INDIA in F1

Tag: Vettel

  • Nurturing tyres is the key: Hamilton

    DRIVERS

    1 – Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing)

    2 – Lewis HAMILTON (McLaren)

    3 – Pastor MALDONADO (Williams )

    TV UNILATERAL

    Congratulations Sebastian, a third pole in a row at this race and only one flying lap in Q3 to try to do it.

    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, one shot there in the end, which turned out to turned out to be a very good lap. Q1 and Q2 were not to our liking. We were struggling to find the balance we did have early on this weekend, yesterday and this morning during practice. Yeah, good recovery throughout qualifying. Unfortunately, we had to put a second set of options in Q2. It was the right call because it was very tight. I think my time would not have been good enough, I set with the first set. So it was good to go again. But then in the last qualifying I knew that going at the end if the track comes in a little bit more and tying the lap together it should be good enough maybe to look at pole. In the end it was a surprising gap but all in all I felt very well this weekend. The boys have been working incredibly hard in the garage, all the people in the factory as well to make sure that we bring a couple of new parts to the car. They seem to work and I’m looking forward to the race tomorrow.

    Lewis, a front row for you. Sebastian says it was a surprising gap at the end. Did you expect it to be much closer in Q3?

    Lewis HAMILTON: To be honest, I expected to be a lot further back. We’ve struggled all weekend, just with set-up and you know going from P3 to qualifying we had to make some guesses as to what kind of set-up we wanted to change. It seemed to work OK and I’m really, really surprised. The guys obviously did a great job, as always, to get me a good gap and while the car still felt pretty good, I think the gap is still pretty big here and it will be a tough race tomorrow for sure, as always.

    Is that just the way it is in 2012 then? You go from winning one race weekend and on the next one you struggle and you’re not quite sure where you are?

    LH: I think so. At least it appeared so when we first started practicing here yesterday. But generally, I think, you look at the grid, because it’s so hot, the Lotus cars look massively competitive. I think they’re going to be the ones to watch out for tomorrow. I’m sure the Ferraris will be very quick on their long runs as well. Who knows what’s going to happen tomorrow, we just have to look after our tyres in these tricky conditions.

    Yes, 2012 is unpredictable, but Pastor, one is for certain, you quite like Spain don’t you?

    Pastor MALDONADO: I think we’ve been working so hard. The car has been quite quick from yesterday. We were struggling a bit with the option tyres. We were confused because I didn’t feel the same feeling with the prime tyres but then we’ve working so hard trying to understand what was happening with the car this morning, still struggling, especially with the option tyres. But for quali we understand a little bit the way, and here we are. I think we did a pretty good job. Williams is getting better and better every time. I’m pretty happy for the team, pretty happy for my country and it’s going to be a great opportunity to get on the podium and fight for a good result.

    You did, though, use seven sets of tyres during the course of that qualifying hour. How much of a disadvantage does that put you at for tomorrow’s race?

    PM: I think for the long run, for us, the prime tyres were a bit better. We had more range and they were even quicker after a couple of laps. We have tyres enough to race and get very competitive. I’m not worried about that. I’m looking forward to tomorrow. We’ll see from the start what happens with the strategy, that will be very important, essential for tomorrow. These conditions are very hot and very difficult for everybody. So looking forward, let’s see.

    Finally, back to you Sebastian. Lewis has outlined some of the potential battles for tomorrow’s race. Where do you see the big threat coming from, or have you, by saving a set of tyres, ensured that you’ll make it a hat-trick of victories as well?

    SV: Well, it would be nice, no doubt. I think it’s going to be a difficult race. Difficult to predict. We have seen too much this year to be honest to sit here on Saturday afternoon and predict what’s going to happen. I think it’s probably easier to guess the result tonight in football than tomorrow. It’s less hard than predicting the ranking tomorrow. I think it’s going to be tough, as Pastor touched on. It’s going to be hot tomorrow – a bit hotter than today even. So yeah, there will be obviously a lot of cars to look out for tomorrow. I think Ferrari has been very competitive. Williams have been quick yesterday on their long runs. Lotus, I think they’ve proven in Bahrain, the first time we had hot conditions, that they’re up there. So, I think this year obviously grid position is important but maybe not a

    Sebastian, well done, your third consecutive pole, does that mean it’s going to be followed by your third consecutive win? Or does that not mean anything any longer in 2012?

    SV: Well it does, so it would be nice, I think… I’m very happy to be here now because, to be honest, we had a very good weekend. Yesterday was very good, I felt comfortable in the car, this morning I felt very good, even though we didn’t get to finish the run on the soft tyre but this afternoon we started and I think we were a little bit off, compared to where we were the whole weekend. And we played a little bit of catch-up through Q1 and Q2: you don’t have that many runs. And we had to go out again in Q2. It was very tight. We saw I think Fernando was just not quick enough for Q3 and I think I was a little bit slower than that, so if we could have stayed in the garage then, yeah, we would not be here now – so it was a good call from the guys on the pitwall, and yeah, obviously we knew then we only had one set of options left, and tried to give it the best shot in the end. I knew that if I get the lap together, plus whatever we tried in qualifying with the car… I mean you can’t really do much, you can’t really change the setup but you can play a little bit with the settings you have inside the car: differential, front wing, and yeah, I think we caught up. And I had a good feeling in the last lap and managed to put everything together in the three sectors – which was good enough for pole. So, I’m very happy, especially after the effort that has gone in, as I touched on, from the guys here but also from the guys in the factory. We’ve got a couple of new bits here, they seem to be a step forward, which is very good.

    I’m told it’s more than a couple of new bits. I’m told it’s quite a large number of bit…

    SV: Well it depends. We’ve tried a lot, we’ve been pushing very hard, to be honest. I think it’s difficult this year. I think we see everyone is very close to each other and everyone is pushing. If you at McLaren, if you look at Ferrari, if you look at Mercedes. The big teams have more resources, probably, to bring new parts than other teams and they have been bringing more than a couple. A couple is two, so maybe we have also bought more than two – but nevertheless, other teams are up there. Force India was incredibly quick all weekend: yesterday I thought it was just a surprise but even on very low fuel it would have been a very competitive lap time and they confirmed it today. I think in the end they ran out of tyres but in terms of lap times, they weren’t far off in Q2. It’s tight, it’s difficult to make the right step and that’s why I’m quite happy to be honest.

    I’m not sure what your team-mate’s problems were but presumably you had no similar problems.

    SV: It’s a bit of a shame, because the potential is there. I think Mark would have had a solid qualifying, no doubt and we would have qualified in the same area with a normal qualifying for him. But he had a problem, with the brakes I think this morning and I’m not sure what happened this afternoon – so it’s really a shame because you always hope for the team as well to get the best possible result – but nevertheless, yeah, I think the race is long tomorrow, the pace was there on Friday for him as well, so confident he will come back.

    But you’ve had no similar problems.

    SV: No, as I said, the only problem he had was the brakes this morning and this afternoon I don’t know. But I didn’t have any problems fortunately.

    Lewis, on pole here in 2009 and three second places over the years. Given the problems you had yesterday, you sound as though you’re pretty happy about today’s performance.

    LH: Yeah. As I was saying, I’ve really struggled all weekend with setup. During the year I’ve not really struggled too much to get the right balance but particularly today, and yesterday was a real struggle. But you have those weekends sometimes. You can’t always get it perfect. Made some changes going into qualifying that I was just praying would work. And they seemed to have worked, so I was quite happy with the balance that I had. And I was able to… and to be able to get out the lap when you need it, just like Sebastian did. But obviously not as quick as his. But to be able to go out and do those single laps and make sure you maximise the potential of what you have – that really does satisfy me, so I’m happy with where we are.

    It’s just been so close at this circuit. Even though it’s a long lap it’s been so close and literally thousandths of a second have made a big difference.

    LH: Absolutely. It’s very, very surprising. Well, not surprising but it’s very interesting to see so many of the teams improving and continuing to bring updates and to see the pack close up. I think it’s great to see all the teams so competitive. It makes it even more challenging for us as individuals and also for the teams to up their game. And also for us drivers to make sure we’re on top of our game when we’re out there.

    How much of a different is it going to be with one DRS zone here? I think there were two last year and this year one.

    LH: To be honest I have no recollection of what happened last year. But, I don’t know, Overtaking here is always difficult. It’s always difficult to follow as it is in Monaco. Particularly going through Turn 10 maybe, is it? Going onto the back straight. It’s not that easy to follow through out there. But the DRS, I guess, will definitely come into play throughout the race. Hopefully I’ll have some chance. Who knows, we’ll see what.

    We’ve seen a number of drivers going off at the end of the straight Pastor, and today we saw you go off as well. Is this going to be a major problem during the race, do you think?

    PM: I don’t’ think so. I was just not ready for the lap. It was so difficult. As you saw, many drivers were struggling on braking, especially with the front. But I think today was a really good day for the team. We did pretty good, especially because this morning it was very difficult for us – but we understand a bit the way how to make quite well the tyres. And here we are.

    Was it a little bit of guesswork, do you think? Lewis touched on guesswork. Normally it’s pure theory.

    PM: Right now, everything is too tight. Everything is too tight and it’s very difficult to make the difference. I saw Q2, and just off one-tenth I was in P7. You can imagine everything counts now. It’s very difficult. Even for tomorrow, it’s going to be a difficult race. We need to be… we need to stay on the safe side, trying to stay competitive and to stay with the same pace we saw yesterday. We need to stay with the same pace we saw yesterday and then we’ll see.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Adrian Huber – Agencia EFE) Pastor, would you be happy to finish on the podium tomorrow, or are you hoping for more?

    PM: For sure, the points are very important for the team. It will be good to be on the podium but for sure if we can go for more, I will try my best like always, then we will see. Tomorrow the strategy is going to be very important. The team is ready, so looking forward to that.

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Lewis and Sebastian: you are the best of those going for pole. Is there any secret to the last lap that you do, and what are your thoughts before going out for that final lap?

    LH to SV: What is your secret?

    SV: Can’t tell you. I’m not sure whether there is a secret. Qualifying, we know, is all about one lap and to be honest, today it was very difficult, very tricky because the wind plays a  huge role here, sometimes blowing more than at other times, with gusts and generally it seems to be very slippery. Obviously the grip is lower than last year because the cars have less downforce and it makes it quite tricky, as we touched on. A lot of drivers lock up easily under braking, especially in qualifying when you want to brake as late as you can, but knowing that if you lock up you miss the apex and then you lose time. It’s quite difficult but ideally you just try to go through the lap before it happens – at least I had a little bit of time in Q3 – and try to focus on the key points, go through what I have to do and what I have to look out for and then it seems that I did so in the last run. So happy that I got everything together, just on the limit, and got the best out of the car, so I was very happy with the last run.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado deSao Paulo) Sebastian, you have a lot of new parts on your car and the first time you’re going to use them in race conditions will be tomorrow, in these very hard conditions. Are you worried about the reliability of your car, considering there are so many new things?

    SV: No. You’re right, obviously it’s the first time because the first time they were on the car was on Friday and since Friday there was no Grand Prix. It makes it difficult but there’s always a first time for everything. Obviously we try to build the parts so that they are reliable so as I said, I’m not worried. I think it will be tough, it will be hot but it’s not the worst race of the year for the car in terms of the ambient conditions, so I’m quite confident.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian and Lewis: do you realise that you have a big opportunity tomorrow to keep a huge advantage to the third guy who we suppose is a contender in the championship, Fernando Alonso. Are you working on a strategy to save points?

    LH: No. I anticipate that they will come through very strongly throughout the race, so whilst qualifying for some cars is not important, you look at the Lotuses and you look at… even Mark will be very competitive tomorrow. They have great long run pace and they can look after the tyres better than others, due to low speed downforce. I also know that Ferrari had upgrades this week – at least so Fernando told me – so I anticipate that they are going to be very competitive. Again, as I said, I’m very surprised for us because we didn’t have any upgrades this weekend and so to be where we are is a big bonus for us.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) From what you have learned about the tyres here, can it be another race like Montreal where people in the race come out of nowhere with different strategies or different tyre management?

    SV: I think Montreal was different; the tyre choice was different in Montreal. We had the supersoft and soft and I think we already saw on Friday in Montreal that the tyres last pretty well. On Sunday then, some people were able to prove that doing a one stop and obviously when it’s close between one and two stops then there can be a difference and people come out of nowhere. Lewis did the right thing, two weeks ago, by going with two stops. We did the wrong thing but I think it should be different here. The race is not so many laps and the tyres are a little bit different. It’s going to be hot again but I think it’s a different race, different track, different conditions.

    Q: (Panayiotis Seitandis – Alpha TV) I would like to ask all three drivers: given the fact that this is a street circuit, next year we have New Jersey, we now have an effort in Greece to have a similar race in Athens. What do you think is the perfect mixture between street circuits and proper (permanent) circuits and of course what’s your opinion about coming to race in Formula One in Greece?

    LH:I don’t know how many street circuits compared to other circuits we should have, but I love street circuits. They always provide entertaining races, perhaps not always the tracks that enable you to overtake as often as other places like Spa but still, as a driver, they are the most fun because on street circuits you have less room for error. I’ve only ever been to Greece once. I went years and year and years ago with Nico Rosberg. We went on holiday there, when I was about 13 and I’ve been dying to go back ever since. I was going to go earlier on this year but the weather wasn’t as good as I had hoped. I imagine at some stage  in the future, once the world and Greece is past the stage they’re in now, I think we would welcome a race – at least I would.

    SV: As Lewis touched on, I think street circuits are always good fun. It’s a different challenge because you haven’t got room for error, but one thing you can’t have on a street circuit is fast corners, really, because there’s no run-off and no space. I think the street circuits that we have are pretty quick but it’s maybe the exception. If you would build a new track again or look for a new layout you probably wouldn’t go that close to the limit, knowing what could happen, so therefore we need to make sure it’s not going to be all street circuits in the future but surely, it’s very good fun, a lot of bumps and that makes it very technical, very difficult,  challenging for us and if we could have a race in Athens it would be great. It’s a beautiful country, I was there last year so yeah, obviously there’s a lot going on right now and it’s not looking too good but being German, we are doing our best to help – not yesterday, that’s sport! As I say, it would be great and a great opportunity for Formula One as well, but I don’t know if there are any plans so we’ll have to wait.

    PM: I agree with Lewis and Seb. I think it’s not only fun for us as drivers, I think it’s fun for the fans and I think we need both conditions just to try to put Formula One in the top position. Spain, here, is a great one, especially because of the city and a lot of facilities but the future is like that. We follow the future and for sure we enjoy these kind of tracks.

    Q: (Sylvia Renée Arias – Revista Parabrisas Argentina) Pastor, I would like to know if there is extra power for you to have all these people coming from Venezuela, more than 100 people? Do you feel it’s nearly like a home Grand Prix?

    PM: It’s not a proper  home race but here in Spain we have a big community of Venezuelans and as well, it’s quite easy (to get here) from Venezuela, we have many flights. It’s a really good feeling to see them, especially in the stands, full of flags. It’s good. I hope to give them back some good news tomorrow, so we will see.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) We had 0.291 from Grosjean first to Massa in Q2. Does this tiny difference make you drive accurately; does it change your approach with the team’s set-up? What does it change in your regular work?

    SV: I think it makes it extremely difficult. I know exactly what happened to Fernando because I had the same in China. There were three tenths; Mark was first in Q2 and I was eleventh. It’s not nice, because you probably always know that if you’re looking for five hundredths which would be enough, a little bit here and there, but that’s the risk you have to take to set the time in the first place, but it’s tight and there’s very little room for error, especially like here where it’s very slippery, very easy to lose a little bit, lock up the wheel towards the apex, don’t get it perfectly right, maybe the exit is not 100 percent either, so it’s tricky but you have to attack otherwise you’re not there in the first place.

    LH: No, it doesn’t really change the approach in qualifying, you’re always attacking and if anything it just means you need to be more precise.

    PM: I think now, with these gaps, you just need to put everything together just to be there. It’s difficult for everybody, especially for the tyres, to get the maximum out of the tyres is not easy and when you get it, you are here.

    Ends

  • We learnt a couple of lessons: Pole sitter Vettel

    Montreal, 9 June 2012: As Sebastian Vettel overcomes the FIA jury decision to let go the “hole” in their car talks about now-legal, now-illegal ways of the international federation and says that his motivation is not affected. One has to wait and see as the 2012 FIA Formula One World Championship enters the third continent and 8th Grand Prix, will Canada throw up an eighth different winner this season.

    The mandatory FIA Saturday Press Conference was attended by the top three qualifiers Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing), Lewis HAMILTON (McLaren) and Fernando ALONSO (Ferrari) in that order.

    First the TV UNILATERAL as usual!

    Sebastian, we’ve seen pole decided all year being decided by mere hundredths of a second, but today it was almost a quarter of a second. What made the difference?

    Sebastian VETTEL: Well, it’s difficult to say. I think we’ve had a fantastic weekend so far to be honest. Yesterday was very smooth, we didn’t have any problems with the car. I think we have learned a couple of lessons, especially in the last two races where arguably we were quick on Sunday in the race but we didn’t get [the best] out of the car on Saturday in qualifying. So, we learned quite a bit and, as I said, it was important to have a clean run, yesterday was a good day and this morning. We trusted the car that we had, we were able to go with the circuit and tried to read the conditions, so I was very happy in qualifying – throughout qualifying really, Q1, Q2 and Q3 – so yeah I was able to always get a little bit quicker. It looked very tight in the beginning to be honest. I knew it would be within a tenth, but in the end it seemed that we could make a bit more of a difference, which obviously is good. But still the advantage we have over Lewis is eight metres on the grid. Looking forward to the race, I think we have a great car. This time we got it right in qualifying and I’m looking forward to the race tomorrow. It should be an interesting one I guess.

    Lewis, moving to you, so fast all day yesterday, how much has the change in climactic conditions affected car balance for you today?

    Lewis HAMILTON: It was definitely a bit harder for us today. We definitely struggled with working with the tyres in FP3 and in qualifying, having to push extremely hard to try to get the temperature, to get the tyres to switch on, but very, very fortunately we had still a new set in Q3 and just managed to get through. I’m very, very happy with the performance. I’m very surprised to see us on the front row but nonetheless we’ll definitely take it and work as hard as we can tomorrow.

    Fernando, some big upgrades this weekend, paying dividends almost immediately.

    Fernando ALONSO: Yeah, the car felt quite good yesterday when we tested some new parts and we feel much more happy with the balance of the car and the grip of the car, Felipe and me, straight away. It’s a first step. Obviously, the world will never stop, for us or for the competitors, but at the moment we are extremely happy and thankful to the guys in the factory.

    Sebastian, in recent weeks they’ve banned your floor, they banned your wheels this weekend and you guys are still on top, in pole position. How do you keep doing it?

    SV: I think it’s not just a hole in the floor that makes all the difference. Obviously reading the papers you get that impression. It was a bit of a shame that it went one way and then the other, being declared illegal, then legal and then illegal, but in the end we never feared a big impact on the performance of the car. I think generally, the car works as a whole – not the hole in the floor but a combination of all the parts together! We were not afraid that it would have a big impact on performance. This track is very special. As Lewis said it’s very tricky to switch the tyres on, there arte not so many corners, as in there are no long duration tyres so it’s difficult to work the tyres properly. But as I said, I think for us it was crucial that we learned from the experience especially of the last two grands prix. It was good fun today and even without the hole I enjoyed qualifying a lot.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Sebastian after the win in Monaco for the team was there a certain amount of confidence coming here. Was this, if nor expected, did you feel you’d taken a step forward?

    SV: Well, we changed the car. We had to close the hole or slot or whatever you call it. It seemed to work pretty well without the hole. No, I think there wasn’t a lot of time to react. It depends on what kind of schedule you follow. We’ve seen some teams bringing a big step here, Ferrari did. For us it was nothing big. We are always pushing very hard to improve the car but I think, as I mentioned in the [unilateral] press conference earlier, it was important that we really had a clean preparation, a clean Friday. We were focusing on ourselves, so that was important. Then in qualifying, we just tried to get the maximum out of every run, and we seemed to improve on every run and even we seemed to chip away a little bit from the guys behind, which was a bit of a surprise because I thought going into qualifying that it would be extremely tight. On this track it’s very difficult to make a difference, so I’m very happy.

    The first nine on the grid are going to be on the supersoft tyres tomorrow. One guy, last year’s winner, will be on the soft tyres. How crucial is that going to be, on the supersoft?

    SV: I think we’ve seen in Monaco that the tyre works pretty well. I think we’ve seen that yesterday. I don’t know where Jenson is… tenth, so it depends. It can work, but it depends also on how the race unfolds, where the other guys are, what other guys do with their strategy and when they pit etc. We started in a very good position here two years ago on the harder compound and it didn’t work. It can work both ways. In qualifying what you try to do is get on pole, which we did today, so I’m very happy with that. Looking forward to the race tomorrow, it’s going to be interesting. Making the tyres last around here is going to be tricky. We’ve seen it, not so much last year because it was, but especially the year before, so it should be a good race and I’m looking forward to it.

    Is there a little bit of unfinished business about getting on pole tomorrow?

    SV: Not really. Obviously you’re talking about last year’s race and last year’s last lap of the race. Obviously in that moment it hurt a little bit because the victory was so close, but in the end it was a tough race, easy to do mistakes. We didn’t except for me in the last half a lap, which cost us the victory. But it’s 2012 now and I think we had a quite decent 2011, so it’s not too bad. Of course, it would be nice. It’s a nice track, a nice atmosphere, always a lot of people here. It would be a great place to win for sure.

    Lewis, you have an extraordinary record at this circuit and again on the front row. Interesting that there are two different tyre choices, two different strategies at McLaren. We saw you go out on the supersoft as well in Q1 which is rare as well. Is there a big question mark over the tyre wear for you tomorrow?

    LH: No, we don’t have a different strategy, we were struggling throughout qualifying. Yesterday we had very good pace in the cooler conditions but as it got hotter today we really, really struggled. So, I for one didn’t expect to be so far up. For Jenson, he just didn’t have more tyres in Q3. I was fortunate enough just to make sure I got a good lap in Q2, which meant I still had one set [of supersofts] left. Otherwise, I probably would be a little bit further back as well.

    So how do you approach tomorrow if you feel you have been struggling today?

    LH: I don’t know. I’ve fortunately got myself into a reasonably decent position and I think yesterday when we did the long runs they seemed to be OK, but now that it has got hotter it’s going to change things and it’s going to be tough. But we just have to do the best job we can and try to maximise on everything we do. We can still have a really good race and get some really good points from where we are and I’m looking forward to it.

    Obviously you’re one of the very few driver who hasn’t yet won but are you just happy to stack up the points?

    LH: I am for now, yeah. Of course I want to win, but these guys are phenomenally quick at the moment and I’m not sure whether we have exact pace but we’ll wait and see tomorrow.

    Fernando, your equal best qualifying position so far this year, with Spain, and a lot of new parts on the car. Looking so good but you didn’t improve on the final run, what happened on that final run?

    FA: Nothing special. It’s not easy here to improve laps. There are only five or six corners on the circuits so you are gaining or losing milliseconds corner by corner. We repeat more or less the same timed lap, in the second I gained a little bit from the first sector and I lost a little bit in the last. But overall the limit was more or less there – the 14.1. So, happy with the performance of the car, it has been a very smooth weekend for us. All the new parts work as expected. Felipe and me felt straightaway a good grid and a step in performance in the car, so a very good weekend so far. As you said, best position so far. We repeat what we did in Barcelona. In Barcelona we got one important podium. In Monaco on a completely different circuit we had a competitive car again and a good podium once more. And here on completely different circuit, with long straights and chicanes, we are also competitive, so this is a very good sign for us. Very good teamwork, because all the improvements we have been making on the car are really paying off now.

    So, potential winners tomorrow?

    FA: You never know. Races this year are very difficult to predict. What we think on Saturday is normally not anywhere near what happens on Sunday. So we’ll see. A similar comment to Lewis: it would be nice to win here, it’s a good circuit for Ferrari historically, a lot of fans here. Also, it’s Gilles Villeneuve’s anniversary, 30 years. So, it would be nice to offer all the Ferrari tifosi here in Canada a good result. But we know there are, at the moment, two guys quicker than us, as they proved today, doing a very good job and tomorrow we need to do better if we want to win.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, you said that now you are understanding the car better, you are putting everything together and you are surprised by the advantage. Does that mean that now you’re feeling more confident, that you’re reaching the level that you were at last year or is it still unpredictable?

    SV: It’s not as if we have major changes and it’s not as if we’ve had a completely different approach. I think we’re able to learn from the mistakes we made in the past, we did it in the last two races, where qualifying was arguably not fantastic for us and I think – just looking at the whole grid – I think this year is very different. It seems that a little bit of a mistake here or there, maybe not getting the tyres to work 100 percent, you are quite far away. That’s because 1), it makes a big difference to yourself, so you lose a lot of time and 2), there’s not one car that might fill the gap, there are ten, so then you end up… instead of third you are not fourth but 13th, and then the race weekend is completely different. I think that’s the reason for that.

    Q: (Adrian Huber – Agencia EFE) Fernando, how happy are you with Felipe Massa’s sixth place? And secondly, you three guys are in the top three, does that mean that the championship is becoming a little bit more normal?

    FA: For Felipe, of course, I’m very happy. I think he has all the support from the team, all the support from me, he’s had some difficult races at the beginning of the year, the car was not the easiest car to drive and he hasn’t been so lucky in some of the races at the beginning of the season, as I said, so now, from Barcelona, he’s done quite a good job. In Monaco he was very quick all weekend and here as well so I expect this is the normality and it will be like this from now until the rest of the championship. The first four races were a strange case, not normal races. We will see.

    As we said on Thursday, the championship looks a little bit crazy, a little bit unpredictable, some different winners and some different car performances every Grand Prix, but when you look at the championship table, it’s Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari, Lotus. One thing is one single race, and then overall for the six races that we’ve done, the order is more or less not very different compared with what we saw in the last two or three years.

    Q: (Jeff Pappone – The Globe and Mail) Lewis mentioned earlier that as it’s getting warmer, he’s having a little bit more trouble and struggling. It’s going to be warmer tomorrow and obviously you’re learning a lot from Friday and today, but how much of that gets thrown out of the window for raceday and how much do you have to readjust your strategy and what you’re doing in the car in order to remain quick?

    SV: As I said, it will be difficult for the tyres to survive a certain amount of laps, but I think from yesterday to today, for us it was a bit easier, a step forward. Tomorrow is going to be a little bit hotter… it seems so far this year, for us at least, the cooler it is, the more we were in trouble; the warmer it is, the better it is. I hope if it’s warmer tomorrow, we can keep continuing that trend. We have seen that on Sundays a lot of things can happen so we have to be aware of whatever comes up and that explains the strategy and so on. Of course, if you have a plan in your head… but as we’ve seen many times this year, it can change quickly, so you have to react on the fly.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Sebastian, you are starting on pole position, you said that the gap has surprised you a little and yesterday you did 18 laps as far as I remember on the supersoft tyres on ‘green’ asphalt. It seems to be a very good package to start on pole position, a fast car, and even knowing that you have a very good car for the supersoft tyres.

    SV: We will see. Obviously it will be very important to have a good start. I think life is always a little bit easier when you are at the front so it will be crucial to defend that position and then we will see what happens. As I said, it’s a long race, the track will be more or less green when we start. It has always been difficult here at the beginning of the race. This place is a crazy place, it has delivered some crazy races in the past and safety cars are likely etc, so you have to be aware of all that and take it into account for your strategy. Sometimes it can help you, sometimes it may work against you. You don’t know these things. As I said, we have to look after ourselves and try to do the best we can, have clean pit stops and have the fastest race that we can.

    Q: (Randy Phillips – Montreal Gazette) Lewis, I believe that when you won here in 2010 you were on a two stop strategy. Given the conditions and the tyres and all the other factors, do you see tomorrow’s race being a multiple stop – three or four stops – during the course of the race?

    LH: I think it’s definitely possible we will have slightly more stops than we did in the last race so maybe a two or three stop, but we did see long runs yesterday that could lead into a one stop but here the likelihood of a safety car is usually quite high so with that in mind, people might prefer to do a one or two stopper, who knows? But it is dependent on the temperatures and how long the tyres will last. Yesterday they lasted quite long but today may be different and tomorrow may be different. I hope we don’t have any problems with it, but we will wait and see tomorrow.

    Q: (Mineoki Yoneya – La Vie Creative) Question for all three: can I ask about your helmet? How did you decide on the colour scheme of your helmet and what does it mean to you?

    SV: I’ve changed the design many times. It might take too long… there’s a football match starting in 15 minutes, German is playing, so if I answer that question now full length we will still be sitting here tonight. I’ve had so many helmets so far. I like to swap the design. The one I have currently I like, that’s why I wear it.

    LH: I think that’s the best and shortest answer I’ve ever heard him give! I’m going to say the same. I’ve commented loads of times on my helmet and try to keep it the same. It’s who I am, that’s how I use it.

    FA: As Seb, I think, wants to go, I will give you a very long answer now, starting from go-kart helmet… no, I’m… I change my helmet every year, little differences but always remaining with the blue from my region’s flag, Asturias, and then the Spanish flag always somewhere on the helmet and then all the rest of the details, because he’s on pole, we will save.

    Q: (Kate Walker – Girl Racer) Sebastian, you have shown us, very effectively, that whatever the FIA might say about the technical regulations concerning your car, it doesn’t affect you performance-wise. But psychologically, does it motivate you to prove that you can do it whatever the FIA says, or do you find it frustrating?

    SV: First of all, you have to understand that we have the hole because we were believing in a combination with all the other parts we have on the car and how the car looks it makes sense. Now it was declared illegal, then it was declared legal and now declared illegal again, so maybe next week it’s legal again. We have the parts in the garage! There’s no real extra motivation. I think we still have to make sure we get the best out of the car that we can. We see that this year is very tight so it’s up to us to make sure we use our package as well as we can and sometimes it might be good enough for the front row like here, sometimes maybe not good enough, but then we still have to make sure that we are very close.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Fernando, I would just like to know if some jokes have already started between you and the mechanics in the team about tomorrow’s match?

    FA: No, not yet but if Spain wins, I think there may not be many people at the pit stop!

    Vettel at the Canadian Grand Prix on Saturday. FIA photo.

    Ends

  • Vettel lucky to escape with a warning! Sets pole

    Montreal: 8 June 2012: Senna was seen to wave a fist at Vettel after the world champion brushed past him in turn 13 in the morning session. In the incident, the Red Bull Racing driver lightly touched Senna’s Williams, leading to the stewards calling both drivers and their team representatives to explain themselves.

    However, despite the investigation, Vettel escaped without major sanction, the Red Bull Racing driver being handed a simple reprimand by stewards, Martin Donnelly, Jose Abed and Gerd Ennser.

    Vettel finished the opening in second place behind Lewis Hamilton and in the afternoon settled for fourth, behind the twin Ferraris of Felipe Massa and second-placed Fernando Alonso, and Hamilton, who held on to the top spot. Finally, he ended on pole in the qualifying session and anything other than a reprimand would have been a big loss.

    Afterwards, Vettel professed himself happy with his day’s efforts.

    “We were thinking to put on our supersoft tyres in the first practice being a bit afraid of the rain coming in the afternoon but it didn’t come. However you never know in advance. So, all in all, a good day, with decent laps and even with a little bit of a different approach in terms of when we put on which tyres, I think we can be fairly happy and we’ll see what we can do tomorrow,” added the Red Bull driver.

    Along with the German and Hungarian grands prix, the Canadian event is just one of three he’s raced at and not won. However, the champion insisted that his failure to win at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve was not preying on his mind.

    “There’s no pressure at not having won here, I just hope I can change it on Sunday. It’s a normal race. It’s a great track, with a lot of start and stop, some chicanes, quick changes of direction – it’s good fun.”

    ends

    Vettel at the Canadian Grand Prix on Saturday. FIA photo.

  • Vettel seals world title in Suzuka

    Sebastian Vettel became the youngest back-to-back and double world champion in Formula One history.

    It was not with the glory he had hoped for with a victory in Japan as that honour went to Jenson Button, the in-form Briton taking the chequered flag for the third time this year.

    But Vettel at least finished on the podium at Suzuka with a third place to take the acclaim of the crowd.

  • Superb Vettel makes his point

    It has become his trademark – a raised forefinger to signify he is number one following another clinching of pole position or after a grand prix victory.

    Now, Sebastian Vettel has every justification to stick up two fingers, and not only to mark the achievement of becoming the youngest back-to-back and double world champion in Formula One history.

    But two fingers also to the sport’s establishment who last season questioned his arguably fortuitous title triumph, his temperament at times, and even his on-track ability.

    Yes, Vettel has the car beneath him, a beast of a Red Bull that in its design infancy is crafted not by fancy computer gizmos, but by the fine hand of Adrian Newey.

    The most successful engineer F1 has seen relies on paper and pencil to initially weave his magic that ultimately translates into one of the sport’s most “phenomenal” machines, an over-used word employed by team principal Christian Horner, but apt nonetheless.

    Still, it requires a driver with incredible ability to produce the kind of mesmerising performances we have witnessed this season from Vettel.

    In 2010 the 24-year-old came of age, the campaign a learning curve with such an acute incline that this season there can be no doubt he took everything on board last year and moved up another gear.

    Last season was proof, if it were needed, of a title race being a marathon and not a sprint, with Vettel making a dash for the line over the closing stages, outpacing Fernando Alonso and Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber.

    On pole 10 times, he only won five races, a poor statistic that undermined his championship ambitions, and underlined why he failed to win his debut crown far earlier in the season.

    The most crucial of those victories, of course, was in the final race in Abu Dhabi, giving him the lead in the championship for the first time, and when it mattered the most, at the death.

    The build-up to his moment of glory, though, was marred by talks of favouritism over Webber, the Australian pulling no punches at times that he felt he was a number two driver.

    And then there was their bust-up in Turkey, the on-track collision that sparked a feud that in turn prompted suggestions Red Bull had a pecking order within their team.

    Later in the season, when Vettel rammed into Jenson Button in the Belgian Grand Prix, McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh cruelly labelled the German the “crash kid”.

    Come the denouement, Vettel deserved his accolade as the youngest world champion in F1 history – just, but you can see why question marks lingered coming into this season.

    So in becoming a two-time champion, Vettel has achieved the feat a year younger than Fernando Alonso managed in 2006, and pertinently, coming as close to perfection as can possibly be achieved in F1.

    From 15 races this season he has been on pole 12 times, moving to within two of Nigel Mansell’s 1992 record, the Briton achieving his feat in just 16 races, but in a Williams that carried so much technical wizardry the FIA outlawed it the following year.

    And with nine wins to his name, only one driver has managed more – the seemingly incomparable Michael Schumacher, whose 2004 tally of 13 could yet be equalled.

    No-one has come close to holding a candle to Vettel, certainly not team-mate Webber who has yet to take the chequered flag this year, and certainly neither Button nor Lewis Hamilton as the former has rightly stated McLaren have made too many mistakes this year.

    As for Alonso, he has shown flashes of genius, but in fairness he had no chance due to being handicapped at the start of the year by a Ferrari many claimed was too conservative.

    So Vettel again stands looking down on his adversaries, and as a backdrop to his triumph, one of the finest tracks in F1 in Suzuka in Japan where some of the greats of the sport have also been crowned – Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Mika Hakkinen and Michael Schumacher.

    So what next for Vettel? Ahead of him are Schumacher’s records of seven world championships, 91 grands prix victories and 68 poles to conquer, milestones that will undoubtedly seem light years away right now.

    But he is young, has time on his side, and given the right car in the years to come – and remember he signed with Red Bull through to 2014 earlier this season – who is to say the seemingly unbeatable cannot be beaten?

  • Force India in points again but Schumy pips Paul

    Kuala Lumpur, 10 April 2011: In hot and humid conditions, the expected rains failed to arrive and Red Bull Racing continued its dominance with Sebastian Vettel winning his second race of the season and fourth consecutive F1 race as he logged in 25 more points to comfortably win the Petronas F1 Malaysia Grand Prix at Sepang, 80 kms, from here on Sunday. McLaren Mercedes driver Jenson Button was second and Nick Heidfeld of Lotus F1 Renault was a `surprising’ third.

    Thanks to Russian Petrov’s spectacular off-the-track excursion and sad retirement, Force India’s Paul di Resta, who drove a consistent race was in 9th place but the experienced Michael Schumacher overtook Paul in the last lap to bag two points. Paul got one point again for his 10th place  It was tough race for everyone with tactics and strategies ruled the roost and Force India Formula One Team came home in 10th and 11th positions for a second successive finish for

    Singhania who presented trophies for the support race seen with Indian race Bharath. Photo by Scorp News
    Singhania who presented trophies for the support race seen with Indian race Bharath. Photo by Scorp News

    both the drivers who finished 9 and 10th at the season opener in Melbaourne. The team is now joint 5th in the Constructors’ Championship with four points on the table, and Paul di Resta joins Adrian Sutil on two Championship points.

    Both drivers made a clean race start, however Adrian had to return to the pits for a new nose on lap 3 after a coming together with Rubens Barrichello. Paul was the first to make a tyre stop and it was a different strategy of tyre options for the drivers. Paul had a very good race battling with Rosberg and the mid-fielders in the first stint and Schumacher in the second. He made up four places to bring home another point for the team on Sunday. Adrian quickly made up lost ground due to the early nose change and was charging through the field for most of the race. He ran consistently in 12th position until a retirement by Petrov led to Adrian crossing the line in a well deserved 11th place.

    “I am quite happy I must say. The team did a good job with the strategy. I just could not hold off Michael at the end, he had fresher tyres and we had to stop a bit earlier for my third stop than predicted. But I also did not want to risk the championship point as well,’’ said Paul di Resta.

    “The first few laps were not brilliant as I lost my front wing touching Barrichello’s rear tyre. Then we had a two-stop strategy, Changing from soft tyres to hard and another set of soft again and I made them last well, which is positive. We could have been in for a much better finishing position, which is a shame. Overall the team did a great job with the pitstops so I’d like to thank them for that,’’ said Adrian Sutil.

    Team Principal Vijay Mallya was all praise the team: `The boys did a great job with the pitstops in very difficult weather conditions and the team’s strategies worked very well. Paul did an excellent job coming home in the points once again, while I believe that Adrian would also have finished in the top ten had it not been for the early nose change which altered his two-stop strategy.’’

    Talking about the Indian Grand Prix he was excited and said it was a big event. “Millions of youth were dreaming of an Indian team in the Formula One and it was my first dream a few back. Now India getting to host a GP is second big dream come true. We have lined up some updates for our aerodynamics and constantly making changes to improve the cars. The aim is to do better than last year and the whole team is working hard and confident,’’ he conduded.

    Elsewhere, Raghupathy Singhania, the JK Tyre stalwart gave away the prizes for the inaugural JK Racing Asia Series, a support race before the F1 event and for the first time JK banner was the back-drop at the Prize Distribution ceremony of an F1 event.

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