INDIA in F1

Tag: Vettel

  • It was all about trying not to make too many mistakes: Max Verstappen

    DRIVERS
    1 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)
    2 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)
    3 – Daniil KVYAT (Toro Rosso)

    TRACK INTERVIEWS
    (Conducted by Martin Brundle) 

    Q: [Question inaudible]
    Max VERSTAPPEN: ….I had a little moment, but I made a nice 360, so that was nice. I enjoyed that. Of course, to come out on top here it was all about trying not to make too many mistakes. Yeah, really tricky conditions but amazing to win.

    Q: It’s a day for a wise head. You’re such a young man but you still you’re wise head on young shoulders. You really kept your head in the most treacherous conditions when others didn’t. 
    MV: Well you learn, isn’t it, over the years. Of course very happy with the whole performance today.

    Q: Congratulations. Sebastian, well done, you must be so pleased with that, 20th to second. 
    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, thank you. It was a long race, at some stages it felt like it was never-ending. But it was a lot of fun. It was very tough with the conditions. It was very tough to read what was the smartest move, but yeah, I’m just happy.

    Q: Did we hear that you had a little turbo problem early on? You seemed to be struggling for pace and then it really came good. 
    SV: It took a while. I don’t think there was a problem but in the beginning with the intermediates, I really couldn’t get the hang of it. Eventually, then I got going so it was good that the afternoon took so long. Obviously, I stayed tidy for most of the race but yeah, it was a long one. I don’t know if I can recap the whole race now but congratulations to Max, I think he drove superbly, but for us it was just go and get the next car and the next car and the next car.

    Q: When did you first smell a podium? 
    SV: I think before the last safety car, when I realised that I was quite a bit quicker and happy to pass people, it was quite straightforward. I was a little bit faster and could time it right. I saw a lot of people being cautious into the first corner and that’s where I was really giving it everything and it worked to get really into DRS range and I had good moves down the back straight but I don’t know, this race was so long…

    Q: You need to watch your back. 
    SV: Yeah, exactly.

    Q: OK, thanks a lot, Sebastian. Daniil, well done, a podium. Not your first podium but a very enjoyable podium for you. 
    Daniil KVYAT: Yes, it is amazing to be back on the podium. Incredible for Toro Rosso after so many years to bring as podium to the team is amazing and the race was crazy. Finally I managed to put everything together to get this podium and I’m really happy.

    Q: Any big moments? Any scary things going on out there? 
    DK: It was a horror movie with a black comedy. At some point I thought the race was done for me, but then it came alive again, it was an incredible rollercoaster. A bit like my whole career!

    Q: And you’re expecting your first child soon as well.
    DK: Yeah, she was born last night…

    Q: Oh, fantastic, congratulations. 
    DK: Thank you very much.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Many congratulations Max, what a bonkers race. How does it feel? How does it compare to the other six wins? 
    MV: Are you going to keep asking me that question: ‘how does it feel compared to the other ones’? I don’t know. It’s always different. It’s always a different feeling, but this was really good, because it was very tricky out there. We had to stay very focused; we couldn’t afford too many mistakes. I mean now, after the race, I can say I did that 360 for the crowd, but at the time it was a bit tricky out there with the medium tyre, very low grip. I think the information between myself and the team was crucial today. I think we made the right calls and that gave us the victory also. Once I was ahead of the Mercedes cars you could really see the pace we had, because I was stuck in the dirty air in the4 first few laps behind Valtteri but once you are ahead you can basically save your tyres a bit more and everything was a bit more under control. But yeah, good victory.

    Q: Great victory. Congratulations. Sebastian, your 50th podium for Ferrari. It’s been a bit of an emotional weekend for you if you think what happened yesterday and you’ve charged through from the back today. Just describe how it feels? 
    SV: Well, obviously after the disappointing day yesterday, where everything was ready: the crowd was ready; I was ready, the team was ready. Obviously we didn’t have qualifying, so starting last today I was very excited about the race in these conditions. Anything can happen. Obviously the racer turned out a lot crazier than I thought beforehand but yeah I’m very happy obviously. I’m very happy for the team first of all. It’s a tough period for us. We are pushing very hard, we are doing mistakes, we are not where we want to be, but we need to keep believing in ourselves, in our abilities, our strengths, and I’m confident that our days will come. Obviously today very happy for myself, at my home race and it was great to see the crowd, especially at the end, every time I passed in the car they were really excited. I really did enjoy that. A crazy race, a lot of decisions to make, a lot of communications between the car and the pit wall, but I think we stayed calm and tried to do the best at the time. Most of the time we were right, sometimes we were wrong but we kept it clean and I think that was the key and in the end I really started to come alive in these mixed conditions on dry tyres, we were quite comfortable and able to make good progress, because I think two safety cars to the end I was still not even in the top 10 and I was thinking ‘what happened?’ But it was a day like that and a race like that, so I’m quite happy.

    Q: Well done. Dany, what a huge race for you. The birth of your daughter last night and what a way to celebrate that. At what point in the race did you realise the podium was on?
    DK: Yes, thank you. It was an incredible race for myself, a lot of things going on. I guess it was the same for everyone. The beginning of the race was so-so, I think, I was always around the top 10 and I thought some points were possible today. The first when I chose to go on slicks, it was the wrong moment. The second time I think it was the perfect moment and when I saw that others didn’t pit for slicks when I did i thought that’s our moment and I was right and I exited in P3. I had to overtook Stroll forP2 and then from there I just had to hope that quicker cars would take time to catch me at the end of the race. So yeah, I’m very happy with this podium. It’s fantastic also for the team – 11 years since the last podium, which Sebastian did in 2008. I think everyone is very happy today and we have to be happy. From my side of course I would dedicate this podium to my girlfriend Kelly and to my daughter.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Luke Smith – crash.net) Dany, your career’s been on a bit of a rollercoaster over the past couple of years. To now have this result and this breakthrough, how good does that feel over everything that’s happened the last couple of years, and repaying that faith Toro Rosso have shown in you. 
    DK: Yes, you’re right. It was an incredible few years in my life. A lot of realisations in my life because it was sometimes tough times and I thought maybe Formula 1 was over for me, and maybe I thought, especially podium, I would never ever have it again, but life just proves that if you work hard and never give up, things are possible. I think that’s exactly what happened today. Even the race was tough for everyone, I managed to keep it cool and just… all these three difficult years, just felt like they crashed from my shoulders finally. I lost these chains today. It was hard work to reach this moment and hopefully I can send the message out there that I’m ready now to fight for this kind of moment on a consistent basis – and there is no stronger message than a podium like this.

    Q: (Arjan Schouten – AD Sportswereld) Question for Max. Big drivers, big champs crashed today. Christian Horner just told Sky that under these chaotic, difficult circumstances, you always stand out, don’t lose your head. Can you explain why you are always so talented under these circumstances?
    MV: A lot of practice I think, from when I was young, in the wet. Working many hours together with my Dad who, I think, was also pretty decent in the wet. So he always gave me good tips. And not only driving in the wet. It’s also making decisions as well, while driving, and paying attention to what’s happening around you. And, of course, experience. In life, in Formula 1. I think if you do over 90 races, you have experienced a lot already and, based on that, of course, you can also make better decisions, I think.

    Q: (Christian Nimmervoll – motorsport-total.com) To all three guys. I guess this is a special result for each and every one of you – but it’s probably even more special for Dr Marko because, at some point in your careers, you went through his hands. Can you probably remember a couple of stories with him? Tell us what he meant for your careers and sort of give us some thoughts on that. 

    Sebastian, why don’t we start with you?
    SV: He’s calling on a regular basis. Not any more for me so regular. I don’t miss the early calls at 7am! “How are you?”

    MV: “I’m in the gym!”
    DK: “Running!”

    SV: It probably pops up on your phone as a pre-select message: ‘I’m in the gym’. No, I mean, obviously he has a great talent for spotting young drivers early on and certainly he’s very tough and very straightforward – but I think you can learn to cope with that. I’m very grateful for the support that I had throughout my career from his side. I think it’s the same for these two. Yeah. I have too many memories; too many stories. Some to share, some not to share, better not to share. He’s always been very funny and we still keep in contact and I appreciate him now as a friend very much.

    Max, Dr Marko?
    MV: Yeah, of course, we are dealing with Helmut every day still, so for me, of course he took the gamble of putting me in Toro Rosso when I was still very young. I’m still young  – but back then I was very young.

    SV: You’re not very young any more…
    MV: Getting old?
    SV: Older.
    MV: Older, yeah…
    DK: You look quite old…
    MV: Already? I should retire in five years than I think. I look older than you?
    DK: I don’t know.
    SV: I look older than you two.
    MV: It’s fine. OK, so back to this story. Helmut is a real racer and he has a good eye of what’s happening still, at his age. So, it is quite impressive still, to see that. But it’s also no nonsense. If you make a mistake, you make a mistake. If you do a good job, you do a good job. I think he prefers when  you come up to him and tell him honestly if you made a mistake, or like something went wrong, than make a whole story – because that’s what he doesn’t appreciate. Basically I grew up like that because my Dad was the same – or maybe even worse than that. So… yeah. It’s good to have people like that in the team, of course, and in charge as well. For me, he is still very important and yes, of course it’s great to have him around and experienced a lot of stories with him still – and hopefully many more to come.

    Dany?
    DK: Helmet yeah, so many rollercoasters he organised for me in my career! Maybe more than them. Yeah, a special person in my life, of course our lives now, I guess. And, well, thanks to him very big time we are who we are and the personal improvement, the professional improvement I made thanks to him is huge – and obviously, I appreciate what he’s done for me. And I’m here thanks to him. Obviously, stories, like Sebastian said, many to share/not to share. I think the most relevant today, it was raining I think once, again 7am, at a test and I was maybe three or four seconds off in my first wet test in Formula BMW at the time and he said: “So, you’re quite useless in the wet,” and just hung up on me.

    MV: You’re imitating him really well!
    DK: Lot of practice! A lot of hearing. So yeah, there was that – and many others. He is always tough on you but he’s always – most of the time – he’s right. And maybe at first, it’s hard to take but then you analyse and you improve, simple as that. He always give you the opportunity if you deserve it and I’m very thankful for him.

    MV: You still picking up the phone at seven?
    DK: Yeah! I started to wake up at seven every day now, thanks to him.
    MV: I just turn my phone off, pick up after nine… better. Anyway now, you have to wake up at like… well, you wake up every three hours, go to bed, wake up…
    DK: Well, now that you’re doing so well, you can even sleep until mid-day.

    Q: (Joe van Burik – Racing News 365) Many congrats to all three, especially to Dany with being a father now. The question to Seb and Max though: you’ve shown today that Mercedes can be vulnerable, in their home race in fact. Do you think this has in any way blown open the championship fight again? 
    MV: I don’t know, they are so miles ahead in the championship.
    Q: You’re 62 points behind. 
    MV: Yeah, still quite a lot, isn’t it? It’s more than two victories, and they are still the dominant team, I think. Today was just very tricky out there and it’s easy to make a mistake, as you could see. Yeah, today was not their day. We managed to do a good job but we still have to work very hard to close that gap and actually really fight for the victory every single race so still a lot of work to do. But of course, when you can, it’s good to score more points than them.
    SV: Not much to add. We still have a lot of races to go, a lot of things can happen but it’s not like we can expect them to score no points for the rest of the season so pretty much the opposite –  they will be up there. We need to make sure we improve and give them a much harder time and naturally, if you put people under pressure then things start to move. So it’s up to both of us, I guess, or us as Ferrari and them as Red Bull.

    Q: (Daniele Sparisci – Corriera della Sera) Seb, do you consider this second place almost as a victory from what happened yesterday, from what happened today? You did a fantastic job, congratulations.
    SV: Well, I know that Max finished first so it’s not a victory but starting last, I think, with the race that we had, I think we can certainly be very happy recovering and I think it was a very tough race, easy to lose focus or momentum but we kept it throughout. I’m very happy, especially also racing here. I hope that we don’t lose this race. I think not only for me and Nico as German drivers, I think for the German crowd that we saw today and yesterday is very passionate, a lot of people turning up. It was sold out today despite the weather. I think we had a great race and it would be a shame to lose it. Obviously I’m not quite sure what’s in the future, whether there’s a chance to keep it but certainly, when it comes to passion and effort that people put into this race it’s pretty high up, so I hope that it’s not… People make some decisions on common sense and not based on how much the wallet is opening. I think we have Grands Prix that we just mustn’t lose such as Monza, such as the race at Silverstone in the UK. I think Germany and Spain have a long history of racing so it would be a shame to lose those and instead go to a place where they pay millions for the race to turn up but nobody is sitting in the grandstand. For us, it’s dull, as drivers so I think we rather enjoy here, close to the Netherlands with a lot of Dutch people coming…
    MV: It was a bit tricky today because it was orange against red, you know those colours don’t really match.
    SV: Well, they’re similar. I was taking the orange as well on my side.
    MV: When they were going up, right?
    SV: No, but I think it’s great to see. Obviously, for the Germans and the Dutch, in particular, it will be difficult to go to… I don’t know… overseas. Anyway, to come back to your question, it’s certainly a tough time for us as Ferrari with days like yesterday because it shows that we have things that we need to sort out, we have things that we need to do better but I think in this period it’s very important that we keep the morale, we keep supporting the team. From the inside that is happening, from the outside, I hope it’s happening as well. I know the Tifosi are behind us but sometimes the headlines can shift in either way so it’s important that we keep the support because I think things are moving, we are pushing very very hard and when it comes to passion I think we put a lot of effort and a lot of hours in; the people are very determined. I’m as impatient as everyone else to get the results finally but it will take a little while. We know what we can improve and that’s where we are working on but in the meantime I hope that people are a bit patient and give us that freedom in that time. But yeah, so in that regard it feels like a small victory today.

    Q: (Lennart Bloemhof – Volksrand) It was pretty spectacular over there all day, where does this race rank in your top five of craziest races? 
    DK: I think it was clear enough how crazy it was. I think it was the first wet race in a while – and especially this year, so new tyres for everyone, no one knew how to use them very well at the beginning. The spray, in the beginning, was very high, then the track started drying, then it was on the borderline with slicks and it was very important not to make any mistakes. It was very easy to lock up the wheels under braking or just go a bit wide in some corners and I think today was just about avoiding those costly mistakes and making the right calls at the right time, so it was all about that but the race, I think, must have been quite spectacular to watch from outside. Lucky you.
    MV: Yeah, bit like Brazil 2016 was also quite crazy, all the time switching between extremes and intermediates. Of course we didn’t really get to try slicks, I think. Maybe some tried, I’m not sure but maybe not
    SV: Not in Brazil, no.
    MV: I don’t think so. So it’s maybe a little bit different to here but it’s definitely been one of the most challenging ones.
    SV: Well I’ve had a lot of races, also a lot of great crazy races but it was certainly among the craziest for a while. Max mentioned 2016 in Brazil. Always when the weather is really funny and you have all sorts of conditions it’s very challenging. Today we had between three and five stops for everyone or some even more. Obviously, I had a crazy race in 2012 in Brazil as well, Korea 2010.
    MV: Malaysia in 2009?
    Q: Red flag after 36 laps wasn’t it? 
    SV: I had stopped a bit earlier than that, actually! I was out before, I spun out so it wasn’t that crazy. As I said, it’s mostly when the weather is up and down and you have to make those decisions. It’s very tough, you are on the fine edge but it’s also very exciting because you know you can make the difference very quickly. Sometimes you have laps and laps and laps and you’re fighting for half a second that you can make-up and other times in these conditions you can gain or lose five seconds and five places.

    Q: (Christian Nimmervoll – Motorsport-total.com) Seb, a couple of drivers lost it in the stadium section today: Lewis, Nico, Charles as well. Does it make you feel any better one year after that the world kind of sees how quickly that can happen in conditions like this? 
    SV: Not really, no. I think that the answer is no. To protect them, I think they know what they’re doing and mistakes happen so I don’t think you should give them a hard time. It was very very tricky out there. I think we all had small mistakes here and there. Obviously, some had a bit bigger ones in the wrong places but that’s part of racing so obviously, nowadays a lot of people tend to judge everything very quickly but I think as much as they, I am not listening to all of those people. It happens in these conditions, it’s part of racing, as I said.

  • Verstappen delivers superb wet win; Vettel thrills the home crowd to take 2nd from P20

    Verstappen delivers superb wet win; Vettel thrills the home crowd to take 2nd from P20

    Hockenheim, 28 July 2019: Max Verstappen proved to be the rain master on Sunday as he delivered an absolutely superb show winning the German Grand Prix, the 11th round of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship here.

    Max Verstappen took the seventh victory of his Formula 1 career at the end of a topsy-turvy, incident-packed German Grand Prix that saw Mercedes miss out on a podium finish for the first time in over a year, Sebastian Vettel rise from 20thplace on the grid to second place, and Daniil Kvyat score Toro Rosso’s first podium finish in almost 11 years.

    With steady rain falling in the run-up to the race, the decision was taken to begin with four formation laps in order to assess the wet conditions and to clear any standing water.

    The Safety Car then left the track and a standing start was decreed. And when the lights went out Lewis Hamilton held his pole position advantage top take the lead of the race. Fellow front-row starter Verstappen failed to make a clean getaway, however, and he was immediately passed by Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas and Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen.

    Further back, Vettel made a superb start from 20thon the grid, taking an inside line at lights out to pass a flotilla of cars before the first turn. By the end of the first lap he’d risen to 12thplace.

    It was at that point that the conditions claimed the first of several victims. Racing Point’s Sergio Pérez lost control as he headed towards the stadium section and after he slide off into the trackside wall, the safety car was deployed.

    Vettel was the first to react and the Ferrari driver dived into the pits for intermediate tyres. He was quickly followed by Toro Rosso’s Alex Albon and both profited from the decision vaulting into the top 10 as others followed suit.

    Once those who moved to inters rejoined and the order had been ararranged Hamilton led from Haas’ Kevin Magnussen (who had not pitted), Bottas and Verstappen.

    When the SC left the track, Bottas and Verstappen immediately breezed past Magnussen to take second and third respectively. It was Vettel, though, who profited most and when the German eased past the fading Magnussen he found himself in seventh place behind Alfa’s Kimi Räikkönen.

    With light rain continuing to fall and with little chance of making a move to slick tyres, the race then settled somewhat. On lap 21 Magnussen became the first driver to make the switch to slicks, with the Haas driver taking on soft tyres. Vettel, followed suit almost immediately.

    Magnussen’s first tour was not quicker than leader Hamilton’s but the next lap was a second under the leader’s time and on lap 25 Verstappen pitted, taking on mediums.

    That sparked a general move to slick rubber, but when the rain began to intensify over the following laps the risks heightened. On lap 27 Charles Leclerc made a mistake and slid off track at the final corner. The safety car was deployed and the field began to switch back to the green-banded tyres.

    Hamilton’s switch was enforced, however. The race leader lost control in the same place as Leclerc and slid into the barrier. He damaged the left side of his front wing and immediately dived for the pit.

    Unprepared, the Mercedes mechanics had no intermediate tyres ready, and overall, Hamilton’s visit for a new front wing and fresh tyres took more than a minute.

    The long delay dropped Hamilton to fifth. And when new Bottas pitted for inters, Verstappen claimed the race lead for the first time.

    There was more woe for Hamilton soon after. In arrowing across track to the pits he had gone in on the wrong side of the bollard at the pit entrance. The offence earned the champion a five-second time penalty.

    When racing resumed on lap 33, Verstappen powered away from second-placed Nico Hulkenberg and quickly opened up a five-second gap to the German. Bottas and Hamilton were soon past Hulkenberg but the gap from the lead Mercedes to the Red Bull stood at nine seconds.

    However, the Dutchman’s advantage was soon erased. On lap 40 Hulkenberg also went off in the final corner and with his Renault deep in the gravel the safety car was once again released.

    During the cautionary period the conditions began to steadily improve and though racing resumed on lap 46, it was the cue for a flurry of pit stops as drivers moved to exploit the improving conditions and take on slick tyres.

    Verstappen was first in, at the end of lap 46, and the race leader switched to soft compound tyres. Hamilton, too, pitted during this third safety car phase and also took his time penalty during the stop to emerge in P11. At the front, after the stops had taken their effect, Max led from second and third place men Lance Stroll of Racing Point and Daniil Kvyat of Toro Rosso. Bottas lay fourth ahead of McLaren’s Carlos Sainz and Vettel, who was running well on his new soft tyres.

    On lap 51, Kvyat made a bid for a Honda-powered one-two finish, with the Russian powering past Stroll to claim second place.

    Behind them, though, Bottas was beginning to apply pressure and the expectation was that Verstyappen would have the Mercedes driver for company in the closing stages.

    It wasn’t to be, though. On lap 56 Bottas carried too much speed into Turn 1 and the Mercedes driver lost control on the exit of the corner, he slid left into the gravel trap and hit the barrier hard. The incident brought out the safety car for the fourth time. Once again, though, Verstappen was in control and when racing resumed on lap 60 he simply powered away from Kvyat.

    In the final few laps, it was Vettel who made the biggest moves. The Ferrari driver powered past Sainz as if the McLaren wasn’t there into Turn 6 on lap 60. Stroll and Kvyat were dismissed over the following two laps and Vettel settled into P2 on the final lap, having climbed from dead last at the start.

    There was no denying Verstappen though and the Red Bull driver duly crossed the line to take his seventh career win. Vettel took a superb second and behind him Kvyat hung on to claim his third career podium finish and Toro Rosso’s first podium finish since Vettel won the 2008 Italian Grand Prix for the team. Fourth place went to Stroll, with the Canadian driver finishing ahead of Sainz and the second Toro Rosso of Alex Albon.

    The Alfa Romeos of Kimi Räikkönen and Antonio Giovinazzi finished the race in seventh and eighth places but after the race both were handed 10-second stop and go penalties due to issues over the team’s clutch torque application at the race start.

    The ruling meant that Haas’ Romain Grosjean and Kevin Masgnussen took seventh and eighth places respectively, while Hamilton jumped to ninth place to maintain a 23-race long record of points finishes stretching back to last year’s British Grand Prix. The final point on offer thus went to Williams’ Robert Kubica. The point is Williams first since last year’s Italian Grand Prix and Kubica’s first since the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

    A delighted Daniil Kvyat (STR14-03, Car 26) said after the race: “It’s incredible to be back on the podium in what could be called my ‘second career’. I thought it would never happen again in my life, so I’m so incredibly happy. There’s so many emotions I still need some time to let it all sink in! This achievement is so great for us since it’s 11 years since Toro Rosso’s last podium with Sebastian in Monza. It was such an amazing day and I’m so happy. Thank you to everyone in the team, it was just an incredible day. I was readier than ever to fight for this kind of position. This year I feel more mature, my head is cooler, and I’m readier to fight on top, so I think I proved that today to myself and everyone around here. I hope this will become a habit soon!  These kinds of races aren’t easy, it was a tough call to pit that lap earlier, but it’s a 50/50 call between the team and me, we win and lose together and today we won together.”

    Lewis Hamilton praises Kvyat: What a crazy race. This has been one of the most difficult races we’ve had as a team for a long time. I thought I had the race under control, but we took a risk going out on slicks and the race fell apart from there. I went wide at Turn 16 and it was like ice out there, then hit the wall and damaged my wing. I made a mistake and paid the price. I was in the lead and then finished P11. I’m not even sure how, but that’s very painful and I’m just glad it’s over. It’s hard to perform when you’re not at 100 percent. I need to make sure I’m fit and healthy again in time for the next race. You live and you learn from days like this. It’s important now that we regroup for Hungary. I’m happy for Seb, who fought his way back to P2 from the back, and how good to see Daniil and Toro Rosso on the podium too – good for them.

    Racing Point’s Lance Stroll gets P4: “I’m really happy with that. What an amazing day! The fourth-place feels great considering everything that happened this afternoon. I was running at the back for most of the race; I spun a couple of times and we pitted five times! As special as it is to finish fourth, I am disappointed that the podium slipped away from us. I think a critical moment was the mistake I made, in turn, eight on my second or third lap on slicks, which is when Daniil [Kvyat] managed to get ahead of me. We tried our best to keep the quicker cars behind, but the podium was just out of reach. Today’s race shows why you should never give up because it’s never over until it’s over. It’s great to see how much this result means to the team and it was so special to see the crew celebrating on the pit wall when I crossed the line. This important result is for everyone in the team and we will enjoy this moment.”

    2019 FIA Formula One German Grand Prix – Race 
    1 Max Verstappen Red Bull
    2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 7.333
    3 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 8.305
    4 Lance Stroll Racing Point 8.966
    5 Carlos Sainz McLaren 9.583
    6 Alex Albon Toro Rosso 10.052
    7 Romain Grosjean Haas 16.838
    8 Kevin Magnussen Haas 18.765
    9 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 19.667
    10 Robert Kubica Williams 24.987
    11 George Russell Williams 26.404
    12 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo 42.214
    13 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo 42.849
    14 Pierre Gasly Red Bull
    Valtteri Bottas Mercedes
    Nico Hulkenberg Renault
    Charles Leclerc Ferrari
    Lando Norris McLaren
    Daniel Ricciardo Renault
    Sergio Perez Racing Point

  • Hamilton takes pole, Ferrari drivers suffer mechanical problems

    Hamilton takes pole, Ferrari drivers suffer mechanical problems

    Bottas (left) congratulates Hamilton after the Briton took pole for the German GP on Saturday. An AMG Petronas Mercedes image

    Hockenheim, 27 July 2019: Lewis Hamilton will start Mercedes’ 200thgrand prix from the front of the grid, his 87th pole, after he beat Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen to pole position for the German Grand Prix, the 11th round of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship here on Saturday. But there was a disaster for Ferrari, with Sebastian Vettel exiting the session in Q1 with a turbo issue and Charles Leclerc failing to set a time in Q3 after being sidelined by a fuel problem.

    Q1 saw Red Bull make the early running and with his first lap, Verstappen jumped to the top of the order with a time of 1:12.593. That was soon eclipsed, however, by Leclerc who squeezed past the Dutchman with a time of 1:12.229 on his first run.

    Vettel though didn’t make it to the end of that first run. The home favourite backed out of the attempt at the end of his warm-up lap and returned to the pits. Ferrari mechanics swarmed around the car and the engine covers came off, but it soon became apparent that there would be no easy solution. Vettel climbed out of the car and exited the session, a turbo problem at the root of the German’s failure to set a time.

    At the end of the session, Leclerc went through in P1 thanks to his time of 1:12.229. He was followed by Max and his single-run time of 1:12.593. Hamilton progressed in third place ahead of the second Red Bull of Pierre Gasly and Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen.

    With Vettel exiting the session with a mechanical problem, there were four spaces left in the drop zone and when the final lap times came through McLaren’s Lando Norris was the first to lose out. With Alfa’s Antonio Giovinazzi improving to P10, the McLaren driver slid to 16thout out of the session. Also eliminated were Toro Rosso’s Alex Albon in P17 and the Williams cars of George Russell and Robert Kubica.

    In the second session, there was more technical drama, though on this occasion it was Verstappen who hit trouble. The Dutchman went out for his opening run on medium tyres, but like Vettel he abandoned the run at the end of his warm-up lap, complaining that he was suffering from power delivery problems.

    Unlike Vettel, however, the Dutch driver’s return to the pits was not permanent. After a brief stay in the garage he was soon back on track, though with his chance to qualify on medium tyres gone, he emerged on soft tyres. His single run yielded a time of 1:12.428, which was good enough for fourth place, which became fifth when Bottas improved on his final run. Also making progress behind Max were Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen, McLaren’s Carlos Sainz, Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg, Haas’ Romain Grosjean, and Racing Point’s Sergio Pérez. Out went the second Alfa of Giovinazzi, Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo, Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat, and Racing Point’s Lance Stroll. At the top of the order, Hamilton went through in P1 ahead of Lecler and Red Bull’s Pierre Gasly.

    Ferrari’s woes doubled in Q3. As Hamilton took provisional pole with a time of 1:11.767 and as Verstappen slotted into P2 with a first-run time of 1:12.113, Leclerc was stuck in the Ferrari garage, a fuel problem eventually causing his retirement from the session.

    There were no improvements from the top drivers on their final runs and thus, Hamilton claimed his 87thcareer pole position ahead of Verstappen. Bottas will line up at the front of row two, ahead of Gasly.

    Behind them, Kimi Räikkönen finished fifth ahead of Romain Grosjean and Carlos Sainz. Sergio Perez will start ahead of Nico Hulkenberg and the unfortunate Charles Leclerc will start from P10.

    Later Lewis Hamilton said: “I’m super happy to be on pole, it’s such a special race for all of us. The whole team is dressed up this weekend to celebrate 125 years of motorsport and our 200th race which is really cool. We’ve got Ola, our new CEO here from Daimler, so I hope that I can deliver on a weekend where everyone is here. It’s not just unfortunate what happened to Ferrari today, but unfortunate for the sport too because it was building up to be a really exciting qualifying session. I don’t know how close it would have been in the end, but they were quick all weekend. I was really happy with my first lap in Q3; I just lost a little bit of time in Turn 8. Position on the grid is really important here, so I’m grateful to be starting from pole and hopefully I can try to stay out in front tomorrow. ”

    2019 FIA Formula One German Grand Prix – Qualifying
    1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:11.767
    2 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:12.113 0.346
    3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:12.129 0.362
    4 Pierre Gasly Red Bull 1:12.522 0.755
    5 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo 1:12.538 0.771
    6 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:12.851 1.084
    7 Carlos Sainz McLaren 1:12.897 1.130
    8 Sergio Perez Racing Point 1:13.065 1.298
    9 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:13.126 1.359
    10 Charles Leclerc Ferrari
    11 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo 1:12.786 1.019
    12 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:12.789 1.022
    13 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1:12.799 1.032
    14 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:13.135 1.368
    15 Lance Stroll Racing Point 1:13.450 1.683
    16 Lando Norris McLaren 1:13.333 1.566
    17 Alex Albon Toro Rosso 1:13.461 1.694
    18 George Russell Williams 1:14.721 2.954
    19 Robert Kubica Williams 1:14.839 3.072
    20 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari.

  • Mercedes and Lewis are a bit faster, we are still catching up, says Vettel

    Mercedes and Lewis are a bit faster, we are still catching up, says Vettel

    By Abhishek Aggarwal

    Vettel photo by Abhishek Aggarwal in Montreal for INDIAinF1

    Montreal: In a tense battle that saw a penalty for Ferrari driver and multiple champion Sebastian Vettel, the Canadian GP went into the hands of Mercedes with Lewis Hamilton making good of the situation to come out trumps.

    In the post-race FIA press conference, when asked if he had a different strategy in mind as he was leading by a few seconds Vettel said that Hamilton was controlling the pace.

    Question: Sebastian, when the stewards came with the official verdict there were still 15 laps to go and I think you were two seconds ahead of Lewis. Did you think there was possibly some chance or something else to do to get three more seconds of advantage?

    Vettel said: “Yes, at some point I was three seconds in front but I was pretty sure that he was controlling the pace. Obviously once that happened it felt like he reduced pressure because there was no point. Then at some point, it felt like maybe he doubted the decision and was putting pressure back on but also…”

    Interrupting in between, Lewis Hamilton clarified that: “I wasn’t backing off because of that. You just started going really quick, and I was like, shoot, he’s going to pull five seconds so I was struggling with the tyres when you suddenly picked up pace and then I was like I’ve got to do everything to try and keep up.”

    Then Vettel went on to talk about his good laps and how he lost it. “Yeah, so I was trying to get this five seconds but I had a sequence of good laps, maybe that was in hand with when Lewis was struggling but then I was struggling more towards the end, plus we had to save fuel also to make it so not the easiest race to manage but I think we managed to stay ahead which makes me very happy and proud. I think the credit really goes to the team, hard work and this track looked a bit more competitive for us so despite what happened today, we’re looking forward to try and improve our car. There’s still work to do. I think Mercedes and Lewis were a bit faster in the race we’re still catching up but I think it was a good race overall for us.”

  • I was trying to gain the five seconds but it was tough in the end: Sebastian Vettel

    I was trying to gain the five seconds but it was tough in the end: Sebastian Vettel

    Top-three drivers at the post-race press conference on Sunday. An FIA image

    Montreal, 9 June 2019: Answering a question by INDIAinF1 reporter, Abhishek Aggarwal, Sebastian Vettel revealed that he did try to make up the five seconds but Hamilton too responded increasing the pace and both struggled with the tyres towards the end.

    Q: (Abhishek Aggarwal – IndiainF1.com) Sebastian, when the stewards came with the official verdict there were still 15 laps to go and I think you were two seconds ahead of Lewis. Did you think there was possibly some chance or something else to do to get three more seconds of advantage?

    SV: Yes, at some point I was three seconds in front but I was pretty sure that he was controlling the pace. Obviously once that happened it felt like he reduced pressure because there was no point. Then at some point it felt like maybe he doubted the decision and was putting pressure back on but also…

    LH: I wasn’t backing off because of that. You just started going really quick, and I was like, shoot, he’s going to pull five seconds so I was struggling with the tyres when you suddenly picked up pace and then I was like I’ve got to do everything to try and keep up.

    SV: Yeah, so I was trying to get this five seconds but I had a sequence of good laps, maybe that was in hand with when Lewis was struggling but then I was struggling more towards the end, plus we had to save fuel also to make it so not the easiest race to manage but I think we managed to stay ahead which makes me very happy and proud. I think the credit really goes to the team, hard work and this track looked a bit more competitive for us so despite what happened today, we’re looking forward to try and improve our car. There’s still work to do. I think Mercedes and Lewis were a bit faster in the race we’re still catching up but I think it was a good race overall for us.

    The following top-three drivers attended the FIA post-race press conference on Sunday: 1. Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes),  2 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari), and 3 – Charles LECLERC (Ferrrari).

    Full Transcript: (Track Interviews by Martin Brundle)

    Q: So, Lewis congratulations. We have to congratulate all three drivers on the podium that was a sensational race, a brutal race as well. Obviously I’ve immediately got to talk about the incident between you and Sebastian at the exit of Turn 4 there.

    Lewis HAMILTON: Well, firstly I just want to say a big thank you to my team, because I wouldn’t be standing here today without the incredible effort from everyone. We had a problem this morning with the engine, with my crash on Friday. If they hadn’t been so diligent I wouldn’t have been able to race today as I have. So a big thank you to them. Naturally, it’s absolutely not the way I wanted to win. I was pushing to the end to try to get past, but obviously I forced him into an error, he went a bit wide, but then I obviously had a run on that corner and we nearly collided. It was unfortunate but this is motor racing.

    Q: Sebastian has gone straight to the stewards’ office to talk to them about it; he’s not here at the moment. Obviously he feels he was just busy collecting the car up and trying not to crash and he had no other option coming off the grass.

    LH: That’s to his opinion of course, you know for me I took the corner normally. When you come back on the track you’re not supposed to go straight back to the racing line, you’re supposed to come on safely and I assume that’s why they…

    Q: As you say, you had a tricky day, you know, with the car. Even when you were on the grid they were working like made on your brakes.

    LH: Yeah, absolutely. It was just so hot here, you know. The Canadian weather is just so hardcore for us here. Very hard on the brakes. Physically, I’m just destroyed just trying to hold onto Seb. The Ferraris were just so quick this weekend, so I’m really grateful that I was able to be there within the race. Nonetheless, this is good points still for the team.

    Q: And finally, do you think you could have overtaken if you had to in those final few laps?

    LH: Not towards the end I don’t think. I think we were all struggling with brake temperature towards the end. My tyres were good at that point where he made the mistake, I was as close as I was ever going to be. But then obviously I got that blocking and the gap opened up again. It was just very, very hard all the way through. It’s very, very hard to follow here. This is such a great track. And if it wasn’t for these fans it probably wouldn’t be as great as it is. So a big thank you to everyone that’s come today.

    Q: Congratulations. Charles, you nearly took second place on the last lap.

    Charles LECLERC: Yeah, it was close. I’m pretty happy about the performance, my own performance today. I think we were very quick. It’s a bit of a shame that yesterday I did some mistakes in qualifying. I need to work on my qualifying to get better on them. The race pace was very, very strong, so it’s a good sign for the future. I’m disappointed obviously for the team, we have all worked extremely hard to be there. I don’t know what happened for Seb, but the team definitely deserved a victory today so it’s a shame but we will come back stronger and we will keep pushing as we did in the first few races and hopefully the victory will come soon.

    Q: Relentless pace from you but the team stopped you quite late and you just feel off the leading two.

    CL: Yes, there was definitely a reason behind that. Obviously it was quite difficult to challenge the two in front at the beginning so we just tried to go long, hoping for a safety car that never came but yeah we will see.

    Q: Sebastian, we missed you in parc fermé. Nine times you two have won a world championship. You are two of the finest drivers that ever graced a Formula 1 circuit but clearly you feel you’ve had a great victory stolen away from you today.

    Sebastian VETTEL: Well, I think first of all I really enjoyed the race, I really enjoyed the crowd to be honest, every lap seeing them cheering me on, especially around the hairpin. It was very intense, I think Lewis was a bit quicker throughout the race but we were able to stay ahead. For the rest I think I’ve said enough. You should ask the people what they think. I think we had a great show. Lewis showed some good respect. Yeah, ask the people.

    Q: Lewis, you’ve had a race taken away from you in similar circumstances, in Spa, so you know the pain. Does this leave a bad feeling between you two great champions?

    LH: Well, all I can say is I didn’t make the decision, firstly, so I don’t know what they’re booing at. Maybe it’s the decision.

    SV: The people shouldn’t boo at Lewis, because I think he saw what was going on and I don’t think there was any intention to be in his, harm’s way. I had trouble in staying on track. But the people shouldn’t boo at Lewis. If anything, they should boo at these funny decisions.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: What a difference 24 hours makes: complete euphoria of yesterday and the frustration of today. Can you just talk us through the incident at Turns Three and Four? What caused you to run wide on entry and is there anything you could have done differently when you were re-joining the track?

    SV: Well, I lost the rear of the car, so obviously it wasn’t voluntarily going sailing across the track, not knowing how and in which fashion and so on I will be rejoining. I think it is pretty clear I was on the limit. I was pushing very hard throughout the entire race and… yeah. Obviously, I was going through the grass and I think it’s quite commonly known that the grass isn’t very grippy. So – you agree? – and then I was coming back on track and just trying to, you know, make sure I have the car under control. Once I regained control, made sure it was sort of alright, I looked in the mirrors, and saw Lewis right behind me. As you said, yesterday we had the euphoria and the enthusiasm of a great day. I feel, in a way, the same today. I think we had a great race, the team did fantastically and, yeah, obviously I’m not happy with the decision the stewards took. I think you can understand. It feels a bit weird to sit here, not having won the race even though you crossed the line first. And as I said, I don’t think I have done anything wrong; I don’t feel I could have done anything differently. I don’t know, actually, what the problem was. So… yeah. Not much more to say, I think, from my point of view. I think all the people out there, they probably agree with me.

    Q: Were you aware of where Lewis was as you were rejoining?

    SV: No! How? I’ve got two hands and I had them on the steering wheel, trying to keep the car under my control. So, I don’t know… I think we are pretty good at multi-tasking, driving these cars – but if it is required to drive… to catch the car once you come back from the grass or off the track, maybe one-handed, use the other hand to pull off a tear-off and maybe hit the radio button to talk to the team at the same time, I don’t qualify, I can’t do that. I had, as I said, my hands full, trying to keep the car somewhere in my control. Obviously, I knew that Lewis was behind somewhere because he was, like, a second behind, but when I looked in the mirror he was right there. So I was obviously then racing him down to Turn Six.

    Q: And the race pace of your car. What positives can you take away?

    SV: Yeah, I think overall it’s been a positive weekend and I think a very positive result. Obviously we’re both sitting up here. as I said, on my side, it feels a bit weird but I think the pace was good. I think it was clear to see that Mercedes probably was faster throughout the race but yeah, we managed to fight them off.

    Q: Charles, coming to you. You seem much happier with the car today than during qualifying yesterday?

    CL: yeah, I was quite a lot happier today. I think race pace was quite strong, so, on that I was very happy. The start was quite tricky with Lewis but I decided to not take any risks. So then, yeah, it was quite a boring race from then-on, trying to manage the tyres in the first eight-nine laps and from then on I started to push. I could feel that we were quite good and, on the second stint, the car felt great. We were very quick. I could feel I was catching a little bit in front. The team asked me to pit to do the fastest lap, and I asked to continue because I could see that the gap was closing. I knew it will be quite difficult to catch them but if there was an opportunity I wanted to be there, so I didn’t give up. At the end, it didn’t pay off. We do third, it’s a good result home, but the team definitely deserved more after such a great weekend. Also, Seb, disappointed for the team and Seb. I think the first position was in our hands and it’s a shame it slipped away the way it did. So hopefully we’ll have other good races in the future.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Christian Menath – motorsport-magazin.com) Sorry Seb to jump in that again, could you just talk us through when you realised you lost it. Did you think about… was it only that you wanted to catch the car or did you also think about to get back the fastest possible way – and did you lift or did you stay in the throttle?

    SV: Look, I think it was clear what happened. I mean, what’s the point of going through split-seconds for an hour now? With all the respect, there’s nothing to add from what I said. You lose the car, I don’t do that voluntarily because the outcome is unpredictable. Once I manage to catch the car, obviously I realise that I couldn’t stay on track, couldn’t keep the car on track, slowed down, had to slow down, go over the grass really cautiously, lost a lot of time. Managed to get back on track with dirty tyres, and once I regained, sort of, control, being somewhere on the track, I had to check my mirrors and Lewis was right behind me, just to see where he is, not to, I don’t know, be in his way or whatever. So, that’s what happened. I’m not the first guy in the world of racing that had a mistake on corner entry and had to catch the car going through the grass, gravel or whatever.

    Q: (Michelangelo Choppi – La Voce Euro Canada) What do you have to say about the race today? You do everything you can do to win the race. After you have five seconds penalty. What do you think personally, for the Italian community here who support Ferrari all these days. What do you have to say personally. And for Charles Leclerc, what is the difference between racing with Alfa Romeo last year and this year with the Ferrari here in Montreal? Thank you.

    SV: Well, I think we have tremendous support here, it’s crazy. In the morning I commute by bike so I see the people when they queue to get onto the island. It’s crazy. The atmosphere is fantastic. There’s so much support for Ferrari. Obviously a great Ferrari fanbase but I think a great atmosphere in general. During the race I really enjoyed it. Obviously it was very intense, when you have Lewis behind you, pushing you so hard – but I really enjoyed it and halfway through the race I was thinking ‘this is a good day, this is why I’m doing this’. So, I really enjoyed looking up at the grandstands in the hairpin – you have a bit of time while you wait for the car to turn – and the people are going wild and I really enjoyed that. Still, it’s very special. It’s a special position for us to be in. Drivers’ Parade, having the cheer from the people, sitting on the grid, people shouting. Obviously I think I share the people’s opinion after the race as well. It feels a bit funny – but certainly grateful for all the support we get.

    And Charles?

    CL: On my side it’s just different, of course. You approach the race weekend a little bit differently. Because obviously now I have the car to fight for wins and podiums which, last year, the approach was a bit different: podiums and wins were not on the cards, more points. And the support, as Seb mentioned, is just amazing. A lot more than what I would have expected, and a lot more than last year. Since the beginning of the season really, every race we come to there’s a lot of support and this has changed a lot from last year. So it’s great.

    Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Sebastian, will you be appealing the decision, or will Ferrari be appealing the decision. And do you feel any sympathy towards Lewis being booed – given that he didn’t really do anything do anything wrong.

    SV: I said, nothing to do with Lewis. I obviously understand that the people weren’t happy, as I wasn’t happy myself with these sort of decisions – but nothing to do with Lewis. It’s just not nice when people boo you, so that’s why I jumped in. I’m sorry that I interrupted his answer but I jumped in and said ‘don’t boo him, he’s done nothing wrong’. If anything he drove a great race, put me under a lot of pressure and I really, really enjoyed that. I think we share great respect amongst each other. Nothing to do with him.

    Q: Quick question for Lewis. Congratulations, by the way, win number 78, your fifth of the season. We’re talking about the incident. Can you just tell us what you had to do to avoid Sebastian as he came back on the track?

    LH: Well, to me it’s a bit of an empty feeling today, which is kind-of crazy because we’re in this beautiful country. It’s been ultimately a really great race between two different teams and it ends with a bit of a kind of negative. From what I remember, I came through the corner, I was quicker at that point and I was really just trying to apply pressure to Seb. One, to try and get close enough, but two to push him into an error. It’s not too often you’re able to push a four-time World Champion into making an error but it came and at the time I was like ‘OK, great, this is my opportunity.’ So I continued the corner as normal. Came around, and was on the line. The gap just closed, it looked like we were going to crash so I just had to brake and come off the gas to avoid a collision. Fortunately we did avoid it. But obviously that was one kind-of window. And then the gap opened up because I did brake to avoid it. And even when I heard there was a penalty I just kept pushing because I was like ‘maybe we can still have that race’. It’s such a hard race to follow; the temperatures are so high; it’s the heaviest-duty track for the cars. It’s very, very physical for the car and also for the driver. It’s so easy to make a mistake, so I was really just trying to get as close as I could. The Ferrari is ultimately this weekend so strong. They were so quick on the straights. They definitely have another power mode that we currently don’t have. So, all of a sudden they turn up the power and he pulls away massively on the straight, even if I have DRS open. But I really… just trying to focus on the positive, in a sense, that my team worked so hard this morning to get… I nearly didn’t start the race because we had an engine problem. So, the guys have really had their work cut-out this weekend because I crashed the car on Friday – which is rare for me – and then had a good Saturday and then, this morning had that problem. To take the engine apart and rebuild it, was very, very easy to make mistakes and so, I just wanted to deliver them the best race I could possibly deliver. I didn’t feel I did anything wrong today. I just gave it my all. So, there’s nothing more I could really ask.

    Q: (Maxime Sarrasin – 98.5FM) Question for Lewis. What happened, we understood it was your seventh win in Montreal, you equalised the record of Michael Schumacher here. So, what are your thoughts about that? Having equalised the record from him?

    LH: I have not really thought about it, if I’m really honest. As I was saying earlier, it does kind of feel like a deflated win, naturally. Hopefully by 2021 they redesign the rules better, that enables us to race better than we can currently today. But, this has always been a great hunting ground for me. It’s been a place that I really have loved, and have always felt like I’ve been really accepted and supported here. There’s a lot of Ferrari fans in Canada but nonetheless I still appreciate them. And we get such a great crowd here, y’know. It’s in the top three of the best races of the year, arguably for me. The British Grand Prix is obviously is great for me because I’ve got my home crowd, which is even bigger than this place because it’s a bigger space. When the weather’s great, like today, it’s just one of the most beautiful weekends of the year. So, often have family come out here. I won my first grand prix here, lots of poles, and it’s just been a place that I’ve thoroughly loved driving. So, that’s never going to change. As I said, I felt a little bit odd, being booed – but it’s not like the first time I’ve been booed. I’m used to it – and I forgive.

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Sebastian, do you plan to go to talk to the stewards afterwards and Lewis, can you summarise what was your feeling in Spa in 2008 when the same happened to you?

    SV: I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know what’s the procedure now. I was just thinking that I really love my racing. I’m a purist, I love going back and looking at the old times, the old cars, the old drivers. It’s an honour when you have the chance to meet them and talk to them; they’re heroes in a way. So I really love that but I just wish I was maybe as good, doing what I do, but being in their time rather than today. I think it’s not just about that decision today, there’s other decisions. Just hear the wording when people come on the radio, that we have now. We have an official language, I think it’s all wrong. I think we should be able to say what we think but we’re not so in this regard I disagree with where the sport is now. You have all this wording ‘I gained an advantage, I didn’t gain an advantage, I avoided a collision’. I just think it’s wrong, you know, it’s not really what we’re doing in the car. It’s racing, it’s common sense. If there’s a hazard on track, obviously you slow down because it’s quite unnatural to keep the pedal to the floor and run into the car and then say, ‘ah, it’s wrong that the car was there.’ I think Lewis… obviously as I said, I rejoined the track and then Lewis obviously had to react. I don’t know how close it was or close he was. Once I looked in the mirror he was sort of there but for me that’s racing and I think a lot of the people that I just mentioned earlier, the old Formula One drivers and people in the grandstands and so on, would agree that this is just part of racing but nowadays it’s just… I don’t like it, we all sound a bit like lawyers and using the official language. I think it just gives no edge to people and no edge to the sport. Ultimately it’s not the sport that I fell in love with when I was watching. Obviously it hurts me today because it impacts on my race result but I think this more of a bigger criteria. Tomorrow, when I wake up, I won’t be disappointed. I think Lewis and myself we share great respect and I think we’ve achieved so much in the sport, I think we’re both very very blessed to be in that position so one win up, one win down, I don’t think it’s a game-changer if you’ve been around for such a long time, but as I said, I’m not happy about all this complaining and stuff that we see so many times.

    LH: Well, I second what Seb said in the sense of the respect that we’ve always had between us. We’ve had a lot of years racing together and there’s probably no one that I enjoy racing with on the track more than he. I always relish opportunities to battle like we’ve had today and the previous years and they’re really really memories that I will always cherish and I hope there are many more, so stick around.

    I don’t think you can relate it necessarily to 2008 because 2008 I made an error. Obviously I overtook someone off track and then had to let them past and then overtook them again but back then, my team asked Charlie – who was a steward clearly – whether the overtake was OK and Charlie came back and said it was totally fine but if he had come back and told us at the time that it wasn’t OK, I would have let him back past and overtook him again. But the rest of that race was crazy, you know. I went off, he overtook me and then he spun and then I overtook him again and then he crashed and then I won the race – and I still got penalised at the end so it was a lot different, but I do understand what it’s like to naturally lose a race. It’s definitely not the way you want to win a race, it’s not the way you want to lose a race also, especially when you’ve driven so well.

    Q: (Mike Doodson – ) It’s an apology because it’s more about the same incident but none of us have driven cars with a thousand horsepower at the speed that you do. Obviously you didn’t have many options, you didn’t have much time to make them. If you had lifted off, would it have been dangerous, would the car have spun because the grass was so slippery? What would have been the reaction of the car?

    SV: I lifted off, of course, I lost time. I don’t think it was faster that way, I think you agree. Yes, as I said, I was busy enough to keep it somewhere under control so of course, once I’d lost the rear, already I lost the corner, then I lift off and I just sort of stayed somehow in control over the grass and then came back, so I wasn’t flooring it.  If I would have done that I would have crashed. So the priority at that point is just to survive, it’s not look around or going on the power or being fast or whatever.

    Q: (Pino Asaro – Corriera Italiano) Seb, take us back to your state of mind as soon as you got out of the car? We saw you on the monitor, followed you into the Ferrari hospitality. What you going through? We’re all asking questions, are you going to race control, can you please take us back to that particular moment?

    LH: By the way, I stopped at the end, I thought your car broke down. I stopped to pick you up.

    SV: I thought maybe, OK. No, I wasn’t looking. I parked the car in parc ferme, a different parc ferme, the one that is not for the top three and then went to get weighed and then at that point didn’t really want to join anything that was obviously happening after that. I wasn’t very heated up, obviously angry and disappointed but I think everybody understands why but I think it’s a matter of respect to show to Lewis and Charles and also the representative for Mercedes on the podium, to be part of the podium. Certainly it wasn’t the place where I wanted to be because at that point you just want to get out but yeah, also sitting here is not of my free will but I have to be here.

    Q: (Pino Asaro – Corriera Italiano) And the question for Charles: you almost came within five seconds of Seb. Did you lift off, the last lap or two, to make sure that Seb at least would finish second?

    CL: I was not aware at all so no. I pushed but I didn’t know what was going on in front, I didn’t know Seb had a penalty. I was just pushing in case something happened in front, to be there if I had an opportunity but I was not aware of the five seconds penalty so no, I only did my own race.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Lewis, being the racer as you, if you were sitting in the stewards’ room would you investigate such an incident, or would you give a penalty then finally?

    LH: Well, the good thing is I’m not in the stewards’ room so I’m not there, so it’s a hypothetical question.

    Q: (Rebecca Clancy – The Times) Sebastian, you talked about wanting to race in the old days and obviously you’ve been around for a while. Do races like today, decisions like today make you question your future in the sport?

    SV: Well, I don’t know. Not ready, what time is it now? I’m not ready for this kind of question. I don’t know, I just feel that nowadays we look at so many things that maybe we didn’t look at in the past because nobody was really making a fuss. Now, obviously it’s worth making a fuss for everything because you have these decisions. I sympathise in a way with the stewards. I’ve said many times when I’ve been in there that they are sitting in front of a piece of paper and they’re watching the race and they also came back to me and say we agree but look, we have to do these kind of things so I think just the way we are doing these things now is just wrong but it’s our times, we have regulations for everything. We need to have this jacket when… I don’t know, it’s clear there’s a hole when walking down a pedestrian walk and there is a hole in the street because they’re doing construction work and there needs to be a be guy who guides to the other side of the road, otherwise it’s the construction company’s fault that you fell into the hole and broke a leg, but I think you’re just an idiot if you walk into that hole and break you leg but that’s a little bit how my theory is nowadays. The approaches are drifting apart.

    Q: (Abhishek Aggarwal – IndiainF1.com) Sebastian, when the stewards came with the official verdict there were still 15 laps to go and I think you were two seconds ahead of Lewis. Did you think there was possibly some chance or something else to do to get three more seconds of advantage?

    SV: Yes, at some point I was three seconds in front but I was pretty sure that he was controlling the pace. Obviously once that happened it felt like he reduced pressure because there was no point. Then at some point it felt like maybe he doubted the decision and was putting pressure back on but also…

    LH: I wasn’t backing off because of that. You just started going really quick, and I was like, shoot, he’s going to pull five seconds so I was struggling with the tyres when you suddenly picked up pace and then I was like I’ve got to do everything to try and keep up.

    SV: Yeah, so I was trying to get this five seconds but I had a sequence of good laps, maybe that was in hand with when Lewis was struggling but then I was struggling more towards the end, plus we had to save fuel also to make it so not the easiest race to manage but I think we managed to stay ahead which makes me very happy and proud. I think the credit really goes to the team, hard work and this track looked a bit more competitive for us so despite what happened today, we’re looking forward to try and improve our car. There’s still work to do. I think Mercedes and Lewis were a bit faster in the race we’re still catching up but I think it was a good race overall for us.

    Q: (Audas Ruszinov – Hungarian media) Lewis, your history in the winning circle started here in 2007. Would you take a moment to look back and compare the 2007 Lewis Hamilton to the person you are today? What was the most appreciated things of value which Formula One has taught you, as a driver, as a person, which you appreciated the most in the last 12 years?

    LH: That’s a good question. Well naturally I was 22-years old, pretty much a kid still and for me, personally, I feel like I’ve matured a lot later. I was thrown in at the deep end of this incredible circus and sport. One thing I was prepared for was to race but I wasn’t prepared for the whole circus that comes along with it. I don’t know if I could say what the sport’s taught me. Naturally, through all these different experiences I’ve learned a lot about who I am, how to adapt to the different situations that surround me. I’ve done everything through trial and error. I’ve made a lot of mistakes over these years. Many of you here have been with me through that journey and definitely seen those mistakes, the good and the bad so there’s not really much that the media or you guys don’t know about me in terms of my character. I’m not perfect but I’ve grown a huge amount with the sport and the sport’s given my life meaning so I’m forever grateful to it and naturally today, I’m 34-years old, I’m a grown man and still love driving, still driving with the same heart that I did, I think, when I was 22 but just much more level head on my shoulders, a much wiser head of my shoulders which has enabled me to drive with the style and the skill that I had before but just finesse it a lot better. But also we get to travel the world, we get to see different cultures and all these different beautiful countries and people and I think what I’ve really really learned is really to enjoy… firstly not to take notice of what people think of you because every is going to have an opinion and then just, as long as you like yourself, know you’ve got great people around you who do love you, like your family most importantly, then all you’ve got to do is just enjoy what you do and do the best you can, because our days are limited, as I always say. I try to make sure I… like I can go to bed tonight and know that I gave everything this weekend and I’ll come back stronger at the next race and hope not to make mistakes on the Friday for example.

     

  • Five-second penalty to Sebastian Vettel hands over win to Hamilton: Canadian Grand Prix

    Five-second penalty to Sebastian Vettel hands over win to Hamilton: Canadian Grand Prix

    Lewis Hamilton poses with Sebastian Vettel (left) and Charles Leclerc (right) on Sunday. An FIA image

    By Abhishek Aggarwal

    Montreal, 9 June 2019: Ferrari, the grand old team of Formula 1, had lost its premier standing of late and the 2019 season is no different. Sebastian Vettel, the four-time world champion too, has been struggling to come to terms with his pace adding to the poor quality of performance by the car. But the week-end here at Montreal revived the spirits of the Tifosi as Vettel appeared to have recharged himself to put up a challenge to the Silver Arrows and he truly dominated on Saturday to take the pole position ahead of Mercedes, following amazing practice sessions. But their joy was short-lived.

    It was race day on Sunday and all was going well for Vettel.  After the pole position in qualifying and the tremendous start, the fortunes of the Red cars seem to have turned turtle once again. The fans call it a jinx. Did someone jinx the German driver’s incredible run when on lap 48… Under heavy pressure from second-placed Lewis Hamilton, Vettel was forced to make a mistake. He lost control of the rear of his car on the entry to the Turn 34 chicane and was forced to go off track on to the grass. He came back and was deemed to have done it in a dangerous manner. The stewards reviewed the incident and imposed a 5-second penalty to Vettel’s time on the grounds of `re-entering the track unsafely’. As a result, though Vettel crossed the chequered flag first, he was eventually adjudged second with +3.658 seconds behind Hamilton. Thus Hamilton continued his good run and won the 2019 Canadian Grand Prix.

    This verdict wasn’t absorbed well by the Italian Red Tifosi which was evident from the mood in the Ferrari stands and supporters in the post-race celebrations. They cheered when Vettel took the No.1 board and placed in front of the area where his car was supposed to be parked.

    Team Ferrari have decided to challenge the decision made by the stewards with all the supporting data from the cars involved, different viewing cameras and the telemetry.

    It was Lewis Hamilton’s record-equalling seventh Canadian Grand Prix win. When Vettel made the mistake there were 22 laps remaining, in the Canadian Grand Prix, the 7th round of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship here on Sunday, but his challenge was essentially over with the stewards penalising later.

    Leading from the start, Vettel had only relinquished control of the race during his solitary pit stop on lap 26 of the 70-lap race.

    The German took the chequered flag 1.3 seconds ahead of Hamilton but was immediately demoted second place, with Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc third. Hamilton thus took his 68thcareer win and his seventh at the Circuit Gille Villeneuve, equalling Michael Schumacher’s record for Canadian Grand Prix wins.

    “I was pushing to the end to try to get past, but obviously I forced him into an error, he went a bit wide, but then I obviously had a run on that corner and we nearly collided,” said Hamilton afterward. “It was unfortunate but this is motor racing.

    “I took the corner normally,” the championship leader added. “When you come back on the track you’re not supposed to go straight back to the racing line, you’re supposed to come on safely.”

    When the lights went out for the start, polesitter Vettel made a good start and quickly began to build a lead over Hamilton and Leclerc, with Renault’s fourth-placed Daniel Ricciardo keeping Red Bull’s Pierre Gasly at bay.

    Gasly was the first of the top five to make a pit stop, with the Frenchman taking on hard tyres on lap seven. He emerged behind Racing Point’s Lance Stroll, however, and the slower pace of the Canadian driver allowed Renault to eventually pit both its drivers and get them out ahead of the Red Bull.

    Gasly’s Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen had started the race from P11 on hard tyres and as the field pitted around him the Dutch driver rose up the order top fifth place.

    By lap 20, Vettel held a 2.4s lead over Hamilton, with Leclerc three seconds further back. Bottas was now in fourth place but being pursued by Verstappen.

    Vettel made his pit stop at the end of lap 26, taking on hard tyres. Hamilton made his stop two laps later, and after also bolting on hard tyres he emerged four seconds behind the German. At the end of lap 30 Bottas pitted for hard tyres, promoting Verstappen to fourth place.

    Leclerc was then next in, and he emerged behind Verstappen. Still on starting hard tyres, the Red Bull driver offered little resistance when Leclerc made a move and by half distance the order again showed Vettel ahead of Hamilton with Leclerc bow third ahead of Verstappen.

    Hamilton now began to chase down Vettel and by lap 45 the gap between the front pair was just under a second.

    Vettel was now coming under serious pressure from the championship leader and on lap 48 the German driver made a mistake on the entry of Turn 3 and went off track. He managed to keep his lead but in rejoining he squeezed Hamilton towards rthe wall on the exit of Turn 4.

    The incident was placed under investigation and race officials handed Vettel a five-second time penalty for “unsafe re-entry”. Hamilton was told the news and was told that to take the win all he needed to do was sit on the Ferrari’s gearbox.

    Further back, The Verstappen has finally made his pit stop on lap 48. He took on medium tyres and rejoined in P7. He quickly moved past the Renault’s of Hulkenberg and Ricciardo to claim P5.

    Ahead, Vettel took the flag ahead of Hamilton but Hamilton was immediately promoted to the top step of the podium ahead of the Ferrari driver.

    Leclerc took third place ahead of Bottas, while Verstappen took fifth place ahead of the Renaults of Ricciardo and Hulkenberg. Gasly took his fifth points finish of the campaign with eighth place and the final points positions were taken by Racing Point’s Lance Stroll and Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat. (With quotes and inputs from FIA release)

    2019 FIA Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix – Race 
    1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
    2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 3.658
    3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 4.696
    4 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 51.043
    5 Max Verstappen Red Bull 57.655
    6 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1 Lap
    7 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1 Lap
    8 Pierre Gasly Red Bull 1 Lap
    9 Lance Stroll Racing Point 1 Lap
    10 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1 Lap
    11 Carlos Sainz McLaren 1 Lap
    12 Sergio Perez Racing Point 1 Lap
    13 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo 1 Lap
    14 Romain Grosjean Haas 1 Lap
    15 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo 1 Lap
    16 George Russell Williams 2 Laps
    17 Kevin Magnussen Haas 2 Laps
    18 Robert Kubica Williams 3 Laps
    19 Alex Albon Toro Rosso
    Lando Norris McLaren.

     

  • Sebastian Vettel takes pole ahead of Hamilton: Canadian Grand Prix

    Sebastian Vettel takes pole ahead of Hamilton: Canadian Grand Prix

    By Abhishek Aggarwal

    Montreal, 8 Jun 2019: Sebastian Vettel took his first pole position for 2019 season, as he put his Ferrari in the front, at the Canadian Grand Prix with the fastest lap. His lap of 1:10.240 was two-tenths ahead of the current championship leader Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes. Both the drivers of Ferrari were seen working as team while doing alternative runs in front of each other thereby providing splitstream to one another. As a result, Vettel’s teammate Charles Leclerc, who clocked a time of 1:10.920 took third place on the Grid.

    With Ferrari finally showing speed and reliability this weekend, very sunny and hot track conditions and the tricky wall of champions (already claiming Magnussen and Hamilton), the race Sunday at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is expected to be very interesting.

    In Q1 Sebastian Vettel topped the timesheet with a lap of 1:11.200. That left him 0.014s ahead of Ferrari team-mate Leclerc and 0.029s in front of third-placed Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes. Max Verstappen progressed to Q2 with a time of 1:11.619, a lap that was good enough for fifth place behind Hamilton, adds a release.

    Eliminated at the end of Q1 were 16th-placed Sergio Pérez of Racing Point ahead of Sauber’s Kimi Räikkönen, the second Racing Point of local favourite Lance Stroll and the Williams cars of George Russell and Robert Kubica.

    Q2 saw the Ferrari and Mercedes drivers emerge on medium tyres, with Verstappen replicating the move moments later.

    But while the Ferrari and Mercedes men out in laps good enough to secure progression to Q2, with Hamilton in P1 ahead of Bottas and Vettel, soft-tyre shod red Bull driver Pierre Gasly and Leclerc, Verstappen was struggling. Both of the Dutchman’s quick laps on medium tyres were hampered by traffic and in P11 ahead of the final runs he was forced to make the switch to soft tyres and go out on track for a final attempt at qualification.

    With tea-mate Gasly just a few tenths off the pace Verstappen looked sure to advance on the softest compound but it was not to be.

    Ahead of the Dutchman on track Kevin Magnussen lost control at the final chicane and hit the Wall of Champions. The Haas driver slid across the track, hit the opposite wall and cam to rest in the middle of the track.

    Verstappen’s lap was ruined and he was eliminated in P11 ahead of Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat, Sauber’s Antonio Giovinazzi, the second Toro of Alex Albon and the second Haas of Romain Grosjean.

    In the final top-10 shootout Hamilton claimed provisional position with an impressive time of 1:10.493. That left him a little under two tenths clear of Vettel with Leclerc in third place ahead of Gasly.

    In the final runs though, Vettel found an extra reserve of pace and powered to pole position and a new track record with a lap of 1:10.240  two tenths of a second ahead of Hamilton. Leclerc took third place but Pierre was edged out of P4 by just nine thousandths of a second by Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo and the Frenchman thus matched his career best grid slot of fifth, established in Bahrain last year.

    Pierre’s time was good enough to beat the second Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas, however, and the Finn will start from P6 ahead of the second Renault of Nico Hulkenberg, McLaren’s Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz.
    2019 FIA Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix – Qualifying
    1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:10.240
    2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:10.446 0.206
    3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:10.920 0.680
    4 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1:11.071 0.831
    5 Pierre Gasly Red Bull 1:11.079 0.839
    6 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:11.101 0.861
    7 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:11.324 1.084
    8 Lando Norris McLaren 1:11.863 1.623
    9 Carlos Sainz Jr. McLaren 1:13.981 3.741
    10 Kevin Magnussen Haas
    11 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:11.800 1.560
    12 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:11.921 1.681
    13 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo 1:12.136 1.896
    14 Alex Albon Toro Rosso 1:12.193 1.953
    15 Romain Grosjean Haas
    16 Sergio Perez Racing Point 1:12.197 1.957
    17 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo 1:12.230 1.990
    18 Lance Stroll Racing Point 1:12.266 2.026
    19 George Russell Williams 1:13.617 3.377
    20 Robert Kubica Williams 1:14.393 4.153.

    (With inputs from FIA release)

    Updated twice after publishing

  • Hamilton nurtures worn-out tyres to win in Monaco; Vettel 2nd ahead of Bottas

    Hamilton nurtures worn-out tyres to win in Monaco; Vettel 2nd ahead of Bottas

    Hamilton, who won in Monaco on Sunday. An FIA image

    Monaco, 26 May 2019: Lewis Hamilton successfully managed to keep severely worn tyres alive to keep his close rivals at bay in Monaco and take his third win in the Principality ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas in the Grand Prix de Monaco, the sixth round of the Formula 1 World Championship here on Sunday.

    Early in the race Hamilton pitted for medium tyres during a Safety Car period sparked by local hero Charles Leclerc shedding debris across the track following a puncture. With the cars directly behind targeting a long stint until the end of the race having taken on hard tyres, Hamilton was left to nurse his yellow-banded Pirellis until the end.

    And despite relentless pressure from Red Bull’s Max Verrstappen, who was seeking to negate a time penalty for an unsafe release by passing the Briton, Hamilton managed to keep the tyres alive until the flag to take his 77thcareer win.

    When the lights went out for the start, polesitter Hamilton got away well and held his advantage over fello front-rwo started Bottas, third-placed Verstappen and Vettel.

    Further back Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, starting in 15th, was on a march. The local hero quickly climbed to P13 and then began to chase down Romain Grosjean. Going into Rascasse, the Haas left a small gap and Leclerc pouned, slipping down the inside of the Haas to steal the place.

    Having succeeded once, the Monegasque driver decided to try the same passing manoeuvre on Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg. This time, though, the gap was too tight and Leclerc clipped the barrier with his rear right wheel.

    He carried, passing the pit entry as he did so, but it became clear that he’s sustained a puncture. With the whole track to navigate before he could pit, his tyre quickly began to disintegrate. He pitted, taking on medium tyres, but with debris all over the track the Safety Car was deployed. With severe damage to the floor of his car, Leclerc would retire after 16 laps.

    During the SC period Mercedes opted to pit. The champion team stacked their drivers and both took on mediums, with Hamilton first in. The delay to Bottas provided Max with an opportunity and he managed to get fitted with new hard tyres more swiftly than the Finn. It meant they met in the pit lan as they went to rejoin and there was contact. Verstappen exited the pit lane ahead of Bottas in P2 but the incident was placed under investigation by the stewards. Bottas sustained a puncture in the coming together and pitted again at the end of the following lap for hard tyres. He dropped to P4 behind Vettel.

    At the end of lap 22, the stewards returned a verdict on the incident and the Dutch driver was given a five-second time penalty. Looking for the most effective way of negating the penalty, Verstappen then began to apply pressure on Hamilton, who was now trying to nurse his medium tyres to the flag.

    By lap 30 Verstappen was 0.5s behind the Mercedes driver and forcing the champion to stress his tyres more than he would have wished. But as he applied the pressure Verstappen too also began to work his tyres harder than he might have liked and by half distance he was experiencing some graining to his front-right tyre and could find no way past Hamilton.

    Verstappen was now running out time. Behind him Vettel and Bottas were closing up and the Dutchman’s hopes of claiming a podium position began to fade as Bottas got well within the five seconds Verstappen would lose at the flag.

    The only possibility of holding on to a podium place rested in getting past Hamilton. Versatappen tried to make the move two laps from home. He braked late into the Nouvelle Chicane, trying to get down the inside of Hamilton’s Mercedes. Max locked up, however, and pushed the leader across the chicane.

    They both kept going but Hamilton was able to keep the chasing pack at bay over the final two laps and crossed the line to take his 77thcareer win.

    He was followed by Max, but with the five-second penalty immediately applied, he dropped to fourth behind Vettel and Bottas.

    Pierre Gasly followed to take an excellent fifth place, with the Frenchman also taking his second fastest lap point of the season following a late ‘free’ pit stop for soft tyres. Behind Gasly, Carlos Sainz took sixth place for McLaren, while Toro Rosso enjoyed a profitable day with Daniil Kvyat seventh and Alex Albon eighth, ahead of Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo. The final point on offer was claimed by Romain Grosjean.

    2019 FIA Formula One Monaco Grand Prix – Race
    1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
    2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 2.602
    3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 3.162
    4 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 5.537
    5 Pierre Gasly Red Bull Racing 9.946
    6 Carlos Sainz Jr. McLaren 53.454
    7 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 54.574
    8 Alex Albon Toro Rosso 55.200
    9 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1’00.894
    10 Romain Grosjean Haas 1’01.034
    11 Lando Norris McLaren 1’06.801
    12 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1 Lap
    13 Sergio Perez Racing Point 1 Lap
    14 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1 Lap
    15 George Russell Williams 1 Lap
    16 Lance Stroll Racing Point 1 Lap
    17 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo 1 Lap
    18 Robert Kubica Williams 1 Lap
    19 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo 2 Laps
    DNF:   Charles Leclerc Ferrari.

  • Hamilton tops FP2 ahead of Bottas: Monaco GP

    Hamilton tops FP2 ahead of Bottas: Monaco GP

    Hamilton tops FP2 in the Monaco Grand Prix on Thursday. A Mercedes/Wolfgang Wilhelm image

    Monte Carlo (Monaco), 23 May 2019: Mercedes powered away from its rivals in second practice for the Monaco Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton setting a time of 1:11.118 to top the timesheet 0.081s ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas. The Silver Arrows’ closes rival in the session was Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel who finished more than seventh tenths of a second behind Hamilton.

    Hamilton and Bottas set the early pace in the session, using medium compound Pirelli tyres, but were dislodged when Vettel bolted on a set of softs for his performance runs.

    The German was only four hundredths of a second quicker than Hamilton’s medium-tyre benchmark and when the Mercedes duo moved to the soft compound they swiftly regained the upper hand. First, Bottas took top spot with an opening run of 1:11.597. He and Hamilton then traded times until the championship leader eventually moved a narrow eight hundredths of a second clear with a lap Bottas had no answer to. Hamilton’s time left Vettel 0.763s down.

    After seeing team-mate Max Verstappen run more a second clear of his best time in FP1, Red Bull Racing’s Pierre Gasly has a much better afternoon session and took fourth place, less than a tenth behind Vettel. Verstappen fared less well and spent a large part of the session in the garage as his team investigated a suspected water leak. He ended up in P6 after rejoining the action late in the session.

    It was a good outing for Toro Rosso driver Alex Albon, too. The Thai driver, who was on pole for the F2 feature race here last year, took fifth place in the second session of his first F1 weekend in Monaco with a lap of 1:12.031.

    Kevin Magnussen was seventh Haas, ahead of the Alfa Romeos of Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Raikkonen.

    The top ten order was rounded out Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque driver ended the 90 minutes some 1.2s off the pace after complaining of brake issues during the session.

    2019 FIA Formula One Monaco Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
    1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 41 1:11.118
    2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 48 1:11.199 0.081
    3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 42 1:11.881 0.763
    4 Pierre Gasly Red Bull Racing 39 1:11.938 0.820
    5 Alex Albon Toro Rosso 51 1:12.031 0.913
    6 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 17 1:12.052 0.934
    7 Kevin Magnussen Haas 54 1:12.174 1.056
    8 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing 51 1:12.239 1.121
    9 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo Racing 51 1:12.342 1.224
    10 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 42 1:12.350 1.232
    11 Romain Grosjean Haas 51 1:12.392 1.274
    12 Lando Norris McLaren 27 1:12.393 1.275
    13 Carlos Sainz McLaren 47 1:12.419 1.301
    14 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 39 1:12.577 1.459
    15 Sergio Perez Racing Point 44 1:12.752 1.634
    16 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 49 1:12.872 1.754
    17 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 53 1:12.888 1.770
    18 Lance Stroll Racing Point 40 1:14.558 3.440
    19 George Russell Williams 37 1:15.052 3.934
    20 Robert Kubica Williams 45 1:15.146 4.028

  • Bottas takes pole ahead of Hamilton: Chinese GP

    Bottas takes pole ahead of Hamilton: Chinese GP

    Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas (centre) takes pole ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton (left) and Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari on Saturday. An FIA image

    Shanghai, 13 April 2019: Finland’s Valtteri Bottas will line up for Formula 1’s 1000thgrand prix in pole position after he beat Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton by the narrow margin of 0.023s in the Chinese Grand Prix, the third round of the FIA Formula One World Championship here on Saturday. The pole is the seventh of Bottas’ career and the 59thfront-row lockout for Mercedes.

    Behind the Silver Arrows, Ferrari annexed row two with Sebastian Vettel in third place, 0.017s ahead of team-mate Charles Leclerc.

    Bottas was to the fore early in Q1, and the Finn claimed top spot thanks to a lap of 1:32.658. That left him almost half a second clear of team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who ran wide exiting the final corner. Max Verstappen put in a lap 1:33.274 to take P3 ahead of Vettel and Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg. The top five would sit out the final runs.

    Eliminated at the end of the segment were Racing Point’s Lance Stroll in P16 with the Canadian exiting ahead of the Williams cars of George Russell and Robert Kubica. Also out was Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi who failed to set a time in Q1.

    Bottas held P1 through the final runs, but Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who caught traffic on his first run and lay in 10thahead of the final laps, vaulted to P2 with a second effort drop Verstappen to fourth place.

    Bottas once again stamped his authority on the session setting a benchmark of 1:31.728 in the first runs of Q2. Vettel got closest to him, though the German was half a second back ahead of Leclerc, Verstappen and Hamilton, who once again made a mistake on his lap.

    Mercedes opted to run again at the end of the session with Bottas bolting on a set of soft tyres, but Hamilton opted instead for mediums and it was he who topped the session, the Briton posting a time of 1:31.637 to finish a tenth ahead of Bottas lap.

    Bottas returned to the top of the order in the first runs of Q3, but only just. The Finn edged team-mate Hamilton by just 0.007 to take provisional pole, with Vettel third.

    Verstappen put in a good lap of 1:32.089 to sit in fourth ahead of Leclerc, and the second Red Bull of Pierre Gasly.

    There was disappointment for the Red Bulls in the final runs though. Held up through the final corners during their out laps, neither Max nor Pierre was able to get across the line in time to complete a final flying lap, a situation that infuriated the Dutchman.

    The traffic problems allowed Leclerc to jump to P4 with his final run to sit alongside Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel, who narrowly squeezed past Verstappen at the end of the out laps and managed to get across the line in time to complete a final lap.

    Leclerc’s move up the order handed Ferrari ownership of row two with Red Bull set to start from row three tomorrow, ahead of the Renaults of Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg and the Haas cars of Magnussen and Grosjean.

    At the top of the order Hamilton couldn’t find the pace to oust Bottas from P1 and thanks to a marginal improvement the Finn took his seventh career pole by 0.023s.

    2019 Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix – Qualifying
    1 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:31.547
    2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:31.570 0.023
    3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:31.848 0.301
    4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:31.865 0.318
    5 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:32.089 0.542
    6 Pierre Gasly Red Bull 1:32.930 1.383
    7 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1:32.958 1.411
    8 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:32.962 1.415
    9 Kevin Magnussen Haas
    10 Romain Grosjean Haas
    11 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:33.236 1.689
    12 Sergio Perez Racing Point 1:33.299 1.752
    13 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo 1:33.419 1.872
    14 Carlos Sainz Jr. McLaren 1:33.523 1.976
    15 Lando Norris McLaren 1:33.967 2.420
    16 Lance Stroll Racing Point 1:34.292 2.745
    17 George Russell Williams 1:35.253 3.706
    18 Robert Kubica Williams 1:35.281 3.734
    19 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo
    20 Alex Albon Toro Rosso