INDIA in F1

Tag: Vettel

  • F1 2013 mid-season review

    As the motorsport calendar reaches its mid-point, FIA.com takes a look at the championships in a mid-season review. Today it’s the turn of Formula One.

    The first half of the 2013 Formula One season was dominated by talk of tyres. But with teams now on top of the new Pirelli constructions, the run to the chequered flag in Interlagos promises to provide dramatic racing between the grid’s top talents.

    Despite Red Bull’s strong lead in the constructors’ standings, the 2013 season has not been an easy one for the team. During the Malaysian Grand Prix, in-house politics were brought dramatically to the fore when Sebastian Vettel ignored team orders and overtook teammate Mark Webber for the win. And the team’s usual strategy of taking advantage of Vettel’s qualifying pace to put the German on pole with a view to securing a lights-to-flag win has not paid off this season, thanks in no small part to Mercedes’ Saturday dominance.

    Lewis Hamilton was roundly criticised for his decision to move from McLaren to the Silver Arrows this season, but the Briton has secured four poles, one victory, and three podium finishes, while teammate Nico Rosberg has three poles and two wins to his name. Those seven combined pole positions have proved to be a thorn in Red Bull’s side, and now that the Mercedes appears to have overcome its severe degradation issues the Brackley racers are in a strong position to remain in the fight during the nine races to come.

    But Red Bull are not an easy team to beat; they have proved themselves capable of both impressive car development and consistency where it matters – on track. Their 69 point lead in the constructors’ standings is not unassailable, but it does give the team a strong advantage heading into the second half of the season.

    Lotus started 2013 on a high, with a win for Kimi Raikkonen in Melbourne. But that early strong form has not led to further victories for the Finn or for the team, with Raikkonen collecting five second-place finishes while teammate Romain Grosjean has two third-places to his name. While Lotus have been in the fight at every race, thanks partly to a car that has run well on the 2013 tyres whatever their specification, the E21 has not had the outright pace in qualifying to make Sundays easy for the team.

    It has proved to be a disappointing year for Ferrari, even though the team are third in the constructors’ standings, with Fernando Alonso third in the drivers’. The F138 proved itself to be an early-season race winner, with victories in China and Spain, but poor qualifying results have hampered the team’s efforts to challenge Red Bull and Mercedes for wins since the European season began in earnest. Alonso should never be discounted from a title challenge, but the Spanish racer’s growing frustration is causing public ructions within the team. On the other side of the garage, Felipe Massa’s season has been moving in a downward trajectory after a strong start that saw the Brazilian outqualify his teammate on a regular basis.

    One of the biggest surprisesof the season was McLaren’s dramatic slump in form, with the usual front-runners finding themselves struggling in the mid-field. Thanks to a mid-summer improvement, the Woking racers left Budapest only two points shy of technology customers Force India in the constructors’ standings. Based on recent performances, the second half of the season should see McLaren back in the fight nearer the front, with Jenson Button predicting a podium finish in Spa.

    Force India have had an impressive season, building a car that far outshines the team’s resources – humble, compared to many of their rivals. Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta have both delivered on track, regularly finishing in the points and establishing Force India as the strongest of the mid-field contenders. The similarly budgeted Sauber have had a far more challenging year, arriving in Melbourne with a car that struggled with rear-end stability and two drivers new to the team. Nico Hulkenberg has done his best with the equipment at his disposal, securing the team’s seven points, while teammate Esteban Gutierrez has acquitted himself well for a rookie.

    Toro Rosso are not  a team fighting for titles and wins, although the Firenza-based team has shown significant progress this season, thanks in no small part to strong qualifying performances from Daniel Ricciardo and impressive race drives from Jean-Eric Vergne. The Toro Rosso battle has been between two teammates fighting it out for the chance to replace the departing Webber at Red Bull, and while Ricciardo is the top pick from the junior team, Raikkonen is also on the radar.

    Further down the grid, it has been a disappointing season for Williams, who brought home their first point of the year from Budapest. The car lacks downforce and has proved challenging enough for both Pastor Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas to drive that the Grove racers undertook a mid-season overhaul of their technical team. It may be too late for a 2013 turnaround, however.

    Marussia and Caterham continue their battle for 10th, with Marussia overhauling their rivals in the standings for the first time since the two teams joined the fray in 2010. Both teams started the 2013 with new driver line-ups, and Marussia’s rookie pairing of Jules Bianchi and Charles Pic were treated to a more stable car to drive than rivals Giedo van der Garde and Charles Pic. By the Bahrain Grand Prix, Caterham’s struggles were such that the team drafted in ex-driver Heikki Kovalainen to advise on improvements.

    While the first half of the season was dominated by the tyres, the second half promises much in the way of close racing and a thrilling fight to the finish in Interlagos.

    ends

  • It’s an incredible feeling: Hamilton

    FIA transcript of the DRIVERS press conference after the race at the Hungarian GP on Sunday 28 July 2013:

    1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
    2 – Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (Lotus)
    3 – Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing)

    PODIUM INTERVIEW  (Conducted by Martin Brundle)

    Q: Lewis, when we spoke last night you didn’t believe you could be on pole position and you gave yourself no chance of winning today’s race. How on Earth does it feel now?

    Lewis HAMILTON: It’s an incredible feeling. I really have to say a big thank you to all the fans today for turning up. It was great to see their support. And my team: they just did an incredible job. We studied a lot last night. We were hoping the tyres were going to work for us. We had no idea it was going to go that well — but the last 20 laps was just managing the tyres and cruising.

    Q: Well you got a great start but there were two key moments where you overtook Jenson, so you didn’t lose any time behind him down into turn one and then that turn three pass on Mark Webber, that was just incredible.

    LH: Yeah, I think you could tell I was hungry for it today. I was just going all-out. I needed to get past those people and usually I get stuck in traffic, generally in my races, and today I wasn’t having it. I was going for every move I had.

    Q: Incredible support here for you as always Kimi. P2 on the podium, you really had to work hard for that today.

    Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: Yeah, obviously I keep making my life difficult on Saturdays so then we pay a price but I had a good car and we managed to do two stops so that was the only way really to jump people. In the end it was a bit tight with Seb but in the end it paid off for us and we gained some points in the Championship. So that’s good.

    Q: You made the last set of tyres last 33 laps which is quite spectacular today in these conditions. Surely you thought he was going to have a great chance to pass you towards the end but you just seemed to park your car in the middle of the track and make it so difficult.

    KR: Yeah, I mean I knew it was going to be a bit tight but I felt that the tyres were good still in the last ten laps. So maybe last two laps they drop off quite badly but I didn’t really have any doubts that I couldn’t keep him behind. I had good speed through the last sector so I knew that in the first corner they will not have a chance. Obviously you take a chance always when you make so many laps with a set of tyres – but like I said, the team worked well, everything worked well for us and unfortunately yesterday wasn’t an easy day so otherwise we could probably have fight for a win. But anyhow, we are here.

    Q: Satisfied you take a few points off the World Championship leader?

    KR: Yeah, it’s better than nothing.

    Q: Sebastian, only third but the fans seem pretty happy with that. How do you feel about it?

    Sebastian VETTEL: Well, it was not the best race. The start was difficult but was able to defend second and then Lewis pulled in, we thought we had a little bit more on the soft but the rear tyres seemed to fall apart pretty quickly and then I lost a bit, came out behind Jenson which was crucial and struggled to get past, damaged my front wing which didn’t help, after that managed to get past. It was a long time but lost a bit of speed and basically tried to hang in there, tried to fight back. Very close with Kimi in the end but as he mentioned, he was very quick through the last two corners and then I couldn’t really get him on the straight. So yeah, I did all we could but surely wanted a little bit more today.

    Q: You felt Kimi didn’t leave you enough room at turn four towards the end of the race. You felt that was a bit too close?

    SV: Yeah, I told him but he was laughing only. It was fine. Obviously in the heat of the moment it was quite tight getting into there, I tried to prepare the next corner but nearly lost the car. That’s racing.

    Q: Lewis, two very quick questions. Does this put your World Championship crusade very much back on course and how does this race today compare with your other victories?

    LH: I think this is probably one of the most important grand prix wins of my career. To move to a new team and to win for Mercedes-Benz is just a real privilege. The guys have done an exceptional job, I’m so glad I could be a part of the team and I really couldn’t be happier. I hope there’s many more to come.

    Q: And this year’s World Championship? Surely you’ve still got a chance of it, you’ve got to work hard.

    LH: We’ve got to work hard, you never know how the tyres are going to last elsewhere but if we come here and make our tyres last then we should be able to do it anywhere. So, fingers crossed.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Lewis, congratulations. You weren’t too optimistic yesterday but a lot of factors obviously worked well for you today: good start, getting the traffic right as well and some great overtaking manoeuvres. Tell us about them.

    LH: It’s been a great weekend, really a great weekend. Really didn’t expect it coming in. It’s probably been one of the toughest weeks for me. Obviously we hadn’t had the test, we didn’t do the test, we were on the back foot when we came in. Really wasn’t even expecting to be on pole. Really surprised with that and then yeah, at the start of the race the pace was OK. I think maybe Sebastian perhaps was just as quick or a little bit quicker but fortunately he was behind and my tyres went off just maybe a lap or two before his. I think I called the pitstop just right – the first one – and after that it was just managing the gap. I had to make sure I got past people. I normally get held up in my… I thought when I came behind Jenson I thought it was just my luck because that’s what usually happens. But I got past him and was surprised to see Sebastian and the others get stuck behind him as well. I guess he did me a favour there. But I think generally we had the pace on everyone today. I know I was really controlling the pace, particularly through the second, third and last stint, particularly on the last stint. This is just down to an exceptional job from the team. We came here with upgrades and constantly doing work to try and understand these tyres. I think today we bolted them on and they just worked for us. I really was not inspecting it.

    Q: Kimi, that was a robust defence at the end of the race. I’m not certain if it was a good job interview for joining Red Bull Racing for next year but tell us about it.

    KR: Obviously I don’t have anything for next year so I mean it does matter what happens on a race circuit for that matter. I knew that my tyres are pretty OK and I was good through the last sector so I was pretty sure there was no chance to try to overtake me into the first corner but then obviously turn two was a bit more tricky for me all race. He got a good run, Sebastian once before and then second time and I defended. Maybe I’m over a bit on the right and it’s a bit tight but then I kept him behind and that was the only time he had a good run on me. In there it is very difficult to overtake because it is so narrow on top of the hill. After that I had no issues. That was the only part of the circuit that I really had some problems with the tyres. But it was good work for the team, the car was working well but unfortunately I keep making Saturdays… after Saturdays making the race a bit difficult for myself. Hopefully we can fix that a little bit and be a bit more on the front at the beginning of the race.

    Q: Sebastian a little bit of trouble behind traffic during the race itself. What do you feel about third place?

    SV: Generally happy. Not the best circuit to be stuck in traffic because it’s quite difficult to overtake. I think we had not enough speed on the straights to put people under enough pressure so yeah, obviously got stuck behind Jenson for a long time. Damaged my front wing as well which dropped us back and after that obviously it was about the fight back as much as we could. In the middle of the race I didn’t know where I was. I just tried to hang in there and try to come back as much as we can. In the end obviously quite close with Kimi. We were faster, I had fresher tyres but as I said, no way past. Once I was pretty close up the hill. I think I didn’t have enough room on the outside but it’s pretty difficult to judge. Obviously I couldn’t go around the outside and pass him but I was trying to maybe put him under pressure for the next couple of corners and try to create my chance but yeah, was not a decent gap anyways. So, I tried, didn’t work, we have to be happy with third. The car was good all weekend, there wasn’t much missing. But as I said, I should have done a better job with Jenson in the beginning and especially not damaged my front wing – and then it could have been a different race. But would, could, should. In the end I think we’re happy with third.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Abhishek Tackle – Midday) Lewis,  track temperatures were in their fifties today; would you say you’ve turned the corner with your tyre wear issues and how much of that was work going on back at the factory, and how much of that was the new tyres, new constructions?

    LH: I think it was a bit of both. As I said, coming into the weekend, we are making improvement but not big enough to make the difference it did today so I’m assuming that a large part of that was the tyres. I really wasn’t expecting it. Our long runs didn’t look that great in P2 but I got the balance just spot on today with the front wing and yeah, if we can be quick  here in a race with these track temperatures then I’m very hopeful that we can be competitive everywhere else, so this could be a really good… could be a good turning point for us.

    Q: (Leonid Novozhilov – F1 Life) Lewis, which of the ingredients made the difference in your success today?

    LH: Teamwork, absolutely teamwork. The guys have just been phenomenal all year with the work they do in the garage, preparation of the car, the reliability has been exceptional – obviously not for Nico today – and the team’s in the position where it’s beginning to develop the car still through the season. At this point of the year, last year, they said they weren’t anywhere near making improvements so it’s good to see that. I think hopefully I’m a part of that as well. I feel like I really earned my keep today so I’m really happy for that.

    Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Sebastian, we have heard you complaining a bit over the radio two laps from the end when you thought that Kimi didn’t leave you enough room in turn four. Was it serious?

    SV: In the heat of the moment, for sure, obviously it’s narrow there. As I said before, it was clear… or it was to me at that stage that I didn’t find a way past around the outside. First of all, Kimi is not an idiot and secondly, it’s a narrow part of the track so it was clear but I was pushing very hard, trying to create a chance, put him under pressure and as I said, it was clear I didn’t pass him there, but maybe two corners later or something. Yeah, I was not too happy but as I said, it was quite hot this afternoon, I was pushing very hard and it was quite narrow and I was a little bit on the dirt, turning in. You feel that you have to say something so that’s what I said.

    Q: (Kate Walker – GP Week) Sebastian, three weeks ago in Germany, I asked you if you would relish the challenge of having Kimi as your teammate next year and you said you would enjoy having such a competitive teammate. I was wondering if your opinion had changed, now that you had finished behind him.

    SV: There have been races where I have finished behind him, especially in the beginning  of my career – I finished nearly every race behind him. And there are races where I’ve finished ahead of him so that doesn’t really matter. As I said, I think he’s one of the drivers I get along most with. He’s been very honest all the time which I appreciate a lot. I think at the end of the day we’re a group of 20, 22 guys; some of them you like, others you don’t. I think at the end of the day you have to beat everyone. Obviously we enjoy it a lot more as well if you’re fighting other drivers in similar cars, meaning with similar pace, because it’s kind of boring when you’re only fighting your teammate. I think this is something we all enjoy.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Sebastian, at Nurburgring, after your battle with Kimi, you said that one day you will feel as angry as Kimi felt that day. Do you feel angry now?

    SV: I don’t think it was really really angry but obviously it was a battle for the win so I was happy that I succeeded. Today was for second, but still, you know, second is better than third. I’m not entirely happy with my race because I think the car was probably a little bit better than where we finished today but as I described, with the race that I had, I think P3 is what we have to be happy with. It’s not a disaster. We were still on the podium which is nice, a lot of people here which is still very special so I think we have to keep our feet on the ground. I’ve always said that there will be days when there will be people ahead of us and there will be days when we will be ahead of them so it’s just life.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Lewis, do you think that with nine races to go it’s possible to fight for the championship?

    LH: I think it’s too early to… still far too early to… of course, when you have a win like this, you get excited and you think anything is possible and obviously today shows that anything is possible but I think it’s still too early for us to say whether or not we can challenge these guys. I know the guys are working hard so that we can close the gap and I hope today is the first step in doing so but we’ve got a lot of tough races coming up. I just hope that that’s not the last time my tyres work for me.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, do you think that today there is some complaint about the strategy because as you said before, you were twice stuck behind McLaren when you came out of the pits?

    SV: Usually in the past it was not a bad thing when you came out behind a McLaren but this year’s a bit different. Yeah, I’m not blaming the team. I think it’s pretty easy (to see) what happened. In the first stint I lost more time on the way to the pits, because the tyres were falling apart (more) than they expected, probably around 1.5s. If you take those away, I come out ahead of him, so I think in terms of strategy they did the right call. Second time round, I think he was on a very used set of soft tyres which was going away quickly and I found my way past pretty quickly as well, so I’m not blaming them. If there’s anything to blame, today, then it’s me because I damaged my wing which wasn’t the best thing.

    Q: (Michael Neudecker – Sud Deutsche Zeitung) To all three of you: how did the high temperatures today affect you, your performance?

    LH: Physically it was quite easy, to be honest. I wasn’t on the ragged edge the whole way. Particularly the last twenty laps I was able to really chill, I was drinking a lot and just trying to bring it home, look after the car and the tyres, yeah, for the first time  ever that I can remember my tyres not being a problem. I think this track has always been good to me. I hope there’s many more like this.

    KR: Obviously I was bit out of tyres at the end because we did a run with a set of tyres but apart from that it was OK. It was a bit hot but as normal as any hot race. No problem.

    SV: Yeah, it was pretty hot, especially, obviously, towards the end of the race when the drink is not cool any more, it’s more like tea, which isn’t the nicest to cool down. But yeah, I think we were probably in a bit of a different situation to Lewis, still fighting towards the end, I was pushing very hard. Every time you get close, you lose some grip. I was struggling to get past, didn’t succeed but yeah, it’s not the only hot race we have during the season.

    Q: (Anthony Rowlinson – F1 Racing) Lewis, does it feel different winning for Mercedes than it did for McLaren?

    LH: I think it feels different. It always feels like it’s the first time, that’s for sure, when you win. I remember the first time I won it was exceptional, an exceptional feeling and today it was a really calming, relaxing feeling when I came across the line. I really wasn’t expecting it. As I said yesterday, I talked it down a lot because I really was expecting a real tough race today, I  thought we were going to fall behind. The experiences I had at McLaren were some of my greatest but I think this is one of the highlights of my career up to now. Moving to a new team and a team that was struggling massively last year and to finally get a win with them after the first nine or ten races is a great feeling.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, now you’ve got some feeling with the new tyres, do you think you have the right package to win in Spa?

    KR: I don’t know. It’s a different circuit. I have no idea. Last year we were not very strong there. I think we know the reasons and for sure our car is better this year but is it good enough for fighting for a win? We will see in Spa in one month.

    Q: (Peter Vamosi – Vas Nepe) Kimi, you are now second in the championship. What does this mean now, at this time, for you and for the next four weeks? Will you go to Enstone and help to develop the car or just have fun and holiday?

    KR: I don’t design the car so there’s not much use for me there. Everybody has to be off work in a week’s time so there’s nothing happening at any of the factories, at least, that’s how it should be. I will do something and see what happens at the next race in four weeks.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Sebastian, if, at the end of the first bend you were first in the race after the start, the story of this race might have been different. And Lewis, I would also like to hear your opinion about that.

    SV: Well I wasn’t so, hard to… If. If. If I was sick today I wouldn’t race so… I think Lewis did a great job today, a good lap yesterday and deserved to win today no doubt. I think we had a bit stronger pace than what we probably had towards the end of the race, but I didn’t do the best job either. I damaged my front wing, I got stuck behind Jenson, didn’t find a way past unlike Lewis so yeah, there are things that I could have done better but it’s hard to say where we could have been without those two things. I think it would have been close. Obviously he had track position, overtaking is difficult, maybe we would have been a bit closer, maybe with strategy we could have found a way past, I don’t know. But in the end, as I said, it wasn’t the case.

    LH: It’s nothing I really want to think about. I got into turn one first, that’s the most important thing. I think if Sebastian was out in the lead it would have been hard to have kept a hold of him but I think generally my second and third and fourth stints were pretty strong. I think I would hopefully have had as good a pace as he would have had so I think it could have been a close race.

    Q: (Gabor Joo – Index)  Kimi, last year you finished second, this year you finished second as well. Are you satisfied with the progress Lotus is making in terms of car development?

    KR: Obviously we always hope for more, myself and the team hopes for more. I think we’ve made progress, for sure.  Now we have tyres that are a little bit different and I wasn’t so happy with how things ran on Friday and yesterday – more happy in qualifying than the whole weekend before that but still not ideal and in the race we usually run better than in qualifying. I was happy with the car in the race but obviously when you start from such a bad starting place it’s difficult to make big progress on this kind of circuit but I managed to do two stops and we’re still pretty competitive so we’re happy how we’ve done but we’re here to try to win races and if we keep finishing second and third like we’ve done many times this year, it’s probably not enough for the championship but the best thing today when we finished second we gained a few points on Sebastian, so it’s better than nothing but with a win it would have been a much bigger difference.

    Q: (Sarah Holt – CNN.com) Lewis, tyre problems cost you your first chance of a win for Mercedes at Silverstone and it’s ironic that now, because of that, the tyres have been changed and here we have them, you’ve got your first win, so does this make up for everything that happened in Britain and if the tyres now suit you, it could have ironically set you up for the rest of the season?

    LH: Well thank you. Yeah, yeah, you can’t really make up for Silverstone.  That was my home Grand Prix, we were in a good position to have won that so I don’t know when I will ever get a chance to win at Silverstone again in front of my home crowd. But this is definitely a great feeling to finally get the win. I’ve been on pole position for the last three races, it’s good to finally not lose position and just stay and be able to hold it and maintain position throughout the race, it’s a good feeling. I came here saying and praying that when we put on these tyres that they would come towards us more than away from us and it seems like they’ve done that: 52/55 degrees track temperatures today, one of the hottest races I think I can remember doing and for a team that really struggles with tyre degradation today was a walk in the park. I’m really baffled… I used all the technique I could possibly use to look after the tyres which I’m sure everyone is doing, but it worked today. I really really hope that when we go to the next race it happens, that we’re able to do the same.

    Q: (Geza Suranyi – Heves Megyei Hirlap) Lewis, you said that this circuit is a classic, so as a four time winner of the Hungarian Grand Prix, perhaps it’s about time to name a corner after you. Which corner would you chose?

    LH: I’d forgotten that it’s four times here. That’s incredible, absolutely incredible, I’m so happy with that. I love it here: the weather’s great, the fans, we have such a great turnout, they have beautiful women here, great food, I really can’t say more about it. A great track. If I was to chose a corner, I would say turn two.

    Ends

  • Hamilton’s 1st win for Mercedes; Raikkonen pips Vettel for 2nd

    Budapest, 28 July 2013: Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton took a convincing first win of the season at the Hungarian Grand Prix ahead of Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen and Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel. Hamilton’s fourth career victory at the Hungaroring puts him level with Michael Schumacher for most wins at the Budapest track.

    “This is probably one of the most important grand prix wins of my career,” said Hamilton after finishing almost 11 seconds ahead of Raikkonen. “To move to a new team and to win for Mercedes-Benz is just a real privilege. I’m so glad I could be a part of the team and I really couldn’t be happier. I hope there’s many more to come.”

    Hamilton made a good start from pole position and with Vettel making a slower getaway on the dirty side of the track, the Mercedes driver comfortably held his lead into the first corner. Vettel retained his P2 starting position despite a strong challenge from Lotus’ Romain Grosjean and the trio began to build a gap to the chasing pack, an FIA release said.

    Hamilton after winning the Hungarian GP on Sunday. A Mercedes AMG Petronas photo
    Hamilton after winning the Hungarian GP on Sunday. A Mercedes AMG Petronas photo

    Behind them Mark Webber made a good start for Red Bull Racing to rise from P10 on the grid to seventh by the end of lap two. With everyone in front of him starting on soft tyres and set to stop earlier, Webber, who started on medium tyres, had the opportunity to do a long first stint. When the front runners pitted for their own sets of medium rubber, Webber assumed the lead and in clear air began to make up time.

    Hamilton was the first to stop on lap nine and emerged behind Jenson Button, who had also started on the medium tyre and was working his way through a long first stint. The Mercedes driver quickly passed his former team-mate but Vettel had no such luck. After his first stop on lap 11, the German also rejoined behind Button but for the next 13 laps he could find no way past and lost precious time behind the slower McLaren. Vettel attempted a bold move on lap 17 but it only resulted in a minor collision that damaged his front wing and which compromised his pace. The Red Bull driver eventually found a way past, but by that time Hamilton had opened up a significant gap and the battle for P1 was done.

    “Coming out behind Jenson was crucial and I struggled to get past,” said Vettel. “I damaged my front wing, which didn’t help. After that I managed to get past. It was a long time. I lost a bit of speed and basically tried to hang in there, tried to fight back.”

    The race then settled into a battle of competing strategies with positions changing hands according to starting tyre choice. While the bulk of the front-runners cycled through their mid-race stints without issues, Grosjean hit trouble.

    After pressuring Vettel hard in the early stages of the race, the Frenchman found himself behind Button and in passing made contact with the McLaren, a clash that saw both being investigated by the stewards after the race. After his second stop Grosjean then found himself behind Ferrari’s Felipe Massa. He passed the Brazilian but did so off the track and was soon handed a drive-through penalty by the stewards. The punishment lost him valuable time and he dropped down the field to eventually finish sixth.

    In the final stint, it was Raikkonen and Webber who profited most. The Finn took on a final set of mediums on lap 42 and clung on until the end, despite the close attentions of Vettel who pushed hard in the final 10 laps to chase down the Lotus driver.

    “I knew it was going to be a bit tight but I felt that the tyres were good in the last ten laps,” said Raikkonen. “Maybe in the last two laps they dropped off quite badly but I didn’t really have any doubts that I could keep him [Vettel] behind. I had good speed through the last sector, so I knew that in the first corner he would not have a chance. Obviously you take a chance when you make so many laps with a set of tyres – but like I said, the team worked well, everything worked well for us.”

    Webber, meanwhile was on a charge of his own. He took on a mandatory set of softs on lap 59 and emerged in fourth place. At times running almost two seconds a lap quicker than his team-mate he closed rapidly but then his times dropped away and he settled for fourth.

    Fernando Alonso finished where he started, in fifth. With Grosjean, seventh was left to Button who finished ahead of Massa. The final points positions went to Sergio Perez and Pastor Maldonado.

    Vettel’s third place means he maintains control of the Drivers’ Championship standings. He now has 172 points, with Raikkonen in second place with 134. Alonso is third on 133, while Hamilton’s win gives him a total of 124 points and fourth place.

    In the Constructors’ battle, Red Bull Racing marginally increase their grip on the top of the standing, adding two points to the 67-point advantage they enjoyed over Mercedes before the start of the weekend. The Austrian team now has 277 points, Mercedes 208 and Ferrari 194. Lotus are fourth 11 points further back.

    2013 Hungarian Grand Prix result

    1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:42:29.445 25
    2 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus +10.9 secs            18
    3 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing +12.4 secs 15
    4 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing +18.0 secs 12
    5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari +31.4 secs 10
    6 Romain Grosjean Lotus +32.2 secs 8
    7 Jenson Button McLaren +53.8 secs 6
    8 Felipe Massa Ferrari +56.4 secs 4
    9 Sergio Pérez McLaren +1 Lap 2
    10 Pastor Maldonado Williams +1 Lap 1
    11 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber +1 Lap
    12 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso +1 Lap
    13 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso +1 Lap
    14 Giedo van der Garde Caterham +2 Laps
    15 Charles Pic Caterham +2 Laps
    16 Jules Bianchi Marussia +3 Laps
    17 Max Chilton Marussia +3 Laps
    18 Paul di Resta Force India Hydraulics
    19 Nico Rosberg Mercedes +6 Laps
    Ret Valtteri Bottas Williams+28 Laps
    Ret Esteban Gutiérrez Sauber +42 Laps
    Ret Adrian Sutil Force India Hydraulics

    ends

  • Hamilton takes pole; Grosjean favourite from P3

    Hungaroring, 27 July 2013: Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton claimed his third pole position in a row and his fourth of the season to edge out the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel by less than four hundredths of a second in a tense qualifying session ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

    Red Bull Racing driver Vettel looked set for his own fourth pole of the season after setting an early Q3 benchmark of 1:19.506, eight tenths ahead of Hamilton’s first timed lap of the segment. The championship leader looked to be even more secure when, with his final run, he managed to shave another tenth off his best time, FIA said.

    Hamilton and Mercedes have dominated over a single lap at recent races, and it was not different in Budapest. A superb first sector saw the three-time Hungarian GP winner running three tenths quicker than the Red Bull Racing driver and though he lost time in the middle sector it was a strong enough foundation to allow the Briton to cross the line in P1.

    Afterwards, Hamilton said he had been sure Vettel would be at the head of field.

    “I was surprised when I came across the line and they said I’d got pole,” he admitted. “I had been expecting Sebastian to get it as he’d shown some serious pace. I didn’t even feel that I’d done that great a lap, so I was very surprised.”

    Vettel, meanwhile, felt there “had not been much missing” from his lap and professed himself confident of a good race from P2 on the grid.

    “I think Lewis did a good job,” he said. “I put a strong lap in. I had two sets of new tyres and I was pretty happy with both laps. Maybe on the second try I was losing out a little bit in the middle sector. Maybe I wasn’t aggressive enough there. I would have loved to have been a little bit faster and been on pole but I think it puts us in a great place for tomorrow.”

    Romain Grosjean took third place for Lotus, out-qualifying sixth-placed team-mate Kimi Raikkonen for just the second time this year. Hamilton’s team-mate Nico Rosberg was fourth, with Fernando Alonso fifth for Ferrari ahead of Raikkonen and the second Ferrari of Felipe Massa.

    Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo enjoyed another good qualifying session and will line up eighth on the grid. Afterwards he said he had got the maximum from his STR8.

    “It was good to get into Q3 again,” he said. “We seem to make a habit of finding a little bit extra for qualifying, although ideally, I’d like to be on the pace right from Friday and chip away at the lap times within the top ten. I think we got the most out of the car this afternoon. I was happy with the way I drove and I am pleased with my form at the moment.”

    Behind him, McLaren’s Sergio Perez recovered from a FP3 crash that left his crew building his car around him at the start of qualifying to claim ninth.

    For Mark Webber, though, it was a frustrating session. A soon as he took to the track for the first time in Q1, the Red Bull Racing driver was told he had a KERS failure. He made it through to the second phase of the session in P13 and dug deep in Q2 to claim P8 and a spot in the top-10 shootout. However, on his first run in the final segment, he encountered another problem and abandoned his run. He failed to emerge from the garage again and will line up tenth.

    “That was a massively disappointing qualifying session,” said Webber. “Obviously we had a lot of issues with the car and we left a lot of lap time in the garage, with items which weren’t working on the car at their optimum. We had no KERS, and a basic gearbox setting that we couldn’t get out of, which cost a lot of lap time.”

    Elsewhere there were few surprises, save for the Q1 exit of Paul Di Resta. The Scot will line up 18th and afterwards said he had no explanation for his lack of pace.

    “A tough session and I am a bit confused as to why we struggled so much on the soft tyre,” he said. “Throughout all the sessions we’ve looked more competitive on the softs, but in Q1 they just didn’t switch on. We’ve given ourselves a lot of work to do tomorrow, but we will go away and come back refreshed and ready to fight.”

    2013 Hungarian Grand Prix Qualifying result

    1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:19.388
    2 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1:19.426
    3 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:19.595
    4 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:19.720
    5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:19.791
    6 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus 1:19.851
    7 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:19.929
    8 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:20.641
    9 Sergio Pérez McLaren 1:22.398
    10 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing no time
    11 Adrian Sutil Force India 1:20.569
    12 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber 1:20.580
    13 Jenson Button McLaren 1:20.777
    14 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:21.029
    15 Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:21.133
    16 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:21.219
    17 Esteban Gutiérrez Sauber 1:21.724
    18 Paul di Resta Force India 1:22.043
    19 Charles Pic Caterham 1:23.007
    20 Giedo van der Garde Caterham 1:23.333
    21 Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:23.787
    |22 Max Chilton Marussia 1:23.997

    ends

  • I was surprised with pole position: Hamilton

    DRIVERS

    1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
    2 – Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing)
    3 – Romain GROSJEAN (Lotus)

    TV UNILATERAL

    Q: Congratulations Lewis, a phenomenal pole position, a phenomenal time on what is a very challenging circuit I think.

    Lewis HAMILTON: Thank you. Yeah, it is. Especially with the temperatures and everything. That makes it pretty tough but I was really surprised when I came across the line and they said I got pole. I was expecting Sebastian to get it because he had shown some serious pace before. And it didn’t even feel that great a lap so that’s why I was quite surprised.

    Q: When we saw Sebastian’s time we thought surely it’s not possible to beat him – yet you did so.

    LH: As I said, I’m really surprised. I felt maybe he made a mistake or something. But I think as always it’s down to the… we bought some upgrades this weekend. The guys have been working incredibly hard to try to catch everyone and they’re just doing a phenomenal job. It’s a result of all the hard work they’ve put in.

    Q: A tough circuit here. Surely pole position is very, very important because it’s so difficult to overtake?

    LH: It definitely helps. It’s very difficult to follow here. If you can get off the… it’s a long way down to Turn One from the start but if you can get into Turn One first, try and hold your position then it’s definitely advantageous. But looking after the tyres in these conditions is going to be, as always, trouble. These guys are going to be ridiculously fast so trying to keep ahead of them or hold onto them is going to be the challenge tomorrow.

    Q: Sebastian. I have to say we thought you surely had it in the bag with that time. Did you feel the same?

    Sebastian VETTEL: Well there wasn’t much missing so I think Lewis did a good job. I put a strong lap in, I had two sets of new tyres and I was pretty happy with both laps. Maybe on the second try I was losing out a little bit in the middle sector. It’s very twisty and a lot of corners in a short amount of time. Maybe I wasn’t aggressive enough there. But it’s stupid to sit here now and say “we should have done this, we should have done that.” At the end of the day I was pretty happy with my lap but it was just not quick enough. Obviously Mercedes have a very strong pace in qualifying. I think Lewis did an exceptional job today if you look also at the gap to Nico, so you have to be fair and respect that. I’m not arguing with that. Surely I would have loved to be a little bit faster and to be on pole but still I think it puts us in a great place for tomorrow. I think we have a good car and good pace also for the race. Shame that in the other car Mark had an issue. He didn’t have KERS and had a problem with the gearbox so had slow upshifts so he was basically not having an attempt for the front and the first couple of positions but still I think we should have a good race tomorrow because the car feels fine. I’m quite confident.

    Q: Romain, you were second on the grid here last year, finished third. You’re in the first three again this year. It must be a lucky circuit for you, do you feel that?

    Romain GROSJEAN: Well I don’t know! I quite like the circuit but it doesn’t mean much unfortunately. It has been a good weekend so far, been working pretty hard with the team, trying to get the best out of the car. Our last lap was a pretty good lap, not missing much to get even more ahead but those guys were really quick so I think it’s good to be here. The race is very long tomorrow and it’s hot so we will see what we can do and what we can get as a best result.

    Q: And both the long and short runs have been good in practice?

    RG: Yeah, they were pretty all right yesterday. I think the Option is quite a tough tyre to make last but then the medium one was all right on our car. With the temperature coming up it can change a little bit the things. It was the case last race. My first stint was very long just because the tyres held up pretty well. Hopefully tomorrow is going to be the case again and then I can try to have a go. But we’ll decide when the time comes.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Lewis, how much of a worry is the long-run pace for the race tomorrow? Particularly given the heat?

    LH: It is what it is, y’know? It’s been the same for a long time. We don’t come into the race and it’s a surprise to us. That’s what it is. It’s great to have the pole position but it doesn’t really mean a lot throughout the weekend. Obviously the race is where we score the points. It’s going to be tough tomorrow. It didn’t feel like a disaster through our long runs but it definitely wasn’t as good as the guys next to me. So, that’s the way it is.

    Q: Sebastian, this is a trophy that’s missing from the trophy cabinet. You reduced that number by one last time in the German Grand Prix. How badly do you want this one?

    SV: Well, hopefully… I’m not that young anymore but hopefully I’ve got a couple of years left and I’m not in a rush. Obviously it’s a very nice race, a lot of fans coming, especially from Austria to support our team. So, yeah, that’s great, a great atmosphere and it would be very nice to win here. It’s a shame that they don’t have the nice, traditionally trophy any more. Instead we get this, I don’t know, this six-legged dog as the trophy on the podium the last couple of years. But, no, I think we are in a good position. Pretty happy with qualifying, obviously I would have loved to have been on pole but Lewis did a good job, as I said before. So we’ll see what we can do tomorrow. I’m sure it’s going to be hot and a lot will be decided over the tyres. We’ll see what we can do.

    Romain, you were on the podium last year. Is there a certain confidence after last year’s performance and this year’s performance as well? You were fastest this morning and now here you arte third fastest on the grid.

    RG: As I said, this has been a pretty good weekend so far and the car is behaving pretty well. The main job was to try to get those new tyres to work properly and it didn’t change night and day, so that was a good surprise from yesterday morning. And then, just trying to improve the car lap after lap, and that’s what we did. The long run yesterday was OK. It felt OK in the car, which was important. Then tomorrow we will see with the race. We will see different strategies I guess and we’ll try to get the best of our car when we get free air and stuff like that.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto-Motor) Sebastian you have mentioned in the [TV] press conference that maybe you were not aggressive in the middle sector. Was it because you though you virtually had pole and you didn’t want to take too many risks.

    SV: No, surely not. In the end, I wasn’t on holiday. If you could, then I would say have a go and try to do the same time. I lost a little bit of time there and should have been more aggressive. That doesn’t mean I didn’t push but maybe I should have pushed a little bit harder and a little bit extra to get some more time. I think the time Lewis did was in the car but it’s always easy with hindsight to say you could have done a little bit more here or there but as a fact, we did not, so we deserve P2 today.

    Q: (Leonid Novozhilov – F1 Life) Romain, what does it mean your little smile. Is this success for you, this third place, or maybe you want more?

    RG: I do always smile, so it’s hard to read on that. It’s OK. You always want better and I think we had a tough quali and it’s really hot in the car and I gave a good effort to get there. It’s good to be in the top three. This morning we were fastest but we knew it would be very tight and again it is. I’m, pretty pleased with the gap which is behind. Tomorrow’s race is long and a different story. I was a bit surprised by the Mercedes being that quick but in the race we know it’s a different story.

    Q: (Kate Walker – GP Week) Lewis, your pole has demonstrated that your qualifying pace has not been affected by the new Pirelli constructions. What kind of feelings do you have about your long run pace, about the race tomorrow and especially the fifty degree plus track temperatures we are anticipating?

    LH: I’m not really looking forward to it. I was just saying to Sebastian, it’s just a shame that we obviously have good pace… we’ve got a good car so I think if we didn’t have the tyre issues we would be able to compete with the guys in the race. It sucks in the way that I’m not able to have a race with these guys but we will do the best we can tomorrow. The tyre degradation is an issue and no matter what rules change or whatever solutions we find, so far, generally it seems very difficult for us to improve. But we’re just working away at it and hopefully we will get there before the rules change again for next year, different tyres come in. Otherwise it’s just trying to get as many points as we can and trying to hold on to Sebastian for as long as I can.

    Q: (Peter Vamosi – Vas Népe) Lewis, Michael Schumacher won here four times at the Hungaroring with two different teams. You can be the next one tomorrow. Is there any more pressure because of that?

    LH: No. I really am not bothered at all about beating someone else’s record  or matching someone else’s record. I’ve been very fortunate to have had a good car for quite a few years when I’ve come here with McLaren and I was privileged to have the opportunity with them and obviously now we are in a good position but now I don’t envisage tomorrow being a win for us. We’ve got a steep hill to climb tomorrow with these tyres and in these conditions. If we did win it would be a miracle and I would be really happy with it of course but I still feel the win is a while off.

    Q: (Sarah Holt – CNN.com) Romain, it looked like the new tyres have actually helped you as opposed to your teammate. Is that a fair reading?

    RG: No, I don’t think it is. I think at Silverstone and Nurburgring we were very competitive and to be honest I haven’t really found exactly the same feeling as I had last year with the tyres. I think we are just doing a good job with the car. That we struggled at the beginning of the year is not a secret with mapping and stuff like that, but since then we have found what I need to bring the car where I want to and it’s getting better and better. I don’t think those tyres have changed the deal massively.

    Q: (Sarah Holt – CNN.com) There was another close race between you and Seb in Germany; now you have another chance to do that tomorrow. Is there any chance that Lewis might hinder you as you chase after him tomorrow?

    RG: Well, he’s on pole at the moment, so he’s the one with the advantage on the grid but then it’s just up to how the tyre reacts in the race, what the degradation is like, when people pit, the strategy and stuff like that. We know the track is quite short and you can easily fall into traffic which cost me the win here last year in the second stint, so it’s just up to us to get the best out of everything I can.

    Q: (Abhishek Takle – Midday) Sebastian, how difficult do you think it’s going to be for you to keep Romain behind, given that he’s qualified so close to you and he could potentially run longer on the soft tyre?

    SV: Well, it depends, obviously. We know that the Lotus usually is very good with its tyres, exceptional to everybody else. I think we are in a good position too so we will see. At the moment, as Romain said, Lewis is leading the pack and then we go from there. The race is long, the first corner is only a small part of it so we will see what happens at the start and after that it could be all different already. It’s a long way to go, it’s a lot of laps here, 70 laps, it’s a long race, it’s going to be hot so I think it will be tough for drivers but also for the cars in terms of cooling. I think we’re all on the limit. It will be a long race and surely tyres will be important but I think we are confident, as confident as we can be. How strong the Lotus will be I don’t know. On the long runs they don’t look anything special but we saw the same at Nurburgring on the Friday so let’s see what happens tomorrow.

    Q: (Zolt Godina – Best of Radio) Lewis, do you have problems with the car in terms of driving, as in the first part of the season?

    LH: It’s still not the easiest to set up but we’ve not done a bad job this weekend as we have managed to get through the last couple of races, getting quite high up. I love the car and I’m constantly growing with it and improving with it. Each qualifying I get into I’m getting stronger and more confident as to how to get the best out of the car. I hope there’s more to come.

    Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) We are hearing – it will be announced tomorrow – that the contract for the Hungaroring will be extended until 2021. Could you please all comment on that, if you are happy to come to the Hungaroring?

    LH: I love it here. I love the track, I’ve had good experiences every time I’ve come since 2006. Budapest is a beautiful place. We have a good turn-out every time we come, great weather. We can’t really complain so I’m happy that it’s on the calendar. It’s a historic circuit so I’m proud to have put my name to it and when I retire someone else will come but I’m grateful to be around when it’s here.

    SV: Yeah, not much more to add. I think the race has been here since ’86 so it is already a tradition to come here. Obviously it’s very special to have a lot of fans always coming despite the fact that it’s very hot and they usually leave the track with big sunburn. Yeah, they love coming here, a lot of people from Germany, from Austria which is obviously very special for us. Looking forward to the next couple of years and I think it’s a good message. The only downside probably is the fact that usually overtaking around here is not that easy but I think it’s a great place, nevertheless.

    RG: I was planning to stay on holiday a little bit next year after the race so it’s great news. I love the city, I love the place so I’m pleased with that.

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) Yesterday, team principals were divided in opinion as to whether there should be more races on the calendar. As drivers, do you think there should be more?

    SV: I think it’s enough, twenty is enough races. Maybe for us (drivers) it’s possible to have another one here or there but especially for the teams, in terms of logistics and for team staff I think it’s already a big effort, very little time, very few weekends to spend at home with their families, with their kids. I think you mustn’t forget about that and therefore I think twenty races is already a lot. Five years ago or ten years it was only 16 races so it’s already a lot more and I don’t think more than twenty races is good for the teams.

    LH:  I love racing so I could race every weekend if I had to, but as Sebastian said, it’s difficult for the guys in the garage and people back at the factory. They’re constantly on the edge, and particular the guys who are travelling, as you said, seeing their families and stuff. I’m sure if I went into the garage and asked my guys if they wanted to race more I’m sure they would say they would but they would also miss their families.

    RG:  I quite agree with Seb. Twenty is pretty alright and it’s tough for everyone so why not some more testing but twenty races is about good.

    Q: (Jeroen Huis in T Veld – Jhed Media B.V) We’ve talked about the heat a lot and what it does to the tyres but what does it do to you, Lewis, physically and even more, in tomorrow’s race for two hours in the heat?

    LH: It’s not really that bad, to be honest. I’ve not really noticed the heat too much so far this weekend. Malaysia is usually the biggest killer and Singapore, obviously, with the humidity but it’s not that humid here. It’s nice and warm and of course it would be nice to be cooler in the car but by this time of the season you are used to it so just have to make sure you drink plenty and that’s it.

    Q: (Gabor Joo– Index) Romain, do you expect one pit stop less than the other two guys tomorrow?

    RG: How much do you plan? I don’t know. It really depends on how it goes. I think again it’s a question of how long you can go in the first stint without losing too much time or gaining time and then the strategy guy will be on the pit wall making all the calculations and working harder to give me the best chance.

    Ends

    Hamilton takes pole ahead of Sebastian Vettel (left) and third placed Romain Grosjean, who is expected to have a better grip of tyres on race day. A M
    Hamilton takes pole ahead of Sebastian Vettel (left) and third placed Romain Grosjean, who is expected to have a better grip of tyres on race day. A M

  • Vettel fastest in both Free Practice sessions

    Hungaroring, 26 July 2013: Having been fastest in FP1, Red Bull Racing continued that form into the afternoon with Sebastian Vettel again going quickest, though this time by a much smaller margin over team-mate Mark Webber ahead of the 10th race of the season at the Hungaroring circuit here on Friday.

    Romain Grosjean was third fastest for Lotus, ahead of the Ferrari’s of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa. Behind them the Mercedes pair of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were sixth and seventh, Kimi Räikkönen was eighth quickest in the second Lotus. Jenson Button was ninth for McLaren and Adrian Sutil rounded out the top-ten for Force India, an FIA release said.

    Vettel’s time of 1:21.264 was set at the half-hour mark. He was already P1 at that point, having been the quickest man in the opening exchanges on the medium tyre. Having changed to the soft compound he improved by 1.2 seconds, setting his fastest time on his first flying lap with the yellow-banded tyre. Webber slotted into P2 a lap later.

    The final hour of Friday practice was dominated by long runs, with drivers conducting race simulations. With track temperatures above 40°C tyre performance fell off quickly and no one threatened to match Vettel’s headline time. The circuit remained slippery and, as had been the case in the morning, many drivers struggled with grip, sliding over the kerbs and into the run-off areas.

    Hungarian Grand Prix Free Practice 2 results

    1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1:21.264
    2 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 1:21.308 +0.044
    3 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:21.417 +0.153
    4 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:21.426 +0.162
    5 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:21.544 +0.280
    6 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:21.802 +0.538
    7 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:21.991 +0.727
    8 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus 1:22.011 +0.747
    9 Jenson Button McLaren 1:22.180 +0.916
    10 Adrian Sutil Force India 1:22.304 +1.040
    11 Paul di Resta Force India 1:22.526 +1.262
    12 Sergio Pérez McLaren 1:22.529 +1.265
    13 Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:22.781 +1.517
    14 Esteban Gutiérrez Sauber 1:22.837 +1.573
    15 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber 1:22.841 +1.577
    16 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:23.369 +2.105
    17 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:23.411 +2.147
    18 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:23.646 +2.382
    19 Charles Pic Caterham 1:24.325 +3.061
    20 Giedo van der Garde Caterham 1:25.065 +3.801
    21 Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:25.143 +3.879
    22 Max Chilton Marussia 1:26.647 +5.383

     

    ends

    File photo of Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull. Photo courtesy FIA.
    File photo of Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull. Photo courtesy FIA.

  • It’s incredible to finally win in Germany: Vettel

    DRIVERS

    1 – Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing)

    2 – Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (Lotus)

    3 – Romain GROSJEAN (Lotus)

    PODIUM INTERVIEW  (Conducted by Kai Ebel)

    Q: Sebastian, tell the world how sweet a taste is this home victory?

    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, it’s unbelievable. I’m very, very happy, an unbelievable race. Kimi was pushing very, very hard in the end and obviously they tried to do something different with different compound tyres. I think we had a very solid, very controlled race but I was pushing, I think, every single lap, except the laps behind the Safety Car. Very happy with the result and incredible to finally win in Germany.

    Q: At the closing stages of the race you felt the warm breath of this guy [Räikkönen] in your neck so what do you think about driving with this guy next year together in one team?

    SV: Well, I don’t know. I think first of all I enjoy today and, yeah, I could feel him coming and more and more pressure but yeah, I obviously had a couple of laps where it was quite close with Romain as well who tried to push very hard. In the middle of the race we lost KERS for a couple of laps so it was very difficult – but fortunately the system recovered and yeah, it’s very useful to defend properly. Very happy that the race ended after 60 laps and not 61 or 62.

    Q: Kimi, was it better for you that the radio had some problems and you couldn’t understand the guy from the pit wall?

    Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: No actually – I could hear them but they couldn’t hear me. I think it only worked in one part of the circuit and unfortunately today there was quite a lot to discuss and it didn’t work. So, not the ideal but we managed to do pretty well and obviously we want to win but today we didn’t have the speed. The race should have been a bit longer, maybe then we could have had a good chance – but we scored good points for two cars and we are getting back where we should be. So in the end not ideal but pretty OK for us.

    Q: Romain, how good is it being back on the podium, even if it is now the third position and not the second if that could been?

    Romain GROSJEAN: It’s good, it’s a good result for the team. We had a very strong race, which is good. Very good first stint. I thought I would have had a chance at one stage on Seb but the Red Bull was quick today. And then at the end we choose different strategy with the team. I think that was the right things to do – just put one car on one tyres and the other one on the other one, and it appears the Option for Kimi was quicker. So, yeah, I think it was good to play a little bit, the team, and then I’m very happy to be back on the podium. I think we’ve deserved it for a little while but now it’s reality.

    [Question in German]

    SV: Obviously I felt the push from the crowd and yeah, obviously, I tried to focus the last couple of laps, knew it would be very close with Kimi once he gets past Romain, so yeah, incredibly tough, I was pushing every single lap as hard as I could and Lotus was incredibly quick today, looking after their tyres probably a little bit better than other people. But yeah, all in all, fantastic. Compliments to the team, three great stops we had. Very, very happy with the day.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Sebastian, many congratulations. That was a tremendously entertaining race to watch for anybody who loves the sport. You were obviously made to work pretty hard for it. Your fourth win of the season [and the] 30th of your career. Clearly, the defining thing is that it’s meant so much to you for such a long time and you’ve achieved so much in 26 years but just put into words what it means to finally win your home grand prix.

    SV: Definitely a great relief. Very happy with how the day went. To be honest, for sure, there are a lot of expectations. Especially when you have a good car and for a couple of years you’ve had a good run, when you come to home soil people expect you to win. I think the whole team, including myself, we never ever let that get to our head but it just feels very, very sweet now to have succeeded after a couple of tries. Sometimes we were close. I think we had good races in the past in Germany as well, finished on the podium, which was a great experience but today, to win here, yeah. Both tracks, Hockenheim and Nürburgring mean a lot to me. To race in Germany I think is a privilege. To have the ability to have a home grand prix. Great relief, very happy, special day for sure. I think it take some little while to sink in but yeah, just incredibly proud today. The team did a fantastic job for strategy and for the pit stops. On the track it was so difficult. I pushed every single lap but it’s so tough when you’re on the edge and you know that you can’t go over the tyres too much because then you will not reach the end of the stint. Equally, passing people, you know that you have to get through traffic as quick as you can, so not an easy race. The Safety Car didn’t help us. We had a little bit of a cushion but Lotus was incredibly quick today and gave us definitely a big run for our money. I’m just very happy that it worked out. Last but not least our compliments to Pirelli. They did a very, very good job within a couple of days to react and bring a different rear tyre to this event. I think we didn’t have any failures throughout the whole weekend. Compliments to them. They had a lot of criteria after the last race but it looked like they made up for it this race and hopefully for the next races we continue to have racing like that.

    Q: Kimi, moving to you. Obviously Lotus were in a strong position. They could make a tactical gamble, put Red Bull on the back foot. From your point of view, you got through, Romain let you through towards the end. But was there a scenario where you could have won this race today?

    KR: Obviously not, because we didn’t win it. I was stuck behind the Mercedes after the first stop for a little while until I got past them. It cost me some time. After the Safety Car we were pretty OK and the cars, three of us, had similar speed and it’s very difficult to overtake anybody. I could run longer and we had a think about it, if we can try to run until the end but we had a massive problem with the radio. I could hear them but they could only hear me between two corners. So I’m wondering if we should have done it, take a gamble and try to go to the end because the tyres were pretty OK, my speed was pretty OK so it was hard to know what happens in the next ten laps. We decided to come in and put the soft tyres. We had good speed. Obviously I got some help from Romain to get past but that was… we would have had a big fight, anyhow. I could have probably passed him in a normal situation but obviously it would have cost me a lot of time. And as a team we try to win and I caught up with Seb but, like I said before, everybody was behind each other but we are too close on speeds and it’s so difficult to overtake then. We tried everything that we had and failed to win but I think for the team we did a good race and got both cars on the podium, so as a team we’re happy but obviously I lost some more points to Seb in the championship. We keep trying.

    Q: Romain, great to see you back here in the top three again. Fantastic first stint that really played you into contention for this grand prix. Tell us about your race, about how you felt and also a little bit of detail maybe about the radio traffic that was going on.

    RG: We had a good qualifying and the first stint has been amazing, seeing P1 on the board is always good. The car was working much better than what we thought on Option tyres. After the first pit stop Seb and myself were quite a long way ahead of everyone else and it was looking like we will try to see with strategy to adapt, to stop three stops depending on how we were going and then the Safety Car came. It made it easy for strategy but less good then for the traffic. Clearly then, as a team we had to put different eggs not in the same basket and change different strategy for Kimi and myself. It appears that Kimi’s one worked better but it could have been the opposite. So, it’s good to be back on the podium, good to score strong points. The summer is back on – which should help us to be more consistent at the front. But the first stint has been really good and finally getting car and tyres that work together, it’s nice.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Leonid Novozhilov – F1Life) Sebastian, what to you think about the weather today? Maybe the weather help you make a win, or no?

    SV: Well first of all it’s German weather. It’s always like this in Germany. I think we were just a little unlucky the last couple of years. I think it didn’t help us today. I think it made it a little bit more tricky. I think it helped probably Lotus a little bit. They were taking care of their tyres probably a little bit better than the rest of the field. By the looks of it they were very strong at the end of the stints – but I say that now, I don’t have a proper look. But in the end we won today so we had good speed – good enough to win the race so I’m very happy but I think we were a little bit stronger on Friday than today.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport)  Sebastian, when you came in for the third time, did you do it in order to cover Romain or did you come in anyway? Was it a plan to come in?

    SV: No, I don’t think it was the plan yet. Tyres were holding up OK and the gap to Romain was increasing a little bit again at that time. Just before the stop, a couple of laps, I lost KERS and I was able to switch it back on and pull away again. But obviously I think we try to cover him to make sure we stay ahead and we defend the lead because we saw that overtaking is quite tricky here. It’s possible: I went through traffic pretty quickly but obviously there was a big delta in speed, in pace at that time. So, yeah, in order to make sure we stay ahead, we try to cover him.

    Q: (Mark Ellerich – Sport1.de) How intense is the relief to get this done, with this win now? Did you have a plan to get it here in Germany, right now, this year?

    SV: Yeah, I made it in January! No, in the end it’s just another race and we try to prepare as much as we can for every race. Surely winning here is very special and tastes very very sweet, especially the way we won today with a lot of pressure from behind, but I think we did our homework – as much as we could – on Friday, the conditions changed a little bit and it was quite close today but we succeeded, that’s the most important thing. Very happy to take the win today and also it’s good to score some points.

    Q: (Kate Walker – GP Week) Sebastian, Kimi is one of the men on the short list to replace Webber as your teammate next season. In the closing stages of the race, we saw him giving you quite a bit of challenge. How do you feel about the prospect of being challenged by a fellow World Champion in equal equipment for an entire season rather than just a few laps? 

    SV: Well, I wouldn’t mind. I think he wasn’t nice today to me because of that but in the end of the day, to be completely straight, it’s not my decision. I think I have a good relationship with the team and to be honest, we spoke about that but not in detail yet. I think the team has no pressure to decide on anything, at least, that’s what they communicated with me. I think I get along fairly well with Kimi; we never had a problem on track, even if one day we might have and crash into each other which can happen, then I think we deal with it as grown-ups and talk about it and sort it out amongst ourselves, at least, I think that’s the relationship I have with him. I respect him a lot on and off track. But like I said, it’s not my decision.

    Q: (Kate Walker – GP Week) Would you be excited by the challenge?

    SV: Yeah, definitely. I think it’s strange in a way because I was looking up to Kimi when he was with McLaren for many years and trying to give Michael a very hard time but his McLaren broke down many times and now, since he’s come back, I’ve raced him again and I think there’s no doubt that when it comes to qualifying, to race, he does his job very well and gets the maximum out of the car, and that’s what – at the end of the day – is our job. He’s quite good at what he does. That’s my opinion.

    Q: Kimi, give you an opportunity to respond to that.

    KR: He seems to be a bit better. I don’t know what will happen in the future. Things will be decided at some point but until that happens there’s nothing to talk about. I would definitely tell if I know something just so that all these follow-up rumours and nonsense stops straight away. But right now, there’s absolutely nothing for next year and we will see. For sure, at some point, once we know we will tell but I don’t have any pressure to make any decision right now. Obviously I try to make the right decision for myself but it depends on many things; next year there are rule changes, everything else, so it can be a right or wrong decision. Whatever it will be, I will live with it and I’m fine with it. We will see when it comes.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, your best ever result in Germany. Does it taste any better than the previous ones or is it only victory that makes the difference? 

    KR: Obviously we are here to try and win races. We couldn’t today because we were not fast enough but for the team it was a good result after a couple of quite difficult races, so obviously for my championship it was not ideal, we lost some more points but it’s still a long season and if we keep putting ourselves in a position for at least fighting for first place then I think we can do it again but as I said, it’s good for the team and not so good for my championship.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Sebastian, your team was one of the teams that suggested to come back to 2012 tyres and it looked like your car behaved very well today. Is there any relationship between these two facts?

    SV: I think no. Whenever I opened my mouth, it was purely targeted at safety, because it can’t be the case that we go out and we have a race like at Silverstone. I  think in the end of the day, we step into the car, we want to race, race at the limit and we cannot drive into the unknown. All sorts of criteria I think was targeted at that and I think people forget that at the end of the day, you have to do your maths, you don’t have to be a genius. We are leading the team championship and the Drivers’ championship and if anything, we are the ones that have most to lose. Nevertheless, we pushed very hard, at least I did, from  the drivers’ point of view. I wasn’t shy of communicating as well. I think we are happier overall – all the drivers – with the tyres we raced this weekend. Whether it suits your car or not is secondary.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) And to Romain and Kimi, is the performance of your car also related to the new tyres?

    RG: I think when we tested it in Canada – well, personally, I quite liked them. They were more proper racing tyres with the different rear belt so I was sort of happy that they brought them here. I think the compounds – medium and soft – were better than hard and medium normally, so I am looking forward to using the full new tyres from Budapest onwards that I understood a little bit better last year than this year. The fronts are a bit strange sometimes but as Sebastian said I think the main thing was to have a safety issue. We all remember Felipe Massa in 2009 and we don’t want to see the same thing with a piece of tyre so we were glad and happy that Pirelli did something and well done to them because it wasn’t easy.

    KR: First of all, I don’t think it’s a 2012 tyre. The front tyre is exactly the same as all year. The rear belt is different but it’s not the construction of 2012. We tried these tyres in Montreal and they were fine. It’s not a very big difference to what we ran before so for us, I don’t think it made any difference. They felt a little bit better tyre in Montreal. I think the biggest difference is on high downforce circuits but the weather is hot so that’s probably what made the bigger difference for us.

    Q: Heikki Kulta (Turun Sanomat) Sebastian, Kimi has been chasing you for victory quite a few times. What this the tightest of them all or was Bahrain last year even tighter?

    SV: It was a different race. I think Bahrain was tighter because he was right behind for more than a couple of laps. Obviously I had Romain pushing very hard before Kimi pushed at the end of the stint,  because he came through, past Romain and he was a little bit quicker at the end. Yeah, but both races, in terms of race pace, were very even and if the cars are nearly the same pace then it’s very tricky and very difficult to overtake, so obviously if you’re ahead, it’s your advantage but I’m sure that one day it will be the other way round and I will probably hate it as much as Kimi does right now.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, how confident are you about the next race because they will change the tyres again and they will be even more similar than 2012 tyres?

    SV: First of all, I think we have to wait now. I think there’s a test at Silverstone where race drivers are allowed to test and so we have a tyre test you can say, for at least a day and get a little bit more of an idea, and then I think Pirelli will make up their mind and decide to get together with the FIA – whether the teams like it or not, it doesn’t matter. So I think at this point we don’t know which tyres we are probably running in Hungary. The most important thing is that we learn the lesson from previous races, especially Silverstone, so for here, I think nothing happened which is good but it’s good to have another proper look, especially around Silverstone and then decide for the remainder of the season.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Kimi, during the last laps, did you  think about the opportunity of being with Red Bull and if that had an effect on your mood during the fight?

    KR: Absolutely not. I try to win and it doesn’t matter if it’s a teammate or some other team. As long as we give ourselves a chance, I try to make it happen and obviously if there is a good chance to try to overtake I will try it but we never got that close so there was nothing to do really.

    Q: (Oana Popoiu – F1Zone.Net) Romain, for the second race in a row, you were told you to let Kimi pass. Do you think you have any chance to fight for wins when you’re ahead of Kimi? 

    RG: When the opportunity comes, yes. Today, as I said, we didn’t put our eggs in the same basket and Kimi was quicker and might have gained on Sebastian but it didn’t work. I think it was the right thing to do. It is important for a team to score points and try to get the win. Without the safety car it would have been a different story, but we all got together and that was it.

    Q: (Jan Kotulla – Mannheimer Morgen) Sebastian, what about the support from the tribunes today?

    SV: Yeah, it was great to receive so much support. I think it’s unique for Germany to have a situation where the Grand Prix is coming and you have two drivers able to win the race. Obviously Michael was in a good position for many years so I think we are in a lucky position anyway, but I think it was exceptional this year with Nico winning in Monaco and at Silverstone last week. Yeah, I think it was great and nice to see, especially round turn seven where, for the second time around Nurburgring, there were a  lot of people and guests and friends from Red Bull. They put a big banner up on the formation lap and also on the in lap so it was very special and I enjoyed every second, for sure, especially after the chequered flag.

     Q: (Jan Kotulla – Mannheimer Morgen) And to all of you, have you see the movie Rush and what’s your opinion about the movie?

    SV: I haven’t seen it. I went to bed, so sorry Niki, he was very kind and invited me. I thought it was smarter to go to bed. So I have to wait.

    RG: I needed to sleep too so I went to bed as well.

    KR: No.

    ends

    File photo of Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull. Photo courtesy FIA.
    File photo of Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull. Photo courtesy FIA.

     

  • Vettel keeps Kimi at bay to take first win at home

    Nurburgring, 7 July 2013: Red Bull Racing driver Sebastian Vettel has extended his championship lead with a hard-fought victory at the German Grand Prix, adopting a three-stop strategy with one stint on the P Zero Yellow tyre at the start of the race followed by three longer stints on the P Zero White medium tyre.

    Thus the German won at home for the first time with Kimi Raikkonen’s Lotus pushing him during the last couple of laps. It is Vettel’s 30th GP win.

    Meanwhile, Sahara Force India failed to finish in points and the German GP halted a strong streak of performances by the Indian outfit. Paul Di Resta was overtaken by his former teammate Nico Hulkenberg in the fag end as he could only finish 11th. Sutil finished 13th.

    Paul said: “It’s not been the easiest of weekends for us, but in the final part of the race it looked like we were on course to score some points. In the end we just ran out of tyres during the last couple of laps, but it was always going to be risky with our two-stop strategy, especially as we had to pit under the safety car. There were times in the race when the car was working well, but I really struggled with the first set of mediums and was not happy with the balance. Things improved quite a bit for the final stint, but by then we were out of position. It’s a bit gutting to miss out on points so we need to unleash our potential and get back to our usual form in Hungary.”
    “It turned out to be quite a disappointing race and for whatever reason we’ve just not had the pace this weekend,” said Adrian Suitl. “I struggled a lot with the tyres and had to convert from a two-stop race to a three-stop race, which was not our plan. I also lost some time at my final pit stop and after that the points were just too far away.”
     Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal, was disappointed with the end of the points streak. “It’s disappointing to end our run of points finishes, but Paul came very close to picking up the final point today. Ultimately his two-stop strategy wasn’t quite enough to fend off our competitors in the final few laps, but we came close to pulling it off. Adrian’s race was also decided by tyre wear because we had to switch him to a three-stop strategy mid-way through the race. Overall we were missing some performance and didn’t have the pace to make the strategy work. Both Paul and Adrian were unable to pass the Williams of Maldonado after the safety car, which compromised the strategy. With three weeks until the next race and a young driver test before that, we will work hard to ensure we can recapture the form we’ve shown earlier in the season,” he felt.
    Pirelli adds:

    The championship leader started from second on the grid and made an excellent start to take the lead at the first corner. There were several strategies at work right from the beginning, with both Ferraris starting on the medium compound tyre, as well as the McLaren of Jenson Button and the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg. From 11th, Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) was also one of the seven drivers to start on the medium tyre.

    A safety car with 36 laps to go prompted most drivers to make their second stops, with the final stops coming in the closing stages of the race. As different drivers were using varied strategies, the podium was only settled in the final laps. Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen completed a long middle stint to lead the race, before pitting for soft tyres with 11 laps to go. Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Button also completed the race on the soft tyre. The top five finishers all used a three-stop strategy, with Button the highest-placed two-stopper in sixth.

    Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery said: “This had all the ingredients for a brilliantly strategic race from the beginning, with some drivers starting on the medium tyre in order to go longer in the first stint than the cars on the soft tyre. For many teams, this was almost a qualifying tyre – which gave the tactics an interesting edge. There were different strategies in play, which meant that the finish was extremely close. Overall performance and durability of our tyres were in line with our expectations while thermal degradation was perhaps a little higher than expected today, due to the high track temperatures, but wear was as we predicted. It would certainly have been possible to complete the race with two pit stops, as many of the competitors showed. However, the safety car slightly altered things. Last but certainly not least I would like to thank our staff at the factory in Izmit in Turkey who have worked tirelessly after Silverstone to produce the required amount of new rear tyres, and our logistics team who made sure that the tyres were here on Tuesday. It was a big team effort, for which I would like to thank everyone.”

    ends

    From left: Kimi Raikkonen (2nd), Red Bull engineer, Sebastian Vettel (German GP winner) and third placed Romain Grosjean also of Lotus on podium on Sunday. A Pirelli photo
    From left: Kimi Raikkonen (2nd), Red Bull engineer, Sebastian Vettel (German GP winner) and third placed Romain Grosjean also of Lotus on podium on Sunday. A Pirelli photo

  • Hamilton pushes Vettel aside for pole position

    Nurburgring, 6 July 2013: Lewis Hamilton produced a last-minute surprise at the Nürburgring as the Mercedes AMG Petronas driver overcame a poor practice form to take top spot in the qualifying for the German GP here on Saturday.

    Lewis Hamilton will start from the front of the Nürburgring grid thanks to a last-gasp lap that snatched

    Hamilton at Nurburgring on Saturday. A Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team photo
    Hamilton at Nurburgring on Saturday. A Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team photo

    pole position away from home favourite Sebastian Vettel.

    As has been the case right through the first half of the 2013 F1 season, pole position for the German Grand Prix was a battle-royal between Mercedes and Red Bull Racing. At the last Hamilton grabbed pole from Vettel by a tenth of a second, with Mark Webber a further tenth back. The two teams looked strong throughout the hour and provided the only runners capable of making it out of Q1 on the much-slower medium compound Pirelli.

    With Germany hosting the ninth round of the 2013 F1 World Championship, the list of pole position winners now has a pleasing symmetry to it, with Hamilton joining team-mate Nico Rosberg and Vettel on three poles each. However, the Briton had looked a long-shot at the start of the session, having endured a rough FP2 and FP3 in which he struggled to get his car to perform.

    “We were miles off!” he said in the post-qualifying FIA press conference. “I was a good eight-tenths of a second off, I wasn’t comfortable with the car at all. We went back into the truck and we just worked hard, tried to analyse everything and made lots and lots of changes. I just hoped that it would work and fortunately the car was beneath me and I was able to put in the times we did.”

    Despite failing to secure top spot in front of a partisan audience at his home grand prix, Vettel did not look too disconsolate.

    “It looks like we are much closer to them here than we were in Silverstone so I think we’ve made some progress and have all confidence for tomorrow,” he said. “We had a good run yesterday, looking at the race. I think we did our homework and now, obviously, it’s up to us.”

    In the opening session the drivers from Williams, Caterham and Marussia were eliminated without fanfare. Q2 offered up a lot more excitement. As the clock wound down, Rosberg remained in the garage, apparently confident that his earlier lap of 1:30.326 would beat the cut-off but in the closing stages, with the chequered flag flying and the track improving, McLaren’s Jenson Button pushed Rosberg out to 11th, posting a time of 1:30.269.

    It was a major blow to Rosberg who would have been readying himself for a tilt at a fourth pole of the season. “I was really shocked when I saw the times falling in Q2 today and realised that I was in P11,” he said. “I didn’t see it coming and we just underestimated how much the track would ramp up in terms of grip and lap time. I could have been on the front row today.”

    Eliminated with Rosberg were the Force Indias of Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil, McLaren’s Sergio Pérez, Esteban Guiterrez for Sauber and Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne.

    The drivers making it through to Q3 had a difficult choice to make: run or not run? While pole position would be set on the soft tyre, practice demonstrated that the medium compound was by far the stronger race tyre. Many cars kept their options open by doing outlaps but in the end only six cars continued on to set times on the soft tyre. Behind the top three Kimi Räikkönen took fourth, only hundredths of a second ahead of team-mate Romain Grosjean, and Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo qualified sixth for the second weekend in a row.

    As the end of the session approached, Ferrari decided to set lap times on the medium tyre, with Felipe Massa beating out team-mate Fernando Alonso by less than a tenth. They will line up seventh and eight. Behind them McLaren’s Jenson Button did not set a time and will start ninth, with Sauber’s Nico Hülkenberg alongside in tenth.

    2013 German Grand Prix qualifying times

    1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:29.398
    2 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1:29.501
    3 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 1:29.608
    4 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus 1:29.892
    5 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:29.959
    6 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:30.528
    7 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:31.126
    8 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:31.209
    9 Jenson Button McLaren No time
    10 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber No time

    11 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:30.326
    12 Paul di Resta Force India 1:30.697
    13 Sergio Pérez McLaren 1:30.933
    14 Esteban Gutiérrez Sauber 1:31.010
    15 Adrian Sutil Force India 1:31.010
    16 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:31.104

    17 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:31.693
    18 Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:31.707
    19 Charles Pic Caterham 1:32.937
    20 Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:33.063
    21 Giedo van der Garde Caterham 1:33.734
    22 Max Chilton Marussia 1:34.098

    ends

     

  • I’m grateful to the team for all the hardwork: Hamilton

    DRIVERS

    1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    2 – Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing)

    3 – Mark WEBBER (Red Bull Racing)

    TV UNILATERAL

    Q: Lewis, you have some problems with the setup of the car this morning – quite a turnaround. How does it feel to come through and take pole position from such a long way back?

    Lewis HAMILTON: I tell you, it’s really overwhelming. I’ve been struggling since the first run in P1, which was pretty good, P2, P3 were just disasters and it got even worse this morning. We were miles off. I was a good eight-tenths of a second off. I wasn’t comfortable with the car at all. And we went back into the truck and we just worked hard, tried to analyse everything and made lots and lots of changes. I just hoped that it would work and fortunately the car was beneath me and I was able to put in the times we did. I’m grateful for the work the guys did with me and, again, this is just down to all the hard work the team has been putting in.

    Q: Sebastian, you’ve never won on home soil. Tell us how much it means to you to do so tomorrow.

    Sebastian VETTEL: Well, first of all I think we should talk about today. Congratulations to Lewis, he did a great job. I think it was quite close. I think I tried everything I had, the car felt fine. I think we were struggling a little bit this afternoon in the first sector, losing a little bit of time there and then trying to catch up. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough but it looks like we are much closer to them here than we were in Silverstone. So, I think we’ve made some progress and have all confidence for tomorrow. We had a good run yesterday, looking at the race. I think we did our homework and now obviously it’s up to us. We put the car in the first row. It wasn’t quite enough for pole position but we should have a good race from there. I’m looking forward to the race tomorrow.

    Q: Mark, you’ve got a great record around this place. Pole positions and wins. Again very close but where did it get away from you today?

    Mark WEBBER: I’m not sure. I’m actually happy to be where I am. It’s very, very sensitive out there as you can see. As Lewis touched on, the previous session he wasn’t comfortable and then he finds some form. Similar for us. I think we might have lost a little bit in the first sector, as Seb touched on, it’s very, very tricky for us to probably find the rhythm that we had there in P3 but that’s the way it is. We know there was a shift in track temp and maybe it’s pulled everyone together a little bit – at least on a short run. I think on long runs we’re very happy with the car. We’re in a good position to put pressure on for the victory tomorrow.

    Q: Coming back to you Lewis, you’ve had a very long relationship, obviously, with Mercedes, going back to the very early days of your junior career. What does it mean to you today, to give them this pole position on home soil?

    LH: Obviously it’s a privilege to drive for this team. You know they’ve got great history, this is where Mercedes really started and so I’ve feel proud to get the pole for them – but obviously there’s no points for today. Tomorrow’s the important day. These guys are very good on their long runs. I hope that with my new setup it will be as good and I hope we can give them a run for their money.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Okay gentleman, let’s perhaps get into a little more detail about this afternoon’s qualifying session. Lewis, we saw your team-mate Nico Rosberg sitting in the garage at the end of Q2 when the fastest laps were being turned. Obviously, the track ramped up substantially during that Q2 session, showing again how fine the margins are between success and failure. Perhaps you can talk about the atmosphere, what was going on in the garage and your own thoughts at that point?

    LH: Well, it was obviously a big surprise for all of us. Nico’s been quick all weekend and I anticipated that he would most likely out-qualify me today and be up there where we are right now. Obviously he was only two tenths off the pace compared to my lap and obviously the track did ramp up and that was a real surprise and that caught us out a bit.

    Okay, Sebastian, as Mark touched on earlier, it was a day of things moving around a lot and the margins were very fine and sometimes there were literally hundredths of a seconds between the three of you as things swung around. What, for you, were the crucial details today. Was it the wind, was it the track temperature going up so much? What was it for you?

    SV: I think it’s a combination of all these aspects. I was very happy in FP3 this morning. I was very happy with the car, so we didn’t change much. And this afternoon, I was struggling to bring it together, especially in the first part of the track, as Mark touched on, it was quite windy, we had wind from the back and the track was a little bit warmed. Still, the car wasn’t bad; it wasn’t awful through the first sector. So I was pretty happy but the time didn’t come. And I tried to do the best I could in the next two sectors but it wasn’t enough to get Lewis today.

    Mark perhaps you shed a little bit of light on… this is a one-off tyre specification we’re going to be using this weekend – from Hungary onwards a completely new spec of tyres. What kind of race are you anticipating on this combination of tyres that have been brought here this weekend.

    MW: I think the race tomorrow will be pretty aggressive. We got some good information on Friday as to how the tyres handle the conditions so I think it will be a pretty aggressive grand prix. Obviously Pirelli have made some changes from a safety perspective from the last grand prix, which was the right thing to do, otherwise we probably wouldn’t be racing, so that’s a good step from them. But also people have to understand… I think people get a little bit confused, that soft compounds don’t make tyres explode, it’s actually just the construction of the tyres, so when Pirelli are moving around some of their compound ranges it’s not for a safety factor, it’s actually just how the tyres are built. Going forward, as you said, they’re going to make some more adjustments and we need to work on those in the future, but for tomorrow I think that the tyres will be pretty good. But you never know. You never count your chickens these days. Come Sunday you can have a lot of surprises and as usual we’ll be legends tomorrow night on what we should have done better.

    Just for clarity, when you say aggressive you mean pushing flat out throughout the grand prix?

    MW: Probably not that aggressive, you still need to keep a bit in margin but we’ll find out tomorrow, as I say.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Simon Cass – The Daily Mail) As unlikely as it looks that there’s going to be a problem with the tyres in the race, are you sticking by the announcement that you would withdraw if there is a problem or are you going to leave it in the hands of Charlie (Whiting) to decide tomorrow?

    SV: I think it’s pretty straightforward. I don’t know where the question came from but…  Yeah, I think it’s pretty straightforward. Obviously when the race starts and… first of all, I’m confident that we won’t have any problems but should we have any problems, then obviously it’s difficult for us inside the car to judge that because we can’t see and we can’t know what’s going on so Charlie is obviously the one who is deciding and I think we had a good chat with him on Thursday night so he’s aware of the situation. I think we were very close at Silverstone to have a red flag but obviously it was new to everybody including the race direction so I think we obviously learned our lesson and should be well prepared for tomorrow. But again, I don’t expect any difficulties.

    Q: Just for clarity, how would the senior drivers communicate with him? Do you have a link with him via radio or do you have to go via the team? How would it happen?

    SV: Charlie can hear us when we are talking on the radio. It’s not the first time he’s listening to us. I think if we had races in the wet, if whatever was going on, he’s obviously aware and listening to all the drivers.

    Q: (Vincent Marre – Sport Zeitung) Sebastian, which of the two drivers who are sitting on your left do you fear the most: Lewis Hamilton winning with Mercedes here in Germany or Mark Webber, leaving at the end of the season?

    SV: It’s difficult to hear. I’m not too

    Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes AMG Petronas after taking the German GP pole on Saturday. A Mercedes photo
    Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes AMG Petronas after taking the German GP pole on Saturday. A Mercedes photo

    sure I got everything but who do I fear the most? I think that was the question. I’m looking forward to the race tomorrow. I’m not really focusing on just Lewis or just Mark. I think Lewis is ahead of us, Mark is right behind and then we go from there. Obviously I focus on the start, focus on the lights and then we will see where we are in the first corner. After that we have sixty laps, it’s a long Grand Prix, a lot of things can happen here so I don’t think the race gets decided straight away so really looking after myself first of all and then obviously the target is to win tomorrow.

    Q: (Oana Popoiu – F1Zone.net) Sebastian, you used to win races starting from pole position; how difficult is it this year when Mercedes are faster in qualifying?

    SV: I think generally you don’t have to start from pole position to win races. It helps, because obviously it’s the best position to start from but I think we had good races also from other positions and as I just said, the race is long, there are a lot of things that can happen so we focus on the start, go from there. In terms of strategy, I think we have a rough idea, it all depends on tyres and tyre wear. I think there might be a lot of things happening tomorrow. I think Ferrari decided to start on the medium, on the harder compound so we will see tomorrow.

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Lewis and Mark, you’ve both won on this track. According to you, which is the most difficult part of the track and how do you deal with it?

    LH: It’s a fantastic circuit, one of the classics and it hasn’t lost that feel of an old classic circuit. There’s not one particular part of the track that’s harder than the other. It’s a very fast, flowing circuit. As you can see, the Red Bulls seem to be quite quick from the middle… in the last sector. I was able to be a little bit quicker in the first sector. It’s really being quite accurate with the lines that you choose and trying to keep up. You need the downforce to keep up the minimum speed through the corners. I don’t think there’s one particular place that’s harder than any others.

    MW: I think it is a classic circuit, still a bit of an old school track, particularly the middle sector. Even things like the kerbs, they’re quite nice, they’re the old-style kerbs. I said to Charlie that we should put some of these kerbs actually in some new circuits because it’s self-policing on the exit. We don’t have this astro-turf rubbish, we have… It’s a beautiful little circuit for us to still drive on so I think all the guys enjoy driving here. Also the undulations are quite nice: climbing in a Formula One car and having the different speed range but the entries are the most important. You have to be very accurate on the way in to these corners, so I think that’s important. The first sector is quite wide, the second sector is quite narrow, so accuracy and line is probably a little bit more… a sniff more important than maybe some other tracks where we have a bit more scope for line.

    Ends