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Tag: Vettel
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Sebastian Vettel takes pole: Canadian Grand Prix
Vettel takes pole at the Canadian Grand Prix on Saturday. An FIA image Montreal, 9 June 2018: Sebastian Vettel took his 54th career pole position, beating Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas and Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen in a tight qualifying session the Canadian Grand Prix that saw the top three drivers separated by less than two tenths of a second.
Ferrari set the pace in the opening session with Vettel going quickest. The German swapped times with team-mate Kimi Räikkönen before he settled into P1 with a lap of 1:11.710. Hamilton slotted into third despite a nervous moment at, with the Briton finishing just over a tenth of a second behind Vettel. His Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas finished the session fourth ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo.
At the bottom of the order, only four drivers from the session would drop out after Haas’ Romain Grosjean exited the session right at the start. The Frenchman left his team’s garage soon after the green light had gone on to signal the start of Q1. But as he applied some power in pit lane, a huge plume of smoke erupted from the rear of his car and he was immediately told to stop his car. He would play no further part in the session.
Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson hit trouble as well early on, with the Swede smacking the wall on the exit of Turn 9 and damaging the car. He thus sank to the bottom of the order as the session developed.
Ahead of the final runs Fernando Alonso slipped into the drop zone in P16 but the McLaren driver found more pace in his final run and jumped to P14 ahead of team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne. That meant that Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly was eliminated in P16 ahead of Williams’ Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin, with Ericsson in P19. Gasly’s prospects had been hurt by having to revert to an older spec Honda engine ahead of the session after a problem was detected on his upgrade power unit in FP3.
At the start of Q2 both Mercedes and Ferrari opted to run with ultrasoft tyres at the start and Valtteri Bottas set the initial pace with a time of 1:11.514. The put him ahead of Vettel and Räikkönen. Hamilton sat behind after locking up on his lap. Verstappen though took hypersofts and set the quickest time of the first runs with a lap of 1:11.472.
In the second runs the Mercedes and Ferraris went back out on hypersofts. Vettel, though, abandoned his lap, but not due to wanting to settle on ultrasofts. The German felt he was severely hampered by drivers on slower laps and so steered back to the garage. In the end all the Ferrari and Mercedes settled on their ultrasoft times.
Ricciardo, who had been off the pace of his team-mate throughout practice, suddenly seemed to find a sweet spot with his RB14 and on his second run he jumped ahead of Verstappen to claim top spot with a lap of 1:11.434. Verstappen settled on his opening time and took P2.
Eliminated at this stage were Haas’ Kevin Magnussen who finished in P11 ahead of Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley, Sauber’s Charles Leclerc and the McLarens of Alonso and Vandoorne.
In the first runs of Q3 Hamilton was first onto the timesheet with a time of 1:11.227, but team-mate BOT blasted past that with a good lap of 1:10.857. Räikkönen then slotted into P2 with a lap of 1:11.095.
Vettel, though, went even quicker and he took provision pole with a time of 1:10.776. Verstappen then jumped ahead of Hamilton to sit fourth at the end of the first runs, just 0.001s behind Räikkönen.
And there was no halting the German in the final runs. Räikkönen was the first to crack, running wide in the first sector and ruining his chances. Hamilton then made a mistake at the hairpin to exclude himself from the battle for pole. And when Bottas failed to improve Vettel’s 54th pole position was secure.
Max Verstappen might have had a say in it after setting the quickest first sector time of the session on his final run. But the Red Bull driver lost time in the following two sector and ended the third ahead of Hamilton, Räikkönen and Ricciardo. Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg was seventh ahead of Force India’s Esteban Ocon, the second Renault of Carlos Sainz and the second Force India of Sergio Pérez.
2018 Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix – Qualifying
1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:10.764
2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:10.857 0.093
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:10.937 0.173
4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:10.996 0.232
5 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:11.095 0.331
6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:11.116 0.352
7 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:11.973 1.209
8 Esteban Ocon Force India 1:12.084 1.320
9 Carlos Sainz Renault 1:12.168 1.404
10 Sergio Perez Force India 1:12.671 1.907
11 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:12.606 1.842
12 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 1:12.635 1.871
13 Charles Leclerc Sauber 1:12.661 1.897
14 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:12.856 2.092
15 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 1:12.865 2.101
16 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 1:13.047 2.283
17 Lance Stroll Williams 1:13.590 2.826
18 Sergey Sirotkin Williams 1:13.643 2.879
19 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:14.593 3.829|
20 Romain Grosjean Haas. -
F1: Daniel Ricciardo takes pole ahead of Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton
Daniel Ricciardo celebrates after taking Monaco pole on Saturday. An FIA image. Monaco, 26 May 2018: Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo powered to a second career pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix claiming top spot in qualifying four tenths of a second ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton at the qualifying session of the Monaco GP, the sixth round of the Formula One (F1) World Championship in the principality here on Saturday.
It was bittersweet for Red Bull, however, as while Ricciardo will start from the front of the grid, Max Verstappen will start at the tail end of the order after gearbox damage from a crash in FP3 ruled him out of qualifying.
Ricciardo was quickly on the pace and with his first flying lap he took P1 with a time of 1:12.769. The Australian hit a wall of traffic at the end of the lap, however, and as such his P1 time was quickly bypassed by that of Kimi Räikkönen.
Ricciardo was quickly back in front, though, finding a gap in the traffic to post a lap of 1:12.013. That was good enough to keep him in P1 until the flag fell, with the Red Bull driver eventually finishing four tenths of a second ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Räikkönen.
In the final runs, Sauber’s Charles Leclerc went off at Ste Devote and brought out the yellow flags. That compromised a number of final runs and in the end out went Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley, Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson, Williams’ Lance Stroll and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen.
Ricciardo was again to the fore in Q2, quickly muscling his way to the top of a timesheet with a lap of 1:11.353 that left clear of Vettel and Raikkonen. He retired to the garage immediately, content to wait it out and see how the session evolved.
Further back, Mercedes gambled and bolted on ultrasoft tyres for their drivers’ first runs, hoping that the purple-banded tyres would yield a lap time good enough to earn a Q3 berth and allow them to start on the more durable tyre on a circuit where track position is paramount.
The strategy quickly proved the wrong one, however, and with the session edging onto the final five minutes and with Hamilton 10th and Bottas 14th the team switched plans and pitted both for hypersofts. Hamilton blasted to third with his first flyer and Bottas followed to take fifth.
The Ferraris of Räikkönen and Vettel found more time on their final runs to claim second and thirds respectively behind Ricciardo and Hamilton dropped to fourth ahead of his team-mate.
At the bottom of the top 10, the improvement of the Mercedes bounced Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly to P12, but the Frenchman did a good job to find time on his final runs to claim P10 with a lap of 1:12.313.
That meant that out went Renault’s Hulkenberg in P11, followed by McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne, Williams’ Sergey Sirotkin, Sauber’s Charles Leclerc and Haas’ Romain Grosjean.
Ricciardo again set the pace in Q3 and this time it was by a significant margin. Bottas was first across the line to take provisional pole, but he was quickly dropped down the order by Hamilton who set a lap of 1:11.261. Ricciardo though was flying and when he crossed the line he was 0.451s up on Hamilton and the only man under the 1m11s mark.
And so it proved. Vettel found time on his second run to climb above Hamilton, but neither could get near the Red Bull driver, who was going even quicker until he was told that his opening time had secured pole. He backed out of his final run and settled for the lap of 1:10.810 that now stands as the fastest ever lap of Monaco.
Behind third-placed Hamilton, 2017 pole position man Räikkönen was fourth ahead of Bottas, Force India’s Esteban Ocon, McLaren’s Fernando Alonso, Renault’s Carlos Sainz and the second Force India of Sergio Perez. The top ten order was rounded out by Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly.
2018 Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix – Qualifying
1 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:10.810
2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:11.039 0.229
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:11.232 0.422
4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:11.266 0.456
5 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:11.441 0.631
6 Esteban Ocon Force India 1:12.061 1.251
7 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:12.110 1.300
8 Carlos Sainz Renault 1:12.130 1.320
9 Sergio Perez Force India 1:12.154 1.344
10 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 1:12.221 1.411
11 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:12.411 1.601
12 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 1:12.440 1.630
13 Sergey Sirotkin Williams 1:12.521 1.711
14 Charles Leclerc Sauber 1:12.714 1.904
15 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:12.728 1.918
16 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 1:13.179 2.369
17 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:13.265 2.455
18 Lance Stroll Williams 1:13.323 2.513
19 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:13.393 2.583
20 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing. -
Free Practice 1: Daniel Ricciardo sets early pace, leads Red Bull one-two in Monaco
Red Bull dominate FP1 in Monaco on Thursday. Photo: Red Bull Racing Monaco, 24 May 2018: Can Red Bull secure their first pole of the season in Monaco? The early signs are certainly positive, with Daniel Ricciardo edging team-mate Max Verstappen in the opening practice session on Thursday, while Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton was three tenths behind the pace-setter.
It was an impressive early showing from Red Bull in Monte Carlo, with their two drivers mastering this tricky street circuit on Pirelli’s new hypersoft tyres. Sebastian Vettel was the quickest Ferrari in fourth, just ahead of team mate Kimi Raikkonen, and it was another strong performance from Renault’s Carlos Sainz, who came home sixth.
The other Silver Arrow of Valtteri Bottas had to settle for seventh, with Force India’s Sergio Perez winning the battle for eighth ahead of Romain Grosjean in the Haas. Sergey Sirotkin – rock bottom of the drivers’ standings with no points – has had a difficult start to his maiden Formula 1 season, but will be boosted by his P10 for struggling Williams.
The teams didn’t waste any time to get going at the iconic Circuit de Monaco, with the drivers heading out on all three different tyre types, including for the first time at a race weekend, the pink-marked hypersoft compound.
It was on those tyres that Red Bull and Ferrari started the session, while Mercedes – winners of the last two races in Spain and Azerbaijan – opted for the ultrasofts, and it was Bottas who set the first timed lap of FP1.
There is no margin for error at this tight and twisty track, and Williams’ Sirotkin found that out the hard way. The Russian kissed the wall on the home straight and limped back to the pits with a flat tyre – and Grosjean later had a similar impact with a barrier, but escaped without any damage.
Red Bull were the team on top during the opening 40 minutes, before Mercedes showed their hand after bolting the hypersofts – which in testing have been around a second a lap quicker than the ultrasofts – on both cars.
And it was Hamilton who was first to give a glimpse of their potential pace on the softest tyres this weekend, the Briton just three-tenths slower than last year’s pole time of 1m 12.178s. So what about Ferrari? They were going about their business quietly at this stage.
It certainly wasn’t a quiet session for Verstappen. The Dutchman later regained top spot and then suffered a huge lock-up heading into Turn 1. He escaped down the run-off area and avoided any damage to his Red Bull, but is under investigation by the stewards after reversing back on to the circuit.
With the hypersofts getting their first run-out here, the times are expected to tumble all weekend and Ricciardo eventually went quickest with a superb 1m 12.126s – faster than Raikkonen’s pole here in 2017.
The rest of the session was without major incident. Renault, currently fourth in the constructors’ standings, were once again ahead of their middle-order rivals, with Sainz leading that charge. Kevin Magnussen, meanwhile, struggled with a connector issue on his Haas and finished bottom of the pile with just seven laps on the board.
Little can be taken from FP1, with teams adjusting their set-ups throughout the session, but the early signs are certainly positive for Red Bull. Their title rivals Mercedes and Ferrari both predicted Verstappen and Ricciardo would be quick here in Monaco, and they didn’t disappoint.
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FIA Press Conference: Hamilton scotches talks about move to Ferrari next season
Monaco, May 23: Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) and Sebastien Vettel (Ferrari) played it coy when asked about the two becoming team-mates at Ferrari next season considering that the British ace is still to renew his contract with Mercedes for 2019. Hamilton said he was not in a rush to sign the contract nor was there any thought to joining any other team.
On persistent questioning during the FIA Press Conference here today, Hamilton said: “There’s no rush to do it and I would do it in my own time. There’s no discussion with anybody else, there’s no consideration for anybody else, it’s just taking my time. I just don’t see any need to rush. I still have a contract in place, I’m enjoying racing, it’s nice to keep you guys guessing what’s happening.”
Excerpts from the Press Conference – Drivers attending: Charles Leclerc (Sauber), Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari), Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) and Romain Grosjean (Haas).
Q: Charles, if we can start with you: you’re the home town hero and the first Monegasque to race here in Formula 1 since Olivier Beretta in 1994. How excited are you about the weekend ahead?
Charles LECLERC: I am very excited. I mean, I have been waiting for this moment since [I was a] child. I remember watching the grand prix when I was four years old, in the exit of the first corner. I was in my best friend’s apartment, watching down the Formula 1, dreaming one day of being part of it and this day has finally happened, so I definitely can’t wait to be driving tomorrow here.
Q: What can we expect from you this weekend? You’ve had points in consecutive races. Just how good is the car and what can you do?
CL: To be honest, I’m a little bit confused with my expectations at the moment, because we expected a very difficult weekend in Barcelona and actually we had a second Q2 in a row, with one point then in the race. So, Baku, we expected to be competitive and of course there has been quite a bit of crashes in the race and we managed to have a good position thanks to that also, but in Barcelona we did not expect that type of performance, so it was definitely good to see that and it was a nice surprise. Hopefully we are also wrong on expectations here. It seems that it might be a little bit of a difficult circuit for us here because we need high downforce and this is a little bit of our weakness at the moment but we’ll work on that and hopefully we can get a good result.
Q: Thank you. Romain, clearly you’ve had a rough start to 2018 and Spain was another example of that. Can you just give us some insight into where you’re at the moment, what you’re thinking, what you feel you need to do break this run of bad luck?
Romain GROSJEAN: I think you’re making a bit bigger a mountain out of a mole… thing, I can’t remember the saying. Yeah, the last two races didn’t go quite to plan. It happens that sometimes you go through tough times. What happened in Barcelona was just unfortunate that I lost the rear end avoiding a contact with my team-mate and that was it. The performance is there, the car is doing great and the team is doing an amazing job. Yeah, we don’t have any points on the board but I’m not too worried.
Q: Tell us a little bit more about the car. Do you feel it suits your driving style as well as you team-mate’s for example?
RG: I think it’s getting better and better. We’ve been qualifying, very often, in front of the midfield. It’s super tight, so a tenth or two of a second, which doesn’t make much different on the first few rows can lose you two or three positions. You need to get it perfect. I think it’s getting there; we’re working well, and I think it should be quite nice here and hopefully the next updates coming are going to be pretty competitive.
Q: Best of luck. Thank you Romain. Lewis, we heard from Charles how excited he is to be racing in Monaco. You’ve won here a couple of times, you’ve been on pole position, can you just start by giving us an insight into what it is like to race around these tight streets, how crazy it is, how unique this track is?
Lewis HAMILTON: Well firstly I feel like the people who might be watching need to understand why we all had our glasses on. It’s so bright. These lights are… when I look at you now, all I see are lights, I can’t actually see your face. That’s why I’ve got these on; it’s too bright. But, yeah, Monaco, it’s such a dream to drive here. Every single year… I’m very fortunate to live here, but the wait you have from one year to the next… it’s a shame that we only have one race here, because it’s that spectacular to drive. But it’s very intense. You have to be more diligent than your perhaps have to be anywhere else. It’s the most technical and mentally challenging circuit of the whole season. There’s also the heightened aspect of just wanting to shine at a track like this. Sometimes I’m running around or driving around this city in the off-season and it’s hard to believe the speeds that we do – up the hill and to Turn 1 and out of the tunnel… Just yesterday I was running through the tunnel and telling my friend who has never been before and saying ‘usually we’re doing 200mph out of this tunnel’, and he was like ‘that’s crazy’. It’s hard for people to get even close to the imagination of what it’s like, but it’s really something quite special.
Q: You’ve won the last two races, you’re on a roll, but what can we expect from you and Mercedes this weekend, because it wasn’t a good race for the team last year, so are you confident that you’ve ironed out the issues with this year’s car?
LH: I think we learned a lot from last year. I think we are confident with our preparation. I think it’s definitely been better than ever before. We came from the last race knowing that this is going to be one of the tougher races for us. If you look at the last race and the testing in February and then even in the tests the other day, the Red Bulls were particularly quick in the last sector – that’s where they’re always very, very strong – and so you can imagine that they will be incredibly quick here this weekend. Which is actually a surprise on previous years, because Ferrari were very strong here last year and for whatever reason Red Bull didn’t get it together, but maybe this weekend they will. I do anticipate it’s going to be a difficult weekend. Not one that is impossible but it’s a lot closer and we may not have the pace of the others but we will find out tomorrow the true pace and identity of what we arrive here with. But I’m excited for that challenge either way. If you look at last year there were overcuts and undercuts, so everything is still possible.
Q: Thank you. Sebastian, thanks for waiting. Can we just reflect on two weeks ago to start with. It was a slightly frustrating weekend for you in Spain. You’ve tested at Barcelona since the race. How much progress did you make with the car?
Sebastian VETTEL: I think it’s fair to summarise that Barcelona was not a strong race for us. I think Saturday was actually pretty good, qualifying was very close, but in the race we fell a little bit behind. It was good that we had the opportunity on Tuesday and Wednesday to get into the race situation again and understand a little bit better with more time and more laps and I think that’s what we did. There are a couple of ideas that we have and there are things that we believe may have cause a weak race or weak pace during the race. But for here it’s not that relevant as it’s a completely different track, but certainly going forward, time will tell whether we found a good direction.
Q: Well, let’s look at this weekend. What chance a repeat victory of last year and do you think the longer wheelbase of this year’s car will have any impact on the performance?
SV: I don’t know. We will see. I think cars with a longer wheelbase, they were still fine here last year. It’s not that much different. It’s not like all of a sudden you’re sitting on a bus. I think the car, we’ve improved it in general this year throughout the races we’ve had, the feel that I’ve had for the car, how responsive it was etc, which should help us for here, but I don’t think the wheelbase will play a big difference and if so I think our car is not longer than most of the other cars so it will be fine.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: To all drivers. Pirelli are supplying here for the first time the hypersoft tyres. What do you project for the weekend here – would be very interesting?
CL: Yeah, we’ve had the possibility to try these tyres quite a few times during testing. It’s a huge jump from the ultrasoft to hypersoft, a lot bigger than any of the other steps – but it’s also quite a solid tyre. I think we will test it during these free practices and then see what to do for the race.
SV: Well, I think we never had it this year, obviously, during races. Testing was cold – but I think the first glimpse we got last year during the Abu Dhabi test quite interesting. It was faster – so it’s always fun when it’s faster. I think it doesn’t last that long but the stress around Monaco is very low for the tyres, if you compare it to a normal race track. So should be fine and should be faster, so that’s why I think a lot of people went mostly for the hypersoft.
Q: Lewis, do you think we could see some records fall this weekend?
LH: I would imagine so, yeah. They’re resurfaced some areas of the track. It was already very, very grippy last year and I think the hypersoft is… I’ve only driven it, I think it was the end of last year maybe, in Abu Dhabi, just one quick run on it, so I don’t really know much about it, so I’m excited to get back out on the tyre because I know at that time it felt great after lap whatever-it-was. So, I think around here it’ll hopefully be a lot better than all of the other tyres that we’ve run.
RG: Yeah, I tested them in last week’s Barcelona testing and they were fast, and I was surprised at how consistent they could be on some occasions. Looking forward to trying them here – but definitely they’re the tyres that give the best feeling.
Q: Lewis, you talked a little bit about the difficulties you’re expecting here. And the change in process in Spain and how well the test was working. In terms of how transferrable that performance set was in Barcelona for here and at other races, how confident are you that you’ve made a fundamental gain, either in the setup of the way you’re understanding the car?
LH: I feel with the last race, the whole weekend, yeah I think we took a lot of information from there. The whole first five races I think, we’ve learnt a huge amount, we know what our targets are, we much more understand our issues and we’re working hard to address them – and I think we’re working in the right direction towards addressing them. I definitely feel more confident moving forward that we are progressing in the right direction. Have we rectified everything? We’ll find out. It just feels good, that there’s a lot of work been going on: a lot of stress; a lot of strain within everyone’s work. Everyone just trying to do their best and get us up front. Obviously our competition has been very, very strong through the first five races – but it is up and down from race to race. But I do think the first five races are always a really… it’s always very difficult because it’s just a learning curve. A very steep learning curve every year, even though we have that winter test. I can’t tell you what’s going to happen moving forwards but I’m confident that we’re going to do the best job that we can to maximise our results.
Q: A question for all four drivers, two parts. The organisers here have said they’re going to use grid girls this weekend. So, first of all I’d like to know where all four of you stand on the original decision to stop using grid girls and what you think about this race’s decision to go against that and use them this weekend?
RG: Well… yeah. It’s busy on the grid anyway, you won’t see much difference. When it was removed, I thought it was a good thing for women in the 21st Century because they were not used as just a board holder. Monaco, always special why not doing something different?
LH: I don’t know. I think women are the most beautiful thing in the world, so, I mean there’s races where we’ve had guys standing at the front of the car, and there’s been a mixture sometimes at races in the past. I think Monaco is a very elegant grand prix and I don’t know how women feel about it. I’ve not really ever spoken to women how they feel about the whole situation. So I can’t really comment. I don’t particularly feel any way about it. When we pull up to the grid and there’s beautiful women on the grid, that’s the Monaco Grand Prix, that’s a lovely thing – but I definitely don’t think that we should ever be supporting or pushing these women in general to feel uncomfortable. And if they are, then we shouldn’t do it, if they’re comfortable doing it, I mean I don’t really know, I don’t really have an answer for you otherwise.
SV: Well, I think the whole thing has been blown up, probably unnecessary because I don’t think any of the grid girls in the past were forced to do it. So, I think they enjoyed what they were doing. I agree with Lewis, I like women, I think they look beautiful, so if there was guys, I was just not interested, nothing against those guys but I just didn’t care as much but, bottom line, I think it’s too much of a fuss nowadays. I think all the women that took part as a grid girl in the past did it because they wanted to. I’m sure if you ask any grid girl on Sunday if they’re happy to stand there, their answer will be yes. I don’t think there’s anybody that forces them to do it. So, it speaks a little bit for our times that sometimes there’s a lot of noise for nothing.
CL: Pretty similar opinion to Seb – but I think it was quite positive to have some girls on the grid to be honest – even though I have a girlfriend so I should not say that maybe, I will get in trouble. But yeah, it’s also good to have some kids. Monaco is very small, so they took also my little cousin that will be on the grid with me. So that will be nice, and I’ve seen how happy he was to be chosen as one of the kids – and it’s great to see that. And it’s a great idea to have kids on the grid also.
Q: A question for Lewis. A bit related to that. It was obviously a great time of celebration in Britain last weekend. I wonder what you made of the royal wedding – and if the British royal family can become a bit more diverse, does it give you optimism that Formula One can become more diverse eventually?
LH: I don’t really connect the two, to be honest but I watched here at the weekend, just with a smile on my face the whole time. I think it was great to see such a positive change. It was great to see how happy they both were, and I think it was just a really proud day, I think for… for me, for my family, I think for the world. And it’s just always great to see positivity and change. The fact that you do have diversity in the royal family today, I think that’s a huge thing. People probably don’t even realise how important that is. Even to see at the church, you had a mixture with the ministers, in music, with the choir. It was just really, really beautiful to see. I just had the greatest weekend ever just sitting there watching and seeing talented people play music, speak and then see this power couple walk out. It was the greatest wedding that I’ve ever seen – and I’m not big on weddings at all. I avoid them at all costs – but this one, I wished I was in England to see it. Plus, England on a sunny day, it’s just so beautiful, with the castle and everything. So, I mean it was pretty much a fairytale. I think every kid – and adult today that’s particularly not married – dreams of having that kind of weekend.
Q: Seb and Lewis, Charles is up there with you. He comes into F1 this season with a huge amount of expectation and hype, based on his performance in junior formulae. You had exactly the same, the two of you, when you came into F1 first time around. What would your advice be to him about how to handle that pressure of expectation and what do you know and think of him as a driver?
SV: I think I was never that hyped when I came in. I didn’t win GP2 and I think the hype is absolutely justified. If there’s no hype around him, then I don’t understand who should be hyped because you walk through all the categories like that, then you belong here. But I think the advice to him is not to listen, just get on with it and just enjoy it. I think the cars that we’re driving are the fastest cars in the world and that’s what you should be looking for, not all the noise that sometimes happens around. I think it’s important that you’re here, you know why you want to be here. You look at what’s really important to you. The rest is not that much of your concern.
Q: Do you expect him to be your Ferrari teammate in the coming season?
SV: Well, I don’t know. I’m not signing who is sitting next to me but (you should) probably ask Maurizio. Yeah, I don’t see why not. Obviously he has more years than all of us here if you look at the passport. I think the races he’s had so far, he used his opportunities, he scored points with a car that doesn’t belong in the points so he’s doing everything he can at the moment.
CL: Thank you.
LH: Charles, are you from Monaco?
CL: Yes, I am.
LH: OK, so you grew up here. I’ve watched the series, I’ve been watching him coming through and what he’s done in the last couple of years has been great to see. I sit with the team bosses and engineers and we watch the lower categories and always looking out for that shining talent to come through and ultimately Formula One is supposed to be the pinnacle of the sport, which it is, but it’s supposed to have the best drivers from around the world and in all honesty, you couldn’t say that there’s the best drivers – the 100 per cent best drivers – from all the nations around the world so it’s just really great to see a really talented kid come through, that’s really just earned his way, like he really has the potential to do great things here and you can’t say that about every kid that’s come through in the past years and ultimately it’s very very difficult because it’s such an expensive sport. So you don’t always have the most talented that have the money but it’s great to see a real talented kid come through so I wish him all the best and the most important thing is to try and keep your feet on the ground, keep your family close and just enjoy the ride. Don’t take it too seriously. Every experience ahead is going to be a learning curve, good or bad, but that’s going to be a part of the making of who you are. I don’t really need to say much more.
CL: Thank you.
Q: Sebastian, Lewis hasn’t yet signed his new deal, though Mercedes say that he probably will. But would you welcome him at Ferrari at all next year?
SV: I don’t know. He hasn’t asked me!
LH: He has a veto so that wouldn’t happen.
SV: I don’t. I wouldn’t mind. Obviously, to be completely honest, I’m very happy with the relationship I have with Kimi.
LH: I think we have a better relationship, do you not think?
SV: I don’t know. Maybe if we get closer. I don’t know. Plus, we just spoke about Charles. I don’t know, you never know what happens. I’m pretty sure that Lewis’s priority lies with Mercedes. Everything else would be a big surprise but you never know, so we will see. Maybe, one day, I don’t know, we will both go somewhere else because we’re old or… I don’t know. Never say never. For me, at the moment, it doesn’t really matter, I’m very happy to be where I am for the time that everyone knows. I know and then we will see what happens.
Q: Lewis, we often hear about drivers who want to go up and race against you. Would you want to race Sebastian, be in his team?
LH: I’m down to race with whoever. Ultimately, I mean I’m racing against him in a pretty competitive car which is always exciting but I think for any driver you always want to go up against the best. I think you’ve seen in history that it can often be difficult when there are two incredibly strong alphas within a team but you’ve seen that it seems to kind of work with him and Kimi, but then if you really look at… you can honestly say that Kimi can’t be too happy because there are certain scenarios that don’t necessarily work out for him, so it’s just always difficult but I love racing against the best of drivers because it really pushes you to the limit. Racing against Fernando, racing against Jenson, and some of the top drivers that I raced with has just been… it brings the good and bad out of you, it pushes you to the limit but I feel that the set-up, for example, that I have right now within the team… Valtteri is driving exceptionally well, pushing me to the limit, and I’m still getting that but there’s a great harmony within the team and there’s a respect when one of the drivers does better than the other and it’s not necessarily always the same when it’s different characters, so it’s really dependent on the characters you’re with. But I don’t anticipate that we will probably be driving together in our time, unless we do, like, Le Mans together one day which we should probably just murder, wouldn’t we?
Q: Lewis, just about that contract: how come it isn’t signed yet? I think the team were quite keen to get it done. Could you tell us what the sticking point seems to be?
LH: There aren’t any sticking points. There just hasn’t been any rush. I told you at the beginning there’s no rush to do it and I would do it in my own time. There’s no discussion with anybody else, there’s no consideration for anybody else, it’s just taking my time. I just don’t see any need to rush. I still have a contract in place, I’m enjoying racing, it’s nice to keep you guys guessing what’s happening. There’s not really much more to say really. There’s not really much more to say. It’s a great process that you go through with a contract but I just tell my people there’s no rush. If it’s not ready this week, and it’s not ready the week after, it’s not ready… no stress. I’m not going to stress about it. Yuh.
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Hamilton takes pole ahead of Bottas, Vettel: Spanish GP
Hamilton celebrates after taking the Spanish GP pole on Saturday. An FIA image Barcelona, 12 May 2018: Lewis Hamilton powered his Mercedes to top spot in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix, the fifth round of the Formula One World Championship here on Saturday.
It is the Briton’s first pole position since the season-opening Australian Grand Prix ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas and the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen.
In Q1, after the early pace was set by Kimi Räikkönen, Vettel then raised the bar considerably with a lap of 1:17.031 that put him four tenths of a second ahead of the Finn, with Hamilton third. Red Bulls drivers then disrupted things with Daniel Ricciardo jumping ahead of Hamilton and Max Verstappen recovering from an FP3 electrical problem to vault to P2 with a time of 1:17.411.
In the drop zone as the final runs began were Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson, William’s Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin, as well as Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg and Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley.
After crashing heavily in FP3 Hartley and causing extensive damage to the rear of his Toro Rosso, Hartley was never going to figure in the session, but Hulkenberg, who had qualified in seventh place three times this season, was an unlikely candidate for the drop.
The German suffered with a fuel pressure issue early in the session but Renault managed to get their driver out for the final runs. His lap, though, was not stellar and in P14 after his run he was still in danger.
And the danger in the end came from McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne whose final lap was good enough to push Hulkenberg out of the session in P16. Eliminated behind the German were Ericsson and Sirotkin. Out, too, went Stroll whose session was ended both by poor performance and by a crash at the very end of the session. The Canadian lost control in Turn 13 and slid off into the gravel trap and out of the session ahead of Hartley.
In Q2 the frontrunners went out on soft tyres at the start of the session and Hamilton laid down what looked like a solid marker with a lap of 1:17.166. That was swiftly eclipsed by team-mate Bottas and then demolished by Vettel, who became the first man under 1m17s with a lap of 1:16.802. The lap put him 0.269 clear of team-mate Räikkönen.
Behind Mercedes and Ferrari, Verstappen looked secure in fifth but Ricciardo had not put in the perfect lap and as the final runs began Red Bull chose to send out again, on supersofts, as they did with Verstappen and as Mercedes did with Hamilton.
In the end, though, Ricciardo’s passage to Q3 was never in doubt as rivals behind failed to find the time necessary to dislodge him and the Australian was eventually told to back of in third sector to preserve his soft tyre lap as his quickest of the session. Thus, like the Ferraris and Mercedes and Verstappen, he will start on the soft tyres.
Out, though, went Vandoorne in 11th place with the Belgian finishing ahead of Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly, Force India’s Esteban Ocon, Sauber’s Charles Leclerc and the second Force India of Sergio Pérez.
In the first runs of Q3, it was Hamilton who set the pace with a time of 1:16.491, but while it might have been expected that Vettel would respond, the German’s opening time of the final segment was not good and his lap of 1:17.255, slower than his Q1 time, left him fifth.
Red Bull, meanwhile, found more pace and Verstappen set a time of 1:18.816 to sit just over three tenths behind Hamilton. Ricciardo took third with a time of 1:16.818 ahead of Bottas and Vettel.
An in the final runs Hamilton converted his advantage, setting blistering pace to claim his 74thcareer pole position and his first since the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
Bottas joined his team-mate on the front row, just four hundredths of a second behind his team-mate and Vettel, who made a significant improvement to 1:16.305 finished third ahead of team-mate Räikkönen who used soft tyres to climb from P8 after the first run to P4.
The third row was annexed by Red Bull with Verstappen taking fifth with time of 1:16.816. Like Räikkönen, team-mate Ricciardo gambled that the soft tyre might provide more lap time but in the end he only improved by four hundredths of a second to finish just 0.002 behind his team-mate.
Kevin Magnussen was seventh for Haas, while Fernando Alonso took Renault powered McLaren ahead of Renault works driver Carlos Sainz. Tenth place was taken by Romain Grosjean in the second Haas.
2018 Spanish Grand Prix – Qualifying
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:16.173
2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:16.213 0.040
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:16.305 0.132
4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:16.612 0.439
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:16.816 0.643
6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:16.818 0.645
7 Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari 1:17.676 1.503
8 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:17.721 1.548
9 Carlos Sainz Renault 1:17.790 1.617
10 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:17.835 1.662
11 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 1:18.323 2.150
12 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 1:18.463 2.290
13 Esteban Ocon Force India 1:18.696 2.523
14 Charles Leclerc Sauber 1:18.910 2.737
15 Sergio Perez Force India 1:19.098 2.925
16 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:18.923 2.750
17 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:19.493 3.320
18 Sergey Sirotkin Williams 1:19.695 3.522
19 Lance Stroll Williams 1:20.225 4.052
20 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso Honda. -
Lewis Hamilton wins incident-packed Azerbaijan GP; Force India’s Sergio Perez third
Lewis Hamilton celebrates after winning the Azerbaijan GP on Sunday. Photo: FIA Baku, 29 April 2018: Lewis Hamilton claimed a fortunate 63rd career win and control of the Drivers’ Championship standings at the end of a chaotic and incident-packed Azerbaijan Grand Prix that saw long-time race leader Sebastian Vettel drop to fourth after a collision between the Red Bull drivers and Valtteri Bottas exit the race from the lead with a late puncture.
Kimi Räikkönen was left to take second place behind Hamilton, with Force India’s Sergio Perez taking a second career podium finish in Baku thanks to a late pass on Vettel.
The 2018 Azerbaijan GP was full of drama right from the start. Pole position man Vettel held his advantage when the lights went out, taking the lead ahead of Hamilton, Bottas and the Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen.
Behind them, there was drama as Räikkönen and Force India’s Esteban Ocon collided in Turn 1. The impact pushed the French driver into the barriers and out of the race, but the Finn was able to make his way back to the pits for a new front wing and a set of soft tyres.
More incidents were to follow soon after when Williams Sergey Sirotkin tagged the front right wheel of Fernando Alonso’s McLaren. The Russian driver was forced to retire, but the Spaniard was able to limp back to the pits, though by the time he had reached the McLaren pit box he had shed both right side tyres. He too took a new front wing and soft tyres. With debris strewn across the track, the Safety Car was deployed.
When the action resumed, Vettel again held his advantage, demonstrably backing the field up to shorten the run to Turn 1. He quickly opened up a gap to the Mercedes and it was further back in the battle for fourth to sixth that the big battles began to happen.
Verstappen passed team-mate Ricciardo but in doing so Renault’s Carlos Sainz pounced and managed to slot between the two Red Bulls. The Spaniard then began to exert pressure on the Dutch driver and quickly made a decisive move past the Red Bull.
Behind them, Ricciardo was also a target for Renault. Nico Hulkenberg swiftly passed the Australian and then got past Verstappen as both Red Bull drivers complained of battery charging problems.
Hulkenberg’s stay in fifth place was brief, however, as on lap 11 he made an error in Turn 4. The German lost the back end of his Renault and the rear left hit the wall. He drove straight down the escape road at Turn 5 and retired.
The Red Bull drivers appeared to now be recovering from their woes and as Verstappen began to push back towards Sainz, the Spaniard opted to pit, shedding his ultrasoft starting tyres for a set of softs.
At the front, Vettel was busy constructing a comfort zone back to Hamilton, and by lap 20 the Ferrari driver had built a foufour-secondshion over the Mercedes man. Hamilton was in turn six seconds clear of team-mate Bottas.
Vettel’s advantage was stretched on lap 21 when Hamilton suffered a huge lock-up into Turn 1, flat-spotting both front tyres. He dropped three seconds to Vettel and immediately headed for the pit lane were he took on a set of soft tyres. He rejoined in P3.
The race then settled until Vettel, with a 4.8s lead over Bottas and 23.6s in hand over Hamilton, made his pit stop at the end of lap 30, taking on soft tyres. And when they crossed the line next, the German found himself 11.7s behind new leader Bottas (who needed to make a pit stop) and 7.9s ahead of Hamilton who was going to the end on older soft tyres.
Behind them, the Red Bulls, who had been duelling fiercely throughout the race, traded positions once more. Fourth-placed Verstappen complained of waning grip from his ageing supersoft tyres and Ricciardo, spotting the opportunity, pounced at Turn 1, using a good two from his team-mate to overtake around the outside. The Australian did well to keep his car out of the wall on exit as he locked up. It was all in vain, however, as when they pair pitted the Dutchman jumped his team-mate and re-took fourth place.
Ricciardo was urged by his engineer to “get it all done again” but in doing the Red Bulls set the pattern for the end of the race.
Ricciardo tried to pass his team-mate into Turn 1. The interplay between the cars was hard to judge, as Verstappen moved marginally right and then more decisively defended to his left, but the result was that Ricciardo slammed into the back of Verstappen’s car and both crashed out of the race.
The safety car was deployed, but as it dictated the pace, sixth-placed Romain Grosjean lost control as he weaved to keep heat in his tyres and he hit the wall.
The medical car was sent on track, the safety car stayed out and it took a number of laps before the Frenchman’s Haas was lifted off the track.
Racing finally resumed on lap 48, after all of the leading drivers had pitted for ultrasoft tyres, and Vettel desperately tried to get past Bottas. The German locked up though and went wide, allowing Hamilton and Räikkönen to get past.
The race took and even more dramatic turn later in the lap as Bottas suddenly suffered a punctured rear left, caused by debris, that dropped him out of the race. Further, back Vettel was struggling with his tyres and he was passed by Sergio Pérez.
And that was how the podium shaped up, with Hamilton taking a somewhat fortunate 63rdcareer victory ahead of Räikkönen and Perez. Vettel was left with fourth place ahead of Sainz, while Sauber’s Charles Leclerc collected his first F1 points with sixth place. Alonso brought his damaged McLaren home in seventh place ahead of Williams’ Lance Stroll, the second McLaren of Stoffel Vandoorne and the final point, for 10th place, went to Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley.
2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Race
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes –
2 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 2.460
3 Sergio Perez Force India 4.024
4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 5.329
5 Carlos Sainz Renault 7.515
6 Charles Leclerc Sauber 9.158
7 Fernando Alonso McLaren 10.931
8 Lance Stroll Williams 12.546
9 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 14.152
10 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 18.030
11 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 18.512
12 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 24.720
13 Kevin Magnussen Haas 30.663
14 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 3 laps
Ret Romain Grosjean Haas 9 laps
Ret Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 12 laps
Ret Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 12 laps
Ret Nico Hulkenberg Renault 41 laps
Ret Esteban Ocon Force India –
Ret Sergey Sirotkin Williams – -
Sebastian Vettel grabs 53rd career pole ahead of Lewis Hamilton: Azerbaijan GP
Baku, 28 April 2018: Sebastian Vettel grabbed his 53rd career pole position at the Baku Circuit Circuit, edging Lewis Hamilton by just under two tenths of a second in an enthralling qualifying session for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the fourth round of the Formula One World Championship here on Saturday.
Vettel’s party might have been spoiled by team-mate Kimi Räikkönen, who was on course to beat the German’s time on his final flying lap, but a mistake in Turn 16 mean the Finn lost all the time gained in his first two sectors and he finished sixth behind third-placed Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes and the Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen.
In Q1, Ricciardo set the early pace with a lap of 1:43.259 that put him three tenths of a second ahead of team-mate Max Verstappen. But the Red Bulls’ hold on the top two spots was brief as Räikkönen and Vettel stole the places, with the Finn topping the order with a lap of 1:42.985. He eventually improved that to a time of 1:42.538 as Hamilton worked his way to a time of 1:42.693 to sit in second place. That wouldn’t last, however, as Verstappen went for another attempt and stole into second place ahead of the Briton with a lap of 1:42.642. Vettel was third ahead of Ricciardo and Force India’s Esteban Ocon and Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas.
In the drop zone as the clock counted down to three minutes left, were Sergio Perez, whose opening flyer has been wrecked when he locked up at Turn 15 and was forced to take an escape road, Williams’ Lance Stroll, Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson, Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley and Haas’ Romain Grosjean who had driven off track at Turn 3 early in the session with a gearbox problem.
Perez quickly hauled himself out of danger, rising to 10th before dropping back to 12th place at the end of the session. That dropped McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne into the danger area, and as the final runs played out the Belgian was unable to drag himself out of the mire and was eliminated in P16.
There was drama in the final moments as Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly was forced to take evasive action when he came across team-mate Brendon Hartley going slowly. The Frenchman was justifiably furious when his team-mate moved across on track, but he was told that Hartley had a puncture and had no choice but to drive slowly and the New Zealander apologised over team radio for his lapse. Both Toro drivers were eliminated, with Gasly in P17 ahead of Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson and with Hartley behind the Swede. Haas’ Romain Grosjean also exited the session, driving off track early in the session with a gearbox issue.
In Q2, Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull opted to start the session on supersofts, looking to set their quickest lap on the compound and start on the red-banded Pirelli tyres. Räikkönen though struggled on the tyres, locking up twice and ruining flying laps as he tried to find a comfort zone. In P15 in the final minutes, he was forced to switch to the ultrasoft and his final run vaulted him to top spot ahead of Hamilton.
There were nervous moments for Ricciardo as he abandoned a final run on ultrasofts. His supersoft lap left him 10th and he snuck through to Q3 just a tenth ahead of William’s Lances Stroll who was eliminated ahead of team-mate Sergey Sirotkin, McLaren’s Fernando Alonso, Sauber’s Charles Leclerc and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen.
Vettel led the way in the first runs of Q3 with a time of 1:41.498 that put him 0.342s ahead of Hamilton, with Bottas third ahead of Verstappen and Ricciardo, who reported that he’d brushed the wall in Turn 15 on his first flyer.
In the final runs, as Vettel failed to improve and Hamilton made an improvement, but not enough to threaten the German’s opening time, it was Räikkönen who threatened to make the biggest move and spoil his team-mate’s party. The Finn was two tenths up on Vettel after the first two sectors of his final flying lap but a huge slide in Turn 16 wrecked his lap and he remained sixth.
Vettel, therefore, took his 53rd career pole ahead of Hamilton and Bottas. Ricciardo made a good step on this final run to claim fourth place ahead of Verstappen and Räikkönen. Force India’s good preparation was rewarded with seventh place for Esteban Ocon and eighth for Sergio Perez. Nico Hulkenberg was ninth with Renault team-mate Carlos Sainz tenth.
2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Qualifying
1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:41.498
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:41.677 0.179
3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:41.837 0.339
4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:41.911 0.413
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:41.994 0.496
6 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:42.490 0.992
7 Esteban Ocon Force India 1:42.523 1.025
8 Sergio Perez Force India 1:42.547 1.049
9 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:43.066 1.568
10 Carlos Sainz Renault 1:43.351 1.853
11 Lance Stroll Williams 1:43.585 2.087
12 Sergey Sirotkin Williams 1:43.886 2.388
13 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:44.019 2.521
14 Charles Leclerc Sauber 1:44.074 2.576
15 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:44.759 3.261
16 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 1:44.489 2.991
17 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 1:44.496 2.998
18 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:45.541 4.043
19 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 1:57.354 15.856
20 Romain Grosjean Haas . -
Ferrari got a phenomenal car this year: Lewis Hamilton in Saturday Press Meet
Vettel takes pole on Saturday. An Fia image Baku, 28 April 2018: The Press Conference after qualification on Saturday at Baku, was attended by the three fastest qualifiers: Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari), Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) and Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes).
TRACK INTERVIEWS
Q: Sebastian Vettel is in pit lane and will be out here to speak to us soon, but let’s go and talk to the Mercedes guys who had such a quick car today but maybe not quite enough. Lewis, that first sector was phenomenal, just seemed to lose something in the second, but are you happy with your job today?
Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah, well firstly you’ve got a great crowd here – hi, everyone. That was close! We did the best job we could. Jeez, I think I was up three tenths until Turn 15 and then I came across the line two tenths up, so I lost a little bit in the last sector. But regardless, Sebastian did a good job. They were quickest all weekend. They’ve obviously got a phenomenal car this year. But really happy with the job the team did to get us from where we were yesterday to where we are today. Valtteri did also a great job. We’re in the mix. This is the fifth-best track to overtake, I think. It doesn’t mean it’s impossible but I’ll try to give Sebastian a hard time tomorrow.
Q: As we saw from even the place markers being pushed away by the wind when you got here, how windy is it out there? How hard is it?
LH: Down the straight particularly it’s hard to keep the car straight. You’re getting crosswinds in between buildings, so you’re constantly correcting the car, but the track has been great today, so I appreciate everyone in Azerbaijan for having us.
Q: Great job, Lewis, and what about this guy? Seb, unbelievable job, three poles in a row, looked phenomenal out there. I know on your second run you were going for faster but a bit of a lock-up stopped you from doing that but you were phenomenal today.
Sebastian VETTEL: Thank you. I felt the car was good in Q2 and Q2 and then in the last segment of qualifying I knew I have it, I have the car that does what I want. Not have it as in pole position, but that I could get a good lap together. The first lap I was really happy, there were maybe two tiny bits where it wasn’t exactly perfect, but I knew on the second run that the track would ramp up and that I would have to go out and get it again. I was a little bit down on the time, a little bit faster and then I locked up. It caught me by surprise for Turn 3 and then I wasn’t sure, do I go straight or do I try to hang on to it. I tried to hang on to it but, yeah, fortunately it was enough. I really had a good lap on the first attempt, so really happy.
Q: Beautiful job. Don’t go anywhere. Hey Valterri, great car, quick car, can you take the fight to Ferrari tomorrow?
Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, for sure we can. We are there with both cars now. It’s been really happening this season so we are starting very close. The race here can be really crazy, so we are up for the fight.
Q: Right until the last lap, to the last inches it can be crazy, you know that better than anyone from last year?
VB: Yeah, sure. Last year I was one lap down after lap one and I ended up second, so anything can happen but at least now we have a good starting point.
Q: Seb, we come back to you. It’s been a great day, but this is only the start. Mercedes are in the mix, Red Bull are in the mix. How hard is it going to be tomorrow? Even just that run down to Turn 1, how tough is it going to be tomorrow?
SV: It’s not that long. That way is a lot longer! I think it will be an intense race. Here, anything can happen, safety cars are very likely. The good point is that our car was really good this afternoon, so we should be in a good place tomorrow. Yesterday I struggled a bit with confidence, with trust in the car, and just rhythm, which is important around here, but today, when it clicks it just keeps coming and it was really enjoyable. I’m a bit upset with my final run because I thought I had a little bit more but we got pole so we can’t be much happier with how the day went.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Sebastian, how happy are you after this one, particularly after yesterday when you said you were lacking confidence in the car?
SV: Well, lack of confidence in the car, leading into lack of confidence around the track. I think around this place you need to have the trust, otherwise you don’t dare go as quick as you might be able to. At the end of the session I was quite confident and today I was able to carry that into the day and the car was amazing. It just kept getting better. The track picked up quite a bit through qualifying. Q3 run one I was really happy. There was maybe a tiny bit in the middle sector – in Turn 6, Turn 11 – where I was a bit greedy and went a bit wider than I should, but the rest of the lap was really good. Also, I ha da good exit from the last corner, which was incredibly difficult today, with the wind playing tricks on all of is I guess, and even a little bit of a two with the car five, six, seven seconds ahead, so I was really happy how that lap came together. And then for the second run I knew there was a little bit more in those places that I mentioned and the car was on fire straight away but then I think I got a bit too excited for Turn 3 and tried to brake later, quite a bit later, than the laps before. I must have hit the bump as well and locked the front. From then onwards the front left was flat-spotted. I was quite upset at the time in the car, because I burnt my shot at an improvement and I didn’t know what was going around me. So when I then aborted the lap and I was told pole position then obviously I was really happy. I think the team has done well. We’ve changed the car again overnight and found even more performance.
Lewis, we haven’t had you in the qualifying press conference for the last couple of races, so what news from Mercedes? Is the car much more to your liking?
LH: It’s good to be back. I hope you haven’t missed me too much. Sebastian did a great job today, congratulations to him. Ferrari have been so dominant in the last couple of races and pace-wise we knew that they would be very quick here. Which they have been all weekend. I think Red Bull also looked really promising, not sure what happened to them. And we were struggling yesterday, but we came into today and the engineers did some really great work last night to understand where we were and how we could progress forwards, so a big thank you to them for all their hard work. Today was much more reasonable car. There were still areas where we were lacking but it’s a work in progress I would say and to be that close to the Ferraris is definitely a positive and to have me and Valtteri up there is a good booster for the team, to be right there in up in the mix. Excited for the race. It’s very hard to overtake here as it is anywhere around the world, but we’ll give it everything we’ve got.
Q: Valtteri, how was the session from your point of view, and can we also have a word from you about the conditions. The wind seemed to be changing direction the whole time.
VB: I think, like Lewis said, we made some good progress since yesterday. The end result today was a lot better than what we saw and thought it could be today. We believed we can fix the issues, just like we did here last year here actually, from Friday to Saturday and, yeah, we were still finding out way with the setup in Practice Three and made it even better for qualifying. Definitely the best car I had this weekend, so far. I think the session was pretty straightforward. At the beginning lots of yellow flags and difficult to put the lap together but after that Q2, Q3, really straightforward. I felt that I could never quite get the perfect lap. It is extremely difficult here – and, especially the second run I was still missing something. I feel maybe still Ferrari was too quick for us but yeah, as a team reasonable result now. We have both cars in pretty good position to fight for the win.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: A question for the two Mercedes drivers. What exactly did you have to change after yesterday’s session and how much of a difference did it actually make in the car? What was different about the cars’ handling today?
LH: Just setup. Yesterday we were sliding around a lot, so setup wing level, ride heights. Pretty much everything on the car. Did a lot of changes.
Valtteri, anything to add from your point of view?
VB: No, no I think we had similar direction where we were heading since yesterday with both cars and definitely it was better.
Q: Also for the two Mercedes drivers. You seemed to be able to match the Ferrari’s pace in Sector One, almost in Sector Three but Sector Two as the most difficult for you guys. What’s not happening in your car in the Old City section?
VB: Yeah, I think we have seen that all weekend really. Especially the sessions earlier to qualifying. Sector Two is the twisty section and I think we’ve been struggling a little bit more than other cars, riding over the kerbs in some places, which might cause a bit of lap time loss for us. I think the main issue has been getting the tyres to work, and that can be made through the setup of the car. I think we’ve made it better. Obviously, they are still doing something better in Sector Two and getting the tyres to work, and being able to ride over the kerbs.
Lewis, anything to add?
LH: The middle sector, I can’t really explain it. I think they have a little bit more downforce than us.
Q: Lewis, Bernie Ecclestone had some complimentary things to say about you yesterday. Said you’re super quick, super talented and a super nice guy – but he also said that he didn’t think you’re the racer you once were and that you appear fed up with things. Do you have any response or comment about that?
LH: Not really, no.
Q: Are you as good as you’ve ever been, do you think?
LH: We’ll see at the end of the year.
Q: Question for Sebastian. Sebastian, were you being made aware by your team how close Kimi had come to nicking pole from you. He was two-tenths up on you after the first couple of sectors. A second point to that, how much are you feeling from Kimi’s side of the garage this year. Are you noticing a renewed level of performance from him?
SV: I think one thing is always to look at the result and the other one, if you look a little bit deeper… I think it’s been incredibly close this year so far. He’s obviously… to be honest, most of the Fridays I think he had the upper hand so far. Yeah, here and there was struggling to understand the car and feel the car so I think knowing him, knowing his strength, he’s incredibly talented and able to drive around problems. So, as I said, it’s been quite close this year. The last lap, I wasn’t aware, obviously I was out because I took myself out but if you look also the previous years the image is a bit distorting. It wasn’t as one-sided as you might think if you look at the results. I think we’re… I don’t know where you’re going or why you’re asking but I think we’re a good pair, a good match. We just said recently there’s so little problem… there’s no problem at all between us ever and there were races where I messed up, crashed into him, took him out and yeah, life goes on. I think that’s a really big bonus for the team and for us to just enjoy our job.
Q: Lewis and Valtteri, you said that the Ferrari probably has more downforce and here also the power unit is also very very important. Can you make a comment about it? It looks, from the outside that they have a little step in front of Mercedes, which is a great surprise in Formula One.
LH: Well, I don’t know if that’s a surprise because they’ve had the same power units for all the races this season, so they’ve shown they’ve been very quick on the straights. They’ve got a very strong DRS in particular, quite efficient DRS as far as I’m aware. Yeah, but honestly I’ve not looked at the data so I don’t know where they are faster than us and where we’re faster than them but obviously they’ve made a big step forward this year and they are the number one team to beat at the moment.
VB: I think that was everything, really.
Q: To Seb: you’ve been involved in Formula One now for a great number of years. How hard is it to sustain it at that level? I say that slightly… bearing in mind Bernie’s remarks about Lewis. How demanding and draining is it for a high level driver?
SV: It’s certainly different… going into the season certainly feels different than it did ten years ago. I think that’s what ten years do to you. Don’t get me wrong, not in a bad way but I think as you grow up you change your views on some things, you hopefully get a bit wiser so you change… your horizon changes and also your motivation is different. Maybe you are looking at things a bit differently. It always depends on how you are as a person, which targets you have and what you’re ultimately trying to achieve. For me, I’m enjoying what I do, I love what I do, I love racing. Obviously there’s a lot of people that have an opinion on every single day that I’m in the car and sometimes they are right, sometimes they are not. I think the most important thing is that you know who you are and you’re true to yourself. Then, I think you can afford to listen less to what’s going on around, not be distracted and simply enjoy your racing. Whether you are at your prime or not, I think then – once you retire – you have enough time to analyse and look back and say… Of course, the level is high, if you want to fight at the front, you cannot afford to do many mistakes and for whoever is at the top and was at the top in the past for many years, usually has a high level and there’s a lot of effort going into it, not just putting everything together at the track but also away from the track. Yeah, without making it longer than it already is, it is a lot of work and sometimes it gets appreciated, other times less but ultimately it’s about yourself.
Q: The first two editions of this Grand Prix were very different. One was very tame, almost dull, and last year we had a crashfest, so what can we expect from tomorrow’s race, especially with the weather conditions getting even worse with more wind?
SV: I don’t have a crystal ball so I don’t know. The thing nowadays, that I don’t like, is that people tend to judge our sport straightaway based on one race. After Australia we had ‘catastrophe, these cars blah blah blah.’ I mean yes, it might have been a boring race but also it’s down to many things: the track, the race, whatever. Then we had, I think, an entertaining race in Bahrain and in China. Maybe tomorrow’s boring, maybe it’s exciting. I don’t know. Maybe it rains. Who knows? In the end, that’s why we go racing so that we will find out, I guess.
LH: Yeah, hopefully it will be fun and hopefully challenging. If you look at the GP2 (F2) race, there were lots of safety cars as there were last year. I really have no idea what’s in store for us but I know it’s going to be exciting and I just hope that we’re there in the mix, fighting with them.
VB: Yeah, I think it’s going to be a good race, because we have such a tight field this year and on a track like this, where we have a massive long straight and there’s the possibility for overtaking so at least we try to make it exciting with Lewis and battling for the win.
Q: Seb, it’s obvious that the guys next to you want to make the next undercut tomorrow. Will you be prepared for it?
SV: Well, I think certainly what happened in China, we didn’t like it but I think we have a good team looking after this sort of stuff. I think we will see how the start goes, how the first stint goes but certainly we are aware that this is a long lap here and the undercut power is probably there. Equally it’s tough, I guess, to make the tyres work straight away for everyone. I think what there was to learn from China we learned and we should be fine tomorrow.
Ends
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Mixed result for McLaren as Alonso finishes seventh and Vandoorne 13th
Mixed fortune for McLaren in Shanghai. Photo: McLaren F1 Team Shanghai, April 15: McLaren came away from the China Grand Prix with a mixed bag as Fernando Alonso finished among points in seventh while team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne came home in 13th on Sunday.
Starting in 13th and 14th, respectively, Alonso gained two and Vandoorne lost two places at the start which set the tone for much of the remainder of the race.
Both drivers managed their tyres well and the team executed a strong one-stop strategy, although the advantage of this was negated somewhat by a Safety Car period in an ideal pit window for the two-stopping cars around them.
Both Alonso and Vandoorne put in strong drives and made bold overtaking manoeuvres to make up places ahead of them, and a late final push from Alonso saw him sneak into seventh place on the penultimate lap of the race.
Conversely, Vandoorne suffered strong vibrations in the car in the closing laps, making handling difficult and hindering any further progress, and he finished 13th.
Alonso said: “Again, on Sundays, we seem to deliver better than any other day, which is good as this is when points are given out.
“It was a well-executed race from our side – P13 at the start and P11 after the first lap. The Safety Car didn’t play into our hands as we were on a one-stop strategy and we’d just pitted onto good, fresh tyres which were going to take us to the end, but the Safety Car gave everyone else the opportunity to pit.
“We had good battles with Haas and Ferrari, even though the latter wasn’t really a fair fight as Sebastian [Vettel] apparently had damage on his car and was struggling in the corners. We caught up with him, saw that the door was open in one corner, so we went for it.
“P7 is a great result for the team after a difficult weekend, but there’s no doubt that we have to improve. Our pace wasn’t there all weekend and we were still not fast enough in the race. It was great to see more people here in the grandstands than in previous years, thanks to the Chinese fans!”
Vandoorne said: “I didn’t have a great start today and lost a few places on the opening lap. I managed to make three solid overtakes to make a few positions back before the pit-stop. The question for us was whether to make one or two stops when racing the other cars around us, and unfortunately our one-stop strategy didn’t really pay off in the end because the others around us benefitted from pitting under the Safety Car.
“We thought there might be more opportunities at the end, but we didn’t have the pace and I felt a strong vibration in the car which made the last few laps difficult.
“It wasn’t the day we were hoping for, but despite this, we still showed that our race pace today was stronger than our qualifying pace. We’re working hard to improve this and our performance on Saturdays, and hopefully we can have a stronger weekend in Baku.”
Eric Boullier, Racing Director, said: “While today was the tough race we expected, we were still able to show our fighting spirit and bring home some more valuable points.
“Fernando made a good start, and was up to P11 by the end of the third lap. He managed to maintain strong pace compared to those around him despite the Safety Car period, executed a good strategy, and made a couple of stunning overtakes in the final stages of the race to cross the line in seventh.
“On the other side of the garage, Stoffel wasn’t as lucky today. He had a slow start off the line and found himself with an uphill struggle after losing a couple of places. He responded strongly though, making some solid overtakes and managing his tyres well.
“In the latter stages, when his competitors were on fresher rubber, he battled hard in the midfield despite suffering from a strong vibration which made the final laps tricky to manage. He gave it everything to finish in 13th but it was a tough day for him, and we hope for better fortunes in Baku.
“We opted to run a one-stop strategy today with both drivers, knowing that our tyre management showed good potential. Unfortunately, we were a little bit unlucky with the Safety Car as many of the cars around us took advantage of the window to pit.
“Still, we fought hard, proved to be opportunistic and used the strengths of our package to our advantage to come home with six more points. Now, we head back to the factory after a long stint away, to regroup and work on preparing ourselves for the next race in Baku.”
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The smiling assassin Shanghais the leader in China to set up thrilling scenario!
By Harish Samtani
Shanghai, April 15: Daniel Ricciardo, the Australian driver for Red Bull, just tossed a spanner in the works of Ferrari and Mercedes with a superlative performance in the third chapter of the 2018 Formula 1 calendar.
His team did very well to pull him back from the precipice of the cliff and just a gasp away from qualifying last. Red Bull mechanics should pat themselves by shoehorning an engine in last minute and send him on his way. And also for alertness on their race engineers who brought him and Max Verstappen in and put them on soft tyres right away when the safety car interrupted the proceedings while the rest mostly were on a slower medium compound that was meant to last the distance.Ricciardo returned the favour in style by bringing home the trophy. A catastrophe converted to a trophy in just under 24 hours may make a bad pun, but you get my drift.
The racing itself must have brought tears of joy to any F1 fan regardless of their heroes. A safety car on lap 30 created by the coming together of Gasly and Hartley led to the exciting situation that followed, but who cares as to how. Just bring it on!
Daniel Ricciardo exults after winning the trophy. Photo: FIA Meanwhile, if one were to pretend that all this did not happen, Ferrari had only themselves to blame for throwing away a win by bringing in Vettel too late into the box for his one tyre change. This only goes to show that human beings have their silly moments regularly!
While Hamilton is not having the best days in his racing life momentarily, he also seems to have become a little mellow. Good for him but not so for his F1 career! His teammate Bottas, on the contrary, may not be the most-spectacular driver on the grid but he may be doing something right, just by staying out of trouble. It’s early days yet and picking up valuable points in these stages is going to serve him at the fag end of the championship.
With three teams now in the fray, every point is worth its weight in gold. DNFs will play an important role in the F1 version of snakes and ladders. With the scramble up, the middle and down the grid, stress will tell and the ultimate winner will be not only being a result of a champion driver but a calm professional team to boot. This year has the potential of turning into one of the finest battles in recent times. Is this the perfect time of entry for Liberty, the new owners of F1? Probably yes.
The quality competition was expected of course but not with such aggression by a few players who are giving the stewards a massive headache and tough decisions to make. When Verstappen collided with Vettel in the 43rd lap, he, in my opinion, got away cheap by getting just a 10-sec penalty.
Anyway excitement, however, contrived by such incidents serve a larger purpose and The Show will, and must go on!
His team did very well to pull him back from the precipice of the cliff and just a gasp away from qualifying last. Red Bull mechanics should pat themselves by shoehorning an engine in last minute and send him on his way. And also for alertness on their race engineers who brought him and Max Verstappen in and put them on soft tyres right away when the safety car interrupted the proceedings while the rest mostly were on a slower medium compound that was meant to last the distance.