of view, if you put someone else in danger, you crash into somebody, of course, you should be getting penalty points. I did not harm anybody, did not put anybody in harm’s way so ultimately it’s a ridiculous rule – but it is what it is. I’ll just make sure I’m squeaky-clean moving forwards. Don’t give them an excuse for anything.

MV: It is a bit harsh. If you causes a crash it’s difference – but the penalty Lewis got was already painful enough. I don’t know how many points you got – two points? – it’s a bit harsh, he’s up to ten points without actually… I mean, it was not correct where he stopped but penalty points for that… I’m not sure that’s correct.

Q: Max, while you’re commenting on this, what’s your understanding of where you were to do the practice starts here in Sochi. Was it clear to you where you had to do them?

MV: They just told me to do it there. From the team side. We discussed that before we went out. Like ‘do your starts there’. I never questioned about going further. I don’t know. Probably was not allowed. It’s unfortunately.

Q: (Alex Kalinauckas – Autosport) Lewis, you didn’t sound particularly happy about when you were called in for your pit stop on the Soft tyres. How much further did you think you would have been able to go – and did that cost you any time at all coming back against Max, coming in a bit early than you wanted? Thanks.

LH: It ultimately didn’t make a huge difference but my goal ultimately was to offset… to minimise the loss with the tyres. So, the original stop was supposed to be lap 16, luckily we had a Safety Car which took us to lap six, or something like that. So I thought that’s bonus points, it means I can go six laps longer. I think they stopped me still on lap 16, or something like that but I thought I could at least do another five laps, which would have just made it a little easier on that second stint – but five laps wouldn’t have made a huge difference. My tyres were dead right at the end, so they were definitely on the limit but yeah, it’s a discussion we’ll have afterwards and we’ll work on it.

Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) Lewis, you said on TV that they’re deliberately out to get you – I assume that’s a reference to the stewards. Do you actually believe that they are targeting you to try and slow you down or to force you to have this penalty, this one race ban, just to artificially liven up the races?

LH: I don’t necessarily think that it’s for me, I think probably most teams – whenever a team is at the front, obviously they are doing a lot of scrutiny. Everything we have on our car is being checked and triple checked and triple checked. They are changing rules, such as the engine regs, lots of lots of things to get in the way to keep the racing exciting, I assume. I don’t know if the rules – in terms of what happened today – was anything to do with it but naturally that’s how it feels, naturally it feels like you we’re fighting uphill but it’s OK, it’s not like I haven’t faced adversity before so we just keep our heads down and keep fighting and keep trying to do a better job and be cleaner and squeaky clean, as I said before.

Q: (Laurence Edmonson – ESPN) Lewis, is this kind of thing you’re just happy to turn a page and move on from or is it something that you will take up with the FIA, with Michael Masi to try and get clarity if not some kind of justice?

LH: I haven’t decided, but at the moment I’m looking forward to getting home.

Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Lewis, if you really are concerned that somebody is trying to stop you, how concerned are you about the possibility of a race ban, if you reach the twelve points, because you’ve got only two points between you and that and there are several races to go before any drop off?

LH: I don’t know what to say about that. I’ve got to try my hardest to, you know, to… I guess we’ll go through the rule book and pick out areas where they can create rules, areas where penalties have never been given before and we’ll try and figure out all the ones that they have and try to make sure that we cover ourselves in the ones that we are aware of. Like I said before, I don’t think anyone’s had the penalty for that before so we’ll just work hard and… we’ve gone through seasons before without penalties so just have to make sure I give them no reason, not even a sniff to be able to do something.

Q: (Alex Kalinauckas – Autosport) Max, you mentioned the low grip on the inside off the line, so was it a case of were you always expecting to lose that position or was there something that could have been done if everything had gone completely perfectly to stay in second place on the run to turn two?

MV: I was just hoping that it was going to be a bit grippy but actually on my formation lap I had an anti-stall so that was not nice, but then in the actual start, as soon as I dropped the clutch you could just feel there was no grip. And then I thought initially I just had a bad start but then I looked in the mirror and I could see the whole line behind me as well had a poor start so yeah, I don’t know, if we could do something different. Well, Valtteri shouldn’t have been in my way in qualifying, then, with the tow. Then I would have been third!

Q: (Laurence Edmonson – ESPN) Valtteri, we heard your now trademark radio message ‘to whom it may concern, FU after the race’. Who exactly was that aimed at? And a few people have said that you’ve been dealing with quite a lot of criticism on social media so how have you dealt with that, and has it been something which has actually been playing on your mind?

VB: No, it’s not been playing on my mind but I just don’t… honestly I just (don’t) get the people who has the need to criticise people. You know, there’s been people telling me that I should not bother, I should give up but how I am, I will never do that so I just wanted to, again, send my best wishes to them. It just came out, you know, so, yeah. But the main thing is I’m confident, when I come to every race weekend, I’m confident and I believe I can do it and that’s how I’m always going to be. You have to have that mindset so yeah, I’m glad. Even yesterday was tough, I didn’t give up, I looked at it positively, I knew there would be opportunities and things came to me today, so yeah, I hope I can encourage people not to give up because that’s the biggest mistake you can do in your life.

Q: (Scott Mitchell – The Race) To all three: with regards the penalty points that have been applied here, the fact that there seems to be a little bit of disagreement over how the rules relating to Lewis’s practice starts have been interpreted, and the disagreement at Mugello over the handling of the restart, how satisfied are you with how the FIA is handling stuff at the moment? Do you think there is good enough communication between the race director, Michael Masi, and yourselves? Do you think you’re all on the same page?

LH: Are we all on the same page? I don’t think so. I’m probably on a different page of the book or I’ve skipped a few pages clearly.

VB: It’s a tricky one. It’s obviously… I don’t know the… even maybe I should know the rule book word by word but I don’t. Obviously we always get guidance from the team what we’re allowed to do and what not. There are so many different circumstances and I don’t really know what to say. I think it’s tricky. For sure they are trying their best no doubt but yeah, I can’t say more.

MV: I’ve been up there myself, I think with ten points or something so yeah, I said to myself I will just try to stay away from the stewards at the track. Seeing them in the hotel or the bar, that’s not too bad, but stay out of their room during the race weekend. It’s difficult. Like I said before, if it’s like a crash or whatever, you caused, I can understand they want to hand penalty points to maybe calm you down or whatever but with things like this, Lewis didn’t do anything on purpose to create an issue or whatever. He just wanted to practise his start. Maybe it’s not allowed there, OK but he was penalised enough by having this penalty in the race so I don’t think you’d need to hand out penalty points for that. But I guess we’ll talk about it in the next briefing we have and see if something will happen or not. It’s always good, I guess, to talk about it and communicate. At least we know what we’re up to fully and then we move on.

The following top-three drivers attended the FIA post-qualification Press Conference: 1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes); 2 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes) and 3 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull)

TRACK INTERVIEWS (Conducted by Jenson Button) 

Q: Max, we thought you would be challenging the Mercedes in qualifying. Q1 and Q2 seemed really good but it just fell away there in Q3?

Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, I personally never expected to really fight them in qualifying but I think overall so far this weekend it has been really promising and I think we bounced back well from Monza where it was tricky. So at the end to be third here in qualifying, we can be very happy with that.

Q: When you stand here, you really feel the wind and that’s just stood here in the pit lane but when you’re up in the hills when you are going through Turns 3 and 4 and out the back do you really feel the wind?

MV: Yeah, to be honest, I think it picked up a little bit in Q3, because my first run was not amazing but then the second run I think laptime-wise it was a little bit better but I think the track was not the same because of the wind. But it is what it is. It’s really tricky anyway these cars with the wind. But the track is amazing to drive. In qualifying it was really something special.

Q: Congratulations Lewis, you always seem to be able to, as we all know, pull it out when need be. That was very impressive.

Lewis HAMILTON: Thank you. It’s been a really, really tough weekend if I am really honest. Firstly, this track is phenomenal. Have you ever driven it?

Q: Yes, 2005, a long, long time ago.

LH: Oh jeez, that is a long, long time.

Q: Thanks.

LH: It’s a really challenging circuit and as you saw Valtteri was quicker than me all day yesterday and even this morning, and even in Q1. I’ve been working so hard in the background to really try to improve on my lines, improve on my set-up and with the engineers we did such a great job. The mechanics as always did an amazing job. I finally got the lap I needed. At the end there I think the wind picked up so I wasn’t able to go any quicker but nonetheless it was a job done.

Q: It must feel extra special when you have to push yourself that hard, or Valtteri is pushing you that hard, and on such a special circuit?

LH: It’s crazy. I don’t know if people are seeing, I’m sure they are on TV, but you’re going through Turns 6, 7, 8, 9 at like 170-180 mph, and the G-force we are pulling through there is just insane. It just gets more and more as you get through 8 and then through 9. Ten and 1 and 2 were the areas I needed to improve and I managed to pick it up once I got into qualifying. Valtteri did a great job in pushing me but I’m happy to be here.

Q: Valtteri, you’ve been strong from FP1 pretty much all the way through to Q3. Do you think that yellow flag hampered you in that last run?

Valtteri BOTTAS: Definitely. Definitely. I still had more, more time in there. I was just waiting for the time to get it all right. Run one was OK but not perfect and I was just looking forward to it but I just didn’t get the opportunity. For sure it’s disappointing because the speed has been good all weekend.

Q: We’ve seen. Tomorrow, everybody is thinking this is going to be a procession this race. I do disagree with that. Watching the junior formulas there is quite a lot of overtaking into turn one. Do you think it will possible tomorrow and you can have a proper race with Lewis?

VB: Actually, coming into the weekend we though it was going to be nearly impossible but what we experienced in the practice session, actually the track is so wide and there are so many different lines you can take in the corners so you can avoid the [inaudible] in the corner, so maybe. I really hope so. There’s a long run into Turn 1 and I hope the headwind stays for the race start because that would be a nice benefit.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Lewis, many congratulations, what a qualifying session. It’s been so close between you and Valtteri this weekend. How hard was it to beat him today?

LH: It’s always incredibly hard to beat Valtteri and he’s consistently improving and pushing to the limit. Straight from the get-go this weekend Valtteri has had the upper hand. It was difficult at the beginning to know where we stood, it looked like the Red Bulls, Max, was closer to us than perhaps the last race and yeah, Valtteri was quicker all day yesterday, quicker this morning, quicker into Q1. It was like nothing I did, I was making all these changes, I changed a lot in the set-up and again just really studying the kerbs and trying to make sure I improved in all the areas I was weak. And I went out in Q1 and I still wasn’t quick enough. But I love that challenge and I really enjoy the battle with Valtteri. Once I got to Q2 I got quite a good lap and my Q3, run one, was a decent lap. I think there was still a little bit of time left on the table so I was hoping to get that for the last one. But I think the wind picked up. I could really feel it a little bit more gusty down the straight up into Turn 1 and the car was sliding around a lot more on that lap. So I ended up being a bit down. But nonetheless I really, really enjoyed qualifying today, this track is amazing. Max was saying we should come here again. Plus, we’re in Tuscany, it’s a beautiful place to be.

Q: And looking ahead to the race tomorrow, do you think we are going to see overtaking, how many pit stops that kind of thing?

LH: I honestly don’t know. I’m not quite sure: hopefully more than one. And in terms of following, it’s a medium-, high-speed circuit, it’s not going to be easy to follow, particularly through that middle sector. But maybe tyre temps, track temp might mean there’s more degradation maybe. The corners are very long and you can take multiple lines, which I like. Like through Turn 12 you can take a different line through there. You can take a different line through the last corner and even the first corner. So I’m hopeful that that means a little bit of racing.

Q: Valtteri, coming on to you. You must have fancied your chances of pole position today?

VB: Sorry I don’t understand you?

Q: Did you think you were going to get pole position today? You were looking so good, so confident coming into the session?

VB: Yeah, for sure. It’s been a good start to the weekend and good practice sessions, including today and after practice three I was still looking at all the things that had to be improved for qualifying. Everything was going nice and smooth, Q1, Q2. The Q3 first lap wasn’t quite good enough so I also felt there’s definitely time still to be found. I was confident of myself doing it, but obviously there was no chance with the double yellows in the second run. In the end I should have just done a better job in the first run. Lewis managed to find the pace ands his first run was better than mine and that’s it.

Q: But you pace in Friday was good. Are you confident going into the race tomorrow?

VB: I am, yeah. The long runs were good so it’s still all to play for. Of course it would be nicer to start from pole but it’s one of the longest runs of this season into Turn 1 and if the headwind stays the towing is going to be quite powerful into Turn 1, so try to turn my thoughts into the race.

Q: Max, good to see Red Bull back up there again this weekend. Just how competitive was the car? How difficult was it to dial it into this race track?

MV: Luckily from the start I think the car was in a good window. Night and day difference compared to Monza, but of course at Monza downforce levels and everything is very different. So I felt very happy in the car. It was all about fine-tuning things and, of course, trying to do things better – but overall it’s been a very positive weekend so far. We were reasonably close to them now, in qualifying so yeah, can be happy with that. Q3, I expected a little bit more from Q3 but my first run wasn’t, let’s say, the best lap of my life. It wasn’t bad – but it wasn’t the best. And then yeah, I wanted to push a bit more in the second run. Even when I was close to Lewis, so bit more in a tow but, like Lewis said, I think the wind picked up, so yeah, I think the track was just a bit slower. I still managed to improve a little bit, so it meant, I think, there was still a little bit more in it – but not four-tenths, I think it was, or whatever. Anyway, I didn’t expect to beat them in qualifying but I’m pleased that we are back in third in qualifying and actually yeah, not too far away.

Q: Didn’t expect to beat them in qualifying but do you expect to be closer in the race?

MV: Well, for once we have quite decent top speed now this year, so I think that’s quite good around here – but it won’t be easy to pass but at least the track, the last few corners, they are a bit wide and long so you can do a few different lines – but it’s all going to depend, anyway, first of all on if you have the pace to follow, and second of all, of course tyre degradation.

VIDEO CONFERENCE

Q: (Alex Kalinauckas – Autosport) Question to all three drivers. Daniel Ricciardo spoke of being out of breath after one of his laps in qualifying. I was just wondering, did you have a similar experience going around. How was it physically for you out there today?

MV: I don’t know, maybe he’s been dancing a bit too much. Or something. Honestly, I expected it to be worse before I came here, just driving-wise. It has been fine. It’s just very enjoyable to drive here. It’s very flowing. OK, the g-forces are high but in Silverstone, for example, they’re high as well. I just really enjoy sitting in the car, having those fast, long corners. Anyway, in qualifying, when you’re on the limit, pushing, you’re always breathing a bit heavier, I guess than in a normal lap – but nothing crazy, to be honest.

LH: We’re always asked these questions and ultimately we’re all athletes. So train and we’re used to the conditions that we are faced with – but at the end of the day it’s incredibly physical, I think, this track, being that it’s medium and high-speed. It’s not easy at all, physically, particularly through that fast section – but like Max says, it’s like Silverstone and those others. You’re definitely not ending the lap with a low heart-rate. I definitely think that I’m breathing heavier, for sure, particularly at the end of the lap, because there’s so much focus. There’s no room for error, you’re completely tensed: your whole body is completely tense the whole lap. You’re fully engaged in every muscle throughout the lap, and it’s bumpier than ever, and it’s understandable.

VB: For sure one of the most physical tracks – but as these two, I really like it here. That’s how it should be. I like a bit of pain! It’s always good fun but yeah, in the end, on the qualifying lap, it was so focussed that you don’t really feel any pain. You definitely notice after the lap that you know you’ve done something.

LH: They need to take away the majority of the steering assist. I think we need heavier steering.

MV: Maybe they can increase the weight limit a bit – that would be nice for the drivers. Otherwise I might have some issues.

Q: (Scott Mitchell – The Race) Lewis, you were quite honest after practice yesterday, saying this was a serious track that you hadn’t quite mastered yet and you had a bit of homework to do. So how satisfying is it to come out today and do the job that you’ve done in qualifying. Is it more satisfying that a routine qualifying session? And how intense is that process of trying to master a new circuit like this?

LH: Normally, I tend to think in my past, I felt that one of my strengths was learning a circuit quite quickly, and for this one, we went on the simulator, which I never do, and don’t feel like I’ve benefitted particularly, but then getting here there was a lot of work that… the pressure was incredibly high. Because, as I said, y’know, I’m going out there and doing laps and struggling to get to the limit, find the limit in certain sectors and Valtteri was miles ahead in some of those areas. So, of course the pressure was higher than ever – because if I hadn’t done the work then I wouldn’t had got the result that we got at the end. So, there’s an incredible amount of detail that you have to go into. Last night, dissecting every single corner basically, and sector and really trying to fine-tune that set-up. And, as a racing driver, there’s a real fine line between knowing whether you’ve got understeer or oversteer and whether you’re on the limit or not in certain places – because you can be on the limit through one corner but not through the rest of the corners, for example. Or it can be the first one and not the second one and then the third one you are. So really understanding whether you’ve got the balance right, within yourself, and then knowing what to request for when you do move towards the limit, what you need. Because you have to pre-empt what the car is going to do. It’s a real science to it. That’s why I have so much respect for all these drivers because it’s not only the ability to drive but to understand those things and to be engineers at the end of the day. We have to work with these geniuses that can balance numbers like nobody else – but we need to be able to do that on the track.

Q: (Christian Menath – Motorsportmagazin.com) Two questions: first one for all three, was a bit surprising that no one opted for the medium tyre, so why did you go with the soft? Was the delta lap time too big? And second question for Max: seems like you were pretty fast in the last sector; does it make you even more confident that you have an overtaking possibility when you can keep in touch in the last sector?

VB: Obviously the softer tyre is always quite a benefit at the race start and it is a long run into turn one. That’s always one reason and of course we always look ahead for the race strategy with the tyre choice and we believe we are on the best tyre for our car and it seemed like all the other teams opted for the same selection.

LH: I wanted to use the medium tyre but there is a loss at the start. I don’t know if they do that analysis for the viewers but obviously we have a very long run uphill to turn one and whilst in the first stint a medium tyre would perhaps be better in terms of pace and length, you lose meters just from the compound up into turn one so we didn’t want to take that risk.

MV: Like Lewis and Valtteri said, at the start, of course, it’s not ideal but sometimes in the previous races I didn’t mind taking that risk, just trying also something different, but this time I was very happy on the softs so there was no reason to go on the medium.

Q: And the second part of that question: pace in the last sector?

MV: Yeah, all weekend we have been pretty good there. It’s basically only two corners so 12 and 15, I think, so the car was not too bad and then the straights in between, we run a bit less wing compared to some other cars, I think, and it gives me a bit of an advantage. We managed to stabilise the car around it so yeah, I just hope that I can follow them in the other sectors, that is going to be the key, to be able to overtake, but let’s see tomorrow.

Q: (Abhishek Takle – Midday) Lewis, why was it to challenging for you to get into the groove around this circuit? And Max and Valtteri, did you find it similarly challenging to get to grips with this track?

LH: I’m not really sure. I don’t really have a great answer for that, to be honest. I came here with the same mental approach. As I said, I prepared… the track, to do extra work in the sense of doing the simulator. I think that the first couple of laps in practice one looked good and then they just pulled away in terms of how much improvement everyone was making. For me, some of it was balance – I was really struggling with the balance of the car so at the end of the day it’s confidence here because you have to really have to carry a lot of speed into these corners. Naturally it’s a high speed circuit, so not wanting to put a foot wrong and if you’re uncomfortable with the balance of the rear of the car then you just pull back and then you’re just too slow at the apex and exit of a lot of these corners so I think it was that but I think at the end I got, as I said, a lot of work went into… did a lot of work with the engineers to get the set-up where I wanted it and I was really happy… again, going into qualifying, I made a relatively big change and it worked out really well so that’s our real strength, the work that we do behind the scenes and constantly trying to evolve that.

Q: Valtteri, how much of an advantage were those laps you did here back in 2012?

VB: Well, that was in the wet so I don’t think they really made a big difference and it’s quite a while ago. But I really enjoy the whole process of learning a new track, kind of, because the cars are so different and just finding, step by step, the limits and the small secrets of the track. I’ve always loved that. There’s no big issues but even though it looked right at the end I was on the pace but there was always big chunks where I could have done better and actually the rate of improvement from practice to the second and third and qualifying was pretty big.

MV: So I’ve been here a few weeks ago. Of course it was not a Formula 1 car but it does give you, I think, a better idea than driving on the simulator. OK, I grew up driving on a simulator but I still find it a way better to be here in a real live car, it gives you more of an idea of what lines you have to take, because at the end of the day it doesn’t matter what car you’re driving, you’re riding at more or less the same. So I think that helped me a bit, to get started but not only that, also to set up the car because of course when I come here, I’m not just cruising around, I’m also working on the set-up and trying to make that car fast as well, so it gave me an idea of how to start with the wing level and roll stiffness of the car and stuff like this, so when we started, I think the car was already in a very good window, I knew the track from a few weeks ago instead of a few years ago – I think that always helps because for example, going to Imola, I’ve been there like a few years ago, everything, like kerbs, they’ve changed over the years so it will be a bit more difficult than let’s say what happened here and so that definitely helped to just kick start the first practice.

Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Lewis, you’ve spoken about the high speeds at which you take some of these corners, do you think fatigue could be a factor in tomorrow’s race?

LH: Physical fatigue? I hope not, that’s what we train to avoid. I would say eight and nine are a little bit like Turkey, the double left-hander, maybe not as intense in terms of the speed. I think it might be faster through those… I can’t remember. This is the strongest side for most of the drivers so I think so.

Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Max, I think this is the closest margin you’ve been to pole all year. Do you have an explanation as to why Red Bull’s relatively more competitive and do you have any feeling what that might mean for the race?

MV: From our side, I can say that we did a very good job setting up the car for this weekend, compared to some other weekends where we have been a bit further away where I was not entirely happy with the car so yeah, I think we really more or less maximised so far what we could do this weekend. We started straightaway with a positive balance in the car, I think the right wing level for our car so I guess that explains a bit. Maybe the track characteristic as well a little bit – we seem to be a bit better on higher downforce tracks with the car, so yeah, I think that might explain four or whatever tenths it is.

Ends